View Full Version : February purge
Went around yesterday and got rid of a lot of papers, all the kitchen glasses (which I don’t like and don’t use). Kept a few Christmas cards I loved and pitched the rest.
Pulled 2 bins off the porch from under the snow. Offered 2 books to someone who consigns my good stuff. Sent an email to a customer about some others. Put a few in the stack for the guy who's buying the end of the bookstore. These should be my last chunk of pulps... Fragile, worth a lot in decent shape, and hard to sell because they're expensive!
Most of the more common stuff wound up in the stack for the guy buying the end of the store.
I have about 3 boxes of things to put in the booth at the moment. It's backed up because I didn't make there last week and haven't gone this week either. The box for the thrift shop is also full... Lots going out, if I can just get it there!
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Two books in a mailer for the guy who consigns my good stuff. Two other books in a mailer for the customer. So, 4 books out, 2 mailers, 2 sleeves. This will result in more $ and space -- hurrah!
ToomuchStuff
2-2-21, 2:21pm
Big purges happening and yet to come.
(boss/friend who passed, for backstory) Two siblings (one other boss, and one friend) as well as siblings that don't live here, asked me to clean/search for certain items. Whose in charge was bickered about and siblings are not talking to each other, but all are talking to me (known them for 30 years).
First purge, the roommates, thank god. Two separate idea's were had among us. I was asked to move in, to take care of the pet, because the woman that was living here, as his "caretaker", couldn't handle being here in the house at night, after he died in it. One sibling bought all the contents, and they and the "caretaker", just thought I would be happy with two rooms, and pay all the bills while letting them keep this place for storage or a museum to the dead. My view, was knowing restrictions/time issues, I would start with those two rooms, while they went through, sorted, and removed their stuff. This came to a head, when I was told to start moving in my tools, and then the next day, the garage was filled up with the brothers toys (large video/pinball/bowling game collection). Then the caretaker had a party, the day before Thanksgiving, where they were supposed to stay downstairs. I came home from work to find upstairs trashed, the house filled with smoke (started a fire and left the fireplace vent closed) of multiple kinds (pot as well).
Now, I am wasting limited time, here (vent/motivation), as before getting on here, I am going through the left over stuff in the kitchen, figuring what do I need, can I use and need to donate (their stuff out, everything left is mine to do with as I see fit).
I have two houses to clean out and move stuff from one to the other, so I can sell one and move on.
Wow! That's a lot of work without the drama and sabotage. Good for you!
I cleaned out my pantry yesterday - it might have been the first time in two years that I literally took every single thing out - and threw out a LOT of stuff, too much to count.
But I did find 24 items to give to neighbors: 20 individually wrapped packets of microwave popcorn, two bottles of root beer, two bottles of wine.
I saw DS cleared most of his random water and soda bottles from the fridge.
Big purges happening and yet to come.
(boss/friend who passed, for backstory) Two siblings (one other boss, and one friend) as well as siblings that don't live here, asked me to clean/search for certain items. Whose in charge was bickered about and siblings are not talking to each other, but all are talking to me (known them for 30 years).
First purge, the roommates, thank god. Two separate idea's were had among us. I was asked to move in, to take care of the pet, because the woman that was living here, as his "caretaker", couldn't handle being here in the house at night, after he died in it. One sibling bought all the contents, and they and the "caretaker", just thought I would be happy with two rooms, and pay all the bills while letting them keep this place for storage or a museum to the dead. My view, was knowing restrictions/time issues, I would start with those two rooms, while they went through, sorted, and removed their stuff. This came to a head, when I was told to start moving in my tools, and then the next day, the garage was filled up with the brothers toys (large video/pinball/bowling game collection). Then the caretaker had a party, the day before Thanksgiving, where they were supposed to stay downstairs. I came home from work to find upstairs trashed, the house filled with smoke (started a fire and left the fireplace vent closed) of multiple kinds (pot as well).
Now, I am wasting limited time, here (vent/motivation), as before getting on here, I am going through the left over stuff in the kitchen, figuring what do I need, can I use and need to donate (their stuff out, everything left is mine to do with as I see fit).
I have two houses to clean out and move stuff from one to the other, so I can sell one and move on.
Aah! I thought my life was bad lately--this is horrible.
Supposedly someone is coming from Massachusetts on Saturday to take away an Atlantic woodstove--very valuable if fixed; we don't recondition stoves and can't even lift it, and he is a professional stove repair person who is basically getting the stove for nothing. Very annoying, but my husband wants it out of there and we are in our 60's and alone and this behemoth needs to go.
