Decluttering Thread 6 - hit those targets before New Year!

[Pigtailsandall]

So the last thread got filled up and I think I seem to have taken it on myself to start a new one every time, lol! I hope everyone finds us because I'm too lazy to tag everyone, but here's few who spring to mind. It also doesn't let me add some people, for some reason

@realfastfoodie
@IndianSummer78
@stealthninjamum
@cornedbeef451
@EllieQ
@Gassylady
@IncessantNameChanger

@nordicmom
@Vinorosso74

Now it's the last push until the holidays to get it all out and done (before new cr*p comes in)

Thanks @daffodil2023 im embarrassed to say that I have done most areas of the house 5 or 6 times. In fact I did dd1s bathroom about three months ago and have no idea how she accumulated an extra 5 toothbrushes in that time! Maybe I just didn’t notice them? Anyway I don’t mind now because I whizz through the areas in two minutes so it’s very quick.

I’ve made two Lego sets so I have two to sell. Our toys / arts / crafts are still horrendous but it’ll take time.

Not much out but I've had DP move some boxes of Christmas stuff out of the library cupboards. That meant I could put crafting stuff I'm saving for the kids in the top half of the cupboard rather than in a pile in our bedroom. All cards and wrap and some presents are in the bottom half and it's so much tidier now.

Only things out today are:
4 clothing items for charity bag
1 large floral decoration
1 large bath toy
Total 155

Also found some boxes and packaging for the bin that was taking up a lot of room so they can go on the next tip run.

@IncessantNameChanger sounds like you have some nice plans for the money. Must be difficult to deal with if you know your mum would be seething about you using it. It's hard to get past the memories sometimes.

All I've managed to declutter today is a Gordons Gin minituare :P

Thanks @stealthninjamum - definitely helpful, and the app seems good. I wrote you a longer reply and then somehow lost it before hitting send. The gist of it was that it’s made me realise quite suddenly I have a good number of areas which are still a total clutter zone, and conversely other things that are reasonably under control (more like your “revisits”)

So that’s possibly why I’m enjoying Toss, sometimes it’s giving me easy stuff, sometimes it’s making me think and realise I don’t even have all those things in one place.

But, and this is a kicker - I think I have to bite the bullet on the difficult areas because they just attract more and more clutter.

I managed to pack away all the Christmas ornaments into their 3 boxes now and DH put them in the attic . He brought one big decoration down for me to look at we didn’t use this year so I can decide if it’s going .
Otherwise just a couple of ornaments going .
DH did more of the weekly cleaning too , me the daily maintenance and more laundry loads from the small mountain in utility . Gardener came so that’s looking nice . Tomorrow dog is being groomed . Need to do more admin but feel super tired and starving since now on my weight loss regime too . It’s mind over matter here I know it’ll pay off as it has before .
Oh , and I looked through our everyday crockery for scratches ones , a couple I put in my pile to try to restore with barkeepers friend but the worst are going to dump .

Out :
-3 Christmas tree ornaments
-1 small fabric pouch
-2 loose chocolate from the ornament boxes I resisted eating
-7 scratched plates and bowls

Total is 216 .
I need to remember to check before posting …

@Realfastfoodie I’m the same, it’s quite good to know that most of my house is under control and now it takes a few minutes a day to revisit one or two bits. I have always found it hard to get a balance between doing normal housework and the bigger‘projects’. I’ll focus on something like photos while the rest of the house goes into chaos around me. I still have areas that will require a lot of work but I’m hoping I’ll be able to spend 5 minutes a day to maintain everywhere else.

Today my own app told me to declutter the annexe bathroom. I got rid of two very old eczema creams and now it is minimalist. It has a bottle of shampoo, three cleaning products, instructions to the scales and a body scrub brush that I might declutter. Toss has told me to do the laundry area which will be a bigger job.

update on my decluttering.

i've had a ton of offers on the things i've listed on marketplace. Car seat is going tomorrow £80 in. clothes rail today £20 in. hopefully stand mixer at some point £120 in . win.

have initiated refunds on things on amazon - i bought a second screen for my laptop but it's not compatible with laptop (i mis read the description) so once i print off and send, it's £75 back in to my account and something gone from the cupboard. win.

Out:
Pot of probably expensive body soufflé (what even is that??) from MIL given to friend for her daughter.

Have faffed away the majority of the day but DH and Dd away for the weekend so hoping to tackle some areas/jobs.

Ok I'm in the groove now with the sudden loss of my kitchen. Slow cooker is a godsend! Any how, the declutter continues around the chaos of 10-12 builders in and out every day and raising 2 small children amongst it all.

Out today:

• 1 pj top (no longer fits and the bottoms went ages ago)
• 2 empty jars that were kept for 'just in case'
• broken old wall clock
• 2 kids summer jackets that no longer fit
• 2 near-empty bottles of kids bubbles
• 3 gift tags from 2021 & 2022
• an old ugly Christmas decoration
• 4 plastic shapes (where did they come from?)
• 6 bathroom magazines
• 1 trade union magazine
• 3 old local directory magazines
• 1 old bathroom mirror

Total 130

Out today

Wooden spatula, cracked
Moisturiser sample
2 worksheets from school
Handful of little paper figurines from a craft book

Total is 47. I really need to declutter my difficult areas too

So decluttered two old eczema creams. Then I did my laundry area. I tidied and cleaned around the sink and under it. I chucked out one disposable glove and tidied a load of stuff away.

