2014 - destash thread The Year of the Great Purge

[dtr_angel]

I had been feeling pretty discouraged with my progress. Today I had a SUPER productive day. DH was off and he helped, we did so much in the basement! I'm feeling motivated again. Moved a lot of stuff around, and got rid of some stuff today. I'm very pleased with how much we got done!

I'm going to post the things I need to do so I can be accountable
-call local shelter to see if they can use clothing & kitchen items donations
-box up stuff to go to Goodwill
-take dresses to formal consignment shop
-take shelving units to my parents house to store
-get wedding dress cleaned so I can hopefully sell it
-get rid of old carpet and old desk and bookshelf

DH is off tomorrow. Hoping to get at least one of the shelving units to my parents house. We have some outside work to do if it's not too hot tomorrow. We need to try to organize the back porch. We don't have a shed or garage or any sort of outdoor storage and it drives me crazy.

 

[dtr_angel]

Hey all! How's everyone doing? Kiddos are heading back to school about now, so hopefully we are all finding a bit more time for cleaning, organizing and destashing/decluttering!

I am still in a holding pattern with the shed. After I cleaned the inside I was waiting for it to dry before painting it, but then it rained and the inside was damp again and then I had DD home for just 4 days between her trip abroad and her return to school, so no shed work during that time. Assuming I DON'T get called to work tomorrow (I work as a sub in the school system), I will be tackling the shed tomorrow. DH doesn't think I should bother to paint the inside and I am starting to agree with him.... but I'll think about it a bit more.

And then..... OH THE POSSIBILITIES! Home without kids (when I don't get called to work)!! SO MUCH CLEANING can be done! I see lots of organizing in my future! TTYL.................P

plugging right along... glad you'll be able to get some more done now that the kids are in school. My toddler likes to "help" which is well, fun

 

[dtr_angel]

. My wash machine is a Kitchen Aid. The 2 repairmen flip a coin when they see my name come up, and they call my wash machine "the devil child". He came at noon on Monday and talked new appliances with us. Who else would know what the best appliances besides a repairman.

. Good job. I heavy duty cleaned my kitchen cupboards about 5 times in 10 years. My grandma is probably rolling over in her grave. She used to lecture me on Spring cleaning. We just have a new name for it now- "decluttering."

I'm still not done the kitchen but still working on it everyday. Pretty much scrubbing every inch with a toothbrush. Hoping I don't have to clean it this good again before we move in the next year or two My grandmothers would not be happy with my "spring cleaning" I also have not cleaned a single window (okay I think I windexed a few at some point or another) in over 5 years. They are old and need replaced so I just keep them covered with curtains inside and try not to look at them too long from the outside HAHA.

 

[OhMari]

I'm still not done the kitchen but still working on it everyday. Pretty much scrubbing every inch with a toothbrush. Hoping I don't have to clean it this good again before we move in the next year or two My grandmothers would not be happy with my "spring cleaning" I also have not cleaned a single window (okay I think I windexed a few at some point or another) in over 5 years. They are old and need replaced so I just keep them covered with curtains inside and try not to look at them too long from the outside HAHA.

When you put your house on the market, the first thing you are going to be told is, open your curtains and let the sunshine in. We used to keep our shades down until we got a dog, and he enjoys looking out the windows.

 

[pjlla]

I had been feeling pretty discouraged with my progress. Today I had a SUPER productive day. DH was off and he helped, we did so much in the basement! I'm feeling motivated again. Moved a lot of stuff around, and got rid of some stuff today. I'm very pleased with how much we got done!

I'm going to post the things I need to do so I can be accountable
-call local shelter to see if they can use clothing & kitchen items donations
-box up stuff to go to Goodwill
-take dresses to formal consignment shop
-take shelving units to my parents house to store
-get wedding dress cleaned so I can hopefully sell it
-get rid of old carpet and old desk and bookshelf

DH is off tomorrow. Hoping to get at least one of the shelving units to my parents house. We have some outside work to do if it's not too hot tomorrow. We need to try to organize the back porch. We don't have a shed or garage or any sort of outdoor storage and it drives me crazy.

