Destash 2017 The Year to Clear

Took my previously-reported bags from the closet disaster to the church clothing drive yesterday, so they are officially gone!

Also have been doing a little better about recycling things in the first place instead of putting them in the craft bin, only to save too much and end up recyng the same stuff later!
 
I cleaned out my closet again last weekend. I'm losing weight and got rid of a big trash bag of clothes. 18 pairs of pants-work, jeans and capris. They were either too big or I'd saved and they fit but just didn't look good. Plus some shirts, sweaters, and dresses.

I also took 2 bags of yarn and craft supplies to school.

DH is on board to move after DS graduates in 2019! So I'm starting the "would I want to move it" view of things in the house. I have a list of furniture we won't move but will keep until we go.

Summer is my free time to declutter and do home improvements so I'm dividing my list into this year and next. 2019 will be focused on job hunting and move summer of 2019 to hopefully pick up a teaching contract in my new state.

We plan to downsize and I only want to take what we truly use or value.
 


:upsidedowI am hosting a French student in August and today is my home inspection so to prepare for that I finally got rid of 7 boxes of various sizes and 1 large kohl's bag! Took them to good will yesterday. I still have 3 boxes of books and dvd's to take to sell but I will do that when i'm feeling better. I've been sick since Tuesday! I also posted 4 items that I feel may sell better than what I donated. If those don't sell, i'll take those to goodwill soon.

I also got rid of 4 bags of trash this weekend! 1 came out of DS's room. Took him and my mom 3 hours to clean his room yesterday. I cleaned my entire apartment Saturday and Sunday and rearranged furniture so now I feel much more motivated to keep purging. I'm going to tackle the linen closets over my 4 day Memorial Day weekend. I think I can get rid of enough items from those to clear some shelf space for less used items that are stashed in my closet. Our large suitcases are sitting in the middle of my walk in closet and I'd love to move those.

My storage unit is full. DS's closet is full and mine is now over-full. It is definitely time to tackle some more items. :upsidedow
 
Have never posted here but my DD and I will be moving next summer to MA and have a bunch of plastic totes we moved up with us 7 years ago after my DH passed from CA to WA. At the time we couldn't manage the thought of getting rid of stuff and moved them here. we've been going through them the past few weeks.

To date have sorted through 17 totes, only 7 are filled with items we are keeping of my DH's, childhood items, special keepsakes, photos. Have donated most of the items to Salvation Army (I can't deal with having garage sales, would rather take the tax break) sold books and dvd's to half price books and consigned a few items.

Still have about 6-7 totes left and will go through Christmas stuff after the holidays, and going to be donating our two trees to DD school. Need to start going through scrapbooking items again too soon which I donate to a local women's shelter.

Had gone through our clothes after Christmas and donate to women's shelter and orphanage in Haiti, usually do this yearly anyways.

It's been a shared project for us and going through our memories have been healing.

Good luck to all in this process of decluttering take one day/area/box at a time.

That is awesome work. Especially since you are grieving as you purge.
 
We have been working on clearing a lot of stuff out lately. We got rid of some toys and baby items this weekend. I've also condensed my "junk totes" which is when we're moving and I don't know where to put something, I throw it in a bin to be dealt with when we arrive. It doesn't usually happen, lol.

I got rid of a bunch of things I bought my daughter when I thought I would do crafts with her, because we honestly don't craft very much.

We are slowly but surely making progress. It feels like a never ending journey, especially with two children.
 


I found a home for DS's toybox. It is literally just taking up space in his closet but I have a friend with two small boys so it will be going to a good home. I just have to get it to her, which will probably happen this Friday or Saturday.

I have 4 days off this weekend and only have plans for 1 day so I feel like I will clean and purge a bunch more. I'm planning on the linen closets, my walk in closet, DS's closet and just to round it out I'll clean out the front closet and get rid of some more shoes.

None of my stuff sold on FB so I'll be taking it up to goodwill this weekend as well. This will free up a bit of floor space in my living room/dining room area.

I will probably stop with the closets this weekend but this summer I am tackling DS's room. Our French student will be sleeping in there so we need to clean and purge each month until he arrives. My son is a pack rat! I'm hoping it's just because he's at the weird early teen years and wants to hold onto everything, i.e. "yes I still play with the puzzle ball Mom" My response is "then why is it so dusty!?!?! Give it away!" UGH.
 
I still have a mountain of stuff to get through. We're redoing some of the house ATM so it's a bit mental with things piled up everywhere.

My mam has been trouble the last few weeks for my decluttering. I've been going through old stuff and everytime I decided to let go of something she swoops in and makes me all sentimental about it. One example being part of my old school uniform. She convinced me to keep it somehow and I can't even remember how!
 
Waiting for friend to come pick up the two cabinets hopefully by end of month. DD Went through more of her things, one bag donated, one small trash. Need to finish my scrap supplies this weekend.
 
I have had zero luck with selling anything. I did however get notified of a friend of a friend of a friend's house burned down and they did not have insurance so I collected a bunch of shoes, clothes, and toiletry items to donate to the family that was effected. I dropped one bag and one box off yesterday. I still need to make a trip to the book store to sell my 3 boxes of stuff and I need to make another run to goodwill.

I did not clean out all the closets like I had planned but things kept popping up. So maybe this weekend but it's my birthday weekend so who knows.

I've been trying to decide about purchasing a home in my hometown or just waiting and buying land in FL and moving down in a few years. I'm leaning towards FL so I'm using that as motivation to get rid of "stuff" so I have less to do each year my move gets closer.
 
Used up some paint brushes (2)/rollers (1) and plumbing fittings (10) doing some work on my sons new house this past weekend
 
I have a milk-crate of "Golden Books" from when my kids were little. They have to be over 25 years old. I looked on Ebay and I see they are running about $1.00 a book.
I was just going to put them in the recyle bin-or should I keep them yet.

Why not donate them to a local hospital for use in their pediatrics wing?
 
The health system I work for is having a 'gently used purse' sale, so I bundled up every bag I don't use and dropped them off today as a donation. DH wanted me to keep trying to sell them, but nothing is selling on Facebook lately and I'm tired of looking at it. They're gone now and will hopefully make someone else happy. We're finally talking about remodeling our kitchen (it's 40 years old and non-functional) and the person will be out next week. That means we need to seriously purge whatever we don't use and have been keeping just in case. I just want to be able to open drawers without hitting the fridge or having to crawl into cabinets on my hands and knees. I'm hoping the clean out will encourage him to work on his den and help me work on the garage and other shared areas.
 
Why not donate them to a local hospital for use in their pediatrics wing?
I looked them over and I did say in a previous post, I noticed that some of the books had pages cut out, one of my kids must have used some of the books for a school project. They were dusty and the pages were sort of damp from humidity in the basement. I saved a few, but I put them in the recyling bin.
 

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