Enough is enough - the great declutter

missyg_3

Kscour you are doing a really super job there! Thanks for the updates. How much more is there to do?

I have just weighed one of my photo crates and it was almost 2 stone! :eek: When I started I had more than 7 crates worth! That's made me more determined than ever to get the remaining 4 crates down as much as I possibly can. I'm going to do at least 1 crate a day starting today, then when I see how much is left I'll decide whether it's worth scanning, making photo albums or whatever.

I'm waiting for one last payment from the previous ebay batch, they were reminded earlier (Pigpen, anything happening with your late payers?), and then Sunday all the next lot of auctions end - so from next week I should start to see some floor space in the office again!

Then I can get ready for the car boot sale! So it's all happening here

Craftyscholar

missyg wrote: »

I have just weighed one of my photo crates and it was almost 2 stone! :eek: When I started I had more than 7 crates worth! That's made me more determined than ever to get the remaining 4 crates down as much as I possibly can. I'm going to do at least 1 crate a day starting today, then when I see how much is left I'll decide whether it's worth scanning, making photo albums or whatever.

Missyg, can I ask are these old family photos?
I only have one box but really can't work out what to do about them. Should sort them out I know.

missyg_3

Hi Craftyscholar, only one box of mine is "old" family photos and that's the one I'm going to tackle in a minute (the majority of the rest are from my travels in the 80s/90s).

For this set I plan to save the negatives and throw out any "meaningless" pictures as a start and then think about what to do next... I'll report back later today!

pigpen

missyg wrote: »

Pigpen, anything happening with your late payers?

I opened 3 disputes.. 1 paid immediately and 1 promised payment, posting a postal order tomorrow.. and the other I've still heard nothing from...

I have 2 things to post now and 2 payments yet to arrive and another 7 things with bids.

I have a bag to drop off at charity shop which I'll do in a minute when I go to post these 2 things.. Need to check bank balance first.

cat64

Morning everyone! Please can someone give me some much needed moral support. I'm really struggling at the moment - with the house, kids everything. I've been in tears today as sometimes it all seems so hopeless. Whatever little I do achieve seems to be undone in no time at all.

I've just been in the utility room and looked at the mountains of clothes, clean ones dirty ones and ones going mouldy cause they've been washed and not dried:o. I really feel like such a hopeless case. I don't think I've got that many clothes but the rest of the family make up for it! The clothes are taking over the house and I don't know how to get them sorted - doesn't help that we haven't got that much storage space to put them away.

And there's the dogs to walk and feed, food to cook, washing up to do and so it goes on...

OH working away so no help there.

Can I have some virtual hugs please?

Olliebeak

cat64 wrote: »

Morning everyone! Please can someone give me some much needed moral support. I'm really struggling at the moment - with the house, kids everything. I've been in tears today as sometimes it all seems so hopeless. Whatever little I do achieve seems to be undone in no time at all.

I've just been in the utility room and looked at the mountains of clothes, clean ones dirty ones and ones going mouldy cause they've been washed and not dried:o. I really feel like such a hopeless case. I don't think I've got that many clothes but the rest of the family make up for it! The clothes are taking over the house and I don't know how to get them sorted - doesn't help that we haven't got that much storage space to put them away.

And there's the dogs to walk and feed, food to cook, washing up to do and so it goes on...

OH working away so no help there.

Can I have some virtual hugs please?

(((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) on their way to you!

Remember the feeling well!

All of us on here, especially the mothers among us, have been here at some stage - believe me, it DOES get better as the kids get older (well maybe not at first, erm well maybe not until they leave home actually - but it does happen eventually!). I often visit my daughter to find her almost buried under a mountain of laundry - clean/dirty/part dried - you name it, she's got it!

Get yourself a cuppa of whatever you prefer, tea or coffee, and sort yourself a plan of action :j .

Firstly just sort them into clean/dirty/damp/mouldy.

If the clean ones are dry, put em to one side for possible ironing - but only if needing ironing! Not all kids clothes need ironing - believe me I used to try ironing socks - they don't all 'matter' that much!

Damp ones - do they have a bit of a pong on them? If not, then try to get them dried somehow - washing line/airer/tumble dryer/coat hangers - whatever suits you best! If they have a bit of a pong - then stick them with the dirty stuff.

Mouldy stuff - how bad are they really? They might just respond to another wash or some form of treatment. Try these bits of the indexed collection:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=385151#post385151

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=122516

Mouldy clothes are notoriously difficult to get back to how they should be. If the ideas on here don't work - there isn't much else for it. Can they be altered in anyway? If not, then maybe it's time to bin them or use for cleaning cloths. If they're mouldy, then they probably have a nasty pong on them anyway!

With the dirty stuff - sort it out into whites/pales/mixed brights/darks and work out what you are most desperately in need of getting clean. Don't try to be 'superwoman' and get so much washed in one go, that you finish up unable to dry it all. That's how the dreaded mould/mildew starts - I've learned that one the hard way.

