2016 Destash - The more things you own, the more they own you

[Alexle2007]

I will grab at least 7 items from the basement to get rid of and bring them to the transfer station ON MY WAY to the thrift store. And I will ONLY take the money that I have available in my "fun money" envelope to spend (which isn't much today). I will also try to ONLY look at dishes, since that is primarily what I am going for.... but I can't help it if a beautiful blouse calls to me!

How's that for justifying!?? I'll let you all know how it goes! ................P

That is similar to what I do when I go shopping for clothes. For however many items I purchase, I try to remove/donate the same number from my closet.

 

[pjlla]

Okay.... reporting in.....

The day was actually more successful as a PURGE day than as a COLLECTOR day! I took a bunch of stuff to the transfer station, including a HUGE bin of scrubs that I got for free. DD had wanted some to use in the lab at school so I took all that I was offered, but she really only choose a few and the rest have been sitting here for a year. They went to the "take-it-or-leave-it" shed. Also got rid of a bunch of large plastic jars that I always keep "just in case" and a few more oatmeal canister (again... my "just in case" stuff) and some styrofoam pieces from a laptop box plus the entire plastic recycling bin from the garage. Also finally parted company with my non-working Swiffer mop..... it hasn't worked for years... not sure why it was still hanging with the brooms and mops.

Picked up a set of dishes, a nice Farbeware tea kettle, and an ironing board from the "take-it-or-leave-it" shed for DD's on campus apartment next year. She does have some dishes from being in apartments during the summer a few times, but these were pretty and free so I grabbed them. If she doesn't care for them or doesn't need them, they can go right back where they came from!

Also bought her a set of 6 nice red wine glasses (she turns 21 this year so I thought this might interest her) that were the "color of the day" at the GW so just $3 for 6 glasses.... plus a nice new tiny dish drainer. I did find just TWO pieces of Fiestaware.... nothing exciting or rare, but one salad plate in a color that I only have one small piece of and one salad plate that I didn't need but couldn't pass up for .90.

Also bought a pair of safety glasses that I actually needed (for robotics.... nice to have my own instead of always borrowing) and a cheap plastic clock..... I just need the clock works to replace the non-functioning clockworks in a Mickey Mouse clock I have.... but sadly the clock I bought today doesn't work either (they didn't have any batteries that I could use to test it). It goes back later this week.

So I got rid of 6 items PLUS a big bin of scrubs and only brought in 3 small items that will stay in my home. Successful in my book!................P

 

[OhMari]

My dh will not organize, if he does, he will put things important to him, out front and center and will throw other things in a piles shoved away. So I started tackling his garage or our garage. I decided to do one corner at a time. I threw out styro-foam, since it is not recyable, license plates, car mats that will not fit anything but a Jetta. 2 pair of shoes, that were ruined putting in our yard last year, a pair of boots that are wrecked, vacuum cleaner bags for a vacuum that blew up, paint cans with no paint. My adult kids like micro beers, and I put a eight pack together out of ten packs, with one or 2 left in each and stacked it by the dorm refrigerator. I used to have 4 dorm refrigerators. We are down to one. Lots of boxes and paper from items that were bought-like the toaster(you just might need the box)

I looked at my husband and told him to put the bag in the garbage. He said, those shelves look so much better, he said he didn't know what I wanted saved. I told him, I want shelves built, the shelving we bought at Costco, breaks so easy. We have a 3 day weekend next week, and he promised to do it.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

I don't think I have checked this site in 6 months. Hope everyone is doing well. I was trying for the 40 bags in 40 days or the 2016 items out in 2016. I would say I have donated at least 500 items this year so far. It is amazing how much stuff is in an average home. I was saving stuff from the kids childhood but have begun to purge it as very few items the kids will really want if I was to be honest. Best of luck to everyone.

