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..

Wow well done Fastfoodie!

I am close to my target and I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel. I think we are actually doing pretty well because I can't find much stuff to get rid of. I feel like I've found my balance. I sent dh to curry's to drop off my old phone and a small string light that didn't work. Also out a suede shoe cleaner, a pill jar and a dental gel my hygienist recommended I get.

I did a final pass of my clothes yesterday (it's very much the onion method)and dh dropped them off to the charity shop on the way to Curry's. Out went a jumper, 3 tops, dress, earrings, a fascinator (so old. Probably15 years), pair of woolly socks and 1 odd sock (they also do textile recycling), and a dh running top. My last bag for life for charity!

After a lot of umming, I also listed a jumper on Vinted. It was beautiful, from Arket, but it just looked so unflattering on me. It sold in 4 minutes 😄 so out went that and the last box I'd been keeping. I posted it this morning. Feels good.

Total is 17+1976=1993

If I reach 2024 I will definitely stop at that point for this year 😅 this is quite stressful AND it reminds me of last year when I found the 2023rd item on NYE!

Well I just undid some of my good work in the shops today. I am telling myself that most of the items are replacement or consumable, but there’s some Christmas tat in there too. Hard not to get tempted by silly things with two babies/preschoolers…

I am really really enjoying have some clearer space. It’s giving me insight into how it might feel to have a less full house.

Not much decluttering going on here, as usual. DH did a tip run earlier in December, which I might have posted about already, and got rid of several things including the old cot mattress. Since then, I’ve put 18 pairs of DD’s outgrown knickers into fabric recycling (but have replaced with a similar number), and three gift bags have gone out (but have been replaced by three more Xmas presents that are in gift bags).

We are going to PIL tomorrow for Xmas, as MIL has been recovering from an operation and FIL has been struggling, so it won’t be the easiest of trips. Back after Boxing Day and I’m really hoping to have some good decluttering sessions. I’ve been on these threads for at least two years now, and I still feel trapped by too much stuff! Can only keep plodding on…

Catching up with the thread after a difficult few weeks. Started on kids’ tubs and shoeboxes on living-rooms shelves while teenager off school. Reduced the tubs from nine down to three. Shoeboxes from three to one. Filing boxes from four to two.

Couple of make-up items to be recycled at tesco.

Paper recycling bin - one finished workbook. Old diary.

Shoebox of craft bits emptied by putting items where they belonged.

Sale/donation - about twenty unused workbooks.

Outgrown gym shorts.

About a dozen old toys and trinkets.

Binned - two annoying manky cushions.

Pencil case with broken zip.

Empty gel pens.
Any “bits” that no-one could identify.

Ragbag - surplus scraps that I don’t need for cleaning rags.

Ripped school gymshoe bag.

Forgot about the paper recycling tub. It was eventually full to the brim with school jotters and college notes.

Just ticking over here. I’ be finally opened the bookcase of doom in the study and got rid of several old textbooks. Have found another few that will do for the departmental library. Few to scan see if ziffit/we buy books etc would be interested.

At least not much at all will be coming in for Christmas. Mainly consumables/experiences/replacement electronics. Unless my MIL who said she was only gifting money this year changes her mind reverts to type and buys a ton of stuff😱

@gassylady I have so many old textbooks that no-one wants. Offered them to the library and the department bookcase. I think I'll take them to a bookshelf outside the student office next year.

Anyway, out go 2 bottles booze that we've had for YEARS and I'm not even sure where they came from. They will never be drunk.

Told dh he needs to declutter 5 items as I'm struggling 😂 so he found 5 loyalty cards/business cards/expired credit cards in his desk drawer.

1993+7=2000 for the year

Good work on the cards by MrPigtailsandall 🤣🤣 tantalisingly close to 2024. I bet if i had a rummage in the cupboards in bathroom and kitchen and the drawer of junk in the kitchen i could lay my hands on 24.
But no target here so no pressure!

Considering how close to Christmas it is I’m impressed how much stuff people are managing to declutter especially @IncessantNameChanger moving stuff into storage is really impressive when you’re also shopping and doing Christmas stuff.

I have decided to try living without a washing up bowl in the kitchen sink. It is always full of chopsticks and an inch of dirty water as dd2 mainly eats with chopsticks. Recently it got a hole and for some reason I couldn’t throw it out. I’m hoping to clean the sink more often now.

i also threw away some unwritten Xmas cards. I only write about 5 a year and have a bag of cards that must be about 8 years old. There were about 6 really childish cards that I’m sure I move out of the way every year. It seems extravagant but I’m just not going to use them.

Finished a large tub of body moisturizer. Still have several left. Total is 3046

Over my time off I will definately go through my clothes .
I have a double wardrobe and it is looking a bit disorderly .