Someone came and collected a kids table and chairs today so thats a nice bit of space made. I've also gifted some christmas decorations and will be throwing out the holey socks I'm currently wearing at the end of the day!

Had some productive days and not so productive days since I last posted. I took some bags of things to the charity shop today but they didn’t want some of it (children’s toys, so they are back in my car, will drop them to a different charity shop next week and hope kids don’t spot them in the meantime.

sorted another shelf in larger and had a fair bit out of date.
items gone:
Bingo pen
Tent pegs
Out of date food items
Clothes and shoes x 11
Recycled Paper documents x 1
Charity shop x 15
Baby clothes to friend x 25

total is up to 248

I looked through dog grooming supplies and cleaned up the box since something had gone on the other stuff . 4 things gone .

Out today or earmarked to go :
-4 old dog grooming things
-1 wooden cooking utensil
-1 malfunctioning blood glucose monitor
-2 packets of test strips that won’t fit the new one
-2 packets of lancets that won’t fit the new one
-1 finished book

Might look through a few more areas …

Total is 227

Well done all. I’m failing at getting much done these last few days. I need another push, maybe a few quick wins and one of the “hard” areas will do it.

I’ve managed to resist sale shopping so far so definitely bonus points for me.

I went back to the meds boxes in the larder to finish them and there was more to go , several dog’s etc prescription meds for instance .
Out :
-7 old medication packets
so the new total is 234

Same @Realfastfoodie just not had a chance to get into it properly yet. Heading to ikea tomorrow to buy extra shelves for a few kitchen cupboards though so hopefully that will spur me on to go through everything there. Hope you can find your motivation sometime this weekend! 💪🏼

Too much sales shopping and not enough decluttering here.

2 broken hangers out to the hanger recycling. But I bought 2 kids coats (matching! So cute!) on the same trip so no net difference.

30 outs year to date.

I have done an audit of all the water bottles we have and over filled a kallax drawer! I've taken out the least used and they're now in a bag for charity by the back door.

Also review how many oven gloves we have and the spares we don't like using have been added to the same bag.

We have a footstool with storage in and went through it last night, it's now much emptier and the paper recycling is much fuller!

Hopefully today will be the day the webuybooks box will be collected. I first asked for it to go in November and since then the courier hasn’t turned up about four times so last week I arranged for it to go today. It’s bloody annoying, it has been sitting next to my front door since November and postage piles and crap keep finding themselves on it. If they don’t collect it I can take it to a shop that’s not close to parking so I’ll have to struggle with it.

i just advertised some toys on Facebook.

The old camera I advertised on freecycle has just been collected.

My aim today is to have a quick ten minute tidy of the dining room. It does need to be more thorough but I think ten mins is better than nothing. Also Toss wants me to do Tupperware so I might spend 5 mins on the Tupperware drawer.

i also have underwear to sort through for both dc. I have ordered replacements for some and they’re ready to collect from marks. I have already bought dd2 3 different packs of socks but from a sensory perspective she can’t wear them. I’m hoping to give the socks away to a friend. So fingers crossed today’s socks will be acceptable to her. Dd1 has been allowed to keep 2 of her 6 toothbrushes. I’m worried that she keeps them forever so every time I organise her bathroom on my app I’m going to throw one away and replace with a new one. That way she gets about one every two months.

Ten large toys out today. I have listed quite a few nice Monsoon and Boden items on Vinted but only sold two. I will reduce them by 50% next week, but the week after I’m going to give them to the local clothing bank. I don’t have room to store for months like last year.

112 out so far this month but really need to do more. I could easily get rid of another 100 in kids clothes alone.

So I’ve cleaned the fridge (well some but annoyingly I can’t get to without pulling it right out which needs someone else to help me). Embarrassing really the state it gets into.
also embarrassing is how old some stuff is in there, I swear it’s DH keeping random jars of —shit that no one eats— sauces and pickles. I’ve been ruthless as he’s away 😂

Out:
10 assorted jars and bottles of out of date stuff
4 pots of leftovers that are no good anymore
1 packet of pasta out of date
1 empty bottle of cleaning fluid

43+1 from yesterday + 16 = 60

Also, I have labelled my fridge shelves. I have no idea how it will go or how long the chaotic family member will stick to it, but me and DS1 want it, DS2 (autistic) will follow it. So it’s just DH and DD really… I have a photo but not sure if it’s too geeky to share?!

Now off to go food shopping to fill it again!

As expected, the rate of decluttering has gone down now that I’m back at work after the Xmas break. However, today I took two pairs of Helena’s old shoes to Schuh for recycling, so the shoe rack is clearer. I also took half a bag of toys (sorted before Xmas) to the charity shop.