Get rid of 50 things, part 2

[Katika]

I'm in!

Name: Katika

How much do you think you'll get rid of: I'm going to aim for 50, but realistically think it might be closer to 30.

Why are you doing this: Because my husband and I have accumulated so much miscellaneous junk that it's almost depressing.  We're a military family, and so we do a lot of moving, and it gets hard keeping all of this stuff around, especially stuff that has no real meaning!  I offered the challenge to him that maybe the next time we move, we both get one "thing" that we can have "unlimited" space to move (for me it would be my Ponies, for him, it would be books or video games, I'm sure) and then after that each room would have to be packaged up into one, single box (minus the necessities - like, glasses and dishes that take a lot of packing material, and our clothing and his pro-gear, that kind of thing), but he kind of balked at the idea of only *one* type of thing.  We'll see how it goes...

How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things:  Melancholy.  I'm one of those people who keeps things either because of sentimental value (and it can be WEIRD emotions that tie me to things, lol!) or because I'm absolutely convinced that I'll use it again sometime.  HOWEVER, I also have this serious desire to get rid of like *everything* I own and just start over again, getting only things that I really, truly appreciate with a valid reason.  I guess I'll know how I feel once this is done

What things are you getting rid of first:  The pile of "garage sale" junk that I'm supposed to be sending to my parents' house that is clogging up one of our spare rooms!  That's going this weekend!!  Probably a bunch of old clothes that I love but haven't worn in forever.  Hmmm... I'm gonna have to go through my tack room and shed, too!  This is kind of exciting!


EDIT TO ADD ONGOING LIST!
1. Garage Sale Stuff - had been clogging up about a quarter of one of our spare rooms and has been ready to go for - get this - almost two years.  Yikes! (8/9)

2.  Old/Expired Beauty Products - I was unaware of how much of this I had until I started digging for it.  My goodness!  (8/10)

3.  Old/Unworn Earrings - It was super hard, but I pared FOUR jewelry boxes of beloved earrings down to ONE.  Kind of bittersweet, but really did have to be done.  (8/10)

4. Expired Medications - Apparently, my husband and I decided at one point in time to collect medications, I think it was for the "just in case" scenarios that never happened.  Cleared these out, disposing of them per FDA regulations (8/11)

5. Half-Eaten and "Boring" Dog Toys - My doggers are spoiled at least half rotten and up until today I've had trouble expecting them to let go of their "friends."  Well, two of them never even were played with and a good chunk of them were little scraps anyway.  Their toy box no longer overflows, poor dogs.  (8/11)

6. Master Bedroom Closet Junk - Okay, I actually found a freaking tranquility fountain in my bedroom closet.  This clean out was WELL overdue!  And now I actually have room to put in a shoe organizer!  Yay!  (8/11)

7. Unnecessary Clothes from Dresser - I thought I'd purged my dresser several months ago when I did my first sweep of garage sale stuff.  I guess I was wrong, because I still found more!  (8/11)

8. Miscellaneous Pet Supplies - I got rid of about half a kitchen-sized trash can bag full of pet supplies I will never use again, and it honestly feels great!  (8/13)

9. Plastic Eating Ware - We had too much and we never used the majority of it. (8/13)

10. Old/Unused Baking Supplies - Some of it I quit using for health reasons, some of it I had too much of and some of it was too old for me to want to use.  (8/13)

11. Pantry Dry Goods - There was some stuff that expired like a year ago!  YUCK!  (8/13)

[LittleSpiffy]

Or you have no were to put that pizza that you brought home with you on the counter. 

Omg, this!!  I have too many gadets taking up counter space!

[Eaglefeather]

This is always fun, so I think I'll give it a try! 

Name: Eaglefeather
How much do you think you'll get rid of: I'd like to go for 50, but 30 might be a more realistic goal for me. I really don't have too much to give. We'll see how it goes.
Why are you doing this: I'd simply like to have a tidier bedroom. It is clean already, but I would like to give some of my things away to children who will use them. There will always be things to give away!
How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things: Usually I feel a little bit sad when getting rid of items that were once very special to me, but it makes me feel a lot better when I know they are going to children who might need them. 
What things are you getting rid of first: I have an 'eBay stuff' pile that I'm working on selling on eBay. Then I might move on to my attic where I keep a lot of my old Breyer horse boxes.

Good luck to everyone! 

Number of things that have gone so far: 15

[StoryDreamer]

Last time I did this I was juuuuust about to quit my job, then I did, and that was an adjustment period and it was hard to clean while I questioned my life choices. 

 Now I'm ready to go through round 2! Definitely posting pictures this time too!

Name: Storydreamer (or Bri)
How much do you think you'll get rid of:  50 things
Why are you doing this: I need a cleaner office to work, and I like getting rid of things sometimes
How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things: Amazing
What things are you getting rid of first: Random. I've been bringing 5-6 books every 2 weeks to Half Price, so I'll start with something other than books.

I make spare cash on Ebay selling things so I'm going to make a concentrated effort listing all my current items.

[Kiwi]

I'll join this casually I've done a lot of de-cluttering and tidying and organizing with our move, but next week on my vacation week I plan on tackling the closet. Mostly it's to clear out boxes, and just organize it better (for the last 2 moves clothes just got tossed into boxes as is, no method). But I'm hoping to purge some old clothes or stuff I don't care for.

[Katika]

I just ran into a question about this... is *using* things that you've had for forever the same as getting rid of them?  Like, I have this caulking stuff to fix a leaky roof in one of my sheds that I just haven't gotten around to using so 1. it's taking up space and 2. my shed still leaks (lol!).  If I get off my butt and fix my shed, then the caulking stuff will no longer be in the house, so *technically* I got rid of the clutter, but still have the stuff.  I've got about five projects similar to this that I would count as one "item" on the list of things to get rid of, and it would double as getting my butt in gear with fixing/crafting the stuff that needs fixing/crafting!  (However, I do understand that "finishing" and "getting rid of" are two COMPLETELY different concepts, lol!)

