2013 Destash- this is the year!

[Gillennj]

DW and I keep telling ourselves "this is the year", but we say that every year. I actually cleared some stuff out right before Christmas on Craigslist, and that is such a rush. I LOVE that feeling of turning old junk into someone else's treasure and getting some (even minor) cash in the process is outstanding.

The hard part is to stick to selling or giving away on CL and not shopping . Otherwise, we're not getting anywhere.

[carebee21]

I'm in. We're moving in about 6 months and using moving cubes. I really, really need to go through everything and think carefully about everything we keep. I started to declutter during the summer, but since then we've had my son's birthday and Christmas, so I don't feel like I've made so much progress. It's time to really start cracking down.

Our plan for the day is to go through all of our Christmas decorations. I figure we may as well do it as we take down all of our decorations. I really want to only keep the decorations and ornaments that are important or mean something to us. It just isn't worth the cost to move yard inflatables or ten strands of Christmas lights. So we'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'll get some resistance to my DH who hates to get rid of stuff.

[itutorfortravel]

Boy do I need to join this thread! We have so much stuff it's crazy. I feel like the house is never totally clean and organized because we just keep moving stuff around! DH and I are currently working on shredding lots of documents. We have held on to every bill I think we've gotten in the past 16 years of marriage, and some from even earlier! We also don't like to toss mailings of any kind that have our names on it. So we have a lot to accomplish in this area. We have spent at least 5 hours over the past three days going through boxes, choosing what can be recylced and then shredding the rest. And we've only scratched the surface. So this is where we are starting, but believe me our entire house could use an overhaul!

[comicguy]

I am in again!! I tend to start off pretty good but then comes spring and I stop until summer when I am off from work then I do some more until we always leave for WDW then it is right back to work in Sept and nothing gtes done (for the most part) until the start of January!!

I really want to keep the stuff constantly flowing out of the house this year!!!

[BernardandMissBianca]

Originally Posted by itutorfortravel

Boy do I need to join this thread! We have so much stuff it's crazy. I feel like the house is never totally clean and organized because we just keep moving stuff around! DH and I are currently working on shredding lots of documents. We have held on to every bill I think we've gotten in the past 16 years of marriage, and some from even earlier! We also don't like to toss mailings of any kind that have our names on it. So we have a lot to accomplish in this area. We have spent at least 5 hours over the past three days going through boxes, choosing what can be recylced and then shredding the rest. And we've only scratched the surface. So this is where we are starting, but believe me our entire house could use an overhaul!

Check with your bank or your town hall. Our credit union has a shred day a few times a year. I think you can bring in like 3 boxes full as a max. They hire one of those huge shred trucks and they do it for us free of charge.

Starting today, you should sort your incoming mail near your shredder, that way when credit applications etc come in, they can go right into the shredder. I have a paper bag for recycling and the shredder right near my mail catcher. I open everything then toss, shred and file.

I also can't recommend Freedom Filer enough.
http://www.freedomfiler.com/
It was recommended on another message board I'm on and I love it!! My mom ended up buying one for my brother and herself too.

[mrsbornkuntry]

My son's girlfriend told me last night that the Key Club at school is having a book drive and the person who brings in the most gets to go with them to deliver the books to a children's home (like an orphanage) and she really wants to go so I told her I would donate some. We have accumulated a lot of books and it's really time to weed some out so that's where I'm starting.

[Robbi]

My husband and I converted our old master bedroom into a large closet. Great huh? Except it's another place for junk to accumulate. On Friday, I threw away 2 garbage bags of stuff just from my part of the closet! That wasn't clothes. It was shoe boxes, receipts, just junk. I was shocked. He and I, starting tomorrow are taking apart every closet, cabinet, and drawer in the house and cabana, pitching stuff, and putting it back together again. We're starting with our closet because we're having work done in there in a couple of weeks to better organize it.

[tlh0726]

This will be the year for our house as well!
Not only decluttering but going to finish all the projects that have been started and never finished.
Once those are done, then we are going to start working on the things that we just keep putting off.

