How do you declutter without feeling overwhelmed?

[rickandmorts]

We're doing a complete house reno in the new year so I'm having a massive declutter so I'm not moving shite from room to room and back again when we redo it. I've wrote a list of each room/ area that needs doing to break it down into bitesize pieces. I've started with my room tonight, cleared out a load of clothes and bedding from the underbed and our hanging wardrobe but now I have a mountain of stuff that needs sorting and I'm feeling overwhelmed at what needs doing next. Some stuff is decent and could be sold on Vinted but it just seems like a huge task to photograph and list it all. I could do it over a period of a few days but stuff seems to sell better if you can list lots and do bundle deals. How do you deal with the overwhelm and manage to keep your stamina? Ready to give up and I've only half done one room 😂

I have sold stuff from a cull, but time and space are more important than money, so I have donated most of my decluttered 'stuff' to other people or charity.

I try not to have such stuff hanging around - straight into black bags - black bags into car and then gone.

One cupboard or drawer at a time.
I'm currently tackling a massive kallax. I did four cubes last week and will do a couple tomorrow. I do three bags - one charity, one bin and one recycling. I guess you could do one for eBay/vinted. Then I put the charity bag in the back of the car and drive around with it until I can drop it off.
Or sometimes i save it up and go to the tip.

Just get started anywhere. Once you start you'll love it.

@Cynderella that's a really good point. I could do with the money but I just don't have the mental energy to list it all and then package/ take to the post office. Even giving it away free on Facebook takes effort dealing with timewasters. Going to have a mass bagging session now and take it tomorrow!

I have been adding to a huge mountain of clothes to be added to vinted for weeks. When I say moutain I mean MOUNTAIN! A few days ago I went through it and put everything that’s already listed and hasn’t sold in a black bag as well as anything that might not sell. I took it all to the charity clothing bin so that has taken a bit of it away but there is still so much to add. I feel like this is the absolute worst time of year to add it too when no one has money in January but I can’t keep it sitting for another few months! I’m hoping to list it all in one go, just get some tea, clear a space for taking photos and rattle through it in a night. The last time I did it I did manage to sell a lot, mainly baby clothes for cheap but it was a couple of hundred pounds. As an hourly rate £200 or something isn’t bad for a night in your spare room. It’s when the sales start dwindling that it becomes a hassle having to dig through stuff trying to find one thing. I’m setting a date then whatever isn’t gone by then can go to the charity bin too.

Im on a declutter facebook group and there was a post about listing each area of your house that you’re going to tackle. I wrote a list of over 20 areas (rooms, cupboards etc). My husband tackled the food cupboards today and managed to fill two bin bags of out of date food or food we aren’t ever going to eat. It’s insane the amount we keep in our houses that we have no use for

Charity shop !

I just let everything go for free to local charities or the women's refuge.

Pick one draw / shelf / cupboard at a time and plan the exit route for said clutter. Whether that be charity shop, tip; etc. Don’t leave it sat in bags in the house or in the boot of your car for ages.
As you clear the clutter it will spur you on to get more done. 👍

A friend had a good system in that her friend did all the listing and selling, and then they split the profit 50:50.

1. How would you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time. Don't overthink it.

1. Don't try to make money out of your clutter unless you absolutely need it. Charity shop, Freecycle, box outside the house, tip. Don't overthink it.

1. Don't overthink it.

But I overthink everything 🤣🤣 I'm sat here overthinking as we speak!! I could do with the money but think I'd appreciate the feeling of space more. Thanks for the tips everyone, they're encouraging me! Yes it's really crazy how much actual shite we keep in our houses that we don't use/need. And having kids it just seems to be a never ending stream of stuff adding to it.

I’m very lucky in that I work at the head office of a charity so I can take my donations in to work on my office day. I intend to do one drawer/cupboard/box/shelf at a time and take it in weekly.
I am a year since my last declutter and I know that there’s things I haven’t used since my last one so this weekend I’m starting with a bin bag on all my out of date toiletries and clearing those out.

I was the same but my DH pointed out that instead of giving money to charity (which we do) giving them items works out the same. It was a mind changing moment and now our decluttering is going much better!

That is a fabulous point actually!!

I used to think I would sell things in eBay but then not get round to it and months later I would take it all to the clothes bank. After doing that a few times I now cut out the bit where I think I will sell it and just get it out of the house ASAP

Also a good point!! Think I just need to accept I don't have the headspace for selling it and get it all out the house. Going downstairs for binbags as we speak!!

When I declutter, I have a bin bag and a charity shop bag. I then deal with each item in turn, either in the bin bag, charity shop bag or I put it where it needs to go (back in the cupboard, in another room/place). It takes a bit longer but it does mean you can stop at any moment and you only have two bags (bin and charity shop) and not a big pile of stuff.

