2018 Decluttering Thread

[scfr]

The underbed storage totes sold on FB. The ribbon did not - half went in the donation bag, half in the moving sale bin.
I packed up a box of clothes, and in the process of doing that tossed one worn out shirt.
We had a 15-year-old big box TV and one of those big heavy stands that held the big box TV. Although the TV still works, the digital converter we had for it went out and there is no way we are going to move those heavy things again, or buy another digital converter with a move (hopefully) in our near future, so I'm taking the TV to the city-run recycling place tomorrow morning. DH suggested I sell the stand on FB, but I told him that no one has any use for those big clunky stands anymore, so he disassembled it and sadly it went in the trash. (Donating it was out of the question - they wouldn't want it.)

[MooseBucks]

Took some time this weekend to read through my magazines that have been piling up and went though 11 of them between my wife and I. Cleaned out the top drawer of my filing cabinet and got rid of some old papers.

Wife went through some school artwork from our kids and got rid of some of that. It is a job she has to do because I'd keep it all personally.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Moosebucks, my kid is about to turn 31(!) and I still have some of his flat artwork in a portfolio and get it out to look at it now and then. I enjoy the the little peeks into who he was as a little one. A little sculpture sits on a bookshelf, and actually a couple of things are framed and still on the wall. This is not clutter to me; It is a blessing.

[disneysteve]

Cleaned out the kitchen freezer last night and the basement freezer tonight. While we hate to waste food, sometimes it happens and stuff gets lost in there, never to be seen again.

Threw out an old pair of my daughter's boots that had started leaking and were replaced some time ago (I don't know what we were saving them for).

We're having some family over Friday night so it gave us a good reason to tidy up the place.

[disneysteve]

Another ebay auction got a bid. It ends tomorrow so I'll pack it up tonight and ship it out on Monday as long as the buyer pays promptly.

I have no other auctions running right now as we've been busy with some other things and I'm going out of town for 5 days on Wednesday. After I get back, I'll probably list some more items.

[disneysteve]

I told my wife I'd like her to start spending 10 or 15 minutes with me in the basement once or twice a week to do a brief decluttering session. We did the first one tonight.

We got rid of:

7 placemats
1 set of measuring spoons
Another set of measuring spoons that we are going to put in our Florida storage locker
1 blowdryer
1 Pyrex casserole dish
2 large glass serving bowls
1 china serving platter
2 tealight sets
1 cookie tin
1 set of small serving dishes
1 wooden covered candy bowl
a few assorted little items (keychain, reusable ice cubes, etc.)

A couple things went in the trash. The rest got rinsed off and will be packed and donated to Goodwill.

I'm very pleased with the results and I don't think we were down there for more than 10 minutes. I will make sure we keep doing this sort of thing on a regular basis.

[disneysteve]

All of the stuff from my last post got boxed up tonight. The boxes are in the garage ready to go to Goodwill the next time I take a trip over there. I'll probably go next week after I get back from my trip. I have some other things in there that need to go also.

[disneysteve]

I told my wife I'd like her to start spending 10 or 15 minutes with me in the basement once or twice a week to do a brief decluttering session. We did the first one tonight.

We did our second session tonight. I was out of town for a week so this was the first chance we had to do it again.

We agreed to get rid of 10 pots and pans. We used to change out our cookware for Passover but stopped doing that several years ago so we no longer use any of those items.

We're going to get rid of several decorative items, mainly some Lenox figurines that we no longer display and have no emotional attachment to. I may sell them on ebay or just pack them up and give them away.

I stopped with that stuff today. The cookware occupied a good amount of space so I'll be happy to clear that out once I get them all packed up.

[disneysteve]

As the end of the year - and of this thread - is just a few days away, I took a few minutes to go back and reread my posts from the start of the thread. I only got as far as February but it really reminded me of how very much we've accomplished this year. My approach really change dramatically over the past 12 months. I became much less attached to stuff and way more willing to get rid of things. Items that we've held onto for 20+ years without ever using even once have been eliminated. Literally at least a couple dozen cartons of stuff have been donated, trashed, recycled or sold. There are empty shelves, or at least neatly organized ones, where there used to be stuff packed in. There is floor space where there used to be boxes and containers and piles. There is hundreds of dollars in our bank account from ebay and Amazon sales. There is a stack of Goodwill donation receipts in the tax folder (even though we won't be able to deduct donations this year).

We are far, far, far from finished (is anyone ever truly finished decluttering?) but a tremendous amount of progress has been made, and that just keeps motivating me to do more.

One issue I have right now is that I need to get into the attic to find some boxes for collectible items I want to sell so I'm hoping for a mild day soon to do that. I don't want to wait until the spring. But I won't sell the items online without the original boxes, both because they significantly up the values and they make shipping much safer and easier.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that holiday presents don't bring too much new clutter into your homes. Try to practice a "one in one out" system so that something leaves the house for every new item that comes in.

I'll start the 2019 thread in just over a week so that we can all keep ourselves accountable.

[disneysteve]

I've done a bit of work at my desk tonight and got rid of assorted mail, old statements, some old photos, and various other dribs and drabs of things that have been sitting around for too long.

I'm looking forward to January when I can start clearing out the file folders and ditch the 2018 bills and financial statements (except year-end ones and tax-related stuff).

Merry Christmas to all.

[Bluebird]

Looking forward to the 2019 thread, Disney Steve! I've decluttered all year long, but I feel a major clean out is necessary. I've held onto baby items that I'm ready to let go of, and I'll be donating items to an auction through March, so that will be a great incentive. I'm just tired of looking at bins and full closets, although everything is organized. But it's stuff we don't need.

[disneysteve]

Not exactly decluttering but at least some clean up today. It was mild so I went in the garage and broke down a slew of boxes from Amazon and other shipments that had piled up in there. I also found one large carton that I used to pack up the pots and pans that we are getting rid of from the basement. I'm going to try to get over to Goodwill tomorrow with that box and a couple of other cartons of stuff that we've accumulated recently.

[scfr]

I'm going to try to get over to Goodwill tomorrow

"Do or do not. There is no try." < ( - . - ) >

[disneysteve]

"Do or do not. There is no try." < ( - . - ) >

Thank you, Yoda.

My only hesitation is that many people rush to donate at the end of the year so it may be crowded. I’m hoping that won’t be quite as bad this year since most people can’t deduct charitable donations anymore.

[scfr]

Because we are now under contract on our house (knock wood), I've started a mini-round of pre-move sales. Listed 10 small items on FB yesterday evening, 2 have sold so far.
Once the inspection is completed, I'll start selling in earnest. And once we've passed the financing contingency date, it will be time to sell the furniture.

I always have a donation bag going, currently it's half full. There are 2 donation places in a part of town I go to occasionally, so my plan is to drop off whatever donations I've accumulated any time I'm heading that way.