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06-30-2020, 05:22 PM
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#1
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Yorktown, VA
Posts: 272
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Purging the house
DH is due to retire in 2-3 years, so I’m giving myself that timeframe to purge my house. I’m something of a hoarder, so this will be a Herculean task.
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06-30-2020, 05:47 PM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: SoCal
Posts: 1,293
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Every week fill the trash cans. You'll make tremendous progress if you stick with it.
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06-30-2020, 06:47 PM
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#3
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 371
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I was headed in a general declutter direction but with the current pandemic have kicked it into overdrive. Filling trash bin every day, trips to Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity, digitalizing photos and certificates, distributing family memorabilia to kids, ect...
Have read a couple books and watch YouTube vids for inspiration.
Someone’s going to have to do it. Might as well be me while we are in hunker down mode.
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06-30-2020, 07:20 PM
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#4
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: W. Galveston Bay
Posts: 290
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Purging the house
Watch an episode of Hoarders, it really motivates me.
__________________
The cure for everything is saltwater. Sweat, tears, or the sea.
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06-30-2020, 07:28 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Tightwad
Every week fill the trash cans. You'll make tremendous progress if you stick with it.
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Yep. We (mostly me - DW was still working) did this along with donating and giving away household items over a two year period after our kid moved to another state. It didn't seem to make much of a difference until after the first six months when we noticed the clutter disappearing. Along the way, we found some items we thought we lost.
By the time we started packing up the house to sell it and move to join up with our kid, we were able to pack up 23+ years in this house, sell it and move in 60 days. No way we could have done it that fast if we hadn't started clearing out the clutter two years prior.
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06-30-2020, 07:46 PM
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#6
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gone traveling
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Berkeley, Denver, CO, USA
Posts: 1,406
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Fire is your friend.
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06-30-2020, 07:57 PM
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#7
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Bangkok
Posts: 234
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanstar
I was headed in a general declutter direction but with the current pandemic have kicked it into overdrive. Filling trash bin every day, trips to Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity, digitalizing photos and certificates, distributing family memorabilia to kids, ect...
Someone’s going to have to do it. Might as well be me while we are in hunker down mode.
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+1. Well said.
Americans seem to be addicted to buying stuff. Its a big problem. What motivates the desire to buy?? How can we address this?
Its sad. A very rich friend told me that he can never move or travel because he has too much stuff to "look after".
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06-30-2020, 08:02 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8,971
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Last purge we picked up about $8000: eBay, Craigslist, rummage sale. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
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06-30-2020, 10:14 PM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Everett
Posts: 1,593
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You might even find some useful things you'd forgotten you had.
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06-30-2020, 10:54 PM
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#10
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 656
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Just visited a friend in another town. He told me when he goes, there's going to be a big garage sale for all his stuff.
I didn't say anything, and no offense, but most all belonged in the dumpster.
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06-30-2020, 11:58 PM
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#11
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Yorktown, VA
Posts: 272
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I need to figure out how to make this project an obsession.
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07-01-2020, 01:58 AM
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#12
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vafoodie
I need to figure out how to make this project an obsession.
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The more progress you see, the more obsessed you'll become. It's a process. I went through 2 major purges in the last 10 years and I still fight clutter every once in a while.
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07-01-2020, 05:08 AM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8,971
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Start small. Set a goal of cleaning out a closest or something similar every day. Get help too. A job shared is a job half done.
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07-01-2020, 05:31 AM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: philly
Posts: 1,219
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Olbidness
Watch an episode of Hoarders, it really motivates me.
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lol see that just made it worst for me. I watched hoarders and then patted myself on the back for not being "that bad"
I'm trying to declutter and get rid of stuff because I want to downsize. it's slow and tedious.
__________________
My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being "normal" is not necessarily a virtue? it sometimes rather denotes a lack of courage~Aunt Francis
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07-01-2020, 06:25 AM
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,601
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It's all about volume. Just make sure that more volume goes out than comes in.
We rented an additional garbage container for a year and got rid of an extra can's worth of stuff every week.
And I rented a big dumpster. I put a lot of remodel debris in it, but I topped it off with a lot of purged household items
We had a garage sale
We make frequent trips to Goodwill
Sold a bunch of stuff on Craigs List
Sold a car we didn't need
This has been going on for a few years. Should be down to bare minimum in 2 years.
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07-01-2020, 07:03 AM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 2,676
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When we remodeled our basement, I must have made about a dozen trips to the dump with our SUV. It was cathartic.
I recommend Nextdoor even before Craigslist; the people are local, and (supposedly) have to use their real names and locations. It feels a little less like the wild west of the internet.
I also recommend giving yourself a time limit on items for sale, then reducing them, eventually (or even right away) to zero. You'll usually have takers for most free items. But after X number of weeks, free items have to be out of the house, either donated or trashed. A hoarder's impulse is to say that an item could be valuable, but if no one is willing to pay or take it for free, it's time to admit that it probably isn't worth anything, and it certainly isn't worth physical or mental space in your life.
__________________
-Looking to FIRE in the mid-2020s, which would be our mid-50s.
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07-01-2020, 07:08 AM
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#17
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,601
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger
I recommend Nextdoor even before Craigslist; the people are local, and (supposedly) have to use their real names and locations. It feels a little less like the wild west of the internet.
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Good point. I sold my boat through Nextdoor and it was a great experience. Craigs List can be hit or miss
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07-01-2020, 07:23 AM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 2,676
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronstar
Good point. I sold my boat through Nextdoor and it was a great experience. Craigs List can be hit or miss
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Yep, I sold my dad's car with less than 5K miles for $3K more than Carmax offered via Nextdoor...and to a couple a few blocks away from me. I wasn't worried about their check bouncing, because I literally knew where they lived!
__________________
-Looking to FIRE in the mid-2020s, which would be our mid-50s.
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07-01-2020, 07:34 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,862
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We did this 5 years ago, when we decided to downsize after 30+ years in our huge house. We were still w*rking, and virtually every minute we weren't at w*rk or sleeping, we were purging. Several trips to Good Will each week, one big garage sale, and lots of trash cans and it was done in about 5 months, just in time for the house to sell and find a new one.
It all worked out, but it is exhausting, and also very liberating. You'll be glad you did it.
And, after 5 years in the new, smaller house, I took some time to purge more during the quarantine time. It's amazing how quickly you begin to accumulate again. #FirstWorldProblems
__________________
FIRE Class of 2018 @ 61
Old men and women sit in the shade of trees they planted long ago
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07-01-2020, 08:16 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 5,913
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We downsized and de cluttered our large home. We sold it and travelled. We kept what could fit into an 8x8x16 container. Best thing we ever did.
It took us about four or five months to prepare the house for sale and to de clutter.
A year later we unloaded the container and moved into a rental condo. There were things in that container that we did not want and gave away.
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