2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

Where did all my fellow declutterers go?

I spent some time in the basement today working in the laundry room half of the room which is also where we have 3 large built-in closets where we store our china, glassware, holiday dishes, serving pieces, etc. DW and I have said we really need to do the full scale decluttering of that area. We started back when we did the glassware attack a couple of months ago but never got back to it.

I have to admit that there is a ton of dust down there. It just isn't an area that gets cleaned very often. DW has allergies so when we're down there, she wears a mask but still can't spend very long working there. I decided to go down today while she was out and at least vacuum up a bunch of the dust so then we we go down together to actually work on things, it won't be so bad.

Of course, in the process of vacuuming, I couldn't help but clean and declutter. I put away a bunch of clothes hangars, found some trash, a full garbage bag of clothing for Goodwill that just never got there apparently, a few items for the yard sale, and a couple of items that neither of us even remembered having. There were also a bunch of Passover prayer books that we no longer use as we've switched to a newer version for our family seders. Those will get donated to our synagogue's rummage sale this summer. In the process, I completely cleaned out an 18-gallon tote that is now free to use for storing things we actually want and need to keep. It just got set aside for now until we find a purpose for it.

I feel like I made a decent amount of progress in a short time. I had to stop as we have somewhere to be later but we'll definitely continue working down there.

[Gailete]

The main thing I have been working on decluttering is my sewing room but don't seem to be making any forward progress. I keep finding wonderful deals at my thrift store! And I keep getting things from Amazon to review that I have been able to machine embroider on and then I am worn out and don't have time to clean up. I would love to have a month of feeling great, perky and untired so I coulf get a bunch of stuff done that is driving me crazy.

[cypher1]

Sold 2 network switches on CL that were eating up some space in my office closet. Also sold some misc car parts on eBay a month back. Prior roommate finally took his left over mail and previous tv/monitor mounting brackets and shelving. Gave away an electric pressure washer (I borrow a friend's gas powered one for the deck).

The last 2 Saturdays I helped a sister move to new house. While she's married with 2 kids, it still amazes me how much a family can accrue (I may have to open a thread just to vent). It only motivates me to declutter my office and garage again, even though I've already cracked down on removing items earlier this year.

Overall, breaking down clutter by room, the living room, master bedroom, guest rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, are all pretty bare. Since most items collected are in office or garage=my work areas.

[disneysteve]

I'm starting a new PT job which has already generated a mound of paperwork. I wanted to sort through it all and start a file for the stuff I need to keep. That led to a round of decluttering in the file drawers. I went through the folder from my daughter's college and got rid of a bunch of papers we don't need. I consolidated some financial statements. And generally cleaned things up in there.

Last night, I cleared a bunch of stuff off my desk also.

On Thursday, I took 4 bags of clothing and linens to Goodwill.

We haven't chosen a date for our yard sale yet. Possibly May 28 but I'm not sure if the holiday weekend is the best time. We'll wait and see what the weather report is.

[msomnipotent]

To make a long story short, I hired a company to do some work on our house that was supposed to take a week to 10 days. That was over a month ago. The owner was supposed to be here 2 hours ago to fix their last mistake and then I will be done with them. I have been spending my time either cleaning up their mess, their mistakes, or at a hotel, so no decluttering lately. I have a charity pick up scheduled for tomorrow, so I should be filling boxes instead of posting here. Maybe when my coffee kicks in. I did get my daughter to contribute a box of stuff so far, and I'm trying to find bags large enough to cover the bridesmaid dresses taking over a closet. At least that is something.

[creditcardfree]

I loaded my van with items I have been decluttering in the last couple months. I will drop those items off tomorrow. This leaves a closet where I've been storing that stuff looking very empty!

[dawnwes]

Sorry, we decided not to move and I have really, really fallen down on the job.

Now I have enough boxes to move at least 3000 sq. ft. of stuff and need to get rid of the boxes!!!!!!!!! :roll eyes:

I will get back at it.

[creditcardfree]

Sorry, we decided not to move and I have really, really fallen down on the job.

Now I have enough boxes to move at least 3000 sq. ft. of stuff and need to get rid of the boxes!!!!!!!!! :roll eyes:

I will get back at it.

You can use some of the boxes to load up stuff you need to donate. And definitely return or sell the boxes you know you won't use. Even a free giveaway of the boxes would be helpful to someone else.

[disneysteve]

Sorry, we decided not to move and I have really, really fallen down on the job.

You did a great job decluttering to prepare for the move, though. Now that you're staying, you can enjoy the results of everything you eliminated up until now.

[dawnwes]

You did a great job decluttering to prepare for the move, though. Now that you're staying, you can enjoy the results of everything you eliminated up until now.

Yes! Although now I have to get those boxes out of storage! But a lot is GONE.

[disneysteve]

I've done little to nothing recently.

On the upside, though, we are having a yard sale on Saturday! The weather forecast looks good. I'll put the signs up after work today and I just posted an ad on craigslist.

I'll report back to let you all know how it goes. The plan is to do the same thing as last year. Anything that doesn't sell gets packed up and taken straight to Goodwill.

[disneysteve]

Another yard sale is history.

We sold a ton of stuff. The buyers were really out in droves today. A lot of the stuff we sold really surprised me (and DW). There were many items that I was sure nobody would ever buy. I almost hesitated to put some of them out. There were 2 books that my wife actually pulled out when she was putting out all of the books and said, "Do you really think anybody is going to buy these?" I had her put them out anyway and sure enough, somebody did buy them. The "one man's trash" saying is really so very true. Just think of it this way. If you bought the item, somebody else will too.

One particular success story to share: Back in January (see post #110), we did the whole Marie Kondo thing and cleared out 72 pieces of glassware from the house. Today, we sold all but about 20 of them. The rest went to Goodwill after the sale.

So the bottom line is we made a couple hundred dollars. All together, we sold about a dozen cartons full of stuff. At the end, I took 8 cartons of unsold stuff to Goodwill. So roughly 20 cartons (when I say carton, I mean a box like a copy paper box size) of stuff is now gone from our home. I'd say that was a pretty successful day.

I had a bit of a philosophical revelation toward the end but that's really a topic for another thread.

[disneysteve]

I forgot to post that I sold one of DD's textbooks on half.com.

On a kind of related note, our next door neighbor also had a yard sale today. I walked over at one point to say hi and they had a whole table full of DVDs. I mentioned that they really ought to sell them on half.com. That's not really their thing so at the end of the day, I took a carton full of them and said I'd list them and split any sales with them.

[disneysteve]

Sold another textbook on half.com.

[disneysteve]

I spent about an hour in the garage today. Since our yard sale last weekend, there is a lot more space in there, at least in the front half, so it gave me space to dig in a little deeper and start dealing with what remains. I found quite a bit that I was able to put right in the trash. I also broke down a few empty boxes to recycle, making even more space. And I started a new box of stuff to give to Goodwill. Not much in there yet but I'm sure over time I'll fill that box and more.

I probably won't do too much in the garage during the summer months unless we get a stretch of cooler weather. Even the hour in there today was rough. I think I need to switch back to working in the basement until the fall.