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Fling 2013 Things in 2013 Declutterring Challenge

4K views 49 replies 10 participants last post by  Spirit Deer 
#1 ·
~Can't believe no-one has posted this yet this year!
This year I am doing a strictly bag system to simplify the decluttering. After years of flinging I'm pretty burnt out on counting the things as they leave, even if I do estimate here and there to save the irritation. So I'm going to count every grocery bag of items leaving the house as 15 items gone. I have lots of paper to purge so I'm cheating myself a bit on real numbers but then again, most flingers don't count individual pieces of paper. :p
So I'm aiming to purge 135 bags this year. Anyone with me?~
 
#3 ·
I usually don't tally either. It's by the bag/box full and I take it straight to the thrift or trash. Right now the trailer is full of yard debris and junk from behind the shed...does that count? And the car is loaded for the thrift and the Habitat ReStore. Out out out!!!
 
#5 ·
I am going to start this month.
This week is full of catching up,
but definately next week.
 
#6 ·
~I already had 7 bags to count that I have flung so far this year. 2 were trash, 3 to the thrift store and the rest are items to sell. I listed stuff last week and will list more this week too. I filled another 3 bags with clothes but I took them into my craft area since they were too poor to donate. They'll probably end up pieced as window quilts. :D~
 
#7 ·
1 pr. tennis shoes went into the trash today so 1/2013 LOL
 
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#8 ·
I always find it hard to keep track of stuff, but maybe you're right about just not counting items. I've actually had a really good week this week for getting rid of stuff.

I went through my jewelry and hair stuff and gave a small ziploc bag full to a co-worker who has an 11 year old daughter.

I gave back 2 pieces of tupperware to my parents along with some grocery items I had picked up for them.

I threw out a gift bag that I had saved but was ripped. Also gave a stockpiled present for a birthday party and got rid of another gift bag.

I threw out a pair of shoes and a bra this week.

I threw out ome of DS#1's toys this week.

I often feel this tension between stockpiling and decluttering. Like sometimes I'm all about saving shampoo samples and gift bags, and then other times I look at how much crap I have and just want to get rid of it all. It's like a pendulum, swinging back and forth. Does anyone else feel this way?
 
#9 ·
Yes, Telephus, I completely understand. That's why it's taking me so long to de-clutter the house. I go through periods where I want to hoard up everything, then it's like a switch has been flipped and I can't get rid of it fast enough.

I'm going to have to keep a tight rein on myself with this new venture, or I'll end up spending tons of money and adding a lot to the stash. I want new things to work with but at the same I'm being VERY selective and have to keep reminding myself I want to start this doll clothes business to make some money but also de-stash a ton of stuff from the sewing room. It's really hard to find a balance sometimes.

My husband is flinging stuff from his office left and right today. It's all I can do to keep from jumping up to do the happy dance and break out in song! :D I never thought this would happen. I've been nagging and cajoling and bribing and encouraging for at least twenty years and never gotten him to get rid of much of anything. I started tuning in to hoarder shows with an ulterior motive in the past month or two, just randomly, and I think that's what finally got him to see we both need to work on the clutter around here. We both recognize ourselves in some of the things people on those shows say, and in the excuses they make for not cleaning up. Our house isn't anywhere near what's on those shows, and we want to make sure it never gets that bad! There's only one way to stop that from happening, and that's get rid of the excess before it gets any worse.

Nuisance, you can ask at the place you want to donate if they want things that aren't in good shape. Our GW wants imperfect textiles because they bale them and then sell them to places that make rags or whatever it is they do with them, so GW still benefits even though they don't sell the stuff in the stores.
 
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#10 ·
Last night I cleaned out a bit. I got rid of:

glass baby food jars. I was going to make my own baby food at one point, but it's not worth it to me. Some stuff we buy, a lot of times he just eats off my plate - mashed potatoes and stuff.

caps to the bottle we own. Every bottle we buy comes with a travel cap. We don't need them. I saved one just in case but pitched 6 or 7.

Egg cartons. We have friends that raise chickens, but instead of seeing them all the time we only visit every couple of months. No need to save every egg cartons we get for them, since we go through a dozen per week. I saved 2 egg cartons and pitched the rest.

A headband that just always hurt my head when I wore it, even though it's beautiful.
 
#11 ·
~Sorted three totes of scrap fabric into dresser drawers for better organization.

~Sorted industrial sewing machine thread onto shelves so I can see what I have and get to it easily.

~Inventoried thread for industrial machines, home serger, and home sewing machines and organized all of those.

~Sorted rolls of fabric, quilt batting, and pattern paper.
 
#12 ·
A couple of wks ago I donated a large bag of clothes to our local thrift store. I also flung 2 shirts
last week from my drawers.
 
