11 in ’11

Last week, Recycla offered suggestions for decluttering your home.  In the spirit of honesty and open communication, she thought that today she would share the list of things she herself plans to deal with this year.  Here is her list of 11 things she’s going to get rid of in 2011:

1. Books – This is an ongoing project.  She just gave a box of children’s books to a family friend and will soon post other books on PaperBack Swap.
2. CDs and DVDs — Recycla’s children have outgrown the Disney Princesses, so it’s time to pass those DVDs on to other little girls.  It’s also time to scan the family’s music and see if there are any CDs that they aren’t listening to.
3. Old stereo and video equipment – This mostly means an old VCR and a laserdisc player, but it also includes the videotapes and laserdics that go with them.  Yes, Recycla’s husband is still holding on to 1980s and 1990s technology.  No, he has not yet agreed to part with any of it.  Recycla remains hopeful that he’ll eventually come around to her way of thinking.
4. Toys (children’s) — As with books and DVDs, it’s time to pass on the toys her children have outgrown.  No, her daughters have not yet agreed to this.  Luckily, it’s still early in the year, so Recycla still has 11.5 months to make this happen.
5. Toys (her husband’s) — Recycla’s husband’s old  train set has been boxed up in storage for nearly 20 years.  Recycla has been talking with her husband about passing the train on to someone else who will actually use it and enjoy it.  He’s thinking about it and she feels confident of success in 2011.
6. Furniture — Recycla’s home is just the right size for a family of four, but it’s starting to feel crowded with some of the excess furniture.  The extra bookshelves and other odds and ends will be given away on Freecycle.
7. Jewelry – Recycla has several very nice pieces of jewelry that she never wears. These pieces are valuable enough that they are listed on her homeowner’s insurance policy.  Since Recycla hasn’t worn the jewelry in years, and since they are not family heirlooms, she thinks it’s time to sell them.
8. Clothes (hers) – Recycla has been losing weight, which means that (hopefully) as the year progresses, she’ll have a growing pile of clothes that are too big.  She has been concerned about regaining weight, so instead of getting rid of clothes, she has been storing them in a box under bed, where they are doing no one any good.  She’s going to be bold this year and get rid of most (if not all) of them.
9. Clothes (children’s) – Recycla’s daughters are both growing like crazy and her older daughter has grown four inches in the past six months, which has meant three different trips to the store to buy jeans alone.  The older girl passes her clothes on to her younger sister, but the younger girl has different sartorial preferences, so many things go unused in her closet.  Recycla is going to purge both girls’ closets and donate the excess.  For some reason, both girls have far more hats, scarves, and gloves than they’ll ever wear, so Recycla is going to donate those to a local non-profit that collects outerwear for families in need.
10. Paperwork — Recycla and her husband have two large bins filled old financial documents and other paperwork.  While everything is sorted and organized by year, it’s still an excessive amount of paper and not all of it needs to be saved.  Recycla is going to shred whatever is not needed, then compost the shreddings.
11. Miscellaneous oddities — There is a closet under the stairs in the basement that is the dumping grounds for Recycla’s family.  Recycla and her husband are planning to completely empty the closet and purge themselves of as much as possible.  Pray that her marriage survives  this project.

So that’s Recycla’s plan for for decluttering her home in 2011.  What about you?  What can you get rid of in 2011?

Photo credits: All images from Yahoo Images.