De-cluttering, the never-ending process

Well my pikes ( piles ) have diminished by several boxes this past week! I sold the best of DH’s collections, and with my daughter we took other items to a posh auction house. This morning someone came to relieve me of three more boxes of specialist items. So all the real valuables have now left the house. The estate is better off, with more money to come when eventually the items come up for sale. I feel very relieved.

There is still a lot of sorting to do. Two people have promised to come for some of the books but there will be lots left. I daren’t go into the study, it is too daunting. I am going to spend a short while in the garage this afternoon as there are drawers to empty and sort. Soon I want to get a general auction house to collect items for sale- there is enough for a van load. They won’t make a fortune but they have a value. I did think about the local Facebook buy and sell page, but it is hard even to give items away.

I’ve got two password books and plan to get another one because my new tidy one is now untidy again. But I always have to keep the old ones just in case I’ve written something important down. My address book breaks my heart because so many people in it are no longer with us

I love notebooks, too. I think it's an ADD thing. Does anyone else keep new ones 'for best' until they have something Very Important to write in them, (in their best handwriting, obviously) before they can use them, but once used they are fair game for shopping lists, random phone numbers and doodles of all descriptions?

I've moved to refillable ones, and keep the refills for future reference (there is good reason for doing this - it's not a hoarder thing ). I'm also looking at a Remarkable (a digital notebook), but they are so expensive I'm not sure if I can justify it.

I empathise with the piles (or pikes if you prefer, Cabbie 😂) everywhere. There are piles everywhere chez Dog, too. It's depressing, but a step on the road to what I keep thinking of as 'getting there'. Comically, it was my wedding anniversary last week, and I have a vase of roses on top of a bookcase which is surrounded by underbed storage bags crammed with 'stuff'. They look very out of place, and are starting to wilt, but I can't get at them to remove the dying ones and refresh the water. It all adds to the horror story grimness of the ambience, though, so I'm not going to stress about it.

My house has never been so messy, as decluttering has had to go on pause. Boxes, pikes, mess every where.

Cabbie21 When I read this I had this vision of stacks of boxes with fish heads poking out. My immediate reaction was 'But doesn't that smell awful?? Why would you have loads of pike?' 😅😅😅 But I hope your piles are going down now.

Lovely to read your progress reports, such good achievements and well done

Bikergran, oh how I empathise. I ordered more dingbats notebooks and they arrived this morning. They are lovely, tactile with good paper. That means a job for me over the quiet christmas/new year period, out with the old, in with the new. One is for my financial details as there are so many crossings out, which happened over two years. The others? well, just because

We’re having our living/dining room and kitchen/laundry room redecorated next week, so this will be another opportunity to declutter. Still got the garage and under stairs cupboard to do! 🙄

How many notebooks does one need I love notebooks and start a new one off now n then, then when I am having to look for a certain "note" I am having to get several notebooks out and sift through them all (I just like the pretty covers they have ) I have made a start of writing all my passwords down in one book ( yes I know we shouldn't) also If I am on the phone I tend to doodle whilst chatting, it then becomes unreadable

It doesn't help living very near to a shopping village where they

have lots of pretty little notebooks/diaries and also the Works department.

I,ve been doing my Christmas and Birthday wrapping drawer a bigger task than expected. I used some of the lovely-looking paper at the back to wrap presents only to find it was too thin to wrap with. Sorted all the Ribbons and bows . Now to sort the unglittered paper to go in the recycling the rest compressed into general
I don't think I'll need to buy Christmas cards for the next 5 years after putting all the bits left over together Still a worthwhile job making wrapping easier as DH will ask for it on Christmas Eve.

Sounds promising, kl.

