Decluttering your house.

[valve90210]

My house is full of clutter too, I'd love to get it more tidy but I find it really daunting and I don't know where to start and then when I do get started I end up with so much stuff that I need or want to keep that I don't know where to put. I end up putting them in a Misc Items box but I have so many of those I just don't know what to do with them and they clutter up the place.

I also think that I have an element of Aphantasia (essentially the inability to visualise) and find that things and stuff help me hold onto memories of places I've been, things I've done, people I've know etc which I think contributes to me attaching memory and sentiment to lots of things as they can bring to mind places, experiences etc, that otherwise have no visual element to them in my head; which makes it much harder for me to get rid of them.

I really want to get rid of about 30% of the stuff in my house and loft because I don't like living in an untidy mess so I'm trying to find ways. I'm thinking about photographing some of the 'things' and filing away the images on my NAS so the photos can jog my mind and I can get rid of the stuff. I don't know if it'll work but if I figure it's worth a try.

 

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I used to move when renting every couple years and if we havent needed it since we moved 1 bin it off. Problem is now been here much longer and with kids there is so much more stuff.

I have a problem in kitchen that i will cook something new and need 10 new spices few sauces and then they will live in cupboard because i moved on and need the same. Would be easier if i kept to 1 cuisine

 

[Mysterae_]

My house is full of clutter too, I'd love to get it more tidy but I find it really daunting and I don't know where to start and then when I do get started I end up with so much stuff that I need or want to keep that I don't know where to put. I end up putting them in a Misc Items box but I have so many of those I just don't know what to do with them and they clutter up the place.

I also think that I have an element of Aphantasia (essentially the inability to visualise) and find that things and stuff help me hold onto memories of places I've been, things I've done, people I've know etc which I think contributes to me attaching memory and sentiment to lots of things as they can bring to mind places, experiences etc, that otherwise have no visual element to them in my head; which makes it much harder for me to get rid of them.

I really want to get rid of about 30% of the stuff in my house and loft because I don't like living in an untidy mess so I'm trying to find ways. I'm thinking about photographing some of the 'things' and filing away the images on my NAS so the photos can jog my mind and I can get rid of the stuff. I don't know if it'll work but if I figure it's worth a try.

I think you have good reason for holding on to the things that you do and if that brings you enjoyment then so be it. It's when the opposite is true that we spurn ourselves in to doing something about it. Have you watched any of the programs that inspired me to make this thread, perhaps it may help?

 

[radderfire]

The important thing is to make a start, however small that is. Set yourself very small targets. Don't give up, keep setting new targets. Keep in mind the goal of having a clearer house and how nice that will be.

 

[ristac]

We’ve been looking to move for several months, twice the sale fell through. We’re by no means hoarders, but in preparation a lot of our “non essential” stuff went into storage (thinking we were 3-4 weeks away from moving).

Three months on, it looks like we’ll be moving 2nd week January and I’m seriously thinking of selling, donating, dumping everything in storage, we’ve not missed it

 

[Zefan]

Yes please.

 

[LuckyBenski]

We’ve been looking to move for several months, twice the sale fell through. We’re by no means hoarders, but in preparation a lot of our “non essential” stuff went into storage (thinking we were 3-4 weeks away from moving).

Three months on, it looks like we’ll be moving 2nd week January and I’m seriously thinking of selling, donating, dumping everything in storage, we’ve not missed it

This is how I feel about our garage. We moved and entirely filled it. 3 months later took it to self storage for building work on the garage. Haven't needed any of it at all.

 

[***F1ZZY***]

I need to do this so badly. Maybe if I clean out my office and all the pc related stuff and the garage of clutter then I can moan at the mrs for all her junk everywhere else.

Annoyingly she uses the garage and my office to dump anything she has decided to throw out rather than actually dispose of it.

 

[valve90210]

I'm coming back to this having spent the last couple of months completely unmotivated after the ending of my relationship but now I want to get on and get myself more organised.

Does anyone know of any free, relatively simple asset management software for Windows? In an ideal world I'd like to be able to make a note of where I've put things, ie which box, in which cupboard, in which room, and be able to search in the software when I need/want them. I know it'll be a huge task to get everything done but while I'm decluttering and trying to get a bit more sorted, I thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything?

There is one self-hosted project I've seen which does largely what I'd like called Homebox (https://homebox.fly.dev/home) but I have no means of running it as I have no idea about running docker stuff etc and I've not been able to find if anyone has created a docker container that could be added to Home Assistant to run along side a few other services I have on there. Does anyone know of anything similar for Windows?



Edit: Having looked more closely. it seems HomeBox can be run on a windows PC these days - I swear that option wasn't there back in November...or I didn't see it....

