The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

cyclingyorkie

rubs hands in anticipation!

A proper charity bag has dropped through the door - and I have 15 items of clothing that can go - I sorted my wardrobe at the weekend!

gilly1964

Decluttered from morning to now

Out

3 bin bags of carp

3 bags of recycling

One broken TV

Various PSP, PS parts to go on Ebay later - suitable as spares or repairs

Various games to go on Music Magpie later - no longer useable as consoles etc are broken


In

DS Bedroom Floor :rotfl:which was very definitely :eek::eek::eek::eek: just a short while ago

Now for a cuppa:T

LauraMac_2

Newbie checking in... My life seems to be an endless battle against clutter - OH is a hoarder and I run a home-based business, neither of which help. I'm also an obsessive crafter so the house is full of yarn, fabric, paper and lately, mosaic tiles. However 2011 is going to be my year of killing clutter. So far:

-200+ books donated to charity (about half of them are still sitting in bags in the hallway as they're being taken bit by bit as we don't have a car). We have thousands of books so this hasn't even dented our collection, and the book cull is ongoing. A lot of the culled books have been languishing on Green Metropolis for 2-3 years, so definitely time to go...
-Sony Playstation & 5 or 6 games traded in as part payment against a second hand Nintendo DSi (well, a lot more went out than came in)
-15 CDs donated to charity
-15ish carrier bags of clothes taken to textiles bank/charity shop
-12ish DVDs donated to charity

Specifically this week I've:
-binned 12 bottles of toiletries that were empty/gone off/never going to be used up.
-sorted a carrier bag of knick-knacks (brown man-made knitting yarn, holographic photo frame, bag, soft toys etc.) to take to the charity shop on Saturday.
-cleared out a basketful of junk from the kitchen cupboard that had never been unpacked since our last house move 4.5 years ago. Most of it went in the bin (including ancient kitten food [yuk] - our cats are 5 years old and won't be needing that).
-binned five toothbrushes I deemed beyond use (all OH's, though I kept a couple as old toothbrushes are great for cleaning in wee nooks and crannies).

Sadly, my OH is still determined to increase the plastic bag mountain even though we have lots of reusable bags and I try to encourage him to take one with. He also has a tendency to hoard magazines unless I supervise a clearout.

elaine12022

Kaz, hope you find your charm. We've just found the remote for the tv which we hadn't seen for at least 2 years, and I lost my engagement ring for a few months (found it in a jacket pocket), so hopefully it will turn up.

I've been working hard in our study the last few days. I have loads of old payslips and other work related papers that are no longer relevant & bank statements (from over 10 years ago) that I've put into a bag for burning.So my 'work' (mostly benefit letters now) stuff has been reduced & fits into a smaller box...I'll need to sort it again but have left it for now. I could feel the negative energy of some of those work things - bad memories, felt such a relief to be getting rid of them. Only problem is now I have bags of all this stuff filling up the landing. :rotfl:

Also some magasines/catalogues into bag for recycling..

And a bin bag of other stuff for general rubbish, and a few bits for CS.

Other papers I have moved so they are in the right place to be filed (even if they haven't been filed yet!)

Loads more to do but thinking of this thread gave me the impetus to have a go.

mcculloch29

Marmiterulesok thank you for your lovely comment about my new cleaner. She is great. I've only relocated one thing that she moved - I have a Sun Jar light on the windowsill that at first glance looks like an ordinary Kilner jar, so it got put in the cupboard.

LauraMac, welcome! This is a lovely, friendly thread as you can see. If you have been binning toiletries you might like this equally friendly thread.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3020750

Kaz2904

And, I'm really pleased that you are getting on well with your new cleaner. Sometimes people come into our homes and reorganize them in a way that is a breath of fresh air to us. It sounds like she will be worth her weight in gold and she'll help you to declutter those mugs (and dare I say it, some bags!).
Yorkshirelass, sorry you're feeling rough still.
Welcome newbies and keep on going oldies!

