2013 Destash- this is the year!

[carebee21]

I just have to brag for a second. I went on a field trip with DS's class yesterday. DH was home alone for his day off (something that almost never happens, since I work from home.) He had to go take my car for an oil change and a detail, so I made him a small list of stuff that I was hoping he would get done with the rest of his time.

I came home yesterday and he had done my car and de-cluttered his whole office. He had almost 5 big black bags of garbage and a ton of small amazon boxes to squish down and recycle. I about .

He didn't do anything on the list I gave him, but I think I'll give him a pass for all the work he did in his office The room looks great and I can't believe how much stuff he must have had shoved into the closet!!!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I've sold 2 of the 3 things I had listed on ebay, received payments and sent them out.

I've got 7 other things ready to list and I'll be doing that this afternoon. And relisting the one item that didn't sell at a lower price and see if it sells then.

The 3x3 section of stuff between the dresser, wall and end table in my master bedroom is totally clean. I love having that space empty. And most of it turned out to be stuff that I was planning on donating or empty boxes from christmas gifts that I kept in case somebody wanted something returned. So it's not moved to other spots in the house - all of it is really gone.

I sent off most of the books that my DD gave me to my sister for her kids and the ones they already had, I donated so those are now gone.

I feel like I got alot accomplished this week.

 

[delmar411]

I had been in a decluttering rut but this week upcoming is my spring break from university so while I still have some school work to do, I won't have to break up my day by running to back and forth to school. So I gave myself a jump start yesterday and went through my closet to pull out tops I know I'm not going to wear again. Plus I pulled out the 6ft tall stack of saved t-shirts and started cutting them up for the t-shirt quilt that will be eventually made from them. I got all the non- Disney shirts culled through and cut out and got started on the Disney ones. In doing so I made a big pile of tops that were just going to be trashed and a pile of tops that will be donated. I also found about 10 tops and pants that I must have set aside from odd for ydd but never gave to her and they are now too small. A good bit of them are new with tags! . So I might pull those few things out and take them to once upon a child. Even if it's just a couple of bucks back it's better than the zero from donating.

I cleared out under my dresser where I had been storing school work that I thought I might need again but I'm not going to. I threw all that away and put o e book into the donation pile.

I also tackled the catch-all cabinet in my dresser that had all the HBA stuff in it. I threw away a bunch of expired stuff and got rid of the boxes for other stuff and put a bunch of samples/travel items into the bathrooms to be used up as they are expiring soon. The cabinet is now organized and easy to find what we actually use. I also put a bunch of stuff in the donate pile, I'll probably see of the food pantry can use it first and if not then send it on to goodwill. Plus a have a bin of stuff that odd will use but I won't so that's going down to her bathroom.

Threw out 4 large bags and have 4 large bags for donation.

I still haven't found my keys to the lock boxes so the strategy of tearing the house apart bit by bit continues.

This week I'm tackling YDD's room on monday. Not fun but I figure of I get it out of the way first thing then the rest of the week will be easy. Lol

 

[Scrap4me]

Kudos to everyone for keeping up the destashing this year!

I haven't been posting, but I have been busy. While the length of time that I have been going clutter free is numbered in years, I still have a ways to go.

My daughter was on college spring break this past week and we purged her room! I was so proud of her! Things that just 6 months ago she had to keep, went to the goodwill box.. I can proudly say that all of her belongings (except the bed) can fit into my car. Yeah! Like me,she hates dressers (all that room that just begs to be filled up) --so she uses the sterilite rolling carts--and now, they are half empty...

Since she didn't need to be shuffled back and forth to classes, I could start a project in the morning and finish it!

Managed to get 5 more boxes to Goodwill of my own stuff. I make it a point now to have an empty box sitting by the door going out to the garage--and try to put at least 1 thing a day into it! I have yet to take anything back.

