Identify and Rid Myself of 43 Items of Überclutter

My old crappy furniture that I got rid of in the move totally counts as Uberclutter, right? I really disliked all of it, and I really just kept it around until the move. I’m going to replace the obvious items with nicer things that are more of my particular taste and style.

33. Old Couch

Still in good enough shape for the Salvation Army to take, but not really my style. It was “donated” to me by my mother, who was going to throw it away a few years back. It was nice to sleep on, but not aesthetically pleasing at all.

34. Ugly Glass Coffee Table

Went with the couch.

35. 20-Year-Old Entertainment Center

I may have been able to spruce this up with a coat of paint, but would it really be worth the effort? I don’t even have a TV to put in it anymore! Oh, speaking of which:

36. Really Old Television

I haven’t turned this thing on in like 6 months. I don’t watch TV and when I watch movies, I usually use my computer now.

37. DVD Player

I left the TV/DVD player outside my old apartment. They were gone in 2 hours. Yay!

38. Guitar

Gave it to my ex-roommate, who will surely get more use out of it than I did.

I’m so busy with packing right now, but I had to mention that I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff I’ve been needlessly holding on to. Oakland is wonderful for leaving things on the curb and having it all magically disappear within the hour.

26. CD Tower

It doesn’t stand up straight on carpet. I’ve been having to tie it to something in order for it to be functional, and even though I have hardwood in the new place, I am sick of it!

27. Office Organizer Things

I’ve had these for 15 YEARS. Time for something different, yes?

28. Mess of Audio Stuff

Tossed a bunch of cassette tapes, random blank (or not) CDs that I’ve been hoarding “just in case” there was something useful on there, CD jewel cases, soft CD carrying cases (I have like 10 of them for some reason), VHS nonsense that was still leftover from the last purge, and random useless cords for things I don’t even own anymore.

29. Outdated Textbooks

I left a few of these out by the dumpster just to see what would happen, and they’re gone already! Weird.

30. Hair Dye

I’m all natural now, baby. I gave all the extra I had (that was still good) to my dye-happy co-worker.

31. Old Bath Products

There wasn’t much left, but most of it is in the garbage now. I’m sure that stuff has some sort of expiration date and most of it was many years old.

32. College Paper Clutter

Anything worth saving is on a disk I have. Keeping the paper stuff around is just silly now. There was an entire box of this stuff that I recycled today.

I’m currently working on sorting through everything that I own while I prepare for my move. I seriously intend to go through every box, every drawer, every paper, EVERYTHING. A lot of older furniture and things I don’t use (like my television) are going to be given away sometime in the next month. I want to downsize and simplify, and then rebuild from scratch. New digs, new life, new things – that’s the plan. Prepare to see a lot of activity from me on this goal in the near future.

24. Peacat’s Medical Stuff.

Some unused medicine, an e-collar, various medical items which are now of no use to us because she is ALL BETTER – they are being donated back to my clinic (I work at a vet).

25. Plastic Spoon and Fork Collection

I have a hard time throwing away ANYTHING, and my collection of these is starting to overflow the drawer. People at work are always complaining that the silverware keeps mysteriously disappearing, so I’m bringing a bunch of this to keep in the kitchen there for emergencies.

21. Old Discman

Left on the sidewalk outside my apartment in case someone actually wants it.

22. Broken iPod

Not sure what to do with this one. It’s really old (2nd Gen.) and I’m fairly certain it’s unfixable. Maybe I should leave it with the discman?

23. Extra guitar strings.

I don’t even own a guitar! Giving these to my roommate.

20. Digital Clutter!

I’m started over with a newly wiped hard drive today. I didn’t do this by choice, but it had the added benefit of ridding me of a huge digital mess. I’m resolving to keep it nice and organized this time. Also, I am counting this towards my 43 items because it was a HUGE source of distress for me in the past.

18. Really Old Makeup

It’s bad to keep things like this around to even TEMPT myself to use them someday. Handfuls are now in the garbage, kept company by:

19. Really Old Haircare Products

Gross!

I’m on a maniacal spree of discardia! Nothing is safe!

Seriously though, I am getting really sick of clutter these days. A lot of things got the axe today:

12. Clothes, Again

Stuff that doesn’t fit went in bags to go to Goodwill tomorrow, along with stuff I will never, EVER wear again. (Pleather pants? Why oh why!?) General crap went into the garbage.

13. Punk Rock T-Shirts

I still own almost every shirt I ever owned in my teenage years, and I don’t know why considering that was a decade ago (yes, I am old). These went into a bag which will be given to my punk rock friend Jimmy. I’m sure he will put them to use of some sort, or he knows someone who will.

14. General Car Clutter

A bag of random things that ended up in my car somehow made its way into my dresser after my move. Now it’s in the garbage can. I didn’t even bother to look through it.

15. Extra Photo Printer

My mom took it. I barely use the one I have

16. Office Supplies

Paper things went to the recycle bin. A lot went into the garbage. I don’t have use for this stuff anymore considering that I don’t even have a desk at this time.

17. Magazines

Recycled all of them! Most were cooking magazines that I’d saved to learn from, which I did. Now it’s time to let them go. The internet serves that purpose much better anyways.

11. VHS?

Why oh why do I still even OWN any VHS tapes? While organizing my new apartment, I went through all of these. I’m keeping a few (3 exactly) for sentimental value but the rest go in a giveaway box on the street (yes, people do this a lot in my neighborhood), and if it’s still there when I come home from work tomorrow, all of it is going in the trash.

10. More Clothes!

Tore through the closet for the SECOND time this year. I think my style of dress has changed drastically in the past few years because I’m constantly feeling the need to rid myself of items that are too “young” for my tastes. I have given away perhaps half of the wardrobe that I moved in here with. There are some things that I am just unwilling to part with, however. Will I ever wear my knee-high steel toed boots again in public? Probably not, but I can’t let them go just yet.