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

[oneday]

The cat scratch post I am recovering is not cooperating.  I can't nail a nail in straight and the staple gun is not powerful enough to get through the thicker carpet I'm using.  Boo.  I either need different tools or different materials.  Will think on this, but in the meantime, the tools & materials are clutter I'm going to ignore.

On the other had, was able to get some good, small to medium size boxes, so repacked the holiday box that wouldn't fit on the shelf. In the process, found a bunch to donate. The smaller volume of holiday box allowed me to get my bike back in the storage closet on the deck. Double-win!

So only needed one box and that leaves me with two empty boxes.  I'll hold on to them, as the donation box I have now is almost full and it will be nice to be able to replace that right away.  Or maybe even fill a second or third box before I make the donation run.

Does anyone know if charity shops will take donations of out-of-season holiday items?

Another win today: was able to schedule movers for Sunday to get the last of my furniture from the storage unit into the apartment.   Found a company with a lower hourly rate AND a lower minimum number of hours, saving at least $200 over the other available options.  (Mustachian tie-in).  Once I have my buffets, I'll be able to unpack the 15 boxes that are still here.  It will be so nice!

[Goldielocks]

I finally spent two days in the garden, removing the spent bulbs and leaves. That certainly feels like decluttering (the garden).   I also gave away two bags of excess bulbs.

[firelight]

We moved into a new house and seeing all the stuff not yet put in place is making me want to declutter some more. We've already decluttered quite a bit in previous house, so I'm not sure how much we can do. But I'm going to redo konmari once again once we've settled down.

Gave away a table - starting to work through big stuff first.

[oneday]

We moved into a new house and seeing all the stuff not yet put in place is making me want to declutter some more. We've already decluttered quite a bit in previous house, so I'm not sure how much we can do. But I'm going to redo konmari once again once we've settled down.

Gave away a table - starting to work through big stuff first.

I am in the same place: just moved, still unpacked.  Even though you've decluttered, I would not at all be surprised if you found more.  Some stuff just doesn't work in a different space.  For example, in the old place, I had a shower caddy to hold soap & stuff.  The new place has enough built in shelf space that I don't need the caddy anymore.

Hmm...maybe I should read the Konmari book again, too.  Good suggestion.

[RetiredAt63]

Every time I've moved, I've done a major declutter beforehand, and still found lots of stuff to get rid of after the move. 

I worked on the garage this weekend (glorious weather, finally) and found more to throw out, and 3 more boxes of paper to shred.  It isn't super sensitive, so I may just spend some money and take it to Staples.

[joonifloofeefloo]

Does anyone know if charity shops will take donations of out-of-season holiday items?

It varies by shop, usually based on how much storage room they have + clientele. e.g. Some will take OOS to supply people for travel, camping, tree planting, etc. Some ship to supply people or flea markets in other lands. You'd need to call the shops in your area.

[oneday]

Thanks, jooni.  I was thinking the answer is most likely no, so good to know that there is a possibility.

I will call the three places nearest me to see if anyone is interested.  If not, I will use a Facebook giveaway group I've had success with before. 

Today I didn't declutter anything and am feeling low energy, so I'll rest & get back to this tomorrow.

I did get the Konmari book from the library, also the follow up book and a comic illustrating a client's experience.  The comic was fun and got me excited to get going again.

[Serendip]

Hi everyone, not a usual poster here but I am a lover-of-decluttering and need to get my spring clean on.

I find if I start a big bag or box, then I am more likely to find things to fill it. So I pulled out a big orange garbage bag & put Karen Kingston's audiobook "clear your clutter with feng shui" on in the background as a helper. I do like the Konmari book but KK was my first intro to decluttering so I have a soft spot for her :)

I tossed in a few sweaters that I rarely wear, some duvet covers/sheets and fabric that I planned to use...but haven't. As well, a few old picture frames and books that I no longer need/don't really want to read.
Will continue in the morning when I have more energy :)

[Bracken_Joy]

So, a little "random decluttering inspiration" for you. One of my good friends is in a manual wheelchair. Among other things, we're in a book club together where we rotate whose house we have it at. Last week was the first time the event was at one person's house, and watching this friend struggle to navigate around alllll the furniture (book cases, bins, etc) filled with stuff was pretty frustrating. It was clear it was a major difficulty. At one point I went and helped her move some stuff so she could make a tight turn to even be able to get to the bathroom. (And mind you, she has a small chair and is super skilled with it, so this was a *tight* fit) Later, she texted me and thanked me, and in that conversation, also mentioned how nice it is to visit my house. She said it's open and clear, and easy for her to navigate. I guess it's one of the few places she's comfortable having a drink, because she doesn't have to worry about getting around a little worse and knocking into stuff. Anyway, it made me grateful that these minimalist habits have been in place, and really reminded me that what WE do with OUR stuff, affects other people!

