Decluttering in 2017- A carrier bag a day

[Snap8TheCat]

I read about this method in 2015 and gave it a try last year, it was mostly sucessful and I kept a track of what I had got rid of on my phone. It was interesting to look back at the end of the year to realise I missed none of it!

I'd like to do it all again for 2017, perhaps even more committed this year!

I like lots of the other decluttering methods such as KonMarie or Flylady and do incorporate many of their rules but I also know that getting rid of a carrier bag a day is easier for me to fit in to my life.

I'm a childminder working 4 days a week 8-6pm and have 3 dc of my own, 13,10 and 6. Dh is a shift worker so our lives are busy and the house can get out of control quickly with the mindees and my job.

I'm looking for anyone to join me, anyone who likes the idea of decluttering but always feels they fail as they don't have the time. This is literally one carrier bag a day, either a large item like a toy or a quick sort out of a kitchen drawer whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. Just trying to stay on top of the flow of stuff that constantly enters our home.

January 1st and I have got rid of two plants on my kitchen that we're dying. I was desperately trying to keep them alive but realise I'm crap and that and they depress me every time I see them.

Anyone else?

Morris I haven't got beyond clothing (and even then I hung onto quite a few maybes and things I love as they used to be, but which are now past their prime) but I think part of the reason for doing it by category rather than location is that it shows how much you have. This is both a bit of a shock and also helps alleviate the angst of getting rid of extras, as it highlights that your worries of scarcity are unfounded

As an example, if you gather up all the pairs of scissors in the house you might be surprised how many there are. Do you really need 11 random pairs of scissors? When you see how many duplicates you have you might decide it is sufficient to keep your favourite pair of kitchen scissors that are pleasingly sharp and an uplifting shade of blue, plus the dressmaking scissors that help you carry out your favourite hobby. The other nine pairs - including three pairs of nail scissors as you prefer to file or use nail clippers - can then be released to bring joy to someone who will appreciate them or alternatively thanked for their hard work & sent to recycle retirement land.

Also, when faced with all the x type of things you own it is easier to identify the ones you truly love amongst all the 'like it but don't love it' items. If I found a random scarf which still has the tags on lurking in a cupboard, I'd probably think I should try wearing it before I get rid of it. If that same scarf is in a mountain of other scarves and you realise that there are only 3 that you wear regularly, then maybe it's easier to pass all the not-quite-right scarves to the charity shop.

My downfall is that my house is such a muddled jumble that gathering together entire categories is almost impossible. Plus things don't have a place where they always live, so I end up buying duplicates because I can't find a pair of scissors when I need them.

I have got the Marie Kondo book but find it just a tad extreme for me. Whilst I agree to all her principles of only having things you love, my job in particular makes this an unrealistic setting.

A carrier bag a day is much more achievable and easy to maintain without the extreme nature of MK.

Yes, it feels to me like I need to do a first pass declutter first, but I found some of her ideas helpful.

I have got filled at least one carrier bag with stuff to leave the house every day this year (though many haven't actually left yet!).

Thanks for the motivation OP

You're very welcome. I'm feeling very inspired and motivated by you all joining me. It does seem rather easy at the moment and I'm wondering why!

Today's bag is already done! Sat dd in the bath and zoomed around with a bath clearing the old toiletries and crap from the cabinet and window sill.

Happy clearing everyone!

I am dreaming of gathering every single toy in one place and getting the kids to do the "spark of joy" test.

Good news here is that DH is getting interested in KonMarie-ing and has mentioned unprompted that he has too many dark socks and could prune away those that are too thick or too thin....

I'm not doing as well as I hoped but not doing too badly either. 2 bags have gone to the charity shop this week plus one black bag in the bin, DH is taking some larger items to the tip at the weekend and I am making a big effort to use up all the Christmas chocolates, just because of how much space they take up in the cupboard, not because I'm greedy!

I only got home from mum's this afternoon but I've got on with sorting out our learning drawers (the ikea unit where most of the home ed stuff is kept) and I've stuffed a carrier bag with random crap to throw!

Well done everyone! I've got two bags of clothes ready today, will put them in the recycling next week. But I'd really like to get a bag of stuff actually out of the house each day (in the bin, to the tip, to the charity shop etc) and not just "pending"! So will be looking around again after dinner...

What do others find to be the stumbling blocks to getting rid of stuff? How do you overcome them? For me it seems to be getting slowed down by looking through old or sentimental items, finding it hard to decide what to keep, and then feeling I'm not getting anywhere!

