2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

Viking_mfw

Reporting in with a box of champagne glasses and a bottle of Eton mess baileys decluttered to neighbours.  2/2023

callas

I would love to join this thread.

2022 saw the realisation that being the last one standing I cannot keep everyone else's stuff.  Not being able to move or find anything because of all the stuff I had inherited or collected over the years was making me very very miserable.

I started doing something about it towards the end of the 2022.  Ebay was my first port of call and so far have sent off 51 items.  I need to speed that up because that isn't even the tip of the ice berg.  A lot of items have gone to the tip, charity and friends. I no longer see a wall of boxes in storage.

My biggest succession or surprise was a small collection of damaged silverware and a few small bits of broken jewellery which I took to Hatton Garden and sold for scrap.  Over the moon that they had gone and I had a reasonable amount of money to take home.

2023 I would love to see all the clothes that don't fit me or are not mine gone.  Along with most of the items that are sitting in storage, along with a couple of thousand books.

I have read quite a few posts on this thread and I love the idea of gifting a pot with a plant, something I will be doing this year.

I would love to see everything in storage gone by the end of 2023.  I am also looking forward to reading how others do it.

weenancyinAmerica

Spent yesterday making a list of froglets - easy things that need to be done and some of them urgently - that I keep forgetting to do. Already did two of them. Going to try drawing a little "map" of the areas that need cleaning (the whole house really) and color it in as I do it. 

plumduff55

@daisy_1571 Thanks for the invite - I'm happy to join your group. I've read the last few pages and have already picked up lots of tips on things I hadn't thought of. Declutter my emails WOW 🤩. I have about 20 folders in my inbox but have never deleted old emails. Looking forward to that.

I've spent all afternoon in my smallest bedroom aka my sewing room. I've binned loads and have lots to go to a local charity shop. I find it very difficult getting rid of any fabric or ribbons etc as I always feel I should keep it just in case 😳. I should take this to the charity shop as soon as possible or I'll end up taking things out of the bags and returning them to my sewing room. 

I've made lists for things to tackle in the 3 bedrooms - once I've done that I'll start downstairs.

Florenceem

plumduff55 - I will find it very difficult to cull fabric.

plumduff55

Florenceem said:

plumduff55 - I will find it very difficult to cull fabric.

I know if I don't get rid of it soon I'll end up keeping it. Some I've had for 10-15 years - I've never needed it before but who knows I might need it next month 😳. I have to stop thinking like this or I'll end up keeping it 😱

daisy_1571

I've been in my craft room and found myself agonising over about 10 inch of pale pink ribbon i must have had about 20 years and 3 houses.  Its probably gradually disintegrating as it hasn't even been unfurled most of that time.  I suddenly thought, will my life be any different if I don't own this?  Clarity. In the bucket. No use to anyone.  My home is not a warehouse for useless stuff any more.

If you gather all like with like it is likely to let you realise you are SABLE* for particular items and can maybe let some go to craft groups, schools, scrap store etc etc.  Plus if you do need it, fabric stores get new deliveries every week, someone will have what you need.    

I did that 2 weeks ago, gathered all fabric from all the various boxes and bags, separated it out into types or uses according to what made sense to me.  I laid out all my patchwork cloth (biggest pile) on a pasting table.  Several categories were about a foot high.  It was like a shop.  A lovely shop. Quite a big shop.  Ahem.  Very illuminating. 

I know its hard but only you can decide whats enough, whats too much and whats too little.   Theres no right or wrong answer to that but you might find it a wee bit of relief to be let off the responsibility of looking after and curating too much

Daisy xx

*Ps SABLE is Stuff Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy 

daisy_1571

Florenceem said:

plumduff55 - I will find it very difficult to cull fabric.

Definitely don't start with fabric then.  Start with things you have less attachments to.  Marie kondo always advises underwear drawers.  Last category is sentimental items and photos 

Beshki

Popped a top on eBay today & have done some cleaning. Tomorrow I plan to tackle our (large!) wardrobe !

Slinky

Have had a trip to the tip today - it was really busy! Large amount of cardboard boxes went, most of our stuff has been in storage while building work has been going on and it came back before Christmas. I've kept some decent boxes back so we can swap out some of the shabby ones in the garage, and will offer the best of the rest back out on Facebook to see if anybody needs them for a house move. The removals company didn't want them back.

Some bags of grot the builders had left lying around have gone, some knackered dust sheets, a horrible old coat my OH wears to wash the car. This is being replaced with a logod coat my OH had in a previous job which has been hanging unused in the wardrobe since he left 8-9 years ago. Loads of glass (not collected with the bins), an old kettle, an old electrical timer, a fitting for a toilet we don't have anymore, a remote control for a long gone TV. A couple of pieces of carpet. Picked up the pot of dead batteries... then left it in the garage. There's always something to go again for.

We also got the first top coat of paint on 3 walls in our new extension. We're using up a colour we've used elsewhere in the house, somehow we had 3 part pots of paint, we're down to 2 now, which will both go tomorrow when we do the 2nd top coat. We then have to move furniture across the room to paint the final wall. After this, it's just the kitchen and the space under the stairs that will need doing; we've repainted the whole house in the past few months, most of it having been replastered, so it's been mist coat and 2 top coats in every room including the ceilings.