July Decluttering

[fidgiegirl]

I am tempted to do another 100 items purge here in July.

We are most likely not moving, but want to clear out some more items in our small place to see if we can feel more at ease here.

Not sure if we can get to 100, but going to try. Not saying others have to . . . :) Have fun with all your July decluttering triumphs here!!

#1. Old smooshed scrapbooking tote gone free at the curb.

[kitten]

I'm also posting to a 5-a-day thread in the Organizing Your Life area, so hope I'm not cheating on the other thread (lol)!

I haven't really been keeping track of the numbers of things I've purged recently, but over the past two weeks here's what I remember:

1 pr. pvc sandals that hurt my feet
two handbags I wasn't using
2 XXL jackets of my DH's, he lost 60 lbs and they don't fit
2 tees
1 pair of too tight shorts
1 pair of jeans that were way too low-rise!
1 uncomfy black skirt that was just strange
1 desk lamp - we can't give up surface real-estate to that
a plastic bag of costume jewelry - left it on top of the recycle bin at our apt, gone
a pretty fabric wallet that my cards kept falling out of
a leather jacket that was too big for me - I could have sold it, but decided to donate
1 pr. leather boots - still have two other pairs

Future goals: My DH has about a hundred tees, but he loves them all. He did agree to move some to storage. Also, cds without cases just seem to sprout from the floor like metallic mushrooms. We'd like to put our DVDs in storage, although if it were me I'd donate them. We're both music types so we have tons of audio-related stuff - cords, jacks, headphones, cords, chargers, batteries, cords, portable radios, tape players, cords, and did I mention cords? We need a way to organize what we have and eliminate the rest.

I was happy when DH located all of our sunglasses and put them in a little bin. We constantly lose them, so feel justified in having a couple for backup.

[fidgiegirl]

The eBay room is coming along! Yippee! I will post new pics when done, but a side effect has been some good decluttering. I feel freed of the responsibility to read all of these random paperbacks I've picked up. If I want to get to Pride and Prejudice, I'm sure the library has it ;)

2. compass
3. pot
4. vintage thermos that wouldn't go on eBay
5-6. locksets
7. hankie
8. jar
9, 10, 11. cookbooks
12. craft book
13, 14, 15, 16. games
17. Asperger's book
18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. books
27, 28. DVDs

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO

[fidgiegirl]

Ooh! Ooh! And, a TON of boxes are out and a TON of crappy airpacks and also all my Organic Gardening magazines and my old recipe book is dismantled.

:cool: :cool: :cool:

[danna]

July 05
I had said on another post in late June that I would start then, but didn't so am going to try now for July..too hot to be out and about too much so a good time to decluttering and a little cleaning too..maybe
--3 magazines to recycle
--2 books--to charity
--1 needle craft kit--to charity
--1 book --to charity
--1 shirt of DH--to charity(I just really don't like the fit on him and he has more then enough others)
--4 little cars--pick up at yard sale to grandson
--1 box of recylced paper
--1 large bag of shredded paper--used as mulch
--1 box of very fattening cookies I don't need (in food bank box)
total of 15 items...already behind..hehe

[fidgiegirl]

Yeah danna!

Also I forgot, we put a luggage cart out at the curb. That's #33.

[fidgiegirl]

1 pr ladies too-short shorts added to the giveaway box.

1 patio umbrella at curb. It remains to be seen if it will go. It is broken but still works. I will list it on CL for some publicity.

[Stella]

I still have a ways to go in my decluttering and organizing, but I wanted to share that I am finally feeling the benefit of four years of hard work! I have been getting rid of my mom's stuff ever since we moved in here and finally I feel like things are mostly in maintenance mode. I've been home alone long hours with the kids this week and the girls and I have been able to keep things up without much hassle. Huge, huge progress! Another year and I should have the final detail stuff done and really be in business.

I know this is unfrugal, but I've decided to ditch my dishes and get new ones. Too many of them are unmatched after this one or that one has broken and they are hard to stack. I did this with my glasses and I have been so happy with it. I have so much more cupboard space.

[Zoebird]

I decluttered the bathroom and laundry room today, and DH got the perfect pull up (gym thingy) up and also the washing machine and also the dryer. the washing machine was off balance in it's proper place, so we'd pulled it out to flat ground. our friend found a piece of wood and brought it in and it props it up perfectly, so that's good. dryer hun up on top! I cleaned off the countertop -- our small shelf holds the all purpose cleaner in it's spray bottle, the concentrate of the all purpose cleaner, the whitening powder, the fabric softener (which we never use, but a friend of mine gave us her remainder when she went to AUS, so perhaps we'll just pass it along soon), and the magic erasers (the only non-organicy thing that i use on occasion). I hung the brushes for scrubbing and hung what laundry needed hanging, and scrubbed the walls and ceiling, the window sill and floors.

