The Clutter Fairy Weekly Survey #285 Results
Celebrating Decluttering Wins | Troublesome Subscriptions
Below are the results of our survey released in preparation for episode #285 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly. If you haven’t already done so, please take the survey.
Responses
To view the complete, detailed survey response from any respondent, click on their name (or “Anonymous user”) in the table below. You may also find it easier to read long responses in the detailed view.
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What are your favorite ways to celebrate decluttering and organizing wins? | Describe a subscription that tends to add more clutter to your life than interesting or useful content. |
|---|---|---|
| Alianne | I show progress to my familymembers. Overall I already feel satisfied when I see progress. | Often Newsletters via email. |
| Anonymous user | I guess it’s more of an internal celebration. Feeling happy, taking resultant recycling or garbage to the outdoor bins to feel my win is completed, admiring the decluttered area a few times over the same day or following days. Maybe pointing it out to family members. | I’m happy to say nothing I can think of. |
| Fee | Cheer to myself! | Netflix |
| Gabriella | For me personally, getting something decluttered or integrating a new organizing hack that makes my life easier is intrinsically so rewarding that I need no more celbration than to congratulate myselffor it. | About 15 years ago, I decided to keep my monthly financial obligationns to a bare minimum, which meant no subscriptions. This has proved extremely successful to this day and I see no reason to change a winning team. My achilles heel, however, is that I've subscribed to at least a dozen newsletters that flood my master Email account every day. Since the topics contain useful information that serves my very diverse domains of interest, I hesitate to unsuscribe from them. The content is often excellent and I intend to read it ......wkhich I rarely take thetime to do! Every once in a while I filter and delete selected content. It's not ideal, I admit :o) |
| Jenny | enjoy the space, keep going | |
| Em | I guess I have never celebrated a decluttering success because there is still so much more decluttering to do. Often the project has to do with reorganizing, which starts another mess. | Ìn aboout 1980, I stopped all magazine subscriptions because I found it impossible to throw them away, even thouth they were mostly fluff and eye candy. I have never again subscribing to anything that arrives via the postal service, I never subscribed to anything that arrives by cable or dish. On the computer, I am automatically subscribed by clicking to read certain articles, but I have no problem with clicking the unsubscribe button when the junk mail arrives. |
| C | I like to think over /dwell on how easy or difficult it was, how long it took and enjoy the accomplishment. Sometimes I'll share it with my best friend, ClutterFairyH or with my other priate forum: ClutterBeGone group. | Ah yes, there's an internet "Apothecary " that just won't stop sending me notices, and also a Flower/Plants site. Same for holiday sites we've been to and booked with. I delete all but the last notice every few months. |
| Lisa Beth | When I finish decluttering a big area/room, I reward myself to a budget fitting organization. I have a Victorian with 17 rooms, attic and basement. Plus out buildings and 5 porches. So I try to reset the rooms ive reclaimed since a tornado&derecho in 23. I've been through all of it once and am 2 outbuildings and 2 rooms from my clutter threshold. | Digital clutter and mail my hubby signs up for take more energy than I m comfortable with. |
| Ginger | ▪️I celebrate by taking photos and posting them in the Facebook decluttering groups I’ve joined. There are 2 that ask for weekly wins. And, I have one that’s a household work group I’ve belonged to since 2013. ▪️I post before & after pics in my private Facebook page I use for my home organizing projects. | ▪️Magazine Subscriptions = none. We get one free magazine from our electricity coop - but we both enjoy it. I clip any images I want for my art journals and we drop it in recycling. ▪️Email Subscriptions = minimal. I clear my email daily. When I find myself deleting some without reading them - I unsubscribe from them. Mine have been related to health or decluttering. ▪️Streaming = we do have a few of these. I track all expenses. I keep a list of subscriptions with the payment details. Amount, when due, how paid. Each year - I assess our use of these and make changes. |
| Johanna | I don't celebrate. I beat myself up about not doing it sooner and for keeping all this crap. Then I'm overcome by dread because I know that it will look the same in a few weeks. I've never gotten to a point where my place was organised, tidy and clean. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle, not like celebrating. | Every email from every retailer that I ever gave my email to in order to receive the 10% welcome discount. The more emails they send, the more unlikely I am to buy from them again. |
| Ingmari | I enjoy the look and new feel of the space. I high-five myself. | A magazine subscription I have to support an organisation. Letters from organisations I donate to, asking for more donations. |
| Lise | When a project is complete - I feel great and can enjoy a movie or sketch/draw with no guilt. | I have no subscriptions - less to deal with. |
| Kathy | Its relaxing, peaceful, serene you want to be in the space. | You spend so much on cable instead of being motivated your seniitary on a chair instead of actively keeping up. |
| Denise | I don’t do anything special, but it makes me feel great and motivated to continue. My first big project was my kitchen cabinets and countertops. What a difference! Now I keep everything neat, clean and organized every day and I’m loving it. | Emails from businesses I might have purchased 1 item from 6 years ago and all the other businesses that have my email address on their list. I’m constantly unsubscribing. |
