The Ultimate Decluttering Thread

[disneysteve]

Today I got rid of 2 BP cuffs that don't work and the box from my stethoscope. I put a reflex hammer and otoscope that were loose in the closet in my medical bag where they belong. That all freed up a section of closet shelf.

Tonight I added several sport coats that I never wear to the donation pile which freed up several inches of the bar in my closet.

 

[Pointby2]

We had a "forced" declutter this week. DW replaced her little VW GTI with a big Lexus GX 550. We needed to make room in the garage by moving my work bench and lower cabinets and then today we decided to remove one of the upper cabinets. We filled the trash can, posted a bunch of items on "buy nothing" and generally reorganized. Need to make a run to our paint and recycling center too.

Got rid of most of my car racing stuff and I'll have to take a hard look at the rest of my golfing gear. Haven't taken out the clubs in 10+ years... but it's hard to let go. I always figured I would want to golf in retirement but things don't always work out the way you plan.

 

[disneysteve]

We had a "forced" declutter this week. DW replaced her little VW GTI with a big Lexus GX 550. We needed to make room in the garage by moving my work bench and lower cabinets and then today we decided to remove one of the upper cabinets. We filled the trash can, posted a bunch of items on "buy nothing" and generally reorganized. Need to make a run to our paint and recycling center too.

Got rid of most of my car racing stuff and I'll have to take a hard look at the rest of my golfing gear. Haven't taken out the clubs in 10+ years... but it's hard to let go. I always figured I would want to golf in retirement but things don't always work out the way you plan.

Our homes are all overflowing with things we haven't used for years and won't ever use again but we're saving because they represent a version of ourselves we don't want to let go of.

Tonight I did some more work in my bedroom closet. There were 7 pairs of pants on the top shelf. I put them up there quite some time ago because they no longer fit. Of course, I was determined to lose some weight and be able to wear them again. Well, that ship has sailed. I tried them each on today. 4 went into the donation pile as they are never going to fit again. 3 got hung up because they are pretty close to wearable and I have actively been slimming down the past couple of months. A few more pounds and they'll be fine. I could wear them now but they'd be snug.

I found a pack of chandelier lightbulbs for a fixture we no longer have - donate.

I took a broken lock box down to the garage to be trashed on Wednesday night.

A few other random items got tossed or donated and I found a couple of coins that will likely get sold on ebay.

 

[Ronstar]

Instead of "Two Men and a Truck" movers that you see online, DW hired me - "Old Man and a Truck" to move her mom's furniture out of her apartment. Moved 2 loads to our house so far. I think I need a Chiropractor appt.

DW does not want to keep any of the remaining furniture.

Luckily she heard of a couple of guys who will come in and haul out unwanted furniture to donate to veterans. If this turns out, I should be done with MIL's total decluttering in a few days.

 

[disneysteve]

I started selling collectibles in 1986. For many years, we sold at in-person toy and collectible shows from NY to VA, but stopped that in the early 2000s as online sales took over. I've sold quite a bit of the old inventory on ebay but a lot of it is low value items that were fine to sell on a show table but not worth selling online. Tonight DD and I started going through it. We went through two 10-gallon Rubbermaid totes. A few items got trashed. We found 3 things worth listing on ebay and DD will do that on her account. The rest went into the garage. I'm starting to gather items to do a free yard sale sometime this summer. I'll just put it all out on the driveway, advertise it in a few places online, and let people come and take as much as they'd like. What doesn't go that way will get donated. I could just give it all away now but I'd like to give folks a chance to come find treasures before I do.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Steve, I love your free garage sale idea and think it’s great! When I sold my house after having a garage sale and selling the best items online the rest I put out in my front yard with a free sign and people came and took it. Luckily, I was on a fairly busy street so I didn’t even have to advertise it.

 

[disneysteve]

Steve, I love your free garage sale idea and think it’s great! When I sold my house after having a garage sale and selling the best items online the rest I put out in my front yard with a free sign and people came and took it. Luckily, I was on a fairly busy street so I didn’t even have to advertise it.

We've done it twice before. I list it in the "What's Up" in our town FB group, the Buy Nothing group, and on the Freebie Alert app. Only takes a couple of minutes to post all 3 listings, costs nothing, and gets the job done. I don't do signs or anything like that.

 

[disneysteve]

I started selling collectibles in 1986. For many years, we sold at in-person toy and collectible shows from NY to VA, but stopped that in the early 2000s as online sales took over. I've sold quite a bit of the old inventory on ebay but a lot of it is low value items that were fine to sell on a show table but not worth selling online. Tonight DD and I started going through it.

We did more of this today. I got rid of one small carton of fast food toys. A box of Disney pins got researched and sorted into those worth selling and those not.

Also tonight I started going through the 3" thick folder I have that holds home improvement and repair receipts dating back to when we bought the house in 1994. I'm only part way into the pile so far but have already found a number of receipts and such for items we no longer own like the old water heater, garage opener, washer, etc. All of that outdated paperwork is getting recycled.

