How brutal are you with chucking things out?

[Frostythesnowman1]

I feel like my head is going to explode

I have 6 year old twins. The amount of stuff we have is just ridiculous. I want to have a massive sort out or clothes & toys, I’ve got toys they no longer play with piled up in the garage and bags and bags of clothes that no longer fit. I keep it because I think I’ll sell it at the next NCT sale or put it on Facebook/vinted but honestly I just do not have the time.

I’m borrowing a small van from work next week and I’ll be loading up all of the toys and visiting various nurseries/playgroups to drop off the toys (I have contacted them all previously)

I’m then going to drop off all the bags of clothes at the charity/clothes banks

i find the idea of this kind of liberating but I’m also terrified that I “should” try and sell it.

does anyone else sell stuff and if so how do you find the time? I work 3 days a week and we have full on weekends with the kids activities. On the days I don’t work it’s filled with housework and taking my elderly dad to hospital appointments.

I suppose my AIBU to ask permission from mumsnet to just get rid of it all and give zero fucks 😂😂

ps the money would be lovely if I did sell stuff but my experience with Facebook/vinted just sucks all joy out of me

Selling shit is a thankless task. £2.60 for four hours of my time? No thank you.

I'm ruthless about decluttering and I find selling a faff so I donate to charity shops. Tidy house, tidy mind!

Everything I don't use or love is out. I just decluttered my wardrobe and have given 2/3rds of it to the charity shop due to weight loss.
I don't live in a minimalist house but everything I own brings me joy.

I love decluttering! I do it every couple of months, as I find looking at all of the extra stuff stressful. I know you’ve organised a van for next week, but in the future, you could use a company called Anglo Collections and they will come and collect it and raise money for a selection of charities. All you have to do then is pop it on your drive, they’ll do the rest, they’re up our way a couple of times a month. As someone who doesn’t drive it makes things so much easier.

I keep an empty box in a spare room I have downstairs.

Every time I see something that's not used (not just kid's stuff) I put it in there. When it's full it goes to the charity shop.

It doesn't take long to fill it up!

I'm now trying to do "one in one out" when I get something new.

There's a great feeling after decluttering!

I sold what I could see would deffo sell by using the sold/completed prices filter on eBay & made around 1k in 2 months. I washed & took some nice clothes to bhf and cancer research as cba with selling for a few quid but found the shop assistants rude (I think another poster mentioned this on here too). I put the rest of the clothes in the Sally army bin. I've put stuff out on my wall (Wallmart) & it goes very quickly so no unsightly junk. Gave stuff away on FB marketplace too.

I still have massive piles of eBay stuff. From up to 8 years ago. It’s in boxes in the loft, on top of wardrobe, under stairs and my bed..

this last 6 months I’ve been letting it go. If I won’t get more than £15 for it I just cba.

imagine the time in vinted or whatever it takes to;
organise what you are listing today
lay it out and get rid of background clutter/sort out lights.
get decent pics from all angles
write description - check for flaws and snags
Measure/weigh it for sending…
pop it all into vinted..

it’s looking at 15-30 minutes per item. Then there’s finding stuff to send it in, checking vinted for sales notifications (I can never get them out of the app!), posting the bloody thing…

Facebook marketplace is quicker but you got more stupid questions and no shows in my experience.

I do put a quick snap and description on my Facebook profile for friends and family. “Anyone want this for £x? Asking before I list it..”. Quite often a friend will want it. We made over £100 last year just doing that.

I just content the clutter anymore and I know the organisations I donate to appreciate it.

basically - it’s not about giving away stuff you could make money from (you’ll never get around to it). It’s freeing up the mental space in your head of having something you ‘failed’ to do in your home. It’s freeing up the time and stress dealing with the listing and sales process would give you.

hours and hours of faffing and weeks of waiting for stuff to sell that may claw back £30-60? Or a clear home and mind and donate it?

I only chuck things out if they're broken or completely unsellable (as in, I've tried not I assume they would be), and those things go asap. Throwing useable things out is not acceptable, it's so wasteful and something people should be ashamed of. There are charities that collect from your doorstep so there's no excuse.

In terms of decluttering, I'm ruthless and make a point of being organised enough to have a charity donation for a doorstep collection going once a month (a bin bag in the cupboard). I then have a medium sized plastic box I use for things to sell on Vinted, and I find an hour or so to list items whenever it fills up.

The biggest difference you can make is what you allow in. Now I've decluttered fully once, it's easy to keep on top of. But that's because I now consider every purchase much more thoroughly. Nothing is bought that doesn't have a place to be stored, I don't buy new versions of things I already have unless they're worn out or I can pass them on to someone. My son's presents are out of my control, but I can tailor my own buying around what I know others will do.