We are getting there, slowly. Today involves moving furniture so that carpet can be laid in our room and the boxroom/study on Wednesday after the boxroom is painted, which starts tomorrow - the other bedrooms are done. Then we can reshuffle everything back to the relevant rooms and start putting things away when the new furniture is delivered over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile the kitchen is in progress. The new sink arrived cracked, but a replacement is coming on Monday, the plumbing and electrical work is done. The more visible work (cabinets and worktops) will start on Monday, and all going well will be finished on Wednesday 🤞. There will then be a lull in the proceedings until later in December, when the decorators come back to paint the new kitchen, after which I will breathe a huge sigh of relief and bask in the glory of my less cluttered and newly decorated house . I’m not counting my chickens yet though - many a slip and all that!

Maybee70, and Gwyllt, my ds is an IT expert, his job in banking. He gave me strict instructions to destroy the motherboard with my lump hammer, particularly the hardrive. I had to unscrew that from my computer and I also got at anything that holds memory.

This will help

www.pcguide.com/hdd/how-to/safely-dispose-hard-drive/

Just a progress report

Several have mentioned `using up` and that is me, it will take quite some time but I don`t intend to give my usables away. I am aiming for one in and one out for the mundane, cleaning and eating mainly

I am getting there eg have just discovered the local provenance of the butcher, the fact that all his meat is local and not some cheap injected import from far away. I still have a lot of grass-fed meat in my freezer but slowly slowly am making space. My aim is to meat-shop on an as-needed basis. It will take a while as I don`t eat much meat. The upside is that having the store is better than money in the bank, better than inflation

I am not succeeding with fabric or wool stash but they are my joy, my big hobbies and also a good way to interact with other people and groups

I have had to be ultra-restrained this week, all those bargains floating around. I did get a few items and in the meantime anything I believe that dgs would need for uni, is simply going up on a cupboard top in my utility room, out of sight. A swap for me, for each item I bought

If the computer still works you can wipe the data, and if it doesn’t you can take out the motherboard and destroy it.

I’ve got old computers that I’m scared to get rid of because of the data on them. Is that what your husband is worried about perhaps?

I could do with all your help
We have two offices in cellar. Husband now retired and there are eleven computers and nine printers I know he is finding it difficult but some space would be nice and won’t get rid of anything
Not quite got the old BBC B
I won’t mention the rest of the stuff
He claims to have been sorting it since July and won’t let me help

Well. I have four binbags and one of those underbed storage things waiting to be collected tomorrow. All filled with yarn🧶

When I saw it all together I realised I'd have to live to 100 to knit it all up, and that if I'd really wanted to knit with it I would have done it by now. I sorted it out and found some things I'd forgotten I had, and some that I know I won't use, so it's going to a local recycling hub, where it will be made into 'things'.

I ordered new storage bags to put the 'keepers' into, and they are supposed to be arriving tomorrow. I can be sorting that in the evenings, ready to put it back on the shelves when the room is finished.

I have also got three half bags of cookbooks sorted (they are too heavy to fill a bag), and will add to those tomorrow, as they are being collected on Wednesday.

I slept in an actual bed last night!! After two weeks on the sofa it was amazing. The back bedroom is finished - it just needs the wardrobe to be delivered, but it is painted, has a new carpet, a new bed, light fitting and lamp. Our room is finished, but the wardrobes need to be put back in place, and the carpet fitted before we can put the bed back.

Two more bedrooms to go. The next one is what was my daughter's room, which has painted walls, so the plaster won't come off with the paper as it did in our room. That shouldn't take too long. The final one is the box room, which is tiny, so will take longer to dry between coats than to actually paint. There is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. The kitchen fitters come on Thursday though, so it's out of the frying pan into the fire.

Put it in a room you don't use for twelve months, if you don't miss it, get rid. Every time you buy something dispose of something. I just wish I could sell on line, it all goes to the charity shop.
Yeah, that's the advice that people give in magazines and FB reels etc. Who has rooms they don't use for 12 months where they would see the quarantined items? And if you put something where you don't see it - in a spare bedroom or the loft and forgot it was there, you may well have bought another one by the time the year was out, so when you find it you have two . Similarly, the 'one in one out' advice may work for those who are better able to throw things away than others, but if you struggle with getting rid of presents, or from thinking that things might come in useful it just doesn't. It's really not as simple as that for many of us.

