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

Thanks @stealthninjamum. The main areas is everywhere! We have piles of stationery, hundreds of books, clothes in the bedrooms on chairs and in piles - makes me feel anxious just thinking about it. My DH has got rid of so many books but it doesn't seem to make a difference. My NB (non-binary 21 yr old) collects any type of stationery possible (is very arty) and I have been able to get rid of loads without them even noticing but it never seems to make a dent in it.

Honestly, I think I just need to start in one corner or small area, but I just don't know where. I can spend hours at the weekend tidying for it just to look the same. The only way is to keep going I suppose, but its knackering (working full time, menopausal etc etc etc). I did take a full black bag of clothes and a sports bag full of odds and ends to the charity shop today though so feel better about that.

I hope you are all getting on top of your own stuff.... I will definitely keep an eye on this thread and maybe try to read the previous ones if I get any time LOL.

@stealthninjamum you reminded me- my poor car is gone and I've got the V5C so I can shred all that paperwork too. wine glasses out to a nice man just now. DS16 is back and I've already emptied one of his travel bags and put in with DD14's in a loft box. aprox 1 bag of rubbish 1 bag of recycling out out of her room. might've had a breakthrough with STBXH that the house needs more than decluttering ie professional work yesterday

More decluttering today - three pairs of school shoes/ plimsolls (barely worn as purchased before school closures in lockdown!) went to the school uniform donations, and I dropped off a pair of old wellies as spares as well.

Welcome @Unicorn34 ! I also live in a small terraced house - it’s your basic two-up, two-down with a small extension at the back for the kitchen, and it’s hard only have a small space.

We struggle as DH and I both have hoarding tendencies, DD (age 7) can be the same, and I struggle to find the time/ energy to get on with a ‘big’ declutter. I’ve tried to think about ways to reduce stuff coming into the house; why stuff gets ‘dumped’ then ignored by us; and being able to let go of things I’m emotionally attached to. It’s a work in progress!

Very little progress here, too small pair of DD’s tap shoes passed along today.

I am trying to work on the ‘reduce stuff coming in in the first place’ too.
but Christmas is stressing me out, struggling to think of good ideas for the Dc and DH that doesn’t involve just adding to the clutter.
The right size clothes and chocolate work but not very exciting.
Maybe new tech like phones and tablets but only if we work hard on getting rid of the old ones not just shove them in a drawer somewhere.

Have bought some escape room type games which are a one off use and throw away - all paper and cardboard so all recyclable. Eases the pressure I find to sit down and play a proper board game which never seems to happen in our house even though I wish it would.

DD has been working hard on her bedroom though and got rid of lots/donated lots.
and DH has gone to the charity shop today with a boot full of stuff we’ve gathered over the last few months - hoping it was open or it’ll be coming home again!

@LivingInaBuildingSite I don't think my auntie will be on here; one Christmas we'd done great not receiving/giving too much stuff then we met up with my lovely auntie a few days after and she gave me children the biggest bag for life ever of presents each it was generous but whoah!

Oh no! My PIL, well MIL really, are guilty of this too.

DH has been surprisingly firm with them this year, they are only to give the DC one present each, can be significant if they want to spend, plus some £ for them to put away. They are not with us for actual Christmas.
Then DD mentioned to MIL that she’d have no grandparents presents to open on the day itself (my parents have both passed away), so MIL put me on the spot and asked would it be ok to get them a ‘little something’ just to open on the day….oh well I gave in and said sure, felt I really couldn’t say no and be the grinch.

DD had her first 11+ exam day earlier this week and her second interview out of 4. The other exams are in the new year and 2 more interviews later too . Waiting to find out about DS 2 interviews . Despite his 3 offers already it’s nerve racking . I’m trying to put it out of my mind and just crack on with other stuff . I don’t have any control with DS Uni applications process ,and not too much with DDs 11+ anymore either and her school has been preparing her . Should be hearing from the first school in a week or so .
Progress slowly on all fronts here although still feel like we’re drowning in jobs and appointments etc . DH finished the inside windows ,next needs to do the shutters . The yearly boiler service is next week and we’re in the process of getting the bathroom sealant people booked then have 3 more outstanding similar maintenance jobs left . DH has gotten rid of the floor lamp finally ,he’s actually using the steel rod in his workshop and the rest will go to the dump . He took the food bank items last week and went to the dump again . He’s been tidying and organising more in the garage in preparation for his kit car build but our garden sheds haven’t arrived yet so he has to take bikes etc out of the way to his moms until we have the storage available. He says there’ll be about 80 boxes to begin with ! I don’t understand where they’ll go , we won’t be able to enter the dam place after that .He is emptying the storage big rack though to use that and will use top of cupboards etc to pile them on . I’m trying to get the utility room extra stuff back into my big cupboard there before this all happens so I’ve got to look at the things in the dining room soon . I’ve gone through most of it but am not sure how I’ll best store them but maybe just will be in big labelled boxes . A couple of things out lately .
-1 DD too small riding hat
-4 pillow protectors
-1 mattress protector
-14 pairs of old socks
-4 pairs of old pants
-1 DH old T-shirt
-1 Dd stained pyjama top
-1 dog towel
-2 pairs of my old sweatpants all to ragbank or clothes bank
-2 pairs of DD too small jeans to charity shop
-1 clingfilm holder
-1 stained plate

