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

[OhMari]

It is the last week of April, and I have a drawer in my locker/hall entrance and cleaned up mittens, headbands, scarves. I tossed just 2 mittens with no partners and a pretty worn out head band. I took everything else to the basement and stored them in a storage bin.
Foolish me, I had to run downstairs and get a headband out. What is with Spring in Wisconsin. It has been in the 40's the whole month of March/April. I think we had one day that it was 76 and that was the day I decided to pack up the winter coats and accessories. Next week doesn't look any warmer. Blah!! Why do I live in Wisconsin.

 

[comicguy]

Last night did a few things:

Relocated:
Moved all the X-Mas decorations out to the storage shed in the spot that I made for them (6 boxes out of the house)
Moved a box with all of those extra Ikea parts/pieces out to the shed on a shelf. Put a date on the box and if not used when I get the X-Mas stuff out in December then it will get tossed!!

Trashed:
1 Rechargeable Flashlight (battery will not charge)
1 severely corroded Flashlight

Recycled:
4 more cardboard boxes

Yard Sale:
4 throw pillows

The front porch is almost cleaned up and ready for carpet and trim work!!

Just have to list the 2 cabinets that are out there on either FB yard sale or CL this weekend

 

[toystoryduo]

If the weather cooperates, we plan on spending a couple of hours in the garage this weekend. We have so much stuff to go through! I have to keep reminding myself that slow and steady will win the race.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I have been listing like mad on CL

offered some family stuff - chair painted by a grandparent and desk from great grandmother to family members - things I'm not going to keep but would be nice if they stayed in the family. Chair is going to be sold but desk might have a home

made a "to the dump" box in the house and in the garage for electronics etc that need to go there to be recycled.

Also made a goodwill box which I'm putting things into regularly - once full it will leave.

 

[comicguy]

Brought 7 grocery bags full of documents to be shredded to a community shred event this morning.

Also placed 350 comic books into the yard sale pile!!

 

[neatokimmo]

We had our first garage sale and it went great. Lots of stuff I didn't think would sell, did. We are having another one next weekend.

We have a big hall closet upstairs that I cleaned out tonight too! Every single thing was removed and put back in a proper place. I have a full tote of things for the sale, plus six large bedding items.

 

[Cheryl726]

I really need to learn to start parting with things, is it better to donate to Savers or Goodwill? I would feel better donating if I knew someone could use it. Thanks!

 

[neatokimmo]

I really need to learn to start parting with things, is it better to donate to Savers or Goodwill? I would feel better donating if I knew someone could use it. Thanks!

Avoid goodwill if you can. They aren't the charity everyone thinks they are. Salvation Army is a good one if you have it. We don't have Savers here.

 

[neatokimmo]

I am unusually alert for a Monday morning and my mind has been going nonstop. Today I am going to strip and post cloth diapers for sale. I am also going to iron and post her Naartjie clothes since she refuses to dress like a girl. Both will bring in quite a bit of cash!

 

[comicguy]

I got the following done today:

Recycled:
1 garbage bag full of plastic shopping bags

Installed
Trim work around window

Yard Sale:
1 Laptop bag (yes another laptop bag??)
7 books
6 more comic books

Just listed 2 cabinets on FB Yard sale

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Comicguy, you are on the ball!!! Can you come to my house next?

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Small step yesterday. DD went through all her clothes and got rid of a nice size pile of stuff that was to small or that she wouldn't wear. And set aside 2 pairs of jeans that are to short to have DH cut them off to make shorts. And it looks like she won't need to much in the way of summer clothes. Maybe just a few t-shirts.
The boys are next!

 

[comicguy]

Comicguy, you are on the ball!!! Can you come to my house next?

Wish I could but it was back to school today, Spring Break is now over

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Nothing new to report today. It was grandparents day so I was hosting that at school. I'm hoping to get through something tomorrow.
We've been stuck inside all week because of the rain, but I've had no desire to sort and purge anything.

 

[PrincessKymm]

Not much but I got one book donated at work to United Way.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Okay, I just discovered this thread, but I'm so in! Last year I had the goal of getting rid of three things a day. (Yes, I'm easily overwhelmed.) That didn't really make much of an impact, especially since I often selected tiny things that needed to be thrown out ages ago...but it was a start. And you have to start somewhere, right?

But then life got in the way, and I have slacked off. My new goal - inspired by all of you in this thread and your great work and ideas - is to tackle one area a day. Now area sounds large. I'm still doing small spaces, but one small space a day should add up. Today's clean up project - the top half of my computer desk. (The bottom half will take days at this rate, but the top half is visible and should serve as a positive sign of what can be done.

