*Sigh*..At times it feels like cycling backwards!

[Tiam]

I've worked hard this summer on decluttering. I got brave and I got bold and bagged and boxed so many things. I said good bye to so many things I've clung to for so long. I clean up rooms and pull out so much clutter and off it all the dump. I feel marvelous. Then, after a few weeks, I do a garage sale and get rid of more, selling and giving away clutter. But now, two weeks later, I'm rearranging a room, decluttering and it just feels like that no matter how much I have decluttered before, I'm continuously creating more clutter to deal with. Broken shelves, unworthy clothing, products, stuff, stuff. More than can fit in my car or trash can. We're talking big trash here, not trash can stuff. And not goodwill worthy. It's depressing. As soon as I feel I'm getting a handle on it all, I seem to produce more from within the house. It's very frustrating, because getting rid of the stuff is difficult. How can I get rid of large junk without a truck? I cant get the stuff to the dump without asking more neighbors or renting equipment. When people get rid of all their junk and trash, please tell me, how on earth do people actually get RID of it all? Where do you take it? How? How much do you spend?

[Tussiemussies]

We have for garbage service here--Waste Management -- the name of the company. If they are available in your area you can call and ask about the different ways they haul garbage away. I have seen on Tv that they have a very large container and for one price you can stuff all you can get in there and have them haul it away. Good luck with your process.

[goldensmom]

You have a 'dump' available???? 'Dumps' around here were closed decades ago and we can only legally dispose of stuff by recycle or waste company pick up. We have Republic Waste Trash and Recycle service who will take most anything (no tires) including 1 large item per week but they have always taken everything we put out to the road. Check the classifieds for trash haulers, guys with pickups, not sure how much they charge or exactly what they do with it (take it to a landfill or back 40). Dumpsters from big waste companies (Waste Management/Republic) and small local waste services come as small as 5 ad 10 yds which around here is about $150 for a one time delivery and pick up.

[happystuff]

It sounds like you are doing wonderfully! Congratulations! What helps me, is to - first, remember that it has taken YEARS for this stuff to accumulate and I have time to get rid of it all! I try to fill our small garbage can every week with the actual "garbage" stuff. Again, while I want it all gone NOW, I try to remember that I DO have time! LOL. Second, I'm trying to control the current level of clutter by actually watching what comes INTO the house now. I really don't buy much beyond consumables any more. If someone needs new clothes it is usually because the old clothes are beyond hope and end up in the garbage. A trade-in/trade-out sort of thing.

Again, continued good luck!

[Float On]

You are making progress.
Be kind to yourself.
Around here there are guys with trucks and flatbeds that will haul things for people to the transfer station, check craigslist or the weekly penny paper type. We have a truck and take our own trash to the transfer station (what we can't recycle or compost) about once every 6-8 weeks - no weekly trash pick up for us. When we have a big project we're working on like rebuilding a glass furnace we'll hire a big container for a week.

For the future - look at the things you are now considering trash. Broken cheap pressboard furniture? Don't buy that kind again. Look for quality when you go to replace something. Any 75 year old dresser will outlast a cheap pressboard dresser from wal-mart.
Don't forget----you ARE making progress! Good job!

[Miss Cellane]

Do you have trash pickup at your house? Check to see what they will and won't take. Where I live, you can put out furniture, some large appliances (dishwasher and stoves but not refrigerators), mattresses and toilets. You need to buy a $5 tag for these at City Hall or various stores around town. Other large stuff needs to be taken to the Transfer Center. If they won't fit in your car, check places like Craigslist for a handy person with a truck that you can pay to haul a bunch of stuff to the dump.

Does your town have a bulky waste pick-up once or twice a year? Can you store some of the stuff until then?

For stuff that can go in your regular trash, but won't all fit at the same time, establish a spot in your house where you put the junk. That gets it out of your rooms and more or less out of sight. Then, every week, put as much as possible out for pickup.

Check around for charities that might not be as picky as Goodwill. There's one here that will take just about anything household related. They give it away free to anyone who needs it. They take clothes, as well. And they will come and pick up furniture and other large items. There's another that won't pick up, but does a good job matching what you want to get rid of to people who need that exact thing. You do need to store it in your house until they find a match, though. Check with churches in your area--they might be able to use some things, or know of an organization that would.

In some areas, you can haul anything half-way decent out to the curb and put an ad on Craigslist that there's free stuff on the curb on Whatever Street. People descend like locusts and carry away even some of the broken stuff.

[iris lily]

I often wonder how people get rid of stuff, too, when they don't have the huge dumpsters that we have in my city. That's one reason I never mind hauling things in from the alley becaseu--I can haul them right back out, easily getting rid of them.

[iris lily]

You are making progress.
Be kind to yourself.
...
For the future - look at the things you are now considering trash. Broken cheap pressboard furniture? Don't buy that kind again. Look for quality when you go to replace something. Any 75 year old dresser will outlast a cheap pressboard dresser from wal-mart.
Don't forget----you ARE making progress! Good job!

This is super great advice! Nice one, Float On.

