Share your decluttering / organizing successes!

[mightymoo]

I want to share my little decluttering success, but I didn't do something that deserves a whole thread, but I thought maybe we could have a thread where we can share little successes and inspire each other.

Yesterday, I cleaned out the closet in the downstairs bath which was overrun by piles of DD's drawings and art supplies unceremoniously thrown in there. Now, my vac and steam cleaner actually have a home instead of living in the middle of our living room!

I think I'll tackle my craft room / office today.

What are you up to?

[mommaof3boz]

Well...since you asked...I have been on a tangent. I am determined to get rid of about 30-40 percent of our stuff. I hauled out 5 trash bags of stuff. Then I went through the house literally taking stuff down off the walls. Stuff I bought "just because something needs to go there". Not stuff I love, not true art, just stuff. I have almost a van full. And I made the boys reduce their VHS/DVD collection by half. I am not done. The next thing on my "agenda" is bath towels. We have been given so may over the years. What I want is all white, hotel type. So they can be bleached and hung outside without hurting them. I am a woman on a mission!!

[thomlynn]

We are planning a HUGE garage sale the end of next month, so I am filling the garage with boxes and bags loaded with everything from appliances to clothes to cutsie odds and ends.

I've downsized dishes, glasses and cookware. Baby clothes, our clothes, bedding, and towels.

I've also sold probably 500 Hallmark Ornaments that MIL thinks are wonderful, on ebay and made a good chunk of money to pay off the hospital bills from dd's birth. : I got transferred and didn't expect to have to pay anything. That money was supposed to pay of credit card bills but oh well, we'll figure it out.

OK back on topic , I think that's it for the moment but you've inspired me to walk though the house yet agian so I know they'll be more stuff!!!!


I'm off to find more crap!!!!!

[CandyApple]

Good idea for a thread!

We got through all the boys toys last weekend. They don't have a ton, but there were still too many underfoot. So we donated most of the small, cheaper toys, and boxed up several sets and just put them away for awhile. The baby toys were stored away and now theres just one set of blocks, some tractors/cars and some music instruments. No complaining, and so much nicer!! Now I'm just hoping we don't get bombarded at Christmas!

Other than that, I'm just enjoying the new mentality of constantly removing things throughout the house and loving the cleanliness. I've found keeping a Goodwill bag and Junk box on each floor (out of kids reach) really helps. There's no excuse not to throw stuff in... Even dh has gotten on board!

Who else has felt that thrill of success?

[etoilech]

I cleaned out my wardrobe. I got rid of a lot of clothes that I don't love and/or don't fit. I also got the majority of kid stuff out of our room. (Except for the crib and a few toys for my daughter and my daughter of course. :P)

I also donated and stored the kids outgrown clothing.

I need to find homes for all the odds and ends. I also need to tackle the kitchen and figure out what needs to be stored downstairs in the pantry and what need to be up here.

I need to deal with the basement and tackle the laundry room.

oy.

[Berber]

I've been taking slow steps towards a de-cluttered home as well and I feel fantastic. Yesterday DH and I took 3 garbage bags full of my clothing to St.Vincent De Paul along with an old conforter set and a many books.

I am hoping that DH will start to follow my lead and start to purge some of his things. I'm giving him some time to adjust to all of my new habits.

Great job everyone, I'm so glad we can cheer eachother on here!

[mightymoo]

So far today I've tackled about half my cabinets. I have a storage unit in the playroom (aka dining room) that had a lot of kitchen stuff in it, I decided I should pare down my kitchen stuff to just what can be kept in the kitchen and use the cabinets in the playroom for toys

I picked out about half the appliances to go (juicer, rice cooker, espresso machine) since I never use them and a bunch of odds an dends, but mostly made better use of the space I had in the kitchen.

However, I've left the worst for last and I still have some things that need homes.

But DS needs a nap, think I'll rock him while watching organization shows!

[Leta]

I got rid of 50 books last night! And you know, it was not that hard. I just set some criteria for myself: Have you ever read it? (If the answer was no, into the box) Do you REALLY want to read it again? (If the answer was no, into the box).

I also got rid of a CD player case, a bunch of old flour bins, games nobody plays, a VCR...oh, tons of stuff! The boxes filled up my trunk, and I drive a Bonneville, so I have a cavernous trunk. Vinnie's seemed happy to get it.

And then, when I was at Vinnie's, I *ahem* purchased a $0.50 rack to live atop my fridge and act as storage for my cookie sheets. It's fantastic! (Not the most athstetic, perhaps, but much cheaper than the cabinets from Ikea and our kitchen needs remodeling anyway. I can't make it beautiful yet, but I can make it neat and clean!)

[chanibell]

My lazy susan came yesterday. I will try and post pics online on how it all came together. I'm soooo excited... ( gosh I need a life!)

[Leta]

Oooh, I am on a roll! I went downstairs to do laundry, and came out with two completely full trashcans- the big outdoor kind. (We never fill both our cans all the way up...now I know why.)

