The Great Declutter Part 2

Yorkielass

In the last couple of weeks I've:

Out:
Sold a bag of wool my mum bought me to make a cardigan from and it's not going to happen - £15
3 books that came from the book people for about £6 in total - £5

Total since 4th September when I started advertising things through work - £65 :-)

A range of Guiding badges via ebay and a skirt and jumper too, need to work out how much that all came to.

I went through all our old cards etc at the weekend and got of lots and lots and sorted the rest, hard emotionally but needed doing, not a big overflowing heap behind OHs chaid anymore.

Also took everything off my craft area, sorted and reorganised and have a big pile to try and sell.

In light shades for our hallway/landing lights, we've lived there for 4 years with bare light bulbs, looks odd but better and only cheap from Argos.

In new freezer for garage for all the veggies from the garden etc.

In/Pending - packaging from all of this.

Has anyone done a car boot sale recently? - wondering if it would be worth doing one next weekend weather permitting or whether it's just too late in the year...

Sue14

Posted another 2 Ebay parcels today, and there's another free listing weekend this week, so I will re-list everything that didn't sell last time, and I also have some other items to put on that I didn't put on last time.

parsonswife8

DH is busy insulating and decluttering the loft simultaneously. He has just returned from the tip and we are now going to sort some other things for the charity shops.

There is so much up there, it's mortifying, but we just HAVE to do it this Autumn.

I am going to feel so relieved when it is done, the amount of clutter is amazing.

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

clairehi

My DH was inspired by my declutter in the garage and has gone through 5 baskets of spare cables etc in the garage - he now has room to store his other clutter! Ive not done as much this week as had a lot of PTA stuff to organise as well as work, overseeing homework etc and being 23 weeks pg!

So this week's tally

OUT

-Bag of clothes etc for CS
-Load of old paperwork from "kids filing drawer"

PENDING

-Binbag of cables etc for recycling centre
-Broken edge trimmer to recycling centre
-Binbag of plastic bottles for recycling

IN

-Nothing to speak of really...


Things to do


Must clean out/declutter fridge....cant put it off any longer as my mum is coming to stay!
Finish painting garden fence if it is dry tomorrow am, which will "declutter" the rest of the tub of woodstain.

Apart from this I am getting down to the less important/critical stuff now.
File PTA and Scouts paperwork currently sitting in piles on the side.
Buy a fireproof box for valuable documents currently in a tin filing box and file away the non-valuable stuff elsewhere.
Go through box of kids old schoolbooks and sort out any to keep, chuck away the rest.

longhotbath

out - 9 items of clothing and videos to cs

out - loads of money to pay for new glasses AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!

greent

27-28 ebay parcels
29. old rucksack binned
30 lots of various bits of carp from DS1's room recycled/ binned as appropriate

luxor4t

IN: clothes (all replacements, all M&S second reductions :T)

OUT
Binned: 2 pairs worn-out shoes

E-bay: 1 pr shoes (unworn)

Recycling: 2 dead aprons, oven gloves, a cushion cover & a handful of tea-towels (rag-man) filter jug & 5 empty cartridges (plastics), stuck-together gravy granules (foodwaste) 3 old biscuit tins (metal)

CS bag: 5 items bric-a-brac

morganlefay

I am a lurker on here as I have a chronic untidiness problem (all my fault - I'm a hoarder - no one else's fault) and I get depressed and can't begin to start, let alone finish one of my piles of 'stuff'. BUT today I think I had a breakthrough. Usually I spend say 4 hours sorting through a pile and I make new piles: charity shop, rubbish, recycling, books, letters to write, ironing - you know the sort of thing. But then I get all tired and fed up and walk away and never get back to it in time to remember what all the piles were. Today I'm doing the bedroom (huge heap of mixed stuff piled against the radiator, so cold nights ahead if I don't sort it), and instead of making piles for 4 hours, I made piles for 3 hours and then spent the last hour actually putting things in the charity bag and putting it in the car to go, and putting the recycling in the recycling bags for OH to take to the bins, and putting the books on the bookshelf, so that at the end of 4 hours I'd actually DEALT with some of the stuff, not just moved it into different piles against the radiator. This seems like a more sensible and doable way forward and I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It is slower, but when it's done it's done and you don't have to revisit it all.
I'm sure some more efficient de-clutterers have been doing this for years, but I've really been grappling and discovering this has filled me with new energy.

I had to tell someone as OH is never very impressed but I find it such an effort to do it that anything that gets me going is WONDERFUL (and I still feel like going back to it tomorrow!) :rotfl:

Callisto

Miss_Poohs wrote: »

One of my huge bug bares is mail - I always have stacks of it kicking around, my main problem being I never jknow what to toss and what to keep ie bank, CC statements, old bill etc - what rule do you guys go by?

Hi Miss P,

My 'rules' for dealing with my mail are - open it on the day it arrives, recycle envelopes/leaflets immediately. If it needs responding to quite quickly, I leave it on my desk (however this causes clutter as the papers stay there until dealt with, perhaps I need an in-tray of some kind?) Once dealt with I file it away - I have a concertina file for important documents - eg car/insurances/tax stuff and a general paperwork box for bank statements/cc bills and anything else I think I might need to keep for a while. I sort through this a couple of times a year (when the box starts getting too full!) and get rid of older statements etc. I generally keep hold of stuff for a year and then start culling!

morganlefay wrote: »

I had to tell someone as OH is never very impressed but I find it such an effort to do it that anything that gets me going is WONDERFUL (and I still feel like going back to it tomorrow!) :rotfl:

WELL DONE Morgan! :dance:

In

Nothing

Out

Bag of clothes to charity shop
Four library books returned (will now read a few of my own!)

Sue14

morganlefay wrote: »

I am a lurker on here as I have a chronic untidiness problem (all my fault - I'm a hoarder - no one else's fault) and I get depressed and can't begin to start, let alone finish one of my piles of 'stuff'. BUT today I think I had a breakthrough. Usually I spend say 4 hours sorting through a pile and I make new piles: charity shop, rubbish, recycling, books, letters to write, ironing - you know the sort of thing. But then I get all tired and fed up and walk away and never get back to it in time to remember what all the piles were. Today I'm doing the bedroom (huge heap of mixed stuff piled against the radiator, so cold nights ahead if I don't sort it), and instead of making piles for 4 hours, I made piles for 3 hours and then spent the last hour actually putting things in the charity bag and putting it in the car to go, and putting the recycling in the recycling bags for OH to take to the bins, and putting the books on the bookshelf, so that at the end of 4 hours I'd actually DEALT with some of the stuff, not just moved it into different piles against the radiator. This seems like a more sensible and doable way forward and I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It is slower, but when it's done it's done and you don't have to revisit it all.
I'm sure some more efficient de-clutterers have been doing this for years, but I've really been grappling and discovering this has filled me with new energy.

I had to tell someone as OH is never very impressed but I find it such an effort to do it that anything that gets me going is WONDERFUL (and I still feel like going back to it tomorrow!) :rotfl:

Well done, now you've found a way that works, keep up the good work!

I was exactly the same, but finding this thread inspired me to sort things out once and for all, and now I do a bit at a time and try to have a bag or a box for each pile, so I can put things in as I sort them, and then take them to where they need to go. Sometimes the charity bags/boxes are stored in the shed for a few days, until I get a chance to take them to the shop, but at least they are out of the house. DP likes to take them to the shop asap in case I change my mind, as he knows what I'm like, lol!