Decluttering

I don’t want to trail a bag of stuff down to the charity shop only to find a notice saying they are not taking any more donations. I think people must be having a good clear out, now summer is well and truly over.
My house looks tidy and uncluttered downstairs. All three rooms have been decorated and I have not put certain things back in them. That means the rest of the house and particularly the garage are a real mess.

Our rocking horse hopefully going to a new home

Lovely rocking horse!

I know what you mean, Cabbie. Charity shops (not all of them!) can feel like more trouble than they are worth, sometimes.

Decluttering is tedious, but some rays of sunshine. I just sold a bag I've had since 79 on Vinted, & message from buyer said she's been looking for one like that since the 80's! Made my day.

That's a win/win situation all round .

I’m having a smart meter fitted later today and I can’t sleep for worrying about it. The clutter from the cupboard where the meter is has now been added to the rest of the clutter and I can hardly move for it. I’m convinced everything is going to go horribly wrong as everything I do to the house seems to create more problems! Also can’t believe how much stuff can be crammed into one under stairs cupboard.

I'm feeling rather overwhelmed right now. Not only do we have a new home to move into but we're also moving country, back to the UK for retirement, and I have 25 years worth of 'stuff' that I need to go through and declutter!

I've been procrastinating for quite a while, but time is getting on now, and I need to arrange shipping, etc. It's difficult to know where to begin. So many memories and sentimental things that I'll find it difficult to part with. I even have school work/projects from when my kids were young ... and they're in their 30s now! But it can't all come back with me just to be shoved up into the loft! My DD says I need to get rid of it, as she and my DS definitely won't want any of it when I 'pop my clogs', and it'll go straight into a skip!

How do others deal with things like this?! I know it's silly really, hanging on to things that you don't really need, and they just spend years in a box in the loft. I need to be brave, take a deep breath, and let it all go ...

Yes you do Nansnet a deep breath and you will probably never think about it all again. And luckily your DC have given you a helping hand by saying they don't want it. If the boxes of their school stuff didn't need to be shipped I would say give it to them now to read....and shred themselves. But it is a bit crazy to ship it. I do understand how you feel. It seems like letting go of a chunk of your life and often a happy chunk.

And photos. OMG photos. I have sorted into a large box each photos of my 2 daughters and they will have to take them. I have put photos of DH and me, either together or individually, into a large album. Only keeping the best. An album doesn't take up much room and can be looked at easily..and then put away! So I may buy a couple more albums and really crack on this winter with the rest.

Good luck with your move.

Photos and things like school work can be photographed and filed on a computer. That takes up no space and means you still have the opportunity to look at them. You probably won’t, but it might be easier than just binning them.

I’m sure it’s hard, but when you get to your new, uncluttered house it will be so much easier to keep on top of, Nansnet.

Maybee, it’s good that everything is out of the cupboard. Now you can make conscious choices about what to put back, and where to put it (including the bin . Things in cupboards often just lurk unused. If you had forgotten you had something, out it goes. If you can easily get a replacement in the unlikely event that you need to, out it goes. Honestly, if you can get rid of most of what was in there it will be a huge help, as you will have space to put things you really do need.

I started with two sideboards. Emptying them, getting rid of one and using the other as storage for large cooking pots I rarely use made a huge difference. They had school work in them (some of it mine!), sheet music, photos, lecture notes about things I’d forgotten I ever knew - none of it had been looked at for years.

One sideboard went to a new home and the other lives in the hallway. There is much more space in the dining room and I don’t have to move large cooking pots out of the way to get at the smaller ones I use more often these days. There are hats and gloves in the drawers, so on winter’s days there is no scrabbling around looking for them before going out.

Not having clutter is so freeing, and you’ve already cleared the space. This is a great chance to start creating proper storage - space that can be used to store things you need.

Good luck to both of you!

Nansnet - I am going to be no help and say bring some of it back.

I do know a person a lot younger than you, moved thousands of miles, and misses some of the stuff she can no longer replace.

That is my view.

To add the balance, I have been decluttering for years.
No longer use about 3 pieces of furniture, may end up being 5. They are going too.
So things have definitely been sorted through and removed.

But I do draw the line.

