I continue to use the local Buy Nothing group. Just this week I “gifted” a wok, an electric roaster and a bunch of building sets S used to play with (K-Nex and others).
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The two items I put on the local facebook market page got instant responses and then neither person showed up to get the items (both stood me up two days in a row). I will have to figure out another strategy after the new year.
@kiddie - I have had that happen with Buy Nothing and it is frustrating. I usually reach out to them and ask if they are still interested and if no response, I move on and choose someone else who is interested. It is annoying, though.
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It’s common on our local FB give away page for someone to suggest donating luggage for foster children. But the local organizations that work with foster kids make clear they don’t want used luggage. Maybe this is a thing elsewhere.
I just got rid of 13 years’ worth of National Geographic Magazines (in leatherette cases). I honestly thought we had thrown them out years ago, but my husband had just moved them from the basement to the attic. My church took them to be used by the Religious Ed program (for collages, I think).
I had tried to get rid of them on my local Buy Nothing site. No one wanted them, but everyone was upset when I said I was going to recycle them if no one wanted them… One woman did take an issue from 1992 that her father was in.
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Wow. That’s a big giveaway! Congratulations!
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Joining this club (thanks!) and planning over break to bring old sheets to the local animal shelter and some good condition shoes to Goodwill (have a donation site 5 minutes from my house so it’s super easy). Congrats to all those getting rid of stuff!
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Cleared out all of the under the bed storage and took 4 bags to donation. Now to take a break for Christmas.
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@singersmom07 - I think that’s supposed to be good fung shui! 
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It’s always easier to part with things when you think they will get good use (though I often just bring a load to Goodwill or ARC, knowing the items will go to a TBD good home).
Example: I have had 3 empty stackable large clear plastic drawers kicking around the house a long time, after emptying it from kids room. They were gifts from my mother long ago, and it seemed like I’d find a good use. But recently I decided to bring them along to my first visit to volunteer clothing pantry that runs at a local church. Figured if they did not need it for own organization, they could pass it along to a family in need of a makeshift kiddie dresser. When I saw the place with shelves bursting at the seams, it felt good to know the drawers could help. They are actually closed now for two weeks, to do re-org, so timing was good.
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My husband gave me a lovely, soft Irish merino wool cardigan (plus a gift certificate) from a small local shop that I like. Now I already do have a closet full of many sweaters etc …. but this gift prompted me to part with two sweaters and fleece which had all been on my mind as “maybe giveaway”. So I’ll consider it a declutter Win.
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Lupus donation stuff is out for pickup today. We are maxxed out on the amount of non cash donations w/out appraisals (per IRS) for 2021, so next pickup will be scheduled for January.
I’m lying low for a few days with S here, but will be putting some more stuff out on Buy Nothing soon.
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I need to join this thread. I am a couponer. I have a stockpile that is the envy of my friends and family - and every time my family visits, they go “shopping” in my cupboards. For example, I haven’t paid for toothpaste or shampoo in 10 years. I have everything you could possibly want in the health/beauty/toiletries department. Of course, that means our big storage closets are stuffed to the gills. The downstairs right now is a disaster area, because I’m staging for a big diaper run in March to my pregnant stepdaughter in Atlanta. There are probably 3 dozen big boxes of diapers & assorted baby stuff, none of which I paid for, thanks to couponing. It takes up a lot of space.
I just keep telling my husband it could be worse: I could be shopping at Neiman Marcus. At least this way it’s not costing him anything. My husband says I’ve saved us so much money, he needs to build an addition on the house. And clearly, jokes aside, it’s not fun to live in clutter.
Anyway, that’s my problem: shopping addiction.
His problem is that he doesn’t finish what he started and he’s a generationally misplaced child of the Depression. He cannot throw anything out. He will let leftovers degenerate into Nobel-winning science experiments, he is so averse to throwing out food. He will save string. Random nails and screws. Bits of plastic. Broken appliances (he is not handy and cannot fix them). We have three broken garden carts that literally just need new wheels/tires, but he hasn’t gotten around to that. A motorcycle that consists of a frame and a wheel, with the rest of the parts in various totes. It was his father’s project. His father died in 1998. It’s been in our garage ever since.
