The Clutter Fairy Weekly Survey #166 Results
Clutter Through the Ages
Responses to Essay Questions
To view the detailed survey response from any respondent, click on their name 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) | Briefly describe who will benefit from your efforts to declutter and get organized and how they’ll benefit. | Tell us about a memory of a person or incident from the formative years of your life that influenced your attitudes and emotions about belongings, clutter, etc. | What is the strongest memory to which you feel connected by way of an object, such as a souvenir, photo, or keepsake? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeanne | All of the above! Mostly me for peace of mind | My mother only became a hoarder in her midlife | My silver engraved baby cup |
| darcy | I will benefit the most with peace of mind and restful surroundings my household will be peaceful, orderly and inviting. my heirs, too, won't have as much to dispose of after I die. (my 81 yr old mom has been asking her heirs what they might want of hers when she dies and no one really wants anything. she realizes that what is special to her is not special to anyone else.) I would hope that whomever gets my "hand-me-downs" whether the thrift store, a selected friend, a Craigslist customer, or a garage sale customer will enjoy and use whatever they think they need to own. and lastly, I need to pare down what I already have, but I also need to stop purchasing things that I think I can't do without. this should send our consumer driven world a message that my life isn't about stuff. and, hopefully, will set an example to those around me to enjoy life and the people and experiences rather than stuff... | mostly, I want to travel. to see the world and meet the people. stuff ties me down. between sayings like "to live a traveler's life, own only what you can carry" and being interested in the bedouins (Arabian gypsies that helped define the Arabian horse breed) lifestyle when I was in 6th grade, and Marie Kondo who says to keep only what brings me joy, I am well on my way to having just the essentials that fit into just the perfect pieces of luggage. my 2023 word is "portable". you know, I even remember as a kid, growing up in a fire area, while falling asleep at night, I would imagine if I had to evacuate and could only take 3 things, what would they be? or 1 thing, what would it be? or whatever number I wanted to entertain. I believe there was some connection, also, to having read The Diary of Anne Frank | my dad's class ring. my dad is 20 years older than me, so I graduated from high school exactly 20 years after he did. I remember being offered a class ring of my own, but I did not like them and thought they were a waste of money. I did, however, tell my folks that in lieu of a class ring, I would love to have my dad's class ring sized to fit me and THAT be my class ring. BTW, we both graduated from the same high school, he in 1959 (the year on the ring) and me in 1979. it is a little bulky since it is a man's ring, on my petite finger, but I do treasure it. maybe even more now that he is gone. |
| Bina | Hadn't really thought about. Mainly me because family who don't live here keep whinging | My father was a “collector” | A photo of my father from when he was young. |
| Sandra | I will benefit as my stuff will be easier to use/access my care staff benefit as they can find and put away things quickly and easily which makes their job easier local charities benefit when I send unwanted items to charity shops others will benefit if they buy any of the items that I sell when I eventually have to move (into sheltered accommodation or care home) the move will be a bit easier as less stuff to deal with (although it will still be a massive downsize) and when I die whoever has to deal with my estate (probably a solicitor as I don’t have any children) will have a much simpler task | My parents kept lots of stuff ‘just in case’ in the garage and shed and loft as we were poor and they grew up even poorer so everything was mended or upcycled or stripped for reusable parts | My childhood toys have been the hardest to let go of though right now due to my poor memory I’m unable to mention anything in particular though if I had a particular item in my hands I would probably be able to tell you about it |
| Marsh | A lighter load for myself first. This clutter takes so much out of me just to "maintain it". I know the usable treasures I have can benefit others. | My family came from immense wealth to nothing overnight. They then traveled by rope packed old Model Ford trucks from Bunker Missouri to California to create an entirely new life. NOTHING was wasted or lightly used. Ever. | The many black and white still photos of my family going back to the early 1800's. Their horses, their wagons, their fields and farms. Their style of dress, hair, hats... In humor my Great-Grandfather never gave up on his former life hence in every picture he is wearing hat, nice pair of slacks and tie! Even as he is working the 2 horse plow! |
| Anonymous user | I don’t remember my paternal grandma with much stuff around. My mom’s house was such a clutter chaos at the last place we lived (1970-1993, until she passed away). I inherited that gene, my sister did not. She is a clean freak. I wasn’t too bad until my kids got in middle school. I just couldn’t throw anything away. | I have a photo of my mom and her brother when washer was about 3, he was about 2. It is so special to me, since my mom is no longer living. | |
| Hila | My family. A few stuff and digital paper and document that i made with loyer Make it easy to organize all after my death | Old people. Hoarder woman that i lived with her. Old woman without children that was messy housea d coudnt organized because she was ill. | My painting and writing book. Ii am keeping it scanned in my computer |
