<p>My decluttering is being slowed down by the need to clean up all the dust that has been revealed by getting rid of a bunch of stuff.</p>
<p>Am debating whether I really want to go through the boxes of toys that are in the top of my (grown and moved out but not settled in his own place yet) son’s closet. I know that there are things I do want to keep for future grandchildren–the brio train set, mostly–but I also know there are things that could easily be given away. </p>
<p>This week was back to the office. My home office was piles of paper. My desk is built in counter type design and goes all the way around 2 walls of the office. Could not tell where the top of the desk was though so worked my way all the way around it, filed it or threw it away. 2 large bags later I have a clean desk top. </p>
<p>Last Sunday, I found Mr B in the garage taking apart some of the old junk he kept in there for ages! The old fan that could not keep its “head” up is gone! Ditto a bunch of broken tools. :)</p>
<p>Once it starts to really take hold it feels so good. I have lurked here all year, didn’t get “a bag a week”, but did some more. Then both kids were home for a while over the summer. Purging stopped. But NOW they both moved. DD did a great job purging her closet, clothes from 8th grade (she is a grad student). DS did NOT purge much, but did get rid of a huge box of books. DH sorted the “leftovers” and at least caged them so that they are no longer on the floor or closet. We found a pair of size 6 CHILDREN"S boots in the back of DS’s closet. Time for those to go! Basement storage is next, although DH took a pass at it last year, so it is clearer.
Wish he would go tackle the tools and garage, he lent a drill and bit to DD’s housemate and the bit wasn’t usable … we need to NOT keep broken stuff!</p>
<p>Couldn’t get the edit to add feature to work, but I meant to say that I HOPE it was a net out of DD’s room because she left a lot of kitchen gear behind. All 5 people in her house had good mixers, cake pans, etc. even the guys. </p>
<p>2 large bags gone and a another two on their way. Along with a neat picture of a train that hung in S’s bedroom as a little guy. He and DIL do not want it for their son so it is going also. That was a bit sad.</p>
<p>In the process of packing for a move, Happykid sent six banker’s box worth of small and medium-sized stuffed animals and three ginormous stuffed animals off to Goodwill and other organizations that can use them. 10 banker’s boxes of books have moved on to the Friends of the Library and other locations, and similar quantities of random items have been passed on to Goodwill. Another 10 bankers boxes worth of old files, ancient correspondence, and K-college notes and classwork went to paper recycling (some had to pass through a shredder first). Yes, we did open every single box that was still closed since the last move. No, we did not send every single item from the “keep” pile on to the new parental residence, as Happykid is still in the old place, and we will be traveling back and forth for at least another year. Still and all, it was good to see so much accumulation head out the door.</p>
<p>The lowest weight estimate from the three movers who looked at our stuff-to-be-shipped was 5,000 lbs. Actual shipping weight was 3,400. YEA!</p>
<p>Another 100 lbs delivered to DD via free checked bags! (H and I each had free bag on recent trip to visit so I filled them up!). YEA!
Bit by bit…and more books to be mailed. Slow but sure!
The funny thing was when we drove into our garage after being gone–I was AMAZED at how much room there was! Gave myself an extra pat on the back!</p>
<p>Wow, great gouf! I decided to keep going on that office and tackled the 3 hanging book shelves in the corner of the office. They are hard to reach and when I took everything down the dust of ages was there X_X Another box of books to donate and another contractor’s bag out the door, but you can hardly tell. </p>
<p>I didn’t think I was going to get to anything this week but I did end up going through the coats in the coat closet. None of them were even good enough to donate so they went out with the trash in a contractor bag. </p>
<p>We moved into our house a little under two years ago so I thought I had nothing to get rid of. Then I realized that at the time we moved in, we just stashed stuff in various closets. Now I’m going through that stuff (which apparently we haven’t missed or needed for two years!) and doing a decent job of tossing, saving/using, or sending on to various adult offspring. </p>
<p>Hey, all you declutterers! It’s best to NOT throw old holey, stained clothing in the trash (even old worn out socks and undies, apparently). I researched this last week, when I had so much unwearable stuff to get rid of. Much better to keep all textiles out of landfills. Charities send the unwearable items to textile recyclers: <a href=“http://www.earth911.com/living/style/donate-worn-damaged-clothing/”>http://www.earth911.com/living/style/donate-worn-damaged-clothing/</a></p>
<p>You can’t take a charitable deduction for stuff that is going to end up as rags, etc., only for items in good condition. But it’s much better for the planet for it not to end up in a landfill.</p>
<p>Made one more Goodwill run with the superfluous gardening gear and a few odds and ends. It was a celebratory trip as we finally closed on our house yesterday. We’re renting back until Monday and are at the point when everything left gets tossed in a box and moved. In two years I will be where VH is now.</p>
<p>I went through the guest bedroom that has been doubling as my overflow storage. I was relieved to be able to donate most of the stuff. I am now gearing up to go into the attic where I have boxes and boxes of Christmas holiday things. I used to have a different theme/color scheme every year. Now, I just put up one tree and our favorite items. Everything else is going but I haven’t decided whether to donate or sell. A friend has offered to help me go through everything and organize (I have that much stuff).</p>
<p>I got rid of a bunk bed. Currently that room is ringed by the dorm mountain and the less used stuff from the kitchen/dining room. The kitchen renovation/addition is giving us an incentive to actually get rid of stuff. @MatildaMae it’s been rather appalling how much dust and grease is under all the kitchen stuff. And on the seldom used glassware. I’ve also gotten a few bags of old clothes out the door. And S2 helpfully got rid of a bunch of stuffed animals, though not before covering his bed with them all and taking a picture. A mouse got into one bad which made tossing them easy, but he stuck most of the other bag in the attic crawl space where we probably won’t look at it again until we move out! He actually did a really good job of organizing boxes of paintings so that the attic is much easier to get around. (He’s moved up there for the fall, so he has an incentive to make it more livable!)</p>
<p>Thanks, Momcat! I have donated “gently used clothing” to Goodwill for years but never knew they would benefit from our more-than-gently used items! It’s great to keep them out of landfill. </p>
<p>Found a few more items to donate. Youngest kid is in college so added the book about college essays and the Colleges that Change Lives book to the donate box. (Gave all of the test prep books to the HS last year.)</p>
<p>Also, I read a tip about kitchen organization to think about the particular kind of cooking that you do – not everyone needs all of the same kitchen stuff. I realized that I had three colanders, acquired when I used to cook a lot of pasta. Those days are over, so I kept the smallest colander for fruit and am donating the other two. </p>
<p>Dropped off 3 boxes of books at a local friends of the library place. Plus the compact edition of the OED that hasn’t been opened for years. Phew! Of course I still have too many books but it’s a start.</p>
<p>“Compact” OED …what is that like 14 boxes? </p>
<p>These posts are all very inspiring! Thanks! I also appreciate the informative ones like MomCat2 #1191. I didn’t know that.</p>