Declutter, declutter, DECLUTTER!

[SupersonicDave]

No more messing, my house is full of piles of stuff that I don't need, I am going to be ruthless (i really am!)

Does anyone want to join me? Anyone have any tips or advice?

[BerylOfLaughs]

I did this years ago and live by the (Flylady?) rule of: If you don't need it or love it, let it go!

[PogoBaby]

I'll join you. House is a tip and 10mo DD has just started crawling and discovered the joy of emptying cupboards / baskets etc. etc.

Planning on doing a room at a time and then focus on an area for 30 minutes at a time....

[BerylOfLaughs]

Also - it feels fantastic when it's done and I've kept it up ever since.
3 boxes - put away, throw away, give away.

[SupersonicDave]

I have also got a 10m old, and a 3 1/2yr old.

Tonight once the kids are in bed I am going to sort through the post in the hall, may sound like a small job but believe me it is not!

[RipMacWinkle]

One of my problems is the "give away" box... it lies in the hallway/bedroom/cupboard for ages. My top tip is to do the boxes, bags or whatever and get rid asap.

Good luck OP!

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Ooh yes, I'll mark my place and then this thread will hopefully pop up whenever i'm sat on my arse MNing and remind me to tidy up

I've been working on it, ebaying a few things (mostly toys, but it's a constant battle of tiny tiny playmobil bits and cars) and trying to get rid of clothes.

Might have a clear out of the understairs cupboard tomorrow, that's always a good one for ditching a few bags of crap

[SupersonicDave]

I posted earlier but it seems to have disappeared.

I went through all my clothes last week and chucked 1 bin bag full, gave away 2 carrier bags full and managed to fill another large carrier with maternity clothes. it has meant I can close the chest of drawers and actually put clothes away rather than leave them in the basket forever.

Dh and I are going through the post, some of Dh's bank statements that have been in the hall are from 2008!

[Chipotle]

We did our garage last weekend. We had to make 5 trips to the dump. This weekend we tackle the loft!

[SupersonicDave]

No decluttering today, busy day but after buying ds some next size up clothes I have realised the next job is to sort through the outgrown stuff and get rid.

Before Friday I need to sort out all the Moses basket pieces and carseat bits and get photo's taken so I can put up a 'for free' advert up in children's centre.

Will be back on tomorrow morning with an update in case anyone is interested :o

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

I have a declutter frenzy every 6 months or so. I find it is better to start upstairs, then when you see how nice upstairs look, you wanna get the downstairs done

[FreakoidOrganisoid]

I like to start with the surface that is most bothering me (usually the mantlepiece or my chest of drawers) and sort that first. Then seeing that all clear and clutter free inspies me to do the other surfaces. Usually decluttering a surface means I then have to venture into cupboards or drawers to put stuff away so usually use that as an opportunity to sort those too.

Just make sure you restrict yourself to actually sorting one area at a time otherwise you fall into the trap of taking something off a shelf, wandering over to the cupboard to put it in, pulling everything out of the cupboard, taking something to another cupboard etc etc and you end up with stuff everywhere and lose motivation. Use a box for things to be rehomed and do it once you've completed the first area

[SupersonicDave]

That is what normally happens!

We have had a busy couple of days, but dh is about tomorrow, so he can keep the kids out of my way while I do a couple of jobs. Looking around, what bothers me the most is the piles of stuff on every surface, so hoping to tackle some of those tomorrow. Lots of books needing putting away, dd's bits of paper to bin and magazines to go through. I already have a friend interested in a couple of magazines which I had been hanging on to, which gives me a good excuse to finally get rid!

[wildstrawberryplace]

I'm going to join you.

I have boxes of stuff that never actually got unpacked from when we last moved 4 years ago...

I'm going to declutter each room ruthlessly, then adopt my gran's "If you bring something in, you have to take something out" maxim.

I'm starting tomorrow with The Cupboard of Doom Under The Stairs. Gulp.

[Littlepurpleprincess]

I too will be tackling the Cupboard Under The Stairs tommorow. I have one question. How does one dispose of a broken printer?

