Enough is enough - the great declutter

SkyBlue_2

Join moggins flylady thread on here, no more emails from flylady which did my head in, and lots of encouragement from everyone else.

Oh that's a good idea!

I too need someone to motivate me. I tried Flylady and in the end deleted her mails as there were so many and they were repetitive. Time consuming to plough through so much on the PC.

I am agonising over throwing things away. I have to handle everything and instead of just putting it in a bag and disposing of it (to charity shop or bin if it's tatty) I talk myself into keeping it - especially clothes. I have loads and loads....and many I have grown too big for...so they don't fit. I will however (cough) slim into them someday. Yeah right. :rolleyes:

I rarely sort through them and now I find my bedroom space is being taken over by these mounds!

Is it worth selling clothes on ebay?

Must admit - to me it seems like a lot of hassle to take pictiures, write descriptions, keep an eye on the auction and then ensure payment is made and do all the wrapping and posting. How tiring and time consuming is that?

However - these clothes cost a lot of money and now that I am not working it seems extremely wasteful to just bag them up and dump them. I am happy to give to charity - I'd be pleased to know someone somewhere can make use of stuff that no longer fits me or takes up too much space in my room, but given I am not working at the moment (due to ill health) money is tight and it would be good to get a little money in return for good clothes, some unworn impulse buys.

First though - I have to find the strength to let this stuff go. I am hopeless at throwing things away.....how do you convince yourself good stuff is no longer needed and has to go? I need the space in my house - but I just find it so difficult to get rid of things. Is there a way to do this easily without agonising over each thing that goes in the black bag?

caroline1973lefty

oh the other thing i have chucked out is any paperwork over 6 years old - payslips, bank statements, bills, etc.

Uniscots97

Decided to tackle a box of tupperware I have, why do I have boxes but no lids? So they're organised now. The boxes minus lids are in the garage being used to hold gardening stuff. So they ar getting used and the box in the kitchen is tidy and I can find things now! Before I would just have gone and bought more!

FrugalFairy

SkyBlue wrote: »

Oh that's a good idea!

I too need someone to motivate me. I tried Flylady and in the end deleted her mails as there were so many and they were repetitive. Time consuming to plough through so much on the PC.

I am agonising over throwing things away. I have to handle everything and instead of just putting it in a bag and disposing of it (to charity shop or bin if it's tatty) I talk myself into keeping it - especially clothes. I have loads and loads....and many I have grown too big for...so they don't fit. I will however (cough) slim into them someday. Yeah right. :rolleyes:

I rarely sort through them and now I find my bedroom space is being taken over by these mounds!

Is it worth selling clothes on ebay?

Must admit - to me it seems like a lot of hassle to take pictiures, write descriptions, keep an eye on the auction and then ensure payment is made and do all the wrapping and posting. How tiring and time consuming is that?

However - these clothes cost a lot of money and now that I am not working it seems extremely wasteful to just bag them up and dump them. I am happy to give to charity - I'd be pleased to know someone somewhere can make use of stuff that no longer fits me or takes up too much space in my room, but given I am not working at the moment (due to ill health) money is tight and it would be good to get a little money in return for good clothes, some unworn impulse buys.

First though - I have to find the strength to let this stuff go. I am hopeless at throwing things away.....how do you convince yourself good stuff is no longer needed and has to go? I need the space in my house - but I just find it so difficult to get rid of things. Is there a way to do this easily without agonising over each thing that goes in the black bag?

Re. getting rid of your clothes - have you got a clothes agency near where you live? They are a good way of getting money for clothes that are good quality and in good condition.

A clothes agency will only take items that they think are saleable; therefore you can give everything else to charity, safe in the knowledge that you are not getting rid of something you could have sold!

In answer to your last question - unfortunately there isn't a painless way of deluttering.
BUT, I can guarantee that you will feel fabulous when you have all those tidy drawers/cupboards, wardrobes and all that empty space.

pollys

Hello Everyone, De-cluttering is going well. I've freecycled my first items and within 3 hours 2 of the 4 had been collected, I'm very impressed. I've passed on a large bead and wine frame that the children had outgrown to brother-in-laws sister she was so pleased with it and her little boy couldn't wait to play with it. I have had an email from the lady who took the boys bike this morning and her little boy loves it and is playing on it. This makes my decluttering so worthwhile knowing that someone else, as well as us, is benefitting. Off to do some more........

newlywed

Inspired by this thread I went to clear more stuff out of my parents place.