TONS of progress made! That is great! Have you looked into getting one of those Rubbermaid mini-shed type things? I've seen them at Lowe's, HD, and Sears. Prices aren't too bad and this time of year they are often on clearance. Not as big as a full-on shed, but definitely something you could put on the back porch or in the yard for all of that "garage" type stuff that always needs a home (rakes, shovels, mowers, trash barrels, etc).

I'm still not done the kitchen but still working on it everyday. Pretty much scrubbing every inch with a toothbrush. Hoping I don't have to clean it this good again before we move in the next year or two My grandmothers would not be happy with my "spring cleaning" I also have not cleaned a single window (okay I think I windexed a few at some point or another) in over 5 years. They are old and need replaced so I just keep them covered with curtains inside and try not to look at them too long from the outside HAHA.

I HATE cleaning windows. When the kids were younger and I felt compelled to scrub my windows regularly, I would honestly go around with a bucket and rags and do all of the windows, inside and out (they pull in) about twice a year..... THEN I discovered the Windex outdoor window cleaner that you attach to a hose!! It works great! And I even leave my screens in place so that it cleans the screens as well! No streaking (unless you do it on a super hot sunny day), no scrubbing.... BRILLIANT! Of course, still gotta wash the insides... but I tend to do one room every once in a while instead of spending a whole day doing every window.

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

Morning all! Just checking in! Not sure I will make it to the shed this morning, as I MUST go grocery shopping. I'll post some progress later though! TTY soon...........P

 

[OhMari]

All my grown children are coming home for the weekend.
My son already claimed a sinus infection. He told me it would kill him to open his closet and go through the rest of his stuff.

My dd is getting married next April and we are going bridesmaid shopping. I bought a dress 3 years ago and I never wore it. I love the cut, style, except it is a cream color with a black pattern on it. I love it, but I don't want people freaking out, that I wore white to my dd's wedding. I am trying it on for her this week end. I dread, dread MOTB dress shopping, the dresses are hideous.

 

[pjlla]

All my grown children are coming home for the weekend.
My son already claimed a sinus infection. He told me it would kill him to open his closet and go through the rest of his stuff.

My dd is getting married next April and we are going bridesmaid shopping. I bought a dress 3 years ago and I never wore it. I love the cut, style, except it is a cream color with a black pattern on it. I love it, but I don't want people freaking out, that I wore white to my dd's wedding. I am trying it on for her this week end. I dread, dread MOTB dress shopping, the dresses are hideous.

OOOhh.... have fun with the shopping! And if YOU and DD like the dress you already have, wear it! Who cares what everyone else thinks??

I keep warning my teens who don't want to clean out and declutter.....that I will show up to their first home/apartment with a rental truck full of all the stuff I've been forced to store for them for all these years so they might want to think about spending 30 minutes NOW on a closet or drawer! DS isn't so bad, but DD??.... I'll need the biggest size Uhaul they rent!!

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

Again just making baby steps here..... decluttered some bits and pieces from the fridge and pantry yesterday when doing some batch cooking.....last handful of tortilla chips, last of a bottle of salsa, end of the extra bottle of ketchup from vacation, etc etc. Then this morning I organized and decluttered the snack cupboard...... yes, we each have our own..... DH's contains his low carb snacks and nuts (we keep them separate because DS has a nut allergy), mine contains my WW snack, Fiberone bars, etc and DS's has the snacks that I use in his lunch sack plus other healthy snacks. I threw away some stale candy leftover from his "braces-are-off" celebration back in the spring and basically just organized everything properly so that I could see what we had plenty of and what needs to be added to the shopping list.

I'm picking up DD at school today for the lunch weekend, so I must dash..... leaving here in under two hours and beds need to be made and laundry hung outside. TTYL...............P

 

[4 Ears]

I have been working on my will. I know, sounds a bit morbid to discuss but we are not getting any younger, both our children are grown adults now AND we have 2 grandsons and seems like there has been many passings lately.

I took our evac/emergency list and forwarded it to the children and said what do you want? What do you think the grands at this point would like later on?

