I've quit everything. Now what ?

lessonlearned

Hi AC. Sounds like you have been having a quite a social whirl this week. Great stuff.

Here's my thoughts on all that techno clutter.......

I know you are supposed to be going easy on the spending front but I am inclined to agree with your Geordie friend and go for something high tech and smaller. Get it all streamlined, get rid of the clutter. Go a bit more minimalist, it will not only look better but it will make cleaning and keeping things tidy so much easier for you. It will save you a lot of work and effort,

Minimalism is definitely the way forward, getting rid of clutter and getting good storage so you can keep things neat and tidy.

I have God knows how many DVDs and CDs. I am going to have a serious cull. I'll get get my son to do some down loading etc and then I can get rid. Just keep the absolute favourite CDs and then maybe just the exercise DVDS and anything that can't be downloaded for whatever reason. Need to think it through and get organised.

I have already weeded out some books and once I have finished with some of the others waiting to be read then they can go too. Again I'll just keep a few favourites. Same with clothes and linens and ornaments etc. I have just had another purge.:D

Same with paperwork. I have got rid of everything I knew I could safely dispose of but there is some stuff that are "don't knows". So I will get that all scanned and then I can get rid of the paper files. A job for winter. Then the photos......:eek:

We legally complete on the house next Friday As I am already settled in as it were I don't need to do much - just transfer all the bills into my name. Shouldn't take too long. I will get quotes as I go along - see if I can get better deals but I think that DS did shop around quite a bit so probably not.

Once that's all done that I shall be rejigging the banking, saving and investments. I have already worked out that because my housekeeping budget is now substainatially reduced I can afford to have some help. I have engaged a cleaner. She has been twice now and she is fantastic. Saves me a lot of time and effort, freeing up my time and energy for other projects.

After the Amazon trip I aiming to get my antiques business up and running again and maybe look at one or two other little ventures.

Re the table versus sofa.......if I recall you do have two very large sofas. Some ideas.....

Before you make that decision you have to think about your lifestyle......where do you currently eat, how often do you entertain, what kind of entertaining. What size table do you have.

Remember a ciircular table takes up less space than rectangular one.

Could you get rid of one sofa, and replace with a chair - although I thought you had already bought a recliner. How much seating capacity do you actually need when most of the time it's only you anyway.

Would one sofa plus the recliner be enough, and then a small circular table with a couple of dining chairs. Take a look at extra fold up dining chairs which could be stored away when not in use. A small circular table could perhaps have an insert which makes it oval for larger gatherings.

Don't rush......think these options through.

Google "living in small spaces" for ideas - there are lots of brilliant ideas on Pinterest.

When buying furniture always see how it can serve more than one function. For example a coffee or end table can have drawers for storage, instead of a coffee table you could have a storage chest. If it was sturdy enough it could be an extra seat for occasional use.

Re the job situation......is there anyway you can set up a little business or side line hustle to go along with your part time job. In these uncertain economic times it really is beneficiall to have more than one income stream.

Re all the clutter, get selling.....raise a bit of cash.

A friend of mine has £1k sat in her Paypal account - just from selling her own personal unwanted stuff. A couple of years ago I made £1100 just from clearing the loft. You might be pleasantly surprised how much cash you've got tied up.

One mans trash is another mans treasure......:rotfl:

another_casualty

Hi LL:)
Good to see you making lots of progress . Looks like everything is working out nicely .

When I moved , I obviously decluttered some stuff immediately , and not long after. The old table, the crates , a chair , a hifi record cabinet
all had to go . Then of course I thought about the new layout in my new home.
I may have made one or two mistakes along the way , but it seems like I'm not too far off from being where I should .

I have a nice nest of tables that I purchased a while back and they are staying . Small enough to fit into a corner . I will now get a cabinet and that speaker to free up clutter . I will Ebay one or two parts of my hi fi that I currently have and downsize that . New home new minimal start . Not sure about the turntable . Lucky for me , I have room for it. I'm not a great tv fan, but those small boxes are a p I t a ..
I have an Apple t v box / humax freesat recording box , and a sky go box ( the cheap one with no subscription ). They are different sizes , so a cabinet seems to logical choice rather than a rack .That way, everything can be hidden . I have only one clock that is in an awkward part of the room . When I get the cabinet, I can put one of my other clocks ontop.

