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.

Hi @CherryogDog sounds like you've been busy.
I've been visiting the charity shop regularly.

We're planning new storage for the dining room and decluttering the kitchen and sideboard. So many glasses! The charity shop is getting most.

I've got anglo doorstep collections coming again tomorrow im disappointed ive only got four bags for them last time I think i had 8? Time before I had even more I need to pick up my pace a little

@Theunamedcat 4 is better than non.

This is a very good point and im thinking its stuff that's not in my home so all good?

4 bags is a lot

My upstairs is 99% decluttered, woo hoo!
Talking of sentimental stuff, I had some spare springy drawer dividers, and set out to organise my drawer of fleeces.
As I've been in the habit of dressing from the clothes horse it was still tidy from my last sort out.
When I moved from my last house I collected loads of small cardboard boxes from Lidl for packing. They were the ones that Pepito bird seed comes in.
Perfect size for books and all sorts of stuff, couldn't cram them full enough to make them too heavy.
I have huge regrets of moving for sentimental reasons.
I have six of the boxes in my drawers, just the perfect size for dividing my fleeces.
I could not bring myself to throw them away so they're still housing my fleeces.
I feel a bit silly writing that down lol!
Hope everyone is OK and making progress!

We've bought a new mattress. Weneed to swap it with the old one. This involves pulling the bed out from the wall to remove the spiders webs first then pulling out the four massive drawers out from underneath to tighten the frame.
I don't even know whats in the two drawers you can't into because they're blocked in by the bedside cabinets. Not sure the last time they were opened.
Wish me luck!

Oh my goodness I can't believe it's nearly a year later and my house is still a mess. I'm beginning to lose hope. A combination of health and work is what I'm blaming but I find it challenging getting rid of things.

Well done @CherryogDog

I decluttered a kitchen cupboard and cleaned it. We're repainting the kitchen doors and putting new handles on. Got rid of umpteen glass bowls and other stuff. Also got rid of 2 big bags of mine and dd2s clothes. He's away in the forces so was a good time to do it.

I'll tackle another kitchen cupboard Monday as working this weekend.

Keep going everyone 🙂

I've started decluttering downstairs, but it's at the very annoying stage of little bits and pieces that don't have a home yet. Boxes of charity stuff getting in my way. I've thrown stuff away, recycled loads of bits of paper, and taken stuff upstairs to where it belongs.

I have logged back into Mumsnet specifically to post on this thread, as I was excited to see that there were new replies!

I am pleased to report that the drawer dividers are still working for me, as above. Somehow just having one or two things in each space really helps me to keep it tidy. If only I could reproduce this elsewhere!

Just do one small area at a time. Don’t give up please!

Recent progress:

I worked with my DC to clear out their wardrobe. They don’t like doing it, but again the clothing rails were really helpful (we got everything out of the wardrobe and onto the rails) and by looking at just one category per day, we were able to eliminate a lot in quite a painless fashion. About a suitcase worth of outgrown clothing is now hanging on the rail in my office/spare room, waiting to be sent off to its new home!

I also gave in a package of my own winter clothes to a charity with which I am involved. I had identified the items during my grand clearout in the summer and decided to pack them up ready for when charities would be wanting winter clothes.

Might do a bit today as we have some visitors coming tomorrow.

I've been on this thread for a few months, just been re-reading it. I know I've made a lot of progress, but I'm a bit embarrassed about my lack of cleaning other than basic keeping the bathroom and kitchen cleanish.
Stuck in "can't clean because there's too much clutter" mode.
Although I did clean the top of my cooker and all the tiles behind it yesterday.
I decluttered all my cleaning products and threw away the ones I don't get on with.
I had 7 oven cleaners lurking at the back of a cupboard, 5 different limescale removers, boxes of Brillo pads etc.
I'm continuing in the kitchen today.

@BadSkiingMum that's good progress.

I agree keep going.

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 .
Im the same.
Nearly everyday when Dh comes home from work he jokes ' have your friends DPD and Amazon been round today?

Thank you for the encouragement! If you have a single insight or habit that got things moving for you would you mind sharing it? I need to go back to basics really.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5433066-your-best-decluttering-tips?page=3&reply=148085726

This is a good thread

I just think how much I may need it in the future? If it will be expensive to replace? Do I really like it enough?

Honestly once you start seeing tidy cupboards etc it's so satisfying
And easier to clean and sort.

We have TOO MUCH SHIT!

Has anyone listened to decluttering untangle podcasts? She's Heather an English single mum who's ND. I listened to a couple whilst doing the kitchen last night. Really good. She says they're aimed at the overwhelmed and people with ND. They're for anyone though.

I'm going to IKEA today. Just for some things for the kitchen cupboards ( new hinge etc) we're repainting and putting new handles on. I might get some new containers in brighter colours for utensils? And put the others in the charity bag of course. The new cupboards will be very dark blue.

I'm not at work until Thursday so plenty of time to get stuff done.

15th November it'll have been a year since I started this thread. Hopefully we've all had some success?

If it helps anyone, I have decided to set myself the Budget date as a deadline or target for a couple of things.

It’s around a month away and they are constantly talking about it on the news, so perhaps that will help?

Is anyone else up for a ‘Better by the Budget’ challenge?

Right, a little more progress in that I dropped off a parcel of DC clothes for the children’s clothing bank.

These little steps don’t feel like much but the parcel was roughly the same size as a drawer, so it has freed up that much space.

Better by the Budget Challenge: by the time Rachel Reeves sits down I want to have:

Made visible improvements in my spare-room office

Done three more sections of a very long work project.

Anyone else made any progress this week or last? @LushLemonTart @CherryogDog @CurlyhairedAssassin @ViciousCurrentBun @Xenia ?
Just tagging a few names that I recognise.