2012 Destashing Thread

[StephMK]

Attacked our sock drawers this morning. Any ideas on what to do with a LOT of old socks? I suspect I will end up using some for cleaning rags and tossing the rest.

Our Goodwill will take "rag" type donations because they sell it to recycling places.

I finally got the two bins of kids' papers sorted and reduced the stacks to a reasonable box for each. I mostly saved the writing papers and artwork. It was cute looking at them from over the years.

I was still motivated and went through the papers that need to be filed. I have to call a few drs on Tuesday because the bills are not correct and I think ins. didn't pay something correctly. *sigh* I hate dealing w/health insurance & always put it off.

Also cleared off DD"s computer desk this week. Now that she's in college, I'm trying to get her room in order and cleared out!

I did not make a trip last weekend so I plan to haul the donations over there this weekend definitely. There is a good size pile in the garage. I have some kids' clothes I may try to sell but the rest is just going.

I think I"m going to go through the kids' vanity right now since I didn't get anything done last weekend. DD is the queen of bath products so there are several half used bottles up there.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[Sagginit]

TV- you can try selling it on craigs list or yardsale since it works. If you dont want to deal with trying to sell it put it on the curb or your driveway with a sign that says FREE.

L

sadly i don't even think anyone would take it, i see old tvs at the curb all the time around here! my mother has agreed to take custody of it since she has nothing that is that small and may put it to use in a spare bedroom.

the other items i may have an issue getting rid of are stuffed animals. thrift stores won't take them for fear of bed bugs. since they are NWT i think i will hold onto them until december and donate them to a holiday toy drive.

isn't it ironic when you can't even give away perfectly useful stuff and the economy is tanking?

 

[delmar411]

sadly i don't even think anyone would take it, i see old tvs at the curb all the time around here! my mother has agreed to take custody of it since she has nothing that is that small and may put it to use in a spare bedroom.

the other items i may have an issue getting rid of are stuffed animals. thrift stores won't take them for fear of bed bugs. since they are NWT i think i will hold onto them until december and donate them to a holiday toy drive.

isn't it ironic when you can't even give away perfectly useful stuff and the economy is tanking?

That seems to be an East Coast issue as my mom is in VA and was telling me the same things. I can donate those things to the goodwills here (they sell used stuffies and old tvs) and if I tried to give it away I'd have a dozen people after the stuff in just mins.

 

[dtr_angel]

Anyone have any luck getting rid of old VHS movies? Wondering if a library would have use for them anymore.

 

[mrsklamc]

We took our vhs tapes to Goodwill.

 

[StephMK]

sadly i don't even think anyone would take it, i see old tvs at the curb all the time around here! my mother has agreed to take custody of it since she has nothing that is that small and may put it to use in a spare bedroom.

the other items i may have an issue getting rid of are stuffed animals. thrift stores won't take them for fear of bed bugs. since they are NWT i think i will hold onto them until december and donate them to a holiday toy drive.

isn't it ironic when you can't even give away perfectly useful stuff and the economy is tanking?

You could also check with nursing homes. My gma's uses them as bingo or game prizes. She loves getting them and she's 94!


We didn't much of anything fun because the kids were too worn out from sleepovers so I got a lot done around the house instead. I tackled the kids' vanity & threw out a bunch, took over a handful of things, and organized it so we can find stuff again. Did a once over of the towel closet & neatened it up too.

Today I hit the kitchen and cleaned out my baking shelf, plastic storage shelf & looked around in my other cabinets. I decided to get rid of a few small appliances, extra plastic cups, and unneeded utensils. If we move, I'll be packing up my well used items and if we don't, we'll be down to the stuff that fits in the drawers with room to spare.

DH tackled the garage for me so we could park DD's car inside while she's gone. Now I just need to get rid of the extra stuff that's in piles. I cleaned some of the basement and have some more to finish next weekend.

I think we are going to participate in the neighborhood sale in a few weeks. I hate doing them but we have a lot that we could sell and then donate the rest immediately.

Now that it's finally thinking about cooling off outside, I'll be ready to move from decluttering to painting and repairing some items.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I donate stuffed animals in good condition to the fire dept and the police dept.
They keep them in the trunks of their cars for fires and domestic calls.

 

[Ephany]

We found out we're definitely moving home next summer. I was lucky enough to be assigned to my first choice region for rotations. Now that we have a definite time frame for moving, it's time to increase the rate of purging. One good thing about moving yourself is that it makes you consider whether you really need that thingamajig or not. I'm trying to convince DH that rather than move all of our old, mismatched kitchenware we should just leave it here. We have 15 years worth of roommate leavings and early marriage hodge podge; it'd be awesome to start fresh. I really want to take this opportunity to only bring home items that we need or value.

