2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

BlueJ94

I have 

Emptied a sauce bottle for recycling 
Loaded dishwasher 
Thrown cardboard in recycling 

We had a new induction hob before Christmas and I had to buy new pans as old ones wouldn't work so I've put old pans out for scrap! 

oceanspirit

Two books on hall table ready to go out.  Several packets and jars finished and packaging recycled or binned.  One batch of soup in freezer plus a spare meal leftover from tonight to have tomorrow or Sunday.  OH has been doing laundry so we have made a good start between us.

D123456789

I’ve been shopping and bought fridge organisers and circular rotating storage for the kitchen spices / medicine pots / vitamins. You know the type of thing you see on the home edit, or Dilly from sort your life out.

well…. They were on sale in habitat (we have habitat in our Sainsbury’s) and they were very inexpensive compared to ikea / online container store. 

I am the girl who uses shoe boxes as drawer dividers for clothes, so I really pushed the boat out 😂

Blue_Doggy

@Muddy_Walker lovely terrarium, the mosses look very good when seen close up. 
@D123456789 love your shoe boxes idea, I’m the girl who uses empty mushroom punnets as dividers in her underwear drawer.
 
All WUDUPA my things, including the “big and difficult ones”, WULTD my dog’s things.
Draining board and sides wiped, tomorrow’s food taken out of freezer to thaw.

gsdloopy

Today my first job was to delete emails while drinking my morning cuppa - 100 gone.

Next up was the bathroom cabinet and I finally threw out the pot of bits and bobs that OH had "really needed" when he changed the shower last year, so 14 from there. While on the same shelf I threw out the trinket jar and lid that my now grown up DD1 broke when she was little. I loved the jar and I always intended to glue it again but realised today that the fairy had gone.

It was a round version of this that someone is selling on ebay: 

There were 10 odd pieces of costume jewellery in it so they went too. 

I started listing things for auction but I need to weigh and measure them and work out the postage costs. 

When I got back from Lidl this afternoon I emptied the car door pocket which was full of sweet wrappers and also bought in the fuel receipts I'd been meaning to put in a spreadsheet - there were some from 2023! - and I actually logged them all too. I'll round the car clutter down to 50. 

I did use up another 2 tubs out of the freezer but Lidl had some orange label meats so the freezer went up by 2. I also bought more yarn as they had the sock yarn offer in again (200g for £4.99). That's still in the car so it doesn't count! 

Today's count:
76 physical items
100 digital items
Going the wrong direction in the freezer.

TC77

Vulpix thank you , I can understand the penguin position.
@Muddy_Walker and @~FlowerPot~ love the photos

Did alot before work but may have decluttered my list but recall the following
3 ood food, 
odd bits of tinfoil, greaseproof paper and xmas paper
broken pen
packaging
small debris x 3
Old labels
3 large bowls in CS bag
vacuum flask in CS
i'm sure some other things but don't want to delve into the bin too far

2 bags to CS and also some sale items returned.
Item packaged ready to post which sold 

DD1 popping round tomorrow for some more  books and may take some kitchen things, laying out a wide range of kitchen and other things on the dining room table and she can browse and then I'll decide what to keep and what to donate.

Tonight washed down a musty chest of drawers, moved things that don't belong (some of them) In my bedroom and tidied a small area. Need to put the drawers and contents back.

Donating some scones, cream, jam tea and unopened bottle of port to the tlc carriage - hope people making use of it! very glad Mrs SD that you have kept it for this year's adventures 

SuperLooperSaver

Janeryan said:

SuperLooperSaver said:

Happy New Year all.

I'll join for 2025 please, without a total as I will also just clear, and not count.  Wow 20 pages already!  I enjoy the thread, and will need to continue to dip in and out, due to the speed of the train relative to available time!

We've been decluttering in the background.  There's always a big charity shop bag on the go.  It's full and so we will drop it off this weekend.  It has a mug in and some of DS's too small clothes, amoungst other things.

