2019 Decluttering Thread

[msomnipotent]

So I was forced to declutter part of the basement the other day because our stupid cat pulled a hose out of the aquarium and approx. 30 gals of water wound up in the basement. And after we clean everything, the idiot husband and child refill the aquarium and put the stupid hose back without reattaching it, and 15 more gallons wind up in the basement before I notice what happened. I'm going to have to completely drain the tank and pull up the carpeting this weekend. What really pisses me off is that NOT ONE of my husband's stupid boxes got wet!!! It was all my antiques and some food. He had one box filled with random newspaper clippings and athletic cups from his childhood sitting right next to a box with about $2,000 worth of antiques, and the water actually curved around his box and soaked mine. Thankfully, the antiques that got wet were sterling so no real harm was done to them. So far, our recycling bin overfloweth and we have 5 contractor bags of wet insulation, camping stuff, and toilet paper. The area looks nice and clean, though.

[disneysteve]

Took out 5 more things so 141 total.

16 more items removed today - total up to 157!

A few things I took out today are going on ebay. I go back and forth about whether ebay is worth my time but for certain things it really is the best option.

ETA: 2 ebay auctions started. I'll do more later.

[disneysteve]

This isn't about me decluttering, but my DD23! Last week she spent all day in her room and got rid of a bunch of trash mostly! Finally, since she's in her last semester of college, she felt ok getting rid of some past school work. Nice not to see piles of folders and spiral notebooks on the floor.

And she got rid of a lot of junk on her dressers!! I still think there's too much clutter, but I won't complain because at least now I can actually see the top of her dresser. She still has a ways to go, but she thinks she's done. I won't yap at her because who knows maybe she'll get a job somewhere and move out.

I'm not sure I knew that our daughters were the same age. Kudos to her for doing that. And I agree with not complaining or criticizing. Praise her for what she's done, even if you think she needs to do more. Much better for her to get positive feedback for that sort of thing. Fortunately, our DD is good about clutter. Honestly, sometimes I think she's too good and gets rid of things that she ought to keep. I've gotten several t-shirts out of her give away pile and the sweat jacket that I'm wearing right now. I also got a "hand me down" rain jacket from her. I hate seeing her discard things that aren't that old, weren't cheap, and are in perfectly good shape. If you didn't intend to keep them, why did you buy them in the first place?

[disneysteve]

So far, 11 more items have been removed.
that brings the total number of items removed from that room to 136.

Took out 5 more things so 141 total.

[Thrif-t]

This isn't about me decluttering, but my DD23! Last week she spent all day in her room and got rid of a bunch of trash mostly! Finally, since she's in her last semester of college, she felt ok getting rid of some past school work. Nice not to see piles of folders and spiral notebooks on the floor.

And she got rid of a lot of junk on her dressers!! I still think there's too much clutter, but I won't complain because at least now I can actually see the top of her dresser. She still has a ways to go, but she thinks she's done. I won't yap at her because who knows maybe she'll get a job somewhere and move out.

[disneysteve]

I haven't had anything to report lately but I worked in our collectibles room again today. DW also uses that as her sewing room and is trying to arrange it better and asked for my help. So far, 11 more items have been removed. A bunch of others have been rearranged to take advantage of newly cleared off shelf space. There is a lot more to do but that brings the total number of items removed from that room to 136. I was actually surprised to pull out that log and see that the first entry was back in March 2018 so it's almost a year since we started working in there.

[alliecat79]

UPDATE: I have takers for almost every single item I posted today. Woo hoo! Still need to find a taker for the curtains and just posted a space heater.

[alliecat79]

Disneysteve, we tossed our ENTIRE liquor cabinet. We really aren't drinkers, have moved the box to multiple homes and now have a teenager in the house who doesn't need access to free booze. Our kitchen sink smells like a dive bar right now. LOL!

[disneysteve]

I should also include ridding us of a chin up bar. Former co-worker is going to pick it up tomorrow. She has also stated she will take a bottle of rum as well as a leather recliner we don't use.

Gee if I knew you were decluttering the liquor cabinet I would have gotten in touch.

[alliecat79]

I should also include ridding us of a chin up bar. Former co-worker is going to pick it up tomorrow. She has also stated she will take a bottle of rum as well as a leather recliner we don't use.

[alliecat79]

DH went through one of our storage closets. We sold a number of items today for a total of $40. Still have a few outstanding items. Sold: large dog crate, thunder shirt, humidifier, squatty potty, bath lotus, dog food container. Still trying to unload 20 lb box of poly fil (anyone interested???) and two white velvet curtains. I listed the curtains on ebay to hopefully get some money for them.

[disneysteve]

^ Steve, I like to keep my sheets in those plastic zipper bags that some sheet sets come in. I can't get the pillow cases in them but I can get the fitted sheet and top sheet in. Makes it so easy to pull them out of my linen closet, plus keeps it organized.

We never save those, plus most of our sheets are t-shirt sheets and most didn't come in those. We also never use the top sheets, just the fitted sheets and pillowcases. We're actually giving away all of the top sheets that we still have. It's silly to keep them and have them taking up space when we will never use them.

[Thrif-t]

^ Steve, I like to keep my sheets in those plastic zipper bags that some sheet sets come in. I can't get the pillow cases in them but I can get the fitted sheet and top sheet in. Makes it so easy to pull them out of my linen closet, plus keeps it organized.

[disneysteve]

I mentioned earlier that my wife was working on getting all of our bed linens clean at once so we could sort through them. We finally did that today. Several that are worn out are getting trashed and a trash bag full of sheets we no longer need are going to Goodwill. The last step will be organizing what we are keeping in a better way so that we can see and access them easily. We want to do something like Marie Kondo teaches with some sort of container or tray so that they are standing up instead of stacked on top of each other. Now that we know what we have, we can figure out how best to store it.

[cypher1]

Donated a bunch of t-shirts, jeans, blazers, vests, sweaters that no longer fit, over the weekend. Threw out a few more older electronic cords/chargers for devices I just no longer use. Going to give away an old ipod since I use my phone for music as well. Have been pretty good about trimming the fat where I'm currently living at.