2014 - destash thread The Year of the Great Purge

[BernardandMissBianca]

I am so over snow!!!

I need to get up and do something but I am just not motivated.

 

[thebeesknees]

I thought I was going to have a good chunk of time today to do some purging, but it didn't go as planned. I had the day off work today, but the kids had a late start this morning due to the cold weather, and after I had gotten them dropped off and was headed home, I got a call to come back and pick up my 1/2-day PM kindergartener (had dropped him off this AM because they were supposed to have a field trip) because they had finally decided to cancel the field trip at 9:30 this morning AFTER everyone was dropped off. Really? You couldn't have decided this last night when they announced the late start? So 1 1/2 hours was eaten up navigating the messy roads to go back and make the round-trip to get him, just to drop him off again an hour from now for afternoon classes, and then come home in time to run back out at 2:30 and pick them all up! However, I will have a couple of hours in there with no one home so I am going to get started on my "crap room" in the basement to see what can go. I do a lot of sewing and have kept scraps I don't need thinking I may use them at some point. If I haven't used them in the last 5 years, there is no need to hold on to them!

 

[pjlla]

Morning my friends! Who's up for a good closet cleaning today???? ME! I'm tackling DS's closet today, come he** or high water! NO excuses! He leaves for Costa Rica in 13 days and I don't even think he has enough shorts to pack.... but I won't know that until I have gone through EVERY BIT of his clothing.

We were lucky enough and blessed enough to be on the receiving end of clothing from my two nephews as DS grew up and I developed a GREAT ORGANIZED system to keep track of everything.... but since he became a teen and got BIGGER than my two nephews, the hand-me-downs have come to a halt (although I still occasionally get stuff from a nephew on the other side of the family). ANYHOOOO.... I have a few drawers full of stuff I haven't been through in a while and I am wondering if any of it would fit DS or if I forgot about it for too long and perhaps he has missed the opportunity. Plus, the system I used to keep the hand-me-downs organized was two HUGE three drawer units that I kept in the back of his closet and if we don't need it for hand-me downs any more, then I should definitely be repurposing it.... either for him or for me!

So off to talk with my WISH friends and then get to work!.................P

 

[delmar411]

Well after a huge blowout with my teen I ended up spending the entire day yesterday dealing with her room. Everything in there now has a home, is hung up or is in the correct dresser drawer and everything that was leftover from the move or that she had abandoned in her closet is gone. Took me about 15 loads of laundry to get through it all. She'd better never tell me she has nothing to wear ever again! She's got about 20 pairs of jeans, 10 knit pants, at least 30pairs of underwear and at least 60 tops. Plus shorts and pjs and leggings!

Her room feels a lot better now. Too bad she doesn't appreciate it at all.

 

[pjlla]

Well after a huge blowout with my teen I ended up spending the entire day yesterday dealing with her room. Everything in there now has a home, is hung up or is in the correct dresser drawer and everything that was leftover from the move or that she had abandoned in her closet is gone. Took me about 15 loads of laundry to get through it all. She'd better never tell me she has nothing to wear ever again! She's got about 20 pairs of jeans, 10 knit pants, at least 30pairs of underwear and at least 60 tops. Plus shorts and pjs and leggings!

Her room feels a lot better now. Too bad she doesn't appreciate it at all.

Well, at least the clean room probably makes YOU feel better, even if she doesn't really express any appreciation.

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

HELP...I'm TRAPPED! DH agreed to take a "signature required" package for a neighbor (who we have never met) and he is here now getting the package from DH... and DH INVITED HIM IN!! I'm sitting here in the home office in my stupid ratty house cleaning clothes (sans bra!) with my hair up in a ratty bun! NO WAY I'm going out there to meet the neighbor....and I can't get to the stairs to go up without passing by them! DH needs to stop being so DANG friendly and send the guy on his way so I can go help DS sort through the stuff I pulled out of the closet, before he has to leave for robotics in less than an hour! SO FRUSTRATED!.................P

 

[Alexle2007]

HELP...I'm TRAPPED!.P

Hope you weren't trapped for too long.