| Anonymous user | I don’t remember my paternal grandma with much stuff around. My mom’s house was such a clutter chaos at the last place we lived (1970-1993, until she passed away). I inherited that gene, my sister did not. She is a clean freak. I wasn’t too bad until my kids got in middle school. I just couldn’t throw anything away. | I have a photo of my mom and her brother when washer was about 3, he was about 2. It is so special to me, since my mom is no longer living. | |
| KeriSu | My mental health, my relationship with my husband, his mental health. Can invite people over and have family, friend and church get together. Is getting rid of crafting items enabling others? | I don't really know where I got my inclination to hang on to "stuff" "things" hold special memories of people in my life and incidents in my life. Pictures are just tucked away. | Visiting my aunts and uncles. Seeing the things they had in their home. When I see them in my home, it instantly takes me back. I can see where it was in their home. It's just a good feeling. I don't have alot of my parents things yet but I am concerned because I don't have a "place" to put them. I will certainly have to down size. |
| Susan Marie | Myself, and my two dogs will benefit. One dog is almost totally blind, so her best environment is ideally one with less stuff and certainly no piles or packages on the floor to run into. | My Father saved things that could be used again - he came from a poor family & lived through the Depression during which he and his sister were temporarily placed in an orphanage. He taught us to live frugally, and take very good care of what we had. As a result, things don’t get so worn or damaged so I tend to therefore keep them long term. | |
| Suzanne | I am not a seller so my declutter benefits those who work or buy through Goodwill and The Salvation Army Thriftstore. My decluttering also benefits 1 women's’ shelter and anyone who takes items I put to the kerb during our city’s giveaway weekends. My decluttering benefits my sons’ mental health as it helps our current lives and alleviates fears they have of having to handle what is left behind when I die. The planet benefits or is less impacted by having less garbage to swallow up as my decluttering efforts have greatly minimized my purchases and potential future garbage. My future grandchildren will benefit by my being able to spend quality time with them without clutter being a problem, a distraction, or a priority. | My memory is of living in a fun and uncluttered home as my mom had great decision-making skills and was not attached to any possessions. She modelled this but I never picked up on it. Why am I only picking up on this? I have great difficulty making decisions, am a procrastinator and a perfectionist with anxiety and ADHD. She was great at letting things go and didn’t about financial insecurity as I did. Thank goodness she didn’t have clutter in the home - i don’t know where I’d be. | I had a lite-bright box in which I kept all the special things a child of 11 or 12 years old keeps - one dollar bills, mementos, little keepsakes, and so on. This memory seldom comes up but it is my first loss of items and of everything I had. A babysitter stole the box. I don’t know why I didn’t mention it to my parents. I learned later that that well-paid Monday to Friday stole a number of items from my parents including clothing purchased for my 4 brothers. My parents sure were kind and compassionate. |
| Ellen in W Michigan | I benefit because it is easier to keep clean. My kids benefit because I need less help and it will be easier when I have to go into a nursing home or die. Unknown beneficiaries because I finally made the decision to donate my scooter, wheelchair, and walker and trust that there will be some way to afford them again if needed without me storing, possibly for years. The thrift store I donate to helps others who are displaced as well as selling things, so they benefit and I benefit from someone else finding who can use my things I no longer need. | My mom was a perfectionist about having a clean house, but I was the oldest in a large family so we didn't have a lot and held on to our stuff and took care of it or had to pass it down to younger siblings. For too many years, I just wanted to "have nice things like other people", but I just had too much and a lot of it was still cheap junk. | I love knowing the "story" of things and much of my furniture came from others, but my strongest memories are of things, people, and times that are gone. Still won't give up my oak kitchen table that belonged to my husband's grandparents, though. It is about 83 years old and unusual. |
| C | Oh, most of the above, mostly so that we have it easier to manoever in this place as we age. This is valid for the past efforts as well, as we have donated quite a bit already. Our next generation has "warned" us that they want nothing, so we should just give away what we want to whomever wants it/ can benefit from it. | I grew up in so called developing world and saw how resourceful and creative people were with what they had; That made me think of everything having more than one use. At the same time, because we moved so often, many of my things were given away without my deciding/knowing. I was often left very sad. Later in life, I visited many homes and noted what worked and what didn't, in terms of organization and the effect of clutter and messes. | The photo album my mother made for me about my childhood and teen years. |
| Anonymous user | All of the above | My mothers house was always full of stuff | Idk |
| Anonymous user | Local weekend medievalist group who will sell/buy the stuff i donate. Local sewing supply donation shop - someone will really want the Issay Miyake coat pattern. My housemate who will get trade credit at the local used bookstore. | Friend's houses always looked so nice. | I have a piece of coal I stole in England (from an early 19th century house outbuilding. |
