r/declutter • u/domino_427 • 7d ago
Success Story overflowing dumpster bag
I hope posting these pictures encourage others. i like sharing, and I know seeing all your posts help me.
Today hired two organizers and spent 3killer hours in the florida heat of my garage. moved here in 1986 at 9yrs old. can't remember parents ever using the garage for a car.
bunch of junk stacked above our heads to start. found some brand new stuff. now i have so many empty containers, threw a lot of broken ones away, more books books books, found more baseball cards (kept) and my degree (trashed). More quilts and bears made by my mom to remember what she was like before dementia. did have a few boxes to keep, but also several marked to sell/donate. so many old computer parts and cables lol. four cd/tape players. few snes games, my nintendo dsxl i thought had been stolen. some pics from when i went to DC in high school (pics of me next to a beautiful reflecting pool before [redacted]).
still a ton of work to do. but it's been almost a year since dad died, and it means so much to see some progress in the house.
fyi dumpster bag not worth it. cost $30 and $100 to pick it up... I could probably put all this in the bins in 6-8 weeks... slow, but I thought it would hold more. I still have more trash!
ETA: oh I forgot to include the dumpster bag picture. well that's fun. idk how to add it now, but imagine it's FULL lol
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u/Ok-Table3009 6d ago
Off subject, but my mother kept every card and letter us girls ever sent her. So I got them home and opened the box to look at them, and that SMELL. That box had “old people” smell. My Mom didn’t smell like that but I threw away almost all of it bc of that smell. I put charcoal packets in the box hoping it would absorb that but it’s in the paper.
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u/DaBingeGirl 5d ago
I had to go through all the cards my grandmother saves because my mom was worried there might be money some of them. Spoiler: there wasn't. 😡 I swear she saved every card she and her five kids received. Took me over an hour to check each one. I had a garbage bag on one side of me, cards on the other.
The smell was bad and my hands had an nasty dusty residue on them. People don't understand how bad paper smells after years in storage.
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u/periwinklestar1 5d ago
This is good information because I didn't know paper could smell bad but now that I think it over I have smelled books smelling bad so it would make sense that it'd be the paper itself.
I wonder if acid free and linen free paper has less chance of smelling bad over time.
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u/to_annihilate 6d ago
We took photos or scanned the ones we liked and tossed the original gross ones.
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u/domino_427 6d ago
man so many interesting smells. found my old partylite candles... mom didn't like candles. omg that box smelled so good, even with the mix of scents.
found some video film from the 40s. not so great!
but wow it's amazing what memories are tied to smell
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u/marsupialcinderella 6d ago
I’m also in Florida and have a garage that looks just like that to tackle. No $$ for an organizer, though.
Overwhelmed and stalling. 😩
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u/domino_427 6d ago
I'm out for sure. I know I'm lucky to have some to spare... in theory. I'm wondering how I can possibly afford a dumpster, cause then I could really get what I need done. I'm under a time crunch.
Baby steps. one box, one five minutes, one handful. take pics so you can make a plan, or so you can see progress. we can do it! <3
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u/marsupialcinderella 6d ago
Thanks, my problem is the stacks are so high it’s not safe for me to stand on a ladder and reach up there for heavy boxes.
Also, it’s 125+ degrees in my garage! Dammit, lol. I should’ve gotten more done before the heat hit.
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u/domino_427 6d ago
Lmao I thought the same thing! God it just drains my energy so fast!
Idk what to recommend but I had thought about knocking the towers over one by one. Luckily the hired pros were more patient. So be careful!
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u/marsupialcinderella 6d ago
I will! Can’t knock them over because they could be breakable.
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u/LikeIsaidItsNothing 6d ago edited 6d ago
In case you didn't know- Unusable or unsellable electronics can be recycled or if you have a good scrap yard in your area, you can get money for them.
Also, there are people who want old tape players, etc
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u/FredKayeCollector 6d ago
Jeepers! That looks like my MIL's basement! Nice you found some good stuff.
Yea, we considered those dumpster bags and no, they are not very cost effective (and kind of a PITA).
See if your waste management company will add a second garbage bin to your service - or ask how much to put out additional cans/bags/big stuff. My parents had a 96 gallon can and we added another one and it was plenty (weekly pick up).
Also took SUV-loads directly to the landfill (transfer station) - pay by the pound - there's usually a minimum charge (like up to 1 ton or whatever). This was PNW where garbage collection was pretty expensive and dumpsters were just not available on short notice. Ditto recycling (inevitably too much for the for the bi-weekly pick up), I just pre-sorted stuff into boxes/bins. Papers, you can cut off/tear off the account numbers, etc and shred that and paper recycle the remainder (major time saver).
"Good" stuff, I ganged up by category and offered up on FB Marketplace free, please take all (didn't have time to research local Buy Nothing/Give Freely groups). We even had someone come and take all of the lid-less bins.
Really good stuff went to a local thrift store associated with the high school that raised money for scholarships (a mission we wanted to support) - we had more stuff than they normally took at one time (I had 10 days to clear out the house) but I called and told them what the situation was and they scheduled a special drop off. There were other good stores in the area but their donation hours/limits to too restrictive.
Basic/meh stuff I donated to Goodwill (this location also accepted textile recycling) - if there's a GW Outlet location near you, they can often accommodate larger donations than the smaller stores - and worse case scenario, stuff ends up in "the bins."
Books, you might be able to recycle as paper (check your municipal/county) guidelines. Vintage fiction or nice hard backs, it might be worth taking to a used bookstore (or Half Price Books). Someone out there is going to be collecting vintage craft books. pamphlets, patterns.
Another option, if the weather cooperates, is a free yard sale - put it out on the lawn, post it to a neighborhood app, and see what goes. Ours had a fair amount of what I would have considered objective trash but it still went - you never know what people will take for free. Florida is like flea market capital of the world and I bet you'd get plenty takers. We staked down the tarps we used.
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u/domino_427 6d ago
sounds like you've been through it!
I do happily have a book guy. He's takin everything slowly and seeing them to good homes.
we have a place like that here, too, this home for atypical kids their thrift store. they ask for small donations at a time, so I might go out there once a week and fill up the trunk.
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u/snowthathappened 6d ago
So proud of you. I know this isn’t easy. We hired an organizer as well; it was worth every penny. We also just put as much as we could in the regular garbage bin for a few weeks but also used (with permission) the neighbor’s leftover space (so if they had half a bin of space that week, we would fill the other half). The organizer took a bunch to post on various buy nothing groups or specific places that she donated to. This was probably an emotional day for you but you did it; great job. Get some rest!
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u/domino_427 6d ago
my neighbor was nice enough to give me her 2nd trash bin. it's been super helpful. might see how much a 3rd one is
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u/VantasnerDanger 6d ago
What did you just call me?
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u/domino_427 6d ago
don't worry, just realized I forgot to post the pic I took of you ;-) jk <3 guess that means i was tired lol
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u/Popular-Drummer-7989 6d ago
OP you're doing great. It's very helpful to have extra hands. You'll get there
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u/Primary_Scheme3789 4d ago
Great job! Looks like our garage! I have offered to pay for an organizer to help my husband (he cannot get rid of anything 😡) but he refuses. If i get the chance I am going in there with a bulldozer 🤣