View Full Version : June Purge
Oldest son finally installed the new light fixture above our kitchen table so I got to declutter the old one that was 26 years old. I am in love with the new fixture. Goes well with the cabin feel that we are trying to achieve in our house. We love wood and earth tones and the brassy gold light that was there before did not fit in at all.
I am in a decluttering mood, which usually happens after we go to an estate sale over the weekend. We have a good friend who has an estate sale service so it is fun to go, especially in the area where I live (near Santa Fe) because people have amazing houses and furnishings and art and pottery and rugs and on and on...
Our friend always gives us a great deal, so we ended up with a few pottery pieces ($5 for the lot!) and my husband (with HIS money) bought an antique Turkish rug for a great price that needs a good cleaning. But the house just had SO MUCH STUFF and I walked away determined to NEVER let our house get that cluttered up with random collections of things. We are at the point of being fully furnished after almost four years in the house, so I am at the point of if "I bring something new into the house, something old or of no use has to go." Today I am taking some commercial plates and bowls back to Savers (where I probably bought them years ago) because they don't match the new handmade pottery by a local potter we've started to collect. I'm envisioning buying random pieces in the same color glaze and style, but not necessarily matching, but to "go with" what we have.
So now it will be a fun mission to round out our dish collection by going to estate sales and thrift stores!
Getting after the City to take my yard waste away. They only emptied one of four barrels. We are getting a new hauler soon who hopefully will be better.
Klunick: Congrats on the new light fixture. Successful home improvements are so satisfying.
SiouzQ: That sounds like a fun mission. My sister and I call these our "quests." I have mix and match dishes, and they suit our informal lifestyle very nicely.
Jeppy: We've had trouble with pickups being delayed recently. It seems to have gotten worse since Republic bought out JRM. We only have one spring yard waste pickup in our town, and they were running a few days behind this year.
I gave away 4 tomato cages via local FB giving page.
Husband finally installed new stainless hood to replace horrible old hood and old eyesore hood taken to the dump.
This makes stove look worse, however.
Tybee, You made me laugh....shiny new often makes old look shabby. It has happened to me....
We don't have brush pick up...and the only place to drop it is 40 minutes away, but luckily we have a "no one's land" area between us and the neighbors that is grown wild so we've been dumping there until it is developed.
Here is a cautionary tale in pictures of what happens if you don't declutter and then you die! It's also an interesting look at what $250k will buy you for real estate in my area, although probably not, because I've heard that the interest generated by this property was phenomenal, and it's probably going to close at above asking price.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/83-Riverbank-Rd_Saugus_MA_01906_M33941-49193
Wow, there is a lot to love about that house, especially the field behind and the MCM cabinets! A couple of dumpsters and no problem!
iris lilies
6-7-23, 3:14pm
Wow, there is a lot to love about that house, especially the field behind and the MCM cabinets! A couple of dumpsters and no problem!
Pink bathroom!!! Yes, I like the kitchen cabinets. This is not a bad house.
Yeegads, that's scary but there is potential underneath all the crap, though it's hard to see how it is structurally underneath all the trash. That basement was a nightmare! Reminds me of when I worked for a lady who was a Level 5 hoarder.
That isn't a field behind the house, it is phragmites (tall invasive wetlands plant), and the river comes up to a few feet away from the house at high tide. The listing says it might need to be torn down due to water damage, so apparently there are concerns about the soundness of the structure.
That isn't a field behind the house, it is phragmites (tall invasive wetlands plant), and the river comes up to a few feet away from the house at high tide. The listing says it might need to be torn down due to water damage, so apparently there are concerns about the soundness of the structure.
Holy cow!!! Pictures can be deceiving!!
FINALLY - passed on two xerox boxes of books that were headed to the dumpster at the end of last year. Found a homeschooling family in the area that has connections with other families and they will gladly use them! The family room is slowly being emptied as a "staging" area for things. :)
Have been deleting thousands of Facebook comments and posts dating back to 2009. It is not a blanket delete so it takes some time.
Four drinking glasses that were at least 20 years old. Also a butter dish
I took 8 items to Goodwill and returned a pair of shoes to Amazon. Total for month: 9.
iris lilies
6-11-23, 4:53pm
I took 8 items to Goodwill and returned a pair of shoes to Amazon. Total for month: 9.
I finally returned a pair of shoes to Amazon to this week! Twice I drove them into the city of St. Louis 85 miles from where I live when I was there for other purposes, but I could never find a “UPS store “that was convenient for me to make a free return.
there are, of course, no UPS stores in the tiny town where I live.
So I arranged for UPS to come to my doorstep. I had to wrap the package myself in brown paper and that’s fine. The UPS guy took it. That UPS visit cost seven or eight dollars to return the shoes, but it was worth it.
