Decluttering Thread 3 - Decluttering on bit at a time

[LivingInaBuildingSite]

Just realised we filled up Thread 2 without a way to link to this one, can’t see that anyone else has started one?

I did drop back the borrowed boots, go me!

didn’t tackle the umbrella pot/dumping ground though

[EllieQ]

Thanks for starting a new thread @LivingInaBuildingSite !

The previous thread is here:

Decluttering thread 2

[LivingInaBuildingSite]

Realised a typo in the title sorry! 🙄

decluttered an e 😂

[Nordicmom]

Thanks for the new thread .
Been a bit useless today not feeling well ( Im post covid and on antibiotics for another thing ) but DH has been tidying in the attic tonight for the people coming to look at what cracks need painting on Wed ,after doing a dump run in the day and a food shop etc . I’ll need to fold the clean laundry tomorrow and we’ll need to clean a bit too . I’ll try to get some of the utility room stuff put away too but that room actually probably doesn’t paint except maybe on the corner of the skirting boards .
Just a few things we’ve found going today :

-1 dog paddling pool he didn’t really care about using even in the last summer’s heat although I’ve seen him enjoying one at the doggy daycare in pictures
-1 DD dirty old keychain of her bag to bin
-2 pairs of DD small trousers to charity
-1 DH finished book to charity, he said it wasn’t worth saving for me and I already have 2 left from the same author after reading 2 recently so it can go
-1 biscuit tin to recycling
-a pile of newspapers and magazines to recycling
-another pair of pants to rags

I had good intentions of getting stuff done today but I just feel so sick and tired that I just managed some online shopping although those things were needed. More tomorrow …

[Vinorosso74]

Thank you for the new thread @LivingInaBuildingSite. Not achieved much today despite tidying. The rubbish and recycling has to go out tonight so technically there will be outs!

[Nordicmom]

Cleaned and tidied 2 first floors of the house today, did a bit of laundry ,some admin and online shopping then folded all the dry clean laundry ;6 baskets again. DH did the school runs for me since I feel sick but we’ve got people coming on Wed so there’s a bit more extra work to do tomorrow . DH vacuumed throughly most of the house so tomorrow rest of that , some dusting and tidying left . I will just have to leave the utility room stuff boxes in the dining room it doesn’t really matter if everything else is sorted it’s clearly an ongoing project and everyone has those also don’t think that room will need painting so they’re not in the way . Scheduled the weekly grocery delivery to wed so not wasting time on that tomorrow night while should prepare for the visit . We’ll have to go looking around ourselves where there’s cracks so we know before they’ll come here . Landscapers were planting more today and digging in the hole for the water feature tank .they’ll take a few more days I’m sure . We’ll need the lights put in too still plus we’ll want some plants replaced that are just not up to standard and big so more expensive.
Here’s todays outs :

-DS pull up bar ( didn’t see it on my list so I assume I haven’t mentioned it already )
-5 pairs of old socks
-1 pair of DD old shorts to clothes bank

[EllieQ]

Got a few things done over the past couple of days.

Sunday:
Bag of plastic bags/ wrappers from clothing deliveries to plastic bag recycling.

Tackled the pile (an actual pile!) of outgrown clothes. Two bags filled with school uniform to take into school as we had an email asking for donations; and the other clothes put in the box of recently outgrown clothing to be reviewed later (I struggle to get rid of things straight away).

Monday: Bag of previously sorted baby clothes to charity bank. I have nearly finished the 6-9 months clothes, and will move onto 3-6 clothes next. Still keeping a few favourites from each age, so I have quite a stash now, which I need to find storage for. I hope that in the future, I can reduce this down to one or two items from each age.

[Gassylady]

Found you 😀Books to charity as none of buying sites wanted enough to make a sufficient order. Really just marking my place

[SydneyCarton]

Had a massive toy declutter (hurrah!) on Sunday and filled a bin bag for rubbish and a carrier bag for charity. Also decluttered the girls' coats and gave four to charity, plus a couple of pairs of heels which I can't see myself ever wearing again. Found some unused nursery wall stickers which I put on Olio and were collected an hour later which was great.

For once the declutter has actually made a visible difference, in that the girls' wardrobe is not longer overflowing with coats bursting out everywhere, and we managed to collapse down two Kallax boxes which freed up space to put some Lego boxes in the empty spaces rather than just leaving them on the floor.

