Continued: Getting rid of stuff / Clearing out clutter! PART 2

[mustachepungoeshere]

Ragged a couple of t-shirts and put a pair of shoes in the donation bag.

I had gotten into the bad habit of taking older clothes to my parents' house to wear on weekend visits. It's always handy to have an old pair of jeans and a couple of hoodies to dag around in.

Unfortunately, I've taken so many things that my wardrobe there is almost full. I need to be strict with myself and sort out what I will actually wear again and what I'm dumping there as a way of delaying the inevitable.

My environmental conscience is having a tough time with clothes that can't be sold, donated or ragged.

[slackmax]

May be decluttering the fridge somewhat in the near future. Might finally use the 5 gallon jug of malt extract syrup in there  to make another batch of homebrew beer. Two birds with one stone, ha ha. 

[Sibley]

Finished a puzzle, took it apart and put it back in the box. Then put it in the donation box.

[Frugal Lizard]

Lots of random stuff is leaving the house.

The kids have to pack up their bedrooms and move out of them for a month while they get new flooring and exterior walls with lots of insulation.  I have been begging them not to just dump everything into boxes but only the stuff that they really want.  We have lived here for ten years now and that is a lot of age and stage of childhood accumulating.  And unfortunately I am also having to make a bunch of decisions because their closets have also been my dumping ground for years.  The biggest thing though are all those school projects and science experiments.  They are getting disassembled and the component parts are finding their way to the garbage or recycling or spare parts box.

Needless to say - our house is going to be a mess of clutter and disruption while two rooms become completely empty and then perhaps very slowly get re-furnished.  (We didn't hire the painting of the new walls - this is something we can do easily and we figured it was time for the kids to learn how to paint. My DH and I are very good painters.  And just MMM enough that we are going to re-use the existing trim but too frugal to pay someone else to fiddle with re-installing it.

[okisok]

Actually took the donation bag to Goodwill this weekend, didn't let it sit around gathering dust for several months after I filled it! I did a real deep dig for this round. Like new gardening gloves, a small power tool I got a nicer replacement for at Christmas, gifted accessories, brand new office supplies, framed art, the second DVD/Blue Ray player. 
Sold one more FB item this weekend, and am meeting up with the fifth item's owner-to-be here in a bit. That'll be over $100 I've made from this little decluttering. Almost what I paid for one of the items I'm selling...(sigh).
My home is starting to feel really good. My closet is a tiny, old-fashioned one, but everything fits neatly inside. The hangers move freely and all of the shoes are neatly lined up and easy to find. The movies are neatly stored in plastic sleeves in a basket. The books all fit on the shelf. I'm getting more and more ruthless!

[Shinplaster]

Two boxes of kitchen stuff and books, and a garbage bag full of clothes and miscellaneous heading out the door in a few minutes.

[Frugal Lizard]

I pitched some glasses that I have had three different prescriptions in.  Both arms have been replaced when they broke - and I have been coping with the misshaped arm hinge for a couple years after I accidentally crushed them between the bed and the nightstand shortly after getting the reading lenses.  They were completely irreparable so not worth donating to charity.  I first bought them 19 years ago.  They served well.

The kids great room clear out continues.  A dozen books went to the little library.  The recycle bin was completely filled with papers and boxes yesterday when the city picked it up.  It is huge and we normally only put it out once every two months or so when it is actually full.

[okisok]

Not so much decluttered as politely declined a useless item a colleague tried to give me.

Went to a conference today and remembered this. I only left with the small booklet of information and a silly doodad. No tote bag full of ultimately useless stuff!

[mustachepungoeshere]

Not so much decluttered as politely declined a useless item a colleague tried to give me.

Went to a conference today and remembered this. I only left with the small booklet of information and a silly doodad. No tote bag full of ultimately useless stuff!

Love hearing this!

Stopping it coming in is easier than letting it go down the track.

[FireLane]

I should have found this thread earlier! I made a new year's resolution to purge all the old junk in my attic, and I'm finally getting around to it this week.

I have boxes and boxes full of old books. Powell's has a book buyback program, so I got a barcode scanner app on my phone, captured the ISBNs and uploaded them to the Powell's website. They wanted about ten of them. They e-mailed me a prepaid shipping label, plus I get a few bucks in store credit. I'll ship those later this week.

Of the fifty or sixty books they didn't want, some were out-of-date college textbooks or paperbacks that are too old and battered to resell. I filled up a big box with those and carried it out to the recycling bin today. The books that are in good condition and that someone might want, I'll donate to the library or thrift store.

