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

[agavegirl1]

Okay, I am joining in. I would appreciate any advice on a systematic approach to this daunting task. I just got married in September. We spend most of our time in the Condo my DH owns and are remodeling our retirement lake home (we don't retire for 10 years). I don't want to move any more random clutter to the lake house and we really need to make room in this small condo for "our" stuff. I'm the one with all the "stuff". I have enough clothes for four or five adult women. I have 27 bins of Christmas decorations. I have craft stuff I used during my various crafting fads and still don't know what to keep and what to lose. I'm talking hundreds of dollars worth of jewelry making, scrapbooking, sewing supplies etc.

I do taxes so right now my schedule is a bit crazy. I am overwhelmed. A little at a time I guess....systematically simplifying my life.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Okay, I am joining in. I would appreciate any advice on a systematic approach to this daunting task. I just got married in September. We spend most of our time in the Condo my DH owns and are remodeling our retirement lake home (we don't retire for 10 years). I don't want to move any more random clutter to the lake house and we really need to make room in this small condo for "our" stuff. I'm the one with all the "stuff". I have enough clothes for four or five adult women. I have 27 bins of Christmas decorations. I have craft stuff I used during my various crafting fads and still don't know what to keep and what to lose. I'm talking hundreds of dollars worth of jewelry making, scrapbooking, sewing supplies etc.

I do taxes so right now my schedule is a bit crazy. I am overwhelmed. A little at a time I guess....systematically simplifying my life.

Maybe once the tax season settles down, you can find the time to go through your craft supplies & decide what you want to keep. There are many assisted living facilities that offer crafting classes to residents - perhaps you could donate some items to them?

 

[Debbie]

Okay, I am joining in. I would appreciate any advice on a systematic approach to this daunting task. I just got married in September. We spend most of our time in the Condo my DH owns and are remodeling our retirement lake home (we don't retire for 10 years). I don't want to move any more random clutter to the lake house and we really need to make room in this small condo for "our" stuff. I'm the one with all the "stuff". I have enough clothes for four or five adult women. I have 27 bins of Christmas decorations. I have craft stuff I used during my various crafting fads and still don't know what to keep and what to lose. I'm talking hundreds of dollars worth of jewelry making, scrapbooking, sewing supplies etc.

I do taxes so right now my schedule is a bit crazy. I am overwhelmed. A little at a time I guess....systematically simplifying my life.

The one thing that I really like about the KonMari method is taking ALL of one sort of item-say your clothes, starting with tops. Get ALL your tops from everywhere, and put them all in one spot. As you sort through, find the things (tops) you love, and put them aside. I found that as I looked at the pile, and moved each top (yep, I handled and felt for the connection ) it was easy to toss the ones I didn't love. When I say toss, I really mean donated to others.....and there was at least one top that I had bought and never (or only once) wore. I didn't feel bad about passing them on, because I really didn't love them, and, let's face it, we wear the things we love-over and over. When I saw the space in my closet for my clothes, I just felt better. Less clutter does lead to a clearer mind. I love looking at my drawers of shirts that are now arranged vertically-I can see everything that I have and that makes choosing what to wear every day soooo easy. The KonMari book is an easy read, so if you can spare a couple of hours, I'd take it and see how she organizes....it really is a system, and you can do it at your own pace. I have just done my clothes, and last week the medicines/my bathroom drawer. Hubby hasn't started yet, but he is eager to do at least his underwear and t-shirts. You've inspired me......I'm supposed to be on books, but I can't do that-too emotionally attached, yet-so I'm going to move on to doing my cups/mugs (again, since i did them before I started KM)

 

[OhMari]

I am joining this year. I have so much work to do, I need the encouragement. DH and I have only been married for three years and had our own households. We have a lot of duplicate stuff. We also have a lot of our fathers things. I have a 250 sf sunroom to clear out, a two car garage, several things on the back porch, a spare bedroom, and a storage room off the garage. I also have a business and my supplies have taken over our dining room. The only way to purge that stuff is to make it and transfer it to my store.

Typing all that made me a little ill lol

You took the first step-you are acknowledging what you have to do. I went online and typed in decluttering. It helped me a lot to understand why we hang onto a lot of our things. Start small, maybe look at one thing a day, you say to yourself, "where can I use this, if not throw it out or donate it.

