Clutter, minimalism, eBay and my state of mind!

[Elemontary]

Not an AIBU but I am posting here for traffic.

Christmas is over and I feel shattered and down, and this isn't helped by the house being full of lots of new clutter and presents. Some wanted, some that need to go to the charity shop (far too many toys for the children, and quite a few things that I don't think will be played with).

I am going to attempt to clear the house but feel completely overwhelmed! We have just moved so the house was not very organised in the first place. Where do I start? I just want to start filling bin bags but what isstopping me is the fact it feels SO wasteful to give away so much. Especially when we are saving for work on the house (it's in need of a lot of work).

Should I be selling our unwanted things on eBay to contribute towards the renovation costs? I can't find the motivation to do this!

It seems such a drawn out process, photographing, loading pictures, writing descriptions, answering questions, packaging and taking to the post office. I have 3 young DC and probably only have an hour a day to myself which is taken up with the day to day housework.

I have been off decluttering my bedroom and already feel much happier about falling asleep in a clearer room tonight.

2 bin bags filled from a bedside table and a chest of drawers are outside with the bins. I also have an almost full bag for charity. How on earth did I fit all that into a chest of drawers and a bedside - and they still have things in them!

This is so good for my state of mind. Although I will say it takes time, quite a lot of time, so I imagine you have to do it constantly if you have kids.

Honestly, read the book; it's excellent. Don't feel any guilt about wasting things if they are going to charity as they will go to a home where they are appreciated rather than causing stress in yours. I have loads of stuff I'm supposed to be selling, but I'm just going to donate it as it's been hanging around for so long and I just need it to go now. Good luck. Decluttering is very good for your state of mind I find.

How are you with your charity donations in general? Personally I think I should give more than I do, so I've embraced donating stuff rather than selling it. Easier for me and if the charity makes good money on it, so much the better. I do use ebay to get rid of big things such as furniture. List it keenly priced as BIN pick up only, and you get generally nice polite buyers who appreciate getting a bargain and turn up when they say they will. Posting on ebay is a mug's game, not usually worth it these days IMO but if you must, I post with myhermes. Facebay doesn't make much money round here, and you absolutely can't use it to sell gifts you were given IMO. Also some things really do belong in the bin - really really no one wants that slightly chewed old jigsaw even if it still has all the pieces. The other option is to car boot. You make very little per item but if you have lots to shift, it's very quick per item and the proceeds mount up.

I like the kondo idea of putting everything of one type together before going through it. I've found that when I've done this, eg for medicines, cooking utensils, cards and envelopes the drawers have stayed organised for years. However I'm less good at applying it to clothes and linens.

In terms of order, kondo is one idea. Others: 1) pick a room, any room, and work round clockwise from the door. 2) start with your longest term storage ie loft, making space, then your next longest ie garage/ tops of wardrobes, clearing from each "tier" into the previous one using the space you've freed up. Good theory but the stuff in the loft is a difficult place to start IMO, and it takes a while to see the improvement.

Generally it's not a great idea to just buy more storage, but with a new home it's worth making sure you do have enough.

Ziffit

If you have any books, CDs, DVDs or video games.

Another highly motivating book is Unstuffed. Talks about why we have stuff etc. Has a section on gifts and inheritance, which I'm dealing with at the moment. It's making me want to decimate my house so my kids aren't left with the task. I was raised in a frugal family that never wasted and kept everything just in case.

The author also has a website with blog + free downloadable charts.

I've been lying in bed mumsnetting for an hour trying to get the motivation to get up and start decluttering. This thread has had the desired effect.

One of the things i found really helpful from the book was the suggestion to mentally thank each item you are getting rid of. Thank it for serving a purpose and allow it to go on it's way.

Even if it's a thing you have bought by mistake or been given as a gift and you've never ended up using or wearing it - it has still served a purpose. Perhaps it has taught you to not keep buying or keeping certain clothes, to 'diet into' for eg., because this rarely works. Perhaps it has taught you that after all you just don't need a gadget like that, a coat like that, a set of whatever like that. And you can let it go!

My house didn't look cluttered because i'm good at hiding the clutter in cupboards ect. But my goodness i had a huge amount of wasted space full of stuff. My parents are 'keep just in case' ers, and drummed it in to me and i always felt guilty getting rid of things. The idea of being grateful to these things and sending them off on their way really helped me.

I know how you feel. However, after 4 years of saying I'm going to clear the loft and sell what is good, and not doing it. I am now binning everything that does not need to be kept.

We've had rodents up there, eating through most bags and boxes. in all good conscience I could not donate them without deep cleaning everything up there, which I do not have time for. I'm taking it to the local tip and I know they will salvage anything worth anything so easing my conscience.

I no longer feel guilty for getting rid of presents which don't suit. If I can't return it and change it, then it goes in the donation box for any of the requests which come home from school/dc's clubs. I see it that the gift is giving my children's hobbies and interests continued investment.

Oh xpost justsay

Yes! The 'just in case' scenario!

A neighbour of mine sells stuff on Ebay on behalf of people that cant be bothered, for a commission. She earns a basic living doing it and gets a steady stream of clients. Do you have anyone near you who does that?
And dont be afraid to check out the local second hand shops if you have any higher value items or electricals.
You cant beat a declutter for your state of mind IMO

Glad you've made some progress. I'm sorry you have been feeling down. Is it just the clutter making you feel like that or other stuff too? I definitely feel worse for the state of my house, but I also find that when I am feeling low for whatever other reason it makes me find decluttering even harder. Vicious cycle indeed. 😡

Flogging stuff on Ebay is sometimes the only thing that allows me to declutter! At least if I realise I have to buy something again that I previously got rid of, I know the repurchase price is partly subsidised.

I would like to declutter the house more, though. Slowly getting better at decluttering...

I am constantly decluttering because my house is small and also because I find that if I have too many things, the nice and useful items get lost among all the clutter.

Moving into a new house with different storage and having clutter is terrible OP. You have my sympathy.

I've been in my place for a year and am only just getting to grips with it.

We are hoping to move this year, we don't have much control over when it happens (if indeed it does, we are waiting to be rehoused but depends on health assessments etc) so I feel like it's even more important that we get rid of as much clutter as we can ASAP so if we get short notice we can be as ready as possible.