I have at least one or two more rounds of book purging to go. Next, I have to tackle all our boxes of baby stuff.

I haven't made a lot of progress with the books, but I'm doing well with everything else. I've consolidated several boxes of old papers and photos, and sorted through some boxes of old clothes. I threw out some that had stains or holes and made a collection of others to give away.

There's a swap meet in my neighborhood next week and I'm hoping I can give away a lot of these, especially the kids' clothes that my son has outgrown. Whatever doesn't get taken, I'll drop off at the thrift store.

[Fresh Bread]

We now have two cars parked in our garage* and everything stored more or less where it will be stored. I have a few things waiting to be given away, and it still needs properly organising but I'll say we've successfully moved and now have a space that suits us. We even have a little table tennis area.

* No more washing the bushfire ash off, panicking in hail storms and burning yourself on the seat & gearstick in summer. Life-changing!

[horsepoor]

I'm sadly parting ways with my 20 year old Haflinger slippers.  The tops are actually still in good shape, but the soles are shot.  I guess college to middle-age is a pretty good run for a pair of slips.

[SunnyDays]

I'm sadly parting ways with my 20 year old Haflinger slippers.  The tops are actually still in good shape, but the soles are shot.  I guess college to middle-age is a pretty good run for a pair of slips.

Never heard of this brand of slippers, so I was confused, thinking they were horse slippers!  (By the way, what breed do you have?  I used to have Arabians.)

[mustachepungoeshere]

Donated two old pairs of glasses and a case to back to my optom.

Ragged five holey t-shorts and donated a pair of too-big shorts.

Sold a dress on eBay.

[mspym]

- Uno deck put into the street library by the kindergarten. (I did take a book on investing so current belongings are static but that's temporary)
- Helped my friends who are moving back to NZ by taking 3 bags of misc condiments and ingredients. Some we will use, others we bin with no hesitation. (it's 3yr old lemon chicken sauce. It can go) it made me start thinking of our eventual move and how using things up now will make it easier for us.
- put the donations into a bag, once the bag is full, it'll going into the car boot for donation.

[former player]

I'm sadly parting ways with my 20 year old Haflinger slippers.  The tops are actually still in good shape, but the soles are shot.  I guess college to middle-age is a pretty good run for a pair of slips.

Never heard of this brand of slippers, so I was confused, thinking they were horse slippers!  (By the way, what breed do you have?  I used to have Arabians.)

My first thought was that the slippers were made from Haflinger horses  - very pretty colours.

[horsepoor]

I'm sadly parting ways with my 20 year old Haflinger slippers.  The tops are actually still in good shape, but the soles are shot.  I guess college to middle-age is a pretty good run for a pair of slips.

Never heard of this brand of slippers, so I was confused, thinking they were horse slippers!  (By the way, what breed do you have?  I used to have Arabians.)

Haha!

I have two quarter horses and a warmblood.  My retired quarter horse lives with a farm full of Arabians. :)

[oneday]

Finally, finally returned a dish that I brought home Christmas leftovers in!  Woo!  It's such a drag to have other people's stuff hanging around that long.

[SunnyDays]

I'm sadly parting ways with my 20 year old Haflinger slippers.  The tops are actually still in good shape, but the soles are shot.  I guess college to middle-age is a pretty good run for a pair of slips.

Never heard of this brand of slippers, so I was confused, thinking they were horse slippers!  (By the way, what breed do you have?  I used to have Arabians.)

Haha!

I have two quarter horses and a warmblood.  My retired quarter horse lives with a farm full of Arabians. :)

My Arabians lived in a barn full of quarter horses!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Removed two garbage bags full of kid clothes from their closets this weekend. Many free camp & soccer club shirts. They both wear athletic clothes 95% of the time, which is very forgiving. So, the fact that they've both outgrown the majority of their wardrobe snuck up on me. Everything to the donation bin.
-One pair of good condition but outgrown kid shoes to the donation bin.
-Several pair of pants I don't wear to the donation bin

[mustachepungoeshere]

Finally, finally returned a dish that I brought home Christmas leftovers in!  Woo!  It's such a drag to have other people's stuff hanging around that long.

One friend and I have an unspoken agreement that we never return containers empty, always with a dozen biscuits or a cake or something. It's one of my favourite little traditions. :)

[Shinplaster]

Have a ferret cage going out the door this afternoon.   We used it when my son visited with his ferret, but unfortunately* Loki is no longer with us, so the cage is off to a new home.

*In a million years I would never have predicted I would get attached to a ferret, but I did.   I really miss his visits and antics.

