Decluttering 2012, this year, definitely ...

suzeesu2000

Becky_2 wrote: »

Suzeesu2000, hope you husband soon feel a bit better. I wish him a speedy recovery

Thanks Becky, he would normally not be too bad but the cancer - or actually the treatment - has ruined his immune system so it is really hard for him to bounce back. He will get there though
x

happytails

Evening!!!!

Not that much has happened except the kitchen/family room looks like a bomb of toys and dirty pots has gone off :eek:

DS (2 nearly) has been full of a rotten cold, DD2 (5wks) has been screaming on and off all day every day for days, we finally decided to combine feed so she has had a few bottles recently which seems to have helped a bit. Its certainly took my stress levels down being able to have some 'me' time folding washing whilst husbands feeds her. Not the best week!

I did, however, manage to tidy a lot of 'stuff' off the lounge/office floor and hoover it today. I was making headway on the desk and all its clutter when DD2 decided the world was ending and DS put his foot in his supper. 2 mins after sorting them out, DD2 exploded and then the tesco delivery man knocked on the door before i had chance to change her. I gave up at that point as i had to put the shopping away aswell as clean DD2 and get DS in bed. Ah well, always tomorrow.

I did manage 2 wash loads today though. Got 4 more waiting to be done but it wont be likely ill get them done tomorrow. We've toddler group Xmas party in the morning, Soft play with friends before Xmas in the afternoon and after that off for a coffee with my best friend, ill be dashing in and out 10 whilst 5 i think, eek!

Hoping to do a charity run Saturday though Got a carrier bag filled already x

loopychriss

Lilyplonk wrote: »

:j well done to you and all the other fundraisers, loopychriss - it's hard enough raising money at any time of year, but I found it even harder just before Christmas when people were often thinking more of present/food buying than charitable events. Best of Luck with your house sale and eventual move .

Thanks Lily, fundraising is something we've done for over 25 years so I'd be lost if I wasn't organising some event or other! As for the house sale - it will happen when it's meant to happen. I just wish something would happen soon!:(

mineallmine wrote: »

Loopychriss my apologies. I've been over enthusiastic in my posts about an open house. Sorry :A At the end of the day the key thing is to do what works for us :A

No apologies necessary mineallmine; it is a good idea, I suggested having one when we first put the house on the market. Been watching Phil Spencer Secret Agent programme and taking notes and might consider it in the New Year. I think it's a good idea to get all potential buyers there at the same time and get the viewings all over and done with in one day, instead of constantly having to worry about making a mess and getting it tidy again! I just need to get my motivation back and get it back to 'viewing' mode.

Managed to tidy one of the kitchen cupboards today, the one with all the sauces, pickles, herbs, spices etc. in. Two shelves rammed with stuff now reduced to 2 very sparse shelves! Loads of out of date stuff, the oldest going back to 2007!!! Just shows how much we use of it in 5 years!

81. Dropper bottle from Back flower remedy back to friend who made them up for me
82. End of a pack of Saxa salt - recycled
83. Sea salt - compost
84. Parmesan (expiry date 19/.11/07!!):eek:
85. End of a jar of mustard - mustard down sink, jar in glass recycling
86. End of the tomato ketchup - ditto
87. Dried garlic granules that had all stuck together - compost/glass recycling
88. 2 more pots of mustard, 1 french OOD and 1 wholegrain OOD
89. 2 pots of dried herbs OOD - compost
90. 2 jars of chutney that no-one likes
91. Dried oregano
92. BBQ sauce - dregs in bottom of bottle
93. Bay leaves OOD - compost
94. Cooking salt that had probably been there more than 5 years
95. Chilli powder OOD
96. Old mini bottle of oil
97. Cinammon
98. Horseradish sauce bought by mistake, now OOD

So that's quite a bit of food waste, smack wrists.:o As I don't do a lot of cooking any more there's no need for every herb and spice under the sun, and we only eat one make of pickle now. Cupboard nice and tidy: just hope I don't need chilli powder or cinammon in the next few weeks!

