2014 - destash thread The Year of the Great Purge

Well, the good news is my niece came and took most of my baby gear on Saturday. The bad news is that she decided she didn't want either of our cribs because "aren't her style" (but she DOES want the mattress - um, OK?) so I guess I am going to make a dump run one of these days. I feel bad doing it because they are both in great shape and one of them is a super-pricey one someone gave us, but you can't donate them any more so I guess I will have to trash them. However, just getting the high chair, play pens and baby swing out of the crawl space freed up a bunch of room. My SIL was over on Saturday afternoon, and after my niece loaded up stuff, she was asking me how the de-cluttering was going. I told her how excited I was to have gotten rid of so much stuff the last few months and she looked around and said, "Really? I hadn't noticed anything different." So I guess I still have quite a way to go! To be fair, most of what I've cleared out was in the crawl spaces, so it wouldn't have been noticeable to most people. My next goad is to get the craft room organized. I've had my eye on some Ikea storage units for awhile now, so after I go through everything and figure out what I need, I will reward myself with a trip over there to pick up one or two. (And maybe a piece of their chocolate cake, too!)

Here is my craft room, 99% Ikea!

http://www.www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2602901
 
Well, tonight I destached my freezer. We have an upright freezer in our garage. I had so much stuff in there that I had to toss :sad2:. I hated it.

I'm vowing now to never do that again! So much wasted food and money.
 
Over the weekend I cleaned out the kitchen cabients/drawers. It seems like I just did this a few months ago! Everything seems to get dumped in the kitchen. I also cleaned out the coat and linen closet and had the kids clean out their summer clothes that don't fit. DH is dropping bag of clothes from the coat closet and kids room today to local charity.

I am going to tackle our bedroom tonight!
 
Well, the good news is my niece came and took most of my baby gear on Saturday. The bad news is that she decided she didn't want either of our cribs because "aren't her style" (but she DOES want the mattress - um, OK?) so I guess I am going to make a dump run one of these days. I feel bad doing it because they are both in great shape and one of them is a super-pricey one someone gave us, but you can't donate them any more so I guess I will have to trash them. However, just getting the high chair, play pens and baby swing out of the crawl space freed up a bunch of room. My SIL was over on Saturday afternoon, and after my niece loaded up stuff, she was asking me how the de-cluttering was going. I told her how excited I was to have gotten rid of so much stuff the last few months and she looked around and said, "Really? I hadn't noticed anything different." So I guess I still have quite a way to go! To be fair, most of what I've cleared out was in the crawl spaces, so it wouldn't have been noticeable to most people. My next goad is to get the craft room organized. I've had my eye on some Ikea storage units for awhile now, so after I go through everything and figure out what I need, I will reward myself with a trip over there to pick up one or two. (And maybe a piece of their chocolate cake, too!)

Before you TRASH the cribs, offer them up to someone for free for a craft project. Check out all of the upcycled crib projects on Pinterest.... benches, fences, etc! Honestly, I would take a free crib right now to build a bench for my mudroom porch! Put an ad on FB or on a local Freecycle site and I can promise you those cribs will be gone within 24 hours.

Well, tonight I destached my freezer. We have an upright freezer in our garage. I had so much stuff in there that I had to toss :sad2:. I hated it.

I'm vowing now to never do that again! So much wasted food and money.

Sorry about that. Did you come up with a plan so that it doesn't happen again? Every few months I have an "eat from the cupboard/pantry/freezer" month.... either because the budget is out of control or because I realize that the food stash is getting too big. It helps me to keep the basement freezer from getting overloaded. I pull out what I figure is the OLDEST main dish item in the freezer (usually a piece of meat, as I don't usually have frozen veggies or pasta items) and build a meal around it. And often it is something a little unusual for us that I bought on sale (hence the reason it has sat there so long) and I have to google a recipe.... but at least I am using it! I try to keep my freezer organized by types of food.... one shelf is usually just meat, one is homemade stock and homemade soups, one is breads, tortillas, and other starches (near the top because the freezer life for these items is short), and the last is usually boxed items (pierogies, WW Smart Ones, frozen pizzas). That way if I need a hunk of meat for a meal, I don't have to search every shelf.... and it is easier to tell at a glance if I should start shopping for meat bargains or if I have enough to last a while.

