Decluttering thread 4 - progress rather than perfection

[Pigtailsandall]

Thread 3 got filled up so decided to start a new one - hope everyone can find it!!

I had another rummage this evening and unearthed 3 too-small coats to donate. Total is 651

Well done @Realfastfoodie that's great! And @IndianSummer78 you are doing very well letting go of clothes that no longer fit. I found that hard in the beginning because it meant I needed to accept a whole new body type.

Just dropped off another Vinted sale. I won't list anything else for a bit, I've sold all the bits I intended to, and I have a few lingering ones left - I'll give them a few weeks before taking them to the charity shop. At 875 items now and feeling quite pleased. Planning on some cleaning today and that usually yields a few outs too

@Realfastfoodie My family aren't as diplomatic about the mess as it sounds like yours were when you moved. My uncle came over a few months ago, only the second time he's visited and said 'I'm sure I could actually see the dining table last time I came' 🫣. My mum frequently reminds me that it still looks like we moved in yesterday. We're forever tripping over things.

Well done on getting some eBay listings up. I've put some more on this weekend too so fingers crossed we can shift some more things.
The next room I'm starting on renovating will mean I have to go through all my clothes, which will take forever!

Still wading through the clutter. DH replaced his home office bookcases (2 were falling to pieces), and the intact but not matching third bookcase is now in the living room, allowing my cookbooks to emerge from the plastic crate they were living in. The empty crate is now in the shed, full a duplo that I will photo and hopefully sell when I get a moment. Despite lots of outs the livingroom still looks shit, sigh. There's just so much stuff to move and sort.

Finally moved one of the bags of textile recycling out of the house and actually into the textile bin . I also went through one of the random paper bags which have been taking up space on the kitchen worktop since FOREVER and binned a lot of old sweets and tat from party bags. Plus I finally got round to using the foot peeling socks I have also had FOREVER last night - I'm pretty sure they're expired so not expecting too much, but at least they're finished with now.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 Hmm. I find it a bit unhelpful when people say things like that. My MIL (who I love very much, no MIL bashing here) is the most tidy person in the world and she genuinely cannot understand how we can have any boxes left. Meanwhile I’m thrilled to be down to just a couple of boxes and think we’ve done quite well!

@Pigtailsandall thank you!

I’ve added a few things to my list since last time and up to 64 items (starting from May). I’m not counting a general clear up of the fridge which would be another handful of items!

Ooh, I like kind of that using up of things!

@Realfastfoodie I can only dream of being down to a couple of boxes 😂. Sounds like you've done brilliantly.

We've had to clear the front bedroom today ready for a new carpet arriving and it's taken all day until well after midnight. It's unbelievable how much stuff we have accumulated 😖.
I did find a load of mini toiletries to use up and some presents I forgot I'd bought though so there was some useful stuff amongst the junk.

DD has gone on her school trip for a few days so I’ll have to see later which ones of her old clothes and trainers survive all the activities. Just hoping for good weather and that she’ll have fun .
DH was having a look at DS 2 old little sailing boats in the weekend at his mom’s .DS used to race for years at the local sailing club but since DD isn’t interested in doing that DH will get them ready to sell soon . Added to his own old boat when they go that’ll be 3 big outs !
DS is having the last few lessons at school ever now since he’s going on his study leave next week and then it’s the A-level exams . He’s taking a few presents to teachers as a thank you so they’re leaving the house .
DD has parties coming up so 4 sets of presents and cards are earmarked for those .
Im also returning some clothes .
Haven’t felt up to emptying any food cupboards yet . Daily stuff and admin has been enough .I’ve been still catching up with laundry after a few trips too and doing extra things like washing big sofa covers so I can change them for the summer and store a clean spare set into the attic . Been in quite a lot of pain lately so doing those cupboards will be hard atm . I will start with the emptier one and might have to ask DS to empty the shelf of bottles for me to look through .
Getting anyone else here to do any of these extra jobs or decluttering is always an ordeal it’s so infuriating. I don’t get it ,it’s our stuff in our house that needs looking after so we all need to work at it ! Sometimes DH gets lots done at once and I celebrate and always thank him but generally everything takes forever to get around to when he’s tired after work at night or busy in the weekend . When I said I’ll be so happy when he gets a replacement ordered for the kids bathroom toilet seat he was looking at tonight he just said no you won’t , you’ll just ask me to do the next thing which is kind of true there’ll always be more jobs but they need doing can’t exactly stop or everything will just fall apart and get worse and worse . I do know the feeling of it being never ending but that’s bloody life . I would prefer just getting on with it and spending minimal time talking about it and agonising over everything and trying to put things off to me thats wasting time . I’m procrastinating too but he’s so much worse with all these boring tasks . He has been driven and ambitious with work and with his own interests but of course not with these jobs . Being sick and in pain is stopping me getting more done and I’ve had it with asking for help …

