We have a new used bookstore near us. All proceeds go to refugee families. They have a need for young adult fiction. I’m taking hundreds of books to them, assuming they will accept them. Fingers crossed they really take them.
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Took a second carload of craft supplies to the new maker’s thrift shop. I still have a U-Haul’s worth of stuff. Will cull some more, but will keep most of it. All those quilts for the shelter still need backings, batting and binding!
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Yay - I got a return message saying the book store would love to have my books. Win/win.
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DH is going to be away from 12/23 to 12/30, visiting our son in Seattle. I have huge plans to clean the basement, clean closets, organize things . . . . We’ll see how far I get.
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I had great plans similar to yours. My husband left for a long weekend (4 days) and I didn’t get ANYWHERE! I did binge on Netflix though and thoroughly enjoyed it…
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That is a mental refreshment of sorts…
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Mine rarely goes anywhere overnight but last year he went to a two day conference and I took every single thing out of the kitchen cabinets and drawers and only put back what we really needed and reconfigured it for convenience. Everything else went to landfill or thrift store. In doing so I found a barely used toaster oven way in the back of a bottom corner cabinet. I remembered that we’d put it away several years before when we needed counter space since we rarely used it. Now we use it all the time. Win win.
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Yes, this is exactly the type of stuff I’m hoping to do!! And the basement – oh, the basement!!
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Nothing like a leaky pipe or a few mice in a storage room to accelerate the number of bags taken away… 
Helped elderly friends with their basement cleanout last week. Put about fifty small bags by the curb.
Started out with a simple goal- take everything out of the storage room. But, some boxes were too heavy and had to be subdivided.
They had saved papers and books going back forty years in cardboard boxes and the mice had nested, chewed, soiled these.
Needed disinfectant, mask, goggles, gloves.
They may pitch similar contents of bins (old toys??) and donate other things. They plan to donate useable housewares once they clean up the items…
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Was just down at my dad’s as they discovered more water damage from Helene. We needed to clean out those two additional rooms so the packers who will put hte belongings in storage while renovations are done aren’t packing trash and bringing it back. My brother and I each drove in with the thought that we could do some Marie Kondo-ing and save ourselves time and aggravation later.
My dad hates that he can’t do this himself – actually, he’d rather not do it at all. Had to get his permission to keep/donate every flannel shirt he hasn’t worn since the early 90s. Ditto tools, board games that have been sitting in that room since the 80s, etc., etc. We did manage to fill a dumpster in a day and a half. Dad asked if we thought if we trashed more than 2000 lbs, and B and I looked at each other and said, “DUH!” Just the soaked mattresses, and wet insulation/drywall and other detritus from Helene would have gotten us there. Sibs and sibs-in-law just threw stuff off the upstairs deck the first couple days after Helene, and it sat outside for two months. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Dad then complained that it would cost more if we went over 2000 lbs. So sad, too bad. Brother and I think it was about 5000 lbs.
Dad is stubborn to begin with, and he’s fighting to maintain some sort of control. I get it. This is really hard. We don’t toss anything sentimental, but it’s frustrating when he doesn’t want us to take the aluminum cans to the recycling center. I brought home three boxes of car/paint/outdoor chemicals to recycle/dispose properly. Thirteen partially full bottles of transmission fluid! Solvents from before S2 was born (date was on the can)! Bags of clothes I’d planned to donate, but tossed once I got a closer look at them.
I did get a nifty plant shelf out of it. Dad used it for old astronomy magazines. Also got a couple of round wood cuts from his workshop so I can make hanging plant shelves. (Plants are such good therapy. I need it.) Brought home the wedding serving equipment from S1’s birthday that my sister borrowed for nephew’s wedding ten years ago. If she doesn’t want it, it’s going to the Humane Society thrift store.
These trips to Dad’s always inspire me to toss stuff ruthlessly when I get home. With both guys thousands of miles away, the odds of them wanting our stuff is vanishingly small.
I’m also spearheading the sale of our synagogue. Forty-five years of stuff to sort, toss, recycle or donate. Am renting a UHaul tomorrow to deliver 65 boxes of books to a local religious school, who will sell some of it as a fundraiser, donate some books, and properly dispose of various religious materials. H and I packed 35 boxes this afternoon. It was an emotional day.
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Oh, @CountingDown – that’s too much for one person. Sorry about your Dad’s place. And your role in cleaning it out.
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Spent about a half hour yesterday cleaning my desk area. Recycled/shredded a whole bunch of papers I no longer need.
For some reason , January seems like the time to do this.
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Count me in for a good trip to Goodwill this weekend and one linen closet cleaned out today!
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I’ve been loading up a box for dropoff at ARC thrift shop. But… I may pull out the clothing to drop it a the free clothing bank (nearby but with limited hours).
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Thanks for the reminder. I promised myself that I’d do the same once all of our holiday decorations are stored. We’re on track to finish that tomorrow so I have no excuse to ignore my desk any longer. Now that older GD is reading I have to be careful about what’s left out on my desk.
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Cleaned out the pantry last week. Got storage containers to help organize. Recycled a ton of takeout containers and only kept ones that were compatible with one set of lids. My goodness, there’s a lot of room now!
It’s also disturbing that there’s one storage bin full of chips, and another full of various types of sugar. Dare I hope H will look at that and realize it’s not a good thing?!?
Packed a bag of clothes today. Culling papers and general junk, too.
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We’ve been in our current house for 12 years and the basement has become a mess. On 12/24, I started cleaning it, knowing it will take me weeks to do so. (DH was away visiting S2 so I had the house to myself.) There’s mouse poop everywhere, so I’ve had to vacuum and wipe down every single surface to get rid of it. I’ve also sprayed the mouse entry areas with peppermint, which is supposed to be a good mouse repellent. Thankfully it doesn’t smell awful.
I also discovered my grandfather’s violin, which I thought had been lost in the move 12 years ago!! Of course now I have to figure out what the heck to do with it. No, I don’t play.
I’ve already tossed four huge trashbags full of crap, and taken one bag to Goodwill. More will be going there in the next couple of days. I’ve got a pile of “things to get rid of one way or another” – some will be for Goodwill, some will be posted on “Buy Nothing,” and some I might even try to sell.
I’m probably only about a third done with the basement but I definitely will be continuing. The main problem is that in the portion I haven’t started with yet are zillions of photo albums. S1 gave us (at my request) a photo scanner for Christmas. So after the basement is cleaned out and clean, that will be my next mega project.
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You ladies are inspiring me. It’s a snow day, so maybe I’ll spend some of it cleaning.
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Call a professional and get them to seal up the areas that the mice are entering. We did this (after trying many ways to stop them) and it was well worth the cost. A good exterminator will know where to look and how to stop pests from entering. If you don’t do this, you will be cleaning up mice poop forever!
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@kiddie: We did that when we first moved in. Didn’t work. Whatever the solution is, it needs to be repeated on a routine basis. The peppermint may be the solution for us, since it’s cheap to buy and easy to spray. I’m thinking I’ll just spray every six weeks or so.