 

[OhMari]

Last weekend, I finally got my dh to go thru his clothes closet. When we moved into our new home, we literally moved all his clothes from one closet to the new closet. I organized the closet for him, but the last couple of months, it started looking like a disaster area. It took him over an hour, to finally come and help me out. I redid mine and got rid of clothes I hated to wear, but kept it, since it was in good shape. (I hate sweaters).

We managed to pack 5 huge garbage bags full of clothes and we took it to GoodWill. We organized his whole closet, and I think he finally got that feeling you get, by organizing and cleaning out. He found shirts, that he thought he lost- or as he says, "I lost them." I told him, he cannot wear the same shirt to work twice a week, he needs to put on a new one each day. Guess what, he wore the same shirt yesterday and today. Maybe I need to tell him, about the smelly guy in the office syndrome. Why do men think it is okay to wear the same thing twice in a row. When we go on vacation, he would wear the same thing every day-that way he wouldn't have to pack-only underwear and socks.

When my son was home over Christmas-I got him to go thru bags of clothes and donate them.

 

[myhoney]

we took it to GoodWill.

You mean I shouldn't keep my full Goodwill boxes lining my hallway for months on end?

I'm in. I did sign up for the 40 bags in 40 days Lent challenge last year. I made it to about day 4. Not because I don't have tons of clutter, but I don't have tons of time. We have 4 kids ages 2-10 and at the end of the day, I'm beat. But with 4 kids, I need to do it more than ever! DH wants to finish the basement. A full 25% of it is kids toys. We've been donating to a local charity, and got rid of 2 stuffed minivans full of baby gear since August. We just have to keep going!

 

[writermommy6]

I'm so on board. I'm bagging up a bunch of stuff for Goodwill. If something is in really good shape then I'll throw it on ebay or Craigslist for a week. No sale then off to Goodwill. My already decluttered fabric stash is going to be revamped into cellphone carriers, tablet/Kindle covers and crossbody bags to sell on ebay and Craigslist to earn money for our upcoming WDW trip.
I know there are tons of things I purchased at thrift stores with the intention of refinishing/repurposing them that will be making a trip to Goodwill.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Okay, I am joining in. I would appreciate any advice on a systematic approach to this daunting task. I just got married in September. We spend most of our time in the Condo my DH owns and are remodeling our retirement lake home (we don't retire for 10 years). I don't want to move any more random clutter to the lake house and we really need to make room in this small condo for "our" stuff. I'm the one with all the "stuff". I have enough clothes for four or five adult women. I have 27 bins of Christmas decorations. I have craft stuff I used during my various crafting fads and still don't know what to keep and what to lose. I'm talking hundreds of dollars worth of jewelry making, scrapbooking, sewing supplies etc.

I do taxes so right now my schedule is a bit crazy. I am overwhelmed. A little at a time I guess....systematically simplifying my life.

OK systematic. Means look at the trees, not the forest, that will be overwhelming.
Words to live by: Does it make me feel good or bring me joy? does it help me make money? will I use it, wear it, or consume it in the next 6 months?

You are in a similar situation to us. Our end game is in 8 years when our youngest is in college we will move into our RV full time. So if it doesn't fit in the RV, we can't have it. You have 10 years until you move into the lake house. So you need to think in those terms.

So for you, you will tackle 1 room a month, plus your clothes.
Not sure where you live so I don't know what you have for seasonal clothes. Attack the current season. gather everything, and do a quick purge. Answer the above questions when sorting. Then what ever remains hang on the hangers backwards and foldables go in the drawer folded like the department stores fold them, in 3rds length wise and then in half. When you wear and wash something turn the hanger around and hang it back up. With folded stuff, refold it in the standard quarters fold. After the season is over, what ever is not turned around or refolded goes away.

1 room a month, start small. Bathroom/linen closet. Purge outdated supplies and medicines. Is your current storage solution working or do you need more containers. There are only 2 of you, do you need 20 bath towels? Are they dingy, tattered, stained? Take old towels to an animal rescue place.

In each room, just do 1 drawer, shelf, or bin a day. If you are starting to feel overwhelmed then walk away, I have to do that sometimes.

