Sorting one thing a day

[Keffert]

My house feels like it’s got away from me a bit recently. I’ve decided to spend November trying to get it a bit more organised in the hope that it feels more under control by the time we put the Christmas decorations up. I’m going to try to go through one drawer/cupboard a day. Take everything out, clean the cupboard, put stuff back in a more organised way. Decluttering will hopefully be a side effect of this as I come across stuff that we no longer need but isn’t going to be the main focus this time.

Would anyone like to join me?

I’m going to start today with the fridge/freezer. It’s not overly full but it’s a mess and there are probably a few old condiments that can go as well as a few squashed grapes in the fruit box.

I’ve done the house now and I’ve listed quite a few things on eBay and Vinted, and taken stuff to the charity shop and the tip.
As good as it sounds, I have a garage and an attic with stuff in. The house was the easy bit. I’ll be braving the attic this weekend. It could take all winter 🙁and there are a lot of spiders up there!

I’ve been really crap at updating (mumsnet keeps failing to load on my phone) but been making inroads on the deceased parent’s paperwork. Every page needs reading as apparently this was a logical place to store money! I’ve removed 2 bags of wire hangers that had been stored for no reason! I’m being ruthless the bin or actual use.

Storage wardrobe (coats and shoes – only mine really) was successful; chucked a few items inc a pair of boots i have not worn for more than a year and which look pretty tatty. Also moved my summer handbags upstairs and moved a winter one down.

Also two pairs of sandals are on their final warning (tho tbf that has to last till next summer) and a pair of kitten heels I have worn about once – if I don’t wear those this week to work they are going.

I’ve made a start on removing things from the bedroom which we are decorating as well. 15 items have left, some in the bin others for eBay.
Will keep working on the bedroom for now, before I start on the kids rooms

Wow. So impressed the house is done, I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point (or not whilst I have children at home anyway!). I expect if the house is clear it will make some of the decisions in the attic/garage easier. Good luck in there and I hope you don’t come across too many spiders!

Oof that’s a big and time consuming job. Been doing the same here and working out what to keep/shred/tip takes up a lot of headspace alone. Good luck.

I’m going to do my bags and shoes today. Did coats not long ago and am still a bit sad that I got rid of a coat I loved (but it was a bit tight on the arms).

Sounds like a big job if you're decorating at the same time!

I tidied out my daughter’s kallax unit (8 drawers) the other day. While those things seem like a great idea, the boxes are so large that stuff just gets rammed in there and forgotten about! I last tidied it out this time last year, so this year was a pile of stuff she hasn’t used or seen in about a year, I still took out a full bin bag and half a bag of recyclable stuff! A lot of it was craft stuff, and some of it plastic nonsense, good to get it gone but I reckon Christmas will soon fill it back up again. However, we did find several crafty projects that she’s now completed - she (DD10) sat and made origami lights while I did all the hard work 😂

@Littlebassist my daughter also has kallax boxes full of craft stuff. Might do those with her tomorrow. We had a big clear out of the rest a year or so ago as she turned half of the unit into a Barbie house. She does loads of crafting which I love but then you end up with all the creations everywhere too! Also everyone knows she loves it so they all buy her stuff for birthdays/christmas but honestly there are only so many beads/pairs of scissors/sets of pens etc you can actually use!

Well done on the kallax @Littlebassist – I love it when you find a new project in your tidying!
I am finding this thread so helpful.
Decided to tackle the shelving unit in the study which is mostly full of my stuff – teaching books (I no longer work in school but I still tutor MFL and sometimes English) and lots of dictionaries and files.

Top shelf first – looks a lot better and I was able to add to my World of Books trade with GCSE history study guides (not needed - DS2 took this in 2019), duplicates of French study guides and (for some unknown reason probs related to DS2 losing the first one) a duplicate study guide for A Christmas Carol. Hopefully they will be useful to a year 11 :) Also binned some old old paperwork from assessments in 2020. Excellent.

Can I join....I've got a mountain of stuff to sort out. It's making me a little overwhelmed and depressed. Young children so it's like an explosion every day 🫠

@clary I feel there are lots of parallels between our houses and our areas that need sorting! Almost everywhere you tackle I think “oh I need to do that”. The difference is that most of the paperwork in our study is dh’s from his business but I definitely need to tidy my own shelves up. I’m really bad at knowing what to keep.

