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

[Freedomin5]

Disinfectant wipes from overseas are very popular. I posted and sold two unopened packages, making enough to cover the packages that I kept for myself. Also sold a bed railing that DD had outgrown.

[Frugal Lizard]

I keep finding things to put into the give away pile downstairs.  As soon as May rolls around, I will relocate the pile into neat boxes in the garage under a tarp until I can donate them.  Local charities were overwhelmed at Christmas with Marie Kondo de-cluttering.  When they re-open around here it is going to be double that - everyone I know is tidying right now.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been doing one non-standard chore a day, and listing one item on eBay per day. As you can imagine, those things go well together, as many of the chores are really organizing a cupboard or a drawer. I also am then decluttering, tossing, recycling anything we don't need.

The eBay sales are super slow, but like a little drip. Plus, they force me to walk to the corner mailbox, so guaranteed steps on days when I really need that!

Still keeping this up. We've sold so many random things. (We've put 10x that in the donation, garbage or recycle piles.) Every day I try to organize or clean something. A few days a week I'm working outside, which needs significantly more help than the inside. We bought our house 3 years ago, and the previous owners had tons of high maintenance plants. We cancelled the yard service (weekly) & have been attempting to keep up on our own. Clearly, we've failed. I could spend daily quarantine time on the yard & never catch up. Similar to the house, we actually need a full yard reboot. We need to rip out the majority of the plants, put in zero maintenance drought resistant plants, & save ourselves a bunch of time.

[Sibley]

I've been doing one non-standard chore a day, and listing one item on eBay per day. As you can imagine, those things go well together, as many of the chores are really organizing a cupboard or a drawer. I also am then decluttering, tossing, recycling anything we don't need.

The eBay sales are super slow, but like a little drip. Plus, they force me to walk to the corner mailbox, so guaranteed steps on days when I really need that!

Still keeping this up. We've sold so many random things. (We've put 10x that in the donation, garbage or recycle piles.) Every day I try to organize or clean something. A few days a week I'm working outside, which needs significantly more help than the inside. We bought our house 3 years ago, and the previous owners had tons of high maintenance plants. We cancelled the yard service (weekly) & have been attempting to keep up on our own. Clearly, we've failed. I could spend daily quarantine time on the yard & never catch up. Similar to the house, we actually need a full yard reboot. We need to rip out the majority of the plants, put in zero maintenance drought resistant plants, & save ourselves a bunch of time.

Just be aware that nothing is zero maintenance. You can get low maintenance, but no matter what you get there will be some work needed. Recommend that you talk to a local nursery, a good one will be able to help you choose low maintenance plants appropriate for your area.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Sibley - we are looking for something that can easily be handled by a 2x/year yard service (or, us getting out there for a day once a quarter or whatever.) But yes, fair enough. Nothing is truly zero maintenance!

[RetiredAt63]

@Sibley - we are looking for something that can easily be handled by a 2x/year yard service (or, us getting out there for a day once a quarter or whatever.) But yes, fair enough. Nothing is truly zero maintenance!

Weeds?  Weeds take more than 2x/year care. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@RetiredAt63 - as you can gather, we're not super picky about the state of the yard and want the lowest maintenance possible. Understood that weeds grow year round ;-)

[RetiredAt63]

@RetiredAt63 - as you can gather, we're not super picky about the state of the yard and want the lowest maintenance possible. Understood that weeds grow year round ;-)

That is what winter is for - to give gardeners a break from weeding.  But seriously, unless you live in a desert there will be weeds.  Uh, do you live in a desert?  That would make things much easier.   ;-)

[former player]

@RetiredAt63 - as you can gather, we're not super picky about the state of the yard and want the lowest maintenance possible. Understood that weeds grow year round ;-)

You may never have to weed again if you hoe.  Sharpen your hoe like a knife, keep it sharp like a knife, and anytime anything green shows up that you don't like the look of cut it off with your hoe.  No bending, no pulling.  Just walking around the garden every few days with a hoe in your hand and scraping over any patches of bare earth where weeds can appear.  Before cocktail hour is ideal.

[RetiredAt63]

@RetiredAt63 - as you can gather, we're not super picky about the state of the yard and want the lowest maintenance possible. Understood that weeds grow year round ;-)

You may never have to weed again if you hoe.  Sharpen your hoe like a knife, keep it sharp like a knife, and anytime anything green shows up that you don't like the look of cut it off with your hoe.  No bending, no pulling.  Just walking around the garden every few days with a hoe in your hand and scraping over any patches of bare earth where weeds can appear.  Before cocktail hour is ideal.

