2018 Decluttering Thread

[miclason]

I want to start! I vow to start!

our "spare" room has become a warehouse of sorts... We had Ale's twin bed in there in storage, and, this weekend we took it out (She had a phase where she wanted a bigger bed, and, when my sister got rid of her old one, Ale grabbed it for herself, but, that bed is over 20 years old, so it's no longer comfy, and now she wants her old one back!) We had to take off a lot of boxes that we had placed on top of it. I want to go up there again with a couple of trash bags and get rid of some things that are no longer useful. I will do this next weekend. Wish me luck!

[disneysteve]

I've listed several items on ebay recently. One currently has a bid.

I just listed an item on both craigslist and facebook marketplace (too big to deal with shipping). I may put it on Letgo too.

I've been holding onto a carton full of old kid craft supplies looking for a place to donate it. Our synagogue recently publicized that they are collecting craft supplies for a nearby underprivileged summer camp program so I brought the box up from the basement and will drop it off during the week. At least I know it is going to a good cause.

That box was occupying an old worn out kitchen chair in the basement to keep it off the floor because we sometimes get water in the basement in bad storms. Now that the box is gone, I can throw out the chair too as we don't need or want it and it isn't worth selling or donating.

Hopefully a few more ebay items will attract attention in the next few days.

[comicguy]

Time for another update.

5/29
1 Treadmill - sold ($100) (1 items)

5/30
2 lego field sets - returned to school
2 lego field mats - returned to school (4 items)

6/1
2 robot kits - returned to school (2 items)

6/3
1 book - donated
8 refillable WDW mugs - sold (9 items)

6/10
3 computer keyboards - recycled
7 computer mouse - recycled
2 computer monitors - sold
4 computer cords - sold
2 pieces of robot structure - returned to school (16 items)


6/11
1 team banner - sold (1 item)

6/12
1 team banner (1 item)

6/15
1 small bag of various broken electronics - recycled
2 plastic team cups - recycled
22 books - donated (25 items)

6/17
2 Gift cards used up and recycled (2 items)

6/22

6 cardboard boxes - recycled
1 plastic container of misc screws and nuts (not worth sorting) - trashed
3 remote control helicopters/drones - given to nephew
3 balsa wood plane kits - put in son’s car to take to his home
1 box of misc car supplies - put in son’s car to take to his home
15 misc electronic items - put in son’s car to take to his home
2 small plastic garbage buckets - put in son’s car to take to his house
10 white shelves - sold
2 white shelves - used in shed
6 white metal shelf brackets - put in son’s car to take to his home
10 outlet wall plates (stained/cracked) - trashed
2 plastic pails - recycled
8 metal rods - trashed
2 broken drill bits - trashed
4 tires - recycled
1 light fixture - sold
1 glass cover for light fixture - sold
100 ft telephone wire - sold
1 set of spring hinges - sold
1 dimmer switch - sold
2 regular switches - sold
2 porcelain cellar light fixtures - sold
2 four square box metal covers - sold
1 telephone plate - sold
1 bag of fork terminals - sold
15ft 12-2 UF wire - sold
15 ft 14-3 wire - sold
10 ft 12-3 wire - sold
1 box of green ground screws - sold
2 panel grounding bars - sold
1 50ft ethernet cable - put on son’s car for him to take to his house
4 mini server units - put in son’s car for him to take to his house
1 medium server unit (for parts) - put in son’s car for him to take to his house
1 binder - trashed
4 plastic storage boxes - put in son’s car to take to his house
1 100 ft ethernet cable - put in son’s car to take to his house
5 1 ft square kitchen tiles - trashed
5 pieces of scrap plywood - burned
2 lego remote pads - put in son’s car to take to his house
1 tarp - trashed (121 items)

[creditcardfree]

(121 items)[/COLOR]

Nice work! Do you have a total since you started or for the year? I'm counting our donations this year (including paper files!) and have over 1600 items out of our home. I've been in a lull for about two months, but expect July to be a big decluttering month, hopefully with help from the family.

[comicguy]

Nice work! Do you have a total since you started or for the year? I'm counting our donations this year (including paper files!) and have over 1600 items out of our home. I've been in a lull for about two months, but expect July to be a big decluttering month, hopefully with help from the family.

I have gotten rid of 878 items, shooting for a total of 2018 (43.5% towards that goal)

[creditcardfree]

I have gotten rid of 878 items, shooting for a total of 2018 (43.5% towards that goal)

Excellent. Yes, I meant to mention that is my same goal...2018. You are doing great!

