Cleaning out the closets

Last night we ran through most of the required "closet cleaning" and changing it from storage to somewhere that we might be able to put clothes.

So far, I've been going under the following model:

1. Set aside a pile for Ebay items
2. Set aside a pile for tax deductible items
3. Fill as many garbage bags as possible.
4. Shuffle everything else.

Ebay: My first go at determining the value of the Ebay items has left me with the belief that Ebay will probably bring little to no return on most of the items that I'm assuming have value, so I'll probably re-adjust what goes in that pile significantly.

I'll probably start having the laptop running in the room from now on so that I can check value as I'm sorting through the items and make sure that I'm not wasting too much time.

Tax Deductible: The tax deductible items are also piling up and so far my research has only given me a little hope that this will add up for me. I do have several computers, laptops, programs and such that will hopefully give me a pretty good deduction.

Trash: So far this category is the big winner. Sue and I have filled 6 full sized trash bags and one smaller bag with things that are going straight to the dump.

Shuffling: as we are digging through the detritus, we are uncovering things that I've needed for a while but could not find, things that really need attention and things that are worth keeping. My hope is that we will eventually go through this pile twice to make sure that it is as small as possible.

I think the progress is going well for now and I'm happy overall with how this effort is making me feel. It's like a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders.

As I've been doing the "busywork" required for this step, I've been thinking about possible steps that are required later that I may not have thought of. If you have any ideas to add to this list, please give me a hand.

1. Decide whether to keep my rental house, and if so, get a new mortgage that is longer term.
2. Decide whether to get rid of my older motorcycle.
3. Should I get rid of things that I might need again or should I plan on replacing them with better items if I ever do need them?

More tomorrow.