Not much purging here. Thanks to the ice storm DS was off yesterday and today and then we had no electricity most of yesterday. Since manage to take the remaining pieces of crib/daybed apart that was in his playroom taking up space. With that gone is the room looks so much larger. He has gained so much more space in his rooms with a couple of pieces of furniture gone. And I managed to get caught on laundry today and have his birthday party invites already to mail in 2 weeks. He supposed to have school on time tomorrow but it's a scheduled early dismissal and then we are off to see The Lego Movie.

 

[pjlla]

Morning my friends! Who's up for a good closet cleaning today???? ME! I'm tackling DS's closet today, come he** or high water! NO excuses! He leaves for Costa Rica in 13 days and I don't even think he has enough shorts to pack.... but I won't know that until I have gone through EVERY BIT of his clothing.

We were lucky enough and blessed enough to be on the receiving end of clothing from my two nephews as DS grew up and I developed a GREAT ORGANIZED system to keep track of everything.... but since he became a teen and got BIGGER than my two nephews, the hand-me-downs have come to a halt (although I still occasionally get stuff from a nephew on the other side of the family). ANYHOOOO.... I have a few drawers full of stuff I haven't been through in a while and I am wondering if any of it would fit DS or if I forgot about it for too long and perhaps he has missed the opportunity. Plus, the system I used to keep the hand-me-downs organized was two HUGE three drawer units that I kept in the back of his closet and if we don't need it for hand-me downs any more, then I should definitely be repurposing it.... either for him or for me!

So off to talk with my WISH friends and then get to work!.................P

Well.... I did a bang-up job getting it purged and cleaned out! I did manage to eliminate one of the big three-drawer units and could probably empty the other one and put the stuff into long-term storage in the attic (favorite stuffies from childhood and his baseball cleats and soccer cleats that I am keeping "just in case"). But since the attic is up on the purging list after the basement AND his closet has plenty of space for this stuff, I see no sense in hauling up there.

I have a HUGE pile of stuff to get rid of and sell. Of the 10 pairs of shorts and 1 swimsuit that I found in the closet, only 3 pairs of shorts and the swim trunks actually fit. So it looks like I will still need to shop for shorts for the trip. But I did find two pairs of gym shorts as well and since he is taking gym right now, that is helpful.

Also found two adult jackets to get rid of (one winter jacket, one satin Celtics jacket that was a hand-me-down), one large kids full set of ski wear (jacket, snowpants, mittens) to part with, plus a bunch of miscellaneous other stuff.

ALSO finally took a big load to the thrift store today..... stuff I had gotten out of the basement and closet in the last few weeks, so woohoo on that!

And I managed to only bring home 4 small things plus a pair of shoes from said thrift store! .... so about 100 out and 4 in!! Plus one of the items is part of a Valentine's Day gift.

Off to pick up DS! Hope everyone else is doing well with their cleaning, organizing, and purging!..................P

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Well.... I did a bang-up job getting it purged and cleaned out! I did manage to eliminate one of the big three-drawer units and could probably empty the other one and put the stuff into long-term storage in the attic (favorite stuffies from childhood and his baseball cleats and soccer cleats that I am keeping "just in case"). But since the attic is up on the purging list after the basement AND his closet has plenty of space for this stuff, I see no sense in hauling up there. I have a HUGE pile of stuff to get rid of and sell. Of the 10 pairs of shorts and 1 swimsuit that I found in the closet, only 3 pairs of shorts and the swim trunks actually fit. So it looks like I will still need to shop for shorts for the trip. But I did find two pairs of gym shorts as well and since he is taking gym right now, that is helpful. Also found two adult jackets to get rid of (one winter jacket, one satin Celtics jacket that was a hand-me-down), one large kids full set of ski wear (jacket, snowpants, mittens) to part with, plus a bunch of miscellaneous other stuff. ALSO finally took a big load to the thrift store today..... stuff I had gotten out of the basement and closet in the last few weeks, so woohoo on that! And I managed to only bring home 4 small things plus a pair of shoes from said thrift store! .... so about 100 out and 4 in!! Plus one of the items is part of a Valentine's Day gift. Off to pick up DS! Hope everyone else is doing well with their cleaning, organizing, and purging!..................P

Is DS going on the same trip DD went on? How exciting!!!
We are headed to Haiti next summer. Maybe my kids will finally understand how good they have it.

