Decluttering Thread 12

[TidyClutterIsStillClutter]

Whatever your speed or method, whether it’s a few shelves, a couple of boxes or entire attics, rooms, or garages, come here and share both your successes and your struggles. There’s support and commiserations, and lots of good ideas.

I dropped off my boot full of charity shop bits before Christmas and we managed to get mainly sorted for Christmas. The end of our room is still a mess and I need to sort and put away all the Xmas presents but life has been a bit disrupted the last week or so.

DM has been in hospital all over over Christmas and we lost her last night rather suddenly.

I need to get the house sorted and stay on top of the housework /clutter and fleas! Ready for the funeral incase family need to stay. My Ddad will also need a lot of support so my challenge for 2026 is to stop procrastinating and get things done so I can be more present for family (not always worried about how the house looks). As I think my spare time will be more limited especially for the early part of the year.

Welcome bones (I feel ya with the username)

Sorry for your loss hobbies 😟

One pair of tatty gloves into recycling .
One empty box the size of a phone that was housing...a micro SD card.
Total is 4219

Happy New Year all declutterers!

I'm sorry for you loss @toomanyhobbies That's very sad, particularly around the holidays.

I did reach my "1 decent item a day decluttered" challenge yesterday but forgot to post! My day 364 was a t-shirt, and then yesterday I amalgamated 2 not-quite-full photo albums and got rid of some old blurry/bad photos as well as one album. Very pleased, and somehow fitting for day 365.

Yes, I need some kind of challenge but I don't have enough rooms/spaces in our small house to get through the year, and I don't think I have enough for 2026 items. I did that in the 23 and 24 and I don't have a huge amount of excess, some pockets yes (like books and sentimental items, but Im not too worried about those), so it's largely maintaining the space with a growing child and things wearing out/breaking/interests changing.

Wow I’ve somehow missed two whole threads 🫣
I don’t think I’ve posted since the summer so will try and do my count from a list I’ve been trying to keep. I don’t think I’ll have made it to 2025 items though!

happy new decluttering year :)

Hoping to declutter heavily in 2026, I’ve tried Kon Marie method before with some success but in never do it fully as there is never enough of a block of time with my kids. Thinking of looking at other methods.

Happy New Year everyone! I'm back and aiming to get rid of 2026 things this year. How did you get on @IncessantNameChanger ?
Well done @Pigtailsandall. And welcome newbies!

Outs
Charity shop: candle, 7 plastic toys, jumper, 3 stockings, apron, 2 bookmarks, 2 pens, 5 hair accessories, mug, 2 facemasks, handcream, 2 lip balms, earrings, 2 christmas charms, 4x placemats, gift bag

Bin / recycling: 3x pairs holey socks

Total: 39

Happy New Year to everyone. Just joining on the 1st of January. As always I have so much stuff in the house!
Just done a big clear out in my youngest sons room yesterday. A few things to sell on marketplace which is obviously quite time consuming but too good for throwing and no cousins the right age for passing on.
Was about 4 hours of work doing his bedroom.
Just done a cupboard of drawers from the living room this morning not sure if will get more done today but can now close the drawers properly so that's something.
Hope everyone is starting the year with a good clean!

New to thread.

I've boxed up 35 books and DVDs and hopefully will receive over £20 for them. So that's week 1 done.

Downside, we're clearing a rental property and there are hundreds of items of children's clothing which I can't bear to throw, I'll have to sort and donate/sell.

Happy New Year folks! DH is braving DD17’s room later - he may never emerge lol 😂 She’s away for New Year, otherwise he wouldn’t be allowed in. There’s a basketful of her clothes at the top of the stairs. I’ve been asking her to sort through them for ages (pretty sure they’re to go on Vinted, chuck or take to the charity shop). I still have a lot of bags for life in our room. Working til 4 so can tackle the contents when I get home & I might make a start on the kitchen cupboards. Sold a Seasalt short mac, 5 bras & a teddy bear backpack. Put a few more odds & sods in the charity shop bag.

