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

Holey trainers out.

I'm on a roll at the moment.

Two dresses
One leggings
One shirt

All to charity bag.

Two lots of address labels that have lost their stickiness in to the bin.

To total is 60. I only count them as out once they're either in the bin/recycling or in the charity bag. The charity bag goes out when it's full.

Dog’s annual vaccines got done today so that’s off the todo list but DH didn’t manage to collect a letter for me from the GP with him so I’ll have to send DS next week . DH has gone to his mom’s with the kids and the dog since she had a medical procedure and needed someone for the night also she had DS 18 th birthday present for him ; a lovely smart watch for years to come ! DS completed a bit of a milestone today he drove there all by himself in the smaller car ahead of DH and made it without issues , was a bit scary since he’s only gone for a one spin near home alone since recently passing his test . Proud of him ! Suddenly growing up and the shocking thing is I don’t have a licence .
I spent the afternoon reading and doing a bit of decluttering . im enjoying the quiet and not having to look after anyone even the dog for once .
DH did a dump run with boxes and took more bags to rag bank .

Out today :
-a pile of magazines and newspapers to recycling
-more assorted toiletries to food bank
-4 DD small shorts to charity shop
-3 DD old sweatpants to clothes bank
-5 DD old T-shirts clothes bank
-1 of my cardigans to charity/ sell
-1 of my sweaters ditto
-1 old iPhone to donate hopefully
-1 old iPad ditto
-1 kindle earmarked too once my Christmas present new one is set up

This house is a bottomless pit it seems …

"this house is a bottomless pit"

Nordic mum I was wondering how come you have so much to get rid of? Was surprised the other day when you posted you've been there 1 1/2 years. I remember you moving in, feels like it was last week! Time flies. Did you hoard all your life or is it from buying new things? Or do you not hoard and that's why you're always decluttering? I'm wondering if I'll ever be finished decluttering or if it'll be a forever thing.

One magazine read and recycled this evening. Total is 61

We’re sorting through ds’ clothes today. He has so much and seemingly none of it fits! So need to pare it down

taking his old dressing gown to dfriend today too.

told the kids any broken toys are being binned from now on. They’re not happy but if they keep breaking things…

@IndianSummer78 I don't think anyone is ever really done decluttering because bew stuff always comes in! But I think doing a big decluttering session makes you more aware of what you bring in.
I also see it like cleaning - if you do a bit every now and again, it doesn't get overwhelming. I've been doing this a few years now, and I've become quite good at casting my eye over stuff and thinking, Do we still use this/need this? Like kids clothes go out as soon as I notice they are too small. I keep a bag for the charity shop in my cupboard and when it's full I send DH to drop it off

Three bags for life from ds’ room in the garage for charity shop.

also listed his Chesterdraws (😃😃😂😂) on fb for collection. Hoping it goes soon.

@IndianSummer78 to answer your question I have always been super tidy and organised but my mum had lots of stuff and when I left home to go travelling and came to this country I only had two bags and left one cardboard box of papers etc with my parents that was over 20 y ago . Then after meeting DH shortly after and having DS a few years later and always moving to a larger home every few years , getting sick and ending up with lots of health problems around the time we had DD and lived in the same house for 10 y I didn’t manage to declutter regularly, had two kids with a big age gap and was keeping the older ones stuff for the younger for 7 y plus was also thinking of a third one so was keeping the younger ones stuff for another one too we ended up accumulating lots in our attic . Then one day it was full and so were the cupboards and I wanted to move so I started sorting it all out . Since we’ve moved twice first into a rental while fixing up and selling our old house and then while the new one was been built . We also got a dog that comes his own paraphernalia especially going from a puppy to an adult dog . Every time we moved I tried to go through everything and get rid of loads but there’s always stuff left I’ve kept just in case / wasn’t ready emotionally to let go like baby clothes and other kids things since it’s been a hard struggle with the second child / no third . We had a storage locker to empty as well when we moved here that we had used while in the rental and I managed to get rid of 3/4 of that contents . I finally moved on from trying to have another baby and went through everything related and only kept small amount of baby clothes for myself , a few toys and books for grandkids . This house is more than twice the size of our own last house ( not the rental ) and I am desperate to keep on top of it so I constantly do go through stuff . I have still growing kids who get through clothes and DD especially other stuff , the dog generates this too , DH has hobbies and doesn’t care about cleaning and order like I do , our attic isn’t yet fully organised ;I have some more cardboard boxes left to unpack and transfer to plastic labeled storage boxes also I’m trying to reduce the amount there and I do have 4 more boxes of kids school work , memory boxes and art to look through from the storage locker . We have several rooms looking pretty empty here and I’m trying to get / keep the cupboards into order too but it is never ending especially if you are not in good health and have a family even though I don’t work outside the house .

