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!

Sold a couple of things on marketplace/vinted so a couple of outs today on that too. And found some more electrical diy junk for the bin.

currently
359 total for July
797 total

Found you all. Little to report here just few hold socks etc. off on holiday later this week so will be missing in action for a while.

Another 4 things for the fabric/clothes recycling and another 3 things for the electrical recycling. Plus finding various things for the bin which I won’t count as they are general waste.

I've had a good morning! Out today:

1 large cardboard box gifted
last years school uniform donated
A carrier bag of kids shoes and a bin bag of blankets donated to homeless charity
2 pairs of mens flipflops donated.

Hopefully more to go later as well, I've been listing lots on our local free site.

Well done @LivingDeadGirlUK!

My other half dropped 45 things for charity/clothes recycling (mainly handmedowns needing a sort, but it’s all out of the house!). And the DIY and/or handyman jobs are getting done so each of those reduce the clutter.

House in chaos with builders decorators and handymen!

Only one thing today. A jacket. I've dithered over this one so much. It's practical, comfortable, washes well and in a useful colour, but it just isn't "me" and I have plenty of other coats and jackets so today I let it go. Total is 981

DS managed to successfully drop off the bulging big storage box fulls to my new find ; a children’s hospice charity warehouse drop off point where they happily took it all as I saw mentioned so this will be where we’ll take it all every few months and won’t bother carrying smaller amounts to high street shops only to be turned around when they are full or closed ( I always do call to check but it does still happen ) . Im so glad it’s all out of here finally and I’ll now start filling up the boxes again . There’s the clothing and shoe bank and sometimes a book collection at the dump and we occasionally put things on Olio plus DH sometimes sells bigger items too but they’re more of a faff . He’s now concluded he might well just sell his own old boat as it is and not start having it fixed first . He might use the website he sold DS little boat on recently.Unfortunately his friend didn’t want a piece of water sports equipment we don’t need so that’s another thing he’ll need to list ,possibly on eBay . Hopefully can do that soon just needs pictures etc . DS continues to clear his room but has been helping me today with other stuff so not gotten too much done . He did unearth some water bottles I’d wondered about , I’ll have to see if they’re still usable or going to recycling .
i’m feeling under the weather with a cold struggling to get anything done just some endless admin today and more laundry from the trip . A few more bits going :

-1 empty iPhone box
-1 empty AirPod box
-1 big Lego car box all from DS room
-1 board game of DS we’ll play once and then it’ll go
-1 more pair of DD trashed trainers being worn at camp this week then they’re going
-1 old dog paw balm seldom used we’ve had since he was a puppy I realised now he’s 1 y 9 M so I tossed it
-throat pastilles in a flavour i dislike
-2 DD small summer dresses

More another day !

Had a day off work and we tackled the hallway. Still a lot more to do but if I can finish work early tomorrow I might be able to get it done.

For anyone thinking their houses are a mess - have you ever found a pram you didn't know you owned 🫣😓. Will stick one on freecycle when I get chance.

Finally managed to get DP to take some stuff to the tip. Mainly large boxes and things I won't count gone but also ditched:
pair of shoes
pair of slippers
Kids slippers
Headset
3 of DP's workshirts
A coat
Electric blanket
2 pairs of leggings
A wooden blind
Toy pram
Cutlery set

Total 649

Purging continues today when I have the afternoon off. Just saw an old pair of flip flops in the memory bin, lol. I posted a shirt I sold on vinted. It was on there for 4 months so I guess almost everything sells eventually!
1347 items down.

Have a hippo bag in for some of the building works… managed to find an old broom and some wire in the shed that could be added to it.

So that’s started august with another 2!

Well done @Pigtailsandall, I’m persevering with the occasional vinted and market place thing… should probably do more but it’s often easier to chuck them in the charity bag.

That’s amazing @PissedOffNeighbour22 - loads of progress for just one day! Sounds like you had a huge day! Well done @Nordicmom and @IndianSummer78 👏👏

@PissedOffNeighbour22 alas yes . . . I was recently heading to pick up a lightweight pushchair off freecycle, thought I'd clear a space in the shed to store it, found an identical pushchair in there already.

Baby bank here has appealed for donations of blankets, muslins and sleeping bags. I have all of these in a "what shall I do with these " heap which will now go out on Fri.