[iris lily]

Due to the decluttering project I've been doing for 2+ years now, I'm finally getting down to some of those "been planning to do" tasks for 25+ years. Yes! 25 years! I've got two pairs of antique family earrings that need to be fixed. I am fixing them because I want them, not because I feel that I "should" fix them. All of those "shoulds" are long gone, I don't honor that nagging voice that dictates to me about the stuff around my house.

[Amaranth]

Some things can be disassembled and then parts put in your car to take to the dump. Some areas have bulk trash day once or twice a year.

If you have a weekly limit on big items per house, see if several neighbors will let you put items at their houses. Or just put out your limit per week each week until you catch up.

[Miss Cellane]

Some things can be disassembled and then parts put in your car to take to the dump. Some areas have bulk trash day once or twice a year.

If you have a weekly limit on big items per house, see if several neighbors will let you put items at their houses. Or just put out your limit per week each week until you catch up.

Somewhere on the internet, I have read about a woman faced with getting rid of a sofa. She couldn't move the sofa by herself and her car wasn't big enough to hold it. So she took it apart. The cushions were removed, then the upholstery and padding, and put in trash bags. Then she took out the springs. Finally, she took a saw to the wooden framework. It took several weeks, but bit by bit, she put that sofa in her weekly trash pickup.

[Selah]

When I lived in Nevada, whatever was too big for the curbside garbage pickup needed to be hauled to the dump. Residents could use the dump for free. If I could fit the item in my own car, I'd haul it there myself. If not, I'd find a friend with a pickup truck and do it that way, "paying" said friend in beer, lunch, or whatever! Now that I live in a high-density Israeli town, I see people getting rid of large items by simply putting them next to their communal dumpsters. Lots of people just come by and take those items privately, so it works as a kind of informal Freecycle program.

Anyway, like other posters have said, don't be down on yourself. Decluttering is sometimes like excavating a site with multiple layers of sediment. There's the surface layer, and then more gets uncovered and dealt with, and then another layer "seems" to emerge. It was all there, all the time, but since we'd dulled our awareness about it, it seems that the more we uncover, new clutter seems to appear! This is a normal part of the process, as is dealing with frustration and a lot of other emotions. But remember, "no shame, no blame," and just keep going. You can work through these uncomfortable feelings, you can "do hard." You're doing it already! :)

[Tiam]

You have a 'dump' available???? 'Dumps' around here were closed decades ago and we can only legally dispose of stuff by recycle or waste company pick up. We have Republic Waste Trash and Recycle service who will take most anything (no tires) including 1 large item per week but they have always taken everything we put out to the road. Check the classifieds for trash haulers, guys with pickups, not sure how much they charge or exactly what they do with it (take it to a landfill or back 40). Dumpsters from big waste companies (Waste Management/Republic) and small local waste services come as small as 5 ad 10 yds which around here is about $150 for a one time delivery and pick up.


Well, the dump is strictly controlled by what and how much they will take and you have to pay for it by the yard. Unfortuately, since I'm decluttering in increments I never have enough to justify a large 150 dollar container.

[Tiam]

When I lived in Nevada, whatever was too big for the curbside garbage pickup needed to be hauled to the dump. Residents could use the dump for free. If I could fit the item in my own car, I'd haul it there myself. If not, I'd find a friend with a pickup truck and do it that way, "paying" said friend in beer, lunch, or whatever! Now that I live in a high-density Israeli town, I see people getting rid of large items by simply putting them next to their communal dumpsters. Lots of people just come by and take those items privately, so it works as a kind of informal Freecycle program.

Anyway, like other posters have said, don't be down on yourself. Decluttering is sometimes like excavating a site with multiple layers of sediment. There's the surface layer, and then more gets uncovered and dealt with, and then another layer "seems" to emerge. It was all there, all the time, but since we'd dulled our awareness about it, it seems that the more we uncover, new clutter seems to appear! This is a normal part of the process, as is dealing with frustration and a lot of other emotions. But remember, "no shame, no blame," and just keep going. You can work through these uncomfortable feelings, you can "do hard." You're doing it already! :)

Thanks Selah. I like the architectural dig picture you paint.

[goldensmom]

Somewhere on the internet, I have read about a woman faced with getting rid of a sofa. She couldn't move the sofa by herself and her car wasn't big enough to hold it. So she took it apart. The cushions were removed, then the upholstery and padding, and put in trash bags. Then she took out the springs. Finally, she took a saw to the wooden framework. It took several weeks, but bit by bit, she put that sofa in her weekly trash pickup.

That works. I would never think to 'deconstruct' a sofa but I did that once with an old entertainment center. I deconstructed it, kept the screws, wheels, knobs, etc for future use, took the rest of it piece by piece to the weekly trash pick up and after a few weeks.....all gone.

When I was a child, people burned most of their trash so the stuff they took to the 'free, open-to-anybody-dumps' were mostly what we would recycle today. Once a year my father would load up a wagon and off we'd go. One time while dad was unloading the wagon I picked up an old trumpet and took it home without him knowing about until we were home. The dump attendants shack was laden with cool stuff he'd scavenged from others cast offs.

[artist]

We break it down and haul it to the dump in my husbands hatchback. Amazing what you can get in a Hyundai accent if you are determined enough.