I want to get rid of (via donations, craigslist, ebay, freecycle, etc) at least 100 things before moving day. On one hand the number sounds kinda high, but on the other hand, I know there are at least 100 things in our house that we never use, need, or should spend time and effort moving. And I actually plan to keep track, writing all 100 items down on a piece of paper in list form. Why? Because I’m weird like that.
To kick things off I went through my shoes (pun intended). Amazingly, I realized that I hadn’t worn a good amount of them since leaving NYC and moving to Richmond 4+ years ago. How embarrassing.
I ended up with ten pairs of shoes in my toss/Goodwill/ebay pile. Not too bad considering I had just 18 in my keep pile (although my definite-keeper Puma sneakers were out in the sunroom for a grand total of 19). That means I’m ready to say “hasta la vista” (in my best Schwarzenegger accent) to over a third of all the shoes that I own.
Sidenote:The blue-gray bedroom wall looks so green in this picture- clearly I still have a lot to learn about the new camera.
So although that’s actually 20 things I’m getting rid of (since there are two shoes per pair) I’m counting the shoe purge as ten items just to be fair. Now to find 90 more things to get gone. Somebody wish me luck. And stay tuned for an update to see if I’m able to reach my weird little goal…
Is anyone else out there cutting the fat at home and pairing things down in a major way? Let’s commiserate.
ceo says
Love it… I do this every time Sophia (my 18month old) needs new clothes or switch out the ones she’s outgrown ( every 2 months) because we only have 500 sq feet to play with we can’t be wasting space……
xxx
CEO
bungalowbliss says
I think it’s a great goal! And yes, I’m coming down from a purge high from the weekend. As I’m nearing the start line for my basement project, I had to really sort through things downstairs (it had essentially become one ginormous storage room). I recycled metal, sold a few pieces to the local antique store, gave a few pieces to friends, and donated the rest to the disabled veterans thrift store in the neighborhood. Get it outta here!! (And it’s soooo nice and spacious downstairs now…time to get started!)
Ashlee says
How timely! I am actually reading “The Joy Of Less” right now, about minimizing the clutter in my life. I threw a few things away yesterday & was positively giddy.
Rosanna says
My husband and I went through a phase this year where we watched an entire season of Hoarders then decided to downsize everything. It’s amazing what motivation can occur when you’re comparing your dirty closet to someones home.
Sara says
Yes! I love it! I decided to re-do & pair down my closet a few months ago. I made enough through consignment shops & ebay to purchase a new kitchen dining set. My husband was shocked at all of my needless “treasures” (not what he referred to them as)that I had just lying around. I had such a great time doing it & it feels amazing knowing that there is NOTHING stored under my bed. Now, if I could jest stop my purchasing frenzies at etsy. Good luck, I can not wait to see you list, as I am a fellow list maker extraordinaire.
Allison says
I am in the midst of doing the same thing! I just had to move over Halloween weekend and will be moving again in 3 short months at the end of January (the joys of having an unpleasant landlord). I did go through stuff before the Oct move, but I can already tell there’s lots more that needs to go before January. Although I hate it, getting rid of things you realize you just don’t need is one of the best things about having to pack everything up!
jennifer says
yes! we’re doing the exact same thing, just not with an anticipated move in mind – an anticipated spring bambino in mind. with all the things children apparently come with, i’m determined to try to ditch a large chunk of extraneous things we have around the house so as not to feel overwhelmed later.
i’ve sweet-talked my family into coming into town for periodic “nesting weekends” in order to clean, declutter/throwaway/giveaway, decorate, and cook many freezable meals. good luck with your 100 items!
Angela @ Making Food for Friends says
I’m trying so hard to fit pare two rooms worth of goods down to one tidy, organized room in order to make room for an upcoming addition to our family. :) In looking through the two rooms now (an office and a spare room), I notice that we use them more for extra storage of things we barely use than functional rooms. My goal is to get rid of the things we haven’t touched in years and make both rooms useful, good looking rooms that we will enjoy living in. I took five bags of clothing and shoes to Salvation Army over lunch today, but that is not even the tip of the iceberg! I’m actually really excited to get organizing, though…especially for such a good reason.
Emily @ The Happy Home says
that’s an awesome goal! my big hoarding spots are bookshelves and kitchen gadgets. i go through all my clothes and shoes a few times a year to purge, too.
i agree with rosanna above– just watch hoarders and watch the cleanliness of your house spike!
