Decluttering Support Thread

[HiccupHaddockHorrendous]

I am about to embark on a 24 hour declutter-fest (I might allow myself a couple of hours off to sleep!) to kick-start my new and improved tidy and organised self and wondered if anyone else would like to join me.

Ds is away and coming home tomorrow afternoon so his room is first on the list and it must be finished before he gets home.

There is a whole week of free-listing on eBay from tomorrow and I have just signed up to freecycle and Gumtree so am determined to get rid of as much as possible without it all going to the tip!

Good luck! Might try ebay myself! Wish I could get organised but think I am beyond a one day target :)

Oooooh, good luck, I'm watching with interest. I so desperately want to do this but lack the follow through.

Well, my first freecycled item has just been collected!

I am now going to ds' room for an hour or two then off to the tip.

Pookey - my house would need about 3 months of intensive decluttering/tidying to be up to scratch but I thought if I could spend a whole day making a start then I might see enough of an improvement to encourage me to keep at it long term!

Slattern - me too. I have lots of boxes upstairs of half sorted stuff. I forget what's been sorted and what hasn't then it all ends up back where it was.

I have been in this rut for too long and I have to get myself out of it before I drown in mess!

Come and join me...you know you want to !!

Hiccup - you are so right, I do want to join in. DH has done a run to the dump with garage stuff and I am currently losing will to live sorting play mobile back into original sets. I am not even going to attempt to sort the Lego but am trying to separate Lego from duplo. I am also throwing out the broken stuff as I go along, out of sight of dc as they feel the need to rescue everything.

Again, good luck!

Hello! I'm trying to clear the attic and more generally declutter the house before DC3 is born. I have just tidied and cleaned the dreaded cupboard under the sink and the cupboard under the stairs. They look so empty now!

Good for you Javotte.

I have now binned all the random mc d's toys that seemed to be everywhere, we don't even go there that often! Also have reunited various bits of toys with their other bits. Still have a long way to go.

Omg and I thought I was the only one with random mcD toys with missing pieces and children who can't bear to part with them! Spent this morning sorting a table out and throwing alot of paper away. And some plastic toys. Reunited some toys.

I now have a headache (to be fair my period is here, and I've had workmen here the best part of the week putting new boiler and heating in).

Hello!

I'll just be lurking really as I am ill and unable to move let alone declutter. I managed to get rid of some clothes the other week though. I know some stuff I want to throw away - mostly DCs' stuff as I have been far too lax and as a result they have no respect for their masses of toys/games - just can't actually do it yet.

Unfortunately we are getting more cluttered as my parents are selling up (divorce) and keep bringing up boxes from the attic! Not only my old stuff but stuff they want us to sell for them (for a cut of the profit, so I'm not complaining really... it all takes a lot of time though!)

What an afternoon. Instead of dealing with my own tip my db and I blitzed our parents house. 2 full wheelie bins, 4 bin bags and a load of stuff to the attic. If only I could deal with my own house so brutally.........

Slattern - has it made you more motivated to do your own house?

Fuzzpig - hope you fell better soon and come and join in! Sorry to hear your parents are divorcing . Every now and again, my mum will give me a box of stuff from my childhood and I have no idea what to do with it. There is a whole lot more that she's keeping hold of though. Not sure what she plans to do with it all.

Drcrab - hope your headache is better.
We also have lots of random mcd's toys. I've just put a load in the charity shop bag.

Javotte - it's so satisfying when an area is cleared, isn't it.

Ds came home earlier than I expected so I didn't even get to his room before he arrive . I have since been up to do some sorting and got it looking less bomb site-like!

I have the whole of tomorrow clear to try and get some more done. I need to work a bit faster as I seem to faff about for ages before anything gets done .

Hiccup - decluttering someone else's certainly felt good, but it is always easier with stuff that I hadn't bought myself. However, and this is the big realisation - if I don't get a handle on things now give it a few years and that will be me!! I am determined not to be my mother when it comes to hoarding.

I'm off tomorrow so hope to get things shifted.

I am the queen of faffing and am ridiculously easily distracted.

I want to join in! I have a few child free hours tomorrow morning and am planning on tackling DH's wardrobe and making a start on the loft. My main problem is not being ruthless enough. Any tips to toughen me up before I start?!

LBD, I love the fact that you are starting with DH's wardrobe! I have been known to rhyme at my DH endlessly to clear out his wardrobe, whilst never touching my own.

My only tip, once you have determined what stuff is to go - get rid. Don't do what I do which is end up reintegrating it all back into the house.

Slattern I completely relate to that - I have mild hoarding tendencies but nothing like my parents, the extent of their hoarding scares me

Hi I'm back! Headache gone. Yay!

Well. Today i had an hour to shop with a nearly 2 year old and a friend. And managed to try on several bits of clothing and bought them all! But. The good news is I came home and with both kids napping, I managed to throw out a whole charity bag of clothes, recycled some to a grateful young person (oh how I wish I can still fit into those tops and lovely skirt suits!) and put all the new clothes and old
clothes that were sitting around the room piling up back into the wardrobes or in the wash! Feels fab.

