Decluttering Thread 5 - Slowly Does It

[Pigtailsandall]

We filled the previous thread quickly! I'm still in the middle of my annual leave and working through my old sentimental items so I need to keep the momentum going! It's taking ages.

@incessantnamechanger
@EllieQ
@nordicmum
@IndianSummer78
@Realfastfoodie
@nordicmom
@CornedBeef451
@thingshavegottogo

@stealthninjamum
@pissedoffneighbour22

Sorry for anyone I missed! Hope you find us!

@thirdistheonewiththehairychest my loose aim is all clothes neatly within wardrobes and draws right now. So generally everything fitting in its home without overflowing.

Probably want 500 things each month until the end of 2023. But I'm working with a declutterer so need to really go for it while he is available. I'm a hoarder though. I'm probably not what think a hoarders house would look like, it's certainly not TV worthy and I have sought out the "diagnosis" and help with zero prompting. My son has a disability socail worker because of his complex needs and she's never raised my clutter for example. Still it's a suffocating problem.

Try to set targets in chunks. So target could be 2 things a day for a month or your chest of draws shutting. I don't personally think it's motivating to look further than a few months ahead. Little bits daily really add up fast. Your overall target could be say one toy box but chunk out how you get there because it can take a few goes to early see improvements.

@Nordicmom and @stealthninjamum you both must be at maintenance stage or close now?

I'm currently waiting for my kids club to finish with my primark bag of tat goodies at McDonald's. Its a long road ahead for me

@thirdistheonewiththehairychest I originally had a target of getting one carrier bag out of the house a day and it helped me get rid of a thousand carrier bags of stuff - but my ex was a hoarder so this includes old computers, settees, a broken washing machine, a bed and lots and lots of toys.

This year I tried to do 2023 but just wasn’t organised to log it all. I think my focus is more about diy and organisation than decluttering at the moment.

@IncessantNameChanger it’s hard to say how close I am to maintenance. I’m sure I have decluttered over 50% of our belongings but we have so many fitted cupboards in this house you never see the clutter. I still have 7 bad areas that I need to finish - toys, digital (cables / wires and actual computer files), photos, arts and crafts, sentimental papers and school work. Everything else is done.

This morning I organised my main larder cupboard with some plastic containers and actually I love my kitchen. I now have a tray for oils, one for vinegars and one for cooking sauces. Before it was a mass of stuff including three soya sauces, three olive oils etc. now I can easily see what I have I’ll stop buying too much.

im not sure if anyone is interested but these are the plastic trays I use in my bathroom and now kitchen for oils, sauces and vinegars. They act as a container so I won’t buy more

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07RWK355K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Last year I was on maternity leave and decluttered 2,023 items (actually 2,100 in the end I think) but had loads of easy wins - all the baby stuff!

This year I was aiming for 1,200 (one a month) but am at 1,145 already so maybe 1,460 is my goal (equal to 4 things a day) and 1,825 (5 a day) a stretch goal.

Had a long put off trip to the tip today with a binbag of rags, a vomity pillow (!), a lot of hard plastic (mostly baby bottles) and some odd knitting needles.

Also sold 2 things on vinted for 75p each but hey it's all outs!

Third

The initial target is for my home to not look like a shit tip. For everything to have a place and for it to reside there when not in use. Due to the sheer amount of stuff I own (it is mostly mine) this is going to be impossible without some serious decluttering

At the moment the criteria is:

1. Do I like it or need it?
2. Does it fit (clothes)?
3. Is it in good condition?

If the answer to any of those is no, out it goes

I'm also doing:
4) Is this something I'm likely to need in the foreseeable future?
Which is trickier, because we can be talking hopes and dreams here. So it's necessary to establish whether something is a dream I'm working towards or likely to start working towards, or whether it's pure fantasy that'll likely never happen
5) Just in case of what? Gets asked quite often too and if there's no reasonable answer, out it goes

This morning's decluttering yielded 3 tops that don't fit and 2 DVD's we're never going to watch again. Total is 1173

Today I've thrown out a play tent and a massive badge my mum bought my DD. Total 794.

Also threw out a pile of birthday/Xmas cards, a large pile of paper to the recycling bin and gathered a pile of paperwork to shred.

Today I didn’t have many outs, but I have thrown away one starry plate. And because my island is clear, a lot of bits of junk (mail, packaging, general rubbish) have gone straight into the bin when otherwise they might have started accumulating.

This brings my total to
282 total for august (2nd highest month since I started)
1124 total

I do also have the beginnings of another pile stashed to get rid of too. Need to work out how to dispose of good condition bedding in a way that doesn’t make me cry.

@Realfastfoodie Well done clearing the island. Every time I manage this, my DP fills it again within 3 days 😑.
Even the fruit bowl is heaving with paperwork and receipts. It drives me mad.

I have that problem too @PissedOffNeighbour22!!

Totally hear you regarding the school holiday bickering, I’m totally over fights about sharing the gaming computer 🙄 luckily my annual leave has already finished so some escape back to work.

