Discarding old stuff

[hrh_disney_queen]

If any one has watched "Clean House" you have heard of this tip for cleaning out the closet. Turn all of your hangers to hang up backwards. (opening to the front) If you wear the item, hang it back up with the hanger hanging the correct way. After a period of time (how long anyone?) you look at the direction of the hangers in your closet, and get rid of all the clothes that are still hanging backwards.

I did a MAJOR gutting of my closet about 6 months ago. I haven't worked in over 10 years, so all of my work clothes were definitely dated. Got rid of all of them, jeans that were never going to fit again, stuff that looked awful even when it fit. I must have had about 100 pounds of clothing off to Goodwill. I am thinking about doing it again after I finish with my attic...

I am going to have a hard time with my boys room. So many toys, and Goodwill does not accept toy donations anymore. I can get rid of stuff, but can't throw out perfectly good, barely used toys. I think Salvation Army takes toys still, but they are way on the other side of town.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

My downfall is the kids stuff. It's so hard for me get rid of baby clothes and toys.

We also seem to accumulate a lot of crap that needs to be shredded like cc offers, old bills and bank stuff. I just think I will do it later and then later it's a huge mountain of stuff

You just reminded me, our town is having a Community Service shredding on Saturday. You can bring in paper, old computers, anything with information and they will dispose/shred it free of charge.

Baby stuff is hard. You see it and remember how sweet the child looked while wearing it. You can do it, though..just keep the sentimental stuff, like Christening gowns, first shoes, and hospital caps. Maybe you can find a community consignment sale to participate in. It's a little easier if you can get some cash for the stuff! You can do it!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

wow nice downsizing! What about stuff that you may think could hold nostalgic feelings down the road?

It was too much of a down size and we added 1 more kid to the mix, but going this small from a house with 4 rooms we never used has really told us how much space we really need. I'm aiming for 2500 sq ft, with as much usable space as possible. Lots of houses nowadays have wasted space with roof pitches and layout designs. But this house serves it's purpose. It's next door to my parents and with DH's travel schedule it's easy to deal with especially with 4 kids. But they are getting older and need their own rooms.
It's a cool house though, it's a Sears catalog house.

If the nostalgic things are important they are out and displayed. Like my dolls and DH's polar bear collection.
I'm not one that really clings to stuff except for my pictures. I gather the kids papers for the year and the first day of summer I pick 1 drawing 2 or 3 writing samples and 1 project, and pitch the rest. Each kid has a large tote for personal items like blankets, stuffed animals, etc. Most things today are not nostalgic. The biggest piece I have that is special to me is a train trunk, which for now is stored in the loft of the garage. Some day it will go in either my bedroom or craft room. The nice thing is that it is usable storage.
Everything in this house has to be multifunctional. And use every inch of what you have for space, go vertical. Every nook and cranny in this house has a function.

I learned the hard way that stuff is just that, stuff. When we bought our first house we were in the process of moving in before we bought it and had a flood in the basement (pipe burst). We lost a lot of books, papers, etc. And 2 years ago we had a flood in this house (huge rain storm) and lost a ton more things. It just let it go at that point and it really lifted a weight off my shoulders.

You just have to decide as you are sorting if that particular item is something you absolutely love. Will it make you happy in your new place. Does it fit in the lifestyle you have now. If you keep that, is there something else you can get rid of so the item you love has a home. Etc.

Magazines I pile up for a few months under the end table, then go though them and pull out articles and ideas I love and recycle the rest. 90% of magazines are ads, I don't need those. I have binders that I store the pages I kept divided by subject. Most of my mags are scrapbook mags so my binders are divided by layouts, altered items, and other crafts.
Books, that is tough. DH loves books! We have, I'd say, at least 10,000 books between the 6 of us. And that is after the floods! Because this house is so small we rotate the books out. When we are done reading a group of books, they get stored and new books come out.
One thing our new house must have is a library with floor to ceiling bookcases.

How big is your space now, and how small are you going?

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

If any one has watched "Clean House" you have heard of this tip for cleaning out the closet. Turn all of your hangers to hang up backwards. (opening to the front) If you wear the item, hang it back up with the hanger hanging the correct way. After a period of time (how long anyone?) you look at the direction of the hangers in your closet, and get rid of all the clothes that are still hanging backwards.

I did a MAJOR gutting of my closet about 6 months ago. I haven't worked in over 10 years, so all of my work clothes were definitely dated. Got rid of all of them, jeans that were never going to fit again, stuff that looked awful even when it fit. I must have had about 100 pounds of clothing off to Goodwill. I am thinking about doing it again after I finish with my attic...

I am going to have a hard time with my boys room. So many toys, and Goodwill does not accept toy donations anymore. I can get rid of stuff, but can't throw out perfectly good, barely used toys. I think Salvation Army takes toys still, but they are way on the other side of town.

The hanger thing is a good idea! DH needs to do this.

I gave toys to the school at the beginning of the year for the teachers Treasure box. The janitors accidently threw her box away and she was going to have to start from scratch.
Also donate to shelters, they always need clothes, toys, etc. Sheets and blankets can go to animal shelters. Work clothes can go to places that help women coming off welfare, they need clothes for interviews and such.
You can also recycle stained and holey clothes too. There is a company out there that makes house insulation out of shredded blue jeans. Not sure of the name, I saw it on the green channel. I believe either goodwill or salvation army has a partnership with these companies too, so you might want to ask them.
Stuffed animals can go to your Fire dept, police dept, and Child protective services, etc.

And don't forget to tally your items you donate for tax deductions!

And don't forget rehabbing old furniture too. We took an old entertainment center, added shelves in the space for the TV, instant bookcase.