2013 Destash- this is the year!

[Robbi]

Great work everyone! DH just painted the new closet. He's going skiing Thursday for a week and it still looks like it will be good to go for me to organize while he's gone.

Last night I attacked my daughter's room-started at 2:30 am and worked until 5:30am.
She slept at a friend's house and my DH wanted to get an early start, so I slept in her room. Got rid of 2 contractor bags of clothes. She's been supposing to do this for 6 months, so I did it for her. :P

[carebee21]

I haven't got as much done the past few days as I would have liked, but by the time I'm done with work, I've been so tired. DS is over at a friend's house playing today and DH is watching football, so I wanted to get a lot done while they are both busy, but I just am not motivated today.

Over the past few days I did manage to make another donate bag of clothes from DH and my closet. And then this morning, I went through the backyard and tossed all of the yard decorations. It was a windy fall for us here, so they weren't in the best of condition after that and we really don't go back there much, so I figured I'd just toss them and be done with them. Other than that, I'm hoping to get through the arts and craft storage bins we have and then just catch up on laundry and housework. I do have someone who is supposed to come this afternoon from Craigslist and pick up a desk, so hopefully they show so I can free up more space in my house.

Keep up the great de-cluttering efforts everyone!!!

Goals Accomplished So Far in 2013:
Decluttering All of the Christmas Decorations: Got everything down to 1 large tote
DH and My Closet and Dressers: 5 bag of trash; 8 large bags of clothing donated
Coat Closet: Got rid of old jackets and consolidated hats/gloves/scarves
Kitchen: Organized container cupboard: 1 bag of garbage removed
Organized Cup Cupboard: 1 bag of garbage removed
Linen Closets: 2 large bags of linens donated
1 bag of garbage gone
DS's Room: Two large bags of stuffed animals gone
Board Games Missing Pieces Gone/All other board games sorted
One large bag of junk toys gone
One large bag of toys donated
DS's Bathroom Drawers and Cabinet: 1 bag of garbage removed
Backyard: 1 bag of old garden decorations thrown away

[StephMK]

I have not been that motivated or had much time lately but I love reading everyone's progress and seeing the pics. DH finally got the Christmas stuff out of the garage and back into the attic today!

It feels good that some areas I organized are still in good shape but others have stacked up again. I am constantly fighting piles on the desk area in the kitchen! Mostly things that just belong other places so I need to force myself to put things away instead of setting them there to take elsewhere.

I don't know why I never thought to do this before but I'm putting a paper recycling box under the desk. It usually piles up on the counter near the garage door.

I love opening the drawers and seeing things where they belong. Now when I have mail or bills, I have an envelope in a drawer that they go into. I bought a planner so I can write stuff down and throw away the other reminders. My makeup is staying where it belongs in the drawer organizers. I love having places to put things away & not sifting through other stuff to find things!

Has anyone else started to get more minimalist in their decorating? It is starting to bug me to have to move stuff to clean. I used to have a small bowl with stones, candle & jar in my bathroom. They didn't really serve a purpose, just looked pretty on the counter. Now I've gotten rid of them because I hate picking them all up to clean. It feels so nice to have things streamlined that I don't even want much out.

Still have yet to tackle the rest of the basement and need to take a donation to Goodwill this week. I'm going to try to set some mini goals because I usually feel like I can't get it done if I don't have a big chunk of time available.

[jenluvs2go2disney]

I worked on the basement today for a bit.

I now have an organized garage sale pile. I pulled a few more things to take to the consignment store. I got rid of a bag of trash from it and have 2 bags of stuff to drop off to donate. I had been putting stuff done there for awhile.

I still have more stuff in the basement to go through, but now it's easier to see what i have done with neat piles and stuff consolidated in boxes. I will definitely be having a garage sale in the spring. It's my disney money.

[littlezar]

Making progress a little bit at a time! Still want to get in the boys' room soon (the younger 2 share) and really get through their clothes and toys. I've been discarding some undies and socks as they come into the wash. I need to do that with pj's too - last night my youngest wore a pair with a huge hole in the knee and stretched out neck and insists that particular pair is still good.

Originally Posted by IBelieveInTheMagic

Interesting - and good obvious point we hadn't even thought about as far as the book reading and we are big on this! I was planning on getting him
A sofa bed to put under the loft for several reasons including the times he might be sick and didn't want to go up top.

