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

[slackmax]

I’m letting go of three massive paintings from my art school days. The acrylic one I gesso-ed over and gave to a neighbor kid who paints. The two oil paintings I still have some attachment to/ do not want to release to the wild, so I took them off the stretchers and rolled them. Gave one stretcher to goodwill. Can’t fit the other in the car so it might just get set by the curb. It was very hard for me to do this, but once I got started pulling staples it felt so good. Freeing.

Good to hear it, PMG ! 

[Loretta]

I received an order of 15 items from grocery delivery, some of it foodstuffs and some of it other necessities.  Because I noted it was 15 things I’m on a mission now to use up or give away 15 things. 

I’m nearly finished with an afghan I’ve been working on since late Feb with half donated yarn-half purchased yarn.  It’s striped and cheerful and will be donated to a charity shelter near me. 

[slackmax]

Sold the last 5 of my Berenstain Bears children's books.  $2 ea times 5 = $10.

She needed me to deliver them, which I did for free, just to get out of the house and also to foray onto a new part of town.

Also decluttered the ad from my Facebook. Had the ad there for about 4 years ! 

[Frugal Lizard]

Both DH and I did a major of clothes purge. It was hard. But 4 garbage bags left the house. Still many closets to go.

[SunnyDays]

6 more books out of the house and a case of Bubly given to neighbours.

ETA:  3 LPs, 2 cassette tapes, 2 CDs and another book to go, and one broken cup and one broken water bottle in the garbage.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I bought a (used) patio set during COVID, thinking we might want one for our front porch. We've never used it, so listed it on FB market place & got almost all of my money back. It was a double chair + ottoman set with a mini table.

Items out of the house in 2024  = 419/500

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've been trying to get back into the groove again.
-Donated a bunch of bedding, a sweater, & an air mattress
-Gave away a sprinkler system, toys & a face wash on BN
-Sold a few things on eBay

Total out of the house = 444/500

[slackmax]

" Total out of the house = 444/500 " 

Yes, so many individual items in a house. Mind blowing, lol.   

Yesterday I finally donated a lamp that I couldn't sell at the flea market for any price. Big bulky item gone. Yay.

Also donated a bag-o-knicknacks at same time.  And 2 old work-related technical books. 

[Frugal Lizard]

This weekend is goods give away. We had an ancient extension ladder, an extra chest freezer, a nicknack table, and the sewing table that held my grandmother's ancient sewing machine.  The first item picked up was the freezer. Less than 20 minutes from when we put it out. Everything was gone by lunch.

[LeftA]

Yesterday, I dropped off a few bagsof clothing to someone who was interested in them. This was a mix of my own clothing, my sister’s clothing and a few from a BN group.

Today, I donated a few more clothings items and dropped off some drained batteries for recycling.

Excluding paper, I’m at about 740 items gone from my house in 20204!

I also identified a few things to post on my BN group. Won’t add that to my tally till the items leave my house.

[Just Joe]

Took a load of clothes and odd/ends to Goodwill. Claned up and organized some of our storage spaces (basement garage, etc).

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Dropped off a huge load for Goodwill (those numbers are already included in my total) & had DS18 go through his clothes & pull out what doesn't fit. Got rid of 10 pair of shorts/shirts. Gave those away on Buy Nothing.

Received a VR tour device for a college DS18 applied to, but didn't use, at he chose another college. Gave that away on BN to someone who is interested in the college.

[slackmax]

Currently moving stuff from my Mom's apt into my house (yes, it's all necessary) and while finding places to stash it, am coming across my own stuff I had forgotten about, and am moving my items to the 'sell at flea market' pile.

Example:  Big carrying case full of country music cassette tapes (yes, these still sell but not quickly). Will put it out for one day at flea market, for $5 for the entire collection of 40 tapes, including the case.   If no one buys it, off they go to salvation army, and yes, they still accept them, lol.   1.5 cubic feet of clutter gone. 

[Sibley]

Good luck slackmax. Having to move elderly parents does a lot of people in on the clutter front.

I sold the too-big bike. Made money on it even. Amusingly enough, the bike that I'm keeping is technically the same size but the frame is a very different style so it fits me and I have to put the seat up.

Also, was at my friend's father's house yesterday. I got a dresser (free! less cost of renting a van to move it, which we also moved a bookcase around). However, since I was there I went into the basement to see the progress they've made. This is the house that had been stuffed full to the brim of everything you can think of. Talking to my friend, they have cumulatively removed a full truck load full of stuff. Like, moving truck full. The basement is still full, but it is obvious that they've made progress. Was able to tell them that so hopefully that encourages them a bit.

[slackmax]

Now that I'm back in sell-stuff-at-flea-market mode, I am noticing  appropriate stuff around the house. Moving some of it it to the flea market staging area so I won't forget it on flea market day.

