Anybody want to join me in a mega, whole house declutter?

[LilllyLovesLife]

I am desperate to have a clean and tidy home. It's always ruined my life and I always feel very lonely, partly because I can never have anybody over without a week or so notice to clean up! I am fed up of being like this and want to make a change for good. I know that the biggest step is to declutter, as it will make it so much easier to keep tidy.

I have delcuttered lots of times before, and I then end up filling it up again! I don't want to do this again! I want this to be the last time!!

Anybody up for joining me?

I have already done my girls room (They share a small double and it was always so full that they couldn't ever have space to play in it!). It is so much easier now, I finished it about a week ago but have actually kept it tidy!

I am now moving onto my Son's room. It's a TEENY box room with just a cotbed and one chest of drawers in, no spare space and I have an extra baby to fit in their soon as we are expecting again. Baby will sleep in our room for as long as possible but no idea where the baby's clothes etc will go! So iv culled his clothes and now have 2 spare drawers, and got an under bed drawer now which I can use although not really space to pull it out!

Anyway, would anybody like to join me in my mission? We could support each other and keep each other going? I have also strarted looking into flylady and hope to use some bits from there, but not follow it fully as I like to do my own thing a bit.

I need to do this and have two days next week when I plan to make a dent in it as I'm off work and DS is at nursery. It's v hard to find even small chunks of time to do this with a toddler I find. He needs constant
entertainment and supervision and so I can only do things occasionally.

Anyway I'd really appreciate some help with getting over the fear/hesitation/guilt about getting rid of stuff. Will mostly be going to charity shop as I can't be bothered with eBay selling (I buy lots off there though!) but will keep some bits in loft and garage to put on gumtree and for the next NCT sale.
Would also appreciate tips for shoe storage including muddy boots in hallway. Our hallway isn't small but we store DS's trike in there and sometimes a buggy and due to the position of a Radiator that's too tricky to relocate we don't have much wall space for storage furniture.

Haha, I never used to do much before about 9.30am but all this house clearing is really motivating me. I am like you - I have 3 children to get up, dressed and 2 needing school bags and packed lunch sorting. Also for sports relief it was extra complicated today as they are doing various sponsored activities and needed extra stuff organising.

I am pregnant and my morning sickness means I can't have my morning cup of tea as it just makes me vomit. I am 24 weeks now so should really have passed. But in some ways, not being able to sit down and enjoy a cuppa, probably makes me do more as we all know how easy it is to sit down and not get back up! LOL.

Right 2 loads of laundry now outside on the line, DS has had a play in the garden while I did that and now both inside having some food and warming up!

Finding my "to sell" pile is growing quicker than I can list it, and trying to think of ways to speed it up. DH keeps saying to charity shop it all but I just had the waste of money! Especially as I know most charity shops nowadays are very wasteful themselves and bin a lot of things. I guess I could freecycle it but I really would like to earn the cash from it really. But means it sitting around cluttering the house up in the meantime. We are not THAT low on money, but I like the fact I can bring in a bit of money this way and that it pays for anything I buy for the kids really. And think I would be less ruthless if I wasn't getting any money for it.

Well I folded two lots of dry laundry and chucked in a third, cleaned out the animals, put away the shopping, fed dd some snack and am now contemplating which cupboard to attack first!

Well done!

Iv sorted out the newborn and 0-3 baby clothes into draws. So no more hanging around all over the place.
Stripped my bed
Put loads of washing away and put some more aside to list for sale.
Put DS clothes away in his room.
Dishwasher on.
Cleared upstairs hallway.

Stripped and washed 2 dcs beds and cot
Sorted through toys in older dcs room
Shoved bin bag of old broken toys in shed
Hoovered older dc room

Next I need to look at their books, clothes and shoes!

I've cleared 3 bin bags from what will be dd's new room and rearranged all the craft stuff.

Have also sorted the living room so there's nothing in here that shouldn't be.

Doesn't look like I'll be getting much done today as dd is really suffering with her teeth

Have managed to strip our bed and put a wash on, put some laundry away and do the pots but I don't see any cupboard or clothes clearing happening!

just got in from nct sale. Omg! Never again! I never bloody learn but this time I really never want to go back.

Buying or selling?

What was so wrong with the NCT sale??? I'm down to sell at one in a fortnight!

Oh dear... what went wrong with the NCT sale?

Curious about NCT sale too...

I managed to send a full sack to the charity shop and declutter the bathroom this morning. Feeling pleased!!

