2015 destash - Purge Purge Purge, Purge is the word

[michelleh1]

I'm joining in! I've already gone through some paperwork (not done, but made some progress) and a cupboard.

I'm having a hard time knowing what to do with my cupboard now though. It's an awkward shape and stuff seems to get lost in the back and on the sides. I have 2 cupboards this shape. One is working better for me than the other because I have bins in it to hold my spices, I can slide them in and out. I do have some stuff to go back in it, but maybe only fill 1 shelf out of the 3. I was thinking some small appliances, but the shelves aren't adjustable, even though they look like they are (the clip wraps around the top and the bottom of the shelf) so I don't think it's tall enough for what I want to put in it. I'm considering cups since it's right by the sink. I need to try them though to see. Any other ideas? I took a lot of canning jars and paper products out, that I have storage for elsewhere. I also threw away old food that got lost in there.

Here's my cupboard, it's about 30" wide at it's widest point, and 22" deep, and triangular shaped.

 

[mhf]

I have 3 small boxes of household items and 1 bag of clothes ready to be picked up on Monday! I have a tough time getting rid of things people give me…even if I don't like it or wear it or use it I fear they will ask me where it is when they come visit.

 

[NinaBella]

We live in Florida so no basement and garage is a huge mess right now too! We live in a cookie cutter home with small closets and not a lot of space. Four kids, two dogs makes quite the clutter.

My two oldest sons are adults (20 and 22) and one works about 35 miles away and was commuting to/from work. In early December he decided to move out to a small one bedroom apartment just 10 minutes from his work so...

Here is my current project of what I decided to do with my son's room. It is NOT done. I have to add shelves to the middle section and still working on organizing. I am going to buy a girly rug to put in there as well since I decided not to repaint the room. I see lots of very nicely decorated closets and dressing rooms on Pinterest but I decided to go low budget as much as possible since no one will be in there except my daughter and I. Maybe my husband and son on occasion. I didn't see the need to put a lot of decorating into it.

There is a bedroom closet you can't see in the picture and the dresser is a 6-drawer from Ikea. My daughter wants to put some of her stuff in here so I saved 3 drawers for her and I am giving her the bedroom closet to move some of her clothes into. We are working on ideas to organize scarves and some of the costume statement necklaces, bracelets, etc. into here as well.

The two hanging bars on the left are 6ft The one on the left is 3ft So I just added 15 ft of hanging space for myself. I am also working on getting rid of clothes as I still have clothes in the master bedroom closet with DH clothes.

 

[mrsabbott]

A move is the BEST motivation for a major purging!
And I've wasted so much time and energy on yard sales. It's so much nicer to have that instant gratification of having things gone NOW. So I think I've seen the last of my yard sale days.
Good luck getting things out without the kids seeing! I saw a funny cartoon on Pinterest that really spoke to me.. something about feeling like a drug lord when you're smuggling out broken crayons! My kids would keep everything if I let them!

I've seen that cartoon before!! Isn't that the truth, though?? My kids will not touch a toy for MONTHS and if I get rid of it they look at me like I killed a puppy or something! I used to feel so guilty but I've gotten to the point now where it just needs to GO and I don't feel quite as guilty now..

BTW.. if Hubs gets this job then we will be moving to Orlando! It will be a BIG move and the first time that the Army won't be footing the bill to move us across the country! I know how expensive it is, so the less stuff we have to move the better!

 

[kinntj]

I came on here to see how you guys are doing and I'm impressed with how much you got rid of.

Now I'm motivated to get the hall linens done.

 

[disneyjes]

Anyone else need to declutter the kitchen cabinets? I'm having trouble parting with any cups or plates. I mean we might eventually need them, right? ....lol. There's definitely not enough room for everything though!

 

[NinaBella]

Anyone else need to declutter the kitchen cabinets? I'm having trouble parting with any cups or plates. I mean we might eventually need them, right? ....lol. There's definitely not enough room for everything though!

