2024 Decluttering Support and Motivation

[sherry7899]

Originally Posted by Vintage VFer

I have been going through my make-up drawer. Tossing expired items and replacing favorites. Organizing things.

I don't wear much make-up. I do have a thing for lipsticks though...

Lip colors are my favorite makeup! I very rarely wear eyeshadow, and I don't wear mascara either. It bugs my contact lenses.

[LiliMagill]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

Lili, I've heard of people using Facebook marketplace to find new homes for things. I don't do Facebook so no idea how it works but maybe that's an option?

Vantreesta - good option, but I'm not on Facebook either. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Helen]

Once in a blue moon I read a post or two here, and had a thought to Lili's dilemma.

Does the USA have a thing similar to the >> Men's Shed? <<
These are community workshops, like community garden but a shared workshed where younger guys learn from the older folk, people donate tools to them. They're SO GOOD!! They've been fabulous for passing on skills and, leaning NEW skills, and mental health - physical health too as many WALK to their local shed, then stay on their feet for hours.

[eventmom]

posted 3 items on share the wealth - taken! just need to get to the PO.

So here is my decluttering fail story.

DH came into my home office with a box "Thorne Recovery Drink Mix" chocolate so clearly it's for me. I'm like, I don't remember ordering that. He says: it has a 2017 date on the box Me: I do not remember ordering that. Him: Well my name was on the box. Me: ok but I have no idea when I ordered that. (I'm thinking what the hell is wrong with me) Him: It was delivered in 2019. Me: So it sat in the entry hall and you just opened it now? Him: Well I thought it was something else. Me: We need to do better on stuff like this.

WTH why why why did he ignore it for 5 years! OMG. It seems sort of hopeless.

[Vantreesta]

Last weekend I dropped off a small box with some miscellaneous things plus 13 long sleeve T-shirts at the thrift store. Also a toughie for me but donated two pairs of Merrell hiking boots and a pair of Columbia snowboots that just don't fit anymore.

I have a headache this afternoon and had planned on cleaning some but I think instead I will see of I can do smthg with the overflow of yarn in the spare room of dumping. If I focus on one aspect instead of the whole room maybe I won't get paralyzed by overwhelm!

eventmom, my jaw kinda dropped at your unopened box story! Wow!

[eventmom]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

Also a toughie for me but donated two pairs of Merrell hiking boots and a pair of Columbia snowboots that just don't fit anymore.
!

Vantreesta - Good hiking and snow boots are tough to part with.

On a positive note I just gave away DDs karaoke machine! She loved it as tween (based on what we overhead we were sure she was going to end up a school principle b/c mostly we heard announcements and pep talks on how everyone needed to behave LOL). So happy to rehome it!

[Catahoula Cate]

Eventmom, your declutter fail story made me laugh. We have our own version or versions of that where all I can do is shake my head in disbelief and laugh at it a little as the best response. Cute story on the karaoke machine.

Vannie, great job on the thrift store donations. I can definitely relate to a tough time of letting go of things that don't fit. I have a pair of Lacrosse boots that are waiting on me to make a decision.

Recently, my declutter efforts are in limbo. I have a thrift box going...had an item(new in box) that we don't use that I thought would go and DH has put a hold on it. I'm trying to gather some thred up items. I've also been trying to(once again) sell MIL's china which we never use and never will. DH doesn't want to give it away and I don't blame him. It's very nice just not our style. I've had small successes but would really like to move more as I'll be getting DM's china soon as she is in assisted living now and doesn't need it. I like her pattern more and it suits us more than MIL's. So I've been putting in some effort but limited success so far.

[adawn]

Had the carpets cleaned yesterday so on Sunday I had to clear the floors of 3 bedrooms. One bedroom is the workout room with my yarn closet which also tends to accumulate non-knitting stuff.

I filled 1 regular tall garbage bag of stuff to throw out--old fabric scraps, a bit of interfacing*, a large piece of poster board that's sort of disintegrating and an old knitting bin thing that's not in good enough condition to donate.

I also found some items from The Container Store that I never used and still have the receipt for and tags on so I should be getting some store credit back for those items soon.

*Keep in mind, I don't really sew.

In other decluttering news, I finally found someone to make my t-shirt quilt that I've had on a to-do list for about a decade. It came out amazing (esp. for a t-shirt quilt). So all the t-shirts and bedsheets and some old fabric scraps I was sentimental about and saving in a linen closet were finally used up. So yes, now I have a blanket to store, but it's less volume and more useful. In fact, it came out so well, I might have to hang it rather than use it and risk a cat damaging it.

If anyone needs a t-shirt quilt made in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I highly recommend this quilter and the quilting shop where I had to buy fabric!

Link to my t-shirt quilt photos (though I'm going to try to attach some low resolution photos to this post):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...23?usp=sharing

[eventmom]

adawn - your tshirt quilt looks very nice!

[fanofladyvols]

Thanks for the giggle, event mom!

Adawn, a friend of mine made a quilt with her mom with all her daughter's basketball T-shirts from over the years. They pieced and arranged the top and had a quilter quilt it to the bottom. Then, they completed the binding. She has it hung on a wall and it looks great!

It is beyond precious to her now as her mom is deteriorating with Alzheimer's.

Something I worked on for a week was experimenting with different folding methods to make things in my drawers and linen closet look neater. It also carried over in different ways to hang pants and heavy sweaters. It was fun and I'm quite pleased with the results. Amazing how just folding differently could make the same number of items easier to see and fit better.

I purged a bag of books that I sold to a used store. I am working on a large bag of random items through the house which is almost full. Nothing flashy as far as purging...but I continue to plod on!