Sold 2 more things on Vinted, and 10 books through ziffit.

955 items year to date.

@Jellycatrabbit @PissedOffNeighbour22 - love these bonus pram stories.

I've gifted a vase last night and this morning I've been and posted two tops and a pair of trainers I've sold on Vinted.

I know I've more shoes to go through in the garage, mostly heels that I don't wear anymore and probably won't wear again as my feet became wide after pregnancy.

Really need to tackle my desk today, will report back tonight.

@Jellycatrabbit would you recommend ziffit? Haven't used them before but might be worth getting some stuff together to go.

Glad it's not just me that accidentally collects buggies!. We have 3 prams/buggies plus strollers. DP will only get rid of one 😑. He also decided to keep his pile of old work uniform instead of getting rid as we'd agreed. He has listed 2 things on eBay though and feels he's making progress 🙄.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 ziffit is okay, as is we buy books. Both tend to reduce the amount they pay once they get the books and they are not brand new! Packing and sending is easy (I usually go for evri or inpost as have v local drop off points but they will also collect from home). It gets them out quickly when our charity shop is not wanting donations.

I tend to go round the bookshelves scanning with both apps to see if I can find enough to go. The trouble is then I have emotionally decided the books I've scanned that they didn't want can go, and those hang around for a while off the shelves but not out of the house.

Our peak pushchair situation was 4 but down to 3 now, two of which we aren't really using . . . Our other problem is car seats, one is outgrown and another is waiting to be grown into, we have nowhere to store them and nobody to pass them on to.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 i recommend ziffit and webuy books and music magpie.

I don’t necessarily see them as a great way to make money - you often only get a few pence for a book - but it’s a good way to just get someone to pick them up and get them out of the house. I think I got rid of a couple of hundred last year. Some were 30 year old university textbooks and I was delighted to sell them because I didn’t think my local charity shop would want them and it felt wrong to recycle them. I’ve also used these apps to sell old video games and CDs and DVDs.

A toy has left the house so I have advertised a couple more this morning. Dd2 has also given me a t shirt and trousers to go in the charity shop pile.

Good luck with the shoes! I had exactly the same thing and felt a ridiculous level of attachment to keeping some of my nice pre-pregnancy, pre-Covid work and/or going out shoes.

Getting rid of them I actually felt quite liberated by the thought I didn’t need to put them on again.

Ok, binned a few things and recycled what I could. Out went:

4 CDs
6 books
2 old diaries
Thermal vest
Scarf
Pair of flip flops
2 pairs of shoes (high heels here too)
1 storage box

The books, along with other books I'd decluttered, went to a local little library today. They were almost all hard backs so I felt it really made a dent and I was able to get rid of the actual box too.

1365 now.

@stealthninjamum @Jellycatrabbit Thanks, I might give one of those a try when I finally get round to going through my books.
We don't have any charity shops where I live so this is a good way to make sure they actually leave the house.

@Jellycatrabbit we have the same issue with car seats too. My DS has just moved up to a spinning one but we still have the previous one as it's part of the travel system pram we're keeping. I can't wait until we can ditch all the prams and large baby items.

Also threw out 4 pairs of shoes today and added 1 item of clothing to the fabric recycling.
Total 654.

7 empty cardboard boxes into recycling. Total is 988

Decluttered 11 hair accessories this morning that are a bit too childish now and one empty cardboard box. Total is 1000

I've got rid of a load of old computer and console games. They were actually my ex's, my partner had brought the stuff into his hoard and they were on his shelves!

Another round this afternoon sees one makeup bag and three packaging boxes from nail polishes discovered amongst the mess, gone. Total is 1004

I sold a toy a couple of days ago and today someone’s collecting a toy that I advertised a couple of months ago and was going to take to a charity shop this week. I’m sort of pleased to be earning the money but I know it’ll make me procrastinate over taking the rest of it to charity shops!

I’ve been doing a digital declutter. I have thousands of photos and every so often delete a few (at 1 point it was about 50k photos). Anyway yesterday I was working through photos from 2016 /2017 which is just before I started this declutter and I was amazed in the difference between my house. It was so cluttered. The photos were mainly my bedroom and the kitchen and there were so many cookery books, handbags, piles of papers. I think it’s a mess now but I can see it’s a million times better than it was which is reassuring.