Yesterday I tossed three old glass ceiling fan shades, a pair of black shoes, an old worthless sweater that the crew-neck collar had been cut out of (teenagers!), and a lot of small pieces of papers like receipts, a large cardboard box holding a new Vera Bradley tote, and a couple of magazines.

It may not be a perfect 10, but I'm not striving for perfection. I simply want to keep the momentum going but not overwhelm myself with expectations that I cannot reach.

old software discs from my old computer...old square floppy discs.

Doubtless anyone rooting through trash will care, but if it bothers you - take them out in the garage, get a hammer and a nail and pound a few holes through them.

a large cardboard box holding a new Vera Bradley tote

but you kept the tote, right? lol

Of course! It's too adorable to toss! I could live in a world covered in Vera Bradley.

Yesterday I tossed lots of those junkly little things that are really to stupid to list (receipts, clothing tags, post-it notes to myself, plastic button bags) that cluttered up my bathroom countertop. I'm sure it was at least ten and now my countertop is clean for the first time in months. Made a decision to get rid of a Chiccos shirt I no longer care for. Got rid of a basket that I cannot use, though it is a nice basket. However, I am debating about whether I should give away a Vera Bradley cell phone case that is so bulky it doesn't make sense to use in a small purse (like those I carry). So I gave it to my teenage daughter. She can give it away if she can't use it. That's all for today!

Wow! Fantastic idea. So today was the first day and it wasn't too hard.

1. Recycling
2. 3 old sweaters
3. 2 t-shirts
4. old magazines
5. moldy fruit in the fridge
6. old baking pan
7. ripped socks
8. cardboard boxes from packing
9. jeans that don't fit anymore

10. 2 trash bags

not bad for my first attempt!

i do hope you're recycling or donating and not just tossing...

i'm doing a biggie donating about 150 paperbacks to the local library...

I've got a new motivation now! We're having our house appraised for a mortgage refi next next Monday. I've got a lot of work to do. Today's list:

1. Two plastic boxes that held my very old hand mixers-nice boxes but rather impractical so I tossed them.
2. Old make-up, lotions, toiletry items
3. Two t-shirts that are still usable, but we have too many-donated
4. Broken office equipment
5. A nice pair of pink and orange ladies flip flops-donated
6. My friend's copy of Eat, Pray Love that I borrowed two months ago
7. An old pacifier (egads-what was I thinking?)
8. Various cardboard boxes to recycling from jewelry sized to shipping size
9. A cute plastic 3 x 5 index card holder shaped like an envelope-donate

10. The ratty J Jill bag that I emptied that contained most of this junk which had been sitting in my closet for months quietly waiting for action.

My bathroom is far cleaner now (at least my side!), but we still have a long way to go. Thanks for your support and for "listening."

~Cupofkindness

I've been busy, but not doing a lot of tossing right now. I finally bagged up all of the newspapers I had saved ...two paper bags worth... and took them over to the school and dropped them in the recycle bin.

I have gotten good at throwing away junk mail as it comes in. At least I don't have it lying around.

I'm not tossing. I take it to the local Goodwill store on the way to work :)

I'm sure the "Toss Ten" term is for alliteration value and posters are Freecycling, donating, or whatever it takes to redistribute items that warrant being saved from the trash.

I'm blowing and going. I'm afraid if I list them then I will have a record of what I've tossed then regret it! LOL

Lot's of papers sorted and tossed yesterday, plus a broken rubber ducky key ring. Not as much as I would have like, but I did a lot of "putting things where they belong" as well.

1. seven more magazines
2. four magic markers that were partially dried
3. cloissonne collector thimble
4. an old electric weed-eater (we took out the lawn months ago!)
5. some shirts that DH will never fit into again, and a couple that he just doesnâÂÂt wear
(Why is it so much easier to get rid of his too-tight clothing than mine?)
6. a piggy bank that heldâ¦
7. a couple hundred wheat pennies (gave to a relative)

Well, I didnâÂÂt get to ten, but at least I got rid of some stuff today.

Sorry to have dropped out! (I did spend an entire evening folding 6 loads of laundry. . . .

Thanks for keeping the spirit going.

