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've been lurking for a while but hadn't posted. We moved house a couple of years ago and intended to have everything in its proper place but it still looks like a dumping ground. It's a full renovation so some of the rooms are just piled high with stuff we haven't gone through.

I put some things on eBay and this month I've sold:
69 items of clothing (mine and the kids)
1 baby swing
1 large baby gate
2 large glass bookcases
1 car tyre

I've also freecycled a baby chair and tummy time roller. Binned a handful of coat hangers and put at least 6 baby clothing items and 1 of my coats into the fabric recycling bag I have waiting to go to the tip.

It feels great getting rid of stuff and I love counting up what I've got rid of but the sad reality is that there's so much that these amounts don't even make a dent on how untidy the house is and our hoarding natures. Every time I clear a surface my DP fills it back up.

16 empty shoe boxes gone to recycling. Total is 370

Random tupperware lids in recycling
Tidied snack cupboard (so empty packets in bin....)

Plus a camera case in charity bag.

I have an insane amount of paperwork to deal with and shred (like 20 year old mobile bills and the payment info and I wish I was kidding)

i intend to start shredding tomorrow but it is going to be a 2 day job given after an hour my shredder gets hot and needs 30 minutes to cool down, and then refiling the stuff I need to keep.

I’ve been putting this off for like 5 years. Feeling really ashamed

@PissedOffNeighbour22 I'm in a very similar boat - we're 5.5 years in to our doer-upper (we had a two year plan originally. Haha.) & the end is finally in sight, but DH is taking forever to finish the nursery (we started when I was pregnant. DS is almost 10 months old...) & the spare room is still to be done, but it's currently stuffed full of nursery furniture & random shite.

I've also been lurking but it's time to commit. I've decided to shed 2023 items this year.

Today is Day 1, & I donated 9 unopened cans of cat food - brands that my fussy pair refuse to eat (dropped off to a collection point at our local Wilko).
I also recycled 26 glass bottles/jars etc (we have no glass collection at all here, it has to be taken to a bottle bank, so I'm going to count it!) & 5 carrier bags.

Tally - 40/2023

separatedmum I’m sorry to hear that, I hope you’re ok.

secretboringsister I’m the same, I just shredded loads of ancient paperwork. It feels great now it’s done.

I just went through a wardrobe in my bedroom and found some out of date ovulation sticks and pregnancy testers so they’re binned. There was also a box of some foreign coins that’ll go to oxfam.

Just a few things going here but DH finally took all the old pillows to the dump with a a lot of cardboard boxes and a few clothes bank bags .
-1 DD small sweatshirt
-3 pairs of DD small pants
-2 old school calendars
-more old food from the larder
-1 travel guide back to MIL
-2 DD small T-shirts
-1 camera and about 4 lenses earmarked to sell by DH
-1 pair of DD small sweatpants

Other things have taken priority here now but I’m pretty much into maintenance with the decluttering except for the few boxes to do in the attic so I’ll just keep on putting things away routinely as I run into / think of them until I’ve got time and energy to go back up there .
DS room will be done before he goes to university in the fall . We went through it all when we last moved 1,5 y ago so he doesn’t have much to get rid of but he has agreed to go through his drawers etc . I’ve told him we’ll next do a T-shirt cull since there’s a huge pile now and there’s no more space on the shelf . Pretty sure there’s a couple we can put away …

@stealthninjamum im up early and ready to shred! Wish me luck 🍀

Did a 2 minute decliutter of the notice board before bed...

• four letters about past school events
• covid vaccination cards
• bits of torn letters where I just pulled instead of unpinning

Went through the four carrier bags of DD’s old shoes and slippers yesterday. Eight pairs bagged up for shoe recycling, and eight pairs in good enough condition to go to charity. I have kept a few as mementoes - her first shoes, a pair of cute toddler size shoes, her first shoe schools, and a pair of winter boots. Which seems a lot, but I’ve got rid of a lot more!

As so often happens, my plans for doing a bit more decluttering while DH was cooking dinner didn’t go ahead as I was needed to find something in the freezer/ asked if the big non-stick pan needed to be washed again/ needed to check on DD after she’d caught her finger in the door / asked why X hadn’t been bought in the last supermarket shop (because no one had put on the list) 🙄 He's normally very competent, but sometimes the process of cooking dinner does not go smoothly!

