July Decluttering Challenge! - Page 3

[mamayaya]

Joining!

Hi all, I hope I'm not intruding my jumping in. I have a 3 year old and an 8 month old and have accumulated so many baby girl clothes I need to get rid of, general junk, and toys that this is the place for me to be!! Plus we live in a 2BR apartment!!

So, my goal for decluttering... I'm going to start simple and say 100 things.

So far, 0/100... But I'm starting today!

[imnotsupernanny]

I'll join in! It looks like fun and I REALLY need to get organized. I was just think the other day that I arrived in Montreal with just 3 suitcases and now 3 years later I have TONS of stuff!

I'm not sure how much in terms of bags,boxes or articles I want to get rid of,but there are some things I need to have out of here.

I "won" about 25 (or more) "mystery auctions" off ebay about a year ago so have TONS of bath and body products,some that are brand new and some are doubles.I also have new purses and new underwear from ebay!

My goals are to get rid of the ones that I don't use or like.

I plan to give some of them in swaps that I'm doing with friends in The UK. My other plan is to use or give away the stuff that has a small amount left. A great way to declutter my bathroom and my closet!

Another goal is to get rid of the extra stuffed animals I was given and don't need and to also NOT accept any other toys fr my daycare unless they are ones I can really use.

I all ready have a bag of clothes that I either need to take to the 2nd hand shop OR arrange a clothing swap!

[bdoody11]

I want to play!

I should have done this before my baby was born in February, but was completely clueless to how little time I was going to have after her birth. I think I had some bizarre notion she was going to take two 3-hour naps per day where I would get everything done. : Back to reality...(and my daughter who takes 4 30-minute naps per day).

So now I'm committed to getting my house under control and simplified.

I don't know how much I can get done this month specifically so I'm going to list all my goals and cross them off one by one:

- Clean out the guest room- donate, free-cycle, sell used clothes, books, baby stuff
- Clean out the den- shred or organize bills and papers
- Purge clothes post-baby that will never fit again
- Clean basement (this is stuff that I never unpacked from my move 4 years ago)
- Organize basement with shelving and storage
- Sell newborn diapers
- Organize DDs clothes and get them in her dresser and out of her crib
- Purge old magazines
- Clean out the linen closet- donate old blankets and sheets
- Clean out pantry and organize by shelf
- Organize bathroom closet, toss old meds and beauty products
- Declutter kitchen of appliances never used anymore

The guest room is first on my list and must be done by Friday. We have company coming this weekend. I love visitor motivation, it's the only way my house gets clean.

[kissum]

+1 lol, I bought a huge basket at the farmer's market. So I need 101 things now. I think as soon as I start packing it will go fast!

[NoliMum]

Sorted through a box of old papers and photos that haven't been touched since we moved a year ago. I put everything away and I'll count the pile of papers that went into recycling as an even 10.

Sold 3 items at a resale shop.

Am awaiting the verdict on a ton of baby stuff that I dropped off at another resale shop.

Emptied expired medicines and recycled the containers, will count this as 10 also.

So 23 so far. Can't wait till the garage sale this weekend! I have SO many boxes of junk to sell.

[koalabob]

OK, I'm in. I've pretty much gone through the house. This month I want to tackle the garage. :

[my2girlz]

Originally Posted by my2girlz

I'm in this month for 750 items.

I cleaned my dd's closet today and got rid of 75 items and dh cleared out 100 items out of the basement.

175/750 so far

Last month I didn't participate in the challenge.

Another 75 items from in my girls' room

250/750

[VeganCupcake]

I've gotten rid of a paltry 2 more things in the last few days, bringing my total to 13/100. :

[NoliMum]

Originally Posted by VeganCupcake

I've gotten rid of a paltry 2 more things in the last few days, bringing my total to 13/100. :

Hey, 13 is a lot more than 0!!

[scrapadoozer]

I've only managed three more items since my last post.

66/300

[kissum]

Originally Posted by kissum

+1 lol, I bought a huge basket at the farmer's market. So I need 101 things now. I think as soon as I start packing it will go fast!

17/100 now I threw out some bath toys, old underwear, a broken hairbrush, and a broken postal scale. It's a start!

[queencarr]

So I'm still moving stuff upstairs, in addition to thrown away or passed on. I am hoping to have my office put together by Sunday, and finish ds1's room by the next couple of weeks. partially, I needed to wait til payday to get some more storage containers, too. I also have some baby things that can go in storage. I also got a great deal on glass cabinet that will be moving into my room, so I need to get that space (urrently my old desk) cleared out and taken care of now, too. So far yesterday and today I have:

25+ little pieces of random toys, broken crayons, etc gone from the downstairs room
1 vacuum birdseed and spiderwebs from around the bird cage in downstairs room
3 items from fridge that needed to go!
5 months worth of old household paperwork gone through an dmostly trashed
4 baby outfits on longterm loan to a friend that can use them.

I also have some baby items that need to go into storage, so when they get there, I will count those. But for now, they are sitting on my hall: And I have some items on TP that I waiting on a response back about.

So my new total is: 126/300!!

[scrapadoozer]

56 today! Got a lot done!

*Cleaned the floor of the canning closet and that hasnt' been done in a good year. :
*Got rid of a bunch of outgrown outerwear that was hogging a lot of space in the coat closet.
*Found some giftables to re-gift and put those in the gift box. Not counting them in my tally until they get moved on to their next home but at least they're one step closer to gone.
*Organized dd's books (again) and got rid about 12 that were either duplicates or books that she just plain doesn't like.

122/300

[Metta&Karuna]

Hi everyone, you're doing great! I'm impressed to see the action here!

I have now repaired the shelf in the front hall closet and have begun re-organizing it.