(LOL, mustangs, for your "don't make me list them" spirit, and Judy for your "it's too many, I can't keep track"--I may borrow that from time to time, just because it gets tiring to keep the list going. So, I might do some highlights now and then)

also: animalnut, those 7 magazine can count individually, remember, so you're actually ahead! (Of course, you're also allowed to define them as a single item, if you think that'll motivate you more.)

Anyway, today is an at-home straightening-up sort of day. So I'll probably make up for it numerically.

I also know that I hit a bit of a wall; many of the easy things were gone, and I was looking at things that took a bit more nerve or steel in my spine to toss.

So, I chickened out. Anyway, you guys are all inspiring me, so here I go again!

So far today:

-DS's worn-out swim trunks
-a penguin stocking cap w/ a ding on the nose (so it looks funny) and some stains
-some stupid pieces of paper; I don't even remember what they were.
-a clock I bought to go in the bathroom

I'm seeing some lessons about clutter, and discarding, etc., in so many of your examples. To make this fast, I'm not going to ID the member, but you know who you are!

-broken office equipment: Why do we do this? I do it to. It's busted--throw it out? Do we sit around and hope it'll heal? Is it that we can't bring ourselves to admit that this expensive item is now garbage? Does it seem too substantial?

-the plastic cup from the detergent: Me too with stuff like that. I think it's that it was so very handy, and then we didn't want to admit we can't find Cheer in powder form. And then we sort of stop thinking about it.

-that Chicco shirt and my clock: Purchases made w/ good intent that turn out not to be to our taste, or aren't useful.

("we can't admit" . . . a refusal to give up on hope? Maybe we need more confidence that the future will bring us good things--better office equipment, or a well-designed scoop in the new detergent?)

From my original post

Also, "toss" means: out of your house. Trash, recycle, regift, donate, Freecycle, whatever. Out. Gone. NOT stashed somewhere else. The idea is not to bog the discussion down w/ rhetoric about recycling, and landfills, etc.

So, let's not bother with that. I'm sure everyone here is responsible enough to figure out where each unwanted item ought to properly end up. If we're going to discuss those issues, let's move that to a different thread.

I also find that once someone starts talking to me about whether these things still have any value (i.e., they start lecturing me that I should donate or recycle them), it actually slows me down and de-motivates me.

Those things are ALREADY being disposed of properly; to be asked to stop and dwell on that just short-circuits the mental processes.

(though I will admit that many of these things I'm tossing go straight into the garbage--because they are garbage. And I think, "why didn't I throw these out a while ago?" I guess it's because I never really looked at them before.)

I'm noticing that a lot of these things we're tossing are sort of the result of inertia, or of simply not keeping up with time.

(clothes kids have outgrown, toys they don't use anymore)

So, it's good we're getting them out finally--this isn't failure, or irresponsibility. This is "systems working *as they should*."

OK, I'm up to about 47 or so. (seriously, I have no idea, but it's a big list)

Some highlights:
-a bolt of fabric I once had a plan for but am not really ever going to do anything with

-a bunch of freebies from work, all of them unused. (tote bags, umbrellas, etc.)

-a bunch of decorative storage boxes. I haven't actually used them. I suppose a year or more from now I might actually find myself buying them all over again, but oh well . . . at least I won't have to store them in the meanwhile.

-a ton of shoes that are really worn out. I have hard-to-fit feet, so I tend to hold onto the shoes that do fit, even if they are too worn out.

Tossed today:
* 6 no-longer-favorite eye shadows
* handful of lipsticks not liked enough to finish with a brush
* 2 DH's underwear that I wouldn't wear if I were male (yes, behind his back)
* rinsed and discarded a huge, almost-empty liquid laundry detergent jug -- such space I gained!

Small steps, but I'm determined to keep going.

Rule interpretation--does consolidation count?

I consolidated:
3 jars of jam into one
4 moisturizers
2 cans of paint
2 same size, different shape pasta

Rule interpretation--does consolidation count?

Assuming you discarded the empties, you tossed 2 jam jars, 2 lids for the jam jars, 3 moisturizer bottles, 3 nozzles or lids for the moisturizers, one empty paint can, one paint can lid, and one empty pasta box = THIRTEEN ITEMS!

YAY!