Another big bag went to Goodwill this weekend. I went through my closet and drawers and got rid of anything I was keeping just because I felt guilty about the item. I definitely noticed a theme in the types of shirts, they are were all button front for work but I hated the style so I never actually wore them more than once or twice. Of course after we had dropped off the bag, DD comes up with more items so guess we'll start working on the next bag. There were a bunch of winter clothes that I'm not sure about. I guess if I don't need them this winter, I can let them go with no regrets in the spring. I'm also looking for 2 bookshelves or entertainment cabinets with doors. We don't really have any storage space so I want to create a place to store dvds/board games/crafting supplies that allow them to be accessible, but not visible. I'd love some suggestions if anyone has any furniture like this in a color similar to cherry or another darker shade.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Here is my solution to DVD's and CD's if anyone is interested.

We don't buy DVD's and CD's much anymore, we buy almost everything digitally.
The background is the stacks of DVD boxes(the before). The foreground are boxes we bought at Target (the after). They have double sided sleeves in them to house the movies.
The last box has tons of room for growth and we bought 2 more boxes for CD's but one is only 1/2 full.
I don't think the boxes are available anymore but I'm sure there is something similar out there.

 

[bettyann29]

Dropped off 8 prs of jeans and a Tshirt to a resale shop Saturday and made $48!! Going straight into my WDW fund!! Planning on putting my items back on the Facebook for sale board and also Craigslist tonight and see if I get any bites..

 

[ski_mom]

Thanks for postinig about the Facebook selling sites. There is one for my town / county and I've listed and sold 2 things and brought in $65! They were both just sitting in my closet collecting dust!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Took 2 boxes of books to school today and redeemed 6 trash bags of water/soda bottles. Made $14.85!!

And cleaned out the pantry and fridge (but brought groceries in).

 

[bettyann29]

Thanks for postinig about the Facebook selling sites. There is one for my town / county and I've listed and sold 2 things and brought in $65! They were both just sitting in my closet collecting dust!

no problem!! Ive made almost $600 in the last month or so by putting stuff on there and have gotten rid of alot of things that were just hanging around that I dont need or use.. I havent had any problems as of yet, by selling on there..

 

[bettyann29]

Didnt get a chance last night to relist my items and put on FB and Craigslist, so thats on my agenda for this evening.. Plan on going thru the kitchen cabinets tonight and see if there is anything that I can get rid of.. Im pretty much destashed out, except for the few things left in the garage..

I have a pair of earrings that are silver that I was going to take down to a local jewelry place, since they are broke and all I would do is throw them away anyways.. I figured even if I just get a few dollars for them, that would be ok, as they are broke.. but darn it, I cant remember where I put them!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Took 2 things back to mom's house today. WOOHOO! 2 more things of my kitchen counter!

 

[Trixie15]

Wow, I need this thread!!!

 

[Forever a Princess]

I continue to make slow steady progress. The Labor Day weekend sure helped.

Here is what I finished on my In Progress List.

Destashing items I have been working on:

1. Master Bedroom.
New baskets for closet -Done.
Clean out closet/purge clothes/new hangers for keep clothes-Done.
Destash DH dresser-Done

2. Spare bedroom.
Clean out dressers-Done
New hangers for DH-Done

3. Laundry Room.
Purged a second time as the clutter rapidly re-accumulated after purge one.

Feels great to have our closets destashed. I can now see what is in my closet and it makes picking out outfits a whole lot easier.

What I have left on my in progress list is to destash my dresser. After that I hope to restain/refinish my dresser.

Anyone else get stuff done over Labor day??
Keep up the great work ladies.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Not really destashing but I did a digital scrapbook today, which is a lot thinner than a traditional one! That will come some time next week.
So, I didn't print a ton of photos and have stock piles of them!! YAY!

I also have completed 18 traditional scrapbook pages so far this month. Again, not destashing but I am using only my stash from my craft room. The only thing I purchased were 4 photos I needed for a layout.

Actual Destashing:
Went through my shorts and pulled out 3 pair I didn't wear this year and started a new goodwill pile.
Purged 10 books into goodwill that I've already read. Those will go to the library next week.
Found the last bracket for my shade for the bathroom so hopefully DH will get to that tomorrow.

 

[dismom9761]

I have the perfect day to destash but having trouble getting motivated.

 

[StephMK]

I haven't done much today but did pull out another few games to donate this week and did a second sweep of a dresser I want to move downstairs.

Earlier this week, I looked through a bookshelf I plan to sell and came up with a big stack of little kid books. It's hard for me to get rid of books but we have a ton that the kids have outgrown. I kept our favorites or ones that I might use in a classroom. Even then, I still have 2 more shelves to go through and plan to get those done before the yard sale (that I'm already dreading!)

I really need to call a realtor to start getting opinions on listing our house. I should really be more motivated to finish up because I really, really want to move! I just know that painting & repairs come next and in comparion, de-cluttering is easier.

Thanks to everyone on here for the progress reports & motivation to keep going!! I don't know why but I love reading what everyone else is doing to get organized.