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

[Sibley]

Threw out the pair of shoes that had been at the office. No idea what happened to them, but they were ruined. However, they were getting worn out so not a big loss.

I did indeed throw out all the magazines I took to the office. I still have a stack of Reader's Digests at home, but the total stack is significantly smaller at least.

[oneday]

@MaybeBabyMustache I know what you mean about rebuilding a wardrobe! What a pain. I am currently holding on to a bunch of ill-fitting clothes for that reason.

Yesterday, gave excess pet supplies and a Styrofoam cooler to random people from the internet. Craigslist for the win! I know there is a reputation for high flakiness on CL, but I find it to work "well enough."

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@oneday - that's interesting, as I haven't had any success on Craigslist in years, and from your profile, it looks like we're generally in the same area.

 I listed one of the nicer dresses on eBay, and it looks like they sell well. I also called another one, and put it into the donation pile. I went out and bought two new bras today, and will toss a like amount.

[NotJen]

Small win today - I finally returned a book to a friend, about 5 years later.  He gave me a stack to read, which I did and returned.  The one I still had was one I hadn't asked for, and was never really interested in, so I kept forgetting to take it to him.

I have 2 items that are supposed to go out to FB Marketplace buyers in the next couple of days, hopefully they both work out.

[mspym]

Four more books to the street library. We are down to the donation dregs at least until I try all the books I picked up from various libraries and decide whether to keep them.

[meadow lark]

Finished transferring almost all of my spices that were in plastic jars into glass jars.  I had been saving the glass jars as I used up the spices in them.  They are a lot cheaper in round plastic containers, but the square glass jars fit better on the risers I have in my cabinet and the round plastic ones sometimes fall when I mess with them.  So I got rid of 8 plastic containers.

Also threw away 8 partial boxes of ancient tea.

[oneday]

@MaybeBabyMustache it's not that I don't get flakes...I do! But I just re-post and try again. Mostly I use it to give away free stuff, not sure if that's the difference?

@meadow lark your spice cabinet looks great!

Yesterday's attempt to give away stuff was different. Tried to return a doorstop from the prior residence to prior room mate, but turned out it was broken and already replaced, so I tossed it instead. That door stop has been among my posessions, waiting to be reinstalled, for a year and a half. I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't notice it was really trash all along. 😵

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@oneday - ah, that makes sense. I use a local Buy Nothing to give things away, as the FB element makes people a lot more responsive.

I returned a pair of shoes that didn't fit (COVID makes buying shoes for quickly growing teens a bit of a challenge). I only had them in my house for one day before I turned around & got them back out, so I'm considering that a win.

[oneday]

@MaybeBabyMustache in my old location, I didn't have a buy nothing group. One day turn around is pretty fantastic, actually!

[slackmax]

Started looking through a bag of financial records to see what I could recycle. So far I'm recycling about 50% of them! Hope this percentage continues as I go farther into the bag. I'm finding a lot of informational blurbs that are no longer relevant. Easy to toss.

[meadow lark]

Thanks!  My wife made the risers with some scrap wood we had and I covered it in contact paper.  I love spices so she made the first one about 3 houses ago and every time we move she makes me a new one.

Decluttered 9 bags (plastic grocery bag size) of clothes and books into the trunk of my car.  Threw away 2 bags of worn out clothes, fabric scraps, craft stuff that went wrong, old papers.

A bunch of what looks like clutter it’s stuff I need to hang on the walls.  I just hate doing that stuff!

[oneday]

Today's declutter:

-a small cache of no-longer-needed boxes and packing material

-returning the Rug Doctor to the store

-a massive drawer organizer tray (like for silverware) that is far too big for any of the drawers in the new place, given back to prior room mate. Not sure this one counts, as she in turn have me the smaller one she has purchased but found inadequate for the cavernous drawers there. At least it wasn't a net gain of items. I may keep it and donate the one I have.

The first two mean that for the first time in weeks, I can put the back seats up and replace the cargo area cover, making my car feel "normal" again. Yay!

ETA: Forgot that on Saturday I donated a bunch of towels to the SPCA! I want "credit" for that, lol :)

[Dutch Comfort]

Yes!!!! finally decluttered my childrens' closets. Lots of clothing now out of the closet and currently on a pile for me to sort by size and decide whether to sell/donate/toss. First 3 sales of clothing (around 20 items in total) already in the hallway ready for pickup. And a good reminder to only shop with a list, since they had WAY TOO MUCH clothes!

