Decluttering 2012, this year, definitely ...

short_bird

2 CD's and a DVD to the charity shop, 3 additional bags of rubbish, a bag of recycling and shredding aplenty:D

And a shelf above my desk that is surplus to requirements. Another one may be generated when I can be bothered to climb the stepladders again;)

black_cat

loopychriss wrote: »

Thank you blackcat; yes, I can now certainly see results. I used to have the 3rd (box) bedroom as a craft room, and it was so packed with storage units and my craft stuff that I sometimes had only a 6" square clear on the table to work in! The beauty of that was that I could just shut the door on the mess and not worry about it.

I must have spent thousands of hubby's pounds in the past 20-odd years on the latest and newest craft stuff. Every new technique I discovered (i.e. rubber stamping, pricking, embossing), I had to have not just one or two, but about a dozen of everything. I even bought an Ikea display cabinet to display my wooden stamps in!

I never even used the rubber stamps; oh no, that would mean getting them dirty, so they just used to sit there looking pretty. I was the same when I took up patchwork - I had to have every piece of fabric that I could, but never used it as it 'was a shame to cut it up and spoil it'.

I definitely had a touch of the obsessive compulsive hoarder. Since having grandchildren (one of them disabled) I haven't been able to spend as much time crafting and sewing, so I might as well let someone have it who will use it. I can honestly say that I can't even remember a lot of what I've given away. I could have sold it on Ebay but the few bits I did list I got peanuts for. I'd rather local charities and organisations have them for fundraising.

So, I'm now left with about 10% of what I used to have. The 3rd bedroom is now a bedroom again (although the wardrobe in there is still hosting craft bits), and I feel a great weight is off my shoulders.

I do still feel guilty about wasting all that money, but hubby is very understanding and says not to beat myself up about it, it's all in the past. I now have no interest in craft shops or QVC or Ideal World, and have even stopped buying fabric. The New Me might even use up some of the hundreds of yards of fabric I have stashed in the next 20 years!!!

Wow - I'm even more in awe of you! I'm glad you feel the weight off your shoulders. I've a bin sack of fabric in the boot of the car, ready to go to the charity shop and a bag of old jeans to be recycled - yet I was tempted to go back and fetch them so that I could make a rag rug. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? However, I could probably think of a reason to keep everything I've already decluttered and everything that needs to be.

I need to think about what I really want - a relaxing and organized home or a storage facility for all those "just in case" items? I think I've finally got the answer right!

bonnie_bumpkins

Evening declutterers

I have been decluttering but not keeping a proper tally so I will estimate:

30-39 - stuff for charity shop / recycle
40-49 - stuff from kitchen
50-59 - stuff from bedrooom

So I will start counting again properly from tomorrow at 59/100 - 41 to do in 5 days that's just over 8 per day which I can do. I'm working 2 of those days so better get my backside in gear first thing tomorrow

loopychriss

black_cat wrote: »

I need to think about what I really want - a relaxing and organized home or a storage facility for all those "just in case" items?

I think you've hit the nail on the head there for me blackcat.

We've always dreamed of retiring to live at the coast, but hubby says there was no way we could ever put the house up for sale while the 3rd bedroom was a [STRIKE]junk[/STRIKE] craft room. I argued that I'd be delighted if we ever looked at a house and it had a craft room! Still, I could see the sense of what he said and that's what started this all off - coming back from a holiday in March and deciding we really did want to move to the coast.

Think I 'aspired' to be this perfect woman who crafted all her own cards and cross stitched pictures for everyone, made quilts galore, and had a cottage industry selling all my hand-made goodies. It never happened, and it never will, I'm not the sort of person who sticks at anything for very long, but while I'm interested, I do it to excess, hence the fabric stash etc.

However, I digress: did some 'bitty' decluttering yesterday and today and have outed:

143. Bottle of out of date Calpol: don't want to risk giving it to the grandchildren. Calpol down sink, bottle in recycling
144. 3 mouldy bath toys - bin
145. 3 ring binders - charity bag
146. Cotton wool - homeless shelter bag
147. Mini soap, shampoo and bath gel - homeless shelter
148. 2 sets 1994 uncirculated coins bought for daughters. Now given to them.
149. Organza wedding favour bags - going to friend with soap business
150. Musical instrument with loads of bells - charity shop
151. 6 craft boxes to decorate - SureStart Childrens' Centre
152. Half a dozen wooden curtain rings for crafting - as above
153. Wooden craft pegs - as above
154. Toppers for cards - as above
155. CD tin (CD's went months ago) - as above
156. Magnetic pin cushion thing - as above (with everything in it)
157. Pair of too-small white handcream gloves - charity bag
158. Underbed storage box with broken lid - daughter having box, lid binned
159. Out of date charity leaflets - paper recycling bin
160. Finished off the bottle of sherry (hic...!)
161. Spent about 6 hours today making and finishing off cards to sell next Saturday at a fundraiser - used up loads of paper for inserts, cellophane bags to bag them up and labels.

Happy Bank Holiday..... sorry if I've caused anyone to nod off during my long posts today!

black_cat

7 bags of magazines for recycling
1 bag of stuff for charity shop
3 bin sacks of textiles for recycling

Happy decluttering to you all!

squeakysue

Big box of stuff to charity shop finally including

80) bits of dd's school uniform
81) bits of ds's school uniform
82-83) dd's outgrown trainers and pumps
84) a few toys from dd's room
85) L and P plates that I no longer need
86) school bag outgrown by dd

Spotted some lovely stuff on the rails on my way out but resisted as dd was waiting in the car on double yellow lines

Other decluttering this wknd:

87) bits and bobs of packaging -r
88-89) eBay parcels posted
90) few empty bottles from bathroom - r

Have just had a mad five minutes clearing out two handbags I haven't used for a while and found £20 in notes, £3.50 + in coins and about 50p in small change for dd's money box :j also found my iPod touch that has been missing for months in the depths of a handbag, very happy as just in time for my hols!

91) receipts and letters from handbags -r
92) pack of stale throat sweets bin
94) old bobbles bin
95) old batteries bin
96) pages from notebook r
97) old bank cards cut up and binned

A pretty productive weekend, nearly at my target, have brought up a bin bag to bed that I intend to fill before I go down for breakfast in the morning, should give me a good start to the day.
Well done to all on the decluttering efforts, all a great inspiration to me!
:T:T

loopychriss

squeakysue wrote: »

have brought up a bin bag to bed that I intend to fill before I go down for breakfast in the morning,

LOL, that made me chuckle - did you intend doing some decluttering in your sleep! I often lie in bed decluttering in my head but have never actually taken a bin bag to bed!!!

cyclingyorkie

DS's car which failed it's MOT in March is still on the drive - how do you go about getting the thing scrapped? I don't drive and neither does DH so having a car has been a bit of a novelty.... However I want to put a skip on the drive so I can clear the garage...

pigpen

Can you not put it on ebay?

squeakysue

loopychriss wrote: »

LOL, that made me chuckle - did you intend doing some decluttering in your sleep! I often lie in bed decluttering in my head but have never actually taken a bin bag to bed!!!

Lol not actually to snuggle just to fill in the morning :rotfl: funny though!