De-cluttering, the never-ending process

Doodledog

Nobody is suggesting anyone should feel guilty about keeping things. Where did you get that idea?

Of course it’s better not to acquire stuff in the first place, but as I say to my own mother there is no point in giving advice when it needs a Time Machine to carry it out . Many people have just managed to ‘acquire stuff’ by not throwing out the old when getting something new, and it’s mounted up, is all.

People on this thread are doing what we can in the here and now to declutter and create space. Not everyone finds it easy so we are encouraging one another, not berating ourselves for having ‘acquired stuff’ in the first place.

I agree 100% with this. None of us feel guilt, we are just re-organising our homes and if that involves throwing out/giving away/selling than so be it. I would suggest that the only one bring the word guilt into this is perhaps you rosiemaw and maybe that is subconscious within yourself

I do like that we are a group who support each other, without guilt, either within, us or to pass on to lighten the personal load.

Nobody is suggesting anyone should feel guilty about keeping things. Where did you get that idea?

Of course it’s better not to acquire stuff in the first place, but as I say to my own mother there is no point in giving advice when it needs a Time Machine to carry it out . Many people have just managed to ‘acquire stuff’ by not throwing out the old when getting something new, and it’s mounted up, is all.

People on this thread are doing what we can in the here and now to declutter and create space. Not everyone finds it easy so we are encouraging one another, not berating ourselves for having ‘acquired stuff’ in the first place.

Isn’t it essential to not acquire “stuff” in the first place?
To resist “offers too good to refuse” or stockpile as if things are going to run out? My mother used to buy Apple Blossom soap in cases (I suspect she had negotiated a wholesale discount) and was “proud” her cupboard under the stairs had enough soap to “see her out”. I think there is/was a mentality dating back to the days of rationing, or oil crisis shortages or even pandemic shortages which encourages stockpiling and I resist that. .
But I refuse to be made to feel guilty about keeping the things, whether clothes, shoes, books or anything else which may bring me pleasure !

I’ve loved reading through this thread lots of good tips. I made a good job last year and ended with half the garage clear and very tidy almost empty, then I remembered my sons ‘stuff’ in the loft and one of my grandsons came over to help me bring it down so the nice clear space in the garage is now full with boxes and bags again. My son has been saying he’ll go through it next time he visits for about 10 yrs ( he’s lived abroad for 12 yrs) but it’s never happened so far.
There are also 3 perfectly good bikes that just need a bit of a service and tyres blowing up that I need to get rid of. It goes on and on doesn’t it!

I do understand that getting rid of items that were expensive can be difficult, and that some things seem to be ‘too good to give away’, but getting rid of them doesn’t cost you a penny. The money was lost when you bought them, not when you clear them out. There is no point in hanging onto clothes that don’t fit or that are no longer suitable for your lifestyle just because they cost a lot when you bought them. Clothes are only an investment if you wear them.

I am saying this as much for my own benefit as for anyone else’s . Onwards and upwards, chums!

I am still at it, abeit the pace has slowed down to waiting until I notice clutter now

A bedroom drawer for me yesterday and a pile of knee highs and tights went out to the bin, These were visibly ok, all dense black, years old and made from a man made fibre. Not nice and soft like my newer ones, which stay up even though soft. I really do mean old, they were always `too good` to throw out until I had a lightbulb moment

I must say that my bedroom drawers are still in good shape with marie kondo as the inspiration from when her book came out ie I used my short hemp boxes as dividers and everything is still in its place but only the bedroom drawers, everything else she did was too extreme for me

I have a problem with large velour cushion covers, I think I will see if I am still attached to them after winter, they are quite new, were expensive and hardly used but are safe, out of sight in boxes under a bed. Which is where I `found` all my stashed shoes and boots. Two big boxes of them. None of them will be de-cluttered, yet

My reasons for decluttering are to get rid of ( and make money where I can from ) DH’s many collectibles, tools, hobbies, etc which fill the garage, loft, study and overflow into the whole house. I shall have room to move, and to clean the areas which are currently inaccessible. Then I want to spare my children the awful burden, but I am also bearing in mind that one day, I might move into smaller property, maybe a retirement flat. Plenty of incentives, but some days I can do nothing, as it is just too much.
A friend told me yesterday there is no rush, which is true, but I have a target of the decorator coming in two weeks to do just one room, but it means having enough room elsewhere to move things into. So I press on. Also before long it will be too cold to spend long in the garage.

