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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:49 pm 
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Location: Middle GA
Anna1111 wrote:
Any great suggestions for dealing with MOUNTAINS of paper from multiple generations- family letters, newspaper articles, photographs, diplomas, recipes, etc?

I have probably 50 bankers boxes of this description to go thru.


Well, as usual, Pam ALWAYS has good ideas that make a lot of sense! :D
I would probably set up an area of the house (like Pam mentioned...set up a table in the corner of a room) and try to go through at least one box per day. I would just HAVE to set a goal....I'm a goal setter!

I would have a trash can handy, and as I went through the box, I would toss stuff that was unimportant/un-valuable/unnecessary, etc. Maybe get some little plastic baskets from the Dollar store and label them with someone's name (a sister, cousin, family friend - or even a time frame....60's, 70's, 80's) and if any document pertains to that particular person, put it in their basket.

I'd try to whittle it down to at least 25 boxes....then start the whole thing over again! :lol: You know...just keep thinning it out and whittlling it down....

I really like the idea of scanning documents and photos electronically and putting them all on a disc...that sure is a space saver. My son has done a LOT of my old photos like that, and it has been a help to me. I don't like having so much stuff....especially paper stuff...and I have been able to do some digital scrapbooking. One year, for Christmas, we got my parents a digital photo frame and put a BUNCH of old photos in it....they still enjoy it!

Paper stuff is TEDIOUS to me! :mrgreen: It can be difficult to know what's important and what's trivial.

Have fun, Anna! :D

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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:53 pm 
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Posts: 8115
Thanks for the ideas, Laurajean : )

I sat with one particularly dense box for an entire day (with lots of the interruptions that come with being a wife & mom) last weekend - only got 1/2 way thru. But, they're not all so dense.

The good news is, I've gotten thru about 5 and still haven't filled 1 box with the "keepers"

My Mom was a bit of a hoarder (not an extreme one who kept old fast food wrappers, thank goodness) so some boxes are a mix of old KMart ads mixed in with important documents and who-knows-what else. The kmart ads are easy to decide on, at least!

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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:35 pm 
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I just spent the day going through two cabinets. I loaded up so many old vhs tapes!!
I have a stack of magazines that I'm sending to my SIL who is home schooling this year.
I'm trying to get my books down to only my favorites, but I have so many favorites!!
lol!
I did have 2 large bags to take to the dumpster. (no one wants the vhs's)
I actually cleared off an entire shelf and a half of books. My dc's school books for this year are now on those shelves. How dusty they were, too!!! You'd think I never clean this place. :roll:


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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:13 pm 
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Yay, Tory!

I looked for places for my Mom's huge homemade VCR collection - the only thing we could find was places to charge us to take them off our hands. I do wish there was a better option, but we couldn't find one. They went in the dumpster : (

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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:30 pm 
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Most people have dvd players nowadays. We do still have vhs players, but these vhs' were dh's movies and we don't want them. I also hated to just throw them out but everyone was looking for cd's. :(
TODAY... I'm going through the box of photos. Boy, what a job. I have bags with everyone's names on and am sorting to see who will get which photos. There are WAY more photos than I realized. I'm kind of bummed about the amount of work, so I keep trying to think of those on the receiving end. I know they'll want the photos of their families, especially those that are passed on now.
The sermon in church today was about holding onto stuff and making that stuff our "god". It was good and it really hit home to me.
I am thinking of going back through my books again. I was sitting there in church feeling pretty convicted over my book addiction. There really is no need for me to keep so many.
I think it comes from when I was young and we just didn't buy books. It was considered a waste of money and I craved something read all the time. We had no knowledge of public libraries back then. NOW.. I'm an adult and I can pretty much get a book anytime I want to, so why do I store up so many here... when, as it Biblical, I should be "storing up my treasures in heaven" instead!?


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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:34 pm 
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Oh and Anna.. the books you sent are now beautifully displayed on my newly decluttered shelf!! I love them and now that I have them ALL out of the boxes, I can begin the delicious task of reading them. :D
I honestly can not wait. My dd has already began reading through some of them and I will have to check her room for any strays she collects in there, lol!


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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:39 pm 
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So delighted! They're wonderful books and deserved to have better "parents" than me!

So glad that DD is enjoying them too : )

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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:41 pm 
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Oh, and Tory, consider doing what Grandma did & I so appreciated - write names on at least a sample set of each picture for your dc.

I really appreciated that!

Another thing she did was to write little notes and put them inside or affix them to prized possessions. The beautiful teapot I inherited means so much more to me when I know it was a gift to my great-grandparents for their wedding in 1898.

And, of course, your pastor is right. All Americans need to keep their eye on that prize - we have SO much compared to the rest of the world - even the poorest of us.

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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:34 pm 
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Anna, I've already came across several photos that I have no idea who they are. It's sad because they will be lost in the shuffle of the family history. We have such a large family that it is difficult to know who to ask for identification, and they live so far apart distance wise. Then we have those that have already passed away that took the info with them.
Writing the info of those that I remember is a great idea.


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 Post subject: Re: Decluttering
PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:58 pm 
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Location: The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, VA
I so wish you were close enough to me in VA to let me pay you to declutter my entire house! I like the 15 minute idea though. IF I spent half the time on the house as I do online I'd get a lot more done.

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