All I Want for Christmas is a tidy house - Decluttering thread 9

[Pigtailsandall]

New thread!
Hope you all find this! It's not letting me tag people..

i love how decluttered this new thread looks 🤣

I went for the minimal look on purpose, not ahem, because of laziness...

Thanks Pigtails. Laziness is allowed. We're all too busy decluttering!

Lol RealFastFoodie and yes to your previous comment. Drowning under stuff is exactly how I feel too. It does take time to change your mindset, keep at it. I feel very different about things now than I did when I started.

No outs today but dropping my total here 2900.

I have -

(1)put two bags of clothes into the charity shop ( some of DDs and some mine )
(2) cleaned the utensils drawer and recycled a couple of things
(3)cleaned the Breville toastie maker (inside and out )
(4)vacuumed the stairs and I was going to shampoo the hall carpet but my DS was doing something online that needed quiet so I was nice enough to not do so (good excuse I thought )
(5) decluttered some money from my bank buying clothes for DD
(6) Changed DS duvet to his winter one and washed his lighter weight one

Tomorrow (as I have the extra hour )

I will do the carpet
Dye my hair
Clean the oven ( I;ve just put some spray on the base so i'll mop that up and I have one of those safety blade things for the door )

Hello! It's half term here so house had a big tidy. It will be trashed by the time the kids are back at school. Halloween Dec's up and looking very presentable right now. Every thing that was on Vinted is going to charity by the end of half term so that's two big bags ikea size to go. Got to prepair to empty dining room to make way to make it into a temporary bedroom for eldest sons return.

Making a rough mental list of things to do. But I won't be able to get much done over half term. Lots of plans to go out and enjoy Autumn as its my favourite time of year.

I'm new to the group/post/thread (don't know what to call it) but yesterday I started cleaning and decluttering the bathroom, it's been neglected because it was overwhelming me but I made a start and dumped a shoebox full of old makeup, some very old eyeshadow, some not so old foundation and lots in between. There is still way too much left but it's a start. I've a chronic illness and my pain levels are high at the moment which means I struggle to do anything and I get very down over the state of my house, I wish I had a team of cleaners, decorators, landscapers, gardeners, window cleaners etc so I could go on a holiday and come back to it all finished.

Welcome to the thread Mudflaps you're off to a good start. I'm more of a parting with one thing at a time in agonies of indecision type of person.

Thanks for the clock reminder 70 I'd totally forgotten about it. I'm far too lazy for extra anything so I'll probably be spending it catching up on some sleep 💤😴💤

Thanks for starting the new thread @Pigtailsandall

Last week I took three large bags of clean rags to Dunelm. Also bag of holey trainers.

Local tesco now takes soft plastic, so I got rid of a bag of that.

Paper recycling - old cereal boxes kept for crafting but no longer need them.

Donated - uncomfy shirt.

Listened to a couple of short decluttering audiobooks. That helped me to be more focused, especially with the possibility of having to downsize when I’m older.

We’re away, but once I get back my aim is to tackle the coats and shoes in the hallway — and the dreaded under stairs cupboard…

Thanks for the new thread!

I'm still ticking along. Have lots of stuff earmarked to go, it just hasn't left the house yet. I've been keeping kids drawings for years for a memory scrapbook, started that the other day and made big inroads into the heap. Lots of samey stuff got recycled. I'm a bit stuck at the moment though. Need a push from somewhere.

I've also watched some Midwest Magic cleaning on YouTube, think it was recommended on this thread. It's very motivating!

I count items out year to date, hit 1,250 yesterday, hurrah.

@IncessantNameChanger I love autumn too. DC and I put up a few Halloween decs yesterday and planning in going for a family walk to a place that does nice hot chocs today.

Welcome @Mudflaps, this is a nice supportive group of people who all aim to reduce their stuff and have a tidier house which is easier to maintain. Organising tips are welcome too

Today is our cleaning day, so some outs are expected. I also bought a shirt on Vinted, so following my own rule, I have to now let go of 2 tops.

