2013 Destash- this is the year!

[Ephany]

Unfortunately, the first set of people didn't like the house and there's already been another group. That time, the landlord didn't come along; DH and I agreed we're not comfortable with that, so I have to talk with her and emphasize that she'll need to be here for any future showings. We have the house until July 31st, so I have a feeling there'll be lots more showings until she rents it out.

Otherwise, since we know we'll be moving home by the end of July, I'm going to try to and pack a few boxes a week. Only have 2 packed so far, but I ran out of boxes. It was sooooo overwhelming when we moved up here, I want to make it as easy as possible moving home. It's just frustrating 'cause we're at that point where the stuff we have left is actually being used regularly. I guess I'll start with board games, out of season clothes, craft items, and books. I bought two cabinets with doors at IKEA so when we move, we can put those together first thing and then fill them up with wii games, dvds, etc... right away instead of leaving them in boxes. I think if I ask DD to pack her own boxes and it's only 1 or 2 every few weeks, she'll be good about picking out what she can live without for a few months. That'll also help get the house look less cluttered. She's been doing great with keeping her room clean, hopefully it continues.

I've also gathered up items that I want to sell on Facebook or Craigslist. I've gotten some really lowball offers, around 20% of what I was asking. I looked and since my asking price is right in line with everyone else (I checked Facebook, Ebay, and Craigslist in a couple local areas), I'm just gonna wait and see. I don't need to sell these items right now and I don't like being 'screamed' at in all caps.

I also donated all of DD's old VHS tapes to the after school program at her elementary. They couldn't take anything PG though, so poor James and the Giant Peach and ET are off to Goodwill. I've also got another huge bag of clothes and books to drop off. I've still got a stack of books for the school and the back of my car is filled with misc. cardboard to drop off at the recycling center. Now that the weather is warmer and the sun's out, it's easier to get motivated.

 

[StephMK]

Would you mind sharing the titles of the books? I am always looking for inspiration!

I would love to say that we've been making headway here, but our new DS decided to make his appearance early and we're still working on finding the right routine for our family.

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Agree, I would also love to know the book titles!

Congrats on your new little one! I'm impressed you are getting anything done w/a new baby around.


Good work to everyone making progress!! I have not done much lately but it looks like we'll be snowed in this weekend. Everyday cleaning is under control so I should have time to work on some projects. I have yet to take the GW bags I keep intending to take so should be able to add to that pile this weekend. *should* seems to be the key word. I have some decluttering books on my Kindle so maybe I'll look through those for motivation.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

One thing I've noticed during my destashing is all the crap I have around that my mom gave me. If I could just get her to stop bringing stuff here when she declutters, I'd be waaaay ahead.

QUOTE]

Same thing happens. It's called having and using your inheritence now when they can see you with it.

Last night I went through the cupboards and realized that I don't really love this glassware mom and mil gave me. Just because it's old doesn't make it valuable...well, maybe it is, but it's just dusty to me. And if it's so valuable, why do I have it wrapped in newspaper-like you did. So, off it goes.

I'm not a craigslist or ebay person. If I had it sitting waiting for others, I would just put it back in my cupboard again. Kudos to those that can!

 

[carebee21]

I had a very productive day decluttering yesterday. I really needed to work on cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, but just didn't feel like it, so I worked on decluttering instead

I managed to go through DH and my closet again and donated one more large bag of clothing. I also threw out a few pairs of shoes that were worn or that I don't wear anymore.

DH set a date for his garage sale for the first weekend in April. So I'm using one side of the garage to put all our garage sale stuff on. I moved a whole bunch of toys, games and household decorations out there. If he doesn't have his garage sale that weekend, we both agreed all the stuff would be donated, and that would be the end of the notion of the garage sale. And if he has one, anything left over at the end of the weekend is going to be immediately donated as well.

I also consolidated a few of the same items we had (a couple open salt containers, a few same shampoos with tiny bits left in each bottle, same lotions, etc) and then started to throw out excess stuff. We're moving in four months, so I know I'm not going through three bottles of sunburn gel or six half bottles of sunscreen. Between that and using things up and not restocking them, you can definitely see a huge difference in how much space we have in all of our drawers, cabinets and closets.