As for E-bay, the progress I have made is reading up here on it. I have learned a lot. One person said that E-bay is only worth it if she is expecting a $10 or more profit. That's an important thing for me to note. That eliminates a lot of things. Also I was reminded of the importance of photos. I do not currently have a functional digital camera, so that may be job #1.

Here's a question for you: I have a lot of nearly new annoying baby toys, the electronic ones that sing songs and flash lights and all that stuff. I kept them up high and only brought them out for emergencies so they are hardly used. I would like to get something back from them. I am gathering that Ebay may not the best market. Do you think consignment shops are worth it? I think that locally you have to do a lot of calling to see when the owner is in and a lot of driving, and I am just a bit stymied on pursuing that. But I am thinking, what the heck else can I do? WWYD?

Given that freecyle requires coordinating with folks, is there a more efficient way to think about freecyling? Like, only offering things that would not be sold in a thrift store (eg., I have a bunch of caffeinated teas, some opened, some not, and I have given up caffeine), only offering things in like-bunches, like toddler stuff, kitchen stuff, etc--and thrifting/tossing the small random stuff?

Yep, those are my basic categories, ebay, consignment, freecycle, thrift, throw-away. I want to make sure I've got the right idea for each category, and I am hoping to really move this stuff soon.

[imnotsupernanny]

I find that sometimes freecycle can take a long time. You could offer things on FC and give a time limit and then donate stuff to a 2nd hand shop or a womens shelter!

My goals will be reached soon I hope!

I have someone coming for my cat water fountain that I NEVER use tomorow! I'm going to let her go through my bags of junk and see if she wants anything!

I may also let her look over my stuff for sale,even though she is from freecycle.

My swaps include: 3 lip glosses,candy I won't eat,7 pairs of new underwear,some bath and body product samples,a braclet I bought someone else and a key chain menat for someone else! They go OUT tomorrow!

[bdoody11]

Originally Posted by bdoody11

- Clean out the guest room- donate, free-cycle, sell used clothes, books, baby stuff
- Organize DDs clothes and get them in her dresser and out of her crib

I made some progress on these too:

1) I got my guest room clean for our visitors this weekend. Some things went, some things just got relocated until I have time to go through them. I still want to go through the book case and get rid of books we don't need and clean out the closet.

2) I bagged DDs newborn/0-3 month clothes and will be ready to store them once I get the basement in order. I also put her new 3-6 months clothes in the dresser. I would like to get organizer baskets for the drawers so I can seperate the clothes and I still need to purge her room of gifts we don't need or want.

It is so frustrating trying to get things done with a 5 month old that refuses to sleep!!!! Seriously, she slept 1/2 an hour between 2:00pm and bedtime. WTF! OK, rant over.

[Metta&Karuna]

Progress: I have called three consignment shops and have placed two posts on freecycle. It took so much for me to take those steps, not sure why, but moving forward.

[Metta&Karuna]

Originally Posted by bdoody11

It is so frustrating trying to get things done with a 5 month old that refuses to sleep!!!! Seriously, she slept 1/2 an hour between 2:00pm and bedtime. WTF! OK, rant over.

That's really hard. Pace yourself. Any progress with a lively baby is great progress. Give yourself a pat on the back.

[SkylarJulesmom]

Originally Posted by koalabob

OK, I'm in. I've pretty much gone through the house. This month I want to tackle the garage. :

May I offer a piece of advice? Take someone with you and have them tie one end of a string around your waist and the other around their's just in case you get lost!

On Wednesday I loaded up my first van load for the Salvation army! (I have a chevy venture van) I took the seats out and literally had boxes and bags from the back of the van to right behind the drivers seat! I have a friend who works at one of the Sal's near me and when I brought the stuff he told me I should open my own thrift store! He took everything! I told him I have more he said "Please don't bring it today! I need time to sort through all this stuff!"
Theres still alot of stuff left over in the garage I'm not nearly done but it feels good so to have that stuff out! Off to continue! Erin

[ShannonCC]

Originally Posted by Junonia

Do you think consignment shops are worth it? I think that locally you have to do a lot of calling to see when the owner is in and a lot of driving, and I am just a bit stymied on pursuing that. But I am thinking, what the heck else can I do? WWYD?

I guess it depends on your consignment store. Mine is only a few miles down the road and I know the hours pretty well. It's very easy for me to drop stuff off. I don't make a huge amount of money there though and so far, everything I've made I've just used to buy new stuff there But we buy a lot of the kid's clothes there so it's worth it to me.

Even so, sometimes I've been ready to give things away and it's a day they are closed so rather than wait a week (when I have time) I just take it all to Goodwill. If you find yourself storing stacks of things to take to the consignment store and weeks/months go by and you never seem to get there then you have to face reality One of the charities that pick up at your doorstep is a good idea in that case.

Given that freecyle requires coordinating with folks, is there a more efficient way to think about freecyling? Like, only offering things that would not be sold in a thrift store (eg., I have a bunch of caffeinated teas, some opened, some not, and I have given up caffeine), only offering things in like-bunches, like toddler stuff, kitchen stuff, etc--and thrifting/tossing the small random stuff?

From what I've heard, freecycle was not meant to replace thrift stores and charities anyway. I use freecyle like you said - things that can't be sold in a thrift store. Like the broken VCR I gave away (the video worked but not the DVD) or half used shampoo bottles, etc. But really, just loading up the car and driving everything to Goodwill all at once is the easiest option for me.

Last weekend though I went to Goodwill and saw their backroom is PACKED. I think they are getting too many donations (it's a superstore and this is a very populated area) and they don't have enough employees going through it. So for now, I might concentrate a little bit more on other venues like freecycle or the consignment store. Or Vietnam Vets picks up door to door in my area. And my aunt is collecting for her yearly church sale