Simplifying Life - Mark II

firework

know just what you mean there lilac lady - i too hate clutter and keep on removing things... and yet my cupboards and drawers and floors are still full! as someone else has said - it took more than a few days to accumulate and it'll take more than a few days to get rid of it.

i have now resolved at least that while i am de-cluttering - nothing else is to be bought or brought in - even when my MIL tries to offload two dozen tea towels on me - i shall show restraint and politely say "no, thankyou - i still have more than a dozen left from last time"... she has some serious issues regarding the purchase of towels lol!! a while ago she was poorly and we had to go upstairs to look for some stuff for her to take to hospital. in every drawer and cupboard we opened there were towels, towels and more towels. we did a quick estimate of the half dozen storage areas we searched and reckoned she had over 200 towels of assorted shapes, sizes and colours that she has bought and put away for best, for later, for the rest of the family - enough for the whole street in there!

sad / funny thing is for most of her life she has never had much spare money and yet there will be several hundred quids worth of towels waiting to be used. what a waste.

i have also stopped getting carrier bags, kind of a new years resolution after following some of the links on these threads and seeing the damage they do - i have only got two left now. no more carriers for me. yay!

firework

p.s. lilac lady - try not to feel guilty, after all you are making efforts to deal with it and it ain't easy as we all know.

ceridwen

lilac_lady wrote: »

I'm really trying hard to declutter and have put bags of stuff into one bedroom so that the rest of the house is tidy. I hate clutter and do get rid of stuff but drawers and cupboards are still full so I think I must secretly be a hoarder although I'm not sure what I've hoarded.

Maybe I should just padlock that bedroom and forget about its contents? I want to live a simple life and my non action is making me feel guilty.

Well.....you could try locking the door to that room for one year. On 1 March 2010 you unlock it and first of all stand there and see if you can remember what you actually have in that room. Then have a think......

The loft tends to be my equivalent of this - but I've had a "fit of bravery" and am now trying to "sell" some of the bits from there in my local Lets Scheme and earn myself some "credits" to get my "overdrawn" balance down a bit on that.

I think I must be decluttering in "layers" - layer 1, go off for a rethink, layer 2, go off for another rethink....got a few bits in readiness for "the rest of my life"....but they havent filled as much space as the stuff I have already got rid of...and at least they are things I will actually use.

I'm still struggling a bit with some "smarter" type clothes I have - but dont wear. Trying to work out the balance between clothes I use regularly - but still having a few for those occasions when I have to dress smartly/look more "conventional" than I actually am.....bearing in mind the programme I saw the other day of the VERY casual-looking guy who had to go out specially and buy a suit when he had to go and persuade the "powers-that-be" to back his ideas....so try to keep a couple of my "smarter" outfits if need be.....I dont always look like a bit of a "scruffbag" - just some of the time.....heh!

Speaking of MIL's towels - mentioned earlier in thread - pillowcases must be the equivalent for my mother. She always buys matching pillowcases whenever she buys sheets - and the sheets go out the door - but she hands the pillowcases to me. I've got rid of a few to someone who didnt have many - but I still have more than 20....and every time I sit there and try to guesstimate how many I will need for the rest of my life I go away again, telling myself I will try and work that out another day. Anyone got any good suggestions for what to do with surplus pillowcases? Do charity shops even want them in the first place? Anyone know how long one can expect a mid-price range pillowslip to last?

2cats1kid

Ceridwen, I had a similar thing with smarter clothes. I had suits etc. for work, then had DD and worked part time (and made sure one of my days was Friday as that was casual day LOL). Then I left work and started my own business which requires uniform polo shirt, trackie bottom and trainers. One decluttering day I looked in the wardrobe at all these suits, and realised that (a) I wasn't going to wear them again and (b) even if I did need a suit these were all now so out of date I'd just look stupid (think power shoulders). Also, what looked good on me at 25-30 wasn't going to look good on me at 40+. So they went. All of them. Bin bag full off to the charity shop. Yay me! It felt sooooo good.

Now I realise the power shoulder and no longer suiting you thing may not apply to you, and yes should I need a suit I'll have to buy one, but so far any event I've got by on a skirt and top, so that's probably 5 years free of those darn suits.

lilac_lady

When I retired I got rid of all my office clothes and vowed never to buy another blouse again. I haven't!

vivw_2

ceridwen wrote: »

Anyone got any good suggestions for what to do with surplus pillowcases? Do charity shops even want them in the first place? Anyone know how long one can expect a mid-price range pillowslip to last?

I buy pillowcases from charity shops as a source of fabric. Can be used for all kinds of things - I've made door stops, lining of bags, lavender bags all from the fabric. Obviously needs to be clean and not sweat stained!!

ceridwen

vivw wrote: »

I buy pillowcases from charity shops as a source of fabric. Can be used for all kinds of things - I've made door stops, lining of bags, lavender bags all from the fabric. Obviously needs to be clean and not sweat stained!!

Well - just had a quick look again - and a quick "throw". I can send you 5 plain pastel ones (different colours) if they're any good to you.

vivw_2

That would be brilliant, ceridwen. But how much would they be to post?

mary43

firework - love the dust quotes - especially as this morning I was doing that and I'm sure I created more dust in the process.................lol
But I feel very positive now I've cleared the 'hot spots' that appeared on our pine dresser and most of the kitchen table:j Not to mention the odds and ends that had found their way to the fruit bowl.......too numerous to mention. But now they're all in they're rightful place and I can see we have apples !!!:j

Did think I'd be able to get the pictures re-framed and hung up but time ran out as did my energy so thats tomorrows job.
I also wrote three letters.........sticking to my new years promise to write more -in these days of text and e mails it can fast become a dying art.
Paperwork all done -well just one report to do about a page long so that won't take me too long. Then there's my diary to update and that'll be me done for today I think.

Always think twice before you get rid of pillow cases and tea towels, for the reasons viv gave and also they're really handy if you're doing a small bit of paintwork that doesn''t warrant getting out a dust sheet.

lilaclady - I seem to be permanently in a state of needing to de-clutter ! I ask myself where it comes from when really I know the answer - it's me !!!
Case of re-training myself I think. I might have cleared the kitchen today but my den is in chaos...........not so much stuff that needs getting rid of but just needing a 'home' of some sort. And having re-arranged my family history folders, plus the history of where I was born I now seem to have a folder (large one) of general history and it won't fit in !!!! If I could rid myself of the last shoe/storage box on top of my drawers it would fit in there nicely...........am now wondering what exactly is in the box ???? ooops....and theres a smaller one next to it.............sorted........whatever is in it I can't need if I can't remember what it is.......so boxes out (two more to use for christmas pressies ) and folder in place.................:T

But not doing anything before I print out all those words of wisdom about the dreaded 'dust'.................lol:rotfl:

ceridwen

vivw wrote: »

That would be brilliant, ceridwen. But how much would they be to post?

Not a problem...its not likely to be much.

Just PM me address to send them to.