I don’t know about you, but I am an accumulator of STUFF. Just lots and lots of STUFF. This last weekend, I just got tired of it, and decided I wanted to do something about it. This room you could hardly walk into, because there was so much stuff in it!
The funny thing is that I hate clutter. It is what makes me go over the edge. When things are messy all around me (especially in the kitchen), it just really stresses me out! Before I start any project in the kitchen, I have clean my work area, and wipe down all the counters (even under the toaster)! If things are out of place, it drives me crazy!
One thing I wanted to organize was all my jars of canned goods. I have been canning so much this summer, but I just keep piling jars on top of jars, and I really didn’t even know what was in there!
In our kitchen, we have some space on the top of the counters, before the ceiling starts. I decided to use this space to store some of my canning jars!
First, I went through everything, and found out I had about 20 jars of stock!! Vegetable stock, chicken stock, and turkey stock!!! I guess I need to start using it more often
I have this habit – this addiction almost, of just wanting to can more and more jars, to have a stockpile of home canned goods. But I have so many things I haven’t used! I have a lot of jars I canned back in 2010 that we have never eaten! Tomato butter, chutney, and jars of jam I had forgotten about!
I mean, look at all these jars of jam and other condiments – I don’t think we will ever run out of jam!
This is what the space above the cabinets looks like now:
I love it! Plus, since these jars are in the kitchen, I have a feeling I will be more apt to use them! I have had to buy so many jars this summer, just because I didn’t have any empty ones! All the ones I had were full!
Our house really is pretty small, and between both my husband and I, we just have too much stuff. So, I started going through the whole house, cleaning up and moving things around.
So here are my tips for you on what to do when you have too much stuff!
1. Go through your belongings. Do you really need it? Can it be thrown away or donated? You know the rule, if you haven’t used it in the last 6 months, are you ever going to use it? Probably not! Same with clothes! If you don’t see yourself losing those last 20 pounds to fit into the clothes you wore in high school, donate them to someone who can use them!
2. Consolidate items. We have jar after jar holding pens. Do we really need that many pens?? Can we keep them in one area to make them easier to find?
3. Reorganize. I ended up cleaning off some bookshelves that were holding random junk, and moving them to more useful places and putting – guess what on them??? Books!!!
4. Really examine your house. Are there areas you can use that aren’t being used? We have a lot of wall space that I think could serve better purposes. For example, there is a table we have pictures of family on, and everytime you walk by, one of the pictures falls off. So, we are going to start hanging those on the wall, and using the table for other purposes!
5. Stop buying stuff!! Part of this is coming from my need to reorganize my budget. I but too much stuff. I am a compulsive over spender, which is something I am working on. I want to live a simpler life, without so much stuff!!
I mean, look at this. This is all the bags of herbs I have bought in the last couple of months. They all have uses, and I have made some great herbal remedies with them, but now I have no place to store them!
I feel better already! Our house is less cluttered, although it is a work in progress.
Question: What about you? Any tips for living with less or de-cluttering your house (and life)?
Oh I hate clutter. We live in a relatively small old colonial home. It is quaint but really lacking on storage space. I simply do not keep “stuff.” However, our basement is currently home to all of my son’s baby gear (crib, pack ‘n’ play, clothes, etc.). I am determined to clean up the basement and donate as much as possible sometime this fall. I’m always looking for ways to organize better. I like my house to feel tidy.
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I really hate clutter too! We don’t have a basement, which is part of the problem. Just a garage, which is storage for all kinds of my husbands “projects” lol!
I swear the junk in my basement multiples like rabbits when I am not looking. I keep holding on to stuff “just in case”. Need to just get down there and get rid of it, but where to start. Loved all your canned goods.
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I know! I have so much stuff I keep just in case I ever need it. And my husband is about 1000 times worse than me! He can’t even throw away a coffee container, cause you never know when you might need it … he just was a bachelor for too long!
Great post Jane! Oh clutter, don’t we all hate it? We don’t have clutter in the house because we don’t have a lot of stuff. I go through my pantry 3-4 times a year to see what needs to be used first and then I don’t go shopping until everything is consumed (except milk).
It’s just a friendly observation, you are the boss!
Then each year, sometimes twice a year I go through out clothes and we donate everything that we haven’t used for a while. Me and our teenager are easy to part with things, not my husband though. I have to negotiate hard with him. His argument is that he doesn’t have a lot?!
Through our lives we have different hobbies, so when I am not interested in scrapbooking anymore, I sell or donate everything to make room for another hobby. I had a big fabric stash for my quilting, but I realized I would never make so many quilts so I just recently had two huge quilt sales.
