Less than 3 months to go! It's the DECLUTTERING FOR CHRISTMAS thread...

[fuzzpig]

My house is a state! I am absolutely determined to declutter in time for Xmas this year. I have never managed it before

My main wants are:

• to clear out our tiny kitchen (it's a galley style, so small you can barely swing an atom let alone a cat!) so that cooking is less stressful and we will be more likely to do festive baking etc - another thing I've never managed to do...
  

• to do a massive sweep of all DCs toys, books and clothes. They have WAY too many, and especially with toys it means that new things don't really get appreciated because they get lost among everything else.
  

• to completely sort out our living room so it actually looks nice when decorated and there is room to play.
  

I am unable to do much ATM because I'm not very well, but this could be a long term thing so I don't want to just leave it - I want to do a tiny bit every day. Yesterday I collected a laundry bin full of recycling stuff - mostly pieces from some orchard toys games - some of which due to clutter have never really even been played with properly

I can't be the only one who needs to declutter for Xmas - who's with me?

[pigsinmud]

I'm with you.

Stuff everywhere. I can hardly move in my dds' room - they have so many soft toys.

My dad commented yesterday that he was amazed I could cook such good meals in such a small space. Yes, the kitchen is quite small, but the surfaces I do have are covered with school letters, pens, hair bands....

[oreocrumbs]

I'm in! Got loads more to do than you!!

Kitchen needs gutting, and utility room - you can't see that for clothes.

DD's room needs to have all of the toys moved into it, I need to find my living room underneath them.

Floor out the loft, put all of the baby stuff in it, and the chriatmas decorations that are still up stairs from LAST year.

Buy a new dining table.

I have just given away my most beautiful 10 seater solid rustic oak table that cost a fortune because it was too big. I now have a table that I bought second hand 10 years ago for my first house gracing my dining area .

It did seem a good idea at the time but now I am sad and bereft and can't do Christmams with this glass and iron monstrosity!!

Really should dig the garage out too....haven't seen that for a few years now

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

I'm in
we have a very small house, which we love, but it does need a good sort out.
we are going to buy and build some Pax wardrobes from IKEA when PILs agree to have the DC for a day, which will be a good incentive to sort out clothes.
And although it's non very MN, I think the bookshelves could do with a good prune as well.....

[scrappydappydoo]

I'm in - I have a table at an NCT sale next week so will be clearing clothes and toys this week.
Then I need to clear 'the boxes' I have about 15 (!) plastic boxes and about 10 bags for life that I throw junk in to do a quick tidy up when we have guests round except i never empty said boxes and bags so there's huge towers of goodness knows what stacked in my bedroom and utility room.
There there are the cupboards which I'm a little wary of opening should I be buried in an avalanche of coats, shoes and bags.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I'm in.

I am selling (FB and EBay) anything that isn't fastened down, so I'm getting rid of quite a bit of stuff, so the boys rooms are looking good (for now )

But I need to work on the kitchen and living room. I think I need to focus my efforts in one place at a time. I am throwing/recycling/selling quite a bit, but it's bits here and there so it doesn't look like I have achieved much.

I need to make a plan I think.

[sagelynodding]

I'm in! I have to be done by the 1st Dec as we are moving!
I am doing a little bit every day-went through all of the kids shoes yesterday, sorted clothes for binning/recycling the day before, did my side of the bedroom mostly the day before that. I filled 6 big binbags with junk and 3 of recyclable clothes plus one of shoes!

Today I might tackle the books...

[EdMcDunnough]

Oh dear. I'm on a constant mission atm as I have to make space for me and three children after Christmas, (one big bedroom, one small!) and being rather pg it is a bit difficult to do some things.

Still: I have sorted the papers from about 5/6/7 years back and thrown out 5 big recycling bags,

Moved the blanket chest into the living room as the cot needs to go where it was in my room, but am not sure what to store in it as it's HUGE,

Finally got a plan for the fireplace which is currently unedged plaster and bare brick in a rotten state...so need wood and so on for that. It WILL look nice for Christmas! We have been here 4 years

Painted the front door
Still got to do the back one, and put on draught strip, and a curtain rail up,

and there are mountains of things in boxes under the dining table which need proper sorting out.

