Anyone want to join a decluttering and cleaning thread?

[QwertyWitch]

I want to get my house clean, decluttered and organised before school starts in September.
I started on the shelves in the living room today which are meant to be for some books and ornaments but have become filled with random paper and objects.
This seems to be the case everywhere I look!
Time to tackle it.

I'll join! I have way too much stuff and feel so overwhelmed with the whole house I don't seem to be able to even make a start but this thread is inspiring me!

sprinkle it's really tricky. I was guilty of having too much when dds were young and it was heartbreaking thinking of the money wasted when they outgrew all the beautiful clothes before even wearing some of them.

I've stopped keeping clothes from dd1 for dd2, they both like different styles and tbh it's cheap enough to buy dd2 things she likes from vinted/car boots or sales etc. And if your mum does like buying your girls so much it may be a good idea for you too. I just kept expensive things like branded school uniform (if in decent nick)

As a start, go through the wardrobes and find the 8-10 best of each category - t-shirt, leggings/jeans/trousers, shorts/skirt, dress, long sleeve top, jumper/hoodie/cardigan. A couple of occasion/party outfits. All of these can be mixed and matched for all year around layering up and allows at least 2 weeks worth of outfits without washing and lots of choice. If your girls are anything like mine they will wear the same 2/3 outfits over and over again anyway!!

1 or 2 Thin rain jacket and 1 thick waterproof coat (up to you whether you keep one or 2 of these, we usually had 2 waterproof coats when they were young - one school and one outside school). We also had another jacket (furry in winter and bomber jacket for summer). 2 × winter hat, gloves, scarf, 2 summer hat and sunglasses. 1 or 2 swimsuits - we had a swimming costume for pools and a UV sunsuit for the beach.

School uniform have 5/6 sets including a few extra pairs of tights. We used to pack away the summer dresses each year too (only ever 4/5 of these as they wash and dry so quick). Underwear and socks we usually had around 15-20 of each due to accidents/frequent holes!!

This is just a start and you might find actually you don't even need or want this much. (We used to have over double, almost treble this amount at one point it was ridiculous! And actually more stressful for the kids getting ready in the morning trying to find things or putting clothes away)

Once sorted sell the extras on vinted - really nice/branded items separately and the rest in aged bundles. I usually do boden/zara and party dresses separate. I do £3-5 an item and a bundle of casual clothes for about £7. Usually sells very quickly. Especially if you set up bundle discounts on your account. If you are desperate for space maybe give the items a set amount of time then charity shop/olio/Facebook free site them.

Then you could you use the money towards a day out or experience for the girls? Or split and put into their accounts? We recently raised enough to buy each dd an ipad for their school work. (Plus more in their savings)

Then from now on - one in one out. If you buy a new outfit, get rid of one that's outgrown or getting tatty. We now have a bag going for the rag man (stained/holey/worn out), charity shop and a vinted selling bag. Once full get rid.

I'm sorry for the essay, I hope it helps. 😊

joy if you've spent the money already, in the nicest possible way you cant get that back its already spent. So consider whether you will value the space or the item more?

Some things can be sold to get some of the value back. But it's also a great feeling passing on an unloved item to someone who is hugely grateful.

I also use the mantra when sorting out - do i use this frequently? If no, could I replace this within a day or 2 and for under £10. If the answer is yes I will get rid. I am starting to value clear spaces more than a box full of cables/huge boxes of random junk which I couldn't find anything in anyway so usually rebought the item I needed! We have sorted all the random stuff into labelled/categorised boxes so I know where it all is now.

Thank you @SootspriteSearcher , that's very helpful. Seeing as most things I have are cheap tat, they are easily replaceable.

And, although I'm roughly following the Marie Kondo method, I now realise that the clothes category, which she advocates doing first, before sentimental items, is a huge emotional category for me. I have so many special memories linked to wearing certain outfits.

I think I will have to work on that. 😊

Hi, I would like to join the thread please.