Supposedly someone is coming from Massachusetts on Saturday to take away an Atlantic woodstove--very valuable if fixed; we don't recondition stoves and can't even lift it, and he is a professional stove repair person who is basically getting the stove for nothing. Very annoying, but my husband wants it out of there and we are in our 60's and alone and this behemoth needs to go.
That’s the kind of stuff that’s so hard to get rid of.
I have a bag in my car stuffed full. Likely 12 items? I'll drop off on my weekly round of errands. It's simply a miscellany of stuff from walking around our home and grabbing items not used in the last 3 months.
I'm using up aging food from the fridge so it's not wasted. 1 more meal (with a lunch for hubster) and all will be used up!
Guy came early and took stove (it was a screaming deal for him, so of course he did) and just had to pull up old hearth plate and repaint floor where it was, and now need to clean up where he got my newly painted dining room all filthy. So not at all happy with him or DH who oversaw it.
On other hand, behemoth is now gone, which frees up the energy in the room. The chimney guy can't fix chimney until spring so we are sol with burning wood this winter, which has exploded our budget. And we can't afford to hire the guy anyway, since it is about twice what it should cost, which makes me not trust him. But at least that impediment to fixing the chimney and putting in a new woodstove has been removed. So progress, I guess.
I gave away 11 items (books, CD's, etc.) to a Girl Scout in our neighborhood who is raising money for charity by holding garage sales. New total for month: 35.
Used up a stack of backer boards, yay! Those are the cardboard inserts in comic book/magazine sleeves which help market them. I had a chunk stuck in a bookcase from the last time I prepped magazines... they got used. More space in a bookcase. BIG YAY!
Have been doing cull o junk off the porch. Still have boxes there to go through. Antique booth/thrift shop tomorrow.
Need to go to Habitat and pick up furniture soon too.
I have a 13 year old laptop to get rid of. Been sitting on a closet shelf for years. Considering what to do with my notebooks from when I took the catechist’s course. I finished 9 years ago. I have not looked at them in a long time, if ever. I don’t do any teaching. Just did a wee bit right when I finished. I’m not even sure I could easily read my handwriting.
My living room and kitchen feel so much more spacious since I did a lot of decluttering over the past couple of weeks. Makes being at home all the time so much better.
I had a larger painting canvas in my office area - had probably bought it for a school project. Found out that one of my co-workers paints, so I brought it her yesterday.
I took 26 hand-me-downs from my daughter to a neighbor. New total for month: 61.
I took one item to a food pantry, 16 items to Goodwill, and another 13 items to the girl scout in our neighborhood who is holding garage sales for charity.
New total for month: 91.
EJ-how much stuff do you have to get rid of?
EJ-how much stuff do you have to get rid of?
I've wondered too. The 40 hour challenge has been going on for several years.
EJ gave us a nice update last year about this time (2/2/20), but it would be cool to know her overall perspective of where she stands today compared to a year ago, if she is inclined to share. :)
"I would say the guestroom is pretty decluttered - though my clothes are in the closet there, and I'm planning to make another "pass" through them in this 40 hours. But everything in that room is in its "home." There are no boxes of unsorted clutter or anything like that. That's pretty true of my daughter's room too, and the bathrooms. And in the spaces where there is still clutter, there are small pockets - a couple boxes in a corner, that kind of thing.
The most cluttered space has been our upstairs hallway, which is unusually wide and spacious. There are several boxes there - maybe 8 or more - stacked in a couple corners, stuff I need to go through and have had trouble making decisions about. When I started this process, though, there were easily 30 or more boxes up there. Seriously. I had a baby a month after we moved into this house, and I just didn't unpack those boxes . I felt too overwhelmed. And there were lots of boxes of clutter in the guestroom and my bedroom back then too. Those boxes are completely gone from the guestroom, and the clutter in my bedroom has been reduced by about 80%.
I know it's hard for "normies" to imagine why it would take so long for me to do this, but I've just always been a packrat, always had a tendency to accumulate too much and had a hard time getting rid of what I don't need. Also, I realize as I do this, that a lot of times I've just never thought through how to organize certain kinds of stuff ("Where should I keep the resusable shopping bags? The small paper bags sometimes good for lunches? The plastic bags I need for laundry when I'm traveling?"), so I am slowly developing that skill finally. This whole process has helped. And it has done wonders for my mental health. I've had such shame about my clutter for literally decades, so finally dealing with it has felt very empowering.