| Lela | Local people having hard times will benefit because the charity I usually donate to uses their sale proceeds to provide food at the food pantry in the same building. My family & I will benefit from a easily maintained home now & less work for our daughter when we are gone. | My aunt lived in a filthy hoarded house with dirt-lined paths to walk through in each room. I only visited there a couple of times as a child, but it shocked me because my mother kept our house spotless. | My grandmother’s necklace has become to me a symbol of her, in a way. I wore it to my daughter’s college graduation yesterday & told her that her great-grandmother was there in my heart celebrating with us because she would have been so very proud of my daughter’s accomplishments. |
| Anonymous user | I think I've been setting a good example for my children since I've started decluttering. And think most things I donated got a new life because I use a targeted approach. It takes longer but it's more rewarding, for instance like my colleague who has 5 boys who never said no to a bag of clothes - some still new. | My mom threw away some favourite books because they had spent years in the attic and they smelled real bad. Fair enough. If you want to keep something, store it properly. | Gifts from my late grand-mother. Anything she touched and picked for me means she's still here with me. |
| Evelin | my health and my partner because it will be easier to keep the house clean, the women who get my clothes that don´t fit me anymore friends who could come over to visit | I cannot remember that we ever decluttered anything when I was a child. If something broke it would never be replaced or repaired, it stayed where it was - broken. | My books from school, I loved to read them. |
| Brigitte | First of all Hubby and I benefit of our clean and shiny home. Then our son and 2 granddaughters (16&18). Of course all the people who receive what we offer and last but not least our surroundings, because we leave an as small as possible trail. Living a more conscious life makes us happy! | My granny was what we call a hoarder now. I loved her so much, even though I felt shame for how she lived and I wil never forget the terrible smell of her home. I promised myself to stay away from heaps of alcohol and to keep our home as clean as possible. | I inhabited a rose quartz necklace of my Mom. She had fallen in love with the jeweler who made it for her. It does not fit me as much it did my moms, still I love to hold it in my hands once in a while and sense a warm feeling of connection with my ‘Mutti’🥰 |
| Margaret | Me, me, me! Husband and kids can see the memories treasures. | Dad was always trying to save money. After my mother no longer kept house, he would save and reuse plastic take-out containers, plastic produce bags, plastic grocery bags, take-out plastic utensils, etc. When he was aging, one of my sisters and myself would visit every 3 months. We, siblings, had a pact that we would bring an extra empty suitcase and fill it with some of these hoarded items secretly (it was never missed because the remaining plastic bags would expand to fill the drawers). We also had a pact to accept whatever he wanted to give us even if we didn't really want it. On the way to the airport to fly home, I would swing by the recycling center and unload what I could. Sometimes I emptied my extra suitcase into garbage cans at the airport before boarding my flight. | Working my way through my mending box earlier this week, I came across a smallish white towel, smallish meaning somewhere between a hand towel and a bath towel. I am restitching the hem so I can use it a little longer. This well-worn towel is a sentimental favorite of mine, although every time I see “Texas Children’s Hospital” woven into the gray band down its center, I have a tiny frisson of guilt that someone will think that I pilfered it. But I didn’t. I even protested a little when the nurse pressed it into my hands and insisted I take it all those years ago. It is the Christmas Eve when my son was in fifth grade, that final year of young childhood, that final year of being a homeroom parent, that final year of cupcakes in class on your kid’s birthday, that final year of Little League and Cub Scouts*, that final year of homemade Halloween costumes and unfeigned trick-or-treating, that final year of young motherhood. The living room is lit by the Christmas tree and our family of three are basking in the glow after opening presents. The “boys” – Dad and Son – are starting to rough-house, chasing each other around a heavy walnut desk chair. Face to face, Dad’s hands are on the arms of the chair and Son’s hands are on the back of the chair. Suddenly Dad lets go and the chair flips backward and cracks across Son’s right forearm. As time slowed, I see the pallor of shock swept cross Son’s face. Dad grabs the car keys and Son, I grab a blanket, and we are off to the emergency room. In a slight drizzle, we pull up under the portico of the ER entrance at Texas Children’s Hospital. The city streets had been quiet and nearly deserted, but here the lights blaze and all is a bustling efficiency. A wheelchair is rolled up; Son is unloaded and I follow. Exiting the car, I grab a “homeless meal packet” from the backseat floorboards and am prepared to spend hours at the ER. My eyes never leaving my son, I describe the accident to the ER personnel and it is decided that x-rays are in order. Son is put into a hospital bed and we wait for his turn in radiology. Sometime later, he is wheeled away and then brought back. I am told that his left arm is just fine. Whew. … Wait a minute - it is his right arm that was injured! Back to x-ray and, yes, his right forearm has a hairline fracture. A purple cast is applied and, when he has stabilized, we are told we can go home. Dad pulls up in the car, Son is loaded into my arms in the backseat and a nurse presses a white hospital towel into my hands so I can sop up Son’s dopey drool – “keep it” she insists. So this small towel, the memento of a Christmas Eve in Texas Children’s Hospital ER, is a reminder that I truly have been a real MoM. Next up in my memory mending box, the long-underwear with the split right sleeve** that Son wore that January to winter scout camp. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * In truth, Son was already in Boy Scouts but a little literary artistic license enhances the telling of this tale. ** In reality, the sleeve of the long-underwear was sewn closed years ago and the long-underwear was given to the troop’s “uniform bank.” (I now sleep with this towel under my pillow.) |
