+1 to this technique - best 2nd life for socks!
My husband likes to use old socks for polishing his shoes.
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I had a ābrilliantā idea today. I had a LOT of boxes of holiday cards, some totally unused, and many half full or more. I posted them on our neighborhood site and someon claimed them within minutes. Win/win.
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Time to get back on the Bag A Week train?
I saw a good clothing tip recently on Instagram. When you do laundry DO NOT put your clothing back in your closet for at least two weeks. Wash it and keep aside so that you have to continue to āwearā out of your closet - whether itās jeans, or socks, or underwear or sweaters. Continue to wear out of your closet until you get down to items you have no desire to put on for whatever reason. Down to no underwear you want to put on? Then toss whatās left, you donāt want to wear it (and then you can replenish from your washed laundry).
Youāll also find the āholesā in your closet. Do
You have enough leggings to wear daily for 3-4 weeks? Then you probably donāt need more! Run out of tshirts after a week? Maybe you could use a few more!
Thoughts?
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Someone is our neighborhood posted saying they work for a thrift shop that gives away menās clothing and they were running short.
I found a big trash bag worth of stuff from my kidās clothes. They havenāt lived here in 9+ years - they wonāt miss it.
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I love that ideaā¦and also think if I could do that I wouldnāt need the bag a week club. 
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For me, I stick to the ānothing new comes unless a like item goes outā.
We recarpeted our bedroom 4 years ago. I sorted stuff from Hās closet. He is a pack rat, so not much left the house. Most of the items were still folded and unworn last month. I went through again and some pants went to Goodwill. The big win was sorting his dress pants. Since he only wears jeans to work, he was willing to get rid of many pairs. But, since his weight varies, he kept 9 pairs, 3 of each color and 3 sizes. Such a struggleā¦ā¦
D2 is here for a week. We went through her bedroom and bathroom. 2 bags trash, 1 bag donate. Empty drawers.
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Yes! The clothes I wear most are in the laundry baskets. The stuff I donāt wear are in the closet. Makes it easy to sort out what can be donated or tossed.
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For my hanging clothes, I have things split into sections (short sleeved shirt etc). I put away clean items at one end of the section, so it is quite obvious that stuff at the other end of the section have not been worn in a long time. Some of my less-used other stuff in drawers and cubbies gets stuffed in a ārarely used bagā (I like clear bags, like zipped cases for new linens)ā¦. sort of clothing purgatory while I make long term decision.
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Is anyone else doing a āNo Buyā January? I try to do this each year to reset and reduce consumption.
While D23 was home for break, we cleaned out her walk in closet. 3 big bags off to Goodwill.
Got rid of a small pre-lit Christmas tree we let the kids decorate however they liked each year. Still in great shape, so that went off to Goodwill as well. Weāve reduced all the holiday stuff down to 5 medium sized storage boxes total.
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I have come to the conclusion that I probably never need to buy any clothing for myself again except stuff that may wear out (socks, underwear). I donated a bunch of cold-weather outerwear via a friend whose church collects stuff for homeless and shelter-living families, especially migrants from warm-weather countries. I have way more than enough for myself.
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I also reduced our Christmas items. Even 5 boxes sounds like a lot but itās not when that includes tree lights/sockings/topper (one box), tree ornaments (2 not terribly big boxes), outside decor/lights/bows, etc. (one box) and then one box of most used inside decor. Extra things not in boxes are things like the tree collar, a small flocked table top tree used on our front porch and a 3-4 ft tall coned tree that we use in our second living area. I think we are finally down to a manageable holiday amount!
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Your boxes sound similar to my boxes:
1 box - stockings, stocking holders, tree skirt, topper
2 boxes - ornaments
1 box - outside decor
1 box - advent calendars, creche
I get rid of a few things each year but still have way too much. Hoping the kids have a house someday and will each pick a decorative item (an aunt sent a few of them) for their house.
We actually did ADD an item this year. After a few years without the lights strung on the eaves (ladder cautions) we decided to get an outdoor LED light Christmas ātreeā. Itās about 5 feet tall plastic frame - holds up in the wind . It folds down to a surprisingly small box, about the size of big shoebox. Someday I may give away the old red/green tub of exterior lights, but for now they are stashed away in the crawl space
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Wonder if those stashed lights still even work? I sometimes found if lights were in a spot like an attic with more extreme temps sometimes they just fizzled out when the season came.
Really old lights with the large bulbsā¦of course can be a safety issueā¦BUT are a desired item for purchase on eBay!
A lot are used for crafts to make wreaths and other ornaments and not readily available.
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Last year we felt that the lights were old and many sets did not work well. Threw them all out and bought new energy saving LED strings this year. They worked out great.
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I too did some thinning out of my Christmas decorations and tossed a few strings of lights that were half-burnt. Not going to replace them! Trying to minimize storage of yard decorations! 
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Having no Christmas decorations at all takes up the least amount of space.
Just call me Scrooge.
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For now I hang onto our old lights because we loved them, might put them up again if kid helpers here at Thanksgiving. And they are all nicely set up with plastic thingies to slip under the roof shingles - with labels for peak of garage and peak of entryway. I donāt think they will go bad, though typically there are bulbs needing replacement (still have lots of spares).
To me the main thing is to have the less used stuff de-prioritized. I still keep three green/red plastic ornament boxes - the idea was someday each kid could take one. A few years ago I labelled them 1,2 and 3. Only #1 comes upstairs, and mostly I only use ornaments from the top level. We have a lot of storage space here, but in case we do downsize someday I like understanding what stuff gets the most use.