August and September Clutter Update

I'm not sure if Amy's going to have a link up, but since I didn't get my post up for August, I don't want to wait until the end of the month and be three months behind. So I'll just post my update and then be done with it!

August:

37 items of clothing to Salvation Army (I'm not going to break them down, but I do have them separated on a list for itemized deductions)

September:

53 items of clothing
1 coat
6 hats
1 pitcher
2 decorative boxes
Ice cream maker
Hand mixer
2 hanging shoe racks (because I reorganized my laundry room closet again, which caused me to organize about three other spaces)
3 toys
Bundle of posters
8 books
2 suitcases (returned to their rightful owner...finally)
1 bag of shredding

Total for both months: 119
Total for year (when I started over the second time): 389

I'm going to have to pick up the pace these last three months of the year to reach another 730 in 365. I have a bag of 32 books ready to leave the house, so I have a head start on October!

The 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge is hosted by Amy at The Finer Things in Life.

June Clutter Update

I'm starting over trying to come up with 730 items from June through the end of the year. I got rid of so many things at the beginning (and went way over 730) that I thought it would be a true challenge to do it all over again.

I started the month with a used curriculum and book sale. I sold 69 items during the three-hour sale.

Then at the end of that time there is a lady whose family owns and operates a book store with curriculum and education-oriented books. She looks through your items (if you so choose) and will offer you a price on the things she's willing to purchase from you. Since she's in the resale business I was warned that it was a low-ball price, but I was extremely pleased with not only what she took, but what I was offered.

I know she took my four flashcard sets and at least 20 books, but I'm going to go conservative and just say 24 items. This lady knows just what she's looking for and she is fast. I wasn't smart enough to pay attention when she was flipping through things to count what she was keeping, and there wasn't any way I would ask to count what she kept when she was done and hold up the line. Of course, I didn't even think about it until two days later...

I decided to take the books that were left to the local Barnes & Noble store that has a used book section. I traded in all 67 books and was able to get Hubby's Father's Day gift for a mere 80 cents (you can read about it here).

I sold a Rokenbok firehouse set on ebay that had 87 pieces.

I had a friend offer to let me participate in her garage sale. Of course I'd been taking tons of things to Goodwill thinking that I wouldn't be doing a garage sale any time in the near future and I didn't want to have boxes stacked up everywhere. I scrounged around the night before and found a few things (if I'd had more time I could have found more), plus we had a few large things we still needed to get rid of. From the garage sale:

Bunk beds
2 twin mattresses
Electric clothes dryer
Electric water cooler
Dinosaur posters
1 book
1 file box of card stock
1 card-making book
1 plastic storage box
4 bags of toys
8 Imaginext toys
1 bag of fabric scraps

That comes to 23 items, and it freed up my garage in an amazing way!

All those numbers add up to 270. I'm on my way to another 730 by the end of the year, although I do think it's going to get harder.

Amy at The Finer Things hosts the 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge. It's not too late to join in!

May Clutter Totals

In the middle of May I did a clutter update which included the following 193 items I had sold on ebay:

20 Homemade Gourmet items (wrought iron, recipe card sets, etc.)
3 Longaberger pieces
125 Imaginext items (sets and accessories - it's more than this, but I didn't count every single little piece) in two different auctions
45 Rescue Heroes and accessories

I still had auctions that had closed but had not shipped out yet, and I also had auctions ongoing. By the end of May, these are the other items I sold on ebay:

72 Disney Narnia Figurines and Accessories
32 Homeschool Books
86 Rubber Duckies
677 Rokenbok Pieces (six different sets)

That's another 867 items.

I made one trip to the Salvation Army. I got rid of at least one of the things in our garage that has been like an elephant. The kids and I actually maneuvered it into the van by tipping it to get the angled top in. It was pretty impressive.

The hutch complete with glass shelves that weren't even opened after we got here, because we simply didn't have a place for it.