Also sold a backpack on Craigslist and donated 5 pairs of shoes which I have not worn in the last 2 years and will probably not wear again.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Dutch Comfort - whenever I clean out my kids closets, I come to the same realization. I'm not sure how the shirts and shirts multiply, but they do. Both of my kids are going through a growth spurt, and my 15 year old will no longer wear whatever I pick up on sale at Costco. So, the good news is that his desire to have things he's selected corresponds with my awareness that he generally just needs "less". Because, what he wants is often more expensive than what I would have found on sale at Costco. ;-) The irony is that he's still at home (no school), so no one is seeing these much nicer clothes. Hopefully in a month or so.

[Dutch Comfort]

@MaybeBabyMustache I find that they have a minimum of 20 sets of clothing, while they only wear 5-6 of them. So this is definitely a work in progress! And I too find that as they grow older, they need less (my girl is now 13 and she only wears her fav's and has a very specific fashion taste, fortunately for me, she loves 2nd hand clothing for environmental reasons, this seems to be a hype at school now. I do not complain!!!!).
 

[oneday]

A few aluminum pie tins to recycling, a few dishes into the donate box. Nothing actually out of the house, but I may have a full donate box by this weekend, that would be nice.

When I moved in, there were a lot of extra drawers and shelves for the fridge. Most of them don't fit. I've gathered them together and put them in the storage shed the landlord uses for extra tiles and other construction items. This way I don't have to decide if/how to dispose of them, lol!

Also forced myself to list something that I was dreading because I think it will get little or no response, but if so, then I guess it's trash. Also reached out to the prior CL ad responder with a few extra pet supplies that I found hidden behind some other stuff. Hopefully they will respond quickly and I can get that out too. Doing those things was hard, but I don't have the space to let things linger.

[NotJen]

Wrestled a bookcase down to the garage, listed it on FB Marketplace, and sold it all before noon today!  I've been stood up so many times lately, I'm glad that I can still reliably get rid of (cheap) furniture at least.

[NotJen]

And people actually picked up 2 other items.  Color me surprised.  And I sold my house today! (Well, accepted an offer.)  Not a bad day to get rid of things.

[mspym]

And people actually picked up 2 other items.  Color me surprised.  And I sold my house today! (Well, accepted an offer.)  Not a bad day to get rid of things.

Woot woot! 🎊

[MaybeBabyMustache]

What started out as a basic task - shred taxes from 10+ years ago, replace with 2020 taxes (I do this every year, as you only have to hang on to 10 year's worth), became a much bigger paper project because... I couldn't find our 2020 tax paperwork. I've already filed, and I know I once had everything, but I went through & organized & cleaned along the way. I eventually found my paperwork, and have a couple of large stacks ready for shredding. The amount of paperwork generated through a mortgage refi is staggering.

[Fresh Bread]

My 31 things to declutter in March hit a bit of a wall but I did chuck the chewed up dog toys today and yesterday I returned something to a shop. Now I don't have to move an empty storage box off the printer everytime I want to scan something.

[okisok]

Quart-sized bag of pens, pencils, and random office supplies to a teacher friend for their classroom.

Brand-new sweater to a friend that will actually wear it.

Put six bags of aluminum recycling in the bin. I had been storing them in the garage thinking I would take them to the scrap metal place for cash. One Hoarders show marathon knocked me right out of that 'someday' and 'they're worth something' thinking. That's exactly the justification the people on the show used to keep housefuls of worthless items.

Tossed an old makeup palette in the trash. I realized it's several years old and all that is left are the colors I don't like. No more buying large selections of makeup in one tray.

[slackmax]

Took a serious look at the 50 or so cookbooks I have in a bookshelf. Getting myself ready to donate some or them, or try to sell at the flea market.

I've been good about donating books in general . I've donated at least 100 to my library. It's hard to sell books, I find, but I'll see what happens at the flea market.

Relisted a lot of crafting supplies on Craiglslist that were selling OK a few years ago, but not since then. Also listed an antique electric clock. If I can't sell the clock on Craigslist my plan B is to sell it to a local antique clock store (yes, they exist) where I sold another antique clock last year. 