Pigtails it's gutting. They're mostly new or barely worn. The waste! The main thing that helped is a YouTuber saying it's your clothes job to fit your body not your body's job to fit your clothes. That and the fact I'm still hopeful for a summer diet making things return to how they were. But these too-small things, they were probably a little tight when I bought them (I never try things on or send back), letting them go is the right thing to do. I'm raising my standards. I have plenty that fit, there's no need to wear uncomfortable things that dont. They're not all mine either, DP has got on the bandwagon finally. Most of the excess clutter in this place is mine though!

Nordic I hope the pain eases off for you

Two gone today, a stained jumper and a battered empty cardboard box. Total is 453

@PissedOffNeighbour22 - I have a horrible feeling that just means the junk is distributed around our house!

@IndianSummer78 - I like that! I’m going to be ruthless with non-fitting clothes. Slightly different situation as I’m pregnant so no idea what shape I’ll be in 6 or 12 months, but there are things I’m keeping for sentimental reasons that need to go now!

sydneycarton I know it’s missing the point of the thread but how are your feet? I’ve always wanted to try one of those foot peeling things but they always seem quite expensive.

realfastfoodie I have only recently unpacked boxes from 15 years ago. They went in the Room of Doom and I had kids and stopped doing tidying for 5 years!

I listened to a clutterbugs podcast and she was talking about doing the kitchen and she said ‘if you only use the toaster 3 times a week’ why is it out? and that really resonated with me as we rarely use it these days. I’m wondering whether to put it in a drawer to have a clearer surface.

Yesterday I finished a hello kitty notebook that was about a decade old. We have a large collection of notebooks and I write daily to do lists so im slowly using them up. I also hacked some ivy off a fence and a wall so that’s a bit of gardening cluttering.

@stealthninjamum ooh, interesting about the toaster. But I find that there is a big mental overhead in getting things out. If my toaster went away, I would probably not get it out, so might as well get rid all together! But my worksurfaces are definitely the bane of my life, so will look with that in mind!

As for boxes, when my relative died we were helping his wife with packing and moving and found a box (still sealed) that had writing on it indicating it had been packed up to move into not just that house, but in fact the one before. They had moved into their current house 30 years or more before, so the box had survived more than 3 decades and two house moves!!

I’m feeling a bit of a fraud today - big parcel has arrived with replacement socks and pants for the holey ones I decluttered last week. Actually one tip that I try to live by is to not just replace things if they are broken / need throwing but to see if you can do without, but I’m afraid I have to draw the line at having enough socks and pants!

Woohoo! I went on a mad dash before starting work and got rid of
38 assorted kitchen surface junk ✅
2 chunks of holly from Christmas 🤦‍♀️ ✅
3 Boxes from packaging ✅

I’ve put a handful of things on olio/freecycle and I’ve started another charity/clothes recycling bag… this counting thing is addictive. Never thought of doing this way!

total (out of the door only, not including olio listings etc) - 107 (I think)

I'm doing my sons pjs today. There's more in the wash! So I need to reduce by 50%

This many removed which is quite good I think! I'm really tempted to buy a few more short sets to replace the small ones for my son. I might. But I'm going to have a good thing first as that urge might pass

Well done @IncessantNameChanger! Well done for pausing on replacement. Then you will know if you need it, or just it’s instinctive!

