2025 Destash Time to Heave or Leave it

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I went through all my reusable bags awhile back-the ones that were absolutely trashed but did'nt have holes got used one last time each for cleaning the catbox . the ones on the verge of trashed I started using to put any donations in (found that if I put one on the inside doorknob of rooms and I came across something I was more apt to toss it in). the ones in good shape I have a few old plastic laundry baskets that stack one inside the other I use to store them. the old laundry baskets are in the back of the car so that days like tomorrow when I go grocery shopping I can snag the bags and then put the filled bags into the laundry baskets (so many less tipped over bags and toppled groceries since I started doing this).

We don't get plastic bags here anymore (Philadelphia), but MIL does. We see them twice a year (they live in Florida) and she saves all of her plastic bags so we can use them for cat litter. It cracks me up. I made the mistake of saying once that it's annoying we don't get plastic bags anymore because of the cats. LOL. So now we drive home at Christmas and 4th of July with a giant bag of bags. I don't feel bad because she would get them anyway and they would just go in the garbage so at least we can use them first. But it's pretty funny.

 

[barkley]

We don't get plastic bags here anymore (Philadelphia), but MIL does. We see them twice a year (they live in Florida) and she saves all of her plastic bags so we can use them for cat litter. It cracks me up. I made the mistake of saying once that it's annoying we don't get plastic bags anymore because of the cats. LOL. So now we drive home at Christmas and 4th of July with a giant bag of bags. I don't feel bad because she would get them anyway and they would just go in the garbage so at least we can use them first. But it's pretty funny.

it's crazy. we live in a state where it's take your own bags or pay for 'reusable' (plastic). in the nearby state it's free old school one and done thin plastic or paper bags. we save the other state's plastic bags for the catbox and use our own decent quality (think Trader Joe's) for shopping in state. I don't care for the 'reusable' ones and I must not be alone b/c I recently read how California is now entirely banning all plastic bags being sold/provided at grocery stores b/c they have hundreds of thousands of tons of non recyclable bags sitting in their landfills and have reverted back to paperbags b/c noone there cares to reuse them either.

 

[Turn the Page]

In the midst of our two bathroom remodels the contractor has to pull the toilet and vanity out of the main floor bathroom and tuck them.....somewhere while he works on the floor. I cleared out the auxilary entry way that is right next to said bathroom to make space to put that stuff.

It turned out I had a bunch of stuff in there that just needs to go. It is a way to convenient place to just dump stuff we don't want to deal with. I even found DS6's stroller that we haven't used in years. Actually, it is DD19's stroller. I briefly thought about keeping it for grandchildren but those are, hopefully, several years away. I had to text a friend to offer encouragement to get rid of the 20 year old stroller lol. You guys can all offer encouragement too though.

But since I'm on a roll I think I will take the opportunity to purge my kitchen utensils drawers since that will also only take a few minutes and then run those items to the transfer station and then swing by the nearby gourmet cheese shop to get myself a tasty treat for a job well done.

 

[barkley]

I even found DS6's stroller that we haven't used in years. Actually, it is DD19's stroller. I briefly thought about keeping it for grandchildren but those are, hopefully, several years away. I had to text a friend to offer encouragement to get rid of the 20 year old stroller lol. You guys can all offer encouragement too though.

old baby/kid items are best tossed just out of concerns over safety, also, out of kindness-don't put your kids (and future in-laws) in the position of having to fear hurting your feelings over refusing these items if they are having kids. my mom held on to my crib for over 30 years (I was the youngest and ended up being the only one to have kids) and could not seem to understand why we kept declining when she asked when we were going to take that crib for the nursery we were putting together. it was SO outdated safety wise and despite it having memories for her, I obviously only having used it as an infant had no such attachments. despite us finally getting her to understand that we had a new crib/did not need hers (and always brought a sleep and play to her place when we visited) she held on to that thing another 10 years and only got rid of it when we misled her into thinking another family member (who she never visited) wanted it (it went to landfill-it was a hazard).

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I'm in Canada, and single use plastic bags have been banned here. Like shopping bags. You also can't get plastic straws, and some other things. Anyhow, what I find funny is now everyone with cats will buy single use plastic garbage bags to use for litter. Meanwhile I just save things like milk bags (and everyone I know saves them for me) and re-use those. I'd like to say it's for environmental reasons, but really it's an added expense and I can't afford much in the way of added expenses.

Our milk doesn't come in bags in the US. And what I find funny is people in Canada have a lot of opinions about the US but actually don't know anything about the US.

