Who is destashing in 2010?

[mom2npr]

I'm in! Our house is packed with clutter! I can't stand it anymore. I have been giving things away for months,but it doesn't seem to make a dent!

 

[andrews1ma]

It's fun to read all of these as I too have been in the De-stashing mode since about October of 09. I had family coming in from the UK so I started in the guest room to clear drawer and closet space. I was able to donate lots of clothes that were just hanging around and older extra blankets and towels. Then I did the hall closet- donated lots of shoes and jackets that haven't been worn in a long time or that my ds grew out of. Then I did ds's closet- that was a doozy because he pretty much outgrew everything in there. My closet was thankfully in good shape. The other day I went in my pantry to get something and I dropped it on the floor- when I bent down to get it I noticed the following collection.... a tootsie roll, onion peel, one kernel of dog food that I swear he has been tying to get at and I had not idea why he kept digging at, and there was more. Sooooo that let to my dismantling the entire pantry! The sad thing is that there were a lot of things that had just expired- like Mac and Cheese, Rice, etc.... so I had to throw out tons of food- also old cans of soup. I cleaned that pantry from top to bottom, mopped the floor in there and even touch up painted. I was so proud-my pantry looked good! Now I am trying to use food from the pantry instead of buying more stuff Tomorrow I am tackling the upstairs guest room closet which has stored the past 5 years of DS's clothing. I wanted to sell it on ebay but it has just accumulated to overwhelming amounts. I am going to go through it all and sort out the nice stuff, donate the not so nice stuff and take the mediocre stuff to the consignment store and take whatever they will give me. It will take me a few days I am sure as there are over 6 huge Rubbermaid bins filled of good quality gap, old navy, Ralph Lauren,etc.. to sort out. I am not leaving the house- that is the key to getting stuff done. Oh and also I got rid of soooooo many Xmas decorations! I had tooo many things and not enough space to nicely display them. I don't like when decorations consume my house- then it starts to look a bit tacky so I downsized and kept only my faves!

Happy de-stashing all the way!

 

[crazelion]

I clean out the towel closet and it look so much neat in there. I can actually put towels in the closet.

 

[StephMK]

I can relate. I was working on the bedroom closet yesterday and my husband walked in the room and said "Oh my God, what happened?!" I told him it was "gonna get worse before it got better".

That's so true!! Plus like another poster, once I clean out something, it leads to something else and so on. It can be hard to figure out where to start & end & how to make sense of it all!

I didn't get too much done this weekend. I get to a point where it is all pretty much done but can't bring myself to actually completely finish a room. I don't know why that is. The computer room is done except for a pile of cell phones on the couch I need to donate, the family room has a pile of empty bins ,etc. I tried to get a few of those type of things put away & vacuumed the main level.

The bedrooms are staying clean! DD had some stuff out but I asked her to clean up so I could vacuum tomorrow & she did without fussing. DH put the holiday stuff in the attic so it's starting to look better in the garage.

Tomorrow I will finish putting away the odds & ends that are left out, move some stuff around in the garage & vacuum the bedrooms. Other than paper clutter that's hidden in files & closets, after tomorrow's jobs, I feel like things are pretty good at the moment!

 

[comicguy]

I got rid of another 3 dozen books, 2 DVD sets, several DVD's from my office.

Also cleaned up my Documents folder on my desktop (got rid of a lot of "junk" and organized the rest into folders that are easy to find)

Not a lot but at least something is better than nothing (it's all about keeping it moving forward)

 

[mafibisha]

Also cleaned up my Documents folder on my desktop (got rid of a lot of "junk" and organized the rest into folders that are easy to find)

Glad you mentioned that. My computer is VERY cluttered. Too cluttered with saved emails, drafts of things I might do or write or use.

And my documents!

Does anyone know what it means when almost every file I save is somehow duplicated, and the duplicate file starts with the " ~ " symbol in front of it? Its ridiculous! Any idea why thats happening and how to stop it?

 

[wdwfan16]

I figured I would just wait to make destashing my 2013 resolution.

 

[caitty13]

Does anyone know what it means when almost every file I save is somehow duplicated, and the duplicate file starts with the " ~ " symbol in front of it? Its ridiculous! Any idea why thats happening and how to stop it?

That is a temp file or Ghost file. If you try to open it I don't think it will open. I always delete those if they appear...

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I decluttered my fridge last night, it took all of 5 minutes. Took out all of the old leftovers, dumped them in the trash and immediately washed all of the bowls/lids. Then this morning I wiped down all of the shelves, drawers, and doors. Next I'll do on top of it, but that's kind of a pain for me because I'm really short, but I know there's a lot up there because that's where I put stuff that I take away from the kids when they're in trouble .

 

[OceanAnnie]

I was on last years destash thread. It helped a lot. I destashed my desk over the weekend. Huge job! Papers needed filing & trashing. My desk is a paper magnet! I need one of those 5 tier paper things. At least I can sort them and it will look nice until I store them or send them off. I'm going to start looking for one of those that looks nice, cause destashing without organizing will just get me right back where I started. Gotta have a plan!

I destashed the kitchen counter tops and medicine cabinet. It seems like I just bought some of that stuff yesterday, but a lot of it had expired. Nice to make some room. The kitchen counter tops had all kinds of snacks, kids papers, my papers, kids do dads and small toys. You name it. I like it all clean and clear. So that was done! It looks nice now.

