The Great Declutter Part 3 - 2011

GreyQueen

FelinePrincess wrote: »

I'm ashamed to say that I've not got much done the past few days I do plan on doing some stuff today though.

Just being arguing with hoarding OH as I've just discovered he still has a large collection of simpsons videos even though he has all the simpsons dvd boxsets! We don't even have a video player anymore (I have it away about a month ago as it hadn't been used in years) and even if we did, he would never watch the videos as he has all the episodes on them on boxset. Yet still he wants to keep them because he says "I'v had them for years", when I tell him how ridiculous it is to keep them he switches his arguement to "they might be worth something one day" - I don't believe a load of mass manufactured videos will be worth anything in the future, and even if they were surely it would only be a very small amount so not even worth it. We've had this "it might be worth something one day" debate before over various things I've wanted to get rid of and I think it's not worth keeping something in the hope it might be worth something when you could have valueable living space instead. And where do you draw the line? Really it's surprising sometimes what stuff is now worth something so should we be keeping all sorts of junk as 'insurance' we don't get rid of something that might be worth something in 30 years time?!! I can barely move in this tiny house as it is without keeping a load of stuff in the hope we get a few quid for it one day!

Oh, FelinePrincess, that's such a common problem among us hoarders (I'm in recovery through necessity as I live in a shoebox). I laughed aloud and winced in recognition when I read Don Aslett's books, called things like Freedom from Clutter, Clutter's Last Stand and Not For Packrats Only, and I'd recommend them as fun but heartening reads for anyone needing to gird themselves for a bit of decluttering. The old "It'll be worth something someday" is a close second to the classic "As soon as I get rid of anything, I'll need it." Perhaps you could take OH to a charity shop selling videos at 10 for £1, which I've seen many a time, to convince him to lose the vids and keep the DVDs? Or, depending on the size of your current home, calculate how much space you are paying to house STUFF. Perhaps if there was less stuff, downsizing your home/ gettting a lodger in might be an option and you could be quids in. If nothing else, you could hurt yourselves tripping over excess belongings. It's an Elf and Safetee Issue. Good luck to you, there's a few million of us in the same boat

deborah64

Afternoon all, :wave: Made a proper start today and have got rid of
15 books to charity shop
27 single cds to charity shop
1 bag, college type also to charity shop.
To the tip we took
1 old tv,
loads of wood from when we replaced the worktops in the kitchen,
and other bits and pieces.
Small steps but its a start. xxx

TheDoolallyDilly

To be honest FelinePrincess, I doubt they will be worth anything at all, as video tape degrades after about 15 years. I really don't know what you do about OHs that want to hoard stuff like this *sigh*

boydE

a large transit van would probably de clutter our house, my wife seems to think that having 100s of pairs of shoes etc..... is great, whereas i am the opposite, not minimalist.

FelinePrincess

GreyQueen wrote: »

Oh, FelinePrincess, that's such a common problem among us hoarders (I'm in recovery through necessity as I live in a shoebox). I laughed aloud and winced in recognition when I read Don Aslett's books, called things like Freedom from Clutter, Clutter's Last Stand and Not For Packrats Only, and I'd recommend them as fun but heartening reads for anyone needing to gird themselves for a bit of decluttering. The old "It'll be worth something someday" is a close second to the classic "As soon as I get rid of anything, I'll need it." Perhaps you could take OH to a charity shop selling videos at 10 for £1, which I've seen many a time, to convince him to lose the vids and keep the DVDs? Or, depending on the size of your current home, calculate how much space you are paying to house STUFF. Perhaps if there was less stuff, downsizing your home/ gettting a lodger in might be an option and you could be quids in. If nothing else, you could hurt yourselves tripping over excess belongings. It's an Elf and Safetee Issue. Good luck to you, there's a few million of us in the same boat

Them books sound good, very tempted to buy one but don't really want to add to the clutter so might venture to the library and see if they have any. Can't really use the cost of storage argument as the house we live in belongs to OHs dad so expenses are very low but that is a really good point that all hoarders should think about!

TheDoolallyDilly wrote: »

To be honest FelinePrincess, I doubt they will be worth anything at all, as video tape degrades after about 15 years. I really don't know what you do about OHs that want to hoard stuff like this *sigh*

Thanks DoolllyDilly, I have won the arguement using this bit of information! His hoarding really drives me mad, if it was any worse I don't think I could cope!

Pending out - lots of simpsons videos to charity shop!

kittiej

Hi everyone

I've just finished sorting my base units. I've taken before pics, just need the after pics now. I'll post some up as soon as I go on the other computer which could be tomorrow - who knows lol.

debbiedeejay

Well this has been my first week at de-cluttering and I started on the windowsills - living in an old house with huge deep windowsills they become a magnet for everyone to just dump stuff.

So although I haven't listed everything I binned 2 carrier bags of useless items/rubbish - put all paperwork in one pile, put hangers back in wardrobes and returned items to their rightful owners.

I actually cleaned the windows too and put a couple of plants and big items back on the window(vase and photos) in strategic places so hopefully it will put us off dumping more rubbish on the sills!

But the best thing is I can actually see out of my windows for once!:j

Next thing to tackle is the mound of paperwork that I pulled from the filing cabinet and dumped on my bedroom floor yesterday - trying to find some banking info -but that's a different story - so thats the next thing to tackle.

Keep at it everyone! Yay!

whitewing

I feel good, na na na na na na na, I have been looking forward to this post all day

out
21 A4 empty (used) folders - to my dad (he has lower standards than I do for filing his paperwork)
8 bags of confidential waste (contents of above folders) - much of this dates back to the early 1990's!
3 nighties for mil to make into nightclothes for my lo
3 bags of okay rags and my leftover cushion material, which was once one of a pair of curtains - to aunty to magically transform into draught excluders
8 big bags of shabby textiles (duvet covers etc) to the recycling centre
4 cardboard boxes for stuff that is now well out of warranty
all of our normal stuff for recycling
1 bag of bubblewrap for mil to send parcels abroad
5 broken plastic storage boxes

All of the above was pulled out in the space of an hour between me, DH and DS (although I had been thinking about it earlier ion the day so had my plan of what and how)

In
bin liners
nappies
All properly put away

Found and incorporated into daily living space
1 warm outfit that was gifted to DS but never worn as it was mid summer by the time he fitted it (it's years old but classic design fortunately - big age gap for my two)
1 jacket that friend made for DS that lo can use too
1 baby top and sleeveless jacket that had got wedged behind the back of the drawer
1 new black bra

Even better
We have now magicked up 3 empty shelves in our airing cupboard (which will be very useful for decluttering the corner of the dining room)
My underwear drawer is now streamlined

I feel energised!

whitewing

And I forget to say that it has been so mild here today that we've had the windows open all day and everything smells so fresh!

debbiedeejay

Oh and I forgot - the case of getting rid of VHS videos - if you bought any of any TV programs/series from years ago on VHS and you can not buy them in DVD format now don't chuck them it might be worth checking the price of them second hand and selling them. I was trying to find a kids series on DVD of a 90's kids TV program that I have on VHS for family friend, and I was stunned to see that you can only get it on only VHS (you still can't buy it on DVD) and to buy it now on video still costs £14.99- it cost me less than £3 years ago in Woolies! So there may be money in some of the old tv program videos - so check before putting in the bin/CS bag.