I picked up a little bit in the craft room today, but I'm mainly focusing on getting my taxes organized for the accountant. I need to call him on Monday to make an appt.
We are pretty much home all weekend since kids are sick so I hope to get DH back down in the basement to do more major purging and then have him hit the hot spots in the main part of the house.

 

[mafibisha]

ALSO finally took a big load to the thrift store today..... stuff I had gotten out of the basement and closet in the last few weeks, so woohoo on that!

And I managed to only bring home 4 small things plus a pair of shoes from said thrift store! .... so about 100 out and 4 in!! Plus one of the items is part of a Valentine's Day gift.

This is me, too. Took a ton of stuff to our thrift shop today - 4 garbage bags full - and only came out with 5 things. Great deals and will definitely use.

VICTORY!! I FINALLY got DH to go through his side of our closet. About 2 hours later, we had FOUR -- count 'em -- FOUR garbage bags full of his clothes. His weight has fluctuated for years so he had three sizes. He got rid of most of the bigger and smaller sizes (did save a few things) and kept most of the middle size -- where he's been for awhile now, and expects to stay .... ( he probably will actually)

There's just one mystery -- we have a walk in closet but its not huge. I have no idea how he had that many items hanging in that closet. Seriously.

Next up: a pile of his tees and other misc hanging clothes in the guest room closet

Love this thread! Thanks for the continual inspiration!

 

[squirrel]

I'm tackling the bathroom this weekend. Washing down the walls and re-painting.

Hopefully next week or the week after my dad can come over and take out the old toilet, vanity and light fixture and move in the new stuff that is sitting in my living room! Also have new flooring to go down.

Last month I bought a bunch of storage bins and started organizing toys and things for the daycare. Still have a few empty ones to try and fill.

I need to spend less time on the computer and more time cleaning and organizing.

 

[pjlla]

Is DS going on the same trip DD went on? How exciting!!!

Yes he is. I don't think he is quite as excited to go as DD was, but he is definitely looking forward to it. He leaves 2/19!!

We are headed to Haiti next summer. Maybe my kids will finally understand how good they have it.





I picked up a little bit in the craft room today, but I'm mainly focusing on getting my taxes organized for the accountant. I need to call him on Monday to make an appt.
We are pretty much home all weekend since kids are sick so I hope to get DH back down in the basement to do more major purging and then have him hit the hot spots in the main part of the house.

Hope everyone feels better soon!!

This is me, too. Took a ton of stuff to our thrift shop today - 4 garbage bags full - and only came out with 5 things. Great deals and will definitely use.

I will admit that I bought one TOTALLY useless item..... a WDW popcorn bucket in a design that I don't already own. I know.... absolutely USELESS.... but couldn't resist.

VICTORY!! I FINALLY got DH to go through his side of our closet. About 2 hours later, we had FOUR -- count 'em -- FOUR garbage bags full of his clothes. His weight has fluctuated for years so he had three sizes. He got rid of most of the bigger and smaller sizes (did save a few things) and kept most of the middle size -- where he's been for awhile now, and expects to stay .... ( he probably will actually)

There's just one mystery -- we have a walk in closet but its not huge. I have no idea how he had that many items hanging in that closet. Seriously.

Next up: a pile of his tees and other misc hanging clothes in the guest room closet

Love this thread! Thanks for the continual inspiration!

Great job getting your DH on task! Maybe he could talk to my DH and BAMB's DH???

I'm tackling the bathroom this weekend. Washing down the walls and re-painting.

Hopefully next week or the week after my dad can come over and take out the old toilet, vanity and light fixture and move in the new stuff that is sitting in my living room! Also have new flooring to go down.

Last month I bought a bunch of storage bins and started organizing toys and things for the daycare. Still have a few empty ones to try and fill.

I need to spend less time on the computer and more time cleaning and organizing.

Sounds like a big project in the bathroom this weekend! Good luck!