Angie says
I’m loving those lime green heeled sandals. But sadly, I’m guessing you’re more than a size 6 since no one else on Earth seems to have such small feet. I always do a major purge before moving. I guess it’s one of the drawbacks to being a military brat who joined the military. If I haven’t used it in the couple of years I’ve lived somewhere, it’s time for it to go.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Angie,
They’re actually size 5! I had freakishly small feet (they’re now a full size larger since pregnancy and childbirth). Weird huh?!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Were you honestly able to keep 29 pairs of shoes in the Ikea wardrobe? Or did you pack some away at times? I am so sorely lacking in organizational skills/ideas, any pointers would be appreciated!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Stephanie,
About half of them were on the bottom shelves of my Ikea wardrobe and the rest were on the floor of the master bedroom’s original closet. Although in my NYC days I always tucked shoes around the perimeter of the bed – under the comforter they were totally hidden.
xo,
s
Jessica @ How Sweet says
I think it’s a great goal! We go through everything a few times a year and purge it. Feels so good.
Randi says
Soooo. I think I’m headed in the wrong direction because I want to add some of your shoes to my closet. Those gray strappy sandals are super cute. Anyway, I am obsessed with lists and I think it’s the best feeling ever to write down my accomplishments, big or small! Good luck to you!
P.S. Do you think you’ll start trying to give John’s stuff away for him…? :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Randi,
John actually caught the bug and has spent the last hour or so going through his clothes (while singing to Clara to keep her entertained since he’s on bean-duty while I work this afternoon). Gotta love the multitasking!
xo,
s
Rebecca says
I am doing it with my whole house.. and well more than 100. I have become quite interested in simplifying and going more minimalist. A friend just moved in with me and he and I are totally decluttering the house. I had a storage shed and EVERYTHING in it (20+ years of my stuff) except three boxes of holiday decorations that will go to my brother and sister were donated or trashed. I now have a place to store the lawn mower and the two bikes my friend bought with him.
We are working a room at a time and being relentless. The memories i have of my late mother are not in the possessions around what used to be her house…. It took me almost 5 years to get to this point but I can now let go of the items that I do not need or want…
It’s very freeing!
Amy says
We did the same thing when we moved back in May, and it was very freeing. Now that we’re settled in and know what we use on a regular basis, I need to clean out even more. My husband is usually pretty resistent to getting rid of things, but like Rosanna I make him watch a few episodes of Hoarders, and he gets so disgusted that it always ends in a Goodwill run :)
Amy in PA says
Go for it! I just got married & moved into my husband’s house, and we’ve already gotten rid of 25 BOXES of stuff that we didn’t need, like or even remember owning – not to mention all the stuff I got rid of when I was packing up to move. And there’s still more things to go – but like your decorating – the de-tacky-ing of the house will also be done in stages :)
Lorie Smith says
Okay…after reading this, I’m ready to get on board with the get rid of 100 items from my house goal too. Although, I have a HUGE tub of baby clothing that I’m giving to a friend, I won’t count each piece as an item…I might be over my 100 mark goal if I do that. :) This is a GREAT way to get rid of stuff, maybe I’ll do it every 6 months or so.
Darlene W. says
I too have been purging items from my house. My college friend spent a weekend with me a few weeks ago and we hauled an entire car load, trunk and all to our local goodwill store. I always find it amazing how much time we use to “manage” our junk! Why do we need this stuff??
I love to clear out and clean up!
Cait @ Hernando House says
Oh my, I have a lot of paring down to do! I need to go through all of our DVDs, plus our art room needs some major organization!
Good luck with your goal!
Lauren says
Great goal! It makes such a difference. My husband and I moved from another state two years ago and knew that 3/4 of our stuff was going into storage for a few years, so we did a major purge. Two garage sales & 20 bags to purple heart later we fit into a smaller storage unit (less monthly rent!). Now we are unpacking all of the stuff we haven’t seen in two years, and I already have another giveaway pile going! It’s amazing how much stuff you really don’t need when you think about it…
Kristi says
Yes we are…the kitchen was attacked last weekend. We consolidated the utensils and pots/pans we USE…and also pitched a lot of Nalgene bottles that haven’t seen the light of day in years.
danielle says
great goal!
i just took a day to go through our closet and some clothes i had tucked away in the attic. I probably donated nearly 300 articles of clothing. Even after that I bet this 100 challenge would be a piece of cake if i tackled more areas of my home. i’m in a big de-clutter mode right now.