Good luck with it all anyway and keep smiling. Us mums just have to hold onto our sense of humour [strike]sometimes[/strike] always .

Ollie xxx

Tibbie's_mum

cat64 wrote: »

Morning everyone! Please can someone give me some much needed moral support. I'm really struggling at the moment - with the house, kids everything. ........

Oh Cat, I'm having one of those days too, tears 'n' all.

Your utility room sounds just like mine. After our huge electricity bill, I daren't use our tumble dryer, so there's a basket of damp washing, the WM is full of wet washing and I have no motivation to do anything with either as I have a thumping headache.

So a great big hug is needed for you and me both!!!!!

pigpen

Cat.. I'll swap with you.. my bunny died last night (yes I know.. one less thing in the house! ) I am upset the children are distraught.. I just stop one crying and another one starts.. which sets me off again because they are hurting and I can't make it stop.. the house is a bin I have managed to get the DW on today and that's it.. other than that and dishing out tissues and hugs I've achieved nothing!! I just got all the children calm and I decided to ring the vet to cancel tonights appointment so I wailed down the phone at the receptionist and set the children off again.. ARGH!!!!!!!

I have a sore nose, headache and eyes like a panda! And of course.. hubby has booked somewhere to take me out tonight.. supposedly as a surprise but I don't do them very well so grilled everyone until someone told me!

Olliebeak

I completely 'cocked-up' my first attempt at a reply and had to go back to it to edit in the links to the 'mould/mildew tips' in the indexed collection.

You've got a PM, cat64!

((((((((((hugs)))))))))) for Tibbie'smum too!

Sorry to hear about how you're feeling, pigpen. I can sympathise completely, I don't 'do surprises' very well either! If I haven't had time to get ready properly for something, I don't feel right. I think mine has learned by now - at least I darn well hope he has!!!

kscour

cat64 wrote: »

Morning everyone! Please can someone give me some much needed moral support. I'm really struggling at the moment - with the house, kids everything. I've been in tears today as sometimes it all seems so hopeless. Whatever little I do achieve seems to be undone in no time at all.

I've just been in the utility room and looked at the mountains of clothes, clean ones dirty ones and ones going mouldy cause they've been washed and not dried:o. I really feel like such a hopeless case. I don't think I've got that many clothes but the rest of the family make up for it! The clothes are taking over the house and I don't know how to get them sorted - doesn't help that we haven't got that much storage space to put them away.

And there's the dogs to walk and feed, food to cook, washing up to do and so it goes on...

OH working away so no help there.

Can I have some virtual hugs please?

As many as you need cat64 :grouphug:

Try not to look at what you haven't done - concentrate on what you've achieved. You can't sort a problem out overnight that's been building up for months and you can't turn off the rest of life to give you time to sort the problem out because the everyday things still need doing - you just have to try and chip away at the backlog a teeny bit at a time until suddenly one day you see the difference. It will happen honest, if you sit down with a cuppa and have a look around you'll probably see something that's improved even if it's just a drawer that shuts now!

I have to confess to a bit of a laundry problem myself:o - it comes in the shape of an approx 5m high pile of ironing! and because of that pile I'm sure I've been subconciously forgetting to do the washing. So I also have a large amount of washing to do. I want to have a blitz on the ironing today but i do several (bordering on bizarre here sorry!) things to help.
Washing is sorted into white bin bags (Bought them in tescos and they have yellow tie handles so they close up)
Once they are in the bags, sorted according to temp/colour/whatever I know that zips are done up, pockets checked etc. So when a wash needs doing I can just pull some washing out, bung in machine and put bag back. Sometimes the bag is then empty and I jump around doing a funny dance of sheer joy! Washing looks tidier in bags and it speeds things up for me.

I don't wash unless I know I can get clothes dry - we don't have a drier but have a washing line, a rail in warm boiler cupboard & radiators etc. - I aim to not have more than one load wet with nowhere to go or I know it'll end up getting washed again. Better dry & dirty than wet & pongy!

Ironing - gulp! - If possible I try to sort into smaller piles by type, eg nightclothes, underwear, t-shirts, wardrobe etc. and iron each small pile, then I have a basket for each room which the pile of say t-shirts for that room once ironed goes in - saves me room as theres no piles of ironed clothes except for baskets and once clothes go up to room putting them away is quite easy.
Also when I get bogged down (like now) I make a kind of deal with myself - here comes the nutty bit - I average I wear say bra, pants, socks, tshirt, jumper, jeans, nightie every day which is 7 things so I need to wash 7 things to keep on top = 28 for 4 of us. As long as I get close to that I know I won't get overrun. If I wash more I know I'm gaining.
When suffering from ironing backlog I try to iron twice the number of items that I wash that day. If I iron the same I'm doing good (if I get any ironed I'm quite proud:D ) but if I manage double I know eventually that ironing pile will disappear.

Don't know if that'll help you at all but hang in there I'm sure you'll get more hugs than you'd imagine possible here - and tomorrows another day!

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