It's Time to Get Rid of Junk

We've lived in the same house for 21 years. While we are not complete and utter packrats as some folks are, we certainly have a share of "priceless treasures". You know them. Those items that are too good to throw away, but not anything you every use, or even look at.

My goal is to de-clutter our house. My ultimate goal is to get rid of 1/4 to 1/3 of all of our stuff. All those "priceless treasures", ultimately known as junk.

It will be much easier to find items we want to use, and can't find as they are buried under priceless treasures.

All the methods I have seen boil down to a fairly simple proceedure.

Set aside time.
All the books say you have to do what works for you. Some suggest a week.
I personally am not taking a week off to clean my house.
Some suggest one day per room.
I also don't want to spend an entire day of my precious free time cleaning.
I am planning on spending two hours on my days off - one on the designated room, and one on one of the two extra bedrooms. Trust me, the extra bedrooms are going to take at least 20 hours each to clear.

Now you get boxes, and label them.
Actually, I am bringing our big garbage can too. They suggest a box, but why sugar coat? Much of this stuff will be going into the garbage.

Garbage. Anything broken, dried up, partly used, ripped, torn, unusable. This includes clothing, and stuff that might be usable if it's fixed. If it isn't fixed now, it's not getting fixed. Recycleable stuff like old magazines that don't have anything written by either one of us.

One box for Goodwill. This will be good stuff we don't use anymore.

Another box; Treasures. Treasures are rarely-if ever used items, or those having a slight sentimental value. One treasure box per room only. This box is dated, and if left unopened for 6 months, off it goes to Goodwill, without being opened.

The Saint's box; since I am going to be going through The Saint's stuff too I am putting stuff he has to decide on in this box. He will have a month to look through it, then...off it goes.

Hopefully this will massively reduce the treasure in our house. Yeah, maybe I could sell on
e-bay or have a garage sale and ultimately make a few hundred bucks, but it isn't worth the hassle. I just want it gone. Ebay will be for later - objects I kept but decide next year I don't really use.

The final trick; now you have de-junked, nothing comes into the house without something else going. Buy a new thing - an old one goes in the charity box. This may not always be feasable in all cases. Books. Guitars. Clothes. Wish me luck.

And if you have any tips, let me know.