2018 - No Clutter To Be Seen

villagelife

Candygirl. I'm sorry. Hugs to you

Olliebeak1951

Hello everybody :hello: - first time of posting on this thread and want to thank Mrs Salad Dodger for the 'invite/prompt' .

I've got a 'seriously cluttered spare bedroom', 'over-gadgetted' kitchen cupboards and w-a-y too many books on too many book shelves.

I don't want to set myself any target that is too ambitious, just want to take it a bit at a time .............. .

bit_by_bit

Hi all,

Well done on the litterpick Mrs SD. Litter makes a place look so rough. Leaves are not all bad though, if left in appropriate places will harbour overwintering good bugs and even hedgehogs.

Sorry to hear of your loss candygirl. Pets are our best friends matter what.

Welcome Olliebeak1951. You will like it here.

So for the last few days I haven't got rid of anything. In fact I have been a bit immobilised by a stressful situation at work, which incuded a presentation. Did that today so feel better and ready to get on with things again.

The kitchen is all packed up because of the remodel. When I packed up I kept out the things I thought we would need. We have pans and a few serving spoons, fish slice etc, knives and a basic cutlery set. Each time we want something we have to go and find it. Its amazing what you don't need.

When the kitchen is fitted and I can put all that stuff away properly I am not going to. I am going to continue to dip in for a month to see what else we use, and then the rest is being rehomed/thrown.

Worked at the CS on Sunday. Got my first go at the till. I messed it up a few times but didn't do too badly. This time I bought a couple of die cutters of snowflakes. I am going to be making recyled paper cards this year. They will be simple with no glitter on (makes them hard to recycle).

Also picked up was a jacket that I wanted to turn into a skirt. It cost £4.00 but the one that inspired me is from Borra: https://www.brora.co.uk/scottish-tweed-wrap-skirt-ocean-pine-ds9848vs1850 and is a bit beyond my clothing allowance.

It won't be for a few weeks but it will be done.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. IF I NOTICE SOME SMALL TASK NEEDS DOING - I WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY

2. I WILL LEAVE A ROOM TIDIER THAN WHEN I WENT IN - WITHOUT HIDING THE CLUTTER EXCEPT for the wardrobe room which is currently the storage room (sr)

3. THE LAST WASHING UP OF THE DAY WILL BE PUT AWAY BEFORE I GO TO BED

candygirl, sorry about your loss.

Olliebeak, nice to see you If you read back through the thread you will find that a lot of our merry band of declutterers love/adore their books - me included :rotfl: I bit the bullet & now only have about 50 books including cookbooks. My DH is a bit of a bibliophile & probably has about 300 books :eek::eek: but as they are confined to his office I am ‘not allowed’ to do a cull :rotfl:
Slow & steady wins the race One option is to pick a small area - say one shelf of books - sort into piles e.g. Keep, Sell, Donate & Undecided. Clean the shelf, dust your keep books & return to the shelf. Then, and this is very important give yourself a reward :rotfl: e.g. a cup of tea & start reading one of your undecided books :rotfl: or a bit of knitting - whatever your ‘reward’ is take the time to enjoy it :rotfl: Then do the same again for the next shelf & so on until one bookcase is done. The next stage is get your sell pile listed & deliver your donate pile :rotfl:
Then repeat :rotfl: All of a sudden you will find that you have a clutter free zone

bit by bit, I have to disagree with your comment “I haven’t got rid of anything” You have ‘disposed of’ the presentation & the associated stress :rotfl:
I never liked giving presentations but once they were done the relief was palpable :rotfl:


DH has almost completed the garden tub project - he is now a cooper :rotfl: All put back together, metal bands put back on, stained & waterproofed inside - just the outside to be weatherproofed. He is also still continuing with his office decluttering :T

DSis had Tuesday afternoon out with her friend.

Monday & Tuesday have been gloriously sunny days with clear blue skies - occasionally warm but overall chilly.

Monday was a quiet day for me - lots of paperwork, some knitting & cooking - Somerset chicken with boiled potatoes & vegetables. Enough for Tuesday night’s dinner as well :T

Tuesday was a lot better - cleaned kitchen door glass; cleaned all kitchen cupboard fronts, sides & kickboards; cleaned all the stainless steel in the kitchen - sink, handles, hob etc; baked Rock Cakes; vacuumed downstairs; finished paperwork; turned all sofa cushions; emptied DH’s rubbish & recycling bags into appropriate Wheelie bins; cancelled DSis’s mammogram (as she forgot ); relocated items to shed; sneaked into DSis’s room & cleared a bit of rubbish :rotfl:

Re my three mantras over the last 2 days: aired & made bed; washed up; worktops washed down; filled sugar bowl & jar, coffee & teabag jars; tightened toilet flush handle; general tidying

Numbers as follows:

C1248 - C1269 Non recyclable - 8 plastic bags, 6 lots of plastic packaging, 4 plastic trays & packaging, bag of rubbish from DH’s office, 3 sheets of used greaseproof paper - binned
C1270 - C1279 Leaflets, 3 lots of cardboard packaging, 2 paper bags, 3 booklets, magazine - recycled
C1280 - C1285 Two Milk cartons, 2 tin cans, glass jar & metal lid, glass bottle - rinsed & recycled

May the decluttering mojo be with us all especially our newbie :rotfl:

MrsSD
C1285/C2018

Wanna_Bee_Free

Candygirl, I’m sorry to hear about your sad loss. x

A huge pile of evil paperwork shredded yesterday before work which felt soooo good! OH has agreed to try without the bookcase so moved that (empty) into dining room while we assess how bare the gap is. My homeless bits from the book case are still lingering but need some time and energy.