| Lala | Hmmm, everyone I guess. | My depression era parents and my mother in particular was a hoarder of mostly newspapers. Now that is one thing my house does NOT have any of... out they go! | My father worked all the time when he wasn't sleeping, so I barely knew him at all, growing up. After he retired, my parents lived in a camper in the deep woods in Montana in the summers. I went to visit them and finally got to know my wonderful father over many campfires. I have a picture of him sitting by a campfire that I can always see. I treasure that one the most of all my pictures. |
| Anonymous user | We were a military family. When I was very young we moved every six months. Then as my father moved up in rank we moved every year. The military puts a weight limit on how much they will ship, So my mother always made us get rid of what she considered junk before a move. So I've decluttered all my life. | When I was real little we were decluttering for a move. My mom was going through my (what are now called) stuffies. She told me to think about all the little children like me who would be happy to get my old toys. I was very happily discarding my less favored toys. Among other things I chose to donate my chimpanzee who was dressed in clothing with a bowtie and plastic white tennis shoes. My mom would have none of it. She had memories attached to that monkey and made me keep it. Instead she made me get rid of my beloved chocolate brown teddy bear. I cried and cried for that bear. | |
| Diana | 1. My husband and I will benefit from finding things we lost and being able to find the things we use more easily. Also we will have a more serene environment to live in. If we ever have to move again, it will be much easier for having gotten rid of things we don't use or love. 2. I do hope the items I donate get to people who need and can use them. Hope the tchotchkes I've donated get to someone who will love them. 3. I know our daughter will have a lighten burden when we're gone because of all the items we weren't using or loving that are no longer in our home. | My mom bought most of the things she wanted. Kitchen cabinets got way overly crowded. I remember once I put her spices in alphabetical order and she was NOT pleased 🙂 Mom threw away things she decided she didn't want. I never knew about donating when I was a child. Would have loved it if we had known to donate clothes we had grown out of. Would have been a wonderful life lesson. | I feel very connected to photos of my parents. I have a few photos of them when they were children and some great photos of them when they were married, before they had children. One wedding photo in particular I love is my mom with a great expression standing in front of their wedding cake. I think she was joking that she was going to smash cake into my dad's face but I don't think she did. I wish she would have kept that sense of humor with him. |
| Christine | Mostly right now just doing it for my family and myself. Having less is beginning to simplify every area of my house. It is easier to clean and easier to keep clean. I have a ways to go but my family and I are benefiting already from my getting rid of so much. My mood has changed as well. | I remember lots of nicknacks growing up. My single dad whom I lived with hating to dust, but I recall lots of little figurines on shelves, no wonder he hated to dust. | My grandmother’s antique comfy rocking chair and ottoman. I have had it sense she died in the late 90’s. It was very dated with green and orange colors and a skirt. I just finally this last fall painted it and had it reupholstered by a shop nearby, a $225 update well worth the money. I sit in this chair every morning reading my Bible and drinking my coffee. It now fits my decor and I love. I think my daughter is waiting for me to die so it can be hers! |
| Kelley | I will benefit from having a decluttered space immediately after it's done. My children will not need to get rid of tons of things like I had to when moving my mom to assisted living. As I typically offer up items in our local but nothing group, my neighbors benefit and community benefit by not needing to buy something they can use immediately. As I have young adult children, I'm hoping that they can see getting rid of stuff and only having what you need and really want, maybe they won't have to go through the decluttering process to this extent. | I can say that there was a common activity of acquisition--it was a fun almost sporting activity to go to yard sales and sometimes storage building auctions and see what good items you could find for little money. This was with my parents early ona Saturday morning --grabbing breakfast and heading out on an adventure. There was always positive emotions associated with it--family funtime if you will. This was passed on to me, but I stopped when I realized I was getting too much stuff and I was going alone. I don't have negative memories of too much stuff growing up. When I had to empty my mom's house without her input, I realized then that she had some dysfunction of acquiring things ....hidden sets of dishes never seen (like 5 sets under beds and in closets)--her house was not cluttered but she had lots of house (3000sq ft) and lots of closets and beds. This hasade the biggest impact on my process of decluttering. | I have a quilt handmade by my grandmother. She made it especially for me--she promised me if I won the county spelling bee I was in that she'd make me a quilt. I won and went on to represent my state in the national spelling bee in 6th grade. This quilt was made by using some squares made by a great aunt who was deceased (and Nanny told me not to tell anyone they were my aunt's) and she used a happy yellow as sliping (the material in between the squares). She made all of her grandchildren quilts, but this one was done separate from those--it was especially for me. ❤️ |
