2018 Decluttering Thread

[CarolBee]

Thanks for the welcome. I am amazed at how much we’ve accumulated throughout the years. I want to streamline things as we are both getting older and just don’t need the clutter. I also don’t want to burden my loved ones with having to go through my stuff after I’m gone. Been there, done that and it’s no fun.

[disneysteve]

Another of my ebay auctions got a bid today so that will sell. It's actually for a hand-blown glass Christmas ornament. I have 5 like it (different designs). I listed the one just to see if I could sell it. Now I need to list the other 4. These were among the items I removed from our collection recently.

[disneysteve]

Sold another textbook on Amazon. I'll ship that when I go out today.

[disneysteve]

Does it count as decluttering if you break something? I was cleaning in our Disney room/living room today and broke an ornament so that's out of there now. Fortunately it wasn't anything special so we weren't particularly upset about it getting broken.

One important part of decluttering is being very deliberate about what new things come into the house. We realized we needed some small bowls for the dinner we're having here on Friday so we stopped at a store today to find something. We were about ready to buy small Corning-type bowls (for $2 each and we needed 8). We kept looking and found plastic bowls that could either get trashed or washed and reused. Those were nice enough so we bought them. So instead of $16 for permanent bowls, we spent $3 for ones we can toss when we're done. Even if we decide to keep them, they're smaller and take up very little space.

[disneysteve]

Removed 2 more items from the collection. That brings us to 17 total items removed so far.

Although that barely makes a dent as the collection contains hundreds of items, that was enough for me to rearrange a couple of shelves and get 3 good-size items off of the top of a display cabinet and find them a spot on one of the shelving units.

[Thrif-t]

You're the man, DisneySteve

[disneysteve]

You're the man, DisneySteve

It is a VERY slow process but just the fact that we've even started it is a big step for us, me especially. I'm starting to look at more and more items to see if they are worth selling. I've done a lot of ebay searches lately.

[Thrif-t]

Well you sure are a big motivator to me! I'm constantly looking around to see what I can get rid of it. But as I've said numerous times my kids are getting to the age where they'll be leaving the nest soon. I'm torn between keeping the stuff for them to use starting out with, or just pitching because they'll want to get all their own new stuff anyway. I'm trying to instill frugalness in them but I'm not sure they have it yet. I'm holding on that they will become more like me when they are out paying their own way.

But I'd love to reclaim my basement and get rid of all the bins and boxes of stuff. I have no problem getting rid of stuff. In fact funny story, my mom before she died went around her house tagging things that were valuable because she said she knew I'd just come through and throw everything away. I'd love to be a minimalist, I love clean open spaces with no clutter. Someday.....

[disneysteve]

Two ebay auctions ended successfully today bringing my March sales total to $201.35 (gross, before expenses).

Seriously, anyone who needs to come up with some cash really needs to be going through the house looking for things to sell. You'd be surprised what you can get money for, even old broken items that people buy for parts or for art projects. Almost anything is worth money to somebody.

We're busy getting ready for Passover but I'll get these two items packed up and take them to the post office on Saturday morning.

[Bluebird]

I received a $15.66 credit at the local book store for turning in old books they can sell. I can use it to purchase anything in the store. DH and I went shopping the other day to replace his old and worn out summer casual clothes. He will be going through his old clothes in the next few days and donating most of them. I have some boxes in the basement that I will go through in the next week or so!

[creditcardfree]

Seriously, anyone who needs to come up with some cash really needs to be going through the house looking for things to sell. You'd be surprised what you can get money for, even old broken items that people buy for parts or for art projects. Almost anything is worth money to somebody.

This is true! I've earned back a couple thousand dollars in things we purchased over the years. People buy game pieces, items that are no longer sold, such as creative memory products or specific fragrances. I've sold box tops for education and old weight watchers items. Some of it isn't worth my time, but the items do sell.

[disneysteve]

2 more Disney items removed from the collection: Total=19

I'm going to list one of them on ebay. Not sure if it's worth selling but I'll give it a shot. The other one is definitely not worth selling. I'll add that to the donation pile.

[Gailete]

I keep taking things from around the house and putting it with the thrift store pile. My son is coming tomorrow, so maybe he can help me take them over tomorrow. My problem is buying inventory for my store at thrift stores and there is a total lack of balance of what comes in to what goes out!

[JoeP]

Spent a couple hours going through the basement again. I found a plastic bin full of old school binders and homework from DD. Why on earth are we keeping this for going on 4 years now? And then I found a tall bin with about 15 personal care gift boxes DW had made about 2 years ago and forgot about. She had forgotten about them and asked me to pull it out so she could spruce them up and donate them.

Although I like basements and would never buy a house without one, they can become living landfills unless everyone puts diligence into managing its contents.

[ShawnaC123]

I've recently decided that it's rarely worth it for me to sell small things from around the house on ebay that weighs over 1 lb and can't be shipped via First Class mail. Makes decluttering easy. If something is over a pound and isn't worth at least $25, it gets thrown right in the donate pile.