I even have school work/projects from when my kids were young ... and they're in their 30s now! But it can't all come back with me just to be shoved up into the loft! My DD says I need to get rid of it, as she and my DS definitely won't want any of it when I 'pop my clogs', and it'll go straight into a skip!

All you can do is offer it to them, after all, they are theirs! If they don't want them you could just keep one of each.
All the certificates from their activities? I have them just filed in folders but will they want Ballet Grade 3, Violin Grade 4 or Footballer of the Year 1986? Or will they just laugh and wonder why on earth Mum kept these!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202410/medium-371428-img-1839.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202410/medium-144472-img-0397.jpeg

Nansnet, that is one of my main problems; kids stuff. I went through my daughter’s school books with her. She is adamant that she will just throw everything in a skip but when I go through things she realises how lovely some of the things are ( she was a very creative child). So she did keep some of her school books. My son made a new photo album of the best of their childhood pictures which he gave to her but I’ve got boxes of photo albums. I might actually try to think about my decluttering as to what I’d take if I had to move to another country; it’s given me a whole new slant on things. What I would ideally like to do is shut the house up and live in a caravan in the garden ( except my garden isn’t big enough for a caravan).

Allira. Until a couple of years ago I had similar certificates of my own. Ballet, school GCEs, A levels, certificates from work courses etc etc. Did I want to keep them?? No of course not at 75. Not much use now!! Especially as they were all boxed up and never looked at. So I expect my AC feel the same about theirs...but I will ask them first as they are theirs.

All the certificates from their activities? I have them just filed in folders but will they want Ballet Grade 3, Violin Grade 4 or Footballer of the Year 1986? Or will they just laugh and wonder why on earth Mum kept these!

Allira, yes, I have all of their certificates too! And, would you believe, after my DD kindly cleared out the loft in our old house in the UK, which we've recently sold, she came across DHs football trophies from the 70s/80s ... and he won't hear of them being thrown away! Up the new loft they'll be going then, until DD one day chucks them in a skip!

OP - be brave ! I transported sentimentl stuff to another country without sorting it out first - when we returned there were (many) boxes we had not even opened over a fifteen year sojourn.
I knew I had turned a corner when I was able to bin ALL cards, letters telegrams, I had stored, kept Mthers Day cards my young children had made me, some of them hilarious, high value.

STUFF! burdens us, sealing us into yesterday, inhibits forward planning, takes up space, literally emotionally, mentally, we are storing sentiment.

I embraced death cleaning, now have folders with important papers, a colour coded sytem, bank, will, insurances etc.

In Copenhagen, the cradle of minimalistic style,
in a small streamlined home, on being asked
“where is all your stuff?” the response - less stuff more life

Downsizing makes slim allowances for STUFF, clutter,
‘Meaningless Ornaments’ to quote Stephen Bayley.

I’m finding the process liberating.

It’s STUFF Op, good luck

Oh the embarrassment. The engineer couldn’t fit the new meter because he couldn’t work out where all the gas pipes went. So he had to look all over the house including the loft. And then he had to see the gas fire working and I’d stashed all the stuff from the cupboard in front of it. I’ve got to get on top of this. I’d post pictures of the mess on here but you’d be horrified. I don’t know how I have ended up like this

When our children left home I offered them all of their historical ‘stuff’ they either took it or binned it, I’ve kept nothing.

MayBee70. Can you employ someone to help you? One room at a time. It would be great if the BHF or similar had people to come and help. They could advise where stuff could be sent and liaise with BHF or similar for collection.moncet least you have recognised the problem and want to do something about it. Once you have really had a go room by room following the tips a Gran suggested above to get to grips with what you want to keep and what Must Go.

Nansnet

^All the certificates from their activities? I have them just filed in folders but will they want Ballet Grade 3, Violin Grade 4 or Footballer of the Year 1986? Or will they just laugh and wonder why on earth Mum kept these!^

Allira, yes, I have all of their certificates too! And, would you believe, after my DD kindly cleared out the loft in our old house in the UK, which we've recently sold, she came across DHs football trophies from the 70s/80s ... and he won't hear of them being thrown away! Up the new loft they'll be going then, until DD one day chucks them in a skip!

😁

DS now has golfing trophies, in a box somewhere apparently so I daren't ask if he'd like his football trophies too.