It's moving year.  Well done on the unpacking @GrannyKate and I'm glad the numbering system is working well for unpacking.  We are getting quotes from removal companies.  We hope to do more clearing out this weekend.  Like one of the newcomers mentioned, I also hang on to clothes I've not worn for years.  Maybe some will go this weekend. 

I will list some pjs on ebay.  I've not joined Vinted but hear it's good.  I got some gifted at Christmas which were too big (doesn't usually happen), and I have some from a Christmas past, still with tags on, that I don't like due to the sleeves being short.  I might just see if the new house is warmer before I get rid of them, or keep them for warm summer use.  I've not worn them in the current cold house.

Off to the quiet coach after the hecticness of Christmas.

Ooh what's the numbering system for moving please as we are hoping to move this year as well!
Today's items decluttered 

46 used batteries disposed of.

1 packet of spice used and 1 out of date rock hard jar of spice cleaned out and recycled. One incense cone burnt 

Daily total 50 items

It's a tip from GrannyKate I think - number the boxes and itemise them, so you know what's in each box.  I received a tip the other day to colour code the floor plan, and the boxes accordingly - so boxes can be placed in the appropriate rooms.

daisy_1571

I did this- you can get stickers with names of the room, big river store of course.  I printed a floorplan of new house, stuck a sticker on the room so I remembered what I was calling each room.   If you can't get a pack that has exactly your rooms doesn't matter.  Ie if your new house has 3 bedrooms and sticker pack has bedroom 1, bedroom 2, conservatory just allocate conservatory for your third bedroom, as long as its consistent the removal men don't care what you are calling each room.

Then as (banana) boxes were filled, stick a room sticker on, number it and keep a note of what was in it in a jotter.  At the start I was very organised, as you get closer to move date boxes get a bit jumbled as you are no longer clearing entire cupboards or types of stuff into the same box but it helps when you are at the other end. 

It helps removal men at the other end to know what room is what if you sellotape the floorplan onto the front door so they know what colour sticker is going into which room, saves you getting 65 'wheres this one going, mate?' as they bring each box in.   You can stick a bit of a4 on each door 'BEDROOM 1' etc again to cut down on questions/mistakes of folk getting mixed up. 

If something is not going to fit in a box you can get card luggage labels that tie on and put the sticker on that.

Other tips- use clothes/towels/t towels or whatever to wrap breakables, put ornaments or glasses inside individual socks etc,  1  that's socks and tshirts etc packed without using up boxes just for clothes 2 saves you buying bubble wrap or packing paper.  As you gradually unpack you regain more of your clothes back.

Keep haunting your local supermarkets and grab any banana box you can (and the stiff paper/cardboard that comes with them as you need that to cover the holes in top and bottom).  They have built in handles, you can write on them, stickers will stick, they are sturdy, you can stack them up to at least 8 high and the towers are still pretty stable, you can't really over load them other than if you fill with books.   One fabulous day we snagged 16 !  We had to go home, empty car and go back 😆 

Anything long and narrow gather together, once you have them all, put one end (or both ends) in a rubbish bag(s), wrap round as close as you can and tape.   This means removal men can pick up one package and bring in/take out multiple rakes, hoes, brushes, mops, walking sticks, golf umbrellas, sun umbrellas, etc rather than carrying one thing at a time in.

Any other moving tips declutterati? 

Dxxxx

Regnbue
Moving tips:
I heard one which I thought was helpful.  Use up old coloured paint by painting a big smear of paint on outside of your boxes i.e  blue for bedroom 1, orange for dining room etc.  You can add numbers on top of the painted section once dry if that also helps.  Fingers crossed none of the removal team are colour blind.

