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Decluttering support, anyone?


Spryte
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It’s summer.  We’re on a break from school, I’m not in planning mode yet, and it’s 1001 degrees and humid outside.  That means it’s time to declutter!  Wheeeee!

Anyone else sorting and purging?

Wanna join me in the annual Declutter Fest?!

On today’s agenda is a kitchen cabinet, and (shudder) the garage fridge.  

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I'm in!  I've been working on it for the past 2 months, but much of the stuff just got relocated to the garage or someplace.  We had our kitchen and bath cabinets repainted. Then had our living room and dining room floors done and repainted those rooms, and had the carpets cleaned in another room.  I made a vow that nothing I didn't want to keep would be put back and, for the most part, we kept to that.  But that means I have a garage full of furniture, books and stuff that I need to get rid of.  I also found a ton of stuff in the crawl space, but I haven't had the time/energy to move that stuff out ... I need help to physically get it out because this 55 yo body is just too tired to effectively move around in there.  And it has been too hot to work in the garage and my job has been wearing me out (I paint cabinets and it has been hot and sweaty work.)  

Tasks this week:
Take pictures of the 2 book cases and the roll top computer desk and sell them.  

Get someone to pick up the old couch and chair and lamps.  (Dh keeps trying to get our oldest to take them with him to grad school ... especially the rocker/recliner that he used to rock all the children to sleep in.)

Then I'll have room to tackle the boxes of books/supplies to separate into different categories:  Homeschool books to Sell, Homeschool stuff to give away, Kids stuff to give away, and stuff to take to Half Price Books.  Dd is supposed to help and I'm giving her a commission of anything that she gets sold.  

 

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I actually have a friend coming to help me in 10 minutes.  I am working on major dejunking here.  I will likely be selling my house in 6-12 months and life is taking a major change so I want to reduce as much as I can.

We are actually having a garage sale in 2 -3 weeks as well as I have horse barn stuff, estate stuff plus my own stuff.  It helps motivate the kids as mine LOVE garage sales.

 

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I'm in.

I've made great progress so far this year. Two van-loads to Goodwill and one to Habitat for Humanity, not to mention all the stuff that was just trash.

I still have to clear the master bedroom/closet/bathroom, the linen closet, some kitchen drawers, books, and the attic. The attic is already mostly sorted, just needs to be hauled to the appropriate places, and since it's probably a thousand degrees up there I might just wait until fall.

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We’re moving on Thursday so I’ve been cleaning out as I pack. Almost everything is boxed up now and I’ve cleaned out a lot. Stuff has gone to friends/family, Goodwill, been sold, and tons of trash (why did we have so much trash?! It’s mind boggling!) I’m sure we’ll end up cleaning out a bit more as we unpack too. It’s great to get rid of stuff. I’m looking forward to an uncluttered new house!

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Oh, yes!  We are still finishing up school, but now that my ds's grad is over I can begin some decluttering.    I moved a lot of stuff out of the guest room and living room into my bedroom to make room for the party and the grandmothers to stay.  I made some progress  putting that stuff in better places and the recycling bin.  I also started moving this year's Tapestry books into the Year 3 bins.

I can't wait to clear out.  One of the fun things about my youngest getting older is that I get to get rid of books as she uses them instead of keeping them for another child.  For so long, it seems I've had "stuff"--toys and books that spanned high school to lower elementary.  Now, my youngest will be in fourth!  And can read well--finally!  And my oldest is off to college.  This will be a big decluttering year for sure.

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I’m in. I got rid of some pretty good object stuff for a fundraiser. Now I need to spend some more time on paper piles. And then do it again. 

I still keep wanting konmari to happen and be fixed once and for all. I wonder if people on here who succeeded in konmariing their home have kept the clutter weight off. 

Also what happened to the well trained homes thread. 

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We're still limping along finishing up the school year, but I'm in too. We had a water issue in our finished basement and pushed up our house repair timeline by a lot.  Which means we halved our square footage until it's finished, and I'm trying to tackle all the clutter before we move stuff back downstairs.

I did get the garage cleaned out.  Took the outgrown sports equipment to the used sporting goods store, scheduled a pick-up of a few things for the Habitat resale shop, dried out most of the cans of old paint, and collected all the "hazardous waste" in one place to schedule a drop off.  Some of these containers of chemicals came with the house, so they've been sitting around for almost ten years!  I need to get another bag of cat litter to finish up the paint cans, but they should be dried and gone within a couple weeks.

Next week I need to tackle the Graveyard of CPUs and other tech materials and find a place to put those until the Geek Room is finished in the basement.  When we were at the Habitat store this weekend, DH was eyeing more old CPUs and I thought I was going to have to physically drag him out of there.

