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

[Cassie]

We decluttered by selling our motor home yesterday. It was 27 ft and took up one of our parking spaces.  We got 5500 and the driveway looks much better without it.

[Frugal Lizard]

My DH went through some of his stuff - we are needing some boxes for the kids to pack up their rooms for some reno work.  The grey bin and blue bin each got a bunch of stuff added to them.

[mustachepungoeshere]

My husband is losing weight (10kg so far) so I've pulled half a dozen things out of his wardrobe that he's shrunk out of. Some I will cut up for sewing projects, some will go in the Vinnies bag.

[ItsALongStory]

Had our first big yardsale in anticipation of our move abroad. Sold some tools, two kayaks, a fire pit, hammock, bunch of random crap and made $1500 or so. Can barely tell anything is gone from the garage but the money will come in handy for added suitcases this summer.

[mustachepungoeshere]

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

[mspym]

Three books to the street library, 2 magazines to work library, 4 magazines into recycling.

Big rubbish is about to start and I am trying to think of anything that should go out

[Fresh Bread]

There is a Marie Kondo consultants course in London in May. I'm in the UK in May so actually toying with the idea! It's very expensive though and I don't look the part tbh.

[diapasoun]

We did our last Goodwill run of "crap that was left at our old place." FREEDOM.

[slackmax]

Watched the recycling truck take away a bunch of cardboard shoeboxes and shirt boxes and old greeting cards I dug out of a closet last week.

The interesting thing was, for some reason they are now putting the glass, plastic and cardboard all into the same compartment in the recycling truck!  Hope they are still recycling it, and not landfilling it!  Oh well, not my problem, right? lol.     

[Shinplaster]

Took a bookcase, quilt stand, several picture frames and an art project DS did years ago but didn't want now to Goodwill today.  I don't think the art project will make it out of the stock room - the guy that helped us unload stuff was very taken with it.  (metal wolf's head).

[Shinplaster]

Dropped off a big bag of towels at the animal clinic down the road. 

[okcisok]

Put everything on the 'might be worth something' list on FB Marketplace today. Total is under $75 for all the items, so I'll give it a week and then donate the items. They've all been hanging about for almost 5 months. I even added a few extra things while I was at it!

I've been procrastinating this for weeks and it took less than half an hour. So I'll make about $50/hour between posting and meeting, if all goes well. If not, I'll donate knowing I tried.

I planted some green onion cuttings in a pot I already had. Free green onions, fresh all the time! No more plastic bags to throw away (Aldi, why must you wrap all of your frugal produce in plastic??)

[Freedomin5]

Donated a carload of stuff that has been sitting in the storage room for over 10 years. Sadly, the thrift store did not want our baby stuff - umbrella stroller, Fisher Price rocker, booster seat, etc. Those things are currently sitting in my mom's garage. She doesn't want strangers coming to the house and doesn't want the hassle of waiting for a potential person who may or may not show up at an agreed upon location, so they will either be donated at a drop-off donation box or thrown away.

Today, I cleared the pantry and have another box of donations ready to go to the thrift store. My mom found out that she has five rice cookers and four clay pots for boiling Chinese medicines. We convinced her to donate one rice cooker and three clay pots.

[SunnyDays]

Donated a carload of stuff that has been sitting in the storage room for over 10 years. Sadly, the thrift store did not want our baby stuff - umbrella stroller, Fisher Price rocker, booster seat, etc. Those things are currently sitting in my mom's garage. She doesn't want strangers coming to the house and doesn't want the hassle of waiting for a potential person who may or may not show up at an agreed upon location, so they will either be donated at a drop-off donation box or thrown away.

Today, I cleared the pantry and have another box of donations ready to go to the thrift store. My mom found out that she has five rice cookers and four clay pots for boiling Chinese medicines. We convinced her to donate one rice cooker and three clay pots.

Just put the stuff at the end of the driveway with a free sign.  Easy.

