Since the 2020, I keep a dry erase board with the contents of my freezer. The board resides in my pantry, next to the fridge.

I am not a good freezer user. It is like a black hole ... things go in there and are forgotten. Except for ice cream or cookie dough!

Close to finished with my closet. Donating a dozen dresses. Ones I didn't love how they fit and rarely wore them. A couple still had tags. I'm also not likely to wear dressy sleeveless and very low-cut dresses any more, even if they still fit.

I just tried to order Elfa drawers and they are out of stock, both online and at the nearest store, which isn't that close. I might steal some from the guest bedroom closets, which are empty, and replace those when they are back in stock. At least I can get all my newly folded t-shirts and shirts put away and complete the closet purge project.

Next project should be my desk area, drawers and to-be-filed piles of paper.

Wait ... what ... nine pairs of jeans is supposed to be a lot?

I think a very high % of the time I wear things that can be worn again, since most of the time when I go out it is for a few hours, not all day. Casual around the house clothes I wear all day, exercise clothes I don't rewear, and work clothes go thru a long day too. But everything else...

I think I need a system to denote them in my closet, like maybe hangers or placement.

I’m a terrible freezer user, that’s why keeping a list helps me. I don’t remember what I have, and I can’t get things defrosted when I want them. During that time in 2020, which will go unnamed so it doesn’t get blocked, I was buying more meat to limit trips to the store. I needed to know what I had so I didn’t have to dig around in there. I have Raynaud syndrome and I hate touching cold things.

One of my sisters is the master of freezer use. She’s always whipping out meals she made earlier, like chili and soups and IDK what. She comes back from her trips and has meals in the freezer.

Back to the real topic, my big obstacle to purging is the weather. If it’s the least bit nice, I’d rather be outside. I might not have ”time” to do anything of significance until a rainy day in late fall. Best I can do now is prevent more stuff from entering the house.

Yesterday DH and I were going through a closet. 75% of the closet is filled with his things, the rest are joint household items and it had one thing that could be considered mine.
After a few moments of discussing what to do, he points at my thing. It's a small decorative metal tub that I use for parties on a high shelf. He asks, "What should we do with that?".
It took a tremendous amount of self-control for me not to blurt out, "Are you kidding me?". Good grief.

Y‘all have inspired me. We got back from a trip to the beach this weekend. Before we put our suitcases away, we went through all the luggage. We were able to get rid of 5 large rolling duffle bags and an old suiter/garment bag. I’ve started going through my closet and have 3 black garbage bags of donations - so far.

WOW, @porkandham,great job.

I just bought:

1. a magnetic dry erase board and magnetic markers (thanks HHireno)

2. Two specialty hangers that will be devoted to lightly worn clothes:

- a tiered shirt hanger

- a tiered pants hanger

3. A hook to hang belts

I keep coming back to this thread hoping it will spur me to finish purging my collection of antiquing finds and gifted items that I never use. I find it really hard to part with gifts, even if I never use them.

I came up with a system that works for me to keep track of clothing that can be worn again. I bought plastic loose leaf binder rings and slip one on the hanger after I wear an item. I also use them clipped on the labels of folded sweaters.

I find it really hard to part with gifts, even if I never use them.

For each gift, ask yourself what you think the recipient would say if they knew you did not use and felt a bit burdened by it. In some cases (maybe a family gift) you might still decide you "need" to keep it, but I bet in a lot of cases you can imagine that recipient most wants you to do what makes you happy.

BTW, I am cutting and pasting (and editing) here but these are useful decluttering points IMHO. My faves bolded and ital.

• Fear of Waste: You worry about wasting money or resources, even though keeping an unused item in a closet does not recover its cost.

• Aspirational Clutter: You keep things for a future "what if" version of yourself—like a serving dish for hosting parties you never throw.

• Change the Value Definition: Real value is what an item does for your daily life right now. If it just collects dust, it takes positive energy away from your home.