When I answered above I was including hoeing in with other kinds of weeding.  But you are totally right, hoeing does an amazing job, except close to the stems of desired plants.  It is still doing something though.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@RetiredAt63 - as you can gather, we're not super picky about the state of the yard and want the lowest maintenance possible. Understood that weeds grow year round ;-)

You may never have to weed again if you hoe.  Sharpen your hoe like a knife, keep it sharp like a knife, and anytime anything green shows up that you don't like the look of cut it off with your hoe.  No bending, no pulling.  Just walking around the garden every few days with a hoe in your hand and scraping over any patches of bare earth where weeds can appear.  Before cocktail hour is ideal.

When I answered above I was including hoeing in with other kinds of weeding.  But you are totally right, hoeing does an amazing job, except close to the stems of desired plants.  It is still doing something though.

No desert, but in a drought area. Many of our neighbors have replaced (most) of their front yards with rockery & things like shrubs. I believe there's actually a financial incentive in doing this, thanks to the drought.

We have fruits & veggies in pots, and love taking care of that. Weeding just feels like such a waste of time. (Can you tell how I feel about yard work that doesn't yield food? ;-)) I'll definitely look into hoeing!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Weeding aside, I went through & organized all of my jewelry, tossed non matching earrings, etc.

[okisok]

Got my new eyeglasses in the mail, and promptly used the packaging to ship the old pair off to charity. I checked their website, and they aren't accepting donations. So the package is labeled and ready to go in the mail as soon as they are again. Two items in and two items out...eventually!

[LinneaH]

Sorted out three pair of kids shoes that were too small. One pair is obvious trash, one is give away on local buy nothing, one pair I am unsure of. White sneakers, not perfecly white, but I think they are ok function wise. It's kids shoes so maybe ok.
One pair of kids snow pants, they will need to go to trash. (I hate throwing away warm clothing, as we have cold winters and I know there are kids that may not have perfectly warm clothing. However, these have small holes on a couple of spots so I can't give them away (my kids had them as extras at pre-school and they were perfectly warm for that).

I really don't like trashing "still-usable" kids stuff but it needs to look nice, otherwise I can't give it away. I will trash it as fabric recycling though, and hopre it doesn't end up as landfill.

This quarantine... - everyone is sorting out and decluttering stuff I think. And charities are not open for donations so it is difficult to get rid of stuff. I am trying to get the give-away stuff out of the house though. Need to put up a few give-away ads tonight or tomorrow.

[PMG]

If you clearly show and talk about the holes in the pants or the dirt on the shoes I think that’s ok to give away. If no one wants it in a couple days then you know to recycle. But especially with children’s clothing, it shows wear quickly.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Organized a drawer in our kitchen. Found three items to donate, a few items to sell & cleaned everything else.

[MountainGal]

To the Goodwill box:  A small, wire wine rack and tabletop movie theater style popcorn machine, both bought second hand.

[Jim Fiction]

Tackled clothing today to kick off spring cleaning/de-cluttering season. DW's car is now filled to the gills with bags to go to goodwill. I strongly considered keeping a bunch of clothes that no longer fit, but that I still liked. I thought I could use them as motivation to shed some pounds. But to be honest I've tried that previously and it hasn't worked, so I decided to cut bait and try something different.

Plus, I realized that I had way too much anyways and several items hadn't been worn in years so it was time to go. When I do shed the weight, I can be more thoughtful about my clothing purchases and maintain a smaller, better curated wardrobe.

[PMG]

We’re not doing any major purging, but I’m doing quite a bit of sewing and making using up supplies. I’ve been able to empty and consolidate a couple boxes. Tonight I got several shipments ready to mail, gifts and items sold. Very satisfying.

I’m still working full time from home so no extra time on my hands but this mental exercise of limiting in person shopping has sparked my creative energy and motivated me to recreate things. What we have can be what we need.

[diapasoun]

Got rid of a bra on Buy Nothing.

[chaskavitch]

Got rid of a bra on Buy Nothing.

That's impressive, lol, good job!

