Beyond Knitting
Self-care: Baby’s First Focused Declutter
Hey y’all hi! I come to you very excited today, because I just found Something New about decluttering.
Were you thinking, like me, that basically Marie Kondo had the final word on the subject, and the only novel response would be to run in the opposite direction, which is to say wretched excess? (JK; I mean of course sumptuous maximalism.)
Well I was wrong, there is a little more to say, and I made my discovery, as was perhaps inevitable, while moving.
Throughout history, a planned move has always gone along with good intentions for a thorough decluttering. Unplanned moves: not so much.
My move was somewhere in between. I knew it was coming, but it was forced. I didn’t want to go. I also didn’t know where I was going until the last moment. So as with any other move, planned, unplanned, or something in the middle, a perfectly calibrated declutter was out of reach.
Also typical: I started packing thoughtfully, keeping everything organized. I ended willy-nilly, pillows with ladles and unread magazines with open bottles of Campari. Everything tossed into plaid laundry bags.
Well, you know what they say: Pack in haste, unpack at leisure. That’s how I found this new layer of the decluttering onion. As I was putting things away, finding the best home for everyone, I noticed what wasn’t so obvious in a less organized home: I had a lot of duplicates.
Specifically, I had MANY white shirts. And I didn’t really know that before the move.
But now I had an empty closet to fill, and decisions to make about how. So when I put all the clothes of like color together—nothing creative, I know—I saw that I had thirteen (!!) white shirts. (Not including t-shirts.)
Friends, I didn’t have to hold these shirts in my hands and ask myself if they sparked joy. I noticed right away that half of them did, and half of them didn’t. Standing alone in an empty apartment, I was not confused.
The joy was unambiguous. And I didn’t have time for anti-joy.
So I gathered the joyless white shirts (which I would have kept if I were still waiting tables, because utility is second in importance to joy), and I moved on to the pussy-bow blouses with gusto (literally all volcanoes of joy), and then the Venetian tchotchkes (ditto), and then I started in on the MKU, or Marie Kondo universe of literature. (Yes, that is a category.)
Anyway, you get the idea! It’s not “consider all clothes” before moving on to books, and then all books before moving on to memorabilia. I’m finding joy and efficiency in considering the narrower categories. It’s showed me the sorts of things I’m drawn to and will overbuy.
And speaking of overbuying, I saw with fresh eyes something else about joy: When you have one beautiful blouse that looks and feels good, it’s always going to spark more real joy than a dozen.
First wish-fulfilling white shirt: JOY!! Second one: bit less joy. The thirteenth? Forget it. Categorically incapable of sparking joy.
Now, this is a life-improvement column, not a life-perfecting column, so I’m not going to suggest you pretend you’ve been forced to move just so you can rearrange your cupboards. But for fun, I would love to know what your “white blouse” is. Tell us in the comments!
Image credit: Textile Design (East Indian style), 18th century, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Used with permission.
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Great..I did this with black dresses a while back….do I need to do more …yes. Thanks
I have too many white shirts because I am STILL LOOKING for the perfect white shirt.
Totally get this! ( I did finally realize that I don’t look my best in white shirts.)
Describe, please! What does your perfect white shirt look like, down to the stitching? (I can’t help but think the magic is in knowing exactly what you want—and it shall appear!)
Travel mugs! Could not believe how many! Freed up some dish cupboard space. Now I need to build up some momentum and keep going! Hahaha!
Black T-shirts! I just went through my closet and decluttered!
Cups! Coffee mugs, tea cups, travel mugs galore! Yet, every morning I use the same cup. Thanks for the needed nudge to purge!
Please tell me that yarn doesn’t count when decluttering! Each skein, whether one or 151, sparks joy!
Yarn does not count. I also relate to the notion that knitting and buying yarn are two different hobbies.
But “inherited” yarn counts!