We seem to be on a permanent de-clutter - DH is a bit of a hoarder and seems to have seven of everything regarding tools and computer stuff.
We did empty the garage two years ago and then knocked down two thirds of it to make room for pond pumps and DHs crap and made the garden bigger which got rid of loads of stuff. I sorted DHs stuff in the garage into boxes for him to further declutter but he is so blooming slow about it but he has at least created a path through the boxes as he has emptied them.
We have also emptied the loft but we are now reaching the point where we need to do it again - we have a load of camping stuff which is stored there but we are not ready to give up camping yet. So we need to get sorting through everything else like Christmas Decorations and suitcases of holiday clothes. Have been selling stuff on Vinted as we have both lost weight so the wardrobe is not so crammed lol!!
Reams of paperwork has been shredded so files are disappearing and cupboards are not so full of rubbish!!
My reasoning behind decluttering is because I'd hate for our kids to have to do it all. But they have no problem dropping off more toys for the GCs as we look after a few of them through the week!! The toy area needs a good sort out too.
I am much more brutal about throwing stuff out - chipped plates and mugs are gone, envelopes shredded, I lose bits and pieces of DHs stuff fairly regularly into the bin as he would hang on to it all and half the time he does not know what he's got or more hopefully who he has lent it to!!!
It is never-ending and can hardly bring myself to go in his train/hobby room - yet more camping gear and and a train set up that he keeps saying he will get back to soon!!!

My weight fluctuates so much that I can’t really get rid of clothes. I’m currently living in a pair of leggings that I bought 7 years ago. Didn’t wear them for 6 years, put them on a while back and haven’t wanted to wear my other leggings since. I’m dreading the day that they wear out. Two years ago I rediscovered some walking trousers and lived in them. My favourite socks are trainer socks that I bought years and years ago but only tried them on recently: no idea why I’ve never worn them before. I found a jacket of my sons that I’ve started to wear: it must be at least 15 years old. It’s smart clothes that I need to sell on: clothes I’ve bought for weddings etc. Trouble is, unlike the casual wear clothes they’re probably dated now.

loopyloo

Brilliant thread.
Have 3 sheds to clear out.
My first aim is to get stuff up off the floor so I can move around and find its very cheering when that bit of floor is well swept and clear.
Paint. Yes. First step is to get the fence paints together on one shelf. Why do I have so many? Good intentions in the past. And lots of fence still needs painting.
You are all so organised.Inspiring!

Unlike gloss and emulsion at least fence paint seems to keep for a long time: I suppose it’s because it’s water based? I’ve got lots of it, too! It comes in enormous tins which doesn’t help.

Oh, well done!

I am no further forward, I'm afraid. It's been one thing after another lately, but I definitely need to start next week.

I finished my wardrobes this morning and have to say it was very satisfying, in fact not so hard because I reaped the benefits of doing it last year too. I did keep one jacket, nice one, cosy 50% wool with a zip, not too formal but I have put it into my main bedroom wardrobe. I did the trip to the salvation army clothing bank and have got two other black bags for disposal

Result was a lot of empty hangers and the smaller wardrobe is now 2/3 empty. I managed to let go of some good skirts, I never will need more than two long dark skirts, one of which I made in around 2000, hardly worn but was perfect for my husbands funeral. I kept that black one and one dark grey. I have noticed that my size change makes me feel good these days and that was my theme today, it makes me feel good or it goes

All winter clothes are now accessible. I have far far too many trousers and leggings but will slowly thin them out over winter, anything baggy will be out. My husband and I had a large chest of drawers each, I ended up filling both of them

This time next year will be easier again. It really is a long slow process. I never thought I could progress my wardrobes but I have

Next step is to stop lands end e mails, I have been so sucked in by their bargains

Brilliant thread.
Have 3 sheds to clear out.
My first aim is to get stuff up off the floor so I can move around and find its very cheering when that bit of floor is well swept and clear.
Paint. Yes. First step is to get the fence paints together on one shelf. Why do I have so many? Good intentions in the past. And lots of fence still needs painting.
You are all so organised.Inspiring!

