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..

This is so true. The only way to live a really decluttered life is to reduce how much we consume. I am working on this.

Day 40 - handful of small cat toys

I sorted and listed more today of ds and dd clothes.

Buying less really is the way forward. I was thinking that as ds has grown out of four pairs of joggers, I should buy 2 more. However, he doesn't need any more. He has got 4 pairs which really is enough for term time. If he needs more for holidays, I will buy them then. It's a massive mindset shift for me. He also needs more boxers but again I will wait until he gets below ten pairs and / or he needs more for our summer holiday. You can always get causal kids clothes. It's only the uniform I need to be on top of and that's now minimal as well.

Only about 100 things out so far this year so I feel a big purge coming on. Again listing on Vinted makes that easier as its all already together in a big bag.

W/E 09/02
2025 – (195 + 42 = 237) = 1788 to go

Digital decluttering:
Phone contacts K, J, I
Gmail folders L, K, J = 6

Broken/unusable for waste bin: Battery operated tealights x 7, pens x 2, face serum I don't like = 10

Recycling bin: Socks x 4 pairs, scented candles x 2, sellotape dispenser, used up cotton reels x 3, fabric swatches x 3, empty jars I was saving? x 3 = 16

Recycling centre: DH gathering a pile in the garage

Vinted sales: 10

Charity shop: Nothing this week, gathering stuff in study again

Still have plenty to go at but the Vinted sales are helping with getting rid of various bits of packaging that have been lying around.

Posted a few vinted things

February total - 30

Three more books out

total 182

Wardrobe and large mirror were collected today.

Day 41 declutter- pants
Day 42 - a lidless tupperware pot. Had been hanging onto it thinking I'll find the lid. It was my favourite.

You know you've hit peak middle age when you have a favourite tupperware pot

when I permanently returned to my ‘old’ practice after mostly working elsewhere for four years I found some of my best containers there lol

Have been reading along but not posting. We lost an older relative. It focuses the mind.

505 things out since 1 Jan, most fairly small but including some outgrown toys and quite a few books.

Life just seems too busy atm so I keep falling behind.
i have managed to declutter my 40s though 🎂😂

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures: this has now changed to critically go through the framed artwork as we’ve agreed we don’t actually want all of it?
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - need references x 2 DONE ✔️, then make appointment
4. DS1’s gaming, PC, nerf collections to go through and tidy
5. Portfolio work - waiting for more to be marked, more to do, always
6. Assemble DDs new desk, let her sort her stuff, give away old desk (slightly battered but shd be good for someone)

Not quite outs yet:
scooter hooks x 3 onto FB, need to bump up
leggings to pass to running friend DONE ✔️
see if anyone wants a mostly working prelit Christmas tree
parts for a bed minus one plank (delivered a new one for us so we don’t need it)

Out:
More holey socks
10 random odd socks
I'm sure there was other stuff since I last posted but I’ve forgotten
100+11=111

Another one where life has been a bit busy. A few outs the last couple of days, I started cleaning and clearing out the kitchen cupboards so a few outs from there. Need to continue later, one cupboard took ages due to an oil leakage!
I made some biscuits yesterday to use up ingredients.
Sorted through my wardrobe but not many outs, two things in textile recycling (hopefully not dumping overseas!) and three items in charity bag.

I normally hang things I wear a lot on the back of my wardrobe doors. I think in realty everything would fit into my wardrobe but...

I have counted and I had 52! items hanging on the doors. I have said to myself I will get rid of 50 items of my clothing. Then I'm going to close the wardrobe and just hang out the next days outfit.

However, I have so many clothes that don't match my lifestyle. Lots of going out outfits, sparkly tops, nice fitted dresses etc. I wore all of this pre covid when my friends still went out and I was in a different decade bracket of age. Now we only go out once a year for my friends birthday.

If I was to go out with dh, which we don't, it would be a country pub or chain restaurant. I'd wear jeans and a nice shirt or one of my many maxi dresses I wear everyday.

I listed ten things on Vinted today. I want to get rid of 90% of my "going out" stuff but I feel so sad about it. But why? I have a lovely period style timeless dress I am selling for £6. I wore it for my friend's big birthday which was pre covid. I'm never going to wear it again. Ever. My friend circle now is coffee and lunch and my going out days are over. How do I tackle the feelings around this? I don't have the room really. 50 things out is only 1/8th of my clothes. I only wear about 30% of my wardrobe anyway.

Day 43 declutter - broken LED candle

1 bag to charity

We are getting to the point where there is very little we don’t love/use/need now.

in order to maintain this though, if things come in, things are going to have to go. Does anyone have advice on this!?!

Total outs this year 183

I continued with the kitchen cupboards yesterday. They're getting a good clean and some outs along the way. Socks I had on yesterday went out due to holes!
@JK3 I'm at that point with my own stuff so just trying not to add to it unless I need something.

Ooh I feel this! I have so many beautiful dresses packed away in boxes, and nowhere to wear them. I don't mind being overdressed generally, so I'm going to see if there are any I could mentally relabel as 'day to day' instead of 'going out' But there must be quite a few that need to go!

What's your vinted username btw? Asking for a friend...

more Olio weirdness yesterday; someone sent a request in the night I replied with address she kept saying “where” so I said then she left it unread and I swear a “read” message went back to “unread” 🤔 I made the effort to put the item in a box outside my house before work but it’s still there 🤦🏽‍♀️ so God knows if and when she’ll collect? I didn’t bother asking olio to contact her as they take forever

One book to charity

total = 184

Following

Hello! Can I join in? I've taken a few days off work which I was originally planning to use for doing a sort of at home health spa, but I decided to declutter instead. I don't have a car, but we do have a big cargo bike trailer and yesterday I managed to declutter the sitting room to my satisfaction, and have dropped off three trailer loads at the tip and two boxes of books to charity.

We are sorely lacking in storage in our house at the moment, so part of what I'm doing is deciding what we actually need to store and what we don't need.

Days 4-13 of Feb decluttering: I sold a pair of new slippers (unwanted present) on Vinted on day 9, and posted them off today. This also used up one of my stash of padded envelopes. It was my first ever Vinted sale!

Things are going slowly as I’m finding the new job quite tiring as I settle in, so progress will be slow in Feb as expected.

Day 44 - a wart freezing kit thingy. Literally no idea where it came from. As far as I know, no one in my family has a wart.

Yes you have to be more mindful of what comes in. We've had a big mindset change on this.

But also making regular reviews of stuff a habit, and looking critically at what you have and don't need, can stop it building up.

New series of Sort your Life out is on iplayer!

1 hoodie
1 book

total 186