Good for you. A goal gives a person a reason to get up in the morning and a lot of satisfaction when accomplished. I do a little at a time when I see the need. I have a lot of free time so that gives me something to do. I am down to be getting rid of some of my dolls and my deceased husband's collector items like cars, motorcycles and bicycles. Small ones, not real ones. LOL He did have real motor scooters (Cushman's) but he sold those when he knew he couldn't work on the them or ride anymore.

Isn't it a great feeling? I need some motivation. I do the clothing thing pretty regularly so the closets are pretty decent but it is the THINGS. I gasped about the vhs tapes. I too have lots, and I just picture my kids (now GROWN and out of the house for several years) asking for them. Don't tell older daughter that I recently got rid of some magazines she had in her room. They were about 10 years old and didn't seem sentimental or anything to me...........so I finally tossed a stack. Don't you know last week she asked me if I could look for a certain issue. I didn't have th heart to tell her that I tossed them within the last few months. I just said that they were not there.
It's the reports, art work and all that stuff I have a hard time parting with but I don't know why. I do have a lot of space so that is not the problem but I need to get rid of lots of it..

@sheilaaus,
I don't think you have to worry about your grown children asking for the VHS tapes, what would they play them on? Many years ago we took our tapes into a place that transferred them to DVD. Of course, we had to purge a lot of them. That celluloid tape doesn't last forever. But, what a huge amount of space saved.
Guess now, we'll have to take those DVDs in and have them transferred to Blue Ray. Just like you can't get a VHS player anymore, I think the DVD player may become extinct too.

OOOOOh, this makes me want to do the same thing! I think I'd like my family to leave the state for about 3 weeks so I can clear out, remodel and not have to negotiate "what goes!" Good for you!

I've got the spring fever cleaning itch too! Get my hubby to throw away old t-shirts? PLEEEEASE...I need the secret. The idea for hanging the gun cases is an excellent idea too. I just bought a gun safe for all of ours, so I have a few of those littering the bottom of hubby's overstuffed closet. Too bad hubby shows no signs of feeling guilty as I start spring cleaning and he watches the TV. Maybe if I pull all the old t-shirts out and plop 'em on his chair before he manages to sit down? LOL! Purging and Organizing...I'm on board! Thanks for the inspiration!

When you fold laundry (if you do?), "accidentally" tear the worn out t-shirts. Ooops! Sorry, dh - that one will have to be turned into rags!

In my house, there is no such thing as spring cleaning. It's an ongoing thing - always looking for stuff that can go in our box to take to the thrift store. When the box is filled, I drop it off at the store. It's easier to do if it's a constant habit, a way of life...dh wasn't that way when we got married - he was a packrat, and a slob. So this has been a real effort. But worth it...

I can't get my DH to get rid of t shirts - the shirts he purged were dress shirts that were beat up or stained, and a couple of old rugby shirts that weren't even good enough for the rag bag. He got two new dress shirts for Christmas, so I told him he had to get rid of at least 2 old ones!

Poor guy has to wear dress shirts to work most days (but not a tie).

Next on my list is to paint my upstairs hallway - I loved the forest green when I painted it at least 10 years ago, but it's time to lighten up. One of the hall walls has become "Boy Scout Hall of Fame - my DH and sons are active in Scouting, and I started putting up 8x10 photos of every high adventure trip they took. Backpacking, scuba diving, dog sledding, National Jamboree, Eagle Scout portraits - the wall is overloaded! I have a new place for the Scout photos in the family , and I'm going to hang a small quilt in the hallway.

My sisters husband keeps every piece of paper that passes through his hands and every thing else. She even has to cut up her panties because he uses them for rags in front of neighbors. When her sons bought a new set of dishes for Christmas, she broke ever piece of the old set before her husband came home from work. When he saw what she did he said, "that must have taken you a long time". There are hidden problems in living like that. When one of their sons was divorced by his wife there was a custody battle over the kids. The daughter in law told the court the condition of grandma's home, the court sent a social worker to inspect it My sis knew she was coming and clean and moved stuff as she could. Still the children weren't allowed to come over.

