2019 - A Clutter Free Life

Saver-upper

For the last coupleof days I have been decluttering and tidying my kitchen cupboards.They dont need too much of a declutter,more a darn good clean, tidy and organise.But I did get a few items out of the house:
74:packet of dried out screen wipes that had never been used-binned the wipes,recycled container


All recycled:
75-83:9 Calpol spoons
84-86:3 other plastic spoons


Today I continued kitchen cupboards,and also out for recyling were:
87-97:11 plastic take-away containers
98-120:23 plastic take-away container lids (no doubt there is such a difference between the number of containers and lids,due to 12yo daughter using containers for slime-making :rotfl::rotfl:)




Everyone is doing so well with their decluttering,and isnt it great to see so many new faces around here .

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. SMALL TASKS WILL BE DONE ASAP
2. I WILL LEAVE A ROOM TIDIER THAN WHEN I ENTERED
3. KITCHEN WILL BE LEFT CLEAN & TIDY EVERY NIGHT
4. WHEN DEALING WITH CLUTTER I WILL USE ‘Daisy1571’s idea of ‘WHAT WOULD I DO WITH THIS ITEM IF IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE’S ?’
5. IF I WAS STARTING FROM SCRATCH, WOULD I BUY THIS?
6. BE LIKE A POSTAGE STAMP - STICK TO ONE THING UNTIL YOU GET THERE

Almost finished the hm soup just a small portion left which I have used to start a new soup using up all my ys veg. Will finish cooking it tomorrow & then zizz & season to taste.

No decluttering but a bit of housework & a visit to the sm - walked past the dock & fed the waterfowl as it was such a nice day.

Dinner was pork loin steaks with boiled potatoes with carrots & green beans from freezer. Gradually decluttering the contents of the freezer

27 Beer bottle rinsed & recycled

My excuse is that it was Sunday :rotfl: but you lads & lasses are putting me to shame

Ginmonster, my milkman calls round every two weeks on a Saturday about 9:30 a.m. - he delivers about 3.00 a.m. :rotfl:

bt_dt, well done on the dressing gown declutter :T

whmf, well done on freegling- is that a word :rotfl: the items can clutter someone else’s home :rotfl:

Well done Tfoz - a clear hallway to welcome you into your home :T - you must be soo happy 😆

Glad to see you back Aaleigha

Yay Rootle :T

Wednesday2000, nice that your DH is on board

Guineapigsqueaks, you have been busy :T

sweetpea26, another poster who has been busy :T

DD265, three bags to the cs - they must love you :T

Leelad, sorry to hear about your DW (dear wife) but hopefully with you gradually clearing the clutter & earning a bit of extra money you are creating a more pleasant & relaxing home.

Well done oceanspirit :T & enlisting OH to the cause - I think a lot of our fellow declutterers are probably quite jealous :rotfl:

Well done osbornbiscuit :T - tackling what I would call ‘a cupboard of Doom’ :rotfl:

nannywindows, not a disaster just a reason to declutter :rotfl:

retiredinfrance - I bet you have created a lot of space by getting rid of so many magazines :T
I picked up 3 chocolate oranges today at £1.00 each without realising they were dark chocolate my DH is very happy :rotfl:

bit by bit, I am in awe - building work, serious decluttering & a well thought out plan for retirement

Well done villagelife, Cheapskate, Marpau & Mistral001 - keeping ‘stuff’ moving out of home & garden :T

:hello: & welcome sootypea, selloptape, marionmgcars, bunty109, bargainhunterss, alliboy03 & nannygladys :j I think we now have a six carriage bandwagon :rotfl: It is never too late to join in - the more the merrier

MrsSD
27/2019

ScarletRibbons

Morning all, hope everyone is ok.

Dh joined in yesterday, he went through all our "paperwork" and shredded out of date stuff. We do this at the beginning of every year, so we don't have gas bills from 1983!!

We store documents in plastic files, and he found some ex work stuff of mine that I thought I'd got rid of, so we said bye bye to that. I've been retired for 10 years, so why I've kept paynotes from my last working year I don't know!! It's obviously slipped through the net.

We don't have half as much documentation as we used to anyway, as a lot is now online.

Thinking of clothes, I think I'll start using the "coat hanger the other way round" method to see how often I wear things. I do try to wear different things, instead of the same stuff all the time.

We'll see how it goes.

I'm editing to say I like the mantras, and am going to make an effort to use them. I used to buy stuff in CS's, thinking, if I don't wear it , it was only £3.99, or whatever, then came round to the idea that if I didn't wear it I had effectively thrown that money in the bin!!
So I now think more carefully before buying!

Beshki

What I am finding amazing is that I keep thinking that we are now down to bare minimum ‘stuff’ and that there isn’t anything left to declutter. But then finding bits that all add up to a CS bag or a tip run - I can’t believe I ever had anything more than I have now! It’s certainly a nice feeling to be running low on excess stuff.

