Thought you all might enjoy this:
I am going more and more minimal with the holiday decorating as the kids are getting older. The last few years when I take the stuff out I put aside what I am no longer using and get rd of it.
My huuuuuuuuge brag for this thread is that our two sons and their GFs met midway, and I was able to load up the car with all of S2âs remaining items from our house â snow board, boots, textbooks, text books, and more text books (which are relevant for his grad school studies), yarn (he crochets) and three musical instruments. Yippee!!
H has started going through all of the âstuffâ in the basement that we have been meaning to get to. Large pile of things by the basement doors that will be going before year end. Yay!
DD2 will be home Friday and I am going to enlist her help with de-cluttering.
I recently realized that I donât use my so-called nonstick pans anymore. They were never very nonstick to begin with, so theyâre now in my Goodwill pile. Maybe Iâll take them tomorrow.
Happy New Year, my fellow baggers! 
Kiddo cleaned her room before going on vacation with us. Mounds of stuff went to Goodwill! Yay us!!!
H hauled out a few loads of stuff before the yearâs end. I need to get back on track with cleaning out the closets,etc.
My office is scheduled to move in about 6 weeks and we are cleaning out (and packing for storage) there. Most people consider it a pain, but I enjoy it!
Our family stopped doing presents for Christmas years ago, and I really enjoy having more of a focus on simply enjoying the season without shopping pressure. But my H still hankers to give me a gift, and always asks if he may. This year I told him, âThere is no way I want you going shopping for me, but if you really want to give me a gift, do some decluttering and give me some bags for Goodwill.â
He gave me three bags of clothing items that no longer fit him, and I happily delivered them to Goodwill, along with some I had accumulated.
The start of a new Christmas tradition!
I am also going through ornaments and Christmas decor â giving married D and her H a selection of ornaments, and doing the same for engaged son and his fiancee. We have more ornaments than can fit on our tree, and it is nice that they can start off with some ornaments special to them.
Every bit that leaves our house makes me feel like I lost some weight!
JEM - I love that gift idea!
Dh spent hours this week sorting through his fatherâs files, tossing 10 - 15 yr. old statements and bills among other trash. He also found a few treasures and plans to scan those photos and documents for his siblings. After the second day, he called to tell me that he now understands why I feel so compelled to clean out all of our closets and files. He doesnât want our kids to have to deal with a similar mess. I am thrilled that heâs on board now. He even suggested that we work on a particular closet this weekend because it will supply the most papers to shred. Yay!
@LasMa: I like your approach and will adopt it for myself during the week. Too often Iâve let physical limitations stop me from making any progress on our decluttering, but I could handle what youâve been doing. Itâs a big shift in attitude to go from âBad Silpat, you didnât clean out the whole closetâ to âthereâs 1 less item to clutter my life.â
Got a call from DD (in Houston) right before she came home for Christmas. âMom, are my insulated base layer running clothes still in the basket by my bed?â
me: âThe ones you told me I could pitch or donate? No,â
oops. Turns out she didnât really need them this year, but now wishes she still had them. Although what she really needs are base layers for skiing and snowmobiling, not the ratty old running clothes she had. And Santa came through with a starter kit for that.
Some of the Christmas decorations that came out of the storage cabinet will not be going back in. Small victories.
Little by little I am making progress by daily declutter (try for an item a day or more). I am also paying attention to the input end of this mass-balance exercise. In the old days budget was my main consideration for new purchases. Now I ponder a lot on âdo I really need this?â.
Yes to âdo I really need thisâ!
^probably not
But I am hoping that I can keep things in the house current enough that it does not look like old people live hereânot yet at least.
While my adult sons were here for the holidays, I asked them to clean out their old bedrooms. I gave them garbage bags, recycling bags, and boxes for donations and keepers. Needless to say, they procrastinated and underestimated how long it would take them. They got as far as their desks, but our recycling can was almost full. Hopefully next time theyâre here they get more done.
DD1 graduates in April, and her room-mates and DD are picking up one additional room-mate and moving into a house. Getting more of her âstuffâ to her then. DD2âs room looks pretty great - things put away.
DD1 comes home today for the last of her break between semesters - will try to go through some of her room with her for things she can âuseâ now, lol.
My latest achievement - 4 bags to Salvation army, one big box of books to the Public library - was waiting for January, since both are tax deductible, and one huge bag with kitchen junk form the top shelves - this one went to the garbage, of course. So, I would count it as at least 6 bags. I will continue with non-tax-deductable stuff for the rest of this year, clothes and books have to wait for the next year, 2017.
My Dâs things - just graduated from medical school and lives in a house in different city - are still in my house. She still has her own room at our place and some stuff in our basement and baby grand is hers to take when she gets into much bigger place along with some of our furniture (hopefully!), as we plan to move to something smaller after we retire hopefully not earlier than in 2.5 years, at least this is our desire, not sure if it coincides with the desires of our employers.
âBut I am hoping that I can keep things in the house current enough that it does not look like old people live hereânot yet at least.â
Amen! The less clutter, the younger the place looks! It is all the tchotchke that age our places⊠I am only half-kidding here
âBut I am hoping that I can keep things in the house current enough that it does not look like old people live hereânot yet at least.â - That sounds like remodelling/redecorating. Thatâs ok because the old stuff (ideally) gets given away to make space for the new.
Hmm, no our house and furniture is less than 12 yrs old. I guess I am talking more about an attitude that it is all OK and âgood enoughâ.
So, yes, maybe you are right about the redecorating! I do tend to let things be overall. I do change âdĂ©corâ every few weeksâŠI keep a stash and mix it up on a regular basis. But furniture tends to be here to stay.
When I mentioned that the couch was looking used my H groaned. But then you should see his motherâs decorating ability!