[diapasoun]

It's very new but was too small (it had the wrong tag sewn into it, UGH, so when I tried on a bra of the same type and the right size I grabbed a bunch more and didn't try them all on... my bad). So hopefully it will now do its thing for someone else!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Still doing the daily task of one chore I normally wouldn't do (typically an organization, decluttering chore) & listing one item a day on eBay. We've gotten a ton of junk out of the house, made huge stacks for donation (when open again) & recycling/shredding.

I continue my battle against the yard, which is its own "clutter". We have ivy everywhere, and in our neighborhood, giant ivy patches hide rats. So, it must go. It also spreads & kills other plants.

[Freedomin5]

Got rid of a child bike seat and a bag of clothes. Next project is to clean up DD’s toys.

[Frugal Lizard]

I have been working on the garden/garage clutter.  Garage loft is looking better.  If it is broken - it needs to be gone.  Garden is looking better. Our grey bin (landfill) is filled to the brim and there is a bag in the garage for next collection.  The recycling bin keeps getting filled - and by filled - tetris packed.  Nothing goes in there without being flattened. 

We continue to empty the freezer with creative meal combinations.  This lockdown has forced this on us and it is a good thing. Some things are delicious, others, such as freezer burnt kale, is less good.  I tend to put things in a container in the freezer to throw out much later than just except that I will never eat this ever at the moment.

I did a big run through the fridge this morning.  The chili oil I made last fall and used a couple of times before Christmas was a disgusting mess.  I have learned that I don't make that much salad dressing so I don't need 9 cups of flavoured vinegar.  It will probably be better to just make 5 cups in one cup jars and freeze them so that I only have a one cup container open in the fridge at a time.  I can always use some of the pickle juice in a pinch.

The pantry still contains a lot of really old food so I am trying to be creative in using it up or just accepting that those really old candied chesnuts that came in food basket three Christmases ago are just a scary thing that no one in this household is brave enough to open.  (except to empty into the compost bin, grey bin the plastic wrapping and blue bin the oversized cardboard box that failed to make us wanna eat those things three Christmases ago)

I am working on using up my seeds - so I am sharing them with friends.  This is making people very happy.  I am also starting a lot of them early either in the greenhouse or in my basement under grow lights. 

[RetiredAt63]

I am working on using up my seeds - so I am sharing them with friends.  This is making people very happy.  I am also starting a lot of them early either in the greenhouse or in my basement under grow lights.

Like me!  So many seeds.  I need to share them too.

[Frugal Lizard]

I am working on using up my seeds - so I am sharing them with friends.  This is making people very happy.  I am also starting a lot of them early either in the greenhouse or in my basement under grow lights.

Like me!  So many seeds.  I need to share them too.

Excellent.  I hope you get a good germination rate.  A couple of the slicers were really hit and miss. 

[RetiredAt63]

I am working on using up my seeds - so I am sharing them with friends.  This is making people very happy.  I am also starting a lot of them early either in the greenhouse or in my basement under grow lights.

Like me!  So many seeds.  I need to share them too.

Excellent.  I hope you get a good germination rate.  A couple of the slicers were really hit and miss.

I'll do my standard "seeds in damp paper towel in the oven" germination. I don't like wasting pot space on seeds that won't come up or come up much later than the others.  You gave me so many different varieties I won't have space for them all, so it will be only the strongest plant for each variety I do grow.

[KBecks]

Need to post to follow this thread. I am finding my MMM forum experience to be kind of blah and I need to start to make some things happen in life and this is the perfect conversation to find some motivation and hustle in.

Today I matched some socks. This is my least favorite chore of all time. I have a big bag of unmatched boys' socks (I have three sons). I worked through most of them, bagged up the unmatched to go live in the laundry room and that's about it.

Meanwhile I have several enormous paper monsters that NEED slaying. And I must conquer them once and for all, they have lived in the house for a very long time.

[shadowmoss]

Solidarity.  I'm shredding house and car insurance paperwork from 2007 as I go through old folders.  No longer have that house, car, or insurance company.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Found an old pair of jeans that I'll never wear again (junior size 6 - I wish) & listed them on eBay. My daily "decluttering" chore continues to be outside, getting rid of ivy.

Our house is is reasonably decluttered shape. Or, I always think that, right before I discover another cupboard or area that needs another round.

