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!

Hope you are doing ok @heartbroken22, and giving yourself a break from decluttering in the craziness that is the newborn phase!

@Realfastfoodie I'm selling because I don't have a huge amount of stuff, and I tend to do bundles (unless it's branded stuff- things like kids COS clothes sell well but h&m stuff I bundle up). I sell because I'm trying to be responsible, and our local charity shops and baby banks are overflowing. If you have lots of stuff I'd just do the best items, or do bundles according to boxes - whenever I find a suitable sized box I list a bundle :D nothing worse than selling something and then agonizing how to post it.

NCT sales can also be a great way of getting rid of baby stuff but they are generally only a couple of times a year. Each area organises things differently, in ours the NCT took a small percentage of your sales which was less if you volunteered at the sales. I sold my cot, pushchair, lots of clothes, bedding, baby toys and books that way. Think I did three or four altogether, I’d received a lot of breastfeeding support so was very happy to give them a chunk. Finally stopped when I got annoyed by one seller who either had fifteen kids one in each age group or was buying stuff to sell. Made it harder for genuine sellers who just wanted to free up space at home 🤬

@Realfastfoodie I'm also 1202 today!

Don't feel 2023 is achievable this year so setting myself monthly goals, aiming for 100ish per month and 1250 by the end of September.

We have far too many clothes hangers so i took a bundle of Tu ones down to Sainsburys. They were a bit confused.

However . . . I also bought a total bargain bundle of kids clothes on marketplace. Two stuffed binbags £15. Does my child need 6 coats in the next size up, 10 pairs of Pjs and about 65 outfits? More clutter to store for a year . . . Oh well.

Today I painfully parted with a favourite coat, which I've been wearing for 5yrs and is starting to look past it's best. I have plenty of others in pristine condition so out it went. I needed a cuppa afterwards, wish decluttering wasn't so emotional. Total is 1149

Oh @Jellycatrabbit I have exactly that problem! I find bargains so hard to resist, and putting things away for future years seems like absolutely the right thing to do. Sympathy.

Worth going through to lighten the storage a bit? Space for 3 coats not 6? Or set yourself a box for stashing and no more space? I’ve tried both of these with some (if not massive) success…

Well done @IndianSummer78, so hard. I get so attached to certain clothing and find it hard because the replacements are never as good!

Last few bits from tonight's decluttering.

1 shirt with a hole
1 stuffed toy with a hole
2 blouses I never wear
1 pair of too small jeans
1 catalogue
1 leaflet
2 empty cardboard boxes

Total is 1158

One magazine read and recycled. Total is 1159

@Realfastfoodie thank you ♥️ I do read everyone's posts here for inspiration. Hopefully I'll get back to decluttering when I can.

No rush @heartbroken22, you are doing exactly what you need to be doing.

3 pairs of heels that I can't face tottering around in anymore
I big bag of halloween stuff (freecycle)
Not much - but all progress is progress, right?

I got my fabric / charity shop bags, and electrical recycling out of the door, so that’s another 37 items!

It doesn’t feel like it’s making a huge difference in any one place, but maybe the house is just getting a little bit easier each time I sort an area…

117 total for sept so far
1241 total

Can I join please 🙂

After a number of years "in the trenches" with little ones, a disabled child, various life stress, we are finally into a new chapter, ready to clear all the baby and toddler stuff and move into the next phase, starting with decluttering the house!

I'm a SAHM with all children at school so potentially plenty of time but I'm taking it really slowly so I don't get overwhelmed!

Taking the mindset of even one bag of stuff out the house is an achievement!

Plans for this week...

Find out it local baby bank takes buggies and car seats and if so take them there. If not maybe try to sell them, or just tip them ☹️

Go though odd sock bag and pair any then chuck the rest. I've kept them for ages I think the DC have grown out of them 😲 if anyone k ows where to donate odd socks to I hate sending things to landfill

I have 3 books to send off to one of those book buying sites so I'd like to do that this week.

One box of paperwork I'm going to try to look through and either keep, recycle or shred.

I think they are achievable goals... hopefully!

Decaff you can use your odd socks as cleaning rags?

Don't of course everything helps. I found I gained momentum as I got going with it. I actively look around for things to let go of now

Hello everyone its been a while, summer holidays were super busy and I've been away looking after a relative. I have to say that while my house is still messy and cluttered (and dirty after the boys have been here on their own for a week) there is a lot LESS clutter, you can move around, its a noticeable improvement to when I joined this thread.

