It all started with my sock drawer. I had Friday off, and as I started to put some socks away, I realized I had a bunch of socks I never wore anymore. So out they came. Then I thought "Hey, why not put the same color of socks together so I can find them more easily? And why don't I tip them up on their ends like so, so they're easier to grab?"

It all went downhill from there. Two solid days of organizing and purging. This from a woman who usually has the energy level of a panda bear (one of my nicknames in college was "Slug") and prefers nothing more than to curl up with a good book on a day off! DH didn't recognize me.

I:

-- Cleaned out all the drawers in my dresser and organized what was left
-- Threw out almost all my perfume boxes, since at this point I've only got bottles I want to keep
-- Switched all my seasonal clothes and filled a large garbage bag with rejects, including all out-of-favor shoes, which promptly got delivered to the thrift store
-- Cleaned out the drawers and shelves of my nighstand (and found an expired spa gift certificate! Darn!)
-- Cleaned out the linen closet
-- Organized all my travel toiletries so that I can easily just grab what I need and go
-- Threw away all old makeup that I never wear, including all those brown lipsticks that I loved and tried to wear but alas should never come near my face
-- Reorganized the makeup and brushes I have left, which are minimal
-- Reorganized all the cabinets and drawers in my bathroom, including the Black Hole under the sink
-- Threw away all old toiletries (I'm a toiletry fanatic)
-- Gave all hand soaps and creams and air fresheners that I'm no longer crazy about to my mother-in-law, who also loves this stuff

When DH came home Friday night, he was ecstatic. He loves this kind of thing. When on Saturday it became apparent that I just wanted to keep going, we:

-- Reorganized the cabinets in the dining room, including gathering all candles, candle holders, plug-ins, and bags of potpourri floating around the house into ONE cabinet
-- Reorganized and purged the kitchen pantry BIG time. Threw out all expired stuff; put all similar foods together in the same place so I actually know where they are. The Boy Scouts sparked this action by leaving one of those plastic bags on our porch for canned goods to give to charity. My, won't they be surprised when they come to pick that one up!
-- Did another major purge of spices and other foodstuffs in other cabinets and consolidated things
-- Threw out old plastic containers without lids or with cracks
-- Attacked another pantry, where we keep sundries like medications, first-aid supplies, teas, insect repellent, etc. and purged mightily. All expired meds or meds we don't think we'll ever take got pitched; consolidated the ones we had left (couldn't believe how many bottles of pain relievers were scattered around the house). Threw out old boxes of tea.
-- Reorganized the kitchen bookshelf and donated a huge stack of cookbooks to the thrift store
-- Purged all floating recipes (on pieces of paper, etc.) that looked even remotely complicated or had no sentimental value
-- Organized all remaining recipes into a binder, by type
-- Attacked the coffee table and threw out old magazines, except for a greatly reduced stack of "to read's" that DH put in a stack by my chair

On Sunday, I took a nice nap. DH put out a *massive* amount of trash to be picked up Monday morning.

This morning before I went to work, I found myself itching to reorganize the clothes in my closet by color so I could find what I needed more easily!!

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?? I'm not complaining, but I am completely unrecognizable to myself. The only thing that has changed is that I recently started taking meds for cholesterol, and I cut back on sugar and portion sizes in my diet. Could *that* be what has turned me into the EverReady bunny? Not that I'm complaining.

Maybe this weekend I'll hit the store room in the basement, where we keep decorations and pictures and who knows what else...

Have you ever gotten like this? What flipped the switch, so to speak?

That usually happens with me during the change of season. Just yesterday, I purged all my summer shoes which I haven't worn in an x amount of years and tossed out AA Pampleune along with the shoes. Perfume is horrible during the cooler weather.

HOLY COW!!!
You really were on a roll! That's more than I could (or would) do in a year. It feels good, doesn't it, to get so much accomplished in such a short time? Sounds like it could be the diet changes you've made recently.

Twitch! what happened to you?!? Bravo!

I went to my folks' place on Saturday to return a pressure washer I borrowed and refurbished. I started peeking around the place and was appalled at all the things that have infested their lives. Stuff on top of stuff, inside stuff, things that they came across and couldn't let go of. Canned goods in the hall closet.

We've been down this road before, too. Years ago, when they went away for a week we visited the house and met their friend who was house-sitting (already acquainted with her). We purged all the worthless stuff, and packed away the tons of heirlooms and made the house beautiful. Mi madre era muy furioso!!!. Pitched a fit! About the ketchup packets they were saving in the fridge that were now gone!

So their lives are ruled by the goods that own them, which they now have to maintain. Astonishing multiples of things. Multiple air compressors, for the impact wrenches they've used only once on a car that still doesn't run. That sort of thing.

