Decluttering and organising thread 8 – it’s nearly summer

[stealthninjamum]

These threads are accountability threads for mumsnetters who are decluttering and organising our homes.

We’re all at different stages of decluttering from the beginning to the maintenance phase and use different techniques. Join us for support and chat .

We discuss all things to do with decluttering, the things that stop us decluttering, how to get over them, where to dispose of our clutter, how we can encourage our families to join us, and pretty storage solutions which is the fun part.

I’m doing one last big push to get rid of loads of stuff before the long summer holidays when it’ll inevitably turn to chaos again.

Useful tips
Some of us have found the Toss app (on apple) a great place to start with decluttering.

Many of us love Dana K. White (A Slob Comes Clean) on youtube and podcasts.

Many of us at the start just take a timer for 5 or 10 minutes to just make it seem less daunting. I used to start by clearing surfaces.

If you want to make a big impact quickly then increasingly charities will pick up your furniture, books and clothes so you don't even need to leave the house. Or if you have hundreds of books / CDs it's really easy to use the Music Magpie, ziffit or We buy books apps to get them taken away and earn a (very) small amount of money at the same time.

The BBC TV Program Sort Your Life Out is particularly inspiring.

When I do housework I listen to podcasts from a Slob Comes Clean, Clutterbug, the Declutter Hub and The Art of Decluttering. If you think you have ADHD then Clutterbug talks about this a lot as she has ADHD, and Amy from The Art of Decluttering did an ADHD season about 8 or 9 months ago which gave some good tips. My dc have ADHD so it’s something I’m very interested in.

One pair of bobbled pyjamas to rag bag. Total is 2796

Have my 4 year old nephew for the weekend, exhausted already, so out of practice with this age group. So many rookie errors:
Went to the beach without spare clothes.
Had ice creams without any baby wipes.

Home without major incident luckily. 4 jigsaw puzzles done. Much colouring started. DD offered to bake cupcakes with him later. It’s all go go go!

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - need to get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - started
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - 8 left
6. DS1’s room: ongoing…need to get a simple double frame
7. bring down the wardrobe for my room, sort my clothes
8. IKEA wardrobe for DD; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - Need to message her to meetup
spare tap left from building works - on FB, bumped up
knackered suitcase to put on FB - posted
old school PE shorts to a friend
DD to return borrowed flute to old school, oops
Ds1’s army kit back to his old school
DS1’s double/single bunk bed - due to be collected today GONE ✅
my long gone mother’s recliner that DS1 was using for gaming 🙄 (need to get downstairs before listing on fb)
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - messaged the collecting lady

Out:
Bunkbed
single mattress
empty bubble bath bottle left on the side
1247+3=1250

Had a quick rummage through the cutlery drawer and managed to bin an old teaspoon with a broken plastic handle, and a plastic coffee scoop. Husband attempted to retain coffee scoop- until I held up the other 3 that were in there! Will fight the battle on some of those another day...

😂 @Gassylady. There were actually 2 farm gates but the buyer of the second one decided he didn't actually need it - that one stumped me as surely you know if you need a 13ft long gate or not 🤷🏻‍♀️😂.
I did cause some chat on here last year when I got rid of 4 spare sofas lol.

Sounds like your family have made a really good job of your garden. One day I'm hoping mine will improve. It was just a yard when we moved in 3 years ago but at least it does look more like a garden now. We have a lot of house stuff that never made it past the stables on moving day (and attending auctions where we bought stuff that's never seen the light of day) and after 3 years in them most of it is probably only fit for the tip - they're not in a good state and birds and rodents are in and out of there regularly.

@Pigtailsandall agree re the charity shops. We don't have any close to where I live so would have to go the nearest larger town and the charity shops there are dire. They're overflowing with dirty, useless junk and clothes that are only fit for the bin. Due to this, they don't often take in more donations as they don't have space because no one wants to buy what they have. They're local tiny charities so I can't understand how they can afford to keep running as they currently do.

I tend to send my stuff to the tip as they have an area where you can leave things they resell or gift to those in need. They also have a clothes bank, book bank and toy bank. They're frequent full though and aren't emptied that often.

