30 bags in 30 days decluttering method

Lovely idea, Norah!

My dd is moving flats soon and tried to slope a load of unwanted pillows onto me this weekend. I stood (well… sat) my ground and said ‘No! Find an animal charity to give them to.’

I think that counts as decluttering, don’t you?

Definitely.
Please come and speak to my DD😀

I'll be checking charity shop for cheap crockery, they tend to give it away - I want to lay round tables with different sorts of plates of china/crockery

I know someone whose DD wanted pretty, mismatched china for her wedding reception; people were glad to let her have whole sets and odd pieces they wanted to get rid of for the reception then afterwards it all went off to charity shops.

I have booked next month's charity collection. It's on 15th March. Obviously with February being a short month I will have less time to get it ready, but it will concentrate the mind. I have several wardrobes that need to be thinned out.

Today I sorted two cupboards of doom, where I'd put an assortment of miscellany to tidy up at Christmas, and a couple of bags went to the bin. I found a large amount of sheet music. I will offer it to my son, as he's coming to stay in a couple of weeks, and see if I can find a home for it if he doesn't want it. There are numerous children's Tune A Day things, and recorder music, plus I used to play the clarinet and did music exams, so some of it is from those (exercises in counterpoint and things like that), but I'm not sure where some of the rest came from. My husband plays mandolin and guitar, so some will be his, but Elizabethan piano music? Lou Reed for keyboard? Goodness knows.

Callistemon21

^I'll be checking charity shop for cheap crockery, they tend to give it away - I want to lay round tables with different sorts of plates of china/crockery^

I know someone whose DD wanted pretty, mismatched china for her wedding reception; people were glad to let her have whole sets and odd pieces they wanted to get rid of for the reception then afterwards it all went off to charity shops.

If I may ask -- where did she find the "people with china"?

Brilliant idea. I need people!

I don't know, I just remember her mother telling me that's what she was doing; she'd been collecting for a while.
We didn't know the daughter.
Do you have a community FB page? Perhaps you could put a post on there asking for china with an assurance you will send it to a charity shop afterwards.
Or look on local upcycling sites.
Some of our charity shops often have old tea sets for sale quite cheaply, I have to resist the temptation to buy any because of the decluttering. 😀

A bootful went today (no china though).

Callistemon21

I don't know, I just remember her mother telling me that's what she was doing; she'd been collecting for a while.
We didn't know the daughter.
Do you have a community FB page? Perhaps you could put a post on there asking for china with an assurance you will send it to a charity shop afterwards.
Or look on local upcycling sites.
Some of our charity shops often have old tea sets for sale quite cheaply, I have to resist the temptation to buy any because of the decluttering. 😀

A bootful went today (no china though).

Thank you.

I'll put youngest daughter on this, she has FB I believe.

I completed the decluttering of my wardrobe and chest of drawers yesterday, and as a result have 3 large bags of clothes, shoes and handbags to take to our local hospice shop. What a very satisfying exercise. Incidentally, we have lots of china tea sets donated to the Barnardo’s charity shop.

Oh, I'm envious, Patsy. I've been putting off doing that, although I really must make a start.

Another nil return today. I've been to approximately 873 branches of B&Q in search of brass light switch covers, and I'm fed up. We did eventually source all the ones we need, but it was like the quest for the Holy Grail.

Days 25, 26, 27 ish. I’ve lost count! - Again, nothing major to report, I’m afraid. No large bags of stuff for days now. Today an old tee shirt and a scruffy pair of trainers are all I chucked out.

Interesting to hear about pretty china. I saw a gorgeous tea set in a charity shop the other day. Oh how I coveted it! It was only £8 for the lot, including the milk jug, sugar bowl and bread and butter plate. An absolute bargain. How I resisted temptation I’ll never know. Perhaps the fact that I’ve got at least four sets, just as pretty, unused in my cabinets, had a lot to do with it.

The end of the 30 day challenge is getting close, my friends.

Oh . . . . to heck with it! I’m renaming it the 60 day challenge.

Because I can .

Oh, relief 😁
I've got a long way to go yet.

Yes, me too. This may be an excuse, but I’m seeing it as an aim to keep on evicting items that are taking up more space than their usefulness warrants. If it’s no bags one day and three the next, so be it. Life has to be lived in between the decluttering. I’ll keep going for as long as it takes, and it will be great if you lot stick around even in fallow patches. The chances are that on any given day at least one of us will have disposed of something worth mentioning .

