Unwanted Crappola Solutions

[Deleted]

I listen to Dave Ramsey while I work. I always laugh when he says that when someone is serious about getting out of debt and sell enough stuff that the kids think they are next. 

So, I have been cleaning/clearing out more of my property.  Yesterday I did a large area where I park my small yard hauling trailer and other crap has managed to accumulate over the last 12 years of living here.

I discovered that despite that fact that DH and I never, ever purchased rims for a car... and have only taken one tire off and replaced it with another, and have never brought home extras, I have EIGHT tires plus the one giant tractor tire that we had for my goats to play on. WTF? Did they breed?  I have no idea where they even came from...?

To get rid of the tires, I will wait for the county's free tire disposal day. They get some sort of grant and will take all the tires.  I think I can legally haul less than 10 at a time.  So, one trip and those will be gone to the giant farm where tires go to die.

I also discovered that I apparently have an old-style, metal camper shell that is in perfect, but ancient, condition.  DH had it out in the brush and I didn't even know it was there!

I think I should be able to get like $50-100 for it.  Today I am going to drag it out, hose it off, measure it and list it on the local Facebook page. Money goes toward my giant electric bill...

The kids have an old go kart that has been collecting dust.  DS is tasked with dragging it out and putting it online.  I am going to use that cash to fix my car so DS can get his license. 

I also have a freezer not being used that is going to the car repair fund and electric bill as well.

My son asked me what is up and why I am listing things and cleaning up.  LOL. I explained to him it is my weight loss exercise and I want to clean all 5 acres by the end of next year, in case I decide I want to move for work. Otherwise, I will be working even more and will have less time, so might as well get things caught up now.

And, the point of my thread, it is amazing the amount of crappola a family can accumulate over the years.  Rather than just trash/donate/recycle I am starting to try and look at things with an eye to what is able to be sold and things I can do for free. 

I have now raked nearly 3 acres of my land and removed all plastic, broken glass, branches, leaves, and any other misc crap left there in the last 30+ years. I hate all the broken glass because I have dogs, and I hate it when I am out in the field and find old plastic or metal.  Removing all of it has been great exercise and my yard is really looking nice.

[busymom]

Nice work, Shasta!

Cleaning out my Mom's house has been a real eye opener for me. Even the rafters were packed, & it forced me to take a hard look at our own house.  DH & I had accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, & with all of the overtime we both worked before the kids were born, & of course after the kids arrive you're busy too.  So, we'd never really gone through all of our things & done any serious purging.  So, now, we've been going through our stuff, & have thrown, garage-saled, or given to charity a lot of items.  But, we're not done yet.  But, the progress feels good, doesn't it? 

[Deleted]

Great job Shasta! Like people say about debt, your Stuff wasn't accumulated overnight, and it won't go overnight either LOL. 

Is the county's free tire disposal day coming up soon? Have you found out when it is? If it's only occasional, you don't want to miss it. 

If you feel like tracking your progress, feel free to join us on the WIR Decluttering thread. We post our goals and progress and we're very encouraging. (I post too much about marking, but still LOL.) 

Busymom hangs out over there too! 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Fantastic effort and accomplishment! Kept going!  

[busymom]

Every year on Earth Day, you can drop off your old electronics at the recycling center here for free! It's the perfect time to get rid of old t.v.'s, computer equipment, etc.  I believe this year it's Tuesday, April 22nd, but different communities sometimes celebrate it on slightly different days. (Check your local community calendar.)

[Shooby]

I have never been able to sell anything. I tried to sell stuff for next to nothing. No takers. Selling stuff isn't easy to do.

[nogooddeed]

Great work Shasta!  I'm inspired by your attitude that seems more and more positive as time goes by.

[Deleted]

[tskeeter]

Mar 16, 2014 18:41:22 GMT -5 Shooby said:

I have never been able to sell anything. I tried to sell stuff for next to nothing. No takers. Selling stuff isn't easy to do.

At a minimum, the camper shell most likely has value even if you can't sell it for use as a camper shell.  If it is the style I'm thinking it is, it is probably mostly made of aluminum.  One of the more desirable metals for recycling.  If no one wants to buy it, a scrap metal deal will probably pay a bit for it.

[Tiny]

Best Buy accepts old electronics (for free) year round. If you didn't want to wait for earth day.