Thanks Nordic and Pigtails for answering my question. I guess the same has happened to me, it's crept up without me noticing and definitely has partly been due to moving home a lot, keeping things just in case etc. I've only been decluttering since last year and finding it quite hard. I'm trying to get into the "little and often" situation. Last year was more the odd thing occasionally. Also need to shift my mindset from thinking it'll one day be all done, so it becomes an ongoing habit instead. I guess this is where I've failed, I've kept buying things but not getting rid of the old one. Thanks for the perspective, it's helped.

I totally get it, esp when you go through stages with kids so you get stuff, they grow out of it but you keep it for the next one and so on.
I felt like we just brought more and more into the house and nothing ever left.
once we decided to stop at 3 dc it started getting easier to get rid of things. And they get into smaller stuff instead of the big baby & toddler toys.

But some stuff needs a few passes to be ready to part with. Emotions can play a big part definitely.

We have worked hard today on our old falling apart shed, managed to completely empty it.
It needs demolishing and getting rid of, but not today.

out:
car full for the tip (recycling centre) approx 50 items?
(Dh says he’ll go tomorrow hopefully.)
some old bits of wood into the skip - about 10
cycling helmet passed on to neighbour - 1
camping stuff passed on to other neighbours - 5
extra spade to another neighbour - 1
DD passed on a bag of craft stuff to neighbours kid - 10

There is plenty of other stuff ready to go, just need to list it, offer it to friends, take to charity shop, etc. but won’t count it yet.

Also cleaned and moved all my big shed shelves into the side extension and packed them with the stuff we’re keeping, looks a bit chaotic atm but I can work on it on other days, wanted to do all the outside stuff today when it was sunny and had extra hands at home.

450+77*=527

*I accept the numbers may not be totally accurate at this point as I didn’t count every item going into the car - like every bit of metal for recycling from an old climbing frame for eg. But it’s a rough guide, I’ve under counted if anything.

My handbag was long overdue for a clean out so I went through that this afternoon. 27 bits of paper, glow sticks 🤷‍♀️, a dinosaur toy, a pair of worn out pants, a wrapped cake from god knows when, and other random crap
120/2023

2 bags of clothes for hand downs, 1 bag for rags.
Old broken barbie make up case
Holey leggings when I take them off for the bin!

Yesterday SIL took 3 tops I no longer wanted. There is still more in a box that I'll take to the charity shop this week.

indiansummer I think you never stop decluttering but I classify clutter as everyday which is stuff you should just get rid of every day as you live your life eg children’s clothes, magazines, old jars, toiletries, some paperwork, food. Then there’s the more long term stuff - furniture, ornaments, tools, tableware, cookware, books, computers etc.

I think the problem often arises when you don’t have time to do the everyday stuff and your house just gets fuller and fuller. Or it could be you don’t want to use the nice perfume or you think you might have another child or you might save craft items for a project.Then you don’t know where to start with the decluttering. I’ve been doing this for six or seven years now - we had an unbelievable amount of stuff - and I am largely on top of the everyday stuff now.

