2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

basketcase

Well, my Cunning Plan, starting tomorrow is in my signature - one container of any shape, sort or size per day.  Could be a bag, a folder, a banker's box, a shelf, an entire cupboard - depends on energy levels and the location of my mojo (currently on a skiing holiday somewhere in the Alps!)

Anyway, I've found Dana K White 's blog A Slob Comes Clean resonates with me. So I bought one of her books, Organizing for the Rest of Us, and I've been trying it.  It seems to work (so far!), so I think I'll see how far I can get with it.

In this book she has a chapter called Declutter Without Making a Bigger Mess. All the equipment needed is a binbag (plus recycling if you do it), a box to donate and feet (yours, someone else's or an acceptable equivalent!)   

She has a kind of 5-Step strategy for doing 1 area at a time which, if interrupted, doesn't leave a pile of stuff everywhere and has still made a difference.  You don't get everything out, you deal with one item at a time - from start to finish. I do recommend the book, but to summarise the process (Which I think of as "Do you suffer from Piles?" 🤭):

Step 1 - Trash: straight to the black bag/recycling 

Step 2 - Easy Stuff: the things you know have a place (clothing, crockery, books etc) take them there. Straight away. NO 'PILES FOR LATER'!

Step 3 - ‘Duh’ Clutter: things you know you shouldn’t have kept – eg your primary schooler's toddler-sized coat (Hence the 'Duh').  To donate if in good condition, bin if not

Step 4a – Ask Question 1: "If I needed this, where would (not should) I look for it first?" (Even if it was a surprise you had it!) TAKE IT THERE.  Again, straight away.

Step 4b (ONLY needed if you don't have an answer to Q1!) - Ask Question 2: "If I needed this item, would it occur to me I already had one?"  If it wouldn't, donate.  (You've already put the ones that have a home somewhere - even the surprises!)

Step 5 – The stuff you'd look here for if you needed it: This should now fit in the available space.  If not she recommends what she calls the Container Concept - Contain doesn't just mean 'hold', it also means control.  Consolidate and purge items until only "container-worthy" items remain. (eg if there are 10 pens and you only have room for 8, donate your 2 least favourite.  You don't buy a new container that holds 10!

Let's see how it goes.

In the meantime

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL

🎉

StickyTheStickInsect

Looking forward to spending the year with all the declutterarti again! Thank you for a shiny new thread Mrs SD.

We have to move this year and be in the new house by August at the latest to ensure that we meet the address deadline to be in the right catchment area for DD to go to the same school as DS1. Despite how stressful this is going to be, we absolutely have to make the move, DD was diagnosed at the end of November as Neurodivergent like DS1 and DS2 and our catchment secondary school is not the right supportive environment that they need. DS1 is thriving and I need the same for DD, and DS2 when the time comes. Therefore we have so much we have to get rid off, firstly I don’t want to pack stuff we don’t need and secondly we will be moving to a smaller house as the new area is much more expensive that where we are now.

So I’d like to set my target of 104 bags, even if I get somewhere close it will help. I’ve been in this house for 20 years this year and we’ve accumulated stuff, that’s before I have to come to terms with the amount of baby stuff we still have in the loft and DS2 is 7 in February!! It’s time to sort it out for several reasons. We have debt to be sorted too, this is the thing I’d like to declutter the most and whilst most of the decluttered stuff goes for free, I’m hoping to increase the amount of stuff I can sell on Vinted to make a bit of money for treats for the kids. I don’t count things I’ve sold for my decluttering target but the additional impetus should be helpful to get more things moving!

I’m hoping for a more positive 2025!

Love to everyone xxx

Dizzycap

Happy New Year Everyone! This is the year we declutter, declutter & then declutter again!

Well done Florenceem with the charity shop giving and the sales on V- I've done the same and have 2 more charity bags ready to offload on the 2nd January. I keep listing the remaining items behind door 1 of the spare wardrobe and finally listed the last item at 2.15am this morning. Lets see how that goes

All the Christmas decorations and cards are now down and almost packaged away, so that's what I'll be doing today. Can't have Christmas items cluttering whilst I'm trying to finish decluttering

StickyTheStickInsect I hope you achieve the 104 bags. It sounds a lot but it soon adds up and before you know it, you've done it! xx

If anyone feels a little overwhelmed with decluttering, I began with a daily 10/10/10 approach which ended up as almost an addiction 2-3 times a day. Choose 1 Room: throw away 10 pieces of rubbish, put away 10 items in there rightful place & put 10 items in a charity bag or box. You can extend it further by 10 if you want to list 10 items to sell online and anything else you choose to achieve for that day:-)

Wishing everyone well with their decluttering endeavours & hoping that the gusty rainy weather will ease off a little through the day!

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

Good morning my fellow declutterati (not a good start to No.2 of my list above 😥) A brand new year which was toasted in with alcohol 😉 -  DH had a gin & tonic,  I had a Bacardi & coke &  DSis had a snowball.

