November Decluttering

[DuraMater]

I haven't been here on the forums in a while and was just reading some past threads. Inspired by fidgiegirl's October 100, I'm starting a November decluttering thread.

I got rid of a slew of old prescriptions and supplements.
I went through, tossed and organized about 3 years of bills/papers/documents that I had been tossing in a pile and avoiding like the plague.

Not sure what to tackle next, but open to suggestions....
Books aren't too bad, CDs need to get burned to mac and donated (they don't take up much space, so low priority), I have several boxes of old papers from my professor days and have been loathe to give those up, front closet needs organizing as does the bathroom, garage needs a good re-org (but too chilly right now!), and basement... oh the basement...

Should i do the Ramsey method and do the smaller projects first, or the Orman method and tackle those with this highest return? Since no real money is involved, I'm leaning towards the Ramsey method...
Vote now! :D

[Float On]

Finally dropped off 6 bags at the thrift shop last night. But I'm not sure I can count them on the November list since they went into the back of my car at the begining of October. lol

[Tradd]

3 reusable grocery bags overflowing with canned goods to food pantry. I found out last night that I will now have to be out of my building (while foundation repairs are done inside and out due to it sinking from soil erosion) for 3-4 weeks, beginning early-mid December. So, I'm not even leaving my canned goods stash here. About 8 books donated to library.

Ditched almost all of my spices, as they were old. Would buy larger quantities at the ethnic grocery store as they were so cheap, but not with them going bad. Will buy smaller quantities i the future.

[shadowmoss]

DuraMater: I found an excellent way to figure out what needs to be decluttered is to start an inventory of my possessions. I started with my bathroom, figuring it was the smallest room in the house. That was several years ago. Having to actually write down the number of items, and the number of each, is a motivator for sure. Some here remember my count of 80+ pr. of pants, not counting jeans and shorts. Recently my Mom counted her pants as she just moved into a new apartment. She has 50 pr. So, I come by it naturally. At the moment my stuff in in storage units in 2 different states and some down here in Honduras with me. Heaven only knows when all my stuff will be in the same zip code as I am for me to worry about doing another inventory, but I consider the storage fees as buying me time so as not to have a nervous breakdown.

[leslieann]

Hooray for the November decluttering thread.

Today: two windows plus screens off to new homes (kijiji for free). And tonight, a bifold door is going.....via the same route.
On the weekend (yes, that was November) DSD and DH sorted out her room and liberated a big trash bag full of too-small clothes to be donated plus a goodly amount of trash to be, ahem, trashed. This morning I remembered to put out some more of the construction leftovers for the trash guys.

The tiny taste of freedom from stuff....is delicious!

Leslie

[fidgiegirl]

Well, lots of boxes have come into our lives, but at least they are in the garage and waiting for employment in the upcoming move.

I sent my dad's tuba home with him to stay until I do band again, at which time I would purchase it from him. My mom also took her Cricut machine. So those are two big things OUT.

[Bastelmutti]

Finished my October 100 this morning when the bags of stuff we had culled from the basement were taken away by the charity pick-up. I promised 10 bags, and that's about what we put out, maybe 12. Whoo hoo!

So far in November:
* I large bag of clothes culled from closets/drawers, mostly mine, but some from my DDs. I clean out clothes we don't like anymore, don't fit, are worn out, etc. every season and stock up on what we need mostly at the thrift shop and store off-season stuff in the basement. This bag went out with the above pick-up.
* Yesterday I went through our two shelves of cookbooks and made a pile of about 20 to give away. I have seen book donation boxes around town, so I will dump them there. I love cookbooks, but have been using the Internet so much, that I can't justify keeping so many. They take up too much space.
* There is another charity pick-up scheduled for Nov. 22, so I will go online and confirm that.

Two goals for Nov.:
* Before Nov. 22, I want to start sorting through old toy boxes - we have 4-6 in the basement that have been collecting since my kids were babies. Most of that stuff needs to go. Then we could actually organize things in our storage space. That would make up the bulk of that pick-up, I hope.
* This week I need to clear the clutter in my office because some work is going to be done in there that would currently be blocked by random stuff on the floor.

Otherwise I am planning on looking back rather than forward. I don't feel like setting goals this month, so I'll just declutter as I have time and energy and then look back happily on what I've accomplished, whatever that might be! :~)

[lizii]

Finished my October 100 this morning when the bags of stuff we had culled from the basement were taken away by the charity pick-up. I promised 10 bags, and that's about what we put out, maybe 12. Whoo hoo!

So far in November:
* I large bag of clothes culled from closets/drawers, mostly mine, but some from my DDs. I clean out clothes we don't like anymore, don't fit, are worn out, etc. every season and stock up on what we need mostly at the thrift shop and store off-season stuff in the basement. This bag went out with the above pick-up.
* Yesterday I went through our two shelves of cookbooks and made a pile of about 20 to give away. I have seen book donation boxes around town, so I will dump them there. I love cookbooks, but have been using the Internet so much, that I can't justify keeping so many. They take up too much space.
* There is another charity pick-up scheduled for Nov. 22, so I will go online and confirm that.

