2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

QueenJess

Blue_Doggy said:

@Craving _space if you need something to hold smallish items temporarily while you assess their keepability or otherwise, you might find fruit or mushroom punnets (free with the product!) fill the bill, rather than buying new storage items. You may be able to place the punnets inside your pretty boxes. Sorting into them could help with finding like-with-like, and you’ll be able to start assessing them. 

 

Does your local authority recycling accept small metal items like your nail clippers? Otherwise your local tip/amenity site/household waste facility most probably can take them for recycling. Have a look on your council’s website and contact them if you can’t find the answer you need.

I sympathise with you about landfill guilt. I think the best you can do is recycle or send to charity shops everything you can and then use the landfill/recycling aspects as a factor when you are deciding whether and what to buy in the future. For broken things, look into Repair Cafes in your area if the item is something you’d want to keep.

I use my local Buy Nothing on the book of face to get rid of lots of stuff not necessarily worth selling/not ok for charity, but definitely useable.  Lots of things went on there that I would have otherwise binned - can't think off the top of my head, but I even got rid of tiny scraps of wrapping paper for someone's art project and a big box of bubble wrap as someone was moving house.  It often helps to bundle things together like lots of craft bits and pieces.

I've managed to throw almost nothing away as I have never ending environment guilt, but still decluttered.  In the end though, holding onto something you are never going to use isn't any better than sitting in landfill as it isn't being used either way and worse is that it is cluttering up your physical and mental space.  The past is done, just learn for the future and try to avoid making unnecessary purchases.

We do have good ideas though if you have a category of stuff to get rid of, so feel free to post it on here.  There are all sorts of places to recycle bras, glasses, jewellery etc.  Don't let it hold up your decluttering.

Craving_space

daisy_1571 said:

Craving space - further to what others have said 

The fact that you think all the boxes are filled with 'junk' it might well be worth taking a look at even one of them.  Spread out the contents and ask yourself- is it genuinely junk?  Will your life be any different if you didn't hold onto any particular bit? Is it junk to you but useful to someone else? Get a box started for charity shop/ebay/fb/etc but only absolutely only if you really will sell it.  Sometimes its just more important to get it out the house and let the charity shop gain the funds.

Re the idea that who can keep one type of thing in a box it sounds like you are yet to fully embrace 'like with like' but it doesn't really matter what you keep in a box, a drawer, a cupboard, a room, a house.  Its your box, drawer, cupboard, room, house.  It only matters that it makes sense to you and hopefully those who also live in your house.  Somebody mentioned on here about the toothbrush solution.   I would imagine that in even the most unorganised house you would be likely to find a toothbrush and toothpaste beside a sink.  Its unlikely someone would keep each of these things in separate drawers far away from the sink they use at night.  That seems to make sense for most people.   So extend that idea outwards through your house. Its likely you already keep all your socks in one part of a drawer, your underwear together in another bit.  Most people dont just have one huge drawer labelled 'clothes' and rummage through it all every day.   But its up to you how far you take it.

In my craft room for example I have a box with just buttons. I like buttons, I might have more of them than some people,  I might have less than other people.   Thats not the point.   The point is I like to have my buttons in one box, I have space to keep a button box, its not in the way, if I need a button I know where to go looking.  But on another shelf I have a box labelled 'things that stick'.  That makes sense to me.  If I need something stuck, I go to that box.  To me it doesn't matter it has sellotape, fancy Xmas present tape, glue, pritt stick, craft glue dots etc. To me its all 'things that stick'.  In another box I have a variety of things, there are 3 sticky labels on it and ive just counted that I've written 17 things on the labels.  Again the 17 things might be in a different order (or completely missing) in someone else's house.  But in my head I know the category of things they all are so it makes sense to me.

Do the clutter bug quiz queen jess linked, it will help you know a wee bit better what is likely to make you happy.   At the moment you know lots of boxes with junk in each is not making you happy.  Knowing what you want to keep will influence what you need to keep them in.  Good luck, its not a sprint, keep trying things.

Daisy xxx

PS And I agree again with qj, ive found that instead of thinking Question 1: how do I store this?  Question 1 actually needs to be: do I want to store this.  As she said - there's a difference between decluttering and getting sidetracked into storing things more neatly 

Very sound advice, I like the idea of the 17 different things all labelled on the front of the box - wouldn't have thought of that as I would probably try to go for 'perfect' (haven't tried the survey yet, but may well hit 'perfectionist') but it makes perfect sense.

Maybe have a quick play around on my laptop and design some simple but 'fancy' lined labels to add to boxes.

One thing I do need is proper shoe storage, I'm actually renting a room from a (very messy) friend, so everything has to stay in my room. The shoes are quite an issue and one that needs to be addressed with proper storage, I think, so I can still go shopping, lol!

Craving_space

vulpix said:

 I am feeling more human now. Just fetching everything of my families from my Mother's house tomorrow.sort it.distribute it to new homes then I am settling into the tlc carriage for quite some time.

 Craving space, as others have said the biggest decision you have to make is do I need it.want it. like it ? etc rather than keeping everything but in pretty boxes. Start small one box at a time. You can always revisit in the future,and find a permanent home for things.

Vulpix can I just say I relate to the upheaval of trying to clear a loved one's home, it can be very painful and a huge amount of work. Do settle into the TLC carriage, make sure your berth/carriage has some lovely flowers and plenty of things that make you smile 

And very sensible suggesting revisiting things in the future if a permanent decision can't be made now, I aim to be decisive wherever possible, but sometimes that just can't be done yet.

Florenceem

-taff - thanks - seems I am a Bee.

