Hi, can I join ? I’m still reading the thread through . Not sure if I’ve already been here on another thread a long time ago or was it somewhere else since I’ve been decluttering for a few years now .Before we moved to our current house we’ve been renting from last Feb while we are selling our old house and our new one is being built I decluttered and organised little by little for about 4 y and had everything in labeled boxes some are in a storage locker atm . Our new house should be ready in the summer so before we move there I want to go through everything in this house again . There’s so much less here than the old house but plenty to toss I’m sure as always . We got rid of huge amounts from our attic and cupboards ,and the rest is boxed up ( everyone’s memory boxes ,2 kids baby and toddler etc clothes by age since I was doing ivf for a few years now probably going to have to forget about it so they will go when I’m psychologically ready , the few toys and books I’ve kept for grandkids , kids art etc, school books I need to look through and only keep a few ) . The storage locker I’m not sure we will need in the future since the new house has a big attic room we will have divided partly into storage and other use by putting up a wall later . At that point I will go through the boxes from storage and I’m sure some of the contents can go from there too .
My speed is generally slow because I have many health problems and I’m in pain daily so I can’t do much . I always have spurts of action followed by periods of nothing happening . In the old house I stopped counting somewhere around nearing 200 big bin bags and cardboard boxes or large items like high chairs leaving the house . We have two kids and a new puppy and my husband has been working long days from home for the last year so they impede my effort too . Especially the younger one wants to keep most things including every scrap of paper ... my DH is too busy working and has taken on most of DD homeschooling although her school has been very good with it , cooking and we share housework with our teen but he’s in the GCSE year so busy and stressed enough . I haven’t done any clear out here since I did before moving in but have been steadily been putting too old / broken clothes away , books , puzzles etc into charity shop bag and DH took one big load in the end of summer / fall at some point when they opened up and has taken stuff fo dump there’s a clothing collection and a rag bank there also a reuse area with book collection etc but now things are here in boxes waiting to go again on the top floor landing and the under stairs cupboard .
So far this year I have gotten rid off :
- 50 + books from DD room , living room bookshelf and other ones we’ve finished reading recently . Now I have about 25 in a bedroom drawer left to read that are then going . Others still have quite a few in their bedrooms and the living room shelf so we’re not going to run out anytime soon .I’m
aiming to read minimum 4 books a month instead of staring at tv or the iPad this year but some are on kindle not in physical form
- 10 large kids books like old annuals , Guinness World Records book, encyclopaedias we had multiples of somehow
- 30 DVDs I’ve checked are all available on Netflix, Amazon or ITunes if we want to see them again or watch with our youngest for the first time . Now we only have kids school plays etc left all other DVDs are gone after several clear outs
- 10 console games , kids generally claims they need them all so this is a real win !
- 5 remaining normal music cds now only have a few in my own languages and DD story and kids music ones I’ll weed through soon . FH got rid of all of his in one fell swoop a couple of clear outs ago 😄. We have Apple Music subs so really don’t need them anymore
- 10 board and card games ( we are trying to play our way through the rest we have lots of a bit difficult because of the kids big age difference the younger wants to keep ones every one else is sick off and she’s too young to play some the older can )
-5 puzzles that are either now too easy for DD or DS has finished I’m not storing for the next 7 y ( their age difference) for DD to be able to do
- a sack of old socks , pants , pyjamas and T-shirts with holes or that are worn out other otherwise to the rag bank
- a huge bin bag full off clothes from my wardrobe I had already throughly gone through before moving here ( a few I’ll just never use that are brand new going to charity shop box ) rest are ones I’ve worn for years that are just too worn out now and can go . 2 big cardigan coats , 2 long skirts , 6 dresses and a shirt at least .
- piles of colouring books and random paper, pens and rubbers etc , old play dough from DD kitchen art drawer that she organised with DH for the first time ever it normally takes me ages to go through it every few months
- 14 unused Toucan craft boxes I subs to for DD when little then she lost interest so they piled up they’re going to charity shop minus our name and address
- piles of paper from a rattan trunk in the kitchen that housed DD homeschool stuff from last y we don’t need went to recycling . I need to still look through the old work books and toss them not keep as I have countless of others In the storage locker
still have to weed through
- 4 dress up costumes that were too small and / or worn out ,good ones going to charity
- 4 pairs of old kids shoes that were too small and / or broken plus some flip flops
I need to work out a ball park total haven’t done that yet and have probably forgotten things .
We are also working our way through DD old presents ;craft ,activity and science etc kits she’s got tons of she’s been doing 1/2 a week and so far has used up 3 Toucan craft boxes of the 5 she kept , a figurine painting set , a sharks tooth digging kit , A National
geographic geods one , a chocolate coin maker that is going it didn’t work very well but she wanted to keep of course anyway ( it’s going !) .
Oh and have tossed some dog toys that have been destroyed by the puppy and he’s grown out of two dog carriers already ... more new dog toys coming in though .
My goal isn’t minimalism or perfect labeled order I have no energy for that I’m too sick ,but just to get rid of what nobody needs and have a place for everything . I want things organised roughly and out of sight preferably!
I’ve stalled atm because I’ve been so poorly that anything extra is too much but once I’ll get going again I will update . Generally I am putting things away daily ...