So it has become habit to me - when the mug cupboard gets full, i donate one, I use nice toiletries, every time I put clean clothes away I look for dirty ones and make them rags, when I get out of the car I remove carpark tickets, if I have a paracetamol I check the date of all the medicines etc. (I label all medicine boxes with a useby date in a thick marker so I can instantlY tell they’re off)

My house is actually quite messy and the moment as I have a pile of toys and books but that’s my current focus. They’re all in the hallway but hopefully will be gone next week before I make another pile!

My update is I have finished one posh soap dp bought me for our first Xmas that I didn’t want to use!

I won’t include that in the clutter total but I will include 5 ikea plastic plates that are going. These add to the 18 other plastic cups, plates and bowls I already put aside last week.

I will probably buy half a dozen melamine plates but I’ll make sure they spark joy and they’ll take a fraction of the space.

Today's outs: a few things from the bathroom that haven't and will not get used.
I also put a box in the car ready to be donated full of clothes, mainly.
I have a return in the car - storage I bought for under the sink in the bathroom that will not fit 😪

finished A mini leave in conditioner this morning. Didn’t actually like it that much. Wont replace.

but one more thing in the hair and beauty stash gone. Win.

Yes!!!! DS got an offer to Imperial College!!! So happy for him and proud ! Thank god they finally let us know the wait was horrendous . Now still DD two 11+ exam schools end of the week aaaarghhh…

Congratulations Nordic to DS

You're right StealthNinja that's all the stuff I haven't been doing! I'm more like buy a mug I don't need because it's pretty, add it to the cupboard and don't get rid of any because they're all good. A pair of trousers bobbled, bought two replacements because I couldn't decide between them, then continued to wear the old ones because they still have life in them 🙈. I'm good at getting rid of actual rubbish but tend to pile recycling in the kitchen instead of taking it straight out eg if I unpacked a new large product, then on cleaning day taking out the recycling is this mammoth job to add to the list and sometimes it doesn't get done. I spend very little time doing crafts, maybe two days a month, but I keep everything just in case it comes in handy for crafts. Last year I gathered up all the toiletries from handbags, swimming bags, unpacked boxes from moving, all the fancy "treat" stuff I'd saved. I ended up with 5 regular sized buckets, one each of moisturizer, face creams, shampoo and conditioner, hair styling products and shower gel. About 5 years ago as a birthday treat I bought myself a jigsaw handbag, it was everything I've ever wanted in a handbag. I've never used it. For 10 years I've been using one I don't particularly like because someone bought it for me as a gift. It's scuffed around the edges and looking tired, but there's plenty of life left in it, it's very practical and it's very good quality, so I'm still using it. I need to change don't I?! 😂

Yesterday I got rid of: a broken plastic sleeve in a file, an expired guarantee, a threadbare bedsheet, some polystyrene packaging. Total is 65.

Ins. New bedding. But necessary as ours is looking tired.

@Nordicmom I am in the use it or lose it stage at present.

musing up all toiletries etc. before buying new. We have so so much! I was also in the “save things for best” stage. But never had a “best” to save it for. So just started using things/wearing them etc

My first "out" today is our beloved gravy boat as it didn't bounce when dropped. 😂

Currently do mt make up case. I have paracetamol 7 years out of date..

indiansummer use your jigsaw handbag! Throw the other one away! If you don’t use it then one day you’ll look at it and it’ll seem dated and you won’t like it as much. I noticed when I lost weight that the clothes I had kept just looked dated. I don’t keep up with fashions but they just looked odd so were easy to get rid of.

Having said I’m on top of the everyday crap I went through some papers today and found some old holiday insurance papers from last year, a couple of printouts of hotel bookings and ten years of car service stuff for my old car. I have started to shred this stuff but won’t count it in my clutter total because it’s papers that should just go out when they’re used.

nordicmom well done to ds.

Well done to Nordic’s DS!

definitely use the nice handbag!!

Went to the tip with DH so the car is empty which is good.
Also went to the garage to find out about our electric car which needs £4K+ of work done on it and it’s not worth it, so that’s bad 😞

Will need to start research on a new car as there are times we definitely need 2.

out:
old rained on doormat
528/2023

PS it’s my birthday 🎂