Please share your decluttering 'rules'

[ThatllDoPig]

I really need to declutter. I need the space and the clarity. Been in this house nearly 5 years, and I thought anything I haven't used during this time I would clear out. But I make a start and just get stuck in a pit of confusion about it all.
William Morris said . . 'Have nothing in your house that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful'.
But what about things that might be useful one day, or ornaments and stuff that other people have given you as gifts?!
Any tips or thoughts much appreciated.

things that might be useful one day - if they haven't been useful in 5 years they are not going to start now!

Do you like the ornaments? If not, send them to the charity shop. I reason that people who love you enough to give you a gift wouldn't want you to live with something you didn't like.

Did William Morris have anything to add about DHs who believe that every electrical cable they have ever possessed falls permanently into the 'know to be useful' category, even if I know it to be utterly useLESS?!

I am no ruthless declutterer, because I know it would be too much for DH and DS to cope with, but there's something about calculating how much it would cost to store the stuff that 'might be useful one day' and I'm afraid there's a certain harshness necessary about gifts. You simply can't keep every trinket you're given if it's not for you - send it on its way in the world, in a way that's sensitive to the gift-giver of course.

Taking a tip from Flylady, don't try to do too much. You can't declutter the whole house in one go. Start small, so you can see the benefit quickly.

I might have a trip down to the tip tomorrow in order to inspire you from afar!

tribpot - I believe William morris said chuck it out when the husbands not looking!

Definitely don't keep anything "that might be useful one day" - it won't!

If people have given you gifts display them if you like them otherwise get rid or store in the loft.

William Morris advice is sound

set yourself one corner to clear. Put everything you actually need back into place, everything else gets cleared into rubbish bag or charity box. Look at how nice that corner is without the mess.

Repeat throughout house.

Ask yourself if it brings any benefit to your life. s per the William Morris, if it is beautiful or sentimental or gets used it can stay, if it is neither, why keep it.

Also, do a little at a time. One drawer or cupboard at a time, don't try and tackle a whole room.

Just get into the habit of always looking around you for stuff you can throw away. All those bits of tat out of party bags, pens that don't work, empty bottles in the bathroom, chuck it all away.

nancy - yes, I think William Blake must have said 'Freecycle it when you move house and hope they never notice' (as this has worked very well for me in the past).

Funnily (or rather not) enough, I was given the ultimate 'decluttering' gift nine years ago when someone broke in and set fire to my house, I lost virtually everything. I should stress, this form of extreme decluttering is not recommended. Now my house is full of crap again, proving that like a diet, it's not the losing weight that's the trick but keeping it off when you have.

Not so helpful with decluttering as a whole (in terms of chucking out/giving away), but a while ago I read something which made the point that if every day you take five things into a room and leave them there (eg. a pen, a magazine, a book, a pair of shoes you kicked off and didn't move) then by the end of the week that's 35 things you have to return to their proper places.

Now whenever I'm feeling lazy about taking something to where it should be I just think how much easier it will make the end of the week. Once things with homes are tidied away it becomes easier to sort through what is left.

I agree with the "do a corner at a time" approach. I always have a drawer full of things I've "tidied" away. Once the drawer is full I have to sort through it - that's quite a good way of taking small steps.

Take one room a week and do it in 15 minute bursts. As people have said, take it one drawer at a time.

I have motivated myself to part with things by selling them on ebay. It is quite good fun seeing how things do while they are listed and I make a bit of cash from it too. This is spreading to dh and the dcs as well and reducing the clutter very nicely.

Even once a drawer is decluttered, go back to it a month or two later and see if you can reduce it down again.

It feels really good to get the "stuff" out of your house.

I would also advise very careful shopping. Agonise over buying things before you do. It saves money but also "stuff" coming into the house.

I would be very surprised if anything that hasn't been used in 5 years is useful, with a few exceptions eg photos or decorating equipment etc.

I like flylady's '27 fling boogie'

Find 27 things to throw away
27 things to put away and
27 things to give away.

Do this daily for awhile and it makes a massive difference.

Careful on the leads - some of them are expensive to replace.. however when I realised I had 1/4 cubic metre of assorted power/usb/vga/ethernet/etc cables I reduced it into piles of identical cables and threw away all the spares - although they're starting to pile-up again..

I think this is the problem, ChunkyPickle. Some of them are worth keeping but getting DH to sort through them is nigh on impossible. My solution is to bin them whatever the ultimate cost.

tribpot that's such a terrible thing to happen. Did you catch the burglar and shoot him?

Prima, I'm assuming - or at least hoping - the police caught some murderers or summat with the time they might have spent investigating my crime, as they did shag all as far as I can tell. I found it slightly weird as there was evidence of an attempt actually to blow the house up I think (petrol can left under gas fire, bookcase under the gas meter heavily doused in fuel) which seems well over the top for a burglary.

Fortunately no-one was hurt and I had insurance but getting rid of fire-damaged stuff is the absolute pits.

tribot that is a horrible thing to happen.