 

[TI double-GUH ER]

So amazed at everyone's progress! Great!
I just donated 2 small bags of clothes. Not much, but still something. I'm off this week so I'm hoping to fill a big garbage bag full of stuff, ready to go when the next donation truck is in the area. I was supposed to be looking at books... but that really makes me nervous, (I think of so many of them as friends!!) so I think I might sort the play room next... less sentimental for me!!

 

[DawnM]

I don't know how I have missed this thread. I have been massively cleaning, purging, and decluttering, in our push to get the house on the market by May 1st.

Today I won't be able to get a whole lot done, but my middle son is on Spring Break starting Thur and since I don't have to drive as much, I will be attacking the house in full force.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I managed to send some of DS's clothing to his grandma's so it's out of my house. He spends every other weekend there so it made sense. I do have to purchase him more bottoms though. He uses shorts for track practice now so he needs jeans for school (it's still cool here) and shorts for practice. He has managed to outgrow the last of his child sized jeans that are not that old so I sent those to his grandma's to be handed down. He will be down to 3 or 4 pairs that fit so I think I will buy just 1 pair so he can wear them twice and get through 2 weeks of school. He only has 3 pairs of track pants so I'm hoping that's enough for now. He's got no pajama pants that fit but since it's almost warm weather he can wear the ones that hit well above the ankle. He does need shorts though. He's got a few pairs that still fit from last year but the ones that rolled over from the previous year are extremely short! Very funny scene to witness in our house.

*sigh* I will be paying for more clothes today but hopefully I can get rid of some more items from his closet when I see my friend this weekend. DS just has so many clothes because that's what he asked for as gifts last year so of course my well loved child received a lot from family.

DS still won't touch his toys so they are just sitting in his closet taking up space.

I'm trying to pin down a friend that has a daughter that can use my "skinny" clothes. It's time to get rid of them since I haven't lost anything so I will purge those as soon as we can get together. *sigh* I thought for sure by now I would've learned to eat properly but no. I'm not moving them again though so they need to go.

 

[comicguy]

The new exterior house door and new storm door were installed yesterday!!! These had been sitting for close to 2 years waiting for me to install them. I just have not had time, so I hired a handy man to do it. Some of the best money I have spent. He is coming back next week for another couple of small projects that I have not had time for. A guy walking down the street saw the old door and wanted to know what I was going to do with it, I said he could have it if he wanted it. It was gone in five minutes. Also, the handy man wanted my old storm door, so that is gone as well

Bagged up 9 books from my nightstand that have been read.

Also, bagged up another 10 books from my front porch that I am just not going to read, not really my type of books

Threw away 1 caulking gun that did not work

Threw out 3 expired can goods from the pantry

Threw out 1 electronic toy that no longer worked

Got rid of 1 printer that no longer worked

Threw away 4 pair of socks

Donated 4 pair of sneakers

Brought a trunk load of scrap metal to the recycler, made 2.50 it seems metal is no longer worth what it use to be (counts as 1 item)

Recycled 22 various size shipping boxes (count as 1 item)

Total 35 items decluttered yesterday

ETA: Sold a comicbook yesterday as well for 25.00

So Total Items is now 36 for yesterday!!

 

[comicguy]

Not much done yesterday but did throw away 1 ripped beyond use T-Shirt

 

[NinaBella]

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[PrincessKymm]

I managed to give away a very small bin of toys that came from my mothers that DS no longer uses and 5 DVDs as well.

My next project will be to tackle the front closet. I went to get something yesterday and I was attacked by board games! Time to sort through everything in there.

 

[damskipi13]

Some items I can't seem to make myself get rid of are my military uniforms and military workout clothes (the cammo, the dress uniforms are already donated to the base Airman's Attic). I keep thinking the kids might want them for halloween, etc. The several military gortex jackets are really expensive, so I would rather they go to someone I know. I have a friend in another state whose teen son is into hunting and she said he would love to have them, just haven't gotten to mailing them just yet. I retired just over a year ago. My husband retired several years ago...