I think you guys are helping me lean towards not doing the loft. We talked about it at dinner and I was already leaning towards thinking no. We will likely focus on more organizational items and a bigger bookcase and updated sheets and duvet set.

BTW he is 9. Another friend mentioned once he goes through another growth spurt he might outgrow it too soon.

Thanks for the thoughts guys and ill kep you posted!!

Heather

My younger 2 have this: All in One Loft Bed and my 11 yr old uses the large under desk drawer and 3 smaller ones for clothes and hangs the rest in the closet. The 6 yr old has a 5 drawer chest for his clothes (non matching...it was the one that matched my 17 yr old's crib back in '95, LOL) The other 2 drawers have school supplies, card games and whatever random crap gets thrown in there when I tell them to clean the room. The back part has their blanket/quilt when it's too warm to use, the big, odd shaped Imaginext playsets, a tote with Lincoln Logs and a couple totes with legos. Until this past May, my 15 yr old had the loft system in his room and usually slept on the top bunk. (He's 5'8") The 15 yr old now has this: Captain's Bed with Trundle & Storage Drawers Maybe one of those would be a good option for you? We bought both on Craigslist - $300 for the loft, $100 for the Captain's bed with a night stand (and no, we didn't take the mattresses that were offered with either of them!)

Not planning on getting a whole lot done this week - co-chair for an event at school and will probably be there all day, every day this week prepping for it since the chair bailed the other day. Then going out of town Friday til Sunday.

[carebee21]

Originally Posted by littlezar

My younger 2 have this: All in One Loft Bed and my 11 yr old uses the large under desk drawer and 3 smaller ones for clothes and hangs the rest in the closet. The 6 yr old has a 5 drawer chest for his clothes (non matching...it was the one that matched my 17 yr old's crib back in '95, LOL) The other 2 drawers have school supplies, card games and whatever random crap gets thrown in there when I tell them to clean the room. The back part has their blanket/quilt when it's too warm to use, the big, odd shaped Imaginext playsets, a tote with Lincoln Logs and a couple totes with legos. Until this past May, my 15 yr old had the loft system in his room and usually slept on the top bunk. (He's 5'8") The 15 yr old now has this: Captain's Bed with Trundle & Storage Drawers Maybe one of those would be a good option for you? We bought both on Craigslist - $300 for the loft, $100 for the Captain's bed with a night stand (and no, we didn't take the mattresses that were offered with either of them!)

Do your 11 year old and 15 year old both have twin beds? Do they fit comfortably in them? DH and I are debating right now if we should take DS's bunk bed with us when we move, or just sell it and get a new bed for him. DH seems to think that DS is going to outgrow a twin bed in the next couple years and need a full or queen, so moving it just doesn't make much sense. DS is going to be tall (dh is 6'1 and DS is the tallest in his class by a couple inches) but I'm just not convinced that he's going to "need" a bigger bed.

I did manage to find the motivation to get through our arts and craft supplies yesterday. I tossed a bunch of old stuff and things like Christmas stickers or halloween stamps that won't be used again before we move. I managed to fill a small grocery bag with unused ribbon and sewing supplies that can just be donated. I also did a few of the smaller tasks, such as going through the cabinets on the TV stand and straightening my laundry room shelves. But I only got rid of a couple of handfuls of garbage and clutter, since those weren't bad. I'm going to try and do a few small projects in DSs room today, but again, I'm not motivated and have a few other things I need to get done today, so de-cluttering is at the back of my list.

[littlezar]

Originally Posted by carebee21

Do your 11 year old and 15 year old both have twin beds? Do they fit comfortably in them? DH and I are debating right now if we should take DS's bunk bed with us when we move, or just sell it and get a new bed for him. DH seems to think that DS is going to outgrow a twin bed in the next couple years and need a full or queen, so moving it just doesn't make much sense. DS is going to be tall (dh is 6'1 and DS is the tallest in his class by a couple inches) but I'm just not convinced that he's going to "need" a bigger bed.

My 17 yr old has a full size bed - he's tall and thin - 6' & 150 lbs. The 15 (5'8" & 110 lbs), 11 (5' & 85 lbs) & 6 (4' & 65lbs) yr olds are all in twin beds. All the mattresses are the standard 74 or 75" length, so my oldest only has more room side to side, not head to foot if you know what I mean. No complaints from any of them about comfort.

[my3princes]

My boys ages 17, 15 and 10 all have twin beds, no complaints here either.