As I peeked through the house I silently promised - never. And yesterday I started making note of the clothes I'm not wearing so they can move along to a better place.

Twitchly, applauding wildly here! Congrats to you and hub! That's wonderful! Whatever the impetus, the result really pays off!

I've done this a few times over the past four years and am now at a point where it's possible to keep doing it on a regular maintenance level, deleting a few items at a time but always going in the direction of decreasing the critical mass. What I noticed is not only is the clutter gone, but even my apartment smells fresher when the air can circulate freely.

Enjoy the new spatial environment!

Twitch:

Did you check under your bed for pods? LOL!!! I occasionally get that bug and it feels good to do it. I have been inspired by the show, Clean House to get rid of some of my clutter....all the houses that they clean are sooo far worse than mine, so I figure mine has to be more managable.


Kudos to you and your endeavors!!!

Twitch , this has happened to me , another "slug" type persona , and when it does buy the time all is said and done I have no idea what sort of out of character thing has possessed me and I am in dire need of a cuppa and a lie down ( due to shock).

Once the shock wears off I am happy to be clutter free , enjoy it my dear its a freeing experience.

Awesome job, Twitchly! I felt good just reading your post so I can only imagine how good you feel. Perhaps, it is the new medication and diet changes that are giving you all this energy.

Good for you, Twitchly. I do this with my closets about twice a year, and once in a blue moon it spreads to other rooms of the house. I'm just itching to get in the closet and take out everything I own and make a harsh but necessary decision, item by item. Too much stuff coming in - not enough stuff going out is my problem.

Applause, applause, my dear! Sounds like one of your energy-related planets entered Mars or something. What a job! And the miracle is is that's it's kind of addictive--you see such immediate results and get such a rush from it that you want to do more. Good for you!

I am a clutter person (and two toes away from being a three-toed sloth myself), but I've been fighting the problem mightily the last year or so. Every summer I do a clothing and shoe purge in preparation of shopping for new school clothes. I also try to do a cupboard purge every summer. This past summer, I cleaned out drawers, cabinets, closets, you name it, to prepare for our yard sale. It is very freeing.

The biggest impetus came when I hired cleaning people. They take away the sanitizing and gross aspect of cleaning, leaving me with just the clutter clearing aspect. Knowing that they're coming every two weeks is a big help in forcing me to clear clutter. I've been trying to clear a couple of areas (small ones--nothing like an achieveable goal!) every couple of days. It's making me verrrrry happy. I still have a long way to go....my upstairs "sitting room" is really the "upstairs walk-in closet that all can see"--but I'm working at it.

It could also be a Saturn transit -- restricting, deleting, organizing. Whatever it is, breath my way, let me catch it!

Actually, I have been doing the same kind of thing, but more slowly. You really got a lot done!

And I am afraid of the black hole under the sink...

I've actually been doing a bit of the opposite lately: wearing socks with an annoying hole in the heel....keeping lipsticks I hate because I feel embarrassed for wasting the money on them....not organizing my school papers like I need to.

I ~finally~ tackled that this summer, after living here for seven years. I was scared, lemmetellya. Lord only knows when it was done last. I fully expected mouse carcasses and previously undiscovered strains of mold. It ended up being not so bad. :-)

That would be Saturn having just gone into Virgo. It sets off the tidies. I love it! That's what was going on when I was born, and it's coming around again. Life is so much easier when everything is ready - all the staging and props placed where we need them to play our roles. Enjoy the spaciousness you've created, Twitchers. Good work!

I've been afraid of the storeroom in the basement. But I am now TAWANDA, and I am going to DECIMATE that sucker! I will be ruthless!

I get on a tear like that sometimes - haven't had one in a while, more's the pity. Right now I'm feeling cold weather sloth overtaking me...

Oh, how I admire you and am struck dumb! If ONLY I could get that impetus, so badly needed here. To show you how bad off I am, after my initial feeling of admiration for you, my next impulse was the desire to go through your trash to see what I could find useful to bring home to add to more useless stuff that I need to throw out. It's a sickness, I tell you!

OMG! I want what she's having!! I HAD to do this when I moved. It's a wonderful thing! For sure it's FALL!!

I hear you. Really. And if you *had* rooted through our trash, you could've taken home all kinds of treasures: faded placemats covered with watermelons, a recipe for mango meatloaf, moldy Ethiopian herbal tea, the aforementioned brown lipsticks, a Norwegian cookbook (101 recipes for lutfisk! bork bork bork), about 20 pairs of white athletic socks with stretched-out elastic, and so much more!

Bravo, Twitchly! It is hard to do, specially if a little voice inside tells you , what if I'll need it one day, or with odd socks- I might find a pair one day!

I think you are fueled when you see what you accomplished, which lets you accomplish more. I'm seriously impressed! Also, I think the mood has to hit you where you are either willing to spend the time or willing to part with things or both.

