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..

@Realfastfoodie I'm in the same boat. I'm a bit behind because my main problem issue is the loft and the storage cupboard and I just do not want yo go there 😅 but I won't hit the target if I don't go there!!

Maybe give everything one more week and set a hard deadline for taking stuff out of the house after that?

I decluttered my YouTube lists and subs. I totally count that. 1651 now

Binned a handful of packet sauces and mixes that I optimistically thought were only a few months out of date but were actually more like two years

Good idea @Pigtailsandall. I’m slightly tempted to upload everything I can find and pay for a week of wardrobe spotlight

Found a forgotten tin in the kitchen (!) and threw away 6 bags of out of date dried fruit. A bit of a shame. Brings total to 1501

I'm the same Real I have had a flurry of sales on Vinted recently. However, I have cleared a kalax box of things to list and some of the stuff I'm selling might still fit dd at a pinch, she has room in her wardrobe, so do I now so I'm started to take photos,and hang back in the respective wardrobes. I still have a Primark bag full I keep saying I will donate. Wardrobe spotlight abd sell everything all at once sounds good.

Have been away and working/training. About to start a 6 week course which is at least predictable hours but is going to be full on Mon-Fri 8-5 + commuting time. So won’t get much done, hoping to use last few days off to try and get my life in some kind of order!

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - get DH on the case, must put bbq away
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - found 1 more
6. DS1’s room: wardrobe, chair
7. DS1’s gaming, PC, nerf collections to go through and tidy away
8. bring down the wardrobe; DH & I failed on this, too heavy, need another adult
9. IKEA wardrobe for DD to order; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room for DH

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - remember to take to next Parkrun
spare tap left from building works - on FB, bumped up
knackered suitcase to put on FB - posted
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - waiting for collecting lady, need to chase
curtains poles - listed on FB free site

Out:
out of date clinical book into recycling
1515+1=1516

At least by going away for Halloween we avoided the need for costumes so no ‘ins’ for that this year. Didn’t get out the decorations to have a sort through of them though.

@IncessantNameChanger is your DS coming home for definite?

Yes. He has stopped his course but still at uni living the fresher life until dh gets him at the end of the month. No idea where he will go but I will worry once he is in front of me. I have paid £10 to secure a storage unit. It's refundable and there's no time limit to start so if it all goes TU with clearing the dining room we have a plan b we can execute in days.

So far clearing out is going well. I can't cull much more of dd clothes ( well I could but she has a very sensible amount now) the toys are going every day with ds to his school fair. So far at least a bag for life full every day this week. Ds is very happy as he can see and know for certain it's gone. Its the furniture I'm not sure what we will do with.

Today's outs
6th 22 bits of tat, cds etc, 2 bits fabric, 8 out Vinted me and dd, 35 toys, 2 book, 1 hanger

Nov
In 20
Out 94

Total for 2024
1928 out 96 to go
170 in

Got rid of a CD I don't like.
Total is 2933

@IncessantNameChanger sounds like you’re making lots of good progress though.

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - get DH on the case, must put bbq away
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - found 1 more
6. DS1’s room: wardrobe, chair
7. DS1’s gaming, PC, nerf collections to go through and tidy away
8. bring down the wardrobe; DH & I failed on this, too heavy, need another adult
9. IKEA wardrobe for DD to order; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room for DH

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - remember to take to next Parkrun this weekend hopefully
spare tap left from building works - on FB, bumped up
knackered suitcase to put on FB - posted
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - waiting for collecting lady, need to chase again
curtains poles - listed on FB free site

Out:
3 OOD ration packs from DS1’s room into bin
tatty knickers into recycling
1516+4=1519

Thanks I'm feeling really positive about the decluttering right now. Just a few hours of putting things away has paid off. I seem to do just weeks of decluttering or weeks of tidying but I need to a bit of both every day.

Support worker has booked to visit me next week. Let see what she thinks. The last one said I was a 1 on the hoarding scale which is bonkers. We sit on the sofas, have clear beds, clear floors. Nothing stacked to the ceiling, sons disability socail worker in and out. If I was a 1 the kids would be under child protection! Not sure why he said that? Possibly to make out I'd made amazing progress with him when in fact we just chatted. I find the hoarding scores really hard to use,as my clutter looks nothing like the pictures. But I'm a 4 on a bad day, 3 on a good day. Was probably a 5-6 before.

Trying to get rid of minium 20 toys a day now

Incessant level one is the mildest form of hoarding. I could be wrong but I don't think anyone's DC are being taken away for that. I've seen two sets of clutter scales ranging from 1-5 and 1-10. I find them to be largely bollocks because they only work for chaotic hoarders, with organized hoarding someone could be at level 4 on the 1-5 scale and there'd be barely anything obvious to notice and no pest control issues. So I wouldn't pay too much attention to it really.

For leggings I've found both Sainsbury's Tu and Joe Browns ones have lasted well.

Out goes one scruffy coat
Total is 2934

1 broken pen today, so not much, but I sorted a few bits for charity etc.

54 days until the end of the year so to make my total that’s about 10 items a day, every day. I can’t see how I would make it unless I attack and am totally ruthless with loads of different spaces. I definitely need to try though.

Indian I think your right, maybe he said I was a ten? Whatever the worst is. Socail workers ( children with disabilities team) have said to me I'm just cluttered and wouldn't* *call me a hoarder at all ( but I am as I have had disordered thinking on acquiring and getting rid to the point it impacts on how I live and my family live) there's a pile of toys in plastic tubs in the corner that takes a square metre Total, no pile is over two foot and that's the only noticeable pile. Kids room look completely normal ( if not insta ready). My bedroom could be a nine but I can walk all around my bed and the bed is always clear. But it's like a lorry on the way to a Oxfam shop has exploded in there.

