Taking My Life Back DITL (Major Purging) | December 2024 Vlog #6

[@tisherbug27]

Good for you! A decluttered space is good for mental health!

[@salzburg18]

Great progress Charity. Just a suggestion on the book front - have you considered getting a Kindle to read your own books on? Many are free with an Amazon Prime subscription and that way you could save valuable space for books for Katie.

[@kalenclark]

You're making awesome progress!

[@monamorgan9452]

Good morning Charity❤ I’m SO proud of you , I’ve watched you grow up and become a wife and now young mommy😊 I was at first concerned you might have inherited your parents tendency to hoard, years ago I jumped for joy when they decided to attack the clutter on the third floor, barn and the 100+ year old basement 👏👏👏👏👏👏 It took over a year if I’m remembering correctly. But you realizing at a young age you have already beat the hoarding addition🙌🏻🙌🏻 I finally realized at middle age (50) I didn’t own the stuff but the stuff owned me!! Bless you and your family. Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year ❤

[@brucebiendarra9843]

How I wish that I still had your energy! I have to continually declutter because we own a home, but even that’s a big job!

[@WillowsGarden]

Hi Charity and sweet family! I decluttered at the beginning of this year and it makes keeping my house clean so easy now. I am more picky about what I bring into my house now. Poor baby, teething can be rough on them. Good job decluttering Charity. I hope everyone has a very blessed day!

[@LaurasLastDitch]

Good work on the decluttering, and working to change your mindset. I did a Voluntary Simplicity discussion group at my local library many years ago that really helped me keep clutter down. Two gems I heard from other participants that stuck with me and helped me were "It's okay to leave it to bless someone else" (such as when you find a good deal or something free), and "Just because you like it doesn't mean you need to own it." I've also found that when I go to thrift stores--I don't anymore unless I need something specific--is that I'm often satisfied by carrying around something I like for a while, then put it back without buying it; I get the feeling of ownership for a time, but without the expense or clutter. Another thing that has helped a lot with things that are already in the house is listening to how I justify keeping an item. If I use two hypotheticals in my justification, then it has to go. By a hypothetical I mean, "Some day," "I might," "maybe," "if," etc. So if I say "Someday I will use this," then it can stay--that sentence only has one hypothetical. If it's "Someday I might use this," then it needs to go--that sentence has two hypotheticals.

[@ALoopandAHook]

That's really a great tip and I tried it yesterday when I went to Walmart to pick up a few things for Christmas. There was something that I wanted from the clearance isle and I walked around with it for a little while and then put it back! I've gotten a lot better about not just buying stuff because it's cheep, part of why there hasn't been any thrift hauls recently.

[@LaurasLastDitch]

@@ALoopandAHook It's so fun and easy to buy things. Too bad dealing things once they're purchased is often neither fun nor easy.

[@verashular3116]

Maybe to help clutter do not go to yard sales for awhile and getting so many books even though they are a good deal. Just take a break. I remember your parents having so much stuff in the attic one time. Some schools might like those book donations.

[@allthinghomewithlynn]

So can you share what app you’re using to record what books you have?

[@ALoopandAHook]

Here is the link: www.handylibrary.com/ I really like it so far. I did buy the upgraded version because I have over 100 books but I figure I will end up saving that much money when I don't end up with duplicate books.

[@tinapennington1587]

If you can get a kindle you could probably get rid of most of you’re books

[@salzburg18]

You beat me to it 😊

[@becca603]

May I ask what kind of app you use to organize your books? I have a lot I need to do that too.

[@ALoopandAHook]

Here's the link: www.handylibrary.com/