2013 Destash- this is the year!

I finally have something to post :cool1:!

I did a bunch of returns today that I've been putting off. I had things to return to Kohls, JCPenney, CJ Banks, Cato and Office Depot. I got them all returned which got a bunch of stuff out of my basement.

I also have 2 returns from online purchases and I got the return labels printed out and everything boxed up ready to go. I'm going to take them to work on Monday for pickup since we have ups come daily.

I also got one big box of stuff dropped off at Goodwill while I was out shopping!

It's not much, but makes me feel much better! :thumbsup2
 
My husband and I went to home depot and bought 2 of these cubbie shelves with cubes for our kids closet and a bench with cubbies. We then cleaned out an old dresser we were using for my son and put his stuff in the cubes in the closet, got rid of clothes that are too small and too big (hand me downs), shoes, bags, and belts in the bench cubbies, and built a book shelf on the wall. This eliminated a desk (which was moved to another room, piles of books beneath that desk, a dresser, and now there is room in the closet and the dressers are decluttered on top. It felt good when we were done. And I used a ton of Thirty One items to de-clutter!
 
I haven't read through all of this post but I am sooooo in! l retired march of last year and was just over whelmed by how much stuff I had in the house. I didn't want to have company come over because it was to much work to clean and move things out of the way. my basement was full of boxes that never got unpacked when we moved TEN years ago! TEN! to me it was obvious that we didn't need what ever was in the boxes cause we got along fine with out the stuff. that was the new me, the old me would have said, it must have been important stuff if we packed it and brought it with us, right??

then the magic happened! I ran across a couple books about minimilisim and they opened my eyes.....and my doors. things went flying out and quickly. the tips the books gave, more like little rules, were so helpful. dh told me to stay away from his stuff so every other day I would ask him little questions about where he was going to put this or that. just little bugs in the ear. as soon as he figured out I was no longer going to be the keeper of this 'stuff' it soon became junk and 'lets get rid of it'.
long story short, I half emptied my house but i'm not finished yet. i've been through most every thing once, now its time to refocus and look at it all again. more has to go.
now i'll go back and look over the rest of the thread cause this has me excited to start going again.
 
I haven't read through all of this post but I am sooooo in! l retired march of last year and was just over whelmed by how much stuff I had in the house. I didn't want to have company come over because it was to much work to clean and move things out of the way. my basement was full of boxes that never got unpacked when we moved TEN years ago! TEN! to me it was obvious that we didn't need what ever was in the boxes cause we got along fine with out the stuff. that was the new me, the old me would have said, it must have been important stuff if we packed it and brought it with us, right??

then the magic happened! I ran across a couple books about minimilisim and they opened my eyes.....and my doors. things went flying out and quickly. the tips the books gave, more like little rules, were so helpful. dh told me to stay away from his stuff so every other day I would ask him little questions about where he was going to put this or that. just little bugs in the ear. as soon as he figured out I was no longer going to be the keeper of this 'stuff' it soon became junk and 'lets get rid of it'.
long story short, I half emptied my house but i'm not finished yet. i've been through most every thing once, now its time to refocus and look at it all again. more has to go.
now i'll go back and look over the rest of the thread cause this has me excited to start going again.

:banana::banana::banana: Hooray for you! And even more for showing DH that he has to be responsible for his own "specials." Going through the same issue with my DH. He is the one to say we need to get rid of clutter, but when we get closer to his items...the stop sign comes out. He's out of town this weekend so I stopped by his tshirt drawer and removed those that have stains and are too small (size s, but he's a l-xl ). He is afraid to get rid of anything that was given to him as a gift in case the gifter shows up. Um, yeah, they are all living more than 1000 miles away and only visit once every few years.
 


Joining in. Since I've joined the debt dumpers thread and dh and I are committed to not spending $$, I will have lots of time to clean crap out of my house. LOL

Laughing at reading some of the things people are throwing out. Off to find something to get rid off .....
 
I am working on the kids rooms and going through their summer stuff. It's taking some time, since they have to try some stuff on to see what is going to fit them, but have gotten a ton done. I have a big stack to take to the consignment store in a few weeks. I also went through 2 bins of clothes in the basement that I have been keeping for my youngest and got rid of some, kept some, and moved some into his room. I hope to finish this later today.

I would like to work on the basement, but it's freezing here today.
 
DH and I are both home today so I am putting him to work. So far we have gotten some old thready socks thrown away and the kitchen counters cleared. We got rid of a breadbox that was more in the way than it was useful. We also got rid of a blender that has not been used in years. Off to a good start at least.
 


Have two bags for the dump, a bag of recycling, a bag for donation and a big box for shredding. I will be loading up the van for DH for his day off on Tuesday to get it out of here. Along with cans of paint that are five years old!

