2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

~FlowerPot~

unfortunately, today has turned into a not do much at all day, i have made mental notes of things I want to do/remove/sort.

But other than decluttering the wine from the wine bottle not much is going on today!!!!!

Will attempt to finish the lounge tomorrow AND start a small area of another room!

flowers

p.s. im not a wino really!!

But I do intend to slowly reduce the store of spirits we have in the house, they take up way to much room!

DundeeDoll

Today's 23 minute declutter revealed a love letter from 2014 (never went anywhere but made me smile) and £16 still in date Tesco vouchers (brought an even bigger smile). Have almost cleared the office for DD2.

cinnamon123

Mrs_Salad_Dodger - Thank you for this thread!

Happy New Year to everyone! I'm excited (and a little overwhelmed if I'm honest) to hop on board. 2023 will be a big year as I need to downsize. It's time to sell up and move on for many reasons including reducing spending so that there's enough money for the future. There is a lot to declutter so I will probably not be counting items. Ultimately, what has to go will go so that the belongings can fit into the new smaller home.  

I will start in earnest the second week of January as I have just finished helping someone else move and I am extremely sore and exhausted (with too many bruises to count - thank you stairs and heavy objects!).

Wishing everyone well on this decluttering journey! I'll be cheering all of us on!

Brie

Keiths_Mum said:

Can I join this thread, please? I am new to the forum but have been reading threads for a while.

My parents died 13yrs ago and I took a lot of stuff from their house (about 8 plastic tubs) a lot of which is sentimental and difficult to deal with. My Uncle, who I cared for, died this year and I have acquired some of his stuff, also sentimental. I also have my own clutter to deal with.

In addition I have a lot of paper clutter, I think I have every wage slip, utility bill, bank statement, etc that I've ever received.

I live in a 1 bedroom flat and I am running out of space, I have decided that 2023 is the year I am finally going to deal with it all

@Keiths_Mum
welcome!

dealing with the old sentimental stuff can be really difficult unless you have absolutely teflon coated rhino skin.  I'm pretty good at this because I am that old rhino.  that said I find it easier to attack things early in the day when I'm more energy and attack hard and fast.  Get your disposal bags ready and charge through one box as far as you can giving each item at most a glance to identify.   That's enough to see if it's garbage or something to cherish.  The vast majority is garbage in my opinion. 

My MiL died this year so I've used this approach (with OH's approval) to deal with a lot of her stuff.  Likewise my own mom has moved into sheltered accomodation and we have a sprawling farmhouse to declutter.  (overseas & I was only available for 2 weeks so it really needed a no nonsense approach).

I found that taking a stack of whatever and having my bin bag on one side, a donate box/bag on the other and a space on the table for reserve worked very effectively.  All those newspaper articles that everyone used to save - bin.  Likewise old christmas cards, postcards, kids' drawings - bin.  Queen's coronation magazine - donate maybe.  Letters from GGGreat aunt Edna - reserve to read later.  In my estimation at most 20% goes into the reserve pile and maybe only 20% of that is actually worth keeping once you've had a better look. 

If you find something disturbing/distressing set it aside to deal with when you're stronger.  It's the hand made stuff of my MiL's that I struggle with - the OH's baby clothes saved with other things she made for a hoped for grandchild, a beautiful tartan cape she made by hand (aka no machine at all) that is just too beautiful to even take to a charity shop.   And the weird once very expensive stuff of my mom's - anyone know what to do with a full length wolf fur coat?  And the 1950s mink fur wraps?? (all got donated to a local theatre company eventually)

The other thing that was useful with my mom, particularly given the time constraints, was having someone else going through stuff at the same time.  i was on one side of a table, a brother on the other side - it was friendly, a lot of "OMG! Look at this!" - but it was also helpful in that we could ask what the other thought.  Being more rhino than him (a hoarder!) I managed to encourage him to bin more than he might have and he likely restrained my steamroller.  Is there a sibling or a friend that could help you?

As for your own stuff - you might go for the nothing financial more than 7 years old as even HMRC can't really insist on better than that.  Or save your P60s but not your wage slips.  Save your utility bills but only from your current supplier.  Find out where you are comfortable drawing your lines in the sand and take it from there.