 

[NotJen]

I wore a sweater yesterday that turned out to have a couple of holes in it.  Since the sweater is ill-fitting anyway, I threw it away instead of mending the holes.

[Sibley]

Am spring cleaning. Lots of dust and dirt out.

I decided that I had an excess of working on the house sweaters. I do not need 10 of them. Kept 4, trashed the rest.

Going to drop off a Harry Potter wand to my friend, been meaning to give that to her for at least a year.

[racquetcat]

My mother is finally going through a basement full of stuff because they may move in the next year. Instead of throwing away some of my old stuff she brings it to me, a tub or grocery sack at a time. I politely accept it and throw 99% of it away after our visit is over. I'm 35 years old and have received:
- a hat and t-shirt from my first job at a fast food restaurant
- old books given to me in 3rd grade
- a sack of elementary school papers including grade cards from kindergarten and other miscellaneous "artwork"
- a flyer from a turtle race that I entered and won at the county fair!!!
- old baseball cards, that despite my hopes as a 10 year old are worth about $5 now
- sheet music from my time in the high school marching band
- an old youth small sweatshirt that I had autographed by members of the local college basketball team
- congratulations cards that they received when I was born

[Loretta]

I’m getting rid of my work flats that are all scuffed up and give me blisters even through socks.  Also returning some stuff to Amz  that didn’t work out. 

[Roadrunner53]

Today, I cleaned out one of my bathroom vanities. It is amazing how much stuff was under there and had not been used in years and years! Cleaning products, room freshners, soaps, long forgotten. I threw out two 13 gallon bags and one plastic grocery bag full! It is ridiculous how much stuff gets shoved under cabinets! There was a woman I used to work with years ago and she was very rigid on using up cleaning products and would not buy another product till she used up the one that was open. I used to laugh at her 'rules' and thought she was out of touch. Well, today I thought of her and said to myself, she was right and boy was I wrong! To have all those products that were years and years old and due to age I just threw them out. I still put quite a bit of stuff back under there but I have these bins that make it all so organized now! One more bathroom to go! UGH, just the thought of hoeing out that bathroom vanity makes me cringe!

[okisok]

@racquetcat, I've been there. About 15 years ago, my parents built their forever home. They told us to come and get all of our stuff *we* were storing at their house. They had told us repeatedly over the years that they were going to throw out what we didn't take. We knew it was, like yours, 99% crap, which is why we left it there! :)

It was sweet to see some of the old items like a poster I drew that won a prize, old craft project, etc. But my parents had worried about it, dusted it, sorted it out, organized it, etc for years. And we spent about 30 seconds talking about said item before tossing it in a trash bag when I finally went through it.

That's why I tell people who are saving things for their kids that they probably don't want it. Maybe one storage tub of a selection of artwork, sports memorabilia, etc. But if it can be used by someone NOW, why put it away until it's trash? (I'm looking at you, dried up paint sets and terribly out of date clothes my parents saved :)

[mspym]

Right now I am feeling grateful that 20 years ago, I realised it was unfair of me to leave My Stuff with my mum and expect her to cart it around for me, went back home for a visit and ruthlessly sorted everything. I decided that if *I* wasn't prepared to move it around with me, it needed to go. My mum ended up being The Last One Standing from her family and it was an additional burden on her when she was downsizing that she had to go through all her stuff but also everything she had "inherited" from multiple family members.

[racquetcat]

@racquetcat, I've been there. About 15 years ago, my parents built their forever home. They told us to come and get all of our stuff *we* were storing at their house. They had told us repeatedly over the years that they were going to throw out what we didn't take. We knew it was, like yours, 99% crap, which is why we left it there! :)

It was sweet to see some of the old items like a poster I drew that won a prize, old craft project, etc. But my parents had worried about it, dusted it, sorted it out, organized it, etc for years. And we spent about 30 seconds talking about said item before tossing it in a trash bag when I finally went through it.

That's why I tell people who are saving things for their kids that they probably don't want it. Maybe one storage tub of a selection of artwork, sports memorabilia, etc. But if it can be used by someone NOW, why put it away until it's trash? (I'm looking at you, dried up paint sets and terribly out of date clothes my parents saved :)

I can't bring myself to throw it away in front of my mom, but I think she knows that most of it eventually ends up in the trash.