I’ve posted my eBay sale and dropped off three bags to charity and a duvet to fabric recycling, taking my grand total to 120! I can’t believe how effective it is to be counting things!!!

More clothes going today. Coat, trousers, top and skirt. All too small.

total is 457

Finally did some cleaning today. Work has been so busy, I've done the absolute minimum last few weeks.

Out went:
2 sample CDs
Bubble wand
Almost finished decaff coffee that no one liked
Used up a body scrub
Used up a face mask
2 plastic containers use manual
Storage bag for an electric blanket
McDonald's toy
Toy from a kids magazine

Total at 886

@stealthninjamum No peeling so far! Am starting to wonder if they were really too expired to do anything (it was either 6 September 2022 or 9 June 2022, I'm not sure whether it was UK or US dating), but I've just checked the website and most of the reviews say it took about a week before they noticed anything. Feet feel a little softer around the heels, which were pretty dry

These are the socks - they're £6 for BP members or £18 for non-members.

@Realfastfoodie You mentioning getting rid of Christmas holly makes me feel slightly less bad about our Christmas tree which is sitting dying out on the balcony 🙄

realfastfoodie I put the toaster away on Wednesday and not only does it make the area less cluttered but I haven’t had to move the chopping boards to wipe down the surface to get crumbs out from under them.

of course now I’m wondering if I should move the chopping boards away or maybe just the meat and bread boards as I don’t use them that often and they’re big.

sydneycarton keep us posted, I’ve always ignored useby dates on toiletries / skin care unless they’ve been opened and sat in the sun.

I haven’t had time to properly declutter other than my weekly car declutter that I have been doing every Friday since my failed attempt to do flylady and dds did their seasonal declutter last night. Dd3 almost has a capsule wardrobe now so I’ve said we can go shopping for a few more bits.

Very impressive @Pigtailsandall - I think the idea of trying to do a little bit each week, rather than a big thing is helpful to me.

@stealthninjamum - firstly, I must say i love your name, partly because I keep reading it as “stealth mum in a jam” (or similar) and then realise you are actually a ninja 😊 that’s cool about the toaster, I think you are right, they are definitely clutter and crumb-spreaders… not sure I could make it work as I do like my toast most days… but I think there will be something else of that sort for me to move…. My big kitchen push (holly and all) came from your inspiration though, and that was over 40 things. I have a tray with a vase and had done a bit of a Christmas display in it, and that was a clutter catcher, full of little bits of nothing which needed getting rid!

This is a thread I need in my life - could I join? My strategy is move everything that's is cluttering 1 room into another and saying I'm going to sort through the boxes I have moved - which I now look at everyday stored in my dinning room telling myself I will sort a box tomorrow (which never happens) I've just moved 2 boxes and 1 bag into the kitchen sat and sorted the bag - 1 carrier full of old papers/magazines, packaging kept for no reason at all, instruction manuals for old appliances etc. But now sat looking at the boxes thinking ill do them tomorrow so needed some motivation to just start it and get it cracked off before the school run.

Welcome @Floralgizelle

I have been allocated a helper to declutter which is amazing news! After sorting out my sons school there are no more excuses and I need to move forward with a big ruthless fresh start. Feeling positive about it as I know I can do it. I just need someone to keep me in check.

Had some really horrible news that my mum has died. It's so tempting yo fall back into my normal comforts of shopping but I'm not going to. Plus of course we eventually need to clear mums house 😪 hideous but that's life. Anyway I'm feeling numb and in a fog but I can either go backwards or carry on I guess. I might try to give a bag of clothes away this weekend to a clothes bank to see if I can just get rid without trying to sell or sort it first.