Destash 2017 The Year to Clear

[dreamin_disney]

I hit my bathroom last night and cleaned it up. I even wiped down the walls and door-lol! I also cleaned my room and got rid of a lot of dust-hahaha!!
I still need to hot the closet again but I got tired.
Today I hit my spare room/Craft Room/Office. I was able to take everything out from three sections of my kallax shelf(its four cube style shelf. I was able to fit everything into one after I tossed old papers and shredded old tax papers, bills and misc. papers. I had tax papers from 20 years ago before I got married. Tossed out old pay stubs too!. My problem is paper clutter. No matter how much I shred there's always more that I find. I got ride of 4-5 grocery size bags or old papers, trash envelopes, envelope insert misc. etc.
I have a medium tub of misc. gifts like fuzzy socks, pens, make up bags, candles etc.. I'm hoping to get rid of these this Xmas. DD19 will be home from college and she already said she got invited to two Christmas parties with her friends. Food and gift exchange and the other is just potluck. I'll have her pick some stuff from the gift tub and make up a nice gift set. I also have a lot of plastic Christmas goodie bags . I'm thinking of making some goodies and putting in the bags to give out.
Tomorrow I plan on going through my the closet in my craft/spare/office room.

Monday I hope to hit the garage a lil. I told Dh I want all the recyclables bagged and cashed in. I also told him my goal is to fill up two large black trash bags with trash or no good items. He has a lot of spray cans, oil cans and manly can stuff and who knows how long its been there. I also need to go through one of my old plastic tubs from my old job when I worked with kids. I noticed Dh saves all the boxes of things we buy. I want those broken down and tossed.

I get another vacation for Christmas , so hopefully I get more things done. I'm hoping that 2018 is less cluttered-lol!

 

[Ephany]

I posted items on Facebook- Buy, sell and trade board and nothing is selling. My dh wants to get out basement finished and I looked at him like he is nuts. I don't think he realizes how much stuff we have.

I told DH any of the stuff I have listed that doesn't sell by Wednesday is getting donated. I found some really neat build your own LEGO games still new in package in a closet, priced them super low and still no interest. On the other hand I listed all of DD's old Ever After High dolls and those sold in a few hours. It's so hit and miss. I did take two huge boxes of kids books to the shelter a few weeks ago. I called ahead and they said they'd love to have them; it's nice to know they'll be appreciated.

We haven't had a working kitchen since Sep 21... we started remodeling in August and it's been a nightmare. We have boxes of cabinets everywhere, the dining room, the hallways, piled in my husband's office. There's also all of the kitchen items that had to be stored. My house is already tiny and all of this extra clutter hasn't helped. Add to that having to dishes by hand in the tub and I'm . Supposedly we get counter tops on Monday and plumbing restored on Tuesday. The rest of the cabinets are scheduled to be installed Thursday. They said we can start moving back into the lower cabinets once the counter tops are in place. We're all ridiculously excited to be able to put everything away where it belongs. On the plus side when we emptied out the old kitchen cabinets we ended up donating an embarrassing amount of kitchen stuff. DH used to travel for work and had his own 'mini kitchen in a trunk'. This was the first time he was willing to part with any of it. I told him having all of this empty space is NOT a challenge to fill up with new gadgets. I'm really, really, really looking forward to being able to come home and be able to scramble an egg.

 

[OhMari]

I told DH any of the stuff I have listed that doesn't sell by Wednesday is getting donated. I found some really neat build your own LEGO games still new in package in a closet, priced them super low and still no interest. On the other hand I listed all of DD's old Ever After High dolls and those sold in a few hours. It's so hit and miss. I did take two huge boxes of kids books to the shelter a few weeks ago. I called ahead and they said they'd love to have them; it's nice to know they'll be appreciated.

We haven't had a working kitchen since Sep 21... we started remodeling in August and it's been a nightmare. We have boxes of cabinets everywhere, the dining room, the hallways, piled in my husband's office. There's also all of the kitchen items that had to be stored. My house is already tiny and all of this extra clutter hasn't helped. Add to that having to dishes by hand in the tub and I'm . Supposedly we get counter tops on Monday and plumbing restored on Tuesday. The rest of the cabinets are scheduled to be installed Thursday. They said we can start moving back into the lower cabinets once the counter tops are in place. We're all ridiculously excited to be able to put everything away where it belongs. On the plus side when we emptied out the old kitchen cabinets we ended up donating an embarrassing amount of kitchen stuff. DH used to travel for work and had his own 'mini kitchen in a trunk'. This was the first time he was willing to part with any of it. I told him having all of this empty space is NOT a challenge to fill up with new gadgets. I'm really, really, really looking forward to being able to come home and be able to scramble an egg.