If I had no kids at home, I might have two cleared out bedrooms!

I have, on rare occasions, gotten like that, but I've never been able to keep it up like the wild maniac couple like you and your hubby are!

Whatever it is, if it happened to me, I would try not to slow down enough to question it, just go with it till it burns out.

I'm jealous.

Wow - that is wonderful!!! The last time I was able to do that, I was on oral steroids (prednisone) for a bad rash, and the side effects of that medication for me is that I can not sleep or sit down and relax for about 72 hours straight, so I cleaned and decluttered like a whirling dervish - Phew! Perhaps getting the cholesterol under control is giving you some extra energy. I sure hope whatever is in Virgo stays there long enough to give me some cleaning motivation. My husband must be more affected than I am, because he has been uncharacteristically tidying up and decluttering around the house (the only problem is that he thinks MY stuff is the clutter!).

What an inspiration you are! I am going upstairs right now and look in my sock drawer and see if what you had can be found in my sock drawer, too.

I always love your posts and am considering asking you to come and visit...you can help me sort out my life or we can just sit around like "slugs", drink tea, and talk perfume. (How could you throw out a Norwegian cook book? Did it have a lefse recipe? I can pass on the fish but I love lefse...we could make some and have it with our tea.)

I say we all meet at MY house!

wonderful!! congratulations!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to clear clutter, it's so therapeutic, I do it often and it makes for a neat and minimalist home - easy to clean and maintain. good for you!!!!

Every other week, I binge and purge my home, with a child in the house, I need to toss out all her toys that she's no longer play with. I am slowly getting my house back.

I know how you feel, Twitchly! Congratulations for the binge! It starts from something small, a tiny thing, and then it becomes an uncontrolled chan reaction, like an avalanche! You start with wiping a windowsill and end up with painting the house.

If you still feel like that (or whenever you do) you are welcome to my place! *LOL*

I'd love that! Well, the sitting around like slugs part, for sure. I wouldn't bank on this tidying mania to last. (Although I really do think I'm going to organize my clothes in the closet by color ...)

I have no idea what lefse is, but I figured that whenever the rare urge to cook something complicated comes upon me, I can get the recipe off the web. (Complicated = anything more than grilling chicken and throwing a potato into the microwave.) I did save my African cookbook that features catepillars and insects as protein sources, though.

I'm SO IMPRESSED I have gone through spurts like that and wish I could keep it up. You can't really organize until the spirit moves you.

I'm going to print out your list for some inspiration.

The craziness continues. Tonight as I was hanging up my clothes, I found myself rearranging everything by color. 45 minutes later, I had a completely reorganized closet. No idea if I'll like this arrangement, but it's interesting!

Go on witcher bad self, sister.

Twitchly, you had a good effect on me. My refrigerator has been in horrible shape. It's one of DH's pet peeves; he can't stand it. Spills, mystery items, jars glued to the glass, a cucumber turned into creamy goo. Get the picture? * shudder* So, I cleaned out the refrigerator today, scrubbed the shelves, and cleaned the vegetable bins. Then I went to the DeKalb Farmers Market and loaded up with fresh stuff, and had lots of nice refrigerator space to store the goods, with room left over. When DH came home and said he had a productive day, I said, "Me, too. I cleaned out the refrigerator!" He and my son raced to open it, and were blinded by the heavenly golden rays of cleanliness, and the sound of angels singing. "WOW!" they both said. Twitchly, you were the inspiration.

I went through this when I moved. Truck loads of stuff! I had to look at everything as.........do I pack it or throw it away or give it away? I think everybody should move about every 5 years! GREAT therapy and good feeling.

Woo-hoo! Rock yer bad self! I need to do the fridge, too. Hmmm...





Glo, they say three moves are as good as a house fire. Unless you're my brother, in which case NOTHING gets thrown away and the moving vans just keep getting bigger!

Twitch, are you on any new medication (Ritalin and such)? If so, send me a bottle please!! I never have that kind of energy. I would love to have a spotless house to the point of being OCD about it, but I never can work up the energy. With fall here all I want to do is wear my soft, soft flannel robe, read books, watch tv and lay on the sofa, only getting up for bathroom and food breaks.





I know you live in Michigan, do you need directions to my house? I could pay you for cleaning and organizing it, with fragrance, of course. You are possessed woman!

I was going to ask the same questions! *LOL* Twitch, what medication you were taking, again? And if it is not medication but you've been possessed, could you please try and send some of it this way? :)

It's called Vytorin, for cholesterol. But I couldn't find anything that said a possible side effect would be increased energy or a desire to reorganize and pitch everything. (And I've been looking, too. If anyone does find something to that effect, please let me know.)