The difficulty now is to get motivated to take the bags out to the charity shop and into the bins to really see the freed-up space

[ememem84]

So far this week I’ve put more stuff into charity bag and have repurposed a cabinet in the porch/entry way of our house. Took the legs and doors off and now have a cabinet attached to the back wall with a cubby for everyone.

more space to take shoes off etc now.

today I brought a riding crop and a pair of chaps into the office for colleagues daughter who also rides. These are spares I have and never ever use.

[Nordicmom]

I survived the developers walk through of the whole house checking what needs to be repainted next week . Nothing too bad but there’s a few a bigger cracks from the house settling in the last year . mostly it’s just doorframes etc they’ll fix . I felt like hell with my cold and UTI especially after having to clean and tidy for them ( now have to keep it up until next Mon -Wed they’ll return to actually do the work . Was looking so nice and tidy too with clutter showed into drawers in kids rooms although they weren’t bad before since I’m there daily but a bit dusty . Will have to move some furniture annoyingly too in DS room like his big bed . In DD’s it’s just her door frame and same in a few others thankfully . I asked them to do one level a day so we can be on the other levels ( me and the dog maybe DH ) while they work . Im so done with all these people in my house all the time but we still have a few other things to get sorted I think 4 other issues this fall but we are getting thought them . Landscapers finished although there’s a possibly an issue with the patio ;it’s now got rust stains from equipment that need to be removed ggrrr . I think we need to have the kitchen garden boxes painted darker grey , we’re not sure about the water feature although I like to look of the moving water ( it’s a big metal plate water runs down ) but I’m not sure about the colour of the wooden slats behind it although they said the hedge would start growing through it quite quickly so it’ll look different. Also we’ll need to see what the plants end up looking like in the spring /summer and have the gardener change stuff we don’t end up liking which I’ll expect there’ll be some of. Also need the sheds to be put up still but this phase is done ,and they installed lighting too I’m looking forward to seeing tonight !
I don’t go to the top floor of our house much where we have a guest room and a bathroom in which we just dry laundry unless MIL is visiting , a plant room with the boiler and water tank etc in it and the attic room full of storage boxes etc and a foosball table . DH had actually done a good job organising the remaining mess in the attic room and the laundry baskets and racks we had to add to it too so this morning just quickly wiped a few things before they came . I’ve done so much up there ,the remaining unsorted boxes bother me but I don’t know when I’ll have energy / time to go there to continue when the everyday stuff is so tiring for me with my health issues and I’m now ill and not getting better First I’ll have to organise the utility room stuff overflow back into the garage cupboard from the so called dining room and to get rid of an extra cabinet in there , luckily that room doesn’t need more than the door way and maybe the skirting board corner done so it doesn’t matter if it’s not done before next week . Today we’ll empty the fridge so some old food will be decluttered , not sure if anything else but found another old dog bed cover from the attic that’s going and the charity shop box was full and some old books were shoved in my cupboard out of the way when DH tidied so I’ll ask him to maybe take all that next weekend .
Today out :
-old fridge food
-old dog bed cover
-a couple of unwanted plants

[Jellycatrabbit]

Found you!

I'm up to 1,747 outs year to date, target 2,022 but it's getting harder now I've done the easy stuff.

Baby play station that is too little for dd went back to the charity shop it came from.

I have a pile of difficult outs to tackle - they need to go but not sure where- mainly bits for diy jobs that never happened, floppy discs and music cassettes.

[Vinorosso74]

After binning a dried up Sharpie this morning, I decided I needed to do more. Tried on some clothes I wasn't sure about; couple of items are in a new charity bag, a carrier bag is full for recycling.
What was left of a craft kit of DD's, a broken dinosaur and a knackered pencil case out too.
Sorted some papers out and they could all go in recycling.
Finished a sample serum.
A good decluttering day.

[Gassylady]

A portable speaker to use with a phone and a picture for the charity bag. A friend of a friend mentioned they are hosting a charity book sale table so I’ve identified quite a few books to pass on and help a worthy cause at the same time.
Clearing out an old storage cupboard with mainly yet more Lego in, cupboard itself is to go to make room for a bit of fitness kit. It’ll probably look dreadful in that room but there is nowhere else it will fit so 🤷‍♀️

[WithIcePlease]

Glad to see this thread again. Summer was a write off with holidays, lack of routine etc and prior to that a major injury that took months of recovery.

