One of my goals this year is to simplify and one of the ways I plan to do that is to sell or donate at least 1,000 ordinary items that are crowding our closets and drawers by the end of July. My ultimate goal is to find a home for every item by repurposing, selling, donating, or finding a way to recycle our unwanted stuff without incurring any costs.
This week I found another hodgepodge of goodness to add to my collection of things I no longer use, want or have use for.
In no particular order:
- Set of 3 painted scrap wood pumpkins I made for a fall craft tv appearance
- Lindsey Stirling CD my niece gave me for Christmas {she doesn’t read the my blog}
- 1,000 piece Seascapes puzzle – I have no idea where it came from
- 2 large tablecloths – I bought them on clearance and then maybe 6 months later pulled them out to cover the dining room table and the HH freaked out when he saw them. “Why on earth would you cover the table? It’s beautiful. I didn’t pay for a new dining room table to have it covered up.” Okay then. 😉
- Wooden bowl, spoons and butter paddles
- 2 Small appetizer warmers I bought at Target 7+ years ago
- Extra hole punch
- Rose sculpture some boy gave The Girl 4 years ago
I kind of feel bad getting rid of the wooden bowl and butter paddles I bought at a garage sale about 3 years ago but I haven’t really used them. So why keep them?
1 Plastic cow, a ceramic mini loaf pan, and 42 dessert plates I borrowed from my mom 10+ years ago. I think there were 50 in the set when I originally borrowed them {sorry mom!}. I called my mom and asked her if she wanted them back and she did. We don’t entertain as much as we used to and I really didn’t see the point of hanging on to them if she could use them/wants them back.
3 Flexees tops. Seriously. If you have a muffin top, these things are the bomb diggety. I had 5, kept 2 and will be donating the other 3 to the thrift store.
1 vase, 1 paperweight and 3 sets of necklaces my parents brought back from Hawaii a few years ago. This business of decluttering is going a little better than I thought it would. When I started I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find 1,000 items to get rid but so far I’m up to 535 items and I still have plenty more nooks and crannies to go through.
Is decluttering on your “to do” list this year? If so, how is it going?
~Mavis
Year to Date Totals
Donated: 12 items
Gave Back: 42
Kept: 43 items
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 355 items
See what else I’m getting rid of this year:
- Cookie Cutters, Pickle Forks, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer and More
- Used Books
- DVD’s
- Rubber Stamps, a Soldering Iron, Seashells, Smencils and More
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Randi says
I am SO inspired by your decluttering that i am doing the same. My children are not happy. but really, how many stuffed animals does one child need?
I have been good about donating the bigger items in life, i.e. kids ski gear they outgrew but all the little clutter not so much. Every time i see an older pot/vase/whatchamathingy i think of you and put it in the donate pile. I could probably sell some at a garage sale but i am finding i am liking the action of putting it in bags, putting it in the car and dropping it off. I should start counting what i get rid of.
So. much. clutter.
Mavis says
Sometimes it’s so much easier to resist getting stuff back out of the bags if you drop it off straight away. Carry on!
donna says
Get a receipt & use on taxes. 🙂
I so understand your method. Faster gone less chance of it creeping back in. Lol
Sarah says
Orrrr donate the flexees to me!
Tsutee says
I would love the wood bowl and butter paddles I do primitive living history. and those would be great to use at our educational events.
Lisa says
Love the wood set , wish I was in your area. I would go to your local thrift and grab these up!
Lesley says
Between the “52 ways” and the “Get Rid of 1,000 Things,” this is the best Tuesday ever! You rock, Mavis.
Mavis says
Aw, so glad you are liking it! Thanks.
Lisa says
I just got rid of a bunch of fabric and cross stitch stuff through freecycle. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to counting the pieces to add to my tally. I have gotten a bunch of stuff out of the house, though, and I have a load to take to the thrift store one of these days.
I have an extensive cookbook collection that I’m hesitant to part with, but I might put them in a box and stick them in the garage and then get rid of them after a while. Ease the blow a bit.
Mavis says
Sometimes when I don’t want to get rid of a cookbook, I settle for scanning the pages onto my laptop and passing the physical copy on. It’s a MASSIVE undertaking, but nobody says it has to be done in a day.
AshleyAshley says
For items you bought at yard sales or at Target etc….I think you should also mention if you’ve ever used them. It would be interesting to see if you bought it as an impulse or as a need that would be used. For me I have a few things that I’ve bought and never used.
Holly says
Beat you! Got rid of most of an entire garage yesterday!!! Whoohoo!