Put those Scout photos in a album! The value of looking at them is probably gone, because everyone has been sated / saturated.

EmmaR, your poor sister!

I got motivated to finally get rid of a box of all the non-socks stuff that came out of my socks drawer. I probably didn't toss enough.

And now I want to tackle about a bread-box-sized space every day.

Great start! I'm jealous that you did your kitchen last year. I've been procrastinating starting the kitchen remodel by going bonkers on organizing the house & garage. I really need to get that started.

Organizing does seem like an ongoing project. You can be done only somewhat. Life seems to be ever evolving, so the organizing needs to evolve too.

WIow! good for you.

This winter i went through my books and got rid of ones that I don't want to read again or refer to. (Well lots) I got rid of over 100. Many I "sold" to a used book store. Unfortunately they only give you a credit to the store, but I'm using it for gifts.
Its wonderful to know what I've got and where it is.

Now I have to work on getting rid of clothing that I thought I would make over to fit or be in style. Some of it I might do but mostly no.

My dh wants to keep newspapers and magazines. I do keep Fine Gardening so I understand. I bought some magazine bags that have zippers and clear plastic and organized my FGs on the bottom of a book shelf when I did the books. I am going to do the same with a bunch of dh's magazines but put them on shelves in the cellar that I haven't cleaned out yet. So I guess I'd better move on to those shelves next!

I was just thinking "after the snow storm" because much of it has to go to the dump and I got a call from my work that they are not opening tomorrow due to the storm. Now I almost feel that I have to clean those shelves tomorrow, lol!

Kathy

My husband had years of Cushman Magazines and he bought 3 ring notebooks and some special plastic strips that held the magazines. Then put the notebooks on the shelf in the garage. I don't save any magazines or paper back books. Paper smells after so long. One time my husband I were in the basement playing pool and he said, "Wow, what stinks?" I followed the smell just like a hunting dog would. LOL He had put some old magazines in the basement. That was before I told him not to store paper stuff in the home.

We are going to my father's house every weekend to help them clean it. He is a hoarder, and has lived there for 62 years. They've already filled three dumpsters and are getting another one on Saturday. He has stacks and boxes of paper. He still had coats from college. (He is 92 years old.) He had gallons of dried food that he brought for the Y2K crisis! That food was 14 years old - we dumped it. He is upset about getting rid of stuff, but also realizes he should have done it long ago. His wife wants to sell the house and move to an apartment. She wants it done by April, but she is a bit of a hoarder too. Makes me want to throw out more of my stuff! We have been in the habit of taking a box or a bag of stuff to the thrift store every few weeks.

I know what you mean color crazy. I am learning to get rid of more by looking with despair at my Mom's house.
I didn't do the magazines yet, but I did start clearing out the pantry!
Kathy

I started scanning my kids' artwork/reports instead of saving it all. I have three kids and after all those years, it seemed crazy to have boxes and boxes of old paperwork. Also, all of the little pottery they made and other 3D items, I just took photos of and saved those pics too. I made disks of them and put them in our safety box. Now, because you can cloud things, you wouldn't even need to save them to disks, you could just dropbox them. I saved a few original, sentimental, sweet things the kids made and those stay on my desk and my dresser or are in frames. Everything else has gone the way of technology.

I REALLY need to do some more purging though of housewares and accessories--we are moving again and I am not interested in packing everything again!

OP here - I'm still at it!

I have cabinets above my washer and dryer, and they were black holes (stuff went in, but never came out). I emptied them completely, and tossed a LOT of crap! I'm embarrassed to admit that I had 2 quarts of paint from when I painted my bathroom in 1998 (I've painted a different color since then). I had 6 shelves, and when I put the remaining items back in an organized fashion, and added more things that made sense there, I still had 2 empty shelves! That was 2-1/2 hours very well spent.

Oh, and I got rid of a shelf full of textbooks that we haven't looked at since college (30 years ago). I kept the few that I have used. Anyone want a set of notes from a 1986 bacteriology class? The shelves I've freed up now contain books I want to keep but not display, so my display bookcase is much neater.

