30 bags in 30 days decluttering method

This is a bit clearer

I found a Weeble! Just looking at this packaging from the computer I bought and can’t work out if the symbol means it’s recyclable ( I have googled it but can’t make sense of it). The amount of packaging was horrific.

I found a bag of Trolls 😀

I’ve thrown away a plastic toy that had a bit missing. I was never going to find the missing bit anyway as it came from my daughters house! It’s been floating round my house for years!

I’ve done it. It’s gone. Also another eyeliner that really only had a few dregs in it. Bye bye! I’ve got rid of various bits of paperwork today, as well.

I had a big bottle of Black Opium perfume that has partially evaporated! I’ve never had that happen before. I am, as my daughters would say, rather salty about that.

I had expensive perfume that evaporated. Never again!

I'm about to burn a pile of old invoices.
My clay mixer left the house today.
What will I fill that space with?

I threw away some very expensive Yves St Laurent foundation and some sort of primer that I bought at the same time. Never wore it. I’m very proud of myself for putting it in the bin! I am going to go through some eyeliner pens in a bit. I do like the Clinique ones but sometimes they just dry out even though I keep the tops on them.

I am dreading going through my makeup, SueDonim. Like you, I am loath to throw out things I’ve paid good money for.

And, in my case, even the dire warnings about harbouring bacteria haven’t put me off!

Grammaretto

Yes Maybee that could well be true. Our own experiences colour what we do.
My widowed DM had to go out to work so we were latchkey kids and I vowed my DC would never have to be that so
I made sure I would be home when they were but did they care? Of course not.
But now they have all long gone; I'm a widow rattling around in a huge house it is only sensible to scale things down a bit
I cleared 3 boxes of papers today, saving back a few items for the nostalgia pile.

Yes. I said to my daughter’ weren’t you pleased that I was there for you when you got back from school’ and she said no because if I hadn’t been she would have just accepted it as being the norm.

That HelpX scheme sounds really interesting, Grammaretto! A great way to make connections with people.

I am flattered to have influenced your decluttering but why not have the pleasure of consuming things instead of keeping them for best.

I laughed at your comment about adult children still wanting a room at ‘home’. My 35yo dd came for a sleepover here recently, with her two little ones in tow. She has a bigger house than me, a mere two miles away! 😂 I am reminded that when I left home I discovered on my first visit back, a week or two later, that my old bedroom had been dismantled and was now housing my father’s massive model railway set!

Guesswhat, I am wrestling with throwing away an eyeliner pencil. It’s a new Clinique one but the colour doesn’t suit me and it doesn’t go on well like the other colours I have. I’m never going to use it all up but it seems such a waste to just ditch it. First world problems, eh?

Chocolatelovinggran

It was all going so well, but I'm failing at the airing cupboard hurdle. The contents look at me reproachfully whenever I open the door.

Count the items, that's what I did. It was surprising what we'd accumulated over years.
I told myself we do not need more than 3 sets of sheets etc per bed.

Must sort the towels next.
Enough towels for the household plus visitors.
How many bath mats? Really?!

The Animal Rescue Centre needs them.

A friend just gave me a pile of magazines, I didn't have the heart to say no because she carried a pile of them to give to me. She is given them, looked through them then passes them on.

They're not RHS, gardening or crafting unfortunately.

I've been through a year's worth of RHS garden magazines, pulled out the odd article I wanted to keep and now have them bundled up ready to take to a friend who truly does want them She'll then pass them onto her daughter who will finally recycle them. Not a huge amount but has uncluttered my brain a bit!

It was all going so well, but I'm failing at the airing cupboard hurdle. The contents look at me reproachfully whenever I open the door.

I've got rid of a bookcase from my son's old room, and replaced it with a nicer one from downstairs. That's the last of the shuffling of the dining room furniture. One bookcase is in the boot room and one upstairs, a drop-leaf table is in the hallway under the stairs next to a sideboard, the twin of which has gone to a new home. The stereo system is in a relatively inconspicuous corner of the dining room, and is coupled in now, and the old bedroom bookcase is going into the broom cupboard, apparently, where it will hold old tins of paint and assorted items. So not much has been evicted - in fact I've added new items of furniture - but a lot of things have been put to better use than before, which I think does count as decluttering, and it's all been done since 23 January, which is not bad by my standards.

I will sort out some yarn to take to knitting group tomorrow before I go to bed, or possibly a pile of magazines I found in the bottom of a cupboard.

Just sorted through my nail varnish collection, thinking that some would have dried out or become unusable. But no, only one had to be thrown out. All the others needed a good shake to get them looking normal again, that’s all.

I need to look through my make up, skin care etc. now to see if anything there can be discarded.

