2016 Decluttering Thread

[FrugalFish]

She just turned 11. Most of the clutter is due to a gigantic growth spurt in the past year. She went from a kids size 8 to a juniors size 3. I had to buy a lot of clothes and shoes just to keep her covered, and I sold a lot of the barely used stuff already. I am taking her out to get a much needed jacket and more clothes in a few minutes because the jeans I bought 2 months ago no longer fit. And her tastes have changed dramatically all of the sudden. It is like she is 11 going on 20. It doesn't help that her birthday is 2 months from Christmas, so we get flooded with gifts in a short amount of time.

I used to just send her stuff to my sister because her daughters are not that far behind, but she grew so much suddenl, and my sister doesn't want to store that much for her kids to grow into it. I involve her a lot, but she wants to keep a lot of junk. I realize some things are sentimental, but her drawers are stuffed with clothes that don't fit and odds and ends, and I don't even want to get into her closet, mostly because there is so much junk on the floor that I simply can't get in.

I have a DD who is just a little bit younger than yours and could have written your post! She wants to keep EVERYTHING. Thank goodness she is getting better as she gets older- when she was 6 or so, she would run off with our junk mail and store it

One thing that worked surprisingly well with DD was to pull the old "Clean Sweep" if you remember that show. In that show they cleared everything out of the room and into another area and then decided what went back in. We don't move furniture or empty out drawers necessarily, but most everything, especially that which is not contained, goes into another room. She decides where appropriate storage is when things go back- and she's really good at it! While things are in the other room, I sort them into like categories and take the opportunity to discretely toss trash- little bits of ribbon, blank pieces of paper, drinking straws, etc. We did this while she was out of school on Christmas break, and she's kept her room very clean since. She will routinely go in there and clear things back into their storage areas, and she's finally gotten better about throwing away trash- to the point where she is throwing away things I wouldn't, but I don't say anything! Donating things is still very hard for her, so we try to be patient. We move outgrown clothing to a closet in another room, and in time they are forgotten and disappear.

DH and I cleared a bit of attic crawlspace last weekend. We went up there to pull down 3 items, but DH kept handing things down. Things I had no idea were still up there. Some of it is donation worthy, some of it I'm not sure. There are a bunch of old Mac books, which are probably worthless and the information is free on the internet, but a few of them might be of interest to someone who collects old Mac stuff- but I just don't know whether to toss even the few I could identify as interesting.

We also have some old carpet scrap from when the house was carpeted years ago. It's all new, clean, and been plastic wrapped from the beginning (was I going to start building kitty-cat-condos?). Some of the pieces are quite large, but I don't know who would take them and we don't do craigslist. I don't know whether to just toss them or offer them my usual pick-up charity with a note of "take them if you can use them, leave them if you can't."

[disneysteve]

I've done very little lately. DD was home for spring break plus I was sick for a week or so. Finally getting back on track.

I'm off today for Good Friday. I started with a little time in the garage which got cut short because the weather is iffy and I was afraid of putting too much out on the driveway in case it started raining. Still, I managed to get rid of some trash and recycling and brought in a large box full of phones we had replaced at the office. I listed those on craigslist. My odds of selling them are far better on ebay but shipping would be a pain. If they don't sell, I'll donate or toss them.

I was able to rearrange the garage a bit to widen the walking path which at least makes it look more orderly.

After lunch, I'm planning to do some work in the basement.

ETA: I did spend more time in the basement. Finished packing a carton of stuff for a future yard sale and got that into the garage. Have another box of yard sale stuff packed and ready. Found a few more things worth selling on ebay. I'll try to get those listed later today.

[disneysteve]

Found a few more things worth selling on ebay. I'll try to get those listed later today.

Listed one thing on ebay last night and already sold it with the Buy It Now offer! I'll get that packed up to ship on Monday.

Heading into the garage today as the weather is beautiful here. No rain to worry about today.

[creditcardfree]

Our neighborhood is having a community wide garage sale on April 9th. I'm motivated to collect some items to put out. I'm so good at letting stuff go, I'm not sure I'd have enough for my own sale, but with a community event there is enough traffic to tempt a few people to check out a couple tables.

[disneysteve]

I spent a couple of hours in the garage. I now have 10 cartons of stuff packed and ready for a yard sale plus a bunch of loose stuff that doesn't fit in boxes. The walkway is much wider since everything is packed better. I still need to do more before we actually have the sale but I made a lot of progress. The plan is to do the same thing as last year: anything that doesn't sell doesn't come back into the house. It goes straight to Goodwill after the yard sale.