When I moved into a flat in my early 20s, my DM sent me a trunk with all my belongings in it which she'd cleared out of the attic. She was a good declutterer and perhaps I'm the opposite because she got rid of so much.
My MIL was quite the opposite, she hoarded.
We have 'stuff' from both of them.

MayBee70

Oh the embarrassment. The engineer couldn’t fit the new meter because he couldn’t work out where all the gas pipes went. So he had to look all over the house including the loft. And then he had to see the gas fire working and I’d stashed all the stuff from the cupboard in front of it. I’ve got to get on top of this. I’d post pictures of the mess on here but you’d be horrified. I don’t know how I have ended up like this

A smart meter isn't necessary!

Can you chip away at it, a bit at a time?

Don't put it back in the cupboard, let it sit there around annoy you so that you go through it all?
Do I love it? Do I want it? Do I need it?

If it's No to all three, then out it goes.

I need to take my own advice.

I can only get a better tariff with Eon if I agree to having a smart meter. I’m currently going through my stockpile of cardboard boxes because DGS has to make a Tudor House for school. Just as I’d decided to put my cardboard boxes in the recycling! And we need to use the ancient acrylic paint that I thought I’d thrown away last week. Whenever I throw something away that I’ve had for years I often need it soon after.

Not only have I had to move everything out of the cupboard where the meter is and move everything away from the gas meter in the garage ( which means I can’t get to the garage door to repair it) but I’m now having to move everything around in the crammed loft as I need to find out how the boiler pipe work is connected to the chimney. Having said that I’ve decided to utilise the loft space better and, if I’m struggling to throw things away will buy more huge plastic boxes and store things in them. My kids can sort it all out one day. At least it will be labelled and categorised. A few months ago the water tank was at the point of overflowing ( I can’t have a combi boiler for various reasons, so at least that’s one disaster that was averted! )Just hope my car passes it’s MOT having spent £2,000 on it last year! I’ve now made room in my freezer to start restocking and, this time, labelling and dating everything properly! Next week, when it’s brown bin week, I can clear even more old food out of it. So I am making some progress

That's excellent progress!

I've stopped decluttering Brian the cupboard, owing to the fact that I didn't actually do any decluttering in there.

I gave 2 carrier bags of unused medication to my friend, as she was going to the chemist.

Doing that has meant I was able to utilise the basket the meds were in, and it now contains my huge bag of Yorkshire tea bags. (The more you buy, the cheaper they are)

It's sitting neatly on top of my kitchen cabinet, now, and has freed up some space in Adrian cupboard.

I also threw away a plant pot, and the earth, and the draggly old plant that was in it.

This is all sounding like progress. Keep it up, everyone.

We are to-ing and fro-ing a bit until the end of the week, but will be home for a long while after next weekend, and I am going to really go for it then.

The house is tidy, but needs organising ahead of Christmas as I said in the OP. There is a wardrobe in my daughter's room that needs a further sort-out - I did it last Christmas when we redecorated all of upstairs (never again!) but there were a few 'unsures' that made the cut, but need to go out as they've never been worn between then and now. I also need to sort out what we call the 'towel cupboard' which is a large linen press at the top of the stairs. I think I've already said this, but there are bags of hand-knitted jumpers in there that were part of las year's big sort-out, but are just taking up space now. I need to be ruthless, but they took so long to knit I'm reluctant to unravel them and start again.

If I get that lot done, I can move on to . . .drumroll. . . the new kitchen cupboard! It's supposed to be finished by Christmas, but who knows. Anyway, I am having the shelves removed and replaced with drawers of various sizes, to store food and appliances like the air fryer, slow cooker etc, and not have to reach them down from on high. I also want shelves on the back of the doors, (like giant spice racks ) for things I use regularly, so I can get at them easily. That will obviously involve a massive clearout too. The cupboard is huge - probably ten feet high by about six feet across, so there is a lot in there, but I can't reach a lot of it, which is why I want the drawers. I like cooking, and have a lot of herbs, spices, condiments and various things like fancy vinegars etc, as well as the more mundane stuff such as cornflakes and tins of chickpeas etc. I'm both dreading having to sort it all out and looking forward to it being sorted. There could be dinosaurs at the back for all I know .