So between the two of us, the house is crammed full. I’m sure we could both use some kind of therapy.
But I do manage to accomplish periodic clean-outs, usually around this time. I did my closet two weeks ago and hauled an SUV worth of my clothes to Salvation Army and the thrift store. That felt amazing. (And no I have not bought more!)
It was just my side of the closet, though - he won’t let me touch his stuff, where he has his father’s suits still hanging in the closet even though he has worn a suit maybe 6 times in the last decade.
I despair of getting rid of “his” stuff. I try to sneak around the edges, throwing out tattered clothes, e.g., but oh boy, I’m not keeping up.
Any advice?
I know this is about “bag a week” and not marital advice, but jeez, I am out of ideas.
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Well, there are two issues here – you, and him.
For you, it doesn’t sound like you’re bothered by the results of your couponing. I assume that the items you have you bought for basically free or very little. I’d wonder, however, if you’re ever going to use up all those items among yourself and your friends. If not, it might make sense to donate them – perhaps to a homeless shelter or a women’s shelter. I’m sure they would greatly appreciate them.
In regard to your husband, perhaps you can bribe him. Some people offer wonderful gourmet meals as a reward, or a night on the town, or [blush] “marital favors.” Whatever works for you and your husband.
[Note that nothing I’ve done has worked with my husband. 
]
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I have some of this issue with my own husband and the same “motorcycle “
In the garage.
I agree that it would
Be great if you could
BOTH adopt the thinking that you could help
Others with your stuff. If something g has life left it in but not needed now in YOUR life,
Donate so that someone else
Can put it to good use!
It’s a vicious cycle that you’ll
Never get out of if you clean out one space to only
Fill
It with other stuff.
My
New motto:
The best things in life are not things!
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I do donate 
– dropped off about 80 tubes of toothpaste to the local food pantry last week before Christmas.
The stuff that expires, I do not buy a lot of, or else I get rid of it quickly. But razors don’t expire, soap, stuff like that - hard to turn down when they literally pay me to take it out of the store.
I think offering a bribe is worth a shot.
And yes, my aim is not to fill with other stuff as I clear out space.
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We have been doing meal subscription services for over a year. Sometimes, the folks packing up my box don’t count well. I recently read an article about how food pantries never have things like spices or condiments. I cleaned out a basket I have in my pantry where I put all of those extras - Italian seasoning, mayonnaise, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, crushed red pepper, small pouches of bread crumbs, cinnamon, powdered sugar - all completely sealed, small portions. I thought the woman at my local food pantry was going to cry. It wasn’t a big bag but it made me feel great!!
Today, we are taking 2 paper shopping bags of books to the library. D has been clearing out her room while she has been home on break.
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It’s pretty extreme but the best way to get H to get rid of stuff was to prepare for our upcoming move. Between “decluttering” for showing and the cost of moving stuff (we will be doing the majority of packing ourselves and have already been working on it) he has gotten rid of a ton of stuff. A friend from my former job had the same thing happen when she and her H downsized last year.
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I went through a few things yesterday. I am getting rid of my old barbie dolls in box (there was actually mold on the box and the clothes - yuck). Sorted through the box of old baby clothes and am keeping a fraction of them (moved them into a much smaller box). Sorted through some old Christmas ornaments and although I am keeping most of those, I was able to put them in a better box. Found a friend who wants my never used counter microwave (after the facebook marketplace sell fell through). I now have in my garage many more bags than our garbage collector will allow (looks like a few weeks of putting out stuff.)
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I went through my files today and shredded a bunch of stuff. Packed all unused office supplies to move to the new house. After getting rid of a few more items on Buy Nothing I have scheduled another pickup of general household stuff for next week. Am also in process of donating 375+ books to a local charity.
I can only do a few hours of this every day, any more is overwhelming. But I’m getting there.
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