The Great Declutter Part 2

Callisto

In

2011 calendar (to go in hamper as part of xmas pressie)

Out

Large bag of (mostly) clothes taken to charity shop (looked around for a few more items this morning to fill the bag and found another five items of clothing!)

Three parcels posted (Ebay)

Pending Out

Going to defrost the freezer tomorrow, so will probably find some unidentified food that needs to be flung out!

mrs-moneypenny

have been resonably good
sent off a big parcel of assorted knitted and sewn items for a charity i do stuff for
put 4 big bags of assorted good quality clutter out for a local charity collection last week.
gave a friend a fake fur jacket as she fancies having a go at making a teddy bear.
got 3 big bags of clothes out of the attic to go out tomorrow morning for another charity collection

cant say anywhere really looks any better but i know its gone out:rotfl:

mineallmine

Sorted for the charity shop:
New shoes
Unloved toiletries

In:
Monkey with PG Tips!

luxor4t

IN:
new, water-tight freshly painted door that actually opens and closes

OUT:
damaged, leaky rotten door
£500 (parts, labour, other repairs, etc) a small price after 6+ years of "I'll get round to it soon"

Gers

Starting on the kitchen cupboards and drawers now to make more space for a planned appliance.

Can't for the life of me understand why I have 6 kitchen drawers full of stuff - obviously 1 is the cutlery drawer but the other 5 are just rubbish tips. Have found 12 tea-towels for goodness sake! Only need 4 at the most. When leisure travelling I 'collect' the tiny tubes of toothpaste in the give-away wash bags/toilets on airplanes - now counted 22 of them! :eek::eek: I keep them for when I'm business travelling but this amount is just silly. Will try to pass some of them over to colleagues, or just keep to use up. Will be very old, grey and bent double by the time they're finished.

Will be ruthless now with unused kitchen equipment/trays/cooking and baking stuff. And I daren't look at the plastic/Lock 'n' Lock boxes I have lurking in one cupboard, though I do use them extensively for freezing soups and casseroles.

Trouble is that I can't do one cupboard at a time as they need re-jiggling as I'll be losing a single cupboard.

May need more bin bags!

charlies-aunt

Ohh! Inspiring stuff on this thread - I desperately need to declutter!

DH and I are the last of both our families (not counting our DD's) and as family members have passed away we have been left with entire houses to clear and dispose of....lots of sentimental stuff has been kept and I find it so difficult to get rid of it because it seems to symbolise someone special and to get rid seems like throwing my memories of that person away

I have made a few half hearted attempts in the past but there are still cupboards full, a shedful of boxes of crockery, ornaments and 'stuff' . . . . but I feel crowded out by it all and get fed up that everywhere is stacked out with 'stuff'.

Advice appreciated!

Gers

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Ohh! Inspiring stuff on this thread - I desperately need to declutter!

DH and I are the last of both our families (not counting our DD's) and as family members have passed away we have been left with entire houses to clear and dispose of....lots of sentimental stuff has been kept and I find it so difficult to get rid of it because it seems to symbolise someone special and to get rid seems like throwing my memories of that person away

I have made a few half hearted attempts in the past but there are still cupboards full, a shedful of boxes of crockery, ornaments and 'stuff' . . . . but I feel crowded out by it all and get fed up that everywhere is stacked out with 'stuff'.

Advice appreciated!

The horror of houses! I can imagine what it's like. My mother is decluttering her place (for me, for later!) but it's almost impossible. I know it'll be tough for me when she dies. Not even going to think about it for now.

My kitchen drawers are almost done :j 4 done, 2 to go. Chucked out so much clutter - think I just put things in drawers rather than deal with them. I'll probably end up with too many drawers and lost of empty space -ready for the next load of junk!

One bin bag almost filled. Let's see what the other 2 drawers have inside them.

lola34

4 bags full and currently sat on landing waiting for CB to come round but don't know if we'll get many this close to Christmas.
2carrier bags full of coat hanger waiting to go- will probably take them to Mr T's to the hanger recycling
1 bike and desk waiting to go to the CS

misswissy

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Ohh! Inspiring stuff on this thread - I desperately need to declutter!

DH and I are the last of both our families (not counting our DD's) and as family members have passed away we have been left with entire houses to clear and dispose of....lots of sentimental stuff has been kept and I find it so difficult to get rid of it because it seems to symbolise someone special and to get rid seems like throwing my memories of that person away

I have made a few half hearted attempts in the past but there are still cupboards full, a shedful of boxes of crockery, ornaments and 'stuff' . . . . but I feel crowded out by it all and get fed up that everywhere is stacked out with 'stuff'.

Advice appreciated!

We have had a similar problem. We had items that had lain in sheds and drawers for 15 years because my husband and I found it difficult to dispose of them.

But I found though, that we completely forgot what was there for a few years, then we would have a tidy up, get emotional over what we found, feel guilty because it was languishing unused, and then we'd put it all back again for another few years.

We decided to be ruthless and although it was very hard we found the best homes we could for the items we had, but we did have to throw some of them away. But more importantly we selected 2 or 3 meaningful pieces which we display in the house. I have a set of ornaments that belonged to my nan and every single time I dust the shelf they are on and lift them, I think of her with a little smile. Its fab. And I no longer feel bad that all of her stuff was stored unused in lofts, sheds and corners of rooms.

This worked for me but I think you have to be ready to do it. Good luck.

UnluckyT

Hello all.

Managed to shift my chest of drawers, pile of books, some dvds to charity and gave my tumble away to a colleagues daughter. Fun and games giving them a hand although it not bit, it was awkward, especially after a couple of years of it looking at me and not daring to use it as i found it a touch pricey to run. And an expensive dust gatherer as i was managing to dry stuff despit the weather without using it.
Will be still be soldiering on though, as long as i curb my wastefull ways of buying things like tumbles when i dont use them, buying books when i can reserve them for when theyre due to be released at the library or eventualy get them in a charity shop and so on i will be okay and getting my place to the minimilistic way i like it.