I *have* cut way back on the amount of sugar I've been eating, though, and suddenly dropped a few pounds as a result. I'm guessing that's part of what's fueling this. Sugar can make me pretty dopey.

And as FTR's thread pointed out, fall can have that effect on some folks. Whatever the cause, I'm gonna ride this baby for as long as possible!

A well-deserved reward. The DeKalb Farmers Market rocks.


You live with enlightened beings, Boxwood. Gratitude and appreciation are the bedrocks of a good character.

I am so happy they appreciated your bringing order out of chaos - and restocking with delicious new things!

There is definitely a connection between our surroundings and our health, Twitchly. I just redid my parents' room on a visit home and my mom began an exercise program and started treatments for her back with an excellent acupuncturist. Somehow the freshening of her room gave her the impetus to take better care of her own body - a wonderful bonus!

I am a big fan of decluttering & eliminating excesses that have outgrown their use or no longer hold any meaning or relevance for me. It just makes you feel good on so many levels!

Have really enjoyed this thread immensely - thank you, Twitchly.

Here's a quote from William Morris I would like to share: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. Well, it works for me.

I put in my car last night: 6 trash bags full of big hairy sweaters, jeans that ain't ever gonna zip up again, Mom's annual Christmas present of slippers for everyone (4 pairs of Dearfoams, never worn), two perfectly good blankets used for one week when company was here, a beaded satin throw pillow, hats, flannel shirts, coffee mugs galore!, old records, tapes, and CDs, hubby's pale green polyester sport coat from the 70's (!), several ties , his outgrown Dockers, expensive wool socks worn for hunting one season, two bookbags, a green 'down-filled' jacket bought after Christmas one year for $10, a box of knickknacks and dust collectors that haven't seen the light of day in years (badly painted figurines of birds, a purple ceramic vase, a pile of grapevine wreaths with faded silk flowers and doodads still attached), a decades worth of I-heart-the-NYS- Fair t-shirts, a box filled with that boring set of china, beer glasses and mugs both glass and plastic, cut glass dip bowls, pickle dishes, candle holders, three little salad bowls divorced from their long-gone big parent, an ugly wooden bowl from Russia, an 'air purifier' that wouldn't purify the air in a space the size of a closet, yarn and embroidery thread and half finished needlepoint...everything you might find at a garage sale. It all goes! I feel....free! Uncluttered. Unencumbered by useless 'stuff'. The sad thing is, someone will be looking for one of those items next week....

WOW!! How fabulous is that, Salinqmind! You've made me want to take another look at my own mug collection, among other things. And all those beads in the basement that I never seem to turn into anything.

I must say, I'm really enjoying the color-coded closet. Makes picking out what to wear a breeze. Also makes it easier to turn down buying yet another blue shirt when I realize how many I already have.

Last night when I told my hairdresser what I'd done, she just shrugged. She's had a color-coded closet for years. Who knew.

Last night when DH called on his way home, I told him I had spent the evneing setting up our bank account to pay a bunch of bills online now. His response: "Can I ask you a personal question? Who ARE you, and what have you done with my wife??"

Man, I'm such a Tag-Along-Tooloo, I can't be left out...

I tackled the black hole under the sink!

Now this refrigerator miracle makes me wonder, can I do that? Hmmm...

Did anything crawl out and bite you? Any big hairy hand reach out and grab you? Apparently you've lived to tell the tale ...

I'm sure the Thing Under The Sink has hidden in the refrigerator, since I took away its wadded up old towels and rags. Apparently I have a deep fear of a rag shortage.

Woo-hoo! We're all very proud of you, I'm sure! (When I tackled that same job this summer, I thought Mr. Deeve was going to prostrate himself on the floor and kiss my feet.)

Well, we cleared out the old house and moved everything into the new house, and I am not happy. I wanted to be rid of these things, we've done without them for months now, and the in-laws kept after me saying we should save these things. Oi! @#$$#@ I am so profoundly not happy at being badgered into keeping things I did not want and have no place or use for. A kitchen table that is too large for the space. A bathroom cabinet (which I built) that doesn't fit under the pedestal sink. I'm fixin' to make a few things disappear like David Copperfield and will be happier for it.

for God's sake, there's now a TV on the kitchen counter! Pardon my french, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! How did that happen? We're still not watching TV - at least I'm not, and she's got finals coming up.

I liked the house better when we had fewer things.

I foresee more than a few trips to the thrift store coming up.

(Still chuckling at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.)

BTW, I spent this past weekend *exhausted*. Could barely get off the couch. Whoever that dervish was that possessed my body over the past couple of weeks, she's quite gone now. I'm hoping she'll show up again long enough for me to get to that scary storeroom in the basement.

I am hereby coopting this. I will credit you as often as possible. :-)