De-cluttering, the never-ending process

It was too chilly to go up in the attic, SueDonim
Now, all of a sudden, it's too warm!

That’s the problem with attics, Callistemon. No middle ground. BTW, my dd has bats in her attic! 🦇👀🦇👀

We had bats in one house, in a cavity wall

Squirrels? Blackbirds? Sparrows?
Wildlife loves us.

I havent been on here for a while. Had visitors. Got final set for now, this weekend. But having generally tidied and got ready a lot lately, not much to do for them.

So been able to get back to deluttering. The super weather will not stop me. I have had a few days out with visitors. I am bearing the lovely weather in mind, but I keep thinking my window of opurtunity for decluttering could shut on me quite soon, for maybe quite a while. So I press on.

Paperwork is the order of the day. After having children, my good memory was somewhat shot to pieces. I wrote and still do, much down, else I have little chance of remembering much. The paper very much needs a sort out.

Still at it here, not a concerted effort but I do it when I think of it. Some foodstuffs out for the birds yesterday, I mean, why on earth did I buy the likes of cracked wheat. A moment of madness as my hm breads are plainer these days.

This month I have promised myself I will remove three items per day from our basement which is full of junk. I promised myself that last month. But forgot about it. Starting with 6 garden chair cushions which I can wash and sell on eBay. It's the right time of year for that. And that is 2 days dealt with already!

As yesterday morning was yet again dull, chilly and windy I had a mini clear out instead of walking - very cathartic!

I sorted my bedroom drawers - any past their best underwear, socks & tights were binned; scarves culled to a minimum; various 'might come in use' toilet bags, drawstring bags and wotnots binned.

Best of all the drawer containing 'things' e.g. chargers for long-gone mobiles & PCs, old scissors, defunct Kindle, keyrings etc - they've been in there years, leftovers from the last clear out and were kept 'just in case'.

I shall continue tomorrow!

I have 3 sheds full of stuff to clear.
Lots of books and lots of good intentions. But I cant stand the thought of wasting things and yes I use freecycle.
Will have another go today.

Still on paper. Will be on paper for weeks.
Wont bore people with a whole load of paper comments.
One thing I have done though is buy a paper storage thing.
It has 12 slots. Coming tomorrow.
Hopefully it will help keep things a bit more in order going forward.

Your post prompted me to order a storage system for paperwork, Fancythat. It’s arriving tomorrow.

In the meantime, we’ve been through the last year or so’s paperwork. Lots to throw away!

My shredder has packed up through overwork. DH’s works, so I need to put it in my office.
My son has now cleared some space in the garage and lent me some boxes so I can now start to sort things out, and get rid, bit by bit. I have bags of stuff, food and clothes, for the homeless centre. That’s the easy bit. Charity shop stuff is easy too. It is the collectibles that are hard. So many, such variety. I cannot cope with packaging them up to post if I sell on ebay. Might try the local buy and sell Facebook page, and send the rest to auction. Then there are the electrical and electronic items, the spare parts, the woodwork tools……
My own decluttering is taking a back seat, but I am now determined not to put my children through what I have to do.

I've never found a shredder which is up to the job yet, Cabbie21
They usually give up when they're just out of guarantee, too, although the more expensive one we bought last year did give up after two months!
We got a refund.

My shredder conked out last year and I'm loath to get another so have devised my new system.

I tear the paperwork in quarters and put a bunch into the tall kitchen bin bag when I start a new bag - then by the time it's had a week's worth of teabags, eggshells, a few slops, smelly fish wrappings, onion skins, used tissues, whatever, it's no use to anyone. I put out the bag just before collection.

I'm not a celebrity so no one would be interested in going through my bin bags to piece together sodden and smelly torn paperwork.

I do that too riverwalk. Our shredder looks at me and immediately cuts out. Mr C disapproves so I pass him the shredder! A neighbour had a different system. She put paperwork in a bowl soaked it, squished the water out and put the resulting gloop in with her rubbish. I may get to that before I go near a shredder, I’m sure the thing dislikes me.

I don’t have clutter and suppose that you poor overwhelmed declutterers should never have started hoarding.
I don’t keep anything which is not being used. If you haven’t needed something in the past six months, chuck it out. Give it away or recycle or bin it.
But it’s too late now, you’re surrounded with junk which you don’t want to part with. So hang onto it and stop feeling guilty.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

May be best not to bite karmalady.

I think she may have a few problems going by previous posts elsewhere.

Feel free to dm me if you would like to, watermeadow.
I will ignore your post on here.

My precious inherited stuff isn't junk, nor are some of the things I rarely use.
"Do I love it, do I want it, do I need it?"

Some stuff is kept just for the pleasure of it, not just because it's useful.

Thank you fancythat, I was mean so I have asked for my post to be deleted. I will ignore her future postings

I am on a snails pace here, very slow but steady but still making positive progress. Even better now that I know my local deli/wholefood selldseg currants loose ie I can buy 4 oz if that is what I need

I think she may have a few problems going by previous posts elsewhere

I'm sorry to hear that but it is still not an excuse for such a mean post.

lindiann

What could I do with old videos still got old video recorder/player don't know how it works?

We put an ancient Betamax video recorder (bought in the 80s when living abroad) on Freecycle, and amazingly enough, someone wanted it! I don’t think it was even working but he said he could fix it.

Riverwalk

Forgot to add, in places like Ghana any clothes that do end up in street markets, rather than landfill, are ruining the trade of local manufacturers.

A dd worked for a couple of years in Ethiopia, where poverty was widespread and dire. After one trip home she took a stack of pre worn men’s shirts, from dh and friends, to distribute to people she knew - they were delighted with them - anything new was unaffordable.

I particularly remember her anecdote of the old man who was night watchman outside their office - he didn’t even have a proper home, would sleep on a nearby bench during the day. She gave him a work shirt I’d once bought for dh that for some reason he didn’t like and had never worn - it was still in its M&S packaging. He was so pleased - put it on immediately and wore it day after day.

Witzend

lindiann

What could I do with old videos still got old video recorder/player don't know how it works?

We put an ancient Betamax video recorder (bought in the 80s when living abroad) on Freecycle, and amazingly enough, someone wanted it! I don’t think it was even working but he said he could fix it.

A few years ago we had a couple of old tvs. still in working order. From the 90s.
Didnt think anyone would want them.
They do apparently. A relative took them. They get used to play on for old computer games.

Witzend

Riverwalk

Forgot to add, in places like Ghana any clothes that do end up in street markets, rather than landfill, are ruining the trade of local manufacturers.

A dd worked for a couple of years in Ethiopia, where poverty was widespread and dire. After one trip home she took a stack of pre worn men’s shirts, from dh and friends, to distribute to people she knew - they were delighted with them - anything new was unaffordable.

I particularly remember her anecdote of the old man who was night watchman outside their office - he didn’t even have a proper home, would sleep on a nearby bench during the day. She gave him a work shirt I’d once bought for dh that for some reason he didn’t like and had never worn - it was still in its M&S packaging. He was so pleased - put it on immediately and wore it day after day.

Super for the old man.

I have a relative who used to live in a 3rd world country.
When she revisits, she takes the clothes she doesnt want, in her suitcase, back to the country.
People there are delighted to have them.