Destash 2021 Don't Fear to Clear

[DisneyHardin]

I got rid of 2 bags of old clutter today. A few odds and ends, a cheap blender that was missing a top and an old pair of my son’s boots. I came across many more items that will go in a garage sale as soon as the weather is nice enough

Garage sale season is the big thing we are waiting on too. I have a literal box mountain in our guest room of stuff to sell. We were going to have one last summer, but then never really felt comfortable having it with Covid. This summer it is going to happen!!! It's too much nice stuff to just donate and we live in a good place for a garage sale, so I know I will make a decent amount of money from it all.

 

[comicguy]

January is off to a great start in getting rid of stuff! Sold a crap load of smaller items on ebay for a decent amount of money. It is so freeing finding new homes for unwanted/unneeded items. Hopefully Febuary is half as good, we shall see

218 items gone!

8 assorted broken hex drivers - trashed

1 frayed charging cord - recycled
1 amazon fire stick w/ remote - recycled
1 plastic gift card holder (was in x-mas box from previous year) - recycled

1 Microwave bacon cooker - donated
1 Quesadilla Maker - donated
1 cupcake stand - donated
8 plastic serving trays - donated
1 glass serving tray - donated
2 blue candle holders - donated
1 sunflower candle holder - donated
1 cake decorating set - donated
1 set salt and pepper shakers - donated
1 food chopper - donated
1 silicone muffin tray donated
8 snowman ceramic Xmas serving plates - donated
1 snowman candy dish - donated
2 ceramic serving bowls - donated
3 cheese grater accessories - donated
1 glass dish - donated
1 glass top cover (to a pot we no longer own) - donated
1 set of snowman bowls - gifted
1 serving platter - gifted
1 vegetable steamer - donated
2 round cake pans - donated
1 computer mouse - donated
2 pair of pants - donated

4 packages of screws - donated to robotics program
1 bag of empty thread spools - donated to robotics program
12 metal robot structure parts - donated to robotics program
8 robot plastic base plates - donated to robotics program
1 container of bearings - donated to robotics program
1 small bag of misc robot building parts - donated to robotics program

8 expired medicines - brought to drop off location

1 padded envelope - used up to send ebay item
1 manilla envelope - used up for shipping ebay item
16 cardboard boxes - used up to ship ebay items
1 roll of packing tape - used up for shipping
25 misc robotics items - sold ebay
22 comics - sold ebay
32 comics - sold ebay
3 comics - sold ebay
1 battery and charger - sold ebay
1 comic portfolio - sold ebay
4 books - sold ebay
4 books - sold ebay
1 box of robot structure parts - sold ebay
1 box of motor controllers - sold on ebay
1 box of misc robot wheels - sold on ebay
1 lego robot brick - sold ebay
1 robotics sensor - sold ebay
2 small robotics motors - sold ebay
10 various electronics cables - sold ebay
1 lego robot sensor - sold ebay
1 lego robot sensor - sold ebay

 

[focusondisney]

A health crisis with my 88 y.o. mom had me away from the house for most of the week so I couldn’t do much. But I grabbed 4 old ceramic items my DD made in middle school, an old torn wallet & an old ceramic planter & trashed them. 2 half used boxes of Christmas cards, an inspirational paperback I got several years ago at a conference & an unused folder went into recycling. I also had a box with all the packaging & receipts from Christmas gifts this year. The plastic packaging got thrown out, receipts got shredded & the box went into recycling.

Then we have the good news/ bad news/ good news situation. Good news: DH retires tomorrow! Yea!! Bad news: he just brought 3 boxes of stuff home from his office.

Good news: I already told him he’ll be helping me go thru 2 file cabinets of papers & appliance manuals; the bedroom closets & the basement storage area.

 

[ford91exploder]

New to this group but I do understand about. One stuff breeds leave it alone in a room and no matter how many bags o stuff you take out, It seems that given 24 hours its all back there again. I just have so many leftovers from past engineering projects from blueprints to prototypes and parts. I'm not even trying to sort the stuff just putting it in barrels and bags and hauling it off to recycling center

 

[comicguy]

So not as a strong a month as January but still got rid of additional 50 items!!!

12 misc cables for items no longer owned - recycled
1 handful of paperwork - recycled

1 gallon of paint for bathroom - used up
1 box of flooring for bathroom (on hand for a year) - installed
1 bathroom door (on hand for a year) - installed
1 sliding door track (on hand for 3 months) - installed
1 shower inset (on hand for a year) - installed
1 shower underlayment system (on hand for a year) - installed
10 pieces of trim work (on hand for 6 months) - installed
1 medicine cabinet (on hand for 1 year)- installed
1 toilet paper holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 washcloth holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 towel holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 outlet plate - installed

2 puzzles - donated
1 ½ in binder - donated

1 set of 13 pieces of lego sprockets - sold ebay
1 set of 8 rubber lego treads - sold ebay
1 set of lego wheels - sold ebay
1 lego servo - sold ebay
1 set of lego track treads - sold ebay
2 lego ball and casters - sold ebay
3 boxes - used for shipping ebay items
2 manilla envelopes - used for shipping ebay items

1 ripped binder - trashed

50 items gone!
268 items of 500 goal or 53.6% of goal

 

[crazylady]

February update:

I trashed or donated 106 items to bring my today to 237. This month I focused on the front hall closet and random house decor stuff I'd been hoarding. We also started the master closet. There is definitely alot more work to do in there.

