2016 Decluttering Thread

[dawnwes]

Good on you to seek a place where your donations will be used and appreciated. I sent a PM

I did not get it.

[dawnwes]

Ok, so far:

Pots and pans cupboards are cleaned and I got rid of over half the stuff!

The Tupperware cupboard is more than 1/2 gone. If it doesn't stack easily, gone!

The corner cupboards have been purged, although not fully. I listed some more expensive items and they were sold within a day (well, spoken for, with this storm I can't go meet people.)

My kids went through some of their gaming stuff and I have listed that for sale too.

[disneysteve]

We're going to be snowed in tomorrow and probably Sunday and our daughter went back to college today after winter break. I have a feeling we will be doing some decluttering. I think the kitchen cabinets are next on our list. DW has already done some work on the shelf with the assortment of coffee mugs that we never use but we need to empty out everything and really go through it all.

[dawnwes]

Being snowed in (or in my case iced in) has really helped! No places to go.

[disneysteve]

We did a full scale Marie Kondo assault on our drinking glassware today.

We started by going through the kitchen cabinets one by one, but partway through, I stopped and said we weren't doing it right. If we really wanted to get it done, we had to use the MK method and gather ALL of our glassware from all over the house in one place.

We cleared off the kitchen table. I got a couple of carton boxes from the garage. We headed to the basement and emptied out the storage shelves where a ton of glassware is stored. That came up onto the table along with everything from the kitchen cabinets.

With everything in one place, we were able to see exactly what we have and figure out once and for all what we actually need and want to keep. I think we were both a little shocked by how much glassware we actually own once it was all in one place.

To sum up the results, we are getting rid of 72 drinking glasses. While we were gathering the glasses from the basement, we also pulled out 12 other assorted items to get rid of as well.

So in the end, 84 items are being removed from the house. I'm boxing them up and will store them in the garage until the spring when we have our yard sale. Anything that doesn't sell then will go to Goodwill.

[dawnwes]

Since we have only about 15 glasses, I think we are good there!

I am not able to do a full KM approach in some ways because I need to do it quickly. I should have started 10 months ago.

It is ok, it is making me make quick decisions and just do it!

[disneysteve]

Since we have only about 15 glasses, I think we are good there!

I am not able to do a full KM approach in some ways because I need to do it quickly. I should have started 10 months ago.

It is ok, it is making me make quick decisions and just do it!

When I say glasses, I'm including a wide range of things such as shot glasses, wine glasses including those gathered from winery visits, champagne flutes, beer mugs, martini and margarita glasses, etc. We had stuff dating back to wedding presents (1992) and stuff inherited when my aunt died years ago. Also a bunch of souvenir glasses from cruises and other destinations (Vegas, Hersheypark, etc.).

[disneysteve]

In other news, I sold a book on half.com on Thursday and just sold another one today.

[creditcardfree]

We did a full scale Marie Kondo assault on our drinking glassware today.

We started by going through the kitchen cabinets one by one, but partway through, I stopped and said we weren't doing it right. If we really wanted to get it done, we had to use the MK method and gather ALL of our glassware from all over the house in one place.

We cleared off the kitchen table. I got a couple of carton boxes from the garage. We headed to the basement and emptied out the storage shelves where a ton of glassware is stored. That came up onto the table along with everything from the kitchen cabinets.

With everything in one place, we were able to see exactly what we have and figure out once and for all what we actually need and want to keep. I think we were both a little shocked by how much glassware we actually own once it was all in one place.

To sum up the results, we are getting rid of 72 drinking glasses. While we were gathering the glasses from the basement, we also pulled out 12 other assorted items to get rid of as well.

So in the end, 84 items are being removed from the house. I'm boxing them up and will store them in the garage until the spring when we have our yard sale. Anything that doesn't sell then will go to Goodwill.

How many did you keep? That is an impressive amount of drinking glasses. I'm sure that was shocking to see that many. That is one reason why MK's method works.

I know I've see ALL of our kitchen items out in one place after we've moved. I unwrapped it all before putting away. This last time, I made a plan where I wanted things to go, so as I unwrapped they could go right into the designated cupboard.

