I noticed a very messy top night stand drawer the other day. It was my husband's night stand. I didn't take a before picture unfortunately. However, I can show you what was in there.
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| Lots of military related items |
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| Three watches and three rosary beads! |
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| Patches, keys and more |
Once my husband was back home, I let him know I pulled everything out of the drawer and put it on the bed, so he wouldn't be too surprised. He want off to the bedroom. The next thing I hear is 'what do you want me to do with this stuff?' I went in the bedroom and asked how many watches did he need? Are the keys needed? Once he answered those two questions he was able to get I just wanted to know if there was anything he no longer needed. And yes, he did still need quite a few of those things, but less went back in!
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| The drawer after the clean out,but before the return of the stuff to keep |
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| The chosen items to let go of...not a lot but better than nothing. |
That picture above is how he put it all back in! I had nothing to do with it honestly. :)
Now I will say this method could back fire depending on the person. Some people just can't face a little decluttering after a long day at work. I completely understand. If my husband had come home and seemed annoyed when I announced his stuff was all over the bed, I would have just scooped it back up into the drawer and waited for another time. No big deal. This clutter is in a drawer and not usually seen. It's low on any priority list.
I currently don't use this tactic with my girls. At least not things they keep in their rooms. With teens it is just not a battle I choose to fight in that way. I will offer to help support them while cleaning out their rooms. My older daughter is much better about doing this on her own now. The younger daughter is going to have some work to do before our move!
Do you have to help other family members with their decluttering? Is one of them your spouse? Anyone have teens they help or not help?!
I've been trying not to pester Dh with decluttering his stuff, I'm finding enough to get rid of on my own. He is getting a bit better at parting with his things though.
ReplyDeleteMy two year old isn't very supportive of me getting rid of her stuff so I have to hide things. It's very easy to get rid of baby's stuff :)
I've noticed some people will get inspired when they see others the live with doing purging and decluttering! The two year will always say no. :)
DeleteLife improved a bit for us when my older daughter moved into the spare room. She is Felix to her sister's Oscar. Now, that her room is going to be the nursery, she's going back. I think it will be interesting to see how they manage the reunion. They definitely need to declutter - the make-up table is frightful (just looked at it yesterday) and the messy one will have to share with the neat one!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it could be an interesting reunion! My girls don't even wear make up (shocking I know)!
DeleteMake up: I don't usually wear much except for black eyeliner. For older daughter, it's an industry thing -- she knows how to wear it well and needs to look appropriate for whatever she is going to for consideration. Younger daughter - dabbles, except wears tons when she's performing. It will indeed be an interesting reunion! :)
DeleteOh, beautiful rosary. How I admire certain things, religious items are right on top of that list. :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband's the Catholic, but not a great one as he was told by his priest years ago! He kept the rosary he had the longest. The other two were gifts and never used.
DeleteShame on whatever priest shared that observation with your husband. Rosaries are the most traditional relic, and I am glad he kept the one he had the longest. :)
DeleteOh I think it was said in fun...the priest did marry us though. I think he is no longer living. I wouldn't let him get rid of all of them, just didn't seem right. The other two didn't have any sentimental value and may be useful to someone else. :)
DeleteGlad to hear it was in jest! I recently parted with several glow-in-the-dark rosaries my MIL found for the kids. :)
DeleteIf I want any decluttering done, I have to instigate. And do most of the leg work. The most recent proof of this is the shelf by the Mister's desk. It tends to collect a lot of his stuff. I was tried of looking at it, so I said I would "help him", which really means me, pulling everything off, asking him if he will use it or what he will do with it. A lot of it was stuff that he wanted to keep "in case", which got banished to the closet. What got left was tools, paperwork, and important computer parts, and somehow I'm still in charge of having to go through his paperwork collection on a regular basis (after I organized it all!).
ReplyDeleteSo now I just go through things and ask him why we still have it or what he wants to do with it - after I already made the decision that I don't want it any more. That way he can make a choice, but doesn't have to look at everything as a whole. Goes easier that way xD
I can definitely relate to your post. I like that you put the 'just in case' items away elsewhere. Maybe later it will be more obvious the 'just in case' items are not needed.
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