Fellow Shit-Tippers - Anyone want to join my thread for sorting your house out?

[RefereezaWanka]

I have tried Fly but can't stick to it. I need a plan! And I need support

Bossy that's brilliant about the jumble,and even better if you can get rid today!

Haunty sounds like you're doing really well!

HeresThe if you can get stuff organised into different sections/piles to deal with from there that's half the battle I think!

I always seem to end up doing day to day stuff and running out of time/energy/motivation.Today I have:

watered plants
ironed remaining uniform and PE kit and put away
put away all dry washing and clothes horses
labelled new school shoes
laundry
changed and cleaned clocks

but I have still got loads of similar stuff to do.....

I think that with the start of the new half term I shall start a new routine and regardless of the everyday stuff that needs doing I shall try to do quarter to half an hour a day of purely decluttering and organizing.Can only give it a try

Good stuff everyone - loving the 'small chunks' approach :o

Although we diverted from our list, we ended up doing absolutely loads in the bedroom (not like that ). I think my 3.5hrs sleep on Friday has finally caught up with me though and I can't see us getting much done after dinner. Except the ironing.

well i made a start on the spare room. didn't get much done TBH but at least now i can get from the door to the window. i think it's just going to be a case of grab a handful of stuff every day and sort it, ebay it/charity shop it/dump it til i have gotten down to what i am keeping.

That's what works for us, everything is in bags or boxes and we just go through one at a time. I do 'sweeps' though - I don't always go through every single item in detail, as you can get caught up on one thing - sometimes I'll just go through picking out everything that's definitely rubbish, then go through again finding everything that belongs in DCs' room, etc. Seems to be quicker, IME.

I have been busy cleaning out the stick insects (I'm not sure I managed to gather together all the babies that escaped into the front room though) and making a vampire bat outfit (complete with ears) for the Halloween party DD1 is going to on Tuesday (has to be home made outfits!).All good fun but no further forward!!!

DH has not cleaned out fridge yet as he promised - however he's done the Sunday dinner.

I'm of you lot who've managed to get 'proper' stuff done.

Getting closer to a nice [can of beer emoticon]

Super work gels (best Dowager voice preparing for Downton later )

Countess well the blardy women was away for the w/e -how very dare she when I needed to dump all my old tat on her donate some jumble!

Hey-ho it's out of the house & in my car so at least I'm not tripping over it!

here's the a path across a room is always good. I know it means keeping stuff a bit longer but if you can be arsed are organised Ebay gets rid of stuff AND gets a few pennies.

Ok back to work, college prep...yuk, can't really moan at the DD's leaving their homework till the last minute can I when I'm as bad!!

Haunty - I wish I could just pop over and do the kids stuff for you !! I love organising kids toys and matching up bits of games etc

As I've said on other threads, I do get tempted from time to time to set up a decluttering business (going to go and have a look at the link in a bit) but I just don't know how many people would part with cold hard cash to have it done for them/with them - esp not in this climate?!

Chipping maybe you could offer cash or barter?

In this day & age we're all strapped for cash but can usually offer some skill in return.

You have to be hardnosed about it, to get value for money, but I'm sure it'd work. eg I'd do 2 hours babysitting for you in return for 2 hours de-cluttering.

You can charge the clients who can pay but offer a barter to those who can't (or friends who you know have a skill but can't afford to pay)

You'd do far more in an hour than I could & if it released your client to earn, say, half as much again as you then it'd be worth it!!

I suppose the only problem with getting someone in to sort your clutter Chipping (other than money,although I reckon in a rich enough area that wouldn't necessarily be an issue for some) is that by it's very nature you don't know what's there.There's a lot of privacy issues involved.

I wonder if you would be able to make enough doing it.

Obviously I wouldn't be worried whether that Ann Summers sex toy would turn up

Lost something lately countess??

Yes there are privacy issues but no more so than when you have other workers in the house really... and there just has to be that element of trust really doesn't there.

