2014 - destash thread The Year of the Great Purge

[dtr_angel]

Yes, I've been decluttering this weekend!

I was on the "one room a month" plan but found I finished my DR, bookshelves and FR very quickly so moved onto my closet. EEK!

Got 8 bags of clothes and shoes -- now I can start to find things - yay!! I know I should go back another time and destash again in my closet...I had a few things I was keeping that were "iffy"...

I will confirm with Purple Heart for 1/20 and can't wait to have everything out of here (~17 bags so far).

I also started the very scary Craft Room. The good news: I went through 11 drawers and I now have room again!! Felt good and was able to give the kids some supplies they will enjoy. I had 4 bags of trash, 1 bag donation to PH and 1 bag donation to my kids.

The bad news: I'm only about 5% done, if that. I have stuff everywhere in here -- floor, desk, drawers, closets, several rolling file cabinets, etc. This is the one room I am very embarrassed by...but at least I'm starting it!!

Keep going everyone!!

I was doing the same thing but am surprised how quickly I'm moving along!

 

[dtr_angel]

Peter Walsh DAY 12: TODAY IT'S ABOUT YOUR CAR. Cars can easily become clutter magnets. Today's challenge is just about the center console in your car. If you get a little more motivated .... let's hear about it!!

 

[dtr_angel]

These 1.5 hour naps are going TOO QUICK! I have to go wake up sleeping beauty when I finish this haha.

FINISHED THE KITCHEN TODAY! Junk drawer done. Hung a few command hooks for the measuring cups. I need to get another pack when I go to Walmart but otherwise, done! Not as bad as I was expecting. Tomorrow I start on the bathroom. I'm not looking forward to it.

-mirrored medicine cabinet
-cabinet above toilet
-old medicine cabinet
-plastic drawers in my closet holding toiletries, etc
-3 drawers in cabinet

you'd think we have a huge bathroom but we don't. We don't have a linen closet or anything. My closet is bigger than the other 2 and there is a built in part on the right side that we use as our linen closet. At least under the sink is done! It's like eating an elephant - one piece at a time!!

 

[ferrytale]

It sounds like quite a few of us have that spare room/craft room that needs a lot of work. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? Do you just dive in and start sorting? Do you clear the room and then sort/put everything in a place & purge everything that doesn't have a home? I need suggestions. That room seems so overwhelming I always put it off, but I really want to make it functional this year.

 

[Alexle2007]

Cleaned under our master bathroom cabinets today and part of my drawers. Three grocery bags of trash gone! Working on laundry now.

 

[StephMK]

Way to go to everyone getting projects done!


My car is not too bad because I also cleaned it out over winter break. I do need to vacuum the inside, maybe next weekend.

Today I washed a bunch of the kids' outgrown jackets and gloves to take into my school tomorrow.

I'm posting my goals for the week here to hopefully shame me into getting them done!

Monday night - drop DD off at dance then take broken laptop, desktop and another bag or two of clothes/shoes to Goodwill - luckily they will recycle computers and I already removed the hard drives

Tuesday night - dump all the UFOs in the freezer so they can go out in Wednesday's trash

That will probably be it for this week but I hope to have time for another project next weekend.

 

[threecrazykids]

I am spending the next few weeks tackling our entire storage area in the basement.

HOLY BEJESUS!

I am really in a purge mode right now with the new year, so this is a great time to tackle it.

Husband drew up the plans to make two entire walls storage shelving. Hopefully going to get the lumber this week.

Today when I got up my goal was to go through the two metal storage shelves that were doing nothing but holding CRAP that needed to just go or be put in tubs to store, and then move those to a different area to hold all my decorating garb.

Went through a bunch of old bedding that for whatever reason continued to get stuffed down there and bagged it up.

Moved everything out of the area the shelves are being built - right now I feel like all I'm doing is moving things from one area to another until the shelves get built and I can actually start going THROUGH the tubs.

Sent 7 tubs of just STUFF, a TV stand, and 4 bags of non-used decorations to Goodwill today. WHOOHOO!!

