2023 Decluttering Thread

[Jluke]

We had a small taste of the pain of getting ready for a yard sale this past spring.

lots of time spent preparing for it but when the day came we lasted about 40 minutes on the driveway before realizing what a waste of time it was. Only a few people actually stopped but no one seemed interested. We had a mix of baby items and random house stuff.

we packed it up and threw some of the stuff out.

[disneysteve]

We had a small taste of the pain of getting ready for a yard sale this past spring.

lots of time spent preparing for it but when the day came we lasted about 40 minutes on the driveway before realizing what a waste of time it was. Only a few people actually stopped but no one seemed interested. We had a mix of baby items and random house stuff.

we packed it up and threw some of the stuff out.

We had plenty of customers and made a ton of sales. We sold everything really cheap, mostly $1 and $2 per item and still took in well over $300 which gives you an idea of the volume sold. Honestly, it wouldn't have been nearly as draining had it been 10 degrees cooler but we can't control that. We may still do another sale in the spring if I haven't given everything away, but if we do, it will definitely be smaller. We had three 6-foot tables, a card table, and 4 large ground tarps all covered with stuff. It was a lot. If there is a next time, probably just the tables and maybe one ground tarp.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I swear I spend an hour ever week trying to unsubscribe tons of emails.

[disneysteve]

I swear I spend an hour ever week trying to unsubscribe tons of emails.

I think “unsubscribe” is a farce. I just mark them as spam so they go in my spam folder and I empty that every week or so.

[disneysteve]

Yesterday I went through a box of stamp-related stuff in the basement (my dad collected). A bunch of it simply has no value like old cancelled stamps. Those went in the trash, as did a bunch of random papers and things. There were 3 shoe boxes full of postcards, first day covers, and other envelopes. I need to decide what to do with those. They are not in pristine condition due to age and especially living in our basement for all of these years. The dampness down there has not been kind to them. Still, I'm thinking I can lot them up and still get something for them. Maybe do an ebay auction for lots of 50 first day covers, for example, or 50 assorted postcards. But the end result was I got a large carton box down to just the 3 shoe boxes with everything else gone.

Today I emptied and threw out another large carton box. I also tossed an old coffee maker that is messed up and we will never use and isn't worth donating, as well as a little insulated lunch box thing that got messed up down there.

I also brought up 2 items to list on ebay and already listed one of them. I have another item down there to list and a container full of old Tupperware consultant promo items that I need to list.

Pretty good progress so far in just a few days. I'm trying to deal with as much stuff down there as I can on my own. Then there is a bunch of stuff that I'll need my wife's input on.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Haven't tutored since 2020, and noticed tonight that I had some related odds and ends in my desk, but I also know there are more odds and ends in boxes upstairs, as well as some math books on shelves. I threw away some tonight, bagged some for goodwill, and will work on the rest tomorrow....The clean up paid, literally, as I found two $5 bills in the desk.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Haven't tutored since 2020, and noticed tonight that I had some related odds and ends in my desk, but I also know there are more odds and ends in boxes upstairs, as well as some math books on shelves. I threw away some tonight, bagged some for goodwill, and will work on the rest tomorrow....The clean up paid, literally, as I found two $5 bills in the desk.

I sometimes find money too. Funny story I have a friend who didn't wear her wool coat a whole year. Then she wore it to the opera again with our other friend. And in the pocket? A pair of diamond earrings. Hers. She totally forgot she had woren them to the opera the year before.

[disneysteve]

I sometimes find money too. Funny story I have a friend who didn't wear her wool coat a whole year. Then she wore it to the opera again with our other friend. And in the pocket? A pair of diamond earrings. Hers. She totally forgot she had woren them to the opera the year before.

My wife was cleaning out one of her dresser drawers a few weeks ago and found $300 cash. She always stashed her cash away but thought she had used it all apparently.

[kork13]

I sometimes find money too. Funny story I have a friend who didn't wear her wool coat a whole year. Then she wore it to the opera again with our other friend. And in the pocket? A pair of diamond earrings. Hers. She totally forgot she had woren them to the opera the year before.

I have this problem too -- I have certain coats/jackets that only get used a couple times each winter. Then when it's a new year, I'll reach into the coat pocket & discover a long-lost item, cash, or who knows what else (candy wrappers, chewed gum, half-empty bag of kids' goldfish, ... )

[LivingAlmostLarge]

making serious headway in turning over the fridge, freezer and pantry of food stuff. I can't believe we are finally eating out way through. My hope is to be completely turned over by the end of the year. My DH wants to throw away one bun, etc. But I figure and I told him, keeping 4 slices of pizza is good for me when I work from home and have nothing else to eat...which I do. I eat whatever leftovers there are.

[disneysteve]

The last couple of days I’ve started going through the post-yard sale stuff in the garage and getting it packed to give away. It’s still here but ready to go. Our synagogue has an annual rummage sale and the woman who runs it is starting to collect donations. I texted her yesterday and she’ll let me know when I can bring stuff to her.

I’ve also listed a couple of items on our Buy Nothing group but no bites yet.

[scfr]

Man oh man the decluttering at my mom's is getting tedious. And I'm no saint; I get frustrated when I see the new piles of crap that pop up between visits. I have to keep reminding myself why it's worth it. A couple weeks ago, after a long wait, she finally got the hospital bed that she's been needing delivered. Getting it set up in her room was so easy thanks to all the decluttering we have done. She is sleeping so much better and her pain is much alleviated. Can't put a price on that.

[disneysteve]

I packed another box to give away from the garage tonight. I think I’m going to keep a few boxes for the synagogue and start taking the rest to Goodwill. I need to get things out of there to have room to work on everything.

[disneysteve]

I just dropped one box at Goodwill.

Only 40 or 50 more boxes and things should start looking better.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I just dropped one box at Goodwill.

Only 40 or 50 more boxes and things should start looking better.

I probably have about 20 boxes of stuff to look at in the garage...