Having knit and gifted TWO large shawls of my mum’s fingering weight yellow alpaca, I let the rest go. While some of the purple glitter yarn from a friend-of-a-friend became a poncho, the remaining balls are with someone else. Its turquoise sister-in-fibre was donated too, along with all the Noro yarn.
My point is that although the givers sparked joy, now their yarns are giving joy to someone else.
Yarn is its own thing. EACH yarn, its own thing. You’re safe!
Absolutely does not count. You are a humanitarian, ensuring the proper care of as much fiber as possible.
I don’t think yarn counts.
Yarn is utterly exempt.
What a great way to look at things. I have read that book however not thought about duplicates or things I continuously buy. Love to read everyone’s comments too! More ideas. Speaking of all those tshirts…. I have read that many from my kids childhood. Does anyone know someone who makes quilts for you? I have been looking up here but not finding one (Alaska). Keep the comments coming! I am learning so much.
My LYS has a stash sale every summer. You bag and price your yarn and bring it to the store. They sell it, take a percentage, and the rest is yours to use as credit towards new yarn. It is a win-win.
I love this idea!!!
well, actually, yesterday the following epiphany descended upon my mind; you don’t “have” to knit all the stuff in the boxes/ plastic bins. The yarn that does not quite inspire, or is very pilling in the first sweater, can go on to someone else’s stash/ home ( along with that pilling sweater)
i feel happy about this epiphany and less guilty i just keep on buying stuff ( that’s another topic altogether)
When I worked I would do this sort of thing from time-to-time. My…caution…that I would tell people was if something seems to reappear think twice about getting rid of it. My example is zip front black sweaters. Every time I decided I could get rid of the one I had (one of a large number of cardigans) I would find myself missing it and buying a new one the next fall. Only wore it 2 or 3 times a year but decided after this happened a couple of times to make it one of the ones I kept.
Such fun. Too many. White pants. Black pants. Coffee mugs (All Giving Me Joy. They ain’t going nowhere). I once had 7 crockpots (somehow they all fit comfortably in my smallish kitchen). And sort of matched my neighbor’s 6 vacuum cleaners (if cleanliness is Godliness he is sure to go to heaven).
I hear you on the coffee mugs. Each one reminds me of somewhere I have traveled. I would rather cull my stash than my coffee cups, any day!
I feel this way about my pint glasses. I know that I have two cupboards full but they remind me of a fun adventure with my dude or my dad or my bro. I don’t have a great memory so I treasure these triggers.
Briton shirts. Have a drawer full.
I’ve been decluttering my kitchen, I tacked the black hole utility drawer I found 3 turkey bastors. I know they are useful like if you over fill something etc but 3? In to the donate box went two.
Curious to know what babies (in the title) have to do with your decluttering – although anyone who has or has had a baby knows that babies (and children of any age) create massive amounts of clutter.
I believe, she’s actually calling herself “baby” – it’s her first declutter
Novelty tees, which I never buy, but somehow keep receiving as gifts. I have like 20 of them, which I wear hardly ever.
Maybe I’ll just take them on over to the thrift shop this weekend?
Liz, wish I could have your novelty tees! They make great weft for rag rugs that I weave! You could make your own tee shirt yarn by cutting into spiral strips and knit (small rugs?) with it.
White shirts? Of course! Maybe not 13; but at least 6. When I was still working full time in an office, it was easier to just grab a white shirt, jeans and a blazer (only 3 of those) as nd head out the door!
#goals !
Purchased long black Eileen Fisher cardigans. Extrafine merino wool. With pockets. I had four of them. Kept two, donated the others.
We did a huge toss out with a dumpster that was so big, you could walk in it before our big cross country move. However, it builds back up quickly. A big problem area for me is food. We live in the country, so I like to be prepared for any emergency. When I run out of room in the freezer, I do a freezer clean out. Am I really going to use a meal I prepped and portioned out and froze from three years ago? We bought a chest freezer that is now packed full, but has frozen into a giant iceberg of food. If you want something, you need something to chisel it out with. It’s time for a defrost. When I cleaned out our tiny pantry closet, there were many extras of things I didn’t know we had. It’s a good feeling, when you get rid of expired stuff, and know just what you have. It’s the same with clothes. I bought my husband a copy of the Swedish Death Cleaning book for Father’s Day. He’s going to love it!
