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!

Well done @LivingDeadGirlUK that's amazing. I dropped off 5 items today to textiles recycling- not a huge haul but quite bulky stuff like ripped jeans etc. I have some more stuff to list on freecycle and Vinted too.

Total is 1720.

It's satisfying to get rid of big/bulky items.
Had a reasonably successful week of outs. Another bag to charity shop today item sold on Vinted and bag of old bras sent off to charity for recycling. Have given the kitchen a thorough clean and tidy so a few bits have been binned/put in pile for dump/put away in correct place.
Discovered two old coats of DD's last night which I'm going to put on Vinted.

Finally got the rest of the clean laundry folded . There were some outs from it and have been picking up bits and pieces otherwise . DH will list some storage boxes we don’t want and a bunch of the excess mailing envelopes I ordered too many of years ago ( have already given some away but still have far too many ) on Olio . After taking the dog to the Vet he’s been to dump with a few broken storage boxes , a big broken bowl , rag bank bags , cardboard boxes etc . He’s tidied in the garage and is washing one of the cars atm . We’ve got the gardener again next week but DH will be tidying the garden too and there’s various other household jobs and admin to do for both of us this weekend .
Hoping he’ll have to time to progress with selling his camera and some lenses .

Out now:
-2 pairs of DS old trousers
-1 sweatshirt with a hole
-1 pyjama top with a hole
-1 broken crop top
-9 pairs of old pants
-11 pairs of old socks inc trampoline ones
-1 DH finished book
-1 used up bath bomb
-1 used up engineering box
-1 little fabric bag
-a couple of big broken storage boxes
-some unwanted small storage boxes
-lots of big mailing envelopes both on Olio

Have been at work again for a few shifts so nothing done at home - and it shows 🙄

DH has a pair of jeans, washed and dried but with a hole in an embarrassing place - can’t pass them off as cool ripped jeans lol - but so far they haven’t made it to the recycling bag - why not I wonder?? He keep saying they are good for gardening jeans but I say he’ll put them on for that then go out shopping for something and forget 😮😂

Have a few days off coming up so need to get back on track, will come up with a list tomorrow or Monday.

I have realised something good, I’m getting good at maintenance decluttering (including just throwing stuff away). So I still have too much stuff in the house, but at least getting rid of things as they go helps it not to get worse!

Thanks @Realfastfoodie and @Jellycatrabbit it's just one of those rough days feel a bit better now.

I did good today.

Got rid of 9 sleepsuits in 0-3 months since baby is nearly 4 months. Still must have one lying about somewhere.
3 vests in 0-3 months.
One fluffy blanket that became very thin with continuous washing and drying.
One thermal bag. I think that's what it's called. The zip handle thing broke and it was a pain to try and zip/unzip it. The bag inside was ripped too.

I'm out of the I need to keep this forever and not waste money. I need clarity and comfort in my home. So hopefully will get rid of more stuff soon.

Hi, not been up to much. Doing two appeals has actually ruined my mental health. Plus I have THREE weeks of half term ( two boys with two weeks of half term, one starting Monday, the other next Monday).

Also I put ds11 in for a ADHD diagnosis two years ago and I was told its not in the system this week.

Anyway, declutter came again, had a vent to him then he left so I'm going to right that off as not going to help me declutter. He is coming in two weeks and said he will get rid of things if i sort them so im going to concentrateon that with him.

It's back to the reality that only I can help myself. Had a hoarding zoom meeting which also reinforced this is within my power to fix. They do a hoarding course so I have asked to sign up for next year.

Tidied dds room again as gave her lots if ds hand me downs which are piled up on top of wardrobe. I don't think she will wear most of it bit that's for when she has outgrown it. It's always handy to have spare joggers etc.

Sold and listed more things on Vinted.

I'm going to work on packing away summer things and selling what's to small for dd in April. Then do the same next winter for her winter clothes. That's working well with her Halloween snd Christmas outfits.

I have only bought one dress this month. Its from Primark and just lovely. Black but with a glitter thread in it. I was happy as I could walk into Primark, look around, try on clothes and just buy one dress that works for the school run, or dinner out.

I'm beginning to belive I'm no longer a hoarder which is major for me. I always said hoarding was like being an alcholic in that your never cured. But I don't feel the shopping urges any more. I don't want to hang onto everything anymore. That's just gone.

Total out 11
Total in 20

I think you’re doing really well Incessant especially with all the other stressful things you have to deal with.

Out in the past couple of days: a vest top with a couple of holes is now in the textile recycling bag, and one of DD’s tops is in the charity bag but was replaced by the same top in the next size up. I also went through my pile of paperwork on the dining room table and reduced it to about half - some stuff was filed but the rest was recycled. This seemed to prompt DH into sorting out his pile of stuff on the table, which was nice!

This afternoon I’m planning to sort through the storage bags of old pillows/ duvets and see what’s in there as a starting point.

