Well, I made progress. This morning I forced myself to look for the lighter things/boxes that have to go and loaded them into the car. I started having qualms about giving away my big set of Little House on the Prairie taped episodes, though. Please somebody tell me I don't need them!

OK, that does it.

I'm gonna call my niece-in-law, and ask her if she wants the Fisher-Price farm. If not, it goes to the day-care center.

Video tapes degrade, Wendy. and the Little House series will always be available on DVD if you ever decide you MUST see them again. Right now they run $35 new. By the time you think you really WANT to watch them again, they'll be on eBay, used (but still working), for $10.

You are NOT the museum; it isn't YOUR responsibility to preserve these for posterity--there are other people for whom that is a JOB, and they are actively doing it.

Send them on their way!

Thanks for the pep talk, Talley Sue! A CD takes far less space than a pile of tapes...and if I really, really want to see them again, it'll be worth the money to me. Out they go. :)

Wendy

Good for you, Wendy! We don't have many videos, but I recently asked DH about converting the ones we have to DVD to save space.

I have some things gathered up to go to charity. I just haven't called them yet to pick this stuff up. I'll see what I can add to the pile & make the call.

Greta

One thing I have started is hanging a empty plastic bag on the door knob in my office"junk"room and everytime I pick up something I don't want into the bag, then when full bag goes into trunk of car so I can drop it off at thrift shops.

I am going to look at things and really decide if I want them. I was going good for awhile, but now have reverted to just not "seeing" clutter and unused items. I am going to walk around my house and really LOOK and SEE. Thanks for the motivation!

I finally made the call to get a new toilet. My DH keeps repairing this one and it just does not work. This morning I called and I get a new one installed for $110 dollars and he'll take the old one for five, sometime tomorrow. I am not telling my DH. He saves everything imaginable. You should try to find anything in his workshop.

Sorry for spewing off. He frustrates me, but he is the best husband I could imagine. He just saves everything.

shirley

it's not much but I'm getting rid of the shorts and pants that are too small by about 10 pounds. My weight has gone up and down so much in the past year I feel like a yo-yo. My weight is down but I've gotten so muscular from working that few of my old pants fit.

My kitchen is layed out very poorly with a lot of wasted/inaccessable space in it. There are two lower corner cabinets that are very deep with only two small doors for access. I would put a large turntable there, but the doors are only 13" wide each. So short of remodeling them, I use them to store seldom used things in the corners. But I forget what is back there. I also have two upper cabinets with about 14" of "dead" space in them. I could put baskets there and pull out the baskets when I need something there, but I would have to empty the shelf in front of the door to do this. Last night I had DGD pull everything out of the cabinets and I have two huge bags full of stuff to get rid of. I have been wanting to do this for some time, and finally got around to doing it. It sure feels good. I will post pictures later of the cabinets and see if anyone has any bright ideas for me. Oh, one more thing..I bought one of those chrome shelves with a basket under it that Tally told us about for my pantry. I put potatoes in the basket and put chips on top of it. I found the unit at Target. They only had the 13" wide one, but I will keep looking for the wider ones.

My niece will take the farm! That way, she won't have to BUY the farm!.

I'll mail it this weekend. I'm psyched.

Marsha, I'm glad I could help!

Those chrome baskets don't come THAT wide--the widest I could find is 14-3/4". I think if they get much wider, they get stability issues.

From Improvements Catalog
11-3/4 inches wide or 14-3/4 inches wide

a DOUBLE one! I wonder if it would fit in my space/ I bet itÂs a TAD too wide.
This is 12.5"w x 18"h x 17.25"
(I needed the 11-inch one)

For that upper cabinet, you could get traditional pull-out shelves. One usually sees them in LOWERS cabs, but they could be useful in uppers, as well, esp. if the uppers are deep.

We donated many of our video tapes to the library. We'll get a tax deduction, and the kids can borrow them whenever they want to see them again!

Got rid of a cheap ottoman I bought from Ikea. It was a good idea, we needed it for a temporary fix but I never did get it assembled right. The particle board wasn't cut properly so couldn't screw in one of the screws. Kind of used it for a while but heck, it isn't worth having junk around. Should have returned it initially but too much trouble. Went out in the trash can today! (We have wonderfully big trash cans, very big, provided by city for automated pick up). And the trashman has come and gone. No taking back! Love getting rid of stuff like this. Now why don't I do this more often?
--Alice

I am "hostessing" the second of 3 Freecycle Free For All events next weekend....in a local park. The first time, I got rid of an entire pickup load. I will repeat that two more times. It is such fun . and a real jab in the messiness!!!!!!

Vicki

I got rid of a ton of stuff this weekend. It's mainly old clothes, but there are some other odds & ends in there. One thing that was taking up space in my attic was a HUGE suitcase I used in college. It had a strap to attach to it to roll, but it never rolled right - it was always tipping over. And it was much to heavy to actually carry with clothes in it. Most of this stuff is going to a local charity - it's still in my house - I have to call them tomorrow to pick it all up. A few clothes that were just too ratty are being tossed and a couple of shirts that are too small for DH will go to his brother. I was hoping to get more done over the long weekend, but this was a pretty good start for the attic, which I've been meaning to tackle for a while.