I have a pile of books for charity, a bag for rag and 4 items of clothing plus a load of real junk for binning
Hoping to dispose of a 20 year old karaoke machine at the weekend.

Actually what I'd really like is a bloody skip for the stuff other people hoard and expect me to magic up storage for!!

[Myleakycauldron]

Found you! A week since my last post - work, school, nursery, illness! - but today I took two largish items to the charity shop (trying to get things out of the house rather than waiting around) and got rid of a bunch of old notebooks. Yesterday I sold a baby bag on Facebook.

About to post a couple of items on Facebook.

[stealthninjamum]

Thank you for the new thread livingonabuildingsite by the way did you know I think this is about thread number 25? I think we started with a pun for 2022. Sadly I have been on all of the threads and my house is still a mess!

Today I went through dd2s winter accessories drawer and she agreed to let me donate all of them to charity. I have bought her one scarf and one pair of gloves and she’s happy with that.

I also took three bags of stuff to a charity shop that had been hanging around. It included unwanted text books, toys and a bag of rags that was old school uniform that can’t be used because the uniform changed.

[Gassylady]

@stealthninjamum it is however considerably less messy than it was. That is still an achievement even if none of us have been able to wave a magic wand and “expelliarmus” it in one go

[stealthninjamum]

@Gassylady weirdly my house is the messiest it has ever been but that’s because I don’t tidy things away unless they’re in their right permanent place and I just chuck out the contents of a cupboard on a floor to declutter and leave it there for weeks. Before lockdown I used to have visitors all the time but lockdown seems to have made people less sociable.

The good thing is that I know where things are and save loads of time not looking for things.

I emptied a chest of drawers in the Room of Doom yesterday. I might advertise it on Facebook or freecycle. Having spent years buying storage solutions to put things away it’s great that I’m now able to get rid of things as I have decluttered the insides. I also found a broken calculator that will go to the dump on my next dump run.

[EllieQ]

Glad everyone is finding the thread!

Some decluttering done this week as the two bags of outgrown school uniform (sorted last weekend) have been dropped off at school. DH did the actual dropping off, so I must credit him 😀

[ememem84]

Thought I’d posted earlier but didn’t.

charity shop bags in the car to be dropped off today.

also cleared out make up stuff yesterday. Brought in about 7 lipsticks for colleague which I’ll never use. She’s a makeup hound.

[WithIcePlease]

Got some of books to charity shop helped by neighbour carrying a bag and she took a couple of books too

Cleaned my Fly boots. I used to wear them a lot 10+ years ago and then stopped so I'll see what they are like and make a decision

I don't think I'll be wearing v v pointy kitten heel black ankle boots again now so those can go too

Revived DM's this morning too but I'll keep those as told they were nice when I wore them by neighbour

[stealthninjamum]

ellieq well done on the uniform! Sorry if I’ve misremembered but is this stuff you were finding hard to part with? If so that’s great.

I have a unit in the playroom which has become a dumping ground for school stuff. It has two big drawers. Originally each child had in their drawer school books, book bags, PE kits for the week but we stopped using it during Covid and now it is just full of old schoolwork and artwork and each child no longer has their own space. I’ve just moved it to the hall so that we can sort through it.

[LivingInaBuildingSite]

Not achieving much here, busy with work and school governor stuff taking over the diary atm.

DD exit pile sorted through a bit, rubbish and recycling into bins. Charity pile needs confirming before adding to the box.
she has also now brought down a laundry basket full of clothes to go so need to sort thought to check it’s ok to donate.

she’s the only one making progress!

[IndianSummer78]

I'm joining.

StealthNinjaMum have you checked your kerbside recycling? Here we can put old broken or unwanted electronic things, like your calculator, in that.

I've started small. A special kind of key that I have no idea what it's for was given to a handyman type friend and a bottle of glue returned to its rightful owner.

[promotion]

Focus on progress, not perfection here

This weekend need to put some stuff away in the attic, and I need to find at least five things per day from the cellar that can go. Been doing this challenge room by room, and it's really helped. For my really cluttered kids room I did five things every time I walked in, made a huge difference.

Recycling is picked up Monday, so major additional focus in the cellar on anything that can go with that, my council are generous with the volume they'll pick up, so really is no excuse!