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 :)

Pumpkin - are you on Facebook? I offloaded the fish tank and carpet cleaner on a local buy & sell page - people collect for cash. Bundles of baby clothes seem to go well too

tribpot you can buy the app and then run it on your pc, so that everyone has access to it and there's no excuse for anyone to not know what needs doing

phd keep the smaller clothes, but as you lose weight immediately get rid of the bigger stuff so it's not cluttering your wardrobe up, and you can't put weight back on as you'll have nothing that fits

Stuffunderthebed - hmm - not sure what's going on. Name not blacked out for me and I have had PMs for others. Are you clicking on the "message poster " button on the far right?

Flisspaps - DH and I have preserved the mystery of marriage by having two separate Apple IDs but I will explore further whether it will allow data sharing across two accounts, this would be in the 'A Bit Fancy' pile for a housework app, but you never know!

I urgently need to get some stuff out of my dining room as it's been a dumping ground for years and I've found some damp bits in the corners that I've unearthed so far. De-humidifier has been running at full pelt since Saturday but I do want to make sure the air can circulate properly in the room. Problem is, I have some of these storage boxes from Ikea - very nice but they don't fold flat unless you actually take them apart, so I'm struggling to think of where to store them as they were originally bought to go on an Expedit unit I then never bought. Other than the fact my newest Ikea book shelf tried to kill me last week, I would be tempted to hammer up to Ikea for the Expedit today and make it part of the solution.

I don't think you can data share via the phone app, but having it on one phone (could be his ) and on the pc at the same time at least means it's not just one person with the info - it can be updated/modified on either as well.

And yes, I'd go to Ikea for the Expedit unit. Get the boxes off the floor, definitely. Or will they go on the murderous bookcase?

Ah yes, but we further preserve the mystery of marriage by having separate laptops as well. Mine's a Mac so tied to my Apple ID anyway. But we shall see! What he actually needs is instructions on a blackboard in the kitchen where ds will see them and tell him to do them - harsh but fair.

I might see if a couple of the boxes can go in the murderous book shelf - the actual perpetrator is still in bits from when it tried to kill me by dropping a shelf from head height on my foot as I took it out of its packaging last week - but there are two others. I also need to get into the back of the built-in wardrobe in my room, as the cat has been taking an unhealthy interest in what may be inside ... as the mice in our house typically arrive through the cat flap and dead, I'm not too alarmed.

It's web-based so none of that should matter, you just need to know the email address and password the app was registered in. Even with some marriage mystery you surely know each others email addresses?

Ah good, then. Yes, we have not preserved the mystery of marriage to the extent of not having each others' email addresses, that would be deeply odd

Well, house looks like a tip as I've pulled out the contents of the garage! Half of it sorted - some has gone back in much more tidily, have half filled the black bin and a third filled the recycling bin. Half a bin bag of clothes recycling and a box of stuff to drop at the charity shop tomorrow. Still the remaining half to go through!

Sorted fridge today and had stuff in there from 2009

Anyway, it's super clean now and looking gorgeous. I keep looking inside and feeling

Have tidied the other cupboards, but haven't attacked the larder cupboard, or the drawer of death yet. That's tomorrow's job.

Loving the app, wouldn't have even thought of cleaning out the fridge other than a cursory tidy up before a supermarket shop.

Garage done - the air hockey table that hasn't been used in 9 years is now accessible. I keep wanting to open the door and just look at it all

Thanks! I may beat that when I attack the larder cupboard later...

Right. Didn't attack the larder cupboard, but did attack the bathroom. I'm pretty clean normally, but the new app made me clean in places I normally just skim over. Oh. My. God! I chucked / recycled three Sainsbury's bags full of junk, mostly empty bottles, crap bath toys the kids dot play with anymore, unused cleaning products that are useless (three dried out packs of bathroom wipes!) and medicine that is well past the sell by. Scrubbed the whole room top to bottom and now it's gleaming!

Well done, all over!
I dumped 2 very small bags of clothes and shoes in the charity bin at school, so I made a start in the spare room!

Also cleaned the bathroom thoroughly, I think. I'm afraid of buying the app, I don't want a confirmation of how crap I am!

We took a boot full to tip & a boot full to charity shop. I also gave a heavy table away.
Meanwhile it's birthday season so a trickle of new stuff coming in the house this week after all! And we bought a small dresser for DD... but that's good because she's organised her room much more effectively and I found some more stuff to give away or bin.

Still, suddenly I feel panicky that I don't have enough stuff. Crazy!

I'm on flylady too...even took a picture of my little bedroom... and showed it! EIIIKKKK

Thanks continental. I'm a little obsessed with the app. Think it might take over my life

Oh great thread, can I join?! Our house is also in desperate need of a de-clutter.
I'm one of those that when am in the mood,absolutely loves chucking things out and have no problems with decluttering.
What I DO have hindering me though when it comes to decluttering, is a hoarding husband who hoards piles of crap and is loathe to throw anything out and has problems with letting go of anything.
How do I deal with that? Any ideas much appreciated!

We had a thread on living with hoarders back in March, landofmakebelieve. Some hoarder MNs got genuinely quite upset about my our casual references to chucking crap out. I think the main message was to understand that for the hoarder it genuinely is upsetting to be made to get rid of anything. Compromise and negotiation is the key (and also chucking shit out that you know they'll never notice, but don't say that where the hoarders can hear).

I have a DH like that too landof. No ideas, but watching suggestions with interest.

Made DH clean out his bedside drawer earlier and he did pretty well, except that he insisted in keeping four empty glasses cases 'just in case'

Well I am impressed with how well you are all doing.

Me? I have been shopping!! Not part of the plan I know!

I have been buying storage stuff etc and stuff to help me in my quest to be an organised person.

I have stuff already bagged up for the charity shop so will be delivering that tomorrow.

I went to Ikea yesterday. Of course didn't actually get what I went for but did buy lots of other stuff! Then I was in Matalan and bought a couple of nice storage baskets. And hit Wilkinsons today for some stationery bits for me. I want to set myself up a desk area. DH has taken over the office completely so I never get my admin stuff sorted properly. Just need to decide where I am going to put it all and if I need a desk.

On another decluttering thread the other day, a poster mentioned a site called clothes for cash where you can get paid for any clothes you send them. I registered and received my bag to fill today, so have sorted out all DS's and my clothes - I've filled the bag up, so not only are our drawers decluttered but I'll get paid for it!

Still need to get on with sorting and filing my paperwork though. I keep putting it off, although I've bought ring binders, plastic wallets etc from Wilkos so I'm ready.