I’ve done my shoes which actually led to completely reorganising three shelves in my wardrobe and sorting the kids’ coats and shoes so ended up taking nearly 2 hours! Haven’t done the bags yet but that shouldn’t take long.

Welcome @MightyGoldBear . Just one area at a time! It’s definitely constant firefighting with young children!

And inevitably I find things that were sentimental and I get taken back to the moment of profound loss rather than grief. I need this space so much now that it has to be done. I’ve deliberately created a scenario that needs for this room to be sorted otherwise if there was no need it could easily stay like this for another three years.

Tackled second shelf today – which includes a big basket with loads of crap from my hobby – lots of random paperwork, some of which I want to keep but have also chucked some, and sorted some useful bits.

Also found a couple more GCSE revision guides; WoB not keen so I will offer them in the kitchen at work free to any takers – anyone with DC in year 10 or 11 may use them I guess.

Well done to all of those tackling one small thing at a time. Out TV unit has one giant drawer underneath it, I sorted that out on Saturday. Binned a non working PS3 and all of the games.

I mentioned to my friend that although all of my tidying is hidden away, I still feel calmer knowing it is done. No more dread of opening doors or drawers.

I'm falling a bit behind already!
Wed rearranged the sorted out food cupboard from Tues
Thurs and Fri - I got nothing done!
Sat was cleaning day upstairs so no decluttering but I refolding all the kids clothes in their cupboard. That was a mess at least tidied.
Sun I rearranged the loft - got rid of the rubbish and random things that didn't belong up there. Sorted some stuff out for the tip. Need to book a slot for motivation. Put all the to keep things on the sides so its easy to move around up there
Today - I WILL sort that over the top fridge cupboard out I've been trying to do for days lol

Edit to add - I did sort out the kids drawing draw Sunday too so that is another win!

Done the third shelf now – sorted all my (many many) MFL textbooks, found three more GCSE study guides (so they are out) and some more unwanted printouts. Looking a lot better now.

Yes, I'll join! We were going to move house, but decided to stay and vamp up our current home. So far it's involved decluttering, changing furniture and also putting in more storage. So far we have a lot more space and the house just feels so much better.

I put up a free standing shelving unit in the kitchen which meant we could have a chest freezer in the kitchen. Got a beautiful ikea laundry storage in the hallway, new toy shelves for our toddler in the lounge, and the spare bedroom has been completely refurbished. It's almost done and it will be an office and hobby/craft room. Very exciting!

We are also putting up a pergola outside the back door to create an outdoor room/kitchen/play area. We will be building a prep station and a place to put our pizza oven and BBQ.

Slightly lazy effort today – bottom two shelves of set of shelves in study just have DH's files on and no need to sort. However, I did redo the top three shelves, putting all my many many MFL textbooks on one shelf so I can see much better where a needed one is. Also cleared a small tray of old paperwork, binned some and filed the rest. All good.

Ooh like a real life love it or list it, exciting!

Sounds like good progress and sorting the kids’ clothes definitely counts.

I’ve also fallen behind the last couple of days. Sunday I attempted paperwork and dd’s craft box but neither of those had particularly satisfying results. Yesterday I worked all day and then had to do a big shop and then cook dinner and I am also ill so that took everything I had really. I did bin a broken charger cable though so I could claim to have sorted the drawer in the living room 😉

Today I’m mostly having a sofa day but will report back if I manage to get anything done

Sometimes I have to remind myself I did actually do things and that any small thing is better than nothing! I'd count putting the big shop away as a win - that is a mission in itself sometimes!!

I finally managed the over fridge cupboard last night! Whoop. Only one thing gone but at least cleaned and tidied.
And I got some more stuff on Vinted. Double bonus!

Not sure today what I will target when I get home - maybe the spices cupboard - I'm guessing alot in there can go haha.

@SJM1988 I think we’re always ‘doing’ aren’t we? Eg if I get a lunchbox out of the cupboard I straighten up the others in there, if I go for a wee I wipe over the sink or tidy something away in the bathroom. I’m always picking stuff up or wiping surfaces or tidying things almost without realising. So it’s easy to discount things we’ve done as nothing.

I’m starting to run out of cupboards to sort now (unless I start interfering in other peoples’ stuff which may not go down well!) and will have to start doing some of the neglected cleaning jobs which is much less appealing.

I need to do
The oven
The tops of high furniture like wardrobes and bookcases
Windows and window frames

and probably a whole host of other grotty areas I can’t currently think of!