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'm feeling very pleased with myself as I actually did what I always say I'm going to do every holiday and massively decluttered the Kallax boxes of toys in the living room. Three bin bags of stuff that was broken or incomplete or too tatty for charity shops, and five carrier bags of nicer stuff. Before I started lugging it into town to Oxfam I thought I'd have a look on Olio to see if anyone was looking for toys and someone came and took the lot!

As always it doesn't feel like a huge difference even getting rid of that much because it was all hidden away in boxes, although I have managed to transfer the bag of DS's football kit from a corner into a Kallax box. Still a couple of bits to get rid of and move around though, and mentally it feels better knowing so much has gone.

@SydneyCarton that's a great result! I did something similar eith kitchen stuff when I first started decluttering. I got rid of about 40% of our kitchen stuff through freecycle. It was so liberating!

I cleared out a really messy drawer in the living room. We just have one dresser there which has my work stuff and DC crafts, games and some decorations. It's always jammed full. Out went:

4 colouring books/activity books (all full)
Pencil
Novelty Souvenir fan
Very old hair brush
Ceiling hook thing
Cat toy
Kids mask
6 more of those tealights!

Total is 1650

Whoop! Sold some toys with small bits on vinted. And wrapped up a few more bits for kids presents from the present drawer too.

2024 total 1424 - I need to find another 600 things to make my total 😱

November total - 32

I am going to have a huge push over the next few weeks. Focus on problem areas - I want my sitting room back!

Hi everyone! May I join the thread? Today is the day I'm tackling the house! I 'Marie Kondoed' pretty thoroughly about 5 years ago so I don't have too much to get rid of (might take that back - we'll see!) but I need to find 'a place' for everything that I've accumulated since. I'm going to give the place a 'skirting boards and ceiling beams too!' kind of clean while I'm at it! I'd like to get the bedroom carpet done but I'm not sure if it's too late in the year and therefore risking damp/mould. I have a dehumidifier I can set up in there. What do we think guys?

Here you all are! I thought the thread had gone quiet Will go back and read it all now to catch up....

W/E 27th October
Running late with my post this week

Decluttered
Sitting room

Donated
Nothing this week; not much stuff in the sitting room but have relocated a few things that belong elsewhere.

Binned
Used up candle in a jar
1 x pair socks

Recycling centre
Some empty boxes from the loft that we kept 'just in case' the items they contained were faulty and needed to be returned.

I tackled the understairs cupboard today. Managed to clear through boxes of stuff we hadn’t looked at since our move nearly 5 years ago.

100 items (conservative estimate) binned, including lots of broken stuff, curtain hooks, random unidentifiable bits and bobs
7 items to cloth recycling

I also have loads of wires and electric bits to recycle when I’m able to get to the recycling centre.

But, most importantly, we now know what we have. I found 6 rolls of masking tape for painting, and now - at least - I know I don’t need to buy any for a while! Or light bulbs 😂

433 + 107 = 540

I've cleaned our carpets last month and used dehumidifier afterwards, if it's a Vax I would say "quick clean" is enough in this weather @SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter

Since my last post -

Donation - two outgrown polo shirts.

For sale - Three packs outgrown school shirts, never worn.

Ragbag - one pair holey socks.

Sixteen Enid Blytons.

Recycling - cracked plastic tumbler. Six empty handgel bottles. Ice cream tub, several homeless lids.

Junk mail. Fifteen school jotters.

Tesco make-up recycling bin - ancient make-up set and three mascaras

Landfill bin - unspooled cassette tape. Two lunchboxes cracked beyond repair.

Eight manky dried-out tubs and tubes from bedroom and bathroom.

Expired meds for safe disposal.

Found - some bits and pieces for electric toothbrush which was unearthed last month. Now complete and ready for use.

4 tealights candles used up
1 hair cream used up
1 damaged blind

Total is 2928

I hope I can get to 3000 by the end of December, would be good to start the new year like this.

How did the Marie Kondo thing make you feel after snuggly? I like the idea of it but don't feel brave enough to do it!

40% of your kitchen stuff pigtails, wow, that's some serious goals inspiration.

Hello dare glad you found us again.

Big pile of insurance leaflets from 2021
Kids craft sets finished
I've been trying to read a particular book someone gave me in 2022, today I finally gave up and stuck it in the book swap.

Had a big clothes clear out but they haven't left the house yet so not counting them! Must get them out this week.

1,317 for stuff that does count so far this year.

Garage not quite finished, but spare room is all done - really pleased with how it's come together. Not hugely sure what to tackle next but might do some labels for the garage so dp knows where things are.
Birthday party has been cancelled this weekend so gives us an extra afternoon to try and finish the garage.
1 item sold and has been posted.

3 things out on Vinted / ebay.

Two kids have school fairs coming up so I'm going to bag up as much toys as I can for those.

Only 175 things to get rid of to reach my 2024 Total! Also this is the first year I haven't bought new Halloween dress up items in the sales which is amazing for me

been left hanging for the 2nd day by olio-er my fault for jinxing it mentioning it as an out

Ooof I really need to push on this… can’t see me making the total this year!

Have family staying this weekend in order to help assemble the new furniture for "the toddler bedroom". That room has been "the junk room" since we moved here mid-COVID, so I'm really looking forward to turning it into a 'real' space and relocating some of her clothes, toys and other stuff from other places. Lots of new ins to make it pretty, but hoping the eventual effect will be an improvement!

One hair removal cream used up
One puzzle book finished and recycled
One ancient bottle of vitamins finally used up
One awful CD binned

Total is 2932

Mistralli that sounds like fun. I loved setting my kids rooms up when they was little.

Right I have 166 items yo go now to hit my 2024 target. Ten toys out this morning with my son for his Christmas school fair. I'm going to really go for it now and get rid of 10 a day at least. Need to plan what areas I'm going to tackle to try to get some focus. I'm also going to focus on putting things away this,week. So getting all my clothes into the wardrobes!

Dropped a bag at the charity shop today - another 29 items.

November 61
2024 Total - 1453

Feeling the pressure to try to get to 2024 now!

All I've got rid of so far is a few manky old tealights, an ancient tube of travel toothpaste, 2 pairs of holey knickers and 2 pairs of geriatric socks. I've set 4 other pairs of socks aside as 'wear these one more time and throw them away' , and I'm working on using up a body scrub. I've got some old computer mice I need to thoroughly test before binning but then they can go too.

More Vinted sales today more toys ready for ds Christmas fare. Today my leggings are falling down so they are going to rags. Thank god I have a floor lenght dress over them.

Where is a good place for leggings? I wear them like tights mostly under shorter dresses or under long dresses in winter. I won't buy any replacements until I'm down to a few pairs

24 out today

You guys, I need a bit of support… I’m going to just try and literally push as many things out of my door as humanly possible before Christmas.

I found 23 more bits between electrical recycling, batteries and packaging so that’s a few more. I need some more big wins. Maybe bite the bullet with some of the things I’ve put on vinted. The problem is that every time I think I should get rid of it all, I sell something! It’s madness and a bit addictive, the money is nice but not desperately needed.

W/E 3rd November
Been spending quite a bit of time on decluttering finances (if that makes sense) and getting some financial ducks in a row. In the mood to trawl through previous rooms to seek out further items that can leave, as well as do the main bathroom as per the schedule this week.

Decluttered
Larder

Donated
Some food items we won't use to the food bank.

Binned
1 x pair knickers
DH has binned a load of paperwork (some going back to the 80's!)

Recycling centre
Nothing this week; they will be sending out a search party

@real how many things have you got listed on vinted?