I am needing a bit of a mental push right now, when it comes to my clothes. I have been skimming through blogs while procrastinating with my coffee and this one is resonating

organisemyhouse.com/wardrobe-decluttering-mistakes/

particularly the bit about `it has always been there, so I must be wearing them`. I have been dithering ages about two unworn jackets, good makes and from an online sale. Been in my wardrobe three years and still unworn. Today I bite the bullet and am not even going to try them on, like I do every year. I shall bag them neatly and drive to the salvation army collection bin. I also have a decent, hardly worn pale cream fleece jacket. That will have to go too.

Clothes de-cluttering is very hard, incredibly so. Tbh having lost some weight is making it a bit easier, I use the fitting aspect to let something go, no problem with that

A dark and rainy miserable day outside today. Perfect for being thoroughly involved in de-cluttering a space and once I start, it is perfectly engrossing and very satisfying. Clothing, wardrobe plus winter clothes from boxes later today.

I re-started with a wardrobe the other day and now have a large pile in the kitchen ready to go, all what I call wearable toiles ie practice pieces that I made well from cloth stash. I have worn them for one or two years and am satisfied and will repeat sew with good cloth such as linen etc from stash.

I think I will gather another large pile today, I can see space appearing before my eyes.

en suite this morning, de-cluttering there after wearing my glasses in there, unusually for me. I moved in 3 years ago and bought amazing metal stick on corner shelves. They are fab but were cluttered.

Now cleaned, with method kitchen spray which will be my one and only in future, quite a few items are gone. My mission now is to get back to old fashioned simple soap in the shower

I have all white tile in there, have done all corner trays and the lower tiled shelf. What a difference, could be on telly with that

Next job will be bedside drawers, maybe tomorrow as I am cooling down for the rest of today

A lot of the stuff in my garage is my FIL’s. My ex is now going through it because the metal must be recycled. But it should have been passed on when my ex inherited it…it was still usable then. As it is, it’s now turned to rust. It’s really sad to see it in that state.

That book Doodledog! I have never read it but accidentally saw two youtube vids about it yesterday. Both by simple ordinary older people, one male and one female and they both had the right attitude. They were absolutely not minimalistic and the man had 10 big boxes of paperwork in his loft. They called it SDC but really it wasn`t, it was just about getting rid of stuff to simplify, to make it easier for their children. The man mentioned getting rid of videos etc, with the emphasis on the etc

I have the case of essential paperwork in my wardrobe, it was awful scrabbling around when my husband died and I was the one in charge of paperwork so knew where everything was

I would love to sell some workshop stuff, at long last I am mentally ready and if someone came and said they would buy if off me and collect it, I would let it go. Really good stuff for the hobbyist woodcarver/woodworker. My thought is that a mans shed is starting locally in the future, maybe I will send a note in when that happens. Just now I deliberately keep pushing it to the back of my mind. Out of sight, out of mind

Good idea about the cold remedy stuff. Because I spend a lot of the year at my partners house I don’t have everything with me that I have at home and end up having to go out and buy things from Boots: the local shop doesn’t carry a lot of stuff though. I’ve found Broncho Stop is good for coughs because I often don’t know what sort of cough I do have. A saline nasal spray because I usually end up with a post nasal drip after a cold. First Defence nasal spray which I do carry around with me and invariably forget to take when I do think I’m coming down with a cold. And some throat lozenges called Zincovit-C. I have boxes of photo albums. I put so much effort into them when my kids were young but found that after they’d left home instead of wanting to look at them they just made me feel sad: the passage of time and all that! I have boxes and boxes of horse racing videos. I used to record big meetings and Saturdays racing. Someone on a Facebook page I’m on wants to buy them from me but I keep thinking if someone wants them are they of value? Could I utube them myself and, if I did is there a problem with copyright? Again I thought I would like rewatching them but they too make me sad. I did buy a recorder to transfer them from tape to disc but never worked out how to use it.

