Decluttering Club thread 2 2022 - trying to reduce stuff a little at a time.

[londonmummy1966]

New thread for those wanting to declutter

Old thread here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4441273-decluttering-club-thread-20-22?pg=1

Housework , laundry ,admin and online shopping for various bits needed today . DH did get his motorcycle panniers listed again and the books and Lego I’m hoping the Lego will be soon gone at least . Dog is still unwell a bit and DD on her school trip I worry about her broken finger and her alopecia a bit I’m just praying she won’t have a miserable time not being able to take part in anything or injure it more ! I’ll try to not think about it . First pictures up tonight but couldnt see more than a sliver of her head in one picture so hopefully in tomorrows ones !
DH is filling up remaining schools registration forms it’s a bit slow going we’ve had multiple issues and one school out of 6 still remains elusive now we can’t make it to their second visiting day we already missed first one for DD birthday and now mine , what are the chances of that?! DS has booked 3/5 university open days so that’s a weight off my shoulders although hes organised generally , 4th he can only book in the summer and the 6 th is in the summer holidays and he’s still deciding about it anyway . A few other admin tasks done too but no time to get pictures for landscaper yet we need a few more days for that . We have a rough idea but he needs us to choose a style and thats proving tricky . I just want to get on with the works so we need to choose something soon !
might look at art boxes In a bit still I’m a night owl and no dd to get ready in the morning . They’re waiting for me in the tv room …

Digital declutter yesterday. Logged back into work once the kids were asleep and mucked out my inbox.

Ended up starting a new book and not looking at the art boxes last night so that’s later but I’m ridiculously exited that both of our Lego boxes and Finnish books were snapped up immediately on Olio although I guess I should celebrate when they’re actually collected which should be this morning and on thu . If this works well I hope to use it again for good conditioned stuff we don’t want / can’t take to charity shop . Hopefully someone else can enjoy the items and they’re not going to landfill …

@IncessantNameChanger hope that health problem for your mum is not confirmed, even if it is you are under no obligation to become her carer or even admin assistant.
@Nordicmom i feel exhausted just reading about what you are doing
Bag of outgrown kids clothes, books and some shuttlecocks (we no longer have any badminton raquets!) to charity shop. We have a new music streaming device so we can perhaps also look at whether we keep any CDs

Used up a couple of bits today. Deodorant gone. Moisturiser gone. And eye cream gone.

@Myleakycauldron That is a genius idea! I was trying to think of taking photos but WhatsApping them is great. No real outs yesterday apart from odd bits or recycling which would go out anyway, although I did find another couple of bits for the textile bag so that's nearly full. I also want to go through the children's bookcase and see if there's anything in there which is too babyish or falling apart which can be binned or charity-shopped.

For a number of reasons our house has become very cluttered. I'm recovering from major surgery but thinking that whilst I'm off I could start slowly trying to sort through things. So many toys and crafty things. I can't lift heavy stuff but I can make a start. But where do you suggest I start? It seems a bit overwhelming. My mother-in-law would hire a skip and chuck absolutely everything out. I won't do that. If I can see or give away stuff I would much prefer that to chucking it in landfill.

Binned piraton as it was out of date.

@EthelsAuntie there are so many ways of starting. Some people think the bathroom is a good place as it's the smallest room. Or you could start on a category like toys, or a area like the table / kitchen work top.

I think a goid start is grabbing five things when you move rooms to bin, charity shop bag, back in proper home or in my case the sink!

Put a carrier bag on the living room door handle and pop anything for charity in there so it's always on hand.

