2015 Declutter and Get Organized Thread

[startsmart]

2015 is just around the corner so  we are kicking off the new year with a new thread and all are welcome to join in and post anytime!

How does this work?
This is a group of WIR posters who are attempting to clean up, declutter, organize and simplify our lives. Since it's not always easy (or fun) we post our goals, lists, questions and successes here in the community. There are no hard rules - jump in and do what works for you and your home.

Basics for the thread:
1. Be encouraging to one another
2. Share your updates as often as you wish
3. You don't need to respond to other posters but it is a great way to participate and support each other
4. Feel free to track anything to stay motivated - phone calls to return, errands to run, some of our teachers track papers to grade - however there are dedicated threads for losing weight, saving money on groceries and eliminating debt so check those out if you want more in depth discussions
5. Remember when giving advice that we rarely know the whole story and this is not a place of judgment. Try not to take offense when others make suggestions to you and use the private message feature if you'd like something to remain private. You may always edit or delete a post but doing so will not remove quotes from other posters.

Why are some people posting numbers?
Some posters will be attempting to downsize a specific number of items. If you see a "count" this is probably what it's referring to - if you're not sure feel free to ask the original poster. It's not required or even necessary, do what works for you.

Tip! If you are tracking your items going out this year, create a "signature" like mine below by going to:
Profile and Settings - Select "edit profile" button on the right side of the page - Choose the "Personal" tab - Write in the "Signature" block and Save. Update with your count or goals as the year goes on!

[Jaguar]

Woo Hoo lets get started.


It's recycle garbage night so I'm going around the house to see what paper stuff I can throw out.

[WholeLottaNothin]

I am in for 2015. I would like to get rid of 2,015 items this year. I failed spectacularly last year. I am NOT going to get pregnant this year (though at this time last year I would have said the same thing) so I should be able to make more headway this time. I already updated my goals at the bottom.

Good luck to everyone!

[Deleted]

Mon/Tues list:
- pick up Bunny
- bank (deposit check)
- completely finish Shitepile

I didn't finish my errands but I grocery shopped and made chili and cornbread instead.  I'm off for another week so I'm keeping up with everything that needs doing (errands, kitchen, laundry) but I'm also taking it easy. 

[Chocolate Lover]

I'm here! Still just chucking stuff as I can, counting will slow me down too much. End goal is to only have long term storage stuff (Christmas decorations, etc) in the storage closet.  

[Jaguar]

I cleaned out my refrigerator last night and cleaned all the bottles of crap I found. All the bottles went into the recycle box for tomorrow.

[Sam_2.0]

Goal is to purge out 2015 things this year. I may be done this week depending on how its counted

Kidlet is with my mom, so baby J and I have been busy today! Here's what we did so far:

-J's room - put away newborn clothes and shoes. One box to storage, one for a friend expecting soon, one for the donation pile.
-Guest room - found the netflix dvd! three grocery sacks of clothes in the donate pile. Consolidated As clothes for next season.
-A's room - closet and bookshelf cleaned out. One bag of trash out, on bag for donations, toybox taken downstairs to co tinue the "Great Toy Purge"
-Family room - three tubs of toys taken downstairs, two bags of trash out, two bags of donations.
-Basement storage room organized, donations put into a separate pile. Broken baby swing and lamp out to the trash.

[Chocolate Lover]

You just reminded me that I still have 2 Netflix DVDs unaccounted for! Thank goodness there's no late fees! I'd really like to watch them though.

[Sam_2.0]

Dec 29, 2014 15:13:07 GMT -5 Jaguar said:

Woo Hoo lets get started.


It's recycle garbage night so I'm going around the house to see what paper stuff I can throw out.

I love the night before trash day today I was working as fast as possible to keep adding to the piles outside before the trash trucks came by

[Wisconsin Beth]

I found an extremely overdue library DVD this weekend.  Actually, I found 2 and now I'm missing the case for one (I'd checked the case at the library when returning it, realized it was missing a DVD and brought it back home, where it went AWOL)

[plugginaway22]

I will definitely stay here for accountability, and reading what others do always helps to motivate me!  Will think about some goals, not a counter here.
Always good to start a new year!!

[Jaguar]

I do not count either, I just get rid of the junk, cause it just reproduces overnight.

[Happy prose]

I have off on Wednesday, and want to throw away some of my husband's junk while he's at work. He'll never know it's missing.

