Less than 3 months to go! It's the DECLUTTERING FOR CHRISTMAS thread...

[fuzzpig]

My house is a state! I am absolutely determined to declutter in time for Xmas this year. I have never managed it before

My main wants are:

• to clear out our tiny kitchen (it's a galley style, so small you can barely swing an atom let alone a cat!) so that cooking is less stressful and we will be more likely to do festive baking etc - another thing I've never managed to do...

• to do a massive sweep of all DCs toys, books and clothes. They have WAY too many, and especially with toys it means that new things don't really get appreciated because they get lost among everything else.

• to completely sort out our living room so it actually looks nice when decorated and there is room to play.

I am unable to do much ATM because I'm not very well, but this could be a long term thing so I don't want to just leave it - I want to do a tiny bit every day. Yesterday I collected a laundry bin full of recycling stuff - mostly pieces from some orchard toys games - some of which due to clutter have never really even been played with properly

I can't be the only one who needs to declutter for Xmas - who's with me?

Can I join?

I need to...

-clear out my kitchen cupboards and tops of them... so much junk has been up there for years now!

-ruthlessly chuck/charity shop loads of the DC's toys which are broken/no longer played with.

-sort out the ever increasing pile of baby clothes which DC have grown out of and find a more suitable means of storing them - currently in dozens of carrier bags, not arranged by size or anything . Although our chances of conceiving again look very slim, I'm not ready to part with the baby stuff yet so it is taking up masses of space in our loft/office area right now. Might use those vacuum pack bags for the clothes...

-streamline my wardrobe - too many things in there that I'm clinging onto for nostalgia's sake or other random reasons which do not suit/ fit me. I have to be careful not to be too ruthless here as I can't afford to replace things so have to make sure I have something that'll work for every occasion, even if it isn't great.

-Tackle the understairs cupboard. Or as I see it, the dark abyss...

-Organise the DC's bedroom. It is quite scary really how much mess a 6 and 4 year old can make.

When I have got rid of oodles of clutter, I might actually be able to clean effectively and do some much-needed redecorating!! However, I'm not starting today as I'm barely functioning, having not slept a wink since Saturday night (and have work this evening). Argh.

well dcs are back from school so thats the end of my hell clearing work for the day. Reckon I will get it finished tomorrow - just to finish the shoe racks and I'm thinking to make a really good job of it I will sort out the chest freezer (and the dark hole which exists behind it - I dh puts things on top and they drop down the back when the lid is opened)

So the plan is if I get the above done I will wash down the walls in there and in the downstairs loo oh the best laid plans and all that

Well done to all today, to fuzzpig for starting this and heres to another productive tomorrow.....

I'm in, dread making the list of what I need to do though but will

sorted the playroom out today
had 2 large wicker chests in there 1 with games/toys in and 1 with arts and crafts/jigsaws.managed to get everything into 1 chest and have took 2 big boxes of stuff to the charity shop and put some bits aside for my friends little boy.
the spare chest i've now put all our shoes in and its in the utility room [which is next to the playroom].it has a lid on it so there all hidden away.
i'm working tomorrow so weds i'm planning to tackle the garage

Forgive me clutterers for I have sinned...

I have just arrived home with 2 big Ikea bags of clothes and shoes for the dc, kindly given to me by a dear dear friend. Some of it is so beautiful and I just couldn't say no!

Oh well, back to the coal face (wardrobe sorting) tomorrow...

I'll join too, ive got a mountain of outgrown clothes to sort through,the kitchen needs finishing off as its half decorated and I need to declutter my bedroom as im having it decorated soon

Tomorrow I am going full throttle on the kitchen and hall. I've done a bit today when I cam in from work, shreded some cardboard boxes, sorted the recycling etc,

Sadly DP has been home alone with DD today so my first priority was to empty and re fill the dishwasher, fold the washing, empty the bins, dig out a walk way through the room from all of the toys scattered today. THIS is why my house is a mess. When he has DD he can't do anything. Not one thing. The dirty nappies he has changed are still in the bedroom bin not even brought down AAAARRRGGGH.

And breathe.

Anyway - tomorrow I will achieve great things and look after DD at the same time.

May I join?

Got to:

Put up shelves
Smuggle out toys from playroom while ds's are out
Sort out crappy board games and jigsaws so there is room in the sideboard for...
The kitchen clear out. The random plates will go!

Great thread Fuzzpig. I was lurking last night and was inspired so went to Ikea today with dd2 and I bought two trofast unit. Have now built them ( with the "help" of both dd's) and we've put away all the hats, coats, wellies and book bags. Looks so much better!

I also bought myself a new desk (i'm self employed) as last christmas was chaos and I got really stressed. Christmas is my biggest time of year sales wise so I decided I need to get on top of things now.

Phew, knackered now though.

I hear you Oreo , my dh is just the same.