Molillie

Good Morning declutterers,

I'm going to a local Community Centre today, so will take some bits for their tea-room sales, it's very useful, as the walls of the tea-room are lined with bookshelves which see a steady turnover, and they also accept other small non-food items. It can be a lot more straightforward than getting to a charity shop, as they have a car park. It amazes me how I keep finding more bits and pieces, and is part of stopping "tidying by hiding"

My aims for this week - beginning of the year paperwork sort out and disposal of things not needed. Not sure when, but will maybe do it a bit at a time if necessary.
Do some crochet every evening - this calms me, reminds me that I still have a big stash when I see wool in a charity shop, and will hopefully soon lead to me being able to get rid of one of my pop-up storage ottomans (at least to have it flattened) I'm out a couple of evenings, but usually like to wind down after getting home, so will make sure that crochet is part of this (just blankets, so easy)
Continue with an item out every day of January.

Still struggling with motivation, I hate the long, dark nights. I might in the future buy one of the anti-SAD lamps, but do not want to purchase anything at present. Just need to keep on, and look forward to breaking though each target.

Good luck, everyone.

KathCW

Hello, everyone!

I hope I am not too late to join. Every year I say 'This will be the year we declutter!' So, maybe joining this thread will mean this IS the year we do it.

Our biggest 'to do' is the loft - absolutely full, recent decluttering blitzes having made very little difference. I also have some kitchen drawers that need a good sort out. And clothes ... I did empty one wardrobe last year - but filled it up with 'stuff'

Today DH is off to the skip with some garden rubbish, so I will go and have a look around the garage to see what else can go. We have put a long length of new, surplus fascia board by the gate - hopefully that will go over the next few days, or it will have to be cut up and sent to the skip.

We have 3 things to ebay - 2 jigsaws and a toy - so hopefully those will be gone soon.

I am also decluttering Christmas chocolate, but need to be losing weight as well, so that's not a good combination!

Happy decluttering to all!

[Deleted User]

Had a couple of nibbles from Freegle, now awaiting. Have been having probs with Soup Maker, think I overfill but try not to. It goes so far and then it blows fuse to oven and microwave, have to ask next door to reset as it is too high for me and best not use steps myself. Have stuck a hook think to the flap on the fise box so may be able to open it with my "grabber" and push/pull the lever down myself so am thinking of trying SM one last time. If it still blows then will have to sling it out but I do like it, will not replace though as only me so can use saucepan.

daisy_1571

leelad wrote: »

Hi, been reading some of the posts in this email thread. Really inspiring. Made more of a start today in the attic. Cleared a space for me to work and sort things out. Did a run to the tip with:

One car seat, two pairs of Wellingtons, pair of shoes I no longer need, some children's books which our daughter has drawn on, the remainder of a child gate, a tablecloth and dead lightbulb & batteries.

Also advertised the pushchair on FB, nothing of it as yet. Tidying up the attic can only be done one step at a time. My wife suffers from poor mental health & has anxiety issues and is out of work at the moment so the task is too overwhelming for her to work through. Her outlook and approach to what I am doing is negative, doesn't want to help or get involved. Advertised a couple of things on FB buy and sell but she has a negative approach to this as well, so it's likely that if I was posting lots of stuff on there all the time she would struggle. I work full time, so am having to fit this in on a weekday evenings and I get chance during the weekend to do bits. One good thing from today is that the lady picked up the balance bike from me for £25 that I sold on NYD. No reaction at all from my wife to this (good or bad). It's tough going ☹️ but will keep chipping away at it. Thank you MrsSD for the decluttering advice ��

Leelad sorry to hear this, it's hard enough doing a major declutter with everybody in the house onboard but indifference or negativity must make it even easier to think what's the point and give up. I think you said you were photographing areas ? Make sure you keep doing that and at some point maybe in days, maybe weeks, maybe months when your dw is in the right frame of mind perhaps a look at the before and after might give her a warm glow that so much has been achieved and it wasn't too scary and nothing was asked of her so had time to do her own healing?

Another lovely surprise might be to keep any money raised completely separate, maybe in a piggy bank or new bank account. Perhaps it feels too much effort to go to for piddly wee amounts in her view. If you just quietly get on with it and perhaps dont look for enthusiasm or allow indifference to derail you, one day when there is a more sizeable amount gained just from letting the excess go, she will also be nudged into seeing how worthwhile it was.

I'm sure I said before, it cant help with mh to live in a cluttered place, even out if sight clutter can be a weight ad you avoid dealing with what initially seems insurmountable, so hopefully even though she isn't aware of it the decluttering will be helping her too.

All the best

Daisy xx

Ginmonster

The weather's horrid here today but I managed to get to the charity shop with 2 bags of toys today before the rain really set in so I'm feeling good! The dining room is currently the room of doom where everything just gets parked so I'm going to start sorting that out this afternoon. Wish me luck!

marionmgcars

Thanks for all the posts, am enjoying reading everyone's success.

I helped OH clear his wardrobe (mostly golf wear) before we could go to golf shop. found he had a new jumper that was nearly a carbon copy of one in the wardrobe, that he had forgotten about !!! Laundered items now ready for the CS, and worn items ready for rag clothing collection at recycling centre.

cleaned two kitchen drawers, its lovely to find things without digging through the clutter.

today am tackling the paperwork file, and updating my list of yearly bills.

keep up the good work, love reading the posts, thanks