[itshappenedagain]

i too would like to join you...ive worked out that it will take me 2 weeks to do the whole house, im at an advantage as ive just moved 2 months ago so as i unpack i plan to reduce by half!
i have unpacked most stuff and thorwn loads already, in fact 11 bin bags of clothes to homeless and i havent even unpacked the coats!
i have an exam in the morning but will jump on board in the afternoon...plus i have the added incentive of my mother who never has an untidy home likes things clean and has no problem critisising-- because she is a saint and did it all with three of us

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I wish I could do this. We are overrun with clothes particularly. I estimate that I wear about 5% of the clothes I own. So why tf am I hanging on to the others?

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

My tip is to try and develop little daily routines and habits to stop things building up again once you've had a blitz.

So with the post for example, ours used to be a nightmare. We have gone through all our bills/bank stuff and are now paperless for everything that we possibly can be.
I have a little holder thing on one of the kitchen work surfaces with address book, stamps, pens, envelopes, business cards for handyman/tree bloke etc etc.
Every day I open all the post, bin and recycle what I can and then anything which needs dealing with or filing goes in this little holder.
Once a week I spend about 30 minutes doing admin and then filing.

Gwendoline I am the same with clothes. I am slowing sorting myself out but it is taking ages.

[DiamondsRaGirlsBestfriend]

I'd like to join in too! Our flat is basically a tip - we've all got way too much stuff (a DH who hords , a toddler with more toys than she can play with and a baby due in Oct), Infact I think the only way we can fit the baby in is if we are drastic with the decluttering!! I'm hoping if I start then DH will get inspired and join in

[SupersonicDave]

I have sorted through the table at the side of the sofa! A pile of magazines a foot high, some bits of playmobil, some broken pens, a couple of buttons waiting to be sewn back on dd's pjs, some forms to be filled out and sent off.

I have sorted the mags in to 'keep, throw, give away' playmobil is waiting to go back upstairs on next trip, and I have filled out one form, put stamp on and put by front door to post.

It is a start, oh, and found address book :o

[lizardqueenie]

Ooh can I join too? Today (yes in this heat!) I've cleared out the cupboard next to the front door the houses a hell of a lot of shoes & other crap & chucked out 7 pairs!
Also dealt with the small mountain of clothes in our bedroom that were on the chair waiting to have something done with them.

Re the broken printer- maybe there is somewhere at ur local "refuse centre" ie tip that takes broken electrical goods?

[lizardqueenie]

Oh and forgot about the zillions of carrier bags that I've chucked out too. What were we keeping them all for?!

[fuzzpig]

I started decluttering recently - going slowly (both of us are unwell ATM) but really proud of our achievements.

I was really ruthless - for some reason I'd been keeping all the old baby clothes and broken toys but now I've gone through it and got rid of all the crap.

Have actually bought a few things to help - a small filing cabinet, some extra pop-up laundry bins and some of those caselogic CD books for our ridiculous amount of DVDs and music. My dad is really pleased as I've given him loads of plastic cases that we no longer need, and we now have much more room in the cupboard!

Just a quick plea though, if I may. When you're giving away stuff to a charity shop, pleeeeeease sort through it first if you can. It takes a heck of a lot of time to sort donations, and often a lot of it isn't sellable. Broken toys need to be thrown away, but most charities will recycle clothes/rags/cuddly toys and books (mine gets 65p/kilo for rags, 50p/kilo for books) - so the charity does still get money, and the stuff should still be gratefully received - but if everyone sorted donations into a bag of good stuff and a bag labelled 'rags' before bringing them in that'd save the charity a lot of time and money. Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted and sound immensely patronising, I'm a bit evangelical about this as I've started sorting stock and it is really depressing when so much of the stuff donated has to go straight to the dump :(

[Littlepurpleprincess]

Ah we do have a tip we can take it to LizardQueenie but it's a few miles away and I don't drive, will have to ask my dad!

Fuzzpig you are right to be a bit evangelical about that! Some people use charity shops as a dumping ground.

[lollipoppet]

A tip- stick anything that can't go in the bin, like a broken printer on freecycle! People will flock in their hundreds to take the most strangest of junk!

[Littlepurpleprincess]

Now theres and idea.....I cleaned out the cupboard under the stairs yesturday but the printer is still in there taking up space. If I can get rid of it then Henry Hoover can live in there and not in my way on the kitchen floor!