I started purging knick knacks again, and it getting so much easier! Now if I can just deal with the Avon Sweet Honesty perfume bottles from when I was a kid! I look at them and think 2 things--"My mother just loved these bottles" and " Look at the dust--AGAIN!" 1 more week--and they are gone--I will take pictures first.

While I have tackled my garage many times before, I plan on attacking it again! Everything out there (except tools) is now in containers waiting to be purged...The goal is to go through 1 container at a time--I have done a few and am looking forward to at least half of the containers being empty when summer gets here. (And,no, I will not fill them up again, they will be stored for when we need to move)

Good luck this week to everyone and remember -- One more item destashed, is one less item that needs to be dusted!

 

[carebee21]

DH and I spent all day working on the garage yesterday. It was quite the undertaking and boy am I feeling it today in my back, thighs and legs. But we got so much done!

Most of the stuff in the garage was DH's business stuff. He has a sports card, comic and gaming shop, so tons of sports cards and comic boxes out there. But he managed to consolidate a lot of the half boxes and cleared all of his stuff off to one wall of the garage. He's slowly going to work on getting what is staying here when we move to the shop.

Then, we had a ton of stuff from DH's dad. He literally kept everything, so there were medical bills and credit card statements from the 70s sick. We just hadn't had time to go through all that stuff, and 99 percent of it was just garbage. So we finally got through all of those boxes and totes, though I still have a ton of shredding to do.

And then we just had normal garage stuff, like holiday decorations and DSs outside toys. I had already boxed up the Christmas stuff I was keeping, so we discarded everything else. And we got rid of a lot of outdoor toys (a couple bikes that were too beat up to donate, a few flat balls or balls that were heavily used, etc.)

DH had to take a truckload to the dump of things that are too big to put out for garbage collection. Then we had 12 large black bags of garbage, that we'll need to split up and put out the next few garbage nights. And a countless number of cardboard boxes to fold up and put out on recycling day. My garage looks great though, and I finally have a whole side of the garage to begin moving garage sale stuff out there!

 

[MOpGrad2013]

Have been busy packing the house up. Tomorrow we get the keys to the new house. Have another stack of boxes full of items to be donated. Tuesday was garbage day and by last night the can was half full again. Don't know if I should smile or frown about that...where does all of it come from ?

Here's a funny...DS2 and I were watching Oswald this morning. Oswald had no room to put away his scarf so he cleaned out his house and filled a wagon to take to the dump. On the way, he met his friends who needed his discards. By the time he reached the dump, the wagon is empty. He looks around and finds items he needs. He filled his wagon up and headed home.

I feel like that is my life at times. As I get rid of items, something new comes to take its place.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Looks like we'll have some rain.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

This week I managed to get through 4 of the cubes on my shelf in the master bedroom closet and the majority of my shoes.

The cubes are now organized following my original labels with things that were worn or don't fit thrown out. The few shoes I've left after discarding the really scuffed ones and the ones that didn't fit right are looking pretty lonely on their shelf and there is now tons of available space for nice new ones.

I did realize I have to go find a pair of nice casual black flats that go with alot. I don't have any left since they were all scuffed badly. I need a pair for tonight though so I will have to do some shopping this afternoon.
If I don't find a pair, I'll just have to grab a least scuffed pair from the trash and give them a shine and hope they look ok for the party tonight.

 

[delmar411]

Well I spent this week off from school taking care of some of this clutter. I cut out all the pieces of tshirts that we have saved for a quilt. The stack was over 6ft tall so quite a pile! The pieces now fit into 1 shoebox sized bin and a bin about the size of 2 shoeboxes. Feels good to have that permanently crossed off my list. I also got YDD's room cleaned up and some toys pulled put plus I got all her too small or never going to wear clothes out of there and either given away or ready to give away. I also went and got the boys room in order but I still need to go through their clothes at some point.

I went through my closet and got rid of another large bin worth of stuff too. There are still 3-4 bins in my closet I need to go through and get rid of the extra stuff.

I also cleaned out under my bed and vacuumed everything under there and got everything out from under my dresser. So my room is looking good.

