The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

shelley_crow

my effort over the weekend:

43 books will be going, I've offered them to friends and failing that will be freecycling them.

A huge tub of fish food that my fussy fishies won't eat freecycled

TaupeTortoise

I took 9 e-bay packages to the post office yesterday!

And there is another one to go. Sadly only one of my buyers from last week has left feedback, and the only reason that I am selling low value items is to get some feedback.

9 out of the 11 magazines currently listed also have watchers! With this economy and my current lack of job it is far better to get a £ or so per magazine than leave them at my Doctor's surgery.

PudseyDB

TaupeTortoise wrote: »

I took 9 e-bay packages to the post office yesterday!

And there is another one to go. Sadly only one of my buyers from last week has left feedback, and the only reason that I am selling low value items is to get some feedback.

9 out of the 11 magazines currently listed also have watchers! With this economy and my current lack of job it is far better to get a £ or so per magazine than leave them at my Doctor's surgery.

Think I shocked the post office y'day and dropped off 17 parcels

I had a few buyers from the last free listing day that hadnt left feedback so I sent them a quick message asking if they'd received them ok as they hadn't left feedback and wanted to check they'd arrived safely. I didnt actually ask for feedback but I think it reminded some of them.

silvasava

Hi All

Bit up & down this week!
Monday: Out - 3 parcels on ebay plus all the bubble wrap to wrap them in, 2 Steel Lintels & assorted guttering & downpipe via Freecycle -old cooking fork & 2 past it aluminium dishes
In - New cooking fork & enamelled dish from TKX & pack of peat pots from £land
Tuesday: Out - Video player & computer thingy returned to DiL
In - 3 books & 2 Audio Tapes from CS (tapes to be sent to Godmother as she has sight problems)1 Pink Paeony
Wed: Out - Tapes to GM & Dressing Gown, Small Mirror & freebie DVD's to CS
Paeony planted & wrapping in bin

Just going to make a Potato, Cheese & Spinach layered pie for tea tonight that I saw in the Sunday supplement that will use up all my odds & ends of cheese lurking in the bottom of the fridge

debbiedeejay

Evening All

Had a tiff with DD2 & DD3 about the state of their bedrooms this morning - apparently out of the 4 PE tops they have between them only 1 could be found, but I wasn't surprised as most of their clothes end up as a heap on the floor ,dirty stuff on top clean stuff, clothes that are too small/not liked mingled in between...............you get my drift.

Anyway told them if rooms not sorted by next Weds I was bagging up all clothes on floor and giving to CS.

DD2 asked me to help her go through her clothes & wardrobe.

So out went 8 pairs shoes to CS, 1 bin bag of clothes to CS, 1 bin bag clothes to bin & 1 bag of clothes ready for ebay/car boot.

1 huge pile of washing though.....but we have just re-dyed 2 pairs of jeans and a sweatshirt plus I have kept a couple of tops & jeans she no longer likes:)

Am too tired to tackle DD3 room - hers is worse & she has the smallest room too ,but she has agreed to start on it at weekend so will have to help her then.

She can actually "see" what she has now and close the wardrobe doors too!

Am off to de clutter my tea now - that's if I don't fall asleep eating it:o

cat04

Posted my last ebay parcel (until next time!) today Had DD1 off school with the same bug that was affecting DD2 at the weekend, so haven't done too much today.

IN
Potatoes for tea

OUT
Recycled food packaging
Ebay parcel and recycled jiffy bag
A handful of those little bits of rubbish you find lying around that seem to come from nowhere!!

In a bid to try and use food items we already have in the cupboards/freeze etc, and to try and save some money I have been trying to do my main shop once a fortnight instead of weekly like I was doing, which seems to be working. We have a great 'small but big enough to actually stock useful items' Co-op near us, so top up with milk, bananas and bread from there, plus a couple of things they have on offer every now and again. It's saving me quite a bit actually as in a supermarket I tend to pick up lots of things we 'need' but then end up 'decluttering' into the bin if they don't get used up in time Doing things this way means my cupboards are clearer, we're still eating well and I'm spending less

I'm also now in the right frame of mind to start again on the playroom. We already have a big box in there that the girls use as the 'getting rid of' box, and it's getting nicely full, just need to find some more things for it, then sort into selling and donating

celebrate

hi all

just wanted to introduce myself-you guys have been recommended ( by the lovely kaz2904 on no buying more toiletries thread)to help me sort my life (and clutter....) out!

ok so i ama well qualified gp but when it comes to general normal house stuff i'm rubbish. My cleaners all despaired of me and left.

