Cleaned of the bar in the kitchen last night. Had a party for DS #2 this afternoon so I needed the space. Also cleaned off the top of the dyer. All the too small clothes got boxes up and put into the garage. A few things were put into the drawers for DS #2 and DS #3. Then I got rid of THE BOX. The box is a huge box of junk my sister gave us for Christmas and Valentine's Day last year!
She is notorious for getting the boys all those $1 Tree Gifts. Now a few things hear and there once in awhile is ok, but she always does this. She gets them "stocking stuffers" that they never use or play with. So this stuff has just been sitting there. So I finally just junked most of it. It felt great!!!!!
Too bad you couldn't convince your SIL to give your boys the cash instead of the junk. Or even give them HALF of the amount of cash that she would normally spend on the junk! It would be a win-win! Plus the environment would LOVE not having all of that NEW plastic!
Maybe you could throw out some hints this year.
Got side tracked by illness this week.
My next task is to get all the bags of stuff OUT of the house. Due to illness and snow and frigid weather I have probably 20 bags of stuff to go and it's all in the guest room/extra room. Have to call the people that were supposed to come earlier in the week but got snowed out. But the thought Of carrying 20 bags down the stairs doesn't appeal in my current sick condition. Blah.
It's so easy to get side tracked and out of purging mode!!
Feel better! Maybe today would be a good day to just clean out something small like a drawer or file box?? Save the bag carrying for when you feel better!
Well if you'd have asked me two days ago whether I had unused stuff in my closet I would have said no, but thanks to a bad reaction to a new sleep medicine I was up at ridiculous o'clock and pulled 5 garbage bags worth of stuff out of my closet!
I'm not even entirely sure what's in the bags (doc said as a very rare side effect I may have suffered a manic episode :-/ ) as I bagged it all up in some need driven frenzy to purge stuff out of my closet.
I have the bags in my trunk and figure I'll give it until next week to see if I went overboard. I'm pretty clutter free so my guess is next weekend they'll go to the donation truck and something good will have come from the setback in my ongoing quest for regular sleep lol.
Well... at least you can see the good in your evening episode!
My husband removed all of the plaques and saved the plaques from a few of his treasured trophies and then we donated the actual trophies. They are actually in demand for groups that cannot afford to buy them. We brought them to SAVERS.
Nice to know! Thankfully DD didn't get too many trophies throughout her swim career and the ones she DID get are more like plaques and easy to store.... plus lots of medals and ribbons that are easy to put in the scrapbook. DS probably has more of them from town league soccer, baseball, and basketball, but he isn't so much of a "keeper" and will probably be content to part them them in a few years. I only ever got TWO trophies in my life (for dance in my teen years) and I have hung onto them (although I can't remember where they are right now). And DH has been content to let me donate his golf trophies. But anyhow.... glad to know that they are actually WANTED! I kind of figured that the thrift stores ended up tossing many of them.
I have not gotten much done lately though I did tackle some non-regular cleaning projects when DD was home sick on Thursday. I got all the outgrown mittens, scarves & hats washed and took them to school with me on Friday.
Thanks for the reminder that I have a few more drawers of winter gear to attend to!
Electronics are still waiting for their Goodwill trip - should be tomorrow when DD goes to dance nearby. It will be a busy week so no other projects planned at this time. Basement really needs some work, maybe next weekend.
Just remembered I had a bunch of Kareoke CD's that needed to go to a neighbor. 2 more grocery size shopping bags of stuff out of the house
WOOHOO on two more bags out!
Spent 5 hours today sorting, shredding, filing papers and paying bills. New goal to do this 2 times a week for half hour. All bills are on auto pay, problem I am finding with this is then I get lazy to check for errors. Then the papers pile up. One thing I am not good at decluttering is papers. Please send the paper fairy.
I've gone paperless with as many things as I can.... many bills, bank statments, etc. I love the reduced mail and the reduced shredding! That said, we still get credit card statements every week and that gets piled directly next to the shredder..... then when I have a teen who needs to get busy, I send him to the shredder for 20 minutes!
I try to check my bills at least once every-other billing cycling.... usually at the beginning of the month as I double check bank balances and such (DH gets paid just once a month). I'm not as diligent about it as I should be, but that wasn't any different when I got paper statements. I don't go over them with a fine-toothed comb.... just a scan to be sure everything looks familiar.