There seems to be a smudgy line between DC needing their room and wanting you to keep it for their eternal use
They seem to add to all their stuff whenever they come home 🤔

I've been out but did get rid of one knitting kit to a friend today 🙂

Yes Maybee that could well be true. Our own experiences colour what we do.
My widowed DM had to go out to work so we were latchkey kids and I vowed my DC would never have to be that so
I made sure I would be home when they were but did they care? Of course not.
But now they have all long gone; I'm a widow rattling around in a huge house it is only sensible to scale things down a bit
I cleared 3 boxes of papers today, saving back a few items for the nostalgia pile.

My parents lived in slum properties that were demolished and then council flats. After leaving home at 17 I never had a bolt hole that I could return to and when I did go home for a few weeks after having had a relationship go badly wrong it was just a box room in their latest council flat. For that reason I always wanted my children to always have their childhood bedroom there for them if ever they needed it. My daughter never did but my son also had a relationship breakdown ( they weren’t married but had been together for many years) and came home for a while. I think it’s another reason why I struggle to let go of things.

There seems to be a smudgy line between DC needing their room and wanting you to keep it for their eternal use.
DD, my youngest, is the only one who still has her own room here but she celebrates her 10th wedding anniversary this year so hardly needs it. It is storage and an occasional spare room when they stay over.
The Kentuckians SueDonim stayed for a couple of weeks. They were travelling with www.helpx.net
This is a platform for matching people who want to travel cheaply and help out with those who need some extra help in their house, farm or garden.
My next helper is coming from Brazil in April.
I'm taking my cue from you btw and have just opened some pumpkin and chestnut jam (?) Lurking at the back of the cupboard. It was really nice.

I have defrosted the freezer. Not decluttering as such, but I did get rid of a few unidentifiable items, and a few that looked a bit shabby.

I bought some of those Lakeland soup cube things (well, rectangles, really) and the tray was bigger than I expected (ridiculous, as I know each one takes a full portion of soup/stew) and I needed to create space for it. I make a lt of soup but there are always leftovers, even when we've had it two days running and are sick of it. My plan is to freeze them in the tray, then put the frozen blocks into freezer bags, to free up the tray for the next batch. I'm hoping that will save space, but we'll see. Does anyone else use them?

I put two bags full of polystyrene packaging in the bin tonight. It’s been sat in my garage for ages because I feel terrible about it going into landfill.

My dd has given me permission to dispose of the baby car seat that’s been in my garage for months. So that’s nice, dear. . I’ll cut the straps and take it to the dump soon.

I’m not sure if it counts as decluttering but we’ve eaten our way through quite a big stockpile of jars, cans and frozen foods that I’d accumulated. I am trying to not live life as though there’s a siege on - we no longer live miles from a shop, I can get most things with just a ten minute walk! Habits die hard…

Grammaretto why did you have two Kentuckians(!) decluttering your stuff? Do tell!

I still have a fair bit of ds2’s possessions but she doesn’t have her own home yet and still has her own bedroom here so I guess that’s allowed. She is clinging to so many books, though, stacked in boxes in the garage.

My ds2 accused us of losing his PhD certificate as we were decluttering. Seeing as he had got two fancy jobs at the Foreign Office and then a top London university, I told him I found it hard to believe his claim that his certificate had been 500 miles away in Scotland for all of that time. No more was heard about the Lost Certificate.

Your poor son, Maybee, what a horrible experience. . My dd2 now lives in Leeds and loves it there. We went to see her last week and visited Kirkstall Abbey and the nearby museum, which was fascinating. We also found out about loads of other interesting places to see on future visits.

Many of us have a Leeds connection - my son lives there and met his wife there. He didn't go to Leeds University (he went to Manchester) but got his first job in Leeds and has been there ever since. It's a long way from us, but he loves it.

As for decluttering, I have nothing to declare for today, but more space has been created by moving Mr Dog's ancient stereo from under the stairs to an alcove in the dining room. It doesn't look as bad as I'd expected. It has meant a table going under the stairs where the stereo had been, but at least that's useful, and the area looks (a bit) less cluttered. Small steps, but in the right direction.

We're coming to the end of February, and the next charity collection is in the middle of March, so I don't have long to get on top of that. I'm setting myself a target of six bin bags to go, which means I need to stop procrastinating and get on with it.

I’m going to throw some paint tins in the bin. It’s chalk paint and has completely dried out. It isn’t as toxic as other paints so I don’t feel so bad about putting it in the bin. Annoyingly I covered some tins in cling film as the tin tops were difficult to get off and they’ve dried out, too. I wish I’d been more careful with opened paint tins. I’ve sorted out some toys for the charity shop. I can’t give my grandsons rocking horse to a charity shop: can’t bear the thought of him being left in a shop.