CLUTTER!!!

[NewMum0512]

Hi all,

My house is so overwhelmed with "stuff" and I can't live like this anymore.

I've tried tips like start small do a cupboard at a time etc but I often get lost down rabbit holes and it just ends up making more of a mess than getting rid of any of the clutter. I also find it really hard to know what I should throw out and what I should keep in case I never need any given item in the future.

How do you keep on top of clutter and do you have any help, advice or tips for me trying to get on top of it all?

I would love someone to come and blitz my house, even offering them 50% of anything they sell etc, I'm just so lost as to where and how to start!

If you haven’t used it for 6 months get rid of it. End of. Be ruthless.

Also I end up getting rid of so much stuff I can’t be arsed to sell it so I just give the lot to charity / put it in the bin. Trying to sell it just gets overwhelming.

We've just started. It feels so good to get rid of things!!! We are doing one area a day at the weekend. The first thing we did was the kids toy chest and feels amazing and for the first time in months the kid has played with everything in the box, and has actually been entertained by her toys because she's not overwhelmed.

I read somewhere that if you can easily replace it or can see yourself doing without it, get rid of it. Imagine you have to pay £20 for every item you keep. Would you pay £20 to keep that item or keep the £20?

@OchAyeTheN00 I agree with this. Selling it is just too much admin. I've also started donating, luckily there's a charity shop on the way to childcare so it gets dropped there on the way back. Anything not good enough for charity has to go in the bin.

Oh also I think the hardest thing is getting rid of things that were gifts. But remember, would the person who gave you that want you to be overwhelmed by it amidst all the other stuff? The act of giving it was where all the love was. Hanging on to it or throwing it away doesn't change that.

I’ve been watching the minimal mom on YouTube, and Cas from clutterbug. I like them both! My house is still completely overrun with crap but they’re helping to change my mindset over “stuff”.

Forget about keeping stuff "in case you need it" and selling stuff. Get rid. I'm good at it and I love it. I do have lots of belongings but i KNOW I want them

This.

I honestly never get around to the faff of selling stuff.

I take clothes and shoes to the charity skips dotted around supermarket car parks and arrange a pickup for other stuff.

If it's sentimental, take a photo or a small video.

Doing this at the moment as decluttering hundreds of old boring home videos from the 1980's/1990's.

Zero interest in watching some randomer get married, so take a small photo or video of cute, related bridesmaids and then chuck away 📹😁

I am a decluttering maniac to be fair, it's my happy place.

Start with a pain point. For example, you might think that the area around the front door is a pain . It takes too long to find things and get out the door- shoes everywhere, loads of coats, mail both opened and unopened, bags of stuff to be returned or unpacked in the house.
So grab a donate box and a bin bag and look through whats there. You might find some really obvious rubbish and donations, like outgrown coats. Then look at what else is there. A hairbrush that belongs in the bathroom? Go put it there. A clothing return? Check receipt is in the bag and go put it in front seat of your car now. NO PILES that you have to deal with later. When you run out of time you just need to put the donate box and rubbish bags away.

Arm yourself with two bags. One is for rubbish and the other is for donations to charity. Pick something up. You have three choices: in the rubbish bag, in the donation bag, or put it away where it belongs. Pick up the next thing, and do the same. Carry on for 10 minutes, then go and put the kettle on. While it boils, take the rubbish bag out to the bin and empty it, and put the donation bag either in your car or by the door to take to the charity shop next time you go out.

Make your drink, sit down and drink it. Job done for the day. Tomorrow, do the same thing.

I’m the same as you. Get caught up in the money it cost so I should sell it or who gave it to me etc.

I have noticed lately that the cupboards and drawers are full and clutter is starting to overspill and make piles nearby. Yesterday we cleared a pile we had accumulated and I keep walking past the empty space now and loving it! It’s my motivation! Going to do another area next weekend and a tip run whilst I’m inspired.

so id say do a corner / area / drawer and hopefully you’ll be motivated to keep going after that. We are going to do the couple of overspill areas so it looks neat again and then tackle the hidden spots like the drawers and cupboards once the overspill has gone.

The most important thing is to get stuff actually out of the house once you've sorted it out. You need to do it straight away or it will sit there causing just as much clutter as it did before you started, and if it is gone, then you won't be tempted to go through it again and take stuff out!

The 20 rule
If you can replace for under £20 and not using now or likely to use in foreseeable future, then just get rid
Also donate to charity and feel you are doing your "bit" to help others

I’m exactly the same OP. I keep everything ‘just in case’. I’m getting rid of a chest of drawers at the moment so I’m trying to be ruthless but it’s hard. I emptied one drawer at a time and threw everything away I’d forgotten I had. I can’t need it if I’d forgotten about it. I like the idea of the three bags which the previous poster suggested. I might ask myself would I mind giving this item to someone who needed it more. I hate all the clutter so I need to toughen up.

I really struggle with clutter, particularly since downsizing. I have read a few books and the only one which has helped is Marie Kondo, particularly when she talks about cutting emotional bonds, thanking things for their part in your life and saying farewell. It feels silly but it really helped me... I don't agree with everything she says, but she is very practical.

Her main idea (which is tough for me due to spacd constraints) is to work by categories not areas, so do all clothes together, all cutlery, all photos etc rather than kitchen/bedroom/sittingroom.

Oh this is quite a cool idea, might give it a go given going room by room or cupboard by cupboard isn’t really working for me at the minute! If only she had a list of things to work through so i could tick it off as i went!

She does! One of her books (‘Spark Joy’ by Marie Kondo) is a practical guide and tells you the order to go through - you might be able to get it from the library/BorrowBox.

I have just cleaned out 30 bottles plastic from the family bathroom and binned 3 black sacks. I’m doing one room a week. But being ruthless - totally ruthless. I have to as we are moving in March. 😱

I think declutterring is made more difficult by the need to recycle... paper/glass/metal/old clothes for fabric recycling . It would be easier if one had a charity bag and then a big rubbish bag that absolutely everything else could go into.

I do the same. Learnt that from The Minimalists I think.
I'm quite ruthless. I don't buy much and wear clothes till they are worn out. I love having a (almost) clutter free home.
'Things' aren't important to me really. I try to have as few of them as possible!

This has really helped me so posting in case it might help others.

We have a local Facebook page called-

(Name of town) in need.

It is such a great way of passing on things charity shops might not take and you don't have to leave your house and things go really quickly.

No one died from daily 10 minutes clog clearing.

Put the bag outside the house when you’re done.

Don’t be distracted by thoughts of selling - charity it or bin, but once you’ve bagged it it doesn’t stay inside.

Why not have the Marta ‘see it, bin it’

Even if it’s in a draw, on a shelf, you rifle through a lot of your house on a daily basis.

clothes draw, bathroom cupboard, wardrobe, and just see what catches your eye and bin in.

once you start you can move on to other ones.

We did this last year on a 20 minuets a day - literally that. 20 mins will clear a draw or collect rubbish or declutter part of the garage etc.

Works wonders.

Do you have children? Imagine them having to deal with it after you die. And then just get rid of it. We all need a lot less stuff than we have.

These tips are brilliant! What I struggle with is what to do with things like old bedding,, towels and underwear? Stuff that is not going to be of use anymore but feels wrong to throw in the bin somehow