I know what I need to do, but if I look at it ‘in the whole’ I will be overwhelmed, so I’m doing it a bit at a time, like eating the elephant. I’ve actually made a lot of progress since the thread started, even though there have been a few days when I’ve done nothing much. Oh, and don’t forget that the bags you put out for the binmen after a sort-out count too!

Good luck with the china collection Norah. I think the wedding plans sound lovely.

I am not going to stop at 30 days, having access to this thread is an inspiration but my de-cluttering has been on -going since the major start in 2006 when suddenly the family home of 32 years was sold. I have moved three times since then and gone from two people to one and bit by bit it continues.

I am going to make a definite start on my wardrobe later today, that is difficult because my clothes are hand made and well made (me) but several are too big now, or the colour is wrong for my skin or I don`t feel good in the style or they were toiles. I will need the three piles for sure and cannot promise to be decisive but finding the salvation army clothes bank was a blessing and will make the process mentally easier

The waffle cotton bedspread, I could not do it, it is nice, I washed it again and it is softer. Either I use it this summer, if hot or I make a dressing gown. Back in my airing cupboard

5 bags donated to the SA bin. I had to be quick, so I would not change my mind. Some nice lands end tunics in there, unworn but size 20 or XL and I am now medium

I have been tempred by LE in the past, their perpetual offers but I enrolled to a couple of regular saver schemes at 5+% interest. They finish at christmas and I am stretched as I need to start replenishing my depleted savings due to latest house move. I have spent very little since I started and they were mindful, needed spends. I hope the tempted part of my brain is now nicely encapsulated for the long term

I have hobby and food stash aplenty, ploughing through slowly

I tried to give visiting DD some unused handbags and totes all good makes. She was keen at first , tried them and they all either slipped off her shoulder or the totes straps would not go up her arm. We realised why I had never used them. So no guilt in de-cluttering them.
She is going to take my sewing machine unused in quite a few years and GD has told me which toys are too young for her, also children's cutlery and dishes. So a sort-out that has proved productive without too much hassle.
I still have quilts to sort and I now know how many spare pillows I need to keep and to get rid of.
I'm glad they came. As well as enjoying their company it has helped me focus.

The local charity shop did take books this time, as long as they were fiction.
So two bagsful went there as well as clothes, kitchenware, mugs etc.

I will certainly continue after the 30 day target, so please let’s keep this thread going. There are photos that need to be updated with more recent ones of the children & grandchildren, so this task will be included. The old photos will sit behind the new ones and frames I no longer like will go to the charity shop. I’m hoping that my purge will encourage my OH to dispose of his old stuff, but I won’t hold my breath! 🙄

TV guy has been out. I now know which tv’s are to go to the tip. It’s not much but I’ve had tvs all over the place waiting to be connected or thrown out. I’ll still be scared to throw out any remote controls in case I throw out the wrong one!

Doodledog Good luck with the china collection Norah. I think the wedding plans sound lovely.

It will be a lovely party, I'm wonderful with parties, if I do say so.

We gave 24 place sets of china, unused for years, to charity on beginning this challenge. We've bought it back, plus 2 more sets of 8. I now understand how easy it'll be to find 40 more place sets.

Why don’t people look through the handbags they donate.
I found a £20 note in one this morning.

MerylStreep. I’ve found much worse in handbags & pockets, whilst sorting donations! 😳

well done everyone! I have taken five more bags for life bags full of books to our hospice book shop, so that is 8 so far. As summer is getting nearer and wardrobes change, I plan on getting rid of what I didn't wear last summer. Norah, congratulations on your DD's engagement, your party sounds lovely. A friend did similar for a party, bought beautiful china in charity shops for little more than it would cost to buy paper or plastic plates, bought crystal glasses too and cutlery. Same charity shops will have lovely table cloths and linen too.

We bought old crockery for "one use" at Charity Shop

Dropped things at the school. I think we're neutral, today.

Norah

Doodledog Good luck with the china collection Norah. I think the wedding plans sound lovely.

It will be a lovely party, I'm wonderful with parties, if I do say so.

We gave 24 place sets of china, unused for years, to charity on beginning this challenge. We've bought it back, plus 2 more sets of 8. I now understand how easy it'll be to find 40 more place sets.

We gave 24 place sets of china, unused for years, to charity on beginning this challenge. We've bought it back

That was lucky!

Isn't it always the case, though, as soon as you get rid of it you need it again 😁

I didn't dare look at the china in the charity shop in case I bought some. However, they did have yarn 🤔 and it seemed a shame to leave it there.