Yep, what lazygardens says. (though I wouldn't count lids, not in any scenario)

In fact, Cup and I both did the "put something away, so you can toss the box it was in; count the box" (hers was a Vera Bradley tote; mine was shoes or something).

I don't want to hijack this thread, but just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration! I have a big clean out project going right now, and I am trying to get through that harder stuff Talley Sue was talking about earlier. In my case, I feel so much lighter after dealing with this stuff, that if I were counting, I'd count it as 2 - once for the stuff and once for the emotional weight I was free of!

I haven't been here in a while - Talley Sue you've given me a good reason to come by more often! I am going to join you. This is a GREAT idea!

Today:

1. Pile of kids books that none of mine want (about 20 books)
2. Pile of adult books I don't want (6 books)
3. 3 Bags of newspaper to the recycling bin
4. BIG bag of cans & bottles to the recycling bin
5. Almost empty conditioner bottle - it's out of the shower!
6. Face scrub I tried but didn't like
7. Almost empty tube of shower gel (don't like it anyway!)
8. Pair of high-waist Mom shorts that make me look like a soccer mom
9. WAY worn out pair of tennis shoes

10. Snap-Hooks that looked great "as seen on TV" but don't actually work.

OK cupofkindness, you made me do it. My Vera Bradley tote box was upstairs in a closet. Several days ago I looked at it and then closed the closet door. Well yesterday I cleaned out my pantry and have many kitchen things for Goodwill. I didn't have enough boxes to put them in so went and got the Vera Bradley box. But-t-t it is a nice box. LOL The VB box was sitting on an empty mattress topper box so it goes too. Why do we save boxes?? Judy

LOL I do not havce time to read all the way through this right now but had to comment on this comment from frankie_in_zone_7 said."It is so telling--you make a trip to Wal-Mart or Target or the department store (or all 3) and wow, if you write everything down ( and exclude use-uppables, like food, shampoo, paper towels), you can really tell what is going on. So it's a variation on the OP in that, to make headway or stay even if you're happy where you are, then you can't toss 10 but bring in 12!"

My biggest purchase in Walmart is cat food and cat litter. There is no way I am going to keep track of that one in a book.Hehehehe

Gotta get back to work. Great thread Tally Sue.

Chris

Someone brought this thread to us at the Smaller Homes forum, where we always are conscious of space issues in our homes. So tossing is an ever-present activity if we want to stay comfy in our smaller spaces.

Today before I read this thread, I began tossing
1. Four cocktail glasses....we never used them anyway.
2. Four heavy bottomed water glasses, which DH seems to always drop on the granite floor, and which become a hazard to my diabetic feet....safety issue.
3. Junk mail
4. Last year's yellow pages for my home town
5. Envelopes w/ flaps stuck down and no longer useful
6. Empty CD cases
7. Scratched music CDs that are too too dirty
8. Combined doggy treats into 1 jar, tossed the empty.
9. Used the 2 tick collars and tossed the box and packaging.

10. Tossed the empty huge liquid detergent bottle.
11. 3 pair DH briefs that were losing elasticity in the band..no baggy briefs around here please.

There was more, and will be much more, but some things require meditation before disposing of. Great thread, BTW.

Oh boy, I had a great day; I toss 4 X Ten. I even Freecycled:
Highchair (I checked with DGD first to see if she was a big girl now)
4 AC filters
27 books

**Update on the 37 resume writing/interview skills/cover letter books that I donated to a church sponsored weekly networking workshop: Based on a phone conversation, the facilitator has asked me to be a consultant to the group. I will observe tomorrow night to see what the agenda is and what I can contribute.

This is a great idea. I'm going with a Toss 7, because 7 is a meaningful number to me.

I started last night with my nightstand drawer, and I'm committed to tossing 7 items a day. :)

moccasinlanding, welcome to the thread!

And hey, no cheating--you tossed 11!! ;-)

(kidding!)

I'm off to find my 10 items.
(I don't think all the used tissues from my cold will count, will they? If they did, I'd be WAY ahead!)

even though Ive purged so much stuff over the last few years this topic has inspired me to "dig deeper" :)

I havent kept track of a few things I purged this week but today I pulled about 30 balls of good quality yarn out of the cupboard that I was never going to use and I'm donating them to an animal shelter that has someone who knits up blankets for the animals. They're not technically out of the house yet but I've boxed them already and Monday they are heading to the post office!

