2018 Decluttering Thread

[creditcardfree]

I need to go through our garage again now that the warmer weather is here. I did have success selling an empty electronics box (think gaming console) on eBay for a net of just over $8. I also dropped off two large bags of donations to Goodwill.

[james.hendrickson]

The wife and I decided to do some decluttering. We pulled a bunch of books off my self that I hadn't read in years and sold them to a local used bookstore. We got something like $69.75 for the books.

Bottom line: more space in our apartment and more cash in our account.

[Thrif-t]

The wife and I decided to do some decluttering. We pulled a bunch of books off my self that I hadn't read in years and sold them to a local used bookstore. We got something like $69.75 for the books.

Bottom line: more space in our apartment and more cash in our account.

Holy cow!! You must've had a LOT of books to gain that much.

[james.hendrickson]

Holy cow!! You must've had a LOT of books to gain that much.

The beauty of it is there are still more to sell!

[Gailete]

It is amazing what some books can be worth. I was at a yard sale once and picked up a bunch of books on architecture and building codes, etc. I paid $20 which included some other items from the sale.

I was selling books then, not patterns. I sold most of the books for over $1,000 total!

Another sale I found bunches of books on knitting and sewing that I lost track of how much I sold, but most likely over a couple thousand dollars when selling them and that doesn’t include what snuck into my sewing room! ��

[msomnipotent]

My husband has started replacing the shelving in the master bathroom, so I am decluttering that and the 1/2 bath. I have already decluttered the other bathroom. I need to get my butt in gear if we are getting an exchange student next month!

[disneysteve]

We got back from a trip on Sunday. As usual, the clutter bugs me a lot more after spending a few days in a hotel room with minimal belongings.

Last night, I removed a number of items from my dresser and my bedside table. That makes it much easier to dust, which is another problem we have. I have one other area of floor space that needs clearing out so we can vacuum there because currently we skip that space when we vacuum which means the dust is just collecting there.

[Thrif-t]

Well I cleaned my linen closet and took some sheets to goodwill (do they sell those??, they took em).

My neighbor told me we are going to have a street sale so I decluttered some stuff in my china closet I don't use and will put them aside for the sale. If they don't sell to goodwill they will go.

Also in the linen closet I got rid of some blankets and extra mattress pads, I inherited from my mom, but never used. Those are going in the sale pile too.

Oh I threw out 3 old bed pillows, those went straight to the dump. We have enough extra pillows and the kids don't have multiple kids spending the night anymore that I need all those.

I really can't wait for this street sale!! I have some of the kids old character comforters and sheet sets and those are going too! We used to put them on the trundle beds when friends slept over, now it's time for those to GO!! My youngest is 17!!

[Thrif-t]

Well today I cleaned the garage and got rid of a lot of junk! We have one trash day a year that we can put anything out on the tree lawn and the city will pick it up.

My basement on the other hand is a wreck. My DD came home from college and all her dorm room stuff is down there. I guess it'll be clean again come August.

[Gailete]

[QUOTE=Thrif-t;472589]Well I cleaned my linen closet and took some sheets to goodwill (do they sell those??, they took em).

/QUOTE]

I know my thrift store sells them. I have bought several twin sheets once I discovered they are the cure to keep from getting choked at night when hubby yanked the king size sheet and rolls over. If I hadn't, some morning he was going to wake up and find me dead in the bed from being strangled by the sheets.

Actually some recyling sewers, are making dresses out of vintage print sheets. They are also good for foundation pieces when making quilts.

Of course some just buy them to use for their intended purpose! Thanks for the donation. I love my local thrift store.

[disneysteve]

So DW asked last night what I thought about hiring someone to clean the house. We are quite honestly lousy at that, though I think part of it is the clutter gets in the way. It's hard to dust the furniture when every counter, shelf, and dresser has stuff all over it.

I'm not totally opposed to the idea, but I told her that if we're going to go that route, we need to far more seriously work on the clutter. What's the point of bringing someone in if they can't clean well either?

So since last night, we've already started working on it. I got rid of a couple of old bottles of stuff under the bathroom sink. I just tossed a couple of boxes from cell phones that were next to the desk. I packed a small box of things for Goodwill and filled a small trash bag with other things that weren't worth giving away. I think we are both taking a much more critical view of what is sitting around. I'm hoping it lasts.

ETA: I just tossed a bunch of old CD-ROMs that I will never need.

[creditcardfree]

What's the point of bringing someone in if they can't clean well either?

I'm a firm believer that the less you have the easier is to clean, find thing and be organized. I think it is wise to really dive in to let go of the clutter to make cleaning easier. You may still not find it easy or fun to clean, but the less time someone spend in your home cleaning for you, the less you spend.

You might try to declutter deeply a very common used room, a family room for example and then once done make an effort to clean it in the way you think would be a regular cleaning. Time yourself. See how long it actually takes you and then use this information to determine if the time spent hiring someone is worth it to you.

[FLA]

new to this thread. I need to de-clutter my personal space and then deal with a whole house of hoard from my parents. My mother (too ill to really help) is a hoarder, not the dirty house kind, more keeps every piece of paper and never throws any object away that could possibly be of use in the coming decades. Now she does not have coming decades and I can't handle all the crap in the basement which is the same size footprint as the house and filled to the brim except for one small area of my stuff that is organized. The stuff in the basement is also my dad's. He's a semi-hoarder. He is semi-capable of helping. I lie awake at night worrying about how I am going to clean this place out when they are gone. So my goal is to deal with my stuff first and then set the next goal.

this week I went through all my medical receipts I thought I'd use on taxes and then didn't. They were mixed in with insurance papers, SSDI papers, long term disability papers, etc., in a filing system that hangs on the back of a door. It was over filled to say the least and had zero organization of what needed to be kept. I threw out two huge garbage bags and organized the rest.

this week I need to deal with recent papers that haven't been dealt with yet beyond making sure they weren't a bill

has anyone read the Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning?

[creditcardfree]

So my goal is to deal with my stuff first and then set the next goal.

this week I went through all my medical receipts I thought I'd use on taxes and then didn't. They were mixed in with insurance papers, SSDI papers, long term disability papers, etc., in a filing system that hangs on the back of a door. It was over filled to say the least and had zero organization of what needed to be kept. I threw out two huge garbage bags and organized the rest.

This is very wise to work on your own things first.
Sounds like you made great progress in a week!

[cypher1]

Finally gave back my friend's outdoor furniture/table saw he stored at my place for a couple of years. Sold my mountain bike on CL.

Cleaned out my main tool box and donated extra mallets, sockets, screwdrivers, wrenches, drill bits, plumbing/electrical parts no longer relevant.

Recycled 4 gal of used oil, and a broken grill, old screws, nuts, bolts. Tossed out beat up buckets no longer used, along with plastic car parts, and more scrap wood chunks.

Got my garage/shed basically where I want it for main items used or needed, and pretty bare for shelving.