 

[athena53]

Well, I thought I did a good job paring down. One excellent tactic I devised was sending a blast e-mail to our HOA (42 properties) with a list of things I didn't need- mostly furniture and lawn and garden equipment. It got hectic fast but a LOT of stuff went. It saved me money when I had the 1-800-GOT-JUNK people haul the rest away.

I moved earlier this week. There are a few smaller pieces of furniture I need to have Habitat for Humanity pick up but SO many duplicates of small items. Two staple removers, 4 letter openers, 2 staplers, 3 erasers, 3 small steel pencil sharpeners (the little block-shaped kind), countless thumb drives, 4 camera memory cards, 4 pocket knives, a ridiculous number of electrical plugs with USB inputs and other chargers. My ancient printer that refuses to connect to the Wi-Fi here (on-line instructions for connecting it refer to a control panel mine does not have) went to Best Buy for recycling yesterday, There's a trash chute and bins for recycling on every floor. I visit them frequently.

I also have piles of family pictures but I knew that. I've scanned hundreds of them and got a good start at sorting and organizing them. A cousin in Atlanta has a copy and I need to send copies to my siblings when I'm a bit more settled in. I don't bother with the ones that are just scenery- the ones with family are more important. I'm pretty sure many have been scanned so I can pitch the originals but I want to go through them to make sure.

 

[RetMD21]

I'm doing the slow declutter. Athena53 inspired me to add my spare stapler to the Goodwill box. I'm down from about 6 a year ago. Some were inherited, some were gifts and several were of mysterious origin.

 

[aja8888]

Major Decluttering Underway (or almost finished)!

This is the ultimate!

GF and I (ages 79 and 82) decide (right or wrong) to "join up" and move to a small (very) town in Kansas from a suburb of Houston, Texas... (giving up our well deserved Texas citizenship)

Her: 3,775 square foot house absolutely jammed full (spilling over) with belongings from 50 years of marriage and several moves. Her husband passed away 2.5 years ago.

Me: 750 square foot apartment as a result of two previous downsizing after my spouse died 3.5 years ago. Everything I own is in this apartment and there is a lot of unused space.

Two dogs....hers and mine

Going to rent a 2,000 square foot one level home (no basement).....built in 1964 (the year this 19 year old boy of me went into the USAF).

1. Over a two month period starting in April, we sold or donated TONS of old furniture (beds, hutches, dressers, chairs, sofas, etc.)

2. Several sets of pots and pans, dishware, eating utensils, plastic stuff, coffee makers, other kitchen stuff went away one way or the other,

3. Reams of office records from her business and my company were shredded. Two laptops, two desktop, two printers, wall rack storage, misc other office equipment, and large file cabinets were disposed of. (huge job in itself).

4. Throw rugs, suitcases, end tables, towels, old tools, light bulbs, TV sets, etc, went somewhere.

5. Collections of "stuff" from her raising 4 kids with 8+ grandkids in tow were scrutinized and hard decisions were made (give to kids, trash, keep). This was especially painful for her..

6, Her closet - her clothes kept from grade school and maybe earlier thru today were packed and kept, although, a few bags of old tee shirts and sweaters were disposed of (donated). All my clothes were put in a suitcase and one box.

7. Garage - ladders, some old tools, storage racks, plastic storage tubes, a workbench and some misc junk were sold or donated.

8. Holiday decorations (10 big tubs of stuff). We consolidated them into maybe 5 tubs. Kept all this stuff.

9. Her sewing room - three sewing machines were kept a long with the tables they sit on. Also roughly 12 feet of wall racks were kept too. Several hundred pounds of old cloth material and other sewing goodies were donated.

10. We are keeping the dogs and bpught them two travel kennels (not happy dogs for sure). We re-homed her 12 year old cat who;s been renamed as "Evil Cat" (long story).

The trip....
Moving day (6/10) filled a 26 foot UHaul truck and about 1/2 truckload remained for a 2nd trip.

We did all this downsizing and de-cluttering ourselves (except for loading and unloading the truck) and I drove the first truck 740 miles north to Kansas. The second load was brought up by her Kansas son-in-law in another truck and me driving my car.

Fitting this into a 2,000 square foot house has been (still is) a challenge. Good thing her daughter and husband have a big house and 3 car garage a few miles away as some "things" are now in there in storage.

We did all this without ruining our relationship. Maybe we should get married one of these days?

 

[disneysteve]

Small victories are still progress.

After dinner, I went into the basement and pulled out another box of old reselling stock. I failed to get through the whole box but I did find 2 items to list on ebay and about a dozen to give away.

Earlier today I listed 3 items on ebay that we unearthed during the decluttering process.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Aja, I can’t believe just the two of you filled the 26 foot U-Haul truck. When we were a family of five moving across the country, that’s the size truck that we rented). From your story it sounds like most of that stuff was your girlfriend’s and not yours. I hope you love your new community.

