The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

Yorkielass

poorbutrich wrote: »

I found this thread very helpful but unsubscribed when I kept reading about things going into landfill when they could be recycled. We've all heard the phrase "one man's rubbish is another man's treasure"...eBay and freegle are your friends declutterers!

I am delighted to see that you've made a point about the environment and am going to rejoin!

Resubscribe!!

Thanks. I think unless you've got to get rid of stuff in a total emergency then it's worth making a bit of effort and trying to get rid of things/rehome them responsibly - glad you agree!

I know we're only a family of 2 adults, no children or pets but out wheelie bin goes out every 8 weeks roughly, and often it isn't even full then. We try and minimise what we bring into our house, and recycle as much as possible of what we do.

Lurleene

Hello, is it ok for me to join in please? I have been making an effort to declutter for some time now, and hope that if I can see things written down I will see what progress I have made rather feel overwhelmed at how much there is left to do!

So far this week I have:

1) Sold a job lot of 40 Thomas the Tank engine books via Netmums. Money to son's money box.

2) Gave away a tub full of toy cars via Netmums.

3) Took two carrier bags of book to Homebase, where there is a shelf where people can pick up books in exchange for a donation to charity.

4) Sold two Hot wheels sets via Netmums. Money to son's money box.

5) Replaced my toileteries with items from my huge stash, and not bought any new ones!

6) Took the kids on a daytrip to London yesterday and managed to come home without buying one piece of tat! Gift shops are the enemy!

ThinkingOfLinking

lola34 wrote: »

Saw on another forum that its free listing on Ebay this weekend- so I'll have to sort out a few bits today in preparation.

Yep, this weekend is going to be an eBay bonanza, with about 30 items earmarked already.

Today, I bought a tub of butter. No mail came and my bin isn't full yet so I've not gotten anything out of the house, other than 3 postcards for entering comps which I posted this morning.

Kaz2904

Yorkielass wrote: »

I know we're only a family of 2 adults, no children or pets but out wheelie bin goes out every 8 weeks roughly, and often it isn't even full then. We try and minimise what we bring into our house, and recycle as much as possible of what we do.

It horrifies me that our bin is usually almost full every fortnight when it's collected. It's the amount of plastic wrapping from food and it makes me so cross because there's no need to have that amount of packaging on food products.
Our council won't recycle black plastic either so that all has to go in the bin despite it being recyclable :mad:.
At least the amount of packaging has gone down somewhat now that it's summer and we are having more salads and less packaged veg.

debbiedeejay

My ironing pile has it's own post code

:rotfl::rotfl:

Same here Eltee12 - am sure it gets post of its own too.

Like the idea of 200 things in June................hmmmm can I join in that too?

So out in the past two days have been

1. Mini TV/radio thing - actually I dropped it on kitchen tiled floor and it now makes a very interesting rainmaker sound -whoops.
2. 16 empty plastic bottles to recycle from DD2 room (yes 16!)
3. bin bag of rubblish from said DD2 room
4. 4 opened and used packets of seeds from 2 years ago(mouldy)
5. 12 empty cans to recycling.

Ah well its a start I suppose - oh and in came a tube of grout reviver but thats on the bathroom tiles as we speak - got to wait 30 minutes before can wipe down hence the quick look on here:)

Yorkielass

Kaz2904 wrote: »

It horrifies me that our bin is usually almost full every fortnight when it's collected. It's the amount of plastic wrapping from food and it makes me so cross because there's no need to have that amount of packaging on food products.
Our council won't recycle black plastic either so that all has to go in the bin despite it being recyclable :mad:.
At least the amount of packaging has gone down somewhat now that it's summer and we are having more salads and less packaged veg.

We have a fortnightly recycling collection of glass, tins, paper, cardboard and plastic (both bottles and ready meal containers/yoghurt pots etc) I agree that when this was introduced it made a huge difference, we've always kept our plastic bottles and taken them to a bank in supermarket carparks but getting the rest collected is great.

Then tetra packs go to the bin the a supermarket carpark, we have a fortnightly garden waste collection too (which we put out as and when needed) and then a wormery too for kitchen scraps/shredded paper/other bits and pieces they like.

Plastic carrier bags we never get, then the ones frozen veggies come in etc we recycle at the supermarket if it says we can.