I did try using an inventory list on the freezer door for a while, but I found it cumbersome to keep up with. But that doesn't mean I won't try it again!

Good luck!

Over the weekend I cleaned out the kitchen cabients/drawers. It seems like I just did this a few months ago! Everything seems to get dumped in the kitchen. I also cleaned out the coat and linen closet and had the kids clean out their summer clothes that don't fit. DH is dropping bag of clothes from the coat closet and kids room today to local charity.

I am going to tackle our bedroom tonight!

Sounds like you are making progress!!

***********************

Well, no major destashing here yesterday (as I had mentioned), but I just noticed that they are advertising the date for "town-wide yard sale" day and I'm wondering if I should bother. I live SOOOOOO far off the beaten path that it may not be worth it.... but I'm considering mentioning it to DS's FIRST robotics team.... we could potentially use space in a parking lot in the center of town and have a TEAM yard sale to raise money. I've done it for other teams and we can usually (if the weather is okay and folks donate) make several hundred dollars. About 10 years ago I had a fundraising yard sale and made $1,000 for charity! And that would give me some GREAT incentives to purge!

Of course, in order to have yard sale, one needs to be able to SEE THE YARD! I am so sick and tired of snow and cold! Please SPRING.... come this way!!

TTYL.........................P
 

Tis the weekend, what have you destashed?

I did lots of destashing today but only dust bunnies.
My spring cleaning is done :):thumbsup2 :laundy:
 
I need to jump back on the wagon. My goal is to go through the pile I have in the gararge. I'm off nextweek so I hope I get some work done.
 
Took me the entire day but I got 1/2 my room clean including DD's part of the room and got DD's closet purged. She got rid of quite a few clothes and 2 pairs of shoes. She also purged more stuffed animals, every few months I get her to whittle it down a little more. She also went through her American Girl clothes and got rid of a few things all on her own. I probably won't take those to goodwill though, I may either sell them or find someone at school who has a doll.
The goodwill hamper is full again so I will take that Monday.

I also tackled the pile that constantly forms on my side of the bed. That is finally 100% gone. All the stuff that belonged downstairs is down here, not put away but down here. DS12's bag of t-shirts is out in the loft in his t-shirt quilt bin. I filled 1 trash bag from my room, and 3 boxes are in recycling. Now I just need to keep it from happening again.

Oh and I got 3 loads of laundry done. Washed, dried and put away.
 
Tis the weekend, what have you destashed?

I did lots of destashing today but only dust bunnies.
My spring cleaning is done :):thumbsup2 :laundy:

Good job on the spring cleaning!!

Took me the entire day but I got 1/2 my room clean including DD's part of the room and got DD's closet purged. She got rid of quite a few clothes and 2 pairs of shoes. She also purged more stuffed animals, every few months I get her to whittle it down a little more. She also went through her American Girl clothes and got rid of a few things all on her own. I probably won't take those to goodwill though, I may either sell them or find someone at school who has a doll.
The goodwill hamper is full again so I will take that Monday.

I also tackled the pile that constantly forms on my side of the bed. That is finally 100% gone. All the stuff that belonged downstairs is down here, not put away but down here. DS12's bag of t-shirts is out in the loft in his t-shirt quilt bin. I filled 1 trash bag from my room, and 3 boxes are in recycling. Now I just need to keep it from happening again.

Oh and I got 3 loads of laundry done. Washed, dried and put away.

WOOHOO!! Keep plugging away at it!

**********************

No real "destashing" here this weekend, but I am meeting folks to sell three different items, so a bit more cash in my pocket and a few more things out of the house! Plus I will be in town so I plan to shop a bit to use a few high value coupons that I have that expire soon..... some things for Easter, a few grocery/household items.

TTYL................P
 
Over the weekend I cleaned out the kitchen cabients/drawers. It seems like I just did this a few months ago! Everything seems to get dumped in the kitchen. I also cleaned out the coat and linen closet and had the kids clean out their summer clothes that don't fit. DH is dropping bag of clothes from the coat closet and kids room today to local charity.

I am going to tackle our bedroom tonight!

