Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › January declutter challenge-we did it- we got rid of 9966 items!!
New Posts  All Forums:
 

January declutter challenge-we did it- we got rid of 9966 items!! - Page 4

post #61 of 191
1/10/06 at 10:35am
You mamas have inspired me! We are moving sometime soon and I do NOT want to move all our clutter with us.

So far my count is... 12. Not doing so great. I am a packrat, and sentimental to boot so this is a tough one for me, but by gum I am going to do it. Wish me luck!
Sponsored Links

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
Read Mothering's Newest Articles and Blogs
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
post #62 of 191
1/10/06 at 11:02am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapadoozer
I don't know if there is an official rule on this but I am counting the yard sale stuff. It's out in the garage and neatly boxed and labeled and waiting for Spring.

I hit 500 yesterday, well 602 actually. I tackled my desk which was just a mess. It's so nice to not have an avalanche of stray papers, reciepts and bills fall on me as I try to type! If I keep this up I think I'll hit 1,000 no problem. I can't believe all the stuff around here that still needs to be looked at. It's a small house but the clutter always finds plenty of places to hide.

Wow 602 already!!

I agree- no official rule, I think this is just to get everyone moving and clear out their house and have some fun & support. Its an honor system thing imo.
Besides we already had some people hit the mark and then some so it helps the rest of us!

BTW- my official count 270 and yesterday I sold 7 items on the TP and they are boxed up and at the door waiting for my mail carrier to pick them up. so now its 270. I still have to do knick knacks and other things like that.

I think mending an item that has been sitting around counts as well. Now its useful, before it was just sitting around.
post #63 of 191
1/10/06 at 6:31pm

I'm up to 152!

And most of that is from going through my file cabinet: old statements, receipts, old tax returns, old medical recipts. I do this every January, but I never stopped to count. Counting is definitely an incentive.

The rest of it was about 20 items of clothes and shoes I donated. 2 ratty old pairs of shoes I threw out. Some catalouges and magazines I threw out.

The hard part about finding stuff to purge though, is that most of it is MY stuff. DH is traveling right now and it's not my place to toss his stuff. And my dd seems to remember every item she owns. Although to her credit, she did try to fit into an old Halloween costumes that she used for dress-up and deciding it was too small, she said she wanted to give it "to the other little girl." [translation: another little girl]

Moving on to find more....
post #64 of 191
1/10/06 at 6:53pm
21 items freecycled , 2 items of holey clothing tossed, 2 HUGE bags of papers and misc from the upstairs office (way too much to count so i'll call it 20) for a total of 43 today. that's 43 + 87 = 130. woo-hoooo!!!!
post #65 of 191
1/10/06 at 9:52pm
Well I am going to take the challenge. Even if I fail and only get to 250, I have done pretty well. I feel inspired reading some of these posts. Off to make a dent in the kitchen!
post #66 of 191
1/10/06 at 10:57pm
I got the items I mentioned above to goodwill as well as another box I had forgotten about and the book and I also cleaned out the car last night some so I think that brings me up to about 280. It feels so good to do this! Love this purging!
post #67 of 191
1/10/06 at 11:09pm
Thread Starter 
Ohh I never even thought of the cars!!!! Dh's alone could be 50 items.
post #68 of 191
1/10/06 at 11:39pm
243 was my last posted total, i have not completed my kitchen and got rid of about 60 more items, papers, boxes, old bills, stuff that has pilled up on top of the freezer and fridge. I also took some vases and items to my shed to be rumaged this spring... 310 now.... that's mostly kitchen stuff... i still have my laundry room tomorrow it's a very small room so shoudln't be more then 1/2 the day hopefully then i can start my bedroom! And that could take 3-5 days!!! It's bad! since no one sees it i hardly every declutter it, it mainly catches things. I did get my good will items to goodwill yesterday so that was removed from my car then i threw out about 30 items (dh is big clutter in the car) so that's 340!!! YIPPY
post #69 of 191
1/11/06 at 12:04am
Prior total was 99 - only pitched 9 items today, so I still have a LONG way to go! New total is 108

I'm eventually going to get there - just been a bad couple of days in terms of being over-busy and really feeling exhausted... However, I can start small - pick a drawer and start pitching. No excuse not to do that

But for tonight, I'm going to get my beauty sleep (and baby sleep!) and tackle the decluttering tomorrow morn.