And some kitchen items that I think "Oh I'll use this" but so far , I haven't done for ages . Years .

Binned a CD. Total is 3047

Okay I'm jumping on! I've always tried to do it all in one go and it's just ended up accumulating in bags to go on eBay/charity shop and they never leave the house. Plus chaos.. totting up a tally may give me more motivation!

Today I got rid of two birthday cards, two activity books, two colouring books never looked at, and the entire history of gas safety inspection certificates since the house was built (bar the most recent). I'll count the certificates as one item. All went in the recycling, which is a grand starting total of 7. Also got rid of a load of gingerbread which my daughter made a house with then decided me didn't like, and listed a set of fairy lights on vinted.

I'm going to bin a toilet brush which was here when I moved in two months ago and go through the plastic Chinese tupperware and recycle most of it.

The toilet brush is gone, as have two paper straws and five of those collect stamps cards from local businesses which never make it out of the kitchen drawer.

15 in total, starting Boxing Day 2024. Giving myself a break now and remind myself it's progress, not perfection.

Good start, Christmas.

Damaged DVD binned. Total is 3048

Happy Christmas everyone! Hope you've all had a relaxing few days. It's been low effort for me as we are at my PILs until a few hours ago. DC didn't get a huge pile of presents which I'm quite pleased about. Enough to keep them happy but not so much that it clutters up the house

Saw SILtoday and she chose 6 kids hoodies/jumpers from the small pile of the 2-3Y clothes I have left over now. I also binned a string of twine from the Christmas box which I keep thinking I'll repurpose doing crafts but I never do.

Year total = 2007 items with 5 days to go....

I've got some clothes in a basket to go out next time we're passing a Charity Shop .
So off to a good start !

Happy Christmas everyone! I think I'm going to put some of the Christmas jumpers etc to sell on Vinted next winter. So they are going back in a draw for my sins. I'm not buying new Christmas jumpers for next year which is another first for me. Normally I get the next sizes up in the sales but not this year. Dd will fit next Christmas and ds could fit into his adult brothers next year I think. Dd didn't wear her Christmas dresses either.

The only things I'm buying in the sales are pjs for the kids next year Christmas presents.

I got rid of dds sweatshirt and joggers that both had holes in them. She wore them out completing so happy about that.

Also got rid of a lot of expired items from pantry and fridge that I'll never use and which was causing unnecessary stress. Reminder to not buy new items to experiment. Especially with young children. My younger 2 have a 2 year age gap and it's really hard. I've just accepted I don't have time to make fancy recipes or bake until they're a bit older.

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas!
No decluttering done here for a few weeks now- all been struck with an awful cold (we still have the cough!)
I will be joining in on January 1st and aiming for 2025. Unfortunately we have to replace our bathroom suite (I am really excited because the old one is a nightmare) we have had one leak too many (guess what happened to us Christmas day morning!) and it is about 30 years old we think. It was always on the "replace list" but we were hoping towards the end of next year but the project has moved forward! So a super limited budget to replace the existing bathroom and 3 young dc under foot while we do it..... nothing could go wrong....right?! 😮

Hope you’ve all had a nice christmas. We had a lovely day on the 25th and the ins were mostly spot on items, food/drink or toiletries. Thankfully my MIL was a lot more restrained than usual.
No target next year for me but still that general goal of knowing exactly what I’ve got and where it is!

One DVD into donations bag because it's too violent and everyone dies at the end!
One face wash used up. A few left.

Total is 3050

Next year I'll be keeping on adding to my total to shock myself with how much I eventually get rid of and hopefully stop me repurchasing too much stuff. I also want to redecorate because I haven't since I moved in.

I've not posted in a while but my list is up to 695 things out, which although not anywhere near my target is a massive improvement on last year (131). I've sold over £800 on Vinted so taking that as bonus. Also I've realised the more I do let go the easier it becomes and I'm getting a bit of a buzz adding items to my 'be gone' list!

ive not posted for a while but keep going.. I stopped for Christmas but then did a bag of books and a bag for the charity shop Boxing Day morning at my mums because she has soooo much stuff.. I also brought it home to take to donate myself or it won’t leave.

i regret not counting this year but vinted tells me I’ve sold 99 items on there and I’ve sold three on eBay (I didn’t list much on eBay) and lots of bikes and garden toys on facebook. I’ve also done so much to charity and tip in 2024 think I’d have passed the total…

So I’m going to count my outs for 2025 but acknowledge that it might be harder to reach the 2025. It’s 5.5 items a day and I’m starting today and will count to Christmas next year as I have a week off before I’m back to work to start..

new Christmas cushion cover and child’s wooden box to charity
old socks and broken electric toothbrush to recycling
papers gone through but will count as 1

total 5 … but I am about to go look for something in the garage so it might shoot up before the day is out!