@IndianSummer78 It's weird isn't it - why would anyone need to hoard fancy carrier bags? But I know lots of people who do.

The only things out this week have been 3 weaning books and some spare baby chair strap covers.

Total 1021.

I'm getting a large pile of books, games and DVDs together to send off to sell. They should be gone this week hopefully.

@Realfastfoodie Well done with the maintenance decluttering. I'm aiming for this but my DP is awful for just putting things aside as they come in and not dealing with them.

I did indeed book two nights out at the theatre. One to see Brian Cix ( love him in every possible way. He is my ideal man) and to see a rock orchestra. Dh has promised to take me to see Death in Venice too

I have put the last of the too small Halloween and Christmas kids clothes on Vinted now. I will take down my listings after Halloween I think or maybe Christmas. I don't want to doing Vinted all year. I find I have to upload a few things every day or so to get sales. I take photos at the weekend and upload a few each morning. I have made well over £300 since July but possibly spent £300 on petrol too! Still it's nice to feel it wasn't all wasted money. Dd is so close to having just enough clothes. I'm looking forward to doing a shopping trip with her this time next year. Its surprising how little a 9 year old really needs

@IncessantNameChanger do you mean £300 in petrol to post the parcels 🤔 if so do you know you can turn off certain post options and only offer ones that are close to you? That's what I do. I also like you, try to upload a few things a day or every 2 days. I have a vinted bag under DC bed where things go once they are uploaded. I leave things up for a term so 12 weeks or so then take to charity shop

I had another go at paperwork today

37 not needed documents
8 pointless booklets
3 damaged plastic sleeves
1 obsolete CD
1 decades old photo ID card
3 lots of ancient ID photos

Total is 1427

@Decafflatteplease yes I only do Yodal, Evri or inpost which are all close. But often the Evri printer breaks at Tesco or the Yodal guy refuses to process anything after 7.
I have just taken all of the summery bits off vinted and going to reupload so bits today. I normally have 40 items up and that's a really big ikea blue bag. It lives in my boot! Annoyingly my Vinted keeps reverting to French but a lot of things have been up for two months now so once the Halloween stuff sells I will get rid and start again with summer bits around April. It's a good way to be mindful of what I buy as lots are new things with tags for dd. Lots of party dresses but she doesn't get invited to parties and she would never wear a dress. She has ASD and life I'd hoped for her is far from her reality unfortunately

That sounds hard @IncessantNameChanger, feeling like things haven’t been used because something has been taken away is hard. My son has some health issues and we didn’t really celebrate his first birthday, and i found the “one” stuff quite hard to get rid of, it’s maybe a bit the same?

My decluttering has stepped up slightly, have dropped a bag at the charity shop, done a pile of paperwork, thrown a few broken decoration bits away. I always count the big bag of soft plastic recycling being dropped off as 1 thing because it gives me the extra motivation to get it out of our house.

October
12 paperwork, junk mail, redirect and filing
15 baby meds syringes
3 clear out of old kids stuff
3 broken decorations
13 charity shop
1 big bag of soft plastic recycling

44 total for oct
1288 total

Woohoo @IndianSummer78 - that’s a stonking pile of paperwork and you are well ahead of me on numbers!

I’m going to have a good think about my wardrobe too, I’m sure I can slim it down a bit more.

Just accidentally posted this on the Hoarders thread in my tired state of mind …

Forgot to say me and DD are planning to raid the dog’s new toys box for excess in the attic and to post them to a dog charity we support as a Christmas parcel. They were very happy about that last time and it’s lovely to think about other dogs enjoying playing with what ours might not care about so I’m earmarking 5 toys for this and getting them down later to sort out . The storage boxes were picked up right away on Olio . I must check with DH what’s going on with the mailing envelopes I asked him to post on Olio too .
DS should be coming home next weekend from Uni and once I’ve washed the contents of his laundry bin before that we can hopefully look through the clothes he left home for ones he doesn’t want to keep . I want to go through his T-shirts and sweatshirts and jackets . Just threw out some trousers and a sweatshirt with a hole . There might not be much since we looked at them recently but just want to go through with a fine toothed comb when he returns so we’re not storing stuff he doesn’t want pointlessly . Elsewhere DH accidentally ordered the same piano music book for DD as I had already so the duplicate is going and I found chipped drinking glass .
Have been feeling very depressed so I’m trying hard to fight it with forcing myself into action and to making plans after not doing much all weekend . I have lots of admin and some cleaning I should do . Mercifully no appointments this week before the halfterm will be busy with another yearly house maintenance app and one for me , our trip away and I’ve just booked a couple days away by myself too , Halloween , DH Birthday , several plans with friends and stuff planned for DD .
I must try to find more to declutter ,I feel just very tired and like not doing anything this week.
DH did do a bunch in the garden ( we got some carrots !) and various jobs around the house this weekend including his mail pile so that’s a bunch of paper decluttered too !
Going out :
-5 dog toys donated soon
-1 chipped drinking glass
-1 mini hand cream used up from my stash
-1 duplicate piano book to charity
-a pile of papers from DH desk

