30 bags in 30 days decluttering method

Plastic boxes edited chocolatelovibggran that made me laugh.

Lovely news Norah Good wishes to your DD and her fiancé.

I think I have sold my clay mixer. I'm a potter but I am doing much less teaching and making now so don't need an industrial clay mixer. It weighs a ton so I hope the person will be able to lift it

That’s it Chocolatelovinggran! I’m the only one who will notice it! However, that will not deter me. Would anyone like the Harry Potter hard backs? 😳

What lovely news Norah and thank you GN ers for giving me the boot to the derriere I needed to start sorting out the mountain of junk/ important stuff/ crap in my house. 70 books down and dishes/ mugs/ plastic boxes edited. I'm not sure that you'd notice...

Patsy70

Well, not achieved as much today, but managed to clear a shelf and also now have an empty drawer to fill. It’s progress.

Norah congratulations to your daughter.

Thank you.

Doodledog

Congratulations to your daughter, Norah, and thanks Grammaretto.

The bags left the house this morning, and I took 30 balls of yarn to my knitting group this morning, so all is well in Doodleworld.

Thank you to Callistemon21 and Doodledog.

Forgot to quote, my tech skills aren't necessarily the best.

Thank you. We're praying for her happiness, widow with children was difficult. But GC are through uni, he has no children. They only need to decide is if they want to sell his home or hers.

We have no vote, but a prayer.

Well, not achieved as much today, but managed to clear a shelf and also now have an empty drawer to fill. It’s progress.

Norah congratulations to your daughter.

Congratulations to Norah's daughter and fiancé

- Your children's stuff - pass on to your children

I tried, believe me!!

If any small children come to visit and enjoy playing with a toy/toys, it gets given to them to take home 🙂 especially the noisy ones.

Congratulations to your daughter, Norah, and thanks Grammaretto.

The bags left the house this morning, and I took 30 balls of yarn to my knitting group this morning, so all is well in Doodleworld.

Some you win, some you don't.
A member of the local historical society came to inspect one of the "collections" DH saved for posterity. She was suitably impressed horrified by the enormity of the task and says that they can take a few boxes. but not her it would need to be a colleague. big strong man

I have tried to call the Soil Association, whose archives seem to have come to me but no joy. No-one answers a phone and they are centralised to Bristol now.

I took DMiL's garden rubbish to the Council tip. I put that in garden waste so it will become compost.

So not a lot of progress and now I'm ready for a cuppa.
Onwards and upwards declutterers.

Your hallway sounds lovely Doodledog

We had a dinner last night. I'm pleased to have the linens washed/ dried and put up, the crockery/ cutlery away, and DR tidy.

I abhor a home to be messy, best I could do today was clean.

Pleasant note, our widowed daughter became engaged last night. Her children like him, we like him, the ring is gorgeous.

MayBee70

Can I join in please? I really need help. Nearly fifty years in the same house. Have my children’s stuff here. My ex husbands, FIL’s etc. I still live in the family home and am the custodian of everything as they live in smaller houses. I’ve always been a hoarder/collector (can’t resist buying things from car boots or charity shops). Spent years buying things for my dream cottage but remain in a boring box of a house so my cottage stuff is stuck in cupboards. Kept all my children’s stuff forthe grandchildren to play with…some of which does interest them but some doesn’t. I try to throw things away but the thought of it going into landfill upsets me (eg old videos). I did give my daughter her old school books recently and the pictures she drew when she was little. It is now up to her if she throws them out. I’m trying to go through food that I stockpiled during the pandemic. Just put a lot of out of date food in the green bin (only things that can’t be used: I do ignore best before dates on most things). I’ve found a lovely fruit and vegetable shop that takes back egg cartons for their wormery and I can buy things using my reusable bags (throughout the pandemic we’ve been having Tesco deliveries and I’m horrified at the amount of packaging). They’ve just opened a new repair cafe nearby so I can take things to them to be fixed. If not I can throw them away ( I’ve hung onto them not knowing if they’re repairable). It’s given me an incentive. I’ve got wardrobes full of clothes that I don’t wear. Eg what do I do with M&S cotton knickers that are in perfect condition, many unworn but in a size I’ll never wear again? I keep thinking they’re good for polishing. Furniture upcycling projects that I’ve never got round to doing. Sorry to ramble on…just thinking out loud.

Just a few ideas for you...