I have been working on the fridge and freezer. I did destash both, and reorganized them. I need to make note of what needs replacing now. And the cabinets. I need to go through all of the kitchen cabinets. I have several where I have stashed annoying birthday goodie bag stuff. It never fails, I give the stuff back to the kids, feel guilty about stashing them, then they don't listen and I remember why I stashed them in the first place!

Anyway, thanks for the thread. I have been reading. It's an inspiration!

 

[talulabelle]

I am trying to keep going a bit every day, but with other things like parties and stuff this weekend I lost steam and haven't been getting as much done as I should. I had absolutely NO energy this morning to declutter but I know I have to do it. So I have my egg timer and I am doing 15 minutes at a time. After working for 15, I give myself a little break and have some coffee and computer time or just let my self get unfocused for a bit. I set the timer for the break too so that I remember to get back at it after 10 or 15 minutes. When the bell rings, I set the timer and go for another 15 minutes. It is really helping me do some things that just wouldn't be happening otherwise.

 

[mafibisha]

That is a temp file or Ghost file. If you try to open it I don't think it will open. I always delete those if they appear...

Thanks for the info! Why do they appear and how can I prevent them from occurring over and over?

And as I try to delete several at a time, my computer keeps trying to add a program called Windows Installer!?? Why is that happening?

 

[mindyd]

I am in I have a really big storage closet off of my bedroom because we do not have a basement. I have so much stuff in there holiday, sports boxes etc. I keep reorganizing the stuff and it keeps becoming a mess. I started yesterday and have gone through the stuff and am getting rid of tons. Donating the clothes and stuff and then ordered a dumpster for tomorrow. I am piling the stuff in my family room and I am shocked with how many things I keep and don't really want. I have the dumpster for over a week. So tomorrow I am going through all my kitchen cabinets and getting rid of stuff that I do not use.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I finished the top of my fridge, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, nor as dusty, so it must not have been that long since I did it last.

I also decluttered my buffet, I keep the kids' plastic dishes down there, dishes for them to get on their own for snacks, drinks, etc. I recently weaned my 5yo from his nightly sippy cup (I know, it's about time, but he has issues) so to do that I simply threw them all away at once and that cleared a half a shelf right there. I also keep containers for the kids' lunches in that cupboard, sandwich keepers and things which are all in great shape except a princess one that I need to give away since my princess is 13 and much too cool for it, lol.

That led to me cleaning out another cupboard full of plastic storage bowls. I threw away a bunch of lids, I have no idea what would've happened to the bowls that went with them , but that cleared an entire cupboard shelf so now I have room to put my griddle away when we aren't using it instead of leaving it on the counter like we were .

It's weird, but just knowing those cupboards are cleaned out makes my kitchen feel cleaner to me, although I can't actually see them.

 

[Deffenm]

I finally got the kids drawers cleaned out and sorted clothes in totes that they can not fit into yet. I also cleaned up one crawl space in the basement. I am going to start on the large crawl space tonight. This crawl space is so big that it use to be the kids' play room. It is full of stuff that we just put in there because we don't know where else to put it. We also put all of the garage sale stuff, holiday stuff, DH's hunting and fishing stuff, in it. It is a mess.

 

[talulabelle]

I am in I have a really big storage closet off of my bedroom because we do not have a basement. I have so much stuff in there holiday, sports boxes etc. I keep reorganizing the stuff and it keeps becoming a mess. I started yesterday and have gone through the stuff and am getting rid of tons. Donating the clothes and stuff and then ordered a dumpster for tomorrow. I am piling the stuff in my family room and I am shocked with how many things I keep and don't really want. I have the dumpster for over a week. So tomorrow I am going through all my kitchen cabinets and getting rid of stuff that I do not use.

Wow! Good job! Flylady always says on her website "You can't organize clutter! You can only get rid of it!" Doesn't matter how many times you try and "reorganize it" it still becomes messy and clutter because it IS clutter. If you don't love it or need it, it can only go. You will love all of your new space!

 

[OceanAnnie]

I cleaned out 3 kitchen cabinets today. Two garbage bags full of stuff. I made a lot of progress. But I still have a long way to go in that room.

 

[dtr_angel]

I haven't lost steam, just running out of time - I'm glad I did so much for the past 10 days or so. I start school on Monday and will have an awful schedule, so I'm trying to just keep my house neat and organized and maybe just do some small projects. I'm also trying to keep up on the shredding so that it doesn't pile up again, that was no fun!

 

[smiller]

On Sunday I cleaned out the tea shelf and the oil & vinegar shelf in the kitchen.

I magically had a LOT more room on both of these shelves!

 

[mafibisha]

Does anyone know what it means when almost every file I save is somehow duplicated, and the duplicate file starts with the " ~ " symbol in front of it? Its ridiculous! Any idea why thats happening and how to stop it?

That is a temp file or Ghost file. If you try to open it I don't think it will open. I always delete those if they appear...

Thanks for the info! Why do they appear and how can I prevent them from occurring over and over?

And as I try to delete several at a time, my computer keeps trying to add a program called Windows Installer!?? Why is that happening?

Anyone know? Would appreciate any ideas, thanks!