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I just took a trunk-load of clothes and toys to Goodwill.  I had been putting it off for a while, but it was so easy.  Like going through the drive-through.  I didn't even need to sort anything.

I have been finding Dana K. White's books about home management and de-cluttering to be so helpful.  She has a really fun podcast as well.  I just finished listening to all of it, and was looking for others.  I came across The Minimalists, who I liked at first -- but now I just find them smug and annoying.  Does anyone know of an older, female, non-smug version?

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You are all inspiring me!  Yay for decluttering.  I am *almost* jealous that some of you are moving (key word: almost)... that kind of forced intentionality about what to keep is good for me.

 

...and BBQ Mom, I laughed out loud at the Graveyard of CPUs, and your DH.  That is so familiar!

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1 hour ago, Squawky Acres said:

I just took a trunk-load of clothes and toys to Goodwill.  I had been putting it off for a while, but it was so easy.  Like going through the drive-through.  I didn't even need to sort anything.

I have been finding Dana K. White's books about home management and de-cluttering to be so helpful.  She has a really fun podcast as well.  I just finished listening to all of it, and was looking for others.  I came across The Minimalists, who I liked at first -- but now I just find them smug and annoying.  Does anyone know of an older, female, non-smug version?

 

Have you tried Dana's YouTube channel?  https://www.youtube.com/user/ASlobComesClean/videos

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Helping my mom declutter and pack before she sells her house and moves. She has so much stuff. For the last three months my youngest has been going over on Saturdays and helping her but we've got a week and a half before our goal date to have her packed up. So now I'm helping too. 

Today we worked in one section of her basement and her sewing room (she quilts). We got one whole section cleared out, all the stuff for donation put upstairs in the garage for pick-up and the stuff she was keeping packed up and stacked and ready to go. We did the same in her sewing room only we got it about 1/2 done.

We'll be back over there tomorrow to hopefully finish the sewing room and maybe work on the basement again. 

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I’ll join. I don’t feel like we have nearly as many possessions as most of you, but this place could really use some organizing, cleaning, decluttering. We certainly have our hot spots! I’ll start with the fridge tomorrow. I have to help the girls get control of thier room, but there will be no purging there really. 

Last week I cleaned up the room we call the proto-den. It’s a sort of useless upstairs room that used to be a kitchen (the house was once an upstairs/downstairs duplex). We eventually want to open this room up to the staircase which parallels the room and use it as a den, hence the name. Right now it’s the LEGO room and book storage. 

 

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I’m in. But I’m a bit scared that I’ve used up all my decluttering energy helping my friend declutter half of her house (she did the other half herself). 

I’m at the 9-month mark after the most recent move. That’s a tough point for me every time because I suddenly get angry and frustrated that I’m STILL not fully organized or streamlined with cleaning and stuff management routines. 

I’m decluttering my dining room which doubles as my homeschool room tomorrow. Nothing like doing the hard part first! 

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Yup, I have been doing this, too. I just did my closet last week. (Not Dh’s side, though.) And then I decluttered a bunch of paperwork in my office. I have some other spots on the agenda in the next few weeks, and I want to go through DS18’s closet with him in anticipation of him heading to college. 

I need to do my big freezer and two art drawers in the kitchen. I also noticed DS13 still had child-sized hangers in his closet, but that needs to change and those have to go. 

And I need to freecycle a butt load of daffodil bulbs I dug out shaping up an old bed. But there was extensive poison ivy in the bed and it is very probable that the bulbs have the oil on them so someone planting them would need to take care. I would have given an arm and a leg to have that many free daffodils when I was a new homeowner, poison ivy or no. 

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7 hours ago, 2ndGenHomeschooler said:

We’re moving on Thursday so I’ve been cleaning out as I pack. Almost everything is boxed up now and I’ve cleaned out a lot. Stuff has gone to friends/family, Goodwill, been sold, and tons of trash (why did we have so much trash?! It’s mind boggling!) I’m sure we’ll end up cleaning out a bit more as we unpack too. It’s great to get rid of stuff. I’m looking forward to an uncluttered new house!

We're moving on Thursday, too!!

That's when the moving truck moves our furniture, but we have actually been in the process of moving since April. We are fortunate that we were able to buy our new house before selling the old one (because it is a seller's market here, and we didn't want to end up with a gap where we didn't have a place to live), but I am so over sleeping on an air mattress and sitting on folding chairs and will be glad to have our furniture here.

The buyer takes possession of our old house on June 29. We've been packing and lugging boxes from old house to new and making a few repairs that came up in the inspection. Today DH worked from our old house so that he could let in the dryer repairman and the plumber, while I spent the day at the new house waiting on delivery of new appliances. We still have odds and ends to clear out of cabinets at the old house, and then I have to clean it. The end is in sight, though it's going to be a busy and tiring week.

