2019 - A Clutter Free Life

daisy_1571

Hi little pup

I would suggest if you go for a skip get it for the last day as you can gather together what is going then pack the skip sensibly so you get as much in as poss rather than chucking things in as you find them and waste a lot of space.

If the house is as bad as you say I would suggest pick a way of tackling. Suggestions might be:
one room at a time - you might not get 'big wins' but you might feel you have achieved something as one room might look good after your 3 days and your mum might be able to keep it like this.

Sweep the house looking for skip items, charity items, items for sale or some other category. This might not give you a noticeable difference as there may not be any one area that looks noticeably clearer.

Pick a room and try to clear it completely except for a table. This will give you a working space to sort boxes or other items. This may make other areas more cluttered temporarily until you get some stuff out the house.

If theres a garage or suitable outbuilding could you have a sale on the holiday Monday? Put a few signs up/social media message saying there will be household stuff available then shove out the piano, excess furniture, linens, etc etc and see what gets sold. Or if you dont care to raise funds just let people take stuff as they like? Course maybe the outbuildings are equally full :rotfl::rotfl::

It might be that you can only get a start on it this time then can arrange for the next time to have charity pickups or an auction house etc as you will have identified enough to make it worth their while.

Dont underestimate the benefit of a good bonfire for cheap furniture, papers etc if you have space and the right weather.

If it took 2 people 25 years to gather I'm sure you are thinking you will not get it cleared in 3 days !!! However you might get enough done that your mum feels boosted enough to carry on with a bit more herself once you are away.

Good luck with it to you both, let us know how you get on

Daisy xx

daisy_1571

Mrs_Salad_Dodger wrote: »

We make a good cheerleading team Daisy 1571

See you tomorrow my fellow declutterers


MrsSD
1349/2019

Us bikers are a nice lot :T:T:T:T:T:dance::dance::dance::dance:

Dxx

Roxie

I spent almost 2 hours in the dining room yesterday and you really can't see where I've been. I think I made a start on the wrong things by trying to clear a couple of piles of paperwork (small mountains really) and some folders, so I basically had to sort through anything with personal details on which has gone into a shredding pile and the other has gone straight into the recycling bag. I was beginning to lose the will so decided to leave that task halfway through and will finish it this weekend.

I then tried to sort through some cupboards and found a lot of things that had belonged to my grandmothers. I don't need any of it, but it's really hard to decide to part with, even though I do really want some clear spaces in our home. I thought maybe if I photograph some items as reminders of them and then just keep one or two items that belonged to each of them it would be sensible. Has anyone else had this dilemma? Any regrets on disposing of sentimental items?

I feel that I've just moved a lot of stuff around instead of decluttering. I have a huge bag for life filled with papers to shred, a stack of crockery and ornaments which are now on the dining table instead of inside the cupboards and a few folders of things I need to keep are now inside the cupboards instead of stacked up on the floor. I think this will be tough going, I want to declutter and am struggling to dispose of things, the rest of the family don't even want to declutter so it will be an immense struggle to try and get them to clear out anything. It really is going to be a process of small steps to achieve a clutter free home.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Welcome little_pup :hello: An initial thought to add to all the wonderful ideas from Daisy 1571 - can you completely empty one room & then refill it with the items your DM absolutely wants to keep

Bikers rule Daisy 1571 :beer::dance:

MrsSD
1349/2019

somerandom

somerandom wrote: »

314: book-mark
315: devils horns headband
316: Finally updated my CV :A

319-321: 3 x books to friend
322: 1 x book to a different friend
323: set of notes - friend
324: old shirt DS

Siebrie

Roxie, may I suggest that you work with a timer? 15 minutes clearing one drawer, 5 minutes paperwork, 15 minutes clearing the drawer, 5 minutes paperwork, teabreak .

As soon as a bag or box is full, stop what you are doing and move it to the place for further disposal (bin, front door, car boot).

Stay on top of the paperwork coming into the house, maybe put a sticker on the letterbox that unaddressed advertising material is not welcome. Any lettters get opened next to the old paper container (for me, that is in the kitchen) and the envelope and any enclosures are immediately thrown in there.

On a sidenote: this thread now has 100 pages! Congratulations! :T :j

[Deleted User]

Going for eye test today, I currently use the £1 glasses just for reading and computer work with no problem but thought it would be a good idea. I have several old pairs hanging around so may well end up de-cluttering some of them (have in handbag-lunch menu- kitchen, bedroom, other handbag so plenty to get rid of maybe. Optician is near the CS so handbags will go there today, hope day is warmer so I can use a plastic box type thing to put some of the soil in I bought as well as the bucket I bought and then plant more seeds or general look at ones already planted and decant etc.

Wednesday2000

I added a green scarf and a hand bag to the donation bag that can go off today.

I dropped off the recycling bottles and gave the stale bread to the ducks as well.

I used up the last of a perfume and a facial wash.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger wrote: »

Wednesday2000 - I hope the weight loss is intended

Yes.:D

parsniphead

greenbee wrote: »

Lovely to see you back. I was starting to get worried and thinking about asking around to see whether anyone had heard from you.

Oh thanks Greenbee.With school hols and various appointments it's been chaotic. I've just got back from my first morning at work. I'm shattered but it's been positive.

I shall be spending an hour later decluttering.:T

phoebe1989seb

I've not been around for a while as we had DS visiting - which involved loads of prep to get the parts of the cottage that are still building sites vaguely presentable, lol :rotfl:

This also gave a great excuse for more clearing out!

So, while DH got productive building some pull-out bin cabinets to match our painted in-frame kitchen (company has changed the design.....grrr, so thank goodness he is talented in that respect!), I got to work on the following......

Old, rusty baking trays x 5 - in the skip

Hideous rug (left in grounds by previous owners) - in the skip

Pair of old, disintegrating car seats (left in hedge by POs :eek:) - in the skip

Bottles x 7 bags for life full - to bottle bank

DVDs x 12 - charity shop

Unwanted clothes x 2 bin bags full - charity shop

Then, on DS's departure, he took with him -

Arts & Crafts copper charger

Stoneware vase

Laura Ashley cushions x 2

Pair of cuddly dog puppets (for his baby DD )

14 year old video camera

Camcorder/video camera films x 35 (he's hopefully going to transfer these to DVDs ....)

At the weekend we had to clear a new space for the polytunnel so we had an enormous bonfire (rural with no near neighbours ) so cleared a load of garden waste too!