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

What a great idea:rainbow:!!! The disboards rock!!!! Well I will join this club since my complex management said I have too much stuff in my basement. I used to work at a store and when they went out of business, I took a lot of their industrial shelving home. They are all along my basement and COMPLETELY FILLED:rolleyes1:sad2:. So 2 weeks ago I finally agreed that there is a lot of unnecessary stuff down there. I'll start from on area all the way around, first there is an areas with totes of stuff, and then an area with boxes and totes of xmas, 4 shelves of Barbie houses and things associated with making them into Monster high or just designer doll houses. A shelf with my DD's barbie cars and 2 totes full of barbies and barbie stuff. Next shelf has her Barbie houses and schools, next to that is a shelf jam packed with baby dolls and their furniture. Next to that is a shelf with all little people toys, the whole town, then a shelf with DS4 toy boxes full of who knows what, next to that is a shelf which has Ninja turtle toys and Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes from when my oldest DS, now 20, was younger, Last on this side is the shelf also jam packed with book, puzzles and games. The washer and dryer are near each other and then there is a shelf that has all my stuff for work (Im a preschool teacher) and it is also jam packed. Now we are back to the area that has a bunch of totes from where I started out. First I tackled the book shelf. completely cleared it out. I saved one bin for my DD13's books and a bin for my DS4's books. The rest I put aside to donate. Next was a 6 drawer plastic dresser thing in the middle of the floor. I cleaned this out bc it was also baby doll stuff like doll clothes and bottles,etc. In this I put the games and puzzles. My dreaded work shelf. :teacher:I sorted everything according to theme (camping, beach, winter wonderland,etc) and put it together. Then I went through all my paperwork and saved all originals and got rid of all the copies and other junk I really didn't need. Then the corner of totes...3 of which were baby clothes (I did say my baby was now 4:(. Everything except jeans and a few cute jackets were saved, everything else went out. Then my disney party totes, sorted them by movie and put it all together neatly. Then I went over to the baby doll shelf and got to work. My DD will be 14 in August and my other DD just turned 23 last week yet I had tons and tons of baby dolls. I proudly set aside all the expensive ones and bagged up the rest for the thrift store.:flower:Then I went for the barbie doll bins bc she's now a monster high and ever after high kinda girl. All barbies in ok shape were set in the thrift store bag and the broken ones were trashed. That was in one weekend and can I tell you how proud I am of myself. and I wasn't done and can't wait to finish.:love:
 
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good day today - did a dump run with electronics to recycle and larger cardboard boxes (so they wouldn't take up room in our recycling bin which always seems to be full). Sold 4 listings worth of Craigslist today and did some more tidying up in the garage and found more things to list. Will take pictures tomorrow and get the listings up.
 
During the week I rearranged and cleaned up the little people shelf. Then I did the shelf with the toy boxes, 6 in all. Narrowed them down to 2. The shelf with the Ninja Turtle stuff and Rescue Hero toys was rearranged and looks a lot neater. So now all I have to do as far as toys are rearrange the "keep" bins. I just sorted everything into Keep, trash and donate sections. Trash is gone, donatation stuff is piled in the dining room so I can load it all in my car and drive it over to the thriftstore.
 
Yesterday, I bought some stuff home from work since school is ending soon and set it next to the shelf that I already did and looks so nice:sad2:. At 4am I was downstairs sorting out the massive xmas section. This area had 2 giant boxes. They were so deep that I could never reach all the way in without tipping it over:lmao:. Yes I am part of the 5 foot 1 crew. So 2 of those plus 4 plastic bins and some stuff just laying on top. Since cleaning and getting rid of so much stuff, I had a bunch of plastic bin that were now empty so I sorted the xmas stuff out- lights, ornaments, bags and boxes, decorations, crafts, plush and dolls, etc and put them in bins and got rid of the boxes. Now xmas is organized, the bins have a place and some stuff was added to the donation pile and some to the trash. Next I went upstairs and broke my broken 70in tv down to pieces and took it all to the dumpster. It was broken and had been sitting in my living room, covering my fireplace for a few weeks now. Before that it was in the closet for about 2 years but since cleaning out the closet, its been in the way in my living room. So thats now DONE:lovestruc
Then back to the basement to go through the stuff I use for my house making business. Sorted out the doll furniture and put that away. Donated some stuff and trashed some stuff:dance3:. I have another section to sort and trash/donate but I got tired and called it a day. I will try to go back down tomorrow although I have to go food shopping and do a disney party so I may have to get to it Monday.
Proud of my accomplishments today:dancer:.
 

I got rid of 1/2 a small box of craft stuff. I really need to get rid of more but for some reason I am finding ambition to craft. Not helping! I started making some thank you cards for our upcoming WDW trip instead of sorting and packing my new x-mas stuff from my aunt.

Although, I find myself less stressed so maybe crafting is a good thing?
 
