2012 Destashing Thread

[4 Ears]

OK, was reading the last post of the 2011 one and dont yet see a new one, so here it is

Here it is, the year we move from a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house into a 40 camper and relocate to Florida while leaving our 2 sons and 1 grandson here in Maine. Talk about needing to destash even more than we have... we leave in June so we have about 5 months to destash almost ALL of belongings.

I will keep you posted, and good luck to each and everyone of you to meet your personal destash goal....

 

[thebeesknees]

We may be looking at a move here sometime this year, so I really need to get on the ball with this. I can't believe how much stuff we collect! I am planning to do some destashing as I put away the Christmas stuff. There is so much that I never even put up because we don't have room for it in this house - it just needs to go!

Good luck to you, OP. Sounds like an ambitious project for you!

 

[Tweevil]

I have to destash as well! I have a whole attic full to go through! Baby steps I think...

 

[roadtripper]

Yes! Dropped off three boxes of toys to Savers yesterday, and spent the day cleaning out filing cabinets--getting rid of receipts, etc from back to 2003. We have no basement and a pull down attic, so I am desperate to declutter. New Years resolution is to cut back on consumption of all kinds--this will keep me on track. Good luck everyone!

 

[VirataMama4]

We've been trying to destash this past month and will be kicking it into high gear the next 2 months since we'll be PCSing to New Orleans in March. We'll be losing about 1000 sq ft with the move, and most of it is storage space so we'll be getting rid of ALOT! I'm trying to sell as much as I can but whatever is left by the end of March is getting donated.

 

[mjantz]

I'm in. We are looking to have an exchange student next summer & a lot needs to be cleaned out before that can happen.

 

[rhonda_2003]

I am destashing too! We just have too much and there is no reason for it! The money could've been better spent and so could the time I spend picking it up or washing it. I am really focusing on getting rid of ALOT!

I already started this morning. I am working in my little boy's room, getting rid of every piece of clothing that is a 24 months or smaller, even if it still fits, because he has plenty in 2T and this way I know that if it is too little it is gone! I already took down all his baby nursery decor to put it on ebay or craigslist. I am going to use the money to decorate his room in tractors because that is his FAVE thing.

His toys and books will be next. My goal for today is to get his room finished (with the exception of cleaning the rug because the carpet cleaner is at my mom's) and at least get started on my daughter's, because her stuff is way worse than his!

If I can only keep this motivation going!

 

[mafibisha]

I'm in, too!

Did alot in 2011 but still lots more to sift through.

My continuing quandry:

1) the kids *may* want it in their (upcoming) dorms or apartments, and

2) their kids (future grandkids) *may* find it fun to see and play with what their parents played with.



And so I hold on to way too much of it

So this year I want to really get rid of lots of it. Wish me luck

 

[dmslush]

I'm in!! I run an online jewelry business and I have to get more organized and cleaned out to be more efficient. I'm working on making a spare room into a studio.

Today's goal: Get my fragile beads hung on the cork board. I'm looking valuable beads due to breakage from not being organized correctly. Putting them in contains doesn't work for me since I'm inspired by what I look around and see. They are going into clear ziplocks and then pinned to the board.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I'm in, too!

Did alot in 2011 but still lots more to sift through.

My continuing quandry:

1) the kids *may* want it in their (upcoming) dorms or apartments, and

2) their kids (future grandkids) *may* find it fun to see and play with what their parents played with.



And so I hold on to way too much of it

So this year I want to really get rid of lots of it. Wish me luck

What I did about saving toys for future grandkids was buy one really big plastic tote with a latching lid and put everything I wanted to save (mostly Little People sets) in it and a few other things. When it was full, the stuff that was left and outgrown was donated or sold on craigslist. I haven't missed anything.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I'm still destashing here, it's an ongoing process with 5 kids, I keep getting rid of things as they outgrow them, but it's hard to keep up. I only have 2 kids home with me today so I think I'm going to tackle the craft area again and throw away the coloring books, no one ever colors in them anymore, but I keep holding onto them *just in case* someone wants to color even though my kids prefer to draw their own pictures.

I have some bigger items I need to get rid of, they're not even worth giving away, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. I'm thinking of putting an ad up on craigslist to pay someone to come take them to the dump I guess.

We had thought we had to move last year, but it turned out that we still have another year in this house (our landlady is moving back in, but we thought she was last year) so we've been working on getting ready for awhile now. We are definitely planning on buying our first house this year so I keep looking at things thinking "Do I really want to move this?".