 

[sarahk0204]

I have a nice pile to take to the donation center tomorrow.

Santa brought a Wii U, and DH decided to set it up in our basement. Now that everyone is spending more time down there, I am starting to deal with stuff - media, toys that DS no longer plays with, and stuff from my grandma's and parents' houses. Grandma passed away in 2008, and Dad sold the house in March of 2013.

I went through and am getting rid of the VHS tapes that we own DVD copies of. Two boxes of toys from DS and a shelving unit are going to the donation center tomorrow.

While this is an ongoing process, I have an early deadline of March 1. That is the weekend of my kids' family birthday party. They want to have all of their cousins from both sides of the family sleep over. That will be 9 kids, including mine, who range in age from 6 - 13. Our house is not that big, and the weather is iffy that time of year, so I need to maximize my space!

 

[Marshay]

. I'm posting my goals for the week here to hopefully shame me into getting them done!

I hear ya!

 

[Marshay]

I was doing the same thing but am surprised how quickly I'm moving along!

Yes, I didn't want to tackle too much, but finding that once you start, it gets earlier...you get in "the zone".

 

[Marshay]

It sounds like quite a few of us have that spare room/craft room that needs a lot of work. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? Do you just dive in and start sorting? Do you clear the room and then sort/put everything in a place & purge everything that doesn't have a home? I need suggestions. That room seems so overwhelming I always put it off, but I really want to make it functional this year.

For me I decided to start on the desk and just do the 11 upper drawers and what was on top. I still have the desk top space and under the desk to do next.

If I wasn't sure what to do with it yet, I put it in a pile. Right now I'm concentrating on just getting rid of stuff.

So I'm starting on left side of room and working my way around.

It does make me sad how much I invested in paper crafting and scrapbooks and now am ditching a lot. But hopefully I'll be able to find things and get back to my crafting! Right now I can't even see my desk, so no hope of crafting.

Good luck!

Let me know what you do ... We can be "de-crafting" buddies! ;-)

 

[dreamin_disney]

It sounds like quite a few of us have that spare room/craft room that needs a lot of work. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? Do you just dive in and start sorting? Do you clear the room and then sort/put everything in a place & purge everything that doesn't have a home? I need suggestions. That room seems so overwhelming I always put it off, but I really want to make it functional this year.

I usually pick one area in my craft room first usually the table. Once the table is cleared I feel better. When its covered it drives me nuts. The closet is pretty organized. I have two large plastic drawer thingys and I labels each drawer
-scissors, cutting tools, exacto knife
-adhesives: tape, double sided tape, mounting tape, glue pens, glue sticks, glue dots etc
-all regular foam sheets
-all sticky back foam sheets

it really helped me get stuff organized.
Above my closet shelf I have holiday bags with things that go with bag theme
-valentines
-Christmas
-Easter/Spring
-Halloween
in those bags I have lil decorations, treat holders, lil gifts etc
My goal is to empty those bags and make gift stuff for coworkers

I have another shelf type cubby that I store my papers by color.
All regular paper are organized together by color. Then on another shelf I have all cardstock organized by color.

under my table I have two smaller plastic storage drawers and I have my things I used the most, pens, 1 tape, 1 glue stick, favorite hand held tape gun.

I have a huge cabinet that I have different things stored in and thats what gives me trouble. I also have a desk that dh and I use and it gets messy

Just pick one section and work on it . Then next time pick another section etc



Last night I worked on the hall closetand was able to clear another shelf. Dh opened the door to get his hair gel and I heard him say in a loud voice "whooooo!"
lol!

I washed all laundry but now I need to fold it and put it away :/

Hopefully during the week I can hit one of the kitchen cabinets-

 

[ferrytale]

For me I decided to start on the desk and just do the 11 upper drawers and what was on top. I still have the desk top space and under the desk to do next.

If I wasn't sure what to do with it yet, I put it in a pile. Right now I'm concentrating on just getting rid of stuff.