As for the crafts, you just have decide what you are really going to do and what will just collect dust. I can tell you with my scrapbook supplies I am purging 90% of it. I can't think of the money I spent because if I do, I just get mad. But we live in what people would consider a tiny home and I'm sure your lake house is small. Can you store a multitude of thick heavy scrapbooks? Probably not. My kids have asked that their school/sports albums be traditional but moving forward our family year books and vacations are all digital that are printed from Shutterfly. They take up about 1/5 of the room of a traditional album.

As for Christmas stuff, tackle that in July when you are removed from the season. Do you really use all 27 bins worth of stuff? What do you use at the condo that won't fit your lifestyle at the lake? Are there any neighborhood rules at the lake about yard decorations that you might have?

Gotta take the boys to fencing, be back later!!!

 

[ashleyasiegel]

I picked up the landing by my front door. It was beginning to be a dumping ground. Some things put away, others put on the get rid of stack downstairs. Need to decide if I am going to have a garage sale to get rid the baby clothes and toys, try the FB Yardsale site or just donate to ve done with it.

I cleaned up my email inbox today and got it down to 8 emails. I also cleaned up my folders on where I send to have just in case. So freeing to login and only see a few emails. Goal is delete right away or file in sub folder if I need to save it.

Baby steps!

 

[neatokimmo]

By bedtime tonight I will have 50 headbands completed, which is about 3 shoeboxes full. Each one had 11 pieces to it, so I "cleaned" 550 little things.

 

[agavegirl1]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome! As a bit of clarification...the retirement "lake house" is actually bigger than the condo we live in and has a full walk-out basement and three car garage. I don't want it to become a "storage unit" for seldom used stuff which it sort of has right now. I used to rent a storage garage for my "stuff" because the condo was too small. The Christmas ornaments are at the lake house. The craft supplies are at the lake house. The book collection is at the lake house and the clothes, movies, CDs, office supplies, hunting gear, linens, stockpiles of medical stuff from years and years are at the condo. (Why do I have my daughter's knee imobilizer from 10th grade?) My clutter is scattered over a hundred miles.

The idea of one room a month or the KonMari idea sound good to me. After my divorce 8 years ago, I became attached to "stuff". I have new priorities. Thanks All!

 

[Debbie]

I have new priorities.

 

[OhMari]

I sold a pair of leather boots. While I was cleaning my closet I was going to give them to Good Will, since I had not worn them in over a year. Anyways, I made $5.00. I know it is not a lot, but when you get rid of something, you have to think Rummage Sale prices. I think I paid $45, 2 years ago for them at Macy's.

 

[Shanan]

Started with going through my fridge/freezer today. Pulled out small containers that had leftovers. Tonight having left over dressing & ham sandwiches. If i couldn't recognize what was in it then I tossed the food and the small container it was in. Have DH's Sunday School class party at our house on Saturday. Planning on going through freezer in garage. I had put tomatoes, blueberries, pecans and strawberries in separate sacks in the freezer to can later. Plan on canning 3 herb marinara sauce (tomatoes), blueberry lemon jam, blueberry syrup (rest of blueberries), strawberry lemonade concentrate, strawberry jam, (strawberries) and can praline sauce (pecans). If I have time & cupboard space will can cranberry juice from cranberries I got on sale after Thanksgiving (to make cranberry margaritas this summer) I do sale some of my homemade canned goods locally so win win for me. More space in freezer and some extra money.

 

[neatokimmo]

I had a first class hissy fit in my kitchen today. I have awesome deep drawers under my coffee area that are just trashed. I threw away lids to containers I knew we had lost. I threw away cups that didn't have their lids. I threw away three years of sweet and sour packets from take out and 50 fortune cookies (my kid is going to have kittens when she figures that out). I put the large spatulas and stuff like that.....WHERE THEY BELONG. Heck I even threw some worn ones away. All the box tops from the last two years are in her backpack.

My next step is to recycle every single container we own and get one set of red lid Rubbermaid bowls to go with the ones we already have.

I also organized my husbands baking stuff. He is banned from buying baking chocolate, baking powder, yeast, vanilla, any spices, and brown sugar.

