2024 Decluttering Thread

[crazyliblady]

In the last couple of weeks, I have discarded an old coffee cup I got as a white elephant gift 28 years ago (wow!), an old shirt I have not worn in a long time, and 2 pairs of my husband's jeans. My husband also wanted to get rid of a bunch of gaming discs (ca. 25 discs) and about 40 DVDs. We donated all the gaming discs and DVDs to a couple of libraries. I plan to sort through some paperwork this weekend and shred more receipts that I don't need to keep.

[disneysteve]

I filled a 30 gallon trash bag with stuff for Goodwill and took it over there yesterday morning. I also added a number of items to the boxes for our next Free yard sale which I'll probably do some time in June.

Our kitchen fridge died on Sunday. That kind of forced us to clean out the fridge and freezer as well as the basement fridge and freezer to free up space to put our stuff. We got rid of a bunch of stuff that has been in there way too long and will never get used.

[disneysteve]

We were at my mom's today. She handed me a container filled with keys and asked if she needed to keep any of them. The container was about 4x5". First, not a single key was marked, so there was no way to tell what any of them were for. Second, I immediately saw a car key fob and key. She stopped driving and got rid of her car about 6-7 years ago, so she definitely didn't need those. I dumped the container and found one more car key. The rest was a random assortment of keys that I couldn't possibly identify and neither could she. The only one that I could identify was for the locked top drawer of her old dining room set. She sold that when she sold the house nearly 18 years ago. As I was going through the keys with her, we realized that a lot of them were from things at the house. It turned out that most everything in the container was that old. I dumped almost everything in the trash. I did keep a couple of the key rings as I like having a couple of spares around. I also kept that dining room drawer key for sentimental value.

I think random unidentified keys tends to be something that most people have lying around the house.

[disneysteve]

I did some electronic decluttering. My Google storage was at 91% capacity so I sat down and went through a bunch of Google photos and have gotten it down to 86% so far. I'll keep at it. I'm going to keep the Google Photos tab open on my desktop so I remember to work on it regularly.

[kork13]

I did some electronic decluttering. My Google storage was at 91% capacity so I sat down and went through a bunch of Google photos and have gotten it down to 86% so far. I'll keep at it. I'm going to keep the Google Photos tab open on my desktop so I remember to work on it regularly.

An easy thing you can do for Google photos ... If you're not one to print photos of stuff (just keep it for digital display/viewing), you can use the system's clean up function to compress your photos. Yes, there's a slight reduction in photo quality, but you can't really notice it without looking. You can also protect certain folders/albums from not getting compressed (ex: don't compress the family photo shoot, so that you can print them at the highest quality).

If your phone auto-backs up to Google photos, there's also a setting to automatically compress me photos immediately, saving some time later on.

[disneysteve]

An easy thing you can do for Google photos ... If you're not one to print photos of stuff (just keep it for digital display/viewing), you can use the system's clean up function to compress your photos. Yes, there's a slight reduction in photo quality, but you can't really notice it without looking. You can also protect certain folders/albums from not getting compressed (ex: don't compress the family photo shoot, so that you can print them at the highest quality).

If your phone auto-backs up to Google photos, there's also a setting to automatically compress me photos immediately, saving some time later on.

I'd rather not go that route even though the likelihood of me ever needing anything in top quality is low. I just don't like the idea of it. Eventually I'll just break down and pay the $20/yr for more storage.

[disneysteve]

I started the day with some much-needed yard work which I suppose isn't exactly decluttering but it certainly looks much better now.

Then I worked in the garage for a few hours. I broke down and recycled several boxes. I listed 3 crates of old magazines on Marketplace and sold them for $50 within half an hour to a fellow ebay seller who lives in my development.

We had 5 toolboxes in the garage. 3 were ours and 2 were my cousin's. I gathered them all together, emptied them out, and sorted all of the tools. There was a lot of duplication like several sets of screwdrivers, multiple pliers, etc. And this doesn't even include "my" toolbox in the basement where I keep the stuff I actually use regularly. There were a bunch of random things in them that I just put in the trash. My cousin owned two antique cars so there were a lot of things in there like fuses and bulbs and stuff that is of minimal value and of no use to me at all. Also some bits and pieces of things, hardware, scraps of sand paper, old electric plugs that I'd never use if I needed one because I'd want a brand new one, not one that's been sitting in a garage for years. I gathered a nice assortment of tools into one of the boxes and listed the whole lot on Marketplace. No takers yet on that. I divided up some of the remaining tools into a couple of the boxes and will put one in each car. Another big pile of excess tools went into a cardboard box and I'll include it with the next free yard sale we have.

I also listed a box of model train track on the Buy Nothing group and the Freebie app but nobody has come for that yet. If it doesn't get taken, it will go in the trash.

[crazyliblady]

Per my decluttering rules, I have a 1 in 1 out rule. So, on Saturday, I got two pairs of slacks at different yard sales, both of which fit great. I decided to donate two pairs I had in my closet that I had not worn in over a year as they don't fit well. At another yard sale, I noticed a bird feeder, which I badly needed because my previous bird feeder had fallen apart. I asked the price, expect a couple of dollars, but was told it was free. It turns out the occupant of the house was leaving because his lease was up and he had to give away everything he was not taking with him. Yay for me!

I also shredded a bunch of receipts and put the bag of shreds in the car to take to recycling this week.

[disneysteve]

I used to periodically bring a small stack of papers to shred to work with me and drop them in our shredding box. Now that I’m not working I dusted off our shredder and I’ve gotten back to doing a round of shredding every few days. I’ve already filled two trash bags and emptied one carton. I still have a bunch of stuff from my cousin and my mom as well as our stuff. My goal is to keep shredding faster than the stuff accumulates and eventually get down to just the small box I keep near the shredder. There’s still a large carton full in the garage.

[Jluke]

I used to periodically bring a small stack of papers to shred to work with me and drop them in our shredding box. Now that I’m not working I dusted off our shredder and I’ve gotten back to doing a round of shredding every few days. I’ve already filled two trash bags and emptied one carton. I still have a bunch of stuff from my cousin and my mom as well as our stuff. My goal is to keep shredding faster than the stuff accumulates and eventually get down to just the small box I keep near the shredder. There’s still a large carton full in the garage.

you need a fire pit

[bjl584]

Last weekend was community clean up day where our cabin is. Between me and my neighbor, we had 2 pick up loads of junk that we were able to get rid of.

[kork13]

you need a fire pit

Agreed! Tightly roll up stacks of papers, and you've got quick-start logs to help get your wood going. Roast hot dogs & marshmallows, relax. Happy summer!

[Jluke]

I think some animal rescues accept shredded paper for their animal cages or something.

[disneysteve]

I think some animal rescues accept shredded paper for their animal cages or something.

I'll have to check on that. I used to recycle it but then we got a notice from the township that shredded paper can't be recycled because it messes up the machinery and gets into everything. They say it should go in the regular trash.

[srblanco7]

Donated a dresser, chair and record player cabinet to a friend for their camp. Garage is finally cleaned out after our spring household restructuring/decluttering.

We've adopted a 1 in:1 out philosophy in an effort to limit reaccumulation of material items.