 

[disneysteve]

After dinner, I went into the basement and pulled out another box of old reselling stock. I failed to get through the whole box but I did find 2 items to list on ebay and about a dozen to give away.

This afternoon, I brought that box upstairs and my daughter and I went through it. We found 6 items that will get listed on ebay. Two items got added to our personal collection. The rest all went into the garage to be given away. This was a copy paper box that was full and is now gone.

 

[aja8888]

Aja, I can’t believe just the two of you filled the 26 foot U-Haul truck. When we were a family of five moving across the country, that’s the size truck that we rented). From your story it sounds like most of that stuff was your girlfriend’s and not yours. I hope you love your new community.

Actually, there was a second truck 1/2 full with her remaining stuff, Seems like they (her and deceased hubby) managed to fill 3,700 square feet to the brim over the years.

 

[Pointby2]

Some of the stuff we sent off to neighbors on Buy Nothing this week.

 

[disneysteve]

DD and I went through another basement box today. Found a few things to sell, a few to trash, and several to give away.

 

[athena53]

Yesterday's task was to dump all my cooking/baking items on the floor and pick out the ones I'll actually use. I have a lot less kitchen space here, probably because many of the residents do very little cooking and eat in the restaurants all the time. I get a $300/month credit, which I certainly plan to use, but prefer to prepare most of my meals. I enjoy baking but only for potlucks, etc. I realized that with DS and DDIL 20 minutes away if I need something I can borrow it or use their kitchen. Lots of stuff went to Goodwill yesterday,

Today I'm doing the same with "junk drawer" items. Not sure how much Goodwill can use and I don't want to dump stuff on them that they have to throw away. It feels so good to get the boxes unpacked and recycled. My new place no longer looks like an obstacle course.

 

[disneysteve]

DD and I went through another carton of stuff today. 3 items for eBay. The rest will be given away. One more box out of the basement.

 

[disneysteve]

We just went through my large stash of computer cables and such. I'm giving away nearly all of them as I had many duplicates and many cables for devices we no longer own. I'm also getting rid of couple of stacks of recordable CDs and DVDs because we haven't burned a disc in many, many years. If we ever want to, we can always run out and buy some.

 

[Pointby2]

We just went through my large stash of computer cables and such. I'm giving away nearly all of them as I had many duplicates and many cables for devices we no longer own. I'm also getting rid of couple of stacks of recordable CDs and DVDs because we haven't burned a disc in many, many years. If we ever want to, we can always run out and buy some.

I have a big box of cables out in the garage with a note, "THROW AWAY 6/2027". They're in purgatory until then, but after that they're gone.

 

[disneysteve]

I have a big box of cables out in the garage with a note, "THROW AWAY 6/2027". They're in purgatory until then, but after that they're gone.

Are you waiting a year to see if you need them?

I basically kept one of each type. One HDMI. One extra printer cable. One Ethernet and so on. I doubt I’ll ever need those but at least I no longer have 4 or 5 of the same type.

 

[Pointby2]

Are you waiting a year to see if you need them?

I basically kept one of each type. One HDMI. One extra printer cable. One Ethernet and so on. I doubt I’ll ever need those but at least I no longer have 4 or 5 of the same type.

That's it, exactly. I kept all the ones I thought I might need in one box. And the sketchy ones (the stuff I couldn't identify) went into the purgatory box. Since I wasn't brave enough to just pitch them.

 

[livingalmostlarge]

This has been a week. A carload or more has gone out everyday. I go to the consignment shop then whatevert they reject goes straight to Goodwill. NO returning home. Tuesday the consignment store took about 5 boxes of shopkins, calico critters, dolls and toys. I was a little embarrassed by how much stuff I was trucking in. And the lady was like "wow these will go they are pristine". They number of sets was outrageous. I hadn't gotten rid of anything in years. 9+ almost 10 years in this house and we're moving. The kids grew up here and we're going to something bigger.

Perhaps it's a bit bittersweet and it's the memories associated with these items. It seemed like a memory of the past when they played for hours in the playroom. But now they are grown and not into it anymore.

I also got friends to take the trampoline, barstools, sofa, chairs, shoe rack, and donated about 5 bags to goodwill today. I have in my car about 6 boxes of books most are picture books, a few collections and we still have tons of books.

It's hard to let go but at the same time when you dispose of it in goodwill you forget you ever had it

 

[Ronstar]

Just finished emptying MIL’s apartment. The guy that picks up donations came for the furniture. Retired guy by himself. He and I loaded his truck and trailer with washer, dryer, couch, bookcase, bed, tables, dressers. All the heavy stuff. I took down drapes, blinds, and mounting hardware, DW washed windows and floors, and we left the place 100% empty.

I now know that frequent decluttering avoids massive moving of stuff in the future. I’m going to start incremental decluttering at home asap. The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.