Yesterday, I bought some stuff home from work since school is ending soon and set it next to the shelf that I already did and looks so nice:sad2:. At 4am I was downstairs sorting out the massive xmas section. This area had 2 giant boxes. They were so deep that I could never reach all the way in without tipping it over:lmao:. Yes I am part of the 5 foot 1 crew. So 2 of those plus 4 plastic bins and some stuff just laying on top. Since cleaning and getting rid of so much stuff, I had a bunch of plastic bin that were now empty so I sorted the xmas stuff out- lights, ornaments, bags and boxes, decorations, crafts, plush and dolls, etc and put them in bins and got rid of the boxes. Now xmas is organized, the bins have a place and some stuff was added to the donation pile and some to the trash. Next I went upstairs and broke my broken 70in tv down to pieces and took it all to the dumpster. It was broken and had been sitting in my living room, covering my fireplace for a few weeks now. Before that it was in the closet for about 2 years but since cleaning out the closet, its been in the way in my living room. So thats now DONE:lovestruc
Then back to the basement to go through the stuff I use for my house making business. Sorted out the doll furniture and put that away. Donated some stuff and trashed some stuff:dance3:. I have another section to sort and trash/donate but I got tired and called it a day. I will try to go back down tomorrow although I have to go food shopping and do a disney party so I may have to get to it Monday.
Proud of my accomplishments today:dancer:.

Awesome!! I need some of that motivation.

I did good earlier in the week. I've got a bunch of the stuff still listed. Trying for top dollar for a couple days, then I'll reduce the prices.

We have a couple of big things we need to list on Craig's List, but I haven't had the energy to deal with it.

Started work on the paper clutter and got a good start on that. Need to get a fireproof safe this week for our more important documents and decided that I am going to photocopy the receipts for our big items and staple the page to the warranties. Has anyone ever had issues with not having the original teeny tiny easily fades receipt before?
 
Have not been doing a lot of de-cluttering the last couple of weeks. Been busy (after work each day) installing new rubberized flooring at the Robotics Center and getting the new tables and chairs set up for each team!!

Today we got rid of the following:

Trashed:
2 Pajama Bottoms
Donated:
4 T-Shirts
1 Pair of sneakers
Yard Sale Pile:
6 Comic TPB's
2 Books
1 Clostet Hanging Organizer
 
Donations:
I got rid of 9 (9!!!) full garbage bags. They were full of clothes that the kids and I have outgrown, a lot of their old winter stuff, plus a bunch of assorted toys that I had been holding on to because they were in such good shape that I thought I might try to sell them. But I don't have time to have a yard sale and I know Once Upon a Child will offer me an insultingly low price if I try to resell them, so I might as well donate them. In addition to all the bags I had 2 boxes of kids' books. It feels so good to get rid of stuff!
 
Well I got up at 3am Sunday and with a few hours of finally going through that last stuff, thats done. Then I organized the shelves a little better. Now I have to figure out what to do with tons and tons and tons of pictures. Some are disney pictures from when we first went (in 96') until maybe 2010 (after that everything is on FB due to iPhones:rotfl2:). Also other family photos that of course I don't want to throw away. I have a few plastic totes of them. Any suggestions:confused: I will go into sorting out all the toys that are in the "keep" bins and getting them back on a shelf. I have a long weekend coming up and my goal is to be DONE with the basement and moving on to my bedroom closet. Number count of bags in the dining room is 11, 4 are regular trash can bags and the other 7 are the giant leaf bags i guess they are called. There is 3 milk crates, 2 of books and 1 of a bratz house. I have a tea cart and a little fold out couch for a toddler and another large doll toy, all ready to go. I brought up 3 of those leaf sized bags of trash items which my son threw out of xmas, and stuff from my house making stuff. I am open tomorrow and Thursday before work to get some done, so I may do an hour or so each day.
 
After 3 months, my new foyer light fixture is finally up! So one large box gone from the foyer! And, of course, the electrician broke one of the shades as he was trying level them. I am not sure why he tried to turn the shade without losing the screw cap first. So I need to get a replacement and he'll come back and change it out. That was the final gold light fixture on the first floor. Now to start replacing the 2nd floor bathrooms. And I potted my tomato plants before they died. Purple Heart is scheduled for a pickup on Thurs so lots of stuff will be leaving with them.
 
We spent about an hour in the garage this weekend. We got 4 boxes narrowed down to 2, but more importantly, my DH can now find any plumbing or electrical parts he may needs for repairs around the house. Yay!

We are supposed to have some really nice weather for the next few days. I'm hoping to spend at least an hour in the garage each day.
 
During the week I rearranged and cleaned up the little people shelf. Then I did the shelf with the toy boxes, 6 in all. Narrowed them down to 2. The shelf with the Ninja Turtle stuff and Rescue Hero toys was rearranged and looks a lot neater. So now all I have to do as far as toys are rearrange the "keep" bins. I just sorted everything into Keep, trash and donate sections. Trash is gone, donatation stuff is piled in the dining room so I can load it all in my car and drive it over to the thriftstore.

