Declutter - an encouraging thread

[Housemum]

OK, so have been lurking/posting on various declutter threads - there are a lot of us out there trying to shift stuff. Anyone care to join me by sharing their small achievements in the hope of helping others to get motivated? Similar to the Flylady threads, I think, where they share their lists of achievements. I'll start off with my small achievement today - we have an IKEA tall CD rack which was full of assorted CD roms - I have been through them and ditched a pile 18" high of CD roms that I don't want or that are incompatible with our current PC. Straight in the bin as they are not worth anything, not even for giving away. I know it's not huge amounts of stuff, but they have been preying on my mind for ages.

Next up, the kitchen cupboards :)

Could I have the list, please? I got exactly two weeks to declutter and pack up for my move across the country. Left it a bit late I think. But I am worried to not get organised now, as I think it would be easier to pack without bills, papers, and random bits being all over the flat. I am not organised at all :(

pm your email GravityDefier

Achievements today - went through the toys in DD2's room while she was out at a friend's!

• Have moved all jigsaws under 100 pieces, put these on the downstairs shelves for DD3, and taken all jigsaws under 40 pieces off shelves and put in boxes ready for the October NCT sale.
• binned 2 Sainsbury's bags of tat (broken toys/party bag shite not even good enough for a lucky dip stall/things she's made that are not the best)
• boxed up 2 storage boxes (IKEA garage boxes, this size ) of baby toys to sell. If they don't go in the October sale they will go to the charity shop/local toddler group.
• cleared e-mail inbox and made sure everything paid up/sent off/replied to as necessary.
• yesterday I managed to wash everything except the bedding (washed that today), ironed it all last night, going to put it away shortly and check through the drawers at the same time as I go :)

Housemum - you've done loads!

I have emailed list to those who pm'd me.

I have not achieved much except I did sit upstairs in spare room with a notepad and pen and mentally went through each room and listed all I need to do to clear and declutter, room by room.

I bought a kindle book on decluttering/organising which is pretty basic (thankfully it was cheap!) and although it is not great it has a 7 day plan which starts with laundry so I think I will tackle that tomorrow. I am not bad with washing but the ironing tends to pile up. So I will iron tomorrow.

Tuesday is sorting airing cupboard.

I also need a trip to ikea. Hmm. Maybe I should do that tomorrow. I want to buy a shoe cabinet, a chest of drawers and a couple of mirrors. Ok. Decision made, Ikea tomorrow and ironing either tomorrow night or Tuesday.

Get greedy; Ebay it!
Think of the good you would do by giving it to charity.
don't think of what you might lose, think of what you & they might gain.

Soverylucky - I am guilty of this too but am beginning to realise that by keeping loads of stuff I am living in the past rather than in the here and now. I have kept some of the first baby clothes, I am now telling myself that old clothes in 20 years' time will just be musty smelling old clothes!! (Well, maybe a bit more than 20, given that DD3 is wearing her sister's clothes from 15 years ago!).

I have just ventured into the garage (integral garage, it is really our "loft" since our loft was converted a few years back. Have just sold, subject to collection, a carpet cleaner on a local FB page for £15 and have thrown out the Sinclair Spectrum that I have moved from loft to loft to garage and just plugged in to find out that it doesn't even work!!!

One idea if you are crafty, which I am thinking of doing when I get round to the clothes sort-out, is to cut squares from each of the favourite items (other than the one or two you are keeping) and sew them together to make a quilt.

As the estimable chocoraisin quoted <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=c1.wall-art.com/img/best_things_wall_decal_single.jpg&imgrefurl=www.wall-art.com/the-best-things-in-life-wall-sticker-1633.html&h=472&w=680&sz=42&tbnid=QK_DdWGjhnVlDM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=130&zoom=1&usg=__2bOEyNkrg-iKP3-lvC6sfM8RVCs=&docid=j0FWM_Top3KL6M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4dzUT5O5EIej8gOhsoGvAw&ved=0CFoQ9QEwBg&dur=347" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this on her blog recently: The Best Things in Life Aren't Things. A great motto for when you're in doubt about letting go of things.

And offer the spare fabric on Freegle :).

Cider, thank you so much for the list! I reckon Mumsnet have got a book on the cards out of that thread and similar ones.

