2008 in 2008 January Thread - Page 7

[JamesMama]

I'm finally feeling like I'm making progress!! As soon as DH gets home from work I'm going to load up the goodwill stuff to take to Goodwill, than I'm going to take the stuff my mom is going to store for me (maternity clothes, kids clothes I want to keep for future children) and then I'll have SOOO much out of here!! Like 12 sacks (to goodwill) and 5 or 6 totes to my moms!!

Woo Hoo!!!

[sweetfeet]

Has anyone else made any money decluttering? So far I've added $211 to our bank acct by selling some slings and bags. I have a plasma car to list on craigslist which will be another 50 if that sells. w00t!

So 2 bags were mailed off to new homes today. Also got rid of some more toys and unneeded junk. 37 items there.

330|2008

[BabyBugsMom]

Progress is being made!

Yesterday dh cleared out his roll-top desk so we could set it up with the kids' computer. He tossed an old phone charger, two camera bag straps, 2 grocery sacks worth of random papers, and another stack of random stuff on his desk.

26/2008

Today I'm going through a stack of cds that were hidden under all the stuff on dh's desk, ripping them to the computer and putting the disks into our big music case--tossing all the jewel cases! I'll have a total later today, but I'm at 7 jewel cases tossed so far.

[a2mama]

Originally Posted by sweetfeet

Has anyone else made any money decluttering? So far I've added $211 to our bank acct by selling some slings and bags. I have a plasma car to list on craigslist which will be another 50 if that sells. w00t!

So 2 bags were mailed off to new homes today. Also got rid of some more toys and unneeded junk. 37 items there.

330|2008

I have made $100 selling books and clothes. It has actually inspired my husband to let go of some of his books, now that he sees mine selling like hotcakes.
I am putting the $ I earn into a separate account, which we will use for gifts throughout the year.

[JamesMama]

I'm attempting to sell a sling and a headboard...no offers yet. I'm also going to list our broken down van (how's that for clutter?) on Craigslist. If the headboard and van sell half will be used for bills and half will be used for James' birthday (in 3 weeks). If the van sells it will go into a seperate account for Christmas 2008

[Baby Makes 4]

I made $20 selling Baby Einstein DVDs. I have another $100 worth of stuff listed that I am hoping will go this week. We just spent $280 on our van today so I am hoping to recoup that money selling stuff in the next 2 weeks.

[a2mama]

265/2008

With my current energy level (low), I have really only been able to do small things. Individually, they don't make much difference, but I hope that collectively I will begin to notice some changes.

I mailed three books today. The rest of the items were junk that just needed to be thrown away (cd case, holey socks).

I am hoping to use tomorrow to deliver packages/donations/big trash item, so I should break into the 300s.

Keep up the good work everyone!

[MiaPia]

I got rid of a bunch of stuff today. I finally let go of over 100 magazines that I'd been saving - some for 10 years. I had all sorts of bookmarks in many of them, but they have been sitting in my closet ever since we moved in this house - almost 5 years ago! I finally realized that if I hadn't looked at them in 5 years they really weren't important.
Anyway, to be "fair" to myself I'm counting every title as just one piece, instead of each magazine seperately. So my 30 Martha Stewart Livings? - will count as 1. In all I decluttered 7 different magazine titles as well as some more clothes for a grand total of 21.

SO I'm up to 173/2008!!!

[Angierae]

More clothes out the door and freecycled! 212/2008

[mamavegan]

I cleared 10 things out of the fridge.

88/2008

[avaylee]

(3) dead dry erase markers
(3) old calendars that I swore I would do something crafty with - recycled

Total: 50/2008

I did list eight different things on craigslist, and also found a few items to put up on ebay, amazon, and bookins, so there's progress. Just not counting anything until it's out of the house.

[lovemysunshine]

I've been reading, but haven't posted yet. This is a great idea for a challenge; I'm hoping to exceed 2008, but I don't want to get overwhelmed either. My decluttering journey has been a 4-year (so far) process. I can't believe how much junk I've rid myself of and it feels SO GOOD! I think DH has more stuff than I do now and he's the one who was on my back about it since we moved in together.

I'm documenting my progress on my blog as well, but only once a week, so that's probably what I'll do here as well. Anyway, here's what I've gotten down for the first week in January:

RETURNED TO OTHERS:
17 items of clothing lent to Jonas

RECYCLED:
10 paperwork (small stacks)
3 catalogs

TRASHED:
1 old lotion
1 cassette
old paint cup/brush
old watercolors
3 balloons (deflated, then tossed)
pinwheel from Halloween
2 ornaments
pile candy canes
ripped poster of Solana's
macaroni necklace
nasty lead-filled blood pressure cuff Fisher Price refuses to recall still

DONATED (okay, it's all in the donate boxes and not actually donated yet, but I'm really good about getting it there when I'm in the area; I refuse to make a trip 30 minutes just for that):

new body lotion
new body wash
Fisher Price medical kit (minus the lead-filled blood pressure cuff that has yet to be recalled)
cell phone charger
cell phone headset
5 magazines
16 kids' books
4 random toys
2 toy swords from our trip to the circus with the in-laws
changing pad
LeapFrog system with books/cartridges
4 cups with lids
play food
22 articles of Jonas' clothing
1 pair of Jonas' shoes
8 articles of Solana's clothing
3 pairs of Solana's shoes (yes, she had 3 or 4 pairs to Jonas' 1)
1 article of my clothing

GRAND TOTAL FOR WEEK 1: 117/2008

[sandiegokristi]

Cleared out some more clothes from my closet and my the boys room for a grand total of 56/2008

I can't wait to keep going!

