A new thread for a fresh start in 2025!

https://hoardingcleanup.com/message-board/?msgbrd=10&topic=33695

Oh SubC, I am so proud of you!! You pushed and you met your today-goal. That is worth celebrating!

See you in the new year!!

I did it! (The 60%, not 366.)

I got down to where I just needed one more thing and I was feeling frustrated, and I opened a drawer I had not opened in a long time and found five placemats.


Day 366
224/366

61.2%

And as teacher, I say to my student - I know you wanted to do better, but I am proud of you. You did something that was really hard for you , and you stuck with it, and you didn't give up - even at the end when it seemed really overwhelming and impossible, and you passed.

I think next year I will keep track, because keeping track helps me make good decisions, but I will not set a net quantity goal for stuff. I do have some ideas for other tally goals though..

You can do it, SubC! Give it a try - I had to look in 2 areas I have rarely looked in. Try someplace you don't usually declutter.

But if you don't hit your goal, the great thing is we get a fresh start tomorrow! I too am thinking about what my next year's goal should be.

It really is pretty cool looking back over this thread and seeing all the things we set free in 2024!

600/600

Really nice work Lila!

I have been struggling today.

If I can find six more things, I will be at net 220, which is 60% of my original goal - just barely passing. I would really like to hit that.

Next year I will try something different, because while this house could probably afford to be net another 365 things easily, I cannot.

And just like that, I met my goal! 600 items gone from my home this year - not including trash.

- one tablecloth
- box of craft crosses
- bell
- little notepad box
- hair barrette
- small toy
- something else I forgot

600/600 in 2024!

It's the last day of 2024. One last push to meet my goal!

I have run out of things to purge from my room. There may be a few left, but at this point it is really an organizational problem in there. But I found:
3 small items to donate - two of them I am giving to my grandchild for her birthday this week

I had to go into a new space to find more to donate. The storage room downstairs has a box of books. I was able to find some to donate today:
10 books, into the donate bin.

Only 7 more items to donate today to hit my goal of 600 things gone for the year! I will have to try another room for this.

593/600

Wrap up for the weekend:

3 more items gone from my bedroom.

580/600

post 3 today, worked in my bedroom some more:

donated
several more bowls
a couple of nice pillowcases
a new container of fancy art glitter
a pocket knife
a corkscrew wine opener thing

577/600

post 2 today:

given away:
5 cute tins
1 chair massage unit

569/600

A new day - worked on my bedroom some more.

Donated: 2 old towels and a blanket to animal rescue
7 other random items including a few plastic plates and bowls, tossed out a nearly new small hand sanitizer that I hated the smell of, some other stuff, and a new handbag someone gave me that was made "for cancer patients" and I do not identify with that label anymore so out it goes in the donate bin.

563/600

Worked in my bedroom another half hour or so:
13 small (choking hazard size) toys
11 other items either donated or in the trash, including
cord to something, plastic candy canister, book, pens, new cardstock, tin, other stuff I can't even remember.

553/600

I worked sorting piles and drawers in my room for about an hour.

4 sheets going to the animal rescue
15 items donated or thrown out, including
3 bracelets, a glass fish, 2 new water bottles, a dreamcatcher, a bath brush, pens, old dog tags, plus a stack of old medical paperwork (not counted but gone).

529/600

The remainder of my dated 2024 Christmas cards, which are cute and I was tempted to keep them, but they would just be clutter, so I tossed them. counting as 1 item.

510/600

One book of magic tricks, into the donate box.

509/600

Two kitchen knives, rather new, but make me nervous for some reason, probably my paranoia, into the donate bin.

508/600

what a good idea, SubC. I know the animal shelters can use old blankets. I have always donated my old towels to them. I will sort through and decide which would go nicely on my bed.

The soda bread sounds delicious!

He brought me an Irish soda bread packed with raisins and heavy with vanilla - it is lovely and I will be enjoying it with tea all week!

We are now approaching the part of the year when my net out shrinks - because my family will bring me presents - which is nice. Maybe I will also be able to find random things around the house to send home with them. I do already have a small stack of books for ddil to say yes or no to.

