What did you declutter today? Part II

[KennySoward]

Let's see. I did the dishes. Does that count?

[snafu]

Of course washing, drying, putting away dishes helps especially if you cleared counter, trashed any crockery that is cracked or chipped as those hold bacteria. A second step would be to review the stuff in the fridge, getting rid of anything that's too old to eat, moldering, or expired. If there are condiments that you'll never use, pitch them out to make more room.

[KiwiJo09]

Today is laundry day.

[disneysteve]

Just in case you think I fell off the face of the earth, I'm still here. I have been extremely busy at work and at our synagogue (I'm vice-president and "on deck" to be president next year). So decluttering has tapered off, though hasn't stopped entirely.

This past weekend, we decided that it is time to ditch our old basement freezer and get a new one. Ours is about 18 years old and is manual defrost which is a pain in the butt. I'm sure it makes our electric meter spin like a top, especially when the coils are caked in ice build up. So we went down and got rid of all of the freezer-burned food buried in there, things that had dates that I'm embarrassed to even mention and anything else that wasn't worth keeping.

That created a stack of empty containers and zipper freezer bags that my wife then washed and put away for reuse.

I didn't fully defrost the freezer but I did spend some time chipping and scraping the majority of the ice build up that was there. We still have some food in the freezer that we're keeping. Hopefully, this weekend I'll get out and buy a new freezer and have that delivered within the next week or so. I thought about selling the old one on craigslist, but quite honestly, I'd rather not be bothered just to make $50 so I'll probably have the delivery guys haul it away for me as long as they'll do it for free.

I also discovered yesterday that Coke Rewards had updated their mobile site for smart phones and it is now much easier to enter reward codes. So I've entered several in the past 2 days and gotten those off of the counter and my dresser.

[snafu]

DS: great going on deep freeze inventory/purge. To avoid suffering the financial loss and all those hours shopping/cooking due to freezer burn/expired foods,it really helps to adapt an on-line, simple inventory sheet. We've slid the sheet into a page protector, and taped to lid with green type painter's tape. DH cleverly attached a Sharpie to the wall re-purposing an elastic shoe lace & Velcro tab to make upkeep easy.

Perhaps daughter would be willing to research features & Consumer's guidelines, epinions etc. to give you another machine with potential for 18 yrs. service, for a special privilege or reasonable fee. [I do bribery without guilt] I wonder what SA responders recommend. Upright? Chest type? How big is enough?

While I understand the time issue, it would be great to keep the freezer out of landfill while still serviceable. Would you consider having DD clean, polish,photo, list on Craig'slist for the resultant sale $$? At last resort, I would guess there are folks who would appreciate your generosity of a free freezer since buying is out of their price range.

[KennySoward]

Of course washing, drying, putting away dishes helps especially if you cleared counter, trashed any crockery that is cracked or chipped as those hold bacteria. A second step would be to review the stuff in the fridge, getting rid of anything that's too old to eat, moldering, or expired. If there are condiments that you'll never use, pitch them out to make more room.

As a matter of fact, I do have some pizza boxes and other "knick-knacks" in the fridge that need to go. Looks like I have my chore for tomorrow.

[marvholly]

DS
Check w/your electric company. Here in IL ComEd is doing FREE pick up of older units (fridge and/or freezer) and giving a $25 cash/bill credit/unit (forget which). Notice comes in just about every monthly bill.

[disneysteve]

DS
Check w/your electric company. Here in IL ComEd is doing FREE pick up of older units (fridge and/or freezer) and giving a $25 cash/bill credit/unit (forget which). Notice comes in just about every monthly bill.

They were doing that at one point. I have to check if they still are. Thanks for the reminder. I'll call and ask. I know they do recycle the collected units so they don't go in the landfill.

[Aleta]

DS: You could also consider FREECYCLE; Someone would love to take that freezer off your hands and it won't be going to the landfills. Fro sure, inventory lists are the best to use even for freezer items.

[snafu]

Home | NJ OCE Web Site ph877 270 3520 NJ has free p/u and pays for older working fridge & freezers. Likewise up to $100. if you buy an energy star replacement unit.

Forgive my surprise as this program is offered here, often described as 'socialist' since there is no income disqualifier even though it is environmentally beneficial.

[marvholly]

Need to bring this back to the forefront.

Today I am determined to get some at home stuff done. My list is:

Clean out purse & wallet - is way too heavy (move Kohl’s and Target cc OUT of wallet)
Move store coupon books to car from purse
Clip & file coupons
Change bed linens
Clean off kitchen table – it’s a disaster
Shred a month of cc offers
Go thru box of shoes in 3rd bedroom – either put in consignment store or donate pile
Empty dishwasher
Put out recycles BEFORE it rains – DONE – 2 minues
Fold bleach laundry load
Give self a manicure (LAST to do)

Except for the shoes (maybe) and manicure nothing will take over 15 minutes AND I can watch the morning political talk shows while I do most of these things.

I plan a drop-off trip to the clothing consignment shop on Mon. I have some good things I want to get up for sale before Easter. If stuff sells it will be ‘found’ money that I will just blow on fun stuff/clothes/shoes.

[snafu]

Good list MH, let us cheer on your effort. Spring arrives tomorrow so time to remove extraneous items, remove papers from all flat surfaces and I applaud your taking apparel/shoes to consignment. Way to go!

[marvholly]

I actually spent a LOT more time on Sun just pulling stuff from closets, cabinets and drawers + ties to go to the designer only consignment shop. Time spent on that alone was 2½ hours. I ‘thought’ I had gone over all of this before but I found more items everywhere – late DH had 4 closets of professional & sport clothing, 2 had double rods. I have 85 suits, sport coats, dress pants, dress shirts, dress shoes and ties to take in on Mon. There is STILL enough clothing to tightly fill at least 3 rods. I’ll have to see just what the shop will ‘accept’ but if I only get $1/piece it is still 5 weeks of groceries.

I took 2 items to try on to see if they work for me otherwise they get donated.

I did the linens and laundry folding this morning. The manicure did NOT get done.

It’s a good thing I got my recycle out and my walk to CVS done early on Sun. It started to rain a bit before noon and my street and alley facing part of the yard were flooded by 12:30. At CVS they had ‘hidden’ the FREE after EB’s Allegra on a stand-alone display behind another stand alone display. I had to ask for it.

[canada94]

30 shirts, 17 pairs of trousers and 5 suits, all gone to the charity shop, i would of got back into the one day.lol


Kevin

[Frugal]

I decluttered by cleaning out the refrigerator, finding some coffee creamer that (oops!) had expired a month ago---which I had been drinking at the same moment! ouch...and also by throwing away all the new black socks I bought a month ago at Walmart, that seem to have made holes in each of them in only a few weeks' time. Sidenote: buy socks at Coscto next time! lol

I also went through my old receipts last week, as I have to periodically de-clutter them, and organize them in envelopes by store name, to allow for ease of use with finding them, if I need to return something. I use a centralized basket to store them all in, before I sort them and categorize them.