2020 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[startsmart]

Welcome to the 2020 Declutter thread! 

If you are ready to simplify, get more organized, clear the clutter and track bigger projects in your life then you're in the right place. Members track everything from gift buying, grading assignments, phone calls, laundry, bills to pay and keeping papers organized.

Jump in at any time to share what you need to get done, encourage each other and track your wins.

How does this work?

Post your goals - lists and pictures are welcome and "progress pics" are always fun!
Share questions when you have them and support and encourage each other.
Please don't post simply to lecture, mock or stir things up.


Basics for the thread:

1. Be encouraging to one another

2. 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 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.

Set a Goal

Some posters will be attempting to downsize a specific number of items, it's not required or even necessary, do what works for you. You can also set a goal like "have a peaceful office space" or "keep the kitchen table clear" if that's more realistic for you.

Moderators: Please keep the 2019 thread live through Jan 1st

[laterbloomer]

So here's the list I made in August 2019 and made absolutely no progress on.

1. Install closet organizer

2. Paint den (these 2 are left over from the last list)

3. Install new backsplash in kitchen.

4. Refinish my fridge with stainless steel contact paper.

5. Paint kitchen. (Not as big a job as it sounds, I have a small kitchen without much bare wall space)

6. Paint living room, entrance and hallway)

7. Paint my bedroom.


Number 8 is more of a wish list item. If I can get vinyl planking at the right price I would like to replace all the laminate in my house. 

[bobosensei]

I have one last pile of things to take to the good will before 2019 ends.  I actually need to go back through the house one last time too.  My top goal today is to tend to this.  I got some organization things for Christmas that I haven't put together yet.  I got two lazy susan's and a pull out thing for pots and pans and for baking sheets for the cabinets.  I'm really excited about them.

I don't have any 2020 goals yet for decluttering and organization, really it will just be to maintain my current progress I think.

[empress of self-improvement]

My shortlist right now is to yank my big girl panties up and learn how to sell some of my stuff. I have a box full of old cameras that I keep meaning to look into selling but I haven't. I am so tired of this crap cluttering up my house. The lesser quality stuff I've donated but the decent stuff, I thought I'd try to sell. Bleah.
I also picked up some boxes and am going to start purging this week. Empty out drawers and sort them before I will put anything away. I know for a fact I don't use about 90% of this stuff.

[moneysquirrel]

I will be participating again.  I will get not be setting a goal this year of number of items to recycle, donate, or trash.  More later.  

[Chocolate Lover]

I'll be working along at my snail's pace again this year.   I need to work on my outside storage closet and my bedroom. Those can be my first goals of the year. 

[Lizard Queen]

I didn't do great in 2019 with the decluttering. I just didn't focus on it much. Recently, I came to a big realization. I want to hang on to stuff because I have zero confidence in myself. This may not seem so earth shattering to anyone else, but it was a big deal to me. Hopefully this new insight will help me into the new year.

[CCL]

Dec 30, 2019 13:47:29 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

My shortlist right now is to yank my big girl panties up and learn how to sell some of my stuff. I have a box full of old cameras that I keep meaning to look into selling but I haven't. I am so tired of this crap cluttering up my house. The lesser quality stuff I've donated but the decent stuff, I thought I'd try to sell. Bleah.
I also picked up some boxes and am going to start purging this week. Empty out drawers and sort them before I will put anything away. I know for a fact I don't use about 90% of this stuff.

You may have places around that will sell stuff for you on eBay or wherever. You give them the stuff and they take care of it from there. Then charge you 30% or so for their efforts. With everything you have going on maybe that would be an option for you?

[WholeLottaNothin]

Hi all, I kind of fell off the wagon last year, but I am in again for 2020. I didn't focus on decluttering as much as I should have, and it shows. Not sure how I'll track yet, or if I will at all. But I will try to check in more often, for accountability. More later.

[ners]

My goal for this year is 1000 things out the door.  

Hope to have better success this year.

[debthaven]

At this point I'm just maintaining. As much as I wish DH would do a huge basement purge, or get rid of his late parents' dishes, after two decades, I know it's not going to happen. (I literally mean two decades ... a van arrived with boxes from his late parents' house on NYE 1999.) Since I hate clutter DH's hoarding tendencies have made me quite ruthless.

We used to fight a LOT about it but I finally gave up. I have several very close widowed friends and a few years ago I decided it's just not worth the arguments and aggravation. As long as everything fits where it belongs, and there's no clutter IN the house (as opposed to the basement) I let it go.