On top of that, I've been trying to go through each room and closet and throw away or donate one thing in that space each garbage day (we have two per week.) I'm starting to get to the point where there is just nothing left to get rid of in some spaces, which makes me happy! Then there are others, like DSs room and our office, where I can easily pick out things, so I still have a long way to go in other spaces.

All in all though, we are making huge amounts of progress! And I'm so happy that all of this work is going to make the move so much easier, and less expensive

Our goal for this Sunday is to completely clean and organize the loft. DS has a few larger toys up there that just need to be moved to the garage sale pile in the garage, we're going to go through all the kid DVDs and combine the ones we're keeping with our DVD shelf downstairs and get rid of that upstairs DVD shelf and then go through DSs bookshelf and video games that are up there. It shouldn't take all that long, which should leave me plenty of time to do the rest of the housecleaning that I have fallen behind on I also set up a moving box in DSs room, and told him all the stuffed animals he's keeping have to fit in that box. He's been making decisions as to what stays and goes, so I'm hoping he'll have that done this weekend, so I can throw away all the leftover stuffed animals, but I'm not so sure he'll be ready for that this weekend. Maybe he will have a few that he for sure is ready to part with...

Happy Decluttering Everyone and Have a Great Weekend!!!

Goals Accomplished So Far in 2013:
Decluttering All of the Christmas Decorations: Got everything down to 1 large tote
DH and My Closet and Dressers: 5 bags of trash; 12 large bags of clothing donated
DH and My Bathroom: Two bags of garbage
Coat Closet: Got rid of old jackets and consolidated hats/gloves/scarves
Kitchen: Organized container cupboard: 1 bag of garbage removed
Organized Cup Cupboard: 1 bag of garbage removed
Removed other excess stuff in the kitchen: 1 bag of garbage removed
Linen Closets: 2 large bags of linens donated
1 bag of garbage gone
DS's Room: Two large bags of stuffed animals gone
Board Games Missing Pieces Gone/All other board games sorted
Two large bag of junk toys gone
One large bag of toys donated
One large box for Garage Sale
One Bag of Uniforms Donated to his School
One Large bag of garbage clothes (old socks, underwear, stained or ripped clothes) gone
DS's Bathroom Drawers and Cabinet: 2 bags of garbage removed
Backyard: 1 bag of old garden decorations thrown away
Garage: 4 large bags of garbage gone

 

[MOpGrad2013]

So all of DH's paperwork came back and he will be medically retired from the military. Now we have less than 90 days until we are no longer active duty brats. We had planned to move to Orlando area, but we just can't do it in a responsible way and in a short time.

DH finishes up mid May, DS19 & DS18 graduate high school early June...And we have to move out of the military quarters before May.

We were looking at a short term rental here and then making the florida move, but currently all the month to months are full so we are looking at 6 month leases. We would then have to pull DD15 out of her sophomore year to relocate. So, we swallowed our mouse ears some and started looking for longer leases. We are going to remain in the area, but change school districts. We are waiting now to find out if we are going to be approved for a 3 bed single family home. The approval has to do with the owners accepting an exception to the rental company policy--if house is vacant, move in within 10 days of lease signage, else could possibly forfeit home to someone else who can take immediate occupancy.

On to the destashing: We will be moving from a 4 bed + office & storage townhouse into a 3 bed home. It's about a drop in 400 sq ft. We do have a storage shed that we pay for so we will put a lot in there. I refuse to use the garage for our long term storage.

Our home right now has stacks and piles suddenly. Everywhere you turn, there's something else. I have designated areas: New House; Going to College; Long Term Storage (until we move to FL ~ 3 yrs); and the now famous It's Leaving. DH keeps loading up the Leaving stuff and off he goes to donate it. DS18 brought out a bunch of stuff that is leaving--some garbage and some donate. The garbage collector is going to need some extra Gatorade after he finishes our pick up this week.

This is exciting, but the stuff that has yet to be designated is in the way! I feel like I am tripping over my own feet. I have the beginning of a cold so I am extra growly. I sent everyone out to dinner so i could just rest, but I've found a bit of energy to pick it up.

 

[C_leen]

Worked a good hour in my office today. I have not forgotten my goals to deciliter...