 

[Jenny3]

I got derailed a bit from my clean out schedule, but am back on track . Got done DD9's room and the playroom today; just have to Lysol and reorganize her drawers and I can cross that off my list!

DH and I working in the basement tonight and tomorrow - it's totally overwhelming! Hoping we make a dent this weekend

 

[TI double-GUH ER]

Thanks StephMK and mrsbornkuntry! I decided I would keep what fit into one small jewelry box, and give away the rest. That box will live in her room, so I'll still gain the space I'm looking for.

I've gone through about half of my jewelry so far, and am reorganizing how I store it all. It will be great when I am done. I just wish I had more time to work on it each day so I could get it done!!

 

[carebee21]

We had a busy day here today.

The weather has finally gotten to a point where I feel pretty comfortable packing up our jackets/sweaters/sweatshirts and a good portion of our long pants and long sleeved shirts (I just left a few pairs out in case the weather turns again.) So we packed up most of that stuff. I managed to make another bag of donations from mine and DH closet while we were doing that. I went through DSs and just pulled out the stuff that was worn/stained and tossed that. I'll keep the rest of his winter stuff for about another month and then donate it all, as it won't fit next year anyhow. (it's already starting to get a bit too short.)

I put 5 things up on Craigslist today, something I've been needing to do but slacking off on. None of it sold, but at least I got it up. So hopefully some things move so I can get them out of here.

Things are really starting to look de-cluttered here and I'm excited to be able to slowly start packing things up. DH only has 9 more weeks until he goes, and DS and I have 12 weeks left, so although it seems a ways off, it's going to be here soon. DH is out of town all this week, so I probably won't get much done. And then his dad is here visiting the following week through Easter. But after that, we have a lot to do. His dad is our last visitor, so we can finally sell the guest bed, and then get rid of all our extra blankets and towels. Then the following weekend, DH is having his garage sale, so anything leftover from that is going to be donated. Between those two thing, we should have a good portion of the stuff we are not moving out of here!!!!

Keep up the great work de-cluttering everyone!!!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Filled a 55 gallon trash bag with clothes to go to goodwill. Plus a hamper from the boys room we never used is now filled with books to be donated.
I also got the last arts and crafts bin out of the basement, purged 1/2 and put the other 1/2 in an emptied drawer in the craft room. Now all the kids crafts are all in one place.

I also have all my taxes ready to go to the tax guy. I need to drop them off tomorrow. Then I can put all those files away.

 

[comicguy]

I am a bit late in posting my Feb destashing, I just keep forgeting

Anyway here is what I was able to get rid of as of the end of Feb currently plugging away on the March list!!

February
Trashed Correction Tape Dispenser (It got all tangled and was not worth the energy to fix)
Trashed One pair of sneakers
Trashed Two pair of socks
Trashed one expired item from the pantry
Trashed 37 VHS tapes

Recycled 3 old cardboard boxes
Recycled 12 Grocery/Dept store plastic bags (where do these keep coming from??)

Donated 68 Novels
Donated 2 HC books
Donated 1 VCR w/ remote and cables
Donated 3 VHS Movies
Donated 1 VHS hard shell rental case (empty)

Used up 6 Travel Size Soaps (all gone)
Sold 56 comic books (dollars for Disney)
Sold 61 comic books (More dollars for Disney)

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Went through my summer clothes today. Got rid of 8 or 9 pieces and was able to condense 2 bins into one.

 

[StephMK]

We had a busy day here today.

The weather has finally gotten to a point where I feel pretty comfortable packing up our jackets/sweaters/sweatshirts and a good portion of our long pants and long sleeved shirts (I just left a few pairs out in case the weather turns again.) So we packed up most of that stuff. I managed to make another bag of donations from mine and DH closet while we were doing that. I went through DSs and just pulled out the stuff that was worn/stained and tossed that. I'll keep the rest of his winter stuff for about another month and then donate it all, as it won't fit next year anyhow. (it's already starting to get a bit too short.)

