Making Space Mondays, Link Party #7

It's time for another PITS stop!!

PITS (Pass IT Stuff)

PITS stands for Pass IT Stuff and is all of that clutter that needs to be passed on to someone or somewhere else. This is the stuff you've already decided does not belong in your home. The decisions made--now it's time to get it to who or where it belongs.

This is a copy of the first post I did about PITS. (If you've already read through this stuff, you can jump down to This Week and find out what's up right now!)

It's the PITS!

Ha! I just love acronyms. They make it easy to remember steps. PITS is our focus this week and this is one of my favorites. It's the decluttering that actually gets the stuff out of your house for good. This is the stuff most people think of when decluttering--taking a trip to Salvation Army, waving the proverbial hand goodbye as they drive away from their junk and feel proud of themselves for having 3 entire garbage bags full of stuff, gone forever. This is the step with the decluttering high. The one where you can give yourself a high five for finally ridding yourself of junk.

I know I do! I count the bags and estimate the weight. I imagine my house being weighed on a gigantic scale. Ah--20 pounds gone in one day. Refreshing. Uplifting. This is the good part. It can also be the fun part.

Did you know that planning a visit to a friend can be a PITS stop?

That's right. When I declutter an area and bag all of the items going to other people, I write their names on a list. (My list is on my iphone on Toodledo. I happen to love that app...GRIN.) I actually think to myself, hmmm...I wonder if Berk (or whoever that particular day) would like some company sometime soon. And, I know he does cause he loves stocking ice cream just for the kids to come by and dote on him for being the best. I see it as this great excuse to visit someone who we love hanging out with. "Hey Berk. We have a few things we found that are yours. Would you mind some company?"

Of course, that's the fun part. Decluttering gets much harder than this. But allow for that reward. The high of seeing large amounts leave at once, visiting a friend "just" to drop off some odds and ends, and "having" to get out of the house because you need to drop stuff by the thrift store.

Don't forget that this part, though fun, is actually vital to your success. In order to free yourself of masses of things attempting to strangle the life out of your day, things do actually have to leave. Making plans to do this is an important part of dejunking your home.

And who knows...you could find a treasure while you're out!

Here's a quick reminder of all of my decluttering abbreviations.

Quick Abbreviations:

OOPS-Out Of Place Stuff

E.T.’s CUP-Easy Trash and Clean Up Place

PITS-Pass IT Stuff

TLC-Tedious Longsuffering Care

NAPs and MAPs-Needs A Place and Make A Place

This Week: (What I did this week for PITS)

Do you see the clutter?

Oh, you mean the drink cup? Nope. Bigger.

The net? Well, yeah but not this week. BIGGER.

BBQ pit?? Also, yes, but not this week either. BIGGER!

It couldn't be that great vehicle, could it?

Oh yes it could!!

Here's a little secret. Not all things ugly are clutter, AND not all things pretty aren't clutter.

Just because it's useful and good to someone doesn't mean it isn't clutter. This is my mom's vehicle, and in her driveway, it's not clutter at all, but in mine it is. Sometimes we take on projects out of love--like this one. It had gone to at least two mechanics and had broken down again within a couple of weeks each time. My husband, who is an absolute genius at researching and figuring out almost any challenge you give him, took it on. Then--he got dreadfully busy at work. Nine months later...

Yeah, really...it took that long. And, he's fixed so many cars for other people before and it is usually in our driveway for about a month tops!! Not this one. His job had him jumping through flaming hoops...and though he's my lion...he's certainly not in the circus. So, there it sat, broken down, unable to be moved, month after month. This was a huge TLC item, let me tell ya. Until this week!!

Josh fixed the unfixable...again. If it breaks down again, we'll be going to their house this time, lol! That SUV is not pulling up in our driveway without hungry mouths in it come to visit, ever again.

One more mountain of clutter moved...this one, Mt. Everest.

Well, that's it for this week! Next week is TLC. TLC, or Tedious Longsuffering Care, is the toughest part of decluttering and is definitely for me, the one area that crowds MY house. Not dealing with this can, and for me does, stop up my home like a dam in the middle of a flood. Please link up any post(s) you'd like and then join me next week for a focus on TLC.