Now all I need is for dd to stop bf and I can sort out my undies.

Right. Off I go. Fingers crossed I can make the time count this time. Must not get distracted!

I am also decluttering but I have been at it for weeks and still have a long way to go. Mostly because I am a tight arse and want to sell everything instead of give it away and I hate waste too.

I have been selling via facebook and have made hundreds of pounds over the last few weeks. Mostly DDs old clothes and toys as we have found out we are now expecting a boy so can get rid of anything girly that is too small/young.

We are moving soon so need to clear out before then. We have a couple of months though so doing it slowly and thoughly. I am doing the NCT sale at the start of october so that's my deadline for having all the kids stuff sorted - anything not sold on facebook by then will go to the NCT sale and anything not sold there will be given to the charity shop straight after the sale. But we are combining 2 households (my DP is not my DDs Dad and he currently has his own flat) so got 2 properties full of furniture etc and moving into 1 which is about the same size as mine now so need to get rid of a lot of stuff. We are obviously also adding a person as I am pregnant too so the kids are no longer going to have the space of having their own rooms.

I have encouraged the kids to help by giving them their own money box, which is taped shut and anything they sell they can have the money and then spend it on their new bedrooms once we have moved house. They have actually been very excited about this and have voluntarily given up a few boxes of toys that they never would of let go without this in place. They are only 3 and 4 years old. They have taken the money from people and put it in their box. It's all very sweet.

Lbd - good for you, stay motivated.

Drcrab - glad the headache has gone.

Fuzzpig - my mother is an odd combination of a certain rooms in the house being pristine (the one visitors see) and the other room are an absolute midden of hoarded stuff with channels of floor space to get from one side to the other. Even when we were chucking stuff I found myself saying 'oh but mum is keeping that incase [insert reason]'. My brother pointed out that I sounded just like mum - a wake up call indeed!

This morning I have done 2 days of cleaning in one morning as I have the house to myself. This afternoon some chucking to be done.

Well, I failed miserably yesterday . Instead of spending the day cleaning and sorting, ds and I went out for breakfast then to the cinema - oops!

I did, however, drop a bag of stuff and a huge mirror off at the charity shop on the way to the cinema so not a total waste of the day .

LBD - how did you get on this morning?

Lillly - you sound very on top of things! When do you move/when's the baby due? I must look into the FB selling pages.

Slattern - sounds like a very productive morning!

For at least the next few weeks, I'm going to have 2 hours free on a Wednesday and a Friday before school pick up so should dedicate this time to an ongoing decluttering program but I know at that time of day I'll just find something else to do. I need to force myself into the right frame of mind to use the time more efficiently.

Not too bad, not too good..... sorted out the wardrobe - it is now lovely and pristine but then got distracted with cleaning the house, so not a great deal of decluttering got done. Still, most of the house is looking a bit cleaner. Next opportunity is Wednesday so am going to force myself to sort out the loft or the spare room. Honest.

How's everyone doing this week? I haven't managed to do anything at all as I'm barely coping with my reduced work hours. I have been decluttering in my head though (ie working out what I'm going to get rid of) :o

My parents are visiting on sunday which is a mixed blessing - hopefully dad won't mind doing a tip run so we can get rid of some stuff, but also they will be bringing up more stuff from the attic... apparently there's loads

Good morning all. I too have been distracted by cleaning as opposed to decluttering. DH has been working crazy hours this week so the everyday stuff had taken a slide towards chaos. Hopefully if I get cleaning today I will be able to resume decluttering at the weekend.

Lillyloves - I too have tight arse tendencies. Last year I decided to car boot everything but never quite got round to it and the pile got reintegrated or damaged/broken. I decided this year that there was more value to me to just have the stuff gone. I admire your dedication to the selling cause.

Great idea to do a 24hr de-clutter! I'm going to do it, starting...at 0930! Will have 2 hrs off for lunch and to take dc to park (and sleep!)

We're just in the middle of a kitchen re-fit, need to de-clutter so don't put all the crap back in! Also rest of the house needs a serious seeing to! Then may follow on with a 24hr Ebaying period :)

I need a kick up the arse motivating!

I'm working at 11.30 for a couple of hours but need to shower and tidy up before that. I was planning to relax for another half an hour then run around like a mad thing!

Decluttering has been put on hold while I try to get back into some kind of routine now that ds has gone back to school.

From next week I'll have two half days off so should set this time aside for decluttering...I wonder if that will happen

Right, dad has agreed to go to the dump for us tomorrow so we will have to take loads of stuff (to make room for the apparently huge amount of stuff they are bringing...). Might swing by the charity shop to donate stuff too (and try not to buy anything!)

I'm really panicked as DH will be having a spine operation in 2 weeks and we are SO cluttered and I just want to make some space... and for Xmas too,