Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Decluttering the family space

 This is the mess I started with in our TV cabinet this morning
  Even more that wouldn't fit in the cabinet had moved over to the adjoining shelf
 Two drawers full of wires and crap. Loaded it all in a basket for Hubby to sort. The drawers are now cleaned out. Wires and such are in the garage where they belong.
 11 remote controls for ONE TV, what the heck. We are now down to the 2 that we need
 Lots of sorting and list making went on.
 The end results are DVD's that we like and will play in the equipment we have.
While I was working on my decluttering challenge I got the laundry caught up. I love doing my hubby's wash, he always has cash in his pockets, scored $39.00 today!!

Before I begin my post check out some blog candy Gill is giving away over here http://thatbritishwoman.blogspot.com/  I so would love to have one of the prints.

I had thought today's decluttering would be quick and easy, NOT!!  I spent so much time sorting unopened DVD's hubby has received as gifts over the past few years I was ready to pull my hair out. The duplicates were moved to the hall table and are being sent to various homes that will enjoy them. I have put all family members on notice NO MORE DVD's for hubby!!!! 
We also had piles and piles of VHS tapes, I can't remember how many years it has been since we got rid of our VHS player so we had no need for the things, however they were favorites of our big girls when they were our little girls :( Whats a Mom to do? Load up the ones that were not so special and begin an Amazon search for the ones I knew I couldn't find around town. BINGO, we have the entire set of "Shirley Temple", "Little House on the Prairie" and the original "Little Woman" on there way. This purchase was sooo not in the budget but I pulled from some mad money and made it happen. After much sorting and list making I loaded up all the VHS tapes and headed to Goodwill before hubby got home and would want me to store yet something else that was useless to us in the attic. The back end of my car was loaded down with last weeks clean out and an additional 4 bags of tapes.
On the way home I spotted a Blockbuster that was still opened, all the rest have gone out of business. With list in hand I went in to see if I could find any used for sale or clearance DVD's on my list. YA baby I found a bunch 5/$20.00 and a few more that were new marked down to $7.00. I was on a quest (spending spree) to find even more so Wally world was the next stop. I did find some in the $10.00 rack and a few at full price, you can guess what happened next, yep they all came home with me. We still have a bit of a list I will be replacing but I am holding off until I help DD#1 clean out her TV cabinet, I know Tyler has taken many home with him. I had a bad feeling about this decluttering challenge from the get go, that it would cost me some dollars...and it did today. I am OK with the spending, we had the cash to lay down and our little ones will enjoy the same wholesome movies their Mommies grew up on, money well spent
Have any of you ended up spending as you have been working the decluttering challenge? I know I am probably the odd man out but I feel really good knowing our family DVD library is all tidy and will be complete once the big old box from Amazon arrives.

10 comments:

  1. I want to do your laundry if that's how much you find in dh's pockets!!! Now that the kids have left home I find NOTHING in the laundry!!!

    Thanks for the link,

    Gill in Canada

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  2. My husband NEVER leaves money in his pants! Years ago when I used to do my brother's laundry I used to score big, but always gave it back to him. You must be exhausted with all that decluttering and running around, Debby? Wowsers, and good job on all the DVD replacement "scores" you made today. I think we are up to 5 remotes at the moment ! All this decluttering is going to be and has started to be such a really great thing, really it is? LOL

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  3. Gill, I wonder if the motels are getting all this $$ when he travels, he says no that he cleans out his pockets when he sends it out but I wonder.
    North of Wiarton, I am trying to teach him to do better with his $$ I always tell him how much I made on laundry day and he just laughs. The decluttering isn't as bad as I thought it would be but I have been doing extra in the scrap/sewing room since I knew it couldn't be done in a week. Yesterday I spent more than I really needed to but I just wanted the job done and done right, thankfully some things were on sale.

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  4. My Hubby usually only has some change in his pockets!! Are you going to give it back to him? I wouldn't :) And great job on decluttering!

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  5. You did a fabulous job! 11 remotes is hilarious!! lol! Geez.. my hubby never leaves that much cash in his pockets! haha!!!

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  6. Cash is mine ladies. I am using Tough Love to get him in line! HA I did let him know how much I scored to help him remeber to take better care of his spend $$. I have a funny feeling the concierge service in his many travels might be racking up!!

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  7. Hey Debby, I tagged you in a little questionnaire on my blog. Come, join me and spread some love :)

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  8. Wow, you did well with the tapes! I can understand the desire to buy more though. I've been decluttering my wardrobe, and what did I buy today ? More clothes!!

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  9. Great job!

    Too funny about the remotes! Why do we throw/give away the TVs but remotes seem to hang around forever??

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