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

Okay friends..... got some basic cleaning to do today before DS's girlfriend comes for a visit, so that will be my first priority. But after that it will either be another corner of the basement or ????

Sold two boxes of stuff from the basement on a FB yard sale yesterday, so that is exciting! I'm $30 richer too! Now to find the time to take the photos and post all of the stuff I found in DS's closet!

TTYL...........................P

 

[pjlla]

Okay.... got all of the cleaning done before DS and his girlfriend got here. Fed them lunch, had my own lunch, folded and put away three loads of laundry..... and now I have TOTALLY lost my momentum! It's not even 3pm.... I have plenty of time to get something else done.... but I'm feeling "done" for today. I guess I'll just keeping moving the laundry along and get dinner started before I totally stop moving! If I find a small burst of energy, I'll clear the top of my dresser or straighten up my scrapping table.

See you tomorrow.................P

 

[zoemariesmamma]

Since we have had about a bazillion snow days, I have tried to keep positive and use them for good. I decided to do a room a week and clean out everything. I have literally touched everything I own in each room and cleared out and cleaned up. So far I have done

downstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room, and our "side room" (kind of an office, music, treadmill room)

My child and I are now going through the playroom. I am giving this room two weeks because I can only stand it so long before I want to drink heavily

After that I plan do the upstairs. I have four rooms upstairs so hopefully in six weeks I will have a totally organized home. We are buying the house we have been caretakers of for a couple of years. My husbands grandfather owned the house and his father before him so it had about a hundred years of stuff still in it. It was a huge process to get things where they needed to be, but we have almost finished. I think it was a bit emotionally straining to clear out things, but it will be nice to feel like it is actually OUR home now.

So my plan is to be finished in six weeks and have a big yard sale the first weekend of spring break (unless it is still snowing, which feels like a possibility at this point).

Rooms left:
Playroom
Child's bedroom
My bedroom
Upstairs bathroom
Spare room (which is pretty much a storage area full of stuff, I have a whole classroom, maybe two worth of stuff in there so hopefully next year I will have an actual classroom to put it in)

 

[pjlla]

Since we have had about a bazillion snow days, I have tried to keep positive and use them for good. I decided to do a room a week and clean out everything. I have literally touched everything I own in each room and cleared out and cleaned up. So far I have done

downstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room, and our "side room" (kind of an office, music, treadmill room)

My child and I are now going through the playroom. I am giving this room two weeks because I can only stand it so long before I want to drink heavily

After that I plan do the upstairs. I have four rooms upstairs so hopefully in six weeks I will have a totally organized home. We are buying the house we have been caretakers of for a couple of years. My husbands grandfather owned the house and his father before him so it had about a hundred years of stuff still in it. It was a huge process to get things where they needed to be, but we have almost finished. I think it was a bit emotionally straining to clear out things, but it will be nice to feel like it is actually OUR home now.

So my plan is to be finished in six weeks and have a big yard sale the first weekend of spring break (unless it is still snowing, which feels like a possibility at this point).

Rooms left:
Playroom
Child's bedroom
My bedroom
Upstairs bathroom
Spare room (which is pretty much a storage area full of stuff, I have a whole classroom, maybe two worth of stuff in there so hopefully next year I will have an actual classroom to put it in)

Wow..... you certainly had your work cut out for you with that old house, but it sounds like you are really organized and moving along well!

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

Well, after I got my dinner prepped, I went upstairs and took photos and wrote listing for about 30 items and got them listed on 2 local FB yard sale sites! I have another small handful of photos to put up on another FB site tomorrow. Also sold one book today as well.... just a few $$, but it is going straight into the vacation fund!

Tomorrow I will be attacking the paper pile in the kitchen (totally my fault... just "stuff" I keep putting aside... mostly trash probably at this point). It is truly the only spot in the house where I just PLOP stuff and let it really build up. Should have done it today, but oh well. That shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, so then it will be time to tackle yet another corner of the basement.

BTW, here are my (not-so-dramatic) before and after pictures from DS's closet clean-out this week....

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Not so dramatic.... but empty space on the floor and on the top shelf now!