 

[agavegirl1]

Pulled out the ironing board and iron yesterday. I have a basket of clothes I haven't worn in two years because they needed to be ironed. I started ironing 6 items per day (they were all laundered and tucked into a closet). As I ironed them, I selected those for donation which is all but one shirt. I work 3 blocks from the Goodwill store and will donate all the clean, ironed items weekly on my way to work, lunch hour or way home depending on my work hours. For tax purposes, I snap a photograph of the items to be donated, list them on lined paper and pick up a receipt.

As a tax person, I know that documenting non-cash donations can really give you a great deduction on schedule A if you document.

One year (previous marriage) I was able to deduct $1400 of Goodwill donations. There are many websites available to value your clothing donations. All items must be of Good to Excellent quality to be deductible.

 

[sarahk0204]

Pulled out the ironing board and iron yesterday. I have a basket of clothes I haven't worn in two years because they needed to be ironed. I started ironing 6 items per day (they were all laundered and tucked into a closet). As I ironed them, I selected those for donation which is all but one shirt. I work 3 blocks from the Goodwill store and will donate all the clean, ironed items weekly on my way to work, lunch hour or way home depending on my work hours. For tax purposes, I snap a photograph of the items to be donated, list them on lined paper and pick up a receipt.

As a tax person, I know that documenting non-cash donations can really give you a great deduction on schedule A if you document.

One year (previous marriage) I was able to deduct $1400 of Goodwill donations. There are many websites available to value your clothing donations. All items must be of Good to Excellent quality to be deductible.

Yep, those non-cash donations can really add up. The site I use values and totals the donations. I have the receipts to back it up, but justing transferring the total onto the tax form is easy!

Plus, I don't want to mess with garage sales or Craigslist or eBay. Much easier to go to the thrift store down the street.

 

[pjlla]

I am in, once again!!! Not sure where to start this year though. I started in the basement last year (or was that the year before) and made some good progress and then it completely fizzled out and now it looks worse than ever! But I did set a goal to rid myself of 1/3 of my scrapbooking supplies last year and I DID IT! Now to cut another 1/3 this year (even though I didn't buy anything at all other than adhesive last year!).

Another early 2016 goal will be to consign or donate a set of dishes I've been trying to sell for a year. Listed twice on Ebay and twice on a bunch of local FB yard sale groups, but no nibbles at all (I'm pricing it all fairly, but the shipping and insurance costs are insane). I did get an offer from replacements.com and so I may end up going with that and donating whatever they won't buy.

I wish I could hold onto this "decluttering" mindset all year long..... it burns hard in January and September (something about back to school time does that to me) and the rest of the year it just kind of smolders. I love CLEAN and ORGANIZED.... and I'm a good organizer. But lately it feels like I just keep trying to organize TOO MUCH STUFF!

Not sure if I want to try to hit specific areas HARD this year, or just concentrate on a little out each day. So far my total decluttering for 2016 consists of three pairs of nearly-new shoes from my closet (probably list on FB today) and a bit of partly broken jewelry from the junk drawer . For now I'm concentrating on spending time with DD before she returns to school. But I'll be back!..............P

 

[Alexle2007]

Managed to go through my kitchen utensils drawers. I had no idea I had so many mallets! (We love our steamed crabs in MD!) some were in one drawer and some in another. Now they are all in one drawer with the rest of the seafood gadgets. And I have so many "gadgets" that I never use. Heck, I don't even like to cook if I can avoid it. So one bag of things gone and the rest neatly organized, until DH starts using them. I do need to get some containers or a utensil holder since they are just in the drawer together right now. Need to tackle pots and pans next. I have no idea what is in my pots cabinet.

 

[Debbie]

Managed to go through my kitchen utensils drawers. I had no idea I had so many mallets! (We love our steamed crabs in MD!) some were in one drawer and some in another. Now they are all in one drawer with the rest of the seafood gadgets. And I have so many "gadgets" that I never use. Heck, I don't even like to cook if I can avoid it. So one bag of things gone and the rest neatly organized, until DH starts using them. I do need to get some containers or a utensil holder since they are just in the drawer together right now. Need to tackle pots and pans next. I have no idea what is in my pots cabinet.

I think that is the key for whenever we declutter....to organize so that putaway is easy and desirable. I've been able to keep my bathroom counter clear (and declutter unnecessary items, too) because it is so clear and the drawers are organized.