[oneday]

So, a little "random decluttering inspiration" for you. One of my good friends is in a manual wheelchair. Among other things, we're in a book club together where we rotate whose house we have it at. Last week was the first time the event was at one person's house, and watching this friend struggle to navigate around alllll the furniture (book cases, bins, etc) filled with stuff was pretty frustrating. It was clear it was a major difficulty. At one point I went and helped her move some stuff so she could make a tight turn to even be able to get to the bathroom. (And mind you, she has a small chair and is super skilled with it, so this was a *tight* fit) Later, she texted me and thanked me, and in that conversation, also mentioned how nice it is to visit my house. She said it's open and clear, and easy for her to navigate. I guess it's one of the few places she's comfortable having a drink, because she doesn't have to worry about getting around a little worse and knocking into stuff. Anyway, it made me grateful that these minimalist habits have been in place, and really reminded me that what WE do with OUR stuff, affects other people!

Aww, that's sweet (not the part about the cluttered house of course) and, yes, inspiring!

[HappierAtHome]

So, a little "random decluttering inspiration" for you. One of my good friends is in a manual wheelchair. Among other things, we're in a book club together where we rotate whose house we have it at. Last week was the first time the event was at one person's house, and watching this friend struggle to navigate around alllll the furniture (book cases, bins, etc) filled with stuff was pretty frustrating. It was clear it was a major difficulty. At one point I went and helped her move some stuff so she could make a tight turn to even be able to get to the bathroom. (And mind you, she has a small chair and is super skilled with it, so this was a *tight* fit) Later, she texted me and thanked me, and in that conversation, also mentioned how nice it is to visit my house. She said it's open and clear, and easy for her to navigate. I guess it's one of the few places she's comfortable having a drink, because she doesn't have to worry about getting around a little worse and knocking into stuff. Anyway, it made me grateful that these minimalist habits have been in place, and really reminded me that what WE do with OUR stuff, affects other people!

Very cool.

[HappierAtHome]

We've kicked off birthday celebrations for the baby and there are soooo many toys entering the house :-/ we're going to have to be ruthless in decision making about what we keep versus what gets passed on. I've labelled a box for us to start filling as we find things he won't need anymore.

[Mr.GrowingMustache]

Count me in!!!!

I am setting myself a goal to throw something out EVERY DAY!

DW and I have definitely been doing the status quo around the house, especially with the young one sucking up "productive prime time".


Yesterday I cleaned out a whole kitchen cabinet that had threw out a box load of old crap that we haven't touched in years.... ugh.

[formerlydivorcedmom]

Our decluttering tapered off over the last few months, but we're having a huge party in three weeks, so we're trying to see how much we can get rid of between now and then.

In two hours last night, the giveaway pile grew by a large trash bag full of clothes (S8 grew), a medium-sized box of office supplies, and a medium-sized box of silk flower arrangements we'd used as centerpieces at our wedding five years ago (that I was supposed to sell then and forgot), and a small box of things from the garage.

I'm especially proud of the office supply declutter - we got rid of SO MUCH STUFF that we each thought the other one was stockpiling for some mysterious but valid reason.  I also gave up a lot of aspirational items.  Our two overflowing shelves of office supplies is down to 1.5 shelves with plenty of room to see everything :)    H still needs to go through the third shelf - craft supplies - and decide what can be released. (I'd throw it all away.)

[meghan88]

I'm especially proud of the office supply declutter - we got rid of SO MUCH STUFF that we each thought the other one was stockpiling for some mysterious but valid reason.  I also gave up a lot of aspirational items.  Our two overflowing shelves of office supplies is down to 1.5 shelves with plenty of room to see everything :)    H still needs to go through the third shelf - craft supplies - and decide what can be released. (I'd throw it all away.)

LOL re. the office declutter.  I did the same, and actually brought a bagful of stuff into my workplace to re-use:  file folders, separators, boxes of staples and paperclips.  Though some employees see fit to use office supplies as a stock-up for their home use, we did the exact opposite.

