Who is destashing in 2010?

[melancholywings]

How do you get your kids to work with your destashing??

Give them the money from their stuff that they sell. We destashed DD's bedroom and redecorated it for her birthday. With her consent we craigslisted several larger items out of her room and she got the cash. And to my surprise she decided to put half of that into the family 'travel' jar.

 

[rainydayplay]

I've been trying to declutter. I have thrown away scads of things this year that I finally looked at and said I'd never use -- I mean...if it's been sitting there for months or years and I haven't touched it, do I really need it?

For useful items, one of the ladies that runs my DD's daycare goes to a church that is sponsoring a group of needy families. She said they went one Saturday at the end of May, and they brought chips, sodas, and other snacks. They were there in the afternoon, and it was the first thing they had eaten all day. They all slept on the floor, and when the families showed up to the church the next day, they were wearing the same clothes as the day before.

I think I have taken 3 car loads of stuff so far to be donated to them. Food, clothes, books, toys, blankets, even kitchen supplies (a couple of pans, a crockpot, an electric skillet, new not-out-of-the-box plates...), all cleaned out of the house. I had a stash of children's toothbrushes (I get 30 every year from Colgate.) I'm getting together the next load, and it will include more toys, books, shoes, blankets, a Christmas tree....

Now, I have bought a couple of pieces of new furniture, but, really, with all the stuff I've moved out (including old furniture), it doesn't look like I've made a dent in the stuff in the house!

 

[Christie74]

Love this tread as I could use some motivation in cleaning out the closets. We moved in November and really purged alot of things. However, the kids closets and chests could use some cleaning out. Not to mention mine and the hubby's too. We also need to purge some of the kids toys and books too. Its amazing how quick this stuff can just multiply. I'm going to try and get this done starting Wednesday and finished hopefully by Sunday. Fingers crossed!

 

[mrsklamc]

I'm a big believer in using destashing as a teaching time with your kids. Saying, "we need to fit all of your books on this shelf, which ones do YOU want to keep," etc. Hopefully that way they don't end up with a house like mine someday! A friend of mine had great success taking her kids to volunteer at a homeless shelter, food pantry, etc....might depend on the ages of the kids though. Also, my mom destashed a favorite book of mine as a kid without me knowing, and I both DID realize it was gone and was devastated a few months later to find it on my younger cousin's floor, scribbled on, so I'm scarred for life.

Anyway, came to post this link in case it might help someone...Not prepared to do it this way personally, but maybe you would be:

http://zenhabits.net/clean-slate/

 

[TxRabbit]

We are in the process of moving and so have basically done the clean slate method. I think everyone moving ends up decluttering, disgarding things on the packing side, disgarding things on the unpacking side as well. We ended up putting a great % of our possessions into storage to facilitate the move. Furniturewise, we have beds, the entertainment stuff (tv, computers), two chairs, and a library wall that we could only handle moving once due to size and weight.

We have all kitchen items, many garage items, most utility room items, and most clothing and bathroom items at the new home. I'm not bringing anything else into the new home until everything already in it has been dealt with properly. Then I hope to do the same treatment, box by box, piece by piece to the things in storage. Simplicity is going to be so well worth the effort. I'm pretty excited about it.

 

[comicguy]

Just returned some lumber form the back porch to Lowes for a Merch credit. Less stuff = More money

Also, sold another 35 comics for 45 dollars

Evey little bit helps!!

 

[Ephany]

I'm so excited, I just had to share! I hit a slow patch this spring/early summer, but this weekend DH and I tore through our sproom (spare room) which was packed floor to ceiling with boxes from our move last summer. We were both fed up with the mess and figured anything we hadn't touched in a year, we probably didn't really need. We donated 7 huge boxes of books and a large trash bag of stuff to Goodwill. We also got rid of 2 trash bags of junk, have another 3 boxes of books for the next trip to Goodwill, have 2 large trash bags of outgrown clothes from DD to pass to a friend, and a box of gently used baby/toddler toys for the local foster group.

We only got about half of the room done, but the majority of stuff left is DH's and he promised that he'll work on it on his day off this week. His dad is coming to visit so that'll help motivate DH; his dad is a MAJOR packrat and it's one of DH's fears that we'll end up on Hoarders.

I am so relieved, although it hurt to let the clothes go that DD outgrew. I used to ebay a lot and it pretty much paid for all her new clothes. Ebay is just so seller unfriendly now, and with school/work + DD's school and activities, I don't have the time or patience to sell anymore and we don't have anything like Just Between Friends around here. At least the clothes will be going to someone who can use them, and my friend has a sister with 4 DD's so I know anything my friend can't use, her sister will be able to.

Some of those books I've been carting around from house to house for 20 years; but I was good and only kept 3 boxes and most of those are childhood favorites or not available in Kindle format. Having an e-reader has helped tremendously for me in the amount of books I used to have piled around the house. We've gotten rid of about 2,000 so far and I have soooo much more space. When you can read 4 books a week and buy all your books, they pile up fast! I feel like a huge weight's been lifted off my shoulders and in a weird way can't wait to dive back in after we get back from Disney in a week!