We are keeping 1 tub of stuff for each of my two children, so far it's worked well although they are younger so they haven't accumulated too much yet, hopefully we can keep it up as they get older!!

[racquetcat]

Right now I am feeling grateful that 20 years ago, I realised it was unfair of me to leave My Stuff with my mum and expect her to cart it around for me, went back home for a visit and ruthlessly sorted everything. I decided that if *I* wasn't prepared to move it around with me, it needed to go. My mum ended up being The Last One Standing from her family and it was an additional burden on her when she was downsizing that she had to go through all her stuff but also everything she had "inherited" from multiple family members.

Good on you for doing that, it's something I should have done years ago, but I never got around to it. Now my parents have my grandmother's stuff plus stuff from 3 kids.

[Fresh Bread]

My dad moved twice after us children left home but the clincher for getting rid of anything superfluous was when he was renting his house while he travelled. He wasn't about to lug unnecessary stuff into the loft! A lot of our childhood books had been kept for potential grandchildren but he decided that they were unlikely to materialise and heaved the lot. My sister was so upset but I couldn't care less! Moving his stuff on will be a fairly simple task when he passes or moves somewhere smaller again, he's a ruthless minimalist. 

I cleared out my personal belongings when my mum passed and the family home was sold while I was still at uni. Then when I went on extended travel overseas a few years later I dumped boxes of household stuff at my friends place :/ It was all a bit of a rush and badly organised and eventually he kindly got rid of a lot of it for me! When I went back to pack and ship stuff to Australia (now husband & I decided to emigrate while on that extended trip) I culled again - winter coats were donated... Living here in Aus it's so humid that most memento things of mine got ruined and you just can't keep a lot of extra stuff unless you have climate controlled storage. Photos got scanned and now I have just 2 photo albums left. I've wasted too much time cleaning mildew off things I don't use. Wouldn't have done anything differently with hindsight, sometimes you need a few passes over stuff to let it go.

[mspym]

Right now I am feeling grateful that 20 years ago, I realised it was unfair of me to leave My Stuff with my mum and expect her to cart it around for me, went back home for a visit and ruthlessly sorted everything. I decided that if *I* wasn't prepared to move it around with me, it needed to go. My mum ended up being The Last One Standing from her family and it was an additional burden on her when she was downsizing that she had to go through all her stuff but also everything she had "inherited" from multiple family members.

Good on you for doing that, it's something I should have done years ago, but I never got around to it. Now my parents have my grandmother's stuff plus stuff from 3 kids.

It's not too late! You could book a day to go through your childhood detritus and Deal With It... (these ellipses are meant to be enticing)

Maybe it's just me getting older but it feels a bit like leaving someone else to clean up your mess? (I moved out! it's no longer *my* problem! dusts hands with air of satisfaction)

@Fresh Bread Some of my stuff got ruined by flooding after the Chch earthquakes. I was sad for a bit and then it felt freeing.

[LinneaH]

My parents divorced long ago. They have taken somewhat different routes with our and their stuff.
I have a sister, and while we don't agree on everything, this is an area where we have co-operated well.

Mum + husband have a total of six kids from previous marriages, lives in a house that is slightly big for them, but nice when we visit. Their decided that they don't want anything in the attic and other storage areas except for Christmas decorations, so "kids, you are grown up, come get your stuff, you have two years from now bc that is when we retire and then we want this completed". We all came, sorted and tossed, together with them as they also went though theirs. Lots of nice everyday stuff in good condition from grandparents etc to charity.  They have kept certain smaller items, which they display (Mum: if I want to keep it, I want to display it). Mum has put notes under some inherited things, so we know if is from her side or her husbands. They do have quite a lot of stuff, but if we ever need to sort out their house, it will be quite easy.

Dad is different. He is somewhat of a hoarder. Nice things like decorative glass, paintings etc, but still. Way too much, it would look a lot nicer with less. Sis and I were asked (in a nice way) to pick up our things from in-house storage as he"needed more space". We went through together, had fun and tossed most. Dad was looking at what we tossed, commenting "but you shoould keep that..." - lots was crap from school. So sis and I agreed that we needed to dispose of everything ourselves bc "if we leave in the bin, he may want to go through and pick out things..."
After, dad commented that even though we took our things, it didn't make much if a difference. Well, no surprise as most stuff in storage was his anyway.....
Sis and I say to each other now and then that this house will be tough to take care of... but it is not a lot that we want to keep so that makes it easier. It's mostly things he bought, no family history and not our style.