My own decluttering problem involves antiques.  Even though I was a really frugal garage-sale-ing bargain hunter back in the day, now I'm keeping some stuff that is so undervalued right now that it would be really hard to sell it at today's prices.  I think at some point I need an attitude adjustment so that I can get rid of it all.  Not that there's that much to offload, but it hurts to let a gorgeous 100-yr-old solid oak dining set with pedestal table, FOUR inserts to seat a crowd comfortably, six chairs, sideboard, all with barley-twist details and Mission styling, for less than what I paid 30 years ago (800 back then).  Sigh.

[Roadrunner53]

Tuesday got rid of 15 bags to Vietnam Veterans. I had two drawers of turtle neck tops that I have not worn in a lot of years. I saved maybe 4 but not even sure if they fit at this point. Will probably start a new collection effort for VV again soon. We got rid of a lot of stuff that was brand new with tags and some really GOOD stuff that was hard to part with. Just had to let it go. It sat downstairs since Mom passed away. I dragged it home thinking I would use this stuff but never did. I cannot believe how much stuff we've donated!

[Plina]

I'm especially proud of the office supply declutter - we got rid of SO MUCH STUFF that we each thought the other one was stockpiling for some mysterious but valid reason.  I also gave up a lot of aspirational items.  Our two overflowing shelves of office supplies is down to 1.5 shelves with plenty of room to see everything :)    H still needs to go through the third shelf - craft supplies - and decide what can be released. (I'd throw it all away.)

LOL re. the office declutter.  I did the same, and actually brought a bagful of stuff into my workplace to re-use:  file folders, separators, boxes of staples and paperclips.  Though some employees see fit to use office supplies as a stock-up for their home use, we did the exact opposite.

My own decluttering problem involves antiques.  Even though I was a really frugal garage-sale-ing bargain hunter back in the day, now I'm keeping some stuff that is so undervalued right now that it would be really hard to sell it at today's prices.  I think at some point I need an attitude adjustment so that I can get rid of it all.  Not that there's that much to offload, but it hurts to let a gorgeous 100-yr-old solid oak dining set with pedestal table, FOUR inserts to seat a crowd comfortably, six chairs, sideboard, all with barley-twist details and Mission styling, for less than what I paid 30 years ago (800 back then).  Sigh.

If you consider that you used the items for 30 years and divide the cost with what you loose you will find that you got a really reasonable prized furnitures during those years, in other words you didn’t loose money.

[joonifloofeefloo]

Bracken_Joy, that was a really cool story! Thanks for that :)

People often comment that they feel relief, peace, lightness, ease when in my minimalist space, so I feel like I'm giving people some minutes or hours of respite. The person next door was so bowled away, she hired a pro and got hers whittled down fast! It's fun to think we can create more space -in so many ways- for others as well as for ourselves.

[Serendip]

Bracken_Joy, that was a really cool story! Thanks for that :)

People often comment that they feel relief, peace, lightness, ease when in my minimalist space, so I feel like I'm giving people some minutes or hours of respite. The person next door was so bowled away, she hired a pro and got hers whittled down fast! It's fun to think we can create more space -in so many ways- for others as well as for ourselves.

Agreed, this is a thought-provoking story by @Bracken_Joy and I like @jooniFLORisploo 's mention about creating space for others.
Just read a book called "A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind" and in it he mentions hospitality (and a guest's comfort) as a generous meditation practice. Cleaning/clearing to help make ourselves and others feel more welcome.

I filled a bag with wool, fabric and books yesterday and my SO took it all away (I find it best to get out of the house asap before I start digging things out!)
So many potential projects which only increase anxiety..so I am letting it go.
We also took a few things from the basement, a table hockey game & baby stroller (given to us to pass along to my sister, but she already has one)

[Rowellen]

(I find it best to get out of the house asap before I start digging things out!)

So true.

[happy]

So many potential projects which only increase anxiety..so I am letting it go.

Very wise. When I started decluttering I realised that a lot of  the clutter was unfinished projects and mending or repurposing projects. I made a decision - if it was fairly quick - do it now, or chuck it out.

[formerlydivorcedmom]

So many potential projects which only increase anxiety..so I am letting it go.

Very wise. When I started decluttering I realised that a lot of  the clutter was unfinished projects and mending or repurposing projects. I made a decision - if it was fairly quick - do it now, or chuck it out.

