Decluttering 2012, this year, definitely ...

homealone_2

was only just thinking i have to do something this year about all the clutter in my house, so when i saw this i thought it had to be a sign. so can i join in too? my problem is and always has been that i am a great hoader and always have been!! only weeks after my ex and i split i had branched over into his "space" and now looking at it all i dont know how managed without his space. my other problem is that since 2003 when i had an accident i went gradually (which meant buying more as because it was gradual did not realise i was doing it) from a size 16 to a size 24. once i reached a size 20 i discovered the many joys of ebay rather stupidly and very unnecessarily i replaced my entire size 16 stuff for a size 20 and thought i was saving a fortune. of course i wasnt as by this time i was not working and didnt need any work clothes or work shoes. i am now in a loose 20 but over next 18 months hope to get down to a 14. so and here is my problem i am holding on to everything in the smaller sizes that i have saying that i will need it when i gradually go down through the sizes. but the big question is will i? my mum who is a great declutterer if there is such a word, says i wont bother and will want new stuff but it breaks my heart parting with stuff i barely wore or worse brand new.i have even joined a sewing club so that i can alter it all!!!! my god i have it bad so am in a position where i badly need mse advice on what to do for best. a very embarrasing piece of information to show just how bad i am, i went through undies drawer looking for something when it struck me that there were a lot there huge amount i didnt even remember, as i keep taking and replacing stuff from the top, well as i was about to force the drawers shut i decided to count them, well :o:o:o:o:o i had 129 pairs 46 of these brand new :o:o didnt dare move down to bras or socks/tights etc as i am sure they too are in treble figures!!!! I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP am i kidding myself? will i ever wear these things again?? i have even tried to sell some at one point but soon realised after postage and fees etc i was only getting back pennies i am owning up for the first here off top of my head i have 4 double wardrobes, 6 suitcases and untold boxes please help !!

Florenceem

topbargainhunter wrote: »

I don't know if anyone else has replied to this, but only businesses and possibly the self employed have to keep financial records for 6 years.

If you work for someone else, then once you've got your p60 you can get rid of your payslips for that year, the P60 is the thing to keep for future reference so I would keep this for 6 years. Personal bills etc, it's up to you, I usually keep 12 months worth.

You can also scan stuff if there's a possiblilty you made need to refer back to it in the future, then it doesn't take up physical space.

Mr F says - 10 years - drives me mad! He is in the profession as well - just a hoarder!

Florenceem

SueMaggie wrote: »

I've been reading through this thread off and on for the past few days - keep imagining the huge mountain of stuff that everyone's getting rid of.

I'm also trying to declutter but have an OH that will never get rid of anything - his late Dad was exactly the same - so every "out" is an argument waiting to happen.

I notice that lots of you are using zapper.co.uk to get rid of books. I've sent my first boxful to http://www.webuybooks.co.uk/ this morning. Sent 7 books and am due £16.54 back.

For my list of books they were giving a lot more than Zapper, but there's the same problem of them not taking some things at all. I had a pile of around 40 books, of which they'd only take the 7 I ended up sending. Still, it's a start and as I'd either won or been sent them all to review it's pure profit.

It sure does run in families - Mr F is just like his mother!

Florenceem

homealone wrote: »

was only just thinking i have to do something this year about all the clutter in my house, so when i saw this i thought it had to be a sign. so can i join in too? my problem is and always has been that i am a great hoader and always have been!! only weeks after my ex and i split i had branched over into his "space" and now looking at it all i dont know how managed without his space. my other problem is that since 2003 when i had an accident i went gradually (which meant buying more as because it was gradual did not realise i was doing it) from a size 16 to a size 24. once i reached a size 20 i discovered the many joys of ebay rather stupidly and very unnecessarily i replaced my entire size 16 stuff for a size 20 and thought i was saving a fortune. of course i wasnt as by this time i was not working and didnt need any work clothes or work shoes. i am now in a loose 20 but over next 18 months hope to get down to a 14. so and here is my problem i am holding on to everything in the smaller sizes that i have saying that i will need it when i gradually go down through the sizes. but the big question is will i? my mum who is a great declutterer if there is such a word, says i wont bother and will want new stuff but it breaks my heart parting with stuff i barely wore or worse brand new.i have even joined a sewing club so that i can alter it all!!!! my god i have it bad so am in a position where i badly need mse advice on what to do for best. a very embarrasing piece of information to show just how bad i am, i went through undies drawer looking for something when it struck me that there were a lot there huge amount i didnt even remember, as i keep taking and replacing stuff from the top, well as i was about to force the drawers shut i decided to count them, well :o:o:o:o:o i had 129 pairs 46 of these brand new :o:o didnt dare move down to bras or socks/tights etc as i am sure they too are in treble figures!!!! I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP am i kidding myself? will i ever wear these things again?? i have even tried to sell some at one point but soon realised after postage and fees etc i was only getting back pennies i am owning up for the first here off top of my head i have 4 double wardrobes, 6 suitcases and untold boxes please help !!

