I Need To Clear My Flat Out

Pollycat · 11 August 2019 at 10:16AM

London_Town wrote: »

This sums up my problem completely. My biggest failure is not putting things away properly. Clean laundry is the worst for this! It may sound a bit cheesy, but that old saying "a place for everything and everything in its place" is pretty spot on really.

I'm currently trying to focus on removing items from rooms in which they shouldn't be. My dry laundry comes in from the garden and stays in the dining area for days, when it should go straight to the bedroom. My Christmas decorations stayed in the spare room until June, when they should have returned to the loft in January.

The "1 hour rule" is a great system for any visitors too. I'm not the sort of person who can invite someone in, or over on a whim. I need to plan ahead and tidy up. My house is very clean, but too cluttered. I'm sick of saying "please excuse the stuff in the corner" or whatever.

Maybe consider the 'touch things once' rule...
https://www.organisedjo.co.uk/touch-things-once-rule-to-reduce-clutter/
Your laundry would go straight from the line to your bedroom.
Your Xmas decorations would be packed away and straight into the loft.
But you know that anyway.

parsniphead · 11 August 2019 at 1:10PM

PasturesNew wrote: »

I decluttered to put my house up for sale. I had saved all sorts of things "in case they come in handy", including small bits of furniture, the back/bottom cushions from a sofa I'd thrown out, too many plastic takeaway containers kept "in case".

I had a major clear out...

It was tough to keep going. I think my best piece of advice is: sort out, but do NOT keep it "until the bag's full", but get things out of the house a few items at a time. If you stack up stuff, waiting for more of the same to join it, before you take "the whole lot to the charity shop", or "the whole lot to the tip", you might run out of wind and simply never get round to it. There's a great deal of satisfaction in just getting 1-5 items out of the house. "Every little helps" as they say and I found that to be true.

My second best piece of advice is: "Try to get rid of the larger items first, the heavier, the larger, the most awkward" else they'll just be annoying and daunting.... you'll just see them all the time and they're your biggest barrier to cracking on.

Also, sometimes it's best not to fool yourself that "somebody might buy that" and to try listing items for sale. My stuff wasn't wanted by anybody. Ditto taking things to charity shops, you never get round to it, and/or they don't want that. Ditto taking 2-3 things to the local auction room, they don't sell.

Just take everything to the dump..... I wasted a lot of time trying to work out what could be sold, what could be auctioned... turned out I was wrong on all that. Head for the tip, you know your stuff is dated/rubbish really and nobody else will want it in case it "comes in handy".

Moving forward, I knew that the phone could ring at the drop of a hat, with an agent saying "I have somebody in the office who wants to see your house, can they come along in 2 hours?" - so, having cleared it, I kept the house what I called "1 hour ready", so I kept on top of washing, tidying, cleaning, clearing after that so my house was always "1 hour ready" - which meant it'd only take me 1 hour to do the final re-jigging of items, clearing away of washing up, quick vacuum round, arrange the curtains/cushions/mats, change the front door mat over and get myself out of the house .....

"1 hour ready" means you are forever then picking at items to put them away, but it does work in the end.... although, having received an offer, I'm now sitting here surrounded by "stuff I've got out and not bothered to put away as there won't be that 1 hour call" ... it's a tip again

I love this ideas of 1hr ready. Will definitely steal this idea once I have decluttered.

short_bird · 11 August 2019 at 1:21PM

There's a couple more ideas here but, at the end of the day, getting stuff out of the flat is the important thing.

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/declutter-before-moving-259385

BrassicWoman · 11 August 2019 at 1:33PM

I downsized to a place 5 rooms smaller. My advice is not to ebay, it just keeps stuff hanging around and the amount of money you get is buttons. Freegle/freecycle and donate to charity, it gets it out of your space fast, and the mental health you get back in return, seeing progress every day, is worth any amount of money.

If you wouldn't buy it in the condition it's in personally, it goes to the tip. No ifs or buts.

Mistral001 · 11 August 2019 at 3:10PM

The OP should beware that collecting stuff is not the criminal offense that many people think it is. So do not beat yourself up too much just because you have a bit of junk.

Often things can be tidied away by improving storage. Storage boxes under beds, floor-to-ceiling shelving, cupboards over bedroom doors etc.

If you do feel the need to get rid of things, then I would start in existing cupboards and storage areas and reduce the amount of things there. This will not make much difference to the look of the place as far as say visitors are concerned, but it will make a big difference to how YOU feel about your home.

