2018 Decluttering Thread

[msomnipotent]

Our subdivision garage sale in June 1st. I'm really considering just throwing my crap on my lawn with a "FREE" sign. At least I won't have to clean and price things. I wish they announced it sooner so I would have more time to prepare.

My husband finished the master bath linen closet, so everything is decluttered and looking nice. At least in the closet. I still have to do under the sinks but that shouldn't take much. We have decided to wait until after the exchange student leaves to do the guest bath closet. We will have to wait until next year to redo the bedroom closets due to the dog's expenses, but it will get done. I'm even toying with the idea of expanding our closet into the sitting area since we don't use it. But then the closet will be as big or bigger than the bedroom. First world problems!

I managed to get a pile of empty boxes as tall as myself out to the curb just as the recycling truck came. Once I get all of my husband's old toys on ebay, I'm chucking the rest of the boxes and bubble wrap I have been saving up when we thought we were moving. It is a 10x10' area in our basement that will be nice to have back!

As mentioned in another thread, I sold my daughter's old suitcase finally.

[disneysteve]

I spent an hour or so in the garage today. As always, various things went to either the trash, the recycling bin, the shredding pile, or the Goodwill pile. I'll take the Goodwill stuff over probably tomorrow as it's raining currently and I'm not going out just for that.

ETA: I also spent a short time in the basement. I broke down an old display rack from when we used to sell at antique shows. I also got rid of a few assorted things.

[Thrif-t]

Today I got my summer clothes out and put my winter stuff away. In the process I got rid of both summer and winter stuff I just don't wear anymore. The summer things I can give to my sisters and nieces to look thru. I'll see them this weekend so I"ll put it in my van.

The winter stuff, I don't think they'd want and I'd love to just take it to goodwill but we are supposed to be having a street sale this summer so I figure I can put everything out 50 cents and if it goes it goes, or off to Goodwill it will go.

Thing is I have no clue when this street sale will be. I'm getting antsy with the clutter I've been saving for it. I hope I can hold out. I have all these sheet's, blankets, comforter sets that I cleared out last week. All that stuff is sitting at the bottom of the bed. I hate to put it in the basement cause it will get stinky even though we have a humidifier down there.

They better be doing it in June or I might just take stuff to goodwill and not bother. I can't imagine making more than $25-$50 bucks for the junk we have.

[comicguy]

It appears I have not posted an update since 2/25. Here is a quick list of everything I have managed to get rid of!!

2/26 3 picture frames - Robotics Center for team pictures
3/3 1 pair of pants - trashed, 2 inch pile of unneeded robotics paperwork - recycled (5 items)

3/4 1 Portable projector - Robotics Center, 1 box of misc. PVC fitting for a “robot bank” project for the robotics team - Robotics Center, 3 parts storage bins - Robotics Center, 1 book on disc - donated (6 items)

3/8 3 pens - trashed 3 binders of robotics information - robotics center, 1 pair of pants - trashed (7 items)

3/13 1 book - donated
3/16 6 AA batteries - recycled (7 items)

3/25 1 bed sheet - trashed (1 item)

3/30 1 book - donated 1 jar of applesauce - donated (bought wrong flavor) 2 binders - donated 1 DVD - donated 3 dry erase markers - trashed 20 sheets of specialty color paper - used up for display board project 2 home depot gift cards - used up and recycled 2 movie passes - used up and recycled (32 items)

4/2 5 cardboard boxes - recycled
4/7 2 teriyaki sauce bottles - 1 trashed 1 donated 1 bundle of tissue paper - used up 1 cardboard box - used to ship bday present 2 new disney notepads - part of a birthday gift
1 book - donated (13 items)


4/8 1 cardboard box - recycled 1 bag of trash - trashed 2 boxes of assorted “stuff” - packed and waiting pick-up by DS 1 area rug - trashed 1 sleeping bag - donated 1 pillow - donated 15 dish clothes - donated 8 placemats - donated (30 items)

4/18 1 book - donated (1 Item)
4/24 4 notepads donated (4 items)

5/13 5 items given away via facebook, 5 items trashed (10 items)

5/19 16 items donated, 2 items trashed (18 items)

5/19 7 items - donated, 4 items - recycled (11 items)

5/20 1 lawn mower - sold (50.00), 1 bag of weed and feed - used up, 1 bag grub x - used up (3 items)

5/22 3 books - donated, 2 notebooks and 1 folder - donated, 1 pair of pants - trashed, 1 shirt - trashed (8 items)

5/26 4 Desktop computers - recycled, 3 monitors - recycled, 4 keyboards - recycled, 1 mouse - recycled (12 items)

5/27
22 Program CD’s - recycled
112 assorted computer cables/patch cords/printer cables, etc… - recycled
3 packages of bulletin board border - donated (137 items)

5/28
7 Lego technic sets - son’s house
2 rechargeable batteries and 1 charger - robotics center
12 PVC pipes (various lengths) - robotics center
2 large bags of lego NXT cables - robotics center
1 power control module - robotics center
1 box of assorted lego wheels and hubs - robotics center (25 items)

[james.hendrickson]

It appears I have not posted an update since 2/25. Here is a quick list of everything I have managed to get rid of!!