Greta

Great! I also did a lot this weekend. I made some more space in the back room, so things to tackle are around the periphery. It helped that we got rid of a bed in there first. The extra space made it less overwhelming.
I shredded all day long - mostly my husband's papers, not my own, but papers are papers. I tossed more garden magazine clippings and put an out-of-fashion winter coat and a few other items in the give-away box.

I had some fun a few days ago when Tony, the contractor who's remodeling my bathroom, called and said he was coming to pick up all the old stuff they've been pitching out the window, "...and if you have anything else you want me to take to the dump, just throw it on the pile."

I went straight to the basement, where lots of metal junk--some of it unrecognizable--has resided for years. The best part is that Tony has seen my place at its absolute worst (many times), so there was no question of being embarrassed about the condition of anything I came up with. When he arrived he helped me lug out some larger pieces, including a roll of metal sheeting. (Used for what??)

Susan

That does sound like fun, Susan. It's Spring Cleaning time!!! My husband, who is recovering from a broken leg, said to me this weekend that his goal is to clear out the back utility room. That would be good. I've been reading that clearing your clutter with Feng Shui book, and it helps with the philosophy. The first thing I did was remove back-of-door clutter, then I concentrated on getting stuff already identified for removal shredded and/or out (some had to be re-identified, because it had been so long). It still seems like a lot, but I'm getting more ruthless as I build momentum.

Wendy

P.S. Susan, a month or so ago I spread the double poppy seeds you sent me, and I'm crossing my fingers :)

This weekend we go camping. Next weekend pray for good weather in NM and a great turn out for my garage sale.
What isn't sold is going to goodwill. We win either way - cash on hand or a tax write off. Dh will be happy and I'll be happy to see it all go.

Sad part???? ALL the baby stuff is going - toys, clothes, high chair, crib everything. Sigh. No more babies. I keep hoping dh will change his mind or an 'accident' will happen but no luck. Considering that he's about to ensure no more babies, I guess I can safely get rid of this stuff. SIGH.

Ginger

((((Ginger)))). At least you had the babies you had. Now they've moved on to other things. Hope you get great weather for your camping trip (and a good turnout for the garage sale)!

Wendy

well, the farm arrived at the great-nephew's house, and he promptly chewed on it--and the great thing is, his grandpa (my bro) called to say, "there was a couple of other things in here--do you want 'em back?"

Some stray scrapbooking stuff (from a press kit, I did NOT buy t hem) had fallen in. I told him to keep or toss, I don't want 'em!

I just found out something today: NEVER tell DH what you're throwing out! I tossed some decorative copper strips from an old wastebasket in the trash. He wanted me to go get them out of the garbage in case my son might want them. It was MY junk, not his, and I had been shifting it around the garage for 40 years. I just pretended I didn't hear - comes in handy, doesn't it!

I'm gradually nibbling at the stuff piled high in the middle of the garage. Our (expensive) town-wide junk collection is this coming weekend, thank goodness. I can get rid of 3 doors, a ladder, windows, and broken furniture.

Good job, Plow IN! I have a hard time not telling DH, but then sometimes I wish I could sneak something out. Sometimes I just announce it, anyway: "This is going away!," which is very cathartic.

Good for you, getting rid of that junk.

Three kitchen trash bags ready for pickup by Purple Heart. YAY! Love those pickups. Seems like I can't always get motivated enough (or organized enough) to take some stuff over to Goodwill but when Purple Heart calls, I always somehow manage to get something on the porch for them. The pickup makes it very easy.

Cleaning in the garage today. It is actually in pretty decent shape but still needs work. Found some weights to throw out because we no longer have the particular bar that fits them. Also, throwing out scrap wood that fits in the garbage can. Also, an old three shelf bookcase that we weren't using for anything and that was falling apart. Trying to get a workout/weight room set up for my DH. Tomorrow is his bday.

Need to remember to get out there earlier. Whew! It is hot out there inside the garage, not a lot of breeze even with the ceiling fan going.

Good job, alicesRestaurant!
I have furniture for Salvation Army (a huge sofa and matching loveseat), but nobody's ever there when I call to arrange a pickup time. We can't really take them outside or leave them with this unpredictable weather. I wish we could. It will be nice to have some more space in the basement. We have our canoe down there, too. Seems like we should be able to store it outside somewhere, when DH's broken ankle heals completely.

This morning before work I grabbed every ball of acrylic yarn I knew I'd never do anything with and threw it in the Giveaway box. I try to keep up and do 110%, but it mostly turns out to be more like 60%. I have promises to keep, and
piles to go before I sleep...

Wendy

Tossed about 30 cans of paint along with 3 cans of paint thinner, some muritic acid and pvc cement that were sitting on a baker's rack outside rusting away, YUK! the cans were rusted and in pretty bad shape so I couldn't give them away.

The hazardous waste place now has regular hours so I paid them a visit today. They took everything without any questions. I have about 30 more cans of latex that I need to let dry out so I can toss in the garbage but these shouldn't be as much of a problem. (Just gotta get the darn lids off these rusty cans!)

I'm going to be much more careful about buying paint in the future.

Also, assembled a couple of rocking chairs that are now outside on our deck. The cartons they came in have been cut up and picked up by the regular recycling curbside truck. GONE, GONE, GONE!