[The Captain]

Mar 16, 2014 14:34:46 GMT -5 @atsahsreborn said:

I listen to Dave Ramsey while I work. I always laugh when he says that when someone is serious about getting out of debt and sell enough stuff that the kids think they are next. 

So, I have been cleaning/clearing out more of my property.  Yesterday I did a large area where I park my small yard hauling trailer and other crap has managed to accumulate over the last 12 years of living here.



I also discovered that I apparently have an old-style, metal camper shell that is in perfect, but ancient, condition.  DH had it out in the brush and I didn't even know it was there!

I think I should be able to get like $50-100 for it.  Today I am going to drag it out, hose it off, measure it and list it on the local Facebook page. Money goes toward my giant electric bill...

If there's any chance that's an airstream they are worth more than the scrap value.  You should check it out online...

We have some serious collectors for those in my neck of the woods.

[milee]

OK, this is totally outside the box... but if the tires aren't steel belted, maybe your nonworking son would be able to use them to make sandals to sell online, at a craft fair or to a local store? Years ago, I bought a pair of sandals made from tires and they were the most comfy things I'd ever worn - wore them until they fell apart. You can google how to make sandals from tires. With some cute straps, this could be something the son can make for little money and be able to sell for some income.

Another idea for your son to make money is if the brush you're clearing involves vines, don't throw those vines away.  Twist the vines into the shape of a wreath.  Craft stores will buy them because people like to decorate them.  

[kcladyjane]

Selling items isn't hard..at least if you are in a decently populated area.  We use Craigslist and now I have recently started joining Facebook groups to sell things.  Both are free!  Just make sure you add a picture.  I ignore ads that don't include one.  I see people selling clothing, small items, etc for as little as a few bucks.  I just sold a lawn mower for $125 using a facebook group page.  Give it a shot!

[Deleted]

We have very active local FB groups where just about anything will sell.

Interestingly, I have a second camper shell that is also aluminum.  It has broken windows.  Wonder if I can take it to the scrap yard?  Gotta ask them. 

[tloonya]

Don't rush to celebrate.
At least when you full of crap (garagewise) you think if you sold it you can make some money to pay some bills.
But when it is all gone and there is no money...whats now?

[sarcasticgirl]

Mar 17, 2014 11:47:15 GMT -5 tloonya said:

Don't rush to celebrate.
At least when you full of crap (garagewise) you think if you sold it you can make some money to pay some bills.
But when it is all gone and there is no money...whats now?

what now = she's cleared her acreage, she's been active and has likely lost a few pounds (as she says is a goal) and she's had some extra money to pay some bills! she'll be in a better place, all around!

[Deleted]

I am starting school in 3 months and will have access to income as usual from working.  Low income, but it will pay the bills.

Cleaning out the garage is my ultimate goal because my late DH saved way too much not useful to us crap.  Everything I am not going to potentially use/need is going. 

I found three more small tires.  I was excited thinking one will fit on my wheelbarrow to replace the flat tire.  Nope, apparently they were meant to be go kart tires but are the wrong size............ Putting those for sale, and if not onto the disposal pile.  ARGH!

I have found parts for cars I no longer own.  I have also found this majorly huge ratchet.  It is about 3' long and must weight 20 pounds.  It is brand new, still in the box, and must be worth some cash.  Since I will not be doing any large engine repair in my lifetime, I am going to list that sucker too.

[happyhoix]

Good job clearing out the crap you won't need.

Every now and then I watch one of those hoarder's shows to inspire me to empty my closets. Why keep crap you don't want and won't use when someone else might want and use it??

[bean29]

Shasta regarding those tires:  They are very expensive to get rid of, most places charge about $8.00 a tire.  My city takes tires for $3.00 each but you have to show your DL.  Our also takes freon appliances for $15.00 each.  I am sure if you show up with a truck full of tires they are going to give you a hard time.

I work for a commercial property owner.  We have had problems with people dumping tires on some of or properties.  Someone took all the steel belting out of the tires and then dumped the remaider of the tire on our property.  Apparently places recycle tires reclaim the metal so we had trouble finiding someone willing to take the tires w/o the metal in them. 

I would tell your boys to keep an eye out for any trucks or vans that may be dumping on your property.

