started to declutter dd's bedroom...what now?

melt71

Ok this is a question for all of you full on OSers.

My daughter's room hasn't been 'tidied' (read cleared of junk!) for a while so last night we started and already we have 3 bin bags of stuff she no longer plays with or wants to get rid of. Plus 2 bin bags of tat/rubbish which is only fit for the bin.

Question is; serious OSer's would never just give the stuff away would they? would they keep it for a rainy day? would they sell it? what would they do with it?

I originally thought about selling it on ebay but to be honest with postage costs it would hardly be worth anyone buying little toys like that off ebay as it would be cheaper to buy new! I'm too heavily pregnant to do a car boot so that's out.

Will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Smashing_Blouse

I personally would either put it on Freecycle www.freecycle.org
or take them to the charity shops

poppett

Advertise on Freecycle. Someone out there would be very happy to take it off your hands.

Or depending on your DD's age, let her set up a little table on your drive and sell her stuff. She will love it. My DD (10) did this last year with her friend, sat outside the local shop that her friends mum works in.

melt71

I was going to freecycle it but I didn't think that was very OS (from my point of view, obviously the person that gets it is getting a bargain!).

We live in a very quiet cul de sac with no passing traffic so a table outside wouldn't really attract anyone. I thought of that yesterday when I saw someone selling lots of house stuff on their drive - but they were on a busy main road.

skintscotslass

Gumtree also have a free stuff page. I tend to use this rather than freecycle as my local one is just huge.

pigpen

I'd donate some to the local nurseries.. they often need new stuff as it gets broken etc.. definitely worth asking.

I charity shop most of ours and sell some bits.. early learning bits, and other branded stuff

oldMcDonald

DO NOT KEEP IT FOR A RAINY DAY!!!!!

Sorry to shout, but I cannot highlight the above loudly enough. That rainy day will never come and you will end up with a loft / garage full of carp that you have supposedly decluttered, only to have to go through it all and declutter it all again when you can no longer fit anymore 'rainy day carp' in the said loft / garage. If you don't believe me then come take a look in our loft!

Freecycle / donate it (freecycle is easier as they will come and get it). The rainy day probably will not come, and if it did, you won't need several bin liners full of carp to get you through it

melt71

Oh I'm sooooo glad I'm not alone in my thinking 'get rid'! What a relief. I've been coming on this board for a long time now but I've always struggled with the OS concept of keeping everything 'just in case' because I hate clutter.

I will freecycle it all and she'll be able to see her carpet again!

oldMcDonald

melt71 wrote: »

Oh I'm sooooo glad I'm not alone in my thinking 'get rid'! What a relief. I've been coming on this board for a long time now but I've always struggled with the OS concept of keeping everything 'just in case' because I hate clutter.

I will freecycle it all and she'll be able to see her carpet again!

Same here! We have been through some tough times financially in the past, and I have been so scared to throw stuff away. I have recently had to start to think about sorting this out as it has got out of hand. We moved to this house 3 1/2 years ago, bringing half a loft full of junk with us as we thought it may be 'useful' one day, in the last 3 1/2 years we have managed to fill the loft and have it starting to overspill on to the landing a little! This weekend I decided enough was enough and am now starting out on a massive declutter - The rainy day hasn't arrived yet and I've been storing stuff for over 12 years now!!

I will have loads to freecycle / donate to charity over the coming months!

phizzimum

I don't think clutter is an old-style concept at all. by all means keep things that will be used, but you don't work hard to pay a mortgage just to house junk - especially if it can be loved/used by someone else.

I HATE getting rid of stuff, but whenever I'm tempted by some bargain buy I ask myself "this time next year will I be trying to sell this on ebay/lugging it to the charity shop?". Quite often the answer is yes, so the purse stays shut! It really has helped me to stop re-cluttering.

angchris

i used to bag anything up that was still playable and "donate" it to the doctors waiting rooms for the kids to play with, you could even try giving it to the childrens ward in your local hospital...anything just to get rid of it! don`t make the mistake i made of putting it somewhere in your house and dealing with it another day cos you end up tripping over allsorts of clutter as it mounts up.