About decluttering... I got rid of a ton of things this spring. But there is so. much. left. So many boxes here of things that we didn't have time to sort through. And things that I can't part with, though I don't really need them or use them. Boxes of photos and yearbooks and family mementos. School supplies, craft supplies. Ugh.

We are doing well with getting rid of unneeded furniture. My niece will be taking some bedroom furniture that I can't bear to part with but don't need for myself. My cousin is taking a desk. We've been giving a ton of things to GoodWill and have sold boxes and boxes of books to Half Price Bookstore. So we've made good progress.

I really get stuck when decluttering, but I haven't had a choice, due to the move. It seems to be the only time that I'm successful at cleaning and organizing and decluttering, but I really need to make it something I do continuously, instead of letting things build up for years.

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We're renting a dumpster soon.  While the priority is big stuff from some repairs/replacements we've done, dh and I want to make full use of it.  I've been torn between "preparing" for its arrival and waiting to just fling things left and right when it gets here.  I feel like rushed flinging will be more productive in the end.

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7 hours ago, Storygirl said:

We're moving on Thursday, too!!

That's when the moving truck moves our furniture, but we have actually been in the process of moving since April. We are fortunate that we were able to buy our new house before selling the old one (because it is a seller's market here, and we didn't want to end up with a gap where we didn't have a place to live), but I am so over sleeping on an air mattress and sitting on folding chairs and will be glad to have our furniture here.

The buyer takes possession of our old house on June 29. We've been packing and lugging boxes from old house to new and making a few repairs that came up in the inspection. Today DH worked from our old house so that he could let in the dryer repairman and the plumber, while I spent the day at the new house waiting on delivery of new appliances. We still have odds and ends to clear out of cabinets at the old house, and then I have to clean it. The end is in sight, though it's going to be a busy and tiring week.

About decluttering... I got rid of a ton of things this spring. But there is so. much. left. So many boxes here of things that we didn't have time to sort through. And things that I can't part with, though I don't really need them or use them. Boxes of photos and yearbooks and family mementos. School supplies, craft supplies. Ugh.

We are doing well with getting rid of unneeded furniture. My niece will be taking some bedroom furniture that I can't bear to part with but don't need for myself. My cousin is taking a desk. We've been giving a ton of things to GoodWill and have sold boxes and boxes of books to Half Price Bookstore. So we've made good progress.

I really get stuck when decluttering, but I haven't had a choice, due to the move. It seems to be the only time that I'm successful at cleaning and organizing and decluttering, but I really need to make it something I do continuously, instead of letting things build up for years.

We’re moving the piano today and everything else tomorrow. We’re doing it all ourselves and with the help of friends and family. I still have to pack bothroom stuff, one large closet, and empty a couple of storage closets. The stuff in the storage closets has already been sorted and organized and is mostly boxed up. The rest of the house is packed. All the boxes are stacked in the dining room ready to go and the beds are in the spare room. We have friends coming today to help us finish. Then tonight we’ll fill the Uhaul with the first load so it’s ready to take over in the morning. (We’re just renting a small one so it’ll take a couple of trips.) 

Tomorrow, my mom and sister will be at the new house directing the unloading of the truck and unpacking the kitchen. My other sister will be at the old house with me making sure everything gets out and cleaning as the rooms are emptied. We also have the buyers coming for the final walk through at 11am - right in the middle of the moving chaos. It’s going to be a long day. 

We close on the old house Friday morning and everything has to be out by then. We don’t close on the new house til July 6 but we’re buying from friends and they’re being gracious enough to move out early so we don’t have to get a temporary place or put our stuff in storage. They’ll just have some stuff in half the garage still. Fortunately, our buyers didn’t want to do any inspections so we have no repairs to do at the old house and our friends have kept their house in immaculate condition so there’s nothing to do there but move in. I’m so glad the end is in sight! I’m ready to be done!

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You are fortunate to have so many people helping! We have only ourselves, so we had to hire movers, but for the furniture only.

Moving is so ick. I always find the last bit to be the hardest, because when it looks like we are almost done, there is actually still so much left to do.

This thread will help me as I set things up in my new house. We have less storage here, so I need to get rid of more things as I unpack.

I'm really grateful for our new opportunities in our new home, but I hate the moving process.

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I am making progress even if the after (not final after but more mid project) looks worse than the before.

