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Post Christmas PURGE! the race is on! - Page 3

post #41 of 261
12/28/08 at 7:53pm
Today I got rid of 78 items... Whoo! (And I didn't even cheat and count the bag of mixed baby socks one by one, but rather as "one bag"... otherwise I could have had a good 40 more added on.)

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post #42 of 261
12/28/08 at 8:10pm
I don't have a specific count of items, but...

I have three boxes of too-small clothes of DS's that are going to my SIL's place ASAP. I have one good sized bag of books that I'm going to Freecycle, and a big box that is going to the thrift store.

We just moved into this house on December 1st, so I'm decluttering as I unpack. My goals are to tackle DH's and my own clothes, my craft supplies, and all the knick knacks/just plain junk we've accumulated. I also need to keep going through DS's toys...he just got some nice, big Christmas gifts, so this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of some plastic junk that has been driving me crazy. I need to unpack everything that goes into our desk, and also purge a good deal of that because much of it is junk! I just want to keep basic stationary, a jar of pens/pencils/markers, and set up a mail sorting method.

I like this thread! It is very inspiring to read about everyone else's decluttering adventures! My goal is to get a lot done by the end of January, which is DS's birthday. I want to have a party for him and I want the house to look really nice. I started repainting, too, and hope to have that done by then as well.

ETA: Any artists in this thread? I'd love some methods for storing art supplies. Photography is my main thing, but I also paint and I'm getting more and more into sculpture. I'm thinking of parting with my misc. craft supplies for things I don't do much (like candle making), partially because they take up space and partially because they're distracting from my "main" art, which is starting to demand lots of my attention (a good thing, people are actually wanting me to work for them!). I like to paint on big pieces of glass in addition to canvas, plus I have about a million tubes and tubs of paints, brushes, sculpting tools, etc... If anyone is in a similar situation and has a great organizational method, or photos would be even better, that would be great. Our house is small!
post #43 of 261
12/28/08 at 8:55pm
I'm glad I'm not the only one who got the throw it away but during christmas! I cleaned out our art cabinet and reorganized it last week and today, DH and i rearranged the living room (got rid of the coffee table - yay!) and I cleaned out the 2 large cabinets in there and made a new space for DS' toys. I am so happy to have such a fresh, open space (this is the room we spend most of our time in) on the books for this week is the laundry room and a large closet in the bathroom. I really really want to pull out the appliances and clean underneath them, too!


Yay for the fresh slate of a new year!
post #44 of 261
12/28/08 at 9:08pm
Joining! I want to get rid of 200 items in January. I am just going to Goodwill everything, our freecycle isn't very good.

Tally:

179/200
post #45 of 261
12/28/08 at 9:09pm
another 26 items just lying around so....

20+ 26= 46
post #46 of 261
12/28/08 at 9:09pm
I am in!

