2016 Decluttering Thread

[FLA]

my goal is to give myself 6 mos to totally clean out the living spaces of the house that are just mine- bedroom, BR, 2 linen closets, a coat closet and 2 bedroom closets. i semi-did this over the past year and I did get rid of all clothes 2 sizes down and moved the 1 size down to another area. But I did it out of need for room, now i need to really purge, sort and organize because I cannot stand visible clutter and the surfaces of my room are getting that way again. Plus, I kind of tossed like with like but didn't organize the stuff.

my hard part is starting, I feel like I have to have all my financial and medical records sorted, sent out to whomever needs them and ready for taxes, before tackling all the rest that is easier to deal with and has no time contingency on them. Well, something medical or financial seems to come in the mail daily, I hate this category of sorting so I procrastinate. I'm giving myself 2 weeks as of Monday to get that done. That's overly generous even with my slowed down brain. It needs to be done and I need to stop being a baby about it, lol.

disneysteve, we have the same water bottle storage drawer. But the kitchen isn't on my first 6 mos list, lol. I do throw them out occasionally when I'm in there.

I also would like to do better with my donating, instead of dumping it all at Goodwill because it's easiest (they even have a drive thru). I was upset when it was released that the CEO earns 2.3 million. Plus, I want to give where people don't have to buy it. This was easier to do when I worked in the city next to ours, I knew where the women's shelter things were collected, I worked a block away from the giant food pantry, I drove by the big homeless shelter everyday. So I donated appropriately in my mind. I can't drive now, nor ask people to take my stuff to all these places in our city when I don't know where they are anymore and Goodwill is centrally located and they lift things out of the trunk so the person who goes for me doesn't have to.

[disneysteve]

Discovered that the travel clock I was going to put on ebay doesn't actually work so well so I tossed it.

[snafu]

Thank you all for explaining your de-cluttering. It has motivated me to get back to the KM process. Somehow, when I was not paying attention, a lot more stuff got into drawers and shelves without sufficient stuff leaving!

Emptied the desk top file box, prepared new file folders for tax slips to come shortly and two that needed replacement. Dumped retained clippings and paperwork deemed unnecessary. I retain menu plans from the past 18 months because I re-use them and finally got smart enough to add an extra column. I need to organize the deep freeze but it is in the garage and it's too cold here.

[creditcardfree]

We put our trees and decorations away today. I found one more ornament, two gift bags to donate. I recycled a box from the new lights we purchased in November. And I recycled about ten cards, and tossed two photos. Less feels good.

[disneysteve]

We are box savers. One thing in the book addresses this and says to toss them. You won't ever need them again, even if you sell the item or are lacking to move. My wife recycled a couple of boxes today. I'm sure there are a ton more that need to go, especially in the attic and garage, as well as in other parts of the house.

[JoeP]

Probably the hardest part for me is shedding the "just in case" mentality drilled into my head as I was growing up. I'd ask my dad why he saved every nut and bolt from things he'd disassemble before throwing out, and the answer was "just in case." The thinking here was that when something else breaks, you'll likely have a spare part that can be used.

For me, I still have that to some extent, and it is unbelievably hard to let go! Why do I still have old circuit breakers from my previous house? Why do I have old dull drill bits? Why do I have old comic books from the 1970s that have zero value according to ebay? Why do I have electronic part catalogs from companies that have gone extinct 30 years ago? Why do I keep drywall screws with partially shredded heads? The odds of needing one of those and then finding it are so rare, I'd have better luck playing the lottery!

Quite honestly, I need to throw out so much!

[creditcardfree]

Probably the hardest part for me is shedding the "just in case" mentality drilled into my head as I was growing up. I'd ask my dad why he saved every nut and bolt from things he'd disassemble before throwing out, and the answer was "just in case." The thinking here was that when something else breaks, you'll likely have a spare part that can be used.

