Terminalcoffee discussion

I spent this past weekend packing and moving and now I'm loaded down with boxes everywhere in my room! And around 2 in the morning when I was looking at the piles surrounding and covering my bed, I realized that I just need to get rid of stuff. LOTS of stuff. I'm not feeling terribly sentimental towards most of it anymore, either.

Bridesmaid dresses
A formal dress I'll never wear again
A television that hasn't been plugged in for over 5 years that I've used as a plant stand
6 heavy boxes of VHSs that I never watch
LOTS of framed photos and paintings (nothing with any value, just art)
Old research papers
An antique/retro apron collection
Bags full of make-up and luxury soaps and lotions I'll never use because I now have sensitive skin
Armadillo slippers I've had since high school
Stuff old roommates left for me to clean up/move
Jackets... lots of jackets and coats and robes.

I had 12 boxes of books... TWELVE BOXES! No one needs that many books.

4 full dish sets with black/navy/gold designs
A full set of my sister's day set of dishes
My great grandmother's formal dining set
A HUMONGOUS cedar chest
My dad's old naval trunk

Anyway, I think it's time to part with alot of this stuff. It's just taking up space and cluttering up my world. My stepmom teased me all weekend and called me a hoarder.

I know I'm not a hoarder, but I think part of the problem for me this past weekend was that I was moving from a one bedroom apartment into one bedroom.

Garbage can be HEAVY! I've realized it's easier to move this stuff with me than to walk it out to the dumpster. But I reeeeally despise wasting anything.

And lastly, when I'm ready to get rid of stuff... I just want to get rid of it. I don't want to have to spend time trying to track someone down to take it from me or buy it. I just want to throw it away. I'd have a yard sale, but I have no tables to set stuff out on.

What about you? Needing to get rid of any clutter? Do you keep stuff long after it's time to let it go? How do you de-clutter?

moving did that to us too, every day as we packed box after box we took out garbage bag after garbage bag, the garbage men were probably pissed at us for about a month or so, there was so much crap.. family and friends took some stuff too, and we left a lot behind.. a lot of stuff i didnt take was a bunch of stuff from my childhood, i only kept a few things i wanted, like a couple collections and a few action figures and toys..

i have a Hess truck collection, a pez collection (one of them broke i have to glue =\) and i have a pen and pencil collection..

i am a little upset i didnt take my aquariums though, they werent big, but you could always find a use for them..

our heaviest and most of the most heavy boxes were family pictures, my mother took and kept so many through the years i cry at the huge undertaking that it will be to scan them all in; which is something i want to do.. i started to before the bulk of our move and i scanned somewhere around 500-600 pictures within a couple days and that wasnt even the tip of the iceburg.. there too important to me not to attempt to preserve though.. theres some old pictures in there from relitives from germany..

12 boxes of books for my own home, books in each room, I could readily agree with that. 12 boxes of books for my bedroom that's already packed... letting go.

Sometimes I think I should move, just to make myself go through everything. I used to move every 2-3 years, but having been in one house for ten years now, stuff is starting to pile up...

And 12 boxes of books is nothing...

They were very LARGE boxes.

Oh, that's a mistake. Books are heavy, and need to go into smallish boxes, Heidi. So you can carry them without hurting yourself.

They were in 3 large boxes (enough that I was cussing the boxes) and the rest were all in smallish boxes... which were still heavy.

Makes you reconsider the Kindle, doesn't it?

Yeah. Definitely. I take back what I said about it. I'm sure it wasn't nice.

Getting rid of clutter is so liberating!! I love throwing stuff out. Occasionally I get rid of something I end up missing later. But usually not. I recently donated tons and tons of books to my library and it was wonderful.

I think that's what I'm going to do with my books, Gretchen. I really don't want to throw them away. And VHS!!! I think I'll donate those to the library as well.

YES! Boot the VHS tapes! You'll feel so free! I got rid of some stuff over the weekend too. I can't afford a bigger place so I have to keep getting rid of stuff or it will bury me. I'm due to go through all my closets and junk drawers soon too. Maybe after Christmas.

Heidi, if that were my stuff I'd have the most trouble parting with that antique/retro apron collection! It sounds divine! As much as I love to throw stuff out I'm a sucker for old things. I actually rent a storage space in order to hold onto a family heirloom dining table/chairs. I know it seems ludicrous but there you go.

