Not quite a horder - decluttering

So funny, Wren. Your group must have had a really good laugh!

We've been a quiet group for the past couple of weeks. Hope all are well.  I have been quietly working and today brought 14 large trash sized bags of assorted clothing, books, household goods etc to a local charity shop as well as two computer printer/scanner/copiers and a suitcase. I organized everything so that the charity shop could use it and picked a shop where the things I had would do some good.  The printers are fine but I don't need them so I gathered the papers for them and sent them on their way.  I still have a long way to go, but it is a beginning. So I wanted to share that with this group.  Hope you all have a glorious fall. 

Hugs.

Thanks RunFree.   I  really appreciate your support. 

I was prompted to start because I have a house guest arriving in a week---I figure she needs me to have an organized living room, kitchen, bathroom and guest room.  I had a friend come over today so we could figure out what I still have to do and I think I will be ready for my guest.  And although I have not "treated " myself,  it does feel really good to get those things out of my house so maybe that is the treat.

Thanks again.

Mandy

Mandy, great accomplishment!

I know what you mean about company. I'm hosting my book club next weekend and planning to finish the bathroom before then. We're ready to paint the walls tomorrow.

I have to confess, though. Today I took 3 long-sleeve shirts out of my donation bag. It was so cold here and I don't have any old shirts to wear to paint walls and medicate cats. They were mock necks, which I hate, so I cut the mock off.

Mandy - That is really good. Now I feel behind. I have had a difficult couple of weeks with heath and This Old House but I feel a declutter week end coming on. I have a big bag in the guest room on the floor ready to roll. Need to give away those size 16 pants and jeans still. Time to do it. I keep thinking I will need them again but I doubt it. I have been a size 10/12 for 2 years. Even if I gain some I will be a 14. I have a few of those stashed too but that is it.

Meece - Darn you are good!!!It is always easy to do that stuff for someone else. When I lived in Cali I used to do that for my friends. Go to their house and reorganize the pantry or photos etc. They used to call me and ask when I was coming over.

BUNKIE10 - We always itemize our taxes and need every write-off we can get. As far as charitable donations go, most places just hand you a blank, dated receipt when you drop stuff off.

I always list each item I donate, and before it goes in the box or bag, I photograph groups of items together. We are some SERIOUS donators here!!!  I just want proof in case we're ever audited by the IRS. 

As for TurboTax, yes, you have enter each item. But the real benefit to doing that is that they allow you incredibly high prices for each item you donate.

I used to just use yard sale prices as my “fair market value” for an item. But according to IRS guidelines, which TurboTax uses, let’s say I donate a pair of work slacks. I might value them at $2, which I’d sell them for at a yard sale. TurboTax, on the other hand, may value them at as much as $8! (I’m totally guessing here, as I don’t have my tax return in front of me.)

Once we saw how much money we got to deduct on our taxes, we never had another yard sale again. So not worth it!

Teka – “Busy” doesn’t begin to describe it. There are no words for how much crap is stuffed into my in-laws' little house. They lived there for over 60 years, and never threw one thing away.

BrooksideVT – 

Wren, that’s funny…

Mandy1313 – Good job!!!

RunFree – do you still have a lot to get rid of? If it’s too much for a thrift store, perhaps a living estate sale would work for you? They do take like 30% of the proceeds, but they do all the setting up and cleaning up for you, and even take the unsold stuff, itemize it, and donate it for you.

Meece – I’d rather organize anything besides my own home. All my colleagues used to say “You’re so ORGANIZED!!!” but then again, they never saw the piles of unrelated papers and junk crammed into my file cabinets.

~ ~ ~ 

SO – I’ve got the purging bug again. I want new bedroom furniture, which means getting rid of hand-me-down pieces I’ve had forever. Some are even just stored in the shed because there’s no room for them. In order for me to “earn” this new furniture, I’ve told myself I have to get rid of ALL the excess furniture in the house.

Either it goes to our local hospice thrift store, or to one of our local consignment shops if it’s a big piece.