I have to think of number.
post #47 of 261
12/28/08 at 10:01pm
I lost all the motivation I had yesterday. I did manage to get a bag of garbage out of a closet. But, the huge accomplishment is my pack rat DH got rid of a whole box of old magazines. A small % of the total of old magazines he insists on keeping, but it is definitely progress.
post #48 of 261
12/28/08 at 10:59pm
We went through the kids room to try to get the toys under controll. I'd say 50 toys are headed out either to the church nursery, sell or thrift store. It feels good but there is still so much more to do!
post #49 of 261
12/28/08 at 11:08pm
AnnaArcturus-- okay, I haven't even finished reading this thread, because your posts have left me with my jaw open : and I just can't go on. Please, please, please share with me how you've managed to be so detached from books that you can donate them (and the gift cards for them) so utterly freely. As a rule I have little attachment to material things, but books... books are my number one vice, and you would fall off your chair to know how many I've gotten for Christmas. And I don't even BEGIN to want to get rid of them, though I know I shouldn't be that way. Can you share your secret?
post #50 of 261
12/28/08 at 11:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by InchByInch View Post
As a rule I have little attachment to material things, but books... books are my number one vice
Oh, mine too...mine too. I don't want to know her secret, haha! Books are the only thing I let myself have some freedom with. I do go through them periodically, and I got rid of around 300 over the summer, but I still have tons and that's okay with me despite my journey toward simple living. They just provide so much knowledge and entertainment!
post #51 of 261
12/29/08 at 3:53am
We went through the Christmas decorations today as we put it all away. A gift bag full plus a tin and string of (working) lights all got added to our donation pile. We also went through our worst closet today and gave away more items. I'm not physically counting each item, but I will be very happy when we physically remove the bags/boxes/items from our home and get them to their new destination.
post #52 of 261
12/29/08 at 6:05am
I've been at it hardcore!! It's amazing what you can accumulate, as I'm sure you mamas all know. I've had some clothes put aside for a long time and just sitting on the porch. In the past two days I have tripled the amount of stuff to go and now it's big and in the way enough that it really HAS to get out of here, which is perfect! I've acknowledged the problem for a few months, now it's time to DO something about it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Momohmy View Post
I'm in. I have so much paper to go through, I may get 1000 just off that!
x2! I've finally gotten it down to tax records, ultrasound pics, and other bare minimum things. Ok and I am still saving some cards just for now! The paper junk I got rid of filled a trash bag. A lot of it was in a bag (some medical bills & stuff I needed to just stash until everything settled down). Some was in the slimmer of my two junk drawers, with other random crap that is now in bags for donation. The bigger junk drawer had, in addition to useless junk, all of my good jewelry (and all my ick jewelery lol). So it needed a stern going-through. Now, All of our fine jewelry, perfumes & similar fit into the skinnier drawer. The larger one is not totally empty but my goal is to use it for clothes or diapers. For now it has some stuff in it that I will try to sell. It needs to be consolidated with the box of stuff that I already had set aside to sell, and I know several things from there I will just give up on and throw into the donation pile!! Oh also, I cleared off an entire shelf of old textbooks and things! The empty shelf is soo beautiful LoL.

I am really tempted to try to count the things that are on their way out but they are packed into a cart. It's too heavy to get down the stairs though. My plan was to just take it to the Salvation Army on foot since it's three blocks away. But with what I added earlier this evening it's just too much to drag there! ....and I have MUCH more to get rid of yet!!
post #53 of 261
12/29/08 at 8:29am
Hurrah! I was hoping some of you would be doing a big post-Christmas declutter, I started mine yesterday but am prone to losing motivation so this thread is excellent!

We've moved house a lot over the past few years so we have a big debris cloud that follows us around, time to go Mr. Debris Cloud! I'm opening old boxes and being ruthless with the contents.

Afraid to say a lot of stuff is going straight into the rubbish bin, a lot (sooo many papers and old bills!) is getting shredded then going into recycling bin and I am building a charity shop pile.

So far:
- DD's old toys (all small & fidgety & plastic, in good condition but I'm not too fond of them) - 41 (charity shop)
- Box of Christmas cards - 1 (charity shop)
- Clothes - 15 (charity shop)
- Duplicate books - 6 (charity shop)
- Box of shredded bills - 1 (recycle)
- Rubbish bag of junk - 1 (trash)
- Big box full of un-reuseable cardboard boxes - 1 (recycle)
= 66/1000

Hurrah! Thank you mamas, I am feeling inspired to do more And I love the idea of keeping count - it helps me!
post #54 of 261
12/29/08 at 11:46am
I cleaned out my bath products and got rid of 19 items. I updated my tally. Today I hope to work on my clothes, maybe DD's to send some to the consignment store.
post #55 of 261
12/29/08 at 1:08pm
Thread Starter 
90
plus a bag of 16 items of mens dress clothes

new total
106

:
post #56 of 261
12/29/08 at 1:11pm
THREE BOXES OF TOYS GONE FROM DD1'S STASH!!! WOOHOO!!!

(Next, we tackle clothes )
post #57 of 261
12/29/08 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
another 26 items (small ones but they still count!)

106+26=

142/1000:


AND I HAVE NOT BOUGHT ONE THING....and I want to stay true to NOT buying anything until 1000 items are gone!
post #58 of 261
12/29/08 at 2:44pm
another 29 bits n pieces

= 95/1000

this feels good
post #59 of 261
12/29/08 at 3:33pm
Thread Starter 
another 10 items....

152/1000
post #60 of 261
12/29/08 at 3:59pm
Hi there! I'm joining you all too!

I started purging the day after Christmas. Saturday, I took a mini-van load to Goodwill
Last night I folded laundry and started on another bag!


Today I'm deep cleaning the kitchen... hopefully I can get another box or so out of there.

Whooeee!

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