The summer of purge

[thyme4change]

I haven't cleaned out my kids' room and toy collection for years.  They have tons of stuff they don't play with.  They are both done with school, so I declared it "The Summer of Purge" - meaning we were going to go through all their stuff and get rid of everything that is not bringing joy and value to their lives.  We were just going to do a little every day - 90 days.  

They both celebrated by purging the contents of their stomach.  

[chiver78]

aw......sorry :\      I've been putting off the same sort of material purge, myself. been here 8 years now, I should probably get my ass in gear!

[Peace Of Mind]

Did you also purge the refrigerator?    Sorry your kids are sick.  And I hate to tell you this but those random hugs may go away for awhile if you are giving away their stuff. 

I hope you all have a nice summer and here:        You will need this after dealing with both purges. 

[Deleted]

Something is going through our house too.  Nobody is stomach purging but we're all "off".

As for the decluttering toys, I would LOVE to do that.  My older son would be on board, but the three year old loves every freaking McDonalds crap toy, every car in his tote full of cars, heck, every leaf and dried up flower he's brought in from outside...  The only way to purge with that kid is to sneak it out when he's sleeping.

Other son, I just give a tote and say "fill it" and you can have your ipod back and he's done in 10 minutes. 

[Deleted]

I took no less than 10 boxes of books to co/op, library donations. I have two more out for tomorrow and 4 boxes of book club books I'm handing off within the month. It feels good. I've also been unloading curriculum, etc. Anything younger than 8th grade. 

I think I have about 2 more art days in me after this one too... I'm going to stop replenishing my stores as they get used up. 

Im im also significantly cutting commitments and even some people. 

[Deleted]

Sorry your kids aren't feeling well.

I wouldn't drag it out for 90 days, you'll all go crazy. I'd do a few days per kid's room, with a "reward" at the end. It usually takes me 2 days to completely go through the contents of a kid's room.

I've always done a complete purge of my kids' rooms with them every time they moved up to a new school (ie nursery to primary, primary to middle school, middle school to HS, HS to college). At that point they were allowed to "redo" their room. Not replacing the furniture unless it was necessary, but repainting / new curtains / new rug / new bedding, etc. That always really motivated them because as they got older their rooms became more "grown up" and reflected their new tastes and new favorite colors.

[Spellbound454]

It helps if you have somewhere for the toys and spare stuff to go.

We donated most of it to charity for resale.

Broken things were thrown away...a few collectables and keepsakes were packed away.....the rest washed and prepared for donation....or we sold it privately

Like has been said, they got to choose the new decoration for their "grown-up" rooms.

I have always purged clothes...little point in keeping things that don't fit. The good stuff went for hand-me-downs and the rest recycled.

[Cookies Galore]

We're going to have a summer of purge as well. I'm always getting rid of old clothes and clutter, but hubs is a sentimental packrat. I sometimes secretly throw stuff out; he hasn't noticed yet. I hope hubs doesn't vomit during our next clean and purge weekend!

ETA: I'm amusing myself with the image of you telling the kids it's time clean their rooms and them projectile vomiting everywhere a large Family Guy.

[wvugurl26]

I'm working on this myself right now. I switched my winter and summer clothes out and filled five trash bags of clothes to donate. I'm trying to do a little bit at a time. It does draw it out but what I'm going through couldn't be accomplished in even a weekend. I can only do a few hours before my back injury starts hurting like crazy.

[zibazinski]

 I used to send my kids up north to see their grandparents. Then I raided. Bags and bags of stuff. They never even knew, those buggers!!

[flamingo]

We are doing this too. Mostly because we are downsizing from a 2/2 to a 1/1 and just don't have as much room as we once had. But I'm not too sentimental, so it's not hard for me. My DH, on the other hand, feels like he needs to save EVERYTHING! I'm already moved, he's finishing decluttering and figuring out what he's brining with him in July. He has 5 weeks to pack his car with whatever else he wants up here. I have a feeling the day before he leaves, EVERYTHING will go in the dumpster and he'll only be brining clothes. He called 5 times yesterday to say "Do you want X? No? Are you sure? What about Y? No?! REALLY?!" where X and Y are things like coffee mugs and blankets circa 1995. Uh, I'm pretty sure Target sells those things-brand new! So no need to pack the chipped, holey stuff!

[zibazinski]

DF is the SAME way! What is it about stuff?