ETA: I went back in the garage to add a couple of books to one of the boxes and realized I actually have 13 cartons packed, not 10. Even better.

[snafu]

disneysteve, you've done a phenomenal amount of work selling, donating and preparing for your yard sale in just the 1st third of the year! Does your community do a neighbourhood sale as ccf mentions for her community? Have you set aside a date for your planned sale? Kudos to you and Mrs. DS for all the hard work.

[disneysteve]

Snafu - We haven't picked a date yet. There isn't a neighborhood sale as far as I know. We will pick a date in late spring. I have a lot more cleaning to do first as I know there is more stuff we can sell.

[dawnwes]

Several hours in the garage this weekend.

I sold the two matching hutches.

I found another bunch of boxes and some packing materials. They are in the garage.

Went through about 10 boxes worth of stuff, tossed, repacked in better boxes, labeled and took them to storage.

The garage is clean and pretty organized now, not completely, but 90% better for sure.

This week I won't have to get my high school son back and forth to school, so I plan to go through the basement stuff. A lot is already in boxes, it just needs to be taken out.

[disneysteve]

In addition to the ebay sale the other day, I also sold a book on Half.com. I packed both of those items today and will ship tomorrow.

I have one active item on ebay that ends today and just got a bid so that will be out of here. And I just listed another item on ebay that should sell based on similar sale results.

[msomnipotent]

I have a DD who is just a little bit younger than yours and could have written your post! She wants to keep EVERYTHING. Thank goodness she is getting better as she gets older- when she was 6 or so, she would run off with our junk mail and store it

My daughter somehow became a prepper for a while and wanted to keep such weird things for "barter". No one wants a used ziploc bag. I had her watch a few episodes of Hoarders, and that helped for a while.


The realtor is coming tomorrow to give me some decorating advice, and I pray that she doesn't want to go into the basement or the garage. Or basically any room other than the kitchen and family room! My kitchen finally looks put together now that the desk is in order and we finally have a new back splash installed. We added granite counters and the old one never really matched well. I started decluttering a few rooms and now everything looks worse because nothing is really "done". Once I get the fence repaired and find suitable tile for the master bath, I hope to start decluttering in earnest again. I'm running out of time! I'm really tempted to rent a storage room and throw everything in there, but it would just prolong the problem.

[disneysteve]

Worked a bit more in the basement after dinner. Dumped a carton full of recyclables into the outside bin. Got a few little things in the trash. Got numerous items into a box for the yard sale. Took a previously packed carton of yard sale stuff into the garage with the other boxes. Listed 2 more items on ebay.

My auction today did end so I'll ship that as soon as the buyer pays.

[creditcardfree]

I'm going through every drawer, cupboard, closet and bin in our home in an effort to really clear out the extras for our garage sale. We have so much we don't use. We are pretty minimal compared to the average American, but we still have stuff we don't need.

Today, I found a rolling pin, a jelly jar, photo paper, an extra fitbit, a plate, decorative rocks, a cookbook, extra package of colored pencils, five books, a waterproof container, a trashcan, and faux flowers.

[dawnwes]

Cleaned out the laundry room today. I have a huge bag of clothing to get rid of.

Tomorrow I start packing up the basement. I also can pack at least two more kitchen boxes.

[disneysteve]

My 3 current ebay auctions don't end until Sunday but 1 already has a bid so that will sell.

ETA: Listed one more item on ebay.

[dawnwes]

Two more very large boxes ready to go to donation.

Not a lot will get done today, but this weekend I am hitting the basement in full force.

I have a Nordic Track Ski Machine that no one wants. I have tried to sell it, and then even made it free. I guess at this point it goes to goodwill or some donation place.

The camping equipment is about to kill me. Three boys, all in boy scouts, Philmont trips, hiking and backpacking trips, 4 week long backpacks, 4 weekend size backpacks, 5 day packs, family tent, backpacking tent. All the cooking supplies, backpacking stoves, chairs, and on and on.

Oldest got Eagle in December. Middle is sitting for Eagle board of review in April. Youngest is only 12. He has a few campouts this summer. I told him to take out just what he needs for his two main camping trips and put it all in his room. The rest is being boxed up and taken to the storage unit.