Well, I put 7 bags out yesterday, and they are still sitting on my porch (it’s 8:15 here). I think I’ve complained about this before… very frustrating, and I don’t like things to come back in once they’ve been outside all day. Oh well, hopefully my husband will drop them off at Goodwill this weekend…
I was planning to go into work a couple of hours late so I could do a little more last minute clearing of stuff off the back porch but they showed up at 7.30 a.m. to get the dumpster - that was unexpected!
The GOOD thing about a dumpster having a time limit is that it makes you get on with it and keep on going even when you’re exhausted and hurting.
The BAD thing about a dumpster having a time limit is that it makes you get on with it and keep on going even when you’re exhausted and hurting.
Hint - you think it is full to the brim but the contents settle and you can add more. I’ve been adding more after work all week and I’d have liked to keep it over the weekend but it would have been another $200 “rent” for keeping it over 29 days and it didn’t have enough space left to justify $200. Maybe a good thing as I’m quite exhausted.
I got a good part of the garage cleared out, quite a lot of the back porch (which has become totally unusable), part of the front porch, and some bits of pieces from inside the house. Most of the big things on my have to go list are gone. 2 are not. The big English microwave that has sat on a high shelf in the garage is still there :(. It is too heavy for me to get down and we forgot to have my SIL help when he was here (he did a lot , just forgot to ask him). And my childhood piano that is untuneable. H has this idea he is going to convert it into a bar. I know he never will but he doesn’t.
Despite filling a 30 cubic yard dumpster there is a long way to go. Definitely a huge start. I’ll be back to the bag a week for a couple of weeks then off to England to visit my brother.
@swimcatsmom: That is fantastic progress!
Just imagine how good you’ll feel when you return home after visiting your brother. You won’t recognize your house!!
I have a fantasy that H will decide to surprise me and have all the old vehicles, boats, lawnmowers etc. removed from the front yard while I’m gone. One can dream.
I really wish he would. It would be so nice to get it cleaned up. Also our neighbors are about to put their house on the market and I’m sure they’d appreciate it. They’ve been good neighbors and helped a lot with things like mowing our acre when H was too sick.
Although I have cleaned out my linen closet a few times, I was able to make a bag today of old sheets (some with rips in them - why was I saving them?)
@swimcatsmom, so happy to read about your terrific progress! Your English microwave inspired me to think of this: how about a list of the most useless/unnecessary thing a family member won’t part with?
Ours is TWO discontinued NordicTrak cross country ski machines. Husband picked up the second one 10 years ago from his sister, who was quicker than he is to realize it wasn’t going to be her workout forever and ever.
Husband has not been on our original NordicTrak in just about that long. It’s now underneath several bins of professional journals he’s going to read one of these days (see a theme developing here?). Why does he need the second NordicTrak? To repair the first one, when necessary, because they aren’t making them any more.
The second NordicTrak has migrated to my half of the basement, which is nearly cleaned out except for his stuff that just … keeps … migrating.
What’s the most ridiculous thing someone you live with is saving?
Another success - got my husband to throw out old shoes he will never wear again.
Even bigger success. My mechanic is going to buy my 13 year old car. That clears a big space in my driveway, saves me over $600 a year in car insurance, and saves me future repair expenses (which have been adding up as the car ages).
I don’t know if this is the most ridiculous thing, but in my house (and in my head) it’s a biggie:
30 or so Size Large sweaters that DH hasn’t worn (or been able to wear) in around 30 years. But, when I politely suggest he give them to our adult sons, he swears “they’re not hurting anyone” by being on the top shelf of his closet.
Most ridiculous used to be a box Mr. had in the garage labeled “Electrical …t.” I opened it once… there were chunks of wire, old outlets that we replaced, you name it. Off it the garbage it went when we moved.
Now… we disposed of the entire shed full of crap. But… Mr. kept the chunks of the cherry tree he cut in our yard. He says some day he will take it to a local mill and will make something out of it. Someday… 
We are getting ready to do a master bath remodel, using space from a 3’ x 3’ closet I’ve been using (full confession-it’s my 2nd closet). I went to look at the closets in the other 3 bedrooms and was shocked to see H was using all of them, plus his 8’ of closet space in our master bedroom. Wow! H has more clothes that I do! I made him give up one closet, so he spent the morning sorting through his clothes.
For me it’s my H’s turntable. When we met 34 years ago (yes, that’s how old it is plus some) he was so proud of it as it was “top of the line”. Plus he had two huge speakers to go with it. They had to be at least 3 feet tall. Well, in the beginning of our 31 year marriage it broke. About 5 years ago he got rid of the speakers because I complained so bitterly about them. But he still has the turntable and he gave away most of our lp’s. It still has a place of honor in our entertainment center. I guess I wouldn’t care if he just fixed the darn thing. He also has kept two old tv’s that have built in VHS players “just in case” the kids who are 27 and 22 want to play an old movie. Just shoot me.
@frazzled1, I have a Nordic trak cross county, treadmill, stair stepper domination that is now 24 years old. It makes a great place to hang clothes to dry in the basement 
@frazzled1
Most ridiculous things H refuses to get rid of: 1) every piece of sheet music he has ever owned. Thousands of them. Yet when he plays (acoustic guitar) he uses his iPad. 2) every greeting card he has ever received. All of the cards from our wedding (31 years ago). Christmas cards. He has saved them ALL. I get keeping the father’s day cards from when our kids are little, but the rest are ridiculous.
It’s interesting that, when asked for the most ridiculous thing in our house, we all come up with our husbands’ possessions!
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That’s funny, @VeryHappy - I guess we’re busted! I wonder what the husbands would say if we asked them the same question about our stuff? Then again, we’re trying to downsize while they’re hanging on to defunct exercise equipment, greeting cards, boxes of wires, clothes that don’t fit, and who knows what else. (Let’s remember the mantra: “they’re not hurting anything.”) Maybe they don’t even see our stuff under the piles of their stuff.
@cypresspat, how I sympathize. My husband thinks he has every canceled check we’ve written since 1978. He doesn’t know about my stealth missions to shred a pile every so often.
@frazzled1 I plan to begin my covert operations in September. Once s20 heads off to college, we will begin Operation Downsize and there will be an excuse to have many things leaving the house. I have to be careful. He may have booby trapped some of the boxes. He knows I am planning something. I can tell.
It’s true, H has the vast majority of things saved in our house. I do have many cloth napkins–dozens and dozens in different colors but all get used over the year. His stuff simply sits in the storage room making it difficult to find things we need to use. But this is soon to change…:).
Took the car full and dropped it off. H gets home late tonight. No, I feel no need to mention anything at all. Besides the sad amount of landfill and the donations I just shake my head. Our house looks
very uncluttered but that is due to the crazy amount of storage and huge closets I designed when we built. It can be very deceiving.
So true, @oregon101. If you knocked on my door this minute, you would have no idea that I live with a would-be hoarder - as long as you didn’t go into our basement, garage, or what used to be our oldest daughter’s room and is now where he keeps the stuff that won’t fit in the basement or garage.
@Cypress LOL to the covert operations and booby traps