Another small project done- I went through our OTC medicines and found a bunch of expired stuff. Also discovered that we are low/out of some basics. I created a list of what we need.
2 bags from my closet today. Looking at all the clothes, I really wanted to do that super purge- down to 10 shirts and 5 pants kind of thing. I donāt like needing (or thinking I need) summer, winter, work out, casual, work, and each in three sizes. Blah.
With a string of snow days here, I have been through 30 years of pictures and improved my photo organization. I threw away all of the old underexposed pictures, pictures of my kids in Christmas programs on their elementary school stage where everyone is so far away that no one is identifiable, and pictures I took for friends of their kids at science fair, tennis matches, etc. where I had gotten double prints and given away one and kept one. No longer care about most of that stuff. Also tossed a fair amount of Christmas cards, keeping a few photo cards from special friends. Not a big volume of stuff tossed, but it feels so good to have consolidated an extra drawer of loose photos into my photo storage boxes.
Next up - old tax returns & other āimportantā papers, but Iām going to wait a few weeks to tackle that stuff and I hope Mother Nature doesnāt send more snow if I promise to just do it without being housebound.
My husband is talking about cleaning out our DVD and CDs (we basically use only electronic versions of stuff now). Anybody ever use this site to sell - Decluttr? We have sold in the past to Amazon (got rid of old video tapes that way)
Thank you, @bearcatfan. It does help knowing that DHās things can go to someone who can use them, and he would have liked that. I had purged a lot ā¦ just got stuck on some items, but Iām not going to rush to get rid of them.
I have been going through lots of my own items, and am happy to always find more to purge. I hope to downsize in the next year or two, and it would be nice to have already gone through most everything.
@kiddie, Iāve not used the Decluttr site to sell items, but have used a local store that buys and sells second hand albums, CDs, DVDs, etc. Iāve also sold some items on local FB ābuy, sell, tradeā pages, and on the Nextdoor site. If you use Decluttr, please report back and let us know how it goes.
Husband and I just went through all the DVDs - one pile for rummage sale (amazon wouldnāt accept as trade ins), one pile to trade in on amazon (you have to be patient - those $.69 trade in for each DVD adds up), and keeping some (probably got rid of about half total)
6 bags donated from the basement. Mostly toys and odds n ends that we no longer use. I went through the kids books but must have purged pretty well before. I couldnāt part with any more of them. Still, there is a big space of shelving opened up from todayās work.
4 more bags and a bunch of containers donated today. On a roll!
I donāt know if this is a lesson in how to purge, or how not to purge. Iām not sure Iād recommend it, but it got the job done. About 3 years ago we made a conscious decision to buy little. We attempted to clean out barn, shed, kidsā rooms, etc. We had so much room and rural life equipment, it barely made a dent.
Then, this fall we sold our house in a few days. I had 60 days after closing for possession, but the holidays were in there. 5100 square feet of house and 400 sf of attic. OMG, it was physically and emotionally exhausting! I had a lot of childhood moves and now I realize my mom never went through stuff, we just tossed in boxes and movedā¦I unwrapped my entire childhood. I was an only child; nothing ever got brokenā¦our house was definitely not cluttered; just way too big.
With all that space, I had also kept all my kidsā things, including so.many.school.papers and projects. We sold under duress due to a county zoning issue, so very draining and emotionally charged, and then to relive all those childhoods was exhausting. The surprise very gratifying thing was finding items from/had a connection to other relatives/friends. People were thrilled to get them back. That was fun!
We moved all this crap (and 9 totes of genealogy items) in the last month of -20 windchills, snow, and ice. We said goodbye to the house this past Saturday at 4:30 am. Sunday it was 50 degrees. So, I got 5400 sf down to 1500 sf rental house and 500 sf of storage. Lots more to re-purge, but hopefully when itās warmer and less of a time deadline.
Congrats, @sryrstress ! Amazing !
At least we did it in 90 degree weather and the house was only 3,000 sft. But Mr.'s shed-o-crap almost did me in! Congrats @sryrstress.
Wow. Congratulations!
Emptied a bunch of containers in the basement and donated them, along with two more bags from the closet. Momentum. Lol.
I need to get back in the swing of cleaning out. Where I am really guilty is I stash the bags in my laundry room. I have about 5 bags waiting to be taken to the thrift store. They have been in there for months!
Amazon processed the DVDs I shipped back for trade in and I got $48 on my gift card account
^ How many DVDs did it take to earn that much?
^ How many DVDs did it take to earn that much?
I sent in around 20, most got me peanuts - 2 got like $4 each - but made big bucks ($25) on a rare 10 DVD collection. When you set up the trade in they show you the amount you will get for each DVD. Even at just 40 cents each - the shipping is free and they are out of my house. You do need to be careful when setting up the trade in to have the same DVD that they are specifying (many movies have been re-released multiple times and they only want certain releases).
^^^Iām sorry I didnāt see this previously - is there a link to this Amazon/DVD program???
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Trade-In/b?ie=UTF8&node=9187220011
it is tedious - you need to enter the dvd or cd title, pick the right one, select the condition of the item, indicate if you want the item returned if they donāt want it, etc. They take old ipods, ipads, etc. also. (have done this in the past)
Plan on doing a stack of CDs today (just went through them and have a bunch to get rid of).