The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

bonsibabe

Well I am back to weekend and evening decluttering but have done quite a lot so far ... here goes with my update list!

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

Day 7
74-79 - 6 items listed on ebay
80-81 – another 2 books on ebay

Day 8
82-84 – 3 items from ebay sold
85 – rabbit cage and stand sold to a friend for £25!
86 – bag of DD2’s books to children’s charity in the same office building as me
87-89 – 3 bags of accumulated carp for the tip
90 – old and broken Christmas tree out of DD1’s wardrobe and off to the tip
91 – some plastics off to recycling
92-94 – items relisted on ebay

Right ... off to take some pics of DH's mess dress that he never wore and it has been sat in the wardrobe for almost 3 years! Hopefully I will get some decent money for it ... it cost over £800!!!

morganlefay

Have ground to a halt lately, and granddaughter (3 1/2) has chicken pox badly and is very bored, as is her pregnant Mum. BUT tomorrow my kind sister is coming to stay for a whole 5 days to help me completely clear the 'study' which is piled high with papers, books and junk, and has also had mice. I'm getting VERY excited at the thought of having at least one cleared room, which I shall clean to within an inch of its life and definitely keep clear everafter ! (I hope)

Yorkielass

Posted the box of beauty stuff and paid the cheque in.

Listed 10 things on ebay and got the next batch of stuff lined up to research, photograph and describe over the next couple of weeks ready for the next free listing weekend.

Got a very busy week now and so decluttering will be taking a back seat but I'll potter on as best I can.

cat04

Following on from m last post on Friday night, I spent Saturday morning (with a little bit of help from the DD's!) tidying up the downstairs, bathroom and kids bedroom, hoovered throughout, finished off the washing up and chucked out a few bits of rubbish and recycling we came across. DD1's school friend and her mum came round to play/chat and they stayed for lunch and most of the afternoon which didn't half cheer me up She's a neat freak and said how good the house was looking Best compliment I could have had, so it makes it seem even more worth the hard work now Our friends came for a chinese in the evening so all in all we had a fab day and even got some extra money from OH's overtime - best Saturday in ages!

Last night I actually got my iron out (!!) and did DD1's school uniform, sewed the button that's been on top of the microwave since before the half term hols back onto her school cardigan and decluttered a nice glass of wine too. We seem to be keeping on top of any clutter re-appearing which is good news, and means that tomorrow night when I have some friends round for a Vie at Home party I won't have to dash around for hours tidying up

Between us DD1 and I have filled a black bag with yet more recycling - general packaging, pictures she doesn't want to keep anymore etc. Bless her, she's changed from a girl who would keep every scrap of paper ever drawn on and every playgroup/school picture to having weekly clear outs of her 'making box'.

NicNocs

Well done cat04 - a really inspirational post (for me at least, although I'm sure others will agree with me). Glad you've been able to really enjoy all your hard work and effort, makes it all worth while doesn't it!

Billie-jo

Not been on this thread for a while but have been keeping busy.
The bins got emptied today and the recycling bin is over half full ready for next week, lots of cardboard in it. Have taken a lage bag of items to c.s. and am well on the way to having a second one ready to go.
Have decluttered two large chests out although I think one of them will have to be done again as think it could be reduced more.

Bathroom is the next place to declutter hopefully this week but if not it will be the weekend.

valentina

I'm feeling very smug at the moment - I emptied out a kitchen drawer full of cut out recipes from magazines, and filed them, and even threw some away that I know I'll never make!

Kaz2904

DH painted the windowsill in the dining room last night while I was cooking tea so about 10pm it was dry enough for him to rethread the curtain onto the pole and shove it back up. Today I've hoovered upstairs, stripped and washed the beds (last lot in the dryer, 1st lot still on the line ), done the ironing (still to put away) and hoovered downstairs. I've emptied the hoover, emptied and relined (!) the bins up and downstairs. Polished in my room and used 2 bottles of elderflower champagne in the (really brown disgusting scaly) upstairs loo. I feel that I've achieved an awful lot and feel . DH and I are trying to decide if we are able to rehome a 1yr old lab at the moment.
Any dog owners quickly give pros and cons? You've seen my dining room now, would it get wrecked? I don't want a smelly doggy house and I wouldn't want to rehome her if she is not going to get the best life. TIA, Kaz.

cat04

NicNocs wrote: »

Well done cat04 - a really inspirational post (for me at least, although I'm sure others will agree with me). Glad you've been able to really enjoy all your hard work and effort, makes it all worth while doesn't it!

Thank you It's almost like Saturday was the turning point - not only did I realise that yes, I can do the tidying/decluttering on my own and with a time scale, but that I can do a good job of it too Yay, feel a lot better about things now Reading all the posts on here and knowing that I'm not the only one who has clutter and hates it too really helps

PudseyDB

Kaz2904 wrote: »

DH painted the windowsill in the dining room last night while I was cooking tea so about 10pm it was dry enough for him to rethread the curtain onto the pole and shove it back up. Today I've hoovered upstairs, stripped and washed the beds (last lot in the dryer, 1st lot still on the line ), done the ironing (still to put away) and hoovered downstairs. I've emptied the hoover, emptied and relined (!) the bins up and downstairs. Polished in my room and used 2 bottles of elderflower champagne in the (really brown disgusting scaly) upstairs loo. I feel that I've achieved an awful lot and feel . DH and I are trying to decide if we are able to rehome a 1yr old lab at the moment.
Any dog owners quickly give pros and cons? You've seen my dining room now, would it get wrecked? I don't want a smelly doggy house and I wouldn't want to rehome her if she is not going to get the best life. TIA, Kaz.

PROS:
a lifelong friend and companion
a reason to exercise - think of all those refreshing walks
no boredom - you'll be too busy playing

CONS:
dog hairs!! - regular hoovering will keep that in check
the inevitable muddy footprints - catch them before they come in and keep and old towel by the door
odour - yeah they smell a bit - but so do humans! use air freshers etc

If you're worried about the dining room then shut the door when you're out.

My two have free-run downstairs, but the youngest one isnt allowed upstairs so the bedrooms stay mainly hair-free.