Clutter free help please

Keyoflove9 .
Hello. I can help remove some things. If you have any spare wool, mugs, single toiletries, small ornaments, teddies of any size, I can use them for the Tombolas I do for the Cats Protection.
I will in return take anything you want removing to the Council tip and/or charity shops.

I "decluttered" the upstairs last summer when we had new carpets fitted. I'm still looking for things now.

I don't believe in de cluttering in little bits like a drawer a day. You don't see the results which make it an incentive to do more. I dedicated 2 days last week to sorting out our garage. 3 trips to the dump - a large box of cooking utensils & crockery to our homeless charity. A week off & then next week have scheduled 2 days on my calendar to clearing the loft. That will add spare duvets, washed, & surplus bedlinen & towels to go the homeless.

I don't buy storage boxes anymore - some of those have gone to the charity shop!

I am now ruthless - only keeping one thing to remind me of a person & this is not necessarily the most valuable item. For example - remembering my grandmother I have a brass money box made from a WW1 shell case. Lots were made. She taught me how to polish it with Brasso when I was 3.
I only have one dinner set, which is a non patterned white Thomas set that I received from friends when we married 23 years ago & one set of cutlery.
My parents had 3 dinner sets which my hoarder sister now has.

My aim is to leave an orderly house for my daughter so I do not add despair to her grief.

Keyoflove - if you are in West Sussex pm me! I am now an expert & come free!

Have you looked on Facebook for local sale groups you can post anything you want rid of and buyer collects

I've managed to declutter my house moderately successfully - but it's all migrated into the garage, from where it's supposed to be sold on ebay, or given to the charities whose plastic-bag-through-the-door will take it. Unfortunately very little of it has gone on ebay... I'm finding it takes more time than I'm willing to put into it to take photos and write listings.

I now need a way of decluttering my garage.

De-cluttering has been the bane of my life for almost a year now.

We're still at it!!

DD is also chucking out loads of stuff so we're going to hire a skip between us. DH reckons it's a needless expense but I bet he'll be chucking stuff in it when nobody's looking.

We found EMMAUS a great help for taking saleable stuff. They collect for free if they are in your area. DD bought a second hand wardrobe from them and when they delivered it we begged asked them to take a load of stuff back with them.

It only cost us a cup of tea

Hi, Key of Love. I'm Maxine from Darlings Who Do. As part of my business I offer a bespoke decluttering service for people who want to get rid of clutter that is overwhelming them and starting to pull them down psychologically. I'm not suggesting that you need that kind of service here, but I'd like to push you one step further here, when it comes to making decisions about what to get rid of and what to keep - and ask you to think very carefully about WHY you might want to keep certan things. Your justifications for keeing stuff may be a little off kilter (its a very common thing among those who have a lot of mess to deal with), and sometimes those kind of perspectives need to be addressed before a decluttering process starts. The last thing anyone wants is to get rid of meaningful things, where appropriate forms of storage could be explored as an alternative. However one of the biggest reasons for clutter accumulation is a reluctance to part with things, and in those cases its not appropriate to simply take things out of the house, which a lot of "professionals" (like the ones on tv) advocate. Very often, that can do more harm than good psychologically, and it usually - at best- results in just another accumulation of clutter! The root cause is the important bit, and it can be a long process getting to and addressing it. If it's just a simple matter of you having too much stuff lying around and being happy to get rid of it, however, all the suggestions here will be helpful for you. Good luck xx

A lot of charity shops will pick up your unwanted goods. I always call PDSA (Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals) and they come and collect. So, not having a car will no longer be a problem in recycling your clutter.
Good luck and happy sorting!

I am going through all my CDs today, and charity shopping the now boring ones. Including Especially the Rod Stewarts.

I have given up trying to declutter, so many things have sentimental value and if not sentimental then guilt , I wish I could toughen up

There are also a lot of useful ideas for free at www.flylady.com

Buy a shredder, hire a skip and be ruthless.

i once did this, putting good items at the end nearest the street and I put a sign on the skip saying ' You can TAKE anything out of this skip but DO NOT put anything in it!'

That way anything worth salvaging will go to a good home. Then in about a week all your junk will simply be taken away.

Hi keylove - Gransnet had a Q&A with Mari Kondo. Good luck!
www.gransnet.com/forums/webchats/a1206347-Keep-calm-and-declutter-Q-A-with-tidy-expert-Marie-Kondo

Good advice from suzie and I would just add - make sure you do something every day. On days when it all feels too much, just do, say, one drawer, but do it. "Eat the elephant in small bites" is a good motto. As you begin to see what a difference it makes, you will feel more energised to do the rest. Good luck!

Now I need to convince DH to make a start on sorting out the garage.

Read Mari Kondo's book on clutter-free living, it's completely changed how I look at possessions.

Good luck!

Take a room at a time and then a cupboard/area of the room at a time. make sure you have some bin bags/ storage boxes/ a label maker or sticky labels and a pen. Put anything you know you can do without into the bin bag this will be for the charity shop, maybe eBay or chuck.
Anything you wish to keep,make sure it is in a labelled drawer or box on a shelf so you know what's in it. IKEA is a good source of clear or pretty storage boxes and getting a few of these maybe an impetus to start - don't try to do everything at once - it's too overwhelming. Make it your target to do a small sections n at a time. I enjoy decluttering - once I get started , maybe you have a friend or family member who could help you? It's quite often indecisiveness/ inertia that stops us throwing things out and it can be difficult. But once you get started it can be therapeutic!