2/26 3 picture frames - Robotics Center for team pictures
3/3 1 pair of pants - trashed, 2 inch pile of unneeded robotics paperwork - recycled (5 items)

3/4 1 Portable projector - Robotics Center, 1 box of misc. PVC fitting for a “robot bank” project for the robotics team - Robotics Center, 3 parts storage bins - Robotics Center, 1 book on disc - donated (6 items)

3/8 3 pens - trashed 3 binders of robotics information - robotics center, 1 pair of pants - trashed (7 items)

3/13 1 book - donated
3/16 6 AA batteries - recycled (7 items)

3/25 1 bed sheet - trashed (1 item)

3/30 1 book - donated 1 jar of applesauce - donated (bought wrong flavor) 2 binders - donated 1 DVD - donated 3 dry erase markers - trashed 20 sheets of specialty color paper - used up for display board project 2 home depot gift cards - used up and recycled 2 movie passes - used up and recycled (32 items)

4/2 5 cardboard boxes - recycled
4/7 2 teriyaki sauce bottles - 1 trashed 1 donated 1 bundle of tissue paper - used up 1 cardboard box - used to ship bday present 2 new disney notepads - part of a birthday gift
1 book - donated (13 items)


4/8 1 cardboard box - recycled 1 bag of trash - trashed 2 boxes of assorted “stuff” - packed and waiting pick-up by DS 1 area rug - trashed 1 sleeping bag - donated 1 pillow - donated 15 dish clothes - donated 8 placemats - donated (30 items)

4/18 1 book - donated (1 Item)
4/24 4 notepads donated (4 items)

5/13 5 items given away via facebook, 5 items trashed (10 items)

5/19 16 items donated, 2 items trashed (18 items)

5/19 7 items - donated, 4 items - recycled (11 items)

5/20 1 lawn mower - sold (50.00), 1 bag of weed and feed - used up, 1 bag grub x - used up (3 items)

5/22 3 books - donated, 2 notebooks and 1 folder - donated, 1 pair of pants - trashed, 1 shirt - trashed (8 items)

5/26 4 Desktop computers - recycled, 3 monitors - recycled, 4 keyboards - recycled, 1 mouse - recycled (12 items)

5/27
22 Program CD’s - recycled
112 assorted computer cables/patch cords/printer cables, etc… - recycled
3 packages of bulletin board border - donated (137 items)

5/28
7 Lego technic sets - son’s house
2 rechargeable batteries and 1 charger - robotics center
12 PVC pipes (various lengths) - robotics center
2 large bags of lego NXT cables - robotics center
1 power control module - robotics center
1 box of assorted lego wheels and hubs - robotics center (25 items)

Excellent!

[disneysteve]

So far this morning, I threw out my old winter coat that I replaced a few months ago. And I just played a few random unmarked cassette tapes to see what was on them and was able to trash them all.

Onward to find more to get rid of.

[cypher1]

Gave my friend back his engine hoist and block stand, since the last time I've used them was about 6 years ago.

Sold the last 4 toy items on eBay that were taking up space in my closet. Sold some 6.5" car speakers that I'd been holding onto for years.

Threw away old backpack that had torn zipper. Pawned my previous roommate's replica black powder revolver.

I have one more small stack of clothing to donate as well. I'm running pretty lean or bare for items in the house. Decluttering has been on overdrive since my breakup. My friends are worried I'm moving to Tibet. But its been a huge relief to purge items.

[creditcardfree]

Decluttering has been on overdrive since my breakup. My friends are worried I'm moving to Tibet. But its been a huge relief to purge items.

A fresh slate of sorts sounds very nice!

[CarolBee]

Off work for the summer so the clean out begins

Sounds like everyone has been busy clearing things out - Thursday was my last scheduled day for the summer (I work for the school district, hence summers off) and in two days I've managed to fill two medium sized boxes with things to give away. I have a pile of papers to shred - where does all this paper clutter come from anyway? I swear things breed when my back is turned.