[BernardandMissBianca]

Originally Posted by cheshireqt

I am in and grateful to see this thread!

When I get in "that" mood my DH calls it my "OFF WITH ITS HEAD" mood. Guess I get a bit gung ho as I point out the things that will no longer be with us.

LOL DH gets that way too.
I love it when he does!! I hope he goes all QoH's on the garage soon!

Originally Posted by emilymad

I'm in! I started last year but then got off track. I have a huge pile in the basement to get to the Goodwill. I usually try to write down exact what I donated for tax purposes. Does everyone else do this? It seems that is where I get stuck in the process.

Next up is my office. I have a ton of craft supplies to go through. It is hard to figure out what to keep and get rid of in that area. I used to scrapbook but haven't in years. Last year I donated lots of my lesser quality stuff. A year later and I still haven't touched any of the "good" stuff. Time to reevaluate I think!

I get stuck there too sometimes because we write it all off on the taxes. Something that might help on all things but clothes it to take photos of what you donate, just to get it out of the house. Spread out like 10 - 20 items snap a pic, put it in the box and get rid of it. You can create a file for those photos to go through when you start working on your taxes.
The only reason I don't do clothes is because we have so many because there are 6 of us. I just keep a notebook with categories and slash marks or numbers. So column A is mens sweaters, I'll just add a 5 if I get rid of 5 sweaters.
My tax guy gave me this valuation guide to help speed up the process and to not undercut myself, I was giving myself to little monetary value for most items.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/...F?Opendocument


As for craft supplies, oh man do I hear you!!! I'm a scrapper too and I have tons of stuff that I'm hoarding for "just the right page". I'm reevaluating too. I'm probably (reluctantly) switching to digital because I lack storage space for the paper albums when they are done. Right now I am purging 90% of the patterned paper because I use so little of it and it can get outdated very quickly. I'm keeping the solid cardstock for pages of current projects and for the kids school projects.
Embellishments are getting purged too.

Check with places like Girl Scouts, school art classrooms, senior complexes, and daycares. They will take that stuff and you can write it off. I also donate to an organization that takes care of people with intellectual disabilities. They took a group to Disney a few years ago and then one of the ladies helped them make scrapbooks of their trip.

[delmar411]

In again for this year!

[mrsklamc]

We're starting off behind today b/c of Christmas presents. Got a new set of pots & pans and new glasses....This may turn into a full kitchen purge, which would be great!

[tinker&belle]

I'm in this year! I have a bunch of kids clothes ready to go and have two closets that need done and would love to clean out each kitchen and bathroom cabinets!

[breammom]

I'm in this year as well. Both daughters in college, time to get rid of some things. I have already started this morning. Nothing like starting the New Year on a new project!!!

[Deffenm]

I am in again this year. This thread helped me last year. I have gone through my dresser and will do coat closet today. I don't know why we keep gloves that have no matches.

My goal this year is to get the crawl space in the basement done, our master bedroom closet, and keep de-cuttering each room as I see things we no longer need. I want to bag them up and get them out of the house quickly. I got a lot accomplished in 2012 and need to keep it up in 2013.

[robsmom]

I am in. My house is really starting to burst at the seems with stuff. I was not myself for most of last year and just started getting back to me. I need a major clean-up and organization sweep through my entire house. I am hoping that this thread will keep me accountable to others. I think I will make a plan by month and then be more detailed each week. Here goes:

January - Kitchen & Dining Room
Week 1 - Clean out fridge, put away Christmas
Week 2 - tupperware, drawers
Week 3 - cabinets and dining room
Week 4 - office desk and pantry
February - Master bedroom and DS's bedroom (closets!!)
March - Office
April - Linen Closet, coat closets
May - Basement
June - Guest Room closet
July - Family Room and Living Room tables, cabinets etc.
August - general refresh of above (busy month)
September - DFIL's room and closets (he is very very neat)
October - Garage (just did this is November)
November - general clean for Thanksgiving
December - Christmas prep