Decluttered three decorative pillows.
I've pulled about 6 items from my closet in the last two days that will be added to the thrift store donation bag.
I'm getting $30 from BuyBack World for sending in three old I-Pods (two 2nd generation, 7th Generation I-Pod Classic 160 GB) and an old Canon POint & Shoot camera that have been sitting for years in the back of my file cabinet collecting dust. I didn't want to just throw them away and it dawned on me there might be a market for that stuff. They send a pre-paid shipping label if they accept your stuff.
Check it out - they will buy back old electronics and all sorts of other stuff!
https://www.buybackworld.com/
happystuff
6-15-23, 5:01pm
Finally cleaned out my dresser. Got rid of old, holey socks, bras that don't fit, and shirts I never wear. Need to tackle the closet next, but I'm pleased with the dresser. (Bad stuff was tossed, good stuff went into the donation box.)
This is a fun read about decluttering:
https://eveschaub.com/year-of-no-clutter/
She also wrote a book called "The Year of No Garbage." That was a real eye-opener about companies "greenwashing" the recyclability of their packaging and the lies of the recycling industry itself.
https://eveschaub.com/year-of-no-garbage-2/
Next read on my list will be the "Year of No Sugar."
Went thru all our bedroom drawers. Found 3/4 of a tote of "stuff" to get rid of. Threw out holey socks, grey underwear and found a nice present to give a friend. Pretty easy when I had the tote right there. Now on to the desk drawers. Dont know why I have 40 year old recipes that we never even look at.
Teacher Terry
6-19-23, 8:39pm
A friend gave me a bag of clothes that didn’t fit and are really nice. I went through my closet and took 4 bags to the thrift store.
Another seasonal pillow got the boot as well as my broiler pan. I have accepted that I can't cook steak without drying it out so no point in keeping it.
frugal-one
6-20-23, 11:25pm
As posted in another thread, we purged an entire house and contents. I am happy to be moving on......
Finally sold my vintage Toastmaster toaster for $20 on Facebook Marketplace - a lady from one of my Facebook groups (Atomic Living: Mid-Century Modern Madness of the Atomic Age) is closing on her post-war bungalow in Albuquerque next week and she is doing up her kitchen in the late '40's style with one of those linoleum/chrome table sets, so the toaster will fit right in. It was my dad's toaster when he went to college in the late 1940's; we used it in the house as I was growing up. It still works, and the cord is in great condition. There was a time a few years ago that I wouldn't been able to let go of it but I haven't used it since we bought the house because K's toaster has wider slots that work better for us. I'm glad it is going to a home where it will get used!
So this past week I've made $50 extra by getting money for 3 old I-Pods, an old point 'n shoot camera, and the toaster. I feel like I'm back in the frugal and decluttering game!
rosarugosa
6-22-23, 6:26am
Good sale on the toaster, and sounds like it's going to someone who will appreciate it.
I gave away a stack of plastic hanging plant pots via Facebook, and I have another stack waiting to be picked up. Funny how those things proliferate.
I also sold a batch of DH's old ties on eBay (9 ties for $35.)
I returned 3 items to target. Final total for month: 12.
Cutting up old cards that can't be burned and disposing of them different pieces in different trash bags to avoid identity theft (e.g., old driver's license).
Yesterday I gave two beaded belts to my granddaughter, a pen and ink calendar to the one who likes to draw, and a book to the one that likes to read. Last week I took two blankets from my mom's assisted living place to them to use watching tv or camping. Also a box of her costume jewelry for them to divide up. Three bags of mom's clothes to the goodwill as we are different sizes. Using her cane and walker, so they got inherited and will be put to use after surgeries. Family photos given to the brothers, and rest were put into pre-existing albums. Gave her jade plant to the facility, although they did not see to want it. Should have kept it. Oh well. They have no living plants, so maybe this will liven the place up a bit. Her furniture was hauled off.
Note to those looking at memory care--go with the place that supplies furniture. It was so dumb this place didn't.
Go with the place that has a few plants, fish, or birds. People need living things to look at/look after.
Tybee: Sounds like you did some emotionally difficult work here. You must be glad to have completed it.
Tybee: Sounds like you did some emotionally difficult work here. You must be glad to have completed it.
Very glad. Having the tie cut to that memory care place was good, but still disorienting--we'd been going there every week for two and a half years, and having her finally gone from there meant we could no longer go there and be with her. But it felt very good to have her free of it, and know that they no longer had power over her. Plus she loved her orderly existence and would have loved having her things go to someone who could use them. It felt like she wanted things moved along, the way she always did.
Tybee, This sounds like a healing process. It is never easy.
Teacher Terry
7-2-23, 10:47am
Took another bag of clothes to the thrift store and sold my expensive soda stream that I never use for 30.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.