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, people doing so much! Such great progress!

My day 8 declutter is a measuring spoon. Duplicate of a size we already have

Everyone is doing so well!

3 huge bags of clothes to a friend
3 more Vinted sales
a couple of clothes bits to a friend
a bag of kids’ t shirts to a friend

total outs 67

Grabbed a few things for the bin today. Will count the giant bath duck as an actual out. (incidentally-is there anyway to keep bath toys hygienic? They always go mouldy inside for me.)

Oh and 13 things for fabric recycling!! Two big bags full. As I’m putting away Christmas presents I’m trying to think about what they replace - a one in/one out mindset if not an actual count.

Two catalogues recycled today. I even managed to not buy anything from them 😆.
15 Christmas decorations to donate.
Total is 3086

I've bagged up the books. The goal for tomorrow is to put all the rubbish bags outside.

Can you put them in the washing machine in a delicates bag?

I used to soak our bath toys in sterilising solution every couple of weeks - squeeze them so they fill up and then squeeze it all out after- but life really is too short so we just have the sorts without holes in at the moment.

Burnt a couple more candles and recycled some old cookery magazines I was never going to cook from.

2025 = 126 outs

Thanks @Jellycatrabbit - yes we mostly have those, I probably just have to accept it! @username299 - I could but I don’t think that would get the inside clean.

Day 8 of 31 days of decluttering: Two pairs of DD’s outgrown leggings, which had been missed when I previously sorted through her clothes in the autumn. I saw that she was wearing a pair that was too short last week , and remembered to check her clothes as I was putting away clean laundry.

I'd love to join this thread to keep motivated.
I have started the year with the goal of getting rid of AT LEAST 5 things a day during January (and after see how things are, reevalute and to continue or not)

Today I got rid of:

• 3 old notebooks (all used)

• 2 old toys that my DD had not used for a long time
• 2 crafts my DD made a few months ago

7 items today.

Perhaps soak in soda crystals and hot water first.

@ememem84 as incessant said it’s always hard to know what to say without sounding glib. I’m glad you’re ok and the chemo’s not too bad.

@Realfastfoodie im ashamed to say I threw our bath toys away when I realised they were full of mould and toys with no holes - one of which got decluttered today even though dd2 is 14.

welcome @DreamyRedNewt. That’s a good start.

@username299 it must’ve been so satisfying when you finished your big cupboard. And you were quick too.

I’ve been helping dd2 declutter her bathroom.
the following are going out
3 hairbands
1 bathbomb
2 reusable bottles that we used to keep hand sanitizer in during Covid days
2 toiletry bags
3 rusty hairclips
hairbrush with no teeth
dirty sponge
and a ball I mentioned above that dd2 was still playing with in the bath until recently!

Total ytd 39 which is more than I thought I would have decluttered considering I keep saying I’m ‘maintaining’

I have had a WOW moment. Right now my living room look normal. I put all the decorations away yesterday and there nothing piled up anywhere. It's clear totally on the floor now. My surfaces still need to be cleared but I'm getting there. We all feel a bit freaked out.

I'm taking 4 photos a day for vinted. Sold a few too which is surprising for this time of year. My dd clothes are thined out enough to keep the listing gs on her wardrobe if they still fit but anything too small will be donated if it doesn't sell. I'm not keeping things to sell next season.

Dd has outgrown her skirts so I might try to buy some trousers for her. I have to brave a drive into the M25 to find a shop with stock. See how I feel after school drop off.

Finally I SM really feeling like I am winning. There is zero reason for my living room to ever be bad again. Still lots to do but I have written out plans now and the initial post holiday blitz was easier. I can throw out big numbers again next week

Congratulations @IncessantNameChanger that is incredible and really inspiring!

Thanks all for the bath toys tips…

@ememem84 I am thinking of you and sending good wishes.

Inspirational work everyone!

Gentle hug to @ememem84 keep on keeping on xxx

@IncessantNameChanger great result!

I'm working away during the week so no opportunity for more decluttering until tomorrow.

Morning all
I need to join in. Usual January cleansing sort out.

I am going to paint the teenager's bedrooms and am using it as an excuse to have a huge declutter.

We have two main blockages:
Books
Leads (redundant small tech)

And I need the rest of the family to agree/make decisions and they are all on the hoarding side of the venn diagram (they won't throw stuff away willingly) and much more sentimental than I am. Any suggestions?

A lot of good tips but I need to catch up.

Have some sort of conjunctivitis so haven't even able to declutter but I got rid of cardboard and plastic trays that I DIY'd to be frugal.

I dislike having winter and summer clothes and next year will probably end up layering with summer clothes and cardigans than buying a whole new wardrobe full of clothes. With school I realised u need very less home clothes.

Wow @IncessantNameChanger well done!

re bath toys with small holes - I took scissors to the holes to make them bigger then I could clean them more easily. The kids didn’t care if the duck had a bigger hole underneath. I also binned some too though.

re family members - I think you can only change poeple from the outside so much. If you keep modelling Decluttering behaviour they may join you eventually, certainly that’s worked with DD. Not so much with DS1 though who still wants to keep everything. DH is in the middle, sometimes he has a clearout/sort out, other times he keeps all sorts of crap!

I have tidied DS1’s room now that he’s gone back to college. Some rubbish in the bin, laundry on, clean clothes out away, etc.
Also rang DBS which wasn’t on my list but have now got a way to update all the different forms I have.

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures: approx 10?
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - need to ring the helpline re my Mum’s passport during the week
4. DS1’s gaming, PC, nerf collections to go through and tidy away;
5. Christmas decorations sort and put away DONE ☑️

Not quite outs yet:
scooter hooks x 3 onto FB, need to bump up
leggings to pass to running friend

Out:
29 items to fabric recycling
5 Christmas broken bits to the bin
17+29+5=51

Our bins go out today and that always motivates to find some extra things to declutter. I put on a top this morning for work and decided I don't like it so I put it straight into a bag for the charity shop. I am making decisions a lot faster about things which is a habit I want to continue in 2025.

I have been doing small bits all over the house.
I stocktook our glassware and the single trifle glasses are going to charity, it's not us we have never used them not even during lockdown with all that time, winter coat, x2 1000 dot-to-dot and few other books to charity. Handful of books to school library, did eldest wardrobe, couple of bits to youngster, others not possible to donate so turning into rags.

Reshuffled kitchen shelves so have the holy grail of one (small) clear cupboard shelf to do what I want with, the possibilities are endless!

It's the start of the building blocks even if they are scattered all over the place at present!

@LivingInaBuiltSite I am thinking, regarding family members, well will start with the grown up (H), of giving him one of the plastic boxes and his x3/4 boxes of leads and saying you have this one big box whittle it down or I will do it randomly.

Well done @IncessantNameChanger thats great!

I’ve been sat in the spare room working again so listed on vinted, sorted out another pile of papers for the recycling bin and started sorting through the items I’d cleared from the playroom. Ten went straight into the charity bag and some went into the bin.

have counted 16 today so will look back to my last total and add it later 🤣 and remember to look before I post next time.

Had a spurt of decluttering today and have managed 112 items. Half of these are Christmas decorations that will be kept here until later in the year. Thought I would count them now so I can just hand the bag over when the time comes.

The bin bags are outside. 7 large bin bags of stuff.

The stuff for charity is sorted for collection. 6 bin bags, a box of bric a brack and some individual items.