I do. I was looking yesterday and thinking I need to get rid of all my Disney cups and kid plates, etc. My youngest is 11 so we don't use them anymore. But then I thought, what about when we have relatives visit with younger kids. LoL. My oldest is 22, so I could have grandkids in the future (not likely since he hasn't had a girlfriend in 2 years). It's hard to part with stuff.

 

[redcubfan]

I spent a lot of time today working in our hall closet. It's not just linens...it's craft projects, the gift stash (candles, etc), some holiday tabletop decorations...pretty much a little bit of everything.

Anyway, I boxed up two boxes of votive cups, aquarium decorations, and scented oil warmers (like Glade or Air Wick plug in warmers--I think they mate and multiply!). It's going to charity tomorrow. It isn't a lot, but it's stuff that has been sitting in there for a very long time. The closet wasn't too bad to begin with, but why on earth did I keep two boxes of stuff I have no use for? Our last fish died years ago. We haven't had an aquarium in a long time! And I don't have enough outlets in my entire house for all those warmers! Ugh!

 

[RellaSprinkles]

Plus another 38 items out today to Goodwill.. two trash bags full, including one old Disney duffle bag (it was cumbersome- no wheels, so we never end up using it), an old backpack, a few VHS tapes, a few baby board books, and some clothes.
Total= 48 items out of my house so far for 2015!

Plus another 59 items for this evening= 107 items
107 items out of my house!
Plus countless more into the trash. I really should have kept track of the number of items I threw out! Oh well.

Tonight I got rid of baby toys, some stuffed animals, puzzles that were missing pieces, outgrown clothes..
I have an overflowing garbage can and DH has a FULL load to take to Goodwill in the morning.

Is there anything that is difficult for you all to get rid of?
For me it's baby things. DH and I were planning to have more children.. but health issues got in the way, and well.. I'm not sure it will ever happen. Our youngest will be 7 soon. It doesn't make sense to keep baby clothes and items when someone else could be using them. So out they go.. but it does tug at my heartstrings a bit.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Anyone else need to declutter the kitchen cabinets? I'm having trouble parting with any cups or plates. I mean we might eventually need them, right? ....lol. There's definitely not enough room for everything though!

What I did for the cups and plates is I pull everything out and have the kids and DH put back in the cabinet what they use. We all have our favorites for hot drinks, cold drinks and water. Then what ever isn't put back, gets donated.
I keep back 2-3 cups that go on a higher shelf for guests but we typically don't have more than 2 kids over at a time. If we have a lot of people over, I do disposable.

 

[MissManda]

Planning some more major destashing in 2015.

Got a good start is 2014 because we had to clean out our office/junk room to create a nursery. I actually went through my "stuff" and reorganized or got rid of. My DH however, does not like to get rid of anything and so pretty much all of his "stuff" got moved to the basement. Still a lot of,destashing to be done, but at least it's in the basement with all his other "stuff". So the major project for the year will be to convince him to part with some of it and then to organize the whole basement.


Smaller projects include going through the kitchen and reorganizing. I don't know why the kitchen is always so hard for me. Also, my 17yo nephew lives with us. I need to work with him on his room which needs a good overhaul. I'm pretty good about cleaning out cloths in my closet, but my DH is not. I hope to work on that too and do a good purge. I need to purge mine as well but it will have to wait until I lose baby weight and actually figure out what size I am

Thankfully, due to "nesting" my closets and bathrooms are all cleaned out and organized as best as I can for now. Through this, I found so many small travel sizes of soap, shampoo, etc it's ridiculous. I've decided I'm not buying anymore of those items until I use these up. Also, I found several stashes of lotions, soaps, etc that I had on hand to gives as gifts. I put them all together so I can use them up as well. Save a little money and decal utter at the same time!

Hoping to see a lot of progress this year. But it's really hard with a pack rat in the house!