| Debra | Anyone who will have to manage my affairs when I am gone, & anyone who would help me pack and move eventually | The house I grew up in had beautiful bones, light, and no clutter. That has been my greatest influence as I aspire to that same feeling wherever I live. | Household goods (dishes, pottery, daily use items) which I have picked up along the way during many travels. I buy useful things from artisans wherever I go instead of the usual tourist souvenirs. I am not sentimental about physical items per se, and have nothing from my childhood, as I wasn’t sentimental about things then either. But my most beloved items are my practical things that have a story. My morning coffee is in a handmade mug, my marble soap dish was bought from the artisan in person in Slovenia, etc. |
| Celina | only me lol 😀 i'm kidless and unmarried. | when I organized my things, my aunt said that my birthmother (her sister) was "like that too, so neat and organized and collected everything, the smallest scrap, a candy wrapping even". It made me feel proud I was so organized. In fact it was just a buch of worthless clutter. | I have a toy lion and a rabbit I cried into when I had a surgery I was 5. i still have them 🙂 |
| Anonymous user | Me, living a quieter, calmer life. | Granny’s house was packed. When she passed and Mom had to clean and sell the house, it was a lot of work; grieving didn’t help either. I told mom then, don’t do this to me. Mom had a lot of stuff, it was well organized but still a lot. I’m learning to be a lot less sentimental in my old age. LOL | Seeing old photos and remembering how my Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, cousins would talk about them. |
| Julie | My husband and I in our household, since we live in it daily. I never thought much about others who would be happy to have our excess stuff / donations. We have plenty of stuff and wouldn't miss a lot of it that we don't use or love. In the past, I have been on the opposite end. I have been the child whose parents shopped at the thrift store. I have also relied on thift stores when I was a young adult, both for clothing and household items. It was a joy to find something we needed! Thank you for the reminder. | My dad was a hoarder when I grew up with him. He had papers cover the entire kitchen counter and boxes stacked up everywhere where we could hardly walk. He was afraid to get rid of anything and found the use on everything. He taught me feel very attached to my own physical items. | Things from my childhood, such as a stack of books that I never read. I can remember being a child and how I felt just at that time by seeing the book covers. I keep thinking I may want these story books as I get older or regret getting rid of them. |
| Linda | I guess everyone I know would benefit by my streamlining my life and belongings - it would save them time and money too. . I was told by a daughter-in-law that “Nobody wants your stuff”. It hurt in a way because I grew up in a family that treasured old unique historical items. But it also opened my eyes to real hard facts! | At one time My great grandparents had a museum in their home (Native American artifacts) and later in life I remember being at their house an it really was stuffed to the rafters - there were”trails” through the house and every surface was loaded. Their daughter (my grandmother) lived in a 14 room Victorian and it was lovely, but imagine having enough to fill a home of that size. She downsized as she aged and moved in to 5 or 6 smaller homes keeping the very best each time she downsized. | |
| Anonymous user | My adult children will be free to live their own lives, and not waste their valuable time and life decluttering my stuff. I am responsible for my own stuff. | My parents had 9 children, so things were used up or handed down from child to child. The large families did not have to declutter. Life did that for them automatically. | I have a secretary that my mother bought the year I was born, in the city I was born. Also, my son made my hand a huge wooden chest, when he was in middle school for shop class. Those 2 pieces mean the most to me. |
| Summer | I am delighted to share the items I no longer love or need with those who will love and need them. Also, I am determined to leave my children minimal amount of my earthly possessions. | I had the exhaustive and draining experience of cleaning out my parents lifelong home. It impressed on me how unfair it is to leave it to your heirs. | |
| Anonymous user | My family now. The people who purchase my donations at the thrift store. My survivors after I die. | I grew up in a hoarded house. It was so embarrassing because my mother wouldn't throw anything away. But I picked up some similar habits. When I moved out I used to save catsup packets from fast food meals just like my mother -- only my packets were "organized" in a plastic bag. One day I ran out of catsup and opened one of the 10-year-old packets I'd moved from another state with me. It was dried up. I ended up opening all the packets and they were all dried up. I don't save condiment packets anymore. | |