I have had to struggle with hoarding tendencies in the past (mostly connected with bereavement) but I am mostly ‘recovered’…😃

I have several key hotspots, mostly in my office/spare bedroom which seems to be ‘stuff central’.

Regarding kids/baby clothes, when dc4 was a boy I knew dc3 was my last girl so I got rid of most of the girls baby clothes and kept my favourite items or items which were associated with special occasions and got them made into a quilt. I’ve done the same with boys baby/toddler clothes but haven’t yet had the quilt made.

We get a lot of hand me downs for ds and for a while I was drowning in clothes for him, as an example when I got out all the age 5-6 clothes to go through there were over 40 T-shirts! I used to try to cram it all into his drawers but now I’ve cut it right down so that when he gets to that size he has 10 T-shirts to choose from. Girls’ clothes are harder now she’s older as she likes to have lots of different styles but when she was a toddler I literally had 7 jersey dresses which she wore on their own in summer or with leggings and a cardigan/jumper in winter. Also had a couple of pairs of shorts and T-shirts to bulk up the summer wardrobe, a couple of long sleeved T-shirts for extra layering in winter and a party dress. I aspire to that level of minimalism again!

Right now my house is feeling terribly cluttered and it’s because we have visitors, I’m packing to go away ourselves, and the weather is awful so I have laundry drying everywhere. I’d love to get to the point where all of those things didn’t feel like more stuff on top of the existing stuff if that makes sense? So room in the cupboards for visitors to put their shoes and coats, a dedicated area for laundry to dry when it’s wet without just being in the way (maybe impossible without a utility room) and enough space /visual space in my bedroom that I could have a half packed suitcase in there without it being overwhelm.

OK, first win = a pile of gardening magazines to MIL. She looked a bit uncertain and seemed to think that I would want them back afterwards (no!), but I actively encouraged her to recycle them after reading.

Thank you for this! It’s so helpful 😊

So far I’ve managed to shift a black bin bag of junk from our master bedroom. Much more where that came from! 💪

More progress.

I have listed a bulky children's item on Facebook. Swerved Marketplace for now as I don't really want randoms from miles away, but there are some good local selling groups.

Listed 9 items on Ebay.

Well done everyone.
I’ve slowed considerably - mainly because what’s left is hideous! I have to attack the Drawer of Doom - no idea what’s in it - full of shite!
Then a drawer for “electrics”. E.g chargers, batteries, bulbs, wires that do Lord knows what.
Then the drawer of Grown-Up stuff - finance/certificates/guarantees - probably some in there from 2001. It all needs filing into a concertina but I can’t face it.

I’m good with the big ticket items but drawers defeat me 🥲

Today I tackled another suitcase and have another black bag of unwanted items for recycling. As most stuff is pretty shabby and cheap, does anyone know if the Salvation Army will take it for rags? I can't imagine anyone would buy my Primarni rubbish.

I've also sorted one drawer to contain all pj's, leggings and some gym gear, and released 3 baggy cotton t-shirts for use as cleaning cloths. I do like the idea of the 'container' method that has been mentioned up thread. I have one drawer allocated, so no more buying for the sake of it.

Feeling pleased with progress today, and hopeful that doing a little every day will become an easy habit, as I have masses to organise.

@MallardsMoorhensAndLethe

Thank you so much for the advice and encouragement, it’s much appreciated. I will do that with the clothes, I will have to. I try and ask myself, ‘does it spark joy?’ with every item, thanks to Marie Kondo, but I usually waiver and just keep things even if they don’t.

I can speak with my parents about that suggestion too. I think it sounds marvellous.

It sounds like you are progressing well in your home, that’s really great!

@SootspriteSearcher

Thank you so much for all the brilliant advice, it really is much appreciated, and it all sounds very sensible and logical.