I feel good about it and Im counting it as 30 LOL. I also tossed some other things like bags they were in and half finished knitting projects I found as well.

I've been following this thread with joy in my heart.

I'm a modified version of a FLYbaby. I have some daily schedules and chores. I swish and swipe; I keep the kitchen sink clean. I'm always at least thinking of decluttering. Still, I need "help!"

We're trying to fix up the old place. It can be a mess. Thankfully I'm no longer a shopper; "things" don't interest me except for the few furniture pieces I'm seaching for.

This thread has been an extra boost to my motivation. I've haven't gotten rid of 10 items every day, but I have sent more things out the door than before...and some days I toss more than 10 items.

This week's focus has been in my sewing/craft/ladies' parlour room. It's a small (12x12) room with two windows, two closets, and beautiful morning light. It was also becoming a "catch-all" since I don't have chairs in there right now. I've not been sewing/crafting/or visiting in there, it was easy to "set it in here for now".

My goal is to consolidate the sewing/crafting items to where I can remove the old put-it-together-yourself white storage pantry. I think having an antique chest-on-chest, and two closets, each nearly 5-ft wide and fitted from floor to ceiling with adjustible shelves, should be enough "crafting" storage for anyone.

I've "shared" at least 1/3 of my beads and beading supplies with another crafter.

I FreeCycled an excellent, 1970s sewing machine and cabinet to a lady who has time and space to sew...but no machine.

I've sent snippets and scraps on to better homes, and now I'm down to the "big" decisions. I need to "declutter" one more working but not-overly-valuable sewing machine, and let go of one box of fabrics. Oh...and those two stacks of 1980s shoes, still in the boxes and no longer fit...and never will...? I think they need to boogie on down the highway! LOL Thanks to you, today is the day!

I had several boxes on the 2x4 work table filled with items I'm mailing to people. I got two of them finished and sealed last night. They go out in the mail Monday. Hopefully I'll have all of them ready by then.

Thanks to you people; it's starting to look like my "Ladies Parlour" again. I plan on furnishing the room with two small wing chairs, a tea table with lamp, a tall bookcase, along with the sewing cabinet, and a folding sewing table, (stays in the closet when not in use). It will look "roomy" and "airy." Conductive to creative thinking.

The room is big enough a twin bed can be added if we have a guest that does not want to stay downstairs. DH can bring up the bed in no time, and I don't have to work around it in my "it's not a bedroom" craft room.

I'm still TOSSING.

Yesterday I freecycled:
5 vases
8 softball helmets
vacuum cleaner
ironing board

I tossed 6 other items.

I forgot to report-Monday I tossed 18 pairs of new and nearly new underwear. The collection was like rings on a tree in that it told a story i.e. going from sexy, lacy, size small to medium size bikini, to large granny panties. Okay, a little too much information!

You've inspired me-again! I backslid from the last time we did this - thanks, Talley Sue for prodding us. One of the things that's helping me is a rule I made up that I can never go down to the basement without bringing up anything I can grab to get rid of. So this is what I got out of the house in the last week:

china platter
large vase
log cabin tin
old gift
1962 World Book Encyclopedia (26 volumes plus index)
computer discs & floppies
notebook
garden hose
tea kettle
oriental rug (I must admit I stalled around on this, but decided I just couldn't deal with selling, so I donated)
large tray
plastic box
2 kerchiefs
Hallowe'en decorations (7)
straw filter for pool (didn't work)
Easter decoration
electric can-opener/knife sharpener
2 really old folders
blanket(one of those "gifts" that charities send you for contributing - wish they wouldn't do that)
4 new calenders (how many can I use, anyway?)

I now look around the house through different eyes. Everything is now fair game, so watch out, DH, your stuff is also moving out! Actually he doesn't care what I do, especially with things he hasn't seen for years.

Dot

I've been playing along this week, but haven't gotten a chance to post my results. Not sure if I can sustain this with 10 items *every* day -- but it's a good organizing tool!

Saturday -- mailed out three sets of three home made jams along with sachets from my garden to friends who enjoy my crafty efforts.

Sunday -- Took 7 empty paint cans, and 4 dubious garden sprays found in the basement to the hazardous dump-off place.