Anyone else notice clutter, debt and weight seem to go hand and hand. Cut back on any one and the rest seem to follow. Loose track of one and they can go fast the other direction.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/confused24.gif
Yup, yup, yup! Watch any of those "clutter" shows on tv and MANY of the folks have other issues.... often it is a weight-issue, frequently it is a debt issue.... but they all have OTHER issues that go hand-in-hand with hoarding/clutter. Not casting stones here.... I will definitely admit that I have a weight issue (even though it is under control and I am at my goal weight, it is still a daily work-in-progress) and I am thankful that we don't carry any debt other than a mortgage, but we aren't great savers either.
We collect trophies for our schools local race too. We try to keep the outgoing cost low because the entrance fee goes to the gym program to buy new equipment.
Great idea! Wish people would suggest this to some of our local clubs. Our town should offer a "buy back" of rec league trophies.... maybe every other year?? Or better yet, let's train our 5-year-olds that not EVERYTHING requires a trophy!!
Oh I know it does! You're house is disorganized so you buy stuff you know you have but can't find. And if the kitchen is disorganized you tend to eat out more, adding lots of extra calories. Been there, done that!
I just found this thread, and it is EXACTLY what we need. We have been slowly decluttering our house over many, many years, but now we need a big push to just clear out the rest of the clutter so we can give it all a good cleaning and keep it from getting bad again. My kids are 16, 14, 12 and 12, so that helps a lot. When they were earlier they wanted to keep everything. Now they have outgrown so many toys and hobbies, and they want it decluttered as much as I do. I'm taking my boys to WDW for their 14th birthdays, so hopefully we'll get some cash from our Destash efforts to help pay for our trip!
Terry
Making money for Disney is a GREAT incentive for cleaning/purging and selling!!
My decluttering efforts have come to a screeching halt. I'm starting to get frustrated with DH. 90% of the mess is his but he's so checked out because of a work situation that has him beat down. I'm trying not to get on his case to much but it's just....... argh!!!
Today I'm going to work in my craft room more. I'm just do done with it all. It's overwhelming and I really just want to toss everything but I know I would regret it. So I'm just focusing on one drawer or bin at a time. My goal is have a place to put my sewing machine. That is the last thing of craft stuff in the basement.
Is there any way you could HELP him with his mess? I've been waiting not-so-patiently for over a year for DH to clean out his neckties. He has a HUGE collection and that was okay when he wore a suit 5 days a week.... but his company went business casual AND he started working from a home office about 4-5 years ago and he still has a HUGE tie collection that is now getting dusty (some on the tie rack, some on the closet floor with his shoes and even more in a box on a shelf)!
So Saturday I counted how many hooks are on his tie rack (one of those battery-operated ones that rotates and lights up), counted thirty, threw all of his ties in a box, brought them to the kitchen while he ate lunch, and literally had him say "keep", "maybe", or "donate" as I picked up every single tie, one at at time. When we got through the pile I counted and he only had 19 in the "keep" pile, so I told him he could pick 11 more from the "maybe" pile. When he had picked 30, the rest went into a box for the FB yard sale! Relatively easy for him, satisfying for me!!
I bought my Turbo Tax software yesterday.
Anyways, every year I give clothes and household goods to Goodwill. I always get a receipt. but I never wrote down what I would donate. I would just remember some of it. This year I started writing everything down on my IPad Journal. I was shocked how much we really did give to Goodwill. I know I could have sold a lot of it on ebay but the shipping is getting ridiculous. My son that moved out kept track too and he is going to have a nice deduction too. so this is a reminder to use your donations on your charitable contributions deduction.
I do try to make a small note on each receipt as I receive it.... even if it just says "5 trash bags of clothes". It makes it a bit easier to remember. I know that tax "experts" would tell you to take photos of everything BEFORE you bag it up, but I know I couldn't be bothered and it would slow down the purge.
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Morning all! Home today
! Gotta prepare for a work certification tomorrow morning, but other than that and some treadmill time, I am CLEANING and PURGING today! Hoping to tackle under my bed! Wish me luck!..............P
Anyone else have them saved?