AND I filled a trash bag and a huge box full of stuff to go to Vinnie's, plus a baby swing and a Pack 'n Play... all neatly packaged and waiting on the front porch. Hurray!

[mightymoo]

Well, I finished the whole kitchen. More organizing than decluttering, though I did get rid of a boxful of stuff. The move process helped us pare down to essentials already, but we weren't using the spaces we had very effectively and the little bit of crap was taking up prime real estate. I'm so excited and honestly it wasn't that hard. I think I've been building it up in mind.

[minta]

I sent baby clothes to a friend who has no money to buy anything for the child she's expecting. Now granted, we still have tons of stuff because we're not finished having kids, but this was stuff I wasn't crazy about and it made me sad every time I looked at it. It was all designer too, that I bought for a few dollars at 2nd-hand and consignment shops, which was why I bought it in the first place despite not even really liking it! But my friend LOVED everything and when she's done, she can Ebay the lot and make a little bit of money to buy some more stuff. I feel so much better knowing this stuff is out of MY house and IN hers and 2 families are better off because of it!

[marybethorama]

I did the game cabinet

I went through all the board games-put all the stray pieces away and made a list of what pieces are missing (3 battleships and a few Trouble tokens FTR)
I found a couple of duplicate games and am sending those on their way.

I even found the lost yellow Parchesi token

[broodymama]

We just moved so most of our stuff is still in boxes in the basement. As I unpack each box I am being ruthless with the contents - some is getting tossed, some is getting Freecycled and some is going to Goodwill. There are entire boxes that I look in and think "WTH does this go to?" Don't even get me started on DH's box o' wires & cables that we have moved with 4 times, they don't even fit in one box anymore.

[onandon]

My decluttering success is my husband! After donating seven car loads to goodwill and a couple car loads to our local LLL yardsale in the last 6 months or so I think he's catching the bug. He has the week off between Christmas and New Years and he said he wants to work on our back room! We have wall to wall shelves with kitchen storage plus the laundry, the water heater, tools, vacuum, broom, games, etc. in the room. I'll help him out while dd naps and we'll finally organize wires and power supplies and dead computer parts, and tools, and screws and hardware, and games and books and old shoes, light bulbs, batteries, cleaning stuff, etc. I'm so excited that this room of the house will be done and we'll be left with plenty of floor space for the drying rack and have a clear path out the back door! Plus if the the circuit breaks we'll be able to move the shelf easily and reset it. Once this room is done I think everything will have (and be in) its' place!

[Leta]

I have had such a great week around here. I am just flushed with sucess.

This is what I've gotten rid of so far:

4 gigantic yard garbage cans full of trash
4 paper grocery bags full of recycling
2 giant boxes of books to Vinnie's
a big box of cookbooks shipped off to SIL
a trash bag full of clothes DD has outgrown
a laundry basket full of toys
four old (extremely large and heavy) picture frames
a Pack 'n Play, baby swing, and Johnny Jump Up
2 GIGANTIC boxes of miscelaneous crap to Vinnie's
a smaller box of crap to the Salvation Army
and four brand new items, unuseable to us, given as gifts sold on eBay

[CandyApple]

I thought I'd revive this thread!

We made it thru our hall closet this weekend. We donated some coats, moved some to a better location, and moved the safe up to the way back part of our bedroom closet, since we hardly access it. Then we sorted thru the upper shelves. Now all the boys puzzles, games and things they need help with neatly organized. There is so much space and I love it.

Anyone else have a good organizing weekend?

[mightymoo]

The weekend was a bust since my bro was visiting and the patriots were playing, so we were at my parents all weekend. But the few days before htat were great. I did some serious weeding out in the playroom, its feasible we might be able to keep it cleannow. And I got my office somewhat organized (meaning everything is either on the shelves, etc - its not all completely organized.) I just need to get rid of a few things hanging around in the kitchen from the organizing and we'll be doing pretty well.

The next plan is to get my son's room going - right now its a guest room / box room. I think most of hte boxes in there are things I discarded in my kitchen unpacking, so I will probably move those to the basement for later sale. I'm so excited that we actually have a house that isn't constantly a mess!

[Starr]

Last week I organized our master bedroom closet. I got rid of 4 garbage bags of cothes that don't fit or we don't wear. Now the closet looks much better for when people come to look at the house.

One of my biggest successes was about a year ago we cleaned out an entire office closet of stuff that DH and I had saved from college. It was like a truckload full. Then we downsized our entertainment center and moved all of our games into the closet. It looks much bigger and we have space left.

I am hoping to do our kitchen this week, something came up this weekend.

[crunchy_mama]

I have been on a nesting rampage!!

so far:
- cleared out Luke's room, and reorganized, am donating or consigning 2 garbage bags of toys
- had dh clear out the closet (it was full of his old computer stuff)
- went through all my sheets, covers etc. I am getting rid of an old comforter, quilt, numerous sheets, curtains etc
- cleaned all my kitchen cabinets
- cleared out the dining room hutch and organized

right now I need to
- go through the coat closet
-finish the bathrrom cabinets

I have a whole carload that is going to consignment and goodwill.