I could say to you 'Just sell it online - it's easy', but that would be disrespectful as it doesn't take account of the circumstances prevent you from doing that, even though they wouldn't apply to me.

I don't miss any of the clothes that filled four wardrobes, I became a secret clothes buyer after my husband died, what a waste of my energy and time, most if it I didn't wear, I was lonely and it helped at the time though. Things I didn't feel good in now all gone, but I like what I have now.
I do think that mindset is important, and that it becomes easier when we work out what it is that gets in the way of our personal reasons for having too much 'stuff'. Recognising that the clothes you bought were to make you feel better in a bad time is a big step, as you can get rid of them knowing that they served a purpose once, but you don't need them now so they can go. I got rid of wardrobes full of work clothes and evening wear. It has freed up a lot of space, but I'd struggled to do it before as deep down I must have thought I might go back to work/lose a stone/have a more active social life again - basically that I wasn't 'past it'. When I accepted that I won't, and that I don't really want to, I gave them to charity and hope that the dresses at least will give someone a lift over the party season. Also, the thought that if I do need an evening dress I will get a nice new one that is in fashion now and will fit me properly is reassuring. You (generic) have to get to that state of mind in your own way, though.

Anyway. We are making some progress. The carpet in the back bedroom goes in today, and the bed arrives on Saturday. The wardrobe for that room is awaiting delivery. I have ordered but put on hold the furniture for what was my daughter's room. I asked for early December, but can call them to rearrange if that doesn't work (from the asylum, most likely - it should all be over by then ) and the desk and bookcase for what will be the study is on order too.

When all the rooms are ready and we can start putting things back I will have another purge. The new wardrobes are smaller than the old, so I won't get everything in them, but that's ok. There were some things that made the cut by the skin of their teeth last time, and when I see them in the context of the things that were first choice I think I'll be more inclined to let them go. After Christmas I will do another sweep, and try to organise things so that it's easier to remember what is in which wardrobe. I won't have time to do that before the holidays.

I don't understand what makes people into the sort of hoarder that has piled up food cartons blocking the access to rooms, or dangerous stacks of newspapers lying around, but they clearly have some sort of need to do that. Nobody wants to live in clutter, whether it is low level as we're talking about on here (too many clothes in wardrobes and too much yarn on shelves, or at the level where it is insanitary and only psychiatric help can make it better.

Sorry - that was a bit of an essay. This thread is taking the place of a decluttering journal .

Put it in a room you don't use for twelve months, if you don't miss it, get rid. Every time you buy something dispose of something. I just wish I could sell on line, it all goes to the charity shop. I have gone a little far I think, the house is looking quite bare in some areas. I don't miss any of the clothes that filled four wardrobes, I became a secret clothes buyer after my husband died, what a waste of my energy and time, most if it I didn't wear, I was lonely and it helped at the time though. Things I didn't feel good in now all gone, but I like what I have now.

Having had to clear my kitchen because of the flour mites and then having to clear the dresser due to the mould I can’t believe how much stuff is hidden away behind closed doors or drawers! And why is it when you take it all out of those drawers and cupboards they expand in size and then won’t fit back in. I have dead wood lice everywhere, mainly where the carpets touch the walls.

During lockdown we had a cupboard and a fridge-freezer in the garage full of stock. We kept up the habit of having plenty of spares. When DH died, quite a lot went to the food bank or to family. I live two minutes from a certain budget supermarket and seven minutes from independent shops, so I just have enough extras in case of ill health or foul weather.
I am hoping to get back to a bit of sorting now my injury is on the mend. My son took a desk away yesterday so the contents of drawers needs to be sorted.
I keep forgetting that I ought to take three or four items to the charity shop each time I go into the town.

