The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

System

Ive got loads to do as Monday is my cleaning day after the weekend but i'm having the period from hell and i cant see me getting much done other than sitting on my backside all day though. One thing i want to do is go through my wardrobe. Ive got loads of tops that i never wear (thats mainly cause i have recently ive discovered dresses again).

Callisto

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

err I may have moved my furniture round tonight instead.............

I have a plan for the last bit of sorting in my room that I can do over the next few nights, in 15 minutes.

this will work.

Great to hear you have a plan. I am a big fan of the 15 minute declutter. Stops me feeling like I haven't achieved anything! Little and often is fab.

electric_comperella wrote: »

Morning all...

Feeling really fed up this morning...birthday in a couple of days...dreading it..(first one without Mum)

so this morning I am unhappy with...

- the house which really needs decluttering/a bomb putting under it
- my body I've put on over a stone since Mum died
- life in general and getting older was apathetic about birthdays before...now I just hate the idea altogether...

No matter how much stuff I shift...there's never enough space I'm racked off today...good and proper...I need a rocket up the back side and whatever motivational decluttering advice you can give me

TIA

Ella x

Sorry to hear about your Mum Ella. It would be nice to plan something for your birthday, even if it's just going out for coffee and cake or to the cinema? You're worth it! :A

Regarding the decluttering, have you had a go at 15 minute bursts? Choose a drawer or a cluttered area to go through, set a timer/alarm for 15 minutes and away you go. When time is up, you can stop or if it's going ok, then you can carry on.

It helps to have bags or boxes close by, one for things to give away to family/friends, one for charity, one for rubbish, one for recycling, one for selling (Ebay/carboot etc) and one for items that need to be moved from one room to another or for paperwork that needs filing/shredding etc. Even 15 minutes a day means you are making progress and if you concentrate on one room for a week, it will look so much better!

With the weight loss, again I would recommend taking it slowly. If you are already feeling upset, changing your eating too radically won't help. How about just substituting a piece of fruit for a biscuit or water in place of a sugary drink to start with?


Over the weekend I have managed to list 7 items on Ebay and relist about 30, but only 1 watcher so far! I will do my 15 minute declutter now, but the rest of today is more studying as I am still behind and my assignment is due in a week.

electric_comperella

Callisto wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your Mum Ella. It would be nice to plan something for your birthday, even if it's just going out for coffee and cake or to the cinema? You're worth it! :A

Regarding the decluttering, have you had a go at 15 minute bursts? Choose a drawer or a cluttered area to go through, set a timer/alarm for 15 minutes and away you go. When time is up, you can stop or if it's going ok, then you can carry on.

It helps to have bags or boxes close by, one for things to give away to family/friends, one for charity, one for rubbish, one for recycling, one for selling (Ebay/carboot etc) and one for items that need to be moved from one room to another or for paperwork that needs filing/shredding etc. Even 15 minutes a day means you are making progress and if you concentrate on one room for a week, it will look so much better!

With the weight loss, again I would recommend taking it slowly. If you are already feeling upset, changing your eating too radically won't help. How about just substituting a piece of fruit for a biscuit or water in place of a sugary drink to start with?


Over the weekend I have managed to list 7 items on Ebay and relist about 30, but only 1 watcher so far! I will do my 15 minute declutter now, but the rest of today is more studying as I am still behind and my assignment is due in a week.

Hi Callisto

I've been "at it" since I got up got a strange little method - sorta sweeping the room from one side to the other...aiming to fill a carrier bag of stuff to evict from the house per day...hopefully that should get me somewhere...

Birthday is a difficult one - cinema is a nice idea though especially now the weather is chilly for outdoors stuff

good luck with your assignment hope it and your ebaying go well for you xx

declutterme

Hey All!

This probably fits in the de-cluttering forum under office and home help. This site is like one of those cloud storage platforms however you store all your data and information on it.

It's a website called myPDV.

Hope it helps :-)

electric_comperella

This thread sure has gone quiet of late so either you've all fallen off the wagon and are hoarding more than a squirrel hoards nuts....

or you're indulging your decluttering passion elsewhere and I'm missing out ....which is it? x

Kaz2904

I'm still at it! Have been baking lots to declutter my baking cupboard

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I confess I am the Arch Clutterer/De-clutterer Girl. I make massive piles only to throw the lot out. I have had help degriming the flat only for the flat to re-acculmulate the grime.
Aggh:mad:

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I don't know how to break out of this cycle.
I live with people who are depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, etc So environment is abnormal and depressing.

electric_comperella

Kaz2904 wrote: »

I'm still at it! Have been baking lots to declutter my baking cupboard

Kaz if you need any help with the decluttering or taste testing I'm a willing volunteer ! - it also sounds a lot more rewarding than general decluttering

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

I confess I am the Arch Clutterer/De-clutterer Girl. I make massive piles only to throw the lot out. I have had help degriming the flat only for the flat to re-acculmulate the grime.
Aggh:mad:

Oh wouldbe, you should see the bombsite that is my bedroom ... I'm like Monica in friends...I have the little guilty secret - the place where nobody may see well that and various other little hidey places around the house x

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

I don't know how to break out of this cycle.
I live with people who are depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, etc So environment is abnormal and depressing.

I speak from experience when I say you can only take responsibility for your own 3 S's....Space....Stuff....Sh*t

Space - you can't clear someone else's...so just sort your own

Stuff - things that matter to you whether it be sentimental or necessary (ie. precious keepsakes photos etc or day to day necessities for living kettle, toothbrush, bed ) - I think it's sometimes better to focus on what you're keeping than what you're getting rid of - if you get all the good stuff in one place and packed safely, it doesn't get damaged accidentally and then you realise the other stuff is just fodder

Sh*t - all this stuff can and should go...whether you sell it or donate it...in the words of Manic Street Preachers "Everything must go"

I wish you all the best with your decluttering journeys - no journey is a straight line, sometimes we take a detour, sometimes we have to retrace our steps, even remind ourselves where we're going and why.

Best 3 rules:

15 minutes every day (use ad breaks on tv)

1 in 1 out

Sort the mail as it arrives over the bin

hope this helps someone xxx

luxor4t

DS2 was home for the weekend and with a little encouragement cleared a drawer of 'stuff' that has not been touched since he left school 3 years ago ...
OUT:
binned - dried up felt pens and biros, a dirty pencil case,
recycled - out of date maths books, assorted papers
CS - 3 clean novelty pencil cases, a few small games
One drawer down a room to go!

As for me, OUT:
- 5 shoeboxes to Romania,
- 2 sets of bedding & 4 pillow cases to DS1 & 2's house
IN: all DS2's pencils & pens that still worked