Total items out of the house: ???/365

I really have no idea how many things are no longer in the house, because this past weekend, we almost finished packing up the house for the movers to come on the 27^th. I took 2 RAV4’s (with the middle seats folded down) worth of trash and recycling to the dump. We also had a junk removal company come and take the piano, a couch and a daybed. We thought about listing them for free on craigslist, but I was concerned about timing (we were only in town for 1.5 days) and potential damage to the house with amateurs trying to move the piano. Since the piano was going, we had them take two other large furniture items we knew weren’t going to fit in the new house as well. $450 well spent I think.

I tried to sell three more items via a Facebook yard sale, but no bites. I think we won’t be using them in the new place, but they’re either worth much more if I had time to let them sit on craigslist, or they might fit in the new place, so we’ll just pay to move them with us and address the issue later.

I have a few (3) boxes marked donation – I don’t have time to get them to the donation center, so they’re in clearly marked boxes and will go straight to the donation center in Pittsburgh once stuff is out of storage. We’re paying by weight, so I’m not too concerned about the cost to move/store them.

When you put all of your stuff in the garage in boxes, you really get an idea of just how much stuff you have. We have a two-car garage – pretty normal in size. It is completely full of boxes about 4-5ft high with a little path all along the edge, and we have more boxes scattered throughout the house. On the plus side, we have almost everything packed up – there are a few last minute things (like sheets on the beds) to pack, but we’ll be able to do that the night before or the morning the movers come. We’ve gotten to the point where we wonder how exactly to pack certain things – like snow shovels…

We’re almost to closing, and it’s looking like we’ll make it to closing on October 1 without any issues. I’ve already put on my calendar when to call the electric company and water company to come out and get final readings. Looking forward to being mortgage free for a few months!

Total items out of the house: 194/365

I’ve gone on a mini eBay selling spree in the last few weeks.  I sold two Apple TVs (we had 3 – and we really only need one now), and my old Mac Pro.  It went for $270 – not bad for an 8 year old system.  I netted $536 and some change in the last two weeks.

I’ve also listed some of our living room furniture on craigslist and sold it pretty quickly.  I have pictures of the treadmill and other toys of Daughter Person’s to put up on craigslist, I just haven’t gotten them up yet.

If I do accept the position in Pittsburgh, we’ll definitely be getting rid of more things.  I may use the move as a “clean slate” and only pull things out of boxes when I want to use them, then donate the rest after a year.  Need to clear that plan through Dad first though 🙂

Total items out of the house: 187/365

And I only counted the large bin of diapering stuff I gave to to my friend as 3 things (diapers, diaper bag, and wipes).

I sold several smaller items on e-bay this past week, mostly more expensive clothing that Daughter Person had inherited or shoes that she never wore.  We also traded her velcro diapers for snap ones (the velcro was falling off at night), and I sold the velcro ones on ebay for $10/diaper.  These were all the pink ones that weren’t appropriate for my friend’s boy.  For diapers that needed repairing (and I was upfront about that in the description), that’s pretty good. I started the bidding at $25 for all 7 of them, and it went up to $70.  We only bought 6 diapers to replace them.  We’re doing a bit more diaper laundry, but since she’s only wearing them at night, it’s not too bad.

The Lupus Foundation is coming today to take the three large boxes of stuff off my front porch.  It’s all Daughter Person’s 24mth stuff (and 2T stuff that’s too small), some of my shirts I never wore all winter, and some of Dad’s shirts.  I also had her go through her toys and pick a few things that she was willing to donate.  She picked about 5 things – 2 of which I knew were her favorites (she likes to share) and I took them out of the box and hid incase they’re asked for in the future.  I also added a few things to the box that I hadn’t seen her play with in a while.

I freecycled her plastic slide and a few storage bins that I had cleaned out.  All largish items that weren’t worth much, but they’re out of the house.

We have a treadmill and exercise bike, and I think I’m going to get rid of the treadmill, but I’m going to wait until the end of the year when people are looking for them instead of now when craigslist has a glut of them from failed New Year’s Resolutions.  Dad’s undecided on the exercise bike.  I prefer to walk outside anyway – and I’ve been doing P90x3 – which doesn’t need a treadmill 🙂

I still see lots of things around the house that I want to get rid of, most of which I think will fetch something on Craigslist or eBay.  It’s quite freeing to get rid of things!

