After yesterday’s Beyond Depressing Decluttering Post, I’m happy to share this one.
Last night, as we watched our favorite family show (Shark Tank), my 8yo got the decluttering itch.
She started out looking through our video stash “just to see what we had.” Soon, she was sorting and stacking and making a Donate Pile of the ones we obviously didn’t need. I’d purged most of the VHS tapes from another spot before, but had avoided this particular place.
It made my Mommy/Slob-Blogger Heart swell with pride to see her so logically identify which ones we had no reason to keep. In the end, the only VHS that made the cut were home videos (that need to be transferred to DVD-or-whatever-else-is-the-thing-by-the-time-I-get-around-to-doing-it) and a few fishing tutorials that Daddy deemed keepworthy.
Oh, and Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. She hauled everything that didn’t make the cut out to the Donate Box.
I sat in the recliner while she did a fantastic self-directed job. The only thing I did was answer a few questions here and there.
That’s what made this the best kind of decluttering ever.
Just as I was congratulating myself that she’s learned a thing or two from her Decluttering Mama, she said something like: “I just figured if I didn’t do it, you never would.”
Hmmmph.
--Nony
RedheadedCyclone says
Not your Tae bo! 🙂 Good for her! The one I love is when my Wonderful Hubby says something like “that really needs to be cleaned up” and I say “Yup, it sure does! Have at!” 🙂
Dana White says
That one was tough!!!
Maureen says
That’s great! Good for her! Also, her remark to you made me snort. 🙂 That would be about the only case where that kind of statement wouldn’t get one of my kids in trouble. If you’re going to be a smart aleck, at least be productive at the same time. 😉
Dana White says
Exactly! And honestly, she said it so innocently!
Michelle says
We have so many VHS but I hate the idea of just donating them when so much money went into buying them!!! Ugh! This sometimes holds me back from getting rid of things. We have local buy and sells on facebook but I live in a rural area so selling them is daunting! nay help on how to justify giving them away would be helpful! Most of them are Disney movies too! Can;t see replacing them with dvds Help 🙁
Amanda says
Do you still have a VCR? Do you still watch them? Do you have space to easily store them in your home? My parents have a ton of VHS tapes, but the grandkids watch them all the time. The money is gone. Just focus on the usefulness of the item today.
RedheadedCyclone says
I agree with Amanda… the money is gone. Are you willing to continue to lose the space for things you never use (unless, of course you do use them). Nony has several good posts about holding on to things that are past their time thinking they are worth something or wanting to make money on them when it really isn’t feasible.
Or… think about it this way, your rent or mortgage is paying for the space in your house. So, (for the sake of example) your 1000 sq ft house is $100 a month means that you pay $10 per square foot. So, those tapes cost you at least $10 a month (probably WAY more) for taking up that space. You wouldn’t pay someone you don’t like $10 a month or more to be there, don’t continue paying for clutter you don’t use.
lydia purple says
your math is off a bit… 100$ for 1000 sq ft equals 0.10$ per sq ft not 10$… but anyways your thought about money & space is good.
Brittani A. says
My 1258 Sq ft home is just under $700 a month. I completely understand using easy figures for example purposes, but my more accurate answer is scarier!
jennifer harshbarger says
Baaaaahaaa! Kids say the darndest things! Yesterday we made turkeys with “thankful” feathers, and son (7) looks at me as I’m cutting out the turkey body and says “mom, have you evuh (ever) seen a tuhkey?” completely straight faced ;-). As a side note, we throw away dvd’s and buy vhs. They are the only ones that hold up in our house. Still.
Denise says
Michelle, I seriously doubt that any one is going to pay for those VHS tapes now, no matter what area you live in. If they are still getting watched, then keep them. If not, well what does Nony say? Do the easy stuff first. Later, you can confront those VHS tapes.
Christi says
If you have a local Friends of the Library group, contact them. I volunteer at my local group, and we still have a good market for VHS (at 50 cents each, I think), so they are still viable in some areas. You can declutter and support your library at the same time.
Dianne in te desert says
We are an older couple and we love “classic” movies. We have a shelving unit to hold the DVDs. My husband installed glass doors to it to keep dust down. We live in the desert, so dust is a definite problem. Friends find movies for us here and there, too. I finally created a database of the things we have and wish to keep in order to avoid duplicates. We do have a few select VHS tapes and a working player for them. The cabinet that hubby modified is perfect and makes it easy to find the ones we wish to view easily.
Nina Reeder says
That last line made me LOL.
Susie@homemaker-mom says
Haha! That is my favorite show too!
Jessica says
She still learned it from you!
Penelope says
Love her comment, and her efforts. Look into Legacy Republic for transferring the home movies to DVD. They offer free tracking of your precious memories and storage on the Cloud indefinitely.
JoDi says
Oh my, they learn from us one way or another, don’t they? LOL
Kristy K. James says
Ouch! Gotta love the boldness and honesty of kids. But good for her! She’s learning, Mom. 🙂
Mom says
At our church garage sale, a neighbor of the church bought all the VHS movies we had. He said they love them at the Nursing Home where his wife was. With regular TV, the residents cannot stay focused through a commercial, so they wander off–not much use to the staff as a means of engaging the residents. But the same residents will stay glued to a full VHS movie and thoroughly enjoy it.
Franceshd says
Out of the mouths of babes !
Sorry, I couldnt resist.
I too have begun sorting ours.90% are old VHS. Probably kept 15%
THANK YOU for all your sensible – ie, DOABLE – helps
My new mantra is “Doing SOMETHING beats doing NOTHING!”
Some days only a couple of things get decluttered.
But I try not to let a day go by without getting rid of SOMETHING
Peace, Love and Blessings !
Carrie says
I missed this last week! That is the BEST kind of decluttering. You clearly are passing on your new skills, and you should be proud!