Destash 2017 The Year to Clear

[colormegreen]

I am looking to declutter the apartment. After searching a place where it be good to donate my stuff, as I have not heard great things about goodwill, I have finally found one and I am beginning this weekend. I will start with the closets as I have loads in them...my closets are big for being an apartment. Afterwards, I think I will do the kitchen...been buying good pans, but still have my old ones so that be good...I just need to be able to part with certain books...but I think that might be the last thing to go...starting tomorrow...can't procrastinate any longer...challenge will be getting the hubby to do his closet.

 

[StephMK]

We're iced in today so I'm hoping to find some motivation to tackle the basement. There are 2 overflowing bookcases of kid books. I doubt we need to keep them all and can donate many to my school. There are also still toys I just need to pack up. The youngest is 14!

In anticipation of the storm, we made some progress in the garage and got the donations dropped off. I took everything I had collected and more odds and ends. It was a trunk full. We also took an old monster tube TV that had been taking up space and paid a recycling place to take it.

 

[fallonkendra]

Joining in! I had started the Nourishing Minimalism challenge in 2015, but then I lost my chart when we moved and I stopped counting. We've now been in our house for almost 2 years, and we still have boxes that have never been opened! I started going through some stuff in the fall, and threw away a couple hundred items, but I want to try and hit 2017 items in 2017.

I know I won't accomplish too much this month, we spent 9 nights in WDW earlier this month, and we're going to California for 5 nights next week, but the rest of the year should be fairly low key with a lot of time spent at home. Plus, we now have a wedding to pay for, so I'm hoping I'll be able to find items in our house to sell that we no longer use or need - every little bit will help!

 

[fallonkendra]

While we were in WDW earlier this month, my fiance purchased the Starbucks "You are Here" mugs for each of the 4 parks. In order to make room for his 4 new coffee mugs, we went through our cupboard last night and pulled out 9 boring, plain coffee mugs. We then split them up, and each brought some to work to shove into our office kitchens. It's not much, but we got rid of 9 things to make way for 4 items that bring us joy to look at It's a start!

2017 Items Gone: 9

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

2017 Items gone : 55

These are items from Christmas, some clothes, done as I come across them, some linens.

I am trying to get rid of as many "toss" items as I can, then on to donate/sell. I have a huge pile of items that could be sold if I want to take the time.

I am struggling with the items I still use occasionally. I have a lot of kitchen items that I use once in a while but they take up so much space.
Things like all the extra platters, serving pieces,ice buckets...

 

[Ames77]

Not necessarily clutter, but I donated 42 lbs. of food to the food bank earlier this week. It seems a like a lot, but it was a lot of canned/jarred items.

 

[dromio42]

I haven't seen FLY Lady mentioned yet - I found her approach helpful for keeping to house cleaner, not adding too much stuff and getting into the habit of de-cluttering all the time. Learning how to think of items - and get past guilt. I've been at it slowly for years, my husband joined in when he decided he wanted to (no nagging from me). I love our new way of dealing with our house. We also have a 2017 items in 2017 chart on the fridge we are up to 135!!

 

[mrsabbott]

2017 is my year to minimize! I want to minimize my stuff, my debt, my stress, and my weight!
I haven't counted the number of items, but I took one trunk load (I have a suburban) to the donation center and have just filled up another trunk load. Just a drop in the bucket, but it feels good to start.
It can be overwhelming, but I am not trying to rush and do it all at once. That is the quickest way to get burned out. I figure a little progress is better than none and it will all add up eventually.
For me, a yard sale is just too much. So is trying to do eBay or resale groups. Getting it out and gone is best.
I am also determined not to buy any more "stuff" this year. The exception is a cover for our futon sofa and a wastebasket for our bathroom. We needed the wastebasket and the cover is to protect the mattress from the kids/pets. I do not want to buy any clothes, shoes, games, toys, books, etc... Gifts this year will be in the form of experiences. We have enough stuff!

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

Joining! We have WAY, WAY, WAY too many things. Today, we hauled 3 truck loads of junk to the dump and one truck load to the local hospital auxiliary for donation. We are expecting surprise baby #4 in 2 months (or less, depending on how he cooperates), so making room for him (we had sold most of our baby stuff after #3 because #4 was supposed to be nearly impossible to happen on its own--surprise!!!) and are needing to get rid of years worth of junk that has just been sitting around, staring at me! I don't want my kids to become mini horders like me, so time to clear it out and start fresh! I'm not even really dealing with selling stuff, I just want it GONE!

 

[mrsabbott]

Joining! We have WAY, WAY, WAY too many things. Today, we hauled 3 truck loads of junk to the dump and one truck load to the local hospital auxiliary for donation. We are expecting surprise baby #4 in 2 months (or less, depending on how he cooperates), so making room for him (we had sold most of our baby stuff after #3 because #4 was supposed to be nearly impossible to happen on its own--surprise!!!) and are needing to get rid of years worth of junk that has just been sitting around, staring at me! I don't want my kids to become mini horders like me, so time to clear it out and start fresh! I'm not even really dealing with selling stuff, I just want it GONE!

Our #4 was a surprise as well! And we had gotten rid of all our baby stuff, too. Congrats!

