I made a drop off donation to our local thrift shop every Saturday of 2010. Sometimes that was a lot of stuff. Some weeks it was just a few items. But, every single Saturday, on my way to the grocery store, I donated what I'd found that week. That kept me from accumulating a big pile of stuff that was just waiting around to be donated and it made it feel like the process was always moving.
I found that if I had a good sized open-topped box it was easier to toss things into than if I had to bend down and tuck a no longer precious item into a bag. (That's not a tip you will find in any how-to book, but it actually helped me.) I kept the box around and emptied it into the donate bags when it filled. Bags got donated, box stayed ready for whatever I discovered the next week.
Hey fellow Mainah!! (OP, that is!)
I do this, too, with lots of stuff. I am a congenital stasher-stacker; my mom did it, my nana did it, my siblings ALL stack! I have found that if I have to take the time/energy/motivation to actually put something away, I will stack it rather than do the "right thing." SO... I have a manilla envelope thumbtacked to my corkboard, and any receipt that I might want (think present returns, taxes, etc.) goes in there. We have a bag under a shelf in the entryway, and that's where all returnable bottles go; DH will take them downstairs and bag them up (he counts them and returns them by 50s... he makes up for my stackiness!), but now they aren't lined up on the counters, because I kNOW I am not taking them downstairs! In our spare room, we set up DD's old pack-n-play. That's where I throw things until it's time to bag them up (usually managed by DH
) and take them to Goodwill. I have a mailing envelope, and that's where all bills go the minute they come out of the mailbox, and my "filing cabinet" for paid bill stubs is a shoebox in a cabinet above the TV. It used to make DH totally nuts for me to do this, but now he realizes that it's organized, somewhat, and he's calmed down... a bit. It works for me, and that's what counts
My biggest issue is GETTING STARTED. I know what to do (just look around the basement and storage room!) BUT nothing's straightforward. To get one room destashed, I'd have to find spots to put everything, but that means trying to find places to put the things that are already IN those rooms. I know I should get rid of stuff, but we are talking about things like our crystal set, DD's porcelain Disney princess figurines, kitchen stuff, etc. Yes, it's been in storage for 9 years now, but still... it's a dilemma. Doing one thing means a series of events has to happen before I can do what needs to be done, and I don't want a big project; I just want that little stack of boxes to go away!
