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Come join the November 500 Items Decluttering Challenge!!!

11K views 311 replies 74 participants last post by  chasmyn 
#1 ·
I just got sucked into reading Amy's thread, and I'm so jealous
If I could get 500 things out of here, I would do the happy dance. I'm seriously starting to feel smothered in this house.

If anyone's up for tackling a new one, I'll set the thread up for it!

------------

OK, so, the "rules," borrowed from Amy's October challenge. Amy, if this isn't ok, would you let me know? Thanks!

"Here is what counts:
anything you sell on the tp, ebay, Craigslist etc
anything you freecycle, give back to the rightful owners, donate, give away.
anything you throw out but I would much rather somehow get the item back out there thats not possible and I will also be throwing stuff out.

If you have a small box of your old college papers in the attic and you toss it- its one item. If you also toss your dh's box as well, its two items.

The old mayo jar in the fridge counts as an item, two separate happy meal toys count as two items.
If someone is doing a can goods drive, give them a few good items, they count!
You old tax record from 1998 counts as one item to be shredded.

500 sounds like a lot but once you get started you will be surprised how fast you can drum up 500 items and then some! I go thru everything when I do this down to the makeup drawer and over the washer shelf.

Remember you have an entire month to do this so pace yourself...

Post your successes and how you are doing with your count as we go!"

Hooray! I'm so excited
 
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#29 ·
So I'm already off to a good start. I haven't actually gotten much OUT of the house yet, but I'm throwing everything that's being evicted into a Rubbermaid bin. Some of it I want to put on eBay or the TP, and that's going to take some time, so I'll need to do that later. Some of it I'm going to take to Goodwill, and some of it I'll Freecycle. I finally packed away a ton of baby things that the little little has outgrown, but that I want to keep "just in case"
But I actually got them into the right box in the attic, instead of spread out through the house, so that's a big deal for me, woohoo!

I listed a few things on Freecycle, but no one's taking them, which is weird because they're good things. And I have to decide what to do with a bunch of old textbooks. They're not worth anything, so if someone doesn't grab them via Freecycle, what do I do with them? Just recycle?

Hope everyone's getting ready/started!
 
#31 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by michelle524 View Post
DH cleaned out his closet and got rid of 80 pieces of clothing!
Can your DH talk to my DH?


Melissel - yeah, with old textbooks I've usually had to recycle. If you take them to a thrift store, chances are slim that somebody will buy them (if the store even puts them out), and they'll usually have to throw them away and they'll end up in the landfill. So, better all around to cut to the chase and recycle.
Bummer, I know, esp. when textbooks are sooo durn expensive!
 
#34 ·
Great! I was excited so I started already! I won't count these things for November, but if I'm a little short on the 500, I will know in my heart that these are gone:

40 childrens' books, 3 tapes (these were sets of duplicates from my teaching days) - Freecycled to a teacher at a needy school

20 random/expired/yucky bathroom things (like... um... birthcontrol that expired in 2005!)

Starting to fill boxes for Goodwill, but won't count them until they are gone (as they are currently cluttering our living room!).

I cleaned out our master bath and it was fun!
 
#35 ·
Delurking to start this challenge! Actually I started already by sorting through old clothes of mine and the kids. I took over 50 things to Goodwill and freecycled 20 more. My side of the closet looks so good now, maybe it will encourage DH to sort through his stuff....

Margie
 
#37 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by anthasam View Post
I've done well with some challenges earlier this year, but as DH says to DD: "Mommy's not done giving all our stuff away yet!"



I didn't even tell my DH I'm doing this. He already thinks I'm a little crazy, and the clutter doesn't affect him like it does me--of course, I'm the one who never leaves the house, so that could be why! Luckily, he doesn't actually HAVE a lot of personal stuff, so I don't need to nag him too much. It's mainly the household and the kids' stuff that I'm working on.

After my Freecycle stuff goes out today, I'll be up to over 80 items/lots already! I'm trying to get ahead because I really can't do much during the week
: I am actually including baby things that are getting packed properly away in the boxes in the attic, because there's quite a few items that we're really done with for now, and probably for good, but I'm keeping the best of it just in case and need to store it properly instead of having it strewn around the house
For example, our infant carseat, which we stopped using 6 months ago, is still sitting on the floor in the baby's room. Aaaaahhhhh!

Go mamas!
 
#38 ·
This is addicting once you start!