And from the kitchen closet clean-out last weekend.... the messy stuff hanging on the door is my aprons.... and they are staying!


BEFORE:

AFTER:

Again not dramatic, but you can see that there is OPEN EMPTY SPACE on the shelves now!

There....I've bared my soul by showing my messy closets on a public forum! Anyone else????????............P

 

[StephMK]

I'm tackling the bathroom this weekend. Washing down the walls and re-painting.

Hopefully next week or the week after my dad can come over and take out the old toilet, vanity and light fixture and move in the new stuff that is sitting in my living room! Also have new flooring to go down.

Last month I bought a bunch of storage bins and started organizing toys and things for the daycare. Still have a few empty ones to try and fill.

I need to spend less time on the computer and more time cleaning and organizing.

LOL, I do too! I think it's my way to avoid the work. Stay busy online and pin pictures of how things could be if I'd get off the computer and actually accomplish them.

Hope everyone feels better soon!!



Great job getting your DH on task! Maybe he could talk to my DH and BAMB's DH???



Sounds like a big project in the bathroom this weekend! Good luck!

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

Okay friends..... got some basic cleaning to do today before DS's girlfriend comes for a visit, so that will be my first priority. But after that it will either be another corner of the basement or ????

Sold two boxes of stuff from the basement on a FB yard sale yesterday, so that is exciting! I'm $30 richer too! Now to find the time to take the photos and post all of the stuff I found in DS's closet!

TTYL...........................P

Way to go! Clearing out & making money, nice combo. Love the before & after pics, nice work!

Since we have had about a bazillion snow days, I have tried to keep positive and use them for good. I decided to do a room a week and clean out everything. I have literally touched everything I own in each room and cleared out and cleaned up. So far I have done

downstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room, and our "side room" (kind of an office, music, treadmill room)

My child and I are now going through the playroom. I am giving this room two weeks because I can only stand it so long before I want to drink heavily

Nothing happening over here. I think I'm going to figure out some projects for next weekend since I'll be off on Thursday when DS has dental surgery then we have a 3 day weekend.

 

[delmar411]

Today I managed to do some paper purging and went through my tank top, long sleeve, and sweatshirt drawers. I stuffed a kitchen garbage bag full of clothes that I'm not going to wear anymore. They haven't been worn at all this past winter so away it goes.

Paper clutter has taken over my side of the bed again so next weekend I will likely go through that.

I'm thinking that I am going to list up a good portion of my vinylmations since I don't want to add anymore displays to the wall. But that will take a while to downsize.

 

[sarahk0204]

Took some small steps. Got 4 boxes of stuff donated to the thrift store on Wednesday. On Friday, I went to a scrapbooking crop organized by my friend who is also the receiver of DD's outgrown clothes. I have a friend with 2 DD who ships boxes of clothes to us, and my friend with 2 DD is the next recipient. THREE big bags of clothes went to my friend on Friday.

I still have to get ready for the big birthday party sleepover at the beginning of March. However, my church just announced the dates for their every other year rummage sale. There are a few items I am going to put aside for that, as I can't start taking items to church until after Easter. We have an organ that I would love to put in the church sale. Ironically, someone at church gave it to us. Unfortunately, it is in our basement, and DH now has some back issues that would prevent him from hauling it back upstairs. Maybe if our snow ever melts, I can convince the guys at church to help me move it up and out.

 

[dtr_angel]

Well I fell off the wagon with my daily updates on my progress and being accountable But I'm still plugging along. I'm still down to the basement. I've been working on a lot of projects and crossing things off the to do list (like making a scrapbook that I had been putting off) because once the nice weather hits I want to be outside and doing fun things! Anyway... I have been through my pictures/memory stuff so many times and each time I get rid of more and more.

Last night I took a photo box full of dance/sports/prom type pictures from my childhood and put them into my 'school days' book under the appropriate grade. I got rid of almost the whole box doing that! But then that leaves all the duplicates of those pictures... what to do with them? I know my parents already have copies and if I gave them back to them they would just sit at their house until the end of time. Nobody wants school pictures from when I was in the 10th grade or a prom picture of me and my high school boyfriend LOL. I hate that so much money was spent on pictures for me to just throw them away!