Amy says
We just bought a house too! We’re actually closing this Friday so we’re in full moving/packing/purging mode. We’re newlyweds and have lived in 600 sq. ft. for about 1.5 years so we haven’t had the chance to accumulate much. However, I’m intent on getting rid of those things that we don’t need, borrowed from family or friends, or would like to replace once we move. It’s quite the process, but in the end, if you only move the things you love and adore, it should be easier to unpack and settle in right?
emily says
Absolutely! A week after getting married, the new hubby and I gutted our cubby in the attic of our apt building and tossed all the junk we hadn’t used or thought about in the last year. All ready for christmas :) My rule of thumb, typically, is that if I haven’t used it in the last 6 months and have no current plan to use it, it goes! We’ve been working on the apartment day by day…but I love your idea for writing a list of all the things that go. On the other hand, though, doesn’t it freak you out to realize that one can wind up accumulating so much stuff!
Julie says
I was SHOCKED at how much we got rid of when we moved (and now I don’t have any idea what most of it was – what does that say?) We joked that everyone should move once in a while just to keep how much “stuff” they own under control! I do wish I’d have saved a bit more of the baby stuff though… we’re in need again now!
sophia says
*just* 18 pairs of shoes?! yipes. I’ve got six, counting winter and rain boots. guess I’m not paring down there…
but we do a regular children’s book weed because we start to amass way.too.many very quickly. Our big whole house purge was three years ago when we quite literally moved across the entire country. 7000km of moving is a pretty good motivator.
K (Barking BabyMama) says
My man and I did this over the summer, going room by room and getting rid of stuff we don’t need or use and reorganizing – I wrote a post about it, actually!
http://barkingbaby.blogspot.com/2010/09/summer-cleaning.html
Emily says
I’m all for cleaning house — we do this every 6 mos to a year, just because I can’t stand to have stuff laying around and taking up precious space.
However — I do see a pair of Chuck Taylor’s in your toss pile. That’s a travesty. Those babies are a classic “keep” — unless you have a replacement pair that aren’t pictured.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Emily,
The insides and the soles are killed on those babies! I blame 5 years of NYC walking for that. I’m sure I’ll get more chucks down the line- but right now I’m loving my little black pumas.
xo,
s
Rachel @ The Avid Appetite says
When my husband and I moved in Many, we threw out SO much stuff. Yet when we unpacked on the other side, we found that we still had so much to get rid of! Nothing like a good cleanse…
Sara says
I read the same book as Ashlee. It worked! I was so motivated to purge all areas of my home that when I was finished at my house, I convinced my best-friend to do the same. I kind of made her, did I mention I was motivated? But instead of locking my outside when I left with the first round of trash, she caught the “bug” & threw out/donated tons of items. We had a blast – cheap fun!
Liz says
Do you guys paint all of your outlets and vent covers? They look to be the same color as your walls in that photo.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Liz,
Those two guys in the bedroom were already painted when we inherited the house, so we painted over them in the new color to make them match. We don’t do it to new covers and outlets though, just the ones that were already painted.
xo,
s
Rebecca says
Would you believe I just did the same thing last night? I moved into my first post-college apartment five months ago and still hadn’t unpacked most of my shoes. I had five or six boxes of them (in my defense, all but one of those boxes was fairly small). Purging the shoe collection brought me down to just one big box (and one small box with my ballroom dance shoes). I wasn’t willing to actually do a count because that would depress me more than anything.
Good luck finding the remaining 90 items!
Carolyn says
When we moved a year ago, I was the same way. With every item, I would think, “Do I really love/need this enough to pack it in a box, move it on to a truck, move it off a truck, unpack it from the box, and find a place for it in our new home?” It helped me get rid of a lot. But even still, in the year that we’ve been here, I’ve gotten rid of a lot more. Makes me think I should have been even more strict about the amount of stuff I packed. So I say, go for it! And enjoy having to pack/unpack a lot less stuff! :)
Liz says
We too are getting ready to move. I think I’ll employ this same idea… I don’t have as much time as you do- moving day is just 12 days away. I best get started. Where are you putting your purge pile while you wait to “get rid” of it all?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Liz,
We got some free moving boxes from Craigslist so we’re thinking of putting things in there that we’ll be donating (then we can drive our car full of boxes over to Goodwill) and as for the items I’ll be ebaying or consigning or craigslisting, I guess we’ll be living with little piles of things until they’re gone.
xo,
s
jaclyn says
Awesome! I’m doing this with you. Since I won’t move until May, but baby 3 is coming at the end of May, I’m going to stick to the one month goal. Yay Sherry! You’ve inspired me so much. I also am going to make a paper list, because I too “am weird like that.”
