The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

rinabean

I'm still reading through this thread but I thought I'd post now anyway. I've been ill with depression for a long time, and in the past fortnight my beloved grandma took extremely ill and died, I got married and we've decided to move out of our tiny mouldy cramped flat and into my husband's parents' house (terribly cluttered, but large and not moudly!). So as you can imagine the house has been the last thing on my mind lately, and it shows! Yesterday evening we went through all the stuff that had accumulated on the large footstool we use for a sofa :think: and got rid of a carrier bag of rubbish and two large resuable bags of recycling! Now you can even see the fabric in places...

Today I went through my wardrobe, something which desparately needed doing as it is slowly flooding into the middle of the room, and took two binbags of clothes down to the charity shop, and I've got one carrier bag for a textile recycling bin, if I can remember where I saw that around here! :rotfl: If I can't find it, the charity shop can take it if I tell them what it is, right?

I don't think that's too bad a start to my spring cleaning, but there is sooo much more that needs to be done! :eek:

deborah64

Had a bit of a sort out today, sending some cds to Musicmagpie, and some to the charity shop.
I also went through my bookcase and now have some that i wont read and they can go to the cs along with the cds.
Have a large pile of Danielle Steel books, but they are staying as they were gifts of my o/h and dds.

Callisto

In

Three books and a set of coasters from a car boot sale

Out - 'Find 20 things to get rid of mini weekend challenge'

1 - 2. Magazines recycled
3 - 4. Necklaces into charity bag
5. Summer jacket to Mum
6. OH's old safety hat (thrown away as dirty and bad condition)
7. Eyeshadow to sister
8. Pair of worn out socks used as rags, then thrown away
9. 2010 diary recycled (not been written in)
10. Magazine to Mum
11. Various bits of packaging not good enough to reuse, either recycled or thrown away

That's all I managed, but 11 things out is better than no things out!

Next plans for decluttering are:

Take everything out of wardrobe, clean inside of wardrobe, reorganise clothes and try out the hanging storage - be ruthless about getting rid of things I hardly wear!

Spend 30 minutes tackling the surface clutter in the spare room.

mcculloch29

Yep, it's sort the wardrobe time - although I'm much further north than Calisto and not quite so sure that the thick jumpers have had their last outing.
My cleaner came today, so I look de-cluttered!
I have GOT to wean myself off discount clothes shops and pound shops - I have enough clothes for the summer, an ironing pile that needs to decrease - and I don't need anything that the pound shop sells!
(I would love some of the body butters from £land but I've made a vow not to spend cash on toiletries - and I don't NEED them...)
Back to work. That's the joy of working from home...

horse76

Not got much to report from Monday, felt I wasted the day a bit and we're already in the second week of the school holidays!

Did manage to make a bolognese for dinner later this week, have popped it in the freezer. DH on at me to make another Banana & Raisin Loaf tomorrow, so got 2 to do as promised my Auntie one too.

Did find to ornaments to put in the 'car boot sale pile' under the stairs. I've never liked them so removed them from the display cabinet.
Also collected a pile of paper to go in the blue bin.

Spent most of the evening trying to find places to hang my washing to dry, so the hall, bathroom and dining room are looking like a laundry at the moment. I'm not wanting to use the drier as it's too expensive, and the house is really warm from the nice weather this past couple of days, so it should dry quickly.

Not got anything planned for Tuesday, except baking, so hopefully I'll get stuck into my tip of a bedroom!

GreyQueen

Yesterday I prepped a bag of stuff which I'll take to the c.s on the way to work:

1. A melamine tray (too small)
2. A spare teapot (too big)
3. A CD I don't listen to.
4. Ditto.
5. A small jug which would look very pretty on someone's shelf.

Recycling; last year's birthday cards (:o)

Textile recycling; a very worn-out pair of trousers whose fabric made them unsuitable for wiping rags.

Got a few bits to Freecycle but have a very busy day today and don't want to add that layer of complexity into my affairs but will do it in the next few days.

On Sunday from my bike shed:

1. Small dried up part-tin of gloss (I inherited it when I moved into the flat in 1997, got some use out of it, but it has solidified).

2. A luminous safety tabard which is torn and unused now I have a luminous waistcoat which is much easier to use.

Amazing how I feel physically and emotionally lighter with each item or bag off the premises.

Loved that line about gagging and binding the Inner Pauper, btw. I SO understand that feeling..........:rotfl:

Yorkielass

Made some progress last night

Monday night/Tuesday morning 5 things got rid of/put back in proper place challenge:
1. Last years hayfever spray found in dressing table drawer, emptied and bottle and top in recycling
2. Inhalers off bedroom floor and into dressing table drawer and paper bag they were in recycled.
3. Box from this years hayfever spray recycled, why it's been sat on dressing table for a couple of weeks I don't know!
4. Bag I'd identified for ebaying into my ebaying box in the office
5. Make up brushes/nail scissors etc and necklaces that were on dressing table tidied away.

So 5 little things done this morning when I was getting ready. I keep saying there isn't much to do but it's little bits like this that are easy to do and if I don't then it's going to get out of hand.

I also found all the bits for a H*lifax bank account I opened to book some flights a few years ago because it was Electron, and then never used. I phoned them up this morning and no record of the account on their system because it was never used so there are some papers to take home and recycle, some to shred and a card to cut up, all of which has been floating round the office for over 2 1/2 years

In last night was some post relating to Guides and the Guide flagpole turned up at work. OH isn't too impressed as I promised the house wouldn't fill with stuff when I started doing it but it won't take up too much room!

Got my dad's present and card to post out with me today so that's another out too.

Then also working through tax paperwork for the M Shopping I did - that was a bit more trouble than it's worth really and glad I have a better paid job now and can just do that and a bit of ebaying/surveys etc. Need to tidy all that up and sort tax code out as it's wrong because of all this.

So I'm going to aim for 5 more things tonight/tomorrow morning and see if I can keep this up for the week.

shopaholic232

Hi everyone my house feels like a complete mess i have decided to start a declutter in every room so hope to make a start this evening as im fed up of junk everywhere. will post update later of what i get done

Ellie83

shopaholic232 wrote: »

Hi everyone my house feels like a complete mess i have decided to start a declutter in every room so hope to make a start this evening as im fed up of junk everywhere. will post update later of what i get done

I had the same thought about a week ago. Now two rooms are de-cluttered (kitchen and bathroom). One piece of advice though: do not underestimate the work. It took me ages to do the kitchen, I thought of giving up I am starting the bedroom this week and I will do it one area after the other or I will lose it I think

lalapalooza

Hi Guys! What a fantastic thread! I want to declutter as we are currently on the market trying to downsize from a small 4 bed to a 2 bed with bigger garden. we used to move frequently and be quite lean, but since OH came out of the RAF we have become clutter monsters! looking forward to seeing everyones hints!