2024 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

We're finally enjoying some cool fall weather so I spent a couple of hours in the garage this morning. After about an hour, I had enough stuff lined up to fill my trunk and make a run to Goodwill so I got all of that stuff out of the way. I came back and worked for another hour or so. There's more ready for Goodwill but I'll take it another day.

Definitely making more visible progress, freeing up floor space, able to get to the shelving unit along the one wall now. As usual, I broke down some boxes, got rid of some trash, and organized some of the stuff we still need.

My next challenge is to find a better way to store all of the packing paper that I have for reselling. Right now, it's in about 16 garbage bags but those are impossible to stack in any organized way. I'm thinking either large cardboard boxes or maybe some inexpensive storage containers of some sort. I'll have to start watching for them on the Buy Nothing group and Freebie Alert app. People do give them away from time to time.

If I take out the bags of packing material, what remains is actually looking pretty good. There are still a lot of boxes I need to go through. I did a couple today. I also kicked a few things down the road by just moving them around but not actually dealing with them. For example, I cleared some space on the shelves and moved some other items into that space without really going through it. One step at a time.

I think the next day, probably next week, will be to pull out the empty storage containers I do have and transfer some of the packing paper into those. I can stack those floor to ceiling and neaten up the mess of garbage bags that are there now.

I always feel like I've made progress when I'm in there but I feel like it's actually visible to others now. We'll see if DD notices when she gets home from work.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I purged two boxes of unused kitchenware from our garage (really if I don't use it in a year....) will we ever make pasta again? So I decided to donate it. And I am planning on a goodwill run this week

[disneysteve]

I took the rest of the accumulated stuff to Goodwill a couple of days ago, though I already have a bunch more that needs to get packed up and taken over. Then I worked today in the area inside where I do my ebay photos and gathered a small box of stuff for Goodwill.

It's getting back up around 80 the next 2 days but by the end of the week and into the weekend it will be cool again so I'm hoping to do another day in the garage.

I really want to get enough space cleared before the cold weather really sets in to set up a table and chair and space heater so I can work out there during the winter without freezing my butt off.

[disneysteve]

I went on a little cleaning/decluttering binge after dinner tonight in the bedroom. I started by attacking the top of my dresser, a chronic problem area. I got rid of a bunch of accumulated junk, most got trashed, some papers got filed, a few things got put where they belong.

I then moved into our closet where I worked on one shelf that holds light bulbs. Several got tossed and the rest got better organized. That is also where all of my travel-related items are like my toiletries bag and such. I went through the one container (shoebox size) and found an embarrassingly large amount of very expired medication, dried out alcohol wipes and bandaids, and more assorted nonsense. That created space in the container to add items that were loose on the shelf. For some reason, the box from my wife's blow dryer diffuser was there, too, so I got rid of that.

It all looks so much better now. Clutter also makes cleaning difficult. You can't dust or vacuum when surfaces are covered with stuff, so I did dust my dresser and vacuum in the closet when I was done.

[kork13]

My family just moved to Japan with me, and our household goods came with them. We put some furniture into storage, but even still .... We've got a big problem ... Send by big, I mean small -- our previous house was over 2200 sqft, but our new house on base is only 1500 sqft! So we are currently drowning in our stuff, desperately trying to unpack & hide stuff away. But everything will not come even CLOSE to hitting in our little house, so we're actively working through a rapid purge to clear out as much as I can convince my wife to let go of. DW is much more attached to "things" than I am, so it's not easy going. We'll get through it eventually, at least enough to get to functional. Meantime .... Purge mode enabled. I'm hoping to clear out alot of baby toys/books/clothes, but DW isn't ready to let go of it all....

[disneysteve]

Remodeling leading to decluttering. We are in the very early stages of a kitchen remodel. Just exploring options and having a friend who does kitchen and bath design come out to walk us through the process. But just thinking about doing it has us really noticing how much stuff is in our cabinets that just doesn't need to be there. Either we don't need it at all or we don't need it at our fingertips. As I prepared to make dinner tonight, I pulled out several pans we rarely use and DD put them in the basement cabinet. We don't want to get rid of them but they're always in our way in the kitchen so now they are out of the way but easily pulled out when we want them.