[startsmart]

Need to take 2 tubs worth of stuff to Goodwill. I have 8 empty tubs that I'll be selling in January. Tonight's task is to fold up all the plastic bags that I've been stuffing in a tube in the garage. My grandma used to fold them into little triangles so they're easy to take on walks for the dogs. 

I put away all of the Christmas decor last night. 

[busymom]

I'm going to go for the BURN this year! (If DS's health is now stable.) I want to get my Mom's house SOLD. It may mean temporary chaos at my house, but it'd be worth an extra year of work on my house just to not have the worry of an extra house hanging over my head.

[Deleted]

Wow Sam what a great start! You've done a lot in just one day! 

[plugginaway22]

One thing I detest every holiday season is the 'obligatory' gift giving that happens in the office.
Between DH and me, we received candy, soaps, holiday hand towels, candles, mugs, and while I definitely appreciate the thoughts, it is clutter.
We are all caught up in it, and it is not necessary.  Maybe at least switch to consumables, food, wine, etc. or NOT do it at all!

We even did a donation to local cancer help center at my office, but some still did gifts. I took advice here and gave gift cards to most, baked for some others.

Sorry for being a Grinch!

[Deleted]

Pluggin, why don't you suggest that for next year? I'm betting that at least some of the others feel the same way. 

[WholeLottaNothin]

Sam is amazing. I want to be like her when I grow up.  (except I think I'm older than her already)

[busymom]

LOL Sam! I love garbage day, too.   In fact, our dumpster was PAST full this morning.  (I really want to tip our poor garbage man, because I really got rid of a lot of stuff this past year.  The problem is, he's here before daylight, & unless I leave a pile of stuff next to the dumpster, he doesn't get out of his truck.  Oh well...)

I'd hoped to work on Mom's house today, but everyone is sick at my house (I'm not feeling well, either).  Some congestion thing is going around.  Sooo, I'm going to work on filing paperwork, & see what I can accomplish at home.

[startsmart]

Today's chores include taking in my insurance payment for 2015 (if you're a day later than Dec 31 you have to reapply and it's a pain), printing off a bunch of paperwork at the library since my printer is not working and putting all the donation stuff in the truck. 

I also managed to wash all the dishes yesterday which had been pretty piled up so today I'm going to put them all away.

[Martivir]

I think my main goal this year is to have separate areas in my basement. Right now it's a mix of my sewing area, DS's play area and storage. There is no real order to it right now. I would love to have the large middle area to just be the play space, the little corner where the baby stuff is now to be my sewing area( it would shrink but that's ok) and the storage to be in the little room off the main basement. Still going through boxes from when we moved almost five years ago. And tons of stuff that we don't need. I've barely purged DS's toys at all. He's five and I had this thing where I saved everything for kid #2. Not pregnant now and DH and I have agreed that it's not going to happen for a couple more years. Only keeping the crib, cradle and the super special clothes. We didn't get a huge house but at the time it seemed like it would work. We didn't have much stuff but with the house we now own more junk than I ever thought I would. 

2015 Goals

- sell/ donate old baby stuff
- ditch the "what if" clothes( what if I gain weight, what if I need my extra baggy pants, etc)
- ditch the old dressers( have 2)
- Properly plan the gardens( both front and back)
- finish going through moving boxes
- set a day every week for listing/ dropping off donations( my weak point, I can pack in boxes but they don't leave the house)
- deep clean one room per week
- devise system for keeping up
- get a booth at a craft show( aiming for Nov/Dec)
- set a work schedule for above goal

And that should do it. I think I'm going to focus in Jan with getting stuff out of the house. Right now I'm just shifting junk and creating new piles. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Martivir - I have an old dresser that I keep the "I can't get rid of this baby clothing item" stuff in.  When the dresser is full, I have to go though it again and resort.  It's not all that big of a dresser but having no desire to go though the stuff again helps me keep it to the minimum.  Now that the kids are 5 and 6, I set aside maybe 1 item per year per kid.  Unless something major happens with their clothing in the next few years, I don't see that changing much.  So I've got a couple of years before I HAVE to go though it.  And by then, there may be grand nieces/nephews I'd be ok with passing the clothes onto. 

But the baby gear is long gone.  I think DH and I both knowing and being in agreement that we're done made that easier for us. 