London_Town · 11 August 2019 at 4:59PM

Pollycat wrote: »

Maybe consider the 'touch things once' rule...
https://www.organisedjo.co.uk/touch-things-once-rule-to-reduce-clutter/
Your laundry would go straight from the line to your bedroom.
Your Xmas decorations would be packed away and straight into the loft.
But you know that anyway.

This is a brilliant link, thanks so much! It may seem obvious, but it really helps to read someone explaining it methodically.

Pollycat · 11 August 2019 at 5:18PM

London_Town wrote: »

This is a brilliant link, thanks so much! It may seem obvious, but it really helps to read someone explaining it methodically.

I used to employ the same method at work.
Open a letter, deal with it.
Hope it helps.

GreyQueen · 11 August 2019 at 7:27PM

I guess the ultimate key to decluttering and staying to decluttered is to 'talk' to your clutter and imagine it 'answering' you as each piece explains why it is in your life.

Hi, householder, this is that ugly vase your old workmates gave you as a leaving present. I know you never really liked my looks and that cut flowers make you sneeze, but imagine how upset the old gang would be if you and I parted company! Oh yeah, I totally get it that the gang was three jobs ago and 150 miles away and that they're not in touch, much less on dropping-in terms but hey, gotta respect peoples' feelings, no one loves an ingrate.

Oh gosh, this is your cute dress. Remember how we met in the boutique, how thrilled you were with me? The dates you took me on, the fun we had? Okay, okay, I can forgive the seam-straining incident when you were a leetle bit plumper than you used to be. I am also totally sure that you're going to slim down to the figure you had a quarter of a century ago, and we'll look fine together, not mutton dressed as lamb at all. A 50 y.o. woman in a twentysomething's style, no one can arrest us for it. Partaaaaay on!

Clutter tells us something, if we can listen and learn from it. If you don't learn why certain categories of Stuff are clutter in your life, I think it's inevitable that you'll reclutter with more of the same.

Siebrie · 11 August 2019 at 9:13PM

I had to wean myself off shopping when I went back to uni on my savings, many years ago. I allowed myself one shopping day per week, Thursday. I could go on reconnaissance trips on the other days, but not spend any money. The added benefit was that any birthday cards, gifts, trips, collections, had to be thought off before, which organised my week.

This was also the time that I regifted as much as possible, made my own cards, and reused as much as possible. It emptied the house and the craft box rather fast

I have always been a great believer in 'the house provides and limits the storage', meaning that anything I possess (or rather, that I have in my possession for some time) has to fit comfortably in the storage I already have. No double lined books, no tightly packed wardrobes, no jammed drawers, etc. I want to be able to walk through my home with bare feet, in the middle of the night, without a light.

The above may not actually be the advice you are looking for, but I think it may help with your mindset, looking at your stuff with a new look (that's badly phrased; apologies).

For sheer support, check out the Clutter Free and KonMari threads in this part of the forum, or look up the old Kondo threads on mumsnet.

parsniphead · 11 August 2019 at 10:53PM

GreyQueen wrote: »

I guess the ultimate key to decluttering and staying to decluttered is to 'talk' to your clutter and imagine it 'answering' you as each piece explains why it is in your life.

Hi, householder, this is that ugly vase your old workmates gave you as a leaving present. I know you never really liked my looks and that cut flowers make you sneeze, but imagine how upset the old gang would be if you and I parted company! Oh yeah, I totally get it that the gang was three jobs ago and 150 miles away and that they're not in touch, much less on dropping-in terms but hey, gotta respect peoples' feelings, no one loves an ingrate.

Oh gosh, this is your cute dress. Remember how we met in the boutique, how thrilled you were with me? The dates you took me on, the fun we had? Okay, okay, I can forgive the seam-straining incident when you were a leetle bit plumper than you used to be. I am also totally sure that you're going to slim down to the figure you had a quarter of a century ago, and we'll look fine together, not mutton dressed as lamb at all. A 50 y.o. woman in a twentysomething's style, no one can arrest us for it. Partaaaaay on!

Clutter tells us something, if we can listen and learn from it. If you don't learn why certain categories of Stuff are clutter in your life, I think it's inevitable that you'll reclutter with more of the same.

:rotfl::rotfl: Too funny GreyQueen. ::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

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I Need To Clear My Flat Out

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