You are in the right place here. I have SO much stuff!

black_cat

I don't really have any advice but I can empathise. I've lost 2 1/2 stone so far and want to lose more. I'm getting rid of clothes that are too big and going carefully through the stuff that is too small.

Your mother might be right about wanting new clothes. I'm getting rid of some things because I don't think I'll want to wear them even when they do fit. It's hard, though, because I keep thinking about the wasted money. When I do need to replace clothes I'm hoping that it will be easier to buy things from charity shops in smaller sizes.

My biggest issue is storage. If I don't know what I've got I won't be able to wear it when it fits! I'm trying to keep things in size order so that I can try them on as I lose weight. At the moment I've got a hanging rail in the spare room but I've got bin bags down from the loft to go through.

Take it one bag/drawer/pile at a time...

Hermia

homealone - I do think that if you lose a lot of weight you often want to go and buy some lovely new stuff that suits your new figure. If I were you I would go through your small clothes and keep anything that is beautifully made, is a design that doesn't date or that you really love. Then take everything else to the charity shop. You will find it hard at first, but it's lovely when you see how much room you have.

Yorkielass

catslovelycats wrote: »

What to do with:
a load of Peter Fagan cat ornaments
a set of Creature Comfort ornaments
a million pictures
a million 'Right Shoe' shoes???

I don't have the same wall space that I did in my last house and these have sat in their wrapping in a box for nearly two years!

Not sure the ornaments will get much eBay (or negligible amounts anyway) but too nice to give away. I could clear some books out and use the shelf space to display the ornaments....
The pictures I could car boot.


Another question:
How do you use your bedside drawers?
They're next on the declutter list and at the moment they are full of rubbish!

I've got a load of Peter Fagan Teddies - I have a small number out on display the rest are packed up under my desk as I'm not sure what to do either. I did sell some through small ads at work before they got rid of that!

My bedside drawers are currently full of odds and ends, empty jewellery boxes, some bits shoved in there when we were having photos taken last time we tried to sell our house (over a year ago) it's one of the things I want to sort.

I want to try and get all this stuff into 1 of the drawers and then use the other drawer for some of my clothes maybe nightwear.

Ben84

It would be great to have more time, but then again it may not be needed. Small amounts of time added up are just as good if you don't need instant results in a couple of days.

My kitchen cleaning pretty much takes place while making coffee a couple of times a day, because in the time it takes to boil the kettle, pour it out and wait five minutes for it to cool down before drinking it, I can usually wash up some things, clean the counters or the cooker top. By the end of the week the only things I may need to do are the floor or inside the oven.

I try to make use of small amounts of time in general. It helps a lot to get a cleaning tray/bucket and put a collection of useful things in it (gloves, cloths, detergent, polish) so you can pull it out and instantly have everything to hand anywhere in the house. Also saves cluttering the rooms up with cleaning things. So many people have bottles of loo cleaner all over the bathroom that have become a dust catcher and old gloves hanging off pipes. If you have a cleaning bucket you really can spend ten minutes cleaning and get something started and finished, rather than waste ten minutes every time you do any cleaning looking for things and carrying stuff around.

Also, do you have a bin in every room and a dirty laundry basket in each bedroom. It helps me a lot to have places to collect stuff like this as it turns up, otherwise it just spreads out everywhere and never finds its way to the bin or the washing machine.

365days

Hi fellow declutterers.

Definity agree with the link between mental health and clutter. I am finding it very thearapeutic to get clear and sorted (who am I kidding!)...getting clearer and more sorted....very slowly.

27. Heart shaped wooden bowl. Lovely and given to me by an ex pupil (whose name I can't remember, but i remember her) It has a big crack in it, and a water stain on the bottom. It's gone.
28. Bag of carp
29. Old trackies- There's only so many 'painting trousers' you need
30. Old work file, paper shredded and file reused

Not as much as I hoped but failed to declutter DS off to school today due to him being poorly so messed up my plans somewhat. Hey ho.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm a firm believer of kids out of the way in playpens or high-chairs for ten minutes if they're always causing havoc in one room while you've got your back turned tidying and cleaning another. Or tying them up to separate radiators. Perhaps a different solution which won't have social services beating a path to your door is to have youngest in one of these wotsits on your back like a rucksack while toddler's in the play-pen/high-chair. Otherwise you just end up like a hamster on a wheel.

I'll put my thinking-cap on and see if I can come up with something more sensible.

Of course a rather more straightforward and stress-free answer is to just carry on with how you're already doing things and caring an awful lot less. As long as nippers are happy, well-fed and moderately clean every so often and OH is being cared for as well as you can manage nothing bad will happen. You might lose one or two things under all the debris but if they were that important you'd have put them somewhere safe in the first place.