I usually have no problem getting rid of trash and such, but it's the sentimental items that make me pause. I realize I can't keep everything - but some items are more difficult than others. I set those aside and revisit them at a later (but not TOO late) date.

Since our son passed away nearly 7 years ago, I've had the added burden of going thru his things. Talk about hard to do. I didn't touch anything for at least 6 months after he passed, and it's only been within the past several years that I can let things go by thinking of how he'd feel knowing that others were getting some use out of them.

Carol

[creditcardfree]

Sounds like everyone has been busy clearing things out - Thursday was my last scheduled day for the summer (I work for the school district, hence summers off) and in two days I've managed to fill two medium sized boxes with things to give away. I have a pile of papers to shred - where does all this paper clutter come from anyway? I swear things breed when my back is turned.

I usually have no problem getting rid of trash and such, but it's the sentimental items that make me pause. I realize I can't keep everything - but some items are more difficult than others. I set those aside and revisit them at a later (but not TOO late) date.

Since our son passed away nearly 7 years ago, I've had the added burden of going thru his things. Talk about hard to do. I didn't touch anything for at least 6 months after he passed, and it's only been within the past several years that I can let things go by thinking of how he'd feel knowing that others were getting some use out of them.

Carol

Welcome! Schools are famous for a lot of paper.

It was very wise of you to take time before parting with your son's items. As the grief subsided (I know it doesn't go away) I'm sure it was easier to discern which items truly had meaning and were right to keep.

[disneysteve]

it's the sentimental items that make me pause. I realize I can't keep everything - but some items are more difficult than others. I set those aside and revisit them at a later (but not TOO late) date.

Since our son passed away nearly 7 years ago, I've had the added burden of going thru his things. Talk about hard to do. I didn't touch anything for at least 6 months after he passed, and it's only been within the past several years that I can let things go by thinking of how he'd feel knowing that others were getting some use out of them.

Sentimental items are definitely the hardest, especially because many of them aren't replaceable. It's easy to toss out an extra ethernet cable because if I ever really need one, I can easily get one for a few dollars. But I can never get another picture drawn by my then-4-year-old daughter.

And dealing with items after the loss of a loved one is probably the hardest. My father died over 25 years ago and I still have some of his things. They don't really have particular meaning or significance to me. I just keep them because they were his. Some day when my mom passes, I'm sure there are items of hers I will keep for the same reason, just as reminders of her.

It's kind of morbid to think this but one small reason why I want to get our garage and basement cleaned out more is so that we have somewhere to put her stuff when she dies until I am ready to go through it all. Thankfully she moved from a 3-bedroom house to a 1-bedroom apartment a numbers of years ago and a huge amount of stuff got dealt with then, but she's still got a lot that I'll need to deal with.

[disneysteve]

I just listed 4 collectible items on ebay. I was surprised to see how much they are selling for. Years ago when we were actively selling at shows, these were items that we sold for $1-2. They are now going for $15-20 or more. I still had a few left so figured I'd give it a shot.

I started 3 auctions, one for 2 similar items and then one for each of the others. I'm curious to see how they do. If they don't sell, I'll relist by bunching them all together into one lot and I'm sure they'll go that way.

[Thrif-t]

Oh man I worked in the basement today going thru a lot of stuff and now my basement is a MESS!! We are having our street sale June 8 & 9. I can't decide if I should be in it or just take my stuff to goodwill and be done with it. We have graduation parties next weekend and I have some food to make for that, plus my sister broke her foot and I have to take her to her ortho appt next Thurs.

I keep thinking how much will I make anyway? Is it worth it to put all the stuff out bring all the tables up from the basement, lay everything out. I don't know? I'm being lazy and I feel like I have a lot of little junk, nothing of any real value. Maybe I'd make $100 or less it seems. I get impatient and just want stuff OUT!!

Plus the neighbors who planned it aren't too organized and I didn't notice an ad in our weekly community paper, so wondering about the turn out, ugh.

[msomnipotent]

Our neighborhood garage sale is a bust, too. Poorly planned. They put a little blurb in our community newspaper to be on the look out for more info, and then they never gave more info. They didn't put out any ads, either. I saw 2 homes having a sale. I'm glad I didn't bother doing any work for it.

I got rid of more boxes, some old paperwork that never got filed, and went through food magazines I had been saving. The recycling bin was just picked up today and it is starting to get full.

I need to get my butt in gear because we are getting an exchange student on the 17th. I just don't have the energy.

[CarolBee]

There are some weeks our recycling bin is full, while our trash bin is less than half. When in full cleaning out mode I know my DH has had to make a run to empty the recycling before the pickup date. It’s pretty eye-opening when your bin is full but so are your closets, drawers, basement, etc.