I'm much stricter with the closets, because when DH used to overstuff his 2/3 of the closet and it got humid, the mites would attack MY clothes too. So I'm still ruthless about the closet.

Paperwork/Shitepile is an ongoing battle. But at this point, even when the desk is messy, it takes us just 30 min to clear it up.

I will also continue to track my marking here because I find it SUPER motivating. Y'all are so indulgent with me but as always, feel free to ignore my marking posts.

Thank you all for being my cyber homies.

ETA: I will continue to post "weekday" and "weekend" goals, that's what works best for me.

[TheOtherMe]

I have no numbers goal.  I don't know when I am going to be ready to get back to it.  I don't want to set unrealistic expectations for myself.

That does not mean that I won't be decluttering.  

I have life decisions to make, too.  Do I stay here or do I move?  If I move, where do I go?  I know I will not own again.

[mollyc]

There is too much to do. For now, I'm just going to list general goals for 2020.

1) declutter and reorganize my bedroom
2) organize and sell or give away DD's dance costumes. I gave her the option of doing it and keeping the cash but she didn't.
3) repair, repaint and find drawer knobs for the 2 wardrobes that are currently underutilized

[debthaven]

TheO I haven't wanted to ask, but I was wondering if you were planning to move.

As for not owning again, if ever you lived in a place where an apartment would make sense, remember there would be a lot less maintenance. To be clear I am certainly NOT pushing you to move or make any decisions, just pointing out that an apartment would require less upkeep (and no sump pump lol).

As always after a great loss, I think it's urgent to do nothing, ideally for a year. You need to find your "new normal" after your immense loss, and that will take time.

[plugginaway22]

I'm thinking of bowing out of this thread and concentrating more on savings so that we will be OK if forced to retire early or take part-time jobs.  The only thing that would change is if we finally make the decision to down-size this 4 bedroom, 2 level home.  There is only one bedroom left to re-do and after that I would be fine with listing it.  But there would be lots to purge/donate/get rid of.

I am reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, which is a fun read and really talks about not leaving your crap for your children to deal with.  How can it be 2020??

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 31, 2019 16:55:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

TheO I haven't wanted to ask, but I was wondering if you were planning to move.

As for not owning again, if ever you lived in a place where an apartment would make sense, remember there would be a lot less maintenance. To be clear I am certainly NOT pushing you to move or make any decisions, just pointing out that an apartment would require less upkeep (and no sump pump lol).

As always after a great loss, I think it's urgent to do nothing, ideally for a year. You need to find your "new normal" after your immense loss, and that will take time.

I know it will take time and I'm not making any major decision any time soon.

I think I would rather be in an apartment without me having to pay for constant maintenance.  It will take a lot of work to get this place ready to sell.  

One of my friends elsewhere in this state wants me to move by her.  It's in the town where the funeral was held.  There are no apartments I would want to live in.  I looked at the local mls and time on market is about a year.  No way am I moving there.

It's also too small of a town.  If I move, it would be to one of the bigger cities here in the state.  

[debthaven]

I'm thinking of bowing out of this thread and concentrating more on savings so that we will be OK if forced to retire early or take part-time jobs. ... There is only one bedroom left to re-do and after that I would be fine with listing it. But there would be lots to purge/donate/get rid of.

Pluggin I would be SO SORRY to see you go!!! And frankly, why?! You can still post on the Savings thread AND declutter!

Please?! Pretty please?!

[empress of self-improvement]

Dec 30, 2019 23:22:30 GMT -5 CCL said:

Dec 30, 2019 13:47:29 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

My shortlist right now is to yank my big girl panties up and learn how to sell some of my stuff. I have a box full of old cameras that I keep meaning to look into selling but I haven't. I am so tired of this crap cluttering up my house. The lesser quality stuff I've donated but the decent stuff, I thought I'd try to sell. Bleah.
I also picked up some boxes and am going to start purging this week. Empty out drawers and sort them before I will put anything away. I know for a fact I don't use about 90% of this stuff.

You may have places around that will sell stuff for you on eBay or wherever. You give them the stuff and they take care of it from there. Then charge you 30% or so for their efforts. With everything you have going on maybe that would be an option for you?

I know there was one a couple towns over but they closed. I'll have to look around.

[bobosensei]

I got my kitchen organizers installed.  They look so nice, and it feels great any time I open a cabinet.

Tomorrow I will take down the tree and decorations.  I'm looking for some economical storage for my basement rooms.  I'm not in a hurry so will take my time thinking about what is needed.