Wow, I remember going thru remodeling days. We stripped everything down to the rafters and I know we lived without a kitchen from July to February. My kids were all in middle school/Jr. High and they put a basketball hoop in our big open area, since the room was stripped down to the lats. We had all original hardwood floors, but my dh insisted on carpeting. I remember throwing out and donating a lot of kitchen items too. Our tv blew because of drywall dust. We covered it up, but that dust seeps in everything.

 

[comicguy]

Yesterday I got rid of the following:

8 books on CD - Donated
4 Books - Donated


12 items left the house yesterday

673/2017 items for the year so far 33.3% of goal

It has been a super busy year, I finally managed to hit the 1/3 mark of my goal. It is a bit depressing but on the other hand I have gotten rid of 673 items that I do not miss!

 

[comicguy]

Got a bit done today

washed and bagged up to send to my son from his room to his new house! (this was stuff that has been sitting o the bed since he and his fiance moved out this past August)
Why do they leave so much behind??
8 pair of pants
25 T-Shirts
2 Jackets
2 Hoodies

2 pair of sneakers - trashed
5 CD's - trashed
12 CD Jewel cases - donated
2 books - donated


58 items left the house yesterday

731/2017 items for the year so far 36.2% of goal

Hoping to get to at least 50% of goal before end of year Maybe with sending his stuff to him, I just might get to that goal!!

 

[comicguy]

My son picked up from our house (from his old bedroom) and brought to his new house:

1 winter jacket
1 hoodie
1 comforter
2 button up shirts
3 pants
10 T-shirts


18 items left the house yesterday

749/2017 items for the year so far 37.1% of goal

 

[mommy2mrb]

Donated piece of artwork to DD school auction.
Random bag of stuff donated
Clean out pantry 1/2 bag of trash

 

[comicguy]

Items that have left today include:

2 pair of socks - trashed
1 microwave - sold 10 dollars!!
2 expired food - trashed


lots of recycling!!




5 items left the house today

754/2017 items for the year so far 37.4% of goal

 

[comicguy]

My son just picked up an entire box (36 in x 12 in x 8 in and must have weighed 20 pounds) of his college notes and brought them to his house to sort out

 

[OhMari]

My son just picked up an entire box (36 in x 12 in x 8 in and must have weighed 20 pounds) of his college notes and brought them to his house to sort out

My kids each have a tub of books, papers, etc. from College. I think the price of everything was so expensive-they cannot get rid of it. Every time I go to there homes or apartment, I am starting to bring their things to their home. They can decided what to do with it.

 

[mommy2mrb]

2 sleeping bags donated today to homeless group.

 

[emilymad]

Question for all of you experts! Where in the house do you start the decluttering process? Is there a method that worked best for you?

We are pretty good about getting rid of stuff but we want to list our house for sale by February so we need to do a major declutter. We started with the basement (small and finished). We got rid of a ton but now it is a mess with Christmas decorations so there isn't else I can do there at the moment. Last year we went through every Christmas box and got rid of what we didn't want.

Now we need to start on the rest of the house but the where to start has us like a deer in headlights!

 

[mommy2mrb]

Question for all of you experts! Where in the house do you start the decluttering process? Is there a method that worked best for you?

We are pretty good about getting rid of stuff but we want to list our house for sale by February so we need to do a major declutter. We started with the basement (small and finished). We got rid of a ton but now it is a mess with Christmas decorations so there isn't else I can do there at the moment. Last year we went through every Christmas box and got rid of what we didn't want.

Now we need to start on the rest of the house but the where to start has us like a deer in headlights!

Start with dressers or closets first. If you haven’t worn it in a year or truly love it out it goes.

Kitchen next. Get rid of duplicates or anything that is not needed. Get rid of food/spices that are expired.

Bathroom go through make-up, products, sunscreen they all have expiration dates too. Figure out how many towels/wash clothes you really need. Same with sheets and blankets.

If you have kids have them help you go through their toys. Books. DVDs video games.

Also any other boxes/bins you have. When was the last time you looked in them or even know what’s in them. Haven’t missed it, donate!

Last figure out what you really want to bring to new home. Art, furniture, lamps etc.

Do one thing at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. It takes time, been working through our stuff last 3-4 months. Moving in July.

Good luck!

 

[emilymad]

Start with dressers or closets first. If you haven’t worn it in a year or truly love it out it goes.

Kitchen next. Get rid of duplicates or anything that is not needed. Get rid of food/spices that are expired.

Bathroom go through make-up, products, sunscreen they all have expiration dates too. Figure out how many towels/wash clothes you really need. Same with sheets and blankets.

If you have kids have them help you go through their toys. Books. DVDs video games.

