I just did some massive de-cluttering this fall. I too am on the baby wagon (38.5 weeks and counting, little guy is comfy so we are going to try to walk him out this weekend lol). The room that is the nursery had become a storage room when my roommate lived here and stayed that way when my husband moved in so I had an entire rooms worth of items to purge or find a new home for. This December we got rid of:
-several boxes of kitchen items that were replaced with my shower items or were duplicates left behind by roommate. a bunch of tupper ware that was missing its mate.
- a set of living room end tables and coffee table that had been replaced with other furniture
- tossed a bag of old linens and bed sheets
- as I cleaned out I passed a bunch of random items like a nice lamp and unused curtains back to my mother (she gave me a desk, lamp, and coffee table this year so it was kinda funny that as we both de-cluttered we found things the other needed)
- I sent in two bags of clothes to Thred Up at the end of summer and ended up donating about 4 bags to the local thrift store.
- several board games that we never use including an original cranium board game that I never used but have toted around for like the last decade for some bizarre reason (interesting topic for a book, the random crap we move with us for no apparent reason)
- an extra vacuum that had a damaged cord
- two broken suitcases that my husband had used to move and never actually tossed once emptied.
- piles of magazines I read while I was home on disability in the last few weeks
I also have been working on using up items that were hanging around including:
- xmas gift items I collected over the year, I made sure that I used them to make gift baskets or sets so I didn't have to hold onto them any longer.
- stationary. A Hallmark near me went out of business last January which resulted in a stockpile, so I ensured that every time I needed a card I pulled from that stash, probably only needed to buy 2-3 cards this past year. I also just used up a bunch of random thank you cards for my baby shower and even used blank note cards as well, no one will know that they didn't all get the same thank you card so I realized it is silly to keep buying a new set for each event.
- pantry items. I got rid of expired items and anything near expiration was worked into meals in the last two months.
- toiletries. I sorted out some of the samples and travel size items in storage. they are in a bin in the bathroom and I am working my way through them as I would need to travel a lot to use them all up at this rate.
This year we need to tackle my husband's closet and clothes in general. We keep replacing items but haven't weeded out the worn items. We also have one box of books to sort out as we believe we can sell some of them on
Amazon. They key is going to not bring in too much stuff this year, especially with the baby.
