2018 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

I just sold another book on Amazon. I'll make money on this one . The Amazon fee is still obscene, though. It takes back ALL of the shipping allowance plus $1.70 beyond that. So the actual shipping expense comes out of my pocket.

Still, that's one less book in the house.

[Gailete]

Steve, I can't remember if I mentioned it to you, but Amazon really changed their book reimbursement sometime last year I think it was. I only have a few books listed, but as a Professional seller there, I can set my own shipping prices for books. Lots of intermittant sellers have been stunned when they sell something and find that they owe Amazon for the privilege of doing it. But I think it has driven some penny book sellers out of business.

[msomnipotent]

Decluttering the entertainment center took longer than I thought, so I'm just getting around to deep cleaning today. It is going surprisingly fast now that there isn't junk. I just need to clean some windows and wait for my husband to help me shampoo the carpeting. I'm hoping to get to deep cleaning the kitchen tomorrow. I have my daughter boxing up her unwanted stuff. Again. She got so many gifts from her birthday that we are back at square one with decluttering her room and closet. I told everyone no gifts for her kids party but no one listened.

[disneysteve]

I just sold another book on Amazon. I'll make money on this one . The Amazon fee is still obscene, though.

Steve, I can't remember if I mentioned it to you, but Amazon really changed their book reimbursement sometime last year I think it was. I only have a few books listed, but as a Professional seller there, I can set my own shipping prices for books. Lots of intermittant sellers have been stunned when they sell something and find that they owe Amazon for the privilege of doing it.

After the Amazon fee and postage, I made $11.04 on the sale. I got the book for free so I'm fine with that. But I think you're totally right that they don't want to be bothered with the $1 and $2 items so they've made it so that you can't sell a book for $2 without losing money.

Half.com was filled with listings for $0.75, the lowest they allowed. We bought quite a few of DD's textbooks that way and I sold quite a few back the same way. After my fees, I got about $0.57 if I recall correctly but at least it was something. Doing the same thing on Amazon would actually cost me money.

[cypher1]

Just started remodeling my bathroom, and felt motivated to do some decluttering. Donated some shorts, t-shirts, ties, belts, socks, towels, gloves, scarves, snow pants, pillows, books, CDs, glasses to the Salvation Army. Tossed out tattered clothes.

Giving away camping fold up chair, graphing calculator, misc toys, poker chips/decks of cards to my sister and her kids. Giving away bag of general tools, new pair of sandals, blu ray movies to my brother. Box of glassware, mixing bowls, cooler, going to another sister. A buddy is taking older record player, and projector mount.

Threw away a bunch of PC/home theater cables, while consolidating remaining ones into one container instead of three.

I just have a pile of comics, toy figures, mountain bike to sell on CL/eBay.
Otherwise bedroom, kitchen, living room, entryway closet, bathrooms are complete.

Left remaining in office is paperwork, burned DVD/CD backups to purge as well. Once summer hits, I may go through tool sets in the garage, but not in any hurry.

[msomnipotent]

My daughter did a good job of cleaning out her closet. The only thing on the floor is shoes! I'm not even going to look in the boxes for charity. I took a bunch of stuff out last time that I thought I could make some money on. I just don't care anymore and want it all gone.

I did a lot of general decluttering and cleaning all around the house this week. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere instead of just moving junk around. I have noticed that I'm starting to feel settled again and I'm getting rid of all the packing materials and boxes I had saved up for moving. The recycling bin is almost 5 ft tall and it looks like it is vomiting cardboard. Unfortunately, I have to box a bunch of stuff up and throw it in the basement as we are having an inspection right when we get back from our trip so we can refinance the mortgage. I can't let myself do the "out of sight, out of mind" thing again.

Why do I have so many cords?? Brand new cords to various things that I know nothing about. Some connector things are still in packages. Monster cables that look brand new that are connected to nothing. My husband has no idea how they got in the house, but I know I don't buy cords. It shall forever remain a mystery.

[creditcardfree]

My daughter did a good job of cleaning out her closet. The only thing on the floor is shoes! I'm not even going to look in the boxes for charity. I took a bunch of stuff out last time that I thought I could make some money on. I just don't care anymore and want it all gone.

I spend far less time selling than I once did. Either way the feeling of it leaving is the best!

Unfortunately, I have to box a bunch of stuff up and throw it in the basement as we are having an inspection right when we get back from our trip so we can refinance the mortgage. I can't let myself do the "out of sight, out of mind" thing again.