[LittleSpiffy]

Katika - you'd be getting rid of the leaks too!   I say it counts!

I'm about to venture into the bathroom....totally wasn't part of my plan, but I want to get closer to 50!

[Thunderwing]

I'll join!

Name: Thunderwing
How much do you think you'll get rid of: 50 things!
Why are you doing this: Because I need to. Neeeeed to.
How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things: Anxious? I hate getting rid of stuff. Also, we already did a major decluttering and got rid of all the true junk and garbage. I still have too much stuff.
What things are you getting rid of first: Donatable stuff.


Today I rehomed:
1/ My cheetah sculpture. I liked it... but it is resin, and cheap, and my décor is all super expensive fancy windstones, so it has just been sitting in a box for the last five years.
2/ Stack of magazines.
3/ MIP recent McD toys that came as extras in bags of goodwill ponies, and other random little toys.
4/ A hat.
5/ A blender. Still works, but only had one blade, and... I have two blenders.
6/ A MIB set of kitchen utensils that don't match my décor.
7/ A bunch of bits and bobs that were extras and leftovers and stuff I don't use from the work bench. Hose connectors, plastic ribbing to repair a screen door, flashlights, stuff like that. Guy stuff.

All of the above were donated to a fundraising effort to STOP THE WIND TURBINES they want to build near my house. Charity yard sale, basically.

[True]

oh my gosh i should have taken pictures xD i just cleaned out my shoe/jacket closet.... i dont know how all of this stuff fit in there! and i didnt keep track of how much i got rid of but i got it down to 10 pairs of shoes xD  and 4 jackets..

thats 10 pairs of shoes between 3 people lol, including winter boots, sneakers, flipflops and water shoes xD i think we did pretty good (my mom still looses, she kept 3 pairs of shiny black shoes, that in my eyes all look identical haha)

maybe i need to sign up for this, i plan on ran sacking my whole house before fall.

[happycootie]

Tonight I got rid of a pile of recipes, probably an inch thick, that I had torn out of cooking magazines over the years. The remaining pile... well, I have to go though that one again and put recipes I want to keep in a binder. That will be my weekend project.

[LittleSpiffy]

*sings* Weeeeee are the champions, my frieeeeeends! And weeeeeell keep on cleaning, 'til the eeeeend!

[rosierjay]

how awesome!! this is similar to the challenge i gave myself the week before.
cept i only got 2 weeks to do it, and an 80$ penalty if i didn't get it done.

you can do it guys!!
got 4 days left myself. woot!

[StoryDreamer]

I just can't wait to post a BEFORE and AFTER picture of my desk! Hopefully tomorrow, I gotta find a camera-thing.

[elvenwine26]

Name: Jenna!/elvenwine26
How much do you think you'll get rid of: probably 20 items, i could be wrong.
Why are you doing this: reclaim space, reduce clutter, be able to rearrange furniture with less junk in the way.
How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things: Pretty good, but I purge belongings a lot.
What things are you getting rid of first:
1-A box worth of old costume jewelry and beads! I'm sending them to my friend who makes jewelry for a living, she's more likely to get use out of them than I am.
2-Books!  I have two paper grocery bags full of the suckers.  Mostly romance novels and old textbooks.
3-dental materials (from when I went to dental assisting school in 2011) actually made a couple of bucks on the tools, the impression stuff is going to my friends.
4-art hand models and posable body figure-donated to a friend
5-Lamp (old christmas gift that was never used)
6-box of mason jars (why do I even have this?!)
7-Old mail
8-toiletries(I try a lot of products, if I don't care for them i usually do a roundup and give the stuff I don't want to my friends) Also many lotions and potions have expiration dates on them.
9-Clothes
Technically all of the above is currently in a storage bin that I lost the lid for but I plan to dump it in one big trip so I'm stashing stuff in the unused closet for now. Yeyy donations!

Other things I hope to tackle this week: Junk drawers, pantry, cabinets, the collection of small boxes that I have acquired for no apparent reason, reorganize my paperwork, pony biz, more art supplies, the trunk of my car. D:  Does work clutter count?  I have a stack of insurance problems to deal with at work that's an inch and half thick. If I could get through that it'd be a Christmas miracle for sure.

I'd take pics, but there' isn't much to see here. Lol.

[Stormness_1]

I'm going to try this, I really need to de-clutter our room, we're boarding at the moment and just came back from a weekend away, so there's stuff everywhere!

Name: Storm
How much do you think you'll get rid of: I'm thinking about 30 things. I'm gonna really really try, but I'm thinking most will be multiples of the same thing.
Why are you doing this: Need Space for my new stuff (defeating the purpose, I know) because we live in the tiniest space, seriously.
How do you think you'll feel after getting rid of things: I'll either feel atrocious and regret it no end, or I'll feel really good. I get frustrated and depressed when other people's things clutter up our house, but I obviously can't throw out their stuff, lol...
What things are you getting rid of first: I'm going to start with my earrings, I just bought a new organiser, so that should help!


I'm editing my post to add things as I go... So here's my list:

1. Earrings I don't wear. Hallelujah new organiser!
2. Old Magazines - yep, I think that makes me a hoarder!
3. Unwanted stuff from the ekka showbags I bought yesterday. aaagghhh so much crap!
4, Packaging. I had soo much lying around!
5. Rubbish. So much rubbish!
6. Clothes. I've got three garbage bags for thrift!