support thread for serious decluttering/moving? - Page 7

[zebra15]

Worthy- please keep posting, you keep me motivated.  

What helps me the most is - I live in apartment and we have dumpsters here. So when I get a bit manic I don't have a trash limit.  I can make 50 trash bags and not have an issue with that LOL.

I also found out that our library has 'pay your fee with donations to the food bank'  1 can/box equals 50c.  I have $10.20 so thats 21 items I need to box and take over on 4/7 to pay that bill. 

I'm also thinking about opening a Fed Ex account so they can come here and p/u the boxes instead of me having to go to them for drop off.  Granted its only 1/2 mile but every little bit will help.

This weekend DS unassembled most of his Lego's.  I have a plan in my mind for the books that are still on the shelves.  I think we are just selling the office supplies- garage sale is planned for next weekend then 2 weekends out.

I need to buy more boxes... oh dear.  My limit is 20 total and I'm NOT budging from that number.  We need to make it work.

As for the needed home repairs, I would just do what you can, and keep working after the listing.  I would NOT view it as failure but as success that your house is able to be listed.  Look how far you've come in the past year, look at all the work you've accomplished.  Look at the literal tons of things you've removed from the property!

[worthy]

Wow, Penelope - 7 bags to donate - I am in awe!!
 

Zebra, I wish we had a dumpster!  I have to take things down the hill about 1/4 mile, but they do get picked up curbside.  Usually our family has about a bag every 2 weeks -- but some weeks I've had a huge pile of them, 12 or 20.  I wonder what the garbage guys must think.

Sk8boarder, good luck on your trip - hope it brings good news!

Originally Posted by zebra15 

As for the needed home repairs, I would just do what you can, and keep working after the listing.  I would NOT view it as failure but as success that your house is able to be listed.  Look how far you've come in the past year, look at all the work you've accomplished.  Look at the literal tons of things you've removed from the property!

Zebra, thank you so much for saying this.  I'm so focused on "the next thing I have to do" that I forget what I've done already.  This is already a changed house.  Though I think no buyer will realize (or probably care) how much work went into it, only people who saw it before I did the work.  I'm just trying to get it to decent condition, not fancy or spiffy.  It's still going to look like a tired old house that needs work.  People who come here point out how "full of love" my house feels, so maybe that will rub off on some potential buyer?  Also, the view is To Die For.  But it is best at sunrise and moonrise when they aren't actually here! (Though I have this idea to put together a photo album...) 

I don't know what my anxiety is about; I guess I just hate transitions and I feel self-conscious when people peer into my house/life.  It would be a GOOD thing if our house didn't sell for a good long while.  I would LIKE to just be able to stay here and rest for a bit before moving.  I just feel like I have to make my best reasonable effort before listing the house.

I think the huge monstrous mountain of tasks is beginning to look like smaller little hills,easier to deal with.  What will I do with myself when this is all finished and ready?  I might have to take up a hobby or something. 

Anyway, thanks for the reminder.  I need to periodically stop for a moment and appreciate how far I've come on this project.

This morning I dropped off a couple of tools at their new home.  Also picked up the last of the rubble from my friend's house, which means HER yard is decluttered (yay!) and MY pool cavity is that much closer to eventually being filled.

[sk8boarder15]

Aw a dumpser would be so nice. A while back we got a "bagster" to get rid of a huge chunk of the mess but as I clean I keep finding MORE. I have a whole load to donate I don't think I'll have time to drop off before the trip! 0.0 SO MUCH TO DO!  

Hoping DS will be ready for his nap soon so I can do laundry/pack for the trip then move on to more packing! 

[zebra15]

OMG  Where do these office/school supplies keep coming from.  I only homeschool one child.  Only 2 people live here.  It looks like an office supply store exploded in here.  Ok..ok..ok..  I just had a mini panic attack there...

I have ANOTHER laundry basket filled for the yard sale... This is totally overwhelming.  Slow progress  right??  LOL

DS has swim team tonight and I think I'm going to take that time to journal and then this evening I'm going to put the finishing rows on a set of leg warmers.

In traveling news I made reservations to tour the Denver Mint.... plans are coming along to we need to get out of here!

