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Post by mikklynn on May 28, 2023 13:46:29 GMT
I'm hoping this is the week I find time to buy a storage cabinet for my garage. I want to get rid of all the bins. I also want my DD to hurry up and be ready to take my old table and chairs for her patio! The patio set is gone! My grandson and I delivered it to DD. My DS is coming on the 8th, so he can help me get the storage cabinet and install it. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 29, 2023 0:59:13 GMT
This week’s fail: I totally forgot about the shredding day until I knew it would be too late to get over there with my stuff. 😩 I had too many other irons in the fire then DH had an unexpected day off that day and he was out with friends and I completely spaced it out. This week’s win: I had a big Rubbermaid tote full of stuff that I’ve been tripping over for at least a year. I emptied it out, took pics of most of it and posted it on Buy Nothing. Some of it was snapped up within the hour and several more items left the house today. A few other things were added to the box I’m working on filling to donate to the local charity that gives away clothing to area residents who need it. I found the virtually new roller skates that DD got right before Covid and then outgrew because the rink we used to go to very week closed forever, those will be sold on marketplace. I think she wore them twice. ☹️ The bag of electronics junk got put with the boxes of stuff I was going to take to the shredding event because they will also take electronics. The next one is June 21 and I’ll set my reminder for the day before so I can get help from DH to load it up in the car. The tote itself has no lid, so it will be used for my next donatable donation box. I’m so glad that tote is now empty and out of my way! Oh, one more thing went out the door this week too! Someone was looking for a wooden doll cradle on Buy Nothing and DD had one she didn’t want anymore so out the door it went. It will make some other little kid really happy and that makes ME really happy! We have a Buy Nothing group here, expect it's called 'free stuff '. Most of the stuff people are needing free or really cheap I don't have (cell phone til they can get theirs fixed, furniture, baby clothes, etc) I don't have. If someone needs clothes hopefully I can help them out that way. When we were moving 5 years ago, we put out some old desk chairs for bulk pickup or whoever drove by and wanted it prior to bulk. A lady just happened to be walking by just after we put it out. She asked if she could take it, she had no furniture. I told her take it. She said she was going to come back and get the small table we had out. It was gone next morning at dawn. Not sure if she got it or someone else. Your post reminds me of a time at our old house when we put a set of metal mesh patio chairs out for the trash the night prior to trash day. The plastic coating on them was peeling off and it would be a huge pain to try to get the rest off in order to paint them, so out on the curb they went. Well someone came by in the night and took them. Yay! A few days went by and wouldn’t you know it the chairs reappeared on our curb with a note taped to them saying, “No thanks.” WTF? 🤣 Who does that? Now they had to sit out there for almost a week until the next trash day for the garbage man to take them away, or we had to haul them back up to the yard to not be a neighborhood eyesore and then haul them BACK down to the curb the following week (which of course is what we did, but what a PITA). IMO if you’re going to take something off of someone’s trash stash just before garbage pickup day, you don’t get to bring it back! At that point it’s yours and you need to figure out some other way to dispose of it. |
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on May 29, 2023 2:48:06 GMT
Well someone came by in the night and took them. Yay! A few days went by and wouldn’t you know it the chairs reappeared on our curb with a note taped to them saying, “No thanks.” WTF? 🤣 That's hysterical!  Totally wrong, but so funny! People can be so weird. |
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,688
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on May 29, 2023 7:47:27 GMT
Well someone came by in the night and took them. Yay! A few days went by and wouldn’t you know it the chairs reappeared on our curb with a note taped to them saying, “No thanks.” WTF? 🤣 That's hysterical! Totally wrong, but so funny! People can be so weird. I am also in the camp of it you took it, it's now your problem to figure out. I can't believe they had the nerve to put them back with a note! |
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Post by mikklynn on May 29, 2023 11:53:40 GMT
crazy4scraps That is the funniest thing I have heard in this thread! That person has a lot of nerve.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 29, 2023 14:08:38 GMT
That's hysterical! Totally wrong, but so funny! People can be so weird. I am also in the camp of it you took it, it's now your problem to figure out. I can't believe they had the nerve to put them back with a note! I know, right? We thought it was funny too but mind blowing at the same time. The note was just nuts! |
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Post by cecilia on May 29, 2023 17:33:43 GMT
crazy4scrapsI think the only thing people didn't take was the old carpet we pulled up. We had furniture mainly but I think we had storage drawer units we didn't want too out there. Seems like we had stuff out there for 4 to 6 weeks. The town we lived in did all the bulk pickups on Thursday, so people would drive around on Wednesday afternoon/evening looking for stuff to flip/scrap for salvage yards.