Lila, do you think maybe the old blanket on your bed could go to an animal shelter and you could have a nice new one?

What treat did he bring you, SubC?

I thought I would be whipping through my junk on my vacation, but instead I am sick and exhausted and have done nothing. I have been taking zinc and eating lots of garlic and drinking honey lemon ginger tea, and hoping it will shorten this cold to one or two more days so I can really get a purge going before I have to go back to work.

Seriously my bedroom is astounding, the amount of stuff. I have a 'thing' about blankets, and a friend came and brought me 3 very nice, soft new blankets for Christmas! TotsFam doesn't need any.. so, maybe I will see if there is an old blanket or two I can part with. I seriously have more blankets that you would believe, and yet the one on my bed has actual rips and holes it in.

Well, hopefully I will feel better enough to get some sorting done soon. See you again soon.

I found six toys to donate while I was cleaning up the basement!

200/366
Day 358

I am still working on this. I have been doing a bunch of cleaning up and ordering but most of my "outs" have been trash or recycling, so I have not listed them.

But I did put a headband in the donate bag this morning.

Dh went to the very fancy international grocery store.
I promised to clean off the couch, my landing/sorting bench, and the scullery counter before he gets home. He said he will bring me a treat. He says I am doing really well.

That would just leave the dining porch and the play side of the basement for tomorrow, and the wrapping and the last of the decorating for Christmas Eve.


194/366
Day 357

SubC! It was fun to come here after being gone a long time and see you still sending things out! I love reading about what you have purged. It makes it real when we think of specific items, and it is encouraging to me.

I am on a kick right now to try and reach my year-end goal. It will be hard, but I think I can do it!

Today what went out:
1 potholder
1 stack of old business cards I was hanging on to
1 cat toy that kept disassembling itself, so annoying
A small sheet of stickers I was keeping. I stuck 2 on my granddaughter and tossed the rest.

506/600

Ten pairs of socks.

193/366
Day 352

Three ice trays in the donate box

183/366
Day 349


One extra thing out for every two days if I can just follow one in, one out to the end of the year.

8 books to the little free library.

180/366
Day 347

It's going to be a challenge with Christmas gifts likely, but if I can net three more things, I will have gotten halfway to goal this year, which isn't too bad. I didn't give up. Two steps forward for each step back.

1 book

172/366
Day 339

11 candles

171/366
Still Day 337

So, I am going to try to do the "hoarder advent calendar" to finish this off. I added 18 items on my trip to visits family (gifts, hand me downs, and a couple of needed bargain purchases for my wardrobe due to being fat.)

But! Yesterday I cleaned out a closet and purged TWENTY old towels - I will deliver them to the city studio tomorrow night.

I don't really think I am going to meet my original goal any more, but it would be great if I got halfway there. And I got rid of a lot more stuff, it's just that stuff keeps coming in.

I have only purchased 108 items this year (I've been writing down everything I buy). That includes 34 mason jar lids which are getting lots of use. Everything else has been given to me.

160/366
Day 337

Picked up a pair of earrings and an ornament on the second day of the pottery sale. Still going backward.

158/366
Day 330

Bought a fun statue and a ceramic Christmas tree for myself today at the pottery fair. Also ordered a "new" pair of dressy boots from poshmark and a set of connectors that will allow me to combine the duplos and the brio train.

I know it's the wrong direction, but I am happy with my choices.
The statue was from a friend whose work I admire and the tree was a standard item that the artist had discontinued in the glaze I liked, making me sad i had waited to buy one - he brought it back this year, so a snagged one.

Buy art from living artists, the dead ones don't need money...

160/366
Day328

Smock shirt from Dd and Bean's old crib mattress (Buddy got a new one because Bean slept on the toddler bed so long the center was dented in) so I have two for toddler sleepovers.

164/366
Day324

Today I realized I forget to confess to a leather pouch I bought myself.