Man oh man, I know what you mean. I'm still in, but I have the same problem getting rid of my BDUs and black boots. I finally managed to get down to just one pair of black boots that I'm going to keep. I still haven't gotten rid of the BDUs, but I plan to in the next couple of months. I also need to figure out my green boot situation. I think I have something like 7 pairs right now! If your friend's son doesn't want all of the Goretex, consider selling it online. Goretex jackets that are New With Tags sell for $50-$70 each on Ebay.

 

[pjlla]

How's everyone doing with this? I'm wishing I had more time to dedicate to this, but life's been busy. But I am easily encouraged even when just doing little pockets of decluttering! And I've been using situations that life has thrown at me (like a leaky waterbed that had to be completely dismantled and patched) to do some bits of decluttering here and there (like under the bed!). Goes to prove that you do NOT need to do it all at once and take full days/weeks/months to get it done! Baby steps! However, it will take 1 million baby steps to tackle my basement... so I'm hoping to take some GIANT LEAPS there during April vacation!!

Wish I had more time to list things for sale, as well.... that has slowed down SO MUCH lately!.........P

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Yesterday was more putzing. I got rid of 6 binders, 2 of which are filled with empty page protectors. Those all went to school.
And I took the last bin of basket raffle items to school.

Not really much else. I need to get more aggressive again, but I'm getting to the point of not knowing where to start.

 

[StephMK]

Yesterday, we cleaned up for Easter dinner and today at 5pm, the appraiser called for our refi. He is coming after work tomorrow. Thankfully the main level was pretty clean. The upstairs baths needed straightened and the bedrooms needed everyone to put away their clothes.

We spent a good few hours taking care of things. I bagged up all of the kids clothes. We had collected them a few weeks ago and they were sitting in oldest DDs room. Her room has been the dumping ground so had to get that under control. Basement and garage are mid project so I did the best I could.

Pjilla- I tried to use your trick of grabbing things quickly! Still hard to see the sentimental stuff and outgrown kid toys. Anyway, more to dobut it is fine for tomorrow.

I'm tired but it was a nice little push to get moving on more projects before Dd's graduation. I have a trunkful to donate tomorrow and it's near DS's practice field.

 

[mom2t]

I am so excited. I have been purging for over 3 months and Friday is the big day for my yard sale. Tonight my husband will set up part of the tables in the garage for me. I will start unpacking everything tomorrow and check to see if I missed pricing anything. I will finish up on Thursday. Cars go out in the driveway the next two days and add in the paper. I will list on Facebook too and make my signs. Looking forward to making some money and getting rid of all the stuff we have stacked in our garage. Anything that I do not sale will go to my husband's cousin who sells at flea markets. He even comes and picks it up.

 

[comicguy]

Cleaned out and washed the inside of the fridge.


Threw out 1 container of "I do not know what"
Threw out 3 expired items

Just a little bit for now

 

[StephMK]

It was so nice to come home to such an organized space tonight! At least as long as I avoid the areas that still need to be tackled. After DS's practice, I took the donations even though we really wanted to go straight home. The bags were big 30 gallon clear plastic leaf bags.

-one stuffed bag of clothes
-one huge bag of stuffed animals I finally convinced Dd16 to pare down (we still have 2 hampers full)
-one box of winter plates and a few misc dishes and items
-small bag with 4 pairs of shoes and 2 old purses

There is more to donate in the basement and garage but figured I'd rather make 2 trips and just move stuff out.

I am going to try to keep it up because family will be here in early May.

 

[mom2t]

I had my yard sale yesterday. I had 6 tables crammed full, a small rack of clothes and several things, high chair etc. sitting around. When it was over, only 3 tables left of stuff. A rain storm and having it earlier this year hurt my sale but it is over. All that stuff is gone out of my garage - my DH's cousin came last night and took what was left over - and I made $250 towards our vacation fund. I had 7 empty tubs to store on my shelf last night.

 

[comicguy]

Trashed 1 pair of sneakers and 4 pair if socks!!

It is a start for today