I think I will tackle the coat and shoes mountain tomorrow. How does a family of 4 acquire so many coats? We all have a coat for every micro climate this country offers us.

I am very of people who live near a Ikea. I would have storage for fecking EVERYTHING if there was one down the road. We have Dunelm though

Me too I love ikea (although autocorrect keeps changing it to okra, which I have no feelings for) - their Trofast units are brilliant. It's an hour drive from here, I have been once (when my dad kindly took me) in 2yrs!

I have no idea what dunelm is though

So despite thinking I would get nothing done for the forseeable future, the de clutter was on my mind so much I actually tackled DS's bedroom. It wasn't too bad as his was decorated not too long ago and we had a big clear out then but things had gradually started to pile up and get put away in the wrong place. He has 2 Trofast units with 3 bucket storage thingys in each so everything has a home - one for his action figures, dinosaurs, vehicles etc. Makes tidying up much easier and he can get stuck in too as he knows where everything lives. I also cleared out the toy chest at the foot of his bed and it now contains all his board games and boxed toys. Phew. T

he plan now is to go and get a storage unit for DD's room at the weekend so that all the toys that are scattered everywhere else can be sorted and stored properly.

And I even listed a few more things on e-bay. I'm hoping that by selling a few unwanted things on I can increase Father Christmas's toy pile under the tree come Christmas morning Thanks fuzzpig!

I am finally getting started! I began sorting my fabric cupboard out last night it looked like an explosion of thready goodness in there, now all the bigger bits are folded and put in a giant shopping bag and the off cuts are in their own bag.
Today I have in the agenda sorting at least one of the big cupboards so I can start up shifting and decluttering everything through the house as to clear the dining room completely. :)

Today's task is to clear the cd's away. Dh has decided he's going to purchase some hub type thing to download the cd's on to. In theory this is great, however it will take ages for him to get around to doing it. So I am ploughing ahead and packing them away now.

I should then be able to actually put books in our bookcase - how novel, excuse the pun! I will also sort out the books as today I found out that there is a book sale in the village next week, with funds going to the church bell appeal. Dh bought me a kindle a few months ago because I was sick of the amount of books I have cluttering up the house. So whilst I haven't been adding to the book pile I need to get rid of the old ones.

I am on FIRE

Right I'm going into the kitchen...If I'm not back by midnight I may well be burried under a mountain of crap

We have the same issue with VHS! Dad recently bought some awesome software that allows you to record from VHS to DVD via a computer. He gave it to me on the understanding that as well as doing all my videos (I'm a nostalgia nut so loads of old tapes that aren't available on DVD) I'd do all his at some point, but I know it will be ages before I get round to that and frankly it's not a big priority right now!

I use caselogic books for all our DVDs btw - we have hundreds so it really cuts down on space.

What a great thread. I'm in. I have so much stuff I want to sell. Is it too late in the year to carboot?

I would do one car boot if you can get stuff together soon. There are lots of car boots that run every weekend throughout the year. It is a great way of getting rid of loads of stuff at once!

Right have done DD1 pit bedroom. As much as I can. She has to sort through some boxes toys, which need throwing out/charity shop.

One load of washing.

Cooked sausage rolls. Have to make a Beef, veg and barley soup for dinner.

Morning all!

Just finished trying the mn recipe - Verrrrr nice but rather over stuffed now

Anyway on-wards and upwards - I WILL get the utility finished today, along with changing the beds, putting the washing through and MNing

I have cleared the bookcase of cd's and put them in boxes ........... But I can't lift the boxes If dh can't either then I need to get another box - bloody annoying.

Looking on the bright side I don't have to look at those bloody ugly cd's anymore and the books are where they should be. I even had shite on those shelves that needed to be thrown out and the dust left my hands black

I am hoping this de-cluttering will make cleaning easier. I hate cleaning and I don't do it properly because there is just so much stuff/crap hanging around. We are also extending the house, so clearing out the crap now will make clearing the rooms when they have work done on them easier.

Ds will be awake soon and we will then have to go and collect ds2 from pre school, so the coat and shoe mountain will have to wait until tomorrow.

Fuzzpig - Dunelm is a homeware store. Nothing to shout about, but about as good as you get here

i was meant to do this today...but i got distracted at my nans house and wasted most of the day. busy tomorrow so thursday and friday this is my plan while the dcs are at school! someone give me a boot up the backside.

I'm afraid I have done precisely nothing today! My body and brain are just not working. I hate being ill.

Mind you my lovely friend is dropping round a meal for us after school so that's a big effort saved and she is also very gratefully accepting DS's old winter coat as her youngest is the right size for it.

You have inspired me ladies - I will clear my bedroom! It currently looks like one of those horder program's

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that keeps all (and I mean all! Couldn't even part with the questionable stained bodysuits ) baby clothes! I currently have a loft full of all 3 DCs clothes in big bags