2021 Decluttering Thread

[bjl584]

Just sold an old set of tires and rims that I've had in my garage for about 7 years
$200 in my pocket

[disneysteve]

Two more items sold on ebay today (so far). Unfortunately, I'm back to work after my 10-day break so I won't have as much time to list more items but I'll do my best.

[disneysteve]

I continued working through the carton of stamps and stuff in the basement tonight. I also found a cachet cover from the USS Arizona from 1936, 5 years before the Pearl Harbor attack. I listed that on ebay. A quick search shows USS Arizona items seem to do pretty well.

Auction ended today. I got $20.49 for that envelope, which I'm pleased with.

[disneysteve]

New item I listed on ebay got a bid today so that will sell in a few days. That will bring my 90-day sales figure up to at least $221.

[GrimJack]

Oh, man - I really need to get rid of a lot of stuff. Time for freecycle and ebay. I make glass things but have not gotten rid of any so they are accumulating all over my apt. Hell, I even have 24 unused medium moving boxes. I had a couple guys over to haul sh*t out just before the pandemic hit but it is getting back to overwhelming, sigh. At least the 40 year old forest green leather couch has been replaced by some new furniture.

sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I can't even figure out where to start.

[disneysteve]

sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I can't even figure out where to start.

That's a very common problem that I'm sure many of us can relate to. I certainly can.

My advice is to focus on either one particular area or one particular category of items, and start small.

For example, maybe set a goal to declutter one closet this week or even one drawer. Don't worry about anything else in the house. Just focus all of your attention on that closet/drawer.

Or, do the Marie Kondo thing and pick a category to focus on. Maybe it's t-shirts. Take every t-shirt you own and spread them out on your bed and decide which ones to keep and which to toss.

Sometimes you feel like you're not making any progress but if you do it little by little, pretty soon the progress starts becoming obvious, and I always find the best motivation to keep at it is starting to see the progress.

[ua_guy]

Sold a bed that we no longer needed. $200.

Also got my husband to sort through a giant tub of childhood memories that's been following us around for 3 moves and almost 10 years. He ended up discarding most of it. Progress. lol

[disneysteve]

I was just digging into my ebay account info looking how to change a particular setting and I found a field saying my total sales have been $6,384.12. I'm not sure what time period that covers. I know it isn't since I joined because that number is well into 5 figures, but for whatever period they're reporting, that's still a good number. That represents a lot of stuff getting cleaned out of the house.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Oh, man - I really need to get rid of a lot of stuff. Time for freecycle and ebay. I make glass things but have not gotten rid of any so they are accumulating all over my apt. Hell, I even have 24 unused medium moving boxes. I had a couple guys over to haul sh*t out just before the pandemic hit but it is getting back to overwhelming, sigh. At least the 40 year old forest green leather couch has been replaced by some new furniture.

sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I can't even figure out where to start.

This is often how I Feel when I stare at our garage of crap.

[disneysteve]

Not much has happened lately but this afternoon I listed 4 items on out Buy Nothing group. Three of them have people interested. I'll respond to them later and hopefully they will pick up the items in the next couple of days.

I also went through the rack of CDs near the computer and tossed about half of them. They were old software discs and other stuff that we just don't need anymore. Most of what remains is photo backup discs.

Item by item it gets better.

[disneysteve]

My wife and I just went through all of the books on one bookshelf and got rid of 35 books and a whole stack of old service booklets from our synagogue (special services from Men's Club, Sisterhood, youth group, etc.). The result is we cleared off about 1-1/2 shelves out of the 3 shelves. I'm going to check with our rabbi if he would like any of the Judaic books. Anything he doesn't want, and any of the non-Judaic books, will get donated.

All 3 shelves were completely filled. Now it looks like this.

[jenn_jenn]

We took a bunch of stuff to the dump today!

We did some remodeling the past 6 months and had quite the collection of rolled up carpets and cabinets and other junk in the garage.

It took us way too long to get that knocked out (we’re still navigating our new area and the dumps around here won’t take these items so it took a few tries) but it feels so good to have it done!

[scfr]

Updating my "Ignore List" has decluttered my Saving Advice feed nicely. Life is short.

[disneysteve]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, my cousin in Florida passed away last week. I arrived at his house Wednesday evening to start cleaning it out and settling his affairs. In just 48 hours, I have already put out 3 full bags of trash and have a 4th bag started. I filled both recycling bins last night (one for paper, one for glass/plastic/cans). Today I took 4 large trash bags of clothing to the thrift shop. I have a growing stack of papers to be shredded. I've already dumped one more batch of papers into the recycling bin (recyclables were picked up this morning so the bins are empty again).

All of that and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

Please do your loved ones a huge favor and declutter now while you're alive and able to do it. And stop saving crap you don't need!

You don't need travel itineraries and hotel bills and rental car agreements and boarding passes from trips you've taken in the past. You don't need every monthly and quarterly statement from financial accounts once you have the year-end comprehensive statements. You don't need the paperwork that came with every device and appliance you've ever purchased, including ones you no longer even own. You don't need all of last year's holiday greeting cards, and the year before, and the year before that. You don't need computer software CDs from programs you haven't used in many years and won't ever use again (like TurboTax 2013!). When you are done with something, GET RID OF IT. Don't bury it in a file drawer or closet to be unearthed years later when someone is clearing out your belongings, or even while you're still around but maybe have decided to move and have to debulk everything.

I can honestly say I'm not nearly as bad as he was. I thought I held onto things I didn't need but I only do a fraction of what he's got. He had a whole stack of junk mail from Sirius radio trying to get him to sign up and it was from the car he bought in 2012. He doesn't even have that car anymore. I have no idea what possessed him to save all of those mailings. He had another stack of mail from the home warranty company. He bought his house in 2011 and it must have had a 1-year warranty so there were a couple dozen solicitations trying to get him to buy the extended warranty. He obviously didn't so why did he keep all of the offers?

And just to be clear, he was not at all messy or a hoarder or anything of the sort. Everything is pretty well organized and filed. I just have no idea why he had much of it in the first place.

At least I feel like I've made some good progress so far and it's only been 48 hours. Lots and lots more to do.

[james.hendrickson]

And stop saving crap you don't need!

Totally excellent advice.