[lunarlady]

Count me in. We are moving in June and I am determined to not move all the junk with us to our new home. I got rid of 100 things today. I'm hoping I can do 100 every day until I actually get to a point where we have only the essentials. This is a hard emotional journey for me because I've been stuck in what my husband lovingly calls my "Cancer shell" (horoscope) where I see possessions as a security blanket. So hard to clear them out. I see so many things as gifts that remind me of friends I no longer see, or objects of value that I should try to sell, or items lovingly passed down from family that have died...and so forth. But in reality it is just clutter I don't use, don't need, and don't really want. It is just dragging me down and holding me back. Time to for a clean slate. 2012 is a year of changes, and mine starts now. Out with the clutter! We move in June so I have a little less than two months to do this. Our home goes on the market in two weeks. I need to get it staged so it will sell. I just need to really embrace the charitable aspect and know that my clutter is someone else's treasure. It is easier to let things go when I know they are going to someone else rather than to a landfill.

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

You guys are all doing so great!!! 

The charity truck came through town this morning, it took away 3 trash bags and one huge box from my front steps. 

My parents finally came up with a timeline for selling the house.  They think they will be listing it sometime in the January-April 2013 range.  So I guess I have 9 months to a year to get the house in sellable condition.  At this point it's almost as decluttered as it can be.  Next I need to start working on home repairs and when we're closer to the time I need to shampoo the carpets.  I just have to keep decluttering the kids' clothes as they outgrow them and I told my cousin who's going off to med school that I would give her some of my kitchen items to bring with her.  For the kids' birthdays and Christmas this year I will try to get them gifts that are either consumable or "experience" things like trips to a museum or the aquarium. 

[zebra15]

I Fed-ex 2 boxes today.  $70 for shipping but I'm now up to 3 boxes on the way to my new destination.  Shipping is expensive but no where the cost of having movers for this cross country trip.  My limit is 20 boxes and nothing else except what fits in the car.

So far there was 1  box of books 1 box of yarn and 1 box of baby pictures.  I have 2 boxes of legos waiting to go and 1 box of books almost ready to go.  That will wrap up the legos and books (1 hope)

I've allotted one box for kitchen stuff (kitchen aid and a few gadgets). One box for games and puzzles one more for crafts.   Gosh maybe thats all we need  LOL.   Maybe the rest will fit in the car??

I've light a very large fire under DS to finish a number of 'school' related things this month.

OMG do we have the junk... i can not believe we moved in here a year ago with NOTHING...  were did all this 'stuff' come from??

[worthy]

Keep posting about your progress, everyone -- and a hearty welcome to the new posters in this thread!

Today I cleaned our living/dining room carpet.  Bleaaaaghhhh.  We have beige carpet and it hasn't been cleaned in four months.  I get used to it and don't notice the grime, and then suddenly it is so dirty it seems hopeless and I think it will never get clean.  And then, presto, oxyclean to the rescue, LOL.  It takes at least two hours and it's a pain in the butt, and then it takes a couple of days to dry fully.  I guess I will have to do it more often with the house on the market, maybe every 2 months.  We'll see.

I got the kitchen floor scrubbed also.  Big difference.  Though there isn't much that can be done for 60s harvest gold linoleum.

My goal for today/tomorrow (aside from paid work and Easter) is to finish getting the books packed up and in the garage, and get the downstairs prepped for the kids to do their warm-weather try-ons there, so I can get that stuff out of the way and packed back up again as fast as possible, so I can paint that downstairs room.

My to-do list is getting smaller, but it is still huge.  Anyone else?  I wish I had more free time!  I wish all of us did -- time and energy...

[zebra15]

C&P from the other thread

YARD SALE TODAY!!

Made about $80, everything was basically a dollar!  I'm going to have another sale next week, I didn't get the furniture over there plus I'm not officially moving until the first week in May.  I also took 2 bags of clothes that I managed to 'shrink myself out of' to goodwill.  (yes loosing weight too)

So counting 150 items (tons of hotweels, notebooks, office supplies  etc) and adding $80- GO ME!

This is still VERY overwhelming because I came home to a filled apartment but I know progress is being made

WTG Worthy... as for the 'vintage' kitchen, maybe you can get a couple floor mats, or kitchen carpets to help soften the gold?

[sk8boarder15]

So frustrated.... people who wanted to buy our house would only sign a contract on the condition they could move in a MONTH. We signed the contract and and started packing like crazy. Spent almost 2 grand to fly to portland right away to look at homes so we could sign a contract out there. While we were out there got an EMAIL (not even a call) that the buyers were backing out of the contract!!! GAHHHH!!! 

