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