Gone today:

I tried to guesstimate how much some of these were worth. How do we count piles of paper?

pile of bank/credit card statements from 2000 (5)
old crusty coughdrops (1)
pile of assorted office crapola (7)
bag of junky stuff that came from some kid's birthday pinata (1)
random assorted yucky fridge things (15!)
4 dressup rings that turn my Dd's fingers green

So 33 for today and 112/500 total
 
#39 ·
I am going to roll last month's lame attempt into this month
I only made it to 100, so I'd love to get all the way to 500! 500 items out of this house would be awesome!

100 plus:
16 items of clothing to yard sale box
2 pairs of shorts freecycled
= 118/500
 
#43 ·
I'll try again. I failed miserably last month even though I got rid of over 200 things.


It's mainly because as much as I got rid of it FEELS like I brought that much more in....

DS's stuff from the hospital and the cards given to us (which is acceptable stuff to bring in)

toys that neighbors brought us and opened before we could bring them to get store credit (for xmas money)

blankets upon blankets and all new winter gear because the box we stored all our other stuff was full of mold when we opened it.
:

SOOO... I'll try again... and I'll try not to bring in as much....

even though I'm having a partylite party at the end of the month and am trying to find enough people who would want to order so I can get the free product
:
 
#44 ·
i'm in but I want to know if it would be cheating to count the stuff I have already packed in boxes to go but are in my hallway and the 6 boxes in my driveway waiting to be loaded into the car. Also if I bring stuff in do I had to subtract that from my total outgoing?
 
#45 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by antannie View Post
i'm in but I want to know if it would be cheating to count the stuff I have already packed in boxes to go but are in my hallway and the 6 boxes in my driveway waiting to be loaded into the car.
I think it's up to you. The whole thing is really just to support one another in our effort. 500's a pretty arbitrary figure--I know some of us are aiming higher, and some of us (er, me!) would be happy if we get even close. Maybe you could count each box as a single item? Whatever you want to do. I'm counting all the baby things I finally pack away in the correct boxes in the attic in my 500, though in a separate category, because they are cluttering up the house too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by antannie View Post
Also if I bring stuff in do I had to subtract that from my total outgoing?
I thought about this but decided not to, because I'm trying to do the Compact (in spirit anyway), so anything that comes into this house this month will be done specifically because it's needed and a thoughtful acquisition.
 
#46 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by uptownzoo View Post
Can your DH talk to my DH?


Melissel - yeah, with old textbooks I've usually had to recycle. If you take them to a thrift store, chances are slim that somebody will buy them (if the store even puts them out), and they'll usually have to throw them away and they'll end up in the landfill. So, better all around to cut to the chase and recycle.
Bummer, I know, esp. when textbooks are sooo durn expensive!

I actually just sold 2 on Amazon a few weeks ago. I only got about five dollars each, but they are gone and not in the garbage.
 
#47 ·
Count me in. I've been wanting to declutter and simplify our lives. I'll be starting tomorrow, since dh and my mom are both on vacation this week. Mom is coming over tomorrow to watch the two littlest ones while dh and I go in the basement to declutter and get rid of a bunch of junk.
 
#48 ·
I'm in. I only managed to get rid of 142 items in the October challenge so I'm just going to start at that number and keep going until I reach 500. 500 is such a nice pretty number.


Currently in progress but not gone yet so I won't count them:
Filling a bag with baby/toddler clothes for the pregnancy center
Filling a bag of women's clothes to take to the Salvation Army or just offer on freecycle
 
#49 ·
WOOT!

It's only 8:30, but it's already been a really productive day!

Donated
2 boxes of old baby clothes (50 items in all)
1 box of books (25 titles)
1 box of assorted shoes, bags, and decorations (11 items)
1 box of assorted baby "stuff" (9)

Recycled
1 mega box of old newspapers and crap that I've been begging my Dh to put out for about 2 months. Because, yes, my packrat husband saves old newspapers.
: (I'm counting this as 10. It was a BIG box)

105 today!

217/500
 
#51 ·
I told my husband about this and his comment:

"We don't even have 500 things to get rid of."


I've gotten started. I couldn't help it. This is very motivating.

20 items total:
2 piles of shredding
5 things from under the bathroom sink
5 pieces of clothing
1 stack of plastic hangers
1 tortilla shaper??
5 miscellaneous items from this box that was sitting in our "office"
1 stack of coloring from my daughter's preschool (you only need so many pictures)

I can't wait to get to the basement--and my closet! But I can't believe I have 480 to go. I think with Thanksgiving, my daughter's birthday, and Christmas around the corner--we're going to have tons to get rid of.

Now, what about cleaning out the fridge? I did that last night too--2 jars of old pickles, 1 jar of old red peppers, and 1 jar of old salsa??? Does that count?
 
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