Monday --- bagged up 10 items -- shirts still in good shape, belts I've never used, some pants I'll never fit again -- and dropped them off at the clothing recycling bin.

Tuesday -- took at good 20 battles, cans and boxes to the recycling dumpster.

Wednesday -- threw out a dozen blueberry and raspberry containers I had thought to use to sort little craft pieces, but were ending up just taking up space.

Thursday -- posted a bag of fabric on Freecycle and said good-bye to several dozen pieces. Used up some fleece piecess and old, stained towels to make quick doggie beds, and dropped them off at the pet shelter.

Friday -- Took nearly 30 political yard signs collected by my neighbors to the recycling center.

I'm out of town this weekend, but I start out Monday morning by taking sseveral dozen Christmas items to the consignment sale shop -- whicch will leave me with only 97 million more to get rid of! (That's a long story in itself!)

I'm still bringing more into my new house than I take out, but it's kind of a nice feeling to know I'm pruning some stuff as well.

Started cleaning the garage ... dunno how much I tossed, but if the contents were hardened, if it was a part for a car no longer on the premises, etc. it's either in the freecycle box or the trash can.

Amazing how much more room I have.

Thanks for the inspiration Talley Sue. I'm sticking to your rules because they are so flexible: counting each item individually if need be to make 10 works for me!

My house & garden are have been neglected for so long that I'm going to try and apply your Ten method to some other areas that need daily attention:
Toss Ten
Put away Ten
Clean Ten

I'm telling myself it's possible as long as I keep the rules flexible the way you intended. So washing one load of laundry could count as Cleaned 10 (at least, but I won't list each piece) and putting it away could count the same way. If I get up early and do these, I won't run out of time at the end of the day(s) and have such a pile up. By Gosh, I may even develop good habits.

Also, Talley Sue, regarding your comments about us NOT judging each other for HOW items are tossed: I just read that if we start judging and evaluating our performance WHILE we are performing, it will stop us dead in our tracks. It has something to do with our brains not being able to perform/evaluate at the same time. I think that is what gets me in trouble in the first place! My instinct says "toss", my head starts second guessing, progress stops and clutter results.

This may be the way to my goals of having a neater, cleaner, clutter-free house & garden.

Results of my 1st attempt:
Tossed:
Old jar candle
Ineffective tile spray
Thank you note received last summer
2 Junk Mail
5 duplicate copies

Cleaned:
+1-7 Dishes
Smooth Stove top
Laptop
Litter box

Put Away:
+1-4 Unloaded Dishwasher
+5-8 Folded Dryer Load
Coat & scarf
box cutter

The hardest was the Tosses! Hmmmm... I think this can force me out of my All or Nothing Mindset and into taking little bites on a regular basis.

I like the idea of 3,650 less pieces of clutter in my house a year from now.

I like the idea of 3,650 less pieces of clutter in my house a year from now. That really puts this in a different light. Thanks!

But...I'm having to calculate a net toss as I am bringing stuff into the house. Granted, the purchases are more calculated than before.

I read this thread this morning and thought about doing it. Then I read lov2garden's post that said "I like the idea of 3,650 less pieces of clutter in my house a year from now" and I knew I HAD to do this, so begin I did...
And I'm going to do it everyday for a year...though some days will be more than 10. So today was living room/entry room...

I got rid of the following:
*6 ac adapters that I have kept putting back thinking someday I'd figure out what they went to.
*a bunch of clutter paper, just stuff that I was saving because someone might ask me about it.
*a reduce, reuse, recycle project that my son made a while back and was just taking up space.
*3 or four pairs of shoes
*pampered chef mandolin gifted to a friend.
*10 issues of various magazines gifted to my mom who will recycle them after she reads them.
*a bunch of miscellaneous cardboard boxes from things that I bought and thought for some reason I might use the box.
*4 or 5 telephone books (really, why did I have so many?)
*1 broken window blind

I know there was a bunch of other stuff, but these are the big things. I'm going to post everyday from now through the night before thanksgiving about the items I am getting rid of each day. (Tuesdays are hard for me because I'm only home about an hour that night, so I may miss those, but I'll do 15 items the following two nights to "make up" for it. So it's like 170 items gone before that day. That's going to make a HUGE difference in my house.