@thirdistheonewiththehairychest I’m aiming for knowing what we own and where it is! This house has quite good amounts of storage so surfaces (other than the kitchen island) aren’t too bad. But I often come across bits I thought had gone ages ago. Realistically our next move will be the retirement downsize and so I figure better to get rid now.
My problem areas 1: books/DVDs including those related to studying for work exams, I repeatedly open and close the door on that Billy bookcase. 2: in built storage cupboard in my bedroom has tons of I’m not quite sure what in it. Again open and close that without knowing where to start. 3: Lots of old photos from my mother’s house, I’ve had one pick through and got rid of obviously damaged or unknown holiday locations. The ones with people are just too emotional I keep abandoning attempts. It’s made worse as none are labelled. I’m sure it could be reduced to a few albums worth but it always seems too much and too upsetting so it get puts off again.

Actually as I sit here in the living room the surfaces are rather full but at least now I can see that it’s newspapers and a few other bits and bobs that would be easy to sort and put away. Not like it was when I started with layers of unknowns that would have delighted an archaeologist 🤣

I have possibly got an out. We have old disco lights and I advertised them on freecycle and have had a few people ask for them.

Yesterday I had as many ins as outs. I need to stay away from the shops this month. No reason what so ever to buy anything else now

31st
Out 9 vinted
In primark 2 skirts
In monsoon dress and cardi charity shop £11
In Vinted 5 dresses

Total out 355
Total in 42

I have 2 days off work to cover the childcare so am trying to clear the living room. Yesterday was a bust as it was roasting hot but I couldn't open the windows as our wanky neighbours were burning crap all day and it stunk too much.
Just couldn't cope with the warmth so I gave up.

Today they're revving engines over and over and the sound is pissing me off. I'll see how long I can take it for (probably until the inevitable pounding dance music starts). I have a bin bag with me and a bag to collect toys that are supposed to be upstairs. Haven't managed much for either bag so far as my 18mth old is trying to eat everything I find 😣.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 your username suddenly makes so much sense! What d*heads.

@Realfastfoodie I've started the last 2 threads but the concept wasn't my idea! I'm just egging people on. I've done NO decluttering the last week!

@Pigtailsandall They're next door-but-one but create so much bloody noise and disruption. Next door attached to us aren't much better.

In 2wks we have the carpet fitter booked for my DS bedroom so we need to get a move on decorating and I don't want any junk going back in. No idea what I'm going to do with the wardrobe full of toys as he'll need it for storing actual clothes!

I've managed to get rid of:

28 baby items to the fabric recycling,
Drawing mat
Camera case
1 book
Broken travel game

Total 826

Also got 1/4 bin bag of things for the bin and a small box full of toys into DD bedroom where they're supposed to live.

I’m always in awe of people who are pregnant and have toddlers who can declutter! When you get to my stage with kids in big school you will really feel the benefits.

I have just thrown out a dried up pritt stick. About 5 years ago I went around the house bringing all the stationery together and I had about 20 pritt sticks so I guess this is one of them. I’ve nearly run out now thankfully.

I also had the disco lights picked up.

I advertised two chests of drawers as well from dd2s room.

I have decluttered by using up ingredients to make custard cream blondies. Yum.

I had someone from Olio collect a load of sewing magazines too.

recipe please! I've never really mastered blondies.
I cleared out some lids and mouldy water bottles from a still too small cupboard barely fits my everyday cooking/baking pots/pans lost motivation after that so let's bake instead 🤷🏽‍♀️

@tallsmallmum I apologise for only replying now. The recipe I use is here - https://www.janespatisserie.com/2021/09/04/custard-cream-blondies/

I do know what you mean about cupboards. Our ninja air fryer lives on the counter top as there is no cupboard space 🙈

Bit the bullet and donated 36 plastic hangars today. It's been 10yrs since the wardrobe went and there's no room for a replacement now. I've managed with everything in drawers so far, I can carry on with that. Also recycled the cardboard box they were in. One unflattering t-shirt to the charity bag. Total is 1211.

Now I have a space under the bed I need to hoover, the dust is unreal. Then the thing that's poking out from under the bed can be turned round the other way so it doesn't poke out any more. The summer clothes that I packed away into a flat box can go on top of this thing instead of sitting on the floor. Floor space is more important to me than a box of hangars for a wardrobe I haven't got.

@IndianSummer78 sounds like you are starting to see a real difference!! One of the big things that spurred me to declutter was that ot would be easier to clean (it is).

Back from all the various holiday trips and back to normality. I've had lots of new stuff coming in, so I need a clearance. I did go through DCs clothes. Few uniform things went out already but I'll see if I can make the rest into a bundle

Out this morning
4 school jumpers, too small
Calendar from 2021
2 books sold on vinted
1 swimsuit sold on vinted
Dry pen
Big pile of receipts
Big pile of various paper

Total is 1454 but hopefully more today

DP came back from his parents yesterday with three huge bags of holiday clothes that MIL has bought for the children. It’s lovely of her to do it but I’m going to have to be ruthless about getting rid of what they’ve already got otherwise we’ll be swamped.

I went through the top two drawers of my chest of clothes, binned a bunch of old tights, socks and T-shirts and folded everything properly; it now looks lovely and is incentivising me to do the other drawers. Two bags of stuff for the textile recycling bin as well.

I feel like i am in more of a decluttering mindset. Went to a wedding this weekend and instead of bringing back the invitation and order of service, I thought “we don’t need these” and left them. I would never have done that before!