[AutumnMama]

Well, I'm a bit late to show up but I'd love to join you all!
I'm going to have to get quite a bit done by the end of the week as DD is having her birthday party here.
I may end up doing some (more) stashing in our bedroom, that's usually where it ends up

Things are a bit more chaotic here as we've rotated bedrooms, and will be giving DS and DD separate rooms. We live in a 3 bedroom, 1 (tiny!) bath, <1000 sq ft house. We have WAY too much stuff for the space that we have and it's got to go!

Originally Posted by epdeans

I am getting so excited about decluttering 2008 in 2008 as well as compacting. This is the perfect time in my life because I have been CRAVING creative action in my life.

The way I see it, you can not help but become more creative when you slow down and stop buying more and more, you have to reuse and recyle what you have, you have to THINK about what you really need and how to obtain it, and then decluttering helps get the energy flowing throughout.

:

Originally Posted by epdeans

My plan is to start to declutter January 1st. I plan to take a picture of every room in my house ( this scares me ) and post it here for all to see and then take a monthly photo beginning Feb. 1st.

I think I'll do the same thing. No promises on posting the before pics though :

Originally Posted by simonboy'smommy

I think I'll keep my goal a secret though, cause dh might get all excited and start throwing things out the front door My clutter drives him nuts!

Same here!

Originally Posted by a2mama

I am going to schedule one day each week (will change depending on what's going on) to take the stuff out of my house (to the recycle center, reuse center, salvation army, or children's orchard).

Great idea!

[MonkeyPrincess]

In reorganizing some things in the laundry room, I found some more stuff to get rid of.

- a couple nice incense burners and incense to go with it - probably gonna put that on the TP here

- a crock pot that I burned the plug on (my dh assures me we can replace the plug, but I never liked that crock pot anyway, so this is my excuse to get rid of it!)

- an electric iced tea maker that I've had for 10 years and I do use it a couple times a year, but have decided to not waste energy doing it, anyone able to tell me how to make sun tea? :

- and some other stuff that I can't remember already! Shows how much I liked/used that stuff!

- the BIG thing is a whole desk! It's funny because that was the very first thing I took on when this decluttering bug bit me a few weeks ago. I pared it down pretty good and got rid of piles and piles of clutter. Tonight, I pared it down even more and got everything I wanted to keep into one of those clementine boxes, plus a file folder and a pencil holding utensil next to it. My stationary stuff will now live in the laundry room cabinet and I can get rid of a big huge desk!

- so adding some misc pieces of trash to my list

Tomorrow, I am going to finish up with some odds and ends to put away, since I can't go wandering around the house with everyone sleeping. And if its as warm out tomorrow as it was today, I am going to tackle the porch. Oh, yeah! I also need to organize the tops of the shelves in the laundry room. I totally missed them!

It's a neat feeling to know EXACTLY where everything is in my house! I haven't been able to say that in a long, long time!

[Ravin]

1 wheeled backpack I haven't used in years--Goodwill
Another box to recycle

240/2008

[doubledutch]

yesterday i dropped off at gw:
1 ottoman
10 or more kitchen items in a box
60 or more articles of clothing - three trash bags full and so much more where that came from!
30 or more books in 1 basket i'm done with because it's really not working for me anymore

back to sil:
40 or more articles of borrowed baby clothes

and today, to a friend, 40 or more articles of baby clothes he really needs, in 1 duffle bag i'm done with; 1 tupperware container, with the lid of course, and a frozen meal inside for a mama lying in with her newborn!

that brings my total from a very sad 5 up to 189/2008!

marisa

[beansricerevolt]

Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess

- an electric iced tea maker that I've had for 10 years and I do use it a couple times a year, but have decided to not waste energy doing it, anyone able to tell me how to make sun tea? :

I just add water (Temp. doesn't matter) and tea bags to a glass beverage jug like this http://www.amazon.com/JARDEN-71132-1...9810576&sr=8-1
and set it outside in the sun. I usually set it out early in the morning and by the time dinner rolls around, its ready.

I've also just added hot water (a little less than 1/4 of the way full) to a jug and a few tea bags and let it steep for about 20 minutes. Take out the tea bags and add cold water.

[rachelagain]

I just threw out my CHristmas cards!! I have never done that before-- I always feel guilty about it-- esp. when there are pics on them. But I did it!
63/2008

[JamesMama]

[QUOTE=beansricerevolt;10221184I've also just added hot water (a little less than 1/4 of the way full) to a jug and a few tea bags and let it steep for about 20 minutes. Take out the tea bags and add cold water.[/QUOTE]

Thats what I do. I use near boiling water (I have a tea pot), let it seep a while...after 20 mins it's generally cool enough that I can reach in with bare hands and get the tea bags out without burning myself...I squeeze them just a bit to get more tea out (wring out the water) and then fill it the rest of the way with cold water, add some ice cubes and voila, nice cool tea! Thats how we made tea when I worked at a coffee shop.