Decluttering Thread 3 - Decluttering on bit at a time

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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

4 eBay items posted - plus the cardboard packaging used the pack them up
1 medium sized box for the charity shop - it's not quite left the house yet but I'll take it over to the car when I go on the school run
Large pile of paper recycling went out this morning and another similar sized pile needs shredding.

I had a bag ready to go to the charity shop, and left it by the front door when I went into town...

Will read back but posting today's achievements. Went through medicine cabinet and was surprised how many out of date things there were. Some things I mustn't have checked the date on before, all inhalers in there out of date. Lots of packaging gone too. Briefly looked at one of my daughter's clothes drawers and identified a couple of bits that can go.

One big bag of outgrown kids clothes ready to be taken to the charity shop. Hooray!

Attacked a dumping ground (the fruit bowl... full of random bits of shit)

Outs...
Cheap broken necklace chains
Old magnetic numbers
Broken hair slides
Old appointment cards
Old sweets

My fruit bowl now has fruit in it!!!

One pair of too small joggers to the charity bag. Total is 135. I never thought I'd have got rid of this many items in two months. I thought I'd be lucky to find 10 items a month so I'm really pleased with how it's going and it's inspired me to keep on decluttering

The three big suitcases have left the house yes ! They were collected within 30 min of being posted tonight by DH ! Will try to get him to list more tomorrow . Not much else but cleaning and laundry and some admin getting done . Also dealt with my small sewing pile so that’s gone . am still sick so can’t do much and now on my own with the dog ,DH needed to return to office . Earmarking a few items of DS school clothes( smart office wear not uniform in the few last years at his school so can be used elsewhere too but these will be too worn out ,fixed a few small holes for now though and a button ) .
-5 DS shirts
-1 sweater
-1 pair of smart shoes all earmarked to go
-1 book of mine finished

I have to get more admin done there’s so much I should do but today I slept until aft once DD went to school. My body is so worn out from the throat infection and whatever else I had / have plus the travelling . I had an alarm on and went to the loo practically sleepwalking but then just back to bed apparently
At least I’ve got a food delivery booked now and we’ve got the dog boarding arranged and a hotel booked for Easter when it’s my mom’s birthday too to go visit my family we haven’t seen for a year if I still dare to travel . Ithink I’ll have to postpone my own dentist don’t feel like going there with a cough etc and have a bunch of other things I should book as well . Feel pretty weak and although it’s been a great start for my diet having lost nearly a stone while ill it’s probably making me more weary as well . I will take advantage of the reduced appetite though while it lasts . In positive news DS got 4 A * in his Mocks so we’re very happy about that !

ha ha @Nordicmom you're right it's best to postpone seeing the dentist when coughing I had to drop one of my days last week because I couldn't stop coughing and when I was there I had to run out coughing dental nurse

Sorry to hear you are struggling @IncessantNameChanger and I hope the MH social worker can help.

Over the weekend, I got rid of a mesh laundry bag that had holes in (but replaced it with a new one), and went through the rest of the age 5-6 clothes and got rid of 31 things, which is a lot for me! There may be a few age 5-6 things still in the drawers, but I’m really pleased that I’ve worked my way through all DD’s old clothes apart from the newborn/ 0-3 months clothes, and a box with a few coats/ hats in. The only thing I haven’t got rid of is her old knickers as I’m not sure what to do - it seems wasteful to put them in textile recycling but I’m not sure if charity shops would take them.

@EllieQ ask the school... sometimes they take them for spares.

Yes our primary school are happy to take spare clean pants and socks and vests (in fact regularly appeal for them)

incessantnamechanger I’m sorry you’ve got so much going on, I hope your declutterer can help. And what is your dh thinking of? Could you declutter him?

I have been partly inspired by ellieqs other thread and have been trying to do stuff that isn’t decluttering but will make my life easier.

So I am currently organising my finances. I have an appointment with a pension adviser so my first task is to dig up my old pension information and then find a good ISA provider as I currently earn bugger all interest.

While I’m doing that I’m doing the usual decluttering of toys. I have put more Lego and playmobil for sale on Facebook but as no one’s interested I’ll probably take them to a charity shop.

I've had an In today... a shopping list pad that is stuck to the fridge so people can write down anything they need/want. Hopefully stop overbuying.

Thanks for the support x

Im kind of glad that I can throw the towel in for a bit and get some support. Getting the secondary school has wrecked my spirt. But it's sorted now. Yes I would declutter dh in a heartbeat tbh. We have been together since teens. But he is a liability. Adult socail care think he might had adhd. I don't really have it in me to "fix" him. It's more like damage limitation. The three youngest adore him. I just want my kids to be OK and happy. I think adhd is a real possibility and hopefully he will look into a dx.