So in our bin is normally tissues, crisp packets, ice cream wrappers and sanitary items, that seems to be most of it and then random bits. We could probably cut it down to just crinkly plastics if we had to, but at the moment when it's comes to tissues or sanitary items it's disposable for me I'm afraid.


It's a combination of being lucky with what we get collected and using it/storing and taking the other biggies for us to supermarkets, having a compost heap/wormery and being careful what we buy in the first place but I agree, the last place I worked the 4 of us all lived in different councils and all got totally different recycling collected.

Yorkielass

Lurleene wrote: »

Hello, is it ok for me to join in please? I have been making an effort to declutter for some time now, and hope that if I can see things written down I will see what progress I have made rather feel overwhelmed at how much there is left to do!

So far this week I have:

1) Sold a job lot of 40 Thomas the Tank engine books via Netmums. Money to son's money box.

2) Gave away a tub full of toy cars via Netmums.

3) Took two carrier bags of book to Homebase, where there is a shelf where people can pick up books in exchange for a donation to charity.

4) Sold two Hot wheels sets via Netmums. Money to son's money box.

5) Replaced my toileteries with items from my huge stash, and not bought any new ones!

6) Took the kids on a daytrip to London yesterday and managed to come home without buying one piece of tat! Gift shops are the enemy!

Welcome Lurleene - that sounds like great progress already, when I was majorly decluttering coming back to this thread and posting what had come in and out the house (because I believe what comes in, other than food you'll eat pretty soon, is just as important as what goes out) really helped, and made me think twice about not buying stuff sometimes. Good luck - it's all small steps.

Kaz2904

My friend replied that she didn't want the ties so I will drop them off at the charity shop tomorrow. Them and the adhesive. Have sewed up another square for my quilt this morning and aim to do 2 tonight. If I have time, I'll do more but I doubt I will.
All washing is up to date apart from the load crisping up nicely on the line.
Am just about to get tea on which will consist of 1/2 pack of mince from fridge and some tatties and veg from cupboard. Not sure what it will be though
Very tired suddenly now that I've sat down in the shade. DH wants to go for a walk in the sun see you later.

rosieben

I seem to have been decluttering for years :eek: but last week, I looked around the flat and realised that I'm at the end of it :j

I can't tell you how good it feels to walk through here and see space, I love it!

I decluttered books, craft materials, clothes and shoes, ornaments, furniture, christmas decorations and cards (I don't send them now), toiletries, kitchen stuff ... and most of it was done in short bursts of half an hour or so; small targets are so much easier to tackle, baby steps!!

The local CS collected 4 big lots of furniture, crates/boxes and bags, loads more given to family, and loads to the dustcart

now I need to sort out storage and organise what I'm keeping, so there may be a few items to go but it will only be a few.

I also need to make sure that I don't acquire loads more 'stuff'
Thanks for the encouragement and motivation :beer:

Lurleene

Yorkielass wrote: »

Welcome Lurleene - that sounds like great progress already, when I was majorly decluttering coming back to this thread and posting what had come in and out the house (because I believe what comes in, other than food you'll eat pretty soon, is just as important as what goes out) really helped, and made me think twice about not buying stuff sometimes. Good luck - it's all small steps.

Thankyou Yorkielass for the kind words, and every one else, this seems a very friendly thread! I managed to clear my credit card debts with lots of help from the DFW "small things" thread, so hopefully these small things will be as fruitfull.

You are so right Yorkielass about monitoring what comes in- when I first read your post I thought that all that had come in today was some pizzas for tea.

But actually now I think about it, what really came in was pizzas for tea, a top for DS, a Bambi DVD and Power Rangers video ( yes, video!) for DS (both bought in a CS), and a Fatface catalogue for DD!

So yes, I really must keep in check what comes in as obviously I don't even notice it! And tomorrow I will make an effort to declutter the DVDs and videos to help offset what came in.

Out:
A beach towel and swimming trunks, passed back to my nephews.
Recycling. ( We are so lucky - our council collects paper, cans and glass from the doorstep every fortnight)
Two tickets to see Derren Brown were decluttered from my mantlepiece, and very enjoyed they were too.

Thanks again, Lurleene.