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.

@BadSkiingMum that's brilliant. What are fees like now on eBay?

They have waived selling fees on clothing, probably due to competition from Vinted. But I think you still pay something?

I decided to stick with EBay rather than learn a whole new system, but I know others love Vinted.

@BadSkiingMum I'll try and list some stuff then. I've bought on Vinted.

I've had success selling on Gumtree. Not clothes though.

It sounds like you should keep the Brio. I am not sure it will ever really age and clearly has some very important memories attached to it.

A win last night, i started going through baby clothes. So far I have 3 bin bags full for charity. 1 bin bag full I am keeping, and another 3 bags still to sort through.

My plan is to keep one or two special outfits and use about 20 Babygro's to have two memory bears made.

Then charity everything else. Really I suppose as I have tons i should make up some bundles and sell. But I haven't much time and the charity shop will be able to make something from them.

Can I please crash your thread ? I need some tips and accountability. We moved house nearly 9 years ago to a much bigger house - didn’t declutter at all as the kids were small and the house was big.
Long story short I am so overwhelmed now with or and struggle to start .
This weekend we have to tackle DDs bedroom
as she is getting new furniture which means culling all the excess stuff in her room.
Please wish me luck and any advice welcome .

@holidayfever2024 my tip (and i am still learning) only touch each item once. Pick it up, decide, put it in its new forever home, or into a bag to go out. I have a nasty habit of making 'piles' of things to be sorted later, or to find a home for, or....well I just put off the final decision. That doesn't work.

I now empty everything into a big pile, freeing up the storage it was overflowing from. Then have bags, recycling, bin, charity each thing goes into its rightful place as a keeper, or one of the bags. Those bags go out the same week to the bin, the tip or the charity. If the don't go immediately, the content creeps back!

Good luck.

I think it can be helpful to tackle ‘type of thing’ rather than an area. Because the giving away and disposal routes are going to be similar. So I am on a ‘clothing and textile’ riff at the moment, as you can probably tell from my posts.

I'm crawling in the slow lane, once my study room is finished I'll be able to sort through and tidy away all my books and paper work.
Currently having a minor clothes cull, those that didn't go on the first purge I'm wearing and if they're not comfy, or not practical they're in the charity pile.

@holidayfever2024 welcome and good luck. Keep posting your progress.

We're away at the moment but have got rid of some plastic flasks before going. We have nice silver ones for walking and trips away. You only need so many flasks.

Back on it Monday as back Fri and working all weekend.

It's good to get rid straight away. I agree about it creeping back in if you don't.

We have a room with inherited things from both sets of parents, an aunt and all our kids kiddy stuff.
Its about 8m square. It’s supposed to be our kitchen one day

Then another room that should be a bedroom ( or possibly a bathroom) full of Uni stuff from 30 plus years ago and more books, mags and clothes [ I think as haven’t looked in four years ]

Then a room with a few boxes stacked up, all books.
Then a small hallway crammed to the ceiling full length with clothes, duvets and bedding and probably other fabric based stuff. Plus a few A0 portfolios

Then a room between my sons bedrooms which has …..tbh I’m not sure what but lots of black bin bags with stuff and suitcases.

The cellar has about 100 minimum boxes of glassware because my dh is obsessed with antique glass. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to touch though. I can only dream about that one

Out of all of that I’d like a kitchen and a bathroom. Plus an en-suite between my kids bedrooms for them.
Id also like to find my clothes as I’ve been wearing just about the same few clothes since we bought this house in 2019

So YES OP I’m joining in this one if it kills me………

I’m with you on this.
We did the same.
Moved house, never threw anything away and because the house is bigger never bothered. the house needs masses of work we can’t face many areas as there’s so much stuff.

So everyone
How are you getting motivated ?
Do you take a week from life an declutter ?
Or 10 minutes when you have it ?

How many cups of coffee do you need to psych yourself up ?!

@APocketFullOfRye I won't lie that doesn't sound like living. What do you mean you don't have a bathroom or kitchen? Or do you mean you want extra?
What's the plan with the glass? No one will want to inherit it? Does he even ever see it?

I know it sounds bad doesn’t it.

The bathroom ( we have one ) has to move location as one of our sons has to walk through it to get to his bedroom. We intend to move it to the room adjacent …….which is currently full up off stuff.

We have a kitchen. Very small and the original owners did not get listed building consent to put it in the current location. We have to move it to the original 15th century kitchen location ……which is full of stuff.

The glassware is all antique and some is museum quality, rare and expensive.

Its my dhs hobby. We need to sort out some of the less special stuff to reduce the volume but it’s really not a big deal as we don’t need the cellar for wine anyway ……id like the volume ( dh on board with this ) to reduce by half though.

Originally I thought we’ll take a month off and attack the kitchen issue but it’s so daunting we’ve been saying that since Covid. Now. Reading online and this thread I’ve realised the only way to tackle this nightmare is in tiny bits.

Thanks for the welcome and to you @Hoolahoophop tomorrow is day 1 so I will be checking in for more tips !

Ok we can do this , I think I just need to get to a tipping point where I can see progress and it will all feel easier . It’s so mentally draining !
I have the week off work next week so I am telling myself it’s now or never .

Agree.
It’s starting isn’t it.
Tomorrow is the day as tbh there’s a leak in the kitchen ceiling now so I’m forced to get it cleared or everything I may want to keep gets ruined.

It’s just questions like What to do with things like my own pram rescued from my parents house that will be hard.

@APocketFullOfRye
I do wonder if you might benefit from getting in a professional decluttering person to help you and work with you? Perhaps on the kitchen room or the black bags room.

I did it myself once (a much smaller area but very emotional stuff) and it was really helpful in pushing through and getting started.

How does it work with the professional declutterers? For me, the biggest stumbling block is my emotions (as Marie Kondo said, fear of letting go of the past or fear of the future), and someone holding up my clothes and asking if I want to keep or get rid probably wouldn't help.
But I would like someone to come along and organise my wardrobe so everything's got a place and making it simple to put everything away.

I totally understand the overwhelming feeling. It freezes you. Once you get going it gets better.

I try to think in terms of if there was a natural disaster what would I really care about losing? What's irreplaceable? I can replace clothes but realistically I don't need masses. Dh was surprised to see how many boxes I'd cleared in our loft room. Most was clothes. I'd love a capsule wardrobe. I need hiking clothes and some for work and socialising.

Good luck everyone. Keep posting as it's helpful to keep a record of our achievements.

That’s good advice.🥰
Ill need to find someone that isn’t scared of really big spiders. I relay have no idea why the spiders are so big here ( really thick legs 😳 )

I did one hour last night after posting here. Have got rid of the contents of a shelving unit which just had old paint pots, plastic plant pots and stuff I had forgotten existed…..nothing memorable then. There must have been hundreds of old packets of veg seeds with some going back to 2009 😱.

@APocketFullOfRye well done on starting 👏 I hope you can keep on getting rid of stuff.

I have motivation!
Everything in my spare room is in my bedroom, the pile of charity bric-a-brac (that's been moved from pillar to post since lockdown) is in my bedroom, pile of jumble in the bathroom.
I've looked at it and decided I'm keeping very little of it.
I've pulled my carpet up, started washing the walls and called it a day for now.

@CherryogDog well done! I think the sunshine is helping.

@LushLemonTart yes the sun definitely helps.
How's your day been?