2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, I am in. Even though I failed to reach my target this year I know more was decluttered than would have been without it so will set an optimistic target of 2026 😁. 
I like the idea of having a focus for the year and for 2026 mine will be to get a new kitchen installed, only been on my list for 3 years so probably counts as a frog 😂 though I have hopes it will be achieved in 2026 as I have a builder lined up to do the job 😁. I think my other focus will be to get the garden under control. I am always playing catch up with it, get one area under control and move on to the next one but the weeds are always faster and before I get anywhere near finished the first area is a mess again 😂.
I would also like to have some sort of cleaning routine that is sustainable. I never seen to get it right, something always gets forgotten 😂. I will admit it's not my favourite pass time. I am not the sort of person who can't sleep if the house is a mess, I can easily ignore mess if something more interesting is available, and many many things are more interesting 😂. If I can achieve these goals in 2026 I will count it as a major win 😂
I will continue to post on the 2025 thread until the end of the year and look forward to seeing everyone here on 1st January 😁 
Take care everyone

Floss

I'm in for 2026, beginning with a large bag of books going to the charity bookshop tomorrow, and having the bath, electric shower & screen and existing tiles decluttered on 5th Jan for a shower installation.

purplevamp

Thank you @Mrs_Salad_Dodger, please count me in too.  I'm (quietly) looking forward to 2026.  I can't promise to join in every day but I will be along as often as I can, hopefully with lots of decluttering to add to my list.

Have a very Happy New Year everyone and good luck in 2026 xx

daisy_1571

Liverpool_Anne how about the organised mum method.  Theres printables, I printed and laminated in 2021 and can't say I've always followed it but when I do, its better.  Basically allocate your rooms to the schedule: Mon livingroom, Tues bedrooms, wed entrance hall and stairs and thurs kitchen is her idea.  So each day you do a quick swizz round the allocated area plus the daily routine of make bed, hoover high traffic areas, bathroom quick clean and do a load of laundry.  Friday is Friday focus with an 8 week running rota system.   You do 30 mins on the Friday focus area then stop as you know you'll be back in 8 weeks to do more.  

I don't do as much cleaning as she suggests so really its a very short daily routine of bed and kitchen plus a Friday focus that works best for us.  My Friday focus areas are covered by a 4 week rolling rota so when we follow it we are back in each area in 4 weeks time.  Means each area is getting a mini spring clean on a fairly constant programme so nothing is getting overly manky and needing a huge spring clean up

Dxxx

canvascamper

I'm in for 2026! I'm aiming to declutter 2026 physical items and 2026 digital items. 

QueenJess

Hello, I am a proud signed up member of the MDC (Maintenance Decluttering Club) - the kids had friends over today and in preparation for parents seeing the house I simply put away the dry clothes.  No other prep needed!

I will be back for another year as I have young children and want to make sure I keep up with the toys/clothes etc that come in and match them with ones leaving again.  I have one clutterbug child and another very tidy child.  As I have a reasonable amount of stuff already, it is now practical for me to marry frugalness and my eco leanings to try and maximise the use of everything and bring in very little.  The mantra for this year is to use everything, but if impractical, gift to someone that wants to reuse or at last resort recycle.

Aims are a bit tricky as I don't want to overuse things just to declutter, so I am going to set some lowish targets across the board as a guess, with added faces for creative reuses of items:

Use up challenge: 🥉25 🥈50 🥇100 💎150

2026 decluttering goals: 🥉52 🥈100 🥇250 💎 365

Creative and frugal reuses: 🤑

In 2025 I am roughly at 10% of my decluttering being using things up and I would love that percentage to be much higher, but the decluttering lower.  This of course depends upon not too many things coming in!

To supplement my general aims this year, I am going to try and do little monthly challenges to target specific areas I want to address.  Feel free to join me each month and adapt as required.  For January the aim is to try and wear all of my winter clothes (for now I am ignoring shoes, but may add these in later).  I am too lazy to turn all my hangers backwards to see what I have worn and so will simply put a large hanger to show the split between worn and unworn items and move the worn ones to the right hand side of the wardrobe.  I'll do something similar with my jumper drawer.  That way I can make sure everything fits and I like it all, otherwise it can go.

I love the quiet carriage on trains and am often seen in the baking carriage carrying things through to the tlc carriage for everyone to enjoy.  I've added some leftover hm mince pies (served with cream), hm fruit cake and some hm candied peel dipped in dark chocolate as a nice start for 2026.  A massive thanks to @Mrs_Salad_Dodger for keeping up with all our exploits throughout the year, which is a full time job in itself.  Here are some lovely flowers to show our appreciation: 💐

ionafan

Thank you, @Mrs_Salad_Dodger, I'll carry on, mostly lurking, in 2026.

Following a major declutter in 2022, my house normally runs in maintenance mode, and I'm not planning any great changes to it in the coming year, but my main hobby over the past 60-odd years has always been genealogy, and I have 20 lever arch files full of family history papers to sort and catalogue.  In addition, although I have done the easy bit of photo decluttering (the ancestral prints) and started on the dozens that show my children pre-school in the "good old days" half a century ago, I got well and truly stuck when it came to indexing the photographic slides and the more recent prints and digital pictures.  And of course there are plenty of pictures of my grandchildren and godchildren to consider.  Therefore my main focus in 2026 has to be the redistribution of the contents of multiple shoeboxes, several old photo albums, dozens of packets of negatives, the photo gallery on my phone, and about 7m of shelving.  It would be nice to have more space in the landing cupboard and my study by this time next year!

Here's wishing everyone a good start to the new year xxx

Brie

3 aims for 2026

1. empty the carport
2. empty the garage (well, not all the books but all the stuff dumped....you know....)
3. tidy the front room sufficiently so that it can be used if/when required.  And not just as a place to dump stuff and dry the laundry.

Foofoopuppy

I would also like to rejoin for 2026 please.

We are hoping to move this coming year, so I will be decluttering as I pack,  but hopefully there won't be too much as I've been broadly at maintenance for a couple of years now.

A big focus will be using up food and drink, both to save money for the move and to prevent the need to move stuff that is unnecessary. 

I will continue to read along, and chip in (very!) occasionally, but i do enjoy keeping up with everyone. 

weenancyinAmerica

I need to be here. I made out a list in 2024 of my "Good Intentions". The list had 70 items on it. It still has 70 items on it - and 50 of them were on the list from 2024. Not getting any help around here from anyone. I will keep trying. 

@ionafan - I have been doing family history since 1962. I became a professional genealogist in 1975. Trying to declutter as much of my stuff as possible and my clients' stuff has been difficult. Right now I am limiting my stuff to a folder for each couple on my pedigree chart or my nieces' and nephews' pedigree charts. Trying to reconcile my Ancestral Quest file with my Ancestry.com file and bring my sister's up-to-date. That will be my major goal for the year.

As far as cleaning house - "If it is to be, it is up to me" will have to be my mantra for the year. 

Good luck to everyone on your quest.