2016 Destash - The more things you own, the more they own you

[BernardandMissBianca]

Welcome to the 2016 destash thread.
This is where we talk about our accomplishments, our dilemmas, and our goals for decluttering our home and our lives.

 

[mickeyschickie]

Ooh...starting on this today- first project is craft room as by this time next year it will be our living room and our living room will be our dining room...the joys and curses of remodeling an old farm house!!

 

[hollybearsmom]

We are planning to downsize this next summer, my two car garage is my storage unit....got to go down by 75%. Not to mention our clothes from three closets to one. Excited to join in.

 

[kinntj]

I thought I would check in for Next year. I'll start with my office in the '4th bedroom; which is the holder of the kids bins of school papers and other hard to part with items. Tomorrow will be my start date' since I start my classes on the 11th.

 

[Scrap4me]

Count me in for 2016! I had declared in April 2013 to be purged (after 3 years of it).
I went back and read my posts from the 2013 thread! Wow, I had made some serious decisions back then. Sad to say though, my Sweet Honesty perfume bottles are still hanging around. Same spot as 2013 and still dust collectors.

I have spent the past 18 months taking care of my parents whose health has been a roller coaster. In between the doctor visits and dealing with their day to day, my clutter began to build a little again. A few months ago, I began to purge again. I am proud to say that a lot of what I accomplished previously has stuck but new stuff has snuck in the back door.

The husband and I bought a large amount of property in April and we are ready to build. I am determined to move into a house that is completely clutter free from day 1.
I am starting with my Christmas decorations this week as I put them away. 2 years ago, I went from 43 large rubbermaid containers of decorations to 10. I am going to try and pare that down to 8.

For all of us -- whether you are just now starting the purge, continuing the purge or starting it all over again........ Good luck!

 

[OhMari]

Count me in for 2016! I had declared in April 2013 to be purged (after 3 years of it).
I went back and read my posts from the 2013 thread! Wow, I had made some serious decisions back then. Sad to say though, my Sweet Honesty perfume bottles are still hanging around. Same spot as 2013 and still dust collectors.

I have spent the past 18 months taking care of my parents whose health has been a roller coaster. In between the doctor visits and dealing with their day to day, my clutter began to build a little again. A few months ago, I began to purge again. I am proud to say that a lot of what I accomplished previously has stuck but new stuff has snuck in the back door.

The husband and I bought a large amount of property in April and we are ready to build. I am determined to move into a house that is completely clutter free from day 1.
I am starting with my Christmas decorations this week as I put them away. 2 years ago, I went from 43 large rubbermaid containers of decorations to 10. I am going to try and pare that down to 8.

For all of us -- whether you are just now starting the purge, continuing the purge or starting it all over again........ Good luck!

We built a home last year, my best advice is stay on top of everything. We found out people do not read. We had a contractor and we should of just done it ourselves.
Good luck and make sure you get what you want in your home building. I wanted white trim in my home and I was told it was so expensive. It still makes me mad that I was talked out of it.

 

[OhMari]

Like the person above me, I got rid of 2 bins of Christmas decorations. Yesterday I took down my tree and I just cannot deal with Christmas stress, and it helps me to clean up and put it away. I went thru every bin again, and I was able to discard old decorations. I know I do not want to decorate with them and I was just hanging on to them, because I bought them when we first got married.

I thought I had more Christmas bins, but I opened them and it was filled with home video's. I thought I lost that bin. I am going to have those tapes made into DVD's.

Our kids bought us a new shop vac, we actually wrecked 2 last year, I cannot wait to get to the basement and start cleaning. We had a contractor come back and he sawed the concrete, so I have concrete dust.

 

[Debbie]

Read Marie Kondo's book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up in the fall, and sorted/decluttered/got rid of stuff from my clothes category, and, because it was Christmas, we did the Christmas stuff, too, as it came up. I was pleased to donate many things to various charitable places. Today, since my bathroom drawer needed some fixing, I will complete my drawer and my medicine cabinet. Since it is in the same category, I will organize the kitchen cupboard were medications are stored, too. I am determined to work through the house, category by category, even if at a snail's pace.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm disappointed the 3 foot lavender Disney Christmas Tree didn't sell on Craig's List. I even marked it down to 10.00. I don't want to put it back in the attic so it's going to Goodwill this week.

