Pairing down

[mynameisfred]

Sometimes I feel like I’ll never be done. I’ve been selling, throwing away, and donating stuff for weeks now. I filled a kitchen bag of baby clothes and blankets and what not to donate today. I need to make a bigger dent. I don’t want to be moving a massive amount of stuff to a different state next year.

[Topanga]

I started doing this last week two. I filled up five giant garbage bags with clothes, household items, etc. It felt so good once everything was out of the house.

[Little Cory]

Keep at it, even if you only do a bag a day. Every bag that leaves the house will be a load off your shoulders.

[Mr. Feeny]

Stick with it. Keep going. The more you do, the easier the rests is.

[Skittles Rainbow]

Are you having any trouble with sentimentality? That's where I always struggle? And if the bag sits in my house more than 2 hours, I start looking through and going, "Hmmm MAYBE I can keep this."

[flamewolf]

Even if it takes another 2 weeks, think how much more freeing your life will be by Valentine's Day!!

[NewcastleRunner]

You've got this. You've always been good at de-cluttering.

[Night]

I've really been meaning to do this too. I always keep stuff and say, "Maybe I can use this. Maybe I can sell this." Please don't ever be like that. It's been 20 years for me.

[CrazyAgent]

I'm starting to think that we live appropriate to our space. Move into a shack, and you won't accumulate so much crap.

[Mr. Feeny]

^You should still be comfortable though. And some sentimental items are fine.

[Mister Big]

Do it! Keep at it. You are going to feel amazing, even if it's an overwhelming mess now. You want to clean up years of clutter in a few days. Give yourself a little more time. Either way you will be able to get rid of it faster than you accumulated it, and every item you toss will be a weight off.

[Biased]

I've been meaning to do this for a long time. I've been collecting clutter for close to a decade. I have trouble throwing away anything.

[Markus Walker]

Keep doing little by little. I've been working to clear a grocery store bag per day. Every week, I have a whole body worth of free space.

[mynameisfred]

Jan 28, 2020 6:13:21 GMT -5 Skittles Rainbow said:

Are you having any trouble with sentimentality? That's where I always struggle? And if the bag sits in my house more than 2 hours, I start looking through and going, "Hmmm MAYBE I can keep this."

Not really. I have a little trouble with the kids toys and book just because in my head “they’re not mine to throw away” but they have so much that they don’t play with what they have, don’t notice things being gone, and obviously I’m not going to get rid of things I know they really enjoy. But man, between birthdays and Christmas and everything they have a TON of toys for two little boys, and my eldest prefers playing outside anyway.

I’ve been having trouble getting rid of baby clothes, only because we’re frugal people in general and I don’t want to rebuy clothes with every kid. But we have too much I think, even of the same size items and now we’re having a girl in June, and I’ve had boys in Jan/Feb so even if I made her wear all boy clothes, the seasons will be out of whack. We’re trying to make as much money as possible before we move, so I do find myself thinking “I’ll keep this to sell it” but half the time it ends up in the house so long it isn’t worth it. Add to that, a lot of the clothes I’ve gotten have been free so it seems not only selfish, but silly that I feel pressured to make money off of it when I could donate it and then it’s out of the house so much quicker.

I used to have issues with “emotional blackmail” and holding onto things I didn’t like because someone got it for me but not so much anymore. It’s all just things. I struggle more with “if I throw this away now and need to rebuy it later it costs me money” and we’ve always had space(garage) so it seemed like it made sense to just hold onto those things. But I’m fairly sure we’re going to be moving from this house into two RVs and then from those two RVs into a 750 square foot floor plan. It’s a little more because I think the loft is around 300-400 square foot and I believe we’re going to have a basement, so add another 750. But who knows when the basement will be finished and I’d prefer a simpler life anyway. I have a hard time keeping organized when I have a lot of things, and my husband is the type who can’t think clearly when there is a sink full of dishes or a basket of laundry that hasn’t been put away.

I have gotten rid of quite a lot, but we just seem to have accumulated so much over the last 10 years. Like coats and shoes. I have too many. I maybe have ten pairs of coats and ten pairs of shoes. I’m okay with the boots and high heels that I don’t wear often but have three total pairs of, but I think I have 5 or so pairs of tennis shoes and I simply don’t need that many. I don’t wear through them like my husband does, so they just become more and more and I never finish a pair.

[mynameisfred]

Jan 28, 2020 6:16:22 GMT -5 Night said:

I've really been meaning to do this too. I always keep stuff and say, "Maybe I can use this. Maybe I can sell this." Please don't ever be like that. It's been 20 years for me.

I do a lot of the “maybe I can sell this,” but I try to list it for sale immediately or be done with the idea. I have sold a fair amount of things on Facebook Marketplace. Looks like 81 things in the last year or so, so I do sell things a lot. The trouble is knowing when you’ve waited too long for something to sell and when it’s time to junk it, because most of the things I list are gone that same week, but some just don’t get very much interest.

We’ve considered doing garage sales before, but I don’t think I’d make enough money for my time for it to be worth it. I did a day of OT last week and made $350. I don’t think I could do that at a garage sale in the same amount of time, so it’s hard to justify.