[Frugal Lizard]

An amazing amount of stuff got cleared out of the kids bedrooms.  Most of it is now stacked in our living room while they get new exterior walls with insulation and hardwood flooring.  Both of them are loving how wonderful it feels to have really empty closets.  I even found some of my junk in their closets that is now in a donate pile.

[okisok]

Not so much decluttered as politely declined a useless item a colleague tried to give me.

Went to a conference today and remembered this. I only left with the small booklet of information and a silly doodad. No tote bag full of ultimately useless stuff!

Love hearing this!

Stopping it coming in is easier than letting it go down the track.

Too right! I actually put the silly item to a useful purpose at work yesterday, when a need arose. No more clutter in my house and a problem solved.

[okisok]

A few weeks ago, I took some half-empty bottles of coffee flavoring to the work kitchen. I liked them, but in very small quantities. They were going to expire before I got through them.
They were such a hit that the receptionist ordered more in other flavors! Not a declutter win for the office, but a major one for me. They're still there if I want them, but others have access to them. I try to think of this whenever I want to hang on to something that I don't really need. Someone else might love it!

[oneday]

Finally, finally returned a dish that I brought home Christmas leftovers in!  Woo!  It's such a drag to have other people's stuff hanging around that long.

One friend and I have an unspoken agreement that we never return containers empty, always with a dozen biscuits or a cake or something. It's one of my favourite little traditions. :)

That's a sweet tradition! Maybe next time I'll time it differently and deliver some goodies in return.

[oneday]

A few weeks ago, I took some half-empty bottles of coffee flavoring to the work kitchen. I liked them, but in very small quantities. They were going to expire before I got through them.
They were such a hit that the receptionist ordered more in other flavors! Not a declutter win for the office, but a major one for me. They're still there if I want them, but others have access to them. I try to think of this whenever I want to hang on to something that I don't really need. Someone else might love it!

Love this strategy! Especially when I was living alone, I couldn't always eat the whole package of something before it went bad. Sharing with others is a great way to get a bit of the food and also brighten someone's else's day!

[Sugaree]

Dropped off 125 items at the consignment sale for this season.  I still have like 4 boxes for the fall, but I'm thinking that unless some boxes of baby clothes shows up (it's very possible) that the fall will be the last sale I participate in, at least as a seller.

Donated 3 boxes of random household stuff to the thrift store.  Figured out that...someone...in my house has been removing items from the donate box.  You know, things that no one has touched in years that are suddenly super interesting.  Le sigh.

[slackmax]

Couple of empty glass jars, that have been in the kitchen cabinets forever,  into the recycling.

Two grocery size plastic bags of old clothes to donation.

A few old letters and cards from the 1980's into the recycling.



 

[Frugal Lizard]

Fancy work clothes that are not me.....gone

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

2 cars, sold. 1 trailer, sold. 1 pull up bar (over the door) sold. 1 generator, sold. Pile of exercise equipment, given away.

Full dump load taken to the dump.

Much boat stuff moved out of the garage to the storage unit (yes, I know - temporary stashing spot closer by 3 hours to the boat).

Garage starting to look less like an overstuffed burrito and more like a place someone could actually put (gasp) cars.

[Drink Coffee And Stack Money]

I've been a collector since childhood but I'm at a point (mid-40's) where I no longer have a desire to own everything and I'm finally letting things go.
Since Christmas 2019 I've sold about $3k worth of stuff, with tons more to go.
I also just dumped a big stack of old auction catalogs in the recycle bin at work this morning.

Although I'm in the early stages, the purge has been far easier than I imagined.

[ZsaZsa]

Have been lurking for some time...and recently started trying to clear out the hidden hoard of clutter behind every door. Have recycled a truckload of glass bottles and cardboard, recycled cans for $5 (small deposit in vacay fund), sold doll on ebay for $40 (bigger deposit!), sent large bag of clothes to Thred Up (many with tags still on...color me embarrassed), took 2 boxes of assorted  Christmas decorations to Goodwill, picked up a storms worth of sticks for kindling, and rounded up some pretty jars with lids that I'm using to prepare overnight oats for myself and Mr. ZZ.
On the other hand...I bought a copy of the Complete Tightwad Gazette (which I read and loved many, many moons ago) for $7! Mustachian inspiration...priceless.

[Shinplaster]

Another melamine bookcase gone, plus some paint and a pile of books.

[Sibley]

It's getting lighter outside. I am getting antsy. But it's too cold/early still for outdoor work. Solution? My bedroom! I'm going to paint it (a long, painful process to undo bad DIY paint jobs and do it properly).

