We finally made some huge progress on de-cluttering. Here is a list of items that are no longer in our apartment demanding a place to be stored. We recycled some, gave some to other families in one of our neighborhood parents’ groups, gave some to a neighbor that does a sidewalk sale for charity and took the rest to Goodwill.
- 27 bracelets
- 14 necklaces
- 12 pairs earrings
- 7 pins
- 1 watch
- 1 ring
- 36 tops
- 3 cardigans
- 3 fabric belts/scarves
- 1 sweater
- 2 pairs of jeans
- 4 dress pants
- 2 skirts
- 1 pair of shorts
- 12 blank Christmas cards from last year
- 1 graph paper notebook
- 1 Disney cube photo frame
- 1 package crafting pearls
- 4 iron-on letters
- 1 screwdriver pen
- 1 plastic crochet hook
- 2 iron-on hearts
- 1 packaging from living room curtains
- 4 pieces ribbon
- 2 pieces yarn
- 1 empty thread spool
- 1 empty package from iron-on heart
- 1 porcelain drinking glass/Japanese figurine
- 1 family tree photo frame
- 4 Cooks Illustrated magazines
- 1 New York calendar
- 1 mini knitting kit
- 8 magazine file boxes
- 5 pairs shoes (estimated…I wasn’t done deciding but hubs took the box to Goodwill; guess I can live without them!)
- 20 books
- 5 magazines
- 30 magazines & newspapers
- 1 R2D2 mug
- 1 plastic egg
- 1 blue toy truck
- 1 electric lint remover
- 1 box colored stones
- 1 pile of $5000 cash (Just kidding… they were foreign bills worth almost nothing)
- 2 photo frames
- 1 pile of maps from Praha
Grand total: 231*
*I didn’t count the car full of baby items we took to a swap at our local library last month. We wanted to be “green” and use second hand and boy did our friends come through! There were so many newborn clothes, etc it would have been too time consuming to count them all. Seriously! There were 5 or 6 boxes of clothes, a stroller, bouncy chairs, a changing table, toys, pillows, stuffed animals etc. We took everything that Peter outgrew or we didn’t need and came back with one box of clothes for him to grow into this fall and winter. At the end of the swap, the extras went to Goodwill.
You HAVE been busy! And with a new baby… Did you take time to sleep? Great job. We decluttered & had a yard sale the end of August. It was a relief to get rid of all that stuff. And then without a blink (and only regret of 2 items) we sent the remainder of the sale to the Salvation Army. It’s amazing how getting rid of stuff that at another time seemed so important to keep is so freeing. Keep up the good work!
I completely agree. It’s unnerving how fast it all goes sometimes but so freeing once it’s gone.
Yes, I definitely make sure to stay well rested. (Instead of losing sleep, I cut out other things like time on the computer!)
WOW! That’s a lot. I hope to get to the local animal rescue store this week while DH is gone.
We got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved and while it was a little unnerving it also felt wonderful. I think I’m going to set a goal for myself to go back through my craft items and get rid of some more.
I technically have room for it all, but I know I just won’t use it all. I was thinking about either getting rid of a certain number of items or finding a box and trying to fill it. What do you think?
I really like the idea of setting a boundary (like a box). I started trying that WAY back at the beginning of the 52 weeks; trying to get all my Christmas decorations in one bin. I’ve used the idea in a bunch of other places since then.
I was thinking about this more and I realized we have also implemented setting a number limit in several places (clothes and movies come to mind). So I was wondering why my initial thought was a boundary for craft supplies and I think it’s because they are not all the same thing. For me I think it’s easiest to set a number limit when it’s the same and a space limit when it’s a collection of various items. What do you think?
I think this is a great way to classify the difference. I have done both but have never really thought about how/what/why of it. Thanks, now I can go back and look at my “stuff” again to make sure I’ve dealt with them that way. One thing I’ve held to that with a few exceptions is, if it’s decorative it needs to be functional. Like my cool wicker tray or my bread basket they are hanging on the wall.