A friend of mine had to run away during the night with her dcs to escape a domestic violence situation.

She had virtually the clothes she stood up in and nothing else.

Within a year she was having to declutter regularly. Part of her problem was that everyone wanted to help her so they were giving her all the stuff they had but didn't need. It was great at first but she eventually began to feel like the local dumping ground (in the nicest possible way) but it was very hard to reject people's kindness too.

Eventually everyone realised but we were astounded by how quickly you could go from having nothing to having to sift and reduce.

The 27 fling is really useful. It helps having a deadline so you don't feel you have to go on forever.

Get DPs to agree on a maximum number of kettle leads/printer cables/spare disc drives/black T-shirts/white t-shirts/pants they need.

Eg 25 black t-shirts. Prove there are many more in the house and thus DP has to agree that ones not in the top 25 have to go. Tell DP how happy the people at the charity shop are now! DP is also a William Morris fan...

The concept of charging items 'rent' to stay in our house was one I got from MN and has certainly reduced the bulky clutter - if something takes up 10% of a room that's 10% of the house, that could be £10/month or more in cost just to own it! Suddenly the idea of buying a new one/one off Ebay should we need whatever it is seems a lot more reasonable!

Also the idea of 'keeping stuff as it might be worth something' - look up completed listings on Ebay. we finally went through the last boxes of DP's childhood crap with him going 'I wonder what this is worth?' and me responding within 30 secs, "£1.99 on a very good day, IF it were in excellent condition. Which yours isn't." 'Oh. Bin then.' Though to be fair his old Airfix kits, even the half-done ones and random spare bits, did make us about £200 in all.

I have to admit I'm very glad my imminent baby will be my last, as I'll be able to get rid of SWATHES of clutter easily!

One in one out is good, too, or preferably one in two out, for example books, we have full bookshelves, they are not allowed to pile up anywhere else so if you buy a new book an old one has to go to make room for it.

I stick rigidly to this but unfortunately DH is less disciplined .

We moved back from the USA 5 yrs ago and shipped a huge of amount of useless crap with us! Considering we were paying by weight this was really dumb and since returning we have had to get rid of a King size bed and dining table and chairs cos they were far too big and looked stupid!

I still have too much "stuff" but every month I have a ruthless declutter of one area- it might be my wardrobe or a cupboard or Ds's toys(done while he is out at school!). We are lucky to have a big bin for clothes/textiles etc in the village hall car-park so a lot goes there or Freegle- the joy of Freegle is that people come and take away your crap! One man's trash and all that!! You would be amazed at what people will take sometimes!!

I used to be terrible for holding onto stuff just in case it one day- now I stick it in the loft and of after a year its still there - it goes!!! A year is long enough for something to become useful if its going to!!!!

tribot, just wanted to express my sympathy too. What an awful thing to happen .

Tribpot - only just scrolled back up to your first post, my sympathy over that, what a horrendous thing to have to go through.

Kansasmum - I'm amazed what goes on our local Freecycle too, but equally amazed at how perfectly good stuff quite often doesn't go at all.

You have to take a deep breath and be merciless. I'd go room by room, cupboard by cupboard - or choose a category of items like clothes, books, toys etc and work your way through the house. If you haven't used it for five years what are you keeping it for? You won't miss it if you get rid of it and you won't think about it anymore when it is not taking up space reminding you of its presence. Ornaments, gifts - if you don't like them get rid of them. Take them to a charity shop - someone will pay money for them and you'll feel like you are doing your bit for charity. I think there is nothing more therapeutic than having a clear out. I also operate a strict one in one out policy to avoid clutter building up in the first place.

I decluttered over a year!!
I started with a skip, i kid you not and went through the very easy to bin stuff. ( two houses merged to one, binned all husbands crap) then i tackled room by room, drawer by drawer in a fly lady way 30 mins per day.
Now i have redone each drawer and space.

I have found that it gets easier to be ruthless, as you see the benefits of a clearer, cleaner house you can part with it much easier. Today i decided to bin half of my treasures box ( childhood bears etc) really they are so tatty and are just clutter.

As for a husband, mines a hoarder, i give him a deadline to go through and part with stuff before i do it!!, it motivates him. Wires make him bag and tag them, he will not know what they are for. You can then bin them.

Of all the stuff i have binned only two things i have regretted throwing away and they cost little to replace.

It takes a long time to get to clutter almost free, as someone above said you need to watch it seeping back in. Your never truely free.

I got a dumpster. I'm just going through and tossing everything without looking back. :)

If you don't use it and wouldn't rush out to buy a new one, then it can go.

I've been decluttering books lately. Anything that I don't refer to constantly and is out of copyright went, even if I hadn't read it as I can just download it from Amazon. Followed by anything I can't imagine reading again.
The really tough one was to get rid of the ones that I hadn't read that I'd had for more than two years, even if I'd bought them new.

Things that make you feel sad, or guilty etc. should go go go.