Jamie n. says
In the last year and a half I have rid my home of over 3,000 items and I’m still not done. It has changed the way we live by freeing up space both physically, mentally, and precious time. I used to hate to vacuum because it would take so long to clear the floor before I could actually vacuum. Now I do it twice a week and it only takes twenty minutes. I don’t stress when someone wants to come over because it is just a quick pickup and not hours of work. There is a big difference between organizing and decluttering! My kids were first not happy and my husband would flip flop back and forth, but now they willingly part with their own stuff and make suggestions too! Chores are easier for everyone and we better use what we have! Happy decluttering everyone 🙂
Connie says
You might need the butter paddle in your East Coast simplified life ! You are an inspiration – I am continuing to clear out things too.
Karin carson says
The wooden bowl could you not use in your garden as a bird feeder/bath, but think it would have a nice patina in the weather.
nicole says
I’m playing a version of this game : http://www.theminimalists.com/game/
I spent last year just throwing out and donating massive amounts of things in storage and in our living spaces. It was depressing me how much I had hemmed myself in. The family was scared I was getting rid of everything, but they are really loving all of the living space and they trust that I’m not getting rid of their personal items without a discussion first, so I think we have balance. I love all of the space and time I gained back and I keep evaluating more of the cost of ownership of all my things, even the nice stuff that I like a lot.
Your declutter photos helped to inspire me to blog about more of my decluttering this year to share with my friends and family and now some of them are eliminating stuff from their lives too! Every time I load up the car with things to return, donate, give away, and recycle I tell my husband I’m going reverse shopping.
Thanks for sharing your pictures!
AmyWW says
This is one of my favorite posts of yours. I have already reached my 1000 things for the year, but I hope to have my garage sale in about 2 months. No one in Houston likes to go outside in July unless it’s to the pool. Garage sale season here is springtime. I have 1008 things so far – and only a few more spots to declutter. I am pretty good about getting rid of things on a regular basis, but have really dug deep this time, made some decisions about things that could have been made years ago but weren’t, and really lightened the feel of our home. My husband is resistant to change and giving up things, but I never try to declutter his things. Enough of a difference is made in our home just with going through my own stuff and regular household items. I have learned so much about myself in this process!
Lauren says
I am also on the decluttering bandwagon, I can’t believe how awesome it is to just open a cupboard and actually just take out what you need without having to dig.
I’ve just been donating the stuff, a garage sale seems to hard to me. I do plan on loading the really good not worn kids clothes onto Gumtree (it’s quite big here in Australia) to try and sell.
I also take my lunch to work, cheaper, easier and healthier. Look up Jam Jar (Mason) salads.
Thanks for all the inspiration Mavis and for everyone that comments too.
Clare Honn says
Hi Mavis,
While decluttering, please keep my local friend (Gig Harbor) in mind. She is collecting all sorts of clothes, shoes, purses, belts, and linens to help fund her international adoption. Feel free to email/message me for more info.
Milkmaid says
The butter paddle! Ugh! I have two cows in milk. Where do I get a butter paddle?! I promise to take out two items if I bring in one butter paddle. 😉
Jenny says
I can barely read past you getting rid of a Lindsey Stirling cd!! 😉 I love her violin playing…but, to each their own. Haha. Way to go on the 1,000 things progress!
Maryw says
I have a ton of Disneyana crap that is going in a garage sale in a month or so. I have been decal uttering for a few months now.
lori says
Thanks so much for continuing to teach, show by examples, and be open about how your ideas or experiments came about. I’m working on ridding my closets of clutter also, started after reading your posts in january. I don’t expect to make 1000 items this year but couple probably make half that, all to our local mission to be reused by someone else. You are an inspiration and I look forward to logging on each day to see what you’re up to next!
Crystal says
Can’t believe you arw getting rid of the Lindsey Stirling cd, I love her! So when are you having this yard sale of yours?
Brianna says
I just finished reading the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo (finally got it from the library after a long queue!). I’ve always enjoyed organizing, but I loved this book! Got rid of 56 books yesterday (about 1/3 of my collection). I’m taking a bunch of them to the library to donate later this week. My plan is to try out the KonMari method of tidying on myself, and then if it works, I’ll help my mom out with her clutter (she’s read the book true but it often helps to have moral support with decluttering!). Anyone else tried out this method?
Debby says
I would LOVE to purge!!! I just have an extremely difficult time putting a monetovalue on things. And I also think “What if it’s valuable and I’m selling it for a dollar?
Lisa says
Got rid of 6 bags of clothes and shoes by taking everything out of master closet and having my HH go through what he didn’t want. I put it in another room, so he could go through it when he had time.
Stacy says
Please consider posting your decluttering goods on your ebay site so we have a chance to buy them. I would love to buy your wooden bowl, and wooden spoons! This would be a great way for you to make some extra monola as well as you are doing on your wool items 🙂 Please, beg, beg… if you do post them, please let me know. Thanks 🙂