 

[OhMari]

I got the hanging file bins! Love them! I started a better organizing system for all of our papers today. I'm so glad.

Thank you for mentioning the bins. I hadn't seen them before.

I got mine today at Staples. They were all picked over. I had to really look them over and find one that had a lid that fit properly.
We finally sold our house. I am glad I found this threads last year.
I feel we are so far ahead with the decluttering in our house. My dh never decluttered his garage-plus 2 sheds. Has anyone ever usd PODS??

We have to be out of the house by Feb.20 . I am excited, yet very sad, how do you leave the house your family grew up in. Already had a nightmare, where I begged for my house back.

 

[dsneprincess]

I'm joining in! I've already gone through some paperwork (not done, but made some progress) and a cupboard.

I'm having a hard time knowing what to do with my cupboard now though. It's an awkward shape and stuff seems to get lost in the back and on the sides. I have 2 cupboards this shape. One is working better for me than the other because I have bins in it to hold my spices, I can slide them in and out. I do have some stuff to go back in it, but maybe only fill 1 shelf out of the 3. I was thinking some small appliances, but the shelves aren't adjustable, even though they look like they are (the clip wraps around the top and the bottom of the shelf) so I don't think it's tall enough for what I want to put in it. I'm considering cups since it's right by the sink. I need to try them though to see. Any other ideas? I took a lot of canning jars and paper products out, that I have storage for elsewhere. I also threw away old food that got lost in there.

Here's my cupboard, it's about 30" wide at it's widest point, and 22" deep, and triangular shaped.

I have this same cabinet, with the same issues. My DH hates it & everything needs to be moved to get something out. Unfortunately, it is the deepest cabinet in my kitchen by far, and the only one that fits baking dishes, the pasta bowl and glass microwave casseroles. Of course, a step stool is needed to pull everything down to get what you want and put it back. I hate this cupboard, but am kind of stuck with it as it is.

 

[dtr_angel]

I had a few non-productive destashing/organizing days because I had to work but we jumped back into it today. Nothing big to report but just wanted to check in. I do so much better when I hold myself accountable on this thread!

 

[dsneprincess]

I got mine today at Staples. They were all picked over. I had to really look them over and find one that had a lid that fit properly.
We finally sold our house. I am glad I found this threads last year.
I feel we are so far ahead with the decluttering in our house. My dh never decluttered his garage-plus 2 sheds. Has anyone ever usd PODS??

We have to be out of the house by Feb.20 . I am excited, yet very sad, how do you leave the house your family grew up in. Already had a nightmare, where I begged for my house back.

Congratulations on selling! I am sure there are mixed emotions.

You are very far ahead, look at all the stuff you won't be moving. FWIW, I have a friend that started moving in July, she is still packing, moving, unpacking & moving stuff around. They haven't put their house up for sale yet, so this is possible. She is moving into her mothers house with 80+ years of stuff already in it. I can not even imagine. I need to keep "de-stuffing".

I took down and packed away some of my Christmas stuff today and started moving the living room back to tree free. Outside lights are still up because it has been too cold to climb ladder and be outside for extended time. Inflatables are down, dried and should go back in their boxes tomorrow. It has been slow going this year & everywhere I look there is a Christmas mess. We've had so much company that I've washed loads & loads of just sheets and towels and every project is snowballing on me.

I did get 5 bags out for donation yesterday, so I am started on 2015 receipts. I will keep plugging away tomorrow....

 

[Gymbomom]

Joining in!!

Put away Christmas and I am minus one box going up into storage so that was awesome. Both kids worked in their rooms today and have a huge pile for donation and a tub for storage of sons legos and keepsakes.


Where I could use some advice.....

Does anyone have pics or advice on how to store plastics? Like ziploc and glad containers. Right now they take up a huge two door cabinet....

So ready to get my house organized so I can keep it straight.

