2015 in 2015

It’s not about the “Number”

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It’s really not about the final number, but about how we feel after reaching a particular number or looking around our home.

The average home (2014) has about 300,000 items (LA Times article link here).  Since our house is 1300 sq ft, we probably average about 230 items per square foot.  How scary is that?!?!  This is just for a “typical” house.  What about those of us who really need to declutter??

Decluttering isn’t about the number of items leaving the house.  But counting allows us to have a concrete goal.  Vague goals prevent follow through.  Decluttering is something we need to ensure we stay on top of.  Counting the items leaving our home has definitely kept us on track.  When we first started decluttering, we didn’t count and it was hard to see the progress.  Knowing a certain number of items left was encouraging when the progress was less obvious.  Even today, counting reminds us that stuff (really us) has a habit of becoming clutter.

Since we began seriously decluttering in the fall of 2014, we have removed 14,013 items from our home.  How does it make us feel??

  • We have more time for other activities now that we aren’t moving the stuff all around to get to other stuff.
  • We have a sense of accomplishment when we reach our number goal.
  • We are more relaxed in our own home.
  • Household chores take less time!  We joked the other day that the house is decluttered enough to get a housekeeper (but we aren’t – we can manage it now ourselves!)
  • We don’t worry about someone dropping by on the “wrong” day.
  • We feel more welcoming!
  • We have a sense of contentment.

How about you?  What have you noticed?

Declutter Recap of 2015

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So here we are – the end of 2015.  We have decluttered so much from our lives!  We are feeling lighter every day with our attitude changes toward stuff,  less commercialization in our daily lives, and simplicity/minimalism.

Some of the biggies:

  • 11,827 items were removed from our house/garage.  And to think, we thought the removal of 2015 would be difficult!  Our modified goal of 10,000 was reached (thanks in part to our house flooding) and surpassed.
  • IMG_2498[1]
    Our 6 counting sheets for the 2015 in 2015 Challenge.  We were tempted to go on a decluttering spree to fill the last page but decided against it tonight.  Party with friends won!
  • 44 donation trips – we averaged one every 8.3 days!  It has been so helpful having a donation box by the front door.  When it fills, out it goes.  We even had the Salvation Army do a pickup of large furniture items.  So easy to do!
  • We are afraid with the number of donations that the IRS will audit us!  Thankfully we took pictures of every item donated!
  • Documenting the number of items, while difficult, was really eye-opening.  Who knew that we had over 400 unworking pens in the pen drawer??  I guess if you have a pen drawer, that should say something!
  • Our closets and drawers open and close without fear of something falling on you!
  • We decided to purchase just one item for each other for Christmas and stick to a $250 budget per person – this was a new concept for us.  John asked for a fitbit surge (and it is a small item to have enter the house!)  Barb asked for a kindle voyage.  She has figured out how to borrow e-books from the library and it is small.  Win Win!  Now to finish going through the boxes of books in the garage!

We have decided to continue the challenge for 2016.  As of today, we aren’t sure we will count for the entire year, but who knows.  We were really surprised at the number of items in 2015.

Thank you Nourishing Minimalism for the push we needed to make this happen!

2015 in 2015 Update #8

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It has been a crazy month for us.  The master bath shower is done being tiled and grouted.  Walls have been painted.  Waiting for the shower doors to arrive!

Our decluttering project has been increased this month!  Kiddo #1 came home and cleared a few boxes!  We also cleared out a filing cabinet – 4 overstuffed drawers down to 2 usable drawers.  This took an entire weekend sifting through each piece of paper.  Goal is to remove the filing cabinet! Continue reading →

2015 in 2015 Update #7

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Decluttering the stuff has slowed down this past month.  Our focus has been on finishing the master bath shower.  We’ve had delays in getting the contractor to do their part on the shower floor.  Now that we are both working again, time seems to be our biggest hurdle to getting the house back to normal.  There are only a few boxes left in the garage.