I've finally been able to do this for most projects.  My poor husband is still adamant that he will finish all his projects...and it's stressing him out that he hasn't started most of them.  i'm actually tempted to start sneaking things out of the attic into a separate pile to see if he notices.  My father-in-law says my H and his mom are "one with the stuff" and will notice if I move anything.

[Yasha]

I finished the minimalism game today (1-30 things a day for 1-30 days). I broke al the rules, didn’t start on the first of the month with one thing (started in the middle of the month), decluttered in spurts as it was convenient/I was inspired (I wrote 1 thru 30 in little bubbles in a notebook and coloured them in as I got to them)... I ended up getting rid of over 430 items (goal was 406) over the last month... lots of clothes (so far I’m already feeling the benefit of having fewer things to fold), odds and ends, kitchen Utensils, pens and pencils and the such. I am surprised I was able to find so much to declutter after so many goes at decluttering before... still, happy to be rid of so much and hopefully the things I donated will benefit someone else.

[Roadrunner53]

I have an electric typewriter. It is probably one of the last really 'modern' electric typewriters just before computers. It cost me quite a bit of money 'back then'. It is in a hard plastic case sitting in a closet.

Thinking of donating it but would like to donate it to an organization rather than just give to Goodwill. Anyone know of an organization that would use a typewriter for a specific reason?

When my Father had a stroke they told Mom to buy a manual typewrite for my Dad to use to help with therapy on his hands.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I finished the minimalism game today (1-30 things a day for 1-30 days). I broke al the rules, didn’t start on the first of the month with one thing (started in the middle of the month), decluttered in spurts as it was convenient/I was inspired (I wrote 1 thru 30 in little bubbles in a notebook and coloured them in as I got to them)... I ended up getting rid of over 430 items (goal was 406) over the last month... lots of clothes (so far I’m already feeling the benefit of having fewer things to fold), odds and ends, kitchen Utensils, pens and pencils and the such. I am surprised I was able to find so much to declutter after so many goes at decluttering before... still, happy to be rid of so much and hopefully the things I donated will benefit someone else.

I may try this. Sounds like a great motivational idea.

Yesterday I went through my son's room & gathered up all of the paper & recycling that were lingering around. I'll go for 10 more items today.

[Mezzie]

It's nearing the end of the school year, which means it's time to fill up all the extra space I've cleared in the shed with things I'm not allowed to keep at school (but that my classroom can't function without; the bulk of the supplies my students use were purchased by me).

It'll be nice in 20 years or so to pass all this stuff along to a new teacher, though!

[Nederstash]

I need your input, dear declutterers. Do any of you work in a 'bullpen' type office, with flex work places where no one has an assigned desk?

I do, and I think my decluttering at home has made my office space feel so much more stressed and cluttered. Even though no one has an assigned desk, most people have claimed a desk for themselves and don't care much for the 'clean desk policy'. Now, the problem is as follows. Aside from 2-3 people, everyone in my office works 3 days at the office, 1 day at home and 1 day off. On the one hand, that means there's always a desk somewhere for the people who haven't been able to claim a desk (like me). On the other hand: I always work at desks filled with other people's clutter. Files, stationary, a bazillion paperclips, pictures of their kids... ugh, I can't even work in my own clutter, let alone someone else's!

What should I do? I'd feel like such a whiner if I asked people to clear up 'their' desks because I get antsy around clutter. Most people don't seem to mind it, so I don't feel like people would be so understanding.

What do?!

[chaskavitch]

I'm really slow at decluttering, but I'm working on it.

My MIL is up for the weekend, and she brought our toddler a little guitar thing that was my SIL's when she was little.  Which, fine, he likes it a lot, and she loves to give people things, so they're both happy.  But then she says "I just don't know what to get him for his birthday!"  It's in two weeks.  Couldn't you wait to bring the guitar until then?  And avoid getting him something ELSE noisy for his birthday?  /sigh.

I'll just have to sort his toys this week and try to siphon some of them off into our basement or the ARC basket before his party.

[Roadrunner53]

I would get a box and jam all the crap into it semi neatly but not take much time to do it. Then I would set it somewhere it won't get tossed or damaged. I would do this every time and sooner or later they will get the picture. Send your boss and the culprit an email informing them the desk was not cleaned off and you needed the space. That you gathered up the junk and put it in a box and where it can be located. That way you will cover your ass and no one will be able to play the blame game. If you don't think you will be able to find a box at work, I suggest you bring some plastic bags from home.  I would also put the name of the culprit on the outside of the box or bag so if someone comes along, they will know who it belongs to. I think sending the email after you bag or box the crap up will be important. If that person should come to you and start acting irate, tell them to see the boss who will have prior knowledge of this situation.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I cleaned off a three tiered tray that we use to capture "in process" things. Paperwork for school that needs to be filled out. Camp forms I haven't submitted, bills we haven't paid yet, etc. I do this every few months or so. It is sparkling clean & now just contains one gift card that I have to mail as soon as it sells. I'd estimate it previously held about 100 individual papers, cards, etc. So, lots of trash to the recycling!