[diapasoun]

Oh man, if digging up vines counts as decluttering, I am all over my decluttering right now. Freaking morning glory.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@diapasoun - I officially give you permission to include yard decluttering. ;-) With all of my authority as another internet stranger.

[RetiredAt63]

@diapasoun - I officially give you permission to include yard decluttering. ;-) With all of my authority as another internet stranger.

Weeding is definitely decluttering.  We may joke about hangers and socks multiplying while our backs are turned, but the weeds really do!

[mspym]

We continue to work through our ridiculous condiment shelf in the fridge, working out new ways to use up 8 different types of chili pastes and sauces.

[okisok]

Yard decluttering counts! As does attic, garage, basement, and workplace decluttering. (Says an internet stranger)

I finally put the outgrown booster seat on the curb. I'd been debating donating versus selling, and finally just put it out there. Someone might need it and we definitely don't with two teenagers and a tween.

I finally gave up on a puzzle that wasn't bringing me joy and boxed it up to return to the friend I borrowed it from. Our library is opening back up on a curbside basis, so I'll finally return all my books. Fines were waived during the lockdown so I've held onto them.

Need to investigate if local charities are accepting donations so that I can get rid of the bag in the closet.

[Sibley]

Well, if yard decluttering counts, then I am taking credit for the 2 full trash bins of weeds over the past couple weeks. And these are the big residential bins, 95 gallon capacity.

[lazycow]

The house and sheds are almost completely decluttered and organised, but I have repurposed a 4 drawer white wire shelving unit (destined for the op shop) for my harvested fruit storage. It is perfect as I can put all my apples, quinces and other autumn fruit from my garden and the air will circulate through the holes in the baskets. It is ugly as sin but no one is going to be visiting us to see it in the foreseeable future!

[horsepoor]

Got rid of a child bike seat and a bag of clothes. Next project is to clean up DD’s toys.

Read the first part of that sentence and thought you'd gone really hard-core on the decluttering!

Here, I'm working on the out-of-doors.  Like everyone else, things aren't really leaving the property right now, but I am going through them.  Pulled my horse jumps out of the greenhouse today and will take them to the stable tomorrow.  My curmudgeonly side doesn't want to share them with people who will probably abuse them, but they aren't doing any good sitting in the back yard, so I will be more generous and share with my fellow equestrians.  This lead to general clean-up of the greenhouse, moving some things around and decluttering.  The next step is to figure out what to do with the riding mower that the small engine place couldn't seem to figure out how to fix.  Clearly, if it doesn't run it needs to get out of the shop where it's taking up space.  Now to broach the subject with DH.

[LinneaH]

Starting painting of walls and ceiling in the basement on Tuesday (redecorating after a water damage). Need to move some smaller furniture into the laundry room, therefore I need to clear that out to have as much floor space available as possible.
Some items need to be put away properly, other items need to leave the house for good (thrash or give away). I have sorted out a lot already, just need to put them in two piles in paper bags and boxes and label properly, then put them in the garage.

Ooh, this means I have to sort out the garage a bit as well... It's not too bad, just need a bit of straightening.

I'll go start now and report back later today.

[Prairie Gal]

De cluttered: 

 - I sold a set of Seinfeld Dvd's and a puzzle (for cheap).
 - Gave away a whack of unused flat sheets to people making masks. Got three masks in exchange, so that was great.
 - Sold four kitchen chairs that I had been meaning to fix up, but never got around to. That was a win since they have been listed forever.

Cluttered:

 - I needed a couple of big pots for my tomato plants, but the only ones I could find used on FB Marketplace came in a lot with a bunch of smaller ones I don't need, so now I have to get rid of those.

I haven't really felt too motivated to de-clutter lately. Probably covid quarantine fatigue. But now that things are slowly starting to get back to normal, and Spring is springing, hopefully I will feel more motivated.

[Frugal Lizard]

I had a big de-clutter in my office/studio. 
I am trying to make it easy to switch between work and play.  Mostly it was debris that had to go. But it freed up a couple of shelves and an entire bin. 
Some empty bins got pressed into service as containers of "everything needed for X".  That way I can quickly set up to paint or sew and then tidy up to that task.

The closet is a place of beauty.
All the printing supplies are in the cupboard under the printers.
All the sewing supplies are in one place.
Setting up for a video meeting is super quick.
I can now paint to online courses.
I have a number of options for doing virtual meet ups and the background is way less cluttered.