Another idea for baby clothes is to keep 3 or 4 of your favourite babygros, and send them to Chocolate and Ginger Keepsake Bears on facebook - she's an MNer (can't remember her MN name) who will make them into a stuffed toy for you for about £25.

You can then dispose of the rest of the clothes.

I've not done the leftover filing but we have tackled the laundry mountain, hoovered through upstairs and thrown out a load of crap. Oh, and DH finished the shredding!

And a great app for getting organised/decluttering is Home Routines

I LOVE that app! Just about to treat myself to it from your recommendation - I did think about creating calendar entries but the thought of it was just too much, so seeing that I can edit it online and sync it to my iPhone is great! (Sorry Android/Windows people...)

And I can now get rid of the 3x5 cards that I was going to use for my routines!

Wonder if it would be horrifically controlling if I bought my DH the Home Routines app (I know it would be really - imagine if someone came on here and said their DH had bought it for them 'to help with the housework').

I'm joining the thread. Just got back from staying with a lovely friend. She is BRUTAL when it comes to decluttering, and her house is clean, tidy and has surfaces.... Sigh...

I've got bug. I need to declutter every room. So much crap to get rid of... Sigh...

I love the HR app! In fact, I think my iPhone in general helps me massively with organisation. I am rubbish with paper diaries (although I am currently eyeing up the Organised Mum Family Life Book and trying to convince myself that I'll make use of it ) and so I was always forgetting appointments etc, now I set them into my phone as soon as I get them, and have it pop up with reminders, plus I have to do lists, banking and all sorts on it.

I'm being brave (ish!) - have sold a kids' fish tank, and the old hamster cage (why on earth am I keeping it "just in case the new cage breaks"??). I found a "Snoopy Mighty Model Maker" toy from my childhood - now, I never once managed to make a plaster model that actually came out of the mould withour breaking so why on earth have I kept it? (It made plaster of Paris models that were hollow, you poured plaster in the mould, clipped it shut, and turned the wheel to revolve the mould and coat all the surfaces - when dry you were supposed to have a lovely hollow model, I just ended up with fragments of plaster). It's going IN THE BIN! (No packaging/instructions, can't imagine it would sell on eBay)
I found 4 pairs of DD2's "first pair of shoes"! Some pre-walkers, some Doodles, the first leather pair and the first trainers! Trainers are going to charity shop. Need to be a bit braver before I ditch the Doodles (because they were a v cute pair) and the pre-walkers (not really "first shoes" more foot-warmers)

Just downloaded that app. Oh. My. God.

Hello, i need to join this thread, my clutter had piled up over the years, so need to see how best to get rid of it all
Got no transport so any tips on throwing/giving/selling stuff would be much apprecieted and also does anyone have any tips on how to keep their house clutter free after de-cluttering.
Cannot go on hoarding senseless junk

Hello, I need to join this thread too! When we had a toddler and a huge bump we moved from a teeny tiny UK flat to a big Aussie house and three families promptly donated all their unwanted books, clothes and toys on us. THEN the grandparents got stuck in. I've been totally inundated with STUFF. and I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. But as fast as I sort too-small clothes out, 3yo dd finds them and tries them all on (one day she appeared wearing 3prs trousers, 5 shirts and a dress - all size 2 and under). Meanwhile, 5yo ds has an unreasonable emotional attachment to everyfuckingthing - most recently, we've had two 20-minute meltdowns because I proposed throwing away his manky old toothbrush and replacing it with a new one. He wanted the new one, he just doesn't want to throw away the old one. Ever. Nor am I permitted to dispose of one single drawing, item of baby clothing, toy, shoe, or any other item he might ever have possessed, however briefly or disinterestedly.

Anyway. So here's the question of the day: I've finally just started weight-watching to get rid of baby blubber, do I keep pre-baby clothes? Or ditch them? Because I will need new clothes, sooner rather than later, and money is an issue.

This weekend I went through all the books in my house and ended up taking 5 large boxes of them to the recycling centre!! It felt strange to be throwing out books but I kept ones I love. I realised that I haven't looked at many of them since the 1980s when I did my English degree. I feel hugely liberated and also now have empty shelves which I have put photos on .

This weekend I went through all the books in my house and ended up taking 5 large boxes of them to the recycling centre!! It felt strange to be throwing out books but I kept ones I love. I realised that I haven't looked at many of them since the 1980s when I did my English degree. I feel hugely liberated and also now have empty shelves which I have put photos on .