Under the sink will be the space for our earthquake kit when we get to it. I do need to compile one, at least -- food, water, first aid kit (normal, herbal, and homeopathic), emergency radio/charger (charges computer, cell phone, etc with a hand crank and it's solar thingy), and extra clothes, wet gear, and if we get to it, camping stuff. And yes, it's amazing what can fit under a sink. LOL I'm also good at packing things tight! But, right now it's empty except for water.

Yup, that's today's work. :)

[fidgiegirl]

That patio umbrella got taken, yippee. I have a promising lead to sell one of my bikes today. Double yippee.

ETA: Also I see that my stack of Organic Gardening magazines got taken off the front porch. Woohoo. Up to 36 items then.

[Readsomething]

I wondered where this thread had gone! I never noticed the separate forum for daily challenges -- I'd been looking in the "Organize Your Life" forum. So glad to have found you guys!

Yesterday cleaned off my disgusting desk. Purged a huge stack of coupon inserts and reorganized my coupon binder. After a year or two of diligently couponing like crazy, I am getting out of it, a bit, but I still like to have my inserts nicely organized and on hand because there are occasionally excellent deals that I want to take advantage of. I just don't buy as MUCH as I used to. (Maybe I should count that FACT as one item in the "plus" column for decluttering!) I purged a few things that were not being used -- a stinky candle, etc. I need to finish the job by going through my scrapbooking kits.

I am actually taking a bit of a break from hardcore decluttering. Before our yard sale in mid-June, I cleaned out most of our garage, a tiny closet upstairs, a huge storage room upstairs. I got rid of multiple pieces of furniture (the "you-put-it-together-after-dragging-the-box-home-from-Target" type of stuff) AND I got rid of the crap that was ON TOP of the furniture. My next project is one I am DREADING -- the downstairs (sort of a half-basement) area off the kitchen, where we do our laundry and where I store most of our canned goods and boxed pantry items. The shelves need to be reorganized, I have a ton of laundry to do, etc., etc., but it's HOT down there. I got DH to bring down a fan, and I've put it in front of the door leading from the kitchen, to blow some cooler air down there. I just want to give it a couple days for the air to somewhat normalize down there. I NEED to get that done, because it's really weighing on me. And getting it done will allow me to mentally MOVE ON to my next project -- the big closet upstairs, and the vanity in the upstairs bathroom. The big closet holds lots of old linens that I'm gradually replacing with new stuff -- torn, worn flannel sheets. I replaced two cheaper sets with ONE nice, pricey set that fits the bed better (and thus won't RIP, I hope). So why did I keep the old ones???

Everything I find that can be sold is being put in the storage room, in anticipation of another yard sale. I doubt we will make $930, as we did at the last one, but, hey, every dollar counts, right? And we Freecycle anything that doesn't sell -- it does NOT come back into the house!

Tomorrow, I am taking our old van in to get some things fixed, and for the required state inspection. We plan to sell it, and that will net us an amount equivalent to a mortgage payment. We won't have to pay taxes/registration/maintenance on it, so that'll be a BIG WIN for the decluttering column! I had listed it for sale in our yard sale ad, and there are some neighbors who are very interested. They will stop by at the end of the week to see if it's ready to sell. I hope it will be!

[Greg44]

Trip to St. Vinnies today - 4 boxes of dd's possessions - clothes, games, books, stuffed animals, etc.
2 tee shirts
1 button down shirt
misc old files
misc boxes taking up room in garage
re-organized "trunk" stuff from my sold p-up and now into car - first aid kit, road emergency kit, blanket, gloves, etc.

[Readsomething]

How are we all doing? No updates to this thread for a week??? I got rid of a sun tea jar that I hated (the jar was a dark-colored plastic and didn't work very well -- the tea wouldn't brew properly). I need a clear one, I think. Got rid of a few other kitchen items, but I will need a replacement for one of them. I need a 9x13 pan (larger rectangular baking pan). My stoneware one broke into a zillion pieces, sigh.

[Greg44]

Another trip to St.Vincient de Paul's today. Two more boxes. DD is unloading a lot of her "childhood" stuff now that she is a big HS student! I ditched several pairs of Levi's - one pair I wore only twice. I thought I was buying 505's and bought 550's I hate the cut - so someone will be excited to get a new pair of jeans!