 

[mrsabbott]

We had a neighbor give us a ton of video game stuff. Controllers, games, a wii.. It sat around for over a year and collected dust. We have a PS2 and a PS3 and the kids mainly play the Disney Infinity game on it. So, I boxed all that extra stuff up and plan to take it to Game Stop. Even if we just get a few $$ for it or they trade it for a couple of PS3 games that they would play.. it would be worth it! It is a huge box of stuff that is out of here!! It frees up a lot of storage space in our living room.. I was able to organize our existing video game stuff and now it looks great! Everything was actually put away!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Called the local recycling place and was able to bring a truck load of cardboard to them instead of stuffing it in the can every week. Lots of room in the end of the building now.
Tear down of the land rover is coming along nicely. Next up is clearing a workbench off so we can start work on the gear box. DS20's gear box is on it's last legs so I need to get this one apart and order new.
Still working on closets, this will be January project. The tough part is being caught up on laundry enough to actually see what everyone has and needs.

 

[hsmamato2]

my name is hsmamato2 and I need to declutter. I am starting with all boots that I don;t like to wear,and shoes that sort of fit,that are filling my house. Also going this week- all skirts that don't fit, but are clogging my closet,no matter how cute they are! Anddd.... tossing any sweaters that I haven't worn in 6 months.... I never will! Who am I trying to fool with all this junk? And the coats...oh the coats I can't seem to let go of....(I am saving them for a snowpocalypse apparently) Also going, old purses (i only use one) and a fruit basket with the banana hook on it (so ugly,I hate that thing) along with bookends I got from a friend and never once used. By the end of the week these things will be gone! I am inspired by this thread!

 

[KarenAylwood]

my name is hsmamato2 and I need to declutter. I am starting with all boots that I don;t like to wear,and shoes that sort of fit,that are filling my house. Also going this week- all skirts that don't fit, but are clogging my closet,no matter how cute they are! Anddd.... tossing any sweaters that I haven't worn in 6 months.... I never will! Who am I trying to fool with all this junk? And the coats...oh the coats I can't seem to let go of....(I am saving them for a snowpocalypse apparently) Also going, old purses (i only use one) and a fruit basket with the banana hook on it (so ugly,I hate that thing) along with bookends I got from a friend and never once used. By the end of the week these things will be gone! I am inspired by this thread!

What is it with coats? DH and I have this odd inability to get rid of them. I haven't worn some in years and neither has he!! I'm the same with the purses. I have a bunch and they sit in a box. I need to start purging our closet.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

I agree with coats and purses and for me I have shoes that are an issue as well. I developed foot problems ( planter fasci) so I have not been able to wear since then. We live in south Florida and have not been to the snow in about 8 yrs but I still have DH and my snow gear-coats, boots,..thankfully the kids outgrew theirs so I was able to get rid of them.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

The problem with coats is you need some for all weather, or at least I do. I have a heavy winter coat, a zip up hoodie, a light weight jacket, a rain jacket, the list goes on. It's awful!!
Purses I have 3, cross body bag made from recycled boat sails, and 2 Louis Vitton's, but I'm going to sell one.

 

[NinaBella]

I have been decluttering for about a year now (maybe longer). It is a very slow process with 4 kids. Two weeks ago we signed for a storage unit. We had one a few years ago but cancelled it. The garage is a constant battle and we can't use the weight bench because of it. Our closest storage unit stays full so finally snagged one and will start using it this weekend. We only plan to keep it six months amd will only put things in it we know we want to keep. We live in a cookie cutter house in Florida so no basement and not enough home storage. As we put items in storage we will be discarding quite a bit as well. The plan is to empty the garage, redo the floors, paint, etc. Then reorganize and put back what we keep in the storage unit.

I am constantly discarding items in the house either mailing to our neice, donating locally, or just trashing items. We have been putting out about 3 times the amount of garbage as our neighbors. LoL.

I like the KonMari method just can not do it all back-to-back, and with five bedrooms, room to room works great. I have done categories too. This week I pulled out four old cameras, 2 portable DVD players, 4 old hand held gaming systems. I would like to donate or take to pawn shop. But not sure anyone would want them.

From Christmas to now ago I had DH clean his closet and had 66 shirts (polo and button downs) and 7 suits we took to Metropolitan Ministries. I donate 15 of my dresses. This doesn't include all my kids clothes already donated before the holidays.

Over the holidays we also decluttered the kitchenware and holiday decorations.

One motivating factor is I want to redo my entire first floor from laminate, off-white tile, and carpet to the tile that looks like wood, repaint the interior, change out some furnitire. We have been in the home 13 years and it is time for some upgrades. I plan to declutter and have just the minimum in the house before I reward myself with the upgrades.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

2017 Items gone: 117

Just starting on my homeschool supplies. DS18 will be finished this year and I have a lot to get rid of. That is even with the selling of many school items each year. There are so many supplies and books!

I like having my sheet with the boxes on from nourishing minimalism, it is motivating me to keep going and find items so I can check off each box. Like kids with tgheir gold stars.

 

[PrincessKymm]

I trashed 3 pairs of pajama pants tonight! They are old and holy and needed to go awhile ago.

Not much but I'm sick so I'm considering it a win

 

[dpswift]

I trashed 3 pairs of pajama pants tonight! They are old and holy and needed to go awhile ago.

Not much but I'm sick so I'm considering it a win

If you can get rid of just 3 things a day it can really add up.