There was only 1 thing that both boys asked for so gotta think about that.

Will put their names on/in the items they asked for as well as in the will.

Am I the only one thinking about this or just the bravest one to post? LOL

 

[thebeesknees]

Had a charity pickup this week and got rid of 6 bags and one box. I am in the process of refinishing our master bathroom cabinets, so while I was waiting for the stain to dry and all the doors were all off, anyway, I went through everything under the sinks and tossed all sorts of old beauty products, half-used hair products, etc. Now everything fits so much better without being stuffed in there. I even had room leftover to put our travel bag for medications. It is rather large due to having to fit some medical equipment in there, so it felt good to get it all packed and ready to go for our next trip so all we have to do is grab it and go.

I bought some shelving units last week intending to use them in my garage for storing tools and such, but the more I look at them the more I'm thinking it might be nice to use them down in my sewing room to organize my fabric bins and craft supplies. Hmm, shall have to think on it some more and then decide!

 

[OhMari]

I have been working on my will. I know, sounds a bit morbid to discuss but we are not getting any younger, both our children are grown adults now AND we have 2 grandsons and seems like there has been many passings lately.

I took our evac/emergency list and forwarded it to the children and said what do you want? What do you think the grands at this point would like later on?

There was only 1 thing that both boys asked for so gotta think about that.

Will put their names on/in the items they asked for as well as in the will.

Am I the only one thinking about this or just the bravest one to post? LOL

Nope, I don't think that is strange at all.
My parents had to destash, both their parents homes. My mom didn't know, what to give, and to whom. Really bad situation. She just stored a lot of it, and then started to give things out at Christmas and on our birthdays. It was wrong on so many levels, yet my grandparents never made a will, just made my parents their administrators.

 

[dtr_angel]

I have been working on my will. I know, sounds a bit morbid to discuss but we are not getting any younger, both our children are grown adults now AND we have 2 grandsons and seems like there has been many passings lately.

I took our evac/emergency list and forwarded it to the children and said what do you want? What do you think the grands at this point would like later on?

There was only 1 thing that both boys asked for so gotta think about that.

Will put their names on/in the items they asked for as well as in the will.

Am I the only one thinking about this or just the bravest one to post? LOL

That was on our to do list for this year! (we also started our Roth IRA and got life insurance just haven't done anything about the will) we still haven't done it yet, I guess I need to find a lawyer.

I guess our biggest thing is what happens to DS if something happened to both of us. Everything will be left to him since he's our only.

Thanks for reminding me!

 

[dtr_angel]

All my grown children are coming home for the weekend.
My son already claimed a sinus infection. He told me it would kill him to open his closet and go through the rest of his stuff.

My dd is getting married next April and we are going bridesmaid shopping. I bought a dress 3 years ago and I never wore it. I love the cut, style, except it is a cream color with a black pattern on it. I love it, but I don't want people freaking out, that I wore white to my dd's wedding. I am trying it on for her this week end. I dread, dread MOTB dress shopping, the dresses are hideous.

How great to have all of your kids home this weekend! Enjoy!

 

[dtr_angel]

Today I cleaned out our cars. Not cleaning, just bringing stuff in that didn't belong there. They both need seriously cleaned though, there are crumbs everywhere! I usually just pay to have them detailed once a year, I don't have the patience LOL.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

 

[pjlla]

Here are the promised before and after shots of the shed. The pictures definitely were NOT as dramatic looking as the REAL before and after. But it is done (at least the inside.... outside still needs paint!).

Before.... basic look through the open doorway. That red machine front and forward is the rototiller and you can't see it under/through the green tarp but the chipper/shredder is there.

Looking left.....

Looking right....

And.....DRUMROLL PLEASE..... AFTER!!

Looking straight through the open doors.....

Looking left.....

Looking right....

And the shelves straight ahead.....notice how much EMPTY space there is!! I plan to move shed/yard related stuff from the garage and basement onto those shelves!!

That large open space on the floor to the back left is for the snowblower/lawn mower (whichever is out of season). We leave the in-season one in the garage (snowblower in the winter, mower in the summer). But with the shed such a disaster, we've been living with BOTH of them in the garage this year.... quite a PITA!