BossyBritches - I wish my friends would swap some skill for the amount of hours I help them decluttering - I'd have no more decorating to to

The one nearest me (I've just been looking) charges £40 per hour.

chipping, i think it is a great idea. i used to watch kim and aggie and think "yeah that's what i need" but i know myself well enough to know that unless you were an absoloute stranger from very far away and could guarantee me that you would leave the country afterwards, never to return, that i just couldn't let you in to help clear my crap. mine isn't even that bad. it's normal crap, no ann summers toys floating about, no cat poo behind the sofa but i just know i couldn't cope with people seeing it. not if tehre was any chance of me ever bumoing into that person again! i know these are my issues BTW.

bumping

i dont know what bumoing is!!

Bloody 'ell....... Which area are you in?

Well if you started it as a business you'd have to get friends to pay somehow...
have to be hard-hearted!!

evening all... I tried to post a message last night but bloody phone froze up and rejected it. Was very impressed with Haunty's sorting out the new cupboard on 3hrs sleep. and everyone's busy-ness generally...

been pretty good working through my 'to declutter before we move house' list. good progress on kitchen, stationery cupboard and wardrobe. Although I am going to have to go over all of them again as I have allowed myself to put some things in piles/categories to be sorted later, as deciding on them one by one would take too long and it's nice just to get the easy crap out the way and feel some progress has been made.

feeling frustrated now though as I have washed up and cleaned the kitchen 3 or 4 times already today and it is full of crap AGAIN! and I really want it clear for Monday morning but on the other hand I really want to just sit down with my tea and cheese and biscuits and do something relaxing for the first time today. I am going to leave it I think. I'm sure I'll squeeze it in tomorrrow at some point...

Also for tomorrow/this week:

• catch up with laundry
• sort through bed linen; make sure it's in sets and decide how much to keep/throw away (we have loads of old stuff given to us by my/dp's parents)
• sort through yarn/fabric collections... I am going to have to chuck a whole load of random bits of old clothes and fabrics I've kept, hoping I'll get creative enough to turn them into something new. It is not going to happen! I can still barely sew a straight line. Is there somewhere you can recycle fabric anyone know? They are no good for charity shops.
• and sort through bedroom shelves. anyone have any good jewellery storage? mine is currently in all kinds of random cardboard boxes.

(apologies for over-long post btw!)

Hello Mackrel.Seems like unlike some you've actually been busy doing rather than gassing on MN.(Not me,of course)

I have studiously ignored kitchen and luckily DH has stepped in.He in all his wisdom though thinks I've been a lazy moo on MN all day just because washing up hasn't been done.

I reckon the fabric could well be used by Rainbows/Brownies/pre school/nursery/school for craft projects.

I have a wooden spice rack fixed to the wall for my necklaces - all cheap tat costume jewellery. It looks pretty and I can see what I've got.The rest is in various pretty pots and boxes on the shelves or in drawer with make up in cutlery trays.

Mind you the make up drawer ain't great since DD1 got in there and spilt my gold loose eyeshadow all over

Just clocking on to say I have been rubbish this weekend and done nothing! DH bought down a filing cabinet to sort through, which is now the centrepiece of the living room and still unsorted.
Also got a coffee table from ikea that serves as a big storage box too (called Hol if you want to google it). At least DC's toys can be chucked in there nightly, so maybe that counts toward the declutter!

Hi TheGrass.I did indeed Google Hol and that is what I have - one that size and a bigger rectangular one.I think they're great!

I also have a filing cabinet in my front room to sort,but it lives there all the time.I want to sort it out and go down to a smarter 2 drawer one.How do I manage to keep so much paperwork crap????

Right I must go and chuck my DC's toys in my Hols

mackrel! I agree giving the material to a school would be good, but if they don't want it, do you have a British Heart Foundation shop near you? Don't know about other charities, but they recycle rags and get about 65p per kilo. I'm sure they'd appreciate it, especially if you label the bag 'rags' and explain what's in it (so they don't have to sort through it, they can just take it out the back). Same with books; we get 50p a kilo for recycling unsellable books. Just separate them from sellable stuff before donating, if possible, as sorting through it takes masses of volunteer time.

Last time dad helped me donate rags/recycling and we dropped off loads of stuff, there was almost £30 worth and we STILL have loads of crap here!

Anyway, not going to be a productive day as I'm off to work, but tonight will be ebaying as I want to use up some of this month's free listings. Already had some bids on books I listed over the weekend :)

So, back to school/work, how's everyone done today?

