Wednesday's unclutter post

[peaceful_sands]

In fred_mouse's absence (hopefully things are going well on her trip), the rest of us still need to try and keep going with our decluttering. So what have you achieved this week? Anything out? Something small even that you'd almost forgotten about? Share with us your progress.

Comments

[peaceful_sands]

I continue to tackle the DVD pile - progress has slowed slightly for two reasons, firstly that I'm tackling box sets which take longer to get through and secondly for a variety of reasons I'm also tackling more that have reasons to be kept, but that's okay - I hope to finish going through the original collection by the end of January (I'm trying for quicker than that but no guarantees) and at the moment it's looking like I will have kept approximately one third. There have been a fairly large number of acquisitions in the same time (not as many as I've got rid of but still a fairly substantial number). Of these I've watched just under half of what's been acquired so far, and kept none of them - I don't expect that to continue but keeping a few and getting rid of the majority is okay too.

I've been making some progress on the book front as well. I've kept two of the four books that I've finished so far this month, and abandoned three that are already packed in one of the donation boxes. Two of the books that I'm reading at the moment are also likely to go even if I do get to the end of them. I've also identified some others to get to relatively soon as I'm not convinced I'm going to stick with them when I do so tackling them sooner rather than later means they'll be freeing up space.

I've finished decluttering the kitchen, although still have a bit of re-organising left to do. I've been through all the cupboards and got rid of out of date food and separated the majority from its packaging so that the packaging could be recycled where appropriate. Gathering up all the recycling from around the house, I was able to put out a crate of plastic, a crate of cans, a crate and a large bag of cardboard and some glass for collection earlier this week. The great thing about it is how light my actual trash bin is nowadays because so much gets recycled.

[yukonsally]

I separate expired food from packaging too! It seems worth the effort.

[redsixwing]

Books and DVDs are capital-H Hard to sort. Go you!

I love the feeling of "huh, did I take the trash? Oh, no, it just didn't need it." My two-person household produces about a quarter of my relative's two-person household, and it makes life a lot easier.

[peaceful_sands]

I know what you mean. I put out four times the amount of my neighbours' recycling collection, but most of the time a small fraction of the general trash. If the local recycling centre would accept other things I could increase the recycling further still and reduce the trash further - unfortunately they only accept lidless plastic bottles (so if I can't get the lid off the shampoo or conditioner bottle, I can't recycle it *sad face*), no plastic bags or other plastic containers unfortunately. There are other restrictions that also make me sad :( but I'm recycling all that I can in this area (including things that aren't collected and have to be taken to the recycling centre)/.

[redsixwing]

Another big box o' stuff OUT as of tomorrow, assuming I remember to put the sucker in the car. :D

I found a small but beautiful collectible item, and texted a friend, and found it a new home. \o/

[peaceful_sands]

That's Awesome! You're brilliant!

[yukonsally]

Does that mean a visit from the friend too? That's the best kind of declutter!

[redsixwing]

It does :D

I have a pile of stuff earmarked for another friend which will, alas, have to go through the mail. But this one is fun.

[peaceful_sands]

Built in reward for your good progress!

[yukonsally]

I'm adding another package to send out to my pile mentioned yesterday, returning a shirt that didn't fit. No sense in delaying that return.

[peaceful_sands]

Well done! Speedy practicality works wonders!

[tanaqui]

Went through the box of car maintenance stuff and found four or five things to go. Sorted out a few more books from the bookshelves and identified a pile of the next books to delve into for my reading project. Shredded a pile of old paperwork. Read a magazine (within a month of it arriving!) so it can go in the recycling.

None of it has actually left the house yet, but it's all gone to the right places and is ready to go when I next head in an appropriate direction.

I also moved some things to better places to store them -- I think I've actually reached the "organise" stage now I've mostly done the "declutter" part in some areas!

[yukonsally]

That's a good way to think of it. I've been doing this decluttering thing for nearly 3 years and have slowed down immensely to the smaller bits. Thinking of it as decluttering and organizing is good--and it's pretty accurate, as I dig into storage and move things around that we are keeping.

[adair]

I paid 6 bills, filed the records, and threw away the empty envelopes.

I bought things - two halogen lightbulbs for bedside lamps and a 4-peice suitcase set from Target. It's not quite as bad as is sounds - 1 case, 1 duffle, 1 tote and something they call a cosmetic case. It all fits inside the case. I will have to sort through the various things on the suitcase shelf and see what I can move on, but I have not yet done that.

[yukonsally]

ooh. that reminds me, I should get a duffle for a kid soon. Those are all useful things!

[sauscony]

I decided this week that no matter what, my spouse and I have to replace our kitchen flooring over his Christmas vacation. My dad was supposed to do it more than two years ago and even has all of the salvage laminate flooring, but has never bothered, so we will either get the flooring from him or buy some. So I spent the week decluttering the kitchen, vacuuming and mopping the intact vinyl floor, tearing out the vinyl that was shredded, and cleaning the sub-floor as best as I can.

I'm also getting more of my late mom's stuff ready to donate to the thrift store tomorrow. I think I'm almost done donating her Christmas decorations (when I went to the thrift store yesterday, I think someone was buying her old Christmas tree, which warmed my heart). I've cleared a path through the piles of boxes in the basement to the room we call "the dungeon." LOL

I hope during my spouse's vacation that we can take the old dishwasher, the mini fridge, and the old computer parts for recycling. That will free up a lot of space in the basement.