2020 - banish the clutter

Willowtree222

lindens said:

Been MIA for a few weeks.
Finally took 4 bags to the charity shop at the weekend which was incredibly bad timing as Storm Dennis was not kind to the surrounding area in which I live and I could have donated them to an Action fund that has been set up as lots of people have lost everything. Ho hum.
I have been concentrating on decluttering my ebay stash - by decluttering i mean actually listing everything - and I mean everything. Don't put it to one side because it's awkward to list/not worth much/ haven't taken a photo yet/oh I'll put it on auction. Made good inroads over the past fortnight and listed about 70 items.
A new charity bag has been started with 2 items in.

I think once you start listing, it gets a bit addictive and you want to keep going. x

shangaijimmy

Day 48
Well DD tortured us last night with an old toy that is so noisy! Not sure where she dug it out from, but its going!
- Toy to CS bag
- DS2 hoody to CS bag
- Doctors kids outfit from dress up day at school to CS bag

Willowtree222

Had another go at the book case. The last few shelves that I haven't done. 
8 items to go to the CS this morning. 
That's 1233 +8 = 1241. I have a few more that have been sold, but they won't be leaving yet so I will wait until the end of the week to post about them. Paperwork again later for me so hoping for another big total from that. x

nannywindow

Hello

We are feeling a bit better this morning, but we had to go out to check on our caravan as it's stored near a river . Lots of flotsam was decluttered from around the base of it :(It seems the river burst it's banks yesterday and flooded the storage, but luckily the water just kept on going past our van, but left debris on it's way out, so no damage........ Phew. However one friend has lost his brand new 'van which was situated on a local site about 10 miles away and they are absolutely gutted  :'  We are surrounded by flooded fields and houses but we are ok as we live half way up a mountain. ( we're more likely to suffer landslides and end up in DD's garden  )

Now I am decluttering the washing that has built up, 'cos I didn't feel well enough to bother, good job I spent most of the time in PJ's plus I've decluttered some weight too !

Hope everyone else is well and decluttering enough to cover my downfall this week !

nan

Wednesday2000

I am making a bag up for the charity shop. Three tops, one jumper, two leggings and a book and a DVD. The book and DVD are related to puppy training and I cannot see myself ever having another puppy! 

The stash of moisturisers are still being used up. I have 15 left now! 

All the stale bread will go to the birds mixed up with wild bird food and all recycling and rubbish will go out.

EssexHebridean

Goodness you lot HAVE been busy. Sending sympathy to those who were affected by the flooding over the weekend too - such an awful situation. 

So the 4 bags we had for the charity shop went there on Saturday morning as planned... and since then we have created another 4 - with a 5th one on the way! 

Saturday afternoon I turned my attention to first the recipe books - found a few that were definitely to go, and then a pile more for MrEH to cast an eye over as I was undecided - and about half of those have gone as well. All > Charity shop.
That lead me on to a front room cupboard which got decluttered of numerous small items and a pile more recipe books. 
Then the shelves above the cupboard - sadly discovered that the sugar flowers from our wedding cake (nearly 20 years ago!) have finally succumbed to the passing of time so those (they were in a box-frame) have been disposed of. More tidying and reorganisation followed and more bits sorted for rubbish or the CS bag - net result is a MUCH tidier looking set of shelves. 
Yesterdays efforts started with the coat cupboard - 2 old but still good waterproofs to the CS bag - 4 fleeces (all now vastly too big for me) have been washed and will go to the CS bag when dry. And several old and definitely past-it coats to the black sack.  An old fan heater (indeterminate age and reliability) > bin. We now have room for ALL the coats to live in the cupboard - hurrah! Also relocated our camping chairs to in there as well - just need to remember that's where they are next time we go camping now! 
Then on to the other side of the cupboard we did half of last weekend
- Lots of old decorating stuff has been binned, a load of old speedway memorabilia got re-homed to a friend who knows someone who will love it
- a load of random Queen memorabilia has been sorted through and some binned, some kept and relocated to the vintage suitcase that used to have the speedway stuff in it, along with a load of concert programmes etc that were taking up space in a drawer. 
- I now have a shelf in the cupboard for photography equipment so the trunk that I've been using for storage has been cleared - some old broken stuff has gone (no good for passing on elsewhere - I was keeping it "justin") and the trunk has gone out to our communal hallway to see if it is of any use to any of the neighbours - I'm guessing someone will grab it for toys or whatever. 
- Our old small tent is currently in the pile to go to the CS as well although I think there is half a chance we might think twice on that one before it goes. I can't *see* that we'll use it again, but on the other hand I'm not entirely committed to letting it go, and I think MrEH feels much the same. 
- some old magazines that MrEH had until now always obstinately refused to accept that he would never look 