I usually have a black bin bag at the start of every week and fill it up with clothes, toys, and other things we no longer need. Nicer clothes go on Vinted, other items/adult clothes go to the local charity shop, kids'/baby clothes go to the donation point at our local children's centre, anything edible goes on Olio.

That’s not what charity shops are for, though. They’re there to raise money for the charities. You’d be surprised how much it all adds up.

I can’t be doing with the mental labour of selling on Vinted. I donate things to charity and sign up for gift aid so a) the charity makes more and b) you often get a nice email telling you how much they’ve made from selling your donations.

We are moving for the third time in 3 years and this time I am being absolutely ruthless.

Just today I've taken a truckload of clothes, toys, books and games to our local charity as I'm determined I'm not moving with them again and clogging up a room with all this stuff that I've got loads of good intentions for and never get round to doing.

Kitchen stuff is my nemesis. Tell me one person who NEEDS 3 slowcookers, 2 airfryers etc.

I've got utensils to rival wilkos stocks and CDS and DVDs piled so high, yet I don't have a CD or DVD player.....

It's got to go. It really does have to go. The one load I've done today has been cathartic and I'm certain others will reap benefits from them including the charity I've sent them to.

It's really hard in this world where material items are valued so highly, but being ruthless (for me) is the best way.

Most stuff I just donate. Some “good” stuff I post for sale or free, or things that charity shops won’t take. If it doesn’t get bought I donate or toss.

Yes exactly that’s not what charity shops are for at all
its not about giving the stuff to the needy it’s about selling the stuff for raising money!

Thank you everyone you’ve made me feel so much better about getting rid of stuff.

The situation wasn’t helped when my sister gave me about 15 bin bags of clothes from age 5-10 when she moved home. The thought of going through it and sifting out what I’d like, when in reality there’s not 2 of anything for my twins. I don’t dress them identically but I also don’t want arguments about something that they both want. I just want to throw all the bags in the car and get rid

really interesting though that there are companies that come and collect from your drive, I’ll deffo check those out

I am also in the predicament of having much too much stuff. If you do want to sell things, once I started offering things in bundles for small amounts of money lots of stuff sold really fast and I made a few hundred quid (bundling up like 3 trousers, two tops and a jumper that were all the same size and selling for a fiver etc) I kept things online for a month and if they had not sold I donated.

And also bear in mind the mental energy it uses up to store, clean, sort and list things may be worth more than the couple of quid you would make in actually doing that, sometimes just getting rid is really freeing.

Trying to sell stuff is time consuming and soul destroying.
Unless you are desperately strapped for cash give it to charity.
Others will benefit and you will have regained so much space.

i have a clear-out every 6 months, which I offload to my garden shed.

6 months later, I look at the shed's contents and if I'm not going to find it useful, I get rid. Bring back in anything that I think I will use. Have another clear-out on existing items if needs be.

Repeat every 6 months.

I sell as much as I can on Vinted or ebay (don't use FB). Other stuff I repurpose eg using for rags. I like to get my money's worth out of everything I have, I think that product quality and customer service is bad enough as it is without getting the max I can out of things I have paid for. I rarely give to charity shops as I can get more money out of it by selling it myself.
Psychologically I'm not overanxious
about clutter and also get the most out of toys by keeping them for as long as possible - my dcs are great at playing with toys beyond their strict age limits through imaginative play.

I sell everything. In 6 years I have made over 20k. I would have otherwise just given the stuff away had I not discovered vinted. But now I see how the pennies add up. Easily tops up my income by a couple of hundred quid each month selling the kids outgrown stuff. I don’t have heaps of time. Single parent with young kids, working all week.

Charity the lot. I haven't got the time or inclination for selling. I see it as both my contribution to a good charity and also love the idea of someone needy getting a bargain.
I'm brutal once I get going too- I don't care who bought me something, what it cost or how long I've had it, if it needs to go it needs to go.
I can't bear drowning in clutter. Life is so much easier when you have less stuff.

I just ask the kids to sort their clothes out and pop what they don't like into a bag.
Then I drop it off at the charity shop. 4 worn once coats last week.☠️☠️😬

Get a skip . I get a small one every year If you haven't used it in 6 months Charity shop or skip . I go around with a plastic tub . Fill it and straight in the skip and I just keep going. Every year it's almost full . I could take it to the tip and save money but for some reason it's not as productive got me As a skip .

I am preparing for a house move and have been utterly ruthless. Given loads and loads away. However beware, many charity shops are overflowing at this time of year and cannot accept donations so call ahead and check. It’s soul destroying to struggle up the road and be turned away.

Some will even collect.

I hate having loads of stuff hanging around so I keep on top of outgrown clothes/toys. I usually pick out the best bits and try and sell them (usually Facebook marketplace) but only for a short time and if they haven't sold I take the listing down. Everything goes somewhere appropriate, charity shop, free up groups, re-use section at my local tip.