How to Reframe a Gift and Let Go

• Acknowledge the Purpose is Complete: Once a gift is given and received, it has already fulfilled its emotional job of showing care. You do not need to keep it forever to honor that moment or person.
• Pass It On: ease your guilt by giving them a second life with someone who actually needs them.

In reference to rewearing clothing items: my mother would always hang them inside out. This also served to air them out a bit.

DH's wardrobe is kind a uniform. Shorts and short sleeve mock turtlenecks since some golf courses require a "collar". He also has a wide assortment of fashion pique t-shirts that he used to wear when he played at courses that didn't require a collar. He also wore them to work with shorts in the summer (he owned the company and set the dress code). In the winter he wears long sleeve mock turtlenecks. His system is to turn them inside out for laundering and to hang them inside out. Then he knows they're clean - works for him. I don't separate my "worn" clothes. If they're dirty they go in the laundry. If they're they're not, they hang on the rod next to the rest of them.

I used to lament purging gifts. Not any more - out they go with all the rest of the unused stuff.

Turns out Elfa closet drawer parts are not out of stock at the Container Store. Spoke to a nice associate at the store and she said that they had changed SKU's and the website was not updated. She placed my order for all the necessary parts and I should have them in 10 days or so. In the meantime I did steal a few drawers from the guest bedroom closet, so I could sort my newly folded shirts (short sleeve, long sleeve, athletic, casual and dressy). Closet is now back to being neat and organized.

I noticed this thread title yesterday and it inspired me to do an electronics equipment purge this morning, including two phones, one ipad, one laptop, one printer, and one desktop computer — all ready to go to recycling! ty!

So proud of myself, i had to bump this up. I cleaned and organized an entire shelving unit in the basement. Tossed lots of stuff and reorganized the rest.

Today I made a trip to the thrift shop to drop off a bag of clothes, a set of drinking glasses and a french press.

Then i went to the local food pantry and dropped off a few things that were well within the expiration date that I will never use.

Yesterday I cleaned out a drawer from my bedside stand and filled a waste basket.

Nevertheless, I look around this place and wonder how I'll get rid of even more. One step at a time, I guess.

Saw several young kids ”thrifting” at the shop. They look cute in the vintage clothes. To be honest, all those clothes and household goods give me the heebie jeebies. There is too much stuff in the world!

Anyway, yay me.

I need to create space to do my art projects in the garage, I’ve decided, so this weekend I’m going to start purging some junk to make room for a long table. Our garage is a disaster.

@dedtired - wow you are on a tear! Excellent job - you must be feeling great after making all that progress.

My garage is also a jumbled mess. One thing I have in there is a lot of extra tile from my kitchen backsplash. I dont know how to get rid of them. Theres enough to do another small backsplash. They’re also heavy.

The garage is pretty much last on the list. It maybe the place that Junk Luggersgets to clean out some day.

Started with indoor fridge, it quit defrosting. Had to empty int garage fridge and freezer. Could not find a new one to fit space, found someone to repair!

Cleaned inside fridge and started moving things back inside. Cleaned, organized, and purged garage fridge. Then cleaned, organized, and purged garage freezer. Then same for garage pantry. Cleaned inside cabinet for spices and such. Cabinet over stove. Cabinet under bathroom sink.

Great accomplishments all around here. Ded, before we moved, I offered leftover tile on buynothing/freecycle. Even for odd amounts, people were niterested for all sorts of crafts as well as home projects. If you're ok with letting it go for free, I promise it will be in demand.

You're on a roll. Can't stop Dont' stop.

@dedtired - if you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore near you, they will accept new tile donations.

I donated two partially filled bags with clothes this week, along with an inexpensive aquarium I did not end up using. Could be used for fish (has pump etc), a reptile, and a other small creatures. When DD was here last week, I gave her a beautiful turquoise necklace that belonged to my mother. I have numerous pieces on a closet shelf waiting to be sold online. Now just to start that process. Honestly the local jewelry store owner buy "for scrap," but he sells things from his many bags of scrap. I happened to be in the store after I sold some gold and silver to him. A lady was purchasing two or three inexpensive items of Mom's I had sold for scrap.