 

[beaucoup]

World's skinniest linen closet purged. Pillows, blankets & sheets. So useless and extremely difficult to get anything in & out of. Especially when full. Turn sideways & reach in blindly with one arm. Try putting a folded blanket away that way. Yet I have a ginormous bathroom closet. Go figure.

 

[delmar411]

I managed to inspire DD14 to destash 2 garbage bags of clothes from her closet. She wears the same 5or 6 things every day so it was about time! I've been tossing her holey socks as they come through the wash too so she should be getting down to the clothes she really likes and wears.

I also went through my dresser drawers again and pulled out a grocery bag worth of stuff that I know I will never wear again.

I was supposed to take the paint cans to be recycled yesterday but didn't have enough time in the morning so I'll have to wait until the 9th before I can take them. I think I'll bring the, to the front door area so they are annoying and visible and I will make it a priority to get rid of them. Lol

Im not sure what to do with a large bin of postit notes. Some years back I got like well over 100 packs of them for free but I have no use for them. I might check with the kids school to see if they might be able to use them.

 

[beaucoup]

OMG! DH finally tackled his closet!

 

[Mouse7116]

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Congrats on your new little one! I'm impressed you are getting anything done w/a new baby around.

Thanks! I'm not one to sit around much, but it is the lack of sleep that is doing me in....

Hopefully I'll really be able to dig into things soon.

 

[carebee21]

I did a lot of cleaning and organizing yesterday and managed to get rid of two large bags of garbage in the process!

I did a decent amount of stuff in the kitchen. I got rid of a lot of old dish towels, pot holders and went through our sprinkle collection and cupcake paper/liners. Anything Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's day went in the garbage, as that stuff certainly isn't worth moving. I also dumped one cupcake pan and one cookie sheet that were both old and kind of yucky looking.

Then I spent a lot of time working in our loft. I consolidated all of DS's movies into our collection downstairs. We then sorted through all of his Thomas the train stuffed. We made an agreement that he could keep the trains, but all the tracks, buildings and the table were going to be sold (he never plays with them, but he really, really wanted to keep the trains...) And then I went through his bookcase. I've done it before so there wasn't much left, but we managed to find a few more books that had been colored on or had torn pages to toss.

Lastly, I had DS help me go through his stuffed animals. Major mistake. He only agreed to get rid of one, out of at least 30 different animals. I guess that's something we'll continue to work on.

My goal this week is to get DS to go through the video games and make a keep and sell pile. I need DH to go through the garage and move boxes around so I have one section for the garage sale and one section for the keep stuff. So hopefully he does that on his day off like he promised...And then I have a few things I want to get listed on Craigslist and hopefully get out of my house.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I did a lot of cleaning and organizing yesterday and managed to get rid of two large bags of garbage in the process!

I did a decent amount of stuff in the kitchen. I got rid of a lot of old dish towels, pot holders and went through our sprinkle collection and cupcake paper/liners. Anything Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's day went in the garbage, as that stuff certainly isn't worth moving. I also dumped one cupcake pan and one cookie sheet that were both old and kind of yucky looking.

Then I spent a lot of time working in our loft. I consolidated all of DS's movies into our collection downstairs. We then sorted through all of his Thomas the train stuffed. We made an agreement that he could keep the trains, but all the tracks, buildings and the table were going to be sold (he never plays with them, but he really, really wanted to keep the trains...) And then I went through his bookcase. I've done it before so there wasn't much left, but we managed to find a few more books that had been colored on or had torn pages to toss.

Lastly, I had DS help me go through his stuffed animals. Major mistake. He only agreed to get rid of one, out of at least 30 different animals. I guess that's something we'll continue to work on.

My goal this week is to get DS to go through the video games and make a keep and sell pile. I need DH to go through the garage and move boxes around so I have one section for the garage sale and one section for the keep stuff. So hopefully he does that on his day off like he promised...And then I have a few things I want to get listed on Craigslist and hopefully get out of my house.

I had the kids go through their video games yesterday too, it was pretty frustrating. I had the child that usually wants to keep the most stuff go through them first and he had a stack of about 13 Wii games. Then I had each of the other kids go through and approve/disapprove. We were still doing pretty good until DH started looking at them, now there's 6. The worst part is that our Wii doesn't work anymore and the kids hardly play it since we got an xbox 360 so I actually don't want to keep any of them I swear DH is worse than the kids.

