Freecycle? NO way.........

[cassiesmom]

It's amazing how quickly stuff goes when it's left by the curb. Blows me away!

My sister's (upper middle class) neighborhood is like that too! Folks cruise the streets on Sunday nights because people put their trash on the curb for Monday collection day.

We have a spot in my building, it's a little table in the lobby, where you can place things you would like to give away. We also place magazines there after we've read them, because one of my neighbors takes them to the V.A. when we are done with them.

When my grandmother passed away and we needed to clear out her whole house, my mom found an organization that came and picked up her dining table and chairs, some pots and pans and a set of dishes. They set up apartments for refugee families and we thought that was a great place for my grandmother's stuff to go.

Today I was feeling the urge to move stuff.

Could you please forward the urge to me? I have a LOT of stuff that needs moved o-u-t.

[RICHARD]

Yesterday I called the city to come pick up a matress, ottoman, Computer crt and a the sofa.

I called at about 12:30 p.m. to arrange a pickup and they were here at 7:30 a.m.

Someone did pick up the CRT and the ottoman during the night, so it was that much LESS for the city to pick up!

[Cookiebaker]

A few years ago, we renovated our kitchen and upgraded our 1950's electric stove/oven. We did a little research and found out that we were going to have to pay to throw it away (I don't remember the exact price but I'm thinking it was like $40 or $50). That stove was soo gross. There was no way to open the top of it, and there was 50 years of crumbs under the range -- you could vaccuum out some of it, but anything out of reach of the vaccuum was stuck there. So we put it out at the curb. Unfortunately, it rained that night (we covered it with a tarp) and I was convinced that we were going to have to suck it up and pay to get rid of it. But the next morning, it was GONE! Saved us a lot of time and energy and money! I love putting stuff out for free!

[gini]

I can't tell you how many times I have put things at the curb and in less than ten minutes IT WAS GONE!!

I am starting to think that someone sits up the street and just watches our house because it was picked up so fast.............

But they say - your junk is someone elses treasure.

[Medusa]

I think the funniest for me is a couple of weeks ago I put out an old cardboard box that was nearly crushed but was too big to put in the trash can. Someone took it before the trash collector even came!

[Catlady711]

Could you please forward the urge to me? I have a LOT of stuff that needs moved o-u-t.

The best thing that helped me (a confirmed life long packrat) was a series of books by Don Aslett; Clutter's Last Stand, Not For Packrats Only, and How To Lose 200 LBS This Weekend.

Aside from the humorous way he writes and the cute cartoons in the margins, his books are full of helpful advice to declutter your home, even for die hard packrats like me.

After I read his books in 2006 I started working on decluttering my own home (which was bad, let me tell you). I finally had my last garage sale this summer. In total I think I pitched about 18 garbage bags of stuff, donated 6-8 boxes of stuff plus some furniture, and sold about 10 pickup trucks full of stuff!! And honestly I don't miss hardly a thing. It was all so buried around here that I couldn't even enjoy what I had. Now it's being enjoyed, and USED by someone else, or it's finally had the burial it deserved years ago.

Thanks to the advice in the book, the super sentimental stuff I took pictures of before getting rid of it, so now I can look at it any time I want without spending 3 hours digging in the basement for it, or worrying how to store it.

It also changed what I buy and bring into my home now. While I wish I could say I have empty shelves abound, I do have an occasional empty shelf here and there, and no longer get attacked by things opening cupboards and closet doors, and I can find most stuff again without hiring an excavation team!

I figure it it helped a packrat like me, those books will help anybody. I highly recommend getting them, or at least checking them out at the library.