Yes me too! We just have too much stuff.
Christmas decorations all down. tree chopped up and put in the garden waste bin.
When I was putting the Christmas decorations in the loft I had a little nosy around up there and found boxes of books (mainly novels I have read) that I put up there 5 years ago! Obviously I haven't missed them up to now! I put some outside my house with a sign saying 'help yourself' and amazingly they all went.
Also, this week I went through DSs overloaded bookshelf with him, I actually took every single book off and we made 4 piles - (to read / read but want to read again / to go in loft for younger sibling / to get rid of)
Turns out that we actually had quite a few book duplicates so gave some to his teacher for the class book corner.
Now DS can actually find what he wants to read!

Plus two bags of random stuff to the charity shop, and a bag of outgrown kids coats to a local mum who is doing a collection for refugees in Greece.

Feeling pleased! DH is impressed too.

Stonewash - the stumbling block for me is knowing what to do with some of the stuff once I've decided to get rid of it. I have a huge bag of DDs outgrown clothes. I have given some of the best stuff to a friend, but hate the idea I will give it to a charity shop and it will be turned into rags. So I guess that is sentimentality (last child syndrome!)

Please may I join?

Flup, try women's aid. A lot if women arrive with kids and no, but no, spare clothes. I read about one woman who was having to wash and dry over night. Ok, your loved bits might only get worn once, but in a good cause?

Off to start the bathroom, I'm just miserly, if I've had to buy extra talc, I can't bear to throw it away.

Does putting the Christmas decorations away count as decluttering? Had to spend a lot of time carefully wrapping rather than binning stuff obviously! It took up most of the spare time I had today but I did collect up a carrier full of paper for recycling too so don't feel too bad.

2 carrier bags yesterday - spare room drawer stuff that hasn't been looked at since we moved in here.

Whilst putting the decs away, DH realised what I'd been saying about the amount of shite we have - there's 5 unopened boxes (they're 1m high each) in the understairs cupboard, which is worse than I thought.

So at least he's started to get on board with it too.

Might do some bedroom drawers later

Oh and a few broken decorations gone too - since we moved we've had dented baubles. Every year for the past 8, we've moved them to the side to get to the undented ones. Yesterday I got rid finally!

Came back from Pilates to find DH waiting to touch and say goodbye to half his clothes....
Four bags of them are now by the back door.
Sadly they include lots I gave him.
But it did help to hold and talk about each one...

He drew the line at continuing n to socks though.

About to see how many of my parents' decorations from 1970 are still in the Christmas box.

A small decluttering task done today, have gone through the spare key jar and chucked out all the keys that we don't recognize/know what they are for. Also found some old batteries that I will recycle when I go to the supermarket.
Chucked out all the old dishcloths as have bought nice new microfibre ones in different colours for the kitchen/bathroom/rest of house.

Just sent DH to the tip with a carful of junk from the garage - lots of packaging, a huge pile of old magazines that never fit in the recycling and a broken high chair (been there 4 years!) . Also a compost bin that I have tried to freecyvle but no takers. I feel so gratified just thinking about the improvement, even though it was in the garage so strictly speaking, no improvement in our living space!

I think I have also found a taker for a huge pile of back issues of a specialist hobby magazine. If the taker (on Facebook) doesn't turn up they will go in the recycling.

I have a binbag's worth of shredding to do but need to do it when DS is out of the house as he doesn't like the noise.

I think wanting to rehome good stuff rather than just chuck it is slowing me down but I hate the thought of useful stuff going to landfill without trying to find a new home for it!

Next dilemma - cookery books. And novels that I probably would read again at some stage (crime fiction) but which I have in hardback so they take up tons of space. Hmmm. Really I need to be ruthless but it is hard.

Cookery books are v hard, ditto novels.
Is there nothing else easier you could do first?

Dh now has 12pairs of socks.
This morning he has over 100....

So his sock drawer is now a thing beauty (good) but half his socks have now gone to the kids. The kids' old small socks have gone to charity....

We went shopping for a new bathroom cabinet but he pointed out we don't need it since the bathroom relics went last weekend so we didn't buy it...

Gone through one of the bathroom cabinets. 1 carrier bag of waste, two fir DS to sort through ( how many shampoos do teens need?); one fir DH and almost none for me. Thrown out old medicines.

One cabinet still to go. Yippee.

Next week, the dining room!

That's a good idea one bag a day I will try this

So important having a clear house and mind.

DH is almost onboard - so my plans for today

Photograph all items I have put to oneside to 'sell' (& Gumtree them tonight while sat on the sofa)
Clear art Deco cabinet to sell (see above)
Sort and plastic box attic contents for 2 hrs with DH (too bog a job for me)
Throw away/recycle Christmas cards (Not sure if I can recycle if they have glitter on?? anyone know?)
Replace all CDs DVDs into correct boxes (something of an issue here)
Unpack and put away content of several shopping bags which have been used & dumped after each tripp (also something of an issue here but mine this time )

We will see if I get it done......

Oh & 4 black bin bags - rubbish, recycling, rags, charity - that should work?