2016 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

Just got back from Goodwill. Dropped off 1 bag of clothing and 2 boxes with 40 books, all the result of our recent decluttering efforts. It's great to sort through the stuff but it doesn't fully count until it's out of the house.

[disneysteve]

I felt the need to do something with my free time today. One thing that I thought of the other day was to find a new home for empty milk crates in the garage. I don't currently have a use for them but I don't want to discard them because they are pretty much impossible to replace (at least legally). I realized there is plenty of unused space in the basement where I could stack them along the wall and they wouldn't be in our way at all.

I first took an old wooden palate from that space and hauled it upstairs to go out in the trash this week. Then I carried down 12 crates and line them up in that space, 3 stacks of 4. It's neat and orderly and opens up some space in the garage.

While in the basement, I also brought up a bag of trash that had accumulated while cleaning down there and tossed that. Finally (for the moment), there was a stack of VHS tapes on the shelf by the garage door that we've been staring at for too long. I went through those, kept a couple that have significance to us which went into the cabinet with the others, and the rest went into the trash.

One big reason that I want to free up space in the garage is because we do want to have a yard sale in the spring for much of the stuff that we are gathering as we declutter, but I need a spot to store it all until then. Getting the milk crates out of there gave me a nice chunk of floor space where I can now stack boxes that are ready for the yard sale.

[Gailete]

Steve, can you do my house next? Actually if not for the stuff we have for sale and my sewing stuff and the piano stuff as mentioned before, I don't have that much. I've moved rather often my whole life and as an adult I used those opportunities to clear out clutter. We have now been in our house 8 1/2 years which is longer I believe than I have been anywhere and things are starting to pile up. A couple of years ago I acknowledged the fact that with my RA I wasn't going to spend time in the kitchen and entertain like I used to, so many of my things got taken out and I let my DIL go through it all first as I know they do entertain so she has some nice platters, etc. But some of the stuff it is hard to let go of emotionally, like my set of Pfaltzgraff in a very pretty pattern but too heavy for me to handle. Hubby tells me to leave it in the cupboard since we have a big kitchen and plenty of space. He knows it is rough on me emotionally to let go of some of my favorite things that I can no longer use. I do try to let cookbooks go when I bring them 'new' ones into the house from the thrift store. I enjoy reading them but unless I want to get rid of other things I only have two shelves for them. I've also bought a lot of duplicates of things since I don't have a dish washer and I usually don't have enough steam to wash them myself so having extra pieces means we can get by till my cleaning lady comes and washes dishes for me.

I do like seeing what you have donated, just wish you were in my area since some of your stemware looks like it matches some that I have. Not that I need any mind you! My hubby still watches VHS tapes. Actually we both do. We can't get out to movies, etc. so picking up a tape at our thrift store for a dime is a whole lot cheaper than going anywhere! If we don't like it we send it back. If we do we keep it. He does have bunches that he needs to go through and either sell or donate.

My project this past year or two as I have had energy has been the decluttering of my sewing room. I let my DIL grab things if she wants when she is here. A few weeks ago when getting my Remicade the nurse mentioned that they had gotten her daughter a real sewing machine for Christmas as she wanted to learn how to make clothes for her American Girl doll, so as I sort stuff, I've been tossing things into a bag to give to her of the odds and ends that I got super cheap but would be good on doll clothes like lace, rick rack, buttons, and I'm going to toss in fabric chunks as well. With no grand-daughter of my own, this is fun to do.

[disneysteve]

Steve, can you do my house next?

I'll probably be 95 by the time I finish our house so I'm going to have to pass .

But some of the stuff it is hard to let go of emotionally

If you read Marie Kondo's book, she lays out an order in which you should attack the job and emotional/sentimental items come last. That makes a lot of sense since they are the hardest to get rid of. Part of her theory is that as you get in the mindset of letting things go, starting with the easier things like books and clothing, and find how much you enjoy your new-found tidiness, it will help ease the process of dealing with the sentimental items.

I think that's probably true. I also have said a few times that if you get rid of all of the stuff that really doesn't have value to you, you'll have a lot more space to keep the relatively small number of items that do matter to you.

[disneysteve]

I have 7 books ending on ebay today that I don't expect to sell. They've been relisted twice (with price adjustments) so if they don't sell this time, out they go.

I just listed a stack of old craft supplies on craigslist. I stopped doing the craft years ago and never got rid of my surplus materials.

[Like2Plan]

If you read Marie Kondo's book....

I keep finding references to Marie Kondo's book. I was curious about the tee-shirt folding technique--so I found a clip of Marie Kondo demonstrating how to fold a tee shirt on You Tube. I was still on vacation at the time, so I repacked my suitcase using the same technique--it made finding my clothes in my suitcase a lot easier. So, I decided I would redo my tee-shirt drawer when I returned home.

One of the problems with the way my tee-shirts were folded before was I could only see a few tee-shirts on the top layers. Now I can see all my tee shirts when I open the drawer. A side benefit was I was able to get rid of several tee shirts, so it gave me incentive to keep redoing all my drawers. My sock drawer is next.

I might have to buy Marie's book.

[snafu]

Like to Plan, there is a great deal of discussion of 'The life changing magic of tidying up' and new, recently released book, 'Sparks Joy' on YouTube and even more on Facebook's 'Konmari Adventures'. I hope you'll go on to socks category and if you find that satisfactory, the next are books and paper. The results of working through nearly every category in our household has been eliminate of hours of housework and to our surprise, a noteworthy reduction in spending.

The book is likely available at your library or possibly at a used book site.

[disneysteve]

6 books that have gone unsold on ebay are going into the Goodwill pile.

1 pair of binoculars that has gone unsold is going into the yard sale pile.

[dawnwes]

Large bag of sheets gone to the refugees.

I have a large amount of homeschool curricula to sell. Some (more popular items) have sold. Others are still listed.

We have a homeschool resale consignment place that I may just box everything up and take over......I will get far less, but it will also be less hassle AND get everything out of the house now!

I will give it one more week to try to sell on my own.

Next up, garage items.......kids have a lot of junk in there that they no longer use....skateboards, air soft guns, remote control items that no longer work, bikes that they have outgrown......off it goes.....list to sell some things and dump others and donate some.

Dawn

[creditcardfree]

Dawn you are doing really well. I can tell this move is motivating you!

I have decluttered a second coffee maker, a basket and some artificial flowers in the last few days. I'm actually doing daily blog posts on my Organized Friends blog with ideas of things to declutter. I'm doing it based on the alphabet. Feel free to follow along over there if any of you think it might be helpful! The link is in my signature line.

[dawnwes]

Three more garbage bags out the door today. Categorized most of the items on two shelves, purged, boxed up what to take to the Homeschool Consignment store, and have a "need to decide" pile.

[snafu]

There have been several discussion on You Tube of Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy. Should anyone want an overview or trying to decide whether to buy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J52oE5ynaMs

hope the link works

[disneysteve]

I spent just a few minutes in the basement last night.
I cleaned a few things off the pantry shelves.
I got several items into a box for our yard sale.
I found a few items that belonged elsewhere in the house and put them there.
I found a couple of things that I didn't know we had that I keep rebuying .

[creditcardfree]

What I found so far this week to let go of: a second coffee maker, artificial pears, a basket, digital photos, a calculator, a stack of hanging folders.

I'm always amazed at how I can still find things!! We are paired down quite a bit with all of our moving around.

[dawnwes]

Not a whole lot of cleaning today. A friend died this week. He was a client of my husband's but also a friend. He will be greatly missed. We have boxes and boxes of his files here and the family has asked that DH stay on to manage his residual checks and estate.