I really like that you have provided a suggestion as to how many of each item might be suitable, as this is something I have absolutely zero concept of. I know however now that the amount of things we have is simply not normal, and keep on telling myself that. What you said has made me think about how many we have in comparison, and I wouldn’t have been able to put a figure on anything. I have looked at some of the girls’ items as a result, and we have way, way more than the figures you suggested!

We had an awful, gigantic, disorganised mound of toys and books and ‘artworks’ in our sitting room. Yesterday morning I sorted through it all and threw out a bag for life half full of rubbish. I just organised it all and put it all back rather than try and work out what to give to charity as I needed to go out and didn’t have the time, but wanted to feel like I’d accomplished something before I ventured out.

Yesterday and today I managed to keep on top of the washing up, and ensure that my girls tidy up any mess they made.

Today I’ve decluttered the tops of the kitchen cabinets - everything from them went in the bin, nothing was usable. I wiped all of the dusty bottles of spirits that have been taking up a huge area of our kitchen work surfaces, and filled a storage box with about one third of these, and will put in the gap next to my sideboard which isn’t very visible thankfully. For now the rest will have to remain on the work surface, but this is a short term measure until I have somewhere to put them. It looks so much better now - actually have a good usable area of work surface now!

My Husband took all the items we had ready for charity, and has taken all the rubbish so far to the tip. I know obviously we are making improvements, but there’s still so, so much to do, and things get undone so easily - that’s what I find so scary and exhausting.

I just wanted to say that this is a great thread, with so many lovely supportive comments and advice. Thank you for starting it, and thank you to all who are on here for contributing so positively.

Well done if you got anything done today. I was busy out of the house so did no decluttering but I'm checking in to keep myself accountable and will do something tomorrow.

Yes I have a few cupboards to declutter. I’m going to make an attempt at getting those little bits finished. Thankfully it’s bin day tomorrow as I’m emptying so much of my house out. With Xmas around the corner I want to make sure I don’t have clutter

This morning, I rearranged toiletries and make up, and have found I already have a stock of soap, toothpaste and deodorant, so will run down my supplies before I buy any more.

I've also thrown away some out of date foundation and gloopy nail polish.

This has freed up some space in my top drawer to finally sort bras and vest tops. I'm going to wait and see how many I can dispose of once I get used to the idea of seeing what I have exactly and what I actually need / use.

Wardrobe reorganising starts next week.

Friday - sold one item on Ebay already - yay! Posted that so it is gone.
Sent two mail-order items back, which makes things seem less cluttered.

Today I went through makeup and hair things. Got rid of a mascara and some hair clips. Then reorganised.

A very productive day for me yesterday, but I find it really worrying and disappointing that the house is still a mess!

I did the following:

Sorted through and cleaned 2 large tower storage systems and a kitchen drawer full of medicines, first aid supplies and toiletries - 1 rubbish sack full of crap from these, and a bag for life almost full of out of date medicines and vitamins to be taken for disposal at the pharmacy.

Sorted out all the toys and rubbish from the space next to my sideboard, and replaced this with a box of spirits from the kitchen.

Cleared out 1 rubbish sack full of rubbish from the conservatory and another 1 ready for charity.

Did 3 loads of washing, got it dry and put it all away.

Swept up 2 garden sacks full of cut grass in the garden.

My Husband took all the rubbish to the tip.

Does anyone know of a really good book selling app that's like vinted?

I've seen a few and wondered which works best?

We can take some to barter books in Alnwick but don't go that way very often.

and I always come back with more from there

A lot of people do list books on Vinted. I've sold a few vintage ones on there but get better prices on ebay and specialist Facebook groups.

Also an option is We buy books and ziffit if they are fairly recent. You might only get 20p - £1 per book but it adds up and its really easy to do.

I've cleaned half the conservatory and building up to tackling the other half this afternoon.

I’m decluttering in between hospital treatment - teacher with no holiday booked and adult kids, so have plenty of time. Question: where to get rid of duvets and super old, yellowing bedding? God knows why we kept it.