2017 Decluttering thread

[HundredK]

If you want to try out minimalism with little downside, I suggest renting a 24' type C, RV and travel secondary roads to visit every village in your state and adjoining to experience minimalist living, having fun, meeting wonderful, warm, kind America not depicted on media.

I love the sound of your life! We have talked about buying an RV and maybe spending retirement that way, but truthfully we hate driving, and our passion lies in traveling the world. Not to downplay the US, we love that too, but the world as a whole holds more appeal. I especially love Japan (we are learning Japanese too, although I know we'd never be accepted as a local there which is fine), or could see settling in for retirement someday in Australia or New Zealand. I'd definitely consider London if the weather weren't so rainy, great city. I'm a nomad at heart, would happily travel full time with no one single abode to call 'home'.

[disneysteve]

We have talked about buying an RV and maybe spending retirement that way, but truthfully we hate driving, and our passion lies in traveling the world.

I also used to think about doing the RV thing in retirement, but as I've gotten older, I've moved away from that idea. I love traveling, and I'm fine driving, but I like to stay in the heart of things. You don't generally find campgrounds close to town. We are city folks. We like visiting different cities - NYC, Boston, D.C., San Francisco, etc. I wouldn't want to travel with an RV that we have to park many miles away from the stuff we want to see. I'd much rather rent a home with VRBO or AirBnB and stay right in the center of things. Plus my car gets far better mileage than an RV.

[disneysteve]

The other night, I worked on the floor of the closet. Today, I moved vertically and focused on the clothes bar.

I got rid of:
1 tuxedo jacket and pants
1 tuxedo shirt
1 suit jacket and pants
3 pairs of pants
1 polo shirt

I've done a fairly good job in recent months of thinning out my clothing so there wasn't a ton of stuff to get rid of but I think that's a pretty good list considering.

Goodwill will be getting some nice stuff this time around.

[StormRichards]

Wasting less time on the Internet from home will help with my efforts to declutter this year.

[HundredK]

We logged everything in our living room, and made the tough decision to get rid of some things we love. Like our liquor cabinet and all of our Waterford Elegance stemware. Oh how I love that stemware, and we are keeping two pieces of it, but we don't need one piece of stemware for every type of drink. And all but one of our video game systems. We went from 216 items in our living room to 104 so far. We also found a few more things to discard from our kitchen (utensil canister, pizza cutter, tart pans, etc), which brings our number of items in that area down to 255.

[msomnipotent]

We logged everything in our living room, and made the tough decision to get rid of some things we love. Like our liquor cabinet and all of our Waterford Elegance stemware. Oh how I love that stemware, and we are keeping two pieces of it, but we don't need one piece of stemware for every type of drink. And all but one of our video game systems. We went from 216 items in our living room to 104 so far. We also found a few more things to discard from our kitchen (utensil canister, pizza cutter, tart pans, etc), which brings our number of items in that area down to 255.

Every time I declutter that much, I wind up needing something I gave away and have to go buy it again.

I have done absolutely no decluttering since last posting. Too busy with my daughter's school things. I plan on cleaning out the laundry room and pantry this week.

[HundredK]

Every time I declutter that much, I wind up needing something I gave away and have to go buy it again.

I have done absolutely no decluttering since last posting. Too busy with my daughter's school things. I plan on cleaning out the laundry room and pantry this week.

I cannot imagine it would be easy to declutter if you have kids. I really admire good parents, because I would never be up to the task of being responsible for little people, oy!

[cypher1]

I cannot imagine it would be easy to declutter if you have kids. I really admire good parents, because I would never be up to the task of being responsible for little people, oy!

Agreed. My siblings ask not to give toys as gifts for nieces and nephews since they have enough. Cash talks! I would think a parent would have to periodically go through their kids' possessions for declutter, since it adds up so quickly.

For me, I just sold an old wall shelf and wireless cycle computer on CL.

[msomnipotent]

My niece's BD party was yesterday. I gave money towards her college fund. I'm willing to bet that she still has toys from Christmas that haven't been played with yet.

Speaking of toys, after posted here last night I decided to clean out the pets' toy boxes (yes, more than one). One of my cats gets a notion in her head that she can only play with a certain colored mouse and will yodel until I find it. So as I am looking for the pink mouse, I throw away a bunch of toys that are torn up or have become hazards. I even found a tennis ball that is somehow harder than an actual rock. Nothing like smashing my dog's teeth out at playtime! I also made a bag of toys to go to the shelter, but I'm not sure if one will accept toys that are not brand new. I can't decide who has more toys, the cats or my daughter. At least the toys are down to one laundry basket now.

And I sold my daughter's kid sized sleeping bag. She is almost as tall as I am, so now I have to get a real one.

[HundredK]

Speaking of toys, after posted here last night I decided to clean out the pets' toy boxes (yes, more than one).

Oh my gosh, we just did that, too. They have so many toys and there are only few that they love. Two of them are the exact same toy. A rooster that we have to buy repeatedly because they love to first rip off its wings and then pull all the stuffing out. So they now have one one-winged rooster, one one-eyed rooster, one duck, and one hedgehog.

[JoeP]

I found a bunch of stuff from when I was in boy scouts: patches, shirts, pictures, pamphlets, maps, etc. and I contacted my old troop to see if they would be interested to have it for history or a display...and they said yes! It's a small box, but it is stuff I'm glad can go to a group that values it. Of course, I'm keeping all my merit badges and Eagle Scout stuff.

And they wanted me to give a brief talk about my experiences, so I'll be doing that as well. Should be fun!

[Nutria]

my cats gets a notion in her head that she can only play with a certain colored mouse and will yodel until I find it. So as I am looking for the pink mouse

When you get a real pest mouse in the house, you'll have to hunt it down with a can of pink spray paint before your cat will do it's feline duty!!

[msomnipotent]

When you get a real pest mouse in the house, you'll have to hunt it down with a can of pink spray paint before your cat will do it's feline duty!!

I wish. I usually get a chewed up mouse in my shoe, or thrown on my foot when I least expect it. We live near stables and a sod farm, so we get one or two in our basement when the weather turns cold. I suppose it helps with decluttering because I throw anything it touches away. Mice creep me out.

Oh my gosh, we just did that, too. They have so many toys and there are only few that they love. Two of them are the exact same toy. A rooster that we have to buy repeatedly because they love to first rip off its wings and then pull all the stuffing out. So they now have one one-winged rooster, one one-eyed rooster, one duck, and one hedgehog.

I haven't met a dog that doesn't love the hedgehog. I have to admit that I like the grunting noise it makes.

[JoeP]

I found a bunch of stuff from when I was in boy scouts: patches, shirts, pictures, pamphlets, maps, etc. and I contacted my old troop to see if they would be interested to have it for history or a display...and they said yes! It's a small box, but it is stuff I'm glad can go to a group that values it. Of course, I'm keeping all my merit badges and Eagle Scout stuff.

And they wanted me to give a brief talk about my experiences, so I'll be doing that as well. Should be fun!

Success! They loved the "artifacts" I brought, and I got to see my name on the wall from way back in time. The scoutmaster was very happy that I stopped by and the scouts learned what the troop was like 34 years ago.

[HundredK]

We have the Salvation Army stopping by tomorrow to pick up a garage full of our stuff, all furniture we have decided to part with (that won't fit in our car) in our quest to become minimalists. I chose the Salvation Army because they allow you to schedule pickups online without ever needing to call them. Yay!