Destash 2019 Time to Trash the Stash!

[StephMK]

I'm about done sorting Christmas decorations. There are now 2 empty storage totes to use for packing. I also finally went through to sort the lights into working and non working and donating the blowup Grinch we haven't used in years.

DH collected another several work shirts and there is a growing donation pile in the garage. So far, I have a few bags of misc household items, a bag of souvenir cups and koozies, and a few bags of clothes and shoes.

 

[Ames77]

Just curious.. is everyone getting items out of the house immediately?

We have been considering a yard sale to contribute to our Disney fund for this summer but also understand the value in just getting stuff out of the house. If we did go with a yard sale, everything would be boxed up in an out of the way area in the basement and would not be coming back into the house after the sale.

I signed up for a weekend at a campground that is holding a yard sale as an activity. Anything I don't sell there will get donated on our way home or shortly after.

Found out last year that the Salvation Army does pickups in my area. I've gotten rid of so much stuff that way. I just let them know on the website what I'm donating, box up the items, put them on my porch on the designated day, then come home to a receipt and stuff gone. Much easier than arguing with DH as to when he is going to drop stuff off at Goodwill for me.

 

[Superchikk]

Just curious.. is everyone getting items out of the house immediately?

We have been considering a yard sale to contribute to our Disney fund for this summer but also understand the value in just getting stuff out of the house. If we did go with a yard sale, everything would be boxed up in an out of the way area in the basement and would not be coming back into the house after the sale.

I hate yard sales. Our neighborhood does them 3 times a year, though. I used to participate, but I hate gathering stuff and piling it all up to wait for a yard sale, then hauling it outside, pricing it, and sitting outside bargaining with strangers over it. I know people who make lots of cash every time they have one, but I would have to make over $1k for it to be anywhere near worth it to me. I'd rather it just be gone.

So what I do now is list larger items on apps like Let it Go or in our neighborhood for-sale page on FB. I give it a certain number of days to sell, and if it doesn't, it gets donated. I do several "rounds" of larger purges every year, and that's usually when I do that. Otherwise, it's small amounts at a time, trash, give to friends, recycle, or donate. I find that if I move it out quickly, I'm more motivated to do it.

I do consign a good portion of my kids' clothes, and what's too torn up or stained to consign but still wearable, I give to my sister for her 3 girls to wear to the barns.

 

[Superchikk]

I'm in. I actually spent today cleaning up our bonus room/"Family Cave" in preparation for an exercise bike to come in. But in the process, I shifted some things around and got rid of a box full of old cables, an old DVD player that no longer works, and some other miscellaneous junk. I wish I had been more motivated to clean and purge over Christmas break, but I wasn't. I suppose I needed that down time as much as I thought I did.

On the up side, Christmas stuff is all put away, and even though I bought some new things this year (after doing MAJOR decor purge a few years ago), it all fit into the tubs I already had.

Next project will be a paperwork thing. We are self-employed and it takes a lot of prep for tax season. I'll be sorting through receipts, etc. and gathering everything to send to the accountant. After that is done, paperwork I didn't need from this past year will be taken to the shredding place, along with stuff from 8 years ago (You have to keep records for 7 years, but I keep 8 just to be safe. I'm weird.). This year's stuff will replace that stuff in the attic when it's all said and done.

My big project for the spring will be to clean out the garage. It desperately needs it. How we fit both our cars and 4 bicycles in there along with the mower, mini fridge, and all the other things, I do not know. I do know that a lot of stuff needs to GO.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I'm in for this year (hopefully I last long than I did last year, which was about 2-3 weeks). I actually started this weekend when we took down our Christmas stuff. I threw out a piece of yard art, which was a Disney North Pole type deal we bought at Lowes two years ago. It worked for one year, the light was out last year. So I spent $80 for it to work 1 month.

Anyway, I threw that out as well as 3 other window decorations, an old football, 7 empty CD cases, a set of batteries and a bucket of nails/screws. So I'm up to 14/2019.

