<p>I cleaned out all the drawers, shelves, cubbies and under cabinet storage areas in one of my bathrooms over the weekend. Threw out two very large trash bags of stuff, including an oddlot of over-the-counter meds with expiration dates ranging from 2009 to as old as 1999! Discovered we have a large enough supply of unused, still in the package toothbrushes to last for the next five years :)</p>
<p>We finished the MBR closet project 2 weeks ago. It has been cleaned out, painted, reorganized. Looks great and feels even better. Charity pickup came last Tuesday and took 6 bags and a few boxes, mostly stuff from that closet.</p>
<p>An alumnae group I belong to is having a garage sale this spring, so I am planning to continue cleaning out other areas with that in mind.</p>
<p>Wow. I just discovered this thread. I’ll be back with my own tales. A household move is in the offing in around six months (I hope). You are all an inspiration.</p>
<p>Update to #93: I went through the other keepsake box last night, and now have one wonderfully empty Sterlite (large shoebox size). As I was working, I came up with an idea to re-purpose it, and solve another clutter problem at the same time. I’m posting the story because I’m thrilled with the way that this project is changing the way I think about possessions. I’m not just letting go of stuff, I’m letting go of lots of mental baggage as well. It’s liberating!</p>
<p>I used to be quite a seamstress, making many of D’s toddler clothes, and my own dresses. But around kindergarten age, I got busy with her life and sewing fell by the wayside. I always figured that once she went to college, I’d pick it up again. Fast forward 15 years: I didn’t pick it up again when D went to college last year, but it nagged at me: “I gotta start that again…”, “Pretty soon…” But sometime in the last 6 weeks as I’ve been thinking about clearing out the house, I must have made a decision that my sewing days are behind me, which means that everything associating with sewing is now officially <em>clutter</em> and can be gotten rid of with a clear conscience.</p>
<p>So, the now-empty Sterlite box: I have a large bin of fabric and fabric scraps which I now no longer want to keep. But D is really creative and sometimes raids the bin for a project or fashion accessory, and I don’t want to just “disappear” her stash without notice. So this weekend, I put the bin in her room, and put the Sterlite on top of it. When she comes home for break, I’m going to tell her: “You can keep as much fabric as you can cram into the Sterlite. The rest will be gone when you get home for the summer.” Then I’ll donate the leftovers to my church’s quilting club, and look for a way to re-purpose the bin. :D</p>
<p>Wow, great progress, everyone! </p>
<p>Getting rid of supplies for my once and (hopefully) future hobbies is really hard for me, so I’m really impressed about the sewing decision. It takes a lot of self awareness to actually decide you’re not going to be that person again at some point in the future. (I mean am I ever really going to have time to do scrapbooking??)</p>
<p>One day last week, I had 12 trash bags of old clothing and 10 boxes of books and kitchen items picked up by a local charity. For the past three trash collection days, I’ve put out a minimum of a dozen bags. I’m doing a little each day, and on some days a lot! I’m working on my Ds rooms, too, and have had three of them assist me so far. One lives in London so she’ll get her turn on her next visit home, and the youngest in a couple of weeks when her uni has its reading week. Every little bit gets me closer to my goal and once reached, it’s just a matter of not accumulating so much ‘stuff’ ever again!</p>
<p>Perhaps O/T but is there a thread on low-cost makeovers of your kids’ bedrooms (once they are living on their own)? I’d love to put away the sports trophies and buy some inexpensive but sleek furniture that will help with staging home for resale in the future. If this discussion already exists, I’d love the link. Thanks all.</p>
<p>We have taken every single item out of our basement to have some work done so it will be more dry than damp storage. In so doing we are going through everything everywhere. Two mattress and box spring sets, perfectly good, but 20+ years old, donated to local college students, old though the beds may be, they are an improvement for those kids. And an old fashioned TV cabinet has a taker this week.</p>
