2023 Organizing & Decluttering Annual Thread!!!

Hmmm ... I'm not sure I actually made goals last year, and I'm pretty sure I didn't post any, so even just making this post is a big step forward!

I'm one of those people who loves to purge and donate and (re)organize, so I do that pretty regularly, so my goals for the year are kind of 'fine tuning' ones:

1) go through all the memoribilia, negatives, and 'extra' photos that have accumulated outside of my scrapbooks. The albums themselves take up lots of space--do I really need to devote half of my office closet to stuff that I quite literally never look at?!
2) I'm a give-it-away-er and hate garage sales and FB marketplace and thrift stores and all that. If I don't want something, I donate it or toss it. There are several items in the house/garage, though, that dh would not let me donate, so I'm going to nag him until he sells them himself.
3) take all the assorted idea notebooks and partial short stories and plot line lists and whatnot from my writing area and condense them into one spot where I can easily see what's what and get inspiration when I need it
4) do a swoop through the storage room bins and see what can disappear--anything that hasn't been touched since I last did it!

I'm keen to join in, and hopefully get some tips along the way. I've done a bit of decluttering over the last few days. I think I will include that in my goals, even though technically some of it was done at the end of 2022, because it will help keep me inspired if I see some check marks!

KITCHEN:
✅ Clean out the Tupperware drawer, and get rid of lidless containers and containerless lids! 
✅ Clean out saucepan cupboard, get rid of old pots and pans
✅ Clean out the cutlery drawer, get rid of excess and unused utensils
Do an updated stocktake of what is in the pantries
Thrown out all expired food
Find a better way to store my 70+ spices
Clean out the knicky knacky drawer
Clean out the cupboard under the sink
Clean out the cupboard that stores ramekins, drink bottles, random dishes etc.

BATHROOM:
Deep clean the cupboards in main bathroom now that DD has moved out
Toss old perfume and lotions etc from my en suite
Box up remaining products of DD's (or toss if she doesn't want them)

LAUNDRY:
Clean out cupboard under the sink
Clean out top shelf of broom cupboard

LINEN CUPBOARD:
✅ Get rid of old towels
✅ Get rid of old bedding
✅ Tidy the cupboard, sort shelves

BEDROOM:
Build additional shoe shelves in wardrobe
Cull old clothes
Cull old shoes

OFFICE:
OMG this is just too overwhelming!
Sort photos into film / digital / by year
Throw out duplicate photos
Finish scanning old photos
Scan negatives
Make sure all old digital photos are in the cloud, then toss CDs with photos on them
Get rid of old scrapbook supplies
✅ Storage for wrapping paper?
Clean out top drawer, get rid of old pens and pencils
Take unused scrapbook albums to the op shop
Clean out filing cabinet which will take until about 2032


I'm sure I will come back to add more tasks when I think of them.

Happy New Year, thanks for starting the thread!

I don’t think I set up goals for the thread last year, but if I did they would be a continuance of this year’s work. We’ve done the big declutter for so long we are in a pretty good place in that regard, so it’s more maintenance of putting something in our donation box as soon as we realize it’s no longer needed/wanted, and bringing less in. I do feel the kitchen could use a good going through and I know there are several areas I want to switch around.

Our house feels like it’s falling down around our ears so we have lots of big projects to tackle (roof/foundation/mold/flooring) which are holding us back from smaller projects and finishing the painting we started ages ago. The first crew comes next week.

But I also have some unfinished “projects” that need to be complete like really cleaning the brass lamps, finish going through electronics and electronic storage and get everything online and backed up. Craft projects too but those aren’t a priority for me. I did get quite a big of those other type of projects the past couple of years, so my goal this year is to continue that trend.

Mine sits on the counter because I don't have a place to mount it either

I would like to join in!  My goal this year is to get rid of anything in our house that we don’t regularly use.  My husband’s health isn’t great and I have put our name on a waiting list at a senior living place and I want to be ready in case we have to move.  Of course my goal is to remain in our home as long as possible but if that doesn’t work out I want to be ready.  And I certainly don’t want to leave that job for our kids!

ETA:  Are we supposed to report our progress?  If so, today I got rid of two Christmas trees that you put on either side of your front door and my daughter took all of my books to those little libraries by her house.  Then I got rid of my record/tape player and albums….yes, you heard that right!  I love my music from the 60’s and 70’s, plus Big Band music from my parent’s era.  I bought a Boom Box a few weeks ago…yes they actually still make them, and all of that will fit in the table between our recliners.  As I make decisions I am basing it on fitting things into a retirement village space. 

inked up, sometimes Care homes are happy to receive scrapbook supplies. They scrapbook and do cards with the residents

After a successful decluttering of the whole house in 2022 (having to move EVERYTHING out of the house to get all our floors done made going through all our stuff before I brought it back inside an “easy” … read essential… task as we basically had to move out without moving?!?!) I am left with the last three boxes of items I need to go through and rehome or get rid of. Two are dd’s and I’m hoping to get her to see her focus is on cards not scrapping (she’s quite young) so we can downsize her scrapping stash or get rid of it completely by donating items to a preschool.
I want to get these boxes done before our kitchen is replaced at the end of January, hopefully a very realistic and achievable goal.

When packing up the kitchen I am hoping to take stock of what I have and potentially downsize some items from there too - I have already sold a few items but there are still a few that I should probably reevaluate, and the easiest time to do this is again before I am having to lug them back inside and find somewhere for them to fit.

