Enough is enough - the great declutter

aimeelister

I went to a Feng Shui talk a while ago and the lady presenting gave us a list of these tips. It was aimed for Feng Shui but i think a lot of it makes sense generally around the home. I had a good go following them and they have helped and i try every month to go round the house with a box (to replace things in their rightful place) and a bin bag (for charity shop etc) and a binbag for rubbish. This way i keep on top of things. It does build back up otherwise.


Tips for Clutter Clearing - courtesy of Felicity Warren

- Work on one aspect at a time - ie a drawer, cupboard etc
- Give it a good spring clean as you go
- If something broken either fix it or bin it
- Be ruthless - if you havent used or worn an item within the last 12 months then pass it on to someone who will enjoy or appreciate it
- Keep the best and bin the rest
- Ask yourself if something evokes negative memories or feelings - if so pass it on
- Dont feel obliged to accept or keep a gift - appreciate the intention and pass it on
- Try selling items in a car boot sale or on ebay to raise money towards something you really do want as an incentive
- Always think before you buy - do you really need this or will it have become clutter in 12 months time
- Get an independent opinion from a 3rd party if your struggling
- Always ask permission before binning someone else's belongings


HTH. They make sense for me and i did know them, it was just really nice to have it all written down as a positive thing to follow!
Aimee

Willpower?

MilliesMum wrote: »

Heck she goes to peices when we go away for longer than a weekend. I have to give her written instructions on how to use the washer/dryer and she eats takeaways after work.

Mind you, I could use the washing as a bargaining point though couldnt I?:rolleyes:

....


She is a good girl, never caused me or her dad a bit of grief but as I get older I find it hard to stand my ground with her because I cant handle the stress as well as I used to.

MilliesMum,

Like newlywed, this sounds exactly like me when I was younger, right down to the bags (15 years later I still have a few of my favorites in the loft :rolleyes: ).

It does upset me now to realise how much stress I put on my Mum being like that, but at the time I was completely oblivious to it. Mum & Dad did bribe blackmail and beg me to be more tidy but it did not sink in how annoying it was for them.

The only advice I can offer is get strict. Maybe even play good cop bad cop with your other half, but make her do at least one load of her own washing a week and I would make her cook at least one meal for all of you once a week as well (if you got the boys to do this too that's half the week off ) . Don't take 'but i've been at work all day' as an excuse there are plenty of us that manage it 5 or more days a week. That way she can help you and learn to fend for herself

I can't see her ever moving out while she has it so good at home, meals cooked washing done etc. Do you charge her rent comparable with how much it'd cost to have her own place? If not maybe you could start. You could even put $20 a week towards paying someone to come and clean her room

Gook Luck

jannyannie

Hi all

I am very good at decluttering but my husband is not. he keeps everything and just buys more stuff. He has over 50 shirts! What can I do, it's driving me nuts. He won't even recycle it. Thanks for the info on freecycling will give it a go, but what do I do about my OH apart from divorce him!:mad:

ceridwen

aimeelister wrote: »

I went to a Feng Shui talk a while ago and the lady presenting gave us a list of these tips. It was aimed for Feng Shui but i think a lot of it makes sense generally around the home. I had a good go following them and they have helped and i try every month to go round the house with a box (to replace things in their rightful place) and a bin bag (for charity shop etc) and a binbag for rubbish. This way i keep on top of things. It does build back up otherwise.


Tips for Clutter Clearing - courtesy of Felicity Warren

- Work on one aspect at a time - ie a drawer, cupboard etc
- Give it a good spring clean as you go
- If something broken either fix it or bin it
- Be ruthless - if you havent used or worn an item within the last 12 months then pass it on to someone who will enjoy or appreciate it
- Keep the best and bin the rest
- Ask yourself if something evokes negative memories or feelings - if so pass it on
- Dont feel obliged to accept or keep a gift - appreciate the intention and pass it on
- Try selling items in a car boot sale or on ebay to raise money towards something you really do want as an incentive
- Always think before you buy - do you really need this or will it have become clutter in 12 months time
- Get an independent opinion from a 3rd party if your struggling
- Always ask permission before binning someone else's belongings


HTH. They make sense for me and i did know them, it was just really nice to have it all written down as a positive thing to follow!
Aimee

Sounds like a very good set of rules! - way to go. I'm a work in progress on the declutter front myself - it certainly helps to "have a place for everything and everything in its place" - and I re-evaluate whether something is worth keeping when springcleaning that room.