I hope everyone had a productive month!

 

[crazylady]

So not as a strong a month as January but still got rid of additional 50 items!!!

12 misc cables for items no longer owned - recycled
1 handful of paperwork - recycled

1 gallon of paint for bathroom - used up
1 box of flooring for bathroom (on hand for a year) - installed
1 bathroom door (on hand for a year) - installed
1 sliding door track (on hand for 3 months) - installed
1 shower inset (on hand for a year) - installed
1 shower underlayment system (on hand for a year) - installed
10 pieces of trim work (on hand for 6 months) - installed
1 medicine cabinet (on hand for 1 year)- installed
1 toilet paper holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 washcloth holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 towel holder (on hand for 1 year) - installed
1 outlet plate - installed

2 puzzles - donated
1 ½ in binder - donated

1 set of 13 pieces of lego sprockets - sold ebay
1 set of 8 rubber lego treads - sold ebay
1 set of lego wheels - sold ebay
1 lego servo - sold ebay
1 set of lego track treads - sold ebay
2 lego ball and casters - sold ebay
3 boxes - used for shipping ebay items
2 manilla envelopes - used for shipping ebay items

1 ripped binder - trashed

50 items gone!
268 items of 500 goal or 53.6% of goal

Sounds like your bathroom project is almost done! I bet it feels good to have those big items out of your way.

 

[4 Ears]

I detached a pillow and a coffee mug today LOL. I have been destashing for a while and just did the 30 day minimalism challenge so wasnt surprised I didnt have more.
Went through my food pantry and have a few items that are not expired and will take into work tomorrow. I work with some very low income people and 20 somethings that eat any and everything you put in front of them.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

My 2021 destashing goal is 1200 items, in February I got rid of 175 items for a total of 375/1200.

I trashed any Christmas decorations that were broken and returned any we borrowed from my mom.

I cleaned out our pantry, threw away a nonfunctioning toaster oven and gave away about 65 individual cereal servings. We order lunch delivered from the kids' school and you can't decline their breakfast offering which is small servings of cereal. Only 1 out of 3 of my kids eats them and she wouldn't be able to eat them before they expire so I gave them away in our local buy nothing group.

I got rid of some excess furniture and decorations that were cluttering the basement, again in our local buy nothing group. All old paint cans from the garage were also purged.

Our local St. Vincent's has not reopened their donation site or store due to covid so I'm giving things away exclusively in the buy nothing group which can be a pain, sometimes I just want the stuff out of my house immediately.

February wasn't as productive as I wanted so here's hoping I can purge more in March!

 

[comicguy]

Sounds like your bathroom project is almost done! I bet it feels good to have those big items out of your way.

Just the shower tile left and shower fixtures to install. Will probably complete on April break.

 

[ford91exploder]

5 yard roll off dumpster, That was the tool we used to destash. Would have liked to donate many of the items which wound up in there but covid restrictions in my area made that impossible will probably get another for spring cleaning

 

[dpswift]

My daughter got 2 bags of garbage out of her room we put aside several books, videos and glassware aside for a garage sale. If they don’t sell they are going straight to donations. I also had about a half bag of clothing that my younger daughter went through and took a few things for friends and smocks

 

[dpswift]

I am doing a lot better now after a slowdown. I have been tackling a lot of the easier things. I so far this morning have 3 bags of garbage and added at least a dozen items to my garage sale boxes. The second day I went through my glassware I was able to get rid of twice as much. I think I started with the wrong cupboard

 

[focusondisney]

I’m still away from home most days working 12 hour shifts or caring for my mom; I spend at least 2 nights & the whole following day at her house every week. But I’m trying to keep going with my destash efforts. Last week I trashed 2 more boxes with more of the kid‘s school ceramic projects. (And I’ve been wondering why on earth my non artistic kids had to make so many ceramic projects anyway. I feel horrible filling up a landfill with those useless items).
Got my DH to go thru a folder full of appliance manuals. He recycled about half of them. We still have 2 more folders to go thru but the file drawer is less crowded already. I shredded 15 old financial statements. DH also shredded medical papers & bills from over 10 years ago from another folder in the file cabinet.