Brie

Craving_space said:

A lot of the problem I have is that quite a lot of what I need to declutter are weird duplicated items - who needs 3 lots of toenail clippers - that I really can't pass on to any one else, or is just too broken to share with a CS. So I'm suffering a huge amount of landfill guilt, and I'm not sure how to get past that, although with the obvious rubbish I'll have to, it has to go.

You need to reassign this bit.  It can't be guilt just because it's going to landfill.  Think of it as a wonderful discovery for some future archeologist or post apocalyptic survivor.

Brie

Liverpool_Anne said:

Hi all, here is Strangley Brown,  the Harris Hawk we took for a walk

OMG!!!!  And to think that I envy the dog walkers that go by!!!  I would love this!!!!!!

Craving_space

Brie said:

You need to reassign this bit.  It can't be guilt just because it's going to landfill.  Think of it as a wonderful discovery for some future archeologist or post apocalyptic survivor.

Wonderful!!!!!!!

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks to include MMiM - do this before I go to bed

2. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ I have an acronym - I.R.I.S. being Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off - 

3. Implement a new sleep/wake up regime - start going to bed earlier (target before 2:00 a.m.) get up earlier (target by 9:00 a.m.)

4. Deal with ‘Urgent’ daily mail immediately & the rest at the weekend

5. Don’t put it down, put it away

6. If I spot a mini task deal with it immediately e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc

7. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed  

Tuesday - DH kindly woke me at 12:45 with a mug of tea 😊 Clear blue sky & the sun is shining but still a chilly breeze. ERNIE has been very generous this month 2 x £100 wins 😀 DH has also made soup no 6 👏 I will go straight into cheerleading 😔

daisy_1571, One medal🏅coming your way for such a comprehensive & excellent response to Craving_Space 👏 Thank you for sharing your experiences especially your description of your button box 😊

Muddy_Walker, I did the test as well but found that the questions were a bit too vague. Reading through all the types, I think I have traits from all of them. I might do it again in a month or so & see if I come out differently 😉😉 Sorry to hear that RL is being so harsh at the moment ☹️ Is there anyone you can speak to about the stress caused by work? Very pleased to hear that Dog 1 & Dog 2 are both on the road to recovery 😊 

vulpix, very pleased to hear that you are feeling more human 😊 as you have had a very stressful & intense year so far 😔 Looking forward to visiting you in the TLC Carriage 🙂 Hopefully MrV will spend some time in there as well 🤞A good dentist is hard to come by so well worth travelling when you find one 🥳 Ours is the other side of London so not too far to travel 😮‍💨 Fortunately he is quite young & very settled so should see us out 😉 Yippee for a whirling dervish plumber 🥳 Lovely advice for Craving_Space 👏

Floss, what a lovely new home for your too large table 😊 Good luck with your your ‘slow filtering’ which appears to be working for you 🍀 Your garden plans sound very exciting 🥳 but please remember not to overdo it 🙏 I would be very grateful if you could share any solutions to the ‘area around bird feeders’ challenge 🙏 Due to the hordes of pigeons we have the area around ours is barren & becomes a quagmire when it rains 😔 

EnergyShifter, sorry to hear about the allergies 🤧 As an aside, my ndn suffered very badly from hay fever & could barely be outside for a couple of minutes before suffering. He now has a dairy free diet which has helped so much that he now gardens 😉 Excellent work renewing your professional accreditation & six  months early - one medal 🏅 on its way. Now you just need to remember that feeling & be prepared to feel it again when you start your tax return in about August 😉 Fingers crossed DS is not delayed by all the shenanigans at the borders 🤞 & gets home safely today. Great decluttering 👏

I am gradually catching up with the cheerleading but will have a little break before resuming  🙂

MrsSD (a superwoman) 😇 🎖💐🤩🏅🦸🏅💐🏆 💐🍰🍾🌟⭐️🌟 💐🏅💐🏅 💐💐💐

DH Awards: 🥇🏅⭐️💐🏅 perseverance medal 🎖️ 🥇 🏅 

Decluttering Target 2023: 937/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £74.70

Craving_space

Blue_Doggy said:

@Craving _space if you need something to hold smallish items temporarily while you assess their keepability or otherwise, you might find fruit or mushroom punnets (free with the product!) fill the bill, rather than buying new storage items. You may be able to place the punnets inside your pretty boxes. Sorting into them could help with finding like-with-like, and you’ll be able to start assessing them. 

 

Does your local authority recycling accept small metal items like your nail clippers? Otherwise your local tip/amenity site/household waste facility most probably can take them for recycling. Have a look on your council’s website and contact them if you can’t find the answer you need.

I sympathise with you about landfill guilt. I think the best you can do is recycle or send to charity shops everything you can and then use the landfill/recycling aspects as a factor when you are deciding whether and what to buy in the future. For broken things, look into Repair Cafes in your area if the item is something you’d want to keep.

Again, all good ideas. I'd forgotten I used to use cat food boxes for this, in the days when I had a cat - the ones that hold sachets were brilliant in drawers. I think they used to hold CDs too, although I may be wrong. They were definitely a perfect fit for something I needed to store a lot of, lol. 

Also like the idea of Repair Cafes, I know one pops up from time to time not too far away from me.

Siebrie

Out: 3 old office binders and a magazine holder. All taken from my former place of work in the grand re-decorating throw-out of said employer.

Also out: a bottle of fabric softener I received from my parents, because my father can't stand it. My eldest dd also gets a reaction, and says it stinks, so refuses to wear any items that have been in touch with the fabric softener. I've given it to a lady at church, who said she knew another lady who would appreciate it Pass-the-parcel-fabric-softener