Honestly, I charity shop 95% because I don't have the time to sell. My goal is to declutter my house and I can only do this if this is my primary focus. The moment I get stuck on selling things, the declutting grounds to a halt too. So everything goes in the charity shop bag, if I have the energy to list something for sale then I need to do it before the bag goes to the charity shop. It really tests whether the item is worth my time posting for sale, or if I'm choosing to use my time for other things.

Selling 2nd hand stuff: you need a threshold that makes it worth your while, like "minimum £10 profit after all costs" or whatever. Anything that doesn't meet that threshold goes to charity shop (assuming it shouldn't be sent to rags recycling). It's a gift to others if you give to Freecycle/jumble sale/charity shop/ clothes bank otherwise. An additional good thing you can do.

DON'T.BUY.ANY.more CLOTHEs. Else you haven't achieved a net gain in space.

Yes, I used to feel lazy when I couldn’t be bothered with Vinted and took everything to the charity shop— until I realised they’d get so much more cash for charity from the stuff I deemed worth putting on Vinted. This made me feel good about my decision and the decluttering was much faster. I hate the stuff hanging round for months or even years when on Vinted. Oh, and no answering questions from CFs with offensively low offers! 😁

These are great tips thank you! Very motivating. I know I'll feel better when it's all done. Anyway the baby is asleep on partner, I've got a decluttering podcast on and a cup of tea and I'm determined to finish this room before I crash and burn 😁

Genuinely don't do too much at a time or you'll exhaust yourself. I tend to work my way round my house starting with a small but satisfying job (so takes less than 15 mins but you use it every day - usually the tea and coffee and mug cupboard for me!). Then I work my way around the kitchen, could take me a few days or it could take two weeks depending on what's on in life. Then move to the next space. Agree with those who say donate what you can, I also view as a way of giving a bit extra to charity.

Im a minimalist i hate clutter if i dont use it i bin it.
Its not for every one but its freeing i was drowning in crap years ago and one day i thought why do i need it that was it it took me days but worth it.
I got brutal i really did the more that left the better i felt.
I didnt do the whole looking through things i bin the lot.
Large items go to the tip. (thankfuly i dont have any now)
My advice would be dont use storage boxs and put it in the shed or loft other room because thats just storing clutter.If you havent looked in a bag or box for a month dont look now BIN it nothing in there you need or you would of had it out by now.

I think people would be shocked at my home.
Think bare minimum bedding covers one on one off 1 king size bed med size canvas wardrobe.
Empty kitchen draws and cupboards only 1draw in the kitchen being used for forks etc and 2 cupboards being used kettle small fridge freezer cooker.
4 cups/plates etc.
Living room 3 tub chairs 1 small coffee table a shelf with a plant on it.
Black marble lino flooring sweep/mop done dont own a hover.
basket in bathroom for shower bits.
Im in a flat so no need for curtains i have roler blinds and 2 drape nets in my front room that are pinned back no one can see in so dont need to use them.
Oh and my clothes.

I spent ages ironing, photographing, then colour adjusting photos of a nice WhiteStuff top to put on Vinted. (Top was dark blue, but for some reason looked grey in original photos).

Uploaded it to Vinted and saw that similar tops were selling for £3.50ish. Add in the time to walk to the post office if it sold, then realised hourly rate for all the work involved was wasn’t worth it and gave whole pile of things I’d been saving to sell on Vinted to charity.

The podcast “A Slob Comes clean”, or the book “Decluttering at the speed of life” by Dana K White have been very helpful in helping me declutter without making a mess, and in letting things go. Would highly recommend.

I suspect a lot of charity shop donations end up in landfill because thrift shopping has lost popularity since lockdown. And even without that, you can buy new cheaply online or in fast fashion shops. Different for some items, particularly if it's the right brand.

I'm not over my tendency to keep stuff I don't need, but I am better now. It's essential for me to plan where things are going to go BEFORE I start rather than when I finish.

A thought I keep when I get rid of something that is 'too good to bin' is that by keeping them, I am living in a different kind of bin!

@starynightskys that honestly sounds like the dream!! It's really hard to keep a house clean when there's crap everywhere and we have dogs so dust and hair accumulates easily. I think because we moved in whilst I was heavily pregnant we just boxed up and brought a load of shit here because we were pushed for time but really should have done a ruthless declutter then. But yeah it's very freeing getting rid of stuff, I just struggle with getting overwhelmed and distracted easily. Another reason I struggle is because the house is old and looks awful anyway so I don't have much motivation to try keep it looking nice. Can't wait to rip it all out next year 😁

@Shortpoet I only tend to make money on Vinted when I have loads of stuff priced cheaply so people can do bundles or I can sell a load at once so I'm not doing lots of trips to the post office. But yeah it's not very lucrative. That's the podcast I was listening to 😁 baby woke up and wanted bf so I'm in bed now but will carry on tomorrow 💪