Anyhow, it feels really great to know that I don't have a lot of stuff that is mine at either place. I have all my belongings where I live now, had a storage unit for a couple of months during moving/showing the house, but emptied that when I moved. I still have some items in my own storage to go through but it's getting better by the day. Currently going through papers, it is tough, but it's already better.

[MayDay]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

[SunnyDays]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

I stopped adding to the clutter many years ago, and have been decluttering constantly since.  However, I do find that I'm emotionally attached to more things than I thought (often just because I've owned something for a long time - it's like a friend), and I tend to have opposite warring sides:  the need for simplicity versus the attachment.  Unfortunately, the attachment seems to be winning more than I would like.

[slackmax]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

Not habits, but a personality that doesn't want to get rid of anything, and also doesn't want to decide about it. Decisions.

I have lots of clutter left over from my girl friend living here before. I just plug away at it. Sometimes I make myself delve into an area I thought I had already gone through, and find more stuff I can 'allow' myself to donate or sell or throw out.

My mind says item x is junk, just throw it out, but something else is getting all stressed out thinking about throwing item x out. Some things are easy, some are hard, some I just keep for various reasons. 

I am definitely NOT bringing any new stuff into the house, never had that problem in the first place. thank goodness.   

[Sibley]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

Not habits, but a personality that doesn't want to get rid of anything, and also doesn't want to decide about it. Decisions.

I have lots of clutter left over from my girl friend living here before. I just plug away at it. Sometimes I make myself delve into an area I thought I had already gone through, and find more stuff I can 'allow' myself to donate or sell or throw out.

My mind says item x is junk, just throw it out, but something else is getting all stressed out thinking about throwing item x out. Some things are easy, some are hard, some I just keep for various reasons. 

I am definitely NOT bringing any new stuff into the house, never had that problem in the first place. thank goodness.   

Would a neutral 3rd party be helpful in clearing the excess stuff? It might cost money to hire a professional, but it might be worth it for the peace of mind of having a neat and tidy house with just the belongings you need and want.

[kimura]

Reading this thread strangely makes the OCD in me feel quiet satisfied. Im thinking of all the stuff I have that has been unused for years that I am going to sell , throw away, and donate. My biggest fear is the sudden need/want of something I just got rid of.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

I've never been much of an "accumulater". However, we have kids, and kids grow, change, need new things. It's a constant effort to stay on top of their stuff. Also, my husband is way more of a consumer & "keeper of things" than I am, so I am always on the lookout for things we don't need.

[Fresh Bread]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

Not habits as such as I've never been much of a consumer. Biggest issue was probably societal norms like having a spare bed for guests (used maybe 5 times in 10 yrs and twice it was pet sitters) and having a wedding list for stuff I didn't need (I was in a horrible job at the time which meant that the wedding didn't have enough thought put into it).

I mainly declutter so there is less to clean & maintain. I like clear surfaces but struggle to maintain them.

My husband hangs onto things, but it's more or less contained. I don't touch his stuff but I think I might be slowly getting through about storing stuff on gumtree (Craigslist) and so on.

[SunnyDays]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

Not habits, but a personality that doesn't want to get rid of anything, and also doesn't want to decide about it. Decisions.

I have lots of clutter left over from my girl friend living here before. I just plug away at it. Sometimes I make myself delve into an area I thought I had already gone through, and find more stuff I can 'allow' myself to donate or sell or throw out.

My mind says item x is junk, just throw it out, but something else is getting all stressed out thinking about throwing item x out. Some things are easy, some are hard, some I just keep for various reasons. 

I am definitely NOT bringing any new stuff into the house, never had that problem in the first place. thank goodness.   

From your previous posts, it seems that you have a hard time letting go because you see potential value in everything.  Which can be true - most things have some value, but are they of value to YOU?  I try to compare the value of something I’m considering parting with to the value of my most treasured possessions.  I find this makes it easier to assign a relative value and if an item doesn’t even come close, it’s gone.  Once it’s gone, I never think of it again, which shows that it really didn’t have a value to me.  You could try boxing up random stuff that’s in your way, and if you haven’t thought about those things or needed them in a month, then just get rid of the whole box.  Do this once a week, and after a month you’ll have a box a week to let go of.
 