My aim is the same as yours - buy less and better. It's taking some time to break the cycle though.

I’m disappointed to read charity shops bin so much as I take nearly all my clothes to them, including rags. I’m so careful to dispose of things in the most green way or I would’ve finished this process years ago.

I’m mainly cleaning and tidying as the main decluttering area is Lego which is a big job but in the last week I have decided the following can go

• two thesauruses
• a mug
• a wire that belongs to a broken speaker
• more of dd’s school books
• some arts and craft bits
• about ten sheets of stickers

i have emptied and cleaned my pulses, pasta, grains, nuts cupboard. I didn’t throw anything away but have a box for rices now and grains and will buy one for lentils. It’s easier to find things now. I’m slowly going back through every drawer/ cupboard labelling things and generally organising them.

I agree @stealthninjamum - if I was willing to put everything in the bin, I could definitely have made a lot more progress! Being ecologically thoughtful about how I dispose of things is really important to me. Although I am allowing myself to bin or recycle a little more.

Part of selling, or giving to someone though olio, or whatever, is helping me be more confident something is going on to live its best life!

I saw this on instagram and thought of you lovely people. I love Mary Oliver anyway.

I’m always amazed how some charity shops would rather have low turnover and high prices, and turn away donations, than have lots of things going for £1. One of our local shops is always turning away donations and I see them bagging stuff up for recycling (one of those “by the ton” firms) but they insist on charging £4 for a small toy car! 🤣

Yep some charity shops do seem to overcharge, £3 for a kids puzzle that wasn’t even complete 🤯
I think I’ll just recycle the cardboard of that one tbh.

So, top tip of the day, go through toy soldiers and bin all the broken ones, high out count for little work 😂

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - need to get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - started
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - 8 left
6. DS1’s room: ongoing…need to get a simple double frame - ordered
7. bring down the wardrobe for my room, sort my clothes
8. IKEA wardrobe for DD; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room for DH

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - Need to message her to meetup
spare tap left from building works - on FB, bumped up
knackered suitcase to put on FB - posted
old school PE shorts to a friend
DD to return borrowed flute to old school, oops
Ds1’s army kit back to his old school
my long gone mother’s recliner that DS1 was using for gaming 🙄 (need to get downstairs before listing on fb)
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - messaged the collecting lady

Out:
41 broken soldiers
26 random rubbish like squished nerf bullets found in the soldier box
42 assorted soldiers and figures passed to a neighbour’s son
1250+109=1359

4 chairs to dump
4 chairs bought in reuse shop neutral
1 carpet cleaning machine in yesterday
loads of filth out

5 bags of clothes to the charity shop
1 bags of shoes
1 bag of bras!
Big box of books

Slowly but surely getting there.

Agree with charity shops - sell it fast and sell it cheap should be their model. Our local ones are full of £4 primark tops!

Anyway, not necessarily a declutter; but worthy of a shift in mindset. Paying return costs and getting a refund for an item that doesn't fit. Old me probably would have kept it for 3yrs on the chance I would sell it or find someone who would need it or put up with something not quite right. Now, I'll pay the £3.35 cost to send it back and get the rest of the money to get something right. £3 lesson to carefully read dimensions and not be fooled by pictures! It was about a fifth of the size I was expecting! 🤣

Yes, I wonder this about charity shops too. Ours had a basic h&m t-shirt for sale for £4 - I have a few of those and I know they cost £3.99 new! Its seems insane. It's not as if they pay for the stock. Cheap prices and quick turnaround should definitely be more profitable?

DH dropped off our old kettle and toaster today. We got new stuff a while back but old stuff was still languishing at the back of the cupboard. Also out a broken fridge magnet and a magazine recycled from DH stash

Total is 1473. Quite pleased that a few bulky items left this weekend.

DD and I have made a start sorting out her Lego to see if we can sell some of it. I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to put it into sets!

I did another decluttering sessions my photos for August and September while watching a movie with dc. Really trying to stay on top of digital clutter too.

1474 or the year.

