2022 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

Took a bag of books to Goodwill this morning.

Made another eBay sale this evening.

[ua_guy]

Trash service in our area hasn't been by to collect in a month. It's partly weather, and highly political, but there's trash everywhere now. People are just leaving cans on the street, bags of garbage piled up, and now the animals are starting to get into it. There's a union of drivers picketing for fair wages and treatment now, and I have a lot of sympathy. I have zero sympathy for their corporate overlords, Republic Services, a company that earned $1.2 B in net profit last year, who has decided to leave their workers AND customers in the fray.

I called and asked for a refund for the month of missed service. They said no, and also couldn't tell me if/when they would be by next. So I filed with the Utilities and Transportation commission and sent the exchange to the elected officials in our county. They are the only contracted provider in our area; no other trash services are allowed to exist.

So; I wait to declutter. I have all sorts of stuff I've worked through as part of "Spring" cleaning (in January) ready to go once service resumes.

[disneysteve]

Trash service in our area hasn't been by to collect in a month. It's partly weather, and highly political, but there's trash everywhere now. People are just leaving cans on the street, bags of garbage piled up, and now the animals are starting to get into it.

That's awful. I'd be contacting the news outlets, the health department, and everybody else I could to remedy that. And at the very least, I'd probably be taking my own trash to the dump myself to keep it from building up. Hope it gets corrected soon.

[ua_guy]

That's awful. I'd be contacting the news outlets, the health department, and everybody else I could to remedy that. And at the very least, I'd probably be taking my own trash to the dump myself to keep it from building up. Hope it gets corrected soon.

It's all over the news. We're good here - I keep extra cans and will be making a run once our regular kitchen garbage, etc fills the last one and then I'll be going to the dump! It costs $27 for a load and I'm usually under the max weight. Lots of neighbors helping neighbors too, and more than a few Neighborhood posts of people trying to make a few extra bucks with their personally owned pickup trucks.

[disneysteve]

Listed a couple more things on ebay and mailed out the one that sold last night. One of today's listings is on the pricey end of what I typically sell so I'm hoping that does well. Even if it sells for my starting bid, I'll be perfectly happy.

[disneysteve]

Listed a couple more things on ebay and mailed out the one that sold last night. One of today's listings is on the pricey end of what I typically sell so I'm hoping that does well. Even if it sells for my starting bid, I'll be perfectly happy.

I already got a bid on that item for $149! If it goes higher, great. If not, that’s fine too.

[disneysteve]

I already got a bid on that item for $149! If it goes higher, great. If not, that’s fine too.

Listed 3 more items on ebay.

The item mentioned above got a 2nd bid and is up to 8 watchers so reasonable chance the price will go higher. The auction has 5 more days to run.

[disneysteve]

Listed 3 more items on ebay.

I've had a few things end unsuccessfully so far this week which is disappointing but I know from experience that just because it doesn't sell the first time doesn't mean it won't sell. I tweaked a couple of prices and left the others alone as what I'm asking is very fair. They just need to find the right eyes.

[disneysteve]

I already got a bid on that item for $149! If it goes higher, great. If not, that’s fine too.

Just sold for $164.50. I'm quite satisfied with that. It's packed and ready as soon as they pay. I'll ship it on Monday as I'm working tomorrow morning.

[Scallywag]

I'm struggling to get rid of my son's autism therapy material. Aside from that, we've gotten rid of most everything that we haven't used in the last 3 months. I do 4 check-ins each year - Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, and Oct 1. Anything that hasn't been used in the previous 3 months is TOSSED.

I used to be someone who had trouble getting rid of things. Then in 2015/2016 - around the same time we "found" Dave Ramsey - I began to follow the FlyLady system. Our home is minimalistic and mostly clutter free, esp after I began to do the every 3 months check-ins.

However, I have a really difficult time getting rid of my kid's therapy materials - puzzles, books, fine motor toys etc. In fact, it brings me to tears to even think of tossing them. But I'll have to eventually get rid of everything and I'm thinking this year might be it. Wish me luck & strength to do this!

[disneysteve]

However, I have a really difficult time getting rid of my kid's therapy materials - puzzles, books, fine motor toys etc. In fact, it brings me to tears to even think of tossing them. But I'll have to eventually get rid of everything and I'm thinking this year might be it. Wish me luck & strength to do this!

I'm assuming these are things from the past, not items still in use. Have you thought about passing them along to another family who could use them? That might feel better to you than just tossing them or giving them to Goodwill. Knowing they'll be helping another child like your own.

[disneysteve]

Got a bid on another ebay item. It doesn't end for a couple more days but I'll get it ready to ship.

I just came upstairs to review what I've got listed currently. I've got 46 items on ebay plus a bunch on Marketplace. I want to check what is still sitting around in here waiting to be listed.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I just opened a bag of gardening supplies and found what turns out to be highly desirable clutter-- three new N95 masks I'd bought for use when spraying dormant oil on fruit trees. They are on the CDC's list of NIOSH approved masks. They just do not fit me. They seem to need a longer face and maybe shorter nose than mine. I'll get my cameraman, DH, to make pics and will put them on a local list.

It's time to do my annual shuffle through old paper records to get rid of the oldest or otherwise unneeded.

[jenn_jenn]

Work has been really slow and I’ve fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole split between Dave Ramsey and ClutterBug. One of the videos talked about toxic clutter and looking at things through this lens really motivated me to get rid of things that have negative feelings connected with them and take up valuable space in my home.

A few examples from this weekend:

Pink boxing gloves from when I did kickboxing 5 years ago. I go to a different gym now and have no plans to pick up kickboxing again in the foreseeable future. Every time I saw them it reminded me of a cooler version of myself.

Throw pillows that I’m embarrassed to admit how expensive they were that I just don’t like but was holding on to because they were expensive. Every time I saw them I was reminded how much I didn’t like them and that I wasted money.

Gifts from family and friends that were in closets taking up space that I’ve never used or like but felt guilty of getting rid of because the thought behind them was nice and well-meaning.

It feels amazing to get rid of so much stuff and de-clutter our closets. Listed the items for free on Facebook marketplace and they’ve all gone happily to new homes.

[disneysteve]

Gifts from family and friends that were in closets taking up space that I’ve never used or like but felt guilty of getting rid of because the thought behind them was nice and well-meaning.

Many years after we were married, my wife and I finally attacked the storage closets in the basement and got rid of all of the engagement and wedding gifts that we had never used and didn't particularly like so I know exactly how that goes. Good job on letting that stuff go.