Survey #288—Full Response from L
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| What did you learn about yourself or your stuff through your decluttering and organizing process in 2025? | I learned that if I don't have a flat surface or drawers to put things on or in, I won't have as many things! Just this month, I decided to declutter a spare bedroom that I thought I would use as an office but didn't. So, I donated two dressers, three file cabinets and a kitchen table and chair. Now, I have two plant stands with all my plants on them, a massage chair and a desk and chair in there. I really like the calm feeling I get when I go in there now! I also learned that my loved ones aren't in the items that they once owned, allowing me to declutter more of their items that weren't my style. |
| What new decluttering or organizing ideas, methods, or techniques proved helpful in 2025? Were there any game-changers? | I think that the container method by Dana K. White helped me the most this year. It forced me to make some hard decisions! Also, keeping a representative sample of a collection instead of the whole collection, from Gayle and Ed! And Swedish Death cleaning, asking myself if anyone would care to inherit my items. If the answer was no, I really had to ask myself why I was keeping it. If I enjoy it then I'll keep it but if I said to myself, maybe so and so would like this, it needed to go. The people I'm leaving my things to are my daughter and son and I look at where they are in their lives, daughter 39, single lives in an apartment out of town, son 35, married with two kids, two dogs and two cats and a house full of furniture and things they enjoy. And another thing I've done for the past three years I learned from Vera on Simple Happy Zen. She counts the things she buys, not counting consumables, and the things she declutters during the year. This keeps me on track of what's coming into the house and what's going out. This year my ratio is 6 out 1 in! So many good podcasts and techniques out there! I like the different points of views and ideas from different people. Sometimes I think I have to trick my mind into releasing things. The good thing is that I don't miss the items once they are gone! |
| What did you accomplish in 2025 for which you’d like to pat yourself on the back (and enjoy the acknowledgments of The Clutter Fairy community)? | I've been slowly decluttering the items that I inherited from my dad when he passed fifteen years ago, along with the things from my children's childhoods. Sometimes I would get inpatient with the slow process I was making and couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel and would get discouraged. There were times I had to give myself grace because I had to pause for a while before I could start again, and I know now, that's ok. My house is now at a comfortable level of belongings. |
| How do you plan to apply what you learned in 2025 to your 2026 projects? What new decluttering or organizing projects would you like to take on next? | I'm not sure yet. I need to get through Christmas first; that's my focus right now! |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | Gayle, how are you adjusting to a house with fewer walls than your last place? You've mentioned the lack of walls a couple of times and it's hard to tell if you think it's a good thing or a bad thing or something you just need to adjust to. I also have moved from a house with walls that separate each room, to an open concept layout and had to learn to use area rugs to define a space. Now I'm back to a house with walls. It's also easier to control the temperature in each area when you have walls. It could be the age of the house, though, and lack of insulation! |
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