I put some more ebay listings up this evening but that's it, DH has kept everything ticking over while I was at work despite DS taking everything out of the new cupboard so he could hide in it!

I have done nothing today other than a load of washing.

Work then trick or treating then DC's being little monkeys at bedtime..

Oh I did get a run in.

I am consoling myself with Scrumpy Jack and hoping one of you others will pop along and inspire me with tales of your achievements.

I am worn out.

Back to school for the DD's & college for me.

Managed to pack a healthy lot of snacks/fruit for DD1 but no sandwiches.. oops!

Quite a productive teaching session with my bunch of 'erberts at college today & felt very organised when I got home as I'd done Spag Bol sauce (one quorn one meat) yesterday & so only had to throw it in the respective slow cookers!

Lots of T&T-ers tonight -bless 'em. Can't stand the Hallowe'en crap/rituals myself but love the little ones excitement!

Tomorrow lots to do but a pause for a funeral at 11.30. My neighbour Pearl died last week (after a long fight against ovarian cancer) & although I didn't know her very well, she & her hubby were so kind to us when we moved in here post -divorce, I am going as a sort of thank-you. Her hubby & family are so sweet & are lovely people. She left instructions on what she wanted & we're all to wear colours! She wanted it to be a celebration of her life, & so it will be.

Sorry, off-topic.

I'm sorry to hear about Pearl Bossy

Gives a bit of perspective and I think the funeral certainly calls for a pause.

Hello all!

All the best for today, Bossy. Pearl sounds like she was a lovely person and I hope her husband is doing OK.

My decluttering efforts have stalled slightly. Even worse, I?ve RE-cluttered under the bed. I had a huge pile of stuff in our spare room, ready to go to the charity shop, but my mum called last night and asked if she could stay for a couple of days. She and her husband are in between houses at the moment. So last night I had to completely empty the spare room. Our bedroom is bursting at the seams. On the up side, the spare room is completely decluttered now, so that?s an improvement, isn?t it?

Plan for tonight is mostly to settle mum in, but hopefully I?ll be able to go through some old photos and scan them into the PC. I?ve got about a dozen photo albums to get through?

Thanks ladies, it's going ot be rather a sad day. Was talking to our immediate neighbours who were like another son & daughter to Pearl & appparently bless her the last time she came home from hospital she started to organise everything for the funeral. She & hubby Bill had this lovely traditional relationship, he worked & did all the DIY & garden, she raised the kids worked PT whilst they were young & kept Bill in order. ;) She was a Flylady of the higest order & has left lists of what to do when & where. Consequently in arranging today the family know what hymns, what flowers, who is doing what, which saves them worrying & they know they're doing just what she wanted.

So a busy day ahead- I made myself keep away from here after the kids had left from school to crack on. Hoovered the downstairs (blardy muddy weather ,blardy dog!!) cleaned the kitchen & sorted some laundry all by 8 o'clock!!

Have had a quiet fix on here, now must get on. Notes to make for next weeks college session & shopping list to make for cash & carry later for Bonfire night.

I feel a list coming on!!

Cupcakes now the trick is to not let that spare room clutter up again once your Mum has gone!!!

ooh, spice rack for necklaces sounds interesting countess - I was thinking I might get a cork pinboard and hang necklaces/earrrings up on pins, but they'd have to be pretty hardcore pins to support some of the chunkier stuff - perhaps a rack is the way forward!

thanks for ideas re rags also - dd's nursery didn't want them and I don't know any schools to ask so am definitely going to see where nearest BHF shop is haunty - have a feeling there is one quite near us.

ah, bossy, that's so sad about Pearl. gosh, I can't imagine doing all the organisations for your own funeral. There's something kind of lovely about it though, like she's still looking after her family and friends although she's gone.

nothing done for me yesterday as I had a day off work to go for a birthday lunch whilst DD at nursery. and we went to the cinema - 1st time in probably a year! so, the house is a tip, but the cleaner comes today and I shall start again this evening (we have finished the series we were watching on sky+ so may find it easier to tear away from the tv and be useful after dinner tonight!)
I still need to do that pile of filing. And still working through the bloody stationery cupboard....