So these are the items I donated for May:

1 Hutch
3 boys' jeans
1 boys' jean shorts
6 boys' dress pants
8 boys' knits shirts
2 boys' long-sleeve knit shirts
2 boys' short-sleeve polo shirts
1 boys' long-sleeve polo shirt
1 boys' short-sleeve dress shirt
5 girls' knit short-sleeve shirts
2 men's dress pants
1 ladies' wool jacket
1 ladies' dress shirt
1 VCR/DVD player
1 Narnia game
1 Triominoes game
1 Granny Apples game
1 In a Pickle game

That's an additional 39 items for a grand total of 1,099 items in May, and 1,805 items for the year, and I just started in April! Even if I counted the Rokenbok as 6 sets instead of 677 pieces (and those little pieces deserve to be counted they are such a pain!), I would still be at 1,134 for the year.

I have trouble getting rid of books, and I'm going through all of my homeschool books this weekend because there is a used book sale I'm participating in next Tuesday. I not only want to try to get rid of my excess, because I obviously have it, I am trying to find ways to benefit my family since I don't work outside the home. This is one way I can do that right now.

I suppose I'll challenge myself now and start over. I think it might be harder to do a second time, but I'm going to try my best and challenge my kids too when I need to. Hopefully the book sale next week will be a start.

Amy at The Finer Things hosts the 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge if you'd like to see who is participating or link up yourself.

730 in 365 — One and Almost Done

Please feel free to skim through the lists or skip over them. They are in a little bit smaller type.

The first donation on April 15th:

There were more boxes than this and a total of 271 items.

Action Figure 27
Shoes - Casual - Adult 2
Jackets - Adult 2
Bathroom - Shower Curtain Hooks 1
Bathroom - Shower Curtain Hooks 1
Shorts - Jeans/Denim 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Shirts - Jersey 8
Pants - Chinos/Khakis 5
Shorts - Chinos/Khakis 7
Sleepwear - Lounge Pants 1
Shirts - Mock Turtleneck 3
Pants - Nylon/Athletic 5
Pants - Nylon/Athletic 2
Shorts - Nylon/Athletic 6
ClotSleepwear - Pajama Set 8
Shirts - Polo 1
Shirts - Polo 2
Shirts - Sweatshirt/Fleece 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 12
Shirts - Turtleneck 2
Cassette Tape 5
Children's - Hardcover 9
DVD 1
Dinner Plate 6
Comforters - Twin 2
Pants - Jeans/Denim 5
Shirts - Jersey 2
Shorts - Nylon/Athletic 1
Sleepwear - Pajama Set 4
Skirts - Full-Length 5
Skirts - Skorts 2
Undergarments - Slips - Half 1
Sweaters - Pullover 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 8
Shirts - Tank 1
Hardcover 3
Headband 5
Keyboard 3
Indoor - Lamp Shade 1
Pants - Dress Slacks 2
Shirts - Jersey 2
Sweaters - Pullover 3
Shirts - T-Shirt 1
Pillow 2
Pillow Sham 1
Pillowcases (Pair) 3
Plastic Storage Container 1
10-999 Piece 4
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Queen 1
Sheets (Sets) - Queen 1
Bathroom - Shower Curtain 3
Softcover 1
Indoor - Lamps - Table 1
Duvet Covers - Twin 1
Suits - Individual Pieces - Blazer 1
Undergarments - Bra 7
Shirts - Camisole 2
Pants - Capris 1
Shirts - Dress Shirt 1
Pants - Jeans/Denim 1
Shirts - Jersey 7
Sleepwear - Lounge Pants 4
Shirts - Mock Turtleneck 8
Sweaters - Vest 3
Sweaters - Pullover 10
Sweaters - Cardigan 2
Shirts - Sweatshirt/Fleece 1
Shirts - T-Shirt 15
Shirts - Tank 4
Shirts - Turtleneck 2
Youth 1
Shoes - Dress - Youth 1
Mittens or Gloves - Youth 2
Brushed Silver Bathroom Lidded Dishes 3
Canvas Bag 3
Large Stationary Wii Wheel 1

The second donation on April 16th, which consisted of 235 boxes:

U-Haul Extra Large Moving Box 24x18x24 3
U-Haul Large Moving Box 18x18x24 27
U-Haul Laydown Wardrobe Moving Box 36x21x10 1
U-Haul Medium Moving Box 18x16x16 40
U-Haul Shorty Wardrobe Moving Box 24x20x34 10
U-Haul Small Moving Box 16x12x12 154

The third donation on April 30th:

It consisted of 127 items, only because I didn't individually count all those sheets of packing paper I donated. The center planned to use them to wrap breakable items they sold. They were excited to be getting it.

