All Blog Posts (331)

FREE TO BE YOU, FREE TO BE ME...

Well, this is definitely where the rubber meets the road. This is the moment - the dawn of a brand new, fresh, clean,…

WHAT TO BRING, WHAT TO LEAVE BEHIND…

The question of what to bring with us into the New Year - into the future, into the next great segment of our lives - and what to leave behind is not a frivolous one. Nor are the answers necessarily obvious or even easy. We’ve just wrapped up a ten day sojourn at our old farm house in Connecticut and as I packed up to go back to NYC, I realized how much stuff I’d brought with me. I mean,…

Hurricane Sandy Was a Wake-up Call on a Lot of Levels. One is: What Happens to Our Critical Family Documents When Almost Everything is Swept Away…?

Like all of us, I was appalled by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the havoc it wreaked on so many people’s lives. Much of the extreme damage to physical property was totally unavoidable. But some of the physical loss could’ve been avoided…like the loss or destruction of our critical…

I live in lower Manhattan and, on Tuesday, October 30th, post-Sandy, when the power went out, I decided to head to my sister’s in the Bronx. I began the walk down 24 flights of stairs, in the dark, with a suitcase, two cats in seprarte carriers and a flashlight. On the 20th floor, I ran into a saint of a man who was on his way up but carried the suitcase and one of the cats all the way down for me.  I would have kissed him if I wasn't drenched with sweat.  I had a comfortable stay at my…

My husband and I were blessed by being without power for only 4 days.  We spent our candlelit nights playing scrabble wearing parkas, ear muffs and hats.  We listened to our transistor radio and felt such pride in Gov. Christy’s leadership.  We visualized the devastation at the Jersey shore through the descriptions told to us on the radio.  When our power came on, Don and I danced the “Snoopy dance” in our living room.  We are grateful for our blessings. 

Having a clutter free home…

I read your book two years ago and about the time I finished it was time to celebrate the Jewish New Year.  I had an epiphany of how I wanted to celebrate the holidays.  After services one day  I asked my husband to join me to sort through our overflowing bookshelves in our living room, tv room, and basement.  Our goal was to eliminate books that were no longer of interest, and to create a pile to donate to charity.  

I found the experience to be rejuvinating and very freeing.  I was…

I've reorganized the house: moved the furniture around & even got rid of some.

The Bedroom:  The clutter that was all over the floor is now put away (bins of knitting yarn, bins of old photographs that I'm in the process of sorting out, bins of old clothes, the ironing board, an empty planter), and I moved out the office furniture and printer, etc., giving the room an open, relaxing feel.  I even cleaned off the balcony, getting rid…

Its been over 3 years since I've been on here. My life has changed drastically. And the mess has built up. As in UP UP AND AWAY. I've gotten married, and my husband has a 4 year old daughter. I've moved 3 times in the past year, once to my home town for school, second was in with my husband after we got married, and third when we bought our house back in April. I hope Im done with it for a while. I was hoping to use the moving process as a clean out but it didnt work that way. We managed to…

Well, sometimes anyway! Recently, a big Wall Street Mogul was passing through my home office and remarked that

it seemed like a beehive of activity.....( in truth, I have nothing that I am involved in of great import, but i had just returned

from a month away and had dumped all the TO DO stuff in the office).........I said NOT really. He said BUT do YOU KNOW

WHERE EVERYTHING IS?  and I said Yes!  (kinda).Often,  with little help, I can go right to what i need within…

I'm back after almost 3 years. Nothing much has happened in that time, at least nothing good. But I am ready to start over and am taking the next month, from today through October 2, to get my Life back on track and start a few new good habits. That includes getting rid of and keep out The Clutter Monster.  I just opened the Workbook and am going to begin in my bedroom (where I happened to be when I logged on).  I will be working in here for the foreseeable future (I hope no longer than 3-4…

I have long been a believer of this philopshopy and did not really embrace it until a fire caused us to lose a lot of important personal items back in the 90's....since then I have had a natural incliniation not to hold on to too many things but must admit it is still a constant "battle" to clear out the uneeded clutter from my life ...a big help for me is to not buy too many gadgets and things to begin with...before I make any purchases now I ask myself...is this something I am going to end…

Dear Ms. Blanke,

  To be truthful, I've read at least three books a year regarding clutter, hoarding, purging and organizing.  Some of them are veiled in words like Feng Shui, detoxing, recycling or slimming. My husband shook his head and laughed at each title.  After reading your book,…

I have never been able to say no easily.  Especially to accepting bag after bag of hand-me-down items.  I have a hard time getting rid of things anyway.  "But it's so pretty" or "So-and-so gave me that".... excuse after excuse led to pile after pile.  I started cleaning out while reading the book, and have had multiple spurts afterwards as well.  I've done a pretty good job, but keeping the momentum for the task at hand is proving difficult.  I typically get busy running around and forget to…

Master Bedroom (Weekend, January 21st - 22nd)

1. Tarnished metal bookmark, from "personal items" box by bed, into garbage.
2. Half melted stick of lip balm, from "personal items" box by bed, into garbage.
3. Misc. hair clips and ornaments from container in closet.  Old, worn, and defective into the garbage; ziploc'd newer, still clean and pretty items for donation at Value Village (unique locally, in taking very small items and rebagging them as small collections, eg.,…

I have spent most of the last 8 years of my life fighting STUFF.

First my own STUFF, for a year.

Then my late mother's STUFF, for most of three years.  That's because she was exposed post-mortem as what I would now call a Class 1.5 hoarder (basically a Class 2 without pets) whose tastes unfortunately did not run to much that could simply be kicked to the curb or into recycling.

Then back to my own STUFF (including inherited) for three or four years.  Long periods of near…

I'm new to 'Throw Out Fifty Things" and finding the website, checking it out, reading the posts, articles, all... has been just the motivator I've needed to get my butt in gear. Situations beyond my control wreaked havoc on my home. I've been dragging ass for several months. Gail, and all of you are exactly what I need right now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Does everyone have "that" cupboard? It's similar to "that" drawer in the kitchen that everyone has... The one with the dried Krazy Glue, the dead batteries, cords from 9 cell phones ago, instruction manuals to thinks you don't remember owning, twist ties, single screws, calendars from 1998, keys that go to nowhere... you know "that" drawer that acts as an orphanage to anything that will fit, even if you have to push it down with your foot before you close it. I have a cupboard. For all the…

***Here is a section from my blog http://cajosey.blogspot.com/***

Yesterday I returned from NYC where I had the honor of attending a three day, beautiful celebration for me and 99 of my colleagues from across the country. The final speaker for the event was Gail Blanke. Each of us received her book "Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the clutter, Find your life" and we also got to listen to her speak that morning. If you haven't had the chance to…

It's my first day with Throw Out Fifty Things, and I've gone through just a couple of chapters, then downloaded the Big Letting-Go Workbook. So far, I haven't made it to throwing away anything, but I've acquired something! A new attitude to help me glide through this program! 

I've tried (and keep on trying) every way I read about, think of, hear about from friends, etc., to declutter my home. When I heard about TOFT, I thought "50 things is nothing!" 

Now I get it. 

I'm…

I am back at ground zero.  Read this book (Throw Out Fifty Things) about 1.5 - 2 years ago.  Feeling now revisiting the whole idea is a good thing.  Digging out the book .....re-motivating myself!