Decluttering

MissAdventure my daughter gave a tree to a care home, they really appreciated it, you may have something similar near you.
I’ve got 6 books to be donated, does that count!

I have a big walk in cupboard in the hall we call it the Harry Potter room.

I met a friend recently and we discussed how our homes are full of items we never use but we never get round to clearing them. My friend said ‘I know we will both do nothing about the clutter’ 😏.

This statement has spurred me onto prove her wrong, so this is what I am doing.

Each day I open a drawer, wardrobe, cupboard, my desk and take at least one thing from it that I don’t use or have forgotten I have got. I then throw it away immediately. Today I have found a jacket I no longer wear and a pair of trousers I don’t like and those will go to charity. If by the end of the day I haven’t thrown something out I find one or two papers on my desk and shred them. It’s becoming a habit.

So my mantra is get rid of something EVERY DAY. I now notice my drawers and wardrobe are getting slimmer, I wish I was 🤪

Anyone want to my join me in the one or two things a day regime ?

My decorator has just called to say the work starts on Tuesday instead of Monday because of delays on a previous job, so I've ground to a halt🙄

I need to crack on though, as the charity collections are only once a month, and if I don't get bags filled in time for the Tuesday one I'll have them lying about for weeks.

It is so much easier to de-clutter when you have found a destination for your 'treasures'. MissAdventure, I hope you find somewhere lovely to donate your daughter's Christmas Tree. Would you keep some of the ornaments?
Friedgreentomatoes, diaries are a challenge, as it is your own story. I have a matching box waiting to go, or not.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I have 35 years of diaries stored in a wicker box ….
I stopped writing them after health scares in the family. I’ve never read them. Tip them? Shred them? Leave my innermost thoughts and emotions for our two girls? No wonder they just sit there.

This is why I’ve been condensing one of mine today. I had read it a few times and I don’t want to do so anymore.

We've a lot of care homes around.
That's a good idea.
The ornaments will go too, I think.

I'll have nothing to put them on, without the tree.

My own tree is literally about 10 inches tall, with everything already attached.

Oh keep one MissAdventure even if it lives in a drawer, just to have that connection with her tree.

Believe pet refuge places can make good use of old duvets, blankets and towels.
Vinted is well worth trying for good makes if you dont want to take to charity shops.
People round here often put things on the local facebook groups or put unwanted things outside with a notice " please take "

I need ti de clutter, about three years ago when I was depressed, I bought so many clothes and paid alot of money for them, it gave me a high, until it wore off. I decided I would have a change and bought a couple of pretty floral dresses. Big mistake, I just do not like them or suit them. I have a wardrobe full of black which I love.
I tried through buying different styles, to ease the depression make myself different, cheer myself up, it did not work, now I have expensive clothes cluttering everywhere. My daughter will put them on vinted and she can keep the money made. Lesson learned.
I have decorators coming in the new year, so on Monday I am hoping to start the big de clutterof clothes. I will never fall into that trap again.
Such a relief to write this, I will keep to my black, edgy, and own taste clothes which are not to everyones taste.
I am so looking forward to my new decorated bedroom, then I will tackle the other one. The rest of the house is lovely.

I wouldn't worry what the clothes originally cost, if you haven't worn it for two years, it doesn't fit or suit you, it will just hang there. This year i got rid of all such clothes and after the initial pain I am so glad I did. Even my shoe collection reduced as i buy shoes that fit in the shop but I can’t walk in but try and then get blisters and crooked toes,they have have gone.Everything I have now I like and wear. Ive started on my jewellery, giving the items I no longer wear, necklaces I don't wear because my necks gone and they only drew attention to it. Ones that were not wanted sold for scrap gold or silver. Now I'm starting on a lifetime of christmas cards and diaries. These are very difficult to look at, and I might end up just throwing them as I start crying as I'm a big sentimentalist. I do it as my son will have enough to do anyway when I go.

I like your idea NanKate as it’s not too arduous. I’ll join.
#lazygran
Even I can manage that!
Actually it’s a very good idea as doing it every day becomes habit forming.

I've become much more resolved and less sentimental about decluttering over the last few years. After all, when I'm dead and gone will I care that I saved my first sewing box for my daughters to have to make room for?

My best tip for anyone who feels the same way is that, as soon as you decide to throw something out do it straight away and put it out of sight until it is recycled (either to charity shop, dustbin or tip). Do not under any circumstances re-visit the things you have de-cluttered! This applies to clothes, toiletries, ornaments, whatever...