I've got a pile of stuff I gathered up last year that's in my guest room that I haven't ever gotten rid of. So that could be next. I also have 2 filing cabinets in my office at home to go through as well.

 

[sandam1]

I wanted to join in on this challenge. I tried to do the 2018 one and found that I was unable to keep track of everything that I got rid of, particularly when we did our garage sale.

This year, my goal is to sell 219 items and to make at least $2,019. I have a lot of sellable items around our house (a side effect of being in charge of two estate sales in 2017 as well as my own stuff) that have enough value to make it worth my time and energy. I'm thinking that this money will be designated to build up my emergency fund. I know, not exactly an especially sexy use for the money, but it needs to be done. Plus just getting the stuff OUT of my house will be a relief.

 

[momma2ethan]

I have started the year off on the right foot. Despite being sick since Christmas, spending yesterday at my mom's and coming home to a power outage (STILL no power ugh) I was able to get some stuff out.

Big box of recyclables out to the recycle bin
Sample box of formula to a mom on my buy nothing group (my son is 11, no idea WHY I even got it in the mail)
Keurig and bag full of k-cups to another mom on buy nothing
case of k-cups to my sister
case of k-cups to my aunt
bag of 50 child hangers to a mom on buy nothing.

I have a space saver high chair pending pick up as well.

My goal for this week is to get rid of the 3 boxes of children's books that my son has read/outgrown that have taken over my dining table.

57 items gone

 

[neatokimmo]

I’ll join you all this year. My first goal is to clear out the chest freezer in the garage. I made out a January and February dinner meal plan. I need $70 in groceries to finish up all 59 meals. Breakfast and lunch will be anything and everything.

I have lots of DDs clothes to sell in a swap group in feb. And I have a sofa, chair and pool table to get rid of.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

We have been in declutter mode for a while although have not recorded our progess. Last fall I took a small car load of ladies clothing (mine and dd) and household items to a woman's shelter. We also took other stuff to a store that we can drop off items for resale. The store hires people who have no work experience or are unable to find employmentand they are trained to work in retail. The store operates on the money that they receive for the sale of the donated items.

A few years ago we had an Estate/Garage sell when we had to empty my DMIL's house. We sold quite a bit also sold some items online. Now we just accumulate and donate.

I could count the items that we have already to go and then continue to add to that amount.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Zhoen]

Got some "new" (thrift shop) things over the weekend... a butter dish to foil the cat, more forks and spoons because they disappear constantly, but overall, I resisted LOTS of stuff that I *COULD* have bought for super-duper-cheap. To balance this "inflow," I cleaned out under/behind the sectional sofa... so yeah, that's ALWAYS an adventure, and I definitely ended up with more out-than-in when it was all said and done. (Still haven't pulled off the cushions and cleaned out INSIDE the couches yet... maybe tomorrow...)

Today we lugged all the Christmas stuff up to the attic, and I pulled down and tossed out an old ice cream maker while I was up there. Also gave away a pair of DD11s old tap shoes, and DD15 surprised the heck out of me by voluntarily donating a couple old wii games she doesn't play anymore! I recycled Christmas cards, mailed away thank you notes, dropped off paperwork, and returned some DVDs I'd borrowed.

I also spent today working on "mental clutter." I did a bunch of virtual paperwork so it's not hanging over me any more and went to the dentist, so I can stop dreading that now!

Baby steps!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I may have just lost it on my children tonight. I mentioned before my 13yo's room is SOOOO messy we found a dead mouse in her closet. My children just leave food, trash, etc all over the house. We need to purge this house so that they take some pride in where they live. I told them tonight there's no reason for me to spend $2k a month on the mortgage for this house if they want to just trash it. I said I will sell this house and move to something in a less nice area that is much cheaper if they just want to be slobs. I think that might have woke them up and hopefully we can join forces and clean up this house and get the junk out.