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Post by Delta Dawn on May 29, 2023 18:58:55 GMT
Hi. I emptied a moving box full of food from the pantry in the house. Someone bought a ton of Costco stuff (mother) and it’s all expired now. I was actually looking for nicer coffee mugs. I couldn’t find them, though. Anyway I am not emptying all the jars and cans. It can just go in garbage. There are oodles more boxes down there but this one is taken care of.
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finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896 
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Post by finaledition on May 30, 2023 6:00:09 GMT
This week as we continue to purge for our upcoming move-1 week out and our theme was “nosy looky loos” at the open house. Basically we cleaned out all the places that somebody might open-oven, fridge and garage fridge, coat closet, and nightstands. I had several bags of trash, added more to the donate pile, and posted a couple dvds and other items on our local buy nothing site. I still need to do a bit more to my closet and another closet. I’m dreading the open house!!
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Post by cecilia on May 30, 2023 6:34:51 GMT
This week as we continue to purge for our upcoming move-1 week out and our theme was “nosy looky lous” at the open house. Basically we cleaned out all the places that somebody might open-oven, fridge and garage fridge, coat closet, and nightstands. I had several bags of trash, added more to the donate pile, and posted a couple dvds and other items on our local buy nothing site. I still need to do a bit more to my closet and another closet. I’m dreading the open house!! Kinda glad we didn't do an open house. No one toured it until we moved everything. idk if that helped or hurt. We went so far as taking out carpet and vinyl flooring. The buyers were going to have to do a ton of work anyway. Still trying to purge crafting stuff. Never ending task. Some is going into my 'donate to local residential high school ' pile and my 'experiments' are going into my junk journal kit pile for arts and crafts fair. The residential school is a public school for 10-12 graders and is for high achieving students. They have several different types of art classes so I hope they can use it. If nothing else I can donate it to local art nonprofit. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on May 30, 2023 11:48:55 GMT
My friend sent me this article written by Ann Patchett published in The New Yorker in 2021. It’s long, but it resonated with me as I’m making a strong effort to purge and thought I’d share it with fellow declutterers. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/08/how-to-practiceI’ve read so so many articles and books about this topic that I had to force myself to click on this one. But I am oh so glad I did. What a delightful story with such a brilliant lesson attached to it. Thank you for bringing this one to our thread. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on May 30, 2023 11:55:22 GMT
And by the way - good job everyone. We’re all still plugging away.
I purged and reorganized a utility closet in my laundry room. As always I found items I forgot I owned and items I can’t imagine ever using! Filled a whole box to donate, tossed some mostly empty bottles of various cleaning stuff, and I’m enjoying a much more functional closet.
Also did a quick redo recently of the freezer of our side by side. I’m so obsessive about labeling, I’m always amused to find a few mystery items. Nice to have it cleaned out and organized too.
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Post by cecilia on Jun 3, 2023 23:16:00 GMT
Started to work on my she shed. I am predicting a fight between me and my Dad. According to him, it's just acceptable to pile everything in there if I can 'walk inside of it'. Well, I am trying to purge scrapbooking stuff and he has all the other crap piled up so much I can't get to it. Ever since I told him I am going to have to take a bunch of stuff out, he's been in a shitty mood. His pile jobs has cost us saleable things to break and damage to fiber items of my grandparents. He refuses to listen to me or my Mom about how it needs to be taken care of, and yet he complains about not having anything nice.
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Post by mikklynn on Jun 4, 2023 13:49:12 GMT
cecilia Lock him out of the shed. That sounds harsh, but you don't have to deal with him ruining things.
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Post by allison1954 on Jun 4, 2023 13:52:11 GMT
cecilia Lock him out of the shed. That sounds harsh, but you don't have to deal with him ruining things. Except it’s her father and it is probably his shed? |
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Post by mikklynn on Jun 4, 2023 13:54:21 GMT
cecilia Lock him out of the shed. That sounds harsh, but you don't have to deal with him ruining things. Except it’s her father and it is probably his shed? She referred to it as her she shed. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 4, 2023 16:31:27 GMT
Another bit of a fail/win. The no lid Rubbermaid tote that I was going to fill with stuff to donate looked to be the right size to replace a cardboard box that is my indoor collection point for recycling so I decided to recycle the cardboard box and use the tote instead. For me, it’s easier to have a couple paper grocery bags in the tote (previously in the box) so that I can corral the various paper, junk mail and cardboard in one bag and the cans and recyclable plastic in another. It keeps all the stuff contained so it’s less likely to blow out of the can when it’s getting dumped into the truck on trash/recycle day.