Anyway, I now have it running alongside TeamSpeak on a NUC, so I shall begin to log where things are stored as I make a start with decluttering and organising. I know it'll be a lot of work but the hours I have spent in the past looking for things because I couldn't remember where I'd put them is truly ridiculous! If I can be a bit more organised and able to find things more easily it will have been worth the effort!

 

[LeeUK]

I'm coming back to this having spent the last couple of months completely unmotivated after the ending of my relationship but now I want to get on and get myself more organised.

Does anyone know of any free, relatively simple asset management software for Windows? In an ideal world I'd like to be able to make a note of where I've put things, ie which box, in which cupboard, in which room, and be able to search in the software when I need/want them. I know it'll be a huge task to get everything done but while I'm decluttering and trying to get a bit more sorted, I thought I'd see if anyone knew of anything?

There is one self-hosted project I've seen which does largely what I'd like called Homebox (https://homebox.fly.dev/home) but I have no means of running it as I have no idea about running docker stuff etc and I've not been able to find if anyone has created a docker container that could be added to Home Assistant to run along side a few other services I have on there. Does anyone know of anything similar for Windows?



Edit: Having looked more closely. it seems HomeBox can be run on a windows PC these days - I swear that option wasn't there back in November...or I didn't see it....

Anyway, I now have it running alongside TeamSpeak on a NUC, so I shall begin to log where things are stored as I make a start with decluttering and organising. I know it'll be a lot of work but the hours I have spent in the past looking for things because I couldn't remember where I'd put them is truly ridiculous! If I can be a bit more organised and able to find things more easily it will have been worth the effort!

Looks interesting, can it be run on a web server like on a standard web hosting plan?

 

[valve90210]

No idea I'm afraid, that's not something I've ever tinkered with. It's a small self-contained exe file that writes a data folder for each user. That's all the help I can be I'm afraid. There is a pretty active discord for it which I'm sure will be able to provide more help.

 

[Mysterae_]

Well done on getting started @valve90210, that's the hardest part.

 

[tonys]

We've got a lot of stuff that is just being stored until I can get around to actually using it that we haven't been able to use the conservatory since it was installed. Also have one bedroom and half the new bathroom littered with things and have been for 14yrs.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

How much stuff have you got?! Seems a bit excessive to start archiving the whole thing like a library, although I suppose if it helps you move forward it can't be a bad thing

 

[valve90210]

How much stuff have you got?! Seems a bit excessive to start archiving the whole thing like a library, although I suppose if it helps you move forward it can't be a bad thing

Oh I have a LOT of stuff!! I'm not quite a hoarder but I could seem myself heading down that path if my mental health wasn't as good as it is. I struggle with getting rid of things because I attach a lot of sentiment to objects as they help me remember things that I can't visualise. I think some people can hold onto memories and conjure up images in their mind , I can't do that. If I have an object that reminds me, I get a fleeting glimpse of a visual memory and that's it. Without the objects I know somethings has happened and I remember it but with no real feeling behind it.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Oh I have a LOT of stuff!! I'm not quite a hoarder but I could seem myself heading down that path if my mental health wasn't as good as it is. I struggle with getting rid of things because I attach a lot of sentiment to objects as they help me remember things that I can't visualise. I think some people can hold onto memories and conjure up images in their mind , I can't do that. If I have an object that reminds me, I get a fleeting glimpse of a visual memory and that's it. Without the objects I know somethings has happened and I remember it but with no real feeling behind it.

Good luck! Maybe try a little Marie Kondo

 

[valve90210]

My plan is to be really brutal when it comes to sorting stuff, and things that hold some memory for me I'm going to photograph and keep the photos, tagged and details etc, and get rid of the items to try to cut down on it as much as I can.

 

[DXP55]

Sitting here smiling at this thread and wife walks in loaded with books and christmas wrapping paper on a roll .
She does have half of a wardrobe for books but looking at her trying to get this long roll of wrapping paper in was doing my head in.
Said give it to me and said remember your net ball days -watch.
got roll in each hand above my head and threw it up and over top of wardrobe - See it's gone. OH!!

PS - just been in drawer under the bed and binned 4 landline extension phones - My bit for the day.

 

[valve90210]

Urrgh, trying to make a bit of a start on this today. Anyone else find it utterly soul destroying and incredibly hard work?

Just feels like I'm moving stuff from one box of miscellaneous to another and getting rid of a few bits here and here. I have no idea how I can just get rid of loads of stuff, I always end up with so many boxes of miscellaneous stuff. I hate it?

Doesn't help that I keep coming across things which remind me of my ex.

 

[Armageus]

Just took 17 years worth of old PC Gamer magazines down to the tip.
Kept them up until now, intending to one day look back on the good old days of pc gaming, but obviously never happened and were just taking up space.