 

[Priorityonecb]

I did a bit of this today. When putting away our Christmas decorations I had two bins fulls of things that we haven't put up in two years. They are bagged up and waiting for a Goodwill run. I need to do one closet/cabinet a week or something!

 

[Maddie2]

Many years ago I had a co-worker who always used the mantra "Less is more, less is more, less is more". Back then I didn't really get it - I was newly married and we needed everything - we did not have an abundance back then. NOW, I get it! We have TOO much. Less really is more!

Happy De-Stashing and organizing!

 

[StephMK]

I'm still in! I made great progress last year but have a way to go to feel like I'm at a good spot.

I have been doing a lot over break and took a trunkful last week. I found some more things and have another load to take to Goodwill this week. The garage is almost done. No one claimed our large box so in the trash it goes. I hate to throw out big chunks of packing styrofoam but can't figure out what else to do with it.

DH did awesome & had a huge stack of clothes to donate and I went through DS's and DD's drawers. The rest of the Christmas stuff will get put away tomorrow and I already gave away some extra lights & decorations.

I have trouble getting rid of toys too but really need to finish clearing out the basement.

I went through my jewelry & tossed some broken or missing parts and tossed some old makeup and socks. I am learning that it makes no sense to hang onto broken or uncomfortable things. It takes up space, time, and energy to pick up stuff then decide it's not right, etc. I am only keeping things that are useful and in good repair!

 

[jmac323]

Oh man, we just upsized to something twice the size so here's to not getting to the point I need to destash LOL. We did get rid of a ton of stuff during the move, but I also know there's a community garage sale this spring where I plan to destash more!

 

[delmar411]

Signing in for 2012.

We did really well last year but there are still some areas to work on. I can only push DH so far to get rid of stuff but he's at least agreeable to boxing stuff up and then taking a look at it later on in the year to see how he feels. I did that previously and pulled out 3 of his boxes for him to look through and he managed to condense his stuff down to 1 box. So good progress for him IMO.

My major areas to tackle this year are:

filing and all papers

books - we don't get rid of books but there has to be something better than piled up on the floor!

the kids toys - I want to get smaller bins so they aren't pulling out a large bin and dumping it to find the stuff they want.

the closets - I keep a lot of stuff in closets and did well with downsizing at the end of the year. I need to keep that momentum going.

That's about it. We have really pared down our possessions and got rid of stuff that wasn't making us happy. There is little to no storage here in the house so making the most of the available space with the things that we want around us is really important. Having clear and open space really makes the difference for me on whether I'm motivated and upbeat or lazy and unhappy.

As for today...I cleaned up DH's side of the bed, organizing the coloring bookcase, finished all the dishes, cleaned up the front room, went through all the bedrooms....and still can't find DS's DS!! ARGH!!! DH said he didn't have it in his car but wasn't going to look and now he's at work. I'm going be relieved yet mad if it's in his car!

And I still cannot find the goodwill list that I've misplaced. Sigh....maybe it's run off with the DS?

oh yeah, I also destashed the dish cabinet. We have lots of kiddie dishes that need to go. I just kept the ones we use on a regular basis. Now the dishwasher can be emptied without DD giving me grief about things not fitting.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I'm in. We're moving from Florida to Alaska in a couple months and I have so much to destash! I went through my clothes and shoes today. Hoping to get more done over the next couple weeks. Trying to get rid of anything that will clutter up the new house. So needless to say I have to go through EVERYTHING. Did the kids toys a couple weeks ago. Need to do clothes, weed out the excess summer stuff.

 

[comicguy]

Iamb signing up to do more destashing this year. I need to get rid of more stuff!!! I have gotten rid of a lot over the last year but still have a long ways to go.

 

[ryem's mom]

I'm on board for 2012. I have been doing a little at a time. My big clutter is paperwork. I graduated from college almost 2 years ago and still have all the papers from there. I need to go thru them. I need to set up my filing cabinet that I bought about 3 years ago, right now it is piled with papers. lol. Good luck to everyone.

 

[roadtripper]

Just wanted to offer a website for everyone that is donating stuff. If you use turbotax, they have a free website called itsdeductible.com where you can keep track of your donations all year long. If you itemize, it's great because it assigns the appropriate IRS allowed credit for each item. I found that I have been WAY undervaluing my donations, so it's worth it to keep track of exactly what clothes you donated, and how many of each item. Make sure to get a receipt to back up your donation claim since it's easy to go over 250 dollars.

Today I moved old tax returns to the attic file cabinet and got rid of REALLY old returns dating back to 1996! Happy destashing everyone!