To feel this overwhelmed by decluttering

[Wowz]

Put an offer in on a house, just going through the process at the moment. Thought I would be organised and have started to declutter. I'm going room by room. So far I've done the kitchen, every cupboard, onto of the cupboard, freezer, drawers, the lot. I really enjoyed doing it at the time but then when I finished and realised how long it took me, I just want to cry at the thought of doing the rest of the house. I work part time and the days I'm not at work I have a 2 year old wanting my attention and putting items back into cupboards and draws.

AIBU to just give up, take everything to the new house and hide it in a shed?

Don’t take it with you, kitchen is a hard room to do 💪
Do bathroom next (easier!)
If you have a garage, save it for when you are full of enthusiasm (if you’re anything like me 🙈)

I would do what you can in short bursts. So start in one corner of a room and set yourself the challenge of binning 10 items. Don't overthink it and try to tie it to an activity you already do during the day, so whilst your boiling the kettle etc. It's amazing how well this method works.

As a pp said, to move you will have to touch everything you own, so decluttering as you pack is well worth it. you will save lots of time when you come to unpack.

One tip I would say is don't get too hung up on what to do with the rejected stuff. Unless it's really valuable just bag it up for tip / charity or else you will feel overwhelmed with piles of stuff for eBay. At this point it more important to get the stuff out of the house.

You’ve done the hardest part already, the kitchen. Don’t do what we did. We were overwhelmed too and just brought everything over to the new house and stuffed it all in the huge basement ‘the dungeon’ and also the rooms were filled with things we couldn’t decide what to do with.

So you’re so right doing it now. Whatever you do, don’t just deal with it later and take it all to new house. It is a giant pain in the behind! Tears later we will have to deal with the dungeon and its dispiriting contents. Which leads to more overwhelm!

Years later we still have to deal with the dungeon, not tears! Although tears are appropriate too in our case.

Get rid of your junk now, you will be so relieved later!

We have had 2 moves where we brought boxes down from the loft in one house and put straight up in the loft in the next. The second of these moves we had a 3 year old so I understand your problem! As I packed boxes, she unpacked them. Nightmare.
We moved at the end of last year but this time we had time to prepare and an adult dd to help rather than hinder. We went through each room, and the loft (!) systematically decluttering. It made the move so much easier. We had loads of boxes packed and labelled by the time of the move. Enlist whatever help you can either to sort belongings or look after your 2 year old. We were lucky to have time to do it but it was worth it. If you have done the kitchen that is a great start.

We moved last year. We brought boxes of clutter with us and put them in the garage. Sorting through it at my leisure now so it's not as overwhelming as it would have been before the move. But, to be honest, an awful lot is going in the bin/to the tip/to the charity shop. If you can sort it before you move, do but as long as there is somewhere to put it when you move, not the end of the world if it goes with you.

Also, recommend this or set a timer on your phone and spend it decluttering part of a room.

I've sorted it I to 3 piles when I did the kitchen. Pile 1 is stuff to keep and we still need until we move, eg kettle, cups, plates, cutlery, airfryer etc, pile 2 was stuff we want to keep but don't use all the time, so slow cooker, blender, baking things, that then got boxed and put up the loft ready for the move and then pile 3 was things to get rid of such as old pots and pans, glasses we don't use, things at the back of cupboards and the whole of the junk draw. Would you say this is a good approach??

You’ve done the worst bit now, well done! Clothes next.

Yes, great approach! Do every room that way. Keep and still using, keep but can be packed up now, and get rid of. Well done!

Stick at it. It's far better to streamline your life's possessions now than to move them all with you.
You'd be surprised how little stuff you actually need to live with in the coming weeks, so pack up any duplicates or throw them out.
Label the boxes clearly which room they are destined for.
Good luck.

Get DH to watch the kids and do an hour or 2 a day.
You could even do an hour each per day.

Have a pile of stuff to dump and stuff to take to the charity shop/sell.

On your days off go to the dump and charity shop or sell the items.

An hour or 2 a week is 7-14 hours which is a lot.

Do one room at a time too.

If you don’t finish it by the time you move then just pack it and take it with you but you’ll have a lot less stuff than if you do nothing.

Don't take it with you. Hire me, I do this for a living!

I second short bursts! If you start pulling out loads of stuff and then can’t finish for whatever reason, you’re then going to feel more overwhelmed by the additional mess you’ve made, whereas if you do a bit at a time then you can come back to it more easily without it being left in chaos.

I like the Marie kondo approach of decluttering by category and not by room. So you put all of the books in the house in a pile, pick out the ones you want to keep, and get rid of the rest. Then move onto a different category of stuff.

It is important to actively pick out the things you want to keep and not the other way around, you will end up getting rid of more that way.

As you are moving I'd put the stuff you want to keep straight into a box. Maybe start with things that you won't need to access before you move (books, ornaments etc).

Good luck. I like decluttering, unfortunately dp and the kids do not agree...

Well done you have done one room, if you do a room a week for the next few weeks it will make moving so much easier. Remember Rome was not built in a day, just keep going.

I think 'Don't be like Trevor' will be my new mantra for decluttering! I knew a Trevor as a child who had a tortoise, so whenever I hear the name (rarely) I think of him. Was there a tortoise in that attic?!

I wouldn't do it room by room, that's too 'big' and puts you off before you start. I do it by sorting out all the clothes, or the bookshelves, or the drawers in the living room that accumulated bits and pieces I've forgotten the use of!
Then get rid of the excess clothes etc before you start on the next area - it's important to get it out of the house not just stored in a different place.

God I’d love to move just so I could do his!

not my beautiful curated perfect possessions, everyone else’s shit in the house!!!! Hahaha

I think your approach is a good one, however I would say you have done more than just declutter, you’ve started the packing process so it’s bound to have taken longer. With decluttering it’s not fully done until those items leave your house so maybe think of some quick wins to make a bit more progress, holey socks/underwear/nightwear that you can thin down and just chuck or send to the fabric by weight bins once sorted. Also get MIL on side with managing your DH by pointing out that just because something might be useful, if it could be cheaply replaced or borrowed if needed in future it’s going for now because you are valuing space.

To be honest I wouldn't have been surprised if there was 😂

I now know more about Trevor and his family than my own husband's family! 😂

The kitchen is the hardest and takes the longest

Also you get more bin happy as you get closer- keep an eye on your bin days !

I agree with this. You've got to get it all out to pack it, so you might as well declutter at the same time.

@fyn

listen/watch (podcast/YouTube) she is brilliant, she tells people how to declutter in a very 'real' way. Progress & never making it worse!