Not quite a horder - decluttering

octogirl, your efforts sound like they are really paying off! Smart move not keeping the left over paint. The furniture will move quick if its priced right. My niece moved into a beautiful house in Atlanta which had heavy type draperies hung with large rods. She wanted light and airy and was able to sell the drapes for a nice price on Craig's list. She and her husband bought some designer name brand sofa on Craigs List, and after a few months wanted something different and were able to sell the old sofa on Criags List for even a little more than they'd paid for it! It helps that they live in a large city, I think.

That said, I can understand not wanting to venture into Craigs List if you dont feel comfortable doing so. My husband has made a few purchases that way and always met the seller at a busy car park or local grocery store and it has worked great.

Agatha, I get my books at the local library. I love to read. My library belongs to a consortium, which is a large group of Ohio libraries, and I can place a hold on any book I want in the system and if my library doesnt have it, it will be sent here from one of the other libraries. Its wonderful. And if you end up buying a book, you can always get the Kindle version so no clutter, right?!

Wren, in my old area, unfortunately no, there aren't. I've checked. Just too rural I guess.

However, my new area has WONDERFUL consignment stores, at least three that I know of! (I wanted a smaller dining room set for the much smaller dining room area and got the perfect set at one of those consignment stores). In fact, I've actually contemplated bringing all of the furniture up in the move and then just having the consignment store take what we don't want...only problem of course, is that I then have to pay to move it (it is about 200 miles from old place to new place).

I think I will try and sell what I can, and I might then bring up what is left for consignment sale here, if it doesn't add too much to the cost of the move....

The goal is to move as little as possible, of course!

Octogirl

Zills--you can do it, I have faith in you!

Hello, everyone.

I feel pretty good about tackling some sorting today. I've heard back from 4 of the great organizations I found on line and got a better idea of what they are looking for. I'm going to start putting together boxes to send them. There are four categories and I will probably do one at a time so it's not so overwhelming for me. I've got fabric/notions, baking supplies, makeup/beauty, and art supplies.

If it weren't going to rain all weekend I'd some books out on the sidewalk for people to take. (I live in Brooklyn and get a lot of foot traffic.) That might be next weekend's project.

P.S. On a non-decluttering note I hope everyone is going to enjoy their Memorial Day weekend. As a tribute to my father whom I lost to cancer a few years ago, I'd like to remind everyone to also think of the U.S. Merchant Marines who lost their lives during wartime. They aren't an official branch of the military but sailed the ships that transported military personnel and supplies for every war since the Revolution. Their ships were often targeted and many sailors lost without official recognition.

Poodles :-)

Way to go Zills!! That's an inspiring amount of work you've done.

Happy Scrapping!

Put on something itchy:)

Zills, shelving is a wonderful thing. I remember years ago having a whole bunch of stuff laying in a spare room for a long long time, and my brother, a bachelor, took a look and simply said, “Needs shelving.” It was just what I needed to hear, and I bought a couole metal shelving units which solved many problems. You progress sounds wonderful!

Poodles--they do not make men like that anymore!

Zills--Good for you!!

Egads--I like the wearing something itchy punishment!

Octo--Such progress!Good for you for getting some relaxation time, too!

I think I've solved my lack of motivation. I sent out e-mails requesting estimates for the installation of a heat pump, will be getting calls over the next few days and making appointments for the estimates, and will need to get some of the mess cleaned up before anyone comes to see the place! It's already motivated me to get the dishes caught up and some picking up done in the kitchen!

I have been wanting to get downstairs and attempt to get a grip on the clutter and mess. We moved in this house in 2013 and there are still boxes that haven't been opened. Shortly after we moved in our oldest daughter died unexpectedly. That slowed things way down . Next we had family moving to our area we stored their things in our downstairs for a few months. Got that moved out then my sister (11 months older than me) passed away unexpectedly and we ended up cleaning her house and the majority of her stuff came to my house. She was a hoarded and I had no idea how bad it was!! She lived a state away and she always wanted to come see us never really waneed anyone at her house. Anyway. ...for storing other people things we ended up with mice!! I have never had mice before....bastards! I have two cats (fat lazy cats!) So we should have never had mice survive in our basement! So...the reason for my rant...I haven't seen a mouse in months and today I decided to get the cabinet area in my closet and dressing area downstairs cleaned up. I even made pictures of before and after. Omg! The upper cabinets which I rarely get anything out of were full of mouse poop!! So my little 20 minute straighten up turned into a hour with lots of trash!!! I would be to embarrassed to tell this anywhere but here!

Good job ladies on all you have accomplished! Carry on!

Thank you Jazzygirl! I would love to bring a professional exterminator but no way my husband would. I haven't seen a mouse in months. I was able to finally start catching them with glue boards. I tried every human way and couldn't catch a one! After I get my center room cleaned up and empty from all the junk I'll keep an eye out for fresh traces of the little bastards!

After. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer but it's to big to fit in my kitchen cabinets. Need to find a better location for it.

Before

Vargadoll, You're making great progress! I took "before" photos once, but never cleaned it up. I think it looks better now, but the photos were years ago. Perhaps the poop was from the now dead mice and there's no new infestation.

Condolences on your double losses. I was lucky that I didn't need to clear my parents' house when they died 6 mos apart. The family took what they wanted and called in an auctioneer. He said to keep everything because you wouldn't believe what people would buy.

We purchased this house in 2011 but it took my DH almost 3 years to get me to move. The original owners were the only family to ever live here. (Built in the late 1960's true brick rancher) the downstairs was an apartment years ago but due to the septic backing up it was stripped down to concert and walls. It has worked well as a holding area but we are ready to clean it up

Jazzy--what a great way to use the decluttering skills and info gained to help a friend!

Vergadoll--mice are real nuisances. Because of the construction of myhouse it's practically impossible to keep the critters out. Not only the mouse poop issue when cleaning is there, but the little buggers steal dog food and store it in the strangest places! Air tight containers are my best friend in this battle. I can't believe how many deaths you experienced in such a short period of time. Anyone would get knocked off their feet and get behind after all that.

Great before and after pics!

Varga - thinking of you. I hope you're putting YOU first sometimes.

Jazzy - helping your friend reminds me... My BFF died of pancreatic cancer in 2005, but we'd been friends for 30 years. She brought home every leftover from eating out. Saved all leftover food bigger than two bites. And never looked at it again after it went into the fridge. Sometimes a jar with only one olive was stuck in the back of the fridge. From the time her only son was in HS he used to call me periodically and say "time to clean Mom's fridge again". Many thing were unidentifiable. I had fun doing it but it pained her to watch all those moldy drips & dribbles carefully saved in Tupperware going into the trash and down the disposal.

It only occurs to me just now - why didn't her son clean out the fridge? Stupid questions really. My son wouldn't have done that either at that age. Now my son doesn't buy much & is ruthless about tossing stuff or giving it away. Probably comes from living on a sailboat with no room.