We need to spend some time cleaning out the basement cabinets. We know there's a lot of stuff down there that can go, which will free up space for the stuff we relocate from the kitchen.

[Jluke]

Remodeling = staying in NJ?

[disneysteve]

Remodeling = staying in NJ?

Our plan was pretty much always to keep a home in NJ but also have a second home in Florida. At this point, the Florida place just isn't happening. As long as my mom is with us, we just can't run off to Florida for weeks at a time. Although our daughter is grown, there are also issues with her due to her mental health condition and leaving her for weeks at a time isn't doable either. I would buy a house tomorrow with cash if we could. I still get the listings for the development where we want to buy. It just doesn't make sense to spend the money and take on the carrying costs if we aren't going to be able to use it for extended periods. So we decided to take the 150-200K we would have put toward the Florida house and renovate our current home.

[Jluke]

Good luck with the remodels.

guessing you might be sharing some remodeling stuff in the future (hint hint - hahah)

[bjl584]

Recently did some cleaning in preparation of having family over for Thanksgiving.
The dining table tends to be a dumping grounds for things, so it was nice to clear it off and throw a bunch of things out.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

just went through my dressed and a huge bag of clothes. Next up bag of clothes from closet.

[myrdale]

I sold my Orion 10" Dobsonian telescope last night.

I've had it listed for $850 for about a month now. I had one offer earlier this week for $500, but she couldn't pick up till this weekend. I had a second offer come in for $650 and I convinced him to drive on over last night and pick it up.

I probably had the better part of $1000 in it between the tube, tote bag, and eye pieces.

Really it was bitter sweet letting it go. I did get to show him Jupiter, Mars, the Moon, and Orion Nebula before he left.

Money wasn't an issue. Ultimately I needed the space more than I needed a second scope. Spending on the new rig is quickly coming to an end, but recovering $650 was nice.

[cypher1]

Just sold some items on Ebay that I don't really care for or lost interest with keeping on display. Regularly go through paperwork to see what can be shredded, along with older electronics, cables/chargers and PC equipment that can be tossed out. Donated some clothes to Goodwill, a couple of winter of jackets to my nephews even though they're growing fast as teens. Gave a Seiko watch I don't really wear to a buddy to be used as a dress watch since he really doesn't have one. I've been more conscientious of simply giving items away to people I think may use or appreciate, than try to chase a few dollars to sell online. Or if I buy a particular item for clothing, that I give something similar or equivalent use away so my clothes don't add up.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I sold my Orion 10" Dobsonian telescope last night.

I've had it listed for $850 for about a month now. I had one offer earlier this week for $500, but she couldn't pick up till this weekend. I had a second offer come in for $650 and I convinced him to drive on over last night and pick it up.

I probably had the better part of $1000 in it between the tube, tote bag, and eye pieces.

Really it was bitter sweet letting it go. I did get to show him Jupiter, Mars, the Moon, and Orion Nebula before he left.

Money wasn't an issue. Ultimately I needed the space more than I needed a second scope. Spending on the new rig is quickly coming to an end, but recovering $650 was nice.

sometimes getting the space back is more important. I've been working through my issue of letting stuff go and not getting cash for it. Instead I keep donating it. I could do a garage sale or church sale but it's just too much.

[disneysteve]

It's almost time for the 2025 thread to begin but we squeezed in some year-end decluttering today. One of our major plans for 2025 is to remodel our kitchen. Partly due to that and partly just for normal decluttering, my wife and I went in the basement today, set a timer for 30 minutes, and focused on some of our storage down there. We eliminated numerous craft items made by our daughter when she was a young child (we checked with her first), some serving pieces we never use, some decorative items we never display, and random other items like a shelf from our old freezer and old refrigerator (not the ones we currently have).

A bunch of the stuff went in the trash. A bunch more will be added to the Goodwill donations. A few nicer pieces I will comp on ebay before deciding what to do with them.

We got through one table and the first 3 shelves of the one built-in closet before the timer went off. Now the idea is to make this a regular activity maybe once a week. Ultimately we want to be able to get things out of the kitchen cabinets that we still want but don't need at our fingertips so that when the remodeling starts it's easier to get everything else out and easier to arrange everything in the new cabinetry.

Onward to 2025.