Up since 330 with poor dd really suffering with her teeth. Just got her back to sleep and really need to sleep myself but instead I'm thinking about cupboards

sorry, was too tired for proper posting Last night. I volunteered, sold and bought at the nct sale yesterday so was there from 8.30 till 5.30. I literally didn't stop all day. I'm heavily pregnant and not one person offered to help me Carry any of my boxes or bags, including several men who could of easily spared 5 mins of their time. so I've hurt my back and my legs are absolutely killing me. I have still got a car full of unsold items, despite pricing them redicously cheap, well below what I could get selling on Facebook. and obviously the stuff I did sell by the time they have taken their 25% plus the £7.50 sellers fee it's not really going to be much.

I have sold there and volunteered before so maybe it's just worse because I'm pregnant and I really found it hard work. but I'm Def not doing it again as it's just not worth it.
my feet are so sore, despite wearing trainers all day. and obviously all the time It took to label everything up before hand contributes to it too.

Just feels like it was all for nothing as u priced to sell so I didn't get stuff back

as for buying there is a half an hour volunteer sale before it starts but found I was already exhausted by this time and there was so much stuff in the hall it was very hard to find what you wanted in the short time we were given.

You need a day with your feet up!

right back to it today. had a busy day yesterday with a kids party at soft play and them went out for dinner.

but still managed to get thee house back to how I left it on Friday (DH had all 3 kids here Saturday while I was out and came home and house was a tip).

Also spent my whole evening yesterday selling. I am starting to get really frustrated with all the stuff waiting to be sold. I don't know what to do with it all. It is selling but it takes so much time. I can't help but think if I was one of these "dump it off at the charity shop straight away" types then my house would be so much clearer and cleaner and maybe I would even have finished the whole house clean/declutter as I wouldn't have spent half my time trying to sell the stuff and my living room wouldn't be full of stuff waiting for somebody to buy it

BUT the money does come in extremely handy and I know it's still a few hundred pounds worth of stuff to shift so would totally loose the money if I just donate it.
so I don't know what to do.

plan for today:

1. make a start sorting the unsold NCT stuff. Think I will just do one box/suitcase a day as I just can't face it!
2. finish listing the box of clothes in my living room
3. declutter between my sofas in the living room and clean.
4. put clean washing away upstairs (there is a lot of it!)
5. 2 loads of laundry wash and dry
6. clean kitchen
7. generally keep living room tidy throughout the day and hoover after DS eats.

I am currently on a mega-declutter too - have taken 3 binbags to charity and sold loads at our NCT NNS a couple of weeks ago (5 huuuge boxes worth). I help co-ordinate our one and just wanted to say that it varies as to how much deposit/commission happens depending on how the sale is run. In our branch (in Essex) we do a £5 deposit and the commission is 30% here but the sales are the branch's biggest fundraisers and that 30% then goes into funding activities run by the branch (snacks for the 2 groups we run, funding for the cloth nappy library etc etc). So I can't begrudge it, I do keep 70% of the proceeds

I am selling stuff I think I can get more than £5 for and donating anything else to charity... Gets it all out of the house!

Lilly it does sound as though you did a very long day at your NNS (after several weeks of cracking on with your decluttering) , I am sorry no-one helped you with your boxes, that's very shoddy.

warmleatherette I know exactly what you mean about not knowing how to do clearing after growing up with hoarders (me too!), it's taken me 10 years to really get my head round it. Doesn't help that DH has hoardy tendencies either!

I got a bit side tracked from my list (DS not helping being a miserable sod!)
But I have got a fair bit done.

I cleared out my downstairs shower room, which has litrally never been used (bought house 18 months ago!!) As DH said it was rubbish, just a cold trickle so until we can afford to replace the extention (Will be years!) to just not bother with it. So it's been used as a storage space until today.Emptied it out, cleaned it all up, switched the shower on and there's nothing bloody wrong with it! DH had said about how he was concerned the gaps in the tiles (It's a very old bodge job, the whole extention is) would leak but that can be sorted no problem with some polyfiller! SO I have just gained a shower basically! It's not the best in the world, but better than nothing! Only have a bath in main bathroom so this will be a godsend in the summer. Although I haven't actually used it yet so will test it properly tonight! At the absolute least though it will be handy for cleaning (Mop bucket filling etc), foot washing, rinsing very messy kids off from the garden, hair washing etc. So I am very please I did it!

Obviously I have no lost that storage space now though if we want to use it as a shower! But will save me a lot of time and effort in the long run, especially if I can get the girls to shower for 5 mins instead of spending an hour in the bath! (They are 4 and 6, moan they don't want a bath, then never want to get out once they are in there!!) Still at the age I can't leave them to it without supervising in bath so when it drags on it can get a bit annoying!

Found all sorts I didn't realise I still had. Including a whole plastic draw full of hamster stuff - considering it's been at least 6 months since we owned a pet I have no idea why we still have them!

