2025 Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

New year, new thread

This is the place to share your success, challenges, and failures when it comes to getting rid of clutter and staying organized whether it's in your house, your workplace, your car, wherever clutter builds up. Share here for motivation and commiseration.

I'll start us off in the next comment.

[disneysteve]

We are having a new alarm system installed today so needed to tidy up a bit so that the tech could easily get to everything. One area that I took care of yesterday was the upstairs hallway. We have a linen closet but there were also a number of items that had accumulated in the corner outside of the closet. Cleaning supplies and such. I got everything put where it belongs and vacuumed the area so all that sits there now is the vacuum cleaner which is fine but it is otherwise free of clutter.

One problem area in our garage is the path from the family room door to the side entrance into the garage. We don't regularly use that door so things sometimes accumulate in that path, but it needed to be clear for the tech. I went out there this morning and got that all straightened out.

My one BIG goal for 2025 is to continue to work in the garage. If you've followed these threads over the years, that's a major issue for us. My reselling business has just aggravated the problem as all of my packing materials (boxes, bubble wrap, packing paper, air pillows) are stored there. I made quite a bit of progress in 2024 and it's definitely the best it has been in years but a lot more work is needed. Once spring arrives, I plan to spend some serious time out there. I want to go through everything in there and get rid of as much as possible and then better organize what remains. We may need some new shelving or bins or something. Right now there's just not enough space to figure it out.

[disneysteve]

Electronic decluttering counts too.

A few weeks ago, something came up in conversation about deleting old text messages. My daughter showed me how to do that and it freed up a bunch of space on my phone.

A day or two ago, I was looking for a phone number in my contacts and realized I have a ton of extraneous contacts saved. Today, I've embarked on a mission to declutter my contact list. I started a few minutes ago with 546 contacts. I've gone through the A and B list and I'm down to 536. I'll keep at it in batches.

[disneysteve]

A day or two ago, I was looking for a phone number in my contacts and realized I have a ton of extraneous contacts saved. Today, I've embarked on a mission to declutter my contact list. I started a few minutes ago with 546 contacts. I've gone through the A and B list and I'm down to 536. I'll keep at it in batches.

I’m halfway through the alphabet and I’m down to 486. There have been many duplicates, several people who are no longer with us, some businesses that don’t exist anymore, and assorted other numbers that I will never need again. I left several that I’m not sure about.

Going forward I definitely need to be more careful when adding new contacts to use full names and identify where they are from. For example, I have a contact for “Joe” but have no idea who Joe is.

ETA: I finished my first pass. I went from 536 contacts to 465. I was able to eliminate 71 entries, over 13% of what I had. I know there are more than can go but quite a few I'm honestly not sure about and I'm hesitant to delete them without being certain who they are. Getting rid of 71 names on the list is an accomplishment though.

[cypher1]

I just recycled one of my old workstations that was sitting in storage as I debated about keeping the case but realized I simply don't have a use for it. Then donated another older workstation and monitor to a buddy who wanted just for internet browsing for his elderly mom. I still have two 22" monitors to donate next.

I keep my items in specific rubber made containers . For example, my gun tools/accessories are in one, and another for electronics like cables, adapters, memory, etc. If items can't in that container, something has to go. Just a good rule for me to not exceed those accessories, as I just threw away some duplicate cables and chargers I realize I really don't need.

[disneysteve]

ETA: I finished my first pass. I went from 536 contacts to 465.

Got rid of 10 more so down to 455.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I need to declutter my email box

[jenn_jenn]

Haha me too, LivingAlmostLarge! Both my personal and work emails. I keep putting it off.

I had some successful decluttering this week. We are getting some work done on the house and shuffling rooms around. The biggest change is getting rid of my office so I’ve been trying to clear out as much as possible.

I listed some items in our local Buy Nothing group that were promptly swooped up. I have a few more items to list this there weekend.

I also declutterred our primary bathroom and somehow had a full garbage bag of old products and half empty bottles of things we don’t use anymore.

My favorite declutter was selling my desk which was actually a solid wood IKEA table that I got off FB Marketplace for $60 two Thanksgivings ago when I needed a second table to sit everyone. I sold it yesterday for $75.

Off to a productive start and hope to make significantly more progress this weekend.

[disneysteve]

I had some successful decluttering this week.

I wish we could still "Like" posts.

Great job! Especially on reselling the desk for more than you paid. Can't beat that. That's one of the great things about buying items secondhand. They tend to not depreciate and sometimes even appreciate. You effectively get a free rental of the item.

[jenn_jenn]

I wish we could “like” posts again too! Maybe the site gods will listen to our feedback and bring back that feature.

I made a lot of progress last weekend and today Breast Cancer Pickup came and hauled everything away. I was actually astonished at how much we were able to get rid of considering we do not keep a cluttered house. Was about 10 full trash bags / bins filled with clothes, books, and other household items. Felt SO good.

Also had so much interest on the items I was giving away on our Buy Nothing group that it was overwhelming. Glad other people appreciate what I had genuinely no interest in (like bright blue custom Nikes dunks as a company swag item, we usually have expensive swag and it is never my taste!)

I have more decluttering to do but will have to wait until spring after our reno is complete.

[disneysteve]

I was actually astonished at how much we were able to get rid of considering we do not keep a cluttered house. Was about 10 full trash bags / bins filled with clothes, books, and other household items. Felt SO good.

It's both amazing and disturbing how very much stuff we accumulate in our lives. Great job on getting rid of so much.

I can hardly wait for spring to arrive so I can really start attacking the garage again. And we need to do a lot more in our kitchen and basement in preparation for remodeling.

[disneysteve]

Last night after dinner we focused on one kitchen cabinet (which led to a second with similar items). We got rid of numerous random glasses. A bunch more that we still want but don’t need at our fingertips were moved to the basement storage closet.

[disneysteve]

After dinner, we went through a couple more kitchen cabinets. We set aside 19 cups and glasses to give away. A few Disney mugs and glasses came out and got put on display with our collection. A bunch that we want to keep but don't need in the kitchen (extra wine glasses, etc.) got taken downstairs to the basement closet.

[disneysteve]

DW went through one kitchen cabinet yesterday afternoon and pulled out numerous containers and other items to give away.

[disneysteve]

We did another session in the basement today. We went through a couple more shelves in the one closet. About 15 items got pulled out to be given away or sold. A few things got trashed. A few others got moved to where they actually belong.