I HATE MICE! They are my BIGGEST fear! And the fact that we now have them because they have become such slobs is stupid. They both said well "dad doesn't let us be messy at his house". Well I don't either! I ask them 25 times to throw things into the garbage. Their dad....well he yells nonstop and they hate it. But maybe I have to take that route to get them to clean up!

Nonetheless, the mess and clutter, and crap NEEDS to go. I'm going to make a list what needs to be done in each room and start to tackle it. I think they need to be given tasks as well. They put off what I ask them to do all week until just before they have to go to their dad's and then leave the house in a mess still. My goal has been to try and accomplish at least one thing in the weeks they are at their dads. I think we need to accomplish something together as a family on the weeks they are here too!

2019, is the official start as a new family, and we need a fresh start in this house. I got the house in the divorce, but that means I also go 14 years of junk too!

 

[OhMari]

We will be in our new home 4 years March 1.
I have a huge laundry room with 4 built in cubbie spots above
my counter and 4 cabinets and a huge closet.
It all needs to be cleaned up and decluttered.

I started with the cabinet that holds all the booze.
Anything opened got drained down the sink.
12 bottles recycled.

(I googled the shelf life of alcohol and it said 2 years.)

12/2019.

 

[StephMK]

After scooting around the big donation pile I had collected in the garage, I finally loaded it all up last night and dropped it off. We had snow coming so I was forced to move it so it wouldn't get wet.

That was definitely the hardest donation because it was many of the toys that I hadn't been ready to let go.

I am still a little teary about it (silly, I know) but I think it is more the final step in confronting the fact that those days are over. DS is the last kid off to college next year.

The good news is that I felt a little lighter once I couldn't hold on any longer. Today I'm feeling pretty ruthless and collected a large bag of my clothes, more household items, and cleared out the last bits of DD24's old room.

We went through DD18's room while she was home and she has a big pile of clothes to donate too. I'll take some to school for our nurse to use for students.

This afternoon I plan to tackle the towel closet then work on pictures.

What's everyone else up to?

 

[Superchikk]

After scooting around the big donation pile I had collected in the garage, I finally loaded it all up last night and dropped it off. We had snow coming so I was forced to move it so it wouldn't get wet.

That was definitely the hardest donation because it was many of the toys that I hadn't been ready to let go.

I am still a little teary about it (silly, I know) but I think it is more the final step in confronting the fact that those days are over. DS is the last kid off to college next year.

The good news is that I felt a little lighter once I couldn't hold on any longer. Today I'm feeling pretty ruthless and collected a large bag of my clothes, more household items, and cleared out the last bits of DD24's old room.

We went through DD18's room while she was home and she has a big pile of clothes to donate too. I'll take some to school for our nurse to use for students.

This afternoon I plan to tackle the towel closet then work on pictures.

What's everyone else up to?

This made me think of Andy's Mom cleaning out when he was preparing to go to college! I don't know if that hurts or helps.

We're about to be in one of those phases. I had absolutely no trouble getting rid of sippy cups and bibs when my daughter (youngest child) finally grew out of them. (The only babies in this house from now forward will be someone else's. ) I found it a little difficult to pack up the Little People (which I DID keep) to make room for Barbies. But we're about to move past all the "easy reader" books, the kids' puzzles, get rid of the last bicycle with training wheels, and other things that have been part of our home for almost 10 years now. It wasn't so hard to pass things down from one kid to another, but getting rid of them altogether... it is definitely harder. And I'm not even a sentimental person! I do love every phase, and I'm not really sad that they're growing up - it's just sometimes hard to let go of those things that have been around for so long and you've picked up out of the floor a million times. Other clutter? No problem... I have no trouble getting rid of it!

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Did a little more this week. I work from 7-4 each day, and I drive almost an hour each way. So there's very limited time to do work around the house (about 3 hours each night before supper, laundry, going to the gym if I go, etc.). So I don't have much time during the week. But I did manage to sell 2 large boxes of baseball cards. Sold one for $75 and the other for $125. Also sold a group of 6 cards individually for $200. So all of that money will be going into our vacation fund for September. I also threw out 2 empty baseball card boxes. So I removed 4 items from my house this week (4 boxes). That bumps my yearly total to 18/2019. I know, it's a little slow. But I'm working when I can.

