2018 Decluttering Thread

[scfr]

The final pre-house-listing declutter thing I did early last week was put together a basket of extra office supplies that I sold on FB. Someone got a real bargain on them, and I got them out of the house. They are things that I would have used eventually, but I didn't want the extra in the house during showings and I sure as heck don't want to move them!

[disneysteve]

Someone got a real bargain on them, and I got them out of the house.

Good for you! One key in this whole process for me has been divorcing myself from the monetary value of things. I found it much harder to get rid of things when I worried about what they were worth or how much I could get for them on ebay. Once I got past that and just decided that I no longer needed the item and wanted it out of the house, it was much easier. Sure, I've given away things that maybe I could have made a few bucks from, but that isn't the goal and isn't worth the hassle. I'd rather the items leave our house and go to someone who can use them.

I did a little more over the weekend, adding several books, some phone screen covers to old phones, an ink cartridge for an old printer, and several other items to the Goodwill pile.

[disneysteve]

I have at least a couple hundred pens that I used to get from sales reps at my office. I actually used to sell them in lots of 25 or so on ebay but now I just want to get rid of what I have left. I asked our Rabbi if he knew of a local charity that could use them. He just got back to me and there is a group that will take them. Perfect. I'm happy to have them go to a good place that can make use of them and I'll get a few bags full of pens out of the house. I'll gather them all together tomorrow and drop them off.

[Thrif-t]

Yes I feel the same way DSteve. I like that someone can use my castoffs. We have a charity in our town that lets people come in and pick 8 free items a week. It gives me pleasure to know the disfourtunate are getting use out of my stuff

[disneysteve]

I have at least a couple hundred pens that I used to get from sales reps at my office. I actually used to sell them in lots of 25 or so on ebay but now I just want to get rid of what I have left. I asked our Rabbi if he knew of a local charity that could use them. He just got back to me and there is a group that will take them. Perfect. I'm happy to have them go to a good place that can make use of them and I'll get a few bags full of pens out of the house. I'll gather them all together tomorrow and drop them off.

I boxed up the pens. The box weighs nearly 10 pounds! Makes me wonder how many hundreds (or thousands) of pounds of stuff we have removed from the house over the past few years.

[disneysteve]

7 Disney lithographs added to the donation pile
2 framed prints added to the donation pile
Ebay auction started for a lot of 46 promotional pens

ETA:
Ebay auction started for a lot of 3 Cross pens
6 old paperbacks and 5 old catalogs recycled
2 dried out pens trashed
Plastic cup holding pens on my desk emptied and cup tossed

[disneysteve]

The 2 ebay auctions I started on Thursday both have bids and are packed and ready to ship once the auctions end and I get paid.

I just started another auction.

Last night, I did a little cleaning in the basement and trashed several items.

[scfr]

I thought I had done a good job purging before our house went on the market, but I found some holiday gift wrap and craft items stored under the bed in the guest room. For many years I ran gift wrapping fundraisers and card-making events for two local non-profit groups, but I'm done with that for now and had forgotten I still had some supplies stored. I gave the gift wrap to a friend, took a grocery bag full of misc wrapping and craft items plus a stack of colored tissue paper to Goodwill, listed the ribbon for sale on FB (with a note to drop it off at Goodwill if it doesn't sell within a week), and will list the underbed storage totes today. I've been listening to my holiday CDs, and since I was going to Goodwill anyway, I added 3 that I enjoy less than the others to the bag.

[Thrif-t]

Well dang it, decluttering cost me again!! Just this summer I went through all my kids old sporting equipment and shoes and donated stuff. Well now my 5th year college senior is playing in a volleyball league and wants her knee pads, that she wore when she played 8th grade volleyball, oops.

She was livid I got rid of them and her shoes, she swears she could still fit in because her feet had stopped growing. Ugh, off to Walmart I had to go to pick up a cheap pair of knee pads. Dang it! That's the 2nd time I had to go buy something I gave away and it rubs me wrong. Yes the knee pads were only 12 bucks, but still we had a really good pair that I gave away :-(.

[disneysteve]

That's the 2nd time I had to go buy something I gave away and it rubs me wrong. Yes the knee pads were only 12 bucks,

This is bound to happen when you eliminate clutter, but it's worth it in the end. I've read the recommendation that if you never use the item and you could easily replace it for $20 or less, get rid of it. So that would apply here.

[bjl584]

I recently cleaned out my basement. I got one of those really nice metal shelving units and organized everything into plastic tubs and then onto the shelf. I can walk through my basement again. A lot of old stuff got pitched in the process. Now onto the spare bedroom....

[disneysteve]

I recently cleaned out my basement. I got one of those really nice metal shelving units and organized everything into plastic tubs and then onto the shelf. I can walk through my basement again. A lot of old stuff got pitched in the process.

That sounds great, especially the part about pitching a lot of stuff. It's too easy to confuse organizing with decluttering. A lot of people make that mistake. They think putting all of their junk in nice bins on fancy shelves fixes the problem. The reality is that most people don't have a storage problem; they have a clutter problem. Get rid of all of the stuff you don't need and suddenly you find you have plenty of storage.

If you haven't already, make sure to clearly mark each of those tubs with what is in each one so you can easily find it when you need it.

[MooseBucks]

That sounds great, especially the part about pitching a lot of stuff. It's too easy to confuse organizing with decluttering. A lot of people make that mistake. They think putting all of their junk in nice bins on fancy shelves fixes the problem. The reality is that most people don't have a storage problem; they have a clutter problem. Get rid of all of the stuff you don't need and suddenly you find you have plenty of storage.

If you haven't already, make sure to clearly mark each of those tubs with what is in each one so you can easily find it when you need it.

I’d argue that decluttering and organizing can be the same thing. I think during both you’re getting rid of items but also putting items in their correct place.

[disneysteve]

I’d argue that decluttering and organizing can be the same thing. I think during both you’re getting rid of items but also putting items in their correct place.

Clutter can just be things you want and need that aren't well-stored or displayed. In that case, putting them away is decluttering. But I think a lot of clutter is stuff that we don't want or need so even if we put it away nicely, it's still clutter.

For example, a while back we did the Marie Kondo thing with all of our glassware. We took glasses out of all of our kitchen cabinets and our basement storage cabinets and brought it all together in one place. All of it was neatly stored and organized with like items together, but by the time we were done, we had gathered nearly 100 items to sell or give away. Then we put what was left back in the appropriate places. That left our cabinets looking much better without being packed full of items we never use.

I have seen people "clean" their garage or basement by installing a bunch of new and costly shelving units and filling them with colorful storage bins. But those shelves and bins were still filled with crap. And then it was even worse because the stuff was out of view and would proceed to stay in those bins indefinitely because it was all stuff they didn't need in the first place. We've been guilty of that ourselves. It is far better to eliminate all of the stuff you don't actually want and then just putting away what remains.

[disneysteve]

Sold and got paid for 2 ebay auctions. Net profit after costs of $20.83. More importantly, I sold a total of 49 pens between the 2 auctions and got them out of the house.