Jane, please, no offence, but a food microbiologist in me (my first degree actually) wants to tell you something about those jars on the top on your kitchen counter: it is not very safe. See, the temperature in the kitchen is higher than any other areas in the home, and when you cook the warm air gets to the top making it much warmer that at the floor level, and it is not good for your preserved goods that you worked so hard to make. Another disadvantage to keep your jars up there is light. You preserved food would be much better in a coll dark place, like garage or even in the same kitchen but in lower cabinets where the temperature is much-much lower.
Why this matters? The thing is that even though you put everything in the jar and preserved it, the process never stops, and light and temperature can slow it down or speed it up.
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Thank you
Since we only live in this house part of the time, most of the time the temperature is very cool, especially in the winter. But if I can find a different spot for those jars, I will definitely move them!
This is such a great post. I HATE clutter, but every couple of months we have a pile of things to donate. Where did they come from?!
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I recently went through this process because of putting my stuff in storage and moving….and although it was not fun, it felt SO good to minimize and purge junk! …I feel so organized and lighter now. So I don’t have many tips, except that moving can be a good way/motivation to cut back on stuff!
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That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks, Jane. My husband retires at the end of the month and he’s moving stuff from his apartment into our little cottage. Whew! Major purging going on here. Our cottage is only 700 square feet, so we’ve gone from 4000 square foot Victorian to this, that’s a major downsizing. I canned a lot less this year also. Still have jam and pickles from last year. But still had to make lots of spaghetti sauce and salsa, we never have enough of those two.
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I hate clutter too, but I’m such a bad pile maker. The hubby though is GREAT about getting things out of the house. He can’t stand clutter or extra stuff laying around so I feel bad if I let things pile up!
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This totally rings a bell with me–I am also an accumulator of stuff. I manage to plow through the closet once every few months, but we have a room that has the cat’s litter box and then piles and piles of clutter. Something to attack this fall, for sure!
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For the last two years I have started off the year with a house purging. But I honestly could do it more than once a year-we have a small house too and I accumulate things magically (or, because I just buy too much stuff-lol). Great idea! Love those pics of all your jars–send some over to me if you find you can’t use them all.
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haha I might just do that!
Great post Jane. I’m a clutter hater and I’m trying to do the same thing right now … purge the mess. Seems like such a big job, but if you spend 15 minutes a day, it sure adds up.
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I have an easy tip, borrow my husband for a weekend. He is the king of the purge and keeps me in line. We go through our stuff a couple of times a year and he is a great voice of reason to be sure I am not keeping things I do not need.
That being said, I am super jealous of all those awesome canned goods. Especially those big fat delicious looking pickles
Have a great weekend.
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I guess I am a little like your husband in that regard. I go through these phases were I just want to get rid of stuff!! Which is where I am right now
I’m sure some things I will regret later, but too much stuff sitting around just annoys me! 
Oh Jane – It’s amazing how much “stuff” we accumulate and never use. When I cleaned out my pantry the other day I had a couple of jars of jelly from 2003! We just did some decluttering, had a huge garage sale, and then repurposed a few things that weren’t getting used and now are. I love your list and for me, the last one is the most important – Stop buying Stuff!!!!
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Jane…you inspired me by this post….so much that yesterday I ran out to costco and bought shelving units. I will post some pics later this week on my blog. love,andrea
Thanks Andrea!! I just love the feeling organization brings to the house
I hear you Jane!
Having moved innumerable times, I am all about the undercutting of stuff. The one area I struggle with is mail. First off, I ignore it and it piles up. I have read all the tips and tricks about only touch it once. I am a work in progress. The one thing I will tell you and your readers, don’t pack away things like catalogs or magazines and think you’ll read them later. I had done that at one move and by the time I unpacked the box (10 years later) I could have cared less. By the way, it was interesting to note the style changes over those ten years. Second off, good magazines like Country, Taste of Home, Cook’s Illustrated, etc., if you are not going to keep them, recycle them to places like assisted living homes, nursing homes, or missionaries serving over seas. Missionaries really like getting things like magazines – even if they are a few years old – because it reminds them of home!
There’s my two cents worth
silly auto correct – NOT undercutting ~ should have said decluttering.
I totally agree! I stopped all magazine subscriptions with all my moves, just cause of that reason – I thought I would go back and read them, but never did! Plus, I find it easier to read online .. personally, so I never have resubscribed. My husband has stacks and stacks of magazines that have now left the house
They just take up so much room!
I’m a big time purger when it comes to clutter. I hate having too many things lying around the house so I toss out everything…sometimes it gets me into trouble but usually I don’t notice when stuff is gone.
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Same here! I put somethings in a closet (aka our toaster), and told my hubby if we don’t use it in a couple months, I am going to toss it! I figured that is better than just throwing something away and regretting it in a few days
Jane, we really need to de-clutter here, but I’d hardly call your canned goods clutter! The different colors are beautiful and they reflect all your hard work and industry. What a treasure! Just think of all the great soups you can make this winter with all that homemade stock. I find it hard to keep ahead of my need for vegetable stock, so I admire your supply!
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