Decluttering Thread 13 - Hopefully Lucky For Some!

[MarmaladeSandwich7]

Good morning fellow sorters, chuckers & sellers! Starting a new thread as No 12 was almost full. This thread is one of my favourites & I find it hugely inspiring. I have a very long way to go as my house still resembles a jumble sale but I have got rid of a lot over the last few months plus made some money into the bargain. Last night I transferred several carrier bags of clothes that are on Vinted into a pink velvet storage chest that, ironically, hadn’t been assembled & was taking up space in DH’s office 🤣🤣🤣 It’s now in front of the storage cubes in the lounge & honestly, the pleasure I get from seeing it & the space created is immense.
I need a day to dedicate to Vinted as I have bags of clothes still to photograph & upload, some clothes to try on which may end up on there too & some TJC rings to photograph for selling. They were quite expensive but I rarely wore them & now they’re too big. I have a huge car bill to pay so the extra pennies will be great. Have a productive day all!

One in, one out here 🙄

Out - a boring distressed wooden lamp base (B&Q, I think), off to the boot sale.

In - its replacement, a rather lovely vintage MCM lamp base. So, an upgrade, which is all good.

I've also decluttered lots of paint, finishing off a door and starting a cooker hood.

Rag bag - five ratty jerseys and two scarves.

Donate - one woolly jersey.

Book donation pile - another three paperbacks.

handful of ancient receipts into paperbin, shelf straightened up. DS will have to deal with the rest of this particular pile.

Bin

• Old pillowcases

Donated

• Duvet cover & pillow cases
• Plug in nightlight
• Xmas light up things

Vinted

• Pair of crocs

More and more I realise that the key isn't actually decluttering; it's stemming the flow of things coming in. And it's harder. But decluttering will go on forever if the tide isn't stemmed.

Totally agree pigtails and it's so hard.

Eventually I hope to move to doing one-in-one-out which will mean wrestling with my conscience about letting go of the old version of whatever I've bought. That and buying less in the first place. I'm making progress with both but I'm nowhere near the situation where it's worth counting my ins yet, it would just make me feel bad. I can see it's useful for showing what's going on though. I bought some more things recently and now they're sitting in a pile in my living room because I realistically have nowhere to put them.

I've stalled a bit with decluttering at the moment.
Two dresses too small into donation bag today.
Total is 5039.

Nothing out today. Went up to attic storage space to remind myself what’s in all the boxes. Put camping stuff where it belongs temporarily until I can ask everyone where they want it kept so that it doesn’t annoy me.

I know it’s verging on churning. At least I’m starting to see what all I’ve got and can donate any surplus.

Came across a box and bags of coathangers from decades ago. They can be recycled at our local tip if sorted into plastic versus mixed plastic and metal.

I have got a bag for life for charity shop on Monday.
I really struggle with my adult children buying stuff, that’s okay but then they leave it downstairs in a bag for months, just why??
They also fill the freezer with junk food like chicken nuggets etc, then there no room for the family food!!
I have thrown out some underwear and bought new Treated myself.
Went through my makeup bag and threw the whole lot out! Most was over 10 years old. I will again treat myself to some new items!

Today I turned to the garage, and spent some time there tidying the recycling pile and sorting through the stuff DS left with us after moving. Now I can get in and out more easily and have an idea what I want rid of.

Got rid of an ancient set of bed linen - one in one out, so no real space saved though. I now have two bags for recycling but it's difficult to do it in the holidays when the bin at school is unavailable. The bins in town tend to get full so quickly and I don't fancy lugging it into town to find out there's no space and have to bring it all back again. Also a charity bag which is slowly filling up and will be taken in once it's full.

Decluttered the pots and pans cupboard at the weekend and binned a load of takeaway containers in a vain attempt to keep the numbers more manageable. Also rearranged a bunch of medical/first aid stuff and threw away some ancient plasters and creams etc. It looks much better, but how long it stays like that is anyone's guess....

Ok, I have slowly worked through my sentimental/storage items and in the end, I decided to get rid of almost everything. It felt surprisingly easy. I kept a few sentimental CDs and books and nick nacks, but I might have a second look before we finally move.

I've tried keeping a list of different items but some categories will appear twice since I did a few passes and found more stuff to go out - plus a few things we got rid of in the house anyway in the last few days:

5 pairs of shoes
22 jewellery items (decided I would keep only a few which I wear daly)
Make-up pouch
Candle stick
VHS tape
21 books
Book mark
28 CDs
Photo album full of photos (kept few I really liked)
Diary from 2003!!
School diary from when I was 9
2 small poetry books
High school trip scrap book
High school diary
2 posters
2 file folders
Old work id and lanyard
14 CDs
Fridge magnet
4 small books
15 sentimental items (think I got fed up counting specifics)
3 elephant figurines
Address book
7 year books
Huge box of negatives
Box of unwritten postcards
Bundle of old greeting cards
Polypocket of old certificates etc.
My childhood health record (why is it here?)
2 metal hair clips
Period pants that have lost their efficacy
One more book

Total outs = 1333 for 2026

Emptied two large shelves today. DS came over and took all that he wanted. I’ll shred the overflowing crate of paper that’s left.

Got stuff off the floor and onto the shelves, and made a bigger space on the stairs.

Next move will be to look at the contents of the other two shelves.

Several men’s suits and jackets ready for donation if no-one wants them.

One face cleanser used up
One uncomfortable underwear binned
One ill-fitting tracksuit donated
Total is 5043