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

[OhMari]

We have Bulk Pick up today in our township. Last night, we finally put the shop vac on the curb. Someone took it off the curb and after I came back from a walk, I noticed it was back. Duh, it doesn't work, the chord is cut off. Same with the Bissel Floor cleaner. We had to cut off the chord and mail it in for warranty and they sent me a new one. We also put some crate wood, floor tile that we never used for our trailer-black/white checker board-I should have tried to sell it-but we both said get rid of it. And a huge box speaker. I think my husband almost cried putting that speaker on the curb. He had it since high school-but it didn't work-it was blown out.

My husband had to leave for a week, and he told me to go purchase primer paint-our garage is dry/walled and start painting. Um no!!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Followed last years spread for inspiration. I usually go buy this website for her 15 minute daily missions: http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/declutter-your-home.html

The 15 minute method has been the most manageable with a toddler in the house. This year I need to get back on track...

That is an easy mission! Are these missions on the Fly Lady website?

No they are on the website above. Fly Lady usually adds one or two a week. Fly Lady this week was declutter the utensil drawer and pantry/fridge of old food.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

We have Bulk Pick up today in our township. Last night, we finally put the shop vac on the curb. Someone took it off the curb and after I came back from a walk, I noticed it was back. Duh, it doesn't work, the chord is cut off. Same with the Bissel Floor cleaner. We had to cut off the chord and mail it in for warranty and they sent me a new one. We also put some crate wood, floor tile that we never used for our trailer-black/white checker board-I should have tried to sell it-but we both said get rid of it. And a huge box speaker. I think my husband almost cried putting that speaker on the curb. He had it since high school-but it didn't work-it was blown out.

My husband had to leave for a week, and he told me to go purchase primer paint-our garage is dry/walled and start painting. Um no!!

That's great though. It's always nice to get stuff the big stuff out of the house!

 

[damskipi13]

My house is being packed up and shipped today. I'm on here to relieve the stress of watching strangers manhandle my stuff

I have a whole bedroom filled with things that are not being packed and are instead going to be sold at a garage sale this weekend. Anything not sold is immediately going to Goodwill. There is no room for it in my new place and I don't want it anymore! I'm excited that this move is forcing my hand on finally getting rid of some of this excess. Wish me luck.

 

[dsnycrzy]

Last weekend I went through loads and loads of CD's, DVD's, Video games (some just empty cases) and VHS tapes. one trash bag of stuff gone and all my disney VHS tapes are back in alphabetical order. Being a teacher, today was my last day of work. So my basement should be completely done by next weekend.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

My house is being packed up and shipped today. I'm on here to relieve the stress of watching strangers manhandle my stuff

I have a whole bedroom filled with things that are not being packed and are instead going to be sold at a garage sale this weekend. Anything not sold is immediately going to Goodwill. There is no room for it in my new place and I don't want it anymore! I'm excited that this move is forcing my hand on finally getting rid of some of this excess. Wish me luck.

UGH I hate it. My husband is active duty and we have another move coming up... I prepack a lot of our stuff. Some of my friends think I'm crazy, but it makes things so much easier for them and I don't have to worry about them touching my things I don't want touched!

 

[damskipi13]

UGH I hate it. My husband is active duty and we have another move coming up... I prepack a lot of our stuff. Some of my friends think I'm crazy, but it makes things so much easier for them and I don't have to worry about them touching my things I don't want touched!

Yes, exactly! I prepacked soooo much but some things were still packed by them. I always clean anything they touched as soon as they leave, too. I know a lot of people that have the movers pack and unpack their dishes then they use them right away. GROSS. After seeing the dirt handprints these guys left on my mattress and the profuse sweat, no way would I use my dishes without a sanitizing run through the dishwasher!

Enjoy the summer move cycle! I hope your PCS goes smoothly!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Yes, exactly! I prepacked soooo much but some things were still packed by them. I always clean anything they touched as soon as they leave, too. I know a lot of people that have the movers pack and unpack their dishes then they use them right away. GROSS. After seeing the dirt handprints these guys left on my mattress and the profuse sweat, no way would I use my dishes without a sanitizing run through the dishwasher!

Enjoy the summer move cycle! I hope your PCS goes smoothly!