Impressive de-cluttering going on around here. I've only managed to donate or discard a few items this month but they were taking up a lot of shelf space. I need to put more effort into my closet.

A meat slicer that was only used twice about 15 years ago. I'm clueless as to why DH bought it in the first place. But it's still in the box along with the owner's manual and an extra slicing blade.

A sous vide and the huge container for the water bath - used maybe twice.

DH isn't able to do stairs any longer so I took the opportunity to weed the walk-in closet in his old second floor office and packed 2 boxes. Plus another box of dog supplies for the county animal shelter - brushes, collars, leashes, nail clippers, stainless bowls etc.

Two large bags of grass seed that are past their germination date. We have a lawn service that maintains the yard and handles those things. DS took them to over seed his yard this fall knowing nothing may grow - or he was being kind and plans on trashing them. Nothing makes DH happier than believing that the kids are benefiting from our surpluses.

My old jewelry box - similar to the one Mtn gave her DD but not lovingly crafted by anyone. It's from Bailey, Banks and Biddle and DH gave it to me when we became engaged. I haven't used it since moving into this house. And the son who took the grass seed also took the jewelry box for his 5 year old daughter who will fill it with plastic bangles, stick-on earrings and what nots.

Ok ded - how many jeans did you eliminate on this second round?

I would never critique the number you have. Since I live in mine all year I counted - 3 pair of black, one green, one tan, one raisin and 6 pair of standard dark wash that are now various shades of deep navy to limp, faded out, good only for painting or gardening pale blue.

Maire and Ded, really good work. This thread has done us all a lot of good, brava @3katz4me

My denim count is only for blue denim; I am at 4 pr. But that is because I am only keeping things that fit me just right just now; i used to have a range of sizes.

I am unreasonably pleased with my simple device to store belts, which were taking up drawer space.

I have been thwarted in organizing my lightly worn clothing on deisgnated layered hangers; one set still in transit, the others sent to me *twice* now in black, when I ordered white. arggh

While some of you are organizing, I purchased several of THESE and the next larger size for DD's pet closet. They have made finding things easier for everyone. She was going to buy some for her bathroom too, but I don't know if she ever did. (Target)

THESE bins are my choice to use in the pantry, in our bathroom armoire and laundry room cabinets. I have this and the larger size in the armoire.

I have a hard time getting rid of things that I do not use just because they are interesting but I found a place that might take these:

Very large set of bronze flatware from Bangkok. (1970) This needs to be hand washed, and I already have sterling

Edmund Scientific Athelstan Spilhaus Space Clock. Mid 60s currently not working. The top part has all these gears in it and it has been kind of chronic in going out of commission. There are people who are interested in, and know how to keep these running.

Unitron Polarex telescope and tripod. This is a full size telescope about 4 feet long. Again it's about as old as I am, and there is a prism knocked loose inside it. It can be fixed, but I am not going to do it

Atwater Kent radio (1924) and Model E speaker. Untouched but works. They used to run on something similar to a car battery.

All of this stuff I could keep, especially the Spilhaus clock, because it's just beautiful to look at, but I think other people will appreciate them more

OK, yeah, and I am purging randon mugs with faded logos on them.

Beautiful things, Pal.

Yeah, today was my sock drawer. Nothing interesting there!

Great job, @dedtired, @maire_cate, @Allison0704, & @palimpsest (such nice pieces). @mtnrdredux_gw, I love your belt hanger and your decluttering tips. I am 100% guilty of #2. But trying to rehab myself in that regard. It’s slow.