Gretchen wrote: "Heidi, if that were my stuff I'd have the most trouble parting with that antique/retro apron collection! It sounds divine! As much as I love to throw stuff out I'm a sucker for old things. I actually rent a storage space in order to hold onto a family heirloom dining table/chairs. I know it seems ludicrous but there you go."

:D I have 16 aprons in the collection, and I used to keep them out on display in my kitchen, but now they're tucked away nice and safe... somewhere in the middle of the piles that are my bedroom.

Almost all of my furniture is hand-me-down/heirloom, except one side table that I bought at an antique furniture restoration shop. My other fave collection is the small-to-miniature crystal glassware and milk glass pieces that I use during the springtime to put dainty little flower displays out all over the place.

A couple of treasures I did find during this move -

was quoted by an antique expert for a chair that was handed down to me - worth a bit over 1K (too soft and heavenly to ever sell)

and a silver platter that was desperately in need of polishing... so curious while moving, I polished a bit and uncovered a date - 1883. I doubt it's worth much, but it was soooo neat to uncover the date on the backside through a smidge of polish.

"small-to-miniature crystal glassware and milk glass pieces that I use during the springtime to put dainty little flower displays out all over the place."

I love it when people do that!! One day I want a house where that works.

Gretchen wrote: " "small-to-miniature crystal glassware and milk glass pieces that I use during the springtime to put dainty little flower displays out all over the place."

I love it when people do that!! One day ..."

Gretchen, you can put them out anywhere. They always make any space look lovely. Even the bathroom. :) You just need one with a few small wildflowers to cheer up a space. They're also lovely with delicate green leafy branches and berries.

Sounds like it's time to ship stuff to the Goodwill/Salvation Army! (If you do it soon enough, all the stuff like your soaps will probably end up going to good homes, since people are still Christmas shopping.)

I have a clutter problem. But it's not really MY problem so much as it's my mother's problem. She will NOT let me get rid of stuff. I'll put it in a bag for the Goodwill and she will take it out and say, "Oh, you don't want to get rid of this" or "Oh, I might have a use for this" and then she forgets about it for about six months, a year, and it ends up back in my room.

I have more Barbie furniture than I know what to do with. Furniture, several boxes of Barbie clothes and trinkets... My mom won't let me throw it out because, "well I threw out all my Barbies and I regret it/you'll want to give those to your kids if you have them someday."

1) Just because you regretted throwing something out, doesn't mean I'll regret it.
2) I don't plan on having kids for many years, if ever.
3) I wouldn't have played with your old Barbies anyways, Mom.
4) I'd much rather see the Barbies go to a good home now.

I've got about 8 boxes of books. I disagree with you as well on that account, although I do regularly go through my books and purge those that I don't plan on re-reading. Bookmooch has been a savior for me because I wouldn't get money for my books anyways, and it allows me to get rid of mediocre books and find books that I actually want to read/keep.

I am emotionally attached to a lot of things at times, and I have to wait until the "omg need to get rid of everything" moment comes.

I should post pictures of my room in this thread when I get around to cleaning up the last of it. :P

You have any actual Barbies in there, Angie? Or more specifically, Ken dressed up as a groomsman? That's what my daughter wants from Santa this year. Maybe you could sneak it past your mom...

I probably have a Ken, but I don't think I have a groomsman outfit.

I really only have one Barbie that is worth selling that I haven't yet, the Ireland Barbie still in the box.

oh well. back to ebay with me.

Sorry and good luck!

I'm sure when I have kids, if I try to give them one of my old Barbies, they're going to throw it away because it doesn't fit in their hovercar or talk.

I dunno. You might be underestimating the power of BARBIE.

I used to have an 80s Ken doll with the fluffy brown hair who came in a tuxedo.

My last major decluttering was in 2006 when I moved. Lots of bags of clothes went to charity. Any non-clothing item that I couldn't make a quick decision about got thrown in a box and moved with me. I probably need to get rid of about half my clothes and shoes.

I had 14 boxes of books and 4 boxes of LPs/CDs when I moved from Las Vegas to NH. I had 40 boxes of books when I moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas. I left most of my "things" (some with historic meaning for me) when I moved to NH. I figured: I can always get new stuff but my family is in NH (except for my son who is still in San Francisco).

smetchie wrote: "I dunno. You might be underestimating the power of BARBIE."

I still have my Barbies from the 70s. I might even have one from the 60s. I love having them around.