My house is a bomb site today. Not sure how that's happened 😭

@EthelsAuntie - I found tackling one small area at a time worked best - so not the cupboard of doom (if you have one) but one shelf of it. Go through everything on the shelf and bin/recycle/charity shop bag. Put back what is left in a sensible order. Rubbish and recycling straight in the relevant bins and charity shop bag out of the house into the boot of the car for next time you pass. I often found that having tackled one shelf I went on to do another but if I didn't it didn't matter as I had done the declutter for the day. WHat did help was sticking to that area/room until it was done even if it took a couple of weeks as once a decent bit was decluttered it was possible to start organising the bits that went back. After a while I started to find that, when I decluttered, the things I was keeping suddenly started to have somewhere to go which made it so much easier. I'm 6 months in to this slow process and quite a bit of the house is starting to look OK and I find I'm putting things away rather than down beacuse they have somewhere to go. (I've also made about £2k in selling surplus stuff on various sites and DH has some tax relief from gift aiding all the donations to the charity shop.)

Todays out - an empty bottle of serum and I have a dress sold on ebay to pack up to go.

We have had some hicups redoing the bathroom, which has resulted in it still being a mess 2 weeks later, and all the stuff from it still cluttering up the hall in boxes. It's getting me down but I have managed to keep on top of the bedrooms and its a little oasis of calm up there.

Wasn’t planning on doing anything today and no idea why I felt inspired to go through my old desk drawers. The desk is pretty old, not quite antique but was my grandad’s and needs some proper repair work. In the meantime the drawers have been forgotten about.

Have binned various bits and filled a box of various craft stuff for a friend I hope will appreciate it. Not sure how to count, so will say 1 box (assorted) and 2 x sets of ink stamps.

also a jigsaw I’ve been holding onto for ages as thought it was borrowed but none of the usual lenders have claimed it, so into the charity box.

219+4=223
(although the outs haven’t actually left yet)

@EthelsAuntie agree with the others. If you have some boxes, set them up and label for charity/recycle etc. just aim to do a small bit at a time, say set a time for 10mins. Feel free to stop then or carry on if you like.

Up half the night again since DD isn’t home . My rhythm is all weird but I managed to look through kids two art boxes and reduced the amount by more than half and separated each kids stuff . There’s still more I can toss I’m sure but I’ve reached decision fatigue I think so I’m done and these new clean more tidy boxes are going to the attic . I’m getting rid of the 2 old dirty boxes and recycling most of the cardboard and paper , a bag to trash too with plastic etc on it . Proud of myself it was hard to let go but I can’t keep everything .
Now I have 4 more boxes left in the dining room .
DH raincoat went to rag bank too since the new one arrived . The Finnish books were picked up this morning , Lego boxes should be on Thu .

Sent a huge bag of felt out yesterday via freegle, and the lady who took two bags the day before is coming back at 5.30 for some more stuff. So far I’ve got for her a large bag for life bag full of felt squares, a 9 litre really useful box full of reels of ribbon, and a similar sized box full of trimmings and ric rac. I’ve got time before 5.30 to go through buttons and beads and charms etc.

I know that I could have got a lot of money for these things if I sold them, but I also know it would have taken months. I really don’t have the money to waste, but I’m
hoping that the discomfort I’m
feeling at having wasted probably thousands of pounds, will make me think twice before wasting money again.

Sheila I've taken stuff to the charity shop today that I could have sold.

feeling like I never want to buy anything again.

May I join please?

I am doing Kondo - very reluctantly.

I have tried to clear out in the past. I was sorry to part with most of it. If I had space,

I would have kept more. I avoided Kondo because from what I heard it's too drastic, but circumstances have forced my hand.

Currently discarding. There will be rejigging and maybe a new work desk. Not sure how to organise craft stuff. Does anyone else have craft stuff to organise?

I am also an ADHD person who likes to have the to-do things highly visible. In an ideal world, I'd have two work desks. I also prefer reading reports on paper.

Today's tasks are paperwork and filing. I tend to let this build up all week - work and personal. I'm hoping at the end of this, I will be able to sort out a schedule.

Todays outs are 2 pairs of shorts that no longer fit and an old kids toy.

One out from earlier in the week - two school uniform skirts into the school uniform bag. There are a few things in there so I’ll try to get it to the school before half term.