Today will be an almost completely lazy day due to all the superstitions around New Years Day 😂 

I see that our trainee driver has BEEN PROMOTED & is sharing her duties with our original driver - both of whom are speed merchants & have already picked up lots of passengers - many of whom have already started their 2025 decluttering campaign 😊

My first cheerleading post is a blanket one to welcome back last year’s Declutterati family & to give a very warm welcome to our new ‘family’ members 🤗 although I will be welcoming our new family members properly in a later post 😉 The TLC Carriage is open for business as are the buffet car, the library, the Spa & the sleep pods & the staff have made sure that all other carriages are spic & span.

I see that our veterans have made a great start on welcoming our new cadets & that the cheerleading has already started 🥳 The Notebook I started in 2024 is being updated to include the names (and any targets set) of all our 2025 Declutterati - currently 66  of us as follows (in no particular order 😉): 

StickyTheStickInsect, dND, Liverpool_Anne, Brie, ~FlowerPot~, Floss, Wednesday2000, Fizz2015, Muddy_Walker, Deni_debt-free_dreamer, MadamMim2013, TC77, short_bird, weenancyinAmerica, GrannyKate, C_Charlie, vulpix, tiddles, QueenJess, diminua, Foofoopuppy, charlies_tribe, Moorviews, Betharooni, basketcase, retiredinfrance, thriftwizard, tibawo, Happy_Kitties, nannywindow, SuffolkSue, florianatwobob, daisy_1571, Natty68, Brambling, oceanspirit , Janeryan, Marpau, WickedLady4, Tjh1412, Yankee24, Rootle, machasraven, BlueJ94,  ionafan, Dizzycap, London_1, Mrs_Money_Penny, 2Scratters, suzeesu2000,EcoIntent, Florenceem, -taff, mehefin, D123456789, kayjay1809, CRANKY40, pollys, grunnie, DundeeDoll, Duchess2, BudgetingBelinda, regnbue, izzma, Sausageroll14 - oh and me of course 😉

So Welcome Aboard everyone 😊 Cwtches all round 🤗🤗🤗 and 🥂 to a successful 2025 😊

MrsSD Awards:

DH Awards:

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2025: 0/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £

daisy_1571

is the kittens/cats/puppies/dogs carriage still attached Mrs sd ?  I enjoyed going in there for snuggles when I needed some quiet time last year, I remember it was well stocked with furry fluffies

Dxx

~FlowerPot~

Good morning. Gosh it is frighteningly wild it there, I do hope everyone is safe. Not planning on going anywhere today, but DS2 is coming back from his night out. 🤞The roads are OK.
I might investigate the fluffy furries carriage with Daisy and have a bit of cake too, I need a bit of tlc today. When back to work tomorrow! 

CRANKY40

Good morning and thanks for the encouragement @Mrs_Salad_Dodger and the more experienced declutter peeps. I started as I mean to go on this morning. I was looking for something and found a three year old receipt for a present that I bought for a friend. It's an A4 sized piece of paper so into the recycling bin it went. 

Just a thought and something which has helped with the decluttering here - yes, we may have wasted money buying something which we didn't need but there's no need to waste space in our house by keeping it when we realise that we no longer want it and that will also save us from feeling guilty or trying to figure out what to do with it every time we look at it. 

I cleaned and did two washloads yesterday so I'm having a day off today 😊

Duchess2

Good morning fellow declutterati. I hope your New Year celebrations went well and there aren’t too many sore heads. Allowed myself a lie-in this morning, but nice clear head as only one small glass of fizz necked whilst cozied up with a film, DH and lovely canine girl. Can’t think of a better way to spend New Year.  

Don’t make NY resolutions. Just setting myself up for failure😀 I do have some “aims” for this year. I must declutter some weight and live a healthier life. I must also make inroads into sorting the clutter in my life. It’s over two and a half years since I lost my parents and I still have so much of their “stuff” to sort, let alone my own. 2025 will be the year I accomplish that. I’m not counting as again I feel that only sets me up to disappoint myself. I will state here and now that I will stop wasting my time on things that don’t necessarily bring me pleasure. I will do some form of declutterring every day, be it 10 mins or 1hour, mindset and health allowing. I will not feel guilty and will look at every achievement, however small, as one more step on the road to a life with less. 

I decluttered the Xmas deccies yesterday and they went straight into the loft instead of tripping over the boxes for days. Lounge, kitchen and garden room all nice and clean and tidy. Washing and ironing up to date. Now to sort the bedrooms and the loft of doom!!!! It’s taken years to get them in the state they are in, so I’m giving myself time and permission to sort them and get to a state that I feel happy with. 

Thanks for the new thread MrsSD. Welcome new and old members. I’m sure this will be an equally supportive and positive thread as previous incarnations. I can’t wait to get started and wish you all luck and success on your aims for the coming year xx

AnimalTribe

Please may I join in? I tried last year but wasn't very successful. So time to try again. I will read the previous pages tonight and hopefully catch up.

BlueJ94

Happy New Year everyone, although wet and soggy here I hope everyone enjoys the year going through!

Tasks today 

Put all decorations away into the attic and not dumped in spare room
Cook unused Christmas meat (I've defrosted a lot) my family are coming down for left over dinner which is home made roasties, home made yorkies, pigs in blankets with gammon and beef! Gammon is in the slow cooker so it cooks away as I clean the house!

OH has caught the dreaded cough that I had most of December!