The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

Eltee12

Morning All

#18 Another attack on Mount Ironingpile on Sunday, done and put away
#19-22 Rubbish / Recycling piles out for bin [STRIKE]men [/STRIKE]persons
#23 Despatched book sold on *mazon
#24 More Mount Ironingpile done & put away yesterday

176 things and 22 days to go.......

Yorkielass

skint_chick wrote: »

I've still got some more clothes and rare books to sell next time there's a free listing weekend. My aim for this year is to sell and donate as much as possible so I can spend less time cleaning and maintaining my home and more time enjoying life. So far in the last 3 months I've raised over £500 on ebay, which I've used to buy the land behind my house. So I now own 940square foot of land to grow my own organic veg and spend more time outside relaxing. I'd love to be an extreme minimalist and only own stuff I really needed and be surrounded by empty space - I think it would be make me feel free and empowered.

That's fab, thanks for posting.

Since we decided we were going to try and move last Autumn I've been selling stuff in a variety of places and putting all the money and any extra bits I get, like coins found etc into a savings account and if we do ever move and need a new piece of furniture, some paint etc I want to use that money so it's gone to something worthwhile. We did the same with money from a car boot when we were still students, bought bed side tables and then money from selling/surveys/mystery shopping bought our new TV, Wii and I think blu-ray. I've got a new job now so I'm not doing as much extra stuff anymore but still trying with the selling!

Your veg patch sounds wonderful - enjoy.

Yorkielass

I've sold another DVD I put on Amazon last week! Not as much as the other one but decided I wouldn't watch it again and it'll be gone tomorrow! Got that and 2 more Guiding related things which have been paid for to post then.

I need to start another round of going through stuff and thinking about what I really need to keep I think, not a lot coming in at the moment other than food & post, but only recycling really going out of any size.

cat04

Managed to get my small pile of hand washing washed, dried and put away today, plus 2 loads in the machine. Got through 90% of my ironing pile in the afternoon whilst DD2 played in the back garden (I iron in the conservatory which means I can watch her!)...then bought the 2nd lot of washing off the line and now the basket is full again :doh:

Taken more boxes to Pre-School for 'junk modelling', and recycled various bits including junk mail and loo roll inners (I think they must be breeding in our house lol).

I'm going to go through my wardrobe tomorrow afternoon whilst DD2 is at P-S and try on everything and will hopefully/unfortunately have a pile of things that I don't wear anymore (due to putting on a bit of weight over the past year - feeling very :mad: at myself about that but currently trying to do something about it :j)

debbiedeejay

Morning all:wave:

Am doing pants on this months challenge - work has been pretty taking over my life this week and although I wa going to go in today just to finish some stuff - I decided not to as my home looks a tip.


In
HUGE bib bag of clothes 7 shoes from DD1 - shared out between DD2 & 3 and me
Very gratefully received as doing the "crazy clothes challenge" again this year,care of Lula Hula & Co !

Outs

6. Huge pile of shredded paper from notice board - now tidy
7.sorted handbag out - yukky, gunky recepits,broken pens out.
8.Green bin emptied today -so waste bins clear in house.


As you can see not much but every little helps.....oh a big cyclindrical cushion is hopefully going to a new home next week - just need to wash cover.

In fact am off to look through airing cupboard to see if anything needs outing..........................................ttfn

UnluckyT

hi all,
another 19 books from my pile into the charity shop.
now to do what i got to do to keep the pile down and start on sorting and keeping my place tidy and clutter free?

mollythewestie

Started to try and clear our study today, but its going to take a while (you can't even see the floor :eek:) so far I have:
- Found some DVDs and a CD to put on ebay.
- 4 books in the charity bag
- 1 carrier bags worth of rubbish/birthday cards thrown away/recycled
- 2 x 2010 calenders (Never opened and still in the shrink wrap :eek:) thrown away.
- Pile of loose photographs put into photo album.
- Filed away a handful of paperwork.

EDIT: I have also done 2 loads of washing today, so have an empty washing bin (Not for long though!)