Today was $17 worth of pop cans returned.  5+ totes of donations to the church thrift store, 1 box of food donated to the food pantry, one huge box of books going to my friend's Little Library in her rural community, and one smaller box of books to my "grandson".  Also gone are 4 large jump blocks to a local horse trainer, 2 boxes of burnable papers, and tomorrow 2 boosters and one life jacket are being picked up.  8am the electric company is coming to pick up an unused freezer.

Progress.

 

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I'm in but the majority of my decluttering will happen in August and September.  We are renting space for my science classes starting in August so everything for my classes, for my 4-H club and the majority of stuff for homeschooling (since the kids will do school at my classroom most of the time) will be moving to the new space.  The space is bigger than my house and will have better storage.  ?

In the meantime, I'm organizing, getting rid of stuff like outgrown clothes, packing up what can be packed up (almost everything since my classes and 4-H, except Fair, are both done for the year).    Right now the majority of stuff is in cabinets in the garage (which will be moving to my space), or in dd's room since she has the biggest bedroom since she used to share with oldest dd when she was home from college.   I can't wait to see all the space we have!

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9 hours ago, LucyStoner said:

After almost 11 months my brother and nieces have been able to get a place of their own and I can DECRAPIFY MY HOME TO MY HEART'S CONTENT.  

Do I seem overly excited?  That may well be because I am overly excited.  I will be on a cleaning roll all weekend.  

Decrapify is now my new favorite word.  Happy decrapping!

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The movers did their thing yesterday, and I spent a couple of hours today packing up more things at the old house. I only had a couple of hours available today, but I will be at the old house most of the day tomorrow to get the last things out and clean everything. Then it will be on to unpacking things here at the new house. I like the idea someone posted about setting up a donation box from the get-go, so I can toss things in that never should have made it over here.

Tomorrow my cousin will pick up a desk from the old house. We gave the movers an unneeded small dresser yesterday (I inherited it when my aunt died 25 years ago; it's a solid piece of furniture, but we have no place for it here). I'm giving my childhood bedroom suite to my niece for her little daughter, so that is sitting in my new garage, waiting to be picked up.

The funniest thing is that the movers said they would take a worn out sectional couch that we were planning to discard. But two of them wanted it, so they were each going to take half of it. To me, it's a really funny thing to split. I'm not sure that will actually work out, though, because they couldn't fit it in the truck, and they said they would return for it. I think we will end up putting it at the curb with next week's trash (the garbage people say they will take it, but perhaps someone will come along and grab it from the curb first).

Oh, and we put some tall Target bookshelves by the curb with last week's trash, and a neighbor asked if they could take one. They wanted to turn it into a planter for some tomato plants, which I thought was a great idea.

DH is going to take all four of the kids' bicycles to GoodWill. They have outgrown them. Each bike needs a minor repair or two, but someone will be glad to get them.

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Today was more progress.  I got rid of 90% of the VHS tapes, 80% of the DVDs and 75% of the CDs from the living room along with almost 75% of the kids books in there.   Most of the books and DVDs are going to a friend for her rural "little library".  The rest are going to my son's nephew, my "grandson" of sorts.

I rearranged the living room a bit and did a deep cleaning....down to the fireplace and conditioning the leather chair and couch.

Tomorrow if I have energy it will be the kitchen but my kids will protest there so better done when they are not home.

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My almost 20yo unexpectedly moved back in the other day.  This is great news, but we are in tight quarters and I had very, very little notice to prepare, so the past two days have been *crazy* with cleaning out the boys' room. I think I ended yesterday with 3 bags of trash and two bags of donations, and that was just the first pass.  Storage cubes and bins are coming Monday and we'll get more nitty gritty then.  The little boys are being pretty cooperative b/c they're so excited to have their brother home.

The girls have also been working on their room and I saw a lot of bags come out.

Also, my range broke, so I had to start working on my kitchen for the new delivery.  We have to take the fridge out to get to the range, and we store a ridiculous amount of stuff on top of the fridge.  I couldn't bring myself to ditch the ice cream maker or bread maker, but lots of odds and ends did get flung.  Plus, it got an overdue good cleaning (over and under), which is mind-decluttering.

Today I tackle the actual range area and the living room bookshelves (to move the bulk of the books out of the boys' room.)  Not really looking forward to it!

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I love decluttering when family members are out of town, like this past week. I put in my earbuds, listen to podcasts, and toss, toss, toss! Garbage bags full of stuff to donate...nothing better!

DH is really good at selling things on FB marketplace, so I have a pile for him to sell. If they don't go in a week, I'll donate them.

The big stuff is mostly done already, but I have some shelving units and cabinets that need to be sifted through. I think I'll tackle those today.

Is there any reason to hold on to old VHS and DVD movies? I don't even have a VHS player anymore, now that I think of it. We do have a DVD player, but we stream everything, so I should donate these, right?

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