We have noticed that our time after work during the week is less stressful.  Having less stuff makes picking up so much easier!  If only we had recognized this when we had small children living here!

So now for the numbers!

House = 5780

Garage = 2500.

Barbie’s, etc =  2301  (See this post for details)

GRAND TOTAL = 10,581 with 38 trips to Goodwill.  1 trip in September!

Items removed this month = 71 !!

New Goal – 12,000 by the end of the year.  The garage is our next focus area!  Barb still has boxes of books to go through!

2015 in 2015 update #6 – We made it to 10,000!

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So here we are – another month of decluttering the stuff completed!

We’ve been moved back into the house now for a month.  Most of the boxes are empty or stored for the kiddos to go through or pick up.  I’m assuming some of it will be here for a while.  Good thing we have an extra closet!

In unpacking all of our belongs, we decluttered some more stuff – 516 items to be exact!  We have basically gone through everything in the house and are feeling pretty good about how it is turning out.  Now the garage is a different story!  There are many items (mostly furniture, storage containers that are empty, and master bath stuff) we didn’t put back into the house and now we really need to make a decision about that stuff.  Good thing we have a 3 day weekend coming up!

So here are the numbers – Continue reading →

Blast from the Past

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We’ve been decluttering fools this week!  238 items gone and basically all our boxes unpacked (kiddos still have some to go through but that will take time).


As Barb walked into the kitchen this morning she saw something bright on the floor. Drawn to bright things, she had to investigate – even if to just pick it up and throw it away.

Now some of you will recognize the company name.  How many of you remember T G & Y?  How many of you remember the old pre-computer cash registers?  Who remembers having to make change – not the register telling you how much to give the customer?  Who remembers putting these kind of stickers on every item before it was sold?   The memories of our first “real” job!

Barb worked for them from 1977 – 1982. She was making $2.20 per hour when she started. Ended making $4.90 per hour.  She never shopped there after leaving since all stores in our area were closed.

John’s first “real” job was with the county.  He worked every Saturday for “a real paycheck” washing and gassing county vehicles.  Back then, it was cheaper to hire high school kids than to use an automated car wash.

This sticker has been floating around our stuff for over 33 years!  It has survived our getting married and moving into 3 different places.  It survived our flood.  It survived a house with children, dogs, and a cat.   What did it fall off of?  How did it end up on the kitchen floor?

This little sticker is a survivor!  If it can make it intact, so can we!

Decluttering the kiddo’s stuff

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Kiddo history  We have 2 adult kiddos (28 and 26). They both went away to college, leaving home in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Their bedrooms have remained as they left them until recently (thank you “Great Flood”). We are now trying to reorganize their rooms into a guest room and den/office area.

Kiddo 1 recently married.  We are assuming she will not being moving back in.  Most of her belongings are gone but the sentimental stuff was boxed up and left here.

Kiddo 2 moved home for a year after college to prep for med school and is now back on the opposite coast – in med school! She left mostly sentimental stuff here and not packed up.

Unpacking after the “Great Flood”  As we are unpacking the boxes, each box must be opened. The packers were not really detailed about contents and frequently marked the boxes for different rooms. Very frustrating to say the least!

Kiddo 2 called today while Barb was looking into a box from her bedroom.  A few items were discussed and kiddo 2 made a great suggestion:  why don’t we set a certain amount of time and FaceTime so I can quickly let you know if it is a keeper or a goner?”   We knew she was smart!

So we promptly switched to FaceTime, set a 10 minute limit, and decluttered 4 pairs of shoes, 3 formal dresses from high school, and about 20 knick knacks together!  She might be almost 3000 miles away, but we still were able to get her to declutter her stuff!

  

  

2015 in 2015 Update #5

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We can’t believe how much stuff we have decluttered!  After the “Great Flood”, we have been unpacking and decluttering along the way during July.  Our stuff was delivered July 14 and we staying the night for the first time July 30.  We had to wait for a bathroom to be functional.  Things are not quite back to normal but they are coming along.