Seven years ago when we bought our house we thought we'd purge before we moved. Yeah. Time got short and we got rid of nothing, brought it all with us. We had to clean some stuff out of the house we bought, too! I post stuff to get rid of on ReUseIt. A couple of yard sales helped, too, because you don't want to bring that sad junk back in. I definitely need to go through my clothes again.

"Sad junk" - I like that.

I'm so glad I decided to donate alot of my books and movies to the library... and throw away/give away a bunch of stuff during that last move... made this one much easier.

We have too much stuff, my wife being a strong proponent of retail therapy. I do try to get rid of the older things via either the catholic church's thrift shop or FreeCycle.com

So the Catholic church has a presence there, do they.

Small, but here. We have a large enough immigrant population to support it.

Phil wrote: "I do try to get rid of the older things via either the catholic church's thrift shop or FreeCycle.com"

boo, freecycle! weird, controlling stuff at corporate, there. We jumped ship to ReUseIt and it's much more relaxed, and locally run.

There's a "corporate" to Freecycle? I just correspond with local people who need stuff or have stuff to give. I've never seen a corporate side.

For clothes/bags/shoes etc that you no longer wear but are still in condition, organise a 'Swap Day' with friends. Invite everyone to do clear out their wardrobes & bring over anything they no longer use. Quite often they will have things that don't fit them quite right but are perfect for you.
I had one a month ago and scored HUNDREDS of dollars worth of clothing, all for free. And moved on some of my pieces that were not quite right.

Welcome to TC Hannacody26.

I give my "no longer using it" stuff to the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

Phil wrote: "There's a "corporate" to Freecycle? I just correspond with local people who need stuff or have stuff to give. I've never seen a corporate side."

Yes, I've been a moderator for years and there's been a few uprisings. I'm glad your list hasn't been affected.

Kind of a cute story on Slate about parents selling the house you grew up in, and whether or not you want to go through all your old stuff. The author found this note she had written at age 10:



http://www.slate.com/id/2286209/pagen...

I'm not a hoarder but I've kept all, I mean every single letter that I've ever received. It's always so heartwarming to go through those old memories again, back when people actually took the time to write letters.

Oooh, and welcome to TC name twin!

If only people still wrote letters! I have only one friend who still mails me letters. Everybody else emails.

I do keep emails, but I love paper letters.

I have every letter I've ever received too, or nearly every one. I may have thrown out some from elementary school.

I wish I had every letter I'd received, but I really wish I had every letter I'd written. I think that would be a hoot.

I recently received the keys to a house that I purchased as a short sale. The owners were not concerned with clutter and on Monday, the FIFTH dumpster of their crap (that I had to throw away) left the house. I move in on Friday and I'm thinking I'm going to have to order yet ANOTHER dumpster to get rid of my weird stuff that was packed in a hurry 1.5 years ago and has been sitting in storage since then. Ugh.

I've been decluttering a little this weekend. It feels so good. Even small amounts feels really good.

I'm trying to assign myself at least one task each week and do jobs that I never seem to get time to do.

Yesterday I cleaned out a make up drawer and threw away old lipsticks and eyeshadows and a few old makeup brushes. I sorted a bag of clothes to go to the charity bin.

I found what looks like a good site. It's the University of Illinois Extension.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/clutter/...

Does this sound like you?

I keep every bill, receipt, or financial statement because, I don’t know what I can safely toss.

I can never find anything after I put it away.

My spare bedroom, closets, and basement are full of junk that I don’t know how to tackle.

I want less clutter, but I just can’t figure out how to get started.



Clutter Emergency Card

How long has it been since I used this?
Do I like it?
Does it work properly? - Is it broken?
Do I have more of this kind of thing? How many do I need?
If I keep this, what will I get rid of to make room for it?
Can I locate this information somewhere else (probably on the Internet) if I need it?

Oh no, I'm packing millions of boxes right now. I wish I was Barb, and that when we get to the new place everything will be tidy and organized.

Sally wrote: "Oh no, I'm packing millions of boxes right now. I wish I was Barb, and that when we get to the new place everything will be tidy and organized."


Sallers, you're moving again? :) Good luck, ma'am. PM me your new address when you get settled in!

Mr evie saves boxes. We also have a lot of old mobile phone chargers and plugs and cords for all his musical gadgets. There is a big drawer in our desk full of that stuff.

NEW PAGE!

As soon as I finish reading here, I'm going out to work on cleaning the garage. There's a lot of stuff out there we never use, so it's time to say goodbye and toss it out.

How do you know when you get to be the new page poster?