| PJ from Wiltshire | Basking in the feeling of another cleared space, whenever I walk back into the room & see it, or open the drawer and the thing I want is actually right there. Enjoying the feeling of accomplishment, and the peace from one less pile shouting at me to sort it out. | Monthly candles in a box - I never get through them all & they're piled up in the corner. A lot of friends and charity shops are going to get little candles in boxes this Christmas!! |
| Evelin | the decluttered space is reward enough 🙂 | I don't have any subscriptions that are to pay for. Pinterest sends me Emails almost every day. "you might like this", well yes, I remember looking at that photo but what are you trying to sell me? still worth it. |
| Danetta | Relaxing with one of my hobbies: knitting, reading, eating something yummy, or watching a foreign film on Netflix | Any place that you’ve ever bought anything: Take a cruise and you’ll get three emails a week for the next three years. Buy one tote and you’ll get weekly ads that quadruple at holiday time. Same with running shoes, clothing, knitting supplies…. After you buy something you have to unsubscribe unless you plan on buying new socks every week! |
| Jeanne. | I share my small victories online. I enjoy the encouragement my varied communities provide | I delete and block scams but it seems they always return to haunt me |
| Terry | A friend of mine is also decluttering - we text each other when we make some progress. | Email: Promotional emails clutter my Inbox and my brain. And they steal time as I look at the items they are offering (and sometimes divert me for minutes/hours once I start looking around online). Fundraising emails that come with alarming regularity once one contributes and often with alarmist subject lines. Facebook: Not a subscription per se, but definitely regularly offering up content that can enlighten but also distracts me regularly from many minutes (hours?) of things I want to accomplish. There are some small local shops that only provide info on Facebook - I go on to see what the specials are today and end up going down the Facebook rabbit hole. Same with Instagram, but to a much lesser degree. Substack subscriptions: they provide a lot of valuable content, but some are quite long and time consuming to read. |
| Rose | I treat myself by purchasing a 1-month subscription (ad-free with bonus episodes) to podcast channels I enjoy listening to like Wondery, NPR, or Lemonada. | |
| Peggy | I don't do anything specific... but I always feel happy to have made decluttering decisions! | I get so many emails from everywhere! |
| Allison | I don't really celebrate. There's just quiet satisfaction that more stuff is out the door. | I signed up with a new health insurance company for next year and it's inundating me with emails. Can't really unsubscribe so I'll hope the barrage stops soon. No other issues with subscriptions fortunately. |
| Ellen in West Michigan | I sometimes share the news with a friend who is also paring down. I enjoy looking at the new, simplified space and appreciating the donations or trash that are going. Sometimes I treat myself to an upgrade (i.e. better quality cookware or sheets or the perfect storage solution), or just extra time to do something I enjoy. | I would have said that I don't have any subscriptions except renewing my Take Your House Back course every year, until you mentioned emails. I subscribe to eight podcasts. I haven't listened to two of them for months. It's time for them to go. I feel like I am drowning in marketing emails and every time I think I've gotten the list down, gmail starts inundating me with more. It's hard when you are doing business with a company and they decide that gives them the right to send you a half dozen emails a day so you are likely to miss any that you actually need. |
| Noreen | I celebrate by traveling and exploring instead of decluttering. | Emails from so many retailers that I don't even remember shopping at. I am now getting ruthless about unsubscribing and blocking them. |
| The Maggs | I honestly do not celebrate. Having my house look better and more spacious is celebration and reward enough for me. | I have cancelled all the subscriptions I had that I didn’t use. I have 1-2 tv subscriptions I have which we use all the time. Before we were swamped with subscriptions we did not regularly use. |
| Ruth | Sitting in my chair, enjoying the peace and joy of having an uncluttered space. | |
| The Maggs | I honestly do not celebrate. Having my house look better and more spacious is celebration and reward enough for me. | I have cancelled all the subscriptions I had that I did. It use. I have 1-2 tv subscriptions I have which we use all the time. Before we were swamped with subscriptions we did not regularly use. |
| Marilyn | Way too many ads from items I bought years ago! Seminars i am not interested in. Beauty tips that i don't need. | |
| Dawn | I revel in the joy of accomplishing something! I encourage myself with the fact I'm one step closer and to not give up now. I tell the friends of mine who care about it/me in this regard. I share with the Clutter Fairy community as I have the opportunity. | Magazines which come in the mail (which I haven't subscribed to)...companies wanting to inform or get my business. (Not many) Some still come from the former owners 6 1/2 years ago. The thing about magazines for me, though, is that I look through them for the pictures to use potentially in scrapbooking, before tossing the remainder. Something easy to do in front of the TV when I'm dialing it down in terms of energy needing to be expended. |
| Lela | I step back, release a big sigh of relief, & stare at the final result while thinking about how much more functional & easy-to-maintain the area will be in the future. If my mom is there with me, we definitely do a happy dance celebration! Lol | I generally avoid subscriptions |
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What are your favorite ways to celebrate decluttering and organizing wins? | Describe a subscription that tends to add more clutter to your life than interesting or useful content. |
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