Now that it’s warmer I can go through the mountain of spring/summer clothing that has accumulated in the hall closet and drop it off at the charity place where I prefer to donate. It’ll be easier now that I won’t have snow and ice to battle and fewer donation days plagued with torrential rain.
At the lake cabin I threw out several broken flower pots and a couple pool noodles that I replaced recently with new ones. We get the big foam noodles from Costco and about every five years or so they flatten out and start to suck, and when that happens they need to go.
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Post by cecilia on Jun 4, 2023 16:42:31 GMT
cecilia Lock him out of the shed. That sounds harsh, but you don't have to deal with him ruining things. Except it’s her father and it is probably his shed? He paid for it. However, he even calls it the 'she shed'. He has a mancave and carport next to it that he uses for his things. I rarely go in those. Rarely. About the only time I do is to get a shipping box. Most of the stuff I mail I can use a polymailer which are kept in the house. He had bought the 'she shed' to put mine and my mom's crafting stuff in, and it's morphed into holding flea market stuff too. |
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jun 4, 2023 23:52:41 GMT
I had a decluttering itch today, and tackled a bunch of stuff.
Things that had no business being emotional suddenly were. I apologized to my mom (who passed away nearly two years ago) for tossing a few of the things that she saved for whatever reason that she did. These were kitchen things. Things that just shouldn't matter. A pair of stained & smelly pot holders. An old hand mixer, harvest gold in color, literally held together with tape.
I also tossed some stuff of my own era, so to speak, that didn't phase me negatively in the least. Old plastic popsicle molds that never quite worked anyway. A mini waffle maker that someone put back not quite clean and I just couldn't fathom dealing with. Some miscellaneous kitchen stuff in the utensil drawer.
Also cleaned out the junk drawer. Put all the batteries in one ziplock bag together. Tossed the many pre-used twist ties, the brittle, stretched out rubberbands, & the instruction manual for a microwave oven we replaced four years ago.
I did, however, find the beautiful metal Christmas cookie cutters that she used during my childhood. I labelled the bag with my name, to ensure they are not tossed or appropriated accidentally sometime in the future.
I tossed things that I haven't worn in a long time, or never at all. A thrifted dress that I wore once, two years ago. A black jacket that was too big when I bought it, and I never wore. A black cloth backpack purse that I had used quite a bit several years ago, but have since not used in several years since. It was dusty and ripped on the inside. Several belts that I never used and don't know why I owned.
I "found" two long sleeve shirts that I have never worn, that I forgot I bought. I like them, and plan to wear them this autumn.
I put a bathingsuit and a two piece skirted suit in the hamper, to see if they come out well in the wash. If so, I'll keep them. If not, they'll be tossed.
I feel pretty good today about the decluttering I've done.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jun 5, 2023 1:51:04 GMT
Things that had no business being emotional suddenly were. I apologized to my mom (who passed away nearly two years ago) for tossing a few of the things that she saved for whatever reason that she did. These were kitchen things. Things that just shouldn't matter. A pair of stained & smelly pot holders. An old hand mixer, harvest gold in color, literally held together with tape. It's not the things themselves that were emotional, it was the letting go of another small piece of your mom and your own past. And sometimes it's the most mundane things that hit us the hardest, and when we least expect it. (((hugs))) This afternoon I went through the 3 drawers in the front bath and under the sink. Swapped out organizers (freed up some when I did my bathroom), tossed several things in a ziploc and added to the donation bag, got rid of an old mat for inside the tub, tossed the dried out containers of disinfectant wipes (remnants of covid), tossed an empty box under the sink. Now that bathroom is in great shape. Next up this week will be the small walk-in closet in the guest room. It's where we store luggage/travel items and workout gear. It's become a giant mess and needs to be sorted out. |
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Post by calgaryscrapper on Jun 5, 2023 2:45:30 GMT
Lavenderlayoutlady and others, be careful with the storage of batteries. 9 Volt batteries can short out if they touch other metal or batteries and cause a fire.
