2020 - banish the clutter

elsien

Jami74 said:

Please can I join? I really need help, I am feeling so stressed and don't really know how to do this. What's worse, is that on top of the junk, dust is gathering. 

We have lived in this house for more than ten years and my kids have grown-up here. I was very minimalistic before kids but now we have ten years worth of outgrown toys and other junk. I have a whole toy box full of McDonald Happy Meal toys and little plastic party favours. I have boxes and boxes of books, some left over from my childhood (Stinking Enid Blytons with yellowed pages, none of them worth anything, mostly picked up at jumble sales in the eighties). Old mobile phones that no longer work (boxed and in pristine condition), outgrown ice-skates, a massive box of DVDs. Cables and cables and cables that may or may not fit any gadget we currently own. Gift bags saved for re-use but never the right size or design for what we need. Pictures and cards drawn over the years. Bottles of half filled perfumes, I just can't get through the stuff quick enough before another birthday or Christmas comes round (and I beg people every year to not give us 'stuff', yet still they do). Old candles, decorative and for the just-in-cases that never happen. Etc etc....

I am happy to get rid of stuff, but how?
Our rubbish bin is collected fortnightly and there is no room in the bin for any more than our basic kitchen and bathroom waste. I can take things to the tip, but I really hate throwing things away that may still have some use in them.
Our local charity shops don't want any more childrens books or DVDs.
Over the past couple of years I have periodically listed some items on my local Facebook selling pages, Friday Ad and Ebay and had no interest whatsoever. Years ago I used to sell quite a bit of stuff on ebay, but that was when it was more auction based. I don't necessarily want lots for it, but don't want to give it away to be sold on if I can make some money out of it. I am thinking of doing some car boot sales when they start for the toys and the more sellable items.

Sorry for such a long post. If anyone can offer any help or advice I would really appreciate it. I'm feeling very overwhelmed.

That's the reason for some of my stuff - hate to throw things away that "might" be useful.
Maybe start with some of the stuff that you know you're really not going to get any money for. Plastic happy meal toys - there's really nothing you can do with them except bin them.
Books - have a look on Abe books or similar and if they're really not worth the effort of selling then see if they will freegle. or stick them in the paper bank at the tip. If no-one on the second hand sites want them, then just hold onto the ones with really sentimental value and recycle the rest.
Bottles of half filled perfume - how much perfume can you use at any one time. Do you still like any of them? Have they gone off?  Maybe ebay the new stuff that people are buying you rather than adding it to the opened collection.

I'd just do one category at a time, like the perfumes. Or give yourself a target of half an hour at a time to clear some of the clutter. Or x items a day. Or whatever. 
Too much at once just depresses you. Keep a tally on here - it's quite motivating to see how much has gone which you don't really notice when you're only doing a few items at a time. 
 Draft the kids in to help clear some of the stuff that relates to them. If they want it, tell them they need to keep it themselves. If they don't want to do that it's not that important to them. (That's what my mum did with the attic full of "treasures" that we didn't want to bin but didn't want in our own shiny new houses.
But if you take things to the tip, mostly they're not going to landfill, they can be recycled and reused, so don't think of them as going to waste. 
My main tip is to get it out of the house as soon as you've decided it's going. Otherwise it tends to make its way back again. Ask me how I know......

TC77

Hi, just a quick thought toys and kids books - a local charity working with a refuge may want them as families arrive with nothing. They do want good quality though. Sounds like lots of stuff that someone will want but I know it can be hard finding the  right place, also Dr surgeries and hospital waiting areas - outpatients .  

Willowtree222

Jami74 said:

Please can I join? I really need help, I am feeling so stressed and don't really know how to do this. What's worse, is that on top of the junk, dust is gathering. 

Sorry for such a long post. If anyone can offer any help or advice I would really appreciate it. I'm feeling very overwhelmed.

Hi, 
I'm not sure what your local tip is like, but my local tip has a specialist collection point for DVDs and Books. It might be worth looking to see if they have one too. 
A boot sale is a great idea. You can also list job lots on ebay. So the load of old happy meal toys could be one lot together. 
If there's things you don't want to go just to the tip, but not worth anything, then maybe put them on freecycle?
x

greent

Latest batch of items from me

701 – 703. Sparkly pencils – donated to shoebox appeal

704 – 705. 2 excess jam jars from stash – recycled

706. Large toy – CS

707. Monocular (still in box) – CS

708 – 711. Unused stationery – shoebox appeal

712 – 715. Unwanted toiletries sold via flebay

716. Box and paper from packaging stash for above

717. Set of cheap metal ‘meccano’ type stuff – lots missing and bent – binned/ recycled

718 – 723. Random things from DS2’s room – recycled

724 – 725. 2 scarves (1 bnwt) to CS

726 – 727. 2 broken pencil cases – binned

728 – 750. Broken/ no longer working/ random things from DS2’s room – binned

 