Anyways good job, and I would check the scap value of the trailers vs. what you might get on CL of FB - chances are whoever buys it is going to scrap/recycle it.

[Deleted]

Mar 17, 2014 13:34:18 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Good job clearing out the crap you won't need.

Every now and then I watch one of those hoarder's shows to inspire me to empty my closets. Why keep crap you don't want and won't use when someone else might want and use it??

Yes, Hoarders is great for cleaning inspiration.  I do that as well.

For me, I think the change in my thinking was when I helped take care of my dying grandmother.  I used to look around at all her "treasures" and think OMG, someone is going to have to deal with all of this crap.

My grandparents had this small detached garage that was found full of old paperwork. My grandparents kept things from the 1960s!  Like ALL of their bills and bank stuff......  bon-fire anyone?  lol

I came to the decision I wanted a lot less stuff, but DH was more of the opinion that we have all of this "free" storage space here so save everything....

It is so much easier to keep things clean when there is less stuff.  Also, I started gathering up everything I can find that is used for a specific task. For example, I put all scissors in one place, all gardening stuff, all tools, etc...  I find stuff in the garage that I have purchased because I didn't know it existed....  I am trying to fix that. 

And, anything in boxes that I want, I make a point to use.  I no longer have "decorative" bowls, mugs, etc... they are used.

I mostly clean outside for exercise and to clean up the fire danger.  But, the glass and stuff really bugs me.  People are pigs.  I want my patch of earth clean of things that cut my feet and look like people discarded their trash there in the past. 

And, as an added bonus, someday if I decide to move I want to be able to do it simply and not have to have multiple trucks to do it.    

[Deleted]

Mar 17, 2014 13:57:41 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Shasta regarding those tires:  They are very expensive to get rid of, most places charge about $8.00 a tire.  My city takes tires for $3.00 each but you have to show your DL.  Our also takes freon appliances for $15.00 each.  I am sure if you show up with a truck full of tires they are going to give you a hard time.

I work for a commercial property owner.  We have had problems with people dumping tires on some of or properties.  Someone took all the steel belting out of the tires and then dumped the remaider of the tire on our property.  Apparently places recycle tires reclaim the metal so we had trouble finiding someone willing to take the tires w/o the metal in them. 

I would tell your boys to keep an eye out for any trucks or vans that may be dumping on your property.

Anyways good job, and I would check the scap value of the trailers vs. what you might get on CL of FB - chances are whoever buys it is going to scrap/recycle it.

Every year our county gets a grant and does tire recycling days.  You are allowed to transport/ up to 10 tires as an individual and the dumping is free.

[kittensaver]

Stack up the tires, add dirt inside and use the tire towers to grow potatoes . It works!

[motherto2]

Great job! Isn't it freeing? I've been working on my house for the last year plus. I worked on it again this last month. Always a work in progress. DD came home with school stuff last year, so I did as much purging of it I could. This year she came home with all her deployment stuff, so I've been trying to purge some more so she can put it all somewhere. DS will be home in two months with all of his college stuff and his military stuff, so I got nothin. I told him he really needs to go through his stuff before he moves it all out. We will have several cars there for graduation, so I want him to sort it to stuff that he wants to bring home to use, and stuff he won't need any more. Me, DD and my parents will be there a day ahead, so he will have plenty of time to give us everything he won't need except for the night and next day. It's stupid, but they have dead week where everything is over and done with (exams, etc) and they make everyone stay there. Then they have graduation (always on May 16) and just about the time graduation is over, all of the underclassmen are allowed to leave, while the graduation guests are trying to leave, and folks are trying to get pictures and seniors are trying to get their stuff packed and moved. Talk about a cluster truck. And it's a small, small area to do all of this in. Yet again something that doesn't make sense. I digress. I have been putting stuff out in the family room to do one more yard sale the first weekend of April and anything that doesn't sell gets hauled off to the local resale shop. I am also storing some furniture out there for DS who says he wants it when he finds his own place.  The one glimmer of hope is that both kids should be getting their careers going and out of my house in the near future. When they move, they are taking all their "stuff" with them. Let them decide to store it or pitch it. Funny how when it's your house they want to keep it. When they have to take responsibility for it, all of a sudden, it's not worth it

[Deleted]

Acutally, we gathered them all up and put them in the "going out" pile behind the garage. 