Keep up the great work de-cluttering everyone!!!!

I'm jealous!! It's still 20-30s here and snowing. Good luck w/your move! Sounds like you are well organized not to move all those pounds of extra stuff!

I finally donated 5 bags that had been sitting around for some time. We did add to the bags while they were waiting so that's good. DH says he has a bunch to donate and DD needs to go through her closet again. I've been working on the basement and got rid of a small pile of misc.

My goal this week is to tackle another corner of the basement. There are 3 totes with not much in them. I just need to figure out what goes where.


What is everyone else working on right now? Small or big projects are still progress!

 

[talulabelle]

DD cleaned out her dresser and closet and I now have 2 boxes to take to the consignment shop and/or goodwill. Her room looks sooo much better, because now she has room to put away the clothes she actually wears. I need to do this desperately, but for some reason my room is the dumping ground. When we have people over, the whole house is perfect, but any junk goes in my room and we close the door!

The only other progress I have made recently is I am trying to clean off a surface (of counter, desk, dresser, table etc) every week or two and then announce to the family that that particular surface is now off limits to put stuff on. I keep our house very clean dirt wise, THe floors are cleaned and mopped, the dishes done , bathrooms cleaned , laundery done, etc - but clutter-wise we are out of control. I keep the floors clear of clutter because they need to be vacuumed and mopped, but all the junk I pick up from the floors goes up on a "surface" somewhere. Everyone of the 7 people thay lives here comes in and dumps whatever is in our hands on a different surface and it stays. I have cleaned the surfaces off a million times, but it only takes a couple days to go back ot clutter city. SO I am now spending time on one surface at a time - and then for a week or two I don't worry about hte other surfaces, but i patrol the surface that is clear. If anyone sits anything on it, I make them come and put it in the proper place. I am trying to change behaviors slowly one surface/place/thing at a time. In the past, I cleaned them all off, it took me a whole day or two and then I too tired to fight everyone that started dumping things everywhere. All I did was complain that they did it, but I didn't teach them otherwise. SO now I have managed to conquer 2 surfaces in my kithchen, the bar area of the counter and the kitchen island. SInce I am being a stickler about it - the kids come in, think about putting something there , then you see them realizing in their little head that it will cause them more work and grief if they do that, and they put the things where they belong (or at least on a different surface that I will conquer later - eventually, they won't have any place left but where the stuff actually belongs, right?) Hoping that I can keep the momentum going...if I can change this behavior in my family, our house will be close to perfect.

 

[dsneprincess]

Talulabelle- are you hiding in my house watching what is going on? I could have written your post, except there are only 4 of us here. I am going to see if your patrol remedy will work for me. We also have the master bedroom dumping ground & closed door syndrome. I am glad to know I am not alone in my quest. I hope we both make progress with our issues- I know these are driving me crazy!!

 

[delmar411]

Well I finished my closet and did a goodwill run. Pulled some stuff from YDD's closet but I'm missing a piece to the pinball machine so I need to find the before deciding whether to keep it or not. There is also some stuff way up high that I need to try to get at so I can get rid of it.


My next goal is to go through all the kids books and put the right level books in each of their rooms and pack up the rest. We are moving soon so I need to start looking at how I'll get everything done before we need to pack. I don't want to move anything we aren't going to use.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I got a few hits on craigs List but only 1 transactions went through. I got rid of 5 pairs of pants for $20

5 items out of my clutter stash-lol!

The $20 I made will go toward my debt declutter

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Can't remember if I posted this or not but I tossed 3 pairs of shoes and donated 5 more pair. Was able to make room for the 2 new pairs of shoes that I got for Christmas in the bin that's under my bed. Every day wear shoes are now in the shoe organizer in my closet.

Today I put all the heavy hats, gloves and scarves away. Once I get the rest of them put away I will wash the whole bin before putting it up on the shelf in the closet. I swap this out for the hamper of summer toys.