I felt the same but gradually as more leaves the house the tidal wave of clutter slows @@PissedOffNeighbour22

Separated mum hope things are OK.

552/2023 here.

Today I have given away about 20 little baby books and a spiraliser we used once.

Sold high chair on Facebook so a bit of room gained.

We are having the living room decorated next week so I'm moving everything out, its also our childs main play room and oh my god we have SO MUCH STUFF. I've been able to get rid of bits as we go though thankfully but there is still a lot of things.

4 pairs of dds pants and 7 pairs of socks binned today. Far to dirty to even warrant cleaning.

also a water painting magic book thing has been binned - they wrecked it.

along with a majorette twirly stick dd had. Which was helpfully filled with glitter water. I dropped it yesterday and it smashed. Glittery water everyfuckingwhere.

Hi friends. I was pretty successful in my filing and shredding. 2 bin bags full, tossed 3 old filing boxes and only one more folder to go!

congrats to all who shifted some clutter!

@AwkwardPaws27 We said 2 years too and that's been and gone 😄. Our 13 month old is still in our room as we have nowhere else to put him so I can't wait to get both the kids' rooms renovated!

I've ordered the carpet for DD room so we have 6 more weeks to get that room renovated and redecorated. Once it's finished I don't want anything in that room that isn't useful and I want all the toys tidied away (easier said than done!).

Today I went through a box of DD outdoor , swim , sports stuff from her wardrobe and a bunch can go so good that I got around to it !
Also sorted out the dog toy mountain and got rid of all the manky and unplayed with ones while he wasn’t here . Then finished the larder shelf clearing . I looked into DD encyclopaedia etc book cupboard in the living room ( she has a drawer of them in her room too ) but it was all in perfect order and recently weeded so they’re all staying . Then got rid of some board games . I think we have some in DS room too so I’ll have to see what and we need to play the ones that DD is too young for with DS before he goes to university although he’ll be here still in the holidays I’m sure .

Out today :
-4 packets of food to food bank
-11 packets of old food to disposal and packaging to recycling
-3 ripped packets of UNO card games to recycling
-5 board and card games to charity shop
-3 pairs of my broken pyjama bottoms
-a few loose gloves
-2 pairs of DD small riding trousers
-2 pairs of DD old trampoline park socks
-1 lone Christmas sock
-1 pair of DD small waterproof trousers to charity
-1 DD unused small riding top to charity
-2 pair of DD small leggings
-2 DD T-shirts
-1 DD trousers
-1 DD duplicate swimming costume
-1 DD small rash vest
-1 DD small fleece
-1 DD small hoodie
-14 old dog toys
-1 DD used up science box
-1 pair of DS school shoes ear marked to go

Glad I got on with it rather than just thought about doing it …

Hi newbies 🙂

Congrats to those who've managed to sell some of their decluttering

I dream of being at maintenance level decluttering Nordic

I've been busy today and have quite a few things gone. Total is 384

• too small knickers x1
• blankets x4
• bedding set x1
• fleece hoodie x1
• crushed cushion middles X3
• cushion covers x2

@IndianSummer78 its taken years to get to this level but it all pays off in the end .

Ooh I'm joining.

I feel like I have only recently really understood how to declutter thanks to A Slob Comes Clean. So I've done most of DS1's room, all of DS2/3's room, most of the living room, most of our bedroom, and I've started on the kitchen.

I really need to get our level of stuff down to a point we can handle it. We have an adult + teen with ADHD, a toddler creating chaos, a 4yo who is tidier by nature but is still four, and DH who is trying to catch up constantly.

I've got old bank statements that need to go but I don't even have a shredder. I was trying to figure out how I can destroy them. Can I just chuck them in a bucket and put water on them maybe? I don't think we have anywhere we can safely burn rubbish.

Bertie Botts any chance you/ someone you know works and can take them there to be shredded? Otherwise I think you can get a special pen that blanks out the info? Maybe someone will know what I mean!
Bag gone to charity shop, couldn't carry everything in the pram so need to sort the overflow. Always nice when it has actually gone.

bertiebotts I’ve heard that you can just soak paperwork in water and the ink will run so I would try it with a couple of pieces of paper. I once thought I’d burn some papers and it created an incredible cloud of smoke so now I sit for hours with my beloved shredder.

I have been sorting through toys and got rid of more plastic crap. Also more paperwork - invoices, receipts from years ago etc.