So I'm starting on left side of room and working my way around.

It does make me sad how much I invested in paper crafting and scrapbooks and now am ditching a lot. But hopefully I'll be able to find things and get back to my crafting! Right now I can't even see my desk, so no hope of crafting.

Good luck!

Let me know what you do ... We can be "de-crafting" buddies! ;-)

I agree I hate getting rid of things that I spent good $$ on. I always feel as though I toss a lot when I start in there, and a week later it's back to where it was. I am contemplating taking a day off work to get a good start while the kids are at school, but that won't be for a few weeks. Going to try to start with some of the stuff right by the door & see if I can force myself to get started. ...ugh.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Kinda purge and kinda budget....

I saw on FB an older article from the fall about the prices of Beanie Babies on Ebay. Of course the article only posted LIST PRICES not sold prices. So this weekend I dug out my beanie babies (the only ones I have left are the bears) and hit Ebay to find the sold prices. I'm slowly listing them (about 5 a day is all the time I can find).

One sold last night for my BIN price of $50 Wooooo! $50 and one less bear. Only 27 more to sell, LOL.

 

[Deffenm]

DD started working on her room over the weekend. I am going to continue to encourage her to work on it some more this week. Icleaned out the fridge in the basesment and DH and the boys are going to try to get it up the stairs and into the garage so we can sell it. At least it is unplugged and cleaned out so it is ready to be hauled out of there. I am so proud of the progress we have made in the basement. I have one area completely done, and a good dent made in another area.

 

[msmama]

I went through old purses today (got rid of quite a few and organized and neatened the rest). I found probably at least $15 in change (didn't actually count it all) and $65 in gift cards! That doesn't count the now useless $25 Borders gift card.

Also made some returns this morning at both Target and Kohl's (and more shopping at Target) which means I'm ending the day quite in the positive, lol.

 

[kristinradico]

Yesterday and today were very productive. First I gathered 2 trash bags full of "junk" to put in the garbage. Then I sold a mini lot of pajamas on a FB page for $7 (added to my 52 week challenge jar). THen I filled the back on my Chevy Traverse up with bags/boxes full of misc items, a pack n play and a large child's toy and donated it to the Airman's Attic (a place were lower ranking Airman can get household items/clothes etc for free). Then I took a container full of clothes to Kids to Kids and made $67!!

 

[pjlla]

You all are making amazing progress! I am so impressed. I am not trying to stick with the Peter Walsh daily things because many of them aren't an issue for me.... but the basement is slowly getting weeded out, even if it is just ONE ITEM at a time!!

Kind of a good news/bad news story.... I went to the "take it or leave it" shed at the dump today (and we wonder why my basement is overflowing!! ) (that was the bad news.... I brought more crap home!!). Anyhow, it looks like the local ski mountain must have cleaned out a lost-and-found bin and there was a pile of kids winter gear in there.... mostly hats, a few pairs of mittens and gloves, and some ski pants. I brought them ALL home and washed them and will be donating everything (except the one pair of ski pants that fit me) to the elementary school nurse. The GOOD news is that it inspired me to clean out my mittens and hats drawers and donate a few more that we don't use. And everything is washed, dried, and bagged up with a label that says NURSE PAT and I will put it in my car and be sure to drop it off next time I work there!

One bite at a time, right???..................P

 

[butterflygirl812]

So I haven't posted for a week or so because I got lost in my office. This room, and the bathroom that is in it, is like an annex on my house. For years it is the room where things have gone to die. If I don't know where else to put something, I shove it into the office and figure I will get to it later. Later never came. So everything is in there. I didn't even know where to start. But I did. All of the Christmas decorations are out of my office and stored in the same closet. The bins of kids toys have been separated into trash and donation, and the donation is complete. What was about 6 half full bins of everything is now 2 bins and stashed nearly in the closet. All of my scrapping stuff had been organized, and the ribbon unit and shelf unit I got for Christmas 5 years ago have finally made it onto the wall. I found the top of my desk and organized old bills and receipts, work orders, blah, blah, blah. The office is purely completely functional as an office again. Nothing is on the floor except the furniture. I still have drawers to go thru though.