I am also working on my phone contacts list, going back through each letter when I get a spare 5 mins and deleting loads. Details about a person on a buggy website for eg, youngest is 13 now! Will count each letter as 1 I think as it’s a faff to do, have done A-E so far.

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - need to get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - started
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - 8 left
6. DS1’s room: ongoing…serious cracking on will start tomorrow!
7. bring down the wardrobe for my room, sort my clothes
8. IKEA wardrobe for DD; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room for DH

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - Need to message her to meetup
spare tap left from building works - on FB, bumped up
knackered suitcase to put on FB - posted
old school PE shorts to a friend
DD to return borrowed flute to old school, oops
Ds1’s army kit back to his old school
my long gone mother’s recliner that DS1 was using for gaming 🙄 (need to get downstairs before listing on fb)
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - messaged the collecting lady

Out:
travel cot taken home by brother
A-E contacts tidied
1359+6=1365

Good multitasking @Pigtailsandall

2 items sold. Day off tomorrow so hoping to do more listing but also have other chores to do.

I'm trying to do figital decluttering too. Feeling very ill today so not much to report but cleaning up contacts sounds like a good idea

Another who agrees with charity shops reducing their prices and getting stuff sold! They're not as fun as they used to be, and I can imagine people with little money feel the same.

A busy day and car is being filled ready for a charity dump before work. I need to go to the dump though but it’s such a pain. Easily an hour queue to get in.

I haven’t been counting items. There is just too much. My son has had a really good clear out of his room but actually the storage units and books will be used by younger children. I’m not ditching only to rebuy.

I am feeling overwhelmed by how much stuff we have though.

One pair of worn out socks into recycling. Total is 2797

CornishTiger I get like that too but keep telling yourself you'll get through it as long as more goes out than what comes in.

I'm not buying anything for Halloween, I'm going to decorate but by crafting so nothing comes in and some goes out. This because I saw some little pumpkins I wanted to buy so I need a compromise so I don't do it.

I get overwhelmed too. I was listening to more slob comes clean podcasts and I find her soothing. It was a recent one about regret which was quite topical with ds leaving for uni.

I have written a 7 area list to focus on which focuses on ds room ( I would have it finished tomorrow, then the landing and stairs, then the living room again. Etc.

For every in I get rid of ten so logically it's impossible I haven't made progress. I'm never buying more than I dispose of ever again so therefore things can't possibly go backwards.

Each day, my house will never be as cluttered as if was before. Ever.

Well done @IncessantNameChanger!! Keeping up the progress even when we feel a bit overwhelmed. And you are right.

Right there with you @CornishTiger! I need some big wins now I think

Over the weekend:

37 too-small kids clothes
9 packets of food to the food bank (we now have to be gluten-free, so I donated full packs of pasta and flour)
11 old phones, tablets and headphones to Currys (thank you @GorgeousTulips )
24 kitchen bits donated
3 kitchen bits taken to my husband's work
2 skanky bath toys binned
17 old batteries for recycling

I've got a whole load of cloth nappies that my littlest has grown out of. Today, the task is to list them for sale on Facebook groups.

Also for this week, I have a pot of old keys that I need to sort into those that are actually useful and those that we no longer need.

Finally, I'm hoping to sort through old kids' artwork. I've bought a couple of artist folios so we can keep the best bits in a lovely format and then happily get rid of the others.

126 + 103 = 229

Good point about digital decluttering - I have lots of contacts from nursery days who we don't see anymore, people whose children have left the school, the nursery app on the ipad that we used to message the staff with. That can all go.

Forgot to take the bags of uniform to drop off on Wednesday when the sale shed is open, must remember to do that this week. I've also signed up to Vinted to get rid of some of the nicer bits of kids clothing - we have some nice party dresses but my girls are out of that stage now (at 8 and 10!) and it's all hoodies and leggings and, in DD1's case, tiny crop tops .

I blitzed the dining table on Saturday which was packed with clutter and filled a carrier bag with bits of general rubbish - packaging, old party bags full of sticky sweets 😬, proofs of school photos which we've ordered in digital form etc. Still a bit cluttered but it feels and looks a lot better.