I went looking for something in the kitchen junk drawer Tuesday & had papers falling out. I spent the next hour clearing it out & organizing what was left. I threw out: about 30 dried out pens, markers & pencils that have been in there for years; more than a dozen expired coupons; another 10 sheets of those free return address labels that come unsolicited in the mail, 2 dried out bottles of Elmer’s glue, care manuals for a pizza stone, silverware & a braising pan; countless dried out rubber bands, hand wipes, packets of floral preservative, rusted paper clips; several slips of recipes I’ll never make & a packet of flower seeds from a baby shower 2 years ago. I moved 6 small note pads to a cupboard in another room & threw out 2 others. The drawer is less than half full now. The pens, pencils & markers are grouped with rubber bands, the remaining rubber bands, paper clips wipes & floral preserve packets are in zip lock bags, the few remaining manuals & address labels are nicely contained in an envelope. My scissors, letter opener & tape are now right there when you open the drawer. I was so happy with the result I opened the drawer a couple times that evening just to look at it, lol.

Not too bad for a week I was hardly even home. Most of these were smaller, less noticeable areas but the sense of accomplishment is huge!

 

[dpswift]

I replaced one of my husbands pillows so in the trash the old one goes. I emptied and recycled 4 sparkling juice bottles that we have had longer Than I can remember. Today I returned 4 bags of empty bottles. For some reason both my daughter and I hate returning them so they stack up. I have a love hate relationship with recycling. If there was no deposit these bottles would have been recycled months ago. Also towns doing away with big trash days cause people to keep things that normally would have been taken to the curb.

 

[crazylady]

I’m still away from home most days working 12 hour shifts or caring for my mom; I spend at least 2 nights & the whole following day at her house every week. But I’m trying to keep going with my destash efforts. Last week I trashed 2 more boxes with more of the kid‘s school ceramic projects. (And I’ve been wondering why on earth my non artistic kids had to make so many ceramic projects anyway. I feel horrible filling up a landfill with those useless items).
Got my DH to go thru a folder full of appliance manuals. He recycled about half of them. We still have 2 more folders to go thru but the file drawer is less crowded already. I shredded 15 old financial statements. DH also shredded medical papers & bills from over 10 years ago from another folder in the file cabinet.

I went looking for something in the kitchen junk drawer Tuesday & had papers falling out. I spent the next hour clearing it out & organizing what was left. I threw out: about 30 dried out pens, markers & pencils that have been in there for years; more than a dozen expired coupons; another 10 sheets of those free return address labels that come unsolicited in the mail, 2 dried out bottles of Elmer’s glue, care manuals for a pizza stone, silverware & a braising pan; countless dried out rubber bands, hand wipes, packets of floral preservative, rusted paper clips; several slips of recipes I’ll never make & a packet of flower seeds from a baby shower 2 years ago. I moved 6 small note pads to a cupboard in another room & threw out 2 others. The drawer is less than half full now. The pens, pencils & markers are grouped with rubber bands, the remaining rubber bands, paper clips wipes & floral preserve packets are in zip lock bags, the few remaining manuals & address labels are nicely contained in an envelope. My scissors, letter opener & tape are now right there when you open the drawer. I was so happy with the result I opened the drawer a couple times that evening just to look at it, lol.

Not too bad for a week I was hardly even home. Most of these were smaller, less noticeable areas but the sense of accomplishment is huge!

When my parents moved we found my brother's bed had broken and he propped it up with an ugly vase/pot that he made in HS ceramics class. At least he got some use out of it before it went to the landfill

 

[crazylady]

March update - This month I got ride of 91 things bringing my total to 328. This month I don't feel like I finished any one space but I touched on the extra blankets, more kid clothes (why is it never ending???), craft crap (I seem to have that tucked away everywhere) and wrapping supplies.

 

[dpswift]

March update - This month I got ride of 91 things bringing my total to 328. This month I don't feel like I finished any one space but I touched on the extra blankets, more kid clothes (why is it never ending???), craft crap (I seem to have that tucked away everywhere) and wrapping supplies.

That is what I have learned the past couple of months. Sometimes instead of going to what is most visible you need to go to an area that is easier to go through. Old clothes old blankets, books videos. The things you have not seen in a while are easier to part with. Put things you feel you should get rid of but don’t want to in a box. If you go after them within 6 months keep it otherwise throw it out

 

[crazylady]

That is what I have learned the past couple of months. Sometimes instead of going to what is most visible you need to go to an area that is easier to go through. Old clothes old blankets, books videos. The things you have not seen in a while are easier to part with. Put things you feel you should get rid of but don’t want to in a box. If you go after them within 6 months keep it otherwise throw it out

Very true. I wish I could get my husband to participate more. He has tons of crap stuff he should part with but he thinks is he's all going to use it someday.

 

[snowwite]

He sounds like my dad! My father always said, you never know when you might need it! We found so much stuff after he passed. He saved Dunkin plastic cups. Why? You never know....