And importantly when you start to feel overwhelmed by it put away the bits you haven't binned or donated to go through another day.  And put the bin stuff in the bin (even if the bags not full) & the donations stuff in the car or wherever ready to be donated. Each bit that gets cleared will make the task easier.

Keiths_Mum

Thank you for your reply Brie

Over the years I have tried so many times to go through my parents stuff and I have got rid of a few things but often I will open one of the boxes and close it after a very short while as it quickly becomes overwhelming. I have mentioned to my brother that i want to get rid of a lot of it and he said he would like to see what I'm getting rid of in case he wants it. He also took a fair amount of stuff at the time and has got rid of some of it. I might wait until the next time he is here to sort my parents stuff out, although I feel he is more sentimental than me, so not sure how helpful this will be.

As for cards, I never keep them myself but my sentimental old Dad kept a whole box mainly from me and my brother and other close relatives, even though I don't really want them knowing he kept them for years makes it so hard.

The thing is I have lots of stuff that belonged to them that is useful or decorative that I use everyday or is on display, so I don't need this extra non useful stuff.

My aim is to have only one box of sentimental stuff that I can look through from time to time, should I feel the need and get rid of the rest.

I think I will start with my own stuff, may be the paperwork

florianatwobob

@Keiths_Mum I’d be inclined to tell your brother that, if he’s sentimentally attached to something that you’re happy to rehome, it’s up to him to store it! 😉

florianatwobob

1) Unused Christmas Cards corralled (and note added to diary for December 2023 that we don’t need to buy any)

2) Gift bags corralled (again don’t need any)

3) Birthday cards audited - we’re a bit short on cards for the chaps but ladies are sorted this year)

4) Curling ribbon (unused for years) added to the charity bag

5) Some old clothes cut up for rags and some old pjs bottoms are going to be turned into draught excluders. We were debating what to stuff them with, then had a brainwave that we’ve got some old towels that will do nicely if rolled up. 

6) Today the bin men came (I know, on a bank holiday!) so the general waste and food waste have left the building. Recycling is being collected on Saturday. 

7) First load of washing done this year. 

I shall probably be having more of a fling as the day progresses…..

Pennyrounder

Hi Folks, hoping to join this thread -
 i am drowning in "stuff" - literally drowning - i am a hoarder and its out of hand. every room there is bundles and bags, the first blitz i need to sort out so i have some "peace" of mind is the kitchen/dining room - bags and boxes everywhere- 7 large plastic boxes of junk and paperwork, various other  bags and boxes etc so my first challenge of this is to get the kitchen cleared and scrubbed in the next 2weeks ( work fulltime too) so will be a bit a day, have bought a new shredder so no excuse, fed up walking into the house and feeling i could turn on my heel and keep walking in the other direction 

Florenceem

I am doing the 1 on 1st day - 2 on 2nd day etc. Only managed 1 item yesterday but got 8 items sorted today so pleased at my RT of 9.
However - more stuff came in the house!

Caramac

Keiths_Mum said:

Over the years I have tried so many times to go through my parents stuff and I have got rid of a few things but often I will open one of the boxes and close it after a very short while as it quickly becomes overwhelming. I have mentioned to my brother that i want to get rid of a lot of it and he said he would like to see what I'm getting rid of in case he wants it. He also took a fair amount of stuff at the time and has got rid of some of it. I might wait until the next time he is here to sort my parents stuff out, although I feel he is more sentimental than me, so not sure how helpful this will be.

As for cards, I never keep them myself but my sentimental old Dad kept a whole box mainly from me and my brother and other close relatives, even though I don't really want them knowing he kept them for years makes it so hard.

The thing is I have lots of stuff that belonged to them that is useful or decorative that I use everyday or is on display, so I don't need this extra non useful stuff.

My aim is to have only one box of sentimental stuff that I can look through from time to time, should I feel the need and get rid of the rest.

I think I will start with my own stuff, may be the paperwork

I’ve still got a lot of my parent’s stuff that I intend to go through again this year. My sister is more sentimental than me about keeping stuff, but doesn’t seem keen to actually have it in her house. I did sort through the photos and only kept those with people I recognised in them.
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