| Anonymous user | My cat who will have more room to run around, my church when I donate stuff to the church tag sale, thrift store when I donate stuff, shoppers at the church tag sale and thrift store... | Who gave it to me | |
| Ginger | ▪️My husband and I will benefit by having less inventory to manage and clean. We are feeling the calm & peace of a simpler life, ▪️Our daughter will benefit by having less to dispatch when we’re gone. We have simplified and organized our finances & important papers. Now, we’re disposing of the stuff we no longer use or need. We hope she’ll be able to quickly offload stuff to donation centers. And, pass along the items we’ve designated for other people. (Jewelry, Genealogy Research, etc.) ▪️Our community will benefit from our donations to our local shelters & Goodwill. These items can live out their useful lives helping others. ▪️The planet will benefit from the items we recycle and because we acquire less now, There is less going to the landfill (at least by us). | ▪️My mother (& father) raised 8 children in a mid-century, 4 bedroom, ranch style home. I don’t ever remember it being cluttered. I don’t remember any angst about getting rid of stuff. She just did it. Even the stuff my father brought home from yet another garage sale. 😬 ▪️My aunt and I were always working together to declutter and organize her home. We bought and read all the organizing books. (I’ve kept those books.) Her home wasn’t a cluttered mess - but she was forever reorganizing things. She did KonMari folding before Marie Kondo was born. | That’s a tough decision. I almost lost my husband last year in May. I lost a sister in October and both of my parents in December. Emotions are still raw. ▪️I have a business card with a note written on the back of it. Handed to me by a man in a restaurant in 1987. We’ve been together since our first date a few weeks later. ▪️I keep a list of sentimental items - and why I keep them. I review it every year. Slowly, over time - some of the items are losing their sentimentality for me. The glass basket from my first home in 1977. A red glass footed dish received as a wedding gift. The dammit doll from my daughter. A few items gifted to me by co-workers. |
| S | Myself 🙂 Hopefully those who need things. | My dad is a hoarder and I inherited some of the trait, which I’m trying to deal with. Since I was little, I have always wanted to be a person who could move really easily if I had to - with only a backpack worth of stuff. I’m in no way in that position, and I have never been. My parents gave gifts instead of appropriate Arte tin and love. So, I have a lot of sentimental things, some of it is useful and some of it isn’t. I’m attracted to minimalism, but it’s not the way I live at the moment, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get even close to that. | I have so much stuff. I really have to think about this. But you’ve given me an idea. It’s perhaps best to keep only the things I made together with my parents. Ok, now that I’ve had some time away from my phone - the most sentimental items I have are things that are both useful and have a story - the quilt my late grandmother made for me - I use it as my blanket when I sleep. My late aunt made me a tea set when I was little, several of the pieces have since broken and have been discarded, but I use the plates and tray that survived. Also, things my parents appeared to really work hard to get - like they actually listened to me and found the thing. |
| Sandra | My children will benefit the most, because the "extra" stuff will be gone. I have already gifted a lot of things to family/friends, with the leftovers going to local thrift shops. I sponsor a family from Ukraine,and gave a lot of household goods to them. Very very little has gone to the dump. When we cleared my parents' home, most of it went to extended family and several young people who were just starting out. (The bonus was that they came and picked things up, so I didn't have to take it anywhere! ) Whatever they replaced of their own with things that had belonged to my parents, they gave to the local Salvation Army thrift shop. We even made cleaning rags from things like old tshirts, instead of throwing it out. The rags are used in my house, then my hubby's shop, and then the garage , before finally being thrown out. Not everyone can do this of course, but we did. | My father grew up during the Depression. I remember my grandmother and mother saying: Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without. and "A penny saved is a penny earned." I remember as a child in the 1950s washing out plastic bread bags and hanging them on the line to reuse. Several children at our one-room school brought their lunch in the pails that Christmas candy came in. Foil was reused if it was clean, or washed first if it wasn't. Hand-me down clothes and patched clothes for play were the norm, although my family was fortunate enough not to "need " to. I remember thinking that when I grew up, I was going to have more than one pair of good shoes! I still only have the basic for footwear, but as a child that was my plan/hope. | A brooch from Scotland that my grandfather gave my grandmother in about 1930! She wore it for over 30 years, then my mother had it for over 30 years, then me for about 30 years , and now my daughter has it as of 2023. I remember my grandmother wearing it and hated to part with it, but it'll be good for my granddaughters to see their mother wearing it and know the history of it. |
| Jeanne | Decluttering is usually a benefit to all if done in an eco friendly manner. I have gifted, donated, and sold many items over the years. We once had successful , artful a Vintage Sales Company. We have channeled an astounding range of items! I am very minimal minded, since a senior senior now, and constantly seek to downsize my possessions. | We both have had to clear up disastrous messes for departed family, the latest when we were elderly ourselves. It was physically and financially crippling. | My silver baby cup with my name engraved on it. |