When I was watching the Marie Kondo show on Netflix last year, it was clear to me that it took some of those families hundreds of hours to Kondo their places. In general, I don't have that kind of time. But committing to 40 hours twice a year really works for me, and the support I get here makes a huge difference. And, as I slowly go through the house and develop systems for where things go and find homes for things, it's easier to maintain the progress I've made."
Teacher Terry
2-5-21, 7:50pm
Looking forward to a progress report!
Decluttered all the notebooks from my catechist class about 10 years ago. Doubt I’d looked at them since and I had a hard time reading my handwriting. LOL. I only taught a bit once. It was good for personal knowledge but I’ve gone in a different direction. Emptied one double shoebox size storage container. Stuff got consolidated into one. Found several partially or unused notebooks. Tore out the used pages. Work is paperless but I use notebooks for notes. That felt good to get those out of the way.
Opened one big tub in my closet to discover it’s totally empty. :)
Rosa, thanks for posting that.
Pitched about 20 books today.
Old diving drysuit went to the friend buying it today, along with a few diving odds and ends.
GeorgeParker
2-6-21, 7:11pm
Went around yesterday and got rid of a lot of papers, all the kitchen glasses (which I don’t like and don’t use). Kept a few Christmas cards I loved and pitched the rest.When you have Christmas cards or other cards with a picture on the front, cut the front off and give it to a young kid you know. Ask them if they like the picture, and nudge them into making up a story about the people in the picture, or the place, or what's happening.... With my generation, doing that could produce some very interesting results, but supposedly kids today have become screen dependent and lost their ability to make up imaginary stories.
Putting aside InstantPot. I simply don’t use it and I have very little space in my small kitchen. Three plastic mugs used for nuking soup that are very discolored as I eat a lot of tomato based soup and those stain. I will now simply use a Corelle bowl with a small plate for a cover. Glass tea pot I don’t use. Gone. I don’t bake any more so rolling pin, hand mixer, and a few other small things. Gone.
Putting aside InstantPot. I simply don’t use it and I have very little space in my small kitchen. Three plastic mugs used for nuking soup that are very discolored as I eat a lot of tomato based soup and those stain. I will now simply use a Corelle bowl with a small plate for a cover. Glass tea pot I don’t use. Gone. I don’t bake any more so rolling pin, hand mixer, and a few other small things. Gone.
I'm just trading my 6-qt. Instant pot for the 3-qt. model to make room on my totally inadequate counter top. I use mine maybe five times a week (for Asian-inspired meatballs today), but really don't need more than 3 quarts.
Yeah the 6qt is just huge for me. At least I have no $$ in it. Got it through an incentive program at the old job
Sold a paper grocery sack full of fat quarters and various quilt fabric precuts on Facebook local marketplace page today. $40!
I'm just trading my 6-qt. Instant pot for the 3-qt. model to make room on my totally inadequate counter top. I use mine maybe five times a week (for Asian-inspired meatballs today), but really don't need more than 3 quarts.
I do like my 3 qt IP.
Today I am gifting a new Mom a bag of big flannel scraps. She posted in our Buy-Nothing neighborhood group that she want to make baby wipes. I have saved flannel chunks for years thinking I would make a big scrappy quilt.
The bag weighs.................17 pounds! It's likely enough for 75 wipes! Now I don't have to figure out a quilt to put a very weird assortment of scraps together and she has enough wipes to get this kid through potty training:cool:
happystuff
2-12-21, 2:04pm
Can finally "officially" post... big donation pickup just a little while ago - three bags and two boxes. LOTS of stuff gone! Yay!!!
rosarugosa
2-13-21, 8:28am
Good work, Happy!
I gifted a sweater through the local FB giving page, but then I bought a shirt (for only $1.00, brand new Land's End) at the thrift shop, so those cancelled each other out. I did drop off a small bag of recently culled clothing at the thrift store.
Teacher Terry
2-13-21, 11:03am
Happy, that’s great!
Can finally "officially" post... big donation pickup just a little while ago - three bags and two boxes. LOTS of stuff gone! Yay!!!
Excellent!
iris lilies
3-1-21, 12:38pm
Here is a Fail.
I sat down yesterday to list a book on eBay. I started reading reviews of it. Then, I decided to keep it and read it myself since I never read it. It seems to be one I could easily get $10 for so I’m out that $10 for a while anyway.
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