[oneday]

How is everyone doing with changing the habits that got you in this position in the first place?

I am doing pretty well but obviously there's always room to improve. With kid stuff the biggest issue is my parents buying then things, and I am getting more and more ruthless as the kids get older that THEY have to make decisions and can say "no thanks grandma, I won't use that" instead of taking everything.

For general household stuff I will admit this is harder.

My H remains the biggest packrat in the house.

Great discussion question, @MayDay !

I'm making a renewed effort at paperwork sorting and tossing. Always room for improvement there! Got a bit done over the last few days.

Found a legitimate use for the thing I dreaded listing, so deleted the post and found a home for it.

Successfully gave away the additional extra pet supplies.

Took a day off yesterday because the missing part of the bad arrived and after a week and a half I wanted to sleep on a mattress not on the floor. It was glorious! And the place *looks* less cluttered because it doesn't have parts of the bed frame scattered about.

Today, walked with BF to the little free library where he exchanged several books. While the quantity of books remains constant, at least these books will be useful. The other ones were door stops to us. I'm taking credit for reminding him to bring the books.

[Dutch Comfort]

Still a pile of childrens' clothes near my WFH space. Hope to have everything on Craigslist this weekend and the remaining clothes nicely in a box waiting for their buyers. If not sold soon, I will donate the rest in a few weeks time.
Already sold around 30 pieces and gave away another 15 pieces to friends with a son who is just one size below mine. Also gave away 2 girls' bags with the clothing. Happy to get these out of the house.

Tax filing is done and I've put away the papers for that. Hopefully we can toss that in 10 years time....

Next challenge: when checking the attic I found a box of "crafts" from my daughter which she made at age 2-4. She is 13 now, so time to check whether I/she wants to keep anything from that box.

[slackmax]

Sibley wrote:
<<   Would a neutral 3rd party be helpful in clearing the excess stuff? It might cost money to hire a professional, but it might be worth it for the peace of mind of having a neat and tidy house with just the belongings you need and want.  >>

Thanks, Sibley. I wouldn't use a stranger, but I would be OK with a friend or family member looking around the place and identifying things I might have overlooked, to get rid of. Part of the benefit would be having the person agree that it's OK to get rid of it (or not).     

[NotJen]

Sold another furniture piece today.  It was something I liked and didn't necessarily want to get rid of, but for the last 15 years, its function has been "to take up space", and I no longer need things that take up space.  And not worth disassembling and storing either.

[okisok]

Went through the winter clothes and put three pieces in the donate bag. If it didn't get worn this winter (the coldest we've had in something like 80 years), it's not going to get worn next winter either.
Mailed a book to a friend. This one is a big mindset shift for me. It's part of a series, I've been anticipating it for months, and I pre-ordered it. I spent more on it than I spent on books all of last year! It was hugely disappointing. I struggled to chapter 8, then skimmed the last chapter. In the past I would've kept it, unread, for ages and felt guilty, or even wasted days slogging through it because I paid GOOD MONEY for it. I would have displayed the whole matching set and moved them several times. Now I've realized the money is gone but I still have the time.
She was interested in it, so off it went today with a reused box and wrapping from work. No guilt, no regret, and no bookshelf space or headspace taken up by a book I don't like.

[PMG]

Third item sold on ebay!  This one a specialized sewing machine foot that I no longer need with my new machine.  I bought it second hand for $2. Sold for $11 plus shipping. I am more motivated by getting these things to someone who will use them than I am by the money, but it is a nice little bonus.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

-Sold a pair of outgrown kids shorts on eBay. Packaged & out of the house
-Gathered up all of the Xbox stuff (7 games, 1 controller, Xbox, Kinect & various wires & instruction manuals). Listed on FB. I love that there are a bunch of things that will leave my house when it sells
-In the Xbox process, found 3 remotes for mysterious electronics. I've put them in my research pile, where this week I will either determine they are worthless & find an electronics recycling, or sell them on eBay, for others who may have lost remotes for mysterious electronics.