 

[barkley]

I'm in Canada, and single use plastic bags have been banned here. Like shopping bags. You also can't get plastic straws, and some other things. Anyhow, what I find funny is now everyone with cats will buy single use plastic garbage bags to use for litter. Meanwhile I just save things like milk bags (and everyone I know saves them for me) and re-use those. I'd like to say it's for environmental reasons, but really it's an added expense and I can't afford much in the way of added expenses.

yeah, here the laws vary state to state. when I hop over to Idaho to shop I get a wealth of single use bags b/c they have a state wide law that prohibits ANY municipality from placing prohibitions on plastic bags and auxilary containers. I recycle them for the cats or to line small trash cans so they are getting multiple uses. you can still BUY single use plastic bags in a variety of sizes in Washington State but no business can use them to bag items so it's really much more single use b/c people buy them for the expressed purpose they need them for.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[barkley]

In my province you can also get milk in gallon jugs but it costs a little bit more.

it got crazy confusing here a couple of years ago when one of our state's biggest milk producers decided to shrink the size of a 'half gallon' of milk-same size container but instead of 64 oz it contains 59 oz

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[barkley]

I got through all the drawers and shelves in my primary closet got a box of donations, tossed some junk, organized some other stuff. kinda of like a walk down memory lane when I came across a box of scarves that were all the fashion to wear back in the day I will confess to NOT tossing out a small pile of dh's old skinny ties from the 80's-i still like that style.

I gotta say-while i think it was very worthwhile to have spent the money to have California closets redo our primary closet and aquire allot of usable space via drawers and double hanging bars...the flip side is it lets you lose track of how much stuff is actually hiding inside a closet that could be tossed.

 

[LoveDaisy]

The electricians had to get to a corner of the basement so last night I cleaned out the shelf in front of where they needed to work. I tossed 2 garbage bags of stuff, filled a donation box, and only kept 4 things. I’ll take progress anyway I can get it!

 

[barkley]

The electricians had to get to a corner of the basement so last night I cleaned out the shelf in front of where they needed to work. I tossed 2 garbage bags of stuff, filled a donation box, and only kept 4 things. I’ll take progress anyway I can get it!

I'm on a roll-i cleared out 2 drawers and one large cabinet in the kitchen that largely held odds and ends of kitchen gadgets. just how many cheese graters, spatulas, bbq forks... does one household need???? not nearly as many as we have somehow accumulated over the years so they are out of here.

 

[StephPlum]

Made a lot of good progress on my house today. Went through my closet/dressers and have one bag to toss and one bag of clothes to donate. Also tossed a bunch of papers/trinkets/stuff.

I divided my house into 13 rooms/spaces. With the work today I now have completed 4. First three were small/easy (hall area + coat closet), living room... This was one of the harder spaces. Relieved to have it done. I do hang on to things - maybe I'll need it someday. But once it goes in the bag/trash, I'm committed and don't look back.

Heading to my mom's this week to start on what she'll move to assisted living.

Mom's space is difficult as my sister and I have different processes and thoughts. I don't think that the stuff is worth much/ if anything so just toss it. My sister wants a yard sale. Fine then you do that! I'm out. It is difficult as I am 5 hours away and my sister is 10 mins. So I'll acquiesce to her. My sister did start to go through the house. I just do not understand her process so I didn't help much.

A little backslide as I brought back some old magazines - Workbasket. I just went through and will just keep one. So not too bad but negative to destashing.

Today I tackled a portion of my home office. I got through the top of the desk, the drawers and two filing cabinet drawers. I purged a ton of paper work including tax instruction booklets from the 80s and 90s. Shredded anything with personal information but I still ended with a large trash can full of paper/booklets. Still have a lot more but feel good about the progress.

 

[barkley]

when my mil passed she had a WEALTH of greeting cards, note pads, post it pads...over a decade later i still have an abundant supply so today I went through the cards and kept a handful for different occasions with the rest going to the charity box. at Christmas I use those battery powered candles for decor but I've found I only really like the ones on timers so I pulled all the ones that still work but are strictly on/off-into the charity box.

 

[LoveDaisy]

On Monday DH dug through out basket of winter hats and gloves and struggled to find matching gloves to shovel. Last night I pulled the basket out and went through it. Got rid of 5 winter hats, 3 scarves, 8 gloves with no mate, and 4 pairs that had seen better days. I also matched all the gloves to make it easier next time we need them.

 

[snowwite]

major purge for the New Year.... my mother passed away in April at 90, she still lived in the home with me and had hoarder tendencies (depression baby and all that) so that meant saving all sorts of stuff that no longer was needed or useful. This Halloween and Christmas I purged decorations (no worries we still have PLENTY) just keeping the ones that we actually use ... also finally got underneath into the kitchen cabinets and cleared out all the scratched non stick cookware and pot lids... so many potless lids. Taking a carload of stuff to the Salvation army today... I miss my mother dearly, but I confess it feels so good to be able to get rid of stuff without a fight

OMG my parents instilled that in me. Anything and everything was saved because, “ you never know” when you may need it.

 

[barkley]

just had dh go through all the electronix boxes (VR/headphones/computer speakers...) that have accumulated over the past couple of years to see what inside needed to be retained. big black plastic garbage bag into the dumpster of a myriad of boxes

 

[LoveDaisy]

I just went through 2 shelves in my linen closet. I went through the over the counter medication, my nail care basket, toothbrushes/toothpaste/floss basket and shaving items. I got rid of a garbage bag full of stuff and organized everything.

I need to go through towels and linens next but I don’t have a donation area because of construction so that may have to wait. I’ll take the small victory for now.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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