Wow @Nordicmom I love how industrious your DH is. I wish mine did as much (although he does do a lot). @Realfastfoodie good progress! I did no decluttering in the baby years but I did do a huge bit just before I gave birth

It's suddenly so cold that I'm thinking I might take my summer stuff off from Vinted and put them in the loft and try again in the spring. I had a quiet few weeks but sold a book and a swimsuit yesterday and posted them immediately which was nice. I also spent ages deleting and filing emails, deleting my YouTube list and electronically filing and deleting photos. Will count each of those categories as one as my files are tidy with no duplicates etc which makes me very happy.

Also out this weekend:

Baby comb and baby brush
luggage tag
a huge set of stickers to school
coffee loyalty card
a soap bottle and a window cleaner - I had several so I amalgamated what I could so cleaning stuff feels less cluttered
jar of sudocreme - we are truly out of that phase
broken section of an outdoor fence
2 magic colouring pens
bubble wand (again!!!!)

Total is 1737

I have some paperwork to shift through tonight if I have the energy

After a mostly lazy day I attacked the shelves with board games on (plus other random crap). Cleaned and dusted and tidied up as well as finding a pile of stuff to go.

OUT/ON WAY OUT:
pile of random kids stickers (due to be collected tomorrow)
pile of basic maths teaching stuff (tbc tomorrow)
box of ex-necklace beads (tbc this weekend)
selection of WW2 posters I’ve kept for ages, have decide to keep just one (listed on Fb)
couple of wood carved animals (we have loads of better ones - listed on Fb)
6 x board games (want to check parts before listing on free fb page)
3 x travel games (listed in Fb)
2 x packs of cards with some missing
Keyholder thing you hand in the wall
old Mr Potato head set (listed on Fb)

plus in the bin/recycling:
ancient stretch band that was disintegrating
random paperwork
old candle thing DD made years ago
plus some other stuff I’ve forgotten but a good day for clearing out crap!

The shelves look much better and despite keeping loads of board games there’s always something that can go.

Just one cardboard box out today. Total is 1473

afternoon,

over the last week i have sold a few things on facebook - some brio and two balance bikes (total of £80 in).

have cleared out the wardrobes and dh did the kitchen. three bags in the garage to go to charity shop.

am trying to wear things in the wardrobe which i haven't maybe worn for a while - seeing if i like them/if they fit and then if not....get rid.

also took everything out of the huge sideboard at the weekend. put half back. mostly the kids artwork.

Well done @ememem84 - this is fabulous. I always feel good if I can sell on a few bigger bits!

And great stuff @LivingInaBuildingSite

I’ve just had a few clever drawer things fitted into some of our kitchen cupboards which helps with getting them organised (highly recommend this!) and have taken the opportunity to clear them out a bit:
3 old cake tins
24 Medicines / syringes /scoops
7 out of date cupboard stuff
12 cosmetics and toiletries to olio
4 glass storage jars to a neighbour

Feeling very victorious!

@Realfastfoodie the drawer things sound v useful.

OUT/ON WAY OUT:
pile of random kids stickers GONE
pile of basic maths teaching stuff GONE
box of ex-necklace beads (tbc this weekend)
selection of WW2 posters I’ve kept for ages, have decided to keep just one (being collected soon)
couple of wood carved animals (collection tomorrow)
6 x board games (want to check parts before listing on free fb page)
3 x travel games (listed in Fb) (2 being collected tomorrow)
2 x packs of cards with some missing
Keyholder thing you hang on the wall (awaiting collection)
old Mr Potato head set (listed on Fb)
Jigsaw roll thing (collection today)

Also, I have gone through my to do pile and recycled loads of paper, filed some stuff, made tidier piles of the rest.

Need to go through those board games now…

OUT/ON WAY OUT:
box of ex-necklace beads (tbc this weekend)
selection of WW2 posters I’ve kept for ages, have decided to keep just one (being collected soon)
couple of wood carved animals (collection tomorrow)
6 x board games (3 GONE, 3 tbc)
3 x travel games (listed in Fb) (2 being collected tomorrow)
2 x packs of cards with some missing
Keyholder thing you hang on the wall (awaiting collection)
old Mr Potato head set (listed on Fb)
Jigsaw roll thing GONE

Also out:
duplicates & draft prints of my parents wedding photographs as I have the proper album

Also nearly out:
added my grandparents photo album of my parents wedding to my sisters pile (seeing her in half term)

Back to Mums taxi service & governors meeting this eve so probably nothing more today. Bit more time off tomorrow then need to get ready for halfterm trip to Ireland.

Wow @LivingInaBuildingSite, this all sounds like really meaningful progress!

I sold a soda stream today… so that £20 for the kids’ funds!