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.

I managed to keep a couple of my own promises: 😁

A very odd garden container went to someone on FB marketplace. No luck on a couple of plants, but they are an unpopular variety so will be going to compost.

My big achievement was that I took a whole day and cleared out my wardrobe!

I took almost everything out and it helped hugely that I had a couple of clothing rails on which to hang items as an interim measure. I also took a broadly 'Marie Kondo' approach and tried on groups of items together. So, for example, I tried on all my summer tops in one go and compared like with like.

I managed to weed out over 50 items and keep admiring my own drawers, in a manner of speaking!

You have done so much better than me. I have managed to sort out an underwear drawer and my sock drawer! I have had the week off to, which makes it even more disgraceful! Must do better!

@BadSkiingMum wow massive well done.

@Justhere65 we'll get there. I have to be ruthless with clothes. It isn't easy.

Anyone still around?

Just got rid of six boxes of books and clothes etc. They went to the charity shop.
It's made a big dent.

Oh well done @LushLemonTart! Thankfully taking a temporary break from decluttering by virtue of being away from home, but I did manage to deliver yet more uniform to the school shop before we left…😎

@BadSkiingMum that's good you'll have helped someone out.

Some shoes I put in the charity shop were decent and new. I just cba selling them. Quite a lot of the stuff could be sold. But it would jus sit there no doubt. Until I got round to it.

Feels better to see the space.

I wasn’t entirely self-less as our school shop runs on the basis that you can either sell or donate items, so I sent a mixture. But I tend to do a mixture of selling and giving anyway.

Definitely planning some decluttering in September…

I have been having odd thoughts of farming a lot of stuff off to a storage unit, then dealing with it all from there. Or is that just madness taking hold?

I personally think storing is just delaying. Up to you though?

You still helped people get cheaper uniform

Hi everyone.
I've not done much. I've had flu again and I'm struggling with energy levels.
Hope you're all well.

@CherryogDog sorry to hear that. You'll be wiped out.

Totally, I never attempt decluttering when feeling less than 100%.

My FIL died 3 weeks ago. We started decluttering when he went into hospital as we were staying near him so had mornings free. 1.3 tonnes of rubbish went to the tip from 3 garages plus a load of stuff for auction. There was even a railway line the length of the garage.
I have enough bulldog clips to last me a lifetime and elastoplaststs coming out my ears. He was very untidy and if he couldn't find something he bought more.
We've done a lot in the last few weeks and will keep going but it's really incentivised me to do my own house. I have stuff from my son and my husband moved his stuff in when he sold his house to be with me.

FIL had back statements back to the 1980s.

@Musicaltheatremum yikes that's a lot of work and stress. That's how we got motivated to do ours. Although mil didn't have rubbish or too many of each thing. It was still stressful.

We’ve finally decorated DS’s old room after 6 months as it’s taken this long for him to almost clear his stuff. One big bag of nearly new clothes gone to charity, bed and desk gone, putting all coats in the now empty wardrobe, although DH wanted to put his clothes in there, he already has 2 wardrobes full of clothes, but said yesterday he needs to sort out his clothes. We shredded 2 box files of DS’s old bank statements, it’s quite sad as they were from when he first had a bank account at 16 to 25, I also found some old bank statements of ours from 2020/21 so have shredded these, thank goodness we don’t get paper ones any more. We also got rid of big garden table as it’s not been used for many years and DH took about 10 tins of old paint to the tip. I tried to sort out my odd socks pile and gave up, I am now going to just bin a few each week. DH found my maternity clothes in the loft, funny that the elastic in them is just like new, so after 28 years they’ve gone to the charity shop.

@Mindymomo that sounds quite emotional. Will he come to stay anytime? My dss are adults and still come to stay.

I got rid of more clothes yesterday. I'm packing to go on hols and coming across things I don't love. Although I was looking for some shoes I think I gave to the charity shop and actually need 🙈

Off sick from work with a virus. Trying to sort bookcases while sat on the floor. I can do 10 mins at a time. Fortunately a local charity are asking for books and dh is happy to drop them off. Hoping to shift at least a hundred. It would be nice to have all my books the right way up rather than rammed on top of each other!

87 books. Most of them massive hardback encyclopedia type books.
And 5 bags of craft supplies for the local guide unit dd volunteers with.
Spare room looks a bit better now .

Got a few days holiday from work, so we're tackling the loft which hasn't been done in a decade. A car full of just empty boxes from electrical appliances went to recycling yesterday.

We're trying to get ready to put out house on the market, so hoping that will give DH the impetus to get it sorted. A lot of it is his stuff from before we met and stuff that he moved when he was clearing our his Mum's house. He's sent a lot of stuff to a storage unit, so I feel stressed knowing that there's all that to deal with once we have the loft under control!

Well done @Rowgtfc72 . Especially when you're unwell.

Good luck @hididdlyho . I don't envy you!

No he and gf only live 2 minutes away and have a 2 bedroom flat, when the gf stayed here they slept in tiny box room in single bed. DH has gone a bit mad this week, he’s carrying on decluttering, he’s cleared our conservatory (there’s 3 boxes of dog toys) plus another in lounge, we sorted them out. I’ve been brutal and threw away a bag of odd socks. Maybe we will start on kitchen next, my bottom cupboards are crammed full of stuff and really need a clear out.

So good when you can be brutal

I got back onto it after returning from holiday and took the opportunity to simultaneously clear out my bathroom cupboard and my bedroom hair/makeup drawers. I am fairly low maintenance so don’t even have all that much toiletries stuff, but even so I managed to fill half of our recycling bin (about the size of a freestanding kitchen bin) with worn-out or unwanted products. I then organised the drawers using ‘Stackzy’ dividers, which are really helpful. Each item then sits in its own little nest. The bathroom cupboard items are in categorised baskets. I had already started that system but hadn’t quite taken it to completion.

I have come to the conclusion that it really does pay dividends to do similar areas together. Plus investing in the right storage items does make a difference, especially if it’s an area that gets a lot of usage or you find it difficult to keep it tidy.

I have posted a picture below just because ‘I CAN’! Honestly, they were like my drawers of shame before…🤗

Today’s job is the lower shelf of my bedside table. It would be useful to put my phone there when charging and, when I cleared off the items earlier, it had a magazine from January 2020 ffs. We are not even living in the same world anymore!

Sound fab @BadSkiingMum .

I'm at the end of my holiday now. Didn't sleep well as the ship was rocking. But off work until Thursday so after some rest I'll be back on it.

Hi all, hope you're all well and not drowning in your decluttering.
I've been struggling with constant flu/covid, so got really behind with everything.
My music room/study is about 95% finished, need to buy a few more shelves for my cabinets, but I'm really pleased with how it's looking.
I put aside some boxes of linen and curtains for my son, but with various problems his visit has been postponed, so I've got that in the corner of my bedroom. I had to clear the corner out first, and was pleasantly surprised by most of it being recycling and rubbish.
Current project is another wardrobe whittle and tidy up.
The extending drawer dividers that I bought for my socks were too long for my sock drawer, so I've used them for my jumpers and leggings.
Hoping to clear enough wardrobe space for my "clean" coats, ie not dogwalking/horsey coats.
Then my last upstairs category will be paperwork filing, before starting the downstairs sort out.
Have a good day everyone, whatever you're doing!