The sofas and table : Glad I took them with me tbh. I've got another friend coming to stay in 2 weeks time . After that , there will be three people in the flat for most of the time ..me myself and I :rotfl:
The one that my friend advised me to get rid is the 2 seater. It's in very good nick seeing as it's 20 years old . If I did dispose of it , it would mean the recliner would be moved from the window area to that spot . It means the coffee table is no longer a problem . I'll have
to mull it over and don't rush as you say .That just leaves the albums:
I have.two shelves/4 cubes worth of vinyl .i did start replacing them with CDs back when they first come out . In a way, I should've kept going. I may still do. . New start etc.

The bedroom needs decluttering . I chucked a fair bit in there when my sisters announced that they were coming.
The rest is fine . Or so I think :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

Good to see you have been enjoying guests AC. The beauty of living in south west is everyone wants to visit.

I am also a fan of minimalism. It sounds as if you could do with getting rid of one of your big sofas. Keep one as it will double up as a bed for guests and for entertaining and just keep that one and new recliner. It would be cheaper still and even less clutter to replace vinyl with electronic versions. I have done this with all my cds.

another_casualty

Hi enthusiastic
Good points . Believe it or not, I'm gonna keep the cds . I like to have a hard copy . It just feels right . One of the things I did many moons ago, was to get rid of the jewel cases and replace them with those zip bags where you put the disc on one side and the booklet on the other
I have about 10 of those with about 8 full up. Saved ne taking space up with shelving everywhere . I'm mulling over the rest .

lessonlearned

I was looking for some of those cases the other day. I don't really want to part with my cds either, so was thinking I could them in these little case thingies and get rid of the hard plastic cases. That way they should take up less room. I guess I could do that with the DVDs I want to keep too.

When sorting through some stuff the other day I found my husbands iPod. I don't know if everything is there or whether it even works so will have to see if I can use that. Would be handy for when I start going to the gym.

another_casualty

lessonlearned wrote: »

I was looking for some of those cases the other day. I don't really want to part with my cds either, so was thinking I could them in these little case thingies and get rid of the hard plastic cases. That way they should take up less room. I guess I could do that with the DVDs I want to keep too.

When sorting through some stuff the other day I found my husbands iPod. I don't know if everything is there or whether it even works so will have to see if I can use that. Would be handy for when I start going to the gym.

I got mine in the HMV sales back in the day. Amazon or Ebay is probably the way to go . I can't remember the make off the top of my head .

MrsPorridge

AC you really have been busy and all those guests. So nice that they are all supportive of you in your new flat.

Long story which I won't go into - but we only have a two seater sofa - most of the time it's just DH and I. DS is now home from uni for goodness knows how long and on the extremely rare occasion that he is in the living room at the same time as us we can easily sit 3 side by side. When we have guests we just bring a couple of dining room chairs in. This was meant to be a short term option, but its been like it for almost a year now! One day it will be sorted (and we have lived here for over 15 years)

Worrierwalker

Glad to hear you've been having fun and socialising AC.

I'm trying to declutter by selling on ebay too.

another_casualty

MrsPorridge wrote: »

AC you really have been busy and all those guests. So nice that they are all supportive of you in your new flat.

Long story which I won't go into - but we only have a two seater sofa - most of the time it's just DH and I. DS is now home from uni for goodness knows how long and on the extremely rare occasion that he is in the living room at the same time as us we can easily sit 3 side by side. When we have guests we just bring a couple of dining room chairs in. This was meant to be a short term option, but its been like it for almost a year now! One day it will be sorted (and we have lived here for over 15 years)

Hi mrs. P
What's a dining room? :rotfl:
It may seem odd, but I don't feel totally swamped by the furniture .
I could move the coffee table and keep the settee .
The main thing that annoys me is the clutter under the tv etc.
Will feel better when that's tidy .

another_casualty

Worrierwalker wrote: »

Glad to hear you've been having fun and socialising AC.

I'm trying to declutter by selling on ebay too.

Nice to hear from you again worrier
I will be selling a nice small glass cabinet tomorrow on the bay .99p
Start off price
If I decided to offload the sofa, it'd be 99p again . I won't be paying £30 for the council to pick it up. Better off keeping it