Thursday, May 7, 2015

declutterization, a new year

It's been a huge process trying to downsize; however there have been some road blocks along the way in doing so like my mom not being much help in parting with items and myself buying more items that I thought would sell fast or items that I just wanted for myself and didn't end up using. 

We have recently moved the majority of our clothing stock to a storage unit, but at this point it's costing us money since we haven't sold much in that department.  It's been hard enough working with the vintage items and getting those sold and out the door.  Plus, my personal shopping aspect has been increasing and also helping with an added income.  


We luckily didn't fill the truck completely; only about 1/3 but it came with the storage unit and had an electronic lift.   I had 3 friends and 2 neighbors who helped us move everything out.  It took 2 days.  The first we loaded up everything in like 3 hours and the 2nd day we unloaded and then sorted everything so now our units looks like the picture below.  All clothes & shoes on the left and toys and fitness items in the back and our Amazon books / dvd's.    The metal shelves on the right hold more toys and misc items.  Then we have a whole other unit on the other side; same size that has our own personal items to store that I don't want at the house.


Last night I did make some progress in parting with a few more items.  I posted 3 non-vintage items on my IG Shop and then gather a small box of vintage goodies that have been taking residence in my kitchen and dining room and took them upstairs so they can be prepped for photos, which I did Thursday morning.   I also gather about 3 medium size boxes of items from the kitchen and living room to take to the Flea market to sell.  Mainly things that I jut don't want to mess with shipping on.  When my mom saw the boxes she wasn't sure what I had in mind for them, and then when I said they were for the Flea Market she made sure to point out that we wont get as much at the Flea Market for it and I was like; don't really care just want them gone and would like some cash for it.  She also pointed out that they should be posted on CL first.  I told her if she wanted to post them there, then she could; however I wasn't.  CL has become such a pain in the @$$ lately and I just don;t like dealing with people who want you to meet them where it's convenient for them and not considering you and then wanting to ask for half of your asking price.  Just to much hassle for what I get out of it.  She said she would, but I'm not holding my breathe that this will actually happen in the next 2 weeks, because she has yet to show me that she's a reseller; only that she is a hoarder and wont work towards making any money or parting with anything from the house. 


I went through the main floor gathering items that I listed on a house plan map that I wrote up prior to heading home.  I knew that once I got home I would be lost without some kind of plan.


The main idea comes from postings from My Love Forwards Declutterathon posts, where she does a few projects a day for 26 weeks to eliminate the clutter.  She also has a Clutter Questionnaire for you to fill out to help figure out why you have clutter, so that you can nip it in the butt.

The projects are typically a small cluttered area each day or breaking up a larger project into smaller doable time frames for the week so that way you're not overloading yourself.  I personally want to be able to have some friends over for dinner and a movie by the end of the month, but the house in it's current state is not anything I want my friends to see, so my intention is clear out as much as I can and use the Flea Market to help eliminate some of my larger items while still gaining a few dollars for them.

So well see how far I get to see if by the end of this month the main floor is cleared out enough to my idea specifications and eliminate any items that don't belong or if they have a home elsewhere in the house make sure they get there.