[Freedomin5]

Donated a carload of stuff that has been sitting in the storage room for over 10 years. Sadly, the thrift store did not want our baby stuff - umbrella stroller, Fisher Price rocker, booster seat, etc. Those things are currently sitting in my mom's garage. She doesn't want strangers coming to the house and doesn't want the hassle of waiting for a potential person who may or may not show up at an agreed upon location, so they will either be donated at a drop-off donation box or thrown away.

Today, I cleared the pantry and have another box of donations ready to go to the thrift store. My mom found out that she has five rice cookers and four clay pots for boiling Chinese medicines. We convinced her to donate one rice cooker and three clay pots.

Just put the stuff at the end of the driveway with a free sign.  Easy.

I wish it were that easy. We live deep within the bowels of a gated community on a dead end street in the boonies. Except for the snowplows, not a single vehicle has driven by over the past few days.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Gave $150 worth of gorgeous travel accessories to a girl at work. I don't need them, she was excited to have them. (No, I couldn't sell them - they were monogrammed.)

[okcisok]

Put everything on the 'might be worth something' list on FB Marketplace today. Total is under $75 for all the items, so I'll give it a week and then donate the items. They've all been hanging about for almost 5 months. I even added a few extra things while I was at it!

I've been procrastinating this for weeks and it took less than half an hour. So I'll make about $50/hour between posting and meeting, if all goes well. If not, I'll donate knowing I tried.

Two items sold and one in the mail! I'll be all of $25 richer when all is said and done :) Three more things gone, though.

[Fresh Bread]

I'm just going to slip the broken automatic tap timer (that husband said he wanted to open up and look at 7 years ago) into the bin. It's never going to happen.

I looked into getting a second bin as we are a two dwelling lot now. It's $220 a year which is a bit of an incentive to go super low waste.

[Prairie Gal]

I have one giant bag and half a box of random household stuff ready to donate. I am going to find a few more things to top up the box, and then that will be it for the de-cluttering until after busy season at work, which lasts until the end of June.

ETA: Found an old Tupperware devilled egg container and a Decosonic bag sealer deep in the back corner of my kitchen cabinets. Plus, I recycled a few plastic lids, etc. and found a few more pairs of pants to add to the clothing bag. I must say, it is pretty satisfying seeing space opening up in my cupboards and closet.

[Frugal Lizard]

All kinds of stuff left our house today - much of it was just garbage.  I tried on all the bathing suits I have.  Many of them were disintegrating.  My son worked on his bedroom.  Our recycling and garbage bins are full.

[mspym]

Put the awesome cleaver I haven't used in years into the donation pile.

[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.

[SheWhoWalksAtLunch]

I've always held onto my previous pair of prescription eyeglasses as back-up in case something happens to the newest pair of glasses.  But there is a limit to how prepared is too prepared.  This weekend I dropped off SIX old pairs of prescription glasses in the Lions Club Donation box at my local library. 

[okcisok]

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.

[okcisok]

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.

[SheWhoWalksAtLunch]

I mentioned up-thread that in the last year I returned to a four season wardrobe (only having out clothes that fit the current season making it easier to find, use & enjoy these items).  I swapped to the spring list on March 1 much to my delight. Spring colors! Lighter weight fabrics - that I may or may not have to layer for a while until it warms up, clothes I haven't seen for a while and remember fondly! Etc. 

Having a limited number of choices works well for me because I eventually have to wear all the things.  This morning, five work days after swapping over, I put on the last of the long sleeve work appropriate shirts and thought "ugh. this is so not me anymore" and into the donate pile it went.  Before I forced myself into a limited clothing situation, that perfectly good  long sleeve white t-shirt hung in my closet tricking me into thinking I had lots of choices (while clearly I wasn't actually wearing it or I would have let it go sooner).  Now that shirt is on its way to someone who can enjoy it and I'm at work happily wearing a light sweater over a short sleeve spring color that makes me smile.

[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.

[okcisok]

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.

[okcisok]

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!