2016 - No Clutter To Be Seen

BargainJunky

Can I join too!

House is currently drowning in clutter (especially paperwork) that hubby, me and two boys have accumulated. My aim is to get rid of 2016 items but also make £2016 doing it so most of the good stuff will be sold on either Ebay or Facebook (seem to be buying more from Facebook at the moment but who can resist a brand new £85 handbag for £10 - this will be gone by May though as its for a friends birthday).

Unfortunately I cannot resist a bargain so the cupboards are stuffed full of things that 'will come in handy' for presents etc. Aim to reduce over the next few weeks as its free listing on Ebay.

HornetSaver

I've started to think about my situation with retro videogames, and am thinking of trimming the collection and getting a dedicated cabinet for the rest. My rationale is that most are near worthless, but a significant proportion do get used, and the money I save compared to playing/buying newer games is considerable.

The trick is to continually make sure that I do not fool myself into storing things that won't get used again, and the solution I'm considering is (after the initial cull) putting small coloured stickers on the spines of game cases as the games are used, and every so often re-evaluating whether there is a good reason to keep the unplayed ones. I think the same principle could work for people with unwieldy CD or DVD collections.

Greenqueen_2

People on here and also on housey TV shows always say "if you`ve not used it in X months -you never will"

BUT.....I have always found it hard to get rid of anything that may come in useful in the future! (so has DH).

However after recently emptying a relatives house and realising there may be another considerably bigger and more cluttered property to clear within the next few years, I have decided it would be unfair to leave all our "stuff" for our kids to sort through.

The current plan is to thin out our unused items (some of which have not seen daylight for over 20 years), with the intention of downsizing for our retirement in 5 years time.

FoxFace

Hi everyone, can I join you please?

We moved home last year and did get rid of quite a bit; however the move was pretty hurried so we ended up throwing a lot in boxes and taking a lot of clutter with us

All "stuff that might come in handy" nonetheless

But the fact it that a lot of it hasn't seen the light of day since we moved, so DH and I are off work this week and are on a mission. We are trying to recycle/reuse and will be donating some things to charity and also trying to sell some stuff for funds to pop in the savings account!

Today so far I have:

- Emptied and sorted an ottoman that was mostly just old bits of paper and some fabric scraps, now recycled. There were a few annuals that I might pop on Ebay also.

- Found a stack of old schoolwork books from the boys' past school years, I am taking them apart and keeping the unused pages for scrap paper (I use a lot in my work!)

- Found an unused 1000pc jigsaw which I have now promised to my Grandad as he loves jigsaws and has been looking for a new one!

- Donated a big bag of old ornaments and unused colouring books to a charity shop.

- Took a few old video games in for trade. I intended to take the cash, but at a £35 difference between cash and trade in value, I opted for the trade in... £93 now securely tucked away for any future console/game purchases.

- Emptied and counted the 2015 penny jar and took it to the bank. We only managed £17.50, but that is now in my savings account... it's a start!

- Set aside some unopened Charlie & Lola books for my niece's birthday. They were an unwanted present for our youngest some years ago and have never been opened. Niece loves C&L so will wrap them up for her... win win!

Going to have a sit down with a cuppa now... I've been a busy beaver today!

Rummer

Just loaded the car with a boot full for the dump and the back seat filled with things for the charity shop and the OH is kindly dropping them off while I make a start our DS's room. This will be a tricky one as it is filled with things that we have been given that he is just a little too small for however they take up a lot of space. Tough decisions to be made!

mrsmortenharket

I've just done a bin bag full from my 3 drawers. Old pyjamas, socks, odd socks, knickers and tatty stuff that I will never wear. No wonder I couldn't close the drawers properly.
Now to do my wardrobe.

Walnut

Happy New Year everyone

Well I made a small start today. I've decided that I'm going to count the items that I get rid of, so that when I feel like I'm getting nowhere I'll be able to see the progress.

1,2,3 - two pairs of trousers and a coat to clothes recycling

4,5 - a strange chopping board & spoon rest that we received for Christmas, it was never going to be used here so my daughter has taken them up to uni for her student kitchen

mrsmortenharket

2 binned items and 2 items for the charity shop from my wardrobe so far.

craftingmad

Hi please may I join. I too am aiming to declutter at least 2016 from the house this year.


I can already declare that yesterday I threw out an old oven glove that was way past its best and today I gave 5 birthday cards to my parents as I will never use them so they may as well have them and put them to some use


So my total stands at 6/2016 - only another 2010 to go

Barny1979

1. 2015 calendar into recycling bin