I'll probably keep the ornaments that came with it and try to sell those separately on ebay. I put a picture of my dining room/ebay room on Facebook for my MN relatives to see and one of them responded with a Good Luck with selling all that note. Gave me a good chuckle since I'd already gotten rid of that much once last year and it paid for my solo Disney World trip in early December.

I can't believe all the extra stuff in this house. Bring on the decluttering 2016!

 

[lillygator]

I am ready for the 2016 challenge. I have much to declutter!

 

[goodmorningbelle]

I'm in on this too. I'm off this week, so I've started by cleaning out a couple drawers and cleaning off my dining room table. Let's get this stuff moving on and moving out!

 

[sarahk0204]

I'm in!

 

[TI double-GUH ER]

I'm in too! Although I won't be able to start until the new year. Too many people in from out of town this week!! But once we settle back into the routine, I am finishing my final clothes categories, then moving on to books. That might take a while... Good luck everyone!

 

[sueh]

I'm in too. I was off work today and started with my kids room. I have quite a few bags of stuff that are heading to goodwill. I also went through my Christmas decor that I was no longer in love with and that is going. 2 totes worth!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Yay!!! I'm glad to see so many of you joining me! Woohoo!!
DH had been a busy man this week, he's sorted about 5 bins of stuff and has paired it down to 2 bins I think. It's just a preliminary sort through but it's progress.
The kids also have about 80% of the ornaments off the tree so that should be finished up tomorrow. We are supposed to get snow and ice over night so I'm going to use that time wisely and keep sorting.

I went through a bunch of my scrap stuff and I'm making up lots to sell. I want to make a FB yard sale page. Hopefully a lot of it will go. If not, it's getting tossed or set aside for our schools rummage sale. But I really don't want to store it til July. We used the trailer (24 foot snow mobile trailer) to store stuff the last 2 years for rummage sale but now the Mini is in the trailer for winter so the trailer smells like fuel.
It might have to go in the loft of the garage but that's pretty full too.

 

[Scrap4me]

I am beyond thrilled with the way my day went! I have been talking to my pack rat mother (whom the show hoarders would love) for a long time about purging. Well, after sitting with her in the Driver's license office for over 3 hours, she agreed! Finally!
Purged her Christmas (boxes already gone to Goodwill).....and discovered her deep love for keeping long expired prescriptions. Oh boy!She has numerous issues that come with a multitude of pills.....hence a large variety of pills that have long since expired (some in 2008). I had her start marking through her info with a black magic marker so that I can drop them off at the local pharmacy for disposal.

Baby steps. She has agreed to go through a dresser drawer a day for the next 7 days and I will pick up stuff to go every 3 days. Baby steps.

I managed to purge 1 container of Christmas so far. Hopefully I can eliminate 1 more tomorrow.

I am going to bed...listening to rain once again.... but for those who are enduring the snow and the extreme weather, please be cautious if you have to go out!

 

[virge]

I'm in!

Typically, I try to deep clean/purge the house during my summer break. Part of my motivation each year has been any money we'd get for the items at our annual yard sale. We decided not to have a yard sale last year and I wasn't quite as motivated to clean & purge.

After peeking at this thread, I decided to get an early start on purging. I began in the guest bedroom yesterday. Since the room didn't have a lot in it to begin with, I mainly purged books & magazines (I filled a trash bag with Consumer Reports magazines I'd hidden in pretty boxes). It felt good to get started! I hope to tackle the guest bedroom closet next. I use it as clothing storage so I'm hopeful I'll clear some stuff out.

Thanks for starting the thread and giving me a push in the right direction!

 

[Duchie]

This is something I really need to do this year. Maybe I'll follow this thread for inspiration.

 

[hsmamato2]

well, I declutter about every 6 months (I know,what does this say about me!!!) so I am ready- my first major project of the new year is my craft room, it is becoming a cathcall for unwanted stuff! I need to go through all the stuff and organize that closet!

 

[lillygator]

my husband is off this week and he managed to get rid of 6-7 bags!! it's a start!