The Great Declutter Part 2

xx_Jo_xx

Hi all!!

Im in again - and plan to stick at it this time!! Ive been at my uncles the past few days so my new year for ME starts from today!

IN:
- Me!!
- my bags and
- some food I brought back from Uncles.

OUT:
- 3 black bags of rubbish
- 4 carrier bags of recycling
- Lots of cardboard from christmas boxes etc
- food which had spolied but my own stupid fault......the rest went into a vegetable curry
- windowsill and top of microwave in kitchen have been decluttered of the carp

hypno06

Well, I had a very emotional declutter.......I lost my dad almost 5 years ago, but at the time could not deal with sorting out his "stuff".....so my OH just packed everything from dads house up and sealed it in my garage for me to deal with as and when I was ready. Of course, I have never been ready to deal with it, so it has just stayed there, piled literally floor to ceiling, with very little actually sorted.

Today I decided to sort out a big box of his photographs, that were in danger of getting damp and therefore spoiled. So I brought them in, went through every single one, sorted those that I want to keep, and have sorted them into categories, and stored them properly. All the rest will go into confidential shredding on Monday. The ones I am keeping now take up just a small shoebox-size box rather than the big tatty cardboard box that was in the garage.

It was a pants job, but one that needed doing. If I can sort that one, I can sort out the other boxes, one by one, during this year.

In:
game for the wii - Christmas present for the kids from BiL
bottle red wine - Christmas present for me and OH from BiL
Tesco Healthy living mail

Out:
Box of Dad's photos (after saving and storing those I want to keep)
General bag of rubbish
Out of date bits from utility room cupboard - mainly vitamin pills that will claim to make me thin/calm/free of cellulite :rolleyes::rotfl: and a jar of sudocrem that has no lid
Foundation that has a broken lid so keeps messing up my make up bag

Tomorrow I will sort through all the Christmas decorations so that only those I like will go back in the loft and every other piece of tat will go.....

dobs

Well despite the house looking a bomb site thanks to my 2 youngest, today have sent hubby to tip so:

OUT:
old greenhouse
recycling
broken toys from garage

PENDING OUT:
Rocking horse i just can't get fabric clean and still deciding what to do wiv it!

IN:
Animal bedding

Have sorted out a binsack full of mostly unused stuff for charity shop, plus have a few larger toys/swing etc to go there nxt wk if they'll take them. Only really sell clothes on ebay now, don't seem to make money on anything else.

Going to start going thru the attic, got tons of empty boxes up there - don't know why! Plus lots of clothing to sort thru, some to pass down to sons younger brothers and the rest to ebay.

ClaireN75

Not too big a day...

IN:
2 big bags of cat food, BOGO1/2P

OUT:
Pair of boots to charity (pending)
Stew from freeze for lunch (need to free up some space in there)

loopychriss

stitching_witch wrote: »

I don't think I'm doing this right!

I thought the airing cupboard would be a good place to start - small enough not to be too daunting but big enough to be an achievement. I duly pulled out all the curtains and duvet covers from many moons ago and put them in a black sack for the charity shop.

Pleased with my progress, I sat with a cup of tea, thinking of all the wonderful creations I could make out of said textiles and promptly put the black sack in the sewing room.

Result - one de-cluttered airing cupboard and one very cluttered sewing room!:rotfl:

LOL!! you sound just like me....! I've currently got my old bedroom curtains sat up in the loft waiting for me to sew them into something new!

loopychriss

Angela wrote: »

Question
Should I be keeping my bridesmaid dresses(2) from when I was a bridesmaid at the age of 16,I am now 47?
Both my sisters are still happily married,if that makes any differance.

LOL!!! :rotfl:Ask youself - are you ever going to wear them again? Have you worn them in the last year? Do they still fit?

If the answer is "No" to any of the questions, then the time has come to let them go!!!

I expect you've got lots of photos of you wearing them and you've got your memories... I'd say, let them go and let someone else get some pleasure out of them.

charlies_mum

Hypno, well done on a very emotional bit of decluttering. Been there, got the t shirt

Christmas decs are down, and am working through mountains of books, deciding what to keep and what to let go.

Out - nothing

In - seven books from library sale

Still not got the hang of this :rotfl:

ChloeBo

Oh dear!!

IN
1 free kitchen - waiting impatiently in the dining room to be fitted tomorow
5/6 flat packed cardboard boxes for packing up existing kitchen but too many so will be used for my fabric etc which lives under the sewing machine
1 freecycled wardrobe waiting in van to be put up tomorrow!!
1 free TV in lounge floor to be put up tomorow!

OUT
Nothing yet but I'll be hitting freecyle tomorrow with...
1 useable TV
1 temperamental TV
Odds and ends from the kitchen
1 broken water pump from grandma's house
...and if the bits aren't wanted they'll be tipped TOMORROW!

harib0uk

stitching_witch wrote: »

I don't think I'm doing this right!

I thought the airing cupboard would be a good place to start - small enough not to be too daunting but big enough to be an achievement. I duly pulled out all the curtains and duvet covers from many moons ago and put them in a black sack for the charity shop.

Pleased with my progress, I sat with a cup of tea, thinking of all the wonderful creations I could make out of said textiles and promptly put the black sack in the sewing room.

Result - one de-cluttered airing cupboard and one very cluttered sewing room!:rotfl:

I'm reading a lot of these out lists and wondering if it really is the best thing to do, I mean it's great if you can sell, freecycle or charity shop your stuff... but in so many cases you could be recycling in your own home.. I think the fact your seeing the bigger picture is great!

Kailua

hypno06 wrote: »

Out:
Box of Dad's photos (after saving and storing those I want to keep)

Hi, hypno06

Please reconsider before shredding the photos that you don't want. If there are old ones where you don't know who the people are - there may be other people, family historians, whose family they might relate too who would be very very interested. In my family - when my Great Grandmother died one of her children wanted to find a letter he had sent that he didn't want anyone to see and because he couldn't find it he burnt everything - all the photos, letters everything. As a family historian it is heart breaking. There are also people who collect photos - just check on ebay - old photos of people (people who are interested how people dressed etc) are popular as are photos of places, streets, etc - there is an album of old photos of india that was put on for £400+ and has already had a bid! Other old photo albums tend to go for around £20 upwards. It's not just photos - when people are decluttering think about bits of papers that most people wouldn't consider important. I was really lucky with ebay a few months ago when I managed to get a memorial card for a distant family member. It was so amazing to think that my great, great, great grandmothers sister would have held that card. A colleague cleared out his parents loft for them and there were loads of 1960's Radio Times and he put them in the recycling - it didn't even cross his mind that people might be interested but you never know. Old bills as well - there are quite a few on at the moment. Sorry for going on but once these things are lost there is no getting them back and people often think that others won't be interested in photographs and other bits of paper.

Best Wishes
Kailua