You have one hour to do a ruthless declutter of your entire house….what do you do?

[WinchSparkle80]

I have booked an Anglo doorstep collection tomorrow thanks to posters on mn.
I have 7 black bags to donate but, will have just over an hour tomorrow to declutter downstairs (lounge,dining rm, kitchen,utility) before they come as my plans today went to pot….

…any advice on how to get best results in this time?

I’d be working on 15 mins per room x 4 rooms = 60 mins and sticking to that. Get a podcast or music on, whatever you find gets you in the zone, and get everything you can in the bag in 15 mins then switch to the next room. Set a timer each time and stick to it.

@Namechange58665 great advice- thank you!

Panic, get fully ADHD in my outlook, MN for a while, cry and do nothing.

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@MrsTerryPratchett that is me now! Have name changed without meaning too but adhd diagnosed and struggling with hoarding stuff so this is such a big deal and very cross my plans didn’t work today.

What I said is what I’d do in theory and what @MrsTerryPratchett said is undoubtedly what I’d do in practice 🤣

Ooh typed at same time @WinchSparkle80

Try the Pomodoro app. It's the only thing that has remotely helped me clear the house (a bit).

I would just do the hour now, less panic than morning and you might have extra 30 mins then in morning

I'd ignore it and have a bath.

I would say get rid of the most obvious clutter in the 2 or 3 rooms you use the most. Go!

Be brutal. Close your eyes, feel the peace from the absence of stimuli, then slowly open them and look around.

Whatever corner you see glowering at you first, stride towards it shaking your black bag open and wipe that smug 'We're all here and we're shouting at you for attention every time you try and relax' look off its face.

I second the Pomodoro timer or even a 15 min timer on your phone, or a podcast for each room and a treat for yourself at the end. It’s a great thing to do OP. Don’t worry about losing today. You can get this done on adrenaline in the morning.

Just need to get off my arse, stop mumsnetting, working on my phone and actually move… feel accountable now though so might try 20mins without kiddos waking up

ready steady GO!

I'd probably stress about it tonight, lie awake half the night thinking about it , then in the morning struggle to get started and then just end up chucking shite in bags in a panic and then regret it 3 weeks later , because even though I hadn't looked at a particular item in about 2 years, now that it's gone , it's imperative that I have it. I'd then go online and buy another one and about 6 more things 🙈🤣

Hahaha I read the title and laughed , I would take the bin bags into one room open my wardrobe , take out piles of clothes to look thru, then I would notice a book sticking out from under My bed , pull out the draws of books get one out to put in the black bag , which is now lost under the clothes from the wardrobe, so off I go to find the black bags from under the sink, along the way , I've opened the kitchen drawer to have a sort out in there , then I've heard the postman at the door, I've found a few bits to add to the bin bag on the way to the door, oh my Porchway has shoes , so I've took out the shoes , but forgot the bin bag again so off I go again for the bin bag.

Oooo there's a box that needs sorting so I find a few bits in there , now I'm halfway in and have 3 bin bags filled with 3 things each and piles of stuff on the floor in every other room I've been in !!

After an hour I will sit and take every thing out of the bag coz I can't decide if I want to keep them or not 🤣🤣

ADHD brain is soooo real !

Pick the low hanging fruit so the things that should be easier.

For example, have a bin bag in the bathroom and bin any empty toiletries, any toiletries that you've part used and put in a doom basked because they didn't work for you, and any other items that are taking up space
Then put your items you're keeping into baskets so it's clear how to find things.

Another low hanging fruit is kids toys or kids clothes. Have they played with it in the last 30/60 days? If not and it's not sentimental then off it goes. Any clothes that are severely playwear need to go, along with anything that you know last time they tried on was borderline top small but you kept it to get another few weeks wear out of.

People! Check me out!
A bag to donate and a bag of rubbish/recycling from those 4 baskets!
Absolutely done in now…. so back to my work/mumsnet… thinking about all the other things to do whilst ordering a new cable to replace the one i tripped over as it is broken whilst getting to the storage unit…. but I thank you! 15 min timer worked!

And found my stash of treats I didn’t remember I bought and a random xmas balloon and a bop it!
Oh and if anyone needs birthday candles, I’m your gal…. 8 unopened packs and -
box of half burnt randoms

@WinchSparkle80 I'm fascinated to know wtf happened to the randoms?

It would appear the candles half burnt and even those plastic holder mainly covered in candle wax made it back into the original packaging but now in the bin
… alas not random sweets….

Thank you @Namechange58665 I actually did as I was told 😂

@Cadburyscreamegg omg this is me
to an absolute T. I have left said treats, balloon and bop it on the table so
god knows what will happen to them as they end up in different spots in my house tmrw whilst I am trying to get kiddos out to school!

@LolaSmiles ooooo toiletries might be an absolute quick win - thank you!

@WinchSparkle80 yayyyy!! Result!! Now you may MN to your heart’s content

(now can you tell me to stop - and get this for stupidity- procrastinating from resting!!)