In addition to that lot
- Some packaging material that had been kept but never used - including half a box of the dreaded polystyrene pieces > bin
- some more books - this time from a shelf in the front room > CS bag
- another bag of shredding > office (and has now been shredded)

We ended the day with the bags for the charity shop as above, and 2 full black sacks also disposed off to the bins, plus several loose items carried out and thrown away separately.  My full-length mirror which has spent the last 17 years leaning again the wall behind a door has also now been hung ON the wall - it's location is the same but it was about time I made it to the wall. Also some pictures that were sitting in the spare room ahead of some planned decorating have made it back onto the wall as the decorating hasn't yet happened. 

Honestly, I half wish I HAD started numbering items but equally I think I'd have lost count now - the difference is amazing though, not only in terms of the physical look of the place but also in terms of how more more I'm willing to let stuff go now. I said to MrEH yesterday it's as though I've finally learned that throwing away "stuff" connected with a particular memory doesn't mean that I'll forget about the memory it's related to - and that especially applies when the "stuff" involved has been hidden away out of sight, too. 

Wednesday2000

I just cleared out a storage box in the garden. I added three unwanted (and boxed up) dog leads to the bag with the puppy DVD and the book.

I threw away one manky dog lead and two chewed up dog toys. I found a dead spider *gag* so I scrubbed the box out as well.

I also cleaned out my freezer drawers and ate the last of the bowl of leftover curry from the fridge.

greent

501 – 516 – clothing recycled via H&M

517. black ornamental pot accidentally smashed ☹- binned

518. hotel marmalades consumed, packaging recycled

519. 5 bottles of hotel shower gel used to top up handwash, bottles recycled

520. paperwork – filed/ shredded/ recycled

521. nasty lip gloss – binned

522. gift set unpacked for use, packaging recycled/ binned

523. 1 item from above gift set donated to PTA tombola stall

524. Unopened large Jack W1lls gift set – donated to PTA

525. lots of paperwork shredded/ recycled

526. unused 90th birthday card – CS

527. Broken arm of a chair – binned

528. The packaging from DS1’s Xmas Eve PJs! – recycled

529. Random piece of H0twheels track – binned

530. Too-big rugby shirt of DH’s – CS

531 – 535. New makeup (unwanted parts from gift sets) sold via flebay

536. Packaging for above

537 - 558. Rubbish/ broken toys from DS2’s room – binned/ recycled

559 – 641. Toys/ games/ toiletries/ jewellery donated to shoebox appeal

642. BNWT scarf (unwanted present) – CS

643. Unused bouncy ball making kit – CS

644 – 645. 2 x 6 tealights – burned 😊

646. coloured raffia – 1 skein – used to tie up bunches of flowers

647. cheap shower gel used to top up handwash

648. facepack – used

649. flavoured coffee milks – poured away, tubs recycled

650. 2 x red heart picks (from bouquets) given to someone for their conservatory

Bit of tidying in DS2's room yesterday helped the totals along nicely.....

Willowtree222

Lots of decluttering going on. You have been busy too Essex Heb, I still need to tackle the coat rack. It's one I am dreading. 
I carried on today when I got the light fixed in the garage. I had a quick look round and saw a few easy wins so
1242 - old washing up bowl in the bin
1243-1247 - old toys from little one
1248 - shoe box
1249 - box from a toastie maker
Just spent the last three hours in my paperwork drawers, and paperwork containers. I gave up counting after 364 bits. I had paperwork from 14 years ago. I just piled on top and never sorted out. I have now filed every single piece in a correct place and got rid of anything not needed or over 7 years old. 
Total = 1613
There's lots of little bits too, but not going to count them. I also might try the coat rack as well. I now have hooks on some doors upstairs where more coats can live. x

newlywed

Just had a massive cook up. Decluttered all the parsnip and carrot tops from the freezer, now cooking into soup hopefully!  Will blitz it so it doesn’t look like all the ends 🤫

Roasted courgette aubergine and a dodgy looking pepper  into ratatouille ish.  Roasted parsnips too. Hopefully will have to cook a lot less the next couple of days and therefore once I do the load of washing up, that should pretty much be it!

now on the hunt to fill up the only just started charity bag...  quietly realising how many clothes I only bought a month or two ago are now heading out the door because of losing weight and not loving the clothes...  just quit my eBay habit as it is just wasting money buying things that go a month later... sigh