Also any other boxes/bins you have. When was the last time you looked in them or even know what’s in them. Haven’t missed it, donate!

Last figure out what you really want to bring to new home. Art, furniture, lamps etc.

Do one thing at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. It takes time, been working through our stuff last 3-4 months. Moving in July.

Good luck!

Thanks!!!! We did a general sweep of the house a year or so ago but now that it is a serious clean out it gets scary!

 

[hsmamato2]

ok.... 2 weeks ago I cleaned out our linen/bath supplies closet..... and tossed a big garbage bag full of expired meds, old makeup samples,empty soap dispensers....why was I keeping all that junk? gave our humidifier to goodwill(leftover from having small kids and colds a million years ago) and also 4 shopping bags stuffed with unwanted coats and jackets from our closet went to Goodwill.(I only wear like 3 coats throughout the year, the rest are gone now) Also donated some boots/shoes to Goodwill that were unused for years in my closet- I'm hoping to help ds1 dig thru the junk in his room today to get rid of unused stuff (probably a goodwill run again) I'm debating on 3 items, try to sell, or just donate? (if it's worth the bother) a fancy crystal bowl,a nice leather jacket,and a 2 pc mens suit that fits no one in our house)..... I feel like I've gotten rid of a lot, but I still have so much stuff in my closets! wait- I forgot, also gave away some of my kids old games we don't use anymore,and cleaned out my toy stash that I keep on hand for visiting nieces and nephews(down to one bucket of toys for play) now...I have a bunch of stuffed animals staring at me....... oh those eyes!

 

[OhMari]

Today, I got rid of a few Christmas items,
MIckey Mouse holding Christmas Tree Lights
Rudolph that lights up
A star for the window that lights up.
2 sets of Christmas Lights
2'dozen ornaments
A box of hooks.
Going to a person that asked.

I actually emptied 2 Christmas bins.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I'm going to try and hit the garage this weekend. Hopefully Dh will get cash in water bottles. I've seen a few things to donate and a few things to donate. Dh has a 3 day weekend so I'm going to tell him to break down any boxes. He likes saving boxes of things we bought.

We are having DD a bday party with family so I will be giving the house a good deep cleaning and I'm sure I will have stuff to get rid of. My Sis let me barrow 3 large juice containers for grad party and told me to hold on to them no rush. Well those suckers are big and take up space, no wonder she's in no rush-lol!

We also plan on decorating for Christmas . I plan on going through my decorations and getting rid of anything broken or donating unwanted stuff. I also have a lot of cute ceramic Christmas stuff that I use for decoration. Some are perfect for candy bouquets and candy holders or giftcard holder. All in good condition.

I'll update how much I get rid of

 

[NinaBella]

We got rid of so much stuff this year! We do still have a ways to go, but overall happy with the process. I only sold a few things because the yard sale boards are time consuming. I donated or trashed most items.


I like the KonMarie method, I just have way too much to do in a few days so I have been taking it in smaller steps. I do KonMarie by room. I also have done the same rooms more than once. It’s hard the first round to get rid of everything, but after seeing results from round one, round two and three it’s easier to let stuff go that you were hesitant about letting go in round one. For 2018 I have to work in the smaller stuff like pictures and sentimental items. We also put quite a bit of stuff in a storage unit and I want to go through that. The camping gear in storage will be hard to get rid of because we put in a lot of money back when our 23 year old was a Boy Scout.

I had DD decorate the Christmas tree and I haven’t even opened several bins of Christmas items so although got rid of some Christmas items early in 2017 when putting away the holiday decorations I should probably trim it down again. We do not have any little kids in our immediate family. DD is the youngest at 14 so we do not go all-out decorating anymore. We haven’t even put lights on the house the last few years.

 

[comicguy]

Last night I found the following items to get rid of:

6 new 3 subject notebooks - donated
1 new package of highlighters - donated
1 new comp notebook - donated
2 books - donated



10 items left the house last night

764/2017 items for the year so far 37.87% of goal

 

[scottmel]

I never have clutter, I am a super anal person and let me tell you it is a full time job keeping the house perfect and clutter free and DD gone to college! What I never did purge though was Christmas. Year after year I pull up these bins and end of just taking so much back downstairs. This year I dealt with it and ended up with a full bin of nice items I simply don't want but have value and another bin of things I felt have seen their day.

I took the nice stuff and listed on my local swap shop, it all sold within and hour and I netted 56.00 on stuff that I felt was nice but no longer what I wanted. It was a good feeling as for whatever reason the christmas stuff had me in denial.

Now I took pictures of my decorating and will put these pictures in the storage bin so decorating next year is a snap. Everything will be used and everything has its place