[Saving4Norway]

I need some focus this week in order to be productive.

Get Mutual Fund online access
Put away laundry
Write Annual Report
Correct 10 papers per day
Volunteer at thrift store (tues 10-1)
Go to gym daily
Decide on Athleta returns
Pack up Christmas
Finish thank you notes

[Martivir]

 Beth- I've been able to part with most of the clothes. Especially the newer stuff he outgrows because I just pass it on to my nephew. I have a tub of clothes that I currently can't part with. Like his first Halloween costume that we used to keep him warm in the carseat long after Halloween was over. And all the stuff with our favorite sports team on it. The toys on the other hand are a whole different story. I do have someone willing to take the rest of the gear off my hands but I've decided I am not waiting six months for her to move back to the area. I'll save the stroller because it's part of the travel system that she's getting the car seat for but that's it. 

Pluggin- I get ya with the gift giving. The nice thing is that DH's new job doesn't do gifts( the company does random goodies throughout the year but not between coworkers) so I don't have to worry about it. Because I'm the gift person in the house. Last year I had DH call me in the morning and ask me to whip up a few gifts because his coworkers gave him something and he got them nothing.  

[Wisconsin Beth]

Dec 30, 2014 13:17:55 GMT -5 Martivir said:

 Beth- I've been able to part with most of the clothes. Especially the newer stuff he outgrows because I just pass it on to my nephew. I have a tub of clothes that I currently can't part with. Like his first Halloween costume that we used to keep him warm in the carseat long after Halloween was over. And all the stuff with our favorite sports team on it. The toys on the other hand are a whole different story. I do have someone willing to take the rest of the gear off my hands but I've decided I am not waiting six months for her to move back to the area. I'll save the stroller because it's part of the travel system that she's getting the car seat for but that's it. 

Yeah, that pumpkin on the butt sleeper is possibly my all time favorite baby outift.  And then there's the Led Zeppelin onesies. 

[Martivir]

Dec 30, 2014 13:21:13 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Dec 30, 2014 13:17:55 GMT -5 Martivir said:

 Beth- I've been able to part with most of the clothes. Especially the newer stuff he outgrows because I just pass it on to my nephew. I have a tub of clothes that I currently can't part with. Like his first Halloween costume that we used to keep him warm in the carseat long after Halloween was over. And all the stuff with our favorite sports team on it. The toys on the other hand are a whole different story. I do have someone willing to take the rest of the gear off my hands but I've decided I am not waiting six months for her to move back to the area. I'll save the stroller because it's part of the travel system that she's getting the car seat for but that's it. 

Yeah, that pumpkin on the butt sleeper is possibly my all time favorite baby outift.  And then there's the Led Zeppelin onesies. 

Yep, not getting rid of the cute little Pink Floyd shirt. I wish we had gotten Zeppelin onesies.

[Angel!]

My goal right now is to join this thread & declutter my house

I've realized that I just expand to fill available space.  When DS2 was born I put DS1's dresser into my room & moved a dresser from the basement for them to share.  It was the only way the room could lay out for them to share.  Well 1 year later & that dresser is completely full.  When I realized that I counted and realize I have 28 drawers in my room filled with mostly crap.  2 dressers, a nightstand, a desk, and 2 smaller organizers in my closet.  And that doesn't even count the 2 organizers under my bed.  I couldn't even tell you what is in half those drawers or if it is important stuff.

So this year everything will change & I'm going through it all - closets, drawers, cabinets, etc.  Empty out the whole damn house!

I probably need to make more specific goals or set a timeline...will have to think about that.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Dec 30, 2014 13:44:07 GMT -5 Martivir said:

Dec 30, 2014 13:21:13 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

Yeah, that pumpkin on the butt sleeper is possibly my all time favorite baby outift.  And then there's the Led Zeppelin onesies. 

Yep, not getting rid of the cute little Pink Floyd shirt. I wish we had gotten Zeppelin onesies.

[startsmart]

Got 2 trash bags full and ready for Goodwill drop off, tomorrow if I feel better. I also need to pick up wood that won't fit in my little car before I give the truck back but it was so windy today I didn't stay out for too long.

I did my annual coin cash in and out $34 on my Amazon account.

Dishes are all put away and I'm about to put out the trash and recycling for pick up.

I'll do my final 2014 count if I can get to Goodwill and the tomorrow.