My DS19 has all his Rescue Hero stuff too. I gave him one tote of a specific size and anything that didn't fit had to go. He was good about it.

Well I got up at 3am Sunday and with a few hours of finally going through that last stuff, thats done. Then I organized the shelves a little better. Now I have to figure out what to do with tons and tons and tons of pictures. Some are disney pictures from when we first went (in 96') until maybe 2010 (after that everything is on FB due to iPhones:rotfl2:). Also other family photos that of course I don't want to throw away. I have a few plastic totes of them. Any suggestions:confused: I will go into sorting out all the toys that are in the "keep" bins and getting them back on a shelf. I have a long weekend coming up and my goal is to be DONE with the basement and moving on to my bedroom closet. Number count of bags in the dining room is 11, 4 are regular trash can bags and the other 7 are the giant leaf bags i guess they are called. There is 3 milk crates, 2 of books and 1 of a bratz house. I have a tea cart and a little fold out couch for a toddler and another large doll toy, all ready to go. I brought up 3 of those leaf sized bags of trash items which my son threw out of xmas, and stuff from my house making stuff. I am open tomorrow and Thursday before work to get some done, so I may do an hour or so each day.

Photos are tough!! I'm a scrapbooker so I really hate getting rid of photos.
Start by sorting the blurry, junky, no one you know shots. I tossed a lot of Disney pics that were from rides and scenery type pics.
Next toss duplicates. No point in having 2 of everything.
Then sort by either person or date. Most of mine are sorted by date, but each of the kids has a box with just them in it. If it's cousins and you have a ton of photos of them, keep a few and give the rest to that person.
This will help keep things sorted.
Currently I am scanning negatives and slides (does that show my age that my dad used nothing but slides?!? LOL) then a lot of those are getting either filed in a binder with negative sleeves or tossed.
I also do yearly backups and a back up to the back up. I have 2 sets of DVDs and an external hard drive. One set of DVD's is at my house and one is at my moms.
 
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I was working in the loft today. Todays weather, rainy and 60....tomorrow 90. So I'm digging out AC units. While up there I reorganized some stuff, emptied some stuff from the Disney tote that was old or not needed, stacked all the lego bins for the boys to go through.

My pile for rummage sale is growing every day though, I'll be happy when the time comes to take that stuff to school.
 
Photos are tough!! I'm a scrapbooker so I really hate getting rid of photos.
Start by sorting the blurry, junky, no one you know shots. I tossed a lot of Disney pics that were from rides and scenery type pics.
Next toss duplicates. No point in having 2 of everything.
Then sort by either person or date. Most of mine are sorted by date, but each of the kids has a box with just them in it. If it's cousins and you have a ton of photos of them, keep a few and give the rest to that person.
This will help keep things sorted.
Currently I am scanning negatives and slides (does that show my age that my dad used nothing but slides?!? LOL) then a lot of those are getting either flied in a binder with negative sleeves or tossed.
I also do yearly backups and a back up to the back up. I have 2 sets of DVDs and an external hard drive. One set of DVD's is at my house and one is at my moms.
Thats a good idea. That will be my long weekend project:sunny::sunny:
 
More progress in the garage to report! :yay:

While my DH was at work today, I cleaned off his automotive table. (It's where he stores all of his car stuff- wax, oil, washer fluid, e.t.c.) There were a few things I wasn't sure if he wanted or needed, so I put those off to the side. When he got home from work, he sorted through that stuff, so now we have half a bag of garbage gone and a clean car table. Yay!

We still have a long way to go, but every little but helps. :goodvibes
 
So I had a realization this week. We have two to four of everything due to marriage and our parents dying. I was trying to sell it. 40 hours of work made me about $150. The next garage sale, I made $15.

So trying to sell stuff off isn't worth my time. This reformed I might need this someday I will store it pack rat, is hauling stuff to Salvation Army. My sanity is not worth the max of 2k I would get from selling it. I bought a box of 45 trash bags to fill, I will call that step one.
 
So I had a realization this week. We have two to four of everything due to marriage and our parents dying. I was trying to sell it. 40 hours of work made me about $150. The next garage sale, I made $15.

So trying to sell stuff off isn't worth my time. This reformed I might need this someday I will store it pack rat, is hauling stuff to Salvation Army. My sanity is not worth the max of 2k I would get from selling it. I bought a box of 45 trash bags to fill, I will call that step one.
Good for you!!! Knowing that my kids don't want the stuff (always ask, and usually get a solid "NO!!!" x5) , and the payback isn't worth the time and effort, for the most part, I have taken dozens of bags/boxes to various charities. I know that my stuff is now blessing someone else.
 














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