Also managed to write and post about a dozen Christmas cards, so I'm getting there. Once I tackle the Christmas presents I can sort out the drawers they are currently stashed in and maybe have a bit of space back.

Oh well, off to bed now, tomorrow is another day - who knows what wonders I'll unearth then in the name of decluttering!!

Lilyplonk

:hello: good morning all - still doesn't feel very warm this morning BUT I can see that there's no ice on the road/pavement/garden at the moment. So why on earth does it still feel so flippin' ?


wow Honeythief - you discovered 'something with empty space in it' :j - on a decluttering thread that just HAS to deserve a ! Makes great sense to use it for storing OH's tools if he doesn't have anywhere else specifically for them.

sorry to hear that you've still got your , short_bird - get well soon and good luck with your 'family probs'. We can all do without those in the run-up to Christmas. ((((HUGS)))) to you.

you seem to have had a rotten week, museumworker -so :T well done on what you have managed to achieve. You could always try telling OH that, unless he keeps them in his jacket pockets, you'll sew his gloves to a length of tape and thread them through his sleeves :rotfl:.

lucy_lemon - mine leaves his hats on top of the radiator so they're toasty warm to put on top of his 'baldy spot' in a morning .

more great tips, prodeclutterer :T.

keep up the good work, mineallmine :j.

Hope your OH is getting stronger by the day, suzeesu - to you both.

awwww you poor thing, happytails - sounds like you're really going through the mill at the moment. Just love the phrases 'DD2 decided the world was ending' and 'exploded as the Tesco delivery driver knocked' ............. I bet the poor little mite felt much better afterwards :A - hope she settles down soon for you . My younger sister had 3 in two and a half years - no twins - and your life sounds very similar to the tales that she used to relate. One day you WILL look back and :rotfl: - honest .......... Enjoy your Toddler Group and 'soft play' today and best of luck for the tomorrow.

Great progress with the herbs cupboard, loopychriss - not got around to tackling mine yet - hate to even think about what's hanging around in there.


I'm off into Liverpool later this morning to get those boots exchanged, but apart from that, I'm still waiting for a phone call to tell me that the 'offending stairlift' has been removed.

It's the lack of communication on H/Association's part that's really 'pi$$ing me off at the moment'. I feel as though I can't be getting on with very much at all. Actually, in a way, it's a blessing in disguise as I'm not completely packed yet BUT I could just do with a date to tell the carpet fitter for measuring up ................ oh well maybe they'll call me later today. Perhaps I should check out that herb cupboard, while I'm waiting !

Best of luck to you all and hope you manage to get some more 'stuff shifted/organised' - speak again later - Lilyplonk xxx

Tiglath

I've done amazingly well the past 3-4 months. Dejunked maybe 60% of the house and all of the front garden and patio. Still a long way to go but it's so much easier to keep it clean and tidy.

pjran

Good morning all. Apologies for not keeping myself on the decluttering track and posting on here.

Well, I've actually thrown some old Christmas decorations out. I really don't want to admit to how many years I've been keeping some of them .

I'm impressed that so many of you have been productive in the lead up to Christmas :T

I shall continue to read this thread and hope your good work rubs off on me.

mineallmine

Well done Tiglath :j Any tips for us, having achieved such a major declutter? :j

Hi pjran. No need to apologise. Getting rid of some decs is a positive restart :j

Well done on clearing out those spices etc loopychriss. I did this and managed to move spices into a drawer, formerly another man drawer. Feels so good to create some space doesn't it

Take it easy happytails :A You get a lot done considering you have a busy family life I feel lazy in comparison!

Sending healing vibes to your oh Suz. I'm a real hippy and believe /hope that clearing stuff clears bad vibes or karma. Don't forget to nourish yourself as well as oh with fresh air and fresh food :A

I'm nearly at the end of my challenge. I'm behind target, should be at 280. But I've got rid of more than 10 things a day by pushing for this harder target of 20 a day. If that makes sense

Tiglath

Have a sister with OCD I woke up one morning while recovering from surgery and she'd driven 10 miles, loaded her car with our rubbish from the front garden and taken it to the local dump! Bits of wood, wet cardboard, broken plastic flowerpots ...