166/366
Day316

Also, my mil is cleaning out her house. There were seven emails today with multiple pictures to ask if anybody wanted the things. Mostly we do not want the things, which is sad, because the things have been important to her, but all of this is sad. Including that she is focused on the things.

However, there is a good chance that at sone point in the not too distant future, a bunch of things will come to me all at once and my tally will collapse. I am NOT going to count things Dh takes though.

Wow SubC! You are ticking right along making progress! Great job!

I finally got a bit done in my bedroom.
Donated:
2 pairs of new sunglasses
1 sweater
2 tank tops like new
1 pair of sneakers still in decent condition
Will keep working on it.


502/600 ohh, I think if I try hard, I can make my goal for the year!

Two books out to the free library

167/366
Day 314

Two placemats in
One book out to the free library

165/366
Day 308

13 Halloween decorations
3 strings of Christmas lights

166/366
Day 305

In the interest of accountability, I'm going to add my yard hooks here and not wait until I finish sorting Halloween things.

So, four yard hooks in.

Net
150/366
Day 300

Currently getting rid of things at 1/2 my goal rate.

Both my son and Dd2 took a bunch of things with them, freeing up some space, but most of the things had already been set aside as theirs.

Things newly parted with by me:
1 book
6 kitchen items
3 toys.

I bought myself two items at the renfest.

Net:

154/366
Day 289

12 books in the little free library, four in the donate bin.

146/366
Day 284

I just need to find a net of 220 items in the next 82 days to meet my goal...

2 shirts.

130/366
Day 273

I struggled with it too, SubC. I had to just let it happen.

I have had a sense of 'loss of control' over large areas of my life this year, especially medically, and in a sad but helpful kind of way, it has oozed over into a sense of 'none of it matters anyway' that is allowing me more ease at letting things go. For example, I had meticulously saved certain items and toys from when Teen was little so that my grandkids could have nice toys to play with. Some of them have gotten a bit ruined, due to grandkids not being as careful or putting non-water toys into water, etc. Instead of having a practical meltdown over their 'ruin', I am able to let it go. None of it really matters anyway. I saved them for the kids to play with and once they are older, what's the point anymore? Do I think I will save them for my great grandkids too? No.
One purple shirt that was pretty new that I liked, that somehow got bleach water dripped on the breast area, that I kept wearing at home anyway, but I finally gave up and donated it (for fabric).

496/600

Two decorative items in the donate bin (I'll add the books when they actually leave)

128/366
Day 260

Oh dear Lila, I am struggling with Totsdad and the trash.

You are doing so well moving forward!

I am still moving in the wrong direction. I knew that was likely to happen in the fall, but I hoped to be further along by now.

I have decided I need to be very strict with myself about yesterday, so in - two toys and a reusable bag.

126/366
Day 252

My current net average is one thing out every two days.

1 book and 1 plastic bowl, donated.

495/600

TotsDad sorted out the storage room and filled the entire trash bin with things. These were not broken things, or trash, but things I had decided to save. I gave him permission and I saw a few of the items he got rid of. I know at least 50 items left, including tools, yard items, cords, bags of plaster, tiles and grout.

Also I am working on the rooms upstairs and have donated or thrown out:
3 clothing
1 shelf
a towel

purging onward.

493/600

*discard table, not discount

Brought home a toy cash register for my boys that was still on the discount table after everybody left from the work day yesterday.

Also some tools, but left an equal number of books.

129/366
Day 235

Two items acquired on our vacation to see Birdy

130/366
Day 232

I worked in my bedroom a little more and then moved to the storage little bedroom. I have sorted everything before but it is still too much, Trying to cull more.

I got 30 items total out (in addition to the ones I posted before) including
6 hair bows
a beach towel
2 service dog items
a whole stack of CDs and DVDs
a candle
a vase
a pair of pj's
a nice dream catcher
Christmas lights
and a bunch more random stuff

438/600

oh yeah maybe it is CM, with the bunny account. That's right. I am not sure if you can see mine or not, but I should be on their followers list now (the only name with "Lila" in it). Not sure if you can see my photos that way or if it has to be followed, which I understand you can't do. I am going back in and trying more.