LauraMac_2

My head is spinning trying to cull 'stuff'. I reckon I've donated/GMed over 300 books this year, and am trying to cull as I read, but it's getting tougher and tougher to get rid of books. It feels like we're already down to the ones we 'really' want (yet there are three boxes of books in the garage, two in a cupboard, plus we have 5 large and 4 half-height bookcases and my 'to read' pile is enormous...). I'm trying to convince myself that every bag of stuff I get rid of now is one bag less I have to think about when we eventually move out of here. However it's so slow going that even though I know I'm chipping away at it, it feels like I'm going nowhere. Not helped by my OH's personal projects that involve space-consuming or delicate objects that can't be moved - to be fair, my projects take up more space though I'm trying to cut back and I haven't added anything to mine for a few months.

So, the last couple of days:

Charity bag:
6 small candles (think they were on the windowsills when we moved in, but have been in the back of a cupboard ever since)
15 CDs (CD no. 16 was put back in the rack after I decided it was actually quite good, and I must listen to it more often!)
1 winter coat (too large)

Green Metropolis
5 books listed

I also started tidying the dining table and my desk, so various bits of paper got recycled/shredded and bits of rubbish binned.

I'm also a compulsive crafter so I've started sorting through my yarn stash to see what I can bear to sell. After a couple of hours of looking, I've got a carrier bag full that I'll sell at some point. Last year I Ebayed a large proportion of my collection of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils. Well, I've decided that I still have far too many and need to Ebay more, so another 15 or so wee bottles have been put in a box for listing (sadly no really rare ones). I've lined up some almost-empty shower gel bottles in the bathroom and I'm going to tell OH to prioritise those when he showers so they don't get pushed to the back again before they're empty.

DVDs, computer/console games and clothes are largely under control now I think. I probably have fewer clothes than most women, but I just don't have room to store them - the spare-room wardrobe is used as a linen and book cupboard so we have a small wardrobe and two chests of drawers between the two of us. Gah, I hate tiny, lacking-in-storage, new-build, rented housing!

weesmiler

Hi folks!

I'm a newbie to the de-cluttering thread.

I've just bought my 1st house, a 2 bedroom end of terrace. It's all mine, just living here on my own, so no-one else's mess to deal with

I did a wee bit of de-cluttering before I moved, but obviously not enough, as moving day was rather stressful! I had so much more stuff than I realised. I mean, I'm only 25, and I'm only 1 person...how I accumulated so much junk is beyond me! :think:

Also...how did I ever afford it all? I've been a student most of my life til last July!!

Anyhow, slowly but surely, I aim to clear out as much of my junk as possible. Any tips, hints or suggestions would be very welcome!

Weesmiler xx

Callisto

weesmiler wrote: »

I'm a newbie to the de-cluttering thread.

I've just bought my 1st house, a 2 bedroom end of terrace. It's all mine, just living here on my own, so no-one else's mess to deal with

Anyhow, slowly but surely, I aim to clear out as much of my junk as possible. Any tips, hints or suggestions would be very welcome

Hi Weesmiler, congratulations on your house purchase! My decluttering advice is to start small - such as a drawer or a box, sorting into rubbish/sell/give away to friend or family/freecycle/recycle/keep as you go. Once you've got the decluttering 'bug', you can tackle bigger areas, but try to finish it within a day (as personally I get disheartened if I don't see progress within that time!) and NEVER pile stuff onto the bed to sort through as clearing a space at midnight to sleep in is not fun!

Some people also do challenges and post on here with their progress - eg 'Get 100 things out of the house in 10 days challenge' - not too big a project for most people, but still enough to make a dent in the clutter. Hope that helps...

My progress for this week

In

Two tops
Bracelet
Two DVDs
Registration documents for Open University course I'd better get on with the decluttering now, as I won't have much spare time in the autumn once working and studying!

Pending In

Two tops

Out

Nine items and a big box to send them in, sold on Ebay and buyer finally paid!

Brooch and ring to Mum

Lots of weeds from the rockery (OH toiled on it for hours to get it cleared - bless him!) Still need to clear the space at the end of the garden (I've hurt my back and OH currently ill, so don't know when we'll get to that!)

Pending Out

Two dresses, two tops, two bracelets, a video and a fridge magnet to go to charity shop, but couldn't carry that and the Ebay parcel together due to hurting my back, so will have to take the charity bag next week.