@toomanyhobbies I’m so sorry for your loss. Please be kind with yourself in terms of getting on top of housework at the moment. In my experience what has happened doesn’t hit home for the first 24/48 hours so please don’t pull everything out and start sorting a massive amount. Xx

I’ve added up my list - not sure how much I’ve forgotten to write down. I think I last posted around July when I had 961 items gone so far.

since then I’ve got rid of:
377 items on vinted
5 items given to sister in law for baby
31 broken toys to tip/kids items not donatable
16 large items to tip such as car seats & furniture
159 items donated to charity
27 teddies donated to a local fundraiser
10 large items sold on marketplace such as huge toys, garden toys, toy boxes etc
2 items on eBay (this is definitely wrong but I can’t be bothered to go back through both accounts

total for year is 1588
quite happy with that but it felt more. I don’t count anything in a pile, anything for general waste, recycling etc so that’s probably why I feel like it should be higher.

looking forward to getting rid of more this year and already have some Vinted sales to start the year. No one should have the level of stuff I have in this house, it’s ridiculous. But I’ve discovered Haul this year so no end of crap has come in over the last couple of months.

Outs in 2026

one dress

total outs 😂 = 1

Good to be starting the new year with positive mindset. The house looks like it’s been hit by a Christmas bomb!

Welcome newcomers!

Today’s efforts have been mostly digital.

12 email unsubscribe
4 deleted apps
2 finished up cosmetics
1 roll wrapping paper finished - I’m counting this because I’ve been trying to use paper up and avoiding buying more.

2026 total - 19

happy new year everyone, just a little 2025 reflection, my house is probably tidier and cleaner than its ever been at the moment, part of that has been getting a cleaner in for a few hours once a week, but the decluttering has also been a huge help. Its still quite daunting to see how much is still to go though, maybe 2026 will be the year everything in my house has a home?

I'm tackling the office today so its nice and tidy ready for work to start again on Monday.

I hear you @PissedOffNeighbour22 - I’m considering it a huge achievement that I haven’t added to the stuff in our house following the Christmas threads which normally ends up with “stocking up the present drawer” and not having the actual presents I need for people.

Well done everyone who has started today well, and good luck to all of us. I need some serious ooomph behind me….!

Actually @LivingDeadGirlUK great idea - back to school (work) is a good way to motivate me too!

My husband was a bit confused as to why I decided to choose today of all days to tidy/declutter a bit of the living room. I was getting annoyed with looking at it so have booked a tip run for Sunday to motivate myself 🙈

We have a few electronic items to dispose of and some random items to take to the charity shop.

Just got the skiing gear down from the loft. Lots of excess put on Vinted.

A small thing, but I bought a few of these little storage trays for our medicine cabinet, and sorted it out. It is so much clearer and nothing is falling out on me! And anything which doesn’t fit needs using up or to go in the bin.

Often more storage is just an excuse for more stuff, but these have solved an actual problem I have.

https://www.johnlewis.com/smartstore-compact-xs-storage-container-0-6l-clear/p112806924?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&s_share=jlappios_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5LkNvcHlUb1Bhc3RlYm9hcmQ=

I’ve bought some stacking storage boxes with “ windows” so you can easily see what’s inside. Currently taking up space on the kitchen table lol 😂

Happy New Year to you all. I’m aiming for a little each day, as I tend to go ‘all-in’ and then burnout, so will try to breakdown bigger tasks into smaller steps.

Today, I emptied out 18 bottles of contact lens solution and six lens cases, and recycled all the packaging. I now have a shelf in the bathroom cabinet to put the lovely Liz Earle products I was gifted at Christmas.

Always the way! No doubt they will be tidied away once they finally annoy you.. or you have guests coming over lol.

I’ve done well today, cleared two drawers and 2 cupboards in the kitchen, have a bin bag full of clothes for the clothing bank and a box of broken/old small electricals for the tip plus two bags of rubbish. Hoping to get another bag done tonight. We are consumed with clutter in our house!

I really like a post-Christmas “use up the old and slot the lovely new ones in” @Zireael. Going to tackle the bathroom again tomorrow now and unpack my nice new moisturisers etc

Also I’m going to try to be a bit ruthless with the kids clothes and just downsize generally. I’ve got some stuff bagged up so getting rid of that is a top priority.