Back at it again and I've swept the bathrooms and living areas for rubbish and put out, used up a trial of washing liquid, and sold a dress on Vinted.

@LivingDeadGirlUK it is good to see that you have noticed a difference. It helps then to continue.

I currently have 7 parcels to get rid of after people purchased stuff from me on Ebay. I have also used up old packaging. Before that, I binned loads of make-up and nail polish.. never use it so no need to keep it anymore.

Well done @LivingDeadGirlUK - that feeling sounds great! I definitely feel like I’m fighting less to get things away… sane kind of thing.

Welcome @Decafflatteplease! I have found the most helpful motivating thing here is to count stuff only once it’s left the house. You may have to tip the baby car seats, but you’ll be able to give away the buggies at a minimum.

I'm a wuite phase until Wednesdays tribunal is done, then I'm straight into another October tribunal!

Just listing things on Vinted mostly. I'm looking forward to packing away the two youngest kids summer clothes at the end of September now. I have done so well to thin it all down. I think next summer I will be in such a good place with their clothes. Just got to tackle their winter clothes now.

I'm avoiding stashing ahead as that's how I got into such a mess with kids clothes. I had no idea what I had or where. The stash only has four draws left. But that will be emptied too. Then it's a fresh draft and buying as I go.

I still want to get down to say q4 tshirts, shorts, six leggings, did jumpers etc then try to apply that formula to my clothes next.

Shoes are looking good as they are being out grown I'm not replacing them either. Once a child has no trainers or no weelies I will buy them. Dd for example has 6 pairs of boots, 2 weelies, seven trainers etc that can't carry on.

Things are a mess again from summer and new term start but I do feel I have really turned a corner now. Just wish I had done this years ago

Sold a bag of kids toys (toot toot cars) on Facebook. So that’s a whole bin bag of stuff out and £25 in. Yay.

I’m doing a no buy re clothes for the rest of the year for me. Dd needs trousers/leggings.

Well done @ememem84 👍

@IncessantNameChanger - that sounds like you’ve made a big difference!

@IncessantNameChanger that sounds like an excellent plan. My DC is just 4, and during the summer they only had a pair of trainers and a pair of sandals, plus a pair of crocs for the garden. The sandals are just getting too small now, which is ideal, and for the autumn they'll have trainers and wellies. No need for more. If the winter gets cold, I'll get thicker boots too. But it's such a waste to have multiple shoes when the grow so fast.

Out this weekend
5 too-small kids underwear
a dressing up outfit
a ball that had gone flat
pack of expired covid tests
Jumper sold on vinted
another "useful" box I kept storing - definitely my weak point
a broken kids hanger
an almond paste we never ended up using

Total is 1579. I might tackle a small section of sentimental crap in my desk drawer today

Well done to everyone, especially good to hear people are noticing a difference.

DH actually said to me yesterday he’s noticing empty spaces more around the house which shows I must be making a difference.

just come off a run of nights so haven’t done much at home other than sleep. Have a couple of days off so hoping to sort through some black hole areas, bedding in the spare room for a start.

Just sold and dropped off a kids t-shirt for the grand sum of £1.50. Don't think I'd be doing this if th Yodel store wasn't literally on the school run route

1580 items out now

No decluttering managed today but I did get our my new diary (I work in academic years) and put all the term dates and upcoming appointments in so my head feels a bit less cluttered today!

I'm also trying to streamline my time by grouping errands together eg tomorrow I'm passing a charity shop on my way somewhere so have 2 (admittedly small) bags I need to put in the car ready for taking tomorrow, rather than making a completely separate trip another day.

I haven't thought about counting stuff, do you all count every single item? But I have been sending pics to DH of things that's we've got out the house, maybe I'll save them all to a folder to browse through!

We got about 4-5 car boot fulls out the house over the summer holidays so made a great start I just need to keep up the momentum 💪

@Pigtailsandall was this vinted? I worked out that it's a 15 min round trip for me to drop off parcels so I wait until I've got at least £2.50 worth of parcels as that's what 15 mins at minimum wage would be 😂 sometimes of course I have to post something for only a pound or whatever if it's getting close to the deadline but I try to wait until £2.50. Bit daft tbh 😂