2024 Organizing & Decluttering Thread

I need to read and participate in this thread often!

My daughter and granddaughter moved into my home when I did 7 1/2 years ago. They moved out last Friday and I now have my house! I am having all of the rooms painted including ceilings, walls, trim and doors and having flooring put down in all rooms. 

So far I’ve completely decluttered the full bathroom and the half bath. DD’s old room is almost empty except for the mattress I need to have picked up for disposal. Ds will use her bed frame and the desk I left in the room. I will be able to use at least half of that closet for storage which will alleviate the problem in my bedroom closet (it’s already been purged, a lot that is in it is scrapbooking storage items I want to keep and a sewing machine). 

Today I am going to tackle my kitchen closet. It’s a converted coat/broom closet that dh added shelving to. Currently it has all of my baking supplies on one shelf, pots, pans and lids on one shelf, Instant pot and other items on one and a lot of unknown items on the top shelf. I’m guessing a lot will go into the dumpster (benefit of living in a condo is having a dumpster available all the time!)

I brought all my Christmas bins up and went through them. I purged, then labeled what they contained with an index card on the end.

I purged a full box of stuff, well really two, as I threw away a lot. I have one box to donate.

I am halfway through purging ornaments. I'm getting rid of anything I don't love.

I also cleaned out all my socks. I tossed all the ones that are uncomfortable. I also realized I won't need to buy any fuzzy slipper socks for years! I had no idea how many I had.

My first win is under my belt!

I cleaned out the baking/pots and pans cabinet. A bunch of expired pudding mixes, evaporated milk and a few cake mixes went into the trash. Doubles of a couple items got consolidated and a few that don’t get used often went downstairs for storage. It looks great now!

Next up is the corner kitchen cabinet where mugs and vases are stored.

I’m permanently moving by late spring. I’m downsizing by 50% so lots of stuff needs to go. It’s an intimidating task. I did go through the spices in both houses this morning & brought non duplicates down to the “new” house. I’m donating the last of dads law books this afternoon. I’m still working through his stash of “pleasure” reading. Progress is being made, albeit very slowly.

well done everyone - loads of progress happening

My weekend goal is to take down Christmas - planning to do a little purging and re-organising as I go.

My daughter dances in a town 45 minutes from my house so I am often "up there". I do some tutoring while she is at dance so I am not just sitting in the car the whole time. Wednesday, I didn't have time to take the box in my car to Goodwill before we left for dance and after tutoring I googled to see what the closest one from my tutoring job was. There is one right smack on my way back to the dance studio if I take another way. SO...I decided that every Wednesday this year I will drop off at least one box/bag after tutoring. I am a little more excited than is probably reasonable because it is just one box/bag a week but it feels so good to have a plan. I grabbed the Chewy box that our dog food came in yesterday for my box this week. I am going to focus on my closet to fill that box, which will be easy to do.

Good news-- no pneumonia. Need to keep it that way. Didn't get much done inside today. Need to work this weekend. Been getting up at 2 or 3 AM like clock work. Maybe I need to just stay up and work on my room before I go back to bed? idk.

I just finished all cabinets and drawers. Got rid of some containers that I have more then I need and some cooking utensils that I don't use. I also cleaned out my spices and was able to get rid of some spice jars that I thought I was going to fill up but have been empty for the past year.

Declutter task of the day from The Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Put all of your cans together on a can shelf.

Bonus: Discard those that are old/expired depending on your preferences. I believe there is some guidance about how long after expiration date canned food is safe, but I don’t remember details. Organize them by like items. If you have canned fruit with breakfast, consider putting them on a shelf with all of your breakfast items. If you keep all of your baking supplies together, would it work for you to keep your canned pie filling with them?

I saw a quote that I really agree with on Pinterest yesterday. Do you have one that really speaks to you and/or motivates you?

I am terrible at digital decluttering. I need to put things into physical piles.

**GypsyGirl** The duplicate function on Photos is great! In the past, I never knew if a photo was a duplicate and just kept them all. I still keep too many photos and I have a hard time organizing them all. I'll try your tip of making piles out of folders! Thanks!

Took the ornaments off the trees - put about 15 or so into the donation box.

Still working on putting away the rest of Christmas and Advent decor

I just discovered that function this week as well, so don’t feel too bad! That’s…that’s a lot of duplicates. Time to find a new show to binge. 

That’s one thing I don’t like about photos on the iCloud, you can’t move everything into a folder and have a clear library. So I’m never sure if something has been added or not until I go check. I prefer the windows method of moving things to that space and removing them from the catch all file. I want to be able to organize/move everything and see a blank slate. That way I know anything there still needs to be organized. 

Trash collection was yesterday. I got out the huge black contractor bag I had filled with basement stuff earlier this week. And at the last second, also added two carseats that haven't seen use in a year. I guess I was holding them just in case? Glad they're gone though. They took up a lot of room.

Last week I started clicking unsubscribe for emails from online stores to try to limit the junk that is coming into my email. I'll be honest, I almost feel like I am now getting more emails from these places. How can that be? I know several of the stores had a disclaimer after I unsubscribed that it may take up to two weeks or some arbitrary number of days until it takes affect. IDK, but it annoys me.

Also add in the fundraising email blitz right before the new year from the children's hospital that my kids go to. Seriously, like twenty emails in a week.

I am still planning to get more books out this week.

I went by a thrift store that I hadn't seen before in my neighborhood. It is new, and has a huge "donations welcome" sign. But also no sign about their hours, and I haven't seen it open yet ( I pass it several times a week). Also has a "Everything must go!" sign on it. I'm confused.

Tomorrow my regular thrift is supposed to reopen from their winter break closing, and I'll swing by to ask if they will take the book donations. They're small and may not want hundreds of kid books.