I'm in for this year (hopefully I last long than I did last year, which was about 2-3 weeks). I actually started this weekend when we took down our Christmas stuff. I threw out a piece of yard art, which was a Disney North Pole type deal we bought at Lowes two years ago. It worked for one year, the light was out last year. So I spent $80 for it to work 1 month.

Anyway, I threw that out as well as 3 other window decorations, an old football, 7 empty CD cases, a set of batteries and a bucket of nails/screws. So I'm up to 14/2019.

I've got a pile of stuff I gathered up last year that's in my guest room that I haven't ever gotten rid of. So that could be next. I also have 2 filing cabinets in my office at home to go through as well.

 

[comicguy]

A bit of a slow week but at least something left the house

1 sample pack of dishwasher pods - used up
1 broken stapler - trashed
2 dry erase markers (dried up) - trashed

4 items left the house

76 of 500 or 15.2% of goal

 

[FabFive24]

I'm going to try to post our progress on Sundays. Currently, we are boxing items up for a yard sale and storing them in one designated basement corner as well as selling or giving away as we purge so I'm counting items as out of our living space even if not completely out of our home yet. I've decided to aim for 2019 items total.

Current progress... 210/2019

 

[StephMK]

This made me think of Andy's Mom cleaning out when he was preparing to go to college! I don't know if that hurts or helps.

I'm trying not to think about it!

We stayed in all weekend and worked around the house. Unfortunately, I overdid it and pulled my lower back really bad then made it worse trying to get ready for work. I'm home, trying to get comfortable.

Large bag of womens clothes
Large bag of DD18's clothes and shoes
Cleared out kids' bathroom-2 sm boxes of donate items, lots of things trashed
Collected pile of old towels and some extra sheets to donate

I will have DS load it up later this week to drop off.

Just an FYI- Goodwill will take broken or working Christmas lights. They send the broken one to recycle. I dropped off a bag of each last week.

 

[kool_kat]

I want to be in! I've hit the major "I'm so sick of all of this stuff" stage. I'm going to make my goal be 2019 items for 2019. I'm only counting bags of trash if it was a clean out, not just my normal trash.

I did send a box of stuff to our local donation a couple of days ago so I already have 62 items from that. We also had my BIL come get his guns as we bought a new gun safe. That's four more items. Tonight we are taking two end tables to my mom along with about 5 more bb guns / muzzle loaders.

So total out of my house is 73/2019. Cleaning out the pantry today, so that will be at least one bag of trash.

 

[momma2ethan]

I really cleared out a ton of stuff over the weekend but forgot my planner with my numbers at home so I'll have to add real numbers tomorrow.

It was actually a whole "if you give a mouse a cookie" situation in my house, which kept it more fun and motivating. It all started with DS11 asking for more hangers while putting away his laundry. Before I'd even drank half a cup of coffee! Instead of just pulling hangers from my closet I went through his closet with him and we pulled out a hoody, 2 winter coats and 6 shirts that no longer fit. He no longer needed more hangers. Since the closet only took a few minutes I suggested we go through his toybox. He never plays with the stuff in there anyway. He got rid of 3 decent size boxes of toys and puzzles. They only things he kept were 1 nerf gun, his Legos, tsum tsums, Star Wars action figures and Funko Pops, some cherished plushes and the things he just got for Christmas!

I was on a roll so I went through the 2 shelves in the linen closet that I use for health and beauty and pantry stockpile and started on the dining room and storage closet. I tossed 3 boxes of trash and listed a bunch of stuff on my buy nothing group. Every single thing I listed has been picked up except for a pair of snow boots and those are being picked up this afternoon.

It felt amazing to have so much progress in just one weekend.

1/7/19 - 55 items
1/14/19 - 81 items
running total - 136 items