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!

I’m just cleaning this week as I’m rewritten dd EHCP for her tribunal next week.

@LivingInaBuildingSite im a governor too.

I have measured dd feet and put four pairs of shoes aside to get rid of of hers, but I’m going to wait two weeks to see if she misses them. Overal even the shoe storage is looking good!

I have bleached the kitchen sink flylady style.

can not wait to get this appeal over with.

One broken figurine binned this morning. Total is 1145

@IncessantNameChanger good luck with the appeal! Ds2 has an EHCP and will be 16 in Jan. I’ve had warning paperwork though that he’ll be changing to PIP instead of DLA and have said I need to be his advocate, waiting to see if they agree that.
He’s only on lower rate now but I want him to stay on their books iykwim for adulthood.

I’m a governor at his old SEN school, it’s caught up in the Raac nightmare at the moment, have you dodged that?

A big out today that I wasn’t expecting yet,

• the Xbox 360, controllers, monitor, games, figures, etc etc. All collected by a neighbour who is going to drop it off tomorrow at a new house for homeless men trying to get off the streets. Not sure what they’ll think of hundreds of Skylanders but good luck to them!

Had put the word out with local charity link people but only recently.

Have set up the PlayStation downstairs for DD and Ds2 if they want (don’t think they will tbh). It’s sort of a halfway step to leaving the house I feel.

Wonder if DS1 will ever let me give away his warhammmer collection (built & unbuilt)….?

Nice one @LivingInaBuildingSite, great when you can get something reused for a good cause like that.

@IncessantNameChanger amazing to have got that redraft gone. Take care.

Have filed lots of paperwork, shredded tonnes (shredder needs a rest before I can do more), have a big pile I think I can shred, want DH to check first.

No shows on 3 people meant to be collecting stuff, wish they would just come when they say they will, hmph.

I haven’t been on for about a week but I wanted to thank the poster who mentioned Curry’s taking electricals and wires as I have a broken hoover, lots of wires and two old wifi routers that are in a pile waiting to go to the dump - I’m sure they’ve been in that pile since about June.

i have been tidying and organising with a small bit of decluttering. I realised I don’t use my cheese grater because it’s hard to clean so I bought a new flat one and donated the old one. I also realised I hate cleaning my two garlic presses so I bought a flat one and donated the old ones too.

Dd1 gave me a load of papers to get rid of from her room and I have also been doing everyday decluttering (ie maintenance stuff) like chucking out ill fitting pyjamas and school shoes and replacing with new ones. Dc only have about four pairs of pyjamas each now - but ‘Santa’ will bring a couple of onesies - even though they don’t believe in Santa. They pretend they do because I like the traditions.

I also filed my car papers and arranged its MOT and service. I’ve got a folder now with service records, insurance and rac details, tax, MOT certificates in one place. I was organised with my last car but since I bought this one a year ago I didn’t have the papers in one place.

I also gave away two chests of drawers, sold some playmobil toys

Anyone got any tips on what to do with old computers? I’ve got two in boxes. I haven’t wiped the hard drives and couldn’t do it now anyway as I couldn’t connect them up. What should I do with them?
also can someone explain how these book buying apps work?

We have an old laptop which we need to wipe too. No idea if it will even switch on!
Decluttered some weeds from the garden this afternoon. Trying to tidy outside before autumn hits.
More frustrating people wasting my time trying to sell this damm bike! I went around to the textile bank this afternoon with a bin bag full to find it rammed with loads dumped on the ground so brought my bag home again.
Would be nice to get rid of some bigger items!

@Vinorosso74 and @ThreeBearsPorridge - curry’s will definitely take those computers for you.

https://www.currys.co.uk/techtalk/kitchen-and-home/appliances-reviews/recycling-electronics-couldnt-be-easier.html#:~:text=Recycling%20with%20us&text=You%20can%20recycle%20any%20old,we'll%20sort%20the%20rest.

They say they will wipe them, so it depends if you trust curry’s and also what level of confidentiality you require with the contents. If it’s just general personal stuff, I might be tempted to let them have it.