Two goals for Nov.:
* Before Nov. 22, I want to start sorting through old toy boxes - we have 4-6 in the basement that have been collecting since my kids were babies. Most of that stuff needs to go. Then we could actually organize things in our storage space. That would make up the bulk of that pick-up, I hope.
* This week I need to clear the clutter in my office because some work is going to be done in there that would currently be blocked by random stuff on the floor.

Otherwise I am planning on looking back rather than forward. I don't feel like setting goals this month, so I'll just declutter as I have time and energy and then look back happily on what I've accomplished, whatever that might be! :~)

Oh how I wish I had cleaned up the clutter in my apartment while I had the strength to do it.

It's too late for me to do it now, so my family will have to do it for me after I croak. I have so many useful things in all my cupboards and drawers I would be delighted to donate so others could use and enjoy them, such as clothes, shoes, dishes, kitchen utensils and appliances, books, furniture, etc., all in good condition, but I don't know if my family will toss them in the garbage, or what?

I have some beautful antiques passed down to me from my great grandparents, but I have those covered in my Will as to who I want to inherit each one of them, and have already given many of them to my granddaughters to use. They had a choice to take what they wanted to use, including my jewelry, my antique furniture...

[Bastelmutti]

Lizii,
If you have any connections with charities, maybe they would be willing to come to your house & do the heavy lifting while you tell them the items you want to donate? Seems a shame that your extra things should just be sitting there when you want them to go to good homes. I'm sure there's a great need for them. I just got a report today from my child's school about all of the needs just in that one building (kids need food, winter clothing, etc.)

[DuraMater]

DuraMater: I found an excellent way to figure out what needs to be decluttered is to start an inventory of my possessions. I started with my bathroom, figuring it was the smallest room in the house. That was several years ago. Having to actually write down the number of items, and the number of each, is a motivator for sure. Some here remember my count of 80+ pr. of pants, not counting jeans and shorts. Recently my Mom counted her pants as she just moved into a new apartment. She has 50 pr. So, I come by it naturally. At the moment my stuff in in storage units in 2 different states and some down here in Honduras with me. Heaven only knows when all my stuff will be in the same zip code as I am for me to worry about doing another inventory, but I consider the storage fees as buying me time so as not to have a nervous breakdown.

Thanks for this idea!! I finished up the paper-related organization but have been so busy I haven't chipped away further. I think I'm going to try the bathroom first -- small so should be easy.

[lizii]

Lizii,
If you have any connections with charities, maybe they would be willing to come to your house & do the heavy lifting while you tell them the items you want to donate? Seems a shame that your extra things should just be sitting there when you want them to go to good homes. I'm sure there's a great need for them. I just got a report today from my child's school about all of the needs just in that one building (kids need food, winter clothing, etc.)

I would love to have that opportunity, but our building doesn't allow strangers to come in. In fact, we don't have any way to recycle things we don't use, so everything has to be dumped into a bin and be taken by a garbage truck to take to a dump. This seems such a shame to me, but I can't do anything about it. So all I can do is to put my paper, bottles, empty cans in my next door neighbours' various boxes and bags then leave at the curb to be picked up and be recycled.

As for the clothes I don't wear now, I simply put them into large garbage bags so my family can take them to my favourite charity, SPCA, which sells them in their shops to use the money to neuter the animals, which i agree is needed to stop the production of endless pets who never have a home of their own.

later...

[fidgiegirl]

Hi all,

I got rid of some wooden skis I had trash picked and that the charity service wouldn't take in their pickup. Put them in CL and it took a few days but the girl who grabbed them was happy. Then the other day I stayed home for the afternoon and I sorted all of our little teeny weeny hardware drawers, you know, the ones with nails & screws & miscellanea. We had three different "chests." I managed to condense down to two, and I discovered we have enough nails for our bathroom remodel already. Also I labeled all the drawers to make it easier to shop our very own little hardware store :) Holy buckets we have a lot of hardware. Must remind my BiL and SiL so they can use some of it, too, if they need.

[Fawn]

Lizzi--good to see you back!

[lizii]

Thanks Fawn, it's great to be back too!

[jania]

I know I mentioned some drinking glasses I was contemplating getting rid of a few months ago, as well as some bowls. Well, since I haven't been using them they have gone into a box for donation. They are in great condition and really nice but I just don't use them any more. It feels good to have finally come to a decision about these.

[Bastelmutti]

Lizii, It's a shame, but it sounds like you're doing all you can! Good for you!

[happystuff]

4 xerox boxes of various items finally taken to the thrift store yesterday! Much to my dismay, when I returned home, I saw that I missed a box! LOL.

[lizii]

I have made it clear to my oldest son what I want to do with my possessions after I die. I have already given some of my jewelery to my oldest granddaughters when they graduated from university, but have kept other jewelry for my two younger gds, plus I have some funds in a savings account to share among my grandsons.