I did my kitchen before Christmas and like you said, need to redo it all again. No one paid attention to how things were in the cupboards and things are all put of place again. I realized a few things never get used and I am going together rid of those items. I have 4 cake pans with the plastic lids. They are my MIL's. she likes to make desserts. They take about 4 pieces out and then she brings the rest over by us. This weekend I did all the wash, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed and dusted. Sometimes I feel like everyone's maid.
 
Thought this would be a great weekend to catch up and then I caught a stomach bug - there's 3 days I'll never get back, ugh. On the plus side we went through DD's winter clothes and bagged up everything that we know won't fit for next year for donation. Also pulled out her summer stuff and bagged everything that I thought she could wear this year, but turned out was too small. Unfortunately I'm working out of town an hour+ plus away for the next month (leave at 5:30am, get home some days at 8pm) so the donation pile will have to wait until I get time to take it away. Feels good to have it all in one pile in the garage though. It also means we discovered DD has more than enough shorts and swim suits for the summer, so no need to run and buy another pair because we can't find what we're looking for. :thumbsup2

Small, manageable steps right?
 
I kind of got forced into getting my destashing in gear - we decided to get a new (bigger) bed, & will move our current bed into our spare room (aka craft room, big room of crap). Been doing a lot of sorting & tossing. Need to have my sis stop storing her large aquarium in there, & find a new home for the twin bed & mini storage cabinet in there. It's all good, just exhausting!
 
3 bags for Salvation Army, a bag & a box of trash out the door. Decided I really need to get rid of clothes we don't wear. I feel like I am constantly sorting & donating clothes, but my laundry room is still overflowing with baskets, & while working in our room found 3 more baskets/bins full. :-(
 
Just tossed/gave away the electronics electrical cords and gadgets I had been wanting to go through.

:thumbsup2
 
Forgot to add I also got rid of a piece if bake ware that doesn't fit in my oven. :woohoo:

Were you able to destash anything today? :surfweb:
 
I sold more than 40 items on facebook Swip Swap in the last 3 days and made $106 off my trash that is now someone's treasure! Super bonus: my husband wants new golf clubs and is selling off his Star Wars collectibles and music equipment to pay for them - and he'll sell his old clubs too when he's done! One golf bag instead of a dozen boxes in the garage will be wonderful!
 
I finally went through some of my kitchen cabinets especially the one for snacks and such. The revolving corner snack cabinet now has a ton of space since many of the items it were well past their prime. I need to do the same with my pantry and freezer. (I accidentally pulled out leftover turkey that I thought was chicken thighs and started pouring BBQ sauce all over it. So it ended up in the trash.) We need to work on the garage once it is warm enough and not raining so we can get our 3rd vehicle in the 3rd bay. So a lot of decluttering, painting and reorganizing with new shelving needs to happen first.
 
DD 10 has been doing some decluttering of her own. I have a garbage bag of outgrown clothes that will go to a friend with 2 DD.

I myself filled a grocery bag of shredded old CC statements.

I started my staging area for the church rummage sale. I have a few odds and ends that I would be better off taking to the thrift store, so I will try to make that happen this week.

Happy Decrapifying! :goodvibes
 
I have 3 old computers that finally got the hard drives pulled out and destroyed so those will be going to Best Buy this week for recycling. My niece came and got most of my baby gear, except she didn't take either of my cribs (rats!) so I need to get those hauled out to the curb because nobody will take baby gear for donations any more. I have a pile of stuff in the front room waiting for the next charity pickup, but if I don't feel like waiting that long, I might just take them over to Savers this week and drop them off to get them out of the house. I am planning to tackle the kids' summer clothes in the next week or two to see what still fits and what they need. The outgrown stuff will go in my sister's Easter box for her kids. I discovered the hard way that several pair of pants I packed for Spring Break for my daughter no longer fit - oops! She had to wear the same couple pair for a few days because she literally couldn't zip up the old ones!
 
DH has been out of work for the past 2 months, so he's been working in "his" corner of the basement. His tools and toys are now organized, we can see the floor, and he's done "my" side of the basement as well. Lots of trash - gone!
Ds's baseball team had a clothing drive; I sent 6 trash bags full of stuff. :thumbsup2
The "good" stuff will go to the thrift shop when my dmom comes home from Florida..we can send 6 items a week. Every few dollars helps!
 











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