Next up is my junk drawer. It was clear we have way too much & this is a disaster area.

[Mezzie]

@Nederstash
That would drive me nuts. I have a shared work space that is overrun by the person I share it with. Sometimes she piles her stuff in front of my bookshelves and I can't get to what I need. A friend recommended I throw away anything that crosses over to my side; I wish I could! I am considering having my students mark the halfway line with masking tape so I can be very clear about how much space she's taking. She easily takes up 80% of the room; walking in there is dangerous.

I do like the idea of respectfully putting things into boxes. I think that's fair.

[Roadrunner53]

Nederstash, another thing you could suggest to your employer is to have a file cabinet brought in and each employee could be assigned a drawer to store their crap on the days they are not there. Then if the jerk still leaves their crap on the desk, it would at least give you a place to dump the junk. It really irks me that people are so lazy and uncaring for their fellow employees.

I used to work in the food industry and people were stupid at times too. All food/ingredients that were stored were to be identified, dated when it expired and to whom it belonged to. Some were just too lazy to do the right thing and couldn't be bothered. Well, they appointed this guy who was a jack ass creep to patrol the walk in refrigerators and other storage areas to check for proper storage and identification of the items. If they were not properly stored he would bring a giant garbage can and throw it all out. OMG, did he ever piss off people. Some of the samples were made in our labs and it was sometimes very difficult to make the samples. Once he threw them out it all had to be redone. He was on the most hated list but people got the picture after that!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I sold a $5 item (adhesive for patches) that I didn't open/use after my son quit Boy Scouts. One more item out of the house, and $5 in my pocket!

[mspym]

One more book sent to the street library, and starting to build the pile for the council hard rubbish day - broken coffee machine, chin-up bar, clearing out the storage areas in our basement. We have a lot of wheels?

[Frugal Lizard]

Our garage looks amazing.   Hubs took Friday off and has been on a mission.   He bought new hooks for the garden tools.   He saw a bike rank thing and bought that too.   He retrofitted his table saw stand so that he can move it. 
This is all in preparation for insulating the shared wall between the house and garage.
It is free weekend where you can leave items by the street for others to take.

[NoraLenderbee]

I spent 4 hours "decluttering" my front yard . . . pulling weeds and cutting back overgrown plants. Do weeds count? Unfortunately, it hardly made a dent. I need about 3 days in there.

I put down cardboard in one of the paths between beds and piled wood chips on top. Kept some cardboard out of the waste stream, and used up some of our mountain of wood chips. I'll do more as soon as we have more cardboard. I like the feeling of finishing a half-done project.

[plainjane]

I spent 4 hours "decluttering" my front yard . . . pulling weeds and cutting back overgrown plants. Do weeds count?

I hope so. I spent about 3 hours yesterday in the backyard pulling out climbing vines. Filled 3 craft bags, and dumped a number of large branches into the compost pile in the back. Discovered the yardwork gloves have a rip at the join between the thumb and the palm. That probably means I should throw them away too.

I also cleared out half my printed knitting patterns. About a dozen books are off the bookshelves, but they are simply in the back room for us to decide how to disperse them, so that doesn't count yet.

[midweststache]

I took two Macs, an old iPhone, an older iPod nano, and various cords and Mac accoutrements to our local Apple store yesterday. I tried to go right when the opened so they wouldn't be packed. The woman dealing with my intake gave me a very polite smile when I told her that and replied that they were never 'not busy.' She wasn't wrong. It was pouring rain and cold, but there was a line waiting for help at 11:03am (they opened at 11am). Oh well--old tech disposed of as ethically as possible.

In other news, we re-stocked out pantry and went through the little one's closet. I boxed up some quality stuff that would survive for Potential Progeny #2 and packed away about 10 items for our next trip to the thrift store. We get a lot of clothes gifted/hand-me-down and we're pretty diligent about only keeping things we'd really want to pass on to PP#2. (Even donating a lot, we'd still be 100% set on clothes if we have another kid.)

