New Year's Decluttering Challenge - Page 2

[kamesennin]

Originally Posted by mama2babybeans

Good luck with your move! We're planning to move in the spring and I know it's going to be a big job. The more I can declutter now, the easier it will be then.
I also just cleared out some of our wedding decorations from 4 years ago. I didn't realize I kept so much of it! Even the little cake inserts (why would I need those?!).. I kept a few little special things, but sent the rest to Goodwill. Someone else will be able to use 100 of those little bell-ringing cards

Thanks! We're about half-way there, I think. I still have slabs of our wedding cake in the freezer, ha ha ha ha. It was flown from Kauai to Oahu and then to WA State over the last 3 years. LOL that's just crazy. No way I'm eating that thing now! It's almost as bad as the placenta that was in the freezer for 18 mo. That thing is finally in the ground, where it should be!

Oh, I almost forgot--I took all the loose change in the house to the coinstar machine at QFC and came home with $31 cash! They charge a fee for counting, but I wasn't about to count 1,000 pennies!

[sophiekat]

i'm in!
i got 500 out last month and since we'll be moving in spring/early summer i need to keep up the momentum! :
so i'm going to try for another 500, and hopefully that will offset some of the stuff that i'm sure will come in over christmas (on a side note, can anyone tell me *WHY* dh's grandparents think dd wants some BROKEN light-wand-thingy they got free from their bank???)
right now : 0/500

[mb722toddler]

How to let go?

My house is very cluttered. It seems it has gotten worse lately due to personal reasons.

How do you let go of stuff? How do you find the time with the little one(s) tagging along?

[Mavournin]

Originally Posted by mb722toddler

How do you let go of stuff? How do you find the time with the little one(s) tagging along?

It's hard. I think I've just finally reached that place where I need to remove these things for sanity's sake. But also, I just find that it's best if I work in short bursts - right before garbage or recycling day or before the donation truck comes.

I think finding a charity that picks up was key to me getting stuff out of the house. I used to pile things up to take for donation and then they never left the house. Slowly over time, those things would find their way back into the main house. But now I can just put things out on the porch and then they're gone. I actually still try to be out of the house or upstairs on these days because seeing the piles of stuff out for the trash or whatnot makes me sad. It's kind of like putting my head in the sand, but it works.

But as you go through stuff I think you need to remember to ask yourself the hard questions.
What is this?
Why am I saving it?
When was the last time I wore/used this?

And be brutally honest with yourself. We all save things for sentiment's sake or the what if? Like that pile of skinny jeans in a box "just in case", but it should be just that box and not your whole cloest YK?

[cdmaze]

I'll do it- I tried the Nov and Oct threads- did pretty well!

[emski4379]

I think I may give this a try too. Not sure how much I can convince DH to get rid of, but usually he doesn't even realize the stuff is gone! Maybe I can get 100 out by the end of the year?

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by mb722toddler

My house is very cluttered. It seems it has gotten worse lately due to personal reasons.

How do you let go of stuff? How do you find the time with the little one(s) tagging along?

Mine has gotten bad, too. I'm going to school in addition to being a SAHM most of the time and there just aren't enough hours in the day!
I have a hard time getting rid of things, but it's helped me to know where things are going.. I have been freecycling a lot and I'm also gathering up a few boxes for the holiday helper thread (after Dad told me he'd pay for shipping! ) so that makes it a lot easier to know that your items will be appreciated.
As for finding the time with little ones.. well, that's hard. I've been trying to get them to bed at a more reasonable time so that I have an hour or so after they fall asleep to work on it, but it's never a guarantee.

[fuller2]

Freezer decluttering

Well, I just ate a cake that had been in the freezer for, um, I'm not gonna say how long...and it was actually pretty good. Enough butter and it will last forever. OK, there was a little taste of freezer in there, and it was a tad dry, but. It's not like it was moldy or anything . (I just read somewhere that frozen food really does keep basically forever, so I thought--what the heck. Remember those like 10,000-year-old seeds they found in Alaska or something that still grew trees?)

[jennay]

I'm in...I was participating in the October and November challenges. My goal is 500 by Dec. 31. Then I'll set another goal for the New Year. I also have a goal to tackle the piles of papers and junk mail and get everything filed that needs to be filed.