On the bright side I did sell all of our Magic Treehouse books on craigslist today. I'm hoping for some more sales this week, I want the stuff out of the house, but we really could use the extra money right now so I would like to get something for them. At least right now everything is confined to one large box in my room.

 

[carebee21]

I swear DH is worse than the kids.

My husband is bad too! His biggest problem is that he thinks everything is worth something. It is so hard to throw anything away or donate it because he views it as throwing away money. There comes a point where an old mug is just garbage and I don't think he realizes that. He sees it as throwing away a quarter or however much he thinks he could get at a yard sale for it, without realizing how much time it's going to take to plan for, set up for and hold a garage sale... It's ridiculous.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

My husband is bad too! His biggest problem is that he thinks everything is worth something. It is so hard to throw anything away or donate it because he views it as throwing away money. There comes a point where an old mug is just garbage and I don't think he realizes that. He sees it as throwing away a quarter or however much he thinks he could get at a yard sale for it, without realizing how much time it's going to take to plan for, set up for and hold a garage sale... It's ridiculous.

I know this man! But suddenly he has hidden away and is actually getting rid of stuff. He filled up the large (50#) trash can at the storage unit with odd and ends he's been saving for 14 years. In the past, he's stated the purchase price, the price the surplus store sells it for...so he would be able to get that or more. Well the surplus store doesn't give as much as one would think. He's been watching Pawn Star and Storage Wars...that's probably done more than my years of researching yard sales.

Keep up the great work, everyone.

 

[Julia M]

Finished up my week off with a bit more destashing on Sunday.

Worked MORE on dd's room. Had a big victory-came and peeked in and discovered she hung up her nice dress from the Mother-Daughter Breakfast yesterday, rather then stuffing it in a drawer. She also has put 2 days of dirty clothing in the hamper, rather than dumping on the floor. Tiny progress, but I'll take what I can get.

I organized jewelry like crazy, matching earring and putting all the singles in a ziplock bag. If they don't find a partner soon, they are gone! I also asked dd to choose which ones she no longer wants. I know they're small, but it's the concept of going through everything that matters (IMO), than the size of the items!

Julia

 

[MOpGrad2013]

Finished up my week off with a bit more destashing on Sunday.

Worked MORE on dd's room. Had a big victory-came and peeked in and discovered she hung up her nice dress from the Mother-Daughter Breakfast yesterday, rather then stuffing it in a drawer. She also has put 2 days of dirty clothing in the hamper, rather than dumping on the floor. Tiny progress, but I'll take what I can get.

I organized jewelry like crazy, matching earring and putting all the singles in a ziplock bag. If they don't find a partner soon, they are gone! I also asked dd to choose which ones she no longer wants. I know they're small, but it's the concept of going through everything that matters (IMO), than the size of the items!

Julia

I agree completely with you. Small triumphs are what make my days brighter. And the sorting is probably the most important thing. If I had done it all immediately, I wouldn't have the mess I have now.

Good for you and your daughter.

 

[cmac609]

I definitely need to do this. My problem is finding the time with a 15 month old during the day and working at nights...lol

I will try to start Monday (maybe tomorrow) with one room at a time. Even if it takes me a week to do one room I will do it until the whole house is done...

Lots of clothes to give away that don't fit or some to throw away that have holes, etc. Tough part is to get my dh to go through his clothes/stuff...aaggg

 

[dreamin_disney]

I need to get back on track!!!! I've renewed some post on Cl but CL is pretty slow. I have a few days off the next 2 weeks so I hope to get some decluttering done.

 

[delmar411]

Dropped 3 bags at goodwill plus sent the bin of post it's into the kids teachers. There was nearly 100 packs of them! I'm going to sort through the school supply drawers and cull out a good portion of the stuff. Some of it is over10yrs old and t's never going to get used up so it's time to get it out of here.

I also have a bag of food to drop off at the food pantry. I'll try to remember to do that tomorrow.

 

[cmac609]

Ok so I got home from work after 9 and was doing some clothes and decided to start decluttering the laundry/utility room. I went through all the shoes under the wash sink and threw out some old ones and then went through the cleaners and a small shelf above the washer and dryer and threw out 3 small shopping bags. Thanks