I'm getting hit like a brick wall with work the next three weeks, so I don't envision much more cleaning out BUT if I can I'm gonna work on some outdoor kids toys that were gifted to us by neighbors who moved and didn't want to take all their stuff: cleaning the Ikea bag of toys and passing along what we don't choose to keep.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I'm planning to tackle just a few small things a day, so posting for momentum's sake, although not terribly big wins. Today I found an old purse tucked away in my closet. Put that + the matching wallet in the donation pile, and found several old credit cards in the wallet. Will shred those tomorrow at work, and also found another kid school item to put in the recycling.

I'm scared to tackle the "junk drawer". It's where we keep pens, pencils & the like. An abundance of writing materials have made it super crazy. Need to think of a more optimal solution in terms of layout, as well as just removing a bunch of stuff.

[Linea_Norway]

Tonight someone is coming who wants to buy my time trial bicycle helmet. So I hope the helmet fits the person.

[chaskavitch]

Brought five books to the Little Free Library near my house.  There are three of them on my 2.5 mile bike to work!  I think it's awesome :)

[Frugal Lizard]

More junk left the property yesterday.  Some of it was garbage that we were waiting for capacity in our grey bin - and presto- realized that one of the neighbours has been away and has a completely empty grey bin.  Hubs wheeled it to the garage and filled it to the brim and it is a large bin.  Now we must remember to put it at the street tonight.  They return home tomorrow!

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I'm planning to tackle just a few small things a day, so posting for momentum's sake, although not terribly big wins. Today I found an old purse tucked away in my closet. Put that + the matching wallet in the donation pile, and found several old credit cards in the wallet. Will shred those tomorrow at work, and also found another kid school item to put in the recycling.

I'm scared to tackle the "junk drawer". It's where we keep pens, pencils & the like. An abundance of writing materials have made it super crazy. Need to think of a more optimal solution in terms of layout, as well as just removing a bunch of stuff.

I kicked off the junk drawer clean out yesterday. Used mason jars for pens, pencils, & highlighters & then started to toss a bunch of broken things. Put the actual drawer insert into Goodwill (it's nice & wooden & worth donating) & then will start coming through the "random" things that don't belong today. They all need to be individually evaluated to go back to their rightful home. The area already looks so much better!

[plainjane]

So I have two pairs of boots which were badly salt stained this past winter. One pair has broken zippers. One pair has split leather where it folds at the ball of the foot. Both pairs of boots were very expensive. Both are over 5 years old.

It isn't worth it to fix them (they probably aren't fixable) and it isn't fair to donate them. But I have this thing where I am having trouble actually throwing them away.

[joonifloofeefloo]

You can do it, plainjane! :)

[Roadrunner53]

plainjane, if you have a shoe repair guy in your town, take them there and see what they say. Zippers can be replaced and leather can be conditioned. It might be worth a try to see what they say. If not, toss them out. You could also try selling them on ebay listing all the problems. Point out all the problems so the buyer is aware. Some people are creative and might turn your boots into something else! You just never know! I have seem people put dirt into boots and plant flowers in them and put the boots out in the yard. Not sure if that would be my cup of tea but some like it!

[mspym]

Four books to the free library last night, and we are working on using up the food stockpile. We didn't grocery shop last weekend and are getting creative with what we already have.

I looked up the date of the council hard rubbish day and we were overseas during the last one. Next one is October so now I need to work out what to do with the things we were going to put out - chin up bar, weird home cable gym we picked up in an alleyway, spare wheels etc.

[Frugal Lizard]

@plainjane  Salt stain will come out with vinegar.  and I second the shoe repair option.  A good shop will tell you if the failure is fixable or not.

[SunnyDays]

I've been reading this thread (and the previous one) and it's been very motivating!  Yesterday, I sent 11 boxes and 3 bags of stuff and a rattan chair to the local animal rescue for their upcoming garage sale.  The house feels better.  Happy dance!  Still have a ways to go, but I've started on my dad's house too.  (He's more than willing.)  As I buy next to nothing now, in the next year I anticipate having a nicely streamlined house.  Can't wait.

[joonifloofeefloo]

Totally get the happy dance! So satisfying, freeing, releasing. Great job, everyone!

I'm having one of those times where I want the fun of more control, thus want to declutter and clean... But I have nothing left to declutter at the moment and no current invitations to do anyone else's. Will scrub my empty home :)