I’ve just ate some mushrooms from the freezer that I froze in spring 2022. Haven’t killed me thus far but I do cook them with brandy. I’ve got a lot of chicken stock that I’d better not use. Going to be far more organised with my freezer contents in future. Going to go through the frozen vegetables tonight and put the ancient ones in the green bin. I tend to hang onto them because I assume it’s better to keep the freezer full. I’ve cleaned and rearranged the dresser but my daughters things have gone back in for now.

I still cook for four, even though it's been ten years since four people lived here.

I've started getting 3 Hello Fresh meals a week to try them. They are quite good, as you cook them fresh, as the name suggests, and they are portioned for you, so there is nothing to throw away. We had Spiced Roasted Veg and Harissa Lentil Jumble tonight (I have a meeting later so we ate early) and they sent sweet potatoes, an aubergine, lentils, baby tomatoes, a garlic bulb, harissa paste, greek yogurt and feta. There are step by step instructions, and the portions are generous for two people. It is 'real cooking', rather than using sauces in jars, and definitely not a ready meal, and the ones we've had so far have been really tasty. You choose the meals you want, so don't get sent unwanted items, and you can skip weeks as often as you like.

I know what you mean about the siege mentality. When lockdown struck we could have survived for months on what was in the cupboard, but I have used up a fair bit, and yes, it's good to have a bit more space.

It took me a long time to adjust to just buying food for the two of us. I live in an area likely to be cut off from the convenience shop a couple of miles away and from online deliveries for a few days in a really bad winter, but I have gradually become used to having enough to see us through a couple of weeks, which is more than enough should we be unable to shop for any reason. The siege mentality took a while to shake off but has gone now. And I have space in my larder cupboards and in the freezer!

Well done, MayBee It's definitely a mindset thing, and you'll feel better for seeing the space. Realistically you aren't going to miss a child seat or a broken dehumidifier, so there is no downside.

I made a start on the yarn. The situation is worse than I thought, but the aim is to get it all out of the room so that the decorator can get in, and then sort it as I put it back. I really want to thin it out and store it so that I can find what I'm looking for. I thought I would pack up sweater quantities (they are mostly in sealed bags anyway) and put the others in bags based on colour, so all the greens are together etc.

The carpet for the finished bedroom is coming on Wednesday and being fitted on Thursday. I have ordered a bed, a wardrobe and a bedside table for that room, to arrive after the carpet. I will call the carpet shop as and when the other rooms are ready, and arrange delivery one at a time. I need a new bed for one of them, and furniture for what will be my study (the box room), but I'm doing it a step at a time so that nothing arrives before its room is ready for it.

I have bought light fittings, lamps and curtains, and they are adding to the feeling of living in a skip. The curtains and new light fitting are up in the finished room, so progress is happening. I wish the IKEA ads were real, and I could just snap my fingers and have it all done though

During the Winter months, when it’s often too wet to garden, I will be decluttering the cupboards under the stairs, the ‘games’ cupboard, the shelf full of used candles in pretty jars, the garage, a drawer in the chest, housing all manner of items, and I’ll register with ‘Vinted’ to try and sell my ‘mother of the bridegroom’ outfit. I recently disposed of all the out of date makeup, decent underwear which went to rag at the charity shop and old pillows & cushions, which neither local charity shops or animal rescues are taking. I’m still finding it very therapeutic and satisfying. If only my OH did the same, 🤷🏻‍♀️

Rather proud of myself toda. My partner took a load of stuff to the tip today. It included a dehumidifier that stopped working recently. I would usually have kept it thinking that I’d ‘get someone to look at it with a view to fixing it’ and it would have remained on the landing for years. And a child car seat that I bought 13 years ago. Kept thinking someone might need it but, even though it was a very expensive one no one wants car seats of that age and charity shops won’t take them. I feel terrible guilt about throwing out things like that. Also lots of paint that I’d decanted into jars. From now on I will only buy small tins of paint.