Is anyone just starting to declutter? Or hasn't yet.

[LushLemonTart]

I know there's lots of decluttering threads but I'm just starting (again) but this time I mean business.
What's inspired you to declutter now? Mine is clearing out an elderly relative's home and realising I don't want dcs to ever have that much stuff to clear. Plus it's quite depressing having too much stuff.
Dh and I travel a lot,mainly uk, and you realise you need very little to get on in life.

I'm not going minimalist although can see the appeal.

Care to join? I won't be counting items but I will list as much as possible. I should really try and sell some stuff but cba.

Well I haven't even started. I have a head cold so that's my excuse.

If no one else joins I might keep posting anyway to log my lack of progress.

I've been thinking of decluttering but just on Mumsnet instead. I think I might write a list instead....it's a start. 😩

I would love to join you please! I just got a lovely new bed with 4 underbed drawers. I'm determined not to fill them with rubbish and I want to do a general clearout.

I really do resonate with what you said about house clearance- I recently said to DH that I don't want our teenager (only child) to inherit a house full of rubbish. Plus I have a progressive disease and may not always have the energy and mobility to sort things out. So it's time to bite the bullet.

Yay I'm not alone 😀

Lists are a good idea @Musicaltheatremum

@Jabtastic sorry to hear about your illness. How old is your teen? Can they help? I know it's not always easy getting them to.

I’m similar to you in my motivation. Just cleared out an elderly relative’s house.
nothing really thrown away, complete disorder which I don’t want our DC to have to deal with.
the local Charity shop staff know me by now…

@IsawwhatIsaw the charity shops got some really good stuff. Some of the ornaments were very expensive when bought. It's just stuff though.

Yep I feel the same, don't want my DC's to have to clear my many years of shit

I have curtains and bedding going back years, I found that Dunelm took stuff like this (charity bags won't) so I've taken three bags and have a couple more waiting

I'm aiming to declutter over the coming weeks. We seem to have accumulated a ridiculous amount over the past few years and every cupboard/wardrobe/drawer is crammed full of stuff. We're hoping to move house next year so I want to get rid of as much as I can now so that when we come to pack up the house I'm not having to either pack up stuff we don't want or need, or alternatively sort stuff by what we're keeping and what we're not. It feels like a huge task at the moment but I guess if I work methodically room by room (as opposed to my usual tactic of scuttling between rooms and doing a little bit here and there) then it won't take that long. The loft, however, is an entirely different matter 😬

Tastes have changed. These ornaments aren’t popular any more. But also as I posted elsewhere, I found diaries and paperwork that I can’t now unread.

I would like to join. Will be moving house in the next four to six weeks and don't want to bring clutter into the beautiful new home. Have also been helping elderly relatives with decluttering...Am away for a work trip at the moment but when I get back at, I will put the audio book of 'Decluttering at the speed of life' on and pick a corner to start in.

Good luck everyone. I'm going away for couple of nights but when I'm back I'm tackling the back bedroom. One room at a time.

@IsawwhatIsaw sorry to hear about the letters and diaries. Must have been a shock.

@SiriusTheCatStar I was supposed to be moving but that's on the backburner and may never happen now. I was devastated at first but am coming to terms with it and trying to make this home more appealing. Friends love my home and it's the meeting place. It's the street that can sometimes get awful tenants. We've bought. I hope you'll be very happy in your new home. It's so important to love where you live.

@BobTheBobcatsBob good luck with your decluttering. Moving is such a good motivator.

@Oldraver I'm surprised charity shops won't take them? I thought they weighed them in if they can't sell them?

Also, I have been renting a storage container and the rental will increase next month - I need to empty it out and save ££££

Thanks @LushLemonTart I would really love it if my new home could become a meeting place for friends like yours is. This is a good opportunity to deal with clutter and clutter forming habits that have made it very difficult for me to keep my house clean and welcoming. Also hoping to have family round at Christmas (trying to keep their expectations low!).

Watching with interest as I definitely need to do some pre-Christmas decluttering.

I brought a box downstairs yesterday - half filled with miscellaneous items from when we sanded the floors a few years back. My DH has complained about it a few times so I have brought it down in order to force ourselves to go through it!

I need to do lots of decluttering! Hoping that joining you all will keep me honest...
Top of my list is many little bags of old toiletries cosmetics and medicines
And clothes clothes clothes

Maybe not de-cluttering per se, but I am taking voluntary redundancy at the end of the month and planning to do some proper cleaning (not just the bits you see!) and a bit of general sorting...

Alright, I have taken the drastic step of emptying the box out onto the kitchen floor and breaking up the box for recycling. So at least it’s not going back in there!

When my kids had grown up and the mortgage was paid off , I kind of went crazy as I now had money to spend on my self . I have wardrobes and drawers and Jewellery boxes crammed with stuff .My mantra now is buy less buy better . I'm having a major clear out soon .

@BadSkiingMum yay well done! Keep posting your progress.

@SiriusTheCatStar I hope you can get your new home to feel like that. Ours has more of a cottage feel even though it's a terrace. The dining room is a bit mixed up though. What are the hardest things to part with?

Welcome everyone else. We can do this. It's only stuff. We'll feel more relaxed with less of it.

@PinkribbonBonnBonn are you going to sell some of it?

Like the OP I've sadly had arrange probate and house sale for an elderly relative who had lived in the same home for over 50yrs - that's a lot of "stuff" - including duplicates and triplicates of items inherited from their own parents, which was their way of holding on to earlier memories I suppose. When I'd finished I had a big declutter and admin reorg of my own home as I'd never want the DC to have to go through a similar upheaval and mess when grieving.

To prep for xmas we've been eating up odd meals for the last week or so and I'm planning an exciting and scintillating evening later defrosting and tidying the freezer ready for all the xmas goodies!

@Whohasnickedthesellotape well done. I hope I get to that stage on the next few months 🙏

Joining in. I cleared out one small bedside table drawer and threw away a small bin load of old pens, bits of paper, old medication, empty containers, old leads that don’t work. I’ve still got bits of broken jewellery that either needs repairing or selling. I am doing well with old books, I had loads on top of my wardrobes, but now down to about 25. I take some to charity shops and some to our local NT garden, they are really grateful for them, only trouble is I tend to buy as many back.

I found that putting 80s disco music on helped motivate me tackling a tricky declutter - I could dance with binbags out to the bin and don't care what the neighbours thought!

I moved house in March and because I work full time ended up throwing a lot of stuff in the spare room so that the rest of the house was clutter-free. But since then I've accumulated some more stuff (my old stuff that I was storing at my parents while I lived abroad) and so the whole flat needs an overhaul now as the extras stuff has ended up in the hall cupboards, my bedroom, etc. I'm going to do it incrementally, with the idea of seeing what I can put in eBay and then anything that doesn't sell can go to the charity shop.

Thanks for starting this thread - hopefully we can all spur one another on! I'm going to tackle my bedroom this week, starting tomorrow night as I'm working this evening at an event.