Tillie I remember your giving me the advice re clothing. That made it very helpful to donate a lot of nice clothes that I wasn't going to wear again! I also remember how much you helped me cut down on my stuff--still so pleased I found everyone here!

Amy hello and what a sweet post. We shore each other up!

Willow, everyone has a dirty little secret, some are small and some are huge. Don't feel ashamed of your collection of things, they are objects of your affection and I'm sure it's taken a lifetime to accumulate them. We tend to hold on to things that remind us of the past, remind us of the dreams, remind us of the goals. While organizing, try your best to live in the now. What makes you happy now? Surround yourself with those things. The fact that you have been able to eliminate 12 bags of items so far is a huge accomplishment! You should be very proud of yourself! Keep up the great work!

Tatoulia
I do that too.
I call it "keep the best and get rid of the rest".
I find this works for anything I feel I have gathered too much of and desire to thin the herd.
With clothes I do it by type of item, blouses, shoes etc....
Dishes, linens, vases, you name it.
This is what that new book by Marie Kondo talks about. Keeping only the things that "spark joy".
What I think that means is to only keep the ones that we like best and let the other ones go. :)

Willow, a few thoughts. As background, I got rid of most of my stuff last year. Here's something that I did--just for you to consider (all the tips you get here are suggestions--no one will ever get peeved if you don't follow--just trying to help you to get thinking about what might work for you!). Last year I found a way to keep some of my stuff but not all of it. For example, a set of vintage dishes--I kept four of each size plate and donated the rest. I kept four or five of my childhood Nancy Drew books and got rid of the rest. This way, i could hang onto "the feeling" without having too much stuff. I merely kept the four Nancy Drews I actually might read again. So, for example, instead of getting rid of all your yarn, is there any you could let go via donation? Any that seems like you really won't need? I know yarn is a tricky process but maybe this tip might work with other areas of your stuff. I found it much easier to cull through it if I weren't giving up all of something.

I also had a category of stuff I called Boulevard of Broken Deeams. That consisted of any project I once started, then abandoned, and then forgot about until I started tackling the piles. I pushed aside the feelings of shame of spending the money, quitting, etc., and just got rid of the stuff. I realized it was costing me my sanity to hold on to it, and since I had long abandoned the project, no harm in just getting rid of it,

Merely tips--would love to hear your thought process too. I echo Roxie's advice. Reading old posts is very very helpful.

Willow, a few thoughts. As background, I got rid of most of my stuff last year. Here's something that I did--just for you to consider (all the tips you get here are suggestions--no one will ever get peeved if you don't follow--just trying to help you to get thinking about what might work for you!). Last year I found a way to keep some of my stuff but not all of it. For example, a set of vintage dishes--I kept four of each size plate and donated the rest. I kept four or five of my childhood Nancy Drew books and got rid of the rest. This way, i could hang onto "the feeling" without having too much stuff. I merely kept the four Nancy Drews I actually might read again. So, for example, instead of getting rid of all your yarn, is there any you could let go via donation? Any that seems like you really won't need? I know yarn is a tricky process but maybe this tip might work with other areas of your stuff. I found it much easier to cull through it if I weren't giving up all of something.

I also had a category of stuff I called Boulevard of Broken Deeams. That consisted of any project I once started, then abandoned, and then forgot about until I started tackling the piles. I pushed aside the feelings of shame of spending the money, quitting, etc., and just got rid of the stuff. I realized it was costing me my sanity to hold on to it, and since I had long abandoned the project, no harm in just getting rid of it,

Merely tips--would love to hear your thought process too. I echo Roxie's advice. Reading old posts is very very helpful.

Twelve bags!!! Wow! What a great feeling! I am so so so happy for you! Wow! Congratulations! So proud! Keep it up--I need the motivation!

Much love from Tatoulia

Dear Tillie, Tatoulia, and Roxie,

Awesome feedback, thank you so much! It was so cool to come back and see your responses :D And I will follow your advice. I have come a loooong way (understanding for years now that I have a problem), but I have also been really alone in this one part of my life. Even though people come over all the time, and I keep my apartment beautiful, I still have my "dirty little secret" tucked away in the back. Can I tell you from my heart what a relief it is to meet you gals? Seriously to have people who understand and be kind and encouraging, I can't even explain what that means to me <3 Thanks ever-so-much <3

P.S. 12 bags gone!

Good job taking charge! Sometimes I try to look at the stuff from other people's perspective and that helps me break the emotional attachment. Glad youfound a way to keep moving last night!Can y keep us posted?

Hi Willow :)
Wonderful that you have been getting some things accomplished.
WAY TO GO! :D
Often when we get stuck, just switching gears and doing other projects really does help to get things moving along again.
A really great book to read to help with starting to let go of possessions is
"Buried In Treasures".

****UPDATE****

Hi all, I see no-one is active on here this evening so I wanted to make an update on where I am at. After I posted I gave up for a bit and decided to start doing other activities instead of the purging process. I felt encouraged to be moving and progressing even if it was a different project and my neighbor came over and I gave her some food and also some other stuff from the containers. I still can't even imagine parting with my yarn (and there is a LOT) but I seem to be getting through my other stuff much better so, yay me! :)

~Willow~

Hello! new poster here... I just need some quick tips/encouragement. I have very important quests coming to stay in a few weeks. The front of my apartment looks great, but the back bedroom where they will stay has 29 18gal storage containers, uggg. I need to get rid of a lot of stuff fast, but when I opened the first container I couldn't throw out one single thing. I wasted a day looking at it. So I said to myself that it was okay and opened up a new container and I just can't throw that out either. I really want to, I really need to! But letting it go.... Please, please help if you know what I can do, I really don't want to be this way and really want to have a beautiful, clean, organized apartment. Thank you for any help you can offer. ~Willow~