Ladies, I am so sorry I haven't been on for ages, I have only just 'tidied' up after home schooling. I say tidied but there are piles of paper but I have a dining table again which is wonderful.
Anyway I have now read through about the last fortnight's updates and I can see you've all been really busy. I hope I can be as motivated. Sorry for the length of this update.
@laneboy how are you doing with flylady? I subscribed a few years ago but couldn’t keep up. It’s a nice idea but I failed even at keeping my shoes on and washing the sink so it didn’t last.
You’ve made some interesting points about getting rid of things. I started reading Kondo and didn’t finish (it’s cluttering my bedroom) but your point about appreciating that there was a purpose of a wasted item of clothing or unplayed board game but it’s ok to get rid of them now they’ve served their purpose. I try to be green which is why decluttering has taken me this long but I have just thrown a few things away in lockdown and I feel bad about that but in perspective I’m probably still greener than many of my friends.
@jigoloharmegiddo I did the clutterbug quiz and got that I’m a ladybug – I’m sure I was a cricket last year? It seems to suit me now though. I then checked my emails and I also did it in 2019 and never read the free guide – or any of the emails I’ve received since. I have lost my clutter mojo so I hereby announce that I am now getting back into it. I do like tidy surfaces but behind them are Cupboards Of Chaos!
We have a label maker and I’ve labelled out stationery and arts and craft stuff. I love it.
@pickledlilly congratulations on the move. I hope you’ve settled in and you’re having a good summer. It’s impressive that you have moved into such a small space.
@mrstidyhouse lovely to hear that you decluttered with your DS. I think living well / tidying / decluttering are skills that we need to teach our children. My stbexh was the child of hoarders and so it accounted for his refusal to ever throw anything away. It’s important that my dc are more like me than him (well the ‘new’ me who declutters rather than the old me who shoved things in boxes / bags and threw them in the Room of Doom!)
@singtothesky we keep our arts and craft things in Trofast units. Inside the drawers we have smaller Really Useful boxes separated by what’s in them.
Have you sorted out your lego problem? Ours is also ‘displayed’ on the floor. I have picked up a couple of boxes from Sainsburys – flat, open, cardboard ones – and dd2 puts finished things in there and they slide under the bed and then out again but more often than not she doesn’t put them away again. It's not really displaying them but it does mean her favourite things can be easily hidden and then got out again.
Anyway since I last updated I think I
- Sold a table
- Sold a playpen
- Put a load of children’s underwear in rag bag
- Threw out half a dozen bulky catalogues
- Finished the last of my many shower gels. Now I just have one large ‘naice’ bottle and soap
- Threw away gym trousers that had a hole
- Have given away some candles and a fancy bottle to a friend who’s holding a charity bric a brac garden sale
- Thrown away some old mouse traps
- Thrown away mincemeat (ie the stuff for mince pies NOT meat) that went off in 2012.
- Gave two bags of old bathroom tiles to a friend
Ooh, that's actually quite a lot now I've written it down. I still have bags of stuff to go to charity shops as we only seem to have two open but it can wait.