2023 Decluttering Support and Motivation

[eventmom]

I dropped off some clothes & shoes at a local church that runs a community closet. I'd been trying to find somewhere local to donate coats and finally found this church group. Sent a dvd out via swap a dvd. Baby steps.

[sherry7899]

The streaming channel Peacock has a new series on Swedish death cleaning which is a method of decluttering. I may watch it over the weekend. I signed up for Peacock when they had an offer for 99 cents a month for a year.

[adawn]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

The streaming channel Peacock has a new series on Swedish death cleaning which is a method of decluttering. I may watch it over the weekend. I signed up for Peacock when they had an offer for 99 cents a month for a year.

Interesting. I may eventually watch. I enjoyed the Marie Kondo "Tidying Up" series on Netflix. Still haven't watched the Home Edit series on Netflix. I'm not as much into the Home Edit methods so it's lower priority on the watchlist.

In my own decluttering news, spring is here so I took a few pics of the "vintage" black wrought iron patio furniture on our back deck (bought in late 1980s and hasn't been maintained since my father's passing in 2012--he was the main one who used it). 1 table (plus umbrella) and 6 chairs. Solid, comfy chairs, good brand but needs rehabbing as far as sanding and painting.

Anyways, I listed it for a nominal amount on Craigslist one afternoon and a guy with a pickup truck came to get the set the next day. He apparently loves DIY projects involving rehabbing this type of patio furniture. He gives the sets away to extended family or resells. Smooth, easy transaction and at least they're not going to the junkyard or sitting through yet another winter on our back deck uncovered. Success!

We have built-in wood bench seating around the perimeter of the deck with railing so we don't absolutely need the patio furniture seating. Plus, we don't entertain outdoors anymore or do much sitting out there. And if we do sit, we can just sit on the perimeter bench seating.

Next up this spring/summer, I plan to sell or give away a lot of unused kitchen stuff and dining room serving pieces that my mom agreed she no longer uses or wants. I boxed up some of it over the fall/winter and it's sitting in the basement. The rest is just still taking up space in the kitchen and dining room cabinets.

[eventmom]

wow! finally was able to google search and find out thread.

Thred up finally sent me an email that I could send in a bag - of course they are going to charge me $15 for processing which sucks. But, I retired in Jan so I have many work clothes that need to go. I sent in 29 items and I think I have more work type clothes that should have gone, but not quite ready to let go of everything.

Right now DH, for the first time in our relationship, it better at decluttering than me. He is cataloging his coin collection and planning to sell off nearly all of it. He got stuck (well volunteered) to figure out what to do with my father's stamp collection. After dealing with that he didn't want to risk leaving his coin collection sitting around for me or our daughter to deal with. It's been a pretty involved process so I'm also glad he's getting rid of all but the ones that he's most interested in.

adawn - getting your patio furniture to someone that will rehab it is awesome!

[sciencelady]

Eventmom, you’re doing great!

My father was a coin collector and had planned on becoming a coin dealer after retirement, so lots of collections on hand…. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack at age 62 - way before retirement and we ended up dealing with the coin stashes. We tried selling the coins to various dealers, but of course they would only offer about 30% of their value . It sucked. My mom sold what she could but it was not a good deal and she lost lots of her retirement funds. It’s good for your DH to try to deal with the coins NOW!

[adawn]

Originally Posted by eventmom

wow! finally was able to google search and find out thread.

Thred up finally sent me an email that I could send in a bag - of course they are going to charge me $15 for processing which sucks. But, I retired in Jan so I have many work clothes that need to go. I sent in 29 items and I think I have more work type clothes that should have gone, but not quite ready to let go of everything.

Right now DH, for the first time in our relationship, it better at decluttering than me. He is cataloging his coin collection and planning to sell off nearly all of it. He got stuck (well volunteered) to figure out what to do with my father's stamp collection. After dealing with that he didn't want to risk leaving his coin collection sitting around for me or our daughter to deal with. It's been a pretty involved process so I'm also glad he's getting rid of all but the ones that he's most interested in.

adawn - getting your patio furniture to someone that will rehab it is awesome!