It feels amazing.

[LinneaH]

Of course I forgot to report back...
Garage turned into a bigger task than expected, there were lots and lots of empty boxes that needed to be cut down, but now the garage looks very neat. I decluttered some chocolate during this task as well :-)

Today someone from the neighbourhood picked up a large broken toy. I think it is mendable but my kids are too old for it so I haven't bothered to try. I put it up as giveaway on local Facebook group and described the issue clearly. The dad who picked it up was delighted and he was absolutely sure he could mend it easily - just some duct tape and a small piece of pipe. I hope it works as it is almost as new otherwise. So happy to have it out of the house.

Starting painting of walls and ceiling in the basement on Tuesday (redecorating after a water damage). Need to move some smaller furniture into the laundry room, therefore I need to clear that out to have as much floor space available as possible.
Some items need to be put away properly, other items need to leave the house for good (thrash or give away). I have sorted out a lot already, just need to put them in two piles in paper bags and boxes and label properly, then put them in the garage.

Ooh, this means I have to sort out the garage a bit as well... It's not too bad, just need a bit of straightening.

I'll go start now and report back later today.

[MountainGal]

My dresser drawers were back to being difficult to close, and I was tossing items onto the floor to find specific pairs of socks.  My cup runneth over indeed!  I had a specific goal in mind for the drawers.

~30 items or so tossed
~10-ish items folded neatly into a shopping bag to donate online.  Received an interested party response within two hours.  I'll meet with them later this week.
~6 or so pairs of hardly/never worn socks into a separate bag to give to a friend with daughters in need
~3 items into the rag pile

Goal accomplished:  Socks and skivvies in one drawer, bras into the second, and PJs, etc. into the third.  Much better.

I'll put sweaters and other clothes not worn for yet another winter into the donate box when I have time.

Mailed off a stack of empty egg cartons and 3 magazines to a friend.  Our Goodwill opened back up, so I'll take the no longer needed small wire wine rack and a few other items later on this week.  More items out of the house!

[lately]

~30 items or so tossed

Goodwill take textile donations in any condition (except wet or contaminated). They recycle textiles that cannot be sold.

[Fresh Bread]

I had a big de-clutter in my office/studio. 
I am trying to make it easy to switch between work and play.  Mostly it was debris that had to go. But it freed up a couple of shelves and an entire bin. 
Some empty bins got pressed into service as containers of "everything needed for X".  That way I can quickly set up to paint or sew and then tidy up to that task.

The closet is a place of beauty.
All the printing supplies are in the cupboard under the printers.
All the sewing supplies are in one place.
Setting up for a video meeting is super quick.
I can now paint to online courses.
I have a number of options for doing virtual meet ups and the background is way less cluttered.

It feels amazing.

Excellent work.

[Fresh Bread]

Before Covid closed them, I tried to take some donations to our local place but they officially won't accept books & DVDs now. I understand why, they can't move them anymore, but there were some near new books by decent authors. Maybe they should recycle the Dan Browns and the cookbooks that gather dust. Anyway, there is another charity that does a twice-yearly book sale so I will take them there. It's a pain as the drop off point is not nearby and it's not clear if it's open and these books are just sitting there.

I got rid of a bedside storage thingo, some spare timber and a window blind in the giveaway groups. I've just got to sell a couple of spare things from our build that we changed our mind about and take the e-waste to the drop off point and I think I'm done again for a little while. I still haven't got my garage set up as I want it but the good news is that there is definitely space to store everything and the vehicles. It's so cool to have the right amount of indoor/outdoor space.

[mspym]

We put books and DVDs in street libraries now and they seem to go pretty quick. We had hard rubbish recently but didn't really have anything to put out this time. We've been playing a pretty good forward defense game of not really bringing new things into the house, which I am really enjoying.

[Fresh Bread]

Oh yes, of course, the street library. I was going to build one but don't know when that will happen! Until then I will find someone else's for the good ones. And secretly recycle ones that I know noone wants eg guide books.

[Frugal Lizard]

I have been using up scraps of paper for an art course I am doing.  It is lovely have all the materials sorted and the ones I will never use have been passed along.

I was able to set up in 90 seconds, paint for 20 and tidy up in three minutes. 

I continue to work on my seed box.  It is now very sorted and I have the next three planting sessions set out.  I am hoping a kid will help me do that tonight.