Your best decluttering tips?

[ladycarlotta]

My house is an absolute disgrace but not actually bad enough for Sort Your Life Out to be interested. So I have two options: sort my own life out, or fully give up until it becomes TV-worthy.

I can absolutely see that we have too much stuff, and that our home is never going to be clutter-free until the volume of stuff fits in the volume of storage we have. I want a house I can tidy and clean quickly each day, but the amount of crap we have makes it so hard - instead we end up doing a gigantic panicked full-house tidy every 2 weeks or so during which the crap just gets shoved into cupboards and not dealt with.

The penny recently dropped for me that there's no personal belonging I value over having a nice usable home for my family... I just don't know how to tackle it all. I've kicked the family out today so I can throw out DD's 7000 beanie babies make a start unmolested.

Please. Tidy people. Or people learning to be tidy. What's your best decluttering/organisational tip for me? I need some motivation!

Two bin bags. One for charity shop and one for bin. Be absolutely ruthless.

start with one surface today. The kitchen table or worktops or the sitting room. Pick an area, grab the bin bags and go. Set a time for 30 mins then have a cup of tea but not until the timer goes off

Just start. Pick a drawer, a bag or a surface and sort it. Do not keep stuff for the sake of it, 'just in case', because it was a gift, because you might fix it/find the pair... Bin it, fill a bag for charity or recycle it, but be as ruthless as possible. If in doubt, get rid. Do one space, then do the next and repeat.

It's the "just in case" that kills me, I think. Clothes that fitted me before I was pregnant, or stuff that one kid's outgrown and the other is too young for. I think I need to reassure myself that these things can be acquired again. DD2 might not even be into what DD1 loved.

20 things a day into the charity shop bag or bin over a two week period. Makes it manageable as it's only 5-10 minutes at a time. Then have a week off and start again.

You can sort the kids' clothes into boxes or bags labelled by age and store in the loft. It's crazy to buy new stuff. Obviously only keep the well cared for stuff.

Keep the good stuff or things that are expensive to buy - winter coats - party dresses

or decide that you will keep a suitcase or two full and nothing more

or leave these sorts of decisions until last

You've had some good tips. Start getting rid and you'll soon love doing it. Once you have earmarked a bag for charity, take it straight away and feel good. Repeat! You can also do the Marie Kondo method where you do stuff in categories, starting with the easier things( i.e less sentimental value), maybe clothes. Gather then all in one place and ask if you love the item. If not get rid. You do need enough clear space to gather everything together in this method though.

Also once it's done, another thing I do is every time I buy something, I put something else in the charity bag. Even if it's only tiny or in a different category. The more stuff you have, the more head space it takes up and the easier it is too loose things.

Take a look at what might be clogging up your storage space e.g too many old towels, old toys that are no longer played with, old clothing, too many shoes, unwanted gifts. etc. We moved recently and I was quite ruthless. If you've not used it in a year or two then you are unlikely to ever again.

I labelled cardboard boxes with ages and sifted the clothes for the younger ones into bin, charity and save until the right age. Then in the loft with a calendar reminder for next spring to pull the first box down.

For hobby and toy stuff, I allotted a storage area each one - and that includes mine as well as theirs. A yarn box, fabric box, model making, jigsaws, trains, soft toys etc.
If it didn't fit in the storage it went to the charity shop/fabric bin/local refuge.

It's hard because there were some really nice things but I just wasn't getting around to them and I couldn't see everything for sheer amount of junk in the way.

I thought of it as 'not fulfilling its purpose - it is just inefficient compost if it's mouldering in a corner rather than being knitted into something by someone who'd appreciate it. Ditto books that weren't being read.

I do this but there are boxes and boxes, and 5+ years between my two so it all has a long wait. I'm no longer sure a pile of playwear is worth it when I could pick stuff up cheap off Vinted when the time comes. I'm starting to feel it's a false economy if it hinders our quality of life in the meantime. I'd keep specific good stuff. And coats, thermals, fancy dress, swimwear etc.

Calendar reminder is a great idea! Thank you. Also the question of whether it's fulfilling its purpose is so useful. When my granddad died his house was crammed with unused equipment from abandoned hobbies and it just seemed such a waste for it to have been sitting there for decades, rather than being actually enjoyed by someone.

Always say the same on these threads and I know how hard it is. Empty your boot. Think about the nearest chazza with parking. Buy a roll of black bin bags and a roll of white bin bags.
black is trash and white is donate. Make this explicit to everyone.
keep alternating tip runs and chazza runs.
start with easy stuff like outgrown clothes.
keep posting and best of luck x

I take your point. Looks like the charity shops are going to benefit.

I took a lot of craft stuff to dunelm
They have a box for unwanted stuff. Think they give it to charities?

I've solved it with a cleaner. Waiting for two new hips on two sticks I caved and hired one. I admitted things had become cluttered as my mobility decreased so needed her to be ruthless. My husband is a messy slob which she clocked straight off. She's deep cleaned every room. Telling husband to sort out his shit. He's terrified of her so tears around the day before sorting out the room he knows she's tackling the next day.

It's wonderful.

So I'd say get a cleaner, family member, friend who's as blunt as my cleaner.

🤣 she sounds fab!

Dunelm craft recycling

I saw a good tip recently. If you are really undecided about some items put them in a box and label it with the current date. Put it in storage (loft or shed, etc.)
A year later, if you haven't looked for/retrieved/used it then it can go because you don't need it. I downsized my home 4 years ago. I am still getting rid of items I brought with me and haven't used since the move. I have a really tiny house so ruthlessness is essential.

@ladycarlotta are you free now? Why not go and do the bin bag thing and come back and tell us what you've achieved? You'll feel lighter once you start.

Anything can be bought again cheap enough if needed in the future.

Sounds like you might also need a strategy/family discussion/lifestyle shift to stop bringing so much in - otherwise it'll build up again in no time!

And once you have binned, then never ever EVER buy anything new without throwing something similar away. One in, one out.

I'm doing it!

I saw something a while back and it said if the item had poo on it would you wash/try to save it or just chuck it.
If your answer is to chuck it then it just doesn't mean to much to you so no need to hold on to it.
No idea if this works has haven't tried it myself but thought it's a good way to really focus on what you feel is important.

Yes - crucial. I'm a hypocrite and have been laying down this law for my 6yo while not really adhering at all myself.