Blessings - and happy decluttering - to all!
Shelley
post #70 of 191
1/11/06 at 11:14am
So, my count is only up to 25, but I'm just getting started. One of those items was a Kalhua bottle that had been sitting in the corner of my kitchen counter for over a year. It only had about a tablespoon of Kalhua left in it which I, umm, "disposed" of. :

I am excited, though, because I just got a postcard that the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation will be collecting next week and I just have to leave stuff in bags on my porch to be picked up. Anybody know anything good or bad about that organization? Their website said they collect resellable items, sort them and resell. So, this weekend's plan is to go through the closets and outgrown kids clothes to donate. I don't like selling clothes at yard sales and only eBay good name brand stuff which I don't have much of.

Also, I decided that anytime I open a drawer or a closet I should challenge myself to throw out at least one thing from it. I did this yesterday with my dresser drawer that is for misc. stuff instead of clothes and tossed 8 items plus found some beads from an old broken necklace that I gave to dd.
post #71 of 191
1/11/06 at 11:59am
Just started last night, but my total is up to 30! I tackled the tea/vitamin cabinet in the kitchen and got rid of lots of old things! Wowee!
post #72 of 191
1/11/06 at 12:21pm
19 more items this morning... brings me to 127! And it's only 10:22am. I have TONS of time today to find more items to pitch/donate
post #73 of 191
1/11/06 at 12:22pm
I got rid of another 9 items yesterday and I wasn't even trying to de-clutter just vacuum the front room and marinade dinner. So my total is up to 34. I'm hoping to hit the nursery today.
post #74 of 191
1/11/06 at 1:42pm
We are in the middle of moving and I made a similar challenge to myself. As we pack I am getting rid of stuff and as we unpack I am finding more. I will definitely have to start counting. Truthfully I think I am already in the 300-400 range. A friend told me that a bunch of people here were doing the same thing, so I had to chime in.

Does anyone know what I can do with a bunch of old trophies? I can't imagine anyone would want them and it doesn't seem right just to throw them in the trash.
post #75 of 191
1/11/06 at 6:11pm
Thread Starter 
Ok- I am up to 336. I have now been just grabbing a shopping bag and going thru cabinets and pitching things. I did my makeup today, my purse, dd's hair stuff drawer- she has plenty of hair barrettes etc I find out!!

I looked in the cabinet in the kitchen and there are some weird spices that need to go- better go do those!

As far a trophies- go thru and decide which ones meant the most and choose 1-3. Pitch the rest.
post #76 of 191
1/11/06 at 7:30pm
Quote:
Does anyone know what I can do with a bunch of old trophies?
Just lurking and saw this... perhaps you could arrange them really nicely on a dark fabric background and take a few pictures from different angles to get all of them in the pictures... then toss 'em if you don't want them, but you will still have the "memory"..you could even make a collage out of the pictures and put it in a frame on your wall...
post #77 of 191
1/11/06 at 8:23pm
Previous total was 55, and I got rid of 10 more things in the girls' room, and 6 more in my kitchen, so that makes 71! I have a long way to go, but this week I have painted the girls room blue! and replaced a broken window in there, so not much time for decluttering. I only hit a few cabinets, and just threw away stuff I saw that was broken, instead of putting it away. I don't keep much extra in my kitchen b/c it's so small, but I think I can definately get my count up whenever I work on those cabinets . I also have my hall closet to tackle, and my closet!
post #78 of 191
1/11/06 at 9:14pm
Well I didn't get much done today at all... well i did get a TON done for the coop i'm doing but NO decluttering at alll... i threw out prolly 10 randem things just while going through the house, ect. so i'm about 350 and i think when dh gets home I will make myself start on the laundry room... Thankgoodness today was trash pick up day b/c i really couldn't fit another bag into the trash barrel!!! LOL
post #79 of 191
1/11/06 at 9:24pm
Thread Starter 
337, just sold something on ebay!
post #80 of 191
1/11/06 at 11:23pm
In the past 2 days, I have:

mailed off 50 items (12 to my mom and the rest in MDC swaps)
sold 2 items
tossed 88 items

My total so far is 311. I'm getting there!
New Posts  All Forums:
 
  Return Home
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › January declutter challenge-we did it- we got rid of 9966 items!!