LauraMac_2

Thanks for the welcome, Mcculloch - we've actually been on a strict 'replacement buying only' policy for toiletries for the last 2 or 3 years. About 5-7 years ago I had a serious toiletries-buying habit, then something clicked and I went completely the other way. I've gone from spending £15+ a week to less than £2 a month on average due to using up rather than buying (and I can just about see the bottom of another 3 bottles that I won't be replacing, yay!) :j:j:j I wasn't happy that I had to ditch my L'Occitane shampoo and conditioner though (I've been trying to eke it out but I was too successful, and it changed colour and smelled acidic before I used it up).

More decluttering while I was on the phone earlier - cat food box flattened and in recycling , two old Yellow Pages and some Ikea packaging also bunged in the recycling.

bonsibabe

Good morning all!

I am just about to slope off to bed now after a hard day's decluttering! Here is my update so far!:D:D:D:D

Day 1
1-6 - bags of carp for the bin
7 - bag of newspapers and mags for recycling
8 - one pile of shredding from hubby
9 - box of cardboard for recycling
10 - broken tv to recycling centre
11-13 - another couple of bags of plastic for recycling centre

Day 2
14-15 - 2 bags of carp from car
16-19 - 4 big envelopes of junk mail for survey company

Day 3
20 - christmas tree finally back in attic
21 - spare tv in attic
22 - bag of carp for bin from DD1's room
23 - bag of carp from my bedroom
24-30 - 7 baskets of clean washing put away (finally)!
31 - bag of carp from living room/hallway/stairs

Day 4
32-34 - another 3 bags of carp from the car
35-37 - 3 bags to the charity shop
38-40 - 3 bags of carp for the bin

Day 5
41 - bunny decluttered into a new hutch and out of the living room!
42 - all bunny related stuff decluttered out of living room and into the kids summer house in the garden to now be used as storage
43 - another box of assorted papers for shredding (they will come to work with me next week and added to the shredding box!)
44-46 - bags of assorted carp for the bin

Day 6
47-50 – another 4 bags of carp for the bin!
51 – big box of paper to the recycling
52 – box of tins for recycling (can you tell the recycling bins were emptied today lol)
53 – bag of magazines off to recycling
54 – bag of veg for composting
55 – bag of stuff from fridge freezer that was well past its best
56 – asda delivery decluttered from living room and hall into proper places in kitchen
57 – bag of plastic asda bags for recycling
58 – bag of other plastics from delivery for recycling
59 - both hoovers emptied and the contents put in the bin
60-72 – eleven chef knives and a sharp cheese grated taken to the police station for disposal
73 – another bag of newspapers and magazines to recycling

I sat in the local police station for 45 minutes before the receptionist came down then had to go into a side room with a sgt so that the knives could be inspected, but at least they are being disposed of responsibly, and won't end up on the dump for any idiot to get their hands on;)

I have however started to declutter my stash of wool that fills an entire recycling box and a couple of carriers as well. Have started a jumper for my lovely mam for christmas and a mug hug for DD1, then DD2 wants one, might just have to make a batch and list them on ebay and see how they sell ... if not they will make braw pressies! And have started a purple shawl/wrap thing for myself. Just the thing for snuggling on the sofa with!:o

Right am off to bed, seriously want to reach 100 tomorrow as i want to make it 150 by the end of the weekend as back to work on Monday but have loads to do tomorrow! Fingers crossed!:j

boultdj

Not been on for a bit, just started painting at new house so decluttering got side-lined at the mo.

mcculloch29

I've just had the nicest thing happen, well , last night. I'm a member of Amazon Vine Voices scheme where I get sent stuff for free by Amazon in return for posting reviews. Membership of this is by invitation only, if Amazon like your reviews they invite you to join.
I had been posting a lot of toiletries reviews as I'm not paying cash for toiletries this year I'm using up what I have, and Boots /Tesco loyalty schemes are paying for the rest.
Well, I was offered no toiletries last month or this, other than baby nappies and disposable changing mats that my niece is having.

But this month, for me, there was this. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004J33VVE It's a Hoover wet and dry cleaner, I think I got offered it because I posted a five star review of my lovely Hetty vac. I am absolutely thrilled. I remember how useful the Vax I had was in dealing with messy accidents and I haven't owned a wet and dry since.

Couldn't wait to share my good news with you! :money::j