We only had one move before and it was in the winter so we had to worry about snow, but no sweating. It's going to be so hot when we move this time, I don't even want to think about the sweat.

 

[OhMari]

My house is being packed up and shipped today. I'm on here to relieve the stress of watching strangers manhandle my stuff

I have a whole bedroom filled with things that are not being packed and are instead going to be sold at a garage sale this weekend. Anything not sold is immediately going to Goodwill. There is no room for it in my new place and I don't want it anymore! I'm excited that this move is forcing my hand on finally getting rid of some of this excess. Wish me luck.

Good luck. I sold a lot of wall decorations at a rummage sale when we moved. It all reminded me of my old house and made me sad. I had a pretty good tax deduction fom Goodwill, we donated a ton of things. Make sure to ask for your tax receipt.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Just stopping in to read others' stories because the clutter is driving me nuts today and everyone else's success gives me hope. Things are crazy right now, but school's out in two weeks and phase two of the massive decluttering I started over April break begins!!

 

[damskipi13]

SUPER SUCCESSFUL MOVING SALE THIS WEEKEND!!

To follow up on my previous post, I had a moving sale today. I also pre-sold a bunch of stuff on Friday to people who saw my moving sale posts in Craigslist and Facebook and contacted me about buying early. Overall, ~$800 more dollars in my pocket and nearly everything out of my house! I originally had 23 "large" items (furniture or more expensive stuff) and boxes and boxes of small stuff including probably 100 books. I'm down to 5 large items and maybe 1 large box worth of small stuff.

YAY!!!!

Surprisingly, I only sold two clothing items. Last sale that was one of my hottest items. I still have a few people interested in 3 of the 5 remaining large items, so hopefully I get those out by tomorrow evening then I can take the small stuff to Goodwill on Monday. The buyer of the day was a couple who asked to buy all of the books. They got them in a package deal so I don't have an exact price, but basically they bought all of them for about $10. I would have rather donated the books but I have had a heck of a time trying to get the libraries to take anything! I'm so glad they are gone. The books alone took up four boxes.

Thanks again to the posters here who have motivated me to get rid of stuff over the last 6 months. I don't post often, but I follow you guys to keep my focus!

 

[StephMK]

Way to go on all the decluttering!

Damskipi that's is an awesome total for your sale!! Great to have so many big items removed that you won't have to lug to donate too.

Enjoying summer and getting a chance to work on projects that pile up during the school year. I spent a few hours in the garage last weekend. I went through most of my school bags and organized. Now I need to find a cabinet to store them in for the summer.

After that, I organized half of the garage cabinets. There is a box of things to donate and everything is labeled now. There were probably 15 duffle bags in one cabinet and we certainly don't need them all! DH is going to pick a few to keep. The garage looks better but need to make space for the teaching bags.

Today I went through the hall closet and collected a few coats and several pairs of shoes. DH went through his closet and has a pile to donate. I found more to add and DD22 went through most of her room. She is moving in August and getting married next year! She did a great job getting rid of stuff. Planning to do a big drop off next week.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Went through more of my paperwork stash tonight. I really wanted to have that done before our move this summer. If I can stay motivated, I should be able to. I have to do it in chunks of about 20-30 minutes though, because otherwise it is completely overwhelming.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

SUPER SUCCESSFUL MOVING SALE THIS WEEKEND!!

To follow up on my previous post, I had a moving sale today. I also pre-sold a bunch of stuff on Friday to people who saw my moving sale posts in Craigslist and Facebook and contacted me about buying early. Overall, ~$800 more dollars in my pocket and nearly everything out of my house! I originally had 23 "large" items (furniture or more expensive stuff) and boxes and boxes of small stuff including probably 100 books. I'm down to 5 large items and maybe 1 large box worth of small stuff.

YAY!!!!

Surprisingly, I only sold two clothing items. Last sale that was one of my hottest items. I still have a few people interested in 3 of the 5 remaining large items, so hopefully I get those out by tomorrow evening then I can take the small stuff to Goodwill on Monday. The buyer of the day was a couple who asked to buy all of the books. They got them in a package deal so I don't have an exact price, but basically they bought all of them for about $10. I would have rather donated the books but I have had a heck of a time trying to get the libraries to take anything! I'm so glad they are gone. The books alone took up four boxes.

