Enough is enough - the great declutter

Tibbie's_mum

pigpen wrote: »

.......I've kept the sleepsuits the babies were brought home from hospital in and a favourite outfit and the christening gown all 8 wore.. and everything else is gone! I kept those more for them than for me.. and I included photographs of them wearing the outfits.........

What a lovely idea, including photos. I think I'll pinch that idea.

djbd1973

pigpen wrote: »

Memories are in your heart and head.. not in the clothes pockets!!

They are now! Glad its done though. Cheers

Fozz

Well done everyone on the decluttering! I spent yesterday waiting for someone to come and replace the glass in our front door (which DD smashed by slamming the door very hard!), so used the time to sort through paperwork, got loads of scrap paper for firelighting/recycling now!
The worst job was sorting a folder of old payslips into tax years, but I feel much more organised now. Will have to invest in some ring binders to keep everything together now.
One result of my decluttering is that I find it so much easier to keep the house clean. I used to dread cleaning because I had to tidy up so much stuff, but now I quite like it!
The only exception is DD's room, I refuse to clean it until it's tidied up, so could be waiting a long time before I have to tackle it!:rotfl:

bawbeebaby

Hello to you all, I've been reading over your de-cluttering experiences this morning and you have inspired me to join in. I spent about twenty years as a hoarder and then had a sort of "lightbulb moment" about that a couple of years ago. I started to clear out a lot of crap in the house that I never used or indeed was still in its packaging - but I acquired a storage unit and put a lot of it in there! So I still need to tackle the basic problem which is to get the stuff out of my life. My main target is to raise some money on Ebay to put towards my travelling fund but I haven't got remotely organised for that yet. I have already given away quite a lot to charity shops and Freecycle but there are some things that I believe are just too good to give away so I'm going to try and sell them. Can't believe that two years after I started I am still knee-deep in clutter! I'm inspired by some of the Ebay stories I've read here and will make a new start today.

missyg_3

Pigpen, I did my first non paying bidder thingy yesterday! Amazing, I have been on ebay since 1999 and that's the first person who hasn't paid. Sorry about your rabbit and how upset the children were

Cat64, sorry I wasn't around when you needed all our support, Tibbie's Mum too, hope you are both feeling much better now. It is horrible when things build up into more than we think we can cope with. Fab advice there from Olliebeak, Charlies Mum and Kscour Remember we are always here if you need a rant, a vent or anything! Offload on us whenever you need to!

If anyone else is having a bit of a meltdown about the enormity of the task ahead in getting organised, please don't feel it all has to be tackled at once! There are some on here who thrive on "blitzing", some who go through phases (that's me ) and some who take the slow and steady approach! We will all get there in the end! Even if you can just control what's coming in, and then sort something out most days - however small - that will help!

I cleared a shelf in my cupboard for my "out" stuff, I've found this really helpful because I can add things in there as single items just as I go about my normal day to day business, whenever I come across something I'm not using. It's out of the way then until the next charity shop visit or whatever - and psychologically anything on that shelf has already "left the house". Also then if a charity bag comes through the door (NOT a business one!), or if there is a jumble sale/school fair - the stuff is already there waiting to go!

Melvis, CONGRATS on your ebay totals!!! £107 is fantastic When that happens I like to think of what the equivalent is - i.e. I've just covered my council tax for this month! Or a month's grocery shop! It feels great! Ooh I'm all excited and it's not even my listings :rotfl:

Kscour, fantastically organised update lists there! :j I know what you mean about there still being more scope, even after they have been done! I don't know where my stuff is still coming from You are doing an amazing job there, a real inspiration!

Hi to the new people on here too! Wardrobe is one of the best places to start I think! Good luck, keep posting! This thread is fab!

I have read all the other messages from the past two days but I'd better stop commenting now or I won't get those 1980's photos sorted! I will be back later if I haven't collapsed laughing at the ra-ra skirts and shoulder pads :rotfl:

Tibbie's_mum

Many thanks Missyg for the support.