[creditcardfree]

I pointed out a pile of t shirts of my husband's this week. The pile I folded soon after we moved in. Not one shirt had been touched. Several were from our daughter's last school...so those were easy to let go of.

We also are getting rid of some items we wore to various graduations. The hats, tassels, medals, and honor cords. We have pictures of us wearing those, so really not a point to keep.

[disneysteve]

How many did you keep? That is an impressive amount of drinking glasses.

I didn't count what we kept, but we were deliberate about what we kept - stuff we actually either use regularly or at least use occasionally. For example, we just made margaritas with dinner tonight and used a couple of our margarita glasses. My wife enjoys wine so kept the wine glasses that she likes best and got rid of a bunch that she doesn't like as much.

What matters isn't how many we kept but that we actually like and use what we kept.

[Gailete]

I've always felt if I'm not using something (or displaying) that I say is sentimental or important that it probably isn't. However if I start to treat it as important and use it or display it then it is no longer clutter. I'm pretty sure I read this somewhere one time and it made perfect sense to me.

Perhaps someone already got the quote for you. It is this:

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” William Morris (British craftsman, early Socialist, Designer and Poet, whose designs generated the Arts and Crafts Movement in England. 1834-1896)


Our house is a cluttered mess due to too many pianos and boxes of sewing patterns all over the downstairs. We are hoping to deal with that a bit better this year by getting filing cabinets (used/cheap) instead of boxes since I am having trouble heave-hoeing those cardboard boxes that we have been using.

Boy has it been a long time since I've been here. Busy year and my health continues its downward path.

[disneysteve]

Our house is a cluttered mess due to too many pianos

How many pianos do you have?

[snafu]

Gailete, don't wish to be rude but hope those patterns in boxes will be examined carefully to confirm they will be used by 'X' date. It's best to relinquish those that will not be used/re-used before counting and working out whether it's worthwhile to buy file cabinets to store patterns that will likely languish as storage.

Do SA participants actually use souvenir mugs, glasses, pillows, coasters etc? We see these at all the community yard sales, no one seems to buys them. I can count on DH to buy socks as his fav souvenir as they wear out and get trashed.

[Gailete]

How many pianos do you have?

Hubby says we have 10 if you include the ones in storage! LOL! He restores pianos, tunes pianos, is given pianos, etc. He is the piano guy. He has some of our own that he wants to restore. He is , hopefully, working on his last restoration currently and it should be done soon. While most of the pianos are in his workshop, we have at least two in the living room including a rare giraffe piano from Germany. A giraffe piano for those that might not know is a grand piano that is more or less turned on it's side and sort of looks like an upright only instead of the top being square corners it is rounded like a grand.

Gailete, don't wish to be rude but hope those patterns in boxes will be examined carefully to confirm they will be used by 'X' date. It's best to relinquish those that will not be used/re-used before counting and working out whether it's worthwhile to buy file cabinets to store patterns that will likely languish as storage.

Snafu, no problem. I think at this point I am one of the bigger sewing pattern sellers on line and to do that you have to have a wide selection for customers. I've sold somewhere in the vicinity of 12,500 patterns since I started doing this. I have about 20K patterns in boxes in the house. I could have sold twice as many if I cut my prices in half but then I would be doing twice the work for the same if not less profit. Vintage and retro clothes are currently in style and I have found that there is no 'use by date' for patterns. A fellow pattern sellers (who is still selling them) for some reason sold off to me thousands of sewing patterns around 10 years ago that I couldn't figure out why she had chosen those to get rid of but as I went through them all I could ascertain was that they were all over 5 years old. Almost immediately I sold one of her designer Vogues that she had sent for $25. I had bought her patterns for a rounded up figure of 30 cents a piece! I'm still selling the patterns I got from her and still have plenty more to list! This is a good type of inventory for me as I sew and I understand a sewer's needs when it comes to patterns. Like all on line selling endeavors it takes work and dedication which many so called sellers refuse to bring to the table. They want to make money and make it NOW so they do the minimum and then wonder why they haven't sold a thing no matter what their inventory! Lot more than you were talking about, but I am passionate about what I do. I have very bad RA and getting up each morning to prepare orders to go out and listing more product is occupational therapy for me.