I’m just bumping this up/posting with the hope of inspiring myself to move in that direction again.
My youngest is 25, and I still have many toys in our attic. I have this “idea” that next spring I may have a “donation yard sale.” I will tell people they can take stuff and donate what they’d like to children’s hospital, for example. I don’t know that I’ll actually get to it, so a donation pickup service might be better, but I need to get stuff out of the house!
With the holidays and the decorating and taking things down it might be a slow process, but hoping I can get motivated!
(Thanks for listening :))
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DD went through the 4(!) underbid storage containers she had left. There were 80 tshirts from all of her activities from elementary school through college. She does not want them. What do you do with them? I can’t imagine salvation army wants those very specific themed tees.
Some people make quilts out of them (or hire to have it done). But… what if the kid does not want the quilt?
I lucked out this summer by meeting a new-to-me family in the neighborhood. Their youngest, a middle schooler girl, seemed delighted when I offered “vintage” tshirts (2 from middle school and 2 from elementary school). I assume she would have turned down a offer for 80 of them 
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I have a new strategy to clear out some stuff. I signed up for Ridwell, which is a recycling service. I’m clearing out DH’s cache of dead batteries and light bulbs, working through old clothes and textiles, etc. I do better with deadlines, and I hate the idea of paying for service I’m not using, so I think I can make some slow but steady progress with decluttering.
That doesn’t mean I couldn’t fill a vehicle with donations to Goodwill, but around here, the line to drop donations can be very long. I’ll go with baby steps for a while.
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Most clothing donation bins will take the old tshirts
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Thanks. Had not heard of Ridwell or thought of the bins. She did not want a quilt.
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Does anyone have an idea on where to take proof coin sets? Do they have any value at all? Ds was given sets of regular coins and state quarters from a well-meaning great uncle as he was growing up. He doesn’t want them. I don’t want them. Who ever thought this was a good idea anyway??
Should I just take them to a pawn shop?
Related question - can you spend them, or since they’re “proofs” they’re not spendable? I have some from when my kids were young also. I’m sure they’re not going to want them either.
Find a coin shop nearby, most of these places will buy as well as sell coins- they do have some extra value as proof coins.
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When I googled, it appeared that they are worth slightly more than face value but less than what this person paid for them initially.
Need some inspiration to declutter this week? I don’t agree with all of their suggestions. (For example, we’ll be keeping the plastic wine glasses for outdoor entertaining. We use glass outside for small group dinners, but at big picnics it’s plastic containers and box wine). But it’s still interesting to read through the ideas.
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Yesterday, I had my (grown up) daughter help me go through one big plastic tub. It was probably about half things that belonged to her that had gotten stuck here between moves or that had been here when she lived here and half random things might be mine, my husband’s, or our (grown up) son’s. Obviously it is not at all wise to throw all of those things into a storage bin together! We were both exhausted by it, honestly! I had to keep reminding myself and her that we can’t just go around feeling bad about ourselves for not taking care of these things earlier, but just recognize that we were going through some chaotic times and dealing with some of this “stuff” just fell by the wayside because we had to deal with some other priorities than. Anyhow, we got rid of a bag of recycling, a bag of trash, and set aside a half a bag of unopened craft supplies to donate. We were still left with some things we just don’t even know what they are that we are going to present to husband and son to sort through this week. It is hard!
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I have donated craft supplies to my local library - they use them for both kids and adults classes
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Got rid of a bunch of stuff this weekend through FB Buy Nothing and marketplace groups. All usable, but no longer need . Glad that someone found them useful. Was going to donate some yarn I found - until I read the label and looked at the price tag. Now knitting a merino wool scarf. I haven’t knitted in more than 25 years! Now that the kids are grown, I am going to find time for a lot of things…
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I just created a bag of miscellaneous clothes - shoes, handbags, some old fancy dresses, and old t shirts. Going to the donation bin today. I really want to get serious about getting rid of stuff and go through my entire house - with my husband.
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Then the harder task will be going through my daughter’s stuff. I really think if she looked through stuff she would be willing to throw it out, the issue is getting her to look (either by visiting or via zoom).
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We continue with the moving clean out. A friend from running club will be picking up a bag full of spools of curling ribbon in assorted colors. Someone on Buy Nothing wants the 3 strands of outdoor pre lit garland we no longer use.
H was outside talking to our next door neighbor/friend and I wanted to ask “what does he want to take?”. No need. H offered him our outdoor heater, firepit and grill and he will take them all when we move. Win-win!
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On Facebook I responded to a Wanted request for Christmas tree. (I responded quickly because last week I missed similar opportunity to clear out the old tree from crawl space). The family got an old tree, more lights than they will need, a stand, a very nice tree bag (part of the reason I’ve been holding on to it). I also gave them some ornaments we never use. It felt soooo good to get rid of it, even though it was not in our way…. just had “mental weight”.
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@kiddie, I often put a bunch of items out, take a picture, and text to DS saying “want any of these?” More often than not, the answer is no. Definitely slower than going through stuff together, but it does help us chip away!
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In my local area, we are about to help 100 Afghan family refugees resettle here. There was a call for certain types of furnishings and furniture, and I was delighted to contribute numerous items that have just been sitting in my basement since we moved here nine years ago. Win/win!!
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