I AM SCARED OF DECLUTTERING!!!
When i try to declutter it kills me to throw anything out and I just move it around and put it into storage. I buy stuff off ebay and it turns out to be junk but never get round to selling it again (can only BUY off ebay haven't figured out how to sell on there yet lol!!:rotfl:)

We have 3 TVs a bunk bed a skeleton, plastic plants and a zillion other items that seemed like a good idea at the time if you know what i mean.

Am I a lost cause??

Kaz2904

Hi celebrate :wave:. You're not a lost cause. Everyone will be along with hints and tips momentarily. My hints and tips are to remember: You didn't get in this mess in a day so you sure as heck aren't going to get out of it in a day either.
If your home is horrifically bad you may find it easier to get one room clear at a time. You can choose to start on the clearest room first if it makes you feel better.
I would go into the room you choose to start on. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Don't get out more than you can deal with in one go. Start with a shelf or a drawer.
I Gok'ed my wardrobe. I did it by myself a couple of years ago but if you have a good friend to help you, it can become a fun day.
Someone else on here has been decluttering her wardrobe by default. Each day when she gets dressed, she'll pull something out and think "Meh! Don't like the cut/ feel/ coulour/ pattern/ whatever" So out it goes.
If you then get a cardboard box or laundry basket or somewhere safe to put your stuff that you are going to get rid of then you can use your next 15 minute slot to iron and photograph your clothing. The next 15 minutes after that can be used to ebay list.

The way I started listing stuff was to look for the item I wanted to sell and then click on the sell one like this button somewhere on the page.
Alternatively, log into ebay and hover over "sell" Click on sell an item type in a brief description of your item and click the blue button it will bring up the categories it can think of. Click one of the tick boxes.

It is really very easy after this step. Well actually, all the way through. Make sure you weigh your items first so you can calculate your postage costs. You need to add about 50p- £1 more than it will cost to post to cover your fees (ebay and paypal).
I would start off listing low value items initially so that you can build up your feedback scores and DSR's. You can also get the lie of the land before you move onto high value stuff.



Decluttering from me: Still awaiting payment on my last ebay sale. DS and I started doing his wardrobe earlier. He has a massive ikea (pax?) one which holds all of his clothes and toys. I still haven't found a bureau for him. Off to have a look tomorrow. I saw a nice one in a little second hand shop so hope it's still there. Whilst I'm down there, I will pop into the antique shops to see if I am able to sell some solid silver napkin rings. I have a set of 6 that can go. I will count up the others. I have a 1903 heavy weight one which I bought for 50p. I was going to sell this too but DS really doesn't want me to sell it. I might just take the whole box down and see how much he would give me for each one so that I am able to base my decision on that. They are most definately NOT all going!
Am in two minds though, silver is going up in cost. No.... the set can go, I bought them to resell. They are useful but I have enough others and they are not beautiful.
I MUST finish the ironing tomorrow. It'll take me about half an hour including putting away time.
I have some stuff to return to a DIY shop too so will have a couple of ££££ back into my account.
Night peeps

PudseyDB

celebrate wrote: »

hi all

just wanted to introduce myself-you guys have been recommended ( by the lovely kaz2904 on no buying more toiletries thread)to help me sort my life (and clutter....) out!

ok so i ama well qualified gp but when it comes to general normal house stuff i'm rubbish. My cleaners all despaired of me and left.

I AM SCARED OF DECLUTTERING!!!
When i try to declutter it kills me to throw anything out and I just move it around and put it into storage. I buy stuff off ebay and it turns out to be junk but never get round to selling it again (can only BUY off ebay haven't figured out how to sell on there yet lol!!:rotfl:)

We have 3 TVs a bunk bed a skeleton, plastic plants and a zillion other items that seemed like a good idea at the time if you know what i mean.

Am I a lost cause??

Hiya Celebrate I'm another one who's joined both the declutter and toiletries boards. And I'm also fairly new - only started posting about 2 weeks before you, so we're probably in similar situations clutter-wise (although I have much less perfume ).

Kaz has some fantastic advice - esp about tackling a bit at a time and it taking more than a day to sort out :rotfl:

Only managed to declutter the kitchen table today. It seems to attract papers!!

Kaz2904

Ooh, just had another thought....
if you have the whole house to do, to save you from getting overwhelmed if you are going to have a day of it. Set a timer for 15min or 1/2hour. When it beeps, reset it and move on to another room. Keep going around the house lke this. Intersperse it with putting on a load of washing/ the dishwasher/ the tumble drier/ some ironing etc.
Try to keep up with the day to day stuff as it makes everything else easier to get on with.