House Clean Out

Source: asjulieisgoing.com

We started cleaning out our entire house the first week of January. I've been feeling cluttered in our small space lately and we were interested in moving, so I decided to start with a thorough clean out. After all, we've been married 16 years and have lived here 12 without ever really cleaning out stuff (except toys) as it has accumulated. Then as January went along, we found a house and our bid was accepted! But it's a long road through the paperwork and renovations needed. And in the meantime, the house clean out has gone to a whole new level, with the goal of empty it and sell! (Totals are numbers of garbage bags).

4 Bedrooms = Trash: 5  Give away: 16
In the bedrooms we cleaned out the corners of the room where things get stacked, insides and tops of dressers and nightstands, under the beds, and in the closets. Bags and bags of clothes left the house and found new homes. A good number of odds and ends went to Goodwill and a stack of paperwork was shredded from the cleaned out filing cabinet.

11 totes of books from my shelves.

2 hallway closets, bathroom, living room = Trash: 5   Give away: 8
Ridiculous the stuff you find stuffed in drawers and the backs of closets. Hair ties and headbands I wore in high school (that's 20 years ago)?! Yea my girls wore them when they were little, but even that was years ago. Old tattered blankets, mismatched sheets, half empty bottles of lotions and perfumes long abandoned. My rule of thumb with the closets was that if we had gone this long without using something, we didn't really need it. Because there were some decorative items, I also took into consideration whether or not I'd be likely to use them in a bigger house. If so, I kept them, but I tried to be picky. The sad part was the packing of my books. I kept a small stack out with me, but felt the loss of my many shelves immediately.

Attic & Kitchen = Trash: 3     Give away: 6
There was much less going out of these rooms than I expected, but I do recall clearing out some kitchen cupboards once a few years ago. I found a few pans I can still use, like a bundt pan, just hadn't used them before and didn't realize I owned them. The attic surprisingly wasn't as much junk as I thought. There were a few boxes of decorations I hadn't used in the house cause of limited space, but saved for a new house. So, I figured since I've had them this long, I might as well keep them and see if they're useful when we move. Of course, it might matter that I didn't go through any Christmas decorations. With new space, who knows what can be used where, so I didn't want to throw any of those out now.

Total = Trash: 13     Give away: 30

One of many loads we hauled out!

And we haven't even done the basement yet! That's the goal of this week - finish off the clean out and pack the remainder of it. I estimate the trash going out from the basement will equal the total trash from the house, plus lots of giveaway. I don't plan on keeping half of what's in the basement. Otherwise, the upstairs is completely empty - unneeded items are in storage and needed items moved out to an apartment. The carpets have been professionally cleaned and house cleaners are coming in today. We've gotta get this sucker sold because, as you can see, this is NOT working wonders for my reading. At least it's not a slump, just too busy.




We still have a ways to go...anyone have any moving advice? I've only done it once, from an apartment, and hardly owned anything!

The advice I keep telling myself!