Wow. When you set your mind to it you can really accomplish lots. I think I deserve a :drinking1.

Back is sore though! LOL
 
:cool1::cool1::cool1:
Adult sons who are still living at home went away for a few days to Niagara Falls--YEAH I am finally going to clean out their room!
Wish me luck--the clock is ticking:hourglass
Hugs Mel
 
Have two bags for the dump, a bag of recycling, a bag for donation and a big box for shredding. I will be loading up the van for DH for his day off on Tuesday to get it out of here. Along with cans of paint that are five years old!

Wow. When you set your mind to it you can really accomplish lots. I think I deserve a :drinking1.

Back is sore though! LOL

So.... paint after 5 years isn't good? I better tell DH :scratchin ;)

Pretty sure he has a few gallons in the basement. :(

Where do you take it for disposal?
 
We have had a lot going on and then all three of us have been sick on top of it, so I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I hoped to in the past 10 or so days. I did manage to get through DSs closet and drawers though. I now have a stack of clothes to donate, a stack of old uniforms to donate to his school and a stack to take to a consignment shop. I hope to drop all of that off at the appropriate places this week so it isn't sitting in my living room.

Realistically, I probably won't be doing much decluttering this week, as I'm now behind on regular housework, so I hope to get that mostly done this week after work and then maybe focus on decluttering again next Sunday.

Keep Up the Great Work and Happy Deluttering Everyone!!!
 
Vietnam Vets is coming yet again today. One bag, three boxes and 2 chairs. Cardboard recycling on Wednesday so I want to get as many empty boxes out of the attic as I can.
 
My weekend is here! :thumbsup2
Just went through games, was able to trash a few things such as Yahtzee score cards. :)
Currently going through travel flyers, ya know gotta go there some day. Ones we have or ones I no onger care about visiting. :cheer2:

What small destashing projects are you working on? :hourglass
 
We are out of school today for President's Day, so destashing while the kids are home is not an easy concept, but I'm determined to get a few things done.

Goals for today:
Destash the entertainment center shelves, top of fridge, small bookcase in foyer, cabinet in hallway, kitchen cabinets, and kids' art center. If I get even half of that done, I'm calling it a success!

I also have a huge stack of things that I need to list on my fb yard sale bag. Here's hoping I get that done too!
 
Threw out three bags of trash, donated five bags of clothing, and three boxes of books / cds / vhs to the library.

Felt SO good to see that stuff leave my house!!!

We've also made huge progress on cleaning out our family room. I started it and DH helped me finish it this weekend.

I also started on the pit of despair, aka our fourth bedroom. I'm happy to report that there are clear pathways now and we've regained the ability for guests to stay! :lmao: I'm still working on that room but it feels good to have gotten so much done.
 
Took the day off since the kids are home from school and actually got a LOT done! Went through the office/spare bedroom/game room and have 3 donate bags, 4 trash bags, a full recycling bin and a bunch of stuff put away in a much more organized manner! (and DD 14 spent two hours going through her old school papers reading everything before she put it in the "keep" box or the recycling...she had fun!). Moved on to the kitchen...we have this little built in desk/cabinet area off to the side that just collects junk...well the junk from inside the cabinets is gone- went from 9 full shelves to 2 full shelves and a bunch of empty space! Tomorrow's task is the desktop under the shelves.
 
I destashed some kitchen utencils and just geneal organization. Still have pots,and pans to do though. Don't imagine I will find anything under there. Unless I finally decide to recycle that strainer I thought I would love and actually hate lol
 
I also tossed some cold meds that DH doesn't think work as well as others. I also came across a broken belt that I would fix some day. That's gone too :)
 
Now that it is Feb. I finally got around to posting what we got rid of during Jan. :) We did not get a lot done but every little bit helps:cool1:

Trashed/Recycled/Donated/Sold/Used Up/Combined
January
Trashed 1 Dish Towel (extremely worn, ripped, and tattered) Not Replaced
Trashed 2 pair of socks (worn out) Not Replaced
Trashed 2 pair of underwear Not Replaced
Trashed 4 expired items from the pantry Not Replaced
Trashed 1 pair of pants (ripped inseam and frayed cuffs) Not Replaced
Trashed 1 re-chargeable razor Replaced!!

Recycled 47 Grocery/Dept Store Bags (where do these things keep coming from:confused3)
Recycled 40 pounds (2 file boxes worth) of old business records (shredded)!!
Recycled a grocery bag of old bills (shredded)!!

Donated 3 Books (Time/Life Man on the Moon 3 volume set, Native Americans 3 volume set, and Civil War 3 volume set)
Donated 2 Books
Donated 1 Book

Combined 3 like shampoos together in one bottle
Used up 6 travel size soaps

Let's see if we can do better in Feb. !!
 

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