Oreo I am so sorry about your lovely table That must have been hard to part with.

fuzzpig, I know exactly what you mean about toys getting lost in the muddle! I plan to give them fewer this year, as there are already so many.

[Nishky]

I'm in- my parents are coming up a day early this year so I want house to be sorted so we can lounge around and have fun. So if I de-clutter then it will be easy to clean- no?

Must start with my bedroom as we have a mattress due to be delivered on Tuesday

[EdMcDunnough]

I was amazed at how many books I still had that I didn't want. It was brilliant - two large boxes went to the charity shop. It nearly killed me carrying them! but it's so nice that they are gone.

Plus it takes the pressure off - I have never made anything from 'Nursery knitting' and I never would have done despite owning it since pg with dc1.

[fuzzpig]

Glad to see I'm not alone!

I should point out that my List is definitely not exhaustive - every room, surface and cupboard is full to bursting of random crap. For example you can hardly see the floor (or get to the wardrobe!) in our room. But unlike in the past I am trying to prioritise sensibly

SIL is coming up today and offered to do some tip runs for us so I'm going to try and get some stuff ready :)

[SayHelloToMyLittleFriend]

I'm in. Last month we bought paint and wallpaper to do our living room and hall but it's all still sitting in a cupboard. I would love this to be done by christmas, our house is just needing freshened up.

I also want to declutter our kitchen, I have too much stuff "hidden" in drawers and cupboards. I've already been in dd's room and put a load of unused toys on gumtree and a load of broken stuff in the bin but I think I'll need to go back in. It's so hard getting rid of the baby toys though :(

[EdMcDunnough]

Good luck Fuzzpig

SayHello - it is so hard to part with baby things isn't it.

I've compromised with mine - well now I'm having another so I'll keep what we have till he is grown out of it, but what I did before was sort through, and keep a token number of things for each child - special clothes I remember them being tiny in, and cannot give away - and given away the rest, apart from the really nice things that I've put in a special bag to give as gifts to close friends who are having babies.

Keeping a few things is allowed!

I still have about 12 pushchairs/prams though, mostly from last time, which I have been unable to get shot of and they really get in the way. The thing is, ebaying them won't make much, and I've no one to give them to. Plus I am fond of them

So once this last baby is older they will have to go

[CharlotteBronteSaurus]

I have bought two small ikea cardboard storage boxes for baby things - one for each DD. What doesn't fit will have to go!
One thing that helps is that we have a really good local charity which passes toys and clothes directly on to families who need them, which makes me feel guilty if I don't declutter. I am also going to clean up our "spare high chair" (who on earth needs a spare???) and get that ready for collection.

[Eddas]

i'm in too. Have made a start, last weekend I got every single bit of clothing out of my wardrobe. It either went back in (not much!), got put in the pile for 'phil the bag' at school or in the sell on pile. I now need to stick the 'sell on' pile on ebay, tried fb but not much joy there.

I did start the declutter last year but didn't quite finish everything, altough made a good start. but there's more tatt now I do tend to get a bit hacked off with ebay after a while but we'll see.

Having to help clear my nan's house over the summer has made me more certain than ever that I will not keep clutter. shame my parents where hoarders and taught me well

good luck everyone

[MadBusLady]

I'm in. Getting rid of A SOFA soon. There are two of us, and two sofas - one 3 seater, one 2 seater. It is ridiculous.

I find it's much harder to clear out random stuff. Books and clothes and kitchen stuff I keep quite well turned over, but it's all the random shit - "spare" computer monitor, "spare" light-up alarm clock, empty wooden trunk-style box in the sitting room (looks quite nice, but smells inside, DP doesn't want to part with it).

[SayHelloToMyLittleFriend]

12 pushchairs Ed?? You're worse than me haha. Well my youngest has just turned 1 and I'm storing the baby things in my loft at the moment. I think I'll do the same as you though and keep a few baby bits for them and get rid of the rest.