I tend to particularly agree with the one though about asking before chucking someone elses belongings - as I can still recall a jumper of mine mysteriously vanishing when I lived with my parents (and thats over 30 years ago now! - and I wont forgive my mother for that - it was MY property and still is). I can recall my mother throwing out something very cheap a visiting friend had left in MY bedroom - when the friend asked and I looked for it, there it was gone. I was so embarrassed that I promptly gave my friend a bit of real gold jewellery my mother had passed on to me to compensate them (so they had done well out of it - my mother had chucked their possession worth pennies and I handed them something worth hundreds of £s to compensate for my mothers "crime") and I am still angry about it and would like to have kept that bit of jewellery - but I couldnt afford to pay my friend for my mothers "crime" and my mother wouldnt (when I asked her to and pointed out that she owed my friend the replacement cost) - so that was the only way I could deal with it.

luxor4t

lindens wrote: »

Now... supermarkets have to be "seen" to be recycling so when they empty a box of stock onto the shelves, they flatten the box and put it in their recycling bin, it gets taken away and pulped and eventually made into a fold out storage box for us to use to move house etc.
.... does any one else think thats bonkers?????

I quite agree! the best / only free 'boxes' I can get are the flat tray sort which are great for my Greenmetropolis books in the attic, but don't work in the living room as they are too big.
We have a few elderly stacking crates - which don't stack as they are different makes / sizes.
Off to the carbootsale tomorrow - I hope to invest some of my profit in a set of boxes for my growing e-bay stack. Not an ideal situation, but needs must! :wall:

luxor4t

After the carboot sale we took time to sort out the items that were left into 4 piles:
1. for the local charity shop (handbags, CDs, gift sets etc)
2. for little sister's school Xmas bazaar (bric-a-brac & Xmas decs)
3. for freecycle (books, videos etc)
4. for recycling

They are now in the garage and will be GONE by the end of the week!

Now I can start again - this thread has inspired me.

dreams_R_free

luxor4t wrote: »

After the carboot sale we took time to sort out the items that were left into 4 piles:

They are now in the garage and will be GONE by the end of the week!

Now I can start again - this thread has inspired me.

Well done, Luxor:beer: . It's energising, isn't it, getting rid of stuff? Not throwing it away but 'recycling' it by whatever means.


DH is a worse hoarder than me. He cleared out 2 massive sheds/workshops crammed full with stuff when his dad moved house in 1987 and most of it is still in our garage:eek:

Our garage is huge (not very attractive to look at but very useful), It could hold 4 cars(2 in front of the others) at a squeeze and we once stored a friend's cherished old Jag in there for a whole year when he was working in Africa and still managed to get our 2 cars in with loads of spare room. It's also extra height and we once stored a relatives camper van in there one winter.
But not any more! Neither of our cars can fit in, it's just full of 'junk' which DH is forever 'sorting out' to recycle/sell , But he never gets as far as getting it off the premises and I'm sure it is all getting him down. I keep telling him that the energising bit is actually having the space when the stuff is gone and although he agrees he seems to have a mental block! It's not as if any of it is worth much or that he's sentimentally attached to it or anything. More like overwhelmed by the sheer task ahead.

I've made a lot of effort in the house getting rid of a lot of my hoard mainly through car boots and Freecycle and I feel so much better having the space than a sea of 'stuff'.

Keep up your great work. Good Luck!

Willpower?

luxor4t wrote: »

I quite agree! the best / only free 'boxes' ...I hope to invest some of my profit in a set of boxes for my growing e-bay stack. Not an ideal situation, but needs must! :wall:

Have you approached any friendly local companies? We have great big skips at work where we have broken down boxes for recycling, but would quite happily save some whole ones if asked to by someone.

I was told it was a fire/health and safety thing that they didn't have the boxes by the checkouts any more. Either was it is crackers.

Thanks to this post I feel recharged and ready to go home and do some more decluttering. I came to a bit of a standstill as I'd reached my video collection and have to watch them before I can throw them out. I know the rule about if you haven't used it for 12 months throw it out, but I've found such Gems can't bring myself to do it. It's going to take a while to get through all 250...

charlies_mum

Well, I've had an afternoon tackling one of the bedrooms and I can't believe how much rubbish is in there - also, big boxes with a few bits in them, just by amalgamating them I have a car full of rubbish and cardboard to take to the skip tomorrow :j

I was lagging a bit, but now feel re-energised and ready to take on bedrooom number 2 :T
Think we all deserve a nice glass of wine later for all our hard work :beer:

newlywed

Goal for this week is to list some more stuff on ebay. Need the cash and the space would be good.