My other half works in IT and he says that if you really need something wiping but can’t switch it on (or don’t know how to do a genuinely proper wipe) then put it in a low over for a few hours. Scrambles the hard drive apparently. Or you can smash it with a hammer depending on how much rage you need to get out of your system 😆😉

A few more wins for us, and also some things for the bin which just needed me to bite the bullet. I find throwing things away very hard!

3 huge boxes of cardboard to someone’s allotment
1 huge bag bubble wrap on olio
2x fallen apart books - bin
1 broken lampshade - bin
1 maternity seatbelt pad thing - bin
5 general kitchen crap (takeaway tubs etc) -bin

79 total for sept
1202 total

I have bagged up at least another 35 items for charity shop/electrical recycling etc. and booked a collection for a FB sale on Monday. I am determined to increase my numbers for September although I would say that there has been a lot of good bulk / long-term stuff that I needed to find a way to part with in this month, so it wasn’t just quick wins.

We had some computers that we needed to get rid of. Exh just removed the hard drives from his two and I took them to the rubbish dump. When I got rid of dd1s first laptop I took it to a local charity. She had only been doing school work on it so while we trusted the charity to wipe the hard drive there was only a bunch of essays - so no private info anyway.

@ThreeBearsPorridge i have ziffit, music magpie and webuybooks on my phone.

I scan a pile of books with all three apps and then try to sell them to the highest bidder. You do have to do a lot at once because they often have a minimum limit of £5 and I found that children’s books often were only worth 2p so I had to sell a lot. Generally I found ziffit offered more money for the books but webuybooks seemed better for selling university textbooks (that were 30 years old and out of date). I probably sold a couple of hundred books that way. I packed them in boxes, and their couriers picked them up. I also sold video games, CDs and DVDs through them.

Very impressive@stealthninjamum… when/if my parents decide to downsize I will take this advice for their massive library!

@stealthninjamum Thanks for info about the book apps:
Not sure I have a clue how to remove a hard drive though.

I sold a bundle of 2 toys and a kids outfit on Vinted. Also binned a very manky baby toy. I also had 3 more items I noted mentally while I cleaned but I've already forgotten what they were! They were all from the bathroom cabinet.

I have a bag of stuff for the charity shop and 2 furniture items to list for sale and I'm feeling so lazy.

Total is 1541. I'm never going to get to 2023 this year as I don't have enough time in the last quarter of the year

@Realfastfoodie it does say on the Curry’s site to wipe all personal info first.

I’ve got loads of old electrical wires etc though so that’s a great tip!

@ThreeBearsPorridge - not from what I’m reading? It says:

You can recycle any old tech with us for free, even if you didn’t buy it from us. Just bring it down to your local shop and we’ll sort the rest. We’ll make sure your personal tech like phones, laptops and the like are wiped of all your data too. So what’s private, stays private.

There’s a bit about donating to charity and that talks about wiping it first.

Out today is a blouse I don't like, a cardigan that's too big and an empty box. Total is 1148

Thanks!

Son had old PlayStation 4 and 3 I think. Any idea how to sell those?

I think music magpie might buy them - they keep emailing me offering to buy old phones. Or CEX.

I suspect you’d get most money if you sold them on eBay or Facebook marketplace but they’re so unreliable. I’m sure with the cost of living crisis people might buy them for Christmas presents.

I took a bag of 10 clothing items to the charity shop today - mainly Dh's things but also a bag and a few random babygros I'd missed in previous declutters. Also 3 books, a mug, a vase and 10 toys I bunged outside the house and they all went which surprised me!
Recycled a shoebox I'd used for storage which I no longer need.

Total is 1567.

Right, I’m starting a baby bank box. It’s a faff to get to and only open one day a week. Justifies batching it up rather than just trying to get it out the door.

I also need to decide if I’m going to keep a few bits to make memory blankets or bunting or something like that.

I also need to decide if it’s worth it to try and sell anything as I go….!