The book The Swedish Art of Death Clearing covers the topic of decluttering in a really joyful and positive way, so it may inspire other gransnetters.

I got rid of my copy in the last declutter 😂. My 'well meaning' daughter bought it, along with a Marie Condo one some time ago as a (good natured) joke. I have the death cleaning one on Audible too, so could listen to it on that.

We go home on Monday, so the fun will start then. I plan to do what I did last year, and fill a binbag a day for donation and as much as possible to chuck. That worked, as sometimes one item fills a bag, so I would fill another one that day too, which covered me on days when I was too busy to do anything. I averaged it over a week and wasn't too picky about it - the overall aim is what counted. I found posting on here every day helped too as I felt accountable in a low-key sort of way.

We are home for a week, so I hope to get rid of a lot in that time.

Rolls of wallpaper - I use the IKEA plastic carrier bags holder. It sits on the floor of a cupboard and holds enough rolls. I put a rubber band round the opened rolll

I love these posts. We are moving house soon and it’s the ideal opportunity for another declutter. Each time I do it I notice that I have changed in terms of my values, so some books that were highly treasured only two years ago can now go to the charity shop. Items that belonged to my late mum can also go now. I can’t surround myself with the past as I want to look forwards and embrace life in my new house and with my grandchildren.
My greatest project was to tackle my photo albums. They took up most of the shelves in my under stairs cupboard. Over the past months I have taken them all out, disposed of the holiday views, duplicates, poor photos etc and ended up with 4,400 prints, about one sixth of the original collection. These were couriered to Vintage Photo Lab (UK) who have been brilliant. They scanned the lot so all my photos are now on my laptop and will be backed up on other hard drives. It was expensive (I couldn’t face scanning the prints myself!) but well worth it for memories that go back to the early 1970s . I get back the original prints (they take up 4 shoeboxes)and may follow advice in an earlier post to make an album for each of the grandchildren that shows the members of their family, together with a family tree.
I’m looking forward to showing my digital photos to friends and family via the smart TV, eg I will collate all the ones that show this house. We bought it 32 years ago and my adult kids will be interested to see how awful it looked when we first bought it, and how we changed it over the years.
The book The Swedish Art of Death Clearing covers the topic of decluttering in a really joyful and positive way, so it may inspire other gransnetters.

I am going to simplify my skincare and have decided that I really don`t like rich stuff on my face. Nor did I like the expensive out of date peptide stuff bought in my qvc days. I have had a skin issue and have also been learning a lot from dr Dray dermatologist. Have ordered 2 cetaphil items, will finish the nice skin wash that I already have, the rest will be gone today

I may well also go through my `just in case` winter cough/cold stuff, if nothing else then I will remember where it is, if needed, for this coming winter. This stuff needs to be handy, I needed my burns first aid a few weeks ago and could lay my hands on it pdq.

In our area we have a man who will collect anything, so about once a year we pile up the drive , this year, it was garden furniture, old outdoor toys, stuff from the garage never to be used, anything no matter how big or small, he takes it all for a very reasonable sum.
It inspires me to get rid of anything we aren’t going to use.

I think it’s moving an IKEA wardrobe that did it for my back. It’s never been assembled and I moved the parts away from the wall to clean behind it and didn’t put it back flush against the wall so moved it out again because it was taking up too much space. There’s a new series of Sort Your Life Out starting this week which I find inspirational. I still prefer Clean it, fix it but that’s finished for now! It’s a bit like being on a diet and watching cookery programmes. I’m obsessed with de cluttering programmes!