I was at 206/500 at the end of November:

Adding to that:
Pictionary Junior and a tub of sidewalk chalk given to a friend (we really didn't need 2 Pictionary Juniors and 2 huge tubs of sidewalk chalk!)
16 items send off today to MIN (toys, clothes, diapers, etc.)

New total
224/500

[AngelBee]

: I may be in.....with a 2 week old, I will have to see what I can do.

[greenegirl]

I'm in. I have to think about what I need to tackle most. I think the answer is the paperwork. I have an overflowing desk, two boxes of stuff in the closet, a two drawer filing cabinet, a drawer full of stuff to be filed and, I only just discovered, another plastic container in the garage. I'm drowning in paper! My goal is to be able to start the new year with the paper work organized.

RE: how to get to it. I have to remind myself that any time I spend at all is an improvement over what I have been doing in the past. So what if all I have is 5 minutes. It is 5 minutes closer to the goal, and it is amazing what you can get done in 5 minutes -- I can entirely unpack, repack, and start the dishwasher in 5 minutes, for example. I have allowed myself to feel overwhelmed because I can't see my way to the end. But I don't need to see the end -- I only need to see the next 5 minutes.

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by greenegirl

I'm in. I have to think about what I need to tackle most. I think the answer is the paperwork. I have an overflowing desk, two boxes of stuff in the closet, a two drawer filing cabinet, a drawer full of stuff to be filed and, I only just discovered, another plastic container in the garage. I'm drowning in paper! My goal is to be able to start the new year with the paper work organized.

That's a great goal. I'm embarassed to say that my mess of paperwork was so bad that I actually couldn't find my dd's birth certificate
It turned up the other day when DH and I cleared out a cupboard and I have no idea why it was in there! But now it's in our lock-box and I'm trying my best to keep track of things..it's so hard!

[Godaime]

I would like to be a part of the decluttering challenge too. Since I live in a small apartment I don't have a basement, garage, linen closet, pantry, or cleaning closets to store things in. I have the biggest trouble getting "rid" of things too. I feel like its a waste of money to not keep things that I *might use one day, and the fact that once I actually paid to have that item. I'm going to aim for 100 items...but we'll see what happens.

[ollineeba]

Welcome, Godaime! 100 items sounds like a great start, especially if you don't have a large living space.. you will definitely notice 100 items gone!

[jennay]

Broken VCR/DVD player out the door. Someone actually asked for a broken one on freecycle for a project. Yeah.

2 pairs of pants waiting for pick-up on freecycle. I wear pants with a tall inseam. Why did I ever buy pants with a regular inseam? (and I actually wore them)

227/500

[ollineeba]

I think I'm finished with my closet. There isn't really much in there, but I only got rid of the things that I never wear.. but it's easy to find what I'm looking for now!

I have to talk DH into letting go of some of his t-shirts, though. He was WAY too many!
I'll have to peak into the bag to see how many items I got rid of today, so I'll add that later!

[guestmama9911]

Subbing. How do these work? Do we list what we throw out? Does each little piece of paper count? :

[Godaime]

I have to talk DH into letting go of some of his t-shirts, though. He was WAY too many!
I'll have to peak into the bag to see how many items I got rid of today, so I'll add that later!

haha so does my man. They're mostly junky free t-shirts. We went through the dresser and got rid of 12 yesterday. He actually still has like 30 that he won't get rid of. Also got rid of some old tennis balls. so now I'm at 17/100

[mamimapster]

I've been lurking on decuttering threads, and now I'm in. Ive got three bags of stuff (womens clothes, kids clothes, housewares) waiting for freecycle pickups with a deadline of tuesday or they go to the local thrift- they come to about 30/100. I want my sunporch back!

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by alisaterry

Subbing. How do these work? Do we list what we throw out? Does each little piece of paper count? :

You can count it however you'd like Set your own goal, whether it's 100 or 600 or even 1500 like someone else is doing! We all probably have varying degrees of clutter in our homes, so only you know what's a good goal for you.
I just cleaned out a cabinet of paperwork and didn't count every piece of paper (I probably couldn't keep track if I wanted to ) but I think I counted it as 5 or something like that. But it's totally up to you!
Welcome!