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've cleared all the accumulated paperwork and bits off the dining table today. I also took some boots to be repaired at the cobblers.

Need to do a pre christmas toy clear out but my son is very reluctant to give anything away annoyingly.

I had a sort out of my porch thi week and it's made a big visible difference.

I think I'm going to do a few carrier bags today to get back into it. Still doing OK with not buying things. I got dd some bits from a charity shop but not sure she will wear them. Justified it because not bought her clothes for ages and they was cheap. Got ds new shoes shoes but he has shredded many school shoes!

Randomly went through the new battery storage tub and put a load of ancient ones in the recycling- some have best before dates, some don’t but I could tell by the packaging that some have been there years - and not been needed.

have a couple of days off so hoping to get some Christmas shopping done, maybe list some stuff on Freecycle like DD’s old dance costumes.
haven’t really got a plan after that.

One stained babygrow goes out today. Total is 1591

I've slowed down because DH is away and I'm home alone with just turned 3yo and 6m old so hard to find any time to do anything let alone declutter!

Gone in the bin: old vest, 2 pairs of holey socks. Sold a jumper on Vinted.

Total: 19
Sales total: £4,020.

Wow @Toddler101 that's an amazing sales total. I've made about £150 on vinted and £100 on marketplace and donated a load more that would probably still be here otherwise!

Some rags to the rag bin.

1,547 out year to date.

Wow, everyone is doing really well! I feel like having a big push at getting stuff out before Christmas is motivating. I tackled and finally got rid of a few things that had been really nagging at me (though I listed furniture ages ago and I've not had anyone contact me which is annoying!!)

I binned our broken paddling pool which was upsetting but I couldn't figure out how to recycle it. It just seemed so wasteful to do so.

Also out:
A coffee maker through Freecycle
2 small storage boxes I never used
2 expired medications
set of old insurance docs shredded
facemask used up
2 beauty products used up which I won't replace - a facial oil and Vit E serum
a bag of ground almonds binned which I found lost in the back of the cupboard - 4 years out of date

I also have some Vinted sales to package up and post, hopefully today, and I also want to look through my huge box of baby clothes. My friend took a lot of stuff last weekend but we noticed that several items were a bit stained, so I'll have a look through again and take those to textile recycling. I might also see if there's items to list on Vinted, and then I'll probably have a small box left of just some sentimental items. Hoping to reduce the 80 litre bin to a 25 litre one!

Total for now is 1910.

@Pigtailsandall youre doing so well. I agree that getting stuff out before Christmas is really motivating. I don’t have a big family to come over but Christmas just mentally gives me an excuse to do a really big push.

And this week I have another big push, a couple I haven’t seen since before covid are going to be in the area and have asked to come over at the end of the week so I want to get the house guest ready. Guest ready used to mean just clearing the surfaces and putting crap in the Room of Doom or the closest available cupboard. It’s much quicker now and stuff like doing post involves taking the pile and filing or shredding stuff or dealing with it straight away and doesn’t take long at all. My main mission is to sell some toys in the sitting room, tidy papers that are in the dining table and take stuff from the playroom to charity shop. It won’t be perfect so I’m intending to put up the tree and some tinsel as well and get out the Christmas CDs (I still have a cd player!)

in terms of outs, yesterday I found an old pillow case and a top that dd2 had cut up trying to create a crop top. Even she admitted it was a failure so it’s an item of rags.

@Jellycatrabbit most of it was from selling my car 😂 thought I'd account for it to make me feel better!!!

Packaged and posted my Vinted sales - a bundle of 4 baby vests, a swim nappy, toddler pyjamas and a top of mine that's too short on my torso. Only made £11 but feeling accomplished.

Total is 1917

I have listed another five items on eBay (toys/kits) that should be a good Christmas gift for someone. Two bags of desiccated coconut that had been overlooked at the back of the cupboard into food waste. Several tins of soup/stews identified for the food bank as well. Two science kits to start of the next charity bag- they’ve not been used but the boxes have got squashed on the shelves, also another few books for charity shop too.

I spent 53 minutes getting the house guest ready. My post table is clear and it would’ve taken me about 5 minutes to file the papers but I ended up spending 20 minutes organising papers, putting stuff into smaller folders, and I decided to bin notes from a training course I went on and a choir I used to belong to. Those were quite hard to get rid of. I also broke up about 4 boxes which cleared a big space. Finally I put stuff from the play room into three carrier bags for the charity shop.

I got the Xmas tree out and dds got excited and decorated it and even put tinsel up.

Other outs I found along the way that are in my recycling bag, bag to take to Currys, or charity shop bag
2 pairs of sunglasses
2 more big binders
various old newspaper articles
a magazine
a digital radio
a broken iPhone charging lead

There’s more to be done to get the house guest ready but i have until Friday to do it.

A satisfactory day decluttering today.

Out the door today:

• half a bag of (soggy) jam sugar
• a pair of holey socks
• a bag of notes and CPD back to 2018
• 3 used notebooks
• 1 A4 diary

Total: 26

Listed online today:

• 3 university textbooks from 2004

Some holey socks into recycling.

I also recycled a small free notepad sent with junk mail. I would normally keep that just in case but I know I have loads of notepads to use up already.

Progress, if only baby steps.

Well done @LivingInaBuildingSite. Honestly it’s stuff like this which makes the difference, certainly for me. I’m not a hoarder, in that I don’t buy lots of things (except a little bit of a baby clothes nesting issue which has mainly stopped now the baby is here!), but I have a bad habit of keeping lots of little bits and pieces because they might be useful.