Copies of Moby Dick
admirable excess! ❤️
LOL, exactly how many Elizabeth Zimmerman, Knitting Without Tears books should I keep?
This had me snorting this morning…
The 3/4 sleeve cardigan. I have them in many colours, and many shades of blue. They need an edit.
T-shirts for sure. And I just did a yarn stash clean-out with yarns I know I will never use. I gave the yarn to a family member who is an art teacher. Along with bags of polyester stuffing… I don’t remember why I even bought them.
Having just recently moved, this does strike a chord. And it was journal covers. Lots of journal covers.
Tote bags!
But you can never be too rich, too thin or have too many tote bags….
Socks! So many socks.
I organized my knitting needles and discovered I had 31 pair of size 0 circular needles! I use to knit socks with them but now my sock are made with my trusty CSM. I’ve given some to friends but I still have plenty!
You could teach a large class with those and give each student a pair!
Your white shirt is my black pants: yoga pants, long underwear, funeral pants, black jeans, dress pants …
Baby cups. None spark joy. Unfortunately, all are still being used
This logic does not apply to navy blue sweaters somehow. Each one a joy forever … its loveliness increasing … never passing into the Goodwill bag.
Black pants of all fabrics, lengths, and sizes. I must get busy.
T-shirts! Souvenir t-shirts from bars/ islands/ beaches/ cities/ marches/ causes/ countries/ restaurants/ campaigns/ 10ks – you name it I’ve got it. I’ve already made a small t-shirt afghan and I have enough to make ~4 more king sized ones. I spend more closet space storing t-shirts than makes any rational sense.
My skeins of olive green yarn used to be my “13 white blouses” equivalent; now, however, it’s my skeins of rust-colored yarn.
Bags. Tote bags, knitting bags, shopping bags, small “have on hand in car” bags. Bags bought on fun travels. Bags bought FOR fun travels. Bags that mean something, bags that mean nothing, bags that I just like the feel of the canvas. Definitely need to have my “white shirt moment” among all these bags. Oh, and I store these bags in a few other, larger bags. You know, for efficiency:) Great article.
Black, slouchy turtlenecks. I still love them all.
Like may others here: tote bags, souvenir coffee mugs, souvenir t-shirts, and the STASH of yarn, fabric and thread. The last bit only gets a light ‘curating’ each year when the Textile Center (Minneapolis, MN) has its annual garage sale. All for a good cause, and everything goes to fellow fiber nerds. Actually, TC now has a year-round Stashery part of its shop so donations are accepted monthly…. For anyone in the area, you may want to consider this gentle way to reduce stash (once you’ve finished decluttering all the non-fiber things in your life).
Just did a brutal closet edit – let go of all of my more formal “classroom” tops now that I have been out of the classroom for 3 years. Next up the dreaded mugs – I am boxing up the sentimental ones with a label for my adults girls. They can deal with them at some point.
My ‘white shirt’ is long sleeved linen blouse – in different colors acquired during Covid which provided time for hand embroidering messages on the back below the collar, e.g. GRACE GRIT GRATITUDE
You don’t mention hobbies! Piles of yarn, yards of quilting fabric. the joy was in the purchasing and petting, the storing not so much.
But “inherited” yarn counts in “I’ve got too much”!
Having knit and gifted TWO large shawls of my mum’s fingering weight yellow alpaca, I let the rest go. While some of the purple glitter yarn from a friend-of-a-friend became a gifted poncho, the remaining balls are with someone else. Its turquoise sister-in-fibre was donated too, along with all the Noro yarn.
The givers sparked joy, but not all their yarns did.