Thanks again to the posters here who have motivated me to get rid of stuff over the last 6 months. I don't post often, but I follow you guys to keep my focus!

Thoroughly impressed that you made $800!! There was a yard sale thread a couple weeks ago, you should drop in and leave some tips.

 

[damskipi13]

Went through more of my paperwork stash tonight. I really wanted to have that done before our move this summer. If I can stay motivated, I should be able to. I have to do it in chunks of about 20-30 minutes though, because otherwise it is completely overwhelming.

Oh yeah, I forgot about this. I did the same thing over the last 10 days. Each night I went though a stack sized to fit in a grocery bag because that kept in manageable. Everything that needed to be shredded (most of it) went to work with me the next morning and straight into the shredder. Took about 30 min at home each night and 10 min at the shredder each day for 6 work days, but I dramatically reduced the paperwork. I was shredding electric bills from 2007, doh! So glad that's done. Now I just need to learn not to cling to every scrap of paper that enters my house!

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Oh yeah, I forgot about this. I did the same thing over the last 10 days. Each night I went though a stack sized to fit in a grocery bag because that kept in manageable. Everything that needed to be shredded (most of it) went to work with me the next morning and straight into the shredder. Took about 30 min at home each night and 10 min at the shredder each day for 6 work days, but I dramatically reduced the paperwork. I was shredding electric bills from 2007, doh! So glad that's done. Now I just need to learn not to cling to every scrap of paper that enters my house!

I worked as an accountant, so it's VERY hard for me to not hang on to everything. Have I ever needed to dig it out and use it? NOPE, but I still keep it just in case, lol. I'm trying to get it to the point that I can just go in once a year and refresh it, so it will stay manageable.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Not much destashing here lately but rummage sale is now accepting donations so I'm loading up my dads truck this week to start the hauling out process. I have run out of room to store things for the sale so that's mostly why we are at a stand still. I think I'm going to tackle my craft room this afternoon, I just need to give a lot of that stuff up.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Fly Lady Suggestions for the week:
1. "Spring Fling Boogie" the Linen closet and main bathroom.
2. 10 Items from the garage or 10 pieces of trash
3. Clear 3 hotspots - flat surfaces that collect junk (think night stand, dining table, entry way table)

I like to be more focused on like rooms. I would probably take the inspiration and double check: Linen Closet, Main Bathroom, Children's Bathrooms and Medicine cabinets. Pay particular attention to sunscreens, bug sprays, aloe vera gels, etc. Sunscreen expires!! If it's over a year old, put it on your weekly shopping list to go buy more sunscreen.

Bonus: The 15 minute missions is doing "electronic clutter this week but she is moving into the bathrooms next week."
Her suggestions (http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/declutter-calendar-june.html)

• Day 21 - Declutter bathroom sink and counter area
• Day 22 - Declutter under bathroom sink
• Day 23 - Declutter bathtub and shower area
• Day 24 - Declutter bathroom drawers, cabinets and shelves
• Day 25 - Declutter / organize toilet paper storage area
• Day 26 - Declutter and organize bath toys
• Day 28 - Declutter expired and old makeup
• Day 29 - Declutter toiletries and skin care products
• Day 30 - Declutter old toothbrushes and other dental supplies

 

[PollyannaMom]

Now I just need to learn not to cling to every scrap of paper that enters my house!

That's me too!

1. "Spring Fling Boogie" the Linen closet and main bathroom.
2. 10 Items from the garage or 10 pieces of trash
3. Clear 3 hotspots - flat surfaces that collect junk (think night stand, dining table, entry way table)

I tried FlyLady once for cleaning tips, but the constant e-mails were too overwhelming and I unsubscribed. I like those suggestions for this week, though!

 

[StephMK]

I went through our linen closet today and cleared out a few things. We also have a laundry basket overflowing with old comforters and blankets in the basement. The kids use them for sleepovers but I'm going to pare those down this week.

Next item was my hope chest. Put another small pile of clothes aside for donations. I hope to move when we become an empty nest in 3 years. That really helps me decide if it's something I really want to keep or am I just postponing donating or tossing something I would not want to move.