2018 Decluttering Thread

[msomnipotent]

It was so nice to come home from our trip and notice that there was no longer a pile of clutter on the kitchen desk. I forgot I had cleaned it off before leaving. Even my sister and aunt commented on it.

And we did a good job of not dragging knick-knacks and tourist junk back with us. I bought one piece of jewelry and my daughter only bought a few fossils. She even managed to keep the rocks down to a few this time. She normally helps herself to as many interesting rocks as she can carry back with her. We had an extra suitcase filled with rocks and fossils so heavy that my in-laws had to drive it back in their RV last time. I'm so happy that she decided against buying the prehistoric alligator head. It was so heavy, my husband couldn't pick it up on his own and it was at least 3 ft wide. The joys of raising a future Paleontologist!

[disneysteve]

I haven't posted for over a week but I'm back.

I had a somewhat aggravating day today and needed something to relax my brain. Cleaning and getting rid of clutter actually does that for me.

I went in the garage and found 5 or 6 old board games that we don't need and added those to the Goodwill pile.

I also partially went through a box of my mom's old paperwork (she doesn't have room to store it at her place so I take it for her). She pretty much saves every bill she ever pays even though there is absolutely no reason to do so. The box I was in tonight was from 2000-2001. It had bank statements, utility bills, newspaper delivery, lawn care, and other routine stuff. She hasn't even lived in that house for about 9 years now and certainly doesn't need bills from 18 years ago even if she did. So I added a bunch of that to my shredding box and just did 2 bags full of shredding.

[Thrif-t]

Hey Steve, see the coupon in this article for 5 free pounds of shredding at Office Depot, good till April 28th

http://www.dontwasteyourmoney.com/office-depot-officemax-offering-5-pounds-free-shredding/?partner=trueanthem&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=5ab187e704d30163ce591e87&utm_medium=new&utm_source=facebookDWYM

[disneysteve]

I just removed 8 more items from our Disney collection bringing the running total to 27 items removed so far.

Thrift-t, thanks for the coupon. I've never taken our shredding anywhere. I've always just done it myself. I guess it would be faster to just do that but I try not to let it build up. I have one small cardboard box next to the shredder and toss stuff in there as I get it. Once the box starts being partly full, I'll do a round of shredding. I try to do one bag of shredding each week though I don't always meet that target. I did two bags yesterday.

[disneysteve]

I had a shelf of books in the basement that I thought were listed for sale in my Amazon account. I'm pretty sure I had them listed with Half.com before they shut down. Apparently I never actually put them on Amazon.So I brought them all up to the computer and just went through them all.

I listed 5 that are worth selling.

There are 13 that are not worth selling and will be given away.

There are 3 that I will list on ebay as they appear to be worth selling there. I'm not taking the time to do that right now but I'll get to it sometime soon.

[disneysteve]

I sold one book on ebay yesterday and another one on Amazon today. I'll get those packed up and ship them on Monday.

[Thrif-t]

Well dang it, I gathered up all my electronics because I thought there was a collection today, but looked at the paper more closely and it was for township residents only not city, boo, I'm in the city. So now I need to ask google where I can recycle these things in my area as they're in the back of my van, but at least their out of the house.ha

I also took an old fish tank, a smores maker and an ice cream maker to Goodwill. We don't use any of those things anymore so they're gone.

[creditcardfree]

electronics

Best Buy, if one near you, accepts nearly all electronics. Call for specifics or check your store's website.

[james.hendrickson]

Junked a bunch of paperwork from some old jobs I left years ago. Feels good to free up the space in my filing cabinet.

[Gailete]

Junked a bunch of paperwork from some old jobs I left years ago. Feels good to free up the space in my filing cabinet.

Now that I am officially completely done with income taxes for the year, are there any posts here on what to keep and what to toss? I feel like I need a shovel to get to the top of my desk again and get back to 'work'. I have managed to figure out most of tracking etc. for everything else but all that paperwork is overwhelming.

Like can paper statements from the bank be tossed? Utility bills, especially when we are taking a deduction for business use of our home office, so I don't know if I need to keep them or can we go back 7-8 years to recreate it if needed?

[disneysteve]

This didn't actually get rid of any clutter but it's part of the process. I just went in and lowered the listing prices on 2 items on Craigslist and 5 items on Amazon. Hopefully that will help move the stuff. I honestly don't care how much some things sell for as long as they sell and I don't lose money on the deal.

[Gailete]

I've been doing some of that price lowering as well. When I first started using Amazon for patterns, I was one of a feww and had good sales and then they started slowing down due to competition with sellers that have no idea of the real value of what they are selling. Saw a brand new pattern listed for a penny the other day. Afraid it offends my sewing sensibilities.

[disneysteve]

Saw a brand new pattern listed for a penny the other day.

How can they do that? Surely Amazon charges a fee for the transaction. I've learned that I can't sell books below a certain price because the fee actually exceeds the income. I've lost money twice because of that.

Are they overcharging on postage to bury the profit there?

[Like2Plan]

I removed another trash bag worth of clothes from my closet. I can see the floor!

[cypher1]

LED bulbs were on sale, so I bought 40 and replaced throughout my home. In doing so, I went through all the older bulbs still new, but not needed for fixtures and donated.

That inspired me to go through my laundry room, and threw out a bunch of misc old screws, clips and extra hardware/accessories for hanging items I knew I'd never use. Got rid of some old paint brushes as I need to replace anyways. Gonna recycle eight of my old paint cans this weekend.

In the garage I threw out an old fan, spare utility light/extension cord that was broken, scrap wood chunks. Gave some old tool sets to a friend. Moved my remaining tile/grout, hardwood floor remnants to my crawlspace in the house. Garage is pretty much purged except for reviewing my toolbox.

In the office I went through my paperwork and shredded a huge stack. Gonna toss out some more pc hardware.

I just posted 5 items on eBay and 1 on craigslist.