751. No longer working light up zip pull – binned

752. large (and damaged) cardboard box – recycled

753. chest of drawers (20yo) – given away via fbook

754. Itchy school jumper – PTA 2nd hand uniform stall

755 – 758. Old school books recycled

759. broken plastic dividers – binned

760 – 763. Items of food not liked by anyone – given away

764 - 765. Sheets of iron on and stick on name labels for my Nan – binned

766. Small pile of paperwork relating to my Nan – shredded/ recycled

767. Pile of packaging paper – used for CS donations

768 – 770. 3 books donated to PTA book stall

771 – 773. 3 pairs of glasses recycled at opticians

774. serum, used up

775. shower gel (Xmas set) – used up

776. small pile of photos – binned

777. eye cream used up

778. Large bright pink handbag – CS

779. Unopened pack of 40 coffee filters – CS

780. Coffee machine – CS

781. old sim card – destroyed and binned

782 – 785. Slimming World books recycled

786. Several sheets of paperwork removed from office pinboard and shredded

787. Plastic wallet – binned

788. Bag – sold via ebay

789. Plastic mailing bag & packing paper from stash used on 788

790 – 791. Sachets of shampoo (years old….) used at gym

792 – 795. Part used A4 pads of lined paper given to DS1 to go back to uni with

796. Office chair – sent back to uni with son (will be scrapped when he eventually leaves – it’s stained and torn – perfect for communal student life….)

797 – 800. New pens from stash sent back to uni with DS1

Jami74

Thank-you @elsien, @TC77 and @Nicnak
I'm going to start with cardboard boxes today. I've got lots of them of all shapes and sizes, mostly from online Christmas shopping but kept in case it could be used for packaging in the event I might need to post or courier something (haven't posted/couriered anything in at least the last five years).
What about remote control cars that no longer work? Do they go in the household waste at the tip? I could take those up too.
I will also try to buy some clear sacks so I can sort toys into job lots for taking to car boot or freecycle.

TC77

Hi Jami 74 good luck, 
Does anyone know couriers that take glass and China? I've that overwhelming sense and know records/ photos are too personal at the moment and some paperwork waiting for resolution and household things waiting if DD1 moves to unfurnished place in the summer. Collect vintage glassware and prob have about 200 glasses and other glassware. Sets in every colour and for every occasion. Have given some to cs but would like to sell some but know royal mail exclude crockery/ glass from insurance and many others too. Thanks 

elsien

Jami74 said:

Thank-you @elsien, @TC77 and @Nicnak
I'm going to start with cardboard boxes today. I've got lots of them of all shapes and sizes, mostly from online Christmas shopping but kept in case it could be used for packaging in the event I might need to post or courier something (haven't posted/couriered anything in at least the last five years).
What about remote control cars that no longer work? Do they go in the household waste at the tip? I could take those up too.
I will also try to buy some clear sacks so I can sort toys into job lots for taking to car boot or freecycle.

You are me, aren't you?
My attic is stuffed full of empty boxes that I hang onto so I have a ready supply for the things I never get round to selling. 

Our local tip has some helpful employees whose job it is to keep things out of landfill and will tell you which bit to put anything you're not sure about in. 
Maybe set yourself a deadline to have things carbooted by, and a plan for the things that don't sell, rather than bringing them all home again.
One thing I've noticed about my local FB selling groups is that things go very cheaply, less than I'd generally want to sell things for. But if the primary purpose is to get things out of the door and make a bit on the side that's not necessarily a deal breaker. And it also saves the hassle of posting out and sellers fees etc. And no idiot buyers trying to get returns for spurious reasons.

Jami74

Well I made a start!

A couple of challenges; beautiful boxes and tins which originally contained toiletries/biscuits, seems such a shame to throw out (now gone). 
Little plastic accessories in some of the boxes (also now gone).

Bathroom cupboard cleared out. Oldest item was half a rub of vaseline with an expiry date in 2006. Also some eardrops expired 2011. I'm sure I had cleared that cupboard out not so long ago.

Foofoopuppy

Jami, do you have friends or family who might need the children's stuff they have outgrown? I think some of it, like the McDonald's toys, you just need to bite the bullet and throw them. I find as you start to let go of stuff, it becomes easier to let go of more stuff that you don't need any more. But anything you can get rid of - or even just stop more coming in - is a win as far as I am concerned!

Willowtree222

That's a great start. The good thing is that you have actually started. 
I have managed 8 items today. Not the best day, but stuff is still moving out!