WOOHOO!! ...............P

 

[pjlla]

I have been working on my will. I know, sounds a bit morbid to discuss but we are not getting any younger, both our children are grown adults now AND we have 2 grandsons and seems like there has been many passings lately.

I took our evac/emergency list and forwarded it to the children and said what do you want? What do you think the grands at this point would like later on?

There was only 1 thing that both boys asked for so gotta think about that.

Will put their names on/in the items they asked for as well as in the will.

Am I the only one thinking about this or just the bravest one to post? LOL

Not morbid at all.... quite practical. I know my grandparents did it (more than once) and my parents have done it. I know accidents happen and people die young, but my kids are still dependents and other than my jewelry and their scrapbooks, everything would probably be sold to support them and get them through college. Plus we don't really have anything special or antique. The only pieces of furniture I have any attachment to are the end tables and bookcase that DH made for us before we were married and the cradle my grandfather made when I was born.

Had a charity pickup this week and got rid of 6 bags and one box. I am in the process of refinishing our master bathroom cabinets, so while I was waiting for the stain to dry and all the doors were all off, anyway, I went through everything under the sinks and tossed all sorts of old beauty products, half-used hair products, etc. Now everything fits so much better without being stuffed in there. I even had room leftover to put our travel bag for medications. It is rather large due to having to fit some medical equipment in there, so it felt good to get it all packed and ready to go for our next trip so all we have to do is grab it and go.

I bought some shelving units last week intending to use them in my garage for storing tools and such, but the more I look at them the more I'm thinking it might be nice to use them down in my sewing room to organize my fabric bins and craft supplies. Hmm, shall have to think on it some more and then decide!

Well.... try the units in the craft room. If it works great and you still want some more the garage, you could buy another set. If it DOES NOT work out the way you want in there, then just move them to the garage and think of another solution for the sewing room.

We have thought about getting a small storage shed for a long time. We always end up talking ourselves out of it though because it seems like it would end up costing close to $1000. Plus we live in the city and need a permit. We did call the city and get the papers, but you have to draw and picture of your yard and where you want it to go and everything so we scrapped that idea. I did just look on Lowes and you're right, they are on sale right now. Theres a small one for $200 but not sure how much would fit there since its only 5'x2'. We are also planning on moving soon-ish and hope to have a garage so unless we can get one cheap, we're basically buying it for the new owners Our front porch does have some storage underneath but not enough clearance for our grill or lawn mower. The grill I think my parents said we could take to their house. We used it once this summer and probably won't use it for a long time. Besides the lawn mower and weed eater, we have a recycling bin and then 3 big round trash cans that we had been using to store recycling in. Our city started doing curbside pickup last month so once we got caught up (they only pick up once a week and we have a lot) we will only need one of those 3. DS has some outdoor toys and I just got a bin for all of them from Walmart. Those I will bring in the laundry room once it gets cold out.

As long as you manage to find a space for everything, I guess its all good!

We did not have a productive day yesterday, basically nothing got done. Oh well. Wednesday was a good day. Hoping DH will be able to take one shelf out of the basement tomorrow before work. We ran out of time today.

I am a few days behind on laundry so I think that is what I will be doing tomorrow so I probably won't get much done in the basement. Seriously thinking about hiring someone to do some housekeeping for us (not laundry or dishes) just so I have more time with DS and to be organizing and doing other things. Then I won't have to worry about our house when it is finally on the market.

Today I cleaned out our cars. Not cleaning, just bringing stuff in that didn't belong there. They both need seriously cleaned though, there are crumbs everywhere! I usually just pay to have them detailed once a year, I don't have the patience LOL. Maybe if we had a driveway and I could easily get the shop vac or hose to it, but we park on the street so that's my excuse for not doing it I actually don't think I've had mine detailed since the week DS was born 2 years ago. We took DH's in before we drove to FL in May. We've had 3 trips since then so we might have to do his again before we drive back to FL in December.