Last week we had the Garage Organizer guy come out to measure for storage cabinets. I’m sure that when we opened the door he wanted to scream and run for his car. Seriously, it looks like a hoarder’s garage.

So we’ve been attacking it piece by piece. Yesterday and today we filled up both the recycle bin and the garbage bin, PLUS the back of the truck with donations.

Fortunately, I’m taking pictures along the way. The “before” pics really do look like crazy people live here. At least it’s just boxes and furniture, and assorted other dumb stuff, not garbage and filth! I took lots of pics to remind us we NEVER want it to get this bad again.

Like Blessings, I made a very detailed list of what I donate.  I handed one copy of it (several pages long) to the charity thrift shop and kept a second copy which the the charity had stamped.  They did give a receipt that said as per attached list.  I never thought of taking photos but with the quanitity that I donated. it would have taken forever.  But my thrift shop requires that we estimate the fmv on the list you give them--so I explained where I got my calcualtions from ( amazon for used books for example).  This is the first time I have gone over the $500 limit so I see that I will need to show when and how I received the items (bought them all; it is the when that will be challenging)....anyway I plan to keep this up (going through the house and donating items, until the clutter is gone).  :-)

I am now organizing the guest room for my house guest.  There is some stuff in there that will need to be taken out temporarily.  A friend has lent me a luggage rack so my guest will have  a place for her suitcase and I don't have to remove everything from the desk. At least there is hope! 

I am thankful for all of the support this thread has given me--it helps to know that others are in the same situation and are lending support.  And try not to be hard on yourselves if you don't do as much as you think you should.  My thrift shop run took quite a while for me to gather up---and then (embarressing to say this), some of the bags sat in my living room waiting for me to move them out for a while.

One thing that I did do which felt good. I came across a book about an artist that had been a private printing by a cultural organization.  I knew the artist had sons who were in their 60s now and perhaps even grandchildren. So rather than putting the book in the thrift shop pile, I took the time to locate one of the sons and to send him the book (isn't the internet wonderful for things like that).  He has 3 children and did not have enough copies of the book on his father for each to have one.  It just felt so right to return that book to its proper home.

Wishing everyone here a wonderful weekend.

Hugs

Mandy

I finished putting the plans away, but there were boxes and boxes of Submittals, Contract Books, O & M Manuals and papers. I finally got most of that sorted through and finished sorting yesterday. Things were boxed up to go to my other office.

Now I must take all of those plans off their shelf and pull all of the duplicates. we are talking about thousands of plans. Job Security.

We were gone last weekend and my house has not been straightened up in two weeks, so I will try to do that today. Then I need to decide what to organize. I want to get something accomplished at home.

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del

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I also have clutter that ends up back on the kitchen counters. It is a never ending challenge...cause because I do not have good storage and also because I somehow tend to clutter things up.

But I am pleased to say that the organizing job I did in my daughter's room for my house guest still looks good. I am determined also to keep doing a little more and hopefully to eventually declutter.

Have a wonderful weekend all.

Bunkie, I think I am a stockpiler too. It was interesting to read what you wrote because I'd never thought about it.

Mandy - There are a lot of us. I noticed it when I gave away my dads old icebox in the basement. I used it for storing extra beer and sodas etc. When I gave it away I took all the stuff and put it on the bar. The guy I gave it to was younger and broke and he asked if he could have the drinks too. I gave him most of them but it took several trips to the truck to get everything. After he left I just sat there is shock at how many bottles of soda I had. I do not drink it and I live alone. I do have some friends that come by sometimes but I have a huge new stainless up stairs and do not need the extra storage. That was when I came up stairs and opened my perfectly stacked cupboards. 10 cans of tuna, soups, tomatoes etc. 4 each boxes of rice, pasta etc. 10 boxes of rice a roni. All neatly organized. Like in the movie "Sleeping With The Enemy". I dated a guy once that said I was really too neat. Kinda bothered me. I always liked to have 4 more of what I like and use in case I got snowed in during the winter. Well I never get that snowed in.

Wren - I have 5 jars of black pepper and 4 containers of Mrs. Dash. I am bad there also.