I agree with sciencelady re: it being good to organize and sell off the extraneous parts of the coin collection now.

Re: stamp collections. My uncle thought my paternal grandma's stamp collection was fairly worthless as not too many valuable stamps, plus a bit musty and not stored well in the attic (or basement, can't remember which but grandma had dropped her stamp hobby long ago). So when grandma moved into an independent living facility, one of the few things my dad requested from her house was the stamp collection because he didn't want it getting thrown out since he thought it had some value to someone.

My brother drove the stamp stuff (and a few other things) back from PA to IL. Well, around then my dad got pancreatic cancer and died (back in 2012) so he never really had time to deal with the stamp collection boxes so they were untouched in his basement home office, so I became responsible for unloading the stamps after my dad's death.

Long story short, I organized things somewhat even though I know nothing about stamps and envelopes.

1. FDCs (First Day Covers)--OMG so many of these and I tried to group like with like.

2. The big binder of stamps (mostly crap but as the stamp dealer told me...some times you get enough "poop" together and it becomes "manure").

3. The many used/cancelled envelopes (my grandma used to correspond with people in foreign countries and exchange stamps). I had to check each envelope because a few actually had a valuable Japanese stamp inside that her one penpal buddy would send her (and I guess she would send him USA stamps in return?).

In 2014 at least, there were about 3 main stamp dealers in the Chicagoland area when I finally tackled the stamp collection. I was fortunate that one lived out in the suburbs relatively near me. He took some time looking over the collection and gave me a price he would pay for the messy binder of "manure" stamps and the few special Japanese stamps I had unearthed.

These stamps were not in perfect condition (some edges lifted, etc.) and the stamp world (on ebay) seems really serious so I could not sell them myself on ebay. Plus, it would have taken ages to photograph and list them all even if I felt comfortable with their terminology. I mean, I know what an excellent/good/fair/whatever used BOOK is, but the stamp collecting world is on a whole other level.

The stamp dealer was actually kind of happy because he says he gets a lot of people who bring their dead relative's stamp collections to him and he usually has to explain to them that they're not worth much and it gets depressing for him and the other party.

I'm pretty sure he gave me a fair price because I had googled prices for the few valuable Japanese stamps and some other stuff and he was on point on those. Also, he explained he would NOT take the FDCs as he doesn't deal with that area of collecting but told me that they could go to auction and he explained that process to me and sent them off on their way to the auction place (I had never even heard of Rasdale--the auction place). So he could have offered me $100 or less for the FDCs and I would have never have known any different.

The used envelopes he said he also doesn't deal with but I could list them as a lot on ebay because people do collect them for the cancelled stamps and so forth.

For the messy mish-mosh stamp collection from my grandma (who the dealer could tell was very "thrifty" based on what she bought/collected), the dealer gave me a check for around $1100-$1200.

For the FDCs, it took forever to go to auction. I think Rasdale only has one auction catalog a year? So I had kind of forgotten about those by the time the auction catalogue came in the mail and then later the check for my 80% of the sold price (the auction house keeps 20% commission). I netted $440 on the FDC collection from the auction so I guess they sold for $550.

Here is the auction catalogue listing (I saved it for posterity):

An old holding with about 1500 US FDC's from the
1940s-1970s. Also about 500 Japan covers with most
of the value running from 1950-1970s. Includes FDC's,
many hand painted, several with high franking, a few
on souvenir sheets, event and along for the ride are several
commercial. Attractive lot with a lot of value.

For the used envelopes, I was super scared to wade into the stamp category of ebay (even though I sell in many of the other categories). I did it as an auction since that seems to be what the stamp people are used to (normally I only do fixed price listings). I called it, "Huge lot old envelopes US and foreign 1940s-70s". Not sure what I put in the full description. They sold for $65. Not a whole lot but I got great feedback and there was more than one bidder. Here's my feedback: "Nice collection as described and Excellent shipping!! Highly Recommended!!"