I’m on a mission to type up my fave recipes. I use the app Paprika which is great. Then I can clear a few cookery books - not all but probably a third to a half.

The massive desk pedestal needs getting down stairs. It’s empty but I need to find the keys and check with family in case they want it back.

77/130

winspiration

Hello all - I'm new to the thread too and in serious need of decluttering! Thank you from me too to Mrs Salad Dodger for the prompt on the other thread, although I was just a lurker on that one

Candygirl, I'm very sorry for your loss

I have a fairly big house which is full of lots of clutter, both personal and business as I run an online business from home, although I'm now winding down to retire within the next year or so. I'm a crafter (not the only one on the thread by the looks of it!), so have quite a big stash of that to contend with too. I also have a friend staying for the time being who brings in lots of his own clutter, can't bear to chuck anything out - even half drunk bottles of water etc (but never gets round to actually finishing them off!) and has been know to rescue stuff that I've put into charity box or recycling / main bins, so that adds to the challenge somewhat.

I want to clear out the clutter to make more space and a more pleasant place to live, the house also needs redecorating from top to bottom and new kitchen / bathroom too at some point, so decluttering is necessary to make space for that.

Friend turned up with a bit of useful clutter a couple of weeks ago, an 8 cube Ikea Kallax, which I've installed in the hall along with a couple of small bookcases from my office. This has replaced a very untidy jumble of stuff and will provide overflow storage for my craft room, which has been an ongoing work in progress for about the last 3 years.

Meanwhile, I am in the process of moving two larger bookcases from a small bedroom which has been used for the past few years as a stockroom, but now gradually emptying out, into my office, to give me a whole wall of tall shelving, with the bookshelf that's already in there. I had to empty that one to move it along the wall a bit, so I am going through everything before putting it back and getting rid of what I can, although most of it is stock, so it will just end up being better organised and taking up less space than originally.

My goal is to clear the small bedroom so that it can be decorated, which will be an easy room to start with. However, there are still 3 bays of racking and numerous boxes etc to be sorted out first, so that won't be happening imminently!

Anyway, that's probably enough to be going on with for my first post - look forward to reading your posts and being motivated!

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

:hello: winspiration, welcome to our happy band of declutterers :T By the way ilurve the name:D Very positive :T
You sound like you have a plan :T which I sometimes think (in my more lucid moments :rotfl:) is half the battle
Is there any way you can get your friend ‘on side’ in the decluttering process - a big stick usually works - only joking :rotfl: Maybe letting him see how happy you are when an area is decluttered & showing it off - frequently :rotfl:
Can I ask? Once the small bedroom is decluttered & decorated is it going to be a bedroom or will you be using it for some other purpose?

So again, welcome

MrsSD

winspiration

Thank you, Mrs Salad Dodger

This afternoon I emptied and moved the second big book case into my office, so the wall is complete, and about half filled so far. I have thrown out / recycled a bit of stuff, and filled two boxes destined for the charity shop, but that room currently looks like a bomb has hit it and needs a lot more attention.

I haven't quite decided what to do with the room when it is repurposed. Originally I planned to bring all my crafting stuff upstairs when the business had finished, into my office & the small bedroom, but more recently I decided that it's probably better to leave it where it is and have the overflow in the garage (which previous owners converted to an inside room so it's dry) once I've created more space in there. I've got an aeropilates exercise machine which is currently gathering dust under my bed, so it would be good to have the room for that and actually use it - and maybe get a sofa bed. I think an actual bed would take up too much space for the little use it would ever get.

The friend, that's a difficult one! I've known him a long time, so I think change will be a challenge to say the least. He keeps saying that he wants to buy a campervan and go travelling, but in order to do that he'll need to do a lot of decluttering himself first. As you say though, I'm hoping that once improvements are made, he will realise that it is a lot more pleasant to live in a tidy & organised place.

My user name is from when I used to do competitions, a long time ago now I came across all my competition books this afternoon, some of them may be ebayable even though they are a bit old now. There's other paperwork which I didn't want to get rid of completely, but which could mostly be scanned & the originals shredded. I did put into the recycling bin quite a few instruction manuals / guarantees for appliances which have long since gone.

Thank you again for the welcome :j

marmiterulesok

I've not posted for a wee while as not much decluttering going on.

I've got three light fittings (chandeliers) that are being taken down today and someone is coming to pick up two of them on Friday. I'm keeping the bedroom one.

cherryblossomzel

Can I join in? I only live in a teeny tiny flat, but stuff does gather. I'm hoping that I'll move to another teeny tiny flat quite soon (fingers crossed we can come to a deal on price) and I'd like to limit how much unnecessary stuff I drag with me.