Ds15 has a new bed so that's nessitated a sort out. Two sheets in the bin. I have sorted the rest as I need to pair up quilt covers and pillow cases but then I can get rid. But the little voice is reminding me ds will be off to uni in Sept next year so should I keep some bedding for him to take?

incessant I’m guessing the gambling was caused by impulsivity so I can see how it could be adhd - especially if all your dc are neurodivergent- but unfortunately that behaviour can lead to such resentment and loss of love. I was so devastated when stbexh moved out but I can now see how much chaos he caused and how I had to be the adult at home. Dd1 has been assessed with asd and adhd and tells me stbexh has been telling her about his experiences and how he’s finally realising that he isn’t neurotypical. I’m so glad he’s gone and I have no expectation of having a partner to organise the house with, I can do it all by myself and it works - dc get driven to where they should be, bills are opened (!) and paid etc. And stbexh’s flat is so dirty that dc refuse to go there!

I wouldn’t keep the bedding because you don’t know if it’ll be a single or double bed. Does he have a Saturday job? Presumably he can save up for things - you can make a list of pans, crockery, bedding for him to choose and have some independence. I hated my bedding at uni but because it was my home bedding from my mum I had to keep using it.

I just chucked out a leaky plastic coffee cup.

I just realised I haven’t been logging the outs so I’m sure I’ve barely logged any items in February.

my total so far is 287. Target is 2023

One hoodie with a small hole in it - gone. Total is 136

Ds19 hasn't got a job. He is pre occupied deciding that he has not got asd and adhd and needs to work on his MH. He is wrecking my mh in the process. He had a ados at 12 and masked his way through it insisting he was insulted that we thought he had asd. I guess it's making sence to him now.
Yes I did think he might not want star wars bedding at uni. Your right, as always 😁
God my dh really is a hopeless case. He has some good points I guess but he has morphed into a feckless child. I feel I have five kids.
I realised today I'm a bit lost as no battles with education atm. Weird. That's become my purpose. I was telling the adult socail worker I would dare anyone to juggle three / 4/ 5 send kids and have great MH. I do need to tackle the house. Move on and heal. Which scares me. Let go and move on.

IncessantNameChanger I hope the social worker can help you find yourself again 💐 Maybe the decluttering will help, you could fill the new spaces with things important to you. I've a theory with men. I think they sit back and see if you'll pick up the slack, if you do they leave you to pick it up forever more. Drop the rope, act surprised when it's mentioned. He's a functioning and capable adult with autonomy who is able to look after himself, isn't he? And if not, he can work on that. He's not your problem to fix. If he's a gambler can you officially disentagle yourself from him financially somehow, so any debts he runs up are purely his? Might ease some of the pressure you feel.

On the decluttering, I haven't done any more today but I've noticed that if I mentally note things for decluttering "soon", I'm able to disengage from them and declutter them quicker than I thought I would. I'm going to dedicate tomorrow to decluttering

Decluttering/space you live in is such a big contributor to mental health isn't it. I originally started when I had a baby and just felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff. I must say, clearing stuff out in a big way has really helped.

As for now, I only really have smaller stuff and some storage items, but decluttering never ends does it, because especially with kids, new things always come in.

This week has been slow because it's so busy at work and tomorrow the teachers' strike means my DC will be home all day. So far this week

Pile of paper for shredding at work
pile of nursery artwork
an expired bottle of kids ibuprofen and one of calpol
2 bath oil samples
One candle finished

I have some too-small nursery clothes to declutter, maybe tonight. I have found a good way to go through paper though; we take turns to give DC a bath, so whenever my husband does bathtime, I spend that 15 minutes shifting paper in one location of the house. Slowly I'm getting through it - taking a small pile to work to shred about once a week and recycling lots. that 10-15 minutes is so useful but it doesn't feel overwhelmingly long.

Broke my lunchbox yesterday. So that’s been binned.

3 amazon items which weren't needed sent off for return and refund. DC needed new pants and socks but the old ones will be binned so hopefully one in one out. 205/2023

Charity shops won't take underwear but I think the textile recycling usually goes through a sort of triage and anything which can still be used as clothing here or abroad gets filtered out. I would imagine there are countries where used clean underwear would be in demand, especially for women and girls. Otherwise it'll just be recycled

A tin of old baking soda in the recycling, and a kids' world book day costume passed on. 158 items. Doubt I'll get to 2023!

I didn't do much after all. Binned 5 dried up felt tip pens. Total is 141

A few bits done recently. A mostly used sticker book. OH has agreed a couple of bits can go but he's not come round to the idea that donating is so much easier, thinks there is more value in selling things than there actually is! That's ok though, I do a bit of research and tell him how much I can get. Or pop on Facebook marketplace and see what happens. I'm the cluttered one rather than him so I can live with that!
Hoping to do a charity shop visit today, got a bin bag full, I count stuff when it's in the bag but I do feel better once stuff properly gone. May be going near the tip today too now I think about it. A bag for there to go too.

Gone to recycling is:

Church dates for Dec 2022
Pamphlet of Christmas carols
Valentine's Day card

Total is 144