-1 old dog brush
-2 useless pens
-2 wooden spoons
-2 pairs of rusty scissors
-A bunch of old freezer food to make room for our dogs new meals
-lots of wrapping supplies ;bags , paper ,boxes , ribbon , gift tags ,and Christmas cards plus envelopes from my big stash in the attic will be used up this year ,I’ve resolved to not buy much and get these out of the house now that I have them in the same place in boxes ( yes that’s plural ,I didn’t earlier how much I had left until organising them after our move here )

Oh yes and DH managed to restore my big pot with rust remover and by polishing the area in his workshop so that returned to kitchen almost good as new …

Hello all I’ve been crazy busy in work and trying to get some things arranged re new bathrooms in the house so not much decluttering to report. Lovely to catch up on all the progress you are all making though. As ever Nordicmom your updates exhaust me. I wondered how you have so much maintenance to do in such a new house - then I realised the fact we have such a long list of jobs to do makes me think we need to change our approach to yours 🤣🤣
Welcome @Unicorn34 it sounds really difficult when a lot of the stuff isn’t yours. I always suggest the Dana K White books as a good read. In her first book she describes the “container concept” as a way of limiting things like the stationary. In essence decide how much space to allocate to it and when that is full it’s full🤷‍♀️The way she explains it is much funnier and she writes as someone who had real troubles herself.

@Gassylady I do wonder why we have so much to do always as well 😁! To be honest I feel like since we had DS 18 y ago it’s been increasingly busy . Before kids I was actually bored sometimes with nothing to do .
The bigger house definitely has more work coming with it but most of these recent jobs are annual like the boiler - ,air conditioning - and ventilation servicing, carpet cleaning , skylight and solar panel cleaning . The kitchen water filter needs changing twice a year but luckily the water softener for the rest of the house doesn’t need looking at for a few years .Then we’ve had the one off project of getting the garden landscaped ( and the future sheds been put up hopefully soon ) . These developers do the service of painting over cracks and marks etc after you have lived in the house for a while , they needed to change a part into the hot water tank because of a problem in another house , and they came to fix a leak in our downstairs loo ceiling . Then I wanted a couple more things done like the one shower sealant in kids bathroom replaced ,a dining room lamp hung up , and the utility room sink polished . It’s all been recently this fall and not all done yet that is why it sounds so much . We are also now getting through deep cleaning jobs like the inside windows and shutters which we do rarely since we still don’t have a cleaner . Changing duvets etc is twice a year .
I think my health problems and in recent years kids having some issues too generate more work, moving house repeatedly and now both doing school exams at the same time is extra too. I’ve resolved to stay on top of this house and look after it better than the last two since if I don’t keep at it and act like a sergeant major things slide . DH doesn’t care as much , he’s always busy working and procrastinates with boring jobs ,the kids of course don’t give a damn so if I don’t always act as the instigator here on getting stuff done , keep count and nag and nag nothing would happen . In the previous house when I didn’t go check the topfloor daily DH and kids made an awful mess there several times so now I’m in every room daily and it’s much easier to keep on top of it although I don’t go to topfloor all the time still .we just hang laundry in the spare bed and bathroom in there and it also has the attic storage / games room but it doesn’t get more messy really since nobody’s bedroom is up there .Also when DD was younger I was more busy with her and DS nursery and school runs ,activities and errands etc . I then didn’t have the energy to do all the decluttering and organising ,and house got too small for us when we then did pull out the attic contents down to try to look through it . I still have nightmares of the huge piles in the top floor guest room and landing so that keeps me motivated . I’m so much worse physically now though so things get accomplished in bursts. there’s a lot of time I don’t get anything but the basic housework and more endless laundry done all day . I don’t work outside the house and now I finally don’t do the school run either after about 15y of it and nursery runs . since the beginning of the pandemic DD has been doing less activities ,mostly at school now and the rest DH takes her to. Also since the beginning of the pandemic and now our move out of the city DH has been doing all the errands so my previous crazy run around in general has stopped just in time since I’m really not well and can hardly move at times . We are not done with the garage until our sheds arrive and im not finished in the attic although it’s mostly organised so there’s more work to do here still before what I hope is generally maintaining it . I’m a procrastinator myself so I have to force myself to get on with everything and writing it down helps like with the decluttering ! Today I’m already feeling down in the dumps which doesn’t bode well although am home alone for the weekend . I have zero motivation and just feel like lying in bed reading all day which is what I might just do but am in slight panic about Christmas which of course is all on me and about DD ski trip before it . I’m trying to breath deep and not think about all the outstanding admin and jobs so I wont get heart palpitations again like a few Christmas ago …