Allison, I have several similar clear bins from Target. A few months back i was purging stuff in our bathroom. I didn’t get into DH’s side much but i did quite a bit in our small linen cabinet and my drawers of makeup, skin care, hair products, vitamins etc. I used the larger/longer bins to corral the OTC meds, my extra bottles of shampoo and hair products, 52 boxes of bandaids DH is collecting (not really that many but he seems to buy bandaids whether we need them or not), and a couple of smaller bins that hold sample sizes I can grab for travel, and another for spares of toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, etc. I also re-lined most of our shelves in the bathrooms and pantry and a few in the kitchen where we use stuff a lot. Still may do more of this later.

The rest of our purging has been heavy on DH’s part since he has lost weight. He ’s still finding something here and there he puts in the donate boxes. He has also been working in our ’barn’ where he keeps a mini-hardware and lawn equipment store and threw away a lot. We also did a mini purge of some things in the garage. It is just too hot to work outside much right now, even in covered shade. The rest of my purging has mostly been a random clothing item or I do things in spurts here and there when I open a drawer, sigh, and start pulling things out for the trash can.

Pal, how are you recuperating? I may have missed an update recently.

@3katz4me, have I missed an update about your home in MN you are clearing out and selling?

Pal gets the prize for meaningful purge.

My sister gets arrives Tuesday and truth be told, I’ve moved a bunch of stuff to storage because.….not enough time.

I did clean out the refrigerator and food cabinet after having a minor meltdown last week because of the mess.

After her stay, I’ll start to condense the storage units (my regular eBay 10x10 and the temporary 5x10) and list a ton on FBMP.

I will also take my sister to the units because the eBay family discount is 100%, so maybe she’ll leave with some goodies.

I mentioned waiting until cooler weather to purge/organize our garage …. for an exciting reason, it’s been moved up to today. This beauty will be coming home with us tomorrow:

Her garage mate will be our sedan, so we have to clear one side. I haven’t had a new (well, new to me, the Macan is used) vehicle in a long, long time, so don’t expect to see me around much. I’ll be out driving and hopefully not getting speeding tickets. :D

Nice! DH bought a red Porsche for himself as a retirement gift. All the young guys tried to race him when the stop light turned green.

Oh Jilly - congrats on your new wheels - and a S too! You'll have fun driving that around. I had a Macon hybrid last week while my Cayenne was in for the annual physical. Mine is white too and I've been surprised that it doesn't show the dirt as much as I thought it would. Congrats.

Thanks, you two! I’m so excited. :)

Eileen, I love the red ones!

@jilly no photo?

@1929Spanish-GW, LOL, 100% family discount

52 boxes of bandaids DH is collecting

We also need a bandaid nonproliferation treaty at our house. Also DH. Like we will bleed out if we don't that little 1/2' sticky strip.

Mtn, I took them down (dealer’s photos) … I’ll repost my own when she gets home. :)

(Gently used Porsche Macan.)

@Jilly Congrats on the new car! Looking forward to pictures.

Thank you, porkandham! :)

Well, reading the last few posts reminded me that I have a stack of purged clothes sitting in the back seat of my SUV ... need to go to the thrift store that raises money for a local group, and I need to make an appointment for my yearly car maintenance!

Wow, Jilly, a new Porsche. Nice. Looking forward to the pictures.

Pal, i congratulate you on sending your items off to new homes. I decided to take a silverplated tray to the thrift shop but made the mistake of googling its value first. It belonged to my great aunt and is well over 100 years old. Well, it could be worth $150, or maybe $50 depending on a few things. I should have just donated it and let some thrifter think they hit the jackpot. Now it will take up space until i figure out what to do with it,

I also hesitated to donate a fondue pot that hadnt been used in 30+ years. Round two of the thrift shop donations is coming up and that will go this time.

Ugh. Why do we accumulate so much? In the world of bandaids, i recently added another box, this time extra large after a trip to the derm for a skin cancer removal. I bought it on the way home then realized there were bandaids I could use in the ten boxes I already own.