I would bury them or use them for a garden or something, but I am trying to keep the poor-white-trash-ness to a limit... 

[kittensaver]

Mar 17, 2014 14:34:00 GMT -5 @atsahsreborn said:

Acutally, we gathered them all up and put them in the "going out" pile behind the garage. 

I would bury them or use them for a garden or something, but I am trying to keep the poor-white-trash-ness to a limit... 

LOL Shasta, are you calling me poor white trash?

[Deleted]

One of my sons was talking about what he would take when he moved out.  Hahahah.... I explained to him that he takes it or the trash guy does. 

I want my art studio and craft room!   

Now I understand why my parents moved after we moved out - to a house with no extra bedrooms.   

I seem to go through phases where I can accomplish things and those where I can't.  My son refers  to it as my OCD raking binges.  Apparently he thinks raking the woods is weird.  LOL  (But, I am also constantly fighting the seasons because we cannot burn when the spring hits well into fall.  So, I have to burn while I can.)

In all honesty, when we moved here we didn't have a ton of time to sort through stuff.  We boxed nearly everything and moved it. The other day I found an entire box full of my late husbands SSDI applications and medical records from an injury 30 years ago.  OMG. 

For those who want to start de-cluttering, all I can say is that it gets easier over time.  Things I put back into boxes a couple years ago are now flowing out of the house without a thought. 

[Deleted]

Mar 17, 2014 14:35:28 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Mar 17, 2014 14:34:00 GMT -5 @atsahsreborn said:

Acutally, we gathered them all up and put them in the "going out" pile behind the garage. 

I would bury them or use them for a garden or something, but I am trying to keep the poor-white-trash-ness to a limit... 

LOL Shasta, are you calling me poor white trash?

OMG... um... oops!  Sorry.

We have people here who have constructed entire fences with old tires.  Some of them are interesting and some just look like they wanted to get rid of a ton of tires.  I particuarly love the painted ones.  Painted tire looks just like a regular tire but makes it stand out even more. 

Did you paint your potato planters?

And, I think a couple of my tires are "fortunate" enough to still have rims attached.  I guess those could go on the bottom. 

[Deleted]

Mar 17, 2014 14:46:13 GMT -5 @atsahsreborn said:

Mar 17, 2014 14:35:28 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

LOL Shasta, are you calling me poor white trash?

OMG... um... oops!  Sorry.

We have people here who have constructed entire fences with old tires.  Some of them are interesting and some just look like they wanted to get rid of a ton of tires.  I particuarly love the painted ones.  Painted tire looks just like a regular tire but makes it stand out even more. 

Did you paint your potato planters?

And, I think a couple of my tires are "fortunate" enough to still have rims attached.  I guess those could go on the bottom. 

just make sure to 'accessorize' with a toilet planter or 2

[kittensaver]

Mar 17, 2014 14:46:13 GMT -5 @atsahsreborn said:

Mar 17, 2014 14:35:28 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

LOL Shasta, are you calling me poor white trash?

OMG... um... oops!  Sorry.

We have people here who have constructed entire fences with old tires.  Some of them are interesting and some just look like they wanted to get rid of a ton of tires.  I particuarly love the painted ones.  Painted tire looks just like a regular tire but makes it stand out even more. 

Did you paint your potato planters?

And, I think a couple of my tires are "fortunate" enough to still have rims attached.  I guess those could go on the bottom. 

We have a few (tire towers) in our community garden . . . because we are near the ocean, we don't paint them. The white paint is intended to deflect heat from the rubber, otherwise in some hot climates the potatoes would fry/die, not grow. If we deflected any more heat in our microclimate the potatoes probably wouldn't even grow.

[Deleted]

Tire towers - LOL

It is nice to know there is a reason for the white paint.  I always assumed it was just a bad decoration situation.  However, I assume the person with the rainbow painted ones, from well before the "pride" days of rainbows, was just a bad/leftover paint situation? 

We live in the desert.  The only way to grow potatoes here would be in very good dirt and up out of the sand.  We have tried and failed to grow them here.  The one year we actually had potatoes down there something came one night and ate them/hauled all of them off.  Apparently squirrels or packrats love potatoes.  Who knew?