And I’m trying to out source jobs to make it easier hence the window cleaner , gardener and my school run driver picking up DD. DH is asking for the cleaner which we will have to get so he won’t have to do those things after work . I can’t get my head around to having someone come daily though like our neighbours for instance so I continue to do it all while in agony with my arthritis and dizzy with my migraines , maybe some point I’ll have to give up .

I've sold 6 items on Vinted and taken them to the post office. Also tidied my dresser and thrown out old product pots and wrappers. I'm putting away some of my sons toys, will see if he misses them and if not they will go after Christmas.

My sons stuff is infuriating me, so much of it everywhere and he is currently telling me he has nothing to do!

Took a bag to charity shop on Friday. Woop. Out of the house!

ds has also ruined two pairs of trousers. So they’ve gone.

just packed away more of the kids artwork into folders.

also packed aaay my autumn decorations. Played Tetris with the boxes in the under stairs cupboard. But everything is packed away. Yay.

Our nursery put out an appeal for spare clothing so I passed on all the odds and ends that got left over when I got rid of each size (e.g. one lingering pair of pants that were the car spares, a pair of trousers were under the bed, etc!)

Popped a few duplicate toys in the toy box at playgroup

However both the dc had birthdays so quite a few things in to join the mess.

I have been buying the next two sizes of clothes for older dc when I spot them in charity shops. Must stop - we have enough of everything especially considering that starting school will mean we need fewer ordinary clothes.

I feel like I've been through everything a few times now but we are still operating above my clutter threshold. But, it is way way better than it was this time last year.

1,966 outs this year, target is 2,022 and I think I will make it!

My issue is storage - we just don't have any (or enough for what needs to be stored). As soon as I clear a space, something from a pile needs to be put into it so I never see a difference. I started clearing out my youngest's bedroom the other day and now have 2 suitcases at the end of my bed that need sorting and have to climb out of bed! Soooooo fed up but DH won't move (yet). I shall stop moaning and put some of the energy into productivity (after a cuppa)

Hi @EllieQ - it really is a nightmare isn't it. Ours has the old fashioned shared access out the back too so no way of extending (or a driveway but that is another issue/thread!). I just had a bit of a meltdown about it and was then asked "so you're asking me to throw all my clothes away?!" I mean really? Well actually, yes please! I did mention my idea of an understairs cupboard and fitted basic floor to ceiling wardrobes in our bedroom - hoping some of it went in. My DH has a tendancy to not listen and then come up with the idea, so hoping that has happened this time. I've just filled a large black bin bag of stuff and managed to sneak in some fluffy toys that I know do not have any sentimental value, and had the go ahead to get rid of the old Club Penguin fluffy toys that aren't even selling on Ebay at the moment. Feel like I've won the cup already!

my house in unextendable too, roof to shallow for loft conservation area anyway can't add at front or back. rubbish

We are lucky in that we have a loft and a garage. But it’s organising it.

next year once we’re back from our trip I’m sorting it out.

I have 2 car seats to sell which are taking up space in the garage and need to more cleverly organise garage so I can easyily access things.

this weeks outs so far:

old pyjama top of mine. Had a hole. So off it goes.
face mask - on face right now
eye cream - finished this morning
pair of old bartered loafers - mine. Replaced though.

dd broke one of my battery candles - she wanted to switch it on so I let her (she’s 3…) and dropped it smashing the glass.