[disneysteve]

Went into the basement to do something quick, and ended up staying down there and doing some impromptu decluttering. I focused on one shelving unit. I threw away a number of things that we haven't used for years and won't ever use again. Mostly some party decorations and such.

I gathered a bunch of paint brushes that are all either new or very clean and put them all together in an old plastic cup with the painting supplies.

Found a box of old, mostly dried out, craft paints and threw them all out, including the box.

Looked up an old set of toys on ebay and found that they're worth selling so moved those to my ebay work area to clean up and list next chance I get.

Threw out a few other assorted bits and pieces of junk.

[disneysteve]

Did a little more in the basement last night.

I also sold something on ebay yesterday and just packed it to ship so that's one more thing out of the house, plus I made about $15 on it.

I also had 2 ebay auctions end unsuccessfully and this was the 2nd time listing those items so they are going out in the trash. They aren't items that can be donated.

[bjl584]

I too was working on part of my basement the other day. I was able to get a ton of stuff out of the one partition of my basement. I carpeted it and turned it into a small office.

[JoeP]

A was asked about the bins, and figure a picture will help.

In our basement, I have black metal shelving that I bought over 15 years ago, and they had been stuffed with all sorts of odd-shaped boxes and loose items were just jammed into open spaces. It was so difficult to find anything, let alone access the boxes...cardboard often ripped.

The solution was to first get rid of things that were clearly not needed or wanted: sell, donate, recycle, trash. Then the bins were selected because they fit the slots and were very sturdy.

I was then able to segregate items by class and label each bin with blue painter's tape. We still have work to do with trimming down inventory, but this is a huge improvement.

[disneysteve]

I just listed 5 old collector magazines on ebay. I've sold a bunch of these in the past and just never got around to listing the rest of them. I have 6 more to post but needed a break.

The old kids craft items got donated to an area summer camp program yesterday so those are out of the house.

[disneysteve]

Did a bit more in the basement. Threw out a few items. Moved a few things to the "donate" shelf. Prepped a few things to list on ebay.

[comicguy]

Got rid of more things this week

6/23
1 drone - to son’s house (1 item)

6/25
4 pair of shorts - trashed (4 items)

6/28
10 ink cartridges - recycled
1 cardboard box- recycled
1 gift card used up - recycled
1 bundle of tie straps - robotics center
1 bag of wood blocks - robotics center
1 pair of sneakers - donated
2 Power Banks - donated
1 bag of misc robotics parts - returned to the person who lent them to us (16 items)

6/29
1 roll of wax paper - to son’s house
2 rolls of aluminum foil - to son’s house
1 box of snack size zip bags - to son’s house
1 desk - to son’s house
1 big box of misc son’s stuff - to son’s house
1 server - to son’s house
1 desk - to son’s house
1 Dry Erase Board - to son’s house
1 Drone remote - to son’s house
1 Lego Bionicle - to son’s house
1 wall mount paper organizer - robotics center
2 desktop computers - robotics center
2 monitors - robotics center
2 mouse - robotics center
2 keyboards - robotics center
2 mouse pads - robotics center
1 surge protector - robotics center
2 power banks - donated
1 Kids activity pack (new) - donated
1 baseball picture frame - donated
1 belt - donated
2 star wars action figures - donated
1 belt - trashed
1 notebook (extremely sun faded and brittle) - recycled
2 cardboard boxes - recycled (34 items)

928 items of 2018 or 45.98% of goal

[disneysteve]

Spent some time in the basement again. I started digging into some stuff I literally haven't gotten into for many years. As usual, I found some items that went in the trash, some that got added to the donation pile, and some that will get put on ebay.

I do need to remember to put on a mask when I'm working down there, though. I'm usually good about it but didn't bother tonight and I'm feeling it now from stirring up the dust and mold. Bleh.

[comicguy]

Spent some time doing some small cleaning projects and getting son's former room ready to paint, now that he has finally gotten all of his stuff (we shall see as we progress with decluttering).

7/1
10 misc aquarium items - donated
130 misc (new) ear protection plugs - sold
1 pkg of coffee filters (science project) - donated
1 laser pointer keychain - donated
1 cardboard box - recycled
2 mini solar panels - to son’s house
1 magnetic board - to son’s house
1 dry erase board - to son’s house
1 box of assorted posters - trashed
1 poster frame - trashed
2 sanding sponges - used up prepping wall for painting
1 Human Body model figure - donated
1 kids scientific balance beam
14 sets of RC wheels - donated
8 sets of RC struts - donated
2 sets of RC axles - donated
1 set of 3 frying pans (new) - donated
8 books on disc - donated

186 items left the house yesterday!!

1114 items of 2018 or 55.02% of goal