Moved the litterbox from the back bedroom into the book room. Cleaned the back bedroom. Moved all the furniture from my bedroom to the back bedroom. Can now start work on the bedroom whenever.

In the process, a box of stuff was gathered to go away. Said items have been bagged and are sitting by the front door to go to the thrift store. I will put them in the car. They may sit there for a month due to the virus, but they will at least be out of my way.

[slackmax]

Fastidiously poring over a bag of old letters. Putting 95% of them into the recycle bag, saving 5% for sentimental reasons. Will waste gas driving to the recycle place later today to toss the bagful. Have to get out of the house! 

[Shinplaster]

Dropped off an area rug, more books, odds and ends for donation this morning.  An entire back seat of a car's worth.

[Frugal Lizard]

I am going to be in 14 days of quarantine when I get home from vacation.  I am going to town on the kids' and my closets.  Right now I am burning through watercolour paper and my sketch book - vacation perfection.

[slackmax]

Since we are being urged to stay home if possible, I am home a lot and bored! Therefore decluttering seems more interesting than usual.

I'm currently attacking another bag of old letters, cards, receipts, etc that was in a closet.  Putting most of it in a recycling bag, saving some stuff that *might* be a collectors item somewhere, to someone, for some price, ha ha.   

I hope the curbside recycling folks come by, as usual, this Monday. If they cancel it due to the CV19 thing, I guess I can just stuff the bag-o-papers somewhere until later.       

Also, with all this time on my hands, I looked over my records of last year's rummage sales. Man, I got rid of a LOT of stuff! And, made a modest amount of cash doing so.    That's uplifting.  I'm already looking forward to another season of rummage sales. I've encountered a LOT of stuff in my decluttering this winter that I have set aside, to sell this Spring, Summer, and Fall.   

[oneday]

@slackmax my area is under a Shelter in Place order...trash pickup is considered essential and will continue throughout the lockdown period.

Also considered essential: haz mat drop off center.  The folks there were really good at keeping the 6' distance.  So I got rid of a gallon of paint.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We used the shelter in place timing to also clean our kids rooms. We got rid of a tremendous amount of garbage, recycling, & donations. I'd say 4-5 garbage bags in all.

[Sibley]

Not me, but heard my aunt and uncle cleaned out their attic while stuck inside. 30+ years in the house. Filled up their trash & recycling several times over, plus a hefty load of stuff for donation.  Hehe. Now, if only my parents would get some similar inspiration!

[slackmax]

@slackmax my area is under a Shelter in Place order...trash pickup is considered essential and will continue throughout the lockdown period.

Also considered essential: haz mat drop off center.  The folks there were really good at keeping the 6' distance.  So I got rid of a gallon of paint.

Oneday,  the recycling folks did indeed come by today and picked up, so I got rid of another 10 pounds or so of  old paper statements, receipts, etc.  The recycling folks were not wearing masks. Interesting. They had gloves on, but they always do.

 OK, I'll bask in the accomplishment for a half a day, then look back into the tightly packed closet-o-clutter again, ha ha.   

[Frugal Lizard]

A large construction bag is getting fuller.  Right now my house is a complete disaster but it is going to get better.

BTW does removing 50 year old carpet and underlay count for decluttering?  What about if there are a bunch of cigarette buts in the corners? In both rooms? Disgusting.  I am sure the house smells better. 

[mm1970]

We are also decluttering/ spring cleaning.  Were going to do that anyway.  In any event, there's no place to donate the stuff, so we need to stash it for awhile.  (Right now it's kid's clothing in good condition, books, toys). So far no trash.

[mspym]

We have been spurred into doing a pantry clean-up and re-org, with secondary supplies being moved to the basement shelves. Suddenly it's much easier to find things. Next step - the spice drawer!

[Frugal Lizard]

We are digging deep into the freezer.

Last night I made strawberry sauce for vanilla ice cream with frozen berries from probably 2018.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

No one is accepting donations, but I'm considering this decluttering, given we've moved everything to our donation bin in in our house. When things are back up & running, we'll move them out of the house:

-Got rid of three bags we don't need
-Donating N95 masks we found (from the wildfires) to the local hospital. These will actually be picked up today

[slackmax]

Cooked some egg noodles from the Precambrian or Mesozoic epoch. Not bad. More space in cupboard now.

Edit to add:  Accidentally broke a wine glass recently. No sadness. More space in cupboard!

[NotJen]

I'm getting some interest from FB Marketplace again.  So far I have sold 6 items through no-interaction porch pickup (with $ bills quarantined).  Feels good to continue getting things out of the house.