2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

I sold another of DD's textbooks on half.com.

[disneysteve]

I went into the garage tonight and set my phone alarm for 30 minutes.

During that time, I started sorting and boxing up numerous items into two piles: donate to Goodwill and donate to upcoming charity events (raffle prizes). A few little bits and pieces went into the trash, too. Most of what I packed up was already destined to give away but I also got a few things off of the back shelves in there and added those to the piles. Once the Goodwill boxes are full, I'll take them over there. The charity stuff will stay until the events happen and the first isn't until next April but that's okay.

It was a very quick session but you can accomplish a reasonable amount in a short time. I'll try and do that again soon.

[msomnipotent]

I donated a huge garbage bag filled with clothes plus 3 medium boxes of stuff the other day. I'm starting to think that I might not need to rent a storage locker. Also decided to wait until after the Superbowl to put my house on the market. I'm going to need the extra time. I injured my wrist in July and now the Dr says I need to have my ulna shortened.

[disneysteve]

I'm starting to think that I might not need to rent a storage locker.

I think in most cases, renting a storage locker is a sure sign that you simply have too much crap and you need to declutter rather than spending hundreds of dollars to store it all.

[msomnipotent]

I think in most cases, renting a storage locker is a sure sign that you simply have too much crap and you need to declutter rather than spending hundreds of dollars to store it all.

It is more about not letting buyers see things I don't want them to see, for me anyway. I was planning on getting a safe deposit box for the safe contents, and move the empty safe and other things, mainly heirlooms, into a locker. I have a bunch of camping equipment that we use and freeze-dried foods. I don't want people thinking we are survivalists because that mindset just doesn't fit in here. I also have a foosball table and ping pong table taking up a huge amount of space. The buyers here want everything cleared out so they can imagine their man cave in the basement. I'm thinking I might be able to hide things under the ping pong table and surround it with assorted crap, as long as it doesn't look too cluttered. But yeah, I still have a lot more crap to get rid of!

At least I finally got rid of the dresses that I planned on fitting into "someday"!

[disneysteve]

It is more about not letting buyers see things I don't want them to see

That makes sense. Getting a storage unit when staging a house is fine. I was thinking more of all of the people who rent them just to keep more junk around who aren't moving. If you can live fine without the stuff in your home, why pay to store it? Just get rid of it.

[Jluke]

We've been doing some major decluttering in the past few weeks.

Clothes
Old kitchen table
Electronics recycling (desktop, laptop, monitor, keyboard, camera, cell phones from 1998-present)

We also helped the parents with their electronics and other junk.

Feels good to be rid of that clutter

[disneysteve]

The wall unit in our family room has 2 shelves at the top which we've always had filled with various knick-knacks. The other day, DW was cleaning and decided to pick out several items that just weren't meaningful to her. Earlier today, after she told me she had done that, we took another look. I didn't care about any of the items she had removed either. I also didn't care about most of what remained. We ended up clearing out a bunch of other items and rearranging what was left. Everything that came off will get donated.

I spent some time in the garage and got several more items into the Goodwill pile and a few things into the charity raffle prize pile. Some boxes got recycled and a few things got trashed. I may go back in the garage this evening as I got interrupted earlier to do something else.

Since I've come to the conclusion that ebay generally isn't worth the time it takes, I'm looking at the stuff in the garage with a whole new mindset. If it isn't of significant value (which I check on the spot with the ebay app on my phone), it goes in the pile to give away. That should make a big difference in the rate at which I clear things out going forward.

[disneysteve]

I did get back into the garage last night for a while. I felt partly that I was rearranging clutter more than actually dealing with it, but in the end, I did have 2 empty crates that weren't empty when I started. I also had a couple of boxes ready to go to Goodwill. I may take them over later today if it stops raining.

While working in there, I was reminded of a bad old kids joke:
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.

I think that applies perfectly to decluttering. Even though the job may seem overwhelming, if you just keep at it, item by item, you'll make progress.

So as not to wake my daughter this morning, I went into the basement briefly. With the "one bite at a time" thought in mind, I brought up a stack of old books and an old golf putting game that went into the garage with the other Goodwill stuff. Bite by bite I'm starting to see floor, wall, and shelf space that hasn't been seen for a long time.

[disneysteve]

I went back to the basement last night.

I got a few items set to donate.

I also found a bunch of DD's old GameBoy games. I've been looking for those. I had the boxes in the garage but not the actual game cartridges. I will ebay those as they sell pretty well. I also found her GameBoy Advance. I'll sell that, too. I sold her GameBoy Color recently. Those things always sell well.

I got rid of a couple of boxes from items we no longer have including a camera I sold on ebay recently.

[disneysteve]

So far this week I've sold 2 books on half.com and 1 collector magazine on ebay.

[cypher1]

While still working on kitchen remodel, someone from CL picked up my old electric stove. I was able to give my microwave to a co-worker friend. Gave kitchen table set and 3 stools to other friends. While the appliances were close to 19 yrs old, was glad others found use for them.

I gave my sister some new paint I didn't need, for her kid's room. And some new large jugs of hand soap refills from Costco to another friend, as I don't use that particular product anymore.

Currently going through winter clothes, as there are some sweaters I just don't wear, or need, along with older t-shirts. Although I could use the shirts for oil rags for car work.

[Jluke]

Unexpectedly got rid of 2 printer paper sized boxes in the basement this weekend. they were filled with old college stuff as well as childhood things that are of no use; kept some of my childhood stuff (Items dating back almost 40 years now).

[disneysteve]

One person bought 8 of the Disney catalogs I have listed on ebay last night.

My listings don't mention a shipping discount for multiple items but I will certainly ship them all together and issue the buyer a partial refund to reflect the combined shipping.

I really need to get some more items listed but just haven't had time. Between my full time and part time jobs, I'm working 56+ hours this week. Not a lot of free time for decluttering.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Bye-bye wine bottles! Thinking I was going to bottle my own homemade hard cider, I had saved many wine bottles. Well, I finally made a couple tries at it, and I'm terrible at making cider. It truly did smell like paint thinner on the first batch. Second batch smelled lovely but tasted nasty.