Make a note on your phone or calendar to remind you to address those things in the box after the inspection.

Why do I have so many cords?? Brand new cords to various things that I know nothing about. Some connector things are still in packages. Monster cables that look brand new that are connected to nothing. My husband has no idea how they got in the house, but I know I don't buy cords. It shall forever remain a mystery.

The kinds that are still in packages likely came with some electronics you bought. Often the manufacturers will include various ones because each person's set up and use of the item is different. They aren't worth keeping around if you don't need them. I just dropped off a very used cord from an iPod at Best Buy yesterday. These are recyclable.

[disneysteve]

I had one ebay auction end successfully yesterday, so I got $71 and I'm getting rid of a Game Boy, 2 cases, and one game cartridge.

I also had one auction end unsold today. I relisted and dropped the price by 20%. The item has sold pretty well in other auctions so maybe my price was just too high.

[msomnipotent]

Good news! Fannie Mae has decided that we do not need an inspection, so not only do I not have to hastily throw all my clutter in the basement, but we are saving the $300 inspection fee. I just decided on Monday that we needed to refinance, and they are already willing to close today or Monday. We are waiting until after our trip so we don't pile more on our to-do plate, though. I just wish we would have decided to do this a few months ago.

My husband finished putting the shelving up in our hallway closet. I love it. I hate wire shelving with a burning passion. Now it looks neater and we have more room. I managed to get all of the clutter out of the guest bedroom and back in the closet. I threw away a box full of stuff that I didn't want to toss when I cleaned the closet out. I'm getting more bold with removing things.

[disneysteve]

I hate wire shelving with a burning passion.

I'm with you. I have no idea why that even became a thing. I guess it's fine for sheets or towels but it's totally worthless for anything else. You always have to lay a piece of plastic or wood paneling or something over each shelf before you can actually use it so what's the point.

[msomnipotent]

I'm with you. I have no idea why that even became a thing. I guess it's fine for sheets or towels but it's totally worthless for anything else. You always have to lay a piece of plastic or wood paneling or something over each shelf before you can actually use it so what's the point.

I hate it even for fabrics. You get the dreaded waffle weave pattern and it doesn't come out unless I iron it or put it in the dryer for a while. I had to use cardboard to keep things upright after a bottle of cough syrup fell and ruined the carpeting.

Imagine this, only with wire shelving, and you get an inkling of how I feel about wire shelving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ksk_ko_6g

[disneysteve]

I removed 6 more items from our Disney collection today.

I searched in the garage and attic and managed to find the original box for one item. Once I did, I took photos and just listed it on ebay.

There is one other item that I didn't remove (a snow globe) that I want to get rid of but I need to find the box for that if I'm going to try and sell it online. Shipping those is a challenge without the original packing material. If I can't find the box, I may list it on Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace to try and find a local buyer.

While in the attic, I also took down and disposed of 2 boxes for items we no longer own, an old phone and our fax machine, both of which are long gone. There are a number of other boxes up there for things we don't have anymore but today wasn't the time to deal with them. Decluttering the attic is definitely on the list for the future but there are other things that are higher priority.

[CarolBee]

New to posting here but not to decluttering!

Every year I follow this thread and swear to myself that I'm going to post - well here I am! My DH and I have lived in the same house for going on 24 years and I KNOW we didn't have this much stuff when we moved in! Does anyone else have the 'grow to fit your space' problem?

Since we started really going at cleaning out our accumulations, I've lost track of how many boxes and bags we've sent to our local second hand store. Why I kept some of this stuff I'll never know. It's funny how your mindset changes over time.

[disneysteve]

Every year I follow this thread and swear to myself that I'm going to post - well here I am! My DH and I have lived in the same house for going on 24 years and I KNOW we didn't have this much stuff when we moved in! Does anyone else have the 'grow to fit your space' problem?

Since we started really going at cleaning out our accumulations, I've lost track of how many boxes and bags we've sent to our local second hand store. Why I kept some of this stuff I'll never know. It's funny how your mindset changes over time.

I think everyone has that problem, where the stuff expands to fill the space. George Carlin had a great routine about this years ago.

It is so true about the mindset changing. I, too, have looked at things and wondered why I ever saved them.

Great job on attacking the stuff and making so much progress.

[creditcardfree]

Every year I follow this thread and swear to myself that I'm going to post - well here I am!

Welcome to the thread, CarolBee! Unless we make constant efforts to let go of things unused and no longer needed, our the stuff we bring in is likely to build up.