| Marilyn | Me! And ultimately my husband, my family and others in the world. A place for our stuff and less for our children to have to sort out when we are gone! | My grandmother had a lot of things, but they were well organized. My mother had a lot of things, but she relied on others to keep them up. I was always fairly well organized, but my second husband is challenged by keeping things neat. He does not see clutter and gets preoccupied and lets things go and then later gets overwhelmed by what he has left behind. I see it and it disturbs me, but it is a constant source of disagreements. He takes all comments very personally, and it is difficult to get him to clean up after himself. I used to do it myself, but I realized he did not even notice and then was irritated when his items were moved around. STRESSFUL! | If it belonged to someone who is no longer alive. |
| Cathie | One example: Today, I took a huge laundry basket of fabric to the hospital's thrift shop. Benefits: A) I get more space to work on the remaining fabrics. B) The $$ fund programs, scholarships, and other enhancements for staff & patients at the hospital. C) Those fabrics are used by both hobbyists and professional crafters, who in turn make gifts or items to sell. D) Recipients of gifts & buyers of product enjoy their handmade items. | My Mom was a clean freak & our huge farmhouse was nearly spotless. My Dad's family were all hoarders, so much so that they actually stored stuff AT our home, much to my Mom's dismay. They got one room. Over the years, it slowly disappeared, with Mom's annual spring sorting & cleaning. LOL Years later, I had to clean out the home one of those relatives. It took six months of nearly daily efforts. A thousand trash bags, followed by a nine hour auction. Awful. After that, my parents passed & it took one day for my brother & I to clean out their house. It was neat, tidy, with no excess stuff except the bakeware that my Mom loved & used until the end. I want to leave my house like that. And to enjoy the space & ease of cleaning until that time. | One piece of caramel carnival glass from my Mom. It was one of the very few items she had from her Mom. |
| Susan | I live alone, so the first person to benefit will be me - to live in a serene house, that I don't feel ashamed to answer the door to. The second person to benefit will be my sister, who will have to clear the house if I pre-decease her (which is likely, as she's both younger & fitter than me). The third will be the wider world - my favourite two charity shops, and the recipients of gifted items on Freegle/Freecycle. | Our family (two parents + three children) lived in a house that was genuinely too small, and was hence cluttered. | Favourite clothes, which I wish I still possessed. They'd be too small to wear now, but I'd love to at least have the fabric. |
| Dorothy | Myself, son and daughter, son in law. Infinity because I can’t pursue my hobbies when my craft room is a cluttered mess. It’s the room, next to the family room and kitchen that gets all the extra junk thrown in it when family and friends come over weekly. I had COVID then shingles and pretty much bed ridden for 3 months. With your help, I have been able to clean off most surfaces and actually started to finish my son in laws portrait, yesterday. I have been decluttering for years but never seem to get ahead. I am hoping what I have contributed to charities have made many people a little happier. My blessings to you and all the people working with you because you have made my life so much better. | My family was not the problem. When I would visit friends I noticed everyone had collections and wondered why I wasn’t interested in such things. I do have somewhat of a problem with clothing. Never came to my mind that when I stopped growing I would need to get rid of clothes that were perfectly fine if I kept buying new things. Thank you for enlightening me. My late husband, collected records. My daughter inherited them, so I have filled my home with things to fill up space. My family now knows not to give presents but love, time and experiences. My life is much fuller now. | I found a pirates pistol on the beach in Florida after a hurricane. I have never forgotten the experience and would love to return one day. |
| Tami | I benefit, my executor benefits but it was mostly junk I donated except someone was probably excited about the Ugg boots! | I came from a big family, 9 of us kids so there was volume and I collected stuff and received gifts and my volume grew as well. I found TCF by accident and something just clicked when I listened to the clutter and aging podcast. I had one sister that I would say was a hoarder but all of us had stuff. Me not so much anymore:) | My Flip Wilson/Geraldine doll that my Mother sold(my fault for leaving it behind when I moved out) and my sister found it at a garage sale years later! Same one because I inexpertly sewed Flip’s side with blue thread. It’s completely unnecessary but it reminds me of lovely Christmas's and my Mom and Santa who always knew what I wanted for Xmas. |
