2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

Listed 6 more items on ebay just now.

With DD back at school and the weather starting to settle down, DW and I are starting to get back into the decluttering mindset. She just said to me, "We need to go through every room as if we are moving." I keep reminding her that we really did accomplish a lot in the past year but I certainly agree that there's far more to be done.

[disneysteve]

Listed 2 items on Craigslist. They'd probably garner more attention on ebay but shipping costs make it so hard to sell things. Who wants to pay $15 to ship a $20 item? Hopefully somebody local will want them.

[disneysteve]

Got a bite on one of the items I put on Craigslist. I don't have a good vibe about this guy but we're tentatively meeting up at the mall tomorrow morning. He had wanted to meet today but the timing just didn't work for me. We'll see if it actually happens. There's $50 and some space in our computer room riding on this. I'll report back.

I'm currently doing some more cleaning in the computer room. I tossed out some old (but of no value) comic books. I listed a few more items on ebay. Considering I've hardly used ebay at all for years, I suddenly feel like it's the old days as I currently have 28 items listed. That's the most I've done in many years.

[disneysteve]

More decluttering. More trash. More giveaway. More ebay listings.

The craigslist buyer didn't materialize, as expected. I'll see if anyone else is interested.

Oh, and I got a bid ($19.99) for one of my auctions.

[msomnipotent]

I sprained my wrist in July and still can't put weight on it, so I haven't done much in the way of decluttering. I went a little nuts yesterday because I couldn't find paperwork I needed regarding a boat my sister and I bought, and tore my home office apart looking for it. I wound up throwing away a 14 inch pile of old papers in the process. And it turns out that the paperwork is at our cottage.

My sister is coming tomorrow to help with the basement. I reserved a storage locker, so she better show up. We canceled our anniversary plans because she could only come on Sunday, but she can be flaky about plans. People don't like to see us celebrate on 9/11 anyway, especially since it is the 15 year anniversary. We got married before it happened, or I would have changed the date.

[creditcardfree]

Working on letting go of more paper in files. I've realized I keep way to much and for far too long. I did a couple quick counts and came up with 130 pieces of paper.

[disneysteve]

Working on letting go of more paper in files. I've realized I keep way to much and for far too long. I did a couple quick counts and came up with 130 pieces of paper.

You inspired me to take a look at my main file drawer, which I stay pretty on top of, but I still managed to removed a hefty stack of old statements that I no longer need.

[disneysteve]

Did a bit in the basement after dinner. Went through one large box. Found a number of treasures including my father's Honorable Discharge from the Army (1943) and a few other military souvenirs. Found some trash. Found a few things that will go on ebay. And most of the box was stuff from his and my stamp collection. Some day I need to tackle that. We had a very large collection. I don't know what is and isn't of value at this point. One day I have to gather it all together and try to get it appraised.

I also went through a box of really old books. A couple look like they're worth putting on ebay. The rest are probably worthless at this point. I'll get rid of those.

[creditcardfree]

You inspired me to take a look at my main file drawer, which I stay pretty on top of, but I still managed to removed a hefty stack of old statements that I no longer need.

Glad to inspire! I have a goal to reduce the files we carry with us when we move. It's so not fun to move three stuffed bankers boxes of files in our car when we move. I'm getting rid of the unnecessary (such as old EOBs) and will scan in anything else we don't need to physically hold. I hope to get down to one banker box maximum.

[disneysteve]

Glad to inspire! I have a goal to reduce the files we carry with us when we move.

I'm generally good about going through the files every January and discarding all but the year-end statements from each account, but there were a couple that I had missed apparently. I also had a folder of all billing statements from our synagogue dating back to 1998. I don't know why I was saving them. I mean they did substantiate tax deductions but I don't need to go back that far. I discarded everything prior to 2009 (7 years, which I think is the rule for audits). I also got rid of everything from the car loan we recently paid off. We have the payoff letter and the title so I don't need all of the statements.

I need to go through the mortgage statement folder next. There's really no reason to save those once the payment has been processed.

[creditcardfree]

I'm generally good about going through the files every January and discarding all but the year-end statements from each account, but there were a couple that I had missed apparently. I also had a folder of all billing statements from our synagogue dating back to 1998. I don't know why I was saving them. I mean they did substantiate tax deductions but I don't need to go back that far. I discarded everything prior to 2009 (7 years, which I think is the rule for audits). I also got rid of everything from the car loan we recently paid off. We have the payoff letter and the title so I don't need all of the statements.

I need to go through the mortgage statement folder next. There's really no reason to save those once the payment has been processed.

I think it is now three years for an audit. Double check though. I will probably always keep the tax return, but the supporting docs are only three years from what I last remember reading.

I think I'm somehow sentimental when it comes to some of these financial documents. Like yes, I have loan docs from cars we no longer own! I find it interesting to see what we have paid, ect. But I know I don't need these, and really only look at them when I'm attempting to declutter. This the kind of thing I'm working on. Year end financial statement and tax docs I will always keep. Or at least until the three years after I have sold the property.

[disneysteve]

I'm not sure if this counts as decluttering but I went into my Half.com sales inventory and checked current prices on everything I have listed. I then lowered my prices on about 10 items to make them more competitive and hopefully get some of them sold.

I cleaned out the kitchen pantry which had gotten out of hand. It was mostly rearranging but I did also throw out a few things that had been in there forever and just aren't going to get used.

[disneysteve]

Got my email inbox down to 11 messages!

I know that isn't physical clutter but I've learned how much an overflowing inbox stresses me. I find that I start getting annoyed when it's over 30 and when it gets around 50, I start feeling overwhelmed every time I look at it until I sit down and deal with it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I am trying to declutter but it's hard with us trying to move in the next year and having a kiddo still at home pretty much full time. Gone 2.5 hours 3/days a week doesn't work.

But I'm making money consigning clothes at a store but they limit me to 6 items a day without an appointment and are booked until November. I have 3 booked appointments to drop 30 items a time

[disneysteve]

Monday is my late day at work but I still wanted to accomplish something today.

I listed 5 books on half.com. My daughter changed one of her classes and no longer needed the books we had bought for the class. Fortunately, it was an English lit class so all the books were dirt cheap ($0.75 each). I won't really make anything on them if they sell due to fees but at least I'll get rid of them.

I also went into the basement for a short time. I gathered all of the paper plates, plastic cups, and napkins from assorted parties over the years. We virtually never use them. Most were open and dirty from being down there for so long. I trashed all of those. There were a few sealed packs which I got into one neat stack on a shelf. We probably don't need those either but I'm okay keeping them for the moment. A lot more went into the trash than got saved.