Grannykate
Janeryan - yes numbering boxes was as @daisy_1571 said.  I started collecting boxes early on and would agree banana boxes are great for books. I also bought about a dozen of those large zip up bags from HB type shops for curtains and bedding. Will post more later

Vulpix
 am a massive fan of a banana box Daisy,I couldn't move with any other box. I use them for everything as they stack so well. We moved ourselves last time. The time before we had removal people. They loved my banana boxes. They said it is their worst fear to turn up to a job and it's all in carrier bags ! The only thing I would add to your tips is a moving box in the car with kettle, mugs, milk tea etc and of course loo roll. 

Brambling

Another volunteering day for me so limited done once i got home

i picked up a pair of trousers on sale from Fatface (ordered on line) whilst in town and moved a old pair which no longer fit into the bag to go to the CS, trying for one in one out with my wardrobes.  2024 calendar and Christmas cards have been thrown into the recycle bin. Old electric tooth brush which I dropped and some cables have been put in the car to drop off in Waitrose tomorrow as they have a bin to recycle small electrical items 

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks
2. Concerted effort to sort out sleep patterns - Realistic targets: bed by 2:00 a.m. & up by 10:00 a.m 
3. Continue dealing with mail & email on a daily basis
4. Don’t put it down, put it away + deal with mini tasks as soon as they are noticed e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc
5. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ using the acronym - I.R.I.S. (Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off) - One per quarter
6. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed

Dinner was fish, oven chips & mixed vegetables - all from the freezer. Wudupa.

15 - 16 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans - recycled 

17 Kitchen detritus binned 

One more burst of cheerleading before I head off to bed: 

Florenceem, I dream of an airbed - that would be bliss compared to the sofa bed 😂 I have even considered sleeping on the floor but S has an old cat that is allowed to roam freely indoors……  I do hope you managed to have a little time for more pleasant activities on NYD other than sweeping, cleaning & wiping 🤞So sorry to hear that MrF is giving you so much cause for concern 😔 I am hoping that the doctors can get a better idea of what is occurring & come up with a treatment plan that works & gets MrF back to a decent semblance of himself prior to his 2023 hospital stay🙏 Fingers crossed that the new printer arrived quickly & was easy to set up 🤞

Of course you can join us izzma 😊 Welcome aboard the EDT 👋 We love seeing new faces & I am so pleased that you have found us 😊 2025 is your year 😁

Welcome aboard the EDT Sausageroll14 👋 Another new face 😊 Ten fluffs 🤩 is that 5 each for you & your husband 😉 Better than a throw to keep you warm 😅 Congratulations on decluttering so much in the latter part of 2024 🥳👏 It must have made a huge difference 🤩 I was a little sad to read this “I really want to eradicate guilt and shame from my life as much as possible” I am making an assumption that these feelings are to do with your current level of clutter & if so I think that the fact that you have already disposed of 50% is an indication that these feelings have no place in your life. So please, please treat yourself more kindly 🙏 I do however like your plan of action “I'm just going to simply question each possession over time and try and see it in a new light” 👏 Good luck 🍀

~FlowerPot~, an excellent way to round out 2024  & start 2025 - 2,025 emails deleted 🤩 At that rate just 3 more sessions and you will be done 🤞 Great work decluttering 14 items to get you started on your 2025 decluttering journey👏

Lovely to see you GrannyKate 👋 Shame about having to put unsorted boxes in the loft 🙁 but how wonderful that you have done such a good job in the loft that you have an empty row of open shelving 🥳 Hopefully the rewiring won’t cause you too much disruption 🤞

Excellent work decluttering & tidying your hallway Florenceem 👏 Also what a great idea to get DGS J to bring down boxes from your loft 😊 I remember what a wonderfully helpful young man he is (especially in 2023) 🥹

Lovely to see you charlies_tribe 👋 What a lovely way to round out 2024 with lots of baby cuddles 🥹 Everything crossed that you can get a builder in really quickly as it sounds like a new roof has become urgent 🤞 I suppose there might be a bright side as whilst the roof is being done you will be able to sort out the contents of the loft 😉 Here’s to another successful year of decluttering 🥂 

Another page done 🙂 Sleep tight everyone 😴 

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Decluttering Target 2025: 17/2025

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