Here's to getting rid of the clutter that dominates my life! ;-)

 

[SafferMom]

This thread is encouraging me too. We are planning on moving countries at the end of 2016 and I KNOW we have so muchto purge before the move so this weekend I am hoping to:

1. Clear out my clothes closet - will donate, one of the great things about living in South Africa is that is really easy to find someone that can use your old stuf.
2. List a few items for sale on our local facebook group - including a 3/4 pallet of natural stone riven walling that has been sitting in my garden for years. Wht h why have I left it there so long.
3. Make a start on sorting the garage and storeroom
4. Encourage dh to sort his clothes.

I have recently sorted through the kids closets so they are in pretty good shape. Their toys on the other hand......

Next week I will drop the 3 boxes of books that were donated at the library I helped start at a local school.

Hopefully I can report back on some progress next week

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Okay, I just discovered this thread, but I'm so in! Last year I had the goal of getting rid of three things a day. (Yes, I'm easily overwhelmed.) That didn't really make much of an impact, especially since I often selected tiny things that needed to be thrown out ages ago...but it was a start. And you have to start somewhere, right?

But then life got in the way, and I have slacked off. My new goal - inspired by all of you in this thread and your great work and ideas - is to tackle one area a day. Now area sounds large. I'm still doing small spaces, but one small space a day should add up. Today's clean up project - the top half of my computer desk. (The bottom half will take days at this rate, but the top half is visible and should serve as a positive sign of what can be done.

Here's to getting rid of the clutter that dominates my life! ;-)

Those are what I vertical spaces and catch-alls. Mine is the craft table, the counter by the back door and the breakfast nook turned backpack and coat area.
Small spaces will definitely add up!

This thread is encouraging me too. We are planning on moving countries at the end of 2016 and I KNOW we have so muchto purge before the move so this weekend I am hoping to:

1. Clear out my clothes closet - will donate, one of the great things about living in South Africa is that is really easy to find someone that can use your old stuf.
2. List a few items for sale on our local facebook group - including a 3/4 pallet of natural stone riven walling that has been sitting in my garden for years. Wht h why have I left it there so long.
3. Make a start on sorting the garage and storeroom
4. Encourage dh to sort his clothes.

I have recently sorted through the kids closets so they are in pretty good shape. Their toys on the other hand......

Next week I will drop the 3 boxes of books that were donated at the library I helped start at a local school.

Hopefully I can report back on some progress next week

Remember that most moving/shipping companies charge by the pound now. When we were planning a move from the US to England we were going to leave all the electronics behind. It wasn't worth it to take them. We were also going to sell or store 99% of our furniture too.
Sadly we didn't get to move because of the timing of DD's birth but we are looking into it again.

 

[la79al]

I am about halfway to being a hoarder and we have a rather small house so it is constantly driving DH crazy. That being said, I've been trying to get rid of stuff lately and I'm having a hard time. I feel like I'm emotionally attached to everything, even stupid stuff. We are having a yard sale on Saturday and we have a garage full of stuff to go. Whatever doesn't go will be donated somewhere. I've also been working on moving out all our baby stuff but that really has me emotional. I know we are done and the baby gear takes up soooo much space. I'm hoping a lot of the big stuff sells at the yard sale on Saturday because I'm not sure what plan B is for it. My biggest problem areas are the kids toys (they have one of the biggest rooms in the house overflowing with toys, plus some in the basement and some in the attic and I just can't get rid of them) and baby stuff (which I'm working on, very slowly).

 

[la79al]

He has a captain's bed with the drawers underneath, but it was a cheapo unit and the drawers haven't worked properly for years. I tried to replace the drawer slides a few years ago, but couldn't find anything that would fit. I am going to buy some large decorative baskets and try using those instead of the drawer unit. But of course, for now, I need to find storage spot for the drawer unit until we decide for sure if we are keeping or ditching it. If I do keep it and put it back under his bed, I will be pulling out the drawer slides all together and putting in some plywood bases and replacing the drawers with baskets. But the unit only fills half of the space under the bed so when we use it, there is literally a HUGE wasted dead space behind it (his bed is against the wall.... his room is really small).

Okay... I've got to go pester him to get sorting through this mess!..............P

I feel your pain on the wasted space. DSD has drawers under her bed as well and the area behind them is this dead zone. And she has the smallest room in the house. Could you find bins or baskets or something to go behind the drawers and use that area for off season clothes or something else not needed very often?