Here is an article with some cleaning tips for us, “baggers”:
https://www.yahoo.com/makers/top-10-organizing-tips-from-marie-kondo-107527348990.html
It is a summary of the approach used by the author of the book referenced by @bookiemom.
Bag and a half of paper “junk” - mostly high school/college/FAFSA related - sorted through the mess of papers, tuition payment receipts etc of child 1 and 2 and the high school stuff of #3 - a few things saved, 90% tossed - need NO reminders of the FAFSA crap! (even though we have one more round to go starting this month).
MatildaMae, I have that problem too – sometimes I clean things out and create a new, more appropriate home for things but then can’t find them when I need them. Putting a sticky note, HImom, where I originally kept the items is a great idea!
I stopped by to say how excited I was when, after pretty much threatening two of my college-aged kids that I’d go through their rooms and use my own discretion with their belongings, they actually cleaned out their rooms before returning to school. Eight huge bags to Goodwill and 3 huge bags of garbage. Could barely contain my excitement as I drove away from the Goodwill drop off spot.
My house is fairly well purged but I had let my costume jewelry drawer get out of control. That resulted in me not wearing jewelry very often. After noticing my friends looking so nice when they accessorize, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to try to wear jewelry each day. That will be much easier now that I’ve cleaned it out. Lots to give to GW. The cabinet under my bathroom sink is one of the last areas for me. I think there’s a lot of junk under there…the upside is that it’s a very manageable space and shouldn’t take too long.
Love the post it note idea. Gotta do that. Hate organizing and then can’t find what I just organized!
And get a labeler!
If you have a bunch of random stuff, label boxes by number and then on an index card write the number and what the contents of the box is. File the card.
I was having trouble finding a particular baking pan and ended up totally cleaning out the kitchen cabinet above my wall oven. Found several items I had been wondering about, and some redundancies (such as two cheesecake pans – one will now go to our second home) Then I replaced everything in a much more organized fashion and also made a list of each item remaining in there. The list is placed on one inside wall of the cabinet, held in place by my blender. My plan is to do this with each cabinet that stores kitchen implements.
Did not really get rid of much in this project, but the new arrangement created a more spacious look, more stability of the items stored (I no longer have to worry that opening that cabinet door will cause an avalanche), and gave me an inventory of what I have.
Next I hope to do something similar with my dining room server, and clear out and donate linens that I do not really use, and make a master list of all tablecloths and placemats, etc.
Going through the boxes of stuff I brought back from mom’s last week to price for a booth at a high end flea market in the spring. I’m amazed at what some ugly things are worth big $ and beautiful items are worth nearly nothing. Clearly my taste in china and porcelain is not in line with collectors. This exercise is also making me reassess some of my collections and price them for the sale. 15-20 years ago I loved Salt Glazed pottery - now, not so much, so 5 pieces have postit, with prices on them.
My dad had a pile of bar signs in the basement that I rescued and priced them out on ebay yesterday…over $1000. Add another $20-25 for a rusty, empty steel beer can from the 1950s. Truly one man’s trash is another’s treasure.
Dh and I decided to get over the guilt and donated some unusable Christmas gifts today, along with a bag of clothes and a small table. Last week I bought some new cookware before sorting out the old, so now I want to pick at least six old pieces to donate or toss by the end of this week.
We’ve spent the last couple of weekends de-cluttering our lake house in preparation for putting it on the market. It wasn’t too bad, but the worst has been seeing all the crap that’s in drawers, cabinets, and nooks and crannies. We’ve battled mice for the past couple of years, and boy did I find some evidence of them while cleaning out. I’ve spent today using the hose attachment of the vacuum cleaner, going through every drawer in the house, every cabinet, on shelves, etc., to get rid of dust, rubbish, and mouse droppings. YUCK. We have a pest control guy who comes out 4 times a year, so no bug problem, but definitely see evidence of at least some mice. No horrible infestation, but any mice at all is upsetting to me!
It wasn’t a whole bag (or it was a smallish bag), but I went through my jewelry cabinet. I got rid of a lot of costume jewelry that I really don’t like anymore and I ditched all the single earrings.
I’ve been trying to start decluttering consistently this year, and just went through my linen closet- which I have decluttered in the past - but there, on the top shelf, I found half of a 20-year-olf Fisher-Price baby monitor and a spray can of Stride-Rite white shoe polish - the kind you use on baby shoes. Little blast from the past!
Awww that’s cute!!! ^^^
Barnard, that was on my list to do today - get rid of the earrings I don’t wear. I tend to wear the same few pair over and over - time to weed them out!!!
Barnardmom, IMO, sorting through smallish stuff is a daunting task! Well done. 
I have been trying to put out more garbage/yard waste, and put bags together for donating, but one resource I just found is a group on Facebook. " buy nothing Seattle", where I hope I can share stuff that is hard to donate, still useable, but we don’t need it.
Now that I mostly read on my Kindle, I have so many hardback novels I want to pass on.
I decided to toss some pillows so I made up the rest of that bag! A few pillows and tons of costume jewelry this week.
It’s getting a little easier for me to get rid of some things. Our kids and their wife/bf were here over the holidays and it was apparent that the new generation isn’t as interested in fine bone china and silver as my generation. Sigh. So those dishes we were saving for the children to keep and cherish, we now realize they have little interest in.
It’s actually a win, because I’ll use and appreciate the things more for ourselves, knowing it’s ok if they break or fade. Things that I was keeping “for the future” but which aren’t necessarily my taste, I can now get rid of with a clear conscience.
I’m not sure if this is a vent or an update post, but…painting a few rooms in preparation for new carpet along with being angry at my husband for not helping has done wonders for my cleaning. It’s so much easier for me to throw things away when I am angry and motivated! Mostly I wonder how did I let it all get to this point. And that statement includes the mess in our house and my husband siting on the couch while I am doing a huge project that we both agree needs to be done.
Whatever, there’s a huge pile of trash by the curb and for that I am happy.
I’m joining back in-
Dropped 4 bags at the thrift store this week. After having my sister Visit her comment that my kids bathroom and bedrooms still looked like they lived here. Cleaned out all the old makeup and hair products from the girls bath. Donated coats and shoes that they have outgrown. Also went through one of the homework desks.
I need to tackle the Tupperware cabinet and also the cabinet that is full of old water bottles.
The worst news is one of my D’s is moving in temporarily and moving her entire apartment into one of my guest rooms.
A box of stuff dropped off at the local Goodwill collection site is my contribution to the thread for the week. Two more boxes are packed and ready to go!
just keeping a bag open and dropping things in as I find them. I have been doing the 3 things a day for nearly 2 years and while not purged as in ready to sell a house, it is not as difficult to imagine. I would just toss stuff but my H would need to be at work…
A good friend is working towards listing her house ASAP. I went over to help her stay focused on cleaning out the basement. Oh my…I came home and told my husband I felt better about the amount of junk we had, however I didn’t want to buy anything more. I just don’t see how she will meet her target dates of listing in 10 days.
Today I cleaned/straightened out a closet and pulled out at least 10 turtlenecks that I have not worn in 2 years. I also have a pile of white tshirts (long and short sleeves) from various road races in the past 10 years. I wear a few of them to bed, but know a bunch need to go and am taking a break before heading back upstairs.