Here are the numbers so far for 2015:

House = 5269

Garage = 2424

Barbie’s, etc =  2301  (See this post for details)

GRAND TOTAL = 9994 with 32 trips to Goodwill.  9 of these trips were this recent month!

Items removed this month = 1632 !!

WE WILL MAKE IT TO 10,000 ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE HOUSE!!  Who knew that we would actually declutter this much stuff when we started in January.  We were tempted to go around and find 6 items but we are too tired tonight.

We didn’t eliminate any stuff from the garage this month.  It is still full of boxes/belongings/furniture that used to be in the house.  The Barbie category didn’t change either.  The toys left are in the rafters of the garage and can wait until we have more of the house completed.

While we are unpacking, we keep thinking how much more work it would have been with 8362 more items.  The approximate 1000 books alone gave us a backache!

2015 in 2015 Update #3

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So here we are – June already!  Last month was crazy with our unplanned packing party.  We were so focused trying to “survive” our flood that little was actually removed.  Thankfully, we had very little on the floors – mostly furniture damage (to the tune of $6927 for restoration)  The garage floor was decluttered greatly so we had very little damage in the garage.

So we have been decluttering our stuff for 5 complete months.  The most recent numbers as of June 5, 2015:

House = 3533

Garage = 2335

TOTAL = 5868  with 22 trips to Goodwill

Barbie, Toys, etc = 2301  (see previous update for explanation)

GRAND TOTAL = 8169  

619 items removed in May!

On a side note:  Barb removed 1066 items from her classroom since Jan. 1  Maybe more will be removed when we return in August.

Continue reading →

Unplanned Packing Party Update

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So we have finished packing the entire house. They took the rest of it last night. We will be living in a hotel for at least 2 months.

It was really hard to decide which items to take with us. We usually go in the RV for June and July. Why does this seem so difficult while those 2 months seem stress free?  We think it has to do with the unplanned aspect of this.

We need to do some shopping too. We have made considerable progress not shopping for anything but “necessities”. Putting the house back in order is a necessity, but we have to decide everything “yesterday”.

Some of the things we have to decide: paint colors, type of molding/trim, carpet, door jam stuff, doors, and bathroom vanities.  We’re feeling stressed about going to the various stores to look at samples.

We also haven’t received a dollar amount from the insurance company. Our adjuster said he would have it by next week. How can we possibly tell the contractor what to buy when the budget hadn’t been developed?

Pics of our disaster so far:  The drywall didn’t need to be removed as high as we thought!


  

Decluttering the taxes!

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Now that our 2015 taxes are completed and submitted, we decided to look into how long you really need to keep tax records.  According to the United States IRS web site:

“Period of Limitations that apply to income tax returns

  1. Keep records for 3 years if situations (4), (5), and (6) below do not apply to you.
  2. Keep records for 3 years from the date you filed your original return or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, if you file a claim for credit or refund after you file your return.
  3. Keep records for 7 years if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction.
  4. Keep records for 6 years if you do not report income that you should report, and it is more than 25% of the gross income shown on your return.
  5. Keep records indefinitely if you do not file a return.
  6. Keep records indefinitely if you file a fraudulent return.
  7. Keep employment tax records for at least 4 years after the date that the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.”

Gotta love numbers 4, 5 and 6!

So for the last couple of weekends, we have been scanning and shredding the old documents from 1977 – 2001.   Some of the interesting things we found while decluttering this stuff: Continue reading →

252 Children’s Books Gone

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Youngest child home this week.  We went through 5 boxes of children’s books.  She kept 30 and we are donating 252 books.  If you look in our garage, it wouldn’t seem any different!  Scary that so many boxes have left and we haven’t made a dent!  10 more of her book boxes to go.  Not sure we will get to them this week while she is home for spring break.  Most likely not.