The Great Declutter Part 2

Gers

My final push will be over the weekend - workmen arriving Monday morning :eek: but scaffolding being erected today.

More stuff for the tip today found at the back, right at the back, of the airing cupboard. And old soft useless spare pillows too - maybe they should go to the dog and cat shelter?

Perhaps we shouldn't have much storage space in houses, we just fill them with unwanted/unloved/unneeded stuff. All those 'looking for a new home' type programmes feature couples who need a lot of storage in their new place - what for? I understand the need for tools, surfboards etc, but piles of old clothes and so on... :(

I WILL be minimalist by the time the work on the house is done.

greent

mineallmine wrote: »

THanks for the support ocean spirit. The toiletry challenge has, in a way, changed my life. I am now really aware of stockpiling stuff which usually by the time you come to use it you no longer like anyway! It's a fab challenge. And yes the cupboards are now much barer!
I think I am a little run down (really bad headache already this morning). Have been doing a lot this week.

So to meet my challenge of 100 things decluttered in 10 days I need to get rid of another 70 things by close of play tomorrow.

Right some baby steps of decluttering:

32. 33. 34. Toiletries used up as part of challenge (recycled)
35. Library book to be returned (library)
36. Cotton bag (friend)
37. Spider that came out of cotton bag when I gave to friend, yiiiikkkkkessss! (into the wilderness, not squished)
38. 39. Make up stuff, unused (charity)
40. Broken tile (bin)
41. Old well loved t shirt, finally time to say goodbye, (ragbag for charity)

Well that's about another 10 things. Only 60 to go for my challenge !:A

You're doing really well, mineallmine - and if you don't get to teh 100 things now, whatever you've achieved is that much less 'stuff' in your house!

Gers wrote: »

Perhaps we shouldn't have much storage space in houses, we just fill them with unwanted/unloved/unneeded stuff. All those 'looking for a new home' type programmes feature couples who need a lot of storage in their new place - what for? I understand the need for tools, surfboards etc, but piles of old clothes and so on... :(

I WILL be minimalist by the time the work on the house is done.

I agree - there's something to be said for stuff filling the spaces that are there (and more besides!!) It's a bit like spending what you earn - even with a pay rise it can be easily absorbed..

Sue14 wrote: »

I did that the other day, wasn't planning to but was fed up with not being able to find anything, so I just tipped it upside down on the couch and binned/recycled everything that I could (supermarket receipts, shopping lists etc.) and put back tidily everything that belonged in it!

THIS is why I don't own a handbag......!!:rotfl::rotfl: (My mother thinks I'm a disgrace to womankind! I cope with just a purse and my phone (and maybe a lipgloss) and that's it - what more does one need?! These things fit in pockets... (I have a special teeny weeny purse for going out)

greent

greent wrote: »

47-48 2 teether toys well and truly teethed on
49. old membership card to somewhere that no longer exists!!
50. old highchair toy (been through all 4 of my children) broken

25% of the way to my target

51. old broken tupperware type pot binned
52. pile of old energy bills shredded/ composted
53. pile of paperwork filed/ recycled as appropriate

bestpud

Can I join you, please?

I'm in the process of clearing and decorating the entire house (and hopefully garden over the summer).

Should I confess I have never lived in a fully 'finished' or organised house? There has always been at least one room that's full of junk and others with stuff everywhere, and I've gone years without a stair carpet, or with one wall unpainted in different rooms. :o

But never mind, I'm sorting it now! :j

I've decorated upstairs and I'm working on the downstairs and I've got rid of loads of things but still have more than my fair share of clutter!

Sooo, I plan on finishing all the decorating by 21st July, when dd(8) breaks up from school, and then she can help me arrange everything so it all has a place.

Therefore, my target will be 100 items by 21st July and another 50 by the end of July. :j

Looking forward to updating soon and a big well done to you all for your achievements so far.

Reading this thread really brings home how much stuff we accumulate, doesn't it?

Karmacat

Gers wrote: »

And old soft useless spare pillows too - maybe they should go to the dog and cat shelter?

Definitely - thats a good one, they can never have too many.

