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 goal date is set for the end of July because my neighborhood has a big community yard sale every summer and while I don’t mind dropping stuff at the thrift store, I’d like to see if I could make a few bucks at the yard sale first.
My ultimate goal is to find a home for everything by repurposing, selling, donating, or finding a way to recycle our unwanted stuff without incurring any costs.
Like a lot of people, I read The Magic of Tidying Up last year but it didn’t really speak to me. For starters I’m not into folding socks nor do I feel the need to gut my entire home in a weekend. The truth is, compared to most people, we don’t have a ton of extra stuff laying around, just a few pockets of crapola here and there.
Bottom line, I want to move in the near future and I’d rather go through this whole decluttering process now {well, over the next 6 months} then put it off.
So when the mood hits me, I’m going to pick a space/closet/drawer and do a bit of decluttering. I did a pretty good job last year getting rid of over 500 unwanted items at our yard sale. So in reality, most of what’s lying around is junk, or stuff I held on to but just didn’t have a use for in the past year.
Basically, when it’s time to put this house up for sale, I want our home to look like a model home. No crapity crap. No clutter. Just the stuff we use and need.
Here’s what I found this week in The Girl’s closet:
What I Threw Away:
2 Dried up ink pads
1 Bottle of glue {it was rock hard}
39 pieces of candy
1 Old tube of Chapstick
3 Nubby Smencils
1 Used razor
1 Dragon arm with crystal ball {say it isn’t so!}
9 Pieces of misc. trash
1 Used bandaid {awesome!}
1 Ink pen
What I Recycled:
3 Smencil tubes
1 Tic Tac Box
14 Pieces of paper
1 Duck stir stick from the Peabody Hotel
1 Stack of Pictionary cards
4 London Tube/airplane tickets
What I Kept
2 Tazo tea bags
3 Sugar packets
1 eyeglass cloth
1 Hair tie
2 Bobby pins
3 Hair clips
22 Note cards
1 Panty liner
1 Paintbrush
1 iPod 8GB {How could someone not notice this was missing?}
$3.75 in Canadian coins
$0.02 in American Coins
1 Paperclip
1 Pen
1 Golf ball
3 pictures
1 24×24 canvas The Girl painted 5 years ago. {I asked her if I could paint over it}
What I Put in My Donate Pile:
1 Fabric covered grey box
1 Wooden boomerang
What I put in my Garage Sale Pile
152 Glass Prisms/Slides
3 Bags of glass circle thingies
3 Rolls copper tape
3 Stamp sets
1 Box yellow Rit Dye
1 Gallon sized bag of seashells
1 Wooden treasure box
2 Tubes of Paint
8 pencils
1 Pen
2 Erasers
1 Set fountain pen cartridges
1 Skull
1 Mini stapler
1 Tiki
1 Glass perfume bottle
1 Pin
1 Stained glass box
1 Finger puppet dragon
1 English to Spanish dictionary
1 Jeremy Fisher frame
Year to Date Totals
Donated: 2 items
Kept: 43 items
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 188 items
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Becky says
Wait…. a skull????
Karen says
Isn’t it amazing how you can go through things and purge stuff but you can always find more stuff to get rid of? Love the used bandaid! LOL
Jeanie says
A skull, a tiki and that coffin looking box….hmmmm…..this sounds like something the HOA should investigate.
Courtney Thomas says
You should totally make an ig shop account for your garage sale items. You will make more money than at a yard sale and you won’t have to store things as long. How much do you want for the stamp sets? Use flat rate postage boxes and ppl can bundle items together.
Danita says
What’s an ig shop…. Im looking for easy ways to sell items too 🙂 Thanks
Mavis Butterfield says
Instagram shop
Danita says
Oh..ok thanks ☺
Jamie says
I am totally doing this at home but almost everything is either going in the trash or a donate pile. It would drive me absolutely batty to count each item I’m getting rid of or keep track of it like you are. Lol. But best luck to you!!
Tammy says
I kept track of everything I got rid of last year, it was right up around 660. I am not keeping track this year, I don’t think I could top that. Many of the things I got rid of last year were bins of baby clothes, and baby-related items. I get a real high from trashing/donating/giving things away!
Melissa says
Lol, I know you joke about having OCD but wow, that list detailing every item, even counting each individual item you kept – that is commitment 😉
Really you’ve inspired me to tackle one closet/corner at a time in my own house 🙂
Kerrick says
I’m a teacher at an elementary school and we could totally use the copper tape, slides/prisms, and maybe the glass circles for a circuit/LED project coming up. How much do you want for them?
Danita says
First I want to say thanks for the list detailed list. I found that inspiring… you forget how much little stuff we all have that adds to the clutter.
Question… You have a donate & recycle category. The recycle items don’t look like they were things that went to a recycle bin… so what does that category mean for you? your going to reuse, re-purpose, give to someone???
Also someone mentioned in the comment section about “ig” store. What is that? I’m also letting go of stuff, and I’ve been trying to find an easy way to sell items.
Thanks again for sharing 🙂
UpstateNYer says
Tip: If you have a Yard Sale pile, make a point to price the item before packing it up for the sale. It saves time near Sale Day when you have to display it all.
Painters tape (in colors) and a sharpie pen is an inexpensive way to to that. Selling other members items at your sale? Use different color tape for each person so you know who the item and money goes to when sold.
Ashley says
Nice tip! We always put our initials on the tape, but using different colors would be so much easier!
Gail Nowakowsky says
Do you have a problem with slugs in your garden? If you do you may want to try putting the copper tape around the perimeter of the bed. We garden in raised beds and have quite a slug problem here in BC’s Fraser Valley. My husband purchased copper tape – no adhesive- at considerable cost- which we put around the bed and it seems to work quite well. Just saying…