Managed to sell my writing bureau in the local paper so got a little bit of cash and it's gone to someone who really wants it.

Took 2 black bin bags full of clothes, two boxes of books and an old CD holder to the charity shop.

Brought loads of my CD's home and put away into the CD cabinet.

Also have a box of clothes to put onto ebay (decent stuff that might sell). Have a few other craft bits to put on ebay too.

(Still have boxes of books to keep, cd's to sell, loads of old photo's, framed pictures, hats etc to sort out).

newlywed

SkyBlue wrote: »

First though - I have to find the strength to let this stuff go. I am hopeless at throwing things away.....how do you convince yourself good stuff is no longer needed and has to go? I need the space in my house - but I just find it so difficult to get rid of things. Is there a way to do this easily without agonising over each thing that goes in the black bag?

Some things that helped me (as I have always been very much like that)...

If it will take more than 5 lbs weight loss to get into it then get rid. If you lose more than 5 lbs then you will probably want other clothes anyway.

Ask yourself, I paid £x amount of money for it - have I had my use out of it to be worth that much? If yes then you have had your money's worth and can let go.

Ask yourself, would someone else love this and appreciate it more than I currently do? If yes and you can think of someone specific, put their name on it and give it to them as a present. If yes and you can't think of anyone either freecycle it or give it to charity.

If there was a fire and I lost EVERYTHING - would I be sad that I didn't have this item any more, would I even miss it?

The odd one or two more expensive things you have or that you think might sell, put aside and list on ebay. In my experience not everything you put on will sell and so it isn't worth the time spent if you will only get £1 for it in the end!!

Finally, don't try and do too much. Just choose one drawer or one small area at a time. I can only be strict for about a drawer full, then I start wanting to keep it all. I started with my sock drawer. Next day I did undies. Then T-shirts etc. Doesn't take too long when you break it down like that.

And if you have decided to give stuff to charity/freecycle - get rid of it as soon as you can - before you change your mind!!

Hope that helps.

pigpen

Well BIG move here.. the maternity clothes are listed on ebay!!! As are loads and loads of girly dress (birth to 9!!) I decided it just simply HAS to go.. the moses basket and cloth nappies are next to be flying as they are on top of the cupboard on the landing and irritating me!

Hopefully a decent proportion of them too go.. fling fling fling!!

Once I have worked my way through the clother I am starting on the toys.. everything is going.. we surely do NOT need this much stuff??!!

I love the sun!

SkyBlue_2

Thanks very much FrugalFairy and newlywed for you thoughts. Much appreciated.

I feel sure I am the worst hoarder on the planet, but I have realised that when away and sitting in modern, minimalist rooms, I feel so.......free. They feel so clean and bright, so I am aiming to rid my home of all the many useless bits and pieces (including clothes) that I have accumulated over the years.

I decorated my sitting room last summer, and packed ornaments, books, lamps, photo frames, candlesticks etc away in boxes when I cleared out the room, and now, six months later, only about a quarter of those things have come back in...My room looks warm and inviting, but uncluttered. No idea what to do with all the stuff I have in the boxes. They still sit in my summer-house...with all the stuff that I cleared out of the garage a few years ago whe I had it converted into another dbedroom! My poor old summer house, supposedly my "retreat" has turned into a really unsighly dumping ground. It has lots of big windows....so all the old stuff can be seen piled up in there and it looks really messy and unsightly!

I feel however that my cluttered bedroom should be my priority...as well as all those clothes that don't fit and have been duplicated over the years. They have to go, but I will take your advice and just do a little at a time, and get the stuff out of the house straight-away, happy in the knowledge that someone else can make use of it.

Thanks for this thread. :T I am feeling quite inspired by your tales of ruthless chucking out!:D

Now, I have to get off my backside and DO SOMETHING to tackle my clutter instead of reading about all your efforts!

chardonnay_2

hi, i'm a big believer in selling carp (treasure:rotfl: ) at car boots / ebay. when we moved here from a much bigger house we had ruthlessly decluttered, but some still managed to come. the way we sorted it was with the four box system (sort of) but did one box of junk at a time and anything we didn't know where it belonged we put in another box. the end result was everything eventually had a new home and those boxes of 'don't know' got less and less till we eventually dealt with them all. don't worry if you can't decide straight away if you use this method you will when you get to the end.