Kourtney says
I just did a post about my closet purge!(http://kyleandkourtney.blogspot.com/2010/11/closet-tribunal.html) All my clothing items have until the end of the month to prove themselves worthy of remaining in my closet. I love throwing things out!
Emily says
My motto is: if you don’t use it, or it doesn’t bring you joy, it shouldn’t stay.
We’re just setting up our first house, and I’m trying to be proactive about not keeping unwanted/unnecessary things so that we don’t end up with a large accumulation.
I love your idea for 100 things!
Katie says
What a great idea! We didn’t have time to get rid of stuff pre-move, so there it all sits a year later in the basement. I think I need to make a list of 100 too, or maybe 500… yikes!
s says
I have a policy of everytime I bring something new into my closet something old has to go–and that’s helped some. My big project tonight is to trash most of the magazines in the pile next to the television. If I haven’t read the back issues after several months, the magazine is going to the recycle bin and not continue cluttering up my living room!
Mary says
NBC Nightly News had an interesting story about all of this just the other night. Here is the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40073869/ns/nightly_news
I thought it was so interesting and I really related to so much of it. I don’t travel much… but I just want the feeling of living more lightly – like a gypsy. Like if I really wanted to pick up and move, it is possible. I feel so dragged down by all of my stuff.
Brigid says
I go through my clothes about 3 times a year and everything ends up donated – well what my sister and mom don’t snag that is! They get all my hand-me-downs, but I don’t see it flowing the opposite way; which I guess would negate all the good my purging did, so maybe that’s a good thing!
Jennifer says
We just did this at my house to make room for baby (and all of the stuff baby needs)! We got rid of a ton of things and sold them at a garage sale (luckily our community was having one and that really brought the shoppers into our developement). We also sold some bigger items on Craigslist. The rest we’ve donated to Goodwill. We kept all of our profits in a jar labeled “baby fund” and when we needed to purchase something, we just used that money (it was a lot more stress-free to purchase bigger baby items this way since it wasn’t coming straight out of our bank account). It was such a great feeling to get rid of things we’ve been accumulating for so many years and the money was a big bonus!!
Cathy says
I think ten pairs count as 20 items, so you’re one-fifth of the way there!
Melissa S. says
Sherry, if you end up having clothes, accessories and shoes worth consigning, I recommend ReFinery in Bellevue (near Ginter Park) or Ciao in Carytown. Both the owners are delightful. To me, it’s so much easier than ebay! (Downside being they will only be taking fall items at this point.)
ReFinery even consigns small home decor accessories and men’s items, so you might be able to unload a bunch of things in one stop. You need to set up an appointment with Linda, the owner, before you go.
Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the suggestions Melissa!
xo,
s
Catherine says
Yes! What a fabulous goal! I try to purge at least twice a year, and we always end up with multiple trash bags full of goodwill donations, as well as some stuff to consign, but even still, I know I have more to get rid of. It just feels so good to pare down!
Good luck with the rest of the 90! I wouldn’t be surprised if you exceeded your goal. :)
Jen says
This post is after my own heart! I adore purging, I am so excited to see how you do and what else makes the list!!
I recently tackled our kitchen drawers, took all of the gadgets and utensils out and placed them in a large laundry basket for a couple of weeks, and as I used the utensils, they went back into the drawers. After the couple of weeks, whatever was left as unused in the basket, made it’s way to the donate box! Felt great and left some incredibly organized drawers after the fact!
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/10/october-featured-space-kitchen.html
xoxo,
Jen
Emily says
There are 6 bags full of toys to donate in my trunk. I cleaned out the whole house of toys, so when Santa comes in a few months, we won’t be drowning. I usually shuffle around for a month or two, the get crazy and donate a trunk full of stuff, and am happy with my non-clutter for about a week, before it all piles up again.
Sally G says
I once moved 4 times in one year. Every time I moved I found it easier and easier to pare down. The further the distance we were moving the more I found I was inclined to toss or donate.
I think you’ll be able to find 100 things no problem… especially as you get further into the packing process The more you get rid of the less you have to pack! I imagine you might even exceed your goal. IMO, moving is the best recipe for getting motivated to simplify!
amybeth says
I cleared out a lot of clothes that were too small last fall, before I got pregnant. Who knew I’d be smaller post-baby? I’m really missing my old jeans…
Nik says
Not related to this post…but do you guys follow the groupon.com website? Since you are penny pinchers like we are, I was wondering if you were a fan of their offerings.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Nik,
We don’t but we’ll have to check them out! We’ve heard tons of great things about them from readers!
xo,
s