I've been working on part of the pantry. One of the sections with doors then I may tackle the open shelves. I have a bunch of boxes on my counter of pudding and pancake mix that will outdate soon, so we have to eat them!
I also threw a bunch of stuff away or on the compost pile depending on what it was. What was I thinking! That is the problem with an old pantry with tall shelves that I can't see to the back of. So far on a lower shelf the extra spice section, nut butters and cereal is all nice and organized (most of my spices are near the stove). And the area where all these mixes were is empty while I decide what to put back in and how to keep track when i can barely see. I'm considering putting my roasting pan up there and maybe my pressure cooker because I use them only a few times a year. Then I could put mixes and baking supplies like cocoa in more accessible cupboards in the kitchen. (I have only lower cupboards in the kitchen.)
The shelf above these that I've been working on has cook books I've been keeping for sentimental value, but haven't looked at in the 7 years since I moved them and things like matches and muffin tin papers.
I need to buy another cute stool to keep in the pantry because my dh took the one I had in there to the cellar because it is just the right height for one of his projects.
What do other people keep on high invisible shelves?
Kathy

I have 42" cabinets in the kitchen. They aren't as deep as your pantry, but I still can't see them (I'm 5'4" - my stool i my friend).

I use them for bigger stuff I don't use much - at least if it's big, I can see it. You idea to move your roaster and pressure cooker to that space is excellent. I like to think in terms of "prime real estate" in the kitchen, though sometimes it's hard to think past what's always been there.

Nice idea to give the wedding dress and hats to the theater folks! Sometimes it's so easy just to take everything to Salvation Army and the like, but when we hit on just the right combination of item+place that can really benefit, it's a great thing!

I need to do a big purge. In a 1000 sf apartment with a family of 4 any clutter instantly makes spaces feel horrible. No attic, basement or garage to stash stuff - so it ends up in the master bedroom or the living room. We are doing a big kitchen reno so I've had to move a ton of stuff around and a lot of it is stuff that needs to GO. I don't have weird collections or complete junk, but just a situation where I can't hang onto to stuff that people who have larger homes can.

Moving isn't an option right now. We just have to make the space work and I need to get ruthless. I feel ashamed about the stuff and how much I've procrastinated on this. I need to make a fresh start here, a place where I've lived for 12 years, had two children, a divorce, and a new marriage. My family deserves it, and I deserve it.

I need to do some Craigslisting, and can I tell you how much I hate Craigslist? I had to sell my old WORKING Volvo that I listed for $400. I gave all the details of its condition (old and beat up but clean) and still people came and spent ages inspecting, test driving, and yet didn't buy. What did they expect for $400?? The parts alone were worth quite a bit.

Thanks for reading.

I'm still at it! I started tearing into my sons' bathroom closet Saturday, and we ended up having a storm day today (Monday), and I'm still at it. I've just about filled our big garbage can, and I have another good pile for the rummage sale.

I made enough space in the closet that I'm moving things in there that make more sense there than elsewhere. Now I have new space in other spaces. I am almost running out of rooms to declutter! When my sons get home from college, we'll go through their closets more intensely.

I spent Saturday cleaning out our storage closet in our condo building's basement. Last fall, the association upgraded from these open wooden cage storage unit to completely enclosed closets with doors. Which was great mostly, but the workers who built them removed our stuff from storage and put it back in when the build was complete. Luckily, nothing went missing, but there were some extra things that turned out not to belong to us, plus the workers shoved it all in willy nilly.

We ended up donating our camping equipment. We haven't been tent camping in ten years! If we go again, easy enough to borrow the stuff from a sister. Also, ditched the artificial tree. I hate seasonal decorating and it's not like we have family over for the holidays.

Everything is in it's place and accessible again. So much better. Next project, the kitchen cabinets (again).

I love hearing everyone's stories!

I still have a major garage project ahead of me, but that will have to wait. We got a foot of snow yesterday, and I can't work on the garage until everything has melted. We were just to the point where we could see some grass in the yard! Oh well, that's spring in North Dakota.