Perhaps we shouldn't have much storage space in houses, we just fill them with unwanted/unloved/unneeded stuff. All those 'looking for a new home' type programmes feature couples who need a lot of storage in their new place - what for? I understand the need for tools, surfboards etc, but piles of old clothes and so on... :(

Thats exactly what I did, just filled the available space, thinking, ooh, I like that, I might need that. A lot of it was magazines - I enjoyed most of them, but at the end it got to be collecting for the sake of it. Even DIY stuff, as I was saying the other day, I bought way too much of, and I still struggle with that.

I WILL be minimalist by the time the work on the house is done.

:j:j:j I love the minimalist look - I won't have got there by the time of my move on 18th August, but I'll be further along, and thats the main thing.

Um, nothing decluttered today yet!

gabyjane

Ok just to reiterate what i said a few posts back..i am not throwing any of it away! I am just decluttering so the books..some of them have gone in the garage not in the bin..it is a new house and so i think they will be fine..i will also add 90% of them are cheap £1 jobs from the charity shops the decent ones stay in the house. I did say to dh what happens when the bookcase fills completely..he said 'good point'!!

We have a very tidy house and although i have said clutter it is not on show, my point was when we opened the cupboard we have far too much of each thing so need to sort out!

anastasia666 your bit here stuck with me..quote:

We've got hundreds of books we've not got around to reading yet. We've been getting more bookshelves recently, in an attempt t sort them out, but there are books that I bought 10 years ago that I haven't yet read. One day I will though.

I just don't get that..i understand good books as have read lots myself but i do not get the need to keep hundreds of them all..my point with dh's is they have sat there for 3 years without being moved and will prob sit there for another 3..if there is a really good book i make a note and get it from the library.

treetrunks

Relationships are a compromise remember, sounds like you've decided the books are going and will get rid of them one way or another.

Kate78

Gosh, reading some responses here you'd think that getting rid of books was tantamount to killing babies! :eek:

I like to read, but if I kept every book I'd ever read I wouldn't be able to move in my flat. Besides donating old books to charity makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :rotfl:

Keep the best and fling the rest - but only if they're actually YOURS to get rid of - if they belong to your DH, all bets are off, he's got to decide which ones to keep/store/dispose of.

dizzyg_2

I was horrified by a recent Tip in Chat magazine -

'While reading a book, tear the pages out as you read them, you won't need a book mark and the book gets lighter as you read!':eek:

It was bad enough someone actually thought that this was a good idea never mind the magazine printing it.

anastasia666

gabyjane wrote: »

anastasia666 your bit here stuck with me..quote:

We've got hundreds of books we've not got around to reading yet. We've been getting more bookshelves recently, in an attempt t sort them out, but there are books that I bought 10 years ago that I haven't yet read. One day I will though.

I just don't get that..i understand good books as have read lots myself but i do not get the need to keep hundreds of them all..my point with dh's is they have sat there for 3 years without being moved and will prob sit there for another 3..if there is a really good book i make a note and get it from the library.

I often used to pick up lots of cheap books if they looked interesting (hubby still does this). If I buy something like a book, blu ray, etc, I buy them to keep (even if I don't enjoy the book/film, i won't get rid of it.) Partly because if I didn't want to have something in the first place I wouldn't have bought it. Also, sometimes I might want to look at a book to find a specific quote I'm after.

I do like to collect things (although I don't actually collect books) but it probably stems from that. I'm also the same with games consoles and games - we have most consoles that were released over here over the years, and a huge collection of games for each of the consoles. I wouldn't dream of doing what some people do, which is buy a game, play it and then trade it in. If I buy something it's to keep. If I didn't want to keep it I'd rent the item in question.

I'm at the other extreme end of the spectrum to you I guess. I couldn't live with someone who would move my things out into the garage, however long it took me to notice! I will admit that our house is very cluttered and I am slowly working on tidying things up. I've also attempted to change my behaviour - I've now got an e-reader so my preference is to buy books for that to save space, apart from certain titles by certain authors, which I will still buy hardback/paperback copies of. I now collect smaller items that I can put on pin boards rather than large snowglobes/figures I used to collect, so I have pin boards all over the walls of the house. This has saved a lot of space but has enabled me to continue to collect. I still collect films on bluray (although I've really cut that down recently as all these hobbies are expensive!) Blu rays and games don't take up too much space though.

Everyone is different. Whatever works for you!