- Pandemic food - sort through and food you will not be able to use, donate to the local food bank
- Tesco plastic bags = pass on to local charity shops
- Your children's stuff - pass on to your children
- Family furniture /items pass on to your children and enjoy seeing them use and enjoy them
- Dream cottage items, use them and enjoy them in your present home
- Knickers pass on to a charity such as Smalls For All
- clothes you won't wear again pass on to charity shops so someone benefits
- Books / records ditto above or look at sites such as Music Magpie who buy from you
- Items you are unable to repair could be listed on your local FB free page, someone might want them

I've also found my local FB page a good place for suggestions about how and where to recycle / pass on items.

I also hate waste and things going to landfill, but I don't like lots of stuff around me. I just pass it on. Good luck.

Your hallway sounds very pretty and welcoming, Doodledog. Well done!

That's the beauty of it, Guesswhat. Now that I have cleared out the hallway, it is looking really spacious, and I have put the sideboard I mentioned in my first post in there, with a tray on top showing off decorative items (a vase, an antique iron, a buddha statue and a lamp on a timer that comes on between 6.30pm and 10.30). It looks really nice, and I also got a pretty filigree ceiling lantern that holds a battery operated tea light which is also on a timer, and throws lacy shadows onto the ceiling.

That end of the hallway is otherwise quite dark, and seeing the glow of the lamp and the flicker of the lantern gives me real pleasure when I walk through the hall to the kitchen. When the hall was full of overspill from the newly built bookcases and assorted other mess, I never saw it as an attractive space (well, it wasn't an attractive space ). There are bags to go to charity in there for tonight, but they'll be gone tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to getting the full effect then. I've just looked back, and I first started clearing out the sideboard on 23rd January, so there has been a lot of progress in a relatively short space of time.

Days 18 to 21 - Oh dear, having gone away for the weekend, I’m struggling to keep up. As the instigator of this 30 day venture, I deserve having my wrists slapped!

One good thing though is that, due to the little bits I HAVE done, my house seems to be begging me to make greater improvements. Yesterday, I went to a local showroom to look for windows and a new front door. This is something I’ve been putting off for a while - mainly because I couldn’t decide what I wanted. So many styles, so many colours.

Anyhow, the choice has at last been made and someone is coming on Thursday to measure up. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been so decisive while the weight of all my junk was bringing me down and fogging my brain.

I’m off to my voluntary job at the charity shop today, with my one full bag of donations, some of which will go in the rag section, but the charity still gets paid so much per bag. One more shelf to clear in that space - mostly books. I’ll be focussing on the cupboard under the stairs soon! 😳 Happy decluttering everyone! 😊

I now have bags in the boot of both mine and my husband's car...
Still working on where they can go (and when) - though have got rid of some stuff I wouldn't have done without this thread.

Patsy70

Just cleared out the bottom of a cupboard where I keep gift wrap and gift bags. Also found a number of good quality paper carrier bags from nice shops. Managed to reduce it by about half and fill a black sack. I’m finding it very satisfying, but there’s so much more to do. 🙄

Well done you!

The tv guy is coming today and is going to go through my collection of tv’s and advise me which ones work and which ones don’t. I used to have one in the kitchen that stopped working and I don’t know if it was the tv or the ariel that was at fault. I do miss having a tv there. I can also go through various wires etc that I’ve collected over the years. The local repair shop collects them for recycling. I have an old Pioneer hi fi set in the loft that was still working when I replaced it: some people like retro stuff. I need to see if anyone wants it. I’ve also thrown out some old ( ancient) make up although I was about to throw out some green eye shadow, thought I’d see what it looked like and realised it was quite flattering so it went back in the make up box.

Just keep going, Patsy. One foot in front of the other. I've had another day with a nil report, but on balance I have got rid of more bags that there have been days, and most have been 30 litre bin bags - not full, as they would be too heavy, but still with a lot of 'stuff' in most of them. I also find that knowing I am going to record my progress is an incentive. I knew today would be unlikely, but I have no appointments or scheduled activities tomorrow, so I have high hopes (and no excuses!) for then.

Lucca, absolutely. Thank you for getting me motivated Guesswhat. 😊

Patsy70

Just cleared out the bottom of a cupboard where I keep gift wrap and gift bags. Also found a number of good quality paper carrier bags from nice shops. Managed to reduce it by about half and fill a black sack. I’m finding it very satisfying, but there’s so much more to do. 🙄

Doesn’t matter As long as you find it satisfying!

Just cleared out the bottom of a cupboard where I keep gift wrap and gift bags. Also found a number of good quality paper carrier bags from nice shops. Managed to reduce it by about half and fill a black sack. I’m finding it very satisfying, but there’s so much more to do. 🙄

I tore up a flannel duvet cover today, repurposed it. I needed the rags and the flannel was horribly rough but is excellent as rags, now stashed in a box in the garage. A carrier equivalent out of my airing cupboard