The clutter scales are showing piles of papers and im thinking "hmm, I don't have neat piles of paper to the ceiling, it's 30 coats on the back of the dinning chairs, toys books kids stuff everywhere with no system and clothes hanging off doors everywhere. The psychiatrist running the course keeps,saying its not a literal scale with literal pictures, but thats when I think maybe the kids got their autism from me as I'm " no, my room hasn't got papers or piles everywhere on the floor" so there's some literal thinking problems. I wish I could share photos, you'd all be like "yes your a delusional ten" 🤣

Ten things out on Vinted, 2 pairs of pants Binned, 16 toys to go.

I asked a question if anyone can help thanks round wicker laundry basket lid only? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/5201791-round-wicker-laundry-basket-lid-only

One poster binned.
Total is 2935.

River I think you've no hope unless you can find one second hand. Laundry baskets are cheap so companies are t going to make spare parts there's be almost no call for it.

Incessant it sounds like the children's SW can't tell what's hoarding and what isn't, unless it looks like the ones on TV with goat trails everywhere and hoarding trash, that are really obvious. Lots of people even professional ones have no idea about hoarding.

Unless you've got those floor to ceiling stacks (fall hazard), pest control issues due to being unable to clean well enough or having rotten food etc hoarded (hygiene hazard) or you can't use room for intended purposes eg sleeping on sofa because you can't get into bedroom (neglect) then SW is going to call it a "lifestyle choice", they're not in the business of removing DC from parents if they can help it - too expensive for one thing!

I once joked with a SW that they'd call someone sleeping in the stairwell of their flats a lifestyle choice and say at least there's a roof over their head, say someone sleeping outside in the grounds of their home was a lifestyle choice and call it wild camping and tell someone sleeping in their Wheely bin it's an acceptable lifestyle choice so long as it wasn't bin day! Honestly, their bar for acceptable is low.

I'm more familiar with the 1-5 hoarding scale and things like using stairs for storage and having stuff piled in doorways so they can't be easily opened without moving things counts as level 4. Level 1 is the minimum and level 5 or 10 the worst. It could also have been your thought processes contributing towards it being a higher level and not just the volume of stuff. Someone could come in and gut a hoarders house leaving it like a minimalist basic hotel room, the person would still be a level-whatever hoarder, even though in that moment there's no clutter.

3 more pairs of holey socks binned, and 2 things listed on FB marketplace.

Oh, and I unsubscribed from a bunch of junk emails. It should be illegal the way they send you stuff like that! I'd been getting 3 or 4 emails from each of them every week!!!

@IncessantNameChanger it sounds like you’re doing well whatever scale you’re on. You’ve addressed that it’s your mindset of acquiring things and not getting rid of them that’s the issue and that’s the most important thing. I think you deserve a medal for having four kids, all the ehcp hassles, and decluttering. You’ll have met your target and I think you need to celebrate. Your target was to remove 2024 items and it looks like you’ll do it a month early. Your target wasn’t to have an Instagram house so don’t focus on what you haven’t done.

I haven’t done much decluttering myself - some knickers have gone, more of dd1s school work and a broken picture frame. I also threw out some nuts and seeds that had gone off in 2021 and half a packet of frozen chicken mince that had frost growing on it. I have done lots of gardening, mainly sweeping up leaves and scraping moss off my patio.

I know it sounds so silly but this basket was approx £31 and I like it and they're still similarly priced but I suppose I'll just have to spend the money 🤷🏽‍♀️ @IndianSummer78

Gah I'm so behind my 2024 target. All I've decluttered this week is a very old expired bag of almond flakes, a kids top and a big pile of kids drawings (which I always count as one). I'm at 1654 so painfully behind.

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures
2. DS2 paperwork: blue badge started
3. my British passport application - get on with this
4. garden generally tidied for end of summer - get DH on the case, must put bbq away
5. loads of scout badges onto blanket - found 1 more
6. DS1’s room: wardrobe, chair
7. DS1’s gaming, PC, nerf collections to go through and tidy away
8. bring down the wardrobe; DH & I failed on this, too heavy, need another adult
9. IKEA wardrobe for DD to order; sort her clothes, her wardrobe to my room for DH

Not quite outs yet:
Running leggings to go to a friend - remember to take to next Parkrun this weekend hopefully DONE AT LAST! ✅🎉
spare tap left from building works - bumped, last go
suitcase on FB - bumped last go
old duvets bagged up & donated to dog charity - waiting for collecting lady, need to chase again
curtains poles - bumped, last go

Out:
leggings finally!
1519+1=1520

Yay @LivingInaBuiltSite I'm so pleased you got rid of those leggings. Every time you post I've looked at them on the list and wondered when they would go!

I've passed on a massive bag of clothes on freecycle, trip to the tip and tidied out some corners. 1,439 year to date - nearly hit my target of 1,460 (365×4) and wondering whether I should be slightly more ambitious.

Think covid is striking again - have requested wfh on Monday so hoping I can use lunch break to do a bit of a listing session.
More Christmas ins.
1 pair of shoes out, 1 pair to sell, and 1pair set aside for younger dc.
Need to have a sort through uniform as well, but need to go to the loft and see if we have some stored up there. Thinking it would be best to store them separately from the general aged clothes.

So far today I've binned a sickly smelling body scrub, an old stretched hair-tie and a holey T-shirt.