2020 Decluttering Support and Motivation

[Sissy B]

DH is still working, he's considered essential for infrastructure, but his company has gone to a 7 on/7off schedule so when he's home we've been doing a lot of decluttering. We've gone through our closet and gotten it decluttered and reorganized. That was our first project. Then we went through the garage. He went back to work and now that he's off again we went through the shed. We have put some stuff aside to donate in the future, and thrown away and recycled a lot of stuff.

[Sissy B]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Congratulations you guys for putting this time to good use. As my walks continue so has mountains of stuff noted on folks curbs. It's unfortunate Goodwill is not open. So much of this stuff is good and could easily be donated. I do have stuff but I put it aside until it opens.

We put some stuff out on our curb a few days ago - 4 ice chests, a set of stereo speakers and a metal shelving unit - and they are all gone.

[Catahoula Cate]

I have a box mostly full ready for the thrift shop whenever they reopen. Thankfully the recycling center is still accepting things and so trying to keep up with that. I really wish I could figure out a way to reduce our use of products that come in plastics. That does frustrate me.

I've been getting some shredding done which is good and have seen an increase in my items on ebay selling. Hobby related and books in good condition. I can only guess that people are doing more internet shopping and focusing on things to help pass the time.

[BunnyHop]

Somehow taking a scrap of fabric from my stash and turning it into face masks doesn't really seem to have lessened the clutter. Now I'm all excited about sewing and haven't put things away. Guess I'd better do that.

I want to give myself a chance to work a jigsaw puzzle and the sewing stuff is on the table instead.

I have actually chopped some bushes in my yard, fortunately the city I live in is doing a better job of picking up that sort of trimmings. Need to get back into the swing of that. They are huge and overgrown and I finally got into it thinking that either they survive the chopping and look better, or they don't and get hauled out of the ground altogether. Either alternative looks better than what I have now.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by BunnyHop

Somehow taking a scrap of fabric from my stash and turning it into face masks doesn't really seem to have lessened the clutter. Now I'm all excited about sewing and haven't put things away. Guess I'd better do that.

I want to give myself a chance to work a jigsaw puzzle and the sewing stuff is on the table instead.

are we twins? been sewing lots of masks using some fabric from both my stash and my sister's. technically, some of the stash came from our late mom, and my sister and i have had a few chuckles looking at a couple of projects my mom had started.

also have a couple of jigsaws that i want to work on.


my report:
gave niece 2 bags of clothes and a very clean mattress.

Question: how do you archive digital videos, be it fitness or family movies?

Home movies are a clutter issue for us because I'm considering getting a large storage drive. I tried storing things on an external hard drive, but i exceeded the capacity. plus DH keeps wanting to film our youngest son's performances. i imagine that once he graduates from high school (this year) he won't be filming as many things.

[BunnyHop]

Just thought I'd share a laundry folding video, that takes the Kondo idea just a bit further, you fold the items so they can fold in on themselves and make a tighter packet that won't fall apart. I'm thinking this would come in handy for packing a suitcase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG0fsPjNTrY

[bzar]

anna - thanks!

question for the week:
What lost item are you looking for?

i posted on the general forum that it felt like Christmas yesterday!!! i found a banker's box of fitness DVDs that was hidden beneath some other boxes. it contained several DVDs that i was looking for, including a DVD that a VFer asked me to do a review for.

why did i choose this question for the week? because due to my own disorganization and poor memory, items are misplaced! and i go crazy looking for the item.

since December, i have been looking for a jazz piano Christmas book. i know it's somewhere - i just don't know where!

[Vantreesta]

Nice find, Jeannine! Lost workouts would drive me crazy!

We took about half a truckload to Goodwill yesterday. We lost my mom on April 14 so we have been going through her things. It isn't easy. We tackled the less emotional things first and now we're up to harder things. I don't think we're doing any more with it till fall. Hopefully once some time passes we can handle the harder stuff a little better.

I still had a lot to do at home and now will have more as I've kept a lot of Mom's things.

[toaster]

Jeannine, LOL about the lost item--it is nice to find something unexpected! I can't think of anything for myself right now. RE your other question, I have saved some videos to Google drive, some to flash drives, but I don't have many. You could also upload to a YouTube channel and make the videos unlisted.

Anna, even though I don't know if I would use it, I enjoyed watching that video! I wonder if the clothes (like t-shirts) would wind up with wrinkles from the fold marks?

Like Mary, I am impressed with people putting their time to good use! I actually haven't had a lot of extra time (I've been working from home, but busy). I do have more items for donation in my basement than usual, as I was due for a Goodwill run even before all this happened! And I at least weeded out some of my makeup last week.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

We took about half a truckload to Goodwill yesterday. We lost my mom on April 14 so we have been going through her things. It isn't easy. We tackled the less emotional things first and now we're up to harder things. I don't think we're doing any more with it till fall. Hopefully once some time passes we can handle the harder stuff a little better.

I still had a lot to do at home and now will have more as I've kept a lot of Mom's things.

Vantreesta, so sorry to hear about your mom. yes, take your time.

our mom passed away in Aug 2019. We have been slowly donating and gifting a lot of her things since then. when the pandemic hit, my son began helping his friend with a food/toiletry drive for the elderly. my sister and i went through our mom's Avon products (she used to be an Avon Lady) and also my mom's canned goods. when i say "my mom's" it's now my sister's since my sister lives there now.

i came up up with 2 boxes of Avon and my sister came up with 1 box of canned goods. it felt really nice, and i could feel my mom cheering us on. i know she would have gladly donated her things.