Getting there....

 

[dtr_angel]

DH was off yesterday and today. I wasn't entirely sure yesterday I would get any destashing done. Since I was down to the bathroom and our room I wouldn't be able to work in those rooms during DSs nap. This will be long...

Well, I went into our room and quietly closed the door and decided I would just work in my closet in the 3 plastic drawers. Before I knew it, I had everything pulled out of my closet! Apparently DH had texted me and asked if I was coming downstairs soon because he wanted to have lunch together. I didn't see the text until almost an hour later when I got my phone out to take a picture and he came to make sure I was okay We ran errands yesterday and I had an errand to run last night so I was sure our room was going to be a hot mess all week. DH drug everything out of his closet too (after he told me "he just went through everything" he apparently only went through his clothes before) so it was a mess! DH had a crazy amount of stuff on his shelf and the floor. He organized everything and got rid of stuff and there was a lot of room. I ended up digging the luggage out of the basement. We have 2 rolling suitcases. One is stuffed with travel size toiletries and sunscreen and things like that we won't need until the next vacation. The other one has duffel bags and things inside of it. I also had this huge Victoria's Secret PINK rolling duffel bag that I bought a long time ago when I was into that stuff and haven't been able to sell it. I put all my Vera Bradley bags in there and it also fit in DH's closet! It's crazy how we maximized the space in there, I'm so happy! I'm wondering if I have too many Vera bags, what do you Vera fans think - I got them all on sale/after they retired for deep discounts. I know they will all get used during vacations and most have been used multiple times already. I have a large duffel, Get Carried away tote, grand traveler, and a weekender. my brother and his wife got me a Disney Large duffel last month for my birthday. We packed all of our "disney clothes" in there ) I have a weird space on the side of my closet that goes over the steps. I ended up bring up all the boxes of DSs clothes that he outgrew and put them there. There was STILL room, so I brought up the rest of the clothes we had in the basement to store (a ziploc tote of maternity clothes, one of my scrubs - I saved a bag of my favorites before my hospital switched to all one color for RNs in case I ever get another job. The rest of them went to a friend in another department) I organized all the "linens" we were storing. I was able to put all the curtains in the cedar chest in our room as well as some other things that we are keeping but not currently using. Everything has a home. I can't believe I was able to take a bunch of stuff out of the basement and find homes for them! I also worked in the bathroom while DH was giving DS a bath and pretty much finished it. I just needed a few things and I picked them up this afternoon while I ran errands during his nap. I still have some stuff to do, but seriously cannot believe how much stuff I got done yesterday!! I took some pictures but not sure if my projects would be interesting to anyone else. So here is what I want to tackle yet...

-go through all the drawers of my clothes and organize/purse
-have DH do the same
-there is a clothes basket that I filled last night of stuff that needs to be ebayed/donated/put somewhere else - I need to do that
-there is a box full of sentimental stuff I need to sort through
-i need to pull all of my shoes out of the closet and organize that part
-finish organizing the bathroom/bedroom (bought some hooks and things today to finish up. I got silverware drawer organizers for 2 of the drawers in the bathroom. one of them will be for toothbrushes. thank you pinterest)

I cannot believe the month isn't even halfway over yet and I'm almost done! Of course that leaves the huge project, the basement but I'm excited! Now that the rest of the house is (almost) done it will help see what I need to deal with in the basement. We want to have the guy that does projects for us come out and give us an estimate... we would like to make one wall of the basement into storage closets, and also make the area at the bottom of the steps a coat closet (we have no closets or storage areas in this small old house unfortunately) but the basement is such a hot mess right now I'd be embarrassed for him to come look at it!

DH is back from his errands but of course now it's time to start dinner. Hoping we can get some more stuff done in our room and the bathroom!

I need to check in on Peter Walsh... I hope everyone is having a productive week! One bite at a time everyone!