Welcome to the club,manhattanboro.
104 books are in the back of my car to be donated to the library today.
Hi, to you, BunsenBurner & FallGirl- thanks for the welcome.
50 CDs to a local charity today.
And, thumper1- re: tax deductions
I found a very useful site, itsdeductibleonline
Making entries now, i.e. when I donate, rather than gathering scribbled notes attached to Goodwill receipts when doing taxes, may give me incentive to not wait until late December to make last minute donations.
For anyone accounting for tax deductions, the site is free and generates inventory of quantity and value of items, which provides immediate positive feedback.
And, BB, good luck with your yard and lawn⊠de-thatching a lawn is new to me!
Mr. B finally got rid of the first âmajor purchaseâ we made for our first house - the ugly, gigantic, stinky, noisy shopvac! I swear that thing took more garage space than my Corolla. Iâm super happy! 
I mentioned to DH a few days ago that our town is having an electronics recycling in a couple of weeks, to which he replied that we didnât have anything to recycle. My response: âWhat about the kidsâ old desktop computers, and isnât there a VCR that doesnât work.â Him: âOh yeah, the VCR that eats tapesâ.
Iâll try to convince him to get rid of more useless electronics by the time of the recycling event.
Video from the Today show about a book detailing the Japanese method of decluttering - worth a quick watch and read:
âKondo calls for you to pick up each item and ask yourself if it sparks joy.â âIf youâre having a hard time getting rid of something, thank the item for the role it has already played in your life,â Kondo advises, recommending you say something to the garment like âThank you for giving me joy when I bought youâ or âThank you for teaching me what doesnât suit me.â Then youâre free to âlet it go.â
http://www.today.com/home/life-changing-magic-tidying-testing-marie-kondos-method-t21356
I had great plans for clearing out my closets this weekend. Was all energetic & did well to start but unfortunately was sick as a dog yesterday (I think a reaction to a medication doc put me on) & got nothing done. I have made a good start on one side of two large closets and have a large black bag to go in the trash. Itâs a start. Oh, and I found $500 worth of travellers checks! Itâs a long time since I used travellers checks so they must have been there for years. (Now safely in the bank)
swimcatsmom - great find! I havenât found anything like that. This weekend was pack up the living room so we can take the carpet up and see the condition of the floor. Nothing is being packed that I donât love. 5 boxes of books going to library sale, 2 boxes of other items going to Salvation Army, and another pile of things I am checking with kids, siblings, nieces, nephews etc before donating them. Whew!
@doschicos I read the Japanese de-cluttering book, and I have found it to be very helpful when it comes to certain things I was holding on to that I donât really want or need. By asking myself the âDoes this object bring me joy?â question, I was able to answer ânoâ and give away the object.
@green678 - Such a simple concept once I read it, @green678, but I had not thought about it that way before and I, too, found it helpful.
This month donated and disposed of many items from the Mad Men era.
Fabric never cut and sewn went to a quilting group. Dress patterns (remember Vogue & McCallâs?) went into paper recycling. Souvenirs when a teenager and stereo equipment as a college student to GoodWill.
Everything had been stored, care of my family. Some prop department in Hollywood might have appreciated the haul.
Kept old year books, which do bring joy.
I cleaned out a bunch of plastic boxes Iâd been saving in our basement for most of the time weâve been in our house⊠9 years now. Most of the shirts and blouses were fine, but shorter than I would wear now, and the pants were all bigger in the legs than we wear now. I even had the expensive shorts someone bought me when my son was born⊠21 years ago. It was time to let them go, and reclaim the space. 5 big bags worth, yeah. That doesnât count what I just threw away.
SwimCatsMom (#1605)-- I hope youâre feeling better.
And- Wow! what a find!
I only came across a silver quarter from the sixties.
I know!! Itâs all downhill from here!
I do feel better though not tip top. Decided to nix the one med (singulair) cause Iâm pretty sure it was what made me so sick and I am on enough other meds.
I love the âdoes this bring me joyâ idea. I keep popping back to the bedroom when I have a little energy. Had several pairs of shoes I havenât worn for years that I was on the fence about and did the âdoes this bring me joyâ test. Nope, theyâre in the donate pile. Those country quilt design coasters, yea theyâre cute, but thank you and bye bye. I think this will really help!
Not sure if I can quite get on board with the making my clothes happy by how I fold themâŠ
1214 - I have clothes in my closet I havenât worn since we moved to this house from Egypt in 1988! Nice clothes but more the cocktail party lifestyle of an expat a plus they havenât fit for years. Iâm going to get ruthless.
@doschicos Another helpful thing from the book was the idea that you should de-clutter by category rather than by the space. When I put all my pairs of black pants together in one pile, I was able to see how many I actually had. (They had been in a few different places). Then I tried them all on and saw how some of them looked better than others, so there was no reason to keep the ones that looked worse.
@swimcatsmom I havenât gotten to the fold them a certain way point either 
Iâm getting very good at getting rid of unwanted hostess gifts the day after they arrive in my house. Iâve become ruthless!!
I win the prize.
I posted on Freecycle the 12 doors that were in the garage and that we donât need after our remodel two and a half years ago. Gone!!
One day, weâll use the garage for cars. Not yet, unfortunately.
I have been taking my be a week away from this house. I have. I am now at the point where Iâm willing to keep only the things I really use, and not things I think I might useâŠsomeday.
NowâŠif I could just get my us and on board!
My husband actually took the large bag of trash out of the bedroom to the bin, without being asked. At elastic hope it went in the bin and he hasnât stashed it somewhere to go through and check what Iâm throwing away!
Time to go through my swimwear drawer!