I have, at least, got the damp and wet washing out of the utility room now, and it's drying outside. I've started on my paperwork and reduced a huge box and various hotspots down to a small pile, ready for filing. I've also emptied one of my drawers and am going to put back only the tops and underwear that I need/wear, the rest is going to charity shops, etc.

Slowly I'm getting somewhere.

pigpen

I have 9 things selling for £24.50 at the moment.

We just went to buy our remaining bunny some interesting bits to play with.. and have now to decide if we can face having another baby bunny to live with her... not right away..

icandream

You are all so supportive - thank you from one of the newbie's to this thread. I'm so inspired reading through the last few posts (I cannot possibly start at the beginning, sorry, I've only just finished reading through the wonderful Simplifying Life thread!).
I feel so motivated. I sorted my wardrobe, thanks to getting a nudge from reading the thread, and now I'm going to tackle the spare room. I would post a pic to show exactly how bad it is, but I don't know how. But it is in an awful state. However, if I can clear it, we are planning to decorate and let DD move in there, so she gets her own room. If I find out how to post a pic, I'll show you before and then after.
I really am going to try and focus on this. Then I'll have to decide what to do about the cleared stuff. Not sure I can face ebay, though I've done this in the past quite happily. Just the sheer amount. But your success, Melvis, is telling me I ought to - it would be useful to get a few extra pounds in.
Right, I'll make a start (via the kitchen and a cuppa and piece of choc. - my weakness!). :rotfl:

Olliebeak

:T to all 'de-clutterers' and :j to all you e-bayers! I've never e-bayed in my life - wouldn't know where to start. Maybe I should have a chat with No.2 son about it. I have enough tape cassettes/cd's to keep a radio station going! Maybe the time is now right .................. But do people still want cassettes? I know that I absolutely love tapes but they're not everybody's idea of fun these days! Perhaps they'd be better being advertised on freecycle?

Speaking of freecycle, yesterday I collected a fabulous chest of drawers for my daughter. We struggled to get it into No.1 son's people carrier as it's so big 4ft x 4ft x 2ft. Got it to my house and unloaded here it just for now. THEN we realised that she has a turn at the top of her stairs and there is just no way it will go round there - let alone get it into the bedroom :mad: . It's no good here cos we've got the same here as well. Flaming Norah - I'm trying to de-clutter and here I am bringing something into the house!!! So now I'm going to have to contact the lady, explain to her so that she doesn't think 'cheeky madam, getting rid of it again so quick!' before putting it right back on freecycle again.

I'm sure that I could see some stuff in our shed yesterday that could go on freecycle as well plus I've got a cordless keyboard and mouse that I don't use (can't keep up with the batteries they need :mad: ) so those can go as well.

This morning I've emptied out four kitchen cupboards, wiped them down and re-organised them into better use of the storage space and I now have a 'baking cupboard' ! I've also finally surrendered the 2 half jars of pickled onion vinegar that I love on chips. Shouldn't even be eating chips ANYWAY ! Plus it's two more glass jars for the recycling collection monday morning.

Managed to find a hard to reach section of one cupboard where I can stash all my glass dishes that only ever get used on high days/holidays! Also put the collection of 'christmasy/birthday paper plates, serviettes, straws, doilies, cake candles, table cloths etc' in there out of the way of everything else.

Dragged out all my plastic containers and re-stacked them neatly - freed up an entire shelf just doing that!

Bought OH an expanding file for all his stuff a couple of weeks ago. He has his own place really, just stays with me a couple of days a week. He can never find anything at all as regards his paperwork for things. Some of it is in his place and some here. Everything that I find of his at the moment is going into the file box for now - it will get filed properly at another time - but at least it's actually in the box.

icandream

Hi Olliebeak - what a shame about the c of d. Hopefully it will find the right home soon enough.
Your kitchen cupboards sound fab, and links to something I just briefly came back on to share - somthing that has made me smile - Having just realized thanks to MSE the benefits of cataloguing my freezer, I just peeped into the kitchen and my 7 and 9 year old are happily emptying my tin cupboard, and are writing down everything they find! What a help! This de-cluttering is spreading! :j

(And I know just what you mean about plastic containers - that's on my list, too!)