[MirandaWest]

I need this thread. I will be sorted by Christmas....

[Titsalinabumsquash]

I'm very much in! Although DS3 is due in November so some days are reserved for wallowing on the sofa resting.

The main thing I need to do is finish decluttering the dining room, which is easy once I empty out the 3 giant cupboards in my house.

I have a giant coffee table I need to move to my sisters house (family heirloom)

I plan to buy the kids some clothes and books too so ill probably go in and "trim" the ones in their room a bit before the big day.

[NoHank]

Joining in too.

My main mission is to clear the loft which is full of toys, bags of baby clothes and general baby gear.

We also need to clear out the buckets of toys lying all around the house i.e. under the stairs, at the side of the couch and in the DC's rooms to clear space for the new ones to come.

I'm also e-baying where I can and I am hoping to do a toddler and kids sale and swap shop which run in the area but I have never done one before and I am a bit nervous about signing up for it

[EdMcDunnough]

MBL I actually probably shouldn't say this, but having two sofas is OK imo - especially if people visit - or you just don't want to sit right next to someone.

Sorry That doesn't help does it?!

Charlotte, I am lol at the spare highchair. We have got three

This is silly

[bonnieslilsister]

Count me in

I am the world's worst hoarder

Thought I would make a list of lots of little things to sort and clear ie name each cupboard, pile etc and try to do something each day

that's my plan but if yours is better I'll go with yours

or there again I might stay sitting here and mumsnt

[Lexilicious]

I'm in! I have tried before, but it never seems to end...

We have a half finished living room which is presently plastered walls, concrete floor which needs to be screeded before we can put down wood (which we haven't chosen yet) and then decorated. Needs a proper blackout blind fitted and shelves in a couple of alcoves, and then we can move in furniture and enjoy the room rather than sitting in the extension off the kitchen all the time.

We've got a storage problem in the kitchen which I think I can resolve pretty easily - need a wine rack on one pillar type wall and a simple racking shelf unit half hidden beside the fridge (normal width in American space). I have stuff on top of the wall cupboards which I know is a classic kitchen clutter 'sin' but I think we have to use that space. May get some nicer matching boxes.

Need to get shelves lots of places so that I can bring down things from the loft. If there isn't a place for them in the house they have to go. I need a simple rule for things which are worth keeping long term in the loft too 'seasonal, specialist and sentimental' for example? (E.g. that would cover Christmas decs, camping/skiing gear, and ancient diaries)

I have at least three large boxes of stuff which I need to put on eBay/gumtree/freecycle. Speakers, electronics, army gear, vogue patterns. My brother has dumped a really good quality pair of skis and boots on me to sell for him.

Ditto the toy clear out although we are on only 1 of hoped-for 2 DC so need to store anything that is worth keeping for a second time round.

We need to get someone to fit some clever understairs cupboards, for less £££ than anything I have seen yet online.

I need a plan too.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

I am feeling inspired.

I am going to sit in each room and make a list of want I want to do. I am then going to breakdown the to do list into 30 minute jobs (so I can a job while ds is napping, but still have time to catch up on the crap tv that I have Sky+ )

I am currently looking at the cd's. They need to go into storage. I WILL be ordering archive boxes. We have quite a lot of storage space in the eve's, so the boxes can go in.

I am out and about most of today so my list making will begin this evening.

[MadBusLady]

That was why we bought two Ed, but there just isn't room in our 1-bed flat with a desk (necessary) for each of us as well. I do wish we had bought two small sofas, that might be ok.

[EdMcDunnough]

CD boxes sounds good.

I nearly threw out a big wooden cabinet - about 3ft wide, 3ft6 tall, last week, but then realised it held our roughly 300 DVDs perfectly. So it's found a place in the living room - they were all over the floor and on open shelving before and it's really solved a problem as I hated the thought of buying a special Chipboard CD cabinet from Argos!

Sometimes moving things around you realise you've got what you needed all along.