The Great Declutter Part 2

misscousinitt

Hi All

Really need to join in with this.

We have been de-cluttering the house for a good three years now and we are getting there.

The two major areas for de-cluttering are:

1. the spare room - which is full of my paperwork - both personal and for the charity I volunteer for. I started to sort this out, but with Christmas and all it came to a grinding halt...

2. the loft - better than it was as I've given a load of stuff away to charity, but there are still boxes of stuff up there for car booting - ready to go - but we just haven't got round to it.

My major problem at the moment is that I am organising our wedding and that seems to be taking every waking moment not spent at work or doing housework!

Going to tackle one small thing at a time I think - then when things calm down on the wedding front - (about a month to go before there is a lull before the big push to 29th May) I will have a more concentrated go at getting the paperwork sorted.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A

x

Yorkielass

Welcome 415SanFran

I find that tackling 1 area at a time really helps. E.g the other week I did:

Monday night - all the stuff on our big sofa, mainly paperwork for the office, old radio times, a jumper that sort of thing - I'm not doing too badly at keeping this tidy, I just need to learn not to take things in there all the time, e.g. leave my work bag in the hall way!
Tuesday night - pile on the office floor - this was a horror and the dregs from various other decluttering efforts but everything now has a home/has gone.
Wednesday night - stuff on the bed in the spare room, mainly the Christmas decs and some bedding, all put away now.
Thursday night - all the stuff on the stairs (2 flights as 3 storey house) we're awful at leaving stuff on them but found everything a home - most of it was OHs.

None of these took more than 30 minutes-1 hour but it all made such a difference.

Part of what we're doing in our house at the moment (there's just OH and me) is working out what stuff we've got and want to keep and what we need storage wise to keep it all, e.g. we need more storage in downstairs loo for scarves etc so looking for something for in there now.

Little and often in the key - oh and posting in this thread - makes the world of difference!!

TudorRose

Last night I managed to sort out the post from the last few days & do some ironing which has been put away.

IN
Nothing so far today

OUT
Generall rubbish wheelie bin put out & emptied before I left for work
1 pair of trousers put in charity collection bin on carpark
Odds & ends of food packaging into appropriate bins - recycling collection day tomorrow:j
I am finding this thread makes me think about what I am doing. When I took tags off my new clothes the other day they went straight into the bin whereas usually I would have put them on my dressing table to clear away later (should say 'never'). Now I have made the effort to get my bedroom tidy I don't want to ruin it.

Yorkielass

misscousinitt wrote: »

Hi All

Really need to join in with this.

We have been de-cluttering the house for a good three years now and we are getting there.

The two major areas for de-cluttering are:

1. the spare room - which is full of my paperwork - both personal and for the charity I volunteer for. I started to sort this out, but with Christmas and all it came to a grinding halt...

2. the loft - better than it was as I've given a load of stuff away to charity, but there are still boxes of stuff up there for car booting - ready to go - but we just haven't got round to it.

My major problem at the moment is that I am organising our wedding and that seems to be taking every waking moment not spent at work or doing housework!

Going to tackle one small thing at a time I think - then when things calm down on the wedding front - (about a month to go before there is a lull before the big push to 29th May) I will have a more concentrated go at getting the paperwork sorted.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A

x

Welcome to you too - one thing I would say straight away is is all the paperwork clearly separated (i.e piles/boxes that are yours, piles/boxes that are the charities) or is it all a mixture? If it's a mixture carefully sort it into separate piles. Then the next thing to do is work out how to store your personal paperwork, do you have a filing cabinet, a box, are you going to scan things in and get rid of the paper, all different solutions people on here have used, once that is set up take a small pile at a time, sort it (I like to lay things out over the living room carpet whilst watching tv) and then file things away/shred/recycle as appropriate. Having a box for recycling and a shredder next to you really helps too!

And just keep thinking of all the space you'll have in there when it's not covered in paperwork!

Yorkielass

TudorRose wrote: »

I am finding this thread makes me think about what I am doing. When I took tags off my new clothes the other day they went straight into the bin whereas usually I would have put them on my dressing table to clear away later (should say 'never'). Now I have made the effort to get my bedroom tidy I don't want to ruin it.

I completely agree - found myself doing much the same the other day!

Little_Vics

ok - done so far:

Bedroom:

bed made
laundry sorted for washing tomorrow
unpacked from weekend break
clean laundry folded
dusted/polished
rubbish thrown

Bathroom:

rubbish thrown
washbag unpacked properly (will have to put through machine as is gross!)
tidied ready for OH to clean after he's showered later

Living room next!

Little_Vics

Living room cleared, dishes done, dinner prepped - can't believe how quick this has been!

Fruball

Thanks to everyone who is posting

I am going to carry on this evening, and tomorrow until the house is done so stay with me!

xxx

Little_Vics

Will do! I'm done for today (really need to get back on the job hunt) but will spend another hour tomorrow. We've got a bathroom to fit, so have 'stuff' all over the place which is making it hard, but I'm determined to get there!

Bronnie

Little_Vics wrote: »

Will do! I'm done for today (really need to get back on the job hunt) but will spend another hour tomorrow. We've got a bathroom to fit, so have 'stuff' all over the place which is making it hard, but I'm determined to get there!

Your posts have made me laugh as I imagine you flying round like a dervish!! On the other hand, you could be lying back on the sofa typing this with a cuppa and a box of chocs playing online bingo in between posts?? :rotfl:

Actually, if we can make a game of it, I'll come and play tomorrow!! Kind of set the phones, ready steady go and back online every half hour kind of thing!! (:oHonestly, at my age I really should grow up:o)