I had pulled some albums off the shelf when I destashed it to turn into photo books of some things (like my bridal shower) so they would take up less space that the bulky album... but now I'm wondering if spending $40+ on a photo book is really getting me ahead... so I don't know. From here on out only doing the family yearbook photobook.

I'm also wondering... since I have most of the pictures I have hard copies of in digital form, throw out the photos and save the space? Again, I feel like it's a waste to throw away all those pictures that I or my parents spent a lot of money on but what to do!

Today my project is going through my external hard drive and deleting pictures, videos, and documents that I no longer need and backing up new stuff.

Here is what I am dealing with...

These are the 2 shelves that currently hold our pictures & albums
Top shelf contains a fancy hallmark scrapbook of our disneymoon, a scapbook my mom made me while I was in the Air Force, a childhood scrapbook my mom made me, DH & I's yearbooks (he just has a few, I have all of mine basically - I was thinking about for the elementary/middle school ones just keeping the page that had my class on it and putting it into my school days book for the year? for high school I'd like to do the same - just keep the pages I am on but those are $100 yearbooks so I hate to destroy them...) my son's scrapbook, a boxed album of our wedding professional pictures, a disney trip album, the red binder is my baby pictures, the brown binder is actually MIL's I need to scan the pictures of DH as a baby and give it back, a few photo books, my baby book, my school days book, a small album of a trip to NYC, and our wedding guest book

Bottom shelf on the left is some programs from dance competitions and 8x10s of my dance pictures that I don't know what to do with... in the boxes are hard copies of photos organized by year. Around Christmas I went through all of them and organized them and got rid of a ton of pictures. One of the boxes contains a ton of pictures of a trip I took with an old boyfriend to Hawaii. I intended to make a scrapbook but the relationship didn't last that long (this was 11 years ago) what to do with the pictures?! Some albums I took apart and put the photos in boxes by year because they were taking up so much room.

And then this is what I took off the shelf to deal with...

some football/cheerleading programs from middle school (cut out my picture and trash the rest?) an album entirely of pictures of our cat (I know...), the pink album is pictures of a trip I took to Chicago, but I already have a photo book of that trip so trash the pictures? I like the album though LOL. The black and white album is from my bridal shower. The big box is an unfinished pre-made wedding scrapbook that is on my to do list. Green album is of a Disney trip and the album is too full and I believe there is a photo book of that trip. I LOVE the silver "I do" album but how many wedding pictures do I need?! The last album is from the rehearsal dinner and is not full. I was going to combine that one and the bridal shower one into a photo book. There is also a random stack of wedding photos. The little blue book is a partially filled journal that friends & family wrote "advice" in at my bridal shower. The only page I honestly want to keep is the one written by my grandmother.

That was very long but in short... how do you/will you store & destash your memories and photos? Anyone care to discuss?!

 

[mafibisha]

That was very long but in short... how do you/will you store & destash your memories and photos? Anyone care to discuss?!

I will be very interested to hear what others say. Honestly though, your photo memorabilia isn't bad, at least compared to mine.

We have one full wall in our office / den of bookshelves that are all full of photo albums. Yup, one whole wall. Granted, our 4 kids are likely older than yours plus I also have my own 'childhood' albums, plus all our WDW and other vacation albums.

Yes I have many on line, FB etc, but for the earlier years (kids, mine and DH) they're all in photo albums.

I can't even imagine the time it would take to scan and save. I know there are many pics that are very close to others, so I could probably consolidate a lot, but still, the time that would take too is just scary!!

Would appreciate others' thoughts!!!

 

[OhMari]

I finally cleaned my computer work station desk and storage bin unit. I should have taken a before/after pictures. I literally cried, I did not know where to start. I sat down and looked at one thing at a time and just started making piles. I started shredding and organizing. It took me over 4 hours. I now have everyone's Taxes done, saved and printed out, filed and put away. My CPU is Windows XP and will not be supported by Microsoft as of April. I barely use it anymore, except to do our Taxes. So, do I get an updated CPU, I use my IPad
For everything, but not taxes.