I have several antique tables that were passed down from my grandparents to my parents to me, beautiful pieces, some of them hand carved, made without nails, very old and likely worth a lot of money if I sold them, but I wouldn't sell them no matter how much I needed money (which I do), but prefer to keep them in my family.

[Stella]

I decluttered over half of my clothes this month.

We won't get around to the actual work of it, but Zach and I talked it through and decided that when we get back from our trip we are going to declutter about 50% of our family's clothes, toys and craft stuff. We are experimenting with minimalism while we are traveling and I have a feeling that we are going to come home with a new appreciation of what we actually need and will use.

[Fawn]

Wow, Stella, I am impressed.

I will say, it has been my experience that minimalism is a very effective tool when parenting multiple children.

That way you can focus on the kids and not the stuff. ;)

[Stella]

Fawn I'm starting to think that way too. I've been observing the kids and they each have their favourite few outfits and their favourite few toys that are used over and over again. A lot of their time is spent doing things like playing outside, pretending to be animals, reading library books and drawing that don't really require much in the way of stuff, or at least, in the case of the library books, stuff we own. With one or two kids the extra stuff didn't make that much of a difference, but multiplied by four, soon to be five, it gets out of hand more easily.

The good news is that the kids, especially Isabella, are totally on board with this. Isabella is excited about it. I think she is a minimalist at heart. She and Cheyenne pitched an idea to me about having the four bigger kids all together in the big bedroom for a while with bunk beds on either side, which they know means getting rid of stuff to make room for siblings. I think it's sweet that they prefer each other to toys. That is one of the nice things about having a lot of kids close together in age. They have built-in friends.

[iris lily]

Today I had a breakthrough and I am now able to get rid of these chairs:

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb111/kprp/Chairs.jpg

I will be able to give them away within my neighborhood, I know. I'm hoping my friend who has a sewing shop and who does a little upholstery work will take them. She will fix 'em up and they will end up in a nice home, nicer than mine. ha ha.

It's just crazy how long it takes sometimes for me to get psyched to get rid of something. I've been stewing over these chairs for more two years. But today I have a clear head. When I reach this emotional state I always know it is the right time to give the things away, I don't regret them being gone.

[artist]

Personally I go room by room. I start in the bedrooms. No real reason other than I sleep better when there are no distractions for me to think about in that room. Master, guest room, ds's room. I tackle one room at a time, and hit every aspect of the room. Every drawer, closet etc... Then I move into the bathroom (only other room off that hall) and do the same. Then it's the linen closet and hall coat closet. I work my way to the living room, kitchen and out to the three season porch. I then move downstairs to the finished part of the basement. I start in the closet under the stair, move to the office area (includes all my files), my studio area and then out to the unfinished part of the basement to the framing area. I then move outside to the garage. I do the garage first bay by bay and then the attic area above.

I find that systematically moving through my house helps me feel organized. Otherwise I'm jumping from one area to another and I feel overwhelmed by it.

[Float On]

Those are cool chairs Iris lily and I see the potential (even picked out the new fabric in my brain) but agree that if a project like that doesn't get done within 6 months of bringing the 'potential item' into your space then it should move on.

I've got two bags of my winterish clothes purged and sitting by the front door. As I try things on for the first of the colder weather season if I'm not 'thrilled' with it then into a bag it goes. My closet is always overstuffed with winterish season items so it's time to move some things on.
I also reduced 12 drawers of sewing 'projects' and items into 9 drawers.

Sold a cool old black desk that was to be my 'crafting desk' but instead became a 'dumping station' on craigslist for $40.
Sold a 4 bike rack on craigslist for $35. Will donate 2 of the bikes to the local "Jesus was homeless" ministry. They are painting bikes bright yellow and putting them at the transient hotels and wooded areas where a lot of people live without transportation in this resort/tourism town.

[Anne Lee]

I am adopting the one in/one out rule with clothes as I feel I have reached a nice amount with winter wardrobe. However, I've dropped ten lbs and have kept it off long enough to think that I should get clothes tha actually fit.

I got four new tops yesterday and today four old tops are on the way out. Three of them are nice enough to give away. One of them, a white turtleneck, is ready to go.

[Lainey]

A set of green glassware donated. I already have another, nicer set. Expired bottles of vitamins trashed. Kitchen cupboards cleaned and contents rearranged.
Suddenly I have space again in my galley kitchen, and the whole thing only took about 90 minutes. Was it watching the back-to-back episodes of Hoarders on A&E that got me to finally get this done? Unconciously or not, that show is a clean-up motivator.

[Float On]

Lainey, if you netflix they have added season 1 of Buried Alive from TLC (also about Hoarders) thats what motivated me to do a little cleaning today. I'm so thankful I've never been that attached to 'stuff'.

[Float On]

DH finally decluttered the box of gold coins and jewelry that I've been after him for 6 months to do. He's coming home with a check for $950. Timing is sure right, I just had to repair my Durango and his F150 needs some work too. Hopefully there will be a little left over for christmas gifts for the kids.