[empress of self-improvement]

Dec 31, 2019 17:34:17 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Dec 31, 2019 16:55:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

TheO I haven't wanted to ask, but I was wondering if you were planning to move.

As for not owning again, if ever you lived in a place where an apartment would make sense, remember there would be a lot less maintenance. To be clear I am certainly NOT pushing you to move or make any decisions, just pointing out that an apartment would require less upkeep (and no sump pump lol).

As always after a great loss, I think it's urgent to do nothing, ideally for a year. You need to find your "new normal" after your immense loss, and that will take time.

I know it will take time and I'm not making any major decision any time soon.

I think I would rather be in an apartment without me having to pay for constant maintenance.  It will take a lot of work to get this place ready to sell.  

One of my friends elsewhere in this state wants me to move by her.  It's in the town where the funeral was held.  There are no apartments I would want to live in.  I looked at the local mls and time on market is about a year.  No way am I moving there.

It's also too small of a town.  If I move, it would be to one of the bigger cities here in the state.  

I'm with you on that. I'm deciding between buying a small camper, moving to South Dakota or just saying fuck it and move to Australia when DH kicks the bucket. I don't really have anything keeping me here.

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 31, 2019 20:17:50 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

Dec 30, 2019 23:22:30 GMT -5 CCL said:

You may have places around that will sell stuff for you on eBay or wherever. You give them the stuff and they take care of it from there. Then charge you 30% or so for their efforts. With everything you have going on maybe that would be an option for you?

I know there was one a couple towns over but they closed. I'll have to look around.

The one in town closed.  They had two locations.  Now it's over an hour to get there.  They are very picky about what they will accept.

[nidena]

Now that I'm currently living in only one bedroom of someone else's house, I have very little to purge externally so my goal is to purge some of the internal fat.  My other goal is to use up the many toiletries, lotions, and potions that I brought with me.  The last goal will be to not buy clothes that I don't absolutely need.  Living here, that will be a lot easier because I won't feel compelled to buy what that store is selling at that moment.  When you work clothing retail, that tends to happen.  I have no NEED for clothes.  Not even workout clothes.  Instead, I will work towards making the ones I own too big for me to wear.  

[busymom]

I'm signing on for another year.  I don't have a specific number in mind, of items that need a "new home", but popping in here holds me accountable.  And, hopefully I'll be better organized by the end of the year.  


And, I'm with nidena, that I'd love to make some of my clothes too big for me in 2020.  

[WholeLottaNothin]

I woke up stupid early today so I laid in bed trying to come up with a plan. We have seven rooms on the main floor and I assigned each of them a number. I found a random number generator website and let it choose a number for me. Today is the dining room.

[mollyanna58]

I am still gradually clearing out things I don't need or don't use.  There are bins full of paper all over the downstairs: financial records from my parents that have to be gone through, record and/or scan what's needed, and then out the door.  Also my mother's current financial and health paperwork, plus my own, which has been neglected.  I have been putting in an hour a day for the last week on this stuff, and plan on continuing.

My house is still a disaster, but I can see an improvement over the past year. 

[empress of self-improvement]

I got a good headstart over the last couple of days. I emptied out a table and put it in the basement to take to Savers. I emptied a corner cabinet and put that in the basement as well but it's not going out the door. Got my fabric put away in the closet and I have decided this will be the year to pull out my mother's sewing machine and remember how to use it. Then watch it burst into flames because it's 60 years old.😐

[Sharon]

I need to get back at it and get more things out of the house.  There are things I've identified that can be gone but they still sit here, some of them since last August.

Mom got her official surgery schedule earlier this week.  The actual hip replacement is scheduled for Jan 29th.  There will be a class and a pre-op appointment before then that I will attend with her.  Last night I booked a weekend at our favorite place on the river for about 3 months post-surgery.  They were running a special of book 2 nights get the 3rd free but it expired at midnight last night.  Even if Mom still isn't able to get around that well she can sit in the cabin and look at the river and it will be a change of scenery/pace for both of us.

[NastyWoman]

I will be an "accidental" declutterer again this year. I really need to get rid of a lot of stuff, but unless I retire this year, which is a story on its own, it will not happen in 2020.  I will follow along though since I do pick up ideas here.

[Lizard Queen]

Last year I ended up at 855/2019. Not horrible, but we really need to get this crap out of here.

[ners]

I cleaned off dining room table.

1 thing thrown out.