Months #7, #8, #9 and #10 for my 1,000 Item Declutter Challenge! Here are the ground rules:
- Only spend 10 minutes at one time and only in one specific area.
- Monday through Wednesday, seek out items that we no longer need and make a pile. Then Thursday through Saturday, make a plan for how to deal with them. (This has worked so well and avoided that dreaded box of “what should I do with these?” items.)
- Possible places to find new homes for items: Ebay/Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, Trash Nothing website or the local Buy Nothing Facebook group and as a last resort, Goodwill
I feel a responsibility for the things I have and want to be intentional with how I dispose of them. Questions I asked myself: If it’s here, what purpose does it serve? Can I use it up? Can I enjoy it vs. keeping it tucked away in drawers and boxes? And if not, can I let it go to someone who may need it more?
Decluttering: COVID Lockdown Edition!
Well, this has been an interesting time for decluttering! Since we’ve been quarantined, I have focused most of my energy with actually using the things we own vs. getting rid of everything in sight. I did continue to list and sell some things on eBay, which was an unexpected bonus. All in all, not a huge dent in my goal, but something is better than nothing, right?
WHAT I DECLUTTERED THE PAST FOUR MONTHS
- 13 books.
- One math answer book and one teacher guide. Sold on ebay.
- One history activity book. I purchased this not realizing that I already owned it! I decided to sell it on ebay versus paying the return shipping. I didn’t get all of my money back, but enough to forgive my silly mistake.
- One holster. Sold for Mark on ebay.
- One brand new sippy cup. Sold on ebay.
- One pair of sneakers and two pairs of slippers. Well loved and too beat up to give away. Into the trashcan.
- One pair of boys shorts. Sold on ebay.
- Six bags of wildflower seeds. These were from the BWF days. I planted them in our flower beds and they’ve completely transformed the front of the house.
- One “throw and grow” pack of flower bombs. Another unsold product from the BWF days. I filled in a few bare spots in the flower beds with these.
- One teacher guide and seven picture books that go with it. I’ve started lesson planning for next fall and I took another look at some of the curriculum on our shelves. I didn’t see us returning to this one, so sold it on ebay.
- 4 pieces of a math curriculum. Another curriculum that I don’t see us using. Summer is definitely the best time to get these sold quickly!
- One DVD. Sold on ebay.
- One magazine. Into the recycling bin.
- 3 free samples. I used up two little lotions and we finally tried out a new coffee sample that’s just been sitting in the drawer.
- One bathing suit. Sophie’s bathing suit from last year is too small, so we sold it on Poshmark.
- 4 bags of shredded paper. Junk mail and other personal paperwork that needs to be shredded counts as clutter too! I’m counting each full container (which is the equivalent of a plastic grocery store bag) as one item. Added most of it to my compost pile.
- 2 grocery sized bags of random paper I’ve saved for years. Into the recycling bin.
- 13 pieces of Sophie’s and my clothing. I filled and mailed in a ThredUp Clean-Out Bag right before the lockdown started. So far, we’ve sold thirteen items. The return in payout is really small (like $1-$3 a piece), but something’s better than nothing, I guess!
- 6 pieces of clothing. Off to Goodwill. These are pieces in good condition, but don’t have much resale value and weren’t substantial enough to warrant a post on Trash Nothing.
Money made: $185.44
P.S. To “count,” the item had to physically leave my house. So while I have listed a handful of things online, those aren’t counted until they have sold.
My favorites were the ones regarding the seeds, how fun to wait and see what they look like when they grow!