Something uniquely satisfying about decluttering!

[fidgiegirl]

Wow, all - Gregg in particular, you've been on a streak!

A big box is going to donation tomorrow, along with some golf clubs and a bag. Woohoo! DH got on a streak today. Not sure how much he actually put for donation, but a bunch of tshirts are going in the rags.

Keep it up!

[flowerseverywhere]

got back this weekend from a ten day trip when we had everything that we needed on our bicycles. It was so freeing to carry all our gear and puts life in perspective as to what you really need.

so when we got home started in earnest to clean out the last corners of the house. We really aren't bad but still have an excess of stuff. Old motorcycle, gone after listing on craigslist.
Young family up the street got the ping pong table, to charity will go a big box of extra kitchen stuff and stuff the kids have left behind years ago and haven't claimed despite my warnings it was their last chance to go through their stuff.
Called SIL and she wants some family antiques that have landed in our house although we didn't want them but in-laws gave us to "be fair". SIL is thrilled.

Now I am starting a pile of ebay items that are easy to ship and will start to list them.

The best thing is we were gone for over a week and when we got home the house looked so neat because we don't have junk all over.

[Readsomething]

The best thing is we were gone for over a week and when we got home the house looked so neat because we don't have junk all over.

I love it when I manage to clean the house really well before a trip. When we get back, I always wonder if somehow a cleaning service snuck into the place while we were gone! The worst is NOT getting to clean at all before we leave -- then we come home to laundry from the trip PLUS whatever ick we didn't manage to take care of before we left!

Got rid of a few things today, but the MAIN thing is that I managed, with DD's help, to get ALL of my wires and cables under my desk LABELED and moved around so I'm not hitting them with my feet. I had managed to unplug my external hard drive that contains my backup, which runs in the background automatically, so I was living dangerously. (I edit at home for a living, and while most of my work is smaller projects, I do have some longer projects, and I need the security of a backup. Not to mention that my family photos are VERY precious to me.)

DD, who is 8, was able to get under the desk, unplug things and tug on them until I identified them. I had printed out the labels with my label maker before we started, so it was a matter of wrapping the end of the label around the cord, right near the plug end. Things are plugged into my battery backup/surge protector. I counted -- I have 17 things plugged in under my desk. It seems like a LOT, but I need good lighting so I have a couple of lamps, and everything from my modem to my router to my DVD player.

Next task: Decluttering the TOP of the desk. Shouldn't be too hard -- I have already made some hard decisions on what will go. The goal is to free up a LOT of desk space for pursuing a hobby I really enjoy (scrapbooking). If I keep reminding myself of that goal, it won't be difficult to make those choices.

The van we're planning to sell is DONE. We'll pick it up tomorrow morning, then I plan to take photos and add them to the Craigslist ad. Within two hours of putting up the ad (with no photos), I had four responses -- and none of them were the "I am a Nigerian prince" variety. We hope to sell it quickly! I'm really looking forward to removing it from our car insurance!!!

We're leaving town for the weekend. When we get back, I have two weeks to get DD ready for school (school supplies, uniforms -- shoes are already ordered -- lunch box, etc.) and get some much-needed household projects done.

[leslieann]

Readsomething, I am SO impressed with your organization of the wires and cables. We have been shuffling cables for years. Wireless printing has made a big difference but there are still a drawerful of unlabeled cables which necessitates going through ALL of them every time we want to use one. Thanks for the inspiration!

I opened this up because I want to mark for myself that I have listed two large annoying items for FREE on Kijiji and I expect them to be leaving soon. I have made drop off trips to the thrift store twice this month and found a used book store to take my professional books. I just hated leaving them at Value Village, for some reason, as if what happens to them after they leave this house makes any difference to me.

I am happy that this thread is still going; I need to keep up. We have brought the stuff from the storage unit into the house before the builder has actually cleared his stuff out of the addition and so we are crunched for space....but paying for storage was crunching my finances. So...onward to decluttering! Stuff I thought I needed when I lived by myself suddenly seems less important now that we are in shared space.

[jania]

I haven't added much to my hall collection box this month...maybe that means I'm getting to the end of my material excesses? I cleaned out the few Halloween decorations I still had around, heading them off to a friend with children who will enjoy them. I've got six very good white soup bowls that I haven't used for over a year but I'm not yet ready to get rid of them. Instead I've placed them on a very low shelf and will see how long it might take to want to use them, another few months of disuse and out they will go.

[Selah]

Am donating seven books/DVD's today. Threw out a few more items that were undonatable. Have successfully RESISTED TEMPTATION to buy more crap! :)