Talley Sue are you still doing the Toss Ten? I didn't see any recent postings from you. I think this is an excellent idea and I am going to join in, at least until all my excess "baggage" is gone. That will be years from now!

I finished cleaning out our garage and it is the first time since we owned a house that we are able to actually park a car in there. I'm talking about 40 years of marriage here. It feels so good to have at least one car that will not have snow on it this winter.

I'm not going to count stuff that goes out to the garbage...that would be too easy. I am going to count only the stuff that I put in a box that will be going to our Big Brothers/Sisters Consignment shop. The boxes as they fill will go into the trunk of my car and will be dropped off as the trunk fills or if I am down that way.

Having cleaned out the garage, I feel so good and am now starting on the house. I actually came to this forum for hints on how to organize the stuff I am keeping. We have moved from a very large house down to one that is only 1000 square feet but with deaths in our family we accumulated others belongings as well. As we age, I can see us having to move to something even smaller in the future and I want to make it easier for me while I still have the health to do it.

I'm off now to get started but have to do some outside work first before the snow comes. Then it's down to my basement to find 10 things.

Oh & dh? He got rid of 2 shirts. :(

This thread is great! I am so looking forwarding to starting this. My DH will be hunting this weekend, so I will start my toss ten this evening!! We just finished a small kitchen remodel, so we have tons of stuff just sitting around, and I have about had it!! I honestly don't know how just two people who don't have any kids can accumulate so much stuff!!

I'll start with these:
*light fixture boxes
*glasses that we don't use anymore
*magazines
*phonebooks from the past 10 years
*3-4 pair of shoes (maybe more!)
*clothes that I don't wear
*clothes that DH doesn't wear

That's all I can think of for now. Can't wait to get started this evening!!

I haven't been posting my Toss 10 but I've been doing it and I can see a difference. Mostly it's been catalogs and magazines and the odd cleaning product or cosmetic item that never lived up to its promises.

Wish I could say I've Cleaned 10 and Put Away 10 each day too but I keep running out of time! The +10 Cleaned and Put Aways daily have been washing and putting away dishes but I'd like to expand beyond that.

Oh, well...one bite at a time. Meanwhile, the Toss 10 is becoming a habit. Yayyyy!

I'm working on the garage ... with some "Toss 10" and some "put away 10 things where they belong" I've been making steady progress.

Saturday is the a charity collection day, so the bench outside the house is getting piled with the usable stuff.

at least 10 pieces of fleece outerwear
lighting fixtures we removed recently
small electric appliances the kids used in college and left

I'm now turning this into a habit (beginning to be aware of what I actually need), but this is so SLOW! The other day I threw out 20 things from the basement, and, other than the lid to the 1950's diaper pail, the rest would have fit in a plastic food bag. I've got to aim for the big stuff first - more satisfying.

plow_in -
We refer to it as "cubage". Reclaiming several cubic feet of space at once is a good feeling.

I'm opening boxes that have been sitting there for a couple of years and deciding if they can be tossed, consolidated with similar objects, or put in a smaller container.

I'm sorry to say that I've sort of fallen off the wagon.

I'm restarting, though--I think I hit a sort of wall. Lots of easy stuff was gone, and I felt like I needed more steel to tackle some of the rest.

But you guys are inspiring! I'll try to check back in here more often to catch some of the energy.

I just discovered this thread about the toss ten game and I want to play! I need to get back in the habit of regular decluttering. I have been tossing and giving away lots of little things this past week but I didn't keep count. When my new vacuum cleaner arrived DH took the old one out to the curb. I didn't feel it was reliable enough to donate but it disappeared from the curb within an hour. Efficient recycling! Next DH took out an old TV we have not turned on for months, and then a computer desk, with the same result. I'm looking around for the next item to make a trip to the curb where the garbage men will haul it away - that is, if no on picks it up before hand!
I need to get back in the habit of eliminating and simplifying. Lately there have been more things coming in than going out. Not good in a house I still find much too cluttered despite past purges.
Tomorrow I am going to clean out the medicine cabinet and maybe a drawer or two.

Yay!

9 partial cans of paint and one huge bag of dog chews gone to craigslist freebies. :)