 

[decaff38]

serious destashing while we prepare for a move to Alaska. Gave away our sectional couch, a queen bed and a dresser. Have been through all the closets and over half of thegarage. Had a garage sale on Sat. and made 300.00 . Only sold a few larger things. All in quarters, fifty cent and dollars. Lots of stuff gone. Taking all the rest to the Goodwill and consignment. Today I went to work on my classroom. Packed 10 boxes to ship and threw out about 10 bags of old stuff. Need to get in high gear. We leave a week from Thursday. We have shipped half of our stuff and will ship the rest this week.

 

[comicguy]

I did a bit yesterday. I cl;eaned out the fridge and went through the pantry. Intotal got rid of a garbage bag full of expired food. Made a grocery list based on what we already have, so that should help the grocery budget.

Got rid of several more books this weekend.

 

[Debbie]

serious destashing while we prepare for a move to Alaska. Gave away our sectional couch, a queen bed and a dresser. Have been through all the closets and over half of thegarage. Had a garage sale on Sat. and made 300.00 . Only sold a few larger things. All in quarters, fifty cent and dollars. Lots of stuff gone. Taking all the rest to the Goodwill and consignment. Today I went to work on my classroom. Packed 10 boxes to ship and threw out about 10 bags of old stuff. Need to get in high gear. We leave a week from Thursday. We have shipped half of our stuff and will ship the rest this week.

Oh, my! That is coming soooon! Keep us posted!

 

[kinntj]

Just checking in. I threw out 2 bags of trash yesterday from decluttering the craft/catch all room. I'm waiting to do the kids room when they go back to school. That way I can spend all day on it and when they get back home they'll just think that it's clean.

I'm making a list of rooms I need to go through and a project end date for each one. Once the rooms are decluttered then I can move onto scrubbing, painting and hanging curtains (in certain rooms).

 

[comicguy]

Got rid of another book (6.99) through half.com and also sold another 16 comics for 16 dollars.

It takes so much time to get rid of things that are actually worth money but every little bit helps to fund 2011's WDW trip and make some much needed room here at home

Let's see ifI can find some other things to declutter around the house today

 

[weluvdizne]

Decluttered 2 boxes of stuff yesterday and also 2 laundry baskets full of anything and everything but clothing. Lots of misc. stuff. That felt good. Today, I'm heading to the post office to send off 3 more things I sold on Amazon. Not the best prices, but stuff we were not and will not use. I look at it and just say, why did we buy this stuff to begin with?
I'm just glad to get rid of it, have the extra space and earn a couple bucks towards our Sept. 2011 trip!
Sometimes when I sell stuff online, I hate the hassle of packing it up and going to the post office, but it is worth it. A few days ago, I bought a $50 Disney gift card from Disney shopping online with some of my PayPal balance. It's a drop in the bucket when I think about the total I need to save, but it's adding up.

 

[thebeesknees]

The kids and I went through their play room this morning. We got 1 full bag of trash, a bag of stuff to donate, and the rest of their stuff we went through and organized. They can actually find stuff now! With all of us helping, it took 2 hours to go through every shelf, put miscellaneous pieces with their correct boxes, sort through the dress-up boxes and toss broken stuff. I need to tackle my sewing room next, but we are booked up with activities for the rest of the week. Maybe I can get to it the beginning of next week. It feels so good to get those bags out of the house!

 

[OceanAnnie]

I have hit a summer snag. Too many activities, not enough down time. It is encouraging to read of everyone's progress. I hope to have something to report soon.

 

[mrsklamc]

Working on decluttering my email inbox. I try to ask myself when something hits my inbox, whether it's really adding value to my life. This morning I unsubscribed from New York and Company.

Soon I'm going to do the same with my feed reader. Hoping to only keep the subscriptions that really have good content that is relevant to me.

 

[bridget]

I have been working for the last three weeks on my scrapbooking/guest bedroom. Not only did I get rid of stuff, I found places for things!!! Since I'm a teacher, and I had the summer off, this was one of the things on my list of things to do!! I sold some stuff, donated some stuff and everything else has a home

http://organizingsimply.blogspot.com/

 

[OceanAnnie]

I have been tackling the mountains of papers that I have stored from the kid's last school year. I have 3 grocery bags full of recycle. Three bags! And I'm not even done yet. I had the papers stashed for the most part out of sight, but it's nice to reclaim that space.

I'm still working on the paper. Sometimes it's still hard to know what to keep. The things I'm iffy on, I take a picture of and toss. It does help. I am saving less.

 

[merlinspride]

Hello everyone! I am joining the great decluttering of 2010...we are in the process of trying to sell our home. My house has had so much clutter it was embarrassing..to the point, where I have had tons of offers to help me get ready but I was too embarrassed to open up certain rooms for people to see! So I have de-cluttered my daughters room completely! Am so excited, I will post pictures. I also declutterd the hallway closet and part of the kitchen. Next is my scrapbook room/junk room...I did get rid of tons already ,but still have a mountain to go. You are all inspring me ..keep up the good work!

 

[thebeesknees]

I went through my bedroom this morning and got rid of 1 trash bag worth of old papers, etc. Have a pile of books to donate, and found the file with our wedding invitations from 9 years ago - guess it's time to get rid of those! I kept 3 invitations and 3 programs from the wedding (1 for each of our children) and tossed the rest. Managed to clean off the top of the dresser and both bookcases. Next up is the master bath. I know I have a bunch of cosmetics that can be tossed. I wish I had a better way to organize the under-sink cabinets in there. Any suggestions?