| Anonymous user | My guests benefit. They don't have to look at it. I benefit it. I can have more guests and I don't have to be embarrassed. My child benefits. He doesn't have to clean it up when I'm gone. If I have a garage sale, the purchaser benefits. If I give some away, the recipient benefits. | When I was growing up, the house was clean and uncluttered. My father kept his clutter elsewhere so I never saw it or knew about it. But nobody taught me how to organize my stuff. I don't know where to keep things. I can't remember where I put the same thing last time, so if I have more than one Item om category X, then if I get another similar item, I don't know what to call it or where it belongs. Either I file it under a new name, or I set it on a table--usually the kitchen table, since that's where I come into the house. Now the table is piled with many categories and I don't know what the belonging-place of any of it. I can't put it away because I don't know where it belongs. I go to clear off the table and put everything somewhere and now I can't find any of it, perhaps because I was never taught to organize where things belong. Of course there may be emotional reasons for the confusion. I really don't know. I can help friends and kin to put stuff away, because THEY know where their stuff belongs. I need someone to tell me where my stuff belongs. Then I can put it there. | I had a wonderful collection of Superman comic books from the 1940s. I KNEW it would be valuable some day. If my mother hadn't thrown it all away while I was at school, it would be worth a fortune now. My mother threw away my beloved friend, my Old Papa Bear, the Teddy Bear that my mother's sister had given me, the wise Teddy Bear who loved and understood me. I told him everything. . I collected stuff animals of all kinds (dogs, lions, tigers) into my seventies. I've gotten rid f most of them. I only have six or so stuffed animals left, including one huge bear. |
| Cee | My peace of mind, those I donate to after getting rid of the trash. My children wont be burdened. Clean clear space to live without stressing. Family will benefit by freedom to spend more time together. No quilt | Parents house and outside sheds full. House looked organized. I remember influencing my dad to clean out the shed and that was the time for him to benefit from things collected to sell later in life. Thankfully he did. | Old sewing machine that was in my parents home. They had gotten it from a relatives home when I was young. Big old house |
| Bonnie | Wow, so many people will benefit. Alan and I both will have more peace of mind. My nieces Kirstin and Miranda will be spared a massive clean out. Tons of shelter people will have clothes and books and shoes. And ...so on.... | I never had to clean up my room. Or clean up after myself. I never really thought about it. Because my sole job as a kid was to get straight A;s. Nothing less would do. I was a schoolwork and music machine. When I was twenty and shared my first apartment with a roommate, I was taking a very heavy load in summer school, working twelve hour days, and was sharing with a German girl who just came to Stanford Summer school for fun, not really studying. She was naturally neat and cleaned up the apartment all the time. I truly did not notice Then she left for a three day weekend and in 24 hours...Oh. My. God. I suddenly realized what she had been doing all along. I apologized profusely when she got back. She thought this was hilarious. | My wedding ring. |
| Johanna | I have no family, so primarily I will be the one enjoying the benefit of an easier and calmer life with less clutter and less responsibilities. But since someone will have to clean out my apartment one day, I’m sure they’ll appreciate my efforts as well. | My grandparents, having lived through WWll, lead a simple life and were masters of reusing and repurposing, diy and keeping their home organised. They had less things, but they were of very good quality, I still use their towels and linens. My parents on the other hand were almost hoarders. They had a huge house so it wasn’t immediately noticeable to others. But cleaning out their house was a nightmare. I strive for my grandparents’ way of life but have a hard time shaking the keep-everything-attitude my parents modelled when I was little. | I remember the coffee mug my grandma used every morning and the feeling of being loved and accepted by her. |
| Denise | I used to teach After School Band and I just contacted the jr high band teacher because I have 9 (!!!!) baritone horns to give away. (A baritone horn is like a baby tuba 🙂 And all of the usually suspects that you listed about. The people who live in our house, including ME, benefit the very most from our decluttered home. I'm on the home stretch of decluttering (although I KNOW that I'll never be "done" 🙂 | Too many to list!!! I've had both messy and neat people who have influenced me. | A china closet that belonged to my grandmother. |
| Tammy | We only have 1 son. I don’t want to burden him with disposing tons of stuff. I would rather give things away for someone else to use rather than keep things I am not using. | Mom passed and the house was not cluttered, but boy those outbuildings were packed to the brim. Months of work to clear out mostly trash. | I have a pitcher that belonged to my Mom. It’s special cause she stored her bingo markers in it. She was bingo crazy. I smile when I see it. |
| Gayle | Basically everyone else down the line | I remember cleaning my closet at 2am and my mom coming in to find me up and working. | Some very lovely photos off my mom |
| Becky | Husband—cleaner, more organized place to live in. Easier for him to find things. Kids—easier to find things they want—or don’t want but I’m keeping. | My mom’s house was packed with stuff. Once, when she and Dad moved, we found a stack of unread magazines she was moving to the new house, rather than throw them out. In the garage were filled boxes never unpacked from the previous move!! | Don’t know. |
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | Briefly describe who will benefit from your efforts to declutter and get organized and how they’ll benefit. | Tell us about a memory of a person or incident from the formative years of your life that influenced your attitudes and emotions about belongings, clutter, etc. | What is the strongest memory to which you feel connected by way of an object, such as a souvenir, photo, or keepsake? |
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