I forgot to mention Tuesday night I did DS's entire room. I boxed up another box of outgrown clothes. I have a box in every size starting with newborn. They are all on one side of my closet that goes up over the steps. I also have my maternity clothes, a bag of clothes I hope to fit into again someday, and all our Disney clothes. There is not room for anymore boxes of clothes there. I was hoping all the baby clothes would fit in the basement closet with all the other baby stuff (bouncer, bassinet, etc) but it does not. Hopefully I'll figure something out. I need to re-do my entire closet anyway. I just did it in January but it's already a hot mess again. I guess it never ends!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Don't even talk to me about cars.... mine are SO ICKY!! Good luck with the continued closet organization!

Well.... one reason our shed looks so.... wonky.... is because it started its life as a screen house. We were helping some friends move about a year after we moved into the house and they were tearing down an old screen house in their yard. They honestly just wanted it taken to the dump, but we asked if we could have any/all salvageable parts and they said sure. We took the entire thing apart, labeled what we could, moved it all here, built a new base, and built our shed with the parts. Because about 50% of the walls were screens (that were trashed) we had to buy some T-111 plywood for the walls. Plus we had to replace a few rotting roof joist and plywood. But other than that we managed to use almost exclusively stuff we salvaged from our friends.... including the window (they put in replacement windows when they put their house on the market). My Dad had a bundle of leftover shingles from his house that he donated to us. I think we ended up spending about $300 all together. That was 18 years ago this summer. Since then we have replaced the ramp (it was originally built with just pine boards leftover from the screen house) with one built from scrap pressure treated leftover from our deck build.

It definitely needs a coat of paint (or three) and the doors have warped a bit and will need to be adjusted/planed... but other than that it still does the job!! .............................P

 

[pjlla]

Not sure if it counts as "decluttering" or not, but I finally got around to trimming three very large rhododendrons this weekend~! These stupid plants had grown to about 8 feet high and easily 5-6 feet across. They are down to twigs now and I'm okay with that!! They grow in the flower bed along the edge of the driveway in front of the house and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic!

Then DH got out the chipper and chopped up the trimmings to use as mulch in our new raised bed garden area....WIN-WIN!!

No other cleaning or decluttering going on, as I have been out of commission for a few days now with some sort of stomach bug. But planning to make some progress this weekend!..................P

 

[OhMari]

The weekend was great with everyone home. It hit me a little harder when they all left. I realized I really miss my oldest dd in Omaha and my son in NYC. We did fun, normal things that we used to do all the time, like go to Costco. We all went golfing, that was tons of fun, since we played best ball.


We got our vinyl laid in our kitchen and mudroom. Anyone want an umbrella. I found 8 in the closet. I had a bad habit of buying umbrellas, because I always thought, I lost them. We sorted all board games and everyone took books and board that they wanted. We packed up everything else, except The Fisher Price wooden play sets and took it to GoodWill. My son found his carpet that looks like a barn yard scene in his closet. He took it to his brother from another mother, (his best friend) and gave it to him since he has a set of twin boys. They loved it.

This weekend we had a carpenter fix the porch ceiling, so we will be painting the ceiling board and deck floor.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I have taken a huge break because ds#3 and I were in Disney. I only bought 4 things for myself. It was total will power.

I got a sitting Olaf and the Sven plush to decorate at christmas and 2 beach towels. I could have done without one of the beach towels, but ds wanted one for a friend and if you bought 2 you saved about 8 dollars. Then we got the beach towel with the purchase.

So now I need to get rid of 2 old beach towels and 2 of the ds stuffed animals which shouldnt be a problem.

My dh wont be traveling for a while, so I am hoping that this week end he can go through some of the clothes. I will look to schedule the next pickup.

 

[4 Ears]

Although it didn't take up a lot of space my address book is gone. I typed it up, saved it in 2 places and then pulled out each page and shredded it.
Am I the only one whom still had a paper address book? DH had said more than once I should get rid of it.
So, its gone...

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

I am tired of living in a clutter house. I declutter but my DF brings in stuff faster than I can get rid of it. How is everyone getting their family onboard?