Also found a lot of paper clutter in stuff, and recycled it.   

[Sibley]

Sold the window a/c I bought last year when my unit died. Only took 13 people before someone actually showed up to buy it.

[slackmax]

Wow, Sibley, I think you set a new record, lol.

Yesterday I drove a bunch of boxes back to my house, from my Mom's place, and today I am going to cull all of it. Or, at least, I will spend a half hour, then see if I am brain dead yet, and maybe continue.

Mostly old bills, medical info, and who knows what else. Hoping to find lots of easy-to-recycle stuff.

   
 

[Frugal Lizard]

I donated all my extra potatoes to the seed library.

[SunnyDays]

Another round of decluttering has yielded 4 more glass jars, 3 books, a photo album, 1 sweater and 1 tee shirt, 4 picture frames, 2 gift bags, an LP holder, 4 vintage postcards and 1 cloth bag.  All going to the thrift store.

Slackmax, we are both doing the same thing - emptying out our parent's homes.  So, more temporary clutter from what I bring back before I decide what to do with it.  Some of my dad's stuff just goes to the thrift store where he lives, but the one where I live takes things no one else does.  I won't throw things out if I can help it.

[LeftA]

Someone in my BN group is looking for various items for donations to a camp for disadvantaged children. I just finished preparing a load for her: toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, socks and water bottles will be leaving my house!

765 items from my house gone in 2024.

[Frugal Lizard]

Was putting my house back together after a major dust generation renovation and filled the recycling bin with old catalogs and binned more chunks of plaster that were behind the filing cabinet.

[Loretta]

Successful thrift visit!  I dropped off 2 bags and purchased a 2 pieces of leisurewear at 30% off for the holiday weekend sale.  The shop was not as busy as normal for sales. 

I am using up more toiletries this weekend. 

[former player]

Put half a dozen books and a couple of seed packets in the village free library last week and pleased to see all have been taken.

The town dump is now taking small quantities of builder's rubble for free so got rid of a bag of old mortar that had been hanging around since the last bit of garden path building, along with a spare bit of guttering into the oversized plastics recycling.  Also two bags of green waste which was mostly ground elder - their green waste composting is hot enough to kill this off whereas my compost heap isn't.  Garden shed and back patio now looking very tidy by comparison.

Recurring refrain: still need to deal with old paperwork.

[slackmax]

Moderate success at flea market today. Sold a big case of country music cassette tapes to another vendor, for $5. Big bulky item out-of-the-house. 

Also, got rid of 2 Hull Art Pottery teapots in perfect condition. Price $5 each = $10.  A bit lower than the hundreds of dollars they may have commanded a decade or two ago, lol.  Not a fan of Hull Art, anyway, ha ha, so glad to be rid of them.


 

 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Went through DS17's closet briefly, while hanging up prom gear. Found two old reffing uniforms, which command a reasonable price. Listed them both on FB, and will donate if they don't sell. It's maybe 18 pieces of gear, between the two sets (shirts, socks, shorts, watch, notebooks, cards, flags, etc). Glad to get it organized & ready to leave our house.

Sold a watch on eBay. Packaged & ready to be mailed tomorrow.

Cleaned out bags holding old reffing uniforms & recycled papers. One bag DS17 would like to keep, so that is now organized back into his closet. Second bag is in the donation pile.

Also donated some office supplies.

Total out of the house for the year = 481/500

[MayDay]

Moderate success at flea market today. Sold a big case of country music cassette tapes to another vendor, for $5. Big bulky item out-of-the-house. 

Also, got rid of 2 Hull Art Pottery teapots in perfect condition. Price $5 each = $10.  A bit lower than the hundreds of dollars they may have commanded a decade or two ago, lol.  Not a fan of Hull Art, anyway, ha ha, so glad to be rid of them.


 

 

I have never heard of hull art pottery before. I googled, and my, that is not my style. Trends are so funny.

[Sandi_k]

I started a closet purge yesterday. With just an hour, I pulled out 1/2 a large lawn garbage bag of clothing - with only 13 months of employment to go, I deliberately purged some work clothes that I have never liked.

I also pulled out all the purses (maybe 7-8?) that I have, and emptied them all out. One was definitely shabby, so out it goes.

I also got DH to re-drill the anchor bolts on my lowest shelf, that had pulled out of the wall. All fixed!

The closet's top shelf still needs some attention, but this is a pretty good weekend effort.

I also purged my laptop of 3 years of downloads - into the laptop trash. Gained back 3 Gigs of storage.

[crocheted_stache]

Recurring refrain: still need to deal with old paperwork.

This is going to be us when the time comes. MIL could sit in a chair during much of her declining last year or so, and she used a lot of that time to sort old stuff, especially paper. The other three of our parents are still living, but I expect most of the cleaning out to fall to us and/or DH's siblings. (We live near my parents and far from his.)