I ended up splitting the proceeds from everything 50/50 with my brother since he did the work of driving the stamps (and other stuff) from PA to my dad's house. So it wasn't a huge windfall, but the main thing was my dad didn't want this stuff getting dumped in the trash so we accomplished that task and made a bit of money while doing so.

[fanofladyvols]

What a happy ending to the story, adawn!

Science lady, the decluttering can be just as contagious as cluttering so good for you and your husband.
I can't remember if I posted this but in case I didn't:
My daughter helped me purge some more out of my closet. Three bags left either to donations or consignment. I finished up organizing mementos and cards. I will one day go through reducing some of the cards but since I purged so many other mementos they fit nicely in the bin and are organized in Ziploc bags by category of who gave them to me. (My daughter has given me the most over the years, lol!)
Then my daughter helped me tackle the guest room closet and rest of the children's books. We broke it down to two boxes or bins a day and finished easily in less than a week without it being stressful. Neither one of us is comfortable with purging any more than I already have. The guest room is still welcoming to guests and the closet is neatly organized with every bin or box labeled. Afterwards, I went in there a couple of times just to look at the closet contents I have delivered all the donations but have two boxes to go to used bookstores.

I have been aggressively decluttering for almost 4 years now and don't see any area that needs to be addressed ( that is in my area of responsibility. ) My daughter went through her room and it looks great. Several bags went to consignment. My husband is trying and I celebrated when he released two shirts to my custody. Baby steps for him.

I guess the hard part now is maintenance of those areas. I am not letting myself go into general thrift stores and department stores anymore as a past time.
Trying to extend that with cosmetic stores and my daughter isn't proving very successful but that's ok. Trying to teach her to resist is as good for me as it is her, lol!

Happy Decluttering!!

[bzar]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

The streaming channel Peacock has a new series on Swedish death cleaning which is a method of decluttering. I may watch it over the weekend. I signed up for Peacock when they had an offer for 99 cents a month for a year.

There's a really good book that is a really quick read by a Swedish woman. i posted about it in this check-in a few years ago. i borrowed it from the library. i also borrowed the audio version from the library's "Overdrive" smartphone app.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

and apparently she has a follow-up book:

The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly

[eventmom]

mailed something to swapadvd.

sciencelady - so sorry that the coin hobby/business turned out badly for your mom. Fortunately it was just a hobby for my DH not part of a retirement plan.

adawn - that's a huge effort you put out for the stamps, glad you netted some $ sadly, most of the valuable stamps were, let's say harvested, before the albums were passed to me (per my father's wishes). Nearly all the stamps were in albums and DH found company that would just take them and will give me an offer. I know it won't be much but it was really our best option.

fanofladyvols - we are both retired and would like to sell this house in about 3 years so it is time to be serious about decluttering. At least with the stamps and coins we might get a bit of $.

bzar - I remember that discussion.

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by sherry7899

I decided to get rid of my yearly exercise logs. I don't go back and look at them, so why keep them. I used various date books and cheap calendars.

I was catching up on this thread a few days ago because it has been awhile. This post came at just the right time because I was thinking it's time to let go of my exercise logs. I too almost never go back and look at them although I have been keeping one since 2008, which happens to be when I joined VF. I need to clear off bookcases in the basement (more on that in another post) and these take up half a shelf. I was just perusing them. Wow it brings back some memories. Like the 2 weeks in 2011 I didn't exercise after my father died and my mom was admitted to a nursing home (yes on the same day-it was stressful) and the 4 days I was hospitalized in 2010. Injuries, personal records (210 pound deadlift in June 2013! ) and what I did on vacations on cruise ships and hotel rooms. I even logged my walking splits and boy have I slowed down. A bit depressing but the logs show how dedicated I am. Injuries, surgeries, personal issues, whatever- I seem to always get back to it. I am sad to let them go but I don't have the patience to scan them.