<p>I think I have an idea for an invention, but not the talent to make a business out of it. All across the nation millions of dollars worth of old TV cabinets are now useless and outdated. If I had the ability I would offer a service to cut them down and repurpose them.</p>
<p>You cut at the height above the bottom doors, and either use the top piece from the cabinet, if finished, or or one of the sides, to make a new top. Or if that does not work, some sort of granite or marble… For all those Stanley, Henredon, Thomasville, Ethan Allen, etc sets out there, people could have a new place to put their TV accoutrements or use as some sort of accent piece. I may try it with my old cabinet since I still have that furniture!</p>
<p>worrywart - maybe you should start the thread. There are several of us talking about prepping houses for sale over on the “took the steps to sell the house” thread. But so far nobody is talking about the kids’ rooms. My D is a minimalist, so her room is the best one in the house for staging - very neutral paint and a few well-chosen antiques from her grandparents’ old house. She was great about getting rid of all the excess - I gave her an assortment of boxes when she was home on break, and she pared it down so that we had about 10 small boxes to move, and maybe 6 to put in storage for her.</p>
<p>^ my mom inherited an old mahogany one from my grandparents and turned it into a bar, looks well and functions well.</p>
<p>IKEA offers some pretty good pricing for minimalistic decor. When the house sells and your kids are ready for their first apartment the IKEA stuff will be perfect.</p>
<p>OK- I have filled 2 large trash containers and one large recycling container for pick up tomorrow. Also took 5 bags of books to the used book store. And I am finally organizing the garage in preparation for a garage sale.</p>
<p>Another decision made: I am not, and am never doing to be, a scrap-booker. Two shoeboxes full of supplies – gone to Goodwill! :D</p>
<p>^^^Bet that feels liberating, LasMa, to give yourself “permission” to not be a scrapbooker.</p>
<p>I own the following:</p>
<p>Mother’s full-length mink coat (not awful condition, but it hasn’t been cleaned and stored properly in – oh – over two decades)</p>
<p>Mother’s mink stole</p>
<p>Mother-in-law’s mink stole</p>
<p>Aunt’s cloth coat, trimmed with Persian lamb</p>
<p>Mother-in-law’s Persian lamb coat, trimmed with mink</p>
<p>When I was pregnant with S1, 26 years ago, I wore the mink coat, because it was the only thing big enough to go around my pregnant body that kept me warm. However, I will never, never, never use any of these items again.</p>
<p>What’s the recommended way to get rid of these? Are they of any value to a furrier?? Or should they just go to Goodwill?</p>
<p>^^eBay. </p>
<p>I just looked for grins and some fur coats are selling. Saw a Persian Lamb coat, trimmed with mink, being sold for $50. Not a lot but something. Some mink coats going for about $200.</p>
<p>Also, the main reason I end up using eBay is not so much for the money but because I know the person buying it actually wants the item. Going to a good home, so to speak. It was important when I was divesting DSs K’nex and Legos that it was wanted by the purchaser. MIL’s mink stole? maybe not so much :D</p>
<p>My SIL keeps her grandmothers old mink coat in the trunk of her car in case she gets stranded in a snow storm.</p>
<p>High school or college theater groups would be thrilled to have the minks.</p>
<p>I just bought a 60s mink hat (in the original Marshall Field’s box) from ebay. $35. I never thought I would own anything real fur, but it was too cool to pass up.</p>
<p>Very Happy – a place in Wilmington, NC made the most fabulous teddy bears ever out of old furs. Incredible. If I had an old fur coat I’d do that in a heartbeat rather than getting $50 on ebay.</p>
<p>arabrab, I just looked at their site. If they bought old furs I’d sell them to them, but apparently they take your old fur and make it into a teddy bear. I do not want to own a fur teddy bear! I just want to make sure these furs get to where they should go, ideally with a little $$$ for me. EBay seems like the best idea.</p>
<p>On another note: I also own about half a dozen pairs of leather gloves – not lined, to keep you warm in the winter, but left over from the late 1960s. They’re thin, and were generally worn just to look like a lady when I went off to college. Two pairs are white with embroidery. What do I do with these??</p>