So glad we aren't so rushed, but we waisted a week and thousands of dollars.... Hope will be able to find a better house (we didn't really find anything we liked while we were out there) and move closer to our goal, July, instead of right away in May. 

[lunarlady]

The house we made an offer on turns out to have major problems with the foundation as well as evidence of serious flooding. So we are backing out of that contract and are back at square one. Sigh.

My inlaws came over for Easter and we spent the day doing a lot of work around the house. More things packed and into storage. I think our house will be staged and ready to go in about another week. I'm working on cleaning the carpets and major junk sorting. The to do list is a mile long, but I guess it is slowly getting shorter and it has to end at some point. The ones that make me groan are the big ones - painting, carpet cleaning, etc. I also need to hire someone to wash all the exterior windows, someone to clean out all the vents, and we have a major landscaping project we need to complete. Sigh. So much to do. Once it is done, however, the house will be great. Hopefully we will find a buyer quickly and not have too much stress trying to keep it pristine for showings.

[zebra15]

I was able to send 2 more boxes to my new location today.  Fed Ex loves me 

I have 4-5 more boxes almost full and ready to send.

We are slowly eating down the pantry.  I've been sick since probably Friday but been in denial until Sunday morning.

There will be yet another yard sale this weekend and next weekend.  My potential leave date is May 3rd or 4th.  We need to be in Denver for a tour on May 7th and I would like to actually leave Denver after the tour, so I need to plan 'backward' a bit. I want to be at our destination by May 11th. (Interviews on May 15th sound good, huh??)

OMG there is so much stuff still here...

[Okapi]

Aw, sounds like everyone is having house trouble :( We got through the inspection OK, but then the radon inspection came back high We ended up deciding to go with it and have the mitigation done, but now we just heard back about the appraisal, and it may be too close to the loan amount to get enough insurance for it? Or something? IDK. I have to get the actual appraisal and get it to our insurance people before we know for sure. I wish this was going more smoothly (for all of us)!

On the plus side, packing is going pretty well. I got the master closet cleared out pretty well (a HUGE job!) and a few other smaller things. I also got DD's closet pretty well cleaned out. I have a table in the corner of the master bedroom that I need to sort out everything in & around it, and am not looking forward to that. It's mostly stuff that just doesn't have a good home here (my workout bag, which I don't use much now that I'm pg, but theoretically will need again one day, hand weights, our road atlas, a didgeridoo, a bag full of cables for charging/connecting our electronic gear). Some (most?) of it should definitely go, but I'm not looking forward to figuring out what! That's also where we're keeping the pile of papers we're going to have shredded. I'd like to get it down to just the table & the papers, and have everything else ether gone or packed by tomorrow. Better get to work!

[zebra15]

The next box of books is filled and taped up. I also have a box of 'professional' clothes ready to send off.  No need keeping them here or moving them by car.  I have enough room in that box to add some of DS clothes.

Hopefully I can ship some of this tomorrow.

I still have a couple boxes that are 'almost' full and need to be finished/

Tonight for dinner we finished a bottle of OJ.  Lots of hangers went to the trash too (im not moving those)

[zebra15]

The box of 'professional' clothes is filled and taped. Added some of DS 'winter' type clothes as well.

Finished off a bottle of honey mustard for supper.  Bottle of shampoo was emptied today as well.

Taking a couple baskets of stuff over to the yard sale house tonight.

Trying not to get overwhelmed.

Tomorrow is booked up. We have 'disney on ice' in the AM, Stopping one last time at the science center in the afternoon then after dinner more packing and moving to the yard sale.

[lunarlady]

We are slowly managing to eat our way through the pantry, larder, and chest freezer. It doesn't help that I'm big on "putting up" food so we have jars and jars of things to eat plus a freezer full of tasty things meant to last a year but trying to eat through them in two weeks. We packed most of our clothing, then I discovered I could badly button the pants I kept out. Should have saved my fat jeans. Why didn't it occur to me that making it my mission to eat everything in the house would correspond with weight gain. And I eat more when stressed. Arg!

Sigh. In any case we are slowly, slowly, slowly making progress.

We talked to some realtors and realized that paying their fee ( 3%) would put us underwater and mean we had to bring substansial cash to the table. So now we are looking to do if For Sale By Owner. As if my plate wasn't full enough already. Man, I need a vacation!

[zebra15]

LunarLady- I had a very VERY well stocked pantry (or so I thought)  It's taken us about 2 months to eat it darn near clean.  I'm loosing weight from the stress, I have fat pants to send LOL!