[Deleted]

You're teaching your kids a valuable lesson. We can't hold onto everything unless we want to end up on an episode of "Hoarders". I highly recommend a book called "Rightsizing Your Life" by Ciji Ware- I got it out of the library but may buy my own copy. She does a really great job addressing the emotional issues and has a lot of resources in the back for places that will use or recycle things you might throw away.

Can you sell any of the kids' things on e-Bay, even for a little? The money may be a good incentive for them.  So far I've grossed $100 from selling odds and ends.  It's not exactly funding my retirement but it's better than throwing things away.

[milee]

Hope the stomach purge thing is better today, that's no fun.

Good luck on the room purge.

[raeoflyte]

We're moving and dh hasn't ever done a meaningful purge of his stuff. Just box it up and hide it away. So he got the job of going through the garage with things that haven't been opened in 10+ years. He said it was hard but he just kept singing the theme to frozen as he chucked stuff.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using proboards

[sheilaincali]

We do this with DS too. He's not overly attached to things and doesn't tend to get upset.

Whenever he leaves for a period of time we always re-decorate and de-clutter his room as a surprise. He leaves on the 9th for Germany and he told me the other night "I'm guessing you'll be changing my room. I like my bed and I live to be able to see my laptop on my desk and my tv at the same time. Other than that I don't care what you do to my room".

Sweet!!!! Free reign!  Bet I can even bully DH in to helping me repaint the Boy's room.

PS- sorry the kids are sick

[thyme4change]

My daughter is very fond of her stuff, so when I told her we were going to work on it a little bit every day, she looked a little sad.  But then I told her when her closet was empty, I'd buy her a whole bunch of new clothes - so she is on-board now.  

[zibazinski]

Bribery works. I got rid of all of DS's Ghostbusters stuff by telling him he could have the cash from the sale.

[michelyn8]

I started my purging when I moved two weeks ago by loading stuff I didn't want into the U-haul on the last load and stopping at Goodwill on my way to return the truck.  I got rid of a blanket chest, roll top desk, table, hutch and 4 matching chairs, 4 bar stools, and two twin beds and some smaller items. All of these were things I either hadn't used in years or didn't have a place for in the new house.  My mother brought up a yard sale when she saw the stuff I was donating but I told her I didn't want to deal with the hassle and what I didn't sell I'd still have to find a way to get rid of. 

I also gave a bag of stuffed animals to a co-worker for her to give to the animal shelter she volunteers at.  DGD doesn't play with them anymore and they were just shoved in a closet so why not let the shelter have them to comfort the fur-babies. 

I've still got more I want to get rid of so as I'm puttin things away, stuff either goes in the trash or a donate pile.  This house is much smaller than my previous plus I have a lot of stuff I've been holding on to for "some day" that's never gotten here.

[Deleted]

I'm jealous. We moved last year and I FINALLY got DH to start cleaning out his crap. We're donating all his video games and stuff to a place that cleans and repairs them them gives them to children's hospitals so they can do something while having treatments. Works for me. That will be 3 boxes out of my living room. Well, after I pack them up and lug them to the post office.

Our idea of purging was to move every friggin' thing we owned to the new house and THEN start tossing. I hate myself for that but I also forgot we don't have as much room here as we did at our condo. We had a storage unit packed to the gills and were using BIL's garage to store a bunch of crap as well. Only thing left in the garage is DH's electric wheelchair which he currently doesn't use but will need to sometime down the line. After I get new batteries for it, that is. For now the transport chair is fine.

[wyouser]

Practice thoughtful purges.  Remember what you purge today that was your kids.......You may get to replace as your children are replaced with grandchildren.  And be prepared for some sticker shock!  (Remember the $1.00 Barbie from the 60's? How bout that 25 cent matchbox car )......just sayin

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I've been purging so we can get rid of a dresser in our room so there's more space for the PnP.

My DH wears 3 T-shirts in rotation and one pair of shorts. Yet his clothes take up over half the closet AND an entire dresser! Where the heck did all these clothes come from?! Some of it still had tags on it!

I told him what I was going to do but when he saw stuff going into bags he pitched a fit. Dude you didn't remember you even owned this stuff till I got it out, why do you care what happens to it now?  So I compromised and didn't throw away ALL his clothes besides what he wears.   I put them all on hangers facing one direction, if the hangers don't move by December all his clothes are going to Goodwill and I mean it.

We'd be on A&E if DH had it his way.

