Lockdown house declutter - where to start?!

[Littlemiss74]

I’m still working from home but mornings only and DH has been furloughed so is available to help entertain dc’s.
I’m in high risk group so am going to be spending a lot of time at home. I’d like to take the opportunity to try and sort the house out, we have so much stuff.
The thing is whenever I start somewhere I get sidetracked to another area or I think oh I’ll just sort that out quickly and then never get round to finishing the first area!

Anyone else doing this? Do you have a plan? I’m not very good at staying focussed!

I would start with the clothes - sort everyone's wardrobe. Be ruthless. Do you have the correct sizes for DC - anything that is too small put into your rag pile for recycling or donate/give to family or friends. I have sorted our clothes and it has made life a lot easier. I've reduced the amount of clothes my DC have as they tend to wear the same things.
Then I went onto toys - same again a dump and a donate pile and that has helped a lot.
I would start with clothes and toys and see how you get on - one wardrobe and drawer at a time! Good luck.

I'd start by deciding what you are going to do with the things you declutter. With charity shops shut and bin collections in some areas reduced, you might need to start with clearing out the area under the stairs or a section of the loft so things can be put to one side until you can get rid of them. Then clothes are a good place to start, and toys if your little ones have things they've outgrown. Books and cds also take up space and might not be used often.

Download Marie Kondo's "The Magical Art of Tidying Up", read it... then start. Will be so much easier!

Set yourself a single cupboard, set of drawers etc that you will get done in the day.

I started on organising our food storage cupboard. I often buy in bulk for tins, packets etc and the whole cupboard had got mixed up. I just organised it into themes- pasta and pasta sauces together, tins of legumes together, condiments together etc. I also order them by use-by-date so older things get used 1st. I found far more than I knew I had and really helped with prioritising future food shops.

I bought some of those space saving vacuum bags which shrink when you suck the air out. I've put away our heavy, winter duvet and have a pile of things to put into the 'wintery clothes' bag in a few weeks.

Pull out the sofa and give it a good vac and clean. (ours is a heavy, corner sofa and had only been moved rarely in the 5yrs we've had it)

One room at a time, starting at the top of the house. Clothes I tend to tip on the bed and decide if it fits, if not throw or charity. If clothes fit willyou ever wear again. It’s amazing how much you don’t need. You don’t have to do a room in one go but don’t start another till finished.

We're wfh at the kitchen table - big extension with open kitchen, toy area, settee, table, utility and trying to work in the mess was doing me head in so I've tackled it first.

Cleared the kitchen benches completely so only essentials out.

Cleaned the kitchen cupboards and drawers out

Sorted an ikea box to put the laptops and wfh shit in so it's away at the end of each day - didn't want to be looking at work all the time.

Ruthlessly sorted the toys

Washed the settee throw.

I like sitting in the space now so definitely worth the time sorting shit. I was on annual leave last week!

I've decluttered the sitting room, just need to do the floor in there and downstairs is sorted!

The problem is there's nowhere to put the stuff - charity shop and tip are closed. I've filled my neighbours bins (with permission) and the charity stuff is in bags in the bath (no spare bedroom and we onlybreallybuse the shower, rarely the bath!)

Upstairs next 💓

I have been decluttering clothes and have been taking a small bag out with me on my exercise walk as I pass a couple of clothing banks so I pop them in on my way round, not sure if these are being emptied or just people are not using them. One I pass is in the empty swimming pool carpark so probably not used now.

I'm WFH full time but not spending time with DP I'm the evenings and weekends ( he doesn't live with me) so I want to see some practical benefit from being stuck at home for weeks. I started on the kitchen and pantry because they needed the most work and were the rooms I really wanted to get done. I've had everything out of every cupboard and completely reorganised my storage, I'm spending a few days living with it before I finish with a deep clean, because I'm still tweaking. I'm going to finish downstairs and then tackle upstairs starting with the worst rooms, the bathroom which has floor to ceiling cupboard that needs work and the spare room. I'm storing tip/donate/eBay stuff in the shed for now. I'm also spending some time thinking about my routines, I did fly lady a few years ago and I'd like to try it again, it feels like an opportunity to reevaluate and put some systems in place.

I agree with starting on identifying a space to put charity/tip things and then just pick a room and start. You'll find your own way once you're into it. I think you'll start to focus once you can see progress.
I know this sounds odd but enjoy the process. I found it really therapeutic.

I've been clearing and bagging up and boxing up as I was meant to exchange on a house in May, not happening now (who knows when) so I have bags and bags and boxes of stuff sealed and labelled and stacked that we're now falling over.
I haven't got a loft nor an under the stairs cupboard, I just don't know what to do with all the stuff! I could have managed for another two weeks but it looks like I'm living with these damn boxes etc for a few months