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Original poster

Does decluttering EVER end?

26 replies

Misty9 · 24/10/2018 15:20

It seems like a constant process! The kids generate endless stuff and wherever I look there's something to be sorted. And friends marvel at how tidy our house is... Shock Confused

I work from home which doesn't help I expect. As in, I could probably ignore it more easily if i saw it less! Is everyone's home like this?

OP posts:
rosydreams · 24/10/2018 15:29

its like the laundry its there its always there and it keeps growing you go through it but keeps growing

Original poster
Misty9 · 24/10/2018 15:31

Don't get me started on the laundry. Never. Ending.

OP posts:
Lumpy76 · 24/10/2018 15:46

In a word...NO not in my household of 2 parents, 3 teenagers, 2 tweens, 2 children and a toddler - not forgetting dogs, cats, gecko and chameleon!!! It is endless...in fact as it’s October half term I have started the annual “throw away” of tat that I want rid of before Xmas. Made the 8 and 7 yr olds bag up unwanted dolls (19 of them - still 16 to be kept) and started to be ruthless on clothes too!

Inapickleoflife · 24/10/2018 15:50

Nope it never ends! I had a serious declutter a year ago. I followed the Konami method and got rid of so so much. Our house is so much tidier now but it's staring to creap back in and I need to go through it again.

Annasgirl · 24/10/2018 15:56

No! I’m
About to do a second KonMari clear out of my kitchen. Regularly do playroom and wardrobe- don’t get me started on kids rooms and I’ve ledt the shed to DH but I think I’ll have to give in as there is no more room to move in there and the excess is now in our conservatory- 😔

TheClitterati · 24/10/2018 21:52

As long as there is incoming - no.

Original poster
Misty9 · 25/10/2018 08:42

I'm sat staring at the carnage of breakfast and know that once I've cleared it, I'll only have to do it again for lunch and dinner today Confused - and that's before I even get to the decluttering!

Do rich people have others to do their decluttering I wonder?

OP posts:
Bowerbird5 · 26/10/2018 05:31

Probably you can hire people to help you. I have considered it. I am trying to do it myself we have loads.i was brought up with war time parents who had the “ just in case” mentality and I have inherited it but fighting against it at the moment.
I get sentimental about some of the kids things. I have made the boys box each but DD has more. She was supposed to help me when she came home but brought more because she moved out of her house to go travelling. Hmm. Her brother has a big loft bedroom so we are putting it in there but she was supposed to do it.
I’m sure it breeds like laundry!

lljkk · 26/10/2018 05:51

I am getting ruthless about not buying stuff, so I can avoid having to declutter it in future.

ChiaraRimini · 26/10/2018 07:41

Marie Kondo claims that her method is a one-time declutter that, if you do it properly, never needs repeating. This falls apart if you have children though as inevitably their clothes, toys and books need regular purging as they grow out of them.
It's worked better for my own stuff although, 3 years on from my first major Kondo, I am now moving house and have just decluttered 3 bin bags of clothes that I hadn't worn in 3 years, so I clearly didn't get it right first time.

chloechloe · 26/10/2018 08:08

I dream of decluttering the whole house. DH and I are actually quite minimalist and don’t have much stuff but with two small children it’s like fighting an incoming tide. They’re forever being given presents by well meaning GPs. I swear life would be better if we got rid of 50% of our belongings! I seem to spend half my life picking things up off the floor and putting them back where they belong.

I remember watching a house tour by a Danish blogger who had Konmaried her house. She had an empty drawer! How is that even possible!?

I would love to Konmari but just the thought of going through the house and hunting down items by type seems impossible when you have small kids to keep an eye on. Mine are pretty good at amusing themselves but it usually involves raiding the Tupperware drawer so they can cook in their own kitchen or making a library by emptying all their books off the shelf. And then there’s the breakfast, lunch and dinner carnage to deal with as misty said!

DC3 is on the way next month so I’m hoping to have a big clear out during mat leave....

Original poster
Misty9 · 26/10/2018 11:14

I definitely think we could live without 50% of our stuff chloechloe , if not less. This current drive to declutter was prompted by, when lying in bed unable to sleep, the thought of what would I save (other than the kids...maybe Grin ) on a fire? And I concluded that it would be almost nothing. Maybe my work laptop as that would be very inconvenient to lose. But nothing else. All photos are in a cloud somewhere and nothing else really matters.

What would you all save, other than people?

OP posts:
lljkk · 26/10/2018 12:59

Does Kondo advise about gifts? Lots stuff I'm decluttering is gifts to me, inherited items I wasn't sure about whether to keep, bags of 2nd hand kids's clothes (free or sold as huge bag for cheap & youngest not yet grown into), and DC's old stuff they don't want to let go but I know we can't keep it all.

Lego: resells better if you still have the box, so our loft is full of Lego boxes. May never be resold. DSs recently tore apart each others' sets & are rebuilding them, btw, double value for the same purchase: only practical fun coz we kept all the building instructions. Some clutter has been useful.

lljkk · 26/10/2018 13:01

ps: I would save the quilts I made. last year, my cousin was burnt out of & lost everything last year, including her quilts (boohoo). Easy decision when I thought about it. Everything else is replaceable.

JaneJeffer · 26/10/2018 15:15

I don't know where all this shite comes from. I rarely buy anything these days and yet there's still loads of clutter. I've cleared a lot this week including a full box of cables for God knows what!

ChiaraRimini · 28/10/2018 12:21

I know where a lot of the shite came from. My ex! Decluttering a husband has really helped getting rid of the other (his) crap!

daffodilbrain · 28/10/2018 21:12

I have found my soulmates..i have a tidier house than some but it is the magic porridge pot when it comes to tut and ironing!
I just seem to have endless boxes of books, paperwork, old clothes and just stuff! Reading eagerly!

Kit10 · 28/10/2018 21:19

LOVE decluttering, I do it 2-3 times a year, my poor mum has a stash of stuff my boys take to her house in case I throw it away as I have a bit of a reputation now 😂

MessySurfaces · 28/10/2018 22:18

Hang on @lljkk , do you mean each set of Lego had been built once and then kept? My mind is blown. Ours (both as in mine and siblings in the 80s, and DC's now) gets built once, then becomes building materials for eleventyone other fabulous constructions...

Re decluttering, what comes in must come out, so unless you manage to stem the flow in, then yup, it will NEVER end...

LittleWingSoul · 29/10/2018 20:08

I love how when you are on holiday, staying self catered, you realise how little you actually need to live with.

loubeylou68smellsofreindeerpoo · 29/10/2018 20:20

I've been decluttering today (slight hoarding tendencies)
I'm fucking on it today! Not sure why today works hopefully I won't claim it all back tomorrow 😬

namastayinbed · 30/10/2018 07:14

It doesn't seem to!

Hmmalittlefishy · 30/10/2018 07:20

I feel you all Halloween Smile
I try and try to declutter and it just keeps coming back. Its like the bloody tide coming in.
Now we have dd3 we can't even get rid of clothes /toys until she has played /worn them.
the toys and books are creeping more into the living room! In my dreams I think a playroom would be the answer but I don't think it would be

RhinestoneCowgirl · 30/10/2018 07:22

I do find it helps when you're thinking of buying something to have to visualise decluttering days item. Helps you decideb if you really need to buy it.

IDismyname · 30/10/2018 07:29

@LittleWingSoul Absolutely!!

I must Konmari my house again. Did it after Christmas a few years ago. Filled the car boot 3 times. Nobody has missed anything that I discarded.

Less is more...