If you can stop things coming in (free pens for example) and get rid of things that are really just not needed, then you are winning in my view! 🥇

My decluttering has come to a total standstill due to unfortunately one of the kids in hospital (I guess if you know me IRL this is a giveaway along with the username and few other details….). Holding things together for the family is the priority. House comes a distinct last to that.

Hope things improve soon RealFastFoodie

One completed puzzle magazine into recycling. Total is 1592

@Realfastfoodie hope you child is ok and soon home again !
Today after the daily housework and sorting out the dirty laundry piles in utility I attacked the understairs cupboard and the coat cupboard and spent hours emptying both and cleaning them completely. Coat cupboard didn’t have much mess just needed a tidying and removed a few dog related items from his basket but the understairs cupboard resulted in a small mountain of shoes to be throw out etc even though I did it 6-9 m ago I think . DD has gone up about 3 shoe sizes this year so lots of hers were too small . Felt really good to get rid of all of those things but I was in agony with my hip and back especially.

Here’s what’s gone out lately :
-DD dented metal school water bottle
-2 cooking utensils
-3 pairs of old pants
-2 pairs of old socks
-1 DD small swimming costume
-4 old dog toys
-2 non squeaky balls for dogs
-1 unwanted dog treat
-1 too easy dog treat puzzle
-1 broken glass
-1 chipped bowl
-1 pair of DD small new school shoes
-1 pair of DD small new trainers
-1 pair DD small used school shoes
-1 pair of DD small running shoes
-1 pair DD small walking boots
-1 pair DD small climbing shoes
-2 pairs DD old trainers
-2 pairs of DD small welly boots
-4 pairs of old flip flops
-1 pair of DS old golf shoes
-2 pairs of DS old football boots
-1 pair of DS broken skateboarding shoes
-2 pairs of DS old trainers
-1 pair of my old slippers
-1 pair of my old sandals
-1 DD small tennis racket and a bag for it
-3 old tennis balls
-1 DS old football
-1 bent frisbee
-1 pair of old knee pads
-1 pair of DD old goalie gloves
-2 pairs of DD small shin pads
-3 packets of dried up wipes
-1 useless retractable dog leash
-1 too small dog harness
-some old food from the foodbank box we’ve forgotten to take in
-DD mouthguard
-DD hockey stick
-hockey stick bag , all earmarked to go after this term she has other sports next and the stick is too small and the mouth guard chewed up and the bag smelly
-1 DD small hoodie
-4 jackets and coats I might have mentioned are earmarked to go after this winter we tried them on again and she can wear them for now then they’re all out she’s got some bigger ones waiting
-1 DD bath bomb used up
I’ve also asked DH to check for lingering old cordless vac cleaner parts in the utility . DD used up 4 packets of little Christmas cards I’d gotten in a sale last year for school friends , she already wrote them yesterday but I said she can’t take them in until December, I’ll use other cards I also got last year and our big stash of wrapping paper and bags and boxes . I need to check for crackers .
I haven’t been actively decluttering lately so feels good I managed this now !

2 bags of children's shoes out
had a good neutral found a pair of leggings I have no recollection of ordering but I would order so I wore them for Pilates

Out in the last week:

Coffee table and baby bath seat given away on freecycle

To the tip: lamp, rug, baby car seat, old cctv system, 5 blinds that got damaged in the house move, pair of shoes, small piece of furniture

To charity: 18 books, 6 of DP's t-shirts and a leather jacket

Sold: 4 eBay sales and DP sold a new carpet on Facebook marketplace

Total 1234

Also out are boxes, out of date baby food, old toiletries and carpet offcuts which I'm deeming rubbish so not counting.

We're attempting to clear out the dining room ready for Christmas but it's been a dumping ground since we moved here almost 3yrs ago and will take some serious effort. I've discovered that my brand new expensive wax jacket has gone mouldy so that's another reason to get that room cleared 😕.

Right, do you bin shoes that aren't any good for anyone or textile recycling?

I'm doing another charity shop run this morn and due to convenience I'm using the same one. Part of me wondering if they're thinking "not her crap again". It's literally the only one I can reverse up to and I have massive bags.

I've sold a few bits on eBay and Vinted. Can confirm that Vinted is very easy. Only drawback for me was that I had to use Evri and I like the ease of Royal Mail collection.

Does my house look any different yet? NO

I did used to put shoes in the textile recycling. But I've also been know to put them in the bin. If I have a bag on the go for recycling then go in there. If not it's the bin.

Don't overthink it or hold on for too long. If we in this decluttering phase because it's overdue or got too much, it's OK to just bin some things.

Everything man made gets into landfill at some point unfortunately. I feel better because I already buy so much second hand and I recycle as much as I can.

We will take those shoes that had been used to the shoe bank at the dump . DD has had a couple of small unused pairs recently too ,since her foot’s now grown several
sizes this year , those are going to charity shop . A very muddy football boots went to just bin .

@tantdequestions in my area we have shoe recycling banks and if you check the small print they’re always run by a private company but give a percentage of profits to charities. So for me it’s a moral decision. I give scruffy shoes to them and nice ones to charity shops. I’m never sure if the scruffy ones can be recycled so would rather a private company have to deal with them than a charity shop with overworked volunteers.

@Realfastfoodie that sounds stressful, I hope your child gets better soon.

@PissedOffNeighbour22 that sounds like you’re getting rid of lots of big items, your house must be getting clearer.

It’s day two of my getting the house ‘guest ready’ although I’m really using it as an excuse to have a big tidy. I quite liked timing myself yesterday. Might do it again today. I’d like to have it finished tomorrow in case my friends visit on Thursday.

Is anyone else's house looking noticeably different?

Every time I drop something off I think of all the other things I need to sort

I suppose it's standard for most people with growing children. There's a continuous cycle of stuff coming in and going out. Need to remember it's okaaaaay!