Today I had a few wins:
- Three more bags for nannas markets (how many spare wooden coat hangers does one really need???) and am considering taking down a few eBay listings and adding these items to the markets pile as well as I’m over them being in the house
- Two boxes emptied
- Sold my cricut and heaps of cartridges as I just didn’t ever use it
- Bought some storage so I could put away fabric heirlooms that I want to keep under the kids beds
- Took down the Christmas decorations and tree and went through it all before I put it away (another bag thrown out of items the kids no longer wanted to decorate with)
- Found a place to store our three Christmas trees out of sight (none are full size, two are only 2ft tall, I’m not nuts!!!)

Goals for 2023
- Declutter my craft stash by actually getting back into the craft room and using things in layouts
- Actually hang all the framed art, cross stitches and pictures I own instead of piling them in the corner of a room

Sorry for the long post but I’m excited with my progress and want to continue the momentum in 2023, and I’m so inspired by everyone else’s lists and posts too 😁
We got this peas!!!!

My grandparents were proactive and downsized their stuff considerably before they moved into a retirement village and it made everyone’s lives in the whole extended family so much easier. Good on you for looking after your family in this way!

I'm playing the minimalists game this month with a couple friends - we get rid of 1 one items each day of the month (so 15 items on the 15th, etc).

My goals are big this year.

I have 2 storage units from when I moved a couple years ago. One is 10x10 and one is 10x25. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff in the units also belongs to my mother. My goal is to get all of my stuff into the smaller unit and then have all of her stuff in the bigger unit. I started organizing the smaller unit, and set up 4 shelving units around the perimeter walls. I'd like to organize it further by creating zones/areas for different items: ex. Christmas items, kitchen stuff, scrapbooking, etc. I live with my mom right now, so I don't have a need/space for everything, but I can't replace some of the stuff.

After my storage unit is organized, I want to help her get her stuff organized. I don't know how successful I will be in getting her downsized, as she has some hoarder tendencies.

My next goal is to organize the room I live in. It's large, but way too full and disorganized. Some of the stuff should be moved to the storage unit, but other stuff can be discarded.

I want to work on my book shelves. I know I have duplicates of some books, so I want to get rid of them. I then want to start reading through a lot of it, and purging as I go.

I went on a skincare buying kick over the past few years, and I need to purge stuff that has either expired or that I don't like. I did purge a ton of sheet masks last week. My goal is to reduce my stockpile AND not create a new one.

I also need to organize my clothes. I lost almost 100 pounds in 2018/2019, but then I gained it back. I have clothes in multiple sizes. Some stuff, like sweater sets, are fairly classic and timeless, so I want to keep them. I need to organize stuff by size and then pack up the much smaller stuff. A corresponding goal is focusing on my health, so moving more and eating better.

As one last personal goal, I need to organize my memorabilia from several trips and make plans to scrapbook it. I need to compile the stuff from the trips, sort through my thousands of photos, print the photos, and make the scrapbooks. I do have supplies for a lot of the trips, but they are in the storage unit. As I am creating zones in the storage unit, I do plan on unpacking some of the stuff on the shelves so I can treat the unit as my personal store. Unfortunately, due to housing prices in this area, I don't forsee getting my own place and no longer needing the smaller storage unit.

As one last family goal, I need to go with my mom back home and help my parents pack up their house and get it ready to sell. It may take a while to do this, and I will be working remotely during this time, so my participation will be limited to nights and weekends.

Did you find 1-800-GOTJUNK to be reasonably priced?  Since I have no desire to load stuff in the pickup truck and drive to the dump myself I’ve been considering calling them.  

I'm almost through my To Do list while DH is gone. The donate pile has gotten bigger as has the garbage pile. My closest thrift store is an hour away and I'm guessing they are getting a lot of donations as others are cleaning out too. As much as I hate to store everything I think it's best to wait a few weeks before I do a drop off.


What do you find hard to store? For me it's throw pillows. I don't feel like I have too many, but I switch them out for Fall and Christmas. Right now I have them in 2 large holiday size totes up in my sorta finished attic.

I would like to join. I recently red a book on minimalism and that is my basic goal. Meanwhile my adult kids have also decided they want to do the same at their homes so we have named this the year of the Purge. My goal is one room at a time. I also don’t want this to become something overwhelming so I’m planning one a few hours a week. Nothing big. I live alone and have visitors infrequently so I’m really paring down.

I moved four years ago from a 1500 sq Ft home with fully enclosed basement to a 920 sq Ft apartment. I am maxed out. My plan is to start In The kitchen which is the bane of my existence. From there the bedroom will be next. My office will be third. My living and dining space is one long open rectangle that houses my quilting and my fluid art. They will be last but I have already taken inventory and I have stopped buying new material and painting supplies. I have more than enough to work throughout the year on quilts and paintings. Eventually I would like to pare these down as well.

The minimalist book has recommendations for kitchen utensils etc. I want to pare down to four place settings. One of all the necessary things like spatulas works etc. get rid of big appliances I do not now or will ever use. Get all the duplicate casserole dishes ets. It’s just me. I don’t need to feed a family of four with friends anymore.

My kids have helped a lot while visiting and have tackled some projects already. It got all of us motivated. I hope I can keep the momentum up after they leave today. It is easier to do when you have someone to bounce.

Has anyone done the cable purge? I have two big containers of cords. I don’t know if I should keep them till the end and what’s is left over goes or if I should tackle them along the way? Are they something you can toss or is there a recycle option?

Is there anyway you can add zippers to your throw pillows?  I won't buy pillows if I can't take the cover off , and if possible, I will make mine with cricut so I can just use the same fill and fold the sham away.  

It was a little more than I expected, but I kept adding to the pile in my garage. I filled their truck and it cost me $400. It was worth it!

They will come out and give you an estimate, no charge and no obligation. You can say no or you can think about it and they'll come back if you decide to go ahead. I've used them twice and been happy both times.