Originally Posted by carebee21

Do your 11 year old and 15 year old both have twin beds? Do they fit comfortably in them? DH and I are debating right now if we should take DS's bunk bed with us when we move, or just sell it and get a new bed for him. DH seems to think that DS is going to outgrow a twin bed in the next couple years and need a full or queen, so moving it just doesn't make much sense. DS is going to be tall (dh is 6'1 and DS is the tallest in his class by a couple inches) but I'm just not convinced that he's going to "need" a bigger bed.

I did manage to find the motivation to get through our arts and craft supplies yesterday. I tossed a bunch of old stuff and things like Christmas stickers or halloween stamps that won't be used again before we move. I managed to fill a small grocery bag with unused ribbon and sewing supplies that can just be donated. I also did a few of the smaller tasks, such as going through the cabinets on the TV stand and straightening my laundry room shelves. But I only got rid of a couple of handfuls of garbage and clutter, since those weren't bad. I'm going to try and do a few small projects in DSs room today, but again, I'm not motivated and have a few other things I need to get done today, so de-cluttering is at the back of my list.

[sherry7]

I haven't posted for awhile. On Friday, we had all of the carpet downstairs pulled up and had oak hardwood floors put in. So, I had to basically pack up most of the downstairs, with the exception of the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom. I purged a few things as I packed, and I'm purging even more as I unpack. (Yeah, I know that's backwards, lol.) So far I've filled up 2 large boxes for Goodwill with about 40 old computer programs/games, several books, a spare wireless router, CD rack, vases, vacuum cleaner cover, 2 small wooden shelves, decorative fountain, big paper organizer thingy, etc. I just did a major purge of the downstairs about a year ago, but I'm still finding plenty of stuff to get rid of.

In addition, we took down all of the downstairs mini blinds and curtains before the flooring got done. The blinds got scrubbed in a bathtub, dried, and rehung. The curtains got washed, and rehung.

[Leader of the Club]

My biggest downfall is holding on to "good" stuff that I'm either going to put on Craig's List or put in a yard sale. and of course, I never get around to either.

I spent 16 hours working in the basement over the weekend. I managed to purge 2 of the 6 rooms. I'm very proud of myself!

Took 5 truck loads to the Goodwill, 2 truck loads to the dump and 4 boxes to Half-price Books--made $30!

[dsneprincess]

Another few hours spent in master today. Through all dressers drawers, 3 more bags to donate. Amazing that we have clothes left to wear, but we do! Have some off season totes in basement too that we haven't switched in at least 2 years. Need to get through those as well. Still need to do books in master & 1 small piece of closet & master should be presentable. I think I am going to start a journal to keep track of how far I've come because it is getting discouraging to still see everything that isn't done.

[jwwi]

1.5 hours cleaning my walk in bedroom closet. Need to do more......

[carebee21]

Thank you all for the feedback on the bed. I was thinking a twin would be just fine for him, even as he continues to grow. I think DH think he looks cramped right now, but that's just because of all the stuffed animals and blankies he has thrown all over his bed. But I guess at the end of the day, I'm not the one who would have to disassemble and reassemble the bunk bed, so DS may still end up with a new bed... We'll see.

My woes with Craigslist continue. I had a person flake on Sunday and then a different one flake yesterday. It's getting really irritating. I have someone else supposed to come this evening to look at something else, so hopefully he comes. But I'm not holding my breath.

I didn't do any of the small de-cluttering projects I wanted to do in my son's room yesterday, so I am a bit disappointed that I accomplished so little this weekend, but it is what it is. I have a list of small projects (cleaning my make up drawer, cleaning under the kitchen sink) I want to do this week, so as long as I finish those up, I'll be happy.

Happy De-Cluttering Everyone!!!

[BernardandMissBianca]

Just got back from DC. Inauguration was amazing! My dad looked so cool in the parade. But now we are back to the real world and I need to purge purge purge.

Today is the kitchen. I need to deep clean it and I plan to work through all cabinets and drawers.

[C_leen]

Hello everyone! Everyone is making such headway! I love reading these updates for inspiration.

Well I was not home last weekend, so nothing got done. BUT I bought all new bras, so I did straighten out my unmentionable drawer!

While we were gone, we successfully hunted up a coat rack! This means coats will no longer be allowed to drape over the kitchen counter.

Hopefully this weekend I will return to the kitchen to continue my project there.