I got serious about book-decluttering, despite much resistance from DH. All the bookcases and bookshelves were full, the chest of drawers had a 4 foot tall 4-pile deep load on it, and every spare bit of wall around the house had a single teetering column of books piled against it. Most of it was mine, not stuff DH would read, and I've been replacing the 'keepers' on Kindle. The dust bunnies and catfur round the base of the piles had reached epic proportions. I figured I could get 4 plastic bags of books (45-50 books) into my wally-trolley and did multiple trips to Oxfam with it, with lots of cursing when the wheels fell off.

Still got hundreds to go - there are at least 12 boxes in the loft which we haven't opened since we moved in 12 years ago, plus about a thousand at my Mum's, but we'll get there. DH can bring the boxes down and pile them in the bedroom over Christmas; I've got 2 weeks off beginning of January so book decluttering will continue on a large scale with the wally-trolley. If necessary, I'll go up the ladder and throw books onto the landing one by one.

I spent a happy weekend shredding a decade of paperwork; we even found 8 year old paperwork up the chimney. Some larger items like spare computer chairs I simply put out on the pavement; one went within minutes at 7am, and I watched one guy take a weights rack and weights bit by bit through the course of a morning. By the end we were on waving terms

Some of our stuff has been hanging around for so long I don't even clock it anymore. Realised this morning that we have 2 thin white bookshelves still plastic wrapped from B&Q that have been leaning up the stairs for years, and I've found miscellaneous metal bits from IKEA spice racks lying underneath radiators. Still got old plastic blinds lying on the floor in the bedroom which DH took down several years ago. Got a decent cream leather sofa that no-one seems to want on Freecycle and I don't think charity shops will take it because I've no idea if it's fire-retardant, so that'll probably have to go to the dump even though it's in really good condition. I could wait for a nice weekend weatherwise and put it out on the pavement to see what happens. The worst outcome is that we'd have to bring it back inside, but I desperately need to sort out one of the alcoves as desk space for DH because he's taken over the diningtable which we haven't used for a year. The middle bedroom is his study and I can barely climb through it to get to the second freezer.

I must be related to Steptoe! If I could drive I'd blitz it all to the local dump in one weekend, but I'm reliant on DH for the car and prying him away from his laptop. We won't talk about the half-tonne of builders rubble at the end of the garden which will have to be brought through the house piece by piece. Each year I say I'm going to find a way to get rid of it before the bindweed takes over ...

Honeythief

Tiglath, it sounds like you are doing really well! I hope to be posting something similar before long.

My biggest hurdle right now is that there are hardly any charity shops around here and the ones that are left are nearly all full up! I had to drive miles out of my way to find somewhere today that would take three bags from me. But it was worth it to get those three bags out of the garage.

For the next while I'll just have to stash my donations in a corner somewhere until the shops start taking things again, or else Freecyle it. I can't be bothered trying to sell things online even though they would fetch some money, because the hassle factor is just too high. It does sting a bit to Freecycle things I spent so much money on, but it's that or deal with them taking up space forever more!

There is no chance I'll ever catch up on the 290 pages of this thread but it's really good to have other people going through the same things. I'm off to Page 1 soon to see if I can start at the start!

dannie

Hi declutterers,

Again, the usual using up of current food before buying, more recycling, rubbish and composting. An unused container being started for this seasons compost.

Liliplonk, thanks for the "well done" as have had some near cycling accident misses. With reference to the scrap metal, it should hopefully be sold within the next week. Been finding odd items around the home that are all going into the specific bags.

Other things involve using up stationery items, throwing away old dried shoe polish, using up homemade rags, finishing homemade cleaning products, recycling hot water bottle tops that do not fit, bits of plastic from the garden recycled and old indoor flowers composted.

Have used some saved Xmas packaging and cards will be posted today. This afternoon I have an appointment which I define as "emotional clutter". Consequently, will be shredding any unwanted paperwork and "computer favorites" regarding it.