I miss bandaids that had that red thread running down the side for easy opening.

Oh my DH ws just showing me one the other day he thought we should get. I've been too busy to go look and I am hesitant to add a different dealer to the mix ( we have 4 bmws's and the dealer is a golf buddy) but OTOH if/when we need a new car, I am not finding anything exciting from BMW.

I recall you've been looking a while? And that you are knowledgeable about cars. Why the Macan?

ded, thanks, it’s used but low mileage and one owner (who babied it!). :)

Mtn, I have! Whew. I’ve been looking and researching extensively since Christmas and was getting so frustrated. We narrowed it down to the Volvo XC60, Jaguar F Pace, Porsche Cayenne or Macan, and Maserati (various SUVs). The Macan turned out to be perfect for my wants, which are probably different than most. A few of them:

Luxurious, yet sporty and fast. An SUV sports car.

Lots of buttons and knobs, everything not totally run by a touch screen. And the screen is small, Volvo had what looked like iPads bolted to the dash. Too much for me.

Can turn the start/stop switch off and it stays off by default.

I didn’t want a sunroof … hard to find a vehicle without one around here.

For just DH and I, mainly me alone, it’s the perfect size. Decent cargo space, too.

Really smooth handling.

I’ve always loved Porsche, and finally found one with exactly everything I wanted. It’s such a great mix of retro, classic, and modern, and drives so nice.

Does anyone actually use a sunroof? I cant remember the last time I opened mine.

ded, I’ve rarely used mine in various vehicles. Our weather is too harsh too often.

I’ve been reading Red.dit threads regularly (each vehicle I was considering has devoted forums) and other car sites, and there are so many nightmare stories about panoramic sunroofs leaking into the car … and into the electrical system, shutting everything down. I don’t know how common that is, maybe not at all, but since I don’t use one anyway, I was thrilled to find a Macan without it.

(3katz, my apologies for the thread hijack.)

We’ve had many sunroofs over the years and have used and do use all the time when weather is suitable. We’ve never had a leak or problem of any kind. There are apparently lots of vehicles without them as we can rarely get a rental car that has one.

My old car had sunroofs drains that would get clogged. The way Id discover the clog was when I backed out of the driveway and then drove forward, all the water would pour on my head and Id get soaked.

OMG, @dedtired too funny.

Thanks for sharing your thought process Jilly. My main concern is straying from a dealer we trust, but again, BMW suvs are getting pretty boring.

Like @3katz4me, we have always used our sunroof (prob more before we had the convertibles) with zero issues.

Purging update: reorganized dining room closet and came away with a small box of donations. Then, got rid of stray singleton glasses and such in the K, and past-their prime knives.

Most of the cars we've had in the last 20 years have had a sunrooof, but none caused any problems.

Quite unlike the convertible Fiat 124 Spider that I drove in the mid 1970's. We'd get in after a rain and discover the carpet was soaked. It took them forever to find the leak - it wasn't from the roof but the cowl.

My dealership purged this vehicle rather quickly. It was new on the show room floor when I dropped off my car for service in the morning and when I returned the loaner that afternoon it was being prepped for sale.

Definitely not in the boring category - limited edition (only 1,500), "Signal Orange' custom paint and I think the sticker was around 275000.

Maire, I can see you in that, for sure.

Indeed - especially sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill during rush hour! I don't even open my sunroof.

Returning to the original topic - both my sons and their families were at our PA place last week and finally got around to packing up the baby stuff (potty chair, high chair, pack n play, baby books, even an unopened box of Pampers).

Not that they took it with them or dropped it off at Goodwill - and honestly their cars were full with their vacation gear and kids. But it is now in the garage where I can easily handle it.

Now if only I can get DH to go through the PA garage. In 30 years he has amassed a collection of equipment and tools that he can no longer use himself and we have a landscaper to handle everything. I even threatened to put a trigger lock on the chainsaw.