 

[StephMK]

I got mine today at Staples. They were all picked over. I had to really look them over and find one that had a lid that fit properly.
We finally sold our house. I am glad I found this threads last year.
I feel we are so far ahead with the decluttering in our house. My dh never decluttered his garage-plus 2 sheds. Has anyone ever usd PODS??

We have to be out of the house by Feb.20 . I am excited, yet very sad, how do you leave the house your family grew up in. Already had a nightmare, where I begged for my house back.

Congrats on your sale and your comment on being sad made me teary! Take some pics - maybe frame one for your new place? Are you staying local or moving out of the area?

Decluttering slowed down because DD20 came home. We spent some time shopping and hanging out. I did not get anything donated this week. I will take the recyclable electronics on the way home from work and collect a big pile to take to the fill a truck next month.

Christmas decorations are almost packed up. We are down to packing up the final ornaments and putting the tree parts in the box. Hoping to get them all back in the attic later this week.

I destashed our shower and threw out some products I just don't like. Found 2 more shirts to donate and need to weed out my shoes again - maybe tonight.

During our shopping, I found 3 decorative lidded boxes to use in the family room. DH keeps a Nook & some chargers on "his" end table and now they are hidden in a little box. A box on my side now holds a notebook, some pens, a nail file & few magazines. The third matching one will hold my school papers when needed.

I'm hoping this reduces the visual clutter and will make it easier to move when cleaning. I hate having little odds & ends rolling around on the end tables but it's nice to have things handy where we use them.

 

[StephMK]

Joining in!!

Put away Christmas and I am minus one box going up into storage so that was awesome. Both kids worked in their rooms today and have a huge pile for donation and a tub for storage of sons legos and keepsakes.


Where I could use some advice.....

Does anyone have pics or advice on how to store plastics? Like ziploc and glad containers. Right now they take up a huge two door cabinet....

So ready to get my house organized so I can keep it straight.

This might be a silly question but do you need that many? Two years ago, I got a set of nesting glass bowls with lids. There are 9 total containers and we also have a few plastic containers for lunch items. Other than a few occasions, the ones we have hold every leftover we need. Sometimes I will put something in a Ziploc if I don't have a container available but that is rare. They take up one side on one shelf in a cabinet. The lids are stored vertically next to the bowls. Just a thought if that would help to get rid of some?

 

[mrsabbott]

Hubs is painting the drywall in the garage, so this was the perfect opportunity to declutter in there. Well, my stuff anyways. We keep our food storage in our garage (it is partially underground so it never gets super hot in the summertime or anything) and the shelves were a mess! We had used a large chunk of our food storage back when Hubs was unemployed and we couldn't afford to buy much food! I hadn't rotated and kept an eye on dates as I should, so I had to get rid of about 2 grocery bags worth of canned goods that had expired. Kicking myself in the rear over that waste.. but I have everything all nice and organized now! I am going to write the expiration dates on the top of the cans with sharpie so that it is more noticeable.

I also bagged up a large garbage bag full of stuff that I am getting rid of! Also getting rid of some stuff my MIL got me that we never use. A yogurt maker, pizza warmer, etc.. I am sure there is someone out there that would find that sort of thing much more useful than I do. There are still so much more to sort through, but it is a start! I am finding it much easier to let go of things that I don't really need!

 

[dpswift]

Anyone else need to declutter the kitchen cabinets? I'm having trouble parting with any cups or plates. I mean we might eventually need them, right? ....lol. There's definitely not enough room for everything though!

It is funny how we get so attached to dishes. I think maybe it is because we use them every day. I found the dish set I wanted at Goodwill 2 years ago and got rid of all my old dishes. The glasses are another story. They are all different and they all have memories. I packed away much of my stuff 5 years ago when we redid our kitchen. I find that I can now get rid of those mugs. Some of them I loved because of the people that gave them to me. I have lost track of the givers.

The other issue I have is that my dish set came with saucers and mugs we do not use them but since they are part of a set I keep them.