Shoes - Athletic - Adult 1
Hats & Caps - Baseball Caps - Adult 12
Shoes - Casual - Adult 2
Shoes - Casual - Adult 1
Shoes - Dress - Adult 2
Boots - Fashion - Adult 1
Boots - Fashion - Adult 1
Winter Scarves - Adult 2
Banana Hanger 2
Bread Pans - Bread Tube 1
Children's - Hardcover 1
Children's - Hardcover 2
Children's - Softcover 1
Children's - Softcover 5
Children's - Softcover 1
Indoor - Lamps - Desk 1
Indoor - Lamps - Desk 1
Dessert Plate 3
Fabric Wall Hanging 2
File Box 1
Glass Tumbler 1
Handheld Game 4
Hardcover 1
Hardcover 5
Ice Bucket 1
Keyboard 2
Measuring Spoons (Set) 1
Pencil Case 1
Picture Frame 2
Candle Holders - Pillar 2
Placemats (Set) 1
Plastic Storage Container 3
10-999 Piece 1
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Queen 1
Softcover 5
Statue/Figurine 1
Plastic Storage Drawers 1
Table Runner 1
Textbook 1
Trivet 1
Sheets (Individual) - Flat - Twin 1
VHS 3
VHS 1
Wooden Wall Shelf 2
Shoes - Athletic - Youth 1
Youth 1
Boots - Fashion - Youth 1
3 Ring Binder 3
Auto Seat Backpack 1
Brushed Nickel Interior Door Knob 1
Build-a-Bear pjs and slippers 1
Closet Dehumidifier Packs 3
DVD-Video-CD Wooden Storage Tower 1
Design and Drill 1
Egg Boiler-Cooker 1
Globe Light Bulb 2
Hello Kitty Plastic Case-Clipboard 1
Lexmark Inkjet Cartridge No.1 Unopened New 1
OTD Shoe Organizer 1
Oilcloth Playmat 1
Resin Holiday Tic Tac Toe 1
Snowflake Wreath Hanger nwt 2
Snowmen Oblong Decorative Tray 1
U-Haul Large mirror box - 48 x 4 x 33 2
U-Haul Mirror box - 37 x 4 x 27 5
U-Haul Packing Paper 8
White Wreath Hanger nwt 1

When I dropped these items off, I saw some of the boxes I dropped off two weeks earlier being used. Made me happy.

73 items that I threw away:

Broken Ikea Box 1
Undies 4
2008-2009 Planner never used 1
Giveaway book damaged in transit too badly to donate after reading 1
make-up items 14
miscellaneous clothing items torn or stained 52

This doesn't even count the socks with holes that I throw away (of the boys that seem like they come through every single wash!).That makes the April total 706 items! I'm only 24 items from being done, and I have more than that listed on ebay right now.

I've already entered $2,760.87 in deductions using ItsDeductible for an estimated 2010 tax deduction of $703. I did some copying and pasting of my list from there to here of my items. I did not type all these in here.

The best part of clearing out this clutter is what we found. Caboose lost a video game back in January. It's been missing since then, and we've looked in literally every corner of our entire house and vehicle for it. He's been very upset about it, but there's nothing we could do and he's had to live with it. When I was going through the giveaway boxes in the garage, I took everything out to make a list of the items (for ItsDeductible) before I put them back in the box or into another one. His video game was at the very bottom of one of the large boxes. He's bad about sitting his game down as he walks through the garage and then goes to throw a ball for a minute before we leave or take a quick ride down the driveway on his scooter. He probably did something like that and it fell down inside the box.

I was able to talk to Caboose, my resident pack-rat, about how having a lot of unimportant or less important things around keeps us from being able to find what's really important to us. This week we are going to try and make a serious dent in his stuffed animal collection. It's pretty large, but he seems to be ready now.

Amy at The Finer Things in Life is hosting this great challenge. I've linked up here.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway before Wednesday the 5th at midnight!