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#13 ·
last night I pitched 2 skin care items - a wrinkle cream and a serum. I had tried the serum but it was too tacky. The wrinkle cream wasn't something I was interested in using, had tried to sell it in eBay (unsucessfully) and just started to separate.

I found myself keeping the bottle thinking I should sell it - it has a retail value of $129! I won it in a contest. I couldn't sell it on eBay for $10, so I'm pretty darn sure that the retail value was pretty bogus. But I still kept it. I'm not sure why - because throwing it out would be like throwing out perfectly good money, I think. Which is stupid since I paid nothing for it AND just because some website says it's worth $129 doesn't mean it is.

So - I pitched it and felt psychological relief.

I also pitched a toy DS#1 got for Christmas. It was one of those cheap dollar store plastic things made in China that we didn't want or need. Having it didn't support my values of shopping locally or buying quality.

I guess I'm finding I get more out of explaining why I declutter things rather than how many things I declutter.
 
#14 ·
We've just been flingin' fools around here lately. The trash bags are starting to pile up in the garage. Love that! It'll all be flung for good when the weather starts to cooperate. Between the crap from the sewing room, the crap from the back bedroom, and the crap from Husby's office, we're getting quite a collection out there. The pool table is also piled high with boxes we've emptied and now have no use for, so those will be recycled when we can take the trash out. More stuff flung.

I'm accumulating lots of empty totes too. Not sure what we'll do with those. I hate to get rid of them. We may need them in the garage when we resume sorting stuff out there.
 
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#15 ·
This week I flung an outdated copy of "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me." I realized that all of information is available online for free, and the book itself is outdated as new products come out all the time. Also, I don't particularly agree with all of the author's views and ratings.
 
#16 ·
I haven't been flinging as much lately, but will have to start again. My mom is thinking of moving out of her house into an apartment, and that means some of her furniture and other things would be coming here. We are nowhere near ready to have another estate dumped on us, so the time has come for making some hard decisions for our own home.

I've started sewing up some of the fabric stash though, making some doll clothes I hope to sell. I guess they're not flung yet though.
 
#17 ·
I'm thrilled to say that yesterday I freecycled our ornamental fireplace to a lady with two young children who is hoping to make her bedroom into a "safe zone" for her and the husband. I found two cans of the sterno fuel that go in it and sent those along, and then, since she mentioned maybe having a glass of wine by the fire with hubby, I threw in a bottle of 2003 Tuscany red that has probably been in the bar since... oh... 2004... :) That's 4 things gone, baby, gone! And no more mantel to gather clutter! (We still have the franklin stove downstairs to hang our stocking by--with care)
 
#19 ·
I have given away several house hold items lately to a couple who had pracely nothing may not remember all i gave here is some things.3 big bowls at least 3 small bowls, 3 cups, blanket,4 new dish towels,2 new dish rags,2 pot holders,9 rolls bt.1 big bag to carry clothes to laundry in.2 towels,9 new wash clothes and a house phone 2 knives.counting it as 33 items but was probably more.122 items flung that i remember.
 
#21 ·
Last weekend tossed the old couch and console piano. This weekend sent about 20 cans of old paint from under the stairs (we don't have a garage.) I'm really proud of myself, because several cans of that paint were still "good" and I was sooooo tempted to save it for "what-if's" "What if I want to paint something pepto-bismol pink??? What if I want to paint DD's room baby lavender again? What if I want to paint some room this horrible mustard color I have no recollection of buying in the first place?"

And the answer is, "I will go to the store and buy some if I need it." Did hang on to the colors that are still in the house, of course.
 
#22 ·
I just flung a couple dozen quilting, sewing, and other hobby books to GW. I also recycled a bunch of saved craft articles from the 1970's. :yikes:

I'd say I reduced my quilting etc books by 2/3 spacewise, a good day. :cheer4:

As I was going through the quilting books, I was thinking along the same lines, Zhoen. "If I want these classic quilt patterns ever in my lifetime, I can get them again online or at the library."

We also moved the big dresser out of the sewing room. That'll be Freecycled as soon as the ice is off the driveway. Then we moved the bookcase from the spare bedroom into the sewing room to replace the dresser, so that helped de-clutter the spare room.
 
#24 ·
As soon as the weather breaks I will be in full fledged flinging mode. I am waiting to start my spring cleaning. We are getting another snow storm tomorrow. At this rate I won't be spring cleaning till summer. Last year it was 82 here!
 
#25 ·
It's been snowing all day here too, and we're under a winter weather advisory till midnight, followed by a winter storm warning. Oh, fun!

We've been trying for two months to haul out trash and every stinkin' Saturday the weather has refused to cooperate. C'mon, spring!
 
#26 ·
Spirit Deer--Why are you sending that snow my way? I don't want it, it finally all melted this weekend and now it is going to back starting at midnight. So hard to fling when you can haul away easily. Come on Spring!
 
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