Toy purges have to wait till Gwen isn't home. Like MPL's son if she sees me sticking something into a bag she'll freak and want to keep it, even if it's something she hasn't played with in forever. I have to wait until she isn't home to make any serious progress.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I purged quite a bit the few days before I moved, but it still wasn't sufficient. We've been purging as boxes have gotten unpacked (there is ONE box left in the garage, about 8 left in the basement to unpack). Fortunately, TD has a couple of nieces who have just 'launched' and are in the process of furnishing their first condos. My dishes and a lot of pots and pans have gone in their direction.

Right now, my pictures are braced up against the wall. There is NO space for my stuff and TD hasn't decided what on his walls he cannot live without yet (and there are several that I'd ditch in a heartbeat). I don't need everything I have up, but I do have a few favorites that I'd like to see on the walls here.

[zibazinski]

I did the same in my closet   DF made me put back a dozen items but I'll get rid of them behind his back!!

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I should have done what I did before. Last time I put the bag on the floor of the closet and told him fine I'd leave them there. I waited a few days and moved the bag to the car, then donated it. He never even noticed.

What's ironic is he gives me grief all the time about having "too many clothes". At least I wear all mine! And I purge regularly with the change in seasons so what I did/did not wear is still fresh in my mind.

[midjd]

DH bought a new pair of boots over the weekend, because his others were starting to hurt his feet. I asked what he wanted to do with the old ones, he said "I want to keep them, they'll be good for mowing and weedeating." I then opened the front hall closet to show him that there were at least 5 pairs of work boots and tennis shoes that had been deemed "good for mowing" and not touched since.

After some debate, we decided that I would throw out the most recent pair of used boots, since one of the other pair had steel toes and he might get a job where he needs steel-toed boots, and the other pair was a little small but he wanted to give to his friend Rob the next time he came over, since they were still in good shape. We also managed to get rid of a pair of tennis shoes.

Then he asked "So how many of your shoes are YOU throwing away?"  Dude, I wear ALL my shoes!

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

DH is always complaining that he doesn't have shorts. I found FOUR pairs of jean shorts (not including the shorts he wears), all the right size. Some still had tags on them. I told him if he complains about not having shorts one more time I am going to strangle him with the pairs he already owns.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Sigh....

TD has a drawer overloaded with T shirts. However, he has one pair of khaki shorts and 3 pair of shorts that double as swim trunks. When we went to Mexico a couple years ago, 2 pair of shorts he brought were shorts he painted in, so they had paint on them. He also has a pair of Tevas that he bought 20 years ago (and they look it). How do I tell him his Tevas look like shit, when he thinks that they are perfectly adequate?

We're going to Myrtle Beach in a couple weeks and I REALLY want to go out and pick him up a couple pair of khaki shorts and a new pair of Tevas. I'm wondering if I go out and buy 'em, wash 'em and slip them into his drawer, if he'll know?

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

You'll have to get rid of the old POS Tevas first if you want that work. My DH will wear shoes he's holding together with duct tape despite a brand new pair of shoes sitting right next to them. He won't stop either until the crappy ones finally disintegrate.

He does it with clothes too.  He ripped a giant hole in his favorite cammo shirt, which already looked like garbage to begin with and he stood there for 30 minutes trying to convince me he could fix the hole and the shirt would "look just fine".

And he wonders why I walk so far ahead of him.

[sheilaincali]

You all understand me!!!

Seriously, DH is a horrible clothes horse.  Over the past year I've finally got him agreeing to part with some of his crap. He does the same thing with the shoes as Mid's DH does. We made fun of him for weeks because he kept claiming he needed new gym shoes. He comes home one day and foolishly admits that maybe he has too many similar looking shoes. He liked the look of these black tennis shoes with bright blue accents.  On that fateful day he wore a Nike on his left foot and a Reebok on his right foot and didn't realize it until that evening. That's when he finally admitted he maybe didn't need new gym shoes.

But he still has a collection of shoes that get downgraded to "yard, lawn mowing" shoes.   He is still bummed that the Boy's feet are a size and a half larger than his so now he doesn't get DS' old shoes as hand-me downs.  

We've embraced the plan to sell the house and downsize into something much smaller when the Boy goes off to college. As a result he has finally, almost stopped buying things. Plus he's started to agree to purge more. He did get rid of like 3 bags of books last week. 

Embarrassed to admit that last year we purged over 2100 items from the house (yes we counted) and we still have things to get rid of this year. Granted it's much less and the house takes like 45 minutes to clean but there are still areas of clutter that are driving me batty.