For me, I still have that to some extent, and it is unbelievably hard to let go! Why do I still have old circuit breakers from my previous house? Why do I have old dull drill bits? Why do I have old comic books from the 1970s that have zero value according to ebay? Why do I have electronic part catalogs from companies that have gone extinct 30 years ago? Why do I keep drywall screws with partially shredded heads? The odds of needing one of those and then finding it are so rare, I'd have better luck playing the lottery!

Quite honestly, I need to throw out so much!

It sounds like you know what needs to go at this point, it is just a matter of separating it from what you really can keep that has true value.

I wonder if those catalogs have any value on eBay?

[disneysteve]

I wonder if those catalogs have any value on eBay?

If you are not a collector and don't travel in that world, you may not realize how very mundane items are often the most collectible. Things that often appreciate in value the most are things that weren't intended to be collected.

ccf is right on point. Check the value of those catalogs. They might surprise you.

One of my favorite non-collectible stories: When we got married in 1992 we rented a house from my wife's aunt. She (the aunt) had moved in with family due to health issues). The house had not been cleaned out, so we got to do that. I found a bag of old KoolAid packets in the basement. Several had Looney Tunes characters on them so I thought they might be worth something. The rest were just plain packaging. I listed all of them on ebay and the bag sold for $45. It turned out the plain ones were a lot more valuable than the Looney Tunes ones because lots of people thought to save the ones with the characters but nobody ever kept the plain ones.

[disneysteve]

First day of DW doing Marie Kondo in the bedroom (with a few things from me and DD too).



Two 30-gallon bags of clothing and a copy paper box of shoes. Going to Goodwill today.

[snafu]

JoeP, if you recognize some items that are unuseable like drywall screws with damaged heads, it's truly in your interest to trash. If you're willing to declutter, circuit breakers, drill bits and unneeded nails/bolts/screws etc are helpful for those using ReStore. That unsung charity organizations does wonderful work for families who so much appreciate your contribution.

There are mountains of research that emphasises the benefits of keeping our homes relatively free of the stuff we no longer use, no longer need and no longer love. A new year offers motivation to begin working on the project. I hope you'll follow Disney Steve's suggestion to check items on ebay to reassure yourself.

[disneysteve]

We took the above stuff to Goodwill just now so it is out of the house.

We also took all of our accumulated spare change to Coinstar and walked away with an Amazon gift certificate for $112.79.

[FLA]

We took the above stuff to Goodwill just now so it is out of the house.

We also took all of our accumulated spare change to Coinstar and walked away with an Amazon gift certificate for $112.79.

well done! isn't that a great feeling? and it was good to include DD when MK-ing, kids should learn how to organize and the process of purging

[disneysteve]

DW and I cleared off our bookshelves today. Between us, we found 48 books to discard.

19 are of a religious nature and I have a few people I want to offer them to before we sell or give them away.

The rest will go on half.com if they have any resale value or go straight to Goodwill if they don't.

Listed 2 of those books on ebay as they are antique/collectible (a 1969 first edition and a 1922 printing). I now have 9 items scheduled to start on ebay next Monday.

[amastewa93]

I think I have a hard time "getting rid" of things I've had a mental attachment to at some point. For instance, I kept this super useless collection of T-shirts from Disney trips over the years (we always went with my grandparents). Why does a 23-year-old woman need a t-shirt made for a four-year-old?

Anyway, I came across this awesome t-shirt quilt idea and am thinking about using them for that. I think recycling, donating, etc. can be a great way to cut down on clutter.

[creditcardfree]

Anyway, I came across this awesome t-shirt quilt idea and am thinking about using them for that. I think recycling, donating, etc. can be a great way to cut down on clutter.

My girls have quite a few sentimental t shirts that they are keeping to make a quilt. Yours with a theme would be particularly attractive! Definitely don't keep if they are only stuffed in a drawer with no plan for them. Anything that means enough to hang on to should have a special place in your home.