There are going to be things in there that are obvious and easy to toss, like the years of paper utility bills that were settled at the time. At least where I am, there are websites with suggestions on how long to keep papers. I'd urge you to look for a list like that if you need it and then go for the easy win if you haven't yet. At the very least, the remaining pile will be that much smaller, both physically and from knowing what you're up against.

Where I live, there are also shredding services and occasional shredding "events" where you can drop stuff off and they'll bulk shred it on the spot. The events are scheduled a couple times a year by the city. If any of the challenge is the dread of having to hand-feed a noisy home shredder that's barely up to the job, see if a service is an option.

Wishing you the strength and perseverance to get there in any way and time that works for you.

[RetiredAt63]

I faced the fact that I am highly unlikely to ever ride my bike while I live here.  DD loves my bike and needs a bike.  So it and all the bike accessories are going to her.  Win-win.

[slackmax]

Here's a decluttering trick that works for me. Whenever I am forced to bring new clutter into my house, like boxes of family relics from Mom's place, it makes it easier to toss the existing clutter.

I'm doing that right now. Brought in 4 boxes-o-family-relics into computer room, and now happily tossing some old work paperwork (cobol/pli/db2/cics programs, yeah) from the same room. I was going to get around to it sometime, but when the room started filling up with the new stuff, that time became now.

Not tossing as much as I brought in, but.... better than nothing, lol.

[Fresh Bread]

A while ago I wrote how I was helping a not for profit clear their storage unit. Well that was mostly dealt with, but then my garage got filled to the brim with furniture and random stuff from another storeroom. When you are a not for profit, people tend to dump stuff on you like you are a thrift store. It's not helpful!

Anyway, I gave away or sold a number of things this week. My garage is still half full but the NFP is now officially free of unwanted stuff, and in the near future they will significantly reduce their storage costs as a result. Clearing the storage unit saved $3k a year and if we can pull off the next step they'll save a further 20k a year.

I've got a bulky rubbish collection booked in 10 days so that's the deadline for selling and giving away what I can.

[midweststache]

Visiting family helped us:

- Recycle a broken TV & broken portable speaker at a local-ish e-waste drop off.
- Get tags for bags of yard waste to put out for pick up. We’ve got five bags from spring yard cleaning that will go out this week.
- Clean out the garage, which included giving away a few large items, trashing some older paints and like that had been on our “to do” list, and tossing some broken items.
- Pass on a baseball mitt too small for our kiddos to a younger cousin.

[crocheted_stache]

Visiting family helped us:

- Recycle a broken TV & broken portable speaker at a local-ish e-waste drop off.
- Get tags for bags of yard waste to put out for pick up. We’ve got five bags from spring yard cleaning that will go out this week.
- Clean out the garage, which included giving away a few large items, trashing some older paints and like that had been on our “to do” list, and tossing some broken items.
- Pass on a baseball mitt too small for our kiddos to a younger cousin.

Go you! I hope you've treated these dedicated visiting family to a good dinner and beverages of choice.

Just in case they like such activities, would any of them like to visit California someday? Because this isn't what happens when my family visits.

[Loretta]

I successfully dropped off a consignment bag to ThredUp at the post office and I have a mostly full cart of recycling ready to drop off later today. 

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@crocheted_stache - my parents are visiting next week for DS18's graduation, & they are amazing at this, & super helpful. I'll send them over. ;-)

DS18 is done with classes, so I went through his room & pulled out school supplies (Buy Nothing), old papers (recycling) & junk (garbage). Got rid of a ton of stuff!

[oneday]

Since November:

• haz mat
• e-waste
• household goods (4 boxes)
• papers and photos from the fridge
• excess bags & water bottles
• empty spice jars
• luggage trolly
• ex roomie's video games
• ex roomie's book case glass doors
• old textbook (sold!)
• heating pad
• area rug
• box for electronics I no longer own
• stool of guilt & anger
• small suitcase
• box of miscellany: clothes, books, water bottles, etc
• ex roomie's side table
• huge bag of yarn and needles
• return unneeded things to Ikea
• 4 batteries
• busted lampshade
• wax paper
• return unneeded things to Costco
• box of household goods to thrift store

New:

• 3 bags of clothes

This felt good because I had been holding on to some outgrown clothes and had a hard time purging them. Something shifted yesterday once I decided to take the items that didn't sell on Poshmark to the thrift store (3 pair shorts) and that turned into 3 bags of stuff!

[Frugal Lizard]

I have been going hard at gardening stuff. As I empty seed packets I am not keeping the empty envelopes.  In the past I had this idea I would need to refer to them. That has happened never.

I am also using up as much old seed as possible by sowing heavy. It's been rare that I have had to thin. More often than not, it is a poor to no germination.