Tonight I had to back to my old roommates house, YES, we still have things over there (oh dear) and that is where the yard sales are being held. So it seems I am for ever shuffling things back and forth.  But progress is being made.  I am being VERY critical when packing clothes.  If there is a hint of dislike in ANYTHING that item is NOT being packed - this includes socks and underwear.  I am determined to start over with ONLY the things I love.

I almost freaked out when I found MORE office supplies today and AN ENTIRE BOX OF BOOKS.  But I coped well, the office supplies went to the yard sale and the books are going to the resale shoppe next week.

I do need to make a small grocery run Saturday afternoon. We need produce, dairy and meat.  My birthday is Sunday and DAMNIT I want CAKE, ooie-gooey cake from the bakey.  And at *my age* I can have whatever I darn well please.  LOL. So mommy is having CAKE. (and then I will be sick for days)

Sorry to be a total thread hog.  I need to see my progress in print.

thanks

Worthy- I hope you are ok.!!

[worthy]

Thanks, Zebra, I'm fine, just soooooooper busy right now.  I got your message and want to give you a fully attentive response!  It has been a very very busy week and my brain is all over the place.

Let's see.  I got some stuff done.  LOL.  Kids and I are in the middle of "spring try-ons" so I can declutter and put away the hand-me-down bins.  I found another bin in my shed that I was able to empty.  I used to go on this special historical re-enactment vacation week with XH and the kids, and it's really hitting me that I'm not going this year or possibly ever again.  He is taking the kids this year (wah) and while I will keep costumes for them to take, I am not responsible for the logistics at all, and that includes all kinds of things I used to use to organize the tent, food prep, etc.

I am almost done decluttering and organizing my books.  I just set up a book swap with our homeschool group (in which I leave books and do not take more, or so it goes) and then EVERYTHING, all the books left, are going to my church for the upcoming book sale.  Good timing.

I have a bunch of recycling and donateables for the swap shop at the dump, to be taken tomorrow.

I got my carpet cleaned last weekend, huge ucky job, and then my cat promptly puked on it and my kid spilled thawed frozen blueberrie, so now I have to clean it again.

I am frustrated by lack of time, energy, motivation, but I try to keep plugging forward.

I got some gardening done this week (weeding and planting is a kind of decluttering!)

I need a good nap.  I'm fine, though, and sorry to worry you Zebra.  I really appreciate that you reached out -- thank you.  I will get back to you when I can do it right.

[sk8boarder15]

Originally Posted by lunarlady 

The house we made an offer on turns out to have major problems with the foundation as well as evidence of serious flooding. So we are backing out of that contract and are back at square one. Sigh.
My inlaws came over for Easter and we spent the day doing a lot of work around the house. More things packed and into storage. I think our house will be staged and ready to go in about another week. I'm working on cleaning the carpets and major junk sorting. The to do list is a mile long, but I guess it is slowly getting shorter and it has to end at some point. The ones that make me groan are the big ones - painting, carpet cleaning, etc. I also need to hire someone to wash all the exterior windows, someone to clean out all the vents, and we have a major landscaping project we need to complete. Sigh. So much to do. Once it is done, however, the house will be great. Hopefully we will find a buyer quickly and not have too much stress trying to keep it pristine for showings.

So sorry! Wish the people who bailed on us had a good reason like that! Nope! just didn't like the location (not sure why they made an offer in the first place then)! 

I'm actually really glad now that life has slowed back down. Showings are a major PITA, already had one since going back on the market again.... but I have time to work out and just be a good mom again. Hoping we will have time for a garage sale at the end of this month, would be nice before we go on vacation. 

We are actually taking this extra time to work on our credit score so we can hopefully get a better loan. I've really sucked at staying on top of bills since my son was born and it hurt me a bit. 

[LitMom]

Can I join in on this? We are prepping our place to sell, then looking for a rental to get used to a new neighborhood in our city before we buy again. So far, so good! Met the realtor, got info on what should be done to get it in sell-able shape. DH is at the store buying paint to repaint the bathroom tomorrow. I have a menu plan for easy and easy-to-clean-up food so we can get out of the way for open houses, etc. easily and so we can focus on the work to be done as well. Hoping to pack boxes of out-of-season clothes for me, sort out kids clothes that are too small, and homeschool paperwork into three categories too--using/keep in house; need for future/pack for next house; toss/sell. Wish me luck! :)