@Sheilaroundthefountain that feeling is very hard to take but sometimes its actually good to feel the pain as you say it does stick in the mind when the urge to buy comes on while shopping. I have three boys and then a girl and I just bought and bought clothes for her with the novelty of having a daughter to dress for a change. But since starting school she has things in her wardrobe she has never worn so that was a painful lesson. I dont buy her anything new right now unless its Primark or underwear/ uniform and I wont until this year has finished.

I looked at another secondary today. I was emotionally and physically wiped out. I have cronic fatigue symptoms ( proving impossible to get past gp for a diagnosis). being out all day I did nothing so I'm going to do at least 30 minutes every night. I deep cleaned most of the bathroom but still need to wash the floor in there.

I will just tick along cleaning tidying untili feel able to cope with the school side. I feel im back in the stage of mourning the fact that ds will never leed a normal life. I thought I was over it but im not 😭

@EmmaH2022 - welcome - do bear in mind that if Kondo doesn't see to be working for you others on here can make suggestions of other ways to tackle the declutter.

@IncessantNameChanger take care of yourself - I have a condition similar to CFS and sometimes it all gets too much - do be prepared to take a step back and tell yourslef its ok to take it easy if you need to.

@IncessantNameChanger that sounds really really hard. I haven’t read the full thread so I don’t know what’s wrong with your son. I hope you find him somewhere you’re happy with. Our youngest had behavioural issues and went to 6 secondary schools. (Asked to leave all of them), She ended up being tutored at home (by a tutor) and failing every exam. She was completely off the rails and violent, and everyone thought something awful had happened to her. I couldn’t get anyone to listen. Eventually she calmed back down and is now very happy, although still qualification free. I go cry a little bit inside, because until she was 13 she was in the gifted and talented stream, but she’s living a lovely life now (she’s 21 later this week). She tells me she wasn’t on the wrong path, she was just on HER path.

I can completely understand you going would with girls clothes after three boys. Of course you did! You’re right though, once they're at school you don’t need many clothes at all.

Don’t do too much. Your body, and more importantly your brain, needs to be treated kindly. It sounds like you’ve got enough to worry about without thinking too hard about your bathroom floor. Stress is much more harmful than people think

I feel sick at the money I spent, but no one made me do it! I honestly feel freer already. I’ve finished my craft stuff now. And photos and toiletries. I’m putting off clothes. Only about 5% of it fits me anyway 😢

Sorry so many are struggling at the moment. Sending you strength to get through.

Totally understand the wasted money feeling. I've got the relative luxury of a home that's already quite tidy, just very full. So I'm tackling it from a different perspective. I'm saying ok so I bought this thing because I wanted to use it, so then I must carve out time to do whatever it is that uses it. So it gets worn out or used up before it's decluttered. Takes a lot longer obviously, but it's forcing me to do some things I enjoy but never found time for before. Since I'm decluttering for my sake and no other reason, I have the time to do this slowly.

Emma I recommend putting the craft boxes under the craft table, using the stackable boxes with a flap front so you can access them while they're stacked.

Today's out:

• a pair of glasses that no longer fit my face. I found somewhere to send them for re-use.
• Also a much loved dress that's been annoying me by going bobbly. I keep feeling the urge to pick them off, although there's not many.

Wild thanks, I'll look for boxes like that. Any recs gratefully received.

no tasks today or tomorrow as too much work on, but have to do more at the weekend.

@Sheilaroundthefountain ds10 was diagnosed with ASD just as he turned 3 so the most severe end of the spectrum. He was non verbal until 7. But he isnt classically autistic. No meltdowns, no sensory issues, no love of routine. He has since been diagnosed with severe language disorders.

Hes seen a private Ep today. She said she has to calculate his scores but it does look like his IQ is ok. It's a roller coaster. Of course any one in my shoes wants to hear his IQ is normal. She said he was delightful and said it was lovely to meet her and shook her hand when she left!

I'm a bit shut down on that front. I want so much to hear hes got a normal IQ but I will not give it headspace.

On a positive note I went shopping today with dsis and had a list of four things and I bought those four things! Plus one denim shopper bag I loved in Primark. One pair of shoes in for my three pairs out. Shoes are getting close to bear minimum now for the first time in my adult life!