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 did a bit of a clean up yesterday and today on my lunch breaks and out went 2 plastic containers without lids, another bottle of eye drops, a loyalty card and an expired credit card, a kids craft project, a snack pack that no-one liked, a broken water bottle, a plastic bangle I never wear, a small unidentified plastic toy, some alcohol-free prosecco, dried up marker and a big pack of sticky address labels

It's kind of amazing how much stuff you find every time you scan your house - and I have largely done my big declutters. Total is 1096

Out today goes 3 newsletters I've read, one magazine I'm finished with, some packaging from something I bought last week and some packaging from an order that arrived today. Total is still the same because I went to take the bags of clothes to the donations point and ended up brining home the bag of jackets I decluttered a few weeks ago because I just couldn't get rid of them

Incessant you're doing so well with vinted, hope all your things sell

@IncessantNameChanger your DDs room looks so good! You've been hard at work 😍
@EllieQ that reminds me, I have a bag of shredded paper that needs to go!

I've had to take a bit of a break from throwing things out, so still have more to sort through and clean. It just gets so overwhelming! Lots of people have offered to help, but I've found they're all empty offers. No one is willing to help you clean each shelf in each cupboard (and all of its contents) so it is what it is.
We are staying in the house (fire damage is mostly on the outside of the house, other than the attic space over one bedroom). The restoration company will clean it, after all the repairs are done, and I can't live in filth, so I must do it myself!

I'm going to have to move stuff around in the garage so we can have a new phone line put in. It's an excuse to try and get rid of some more stuff I guess!

@BloomingHazel did the insurance company not offer to re house you while they sorted the house? I know what you mean about empty offers. Have you got a close friend who would sit and go through things with you? I have a few that would but I need to explicitly ask them and I'm not quite ready for that yet. Maybe once the house is a bit tidier and the kids are back to school after summer. I have two friends who have seen my house, and another who is a bit of a fellow hoarder. I want to ask her if she wants to tag team up with me.

My declutter came today but we just talked, which was nice. He has a disabled child too so understand where my struggles route from.

9 things listed on Vinted today, a bag of stuff ready to go to the clothing bank but I haven't counted yet.

5 things sold on vinted today but I bought 7 things in Primark! I needed some short sets for our holiday.

Feeling overwhelmed again, but I'm going to just set myself going through dd uniform tomorrow. She seems to have it dotted around everywhere and it's possibly too much. So need to put it together and check as tomorrow's job.

July so far

Total out 254
Total in 29

@IncessantNameChanger yes, both of our adjusters have told us we should stay somewhere else (to avoid the stress and construction mainly), but the restoration company says we won't be in the way or anything, so our choice. We have chosen to stay in our home, we don't want to stay anywhere else! If it gets too much, at any time we can leave the house for as long as it takes.

Right, having read your update @BloomingHazel, I’m kicking myself up the backside… if you can do it, I have no excuse!

I think I’m going back to my clothes. Now I’m properly into maternity clothes, I need to do some putting away for post-baby, but this is a perfect opportunity to also declutter some out of the house!

13 more items sold on eBay and 5 to the fabric recycling.
Total 573.

Accepted I'm never going to use 20 lace scraps and binned them. Total is 693

Well. In the last week or so I have had various relatives turning up with bags of things. Some have sentimental value but some represent decades of storing bits that really weren’t worth it.

I have not been ruthless, but I do think decluttering has changed my mindset, I have managed to identify quite a lot to go straight to charity.

I went through all our random papers. My office is getting rid of its shredder soon so I made 10 piles of various docs to take in. They're decently big so taking a few at a time.
Also sold 2 items on Vinted. I have to get to the loft to see if I have anything else decent to sell but rest of the stuff I've got listed now is pretty low-yield and has been there ages.

Total is 1108.

Well done @Pigtailsandall, that sounds good!

1 x bobbly leggings
1 x too small leggings
2 x too small jeans
3 x too small tops
1 x top I don't like

Total is 701

You are motoring now @IndianSummer78 👏👏👏

Sold 8 things yesterday on Vinted. 3 things the day before. Luckily maybe Next lost my entire sale order and most of it us out of stock so that's less coming in.

Total out 262
Total in 31

One bag of old toys that I’d sorted out a couple of months ago to the charity shop today. Also identified a few books to donate, but need to check if DH wants to read any of them before I can donate them.

Well done @EllieQ!

I’ve been doing loads of sorting, and sorting out some flat pack furniture - hope it will convert into lots of decluttering. Listed a good handful of things on olio so 🤞

I have got rid of another almost 100 things today. Still feels like there is no visable difference

Wow @IncessantNameChanger, that’s totally amazing. I’m sorry it feels discouraging. What do you think might help? If you took before and after photos I’m sure we could see the difference. I sometimes find that sometimes you have to spend as long tidying and cleaning as decluttering to feel the benefit?

Yes I should do more before and after photos. Thanks for that reminder xx

3 tops and 3 jeans all too small gone. Total is 707

Of the five books I took off the shelves, DH wanted to keep three as he hadn’t read them, so that’s two books in the charity bag.

I had another quick go through one bookshelf today and have pulled out about ten more that could go - just need DH to check them (we both love books so would never get rid of some without checking with the other just in case!).

Yesterday's total was 97 and I have sorted another 40 to go out today. It's finally making a dent now. Yesterday ds19 said the house is toxic mainly due to the clutter which is fair and truthful but really hurt my feelings. There are 6 of us in 3 bed cottage after all. My mum died in May so eventually when I get my inheritance I should think hard about selling our btl and actually living in our own house with four beds. At some point ds19 is going to leave home anyway, In the meantime I just have to plod on. Ds19 says he looking to move out but he wants to go go to uni Sept 24 so I think his idea is a bit delusional.

I'm going to give a lot of my vinted listings to school for its second hand stall as originally planned on Friday. I don't want the Vinted pile to turn into another black hole of clutter.

Anyway total for July is

Total out 391
Total in 31

Well done @IncessantNameChanger. you are definitely making a real dent. Well done everyone else.

I’m making a dent in my charity shop/baby bank/ olio pile of doom and bagging things up for different places as well as Listing things that need listing.

Working on filling a bin bag of rubbish and one of recycling from upstairs… packaging and crap from building works etc