Half term started for us. Not sure if I've got food poisoning or stomach flu. Just had vomiting and fever. Feel a bit better today. But stuff is bothering me. I'm going to try not to do a grocery shop this week and 'declutter' what we have. Will top up the few items. But have no appetite for now.

This morning I've decluttered a burnt pan. DH thinks other people use their stuff for 20 years and we waste a lot. But pan is like 5 years old and I was going to declutter it before it got burnt badly.

Decluttered some paper and plastic in the recycling bins too. Hopefully I'll come back and have something ready by the end of the day.

Managed a few Halloween decorations myself. It was actually lovely as I went straight to the box of decorations / party stuff and they were all there, nothing was broken or in the wrong place. Thank you past me for clearing that and decluttering.

Trying to apply container theory and got rid of a bunch of cups and plates left over from a party rather than having too much in the party box so it overflows. A few bits to the bin also so small wins but helpful.

Half term here too. Nothing special out this week just the usual holed socks, books and a few DVDs will take to charity shop later in week. Will also start to list a few Lego bits on eBay as Christmas is fast approaching.

Ragbag - two huge itchy polo neck jerseys with burst seams.

Dodgy phone cable and broken headphones out.
Put toys to go out and of course dc have found them and now playing with them.

@Pigtailsandall thank you so much for starting the new thread. It’s a great title.

Well done on the bathroom @Mudflaps you made a fantastic start. Hopefully it’ll be the start of a mindset switch where you stop buying new things until it’s more manageable. I’m still using body lotions and hand creams from about five years ago but my stash is nearly used up.

I have decluttered a few more bits. Two pairs of jeans have gone. They’re too small for me and I realise that it would probably take a year to diet into them and theyre dark skinny so probably old fashioned anyway. I also found three DVDs to go. Last week I had a few things picked up from Facebook/ freecycle - an old light, shoes, sports top so things are still leaving the house.

I have sold three more things on Vinted. Trying to give stuff away on FB but I'm remembering why I don't do this as people are interested but not arranging a pick up time.

Going through some old storage boxes of kids stuff and got 29 things to rags. Another box to go then I should have a empty storage box for eldest return for his uni stuff for the loft. Going to attack the toys today later on. Just need to check if both schools are taking soft toy donations yet. That's two bins of easy wins if they are

Only 200 more items to meet my 2024 target. I think next year's targets might have to be container related like every item of clothing in a draw or wardrobe. Toys in a toy box because I have thinned out really well and made room but still in the habit of hanging clothing off of doors to find them easily. My wardrobe has the room to put away now yet I still don't do that

I won't make myself very popular but I think I've decluttered too much- in some areas- we just needed some Halloween bits and bobs for a disco and I couldn't find any, so I had to buy some, I'm still hoping to find the decorations. my idea of indexing or at least labelling needs to actually start 🥴

also I have no newspaper to wrap a broken glass 🤦🏽‍♀️

We have a small box of Halloween decorations and try to keep everything in that. I always find after Christmas and Halloween there's something you forget to pack away again. Lots my reusable tea lights died so I was debating buying the tiny batteries or just throwing them away.

Used up:
2 bottles of cleaning stuff
4 bars of soap
1 pair fake lashes

Donating:
1 top to small
1 book finished reading

Total is 2909

5 bits of useless card and 1 rusty pencil sharpener. Total is 2915

<gives incredulous look to @Riverswims > Too much gone? Surely that’s not possible. I aspire to be like you!

As it’s half term I did a bit more in dd1s bedroom with her. I decluttered an old note book, some school books and a child’s Shakespeare book that was part of a set that I donated ages ago. It’s slightly annoying as I think I made a profit on all the educational book sets I sold and I can imagine at the time I probably spent weeks looking for that book! Dds also agreed to get rid of a craft set and a friend wants it.