Iv emptied out 2 big suitcases of unsold NNS stuff, there wasn't as much as there looked as it was all just sort of thrown in at the end of the day so actually half empty. Still got more in the car but that's for another day!

I then filled the 2 suitcases with DD2s birthday presents, it's her birthday in exactly 1 month so will put them in the loft tonight (hopefully, if DH will do it!) along with the car seat we have ready for new baby.

Going to list the rest of the stuff for sale in big bundles and let it go cheap, just want rid!

Congratulations on your new shower!

I used to have a smallish issue with hoarding and began fighting back nearly 12 years ago. I am so much better than I used to be. For example, there is space between all the items in my wardrobe, space between the toiletries in my drawer...lovely!

I hate to say it, but one important decision is to just stop buying. I can now go into a shop full of lovely 'bits' and just say 'Ahh, that's lovely' and leave it all in the shop. Also, think very carefully how much you really need, especially when it comes to your DD's clothes etc.

I must admit that is something I struggle with. I don't hoard in a way of holding onto stuff I don't need, everything we own has a use, or has done until recently and Is waiting to be sold . but I buy stuff as quick as I sell it. I am really trying to work on it. today somebody offered me some free baby boys stuff (am expecting a boy in July). And I couldn't help but jump at the chance. We really tried to be minimal with what we get for baby as we don't have the space but It's just so bloody hard! Iv grown up like it so I guess it's trying to change a habit of a life time.

I too have shopaholic tendencies.

Well today I have rearranged the playroom and tidied half of it totally - sounds like not much but dd had taken great delight in mixing up boxes of toys.

I would've liked to finish the job but if I'd touched ds's Star Wars toys I'd be dead!

Tomorrow:

• clean kitchen
• tidy living room
• try and rearrange dining room - MOVE fucking MASSIVE TABLE FOOTBALL.
• pull out all living room furniture to clean

Hopefully dd will let me get some done! She has been a nightmare of late!

I feel like I haven't been able to do any decent decluttering for aaages - been looking after sick but needy child (not the kind of sick where they just sleep, the kind of sick where they just whiiiiine all the time). Anyway he's nearly better so hopefully I'll be able to get stuff done today. I have been washing things with my new 7kg drum washing machine... I was able to get the WHOLE DUVET in there. Joy unbounded!

Today:

tackle my bedroom
declutter DD's clothes
put laundry away
declutter Expedits in front room and playroom

Sorry to hear about the NCT sale fail, Lilly. Your house probably would be clearer if you just dumped it but you'd probably feel really bad about the money! I just say to myself, well, this feeling of peace and freedom is worth the £100 I could have got for it. Plus I get more time to declutter instead of spending time selling. That being said, I do have an Etsy shop to sell my vintage clothing, but that's on the back burner for a bit while I get the house sorted.

I wrote an essay. Sorry!

Warm - I'm decluttering an Expedit today too, amongst many other things.

My working pattern has changed for this week only and my little one is at nursery as usual on the days I normally work, giving me two clear days. I plan to declutter, tidy, clean, catchup on paperwork and bitty DIY jobs and then hopefully still have time to reward myself with a workout and a nice soak in the bath.

Having given it much consideration and consulted other mumsnetters, I'm giving the bulk of what I'm getting rid of to charity or freecycling it. I'd thought about eBay and boot sales but realistically they're likely to be more hassle than they're worth and the clutter will hang around longer. I'd also rather spend Sunday doing something nice with DS and DH. I value my free time more than I need the small amount of money I'd get from selling stuff.

I will feel virtuous by giving to charity shops, especially once gift aid is added. I also vow not to feel guilt about giving away things I've hardly used. Will tell myself the money was
wasted when I bought the things and better someone else who needs / wants them has them and uses them.

All wise advice gathered from mumsnet!

I have an expedit unit to declutter too. But not today.

If it was just £100 of stuff I probably would just give it all away. But I have made a minimum of about £600 since xmas selling stuff and thats not including the NNS which I don't know the result of yet. I find if listing clothes indervidually for say £1 each, you end up with £10-20 every time somebody buys a carrier bag full, and when you have several suitcases full of clothes, plus boxes and boxes full of toys, which seem to sell even better, plus baby stuff, household stuff, electrical stuff etc it easily adds up.

Iv got phones I really need to get my arse in gear and sell on ebay. Maybe tonight as I haven't achieved much else. They should total at least £200 between them I would imagine. But doesn't clear up much space I guess!

Can't be arsed today. Me and DH have been arguing (Partly NNS to blame as it totally proved him right that I shouldn't of done it and he seemed to take pleasure in that). And I never get anything done if I am upset/pissed off. Wish I was one of these people who get stuck into cleaning when stressed!