I am working my way through my stash with much purpose.

As all the seedlings get planted out I am cleaning up the gear for use next season but anything that is broken or didn't get used this season is getting given away or recycled.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Gave away two teen workbooks that were untouched (ha, what was I thinking?) on Buy Nothing.

[stoaX]

Since November:

• haz mat
• e-waste
• household goods (4 boxes)
• papers and photos from the fridge
• excess bags & water bottles
• empty spice jars
• luggage trolly
• ex roomie's video games
• ex roomie's book case glass doors
• old textbook (sold!)
• heating pad
• area rug
• box for electronics I no longer own
• stool of guilt & anger
• small suitcase
• box of miscellany: clothes, books, water bottles, etc
• ex roomie's side table
• huge bag of yarn and needles
• return unneeded things to Ikea
• 4 batteries
• busted lampshade
• wax paper
• return unneeded things to Costco
• box of household goods to thrift store

New:

• 3 bags of clothes

This felt good because I had been holding on to some outgrown clothes and had a hard time purging them. Something shifted yesterday once I decided to take the items that didn't sell on Poshmark to the thrift store (3 pair shorts) and that turned into 3 bags of stuff!

Stool of guilt and anger?!?! I'm guessing that was the most important thing to get rid of on your list?

[stoaX]

We had a community yard sale last Saturday.  Made a few $$ but most importantly got rid of 37 items. Also had a good time chatting with neighbors while there.

[LaineyAZ]

Tossed out six Covid-19 test kits that were expired.  I even checked the website to see if their expiration dates were extended (www.fda.gov/covidtestdates) but they were not, so in the trash they go.

I no longer have any test kits, but I'm not sure if it makes sense to get one to keep on hand or wait until symptoms develop?

[oneday]

Stool of guilt and anger?!?! I'm guessing that was the most important thing to get rid of on your list?

Haha, it wasn't particularly important to get rid of initially. The person who contacted me on BuyNothing (or Freecycle?) communicated poorly and I was left feeling guilty & angry. Double dose of guilt, because after I took the stool to the thrift store, someone on my community's message board asked for it. Had forgotten to take that post down at the time :(

[MaybeBabyMustache]

DS17 has decided that he's done reffing soccer games, so I'm getting rid of his gear. I wanted to sell it as a bundle, but have had folks ask for parts. Sold two pair of socks & a pair of shorts today. Will relist everything else (accessories/flags on FB, two jerseys as a set on eBay).

Also sold some perfume on eBay.

[slackmax]

Decluttering Mom's place. I put a nice credenza on Craigslist Free, and got four replies. I had 2 of them on the line, but they both ghosted me, lol. (Classic, right?)

I countered by putting it on Facebook for $100, and got 2 replies within 10 minutes and have a pickup scheduled for tomorrow.

Classic. The free people never show up, and the low price option often works better.

(Yes, I know, keeping fingers crossed that FB person doesn't ghost me, lol ! )
 

[Loretta]

Using up some yarn today!!!  Woohoo!  It’s burgundy 🧶

[Sandi_k]

We purged our closets, and the local thrift took two lawn bags full of clothes off our hands.

[slackmax]

The Facebook person showed up and bought the credenza for $100. Woohoo ! I feel like I beat the system. Avoided paying at least $100 to have someone take it away, and instead pocketed $100 cold hard cash !

Took another carload of clutter out of Mom's place. Put some in my house and donated some. My sister is going to drive up some time to my place and take some of the nicer stuff.       

[Sibley]

Slackmax, for stuff from your mother's house, can you put it on FB marketplace now? If someone is interested then you can grab that 1 item, or have them go to her house, or whatever. But getting it up sooner might help sell stuff.

[slackmax]

 Sibley, the credenza was sold from Mom's place. I can't sell the other furniture there yet, for reasons I don't want to get into.   

 

[ixtap]

Our boat is stuffed full and we still have things sin the storage room, so we have quite a bit of clearing to do before we leave for Mexico this Fall.

However, I dug out the hula hoops yesterday and hooped my heart to capacity. So I get to keep them! I also got out the paddle board to confirm it still holds air and as long as it was pumped up, I went out on it. My core wants to know why I did those things so close together...

One interesting incident from yesterday:  several years ago, DH got really into this idea of making adaptations to our Hobie kayak to make it a good sailing dinghy (for those who don't know, even with a sail, most kayaks have a very limited wind angle). He bought the main supplies, but never got around to figuring out how to attach them to the kayak. When it came time to clear them out, he finally realized that these items represented one of the first times that he used a project to distract from his developing pain issues. Back then, he thought this was something he would get over and enjoy certain activities again, so letting do of the items was kind of letting go of that optimism. Ironically, I had already figured out a long time ago that these items represented him obsessing over something with tunnel vision for weeks on end and I was only too happy to yeet the crap.