Now that spring is nominally here, I’ve put aside all of the “winter” clothes that I didn’t wear this winter.  They’ll go to Goodwill (or the Lupus Foundation) as soon as I get around to it.  I’ve not gone through Daughter Person’s clothes from this winter yet as she’s still wearing most of them.  We’re expecting another snow storm this week, and then I hope spring is coming and I can go through her stuff and put it in the donation bin. I’ve already put aside things that she’s obviously grown out of, but haven’t taken them to donate yet.  Once those things are out of the house, then they’ll get added to the count for this year.

I’ve taken pictures of a few of our living room furniture pieces to list on craigslist, but I haven’t gotten them listed yet.  I’m also retiring an ancient Mac Pro (1,1) in favor of a Plex server on a slightly newer system.  I’m not sure that anyone will buy it from me as it’s an 8 year old system (and can only sort of run Mavericks – the 10.9.2 update broke it 🙁 ).  But someone might want it for parts, it’s some pretty beefy hardware.

Total items out of the house: 5/365

Dad and I rearranged Daughter Person’s room this weekend.  Her room has a set of built-in bookshelves which until now, she hasn’t been able to reach, so we were keeping adult reading materials up there, as well as other things we didn’t really want her to have ready access to (like the playdough).  She’s able to reach them now, but her crib was in front of them, so we moved it, removed the glider chair we had in there (and moved it to my office – it may become a reading chair for me), and started putting toys in bins on the shelves (thanks to Erica for the idea!)

Daughter Person’s Room

While I was cleaning up the shelves, we found several things that went straight into the trash, and a few more that will find their way to freecycle and craigslist in the next few days.  We also bought two new pieces of furniture to corral toys and books.  She has more books than maybe even I had before donating them!  The books have taken over the coffee table, and we’re hoping that the kid sized bookshelf we got will hold them all.  We also bought a toy bin shelf to provide more space than the small toy box we currently have in her room – which will be sold/donated as soon as the new one arrives and is assembled!

I freecycled an old 3′ plastic pool and an old cat house/bed that were in the basement, and two play yards are getting listed on craigslist tonight.

2014 is off to a good start in the 365 less things department

Total Items out of the house: 401/365

365 less things was a success this year.  I’m hoping I can continue the progress next year, although I’m more likely to have half that amount since I’m having to ask permission to get rid of most things now-a-days.

The local charity that picks up items came by and removed 117 items this morning.  Four very large boxes.  In those boxes was a mix of glassware (I used to collect shot glasses – yet not really use them), clothes from everyone in the family (especially Daughter Person), and a box and a half of Daughter Person’s old toys.  Daughter Person made out like a bandit for Christmas, and we decided that it was time to purge her old toys and give them away. So, we spent last night going through her toys, collecting all the little pieces and putting them together, and putting them in a box.  She was engrossed in Cars on the iPad, so she didn’t even realize what we were doing.  There are a few toys that we’ve seen her play with recently, but Dad and I hate for one reason or another, so they went out, and we’re hoping she doesn’t know they’re missing…

How has your decluttering goal gone this year?

I sold my computer desk on craigslist this week.  It had served me well for almost 8 years, but it was very large, and it had basically become a dumping ground for papers and whatnot, so I decided to sell it and get a smaller one.  The old desk is 71″ square on the two sides, and the monitor in the picture is a 24″ monitor to give you an idea of its size.  It was replaced by a smaller IKEA desk, and the sale price of the old desk almost covered the price of the new desk.

I also have a rather large box of stuff to take to the thrift store, but it’s not out of the house yet.  I’m also going to be going through our Christmas stuff as soon as Thanksgiving is over to get rid of anything we don’t use any more.

The pictures are from two different angles, but the room clearly looks bigger with the smaller desk.  It’s a small loft room anyway.  And, I no longer have a surface to just dump things onto; I have to put everything away.

Old Desk

New Desk