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Post by mikklynn on Jun 5, 2023 12:46:00 GMT
My DD came over and went through her stuff I've been storing. We tossed/donated about half of it, yay!
I also added 4 outdoor pillows to my donate pile. They came with my porch furniture, but I replaced them with pretty pillows.
Add a big bag of clothes and I have a load to go to Goodwill tomorrow.
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Post by cecilia on Jun 5, 2023 15:28:05 GMT
Went throw some of my fabric stash. It's in 3 piles:
1. Price individually
2. Donate to quilting volunteer group for homeless project and/or Relay for Life project.
3. Put in kits for Arts and Crafts fair items. (Making junk journal embellishment boxes).
Still need to tackle shed. all the crafting stuff I had already bagged for residential school in inside door and part of what's blocking stuff I need to get to. Tempted to go ahead and donate it to local non profit to get it out of shed.
Trying to decide if going to set up at swap meet. It's going to be hot and didn't have good sale last time.
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Post by freecharlie on Jun 5, 2023 16:08:39 GMT
I'm currently cleaning out my drawers.
I find it hard to get rid of shirts that are perfectly good even if they are too big or I don't wear them. I'm trying, but...
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jun 5, 2023 16:10:29 GMT
Tempted to go ahead and donate it to local non profit to get it out of shed. I would do that. If nothing else, it will help your stress levels regarding the shed immensely. Sometimes it's better to donate in batches, rather than wait until it's all done. As you can see, the donation stuff is getting in your way currently and slowing down the progress. |
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sharlag
Drama Llama
I like my artsy with a little bit of fartsy.
Posts: 6,584
Location: Kansas
Jun 26, 2014 12:57:48 GMT
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Post by sharlag on Jun 5, 2023 17:13:07 GMT
Got 2 big bags of clothing ready for goodwill. Making room for my groom.
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Post by cecilia on Jun 5, 2023 18:35:43 GMT
Tempted to go ahead and donate it to local non profit to get it out of shed. I would do that. If nothing else, it will help your stress levels regarding the shed immensely. Sometimes it's better to donate in batches, rather than wait until it's all done. As you can see, the donation stuff is getting in your way currently and slowing down the progress. Went out there to work some and ending up falling. That is honestly my biggest fear, especially since I don't have great knees and don't always have my phone. Thankfully I had it this time and was able to get my Dad out there to help me get up just in case. just have a couple sore knees, thankfully. Started a donate box and managed to get a pathway to get a couple things to sort. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 5, 2023 19:35:19 GMT
I'm currently cleaning out my drawers. I find it hard to get rid of shirts that are perfectly good even if they are too big or I don't wear them. I'm trying, but... I have the worst time with stuff like that. I have a big pile of crew neck scrapbooking t-shirts that I like the designs on but hate that they’re crew neck so I never wear them. I keep telling myself I should just take them to the cabin to wear when I’m working on a messy project, but honestly because they aren’t v-neck (which = hot 🥵) I probably won’t wear them there either. 🫤 I wish there was a way I could remake them into v-necks without it looking like a total hack but there really isn’t. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 5, 2023 19:38:46 GMT
I would do that. If nothing else, it will help your stress levels regarding the shed immensely. Sometimes it's better to donate in batches, rather than wait until it's all done. As you can see, the donation stuff is getting in your way currently and slowing down the progress. Went out there to work some and ending up falling. That is honestly my biggest fear, especially since I don't have great knees and don't always have my phone. Thankfully I had it this time and was able to get my Dad out there to help me get up just in case. just have a couple sore knees, thankfully. Started a donate box and managed to get a pathway to get a couple things to sort. A path is huge progress! Once you get that far you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My studio was such a huge dumpster fire after I brought all that stuff home from my friend’s dad’s house. It was piled up EVERYWHERE and it was so overwhelming. Once I started clearing the major walkway through to the utility room it really began to feel like a weight was being lifted. I still have quite a way to go but it already feels so much better being in that space. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jun 8, 2023 0:10:42 GMT
I did a hard purge on my closet and drawers today. And I’m proud to say it included some of my dressier shoes which I’ve traditionally been quite reluctant to get rid of - yay me! I knew the pile was growing but I didn’t realize how much was going until I bagged it up. It ended up taking five large shopping bags to contain it all. I’ll be dropping those at the thrift store tomorrow.  |
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