I had made mild progress on declutter at my house. But now I’m helping mom get ready to move out of her apartment (probably to my house). Oh my - what a mess of things I have around the house now, including lots of stacks of folders as we try to ensure we have all her financial matters covered and mementos to review with my sister some day. So be it. There is a time for clutter, and hopefully more time someday to deal with it better.
Decided not to wait for the potential rummage sale (since it might not happen in the fall) and brought my pile of books to a local church book drop. They accept anything with an ISBN code and the church gets money for them.
Does a box count? Got rid of a box that contained a used replacement motor for a vacuum cleaner that was thrown out years ago. Yay.
It does! ?
I purged four bags (tall kitchen-sized) of clothing over the last couple of days. I should have done so before we moved two weeks ago, but it didn’t happen. Plan to drop them off tomorrow along with a couple of chairs we don’t need.
OOOHHH, sounds like a great time to shop at Goodwill 
Oops, that goes against the spirit of this thread!
The huge rummage sale that typically happens in the fall in a nearby town was just cancelled. A local church is doing some kind of sale in September. I made an appointment to bring them the stuff I have been collecting (and I added a few more items). I have a nice pile in a corner of my basement ready to go.
I was also able to sell a few video games to a local store (these were my husband’s games, can’t touch my daughter’s games.)
My husband took the last of our bags to goodwill yesterday. I still have some books to go to the library, but I told a co-worker I’d look through them and see if I have any for young school age kids, since they’re trying to set up a “school room” in their house.
Thank goodness for ARC and Goodwell. I’ve dropped of many small and one large load over the past month. It is mostly from my deceased mother’s apartment - only 600 square feet, but she had big closets and file cabinets and was very organized. She lived in low income housing ,so I did find many '“takers” for things at her apartment complex. But other stuff I dropped of during 2 week cleanout and then later as some had to come to my house for sorting. Still LOTS of stuff here though, waiting til after Covid so my sister can come help.
Mom did do a lot of her own sorting over past few years, often sending things home with me to keep of give away. And in her last weeks we did more intense decluttering together. A friend heard about it afterwared and gave me this interesting book, “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter” . It is a breezy book, with some general helpful advise and some life reflections humor too, almost Erma Bombeck-ish in places
We timed selling our second home perfectly. It was a 3 bedroom home completely furnished. Our daughter went “shopping” for her first apartment and took anything from lamps and a rug to the steak knives. Then our son bought a new home and could use a bedroom set and living room furniture so he got all he could use. Then our kids’ friends came through to take what they could use and we are down to about 6 boxes of sentimental or very practical things to sort through. I did take a full car load to Goodwill.
A few weeks ago I had a minivan full of stuff and white bedroom furniture to drop off a ARC. Imagine my surprise when they said, “NO DESKS” (which I think is also the case at Habitat thrift shop). I had to quickly show him the glass top and matching mirror and explain, “it’s not a desk, it’s a vanity”. Phew, he said OK.
@colorado_mom - I find it interesting that they didn’t want desks. I would think those would be in high demand right now with all the work from home going on.
@colorado_mom What is the problem with desks? Old , cheap computer desks, tv stands, I get . We have a couple antique type , substantial desks that we will try to sell or donate if kids don’t want them.Are you saying they would not take them just because they are desks?
I had a like-new V shaped computer desk that no one wanted. Even the places that take most everything. Ended up dismantling it and putting it in a friend’s remodel dumpster. What a waste, but it had to go. When charitable orgs stopped pickup or drop-off donations in March, same friend started selling/giving away things on offerup dot com and has been very successful.
Yes, desks have become a problem at thrift shop, at least in our area
Last month DH called ahead to Habitat thrift shop (Re-store) to see if they would take our corner cockpit unit, which admittedly is more specialized than regular desks. When he got there, it was as first rejected, until the guy from phone came by and said he had said OK so they should accept it. DH just confirmed that they are turning away all desks because most people now use laptops and they have a surplus. So at least 2 of the thrift shops in town here say “No Desks”.
Interesting. My H is primarily working from home these days and uses his laptop but he is all set up on an old desk handed down from his family. He uses the desk every day and has quite the setup for his current work from home life!
I think lots of people still use desks. There just is not much demand for them at thrift shops.
We just cleaned out my mom’s apartment. Lots of things went to Goodwill, but better yet many things went to the packers and movers when we gave them the choice to keep it or drop it off at Goodwill.
She was far from a hoarder, but still there was So. Much. Stuff. in her apartment. My siblings and cousins and I divided up all the things we wanted, but the quantity and quality of things that got donated anyway was amazing.
Made me want to go home and throw more stuff out, but then I remembered I’m married. Still trying to win the battle on old National Geographics and Sports Illustrated, not even starting on Mad Magazine. But making progress on broken toilet parts and parts for cars we no longer own. AAArrrrghhhhh!
@MomofJandL – Keep the Mad Magazines and ditch the National Geo.
Does selling stuff count?