Enough is enough - the great declutter

rosh12

Yep... good plan!

We have our first baby due in 10 and a half weeks :eek:
and then we're moving to the other end of the country 2 months later! :eek: :eek:

We have started decluttering rubbish, and hoping to do some car booting (though can't seem to find when / where they are!)

I also want to get into Ebay but I'm not sure where to start. Need to have a look on the MSE Ebay forum I guess!

Here's to a clutter-free money-saving charity-helping year!

3KIDSNOMONEY

having some work done in the house downstairs so everything is a mess. Driving me mad so I am going to join the de-clutter and start at the top of the house combining a it with a spring clean.

The problem is that I barely own a thing, it all belongs to my kids and husband, which is a lot harder to clear out, particularly as 2 of my kids are a bit older now and know what they want to keep.

Any tips for being a bit 'tougher' with de-cluttering. I convinced the kids to sell a few bits on ebay and they have made £21 towards a nintendo ds game. I am too soft and can't get rid of 'sentimental' items.

ShirleyPark_2

onredbull wrote:

Hiya everyone,
I signed up to flylady but ended up spending too much time reading everything on computer and not doing anything.

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

ShirleyPark_2

3KIDSNOMONEY wrote:

Any tips for being a bit 'tougher' with de-cluttering. I convinced the kids to sell a few bits on ebay and they have made £21 towards a nintendo ds game. I am too soft and can't get rid of 'sentimental' items.

I have a memories box all the sentimental stuff (gig tickets, cards, photos, random things from holidays etc). I'm not allowed more than one box so when it gets full things have to be taken out before anything new can go in there.

My mum has one shoe box per year and she puts everything from that year in there, she has everything from the cards that me and my sister made her for birthdays each year to the photos and cards from my sisters daughter. She must have about 30 shoe boxes in her loft by now !! hmmm... maybe not such a good suggestion.

magni

I would love to join in this as well. My house is just groaning under the weight of all the clutter. Most of it is for eBay but I need a kick up the bum to get started:o I can't start until the weekend though as I am working 12 hour shift tomorrow and Friday but this is just the motivation I need to get going:D

flis21

Hi All,

Can I join this? Got a two bedroom flat full of clutter that I really need to get rid of. Unfortunately no freecycle in this area, but I think the friday-ad do free ads still, so might offer stuff free to collector in there.

Will be a slow start to my declutter as I am currently in leg cast, but will do my best over the next couple of weeks while I am still off work.

onredbull

I have copied ‘FlyLady's zones’ and have had them saved on my computer for a few weeks now see below;-

Zone 1: First few days of the March until the next Sunday:
Entrance/front porch/Hallway

Zone 2: First full week of the month March:
Dining Room/ Kitchen/ Back porch/Laundry room/Pantry

Zone 3: Second full week of the month:
Main bathroom/extra bedroom/ kid's rooms/ craft room

Zone 4: Third full week of the month:
Master bedroom/2nd Bathroom/closet

Zone 5: Last few days of the month from Monday until the 1st:
Living room/den/TV room


And i have also amended them to my own rooms and have been meaning to print it off and start it but keep putting it off.


Zone 1: First few days of the March until the next Sunday:
Entrance/ Hallway + Cupboard

Zone 2: First full week of the month March:
Kitchen

Zone 3: Second full week of the month:
Bathroom + Cupboard / kid's room

Zone 4: Third full week of the month:
My bedroom

Zone 5: Last few days of the month from Monday until the 1st:
Living Room/Dinning Room

Then after reading this i thought i would copy it and see what every one thinks - (I have read similar posts that are doing similar things from flylady website)

Anyway -Tomorrow it is 1st March – I was wondering what people thought about maybe we could give it a try and support each other like someone else suggested and possibly use the 4 box idea – got this from fly lady aswell:-

You will need garbage bags, boxes, magic markers, and a dust rag. Label the boxes "Give Away", "Throw Away", and "Put Away" (Ialso printed out 1 saying "EBAY") . Line the "Throw Away" box with a plastic garbage bag.

Set your timer: for 1 hour or 30, 15, or 10 minutes - doesn’t matter how long.
Just do the job as fast as you can and do not pull out more stuff than you can put away in that length of time. This means just one drawer, one closet (or even one shelf in one closet), one magazine rack, or digging under just the furniture in the zone. Not all of them at once!

Start at the entrance to the room:
Then, work your way around the room clockwise. Do not skip a spot. Whatever happens to be next, just do it.


Flylady also gives this advice,
"Now don't get upset if I have left out part of your home.
I am focusing on the main parts of our homes.
I left out my basement, garage, and the yard.
If you have just started with this list, I want you to declutter according to our zones.
After each room is decluttered it will be much easier to keep clean.
It has been months, maybe even years, since you removed the cobwebs and vacuumed under the furniture.
That is what our zone cleaning is all about once we get rid of our clutter.
Do not get overwhelmed by this - focus on one room at a time, not all of them at the same time.
Over the next few months you will eventually declutter each room and the zone cleaning will become a piece of cake.
Baby Steps."

nodwah

well we moved house just over a year ago and, well, we brought our rubbish with us - we paid for removal men to take it from the old loft and put it in th enew loft!

I'd got rid of quite a bit of my stuff but OH just won't do it GRRR!

Anyhow I have box next to the computer for things I'm ebaying, mostly small beer really, things that are easy to post like kids clothes which are still good but I've put two garden toys on this week - my first local collection items - both got bids too.

My DS1 who's a chip off the father's block won't allow me to throw anything away but just yesterday had a lightbulb moment and started picking things for me to sell - fantastic! Anyone want Star Wars figures?

I put 4 bin bags full for the charity collection the other week but still a long way to go and our friends moved house last month and I brought back a lot of the carp they were throwing out including a huge box of books, so much for my one in one out book rule!

So yeah, enough is enough.

morganlefay

me too - I have one whole large room just full of boxes, and a slightly strange smell now aaaargh....... But I'm with onredbull - I have tried many ways to declutter and it always fails, has anyone got a good method which works which they could post on here ? I HATE taking things to charity shops as they are always sneery with me (I do hair nicely, put on slap, only take really good/clean stuff, but they still sneer) so I have asked OH to do it for me and he's a bit too 'busy' usually (while at the same time nagging about the mess.) Any tips very gratefully received as my messy house is about 50% of why I feel depressed. (Also need method which will not result in my getting addicted to being online - which is why I don't do flylady - no will power.
Any tips VERY gratefully received

OOOps - have just seen onredbull's v good list above. I shall follow that too. I love the idea of deadlines which I have never set myself before tho can't believe I could do it all so quickly. Onward and upward !!! Many thanks onredbull :T

onredbull

Hiya

Thank you for comments on lists - but all i did was copyed from flylady and save on my computer and copied as idea as it may help someone, i have some confidence in myself but only because iccle one is going away :j fri eve till sunday morning so i can start on this de-cluttering
- not for solcialising:beer: !!

The only reason my mum & dad have been so kind to come up and get him for 2 days (5 hr drive from their house to mine and back again-round trip -:T ) is cause he has been off nursery for nearly 4 weeks - 2 days for snow, then half term, then teacher training day, then chicken pox and he rtned today.



Anyway Its 16:20pm and I have done....not a lot as neighbour popped over and kept me chatting!!

1. Sorted through 3 carrier bays full of iccle 1s drawing and painting ect and thrown away over 2 carrier bags full - yeah :T .

2. Have started on box full of baby items photos ect and have been trying to condense and put in shoe box for each year as suggested previous reply, so in the middle of that - probably finsh off tomorrow.

Keep all suggestions coming - this could be fun and forfilling !!