2016 Decluttering Thread

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Actually I'd say do donate those VHS tapes. I see people still buying them.

[creditcardfree]

Actually I'd say do donate those VHS tapes. I see people still buying them.

I'd let the charity you donate to decide. If they know they won't sell they will toss, if they will they will keep and sell to those who want them.

[disneysteve]

Actually I'd say do donate those VHS tapes. I see people still buying them.

Sorry, I should clarify. Most of the VHS tapes that I've been trashing are ones that I recorded myself, usually off of HBO. They weren't commercially produced videos. I think those can still be donated. Most thrift shops sell them for $1.

[sandrark]

An article I came across today:

"200 Things to Throw Away" (or donate, as she says in Item #1):

http://embracinghomemaking.net/2015/04/200-things-to-throw-away/

[disneysteve]

An article I came across today:

"200 Things to Throw Away" (or donate, as she says in Item #1):

http://embracinghomemaking.net/2015/...to-throw-away/

What a great list! It's amazing how many of those things I have gotten rid of during the past year. Many of those items sounded familiar.

[disneysteve]

I'm in trouble now . My wife came home from the library today with the Marie Kondo book and is all gung ho about cleaning the house. She already tossed about 20 things from her closet and got me to start clearing out the old VHS tapes that we haven't watched in 10+ years.

[snafu]

disney steve, thanks for the laughter to start this AM. I've been following her KM process for some time, one category at a time in order. It is making DH cringe as he will need to 'KM' his stuff too. The one effective argument is cultural. People live in very small apartments in Japan, in comparison to N American square footage.

Sandrack, thanks for posting the list off 200 items to declutter. I've printed it off and taped in the back of the door to remind me when enthusiasm flags.

[disneysteve]

The one effective argument is cultural. People live in very small apartments in Japan, in comparison to N American square footage.

True, but part of the reason that Americans suck up so much square footage is because of the volume of stuff that we have. George Carlin had a great routine about this years ago. Take 5 minutes and watch it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac. There is some language in it but it's well worth watching.

I joked about my wife but seriously I've got no problem with both of us working on this together. I've been doing a pretty good job, especially lately, but there is just so much stuff that we've got to be at it together.

[creditcardfree]

I'm in trouble now . My wife came home from the library today with the Marie Kondo book and is all gung ho about cleaning the house. She already tossed about 20 things from her closet and got me to start clearing out the old VHS tapes that we haven't watched in 10+ years.

Sounds exciting!! You'll love how much more space you will have. We live in a 2800 sq ft home (renting) with no basement, and we actually have closet space, shelves and cupboards that are completely empty! We both agree we are probably renting too large of a home.

[disneysteve]

Sounds exciting!! You'll love how much more space you will have... we actually have closet space, shelves and cupboards that are completely empty! We both agree we are probably renting too large of a home.

We definitely have closets, shelves, and cupboards that need to be emptied out. The VHS tapes I mentioned yesterday occupy two nice wooden cabinets, one in the living room and one in the family room. My wife would like to repurpose the living room one for sewing supplies as that is also her sewing room, so I cleaned that one out last night. I need to do the other one this weekend.

ETA: I totally emptied the VHS cabinet in the living room. I also emptied most of the one in the family room. There are some tapes I still want to hang onto. There are also a few in there that can be sold or donated. I just have to check them online. If they're not worth anything, they'll go to Goodwill.

[disneysteve]

My wife and I just emptied out the pull out shelf in our kitchen that held water bottles and travel mugs.



We managed to get rid of 10 of the bottles pictured plus our daughter took 2 others that are hers. Now the shelf slides in and out easily without things banging against each other and falling off.

I also found two items in my closet that I'm going to list on ebay - a pair of binoculars and a travel clock that I haven't used since getting an iPhone. ETA: Listed the binoculars.

ETA: Scheduled another ebay auction to start. (I'm got 5 items scheduled to start while we are out of town so that we'll be back when they end.)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Yep, and there well might be someone to buy those water bottles, binoculars, and travel alarm. Coincidentally, I bought all three of those things second hand in the last eight months. How 'bout that? But I donated a lesser quality binoculars when I bought the better one. The travel alarm I bought at an antique mall after first ruling out the cheapies I did not want.

[JoeP]

I just dropped off for recycling about 300 VHS tapes that I've had since around 1986. They've made it through 3 moves and all but a couple saw a VCR for playback.

We are fortunate in that our county offers free* recycling, and the facility is nice: you just drive your car or truck into a giant warehouse and they even have people helping to unload.

This is just another chapter in simplifying my life. My garage attic lost about 30% of its mass since early 2015 and I'd like to get it down to maybe 20 boxes by the start of summer.


*Free, in that we don't have to pay at the door, but we certainly pay with our property taxes! Also, they charge for CRTs, appliances, and few hazardous things.

[Wink]

Today I took down all the Christmas decorations. I also went through ALL of the holiday decorations I have and only kept the ones that I always use and that give me that "feeling of happiness and joy". I boxed up the rest and took them to goodwill. Now I have only those ornaments that are sentimental and that I truly love to take with me when I move.

[disneysteve]

Scheduled another ebay auction.

Cleaned out the cabinet under our fish tank. Threw out pretty much everything except the food, filter media, breeding tank, and instructions for the timer and feeder. Everything else got tossed. I then vacuumed out the embarrassing amount of dust that was accumulated in there (it has an open back).

My wife continued to attack the bedroom, tossing many more clothing items, shoes, and accessories on the Goodwill pile as well as getting numerous other items off of her dresser. She even found something she's been looking for since we returned from Florida in November. See what happens when you eliminate clutter? What remains is the stuff you actually want and need, and you can find it.