A couple of more things out lately
-2 more old oven trays to dump
-10 packets of DS old prescription meds to pharmacy
-2 worn out dog toys to bin
-a packet of messy dog treats to bin
-a plastic spacer for medication I’ve had for years and never needed yet
I went to the top floor earlier to get some clothes and looked into the to the attic room which was messier since the suitcases and the winter duvets were dug up . There’s also Christmas presents in boxes etc and the more chaotic scene really got to me . Of course DH is sick with a bit of a cold so not only is the weekend flu shot in jeopardy but then he hasn’t got any energy to get things done in the evening after work just as there’s lots to do for the house , getting DD ready for the ski trip and Christmas never mind the school exams for both etc aaaarghhh. I’m already feeling something in my throat so I know I’ll get it next but want that flu shot done ! A bit of admin and online shopping done today on top of housework . At least the boiler service got done yesterday and another job is booked for next week . On Thu we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving with DD who was born in the US. Too wet to send the dog to his daycare tomorrow again since I’m not up to washing him after it and it wouldn’t be nice for him anyway . He’s missing lots of session which is a shame he loves it there in good weather with all his friends 😁. I’m not in a good state of mind atm hence up late at night then sleeping all morning after sending dd to school . Reading a bit then hopefully I can sleep …

to shallow for conversion I meant

I did have some outs yesterday and started writing it but lost it 🥴 just bits and bobs paperwork I think...forgot about the charity bag could've filled. sweatshirt, lash serum, hairbrush in been a bit naughty

@Nordicmom thats so nice that you celebrate thanksgiving. We used to do it years ago - I worked for an American firm so we were always given the day off. And then we had some friends from the US so always celebrated with them too.

old glasses in my bag ready to be taken to opticians for recycling.

Right, I'm back. Again. Given up all my volunteering work and taken a step back from looking for a secondary school.

I had someone come to the house today and they commented on the state of the house 😓

I have started again. The best thing is that nothing is coming in any more.

13 kids items sold on vinted.
2 pairs of shoes to rags
24 items of kids clothes to rags

So 39 out. I'm almost at the point where all of my daughters to grow into clothes are now in use so there is less stashed away. Next I'm going to get her clothes down to a sensible level and start to sell things that fit, but she has too many multiples of.

Any progress I ever make gets back into a state but if I don't buy more then that's just impossible going forward. I hope.

Feeling down about it all after today 😨

You can do it @IncessantNameChanger !
Don’t give up , just keep on chipping at the mountain bit by bit and it will get smaller . There’s no other way to get it done except by doing it . We’re all here for you !
I’ve concluded that I’ll have to put some of those house maintenance , appointments etc jobs on the back burner now .I feel so tired and overwhelmed by the never ending tasks of all kinds and there’s only 2 w until DD first ever proper school trip going skiing and not much more until Christmas. We are also in the middle of the 11+ and University Applications which adds its own extra level of stress but excitingly today DS got his second interview date and of course it’s the same as for the other Uni . Also got his excellent grades so happy for him . I don’t envy him the pressure must be immense so we’re not adding to it …
Garden got done this week and is looking tidy again ,and our dog had his first recall training at his daycare ,we need to work on it a bit more . Tomorrow DS hair cut and flu vaccines all around so ticking things off the list . Wondering if any of us would have the energy to go to our last ever Christmas fair at DS school with his little sister . He’s been there 10 y so it’s really sentimental ! He was only a little boy when he started and now soon leaving as a young man , where did all those years go ! I spent tonight writing my portion of the Christmas cards hoping to send them early ( already gotten one lone one a while ago !) incase of the strikes . I used up left overs from other years I always intend to do but don’t . I will list that separately, it’s a real win ! Still need to do DH ones I swear I won’t every year and then get DD to do ones for school friends but at least she can do those all by herself and they won’t need mailing . I’m keen to get other peoples presents done so I can just concentrate on our own family but still have a few left . School is also asking for donations and luckily I have definitely some presents in the attic in my stash so those will get decluttered from my cupboard and hopefully make some child very happy !
A few things going :
-1 king mattress protector
-1 single mattress protector
-20 or so Christmas cards used up from my stash
-3 kids presents to the school charity collection
I need to go fill the charity boxes in the attic properly since DH just found a box of golden wrapping paper rolls I didn’t want to keep I’ve told him were going to charity months ago but he’d put back in my cupboard ! There’s other stuff there I’m sure that can go and things I’ve decided that are going that weren’t removed yet . Atm it’s not looking so neat there since the suitcases and duvet and pillow and mattress protector boxes were dug out but not yet put back so will have to get DH to organise them again and pull out all Christmas stuff while he’s at it . A couple of small other household jobs lined up for him too and should start on cleaning the hundred shutters that haven’t been dusted since they were installed months ago . U really just don’t notice the dust on them and there’s so many of them that they’ve never gotten done but not that the inside windows finally were cleaned by DH the other week and outside monthly by someone else these shutters would ideally come next before Christmas.
Anyway off to bed for me !

Car seat listed on fb this morning because I fell over it in the garage and it was pissing me off.

Three “is it still available” so far. So that’s all good. Yay.

Also - binned all the kids bath toys which had gone all black mouldy. And a couple of toys that ds had destroyed. Sneakily sneaked them out of the house.