I just wish my husband had the same attitude. A loft full of old books, football programmes, LPs (which are worth a lot of money and could be sold for us to appreciate the profits now) and boxes full of what I would call "a load of old tat" including old school exercise books! As well as tons of paperwork to do with our family history which is all saved on a separeate hard drive anyway. Who wants hundreds of paper copies of birth, death and marriage certificates?

Maybe I'm just ruthless, but I remember having to clear out my parents' house when they both died and it was an utter slog. I don't want that for my girls.

NanKate That's exactly how I started, one drawer at a time. I did the coffee table drawers while I was watching TV one night. I was so chuffed at how tidy they were I got the polish out and gave it a good polish and rearranged the stuff on top.

Each evening one more drawer until all the cupboards in the living room were done. Then moved on to other rooms. Found all sorts of things I thought we'd lost 😄

I got through the 'it was expensive' barrier last time, with the logic Allsorts describes. The money's been spent, so it's not saving a penny by sitting in the wardrobe. The longer we hang on to clothes the further they get from being in fashion, too - same with IT and gadgets.

This time is a lot less of a big deal in many ways. I decorated all the bedrooms last Christmas, and it meant a massive declutter, so now it's not too bad, but I never got round to the second leg then (I'd planned to get rid of one lot then go back for the 'not sure' stuff) so I need to be more ruthless this time.

When the larder man gets his act together I'll also have to do the kitchen cupboard - it's huge and full of things I can netter reach nor see, so the 'arm sweep' method will be employed there, too.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I have 35 years of diaries stored in a wicker box ….
I stopped writing them after health scares in the family. I’ve never read them. Tip them? Shred them? Leave my innermost thoughts and emotions for our two girls? No wonder they just sit there.

I can trump you FGT, I have over 60 years of diaries!

I have no idea what to do with them, many are just ‘went to work, cleaned the kitchen’ type entries, but some are my private thoughts, hopes, dreams, traumas….

Do I want others to read them after I’ve gone?

I really don’t know what to do with them, or even when to do it.

🤷‍♀️

Suggestions on a postcard please.

I wouldn't want anyone to read my private thoughts, but your mileage may vary, as they say. If you don't, it's probably better to throw them out now, just in case.

Calendargirl

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I have 35 years of diaries stored in a wicker box ….
I stopped writing them after health scares in the family. I’ve never read them. Tip them? Shred them? Leave my innermost thoughts and emotions for our two girls? No wonder they just sit there.

I can trump you FGT, I have over 60 years of diaries!

I have no idea what to do with them, many are just ‘went to work, cleaned the kitchen’ type entries, but some are my private thoughts, hopes, dreams, traumas….

Do I want others to read them after I’ve gone?

I really don’t know what to do with them, or even when to do it.

🤷‍♀️

Suggestions on a postcard please.

I came across this thread a few weeks ago.
Not sure if it will help?

www.gransnet.com/forums/genealogy_memories/1338494-How-Do-You-Preserve-Memories?watched=1

If you've any pages in the diary that stand out, you could frame them.

Blimey MissA frame some pages? I bet I could paper a bluddy wall with most of them! Started when our youngest daughter was in top juniors. All through grammar schools, Manchester’s night life ‘the Hacienda’ club, boyfriends, shopping at ‘Affleck’s Palace’, broken hearts, girly holidays, secrets my girls shared with me about what their friends Got Up To without other parents knowing The Half of It! My lips were sealed. 🤐 Funny how sometimes those very parents would say loudly at a party “oh mine wouldn’t/couldn't/didnt’”

I should read them all this winter on grey afternoons - then chuck them I think.

Being a charity shop addict is my downfall.
There are four nearby .
There used to be six .
And it's a really small high street !
If I wasn't buying dresses it was books .
That's great IF you wear those dresses and I have to admit that I haven't always worn each one .
Making space for my art room I began in August to have a massive clear out day in and day out .
It was hot and I absolutely hated it .
My neighbour kindly took sack after sack to a new charity shop by her office .
But I haven't finished .At the moment ,I'm taking advantage of the cooler weather to get to grips with the garden .
It needed a massive prune .

Today , I had a fall on the bus when the driver braked and I'm quite bruised .
I'll see how I feel tomorrow .

Post those pages anonymously to the parents.

I was thinking you may have had diary entries from when you met 'himself', and how romantic it would be.

Ooh you are norty MissA (said in a Dick Emery voice).
But I like you!

No. I was 17 when I met 19 y.o. Himself. My diaries started (randomly) some 20 years later. Golly, I’m old!

Oh well, in that case, have a bonfire with them.
Better have the fire brigade on red alert.
Do some jacket potatoes, and watch the flames, or make a guy and stuff him with all the diaries.

🤣