De-cluttering, the never-ending process

In my case it has been me prioritising other things rather than the house.
It never got too bad. But I would rather prioritise people and their needs - I have a large family, church and otherwise, and lots of friends.
I had got to the point at the moment, that the people around me and family are ok for now.
[My 90 year old mother may be in need of care soon].
So I am prioritising the house while there is a window of opportunity.
Plus we have semi retired so that has freed up a bit more time as well. As well as meaning we can have a bit more of a clear up.

And as mentioned above, I part need to reorganise to make room for GC and families.
I need to bring back/reassemble a second set of bunk beds for example.

My DH and I have gone from 2 of us, to, well many more.

Everyone has different circumstances and situations MawtheMerrier. Which most do not wish to publicise.

This house of mine is the first house in 48 years from which I have been able to walk to shops and facilities. A good store was always a necessity, especially during the several snow periods when we were snowed in, sometimes for weeks at a time. It is hard to shake away that mentality but I am achieving a deal of success

There is such a lot of adaptation to do, for those of us who have always lived in the countryside and far from shops. Naturally the upside was the freedom that the children had, the fresh air, greenery and pets.

Adaptation takes time and effort. I admire most on here who are really trying hard. I don`t like to see the sarcastic belittling of people who are trying their best to prep for their futuresbut then people in glass houses eh

Calendargirl

Yes karmalady, how many clothes sold on eBay are unused and totally unnecessary purchases?

At least tools etc, especially inherited ones, have had a bit of use.

I completely agree with you calendargirl. Casdon, me too esp the rolls of masking tape, all now gone to a mens shed

I am thinking ahead, since dd told me that they were thinking of moving in around five years time. I shall be 80 and will no longer be climbing up ladders or tackling loft leaks or heavy digging. What I keep for then will be appropriate. I am hoping to keep my energy, health and enthusiasms

It was very similar when I re-homed our horses, all that associated paraphernalia had to go. I sold none of it, it all went to a horse charity. I would say horses for courses but it is bikes for me these days

Yes karmalady, how many clothes sold on eBay are unused and totally unnecessary purchases?

At least tools etc, especially inherited ones, have had a bit of use.

MawtheMerrier

All this decluttering , however virtuous, presupposes that one has amassed clutter in the first place.
Why-ever keep half used tins of paint? An unopened match pot for possible future use to touch up scratches makes more sense. There are only so many Allen keys/screwdrivers/hammers /wrenches any body can need, so why have enough tools to kit out a plumber or carpenter?
From the lengthy threads on Airfryers, bread makers, slow cookers and other “essential” kitchen gadgets I also suspect a bit of a GN Lakeland habit
And finally the tendency among older people to stockpile or even hoard “usables” - Margaret Thatcher was not alone in this. There’s having a well stocked larder and there’s having tins of tomato soup in the garage or dishwasher tabs in the spare room! I’d prefer not to wait until things reach this stage and note that the younger generation in the shape of my DDS seem unlikely to fall into this trap.

It’s a lack of time that results in many of us accumulating too much in the child raising years I think. Unless you have your whole house systemised it’s so easy to buy something again because you didn’t realise you already had it. I ended up with 9 rolls of sellotape because I didn’t have one consistent place to return it to for example.
I also think we tend to fill the space we have, and when it’s tidy because you have lots of storage space you don’t tend to worry about it - until you need to downsize.

Being a very competent diy person, I do have that tendency to collect tools and keep pots of paint. My house is completely finished to a high standard now so several of these items can now be released, always for free, to anyone who could make use of them. That does involve clearing out various spaces

I did initially keep my husband`s tools and added to them. It is taking quite a mental effort to let these things go, especially the old allen keys which were in imperial gauge. Who would have thought there would be an emotional attachment to allen keys and the like

Yes I have finished, thank you maw for reminding me about my life. My clearing job since bereavement is done and I will be leaving my house and possessions in good order for the next generation, knowing that along the way I have helped people with my free gifts to them, whether it is mens sheds, foodbanks or the charity shop and even the men at the recyccling site

I am pleased to say that I have no expensive clothes to sell on ebay, now that really would be a waste and self-indulgence

All this decluttering , however virtuous, presupposes that one has amassed clutter in the first place.
Why-ever keep half used tins of paint? An unopened match pot for possible future use to touch up scratches makes more sense. There are only so many Allen keys/screwdrivers/hammers /wrenches any body can need, so why have enough tools to kit out a plumber or carpenter?
From the lengthy threads on Airfryers, bread makers, slow cookers and other “essential” kitchen gadgets I also suspect a bit of a GN Lakeland habit
And finally the tendency among older people to stockpile or even hoard “usables” - Margaret Thatcher was not alone in this. There’s having a well stocked larder and there’s having tins of tomato soup in the garage or dishwasher tabs in the spare room! I’d prefer not to wait until things reach this stage and note that the younger generation in the shape of my DDS seem unlikely to fall into this trap.

The sun was out yesterday and I decided to spend a bit of time de-cluttering in the garage. I have quite a few of these on rails on the walls

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kungsfors-container-stainless-steel-60334920/

They are very useful, contents are now sorted and several liquid items and aerosols are out, my neighbour took many from me. I did not label any containers as I can see the contents well enough. Fly spray, lubricants, honing items, car stuff, shoe stuff etc It was an easy job, worth doing and did not take long

As the day evolves, so I just do what I notice and being spring, I tidied up and shortened some straggly chinese evergreen indoor plants. They look much tidier

The only apparent process left, apart from using up, is a final sort of my wardrobe. I shall do that before I put away for summer

Empathy in bucket loads for you esmay

I am back to slow clearing now, I could call it using up. I think it ties in with the Dutch art of niksen. Nothing at all stressful and take it as it comes

I have to say that my garage is nice now, I did put jigsaw rubber tiles on the floor before I moved in, so there is no dust, my efficient powerful sebo is stored in there and I do vacuum the garage floor. It will do fine while I slowly reduce the usables in there, ready for the next stage in several months time

I have usables all over the place, not least in my utility room. I don`t think I will need to buy detergents for years. I use miele twin dos and my cupboard is stashed, me and special online offers! I always had an eye for good value, better value now that prices have risen.

A little bit of kitchen work shortly, my pull out larder, I plan to go through tins and packets, pulling out eg soups that I had in for winter just in case, they will be going to foodbank box today

Oh those bloody dress patterns !

I thought that I'd sorted through every last one of them .
There's a neat bag in the hall for the charity shop .
And some that I'm giving to a friend .

I opened another box of them then I found a bag in the conservatory .

Done .

Just shifted a mountain of books and there are more of them ...leave dress patterns long enough and they reproduce themselves .

Next time , I go to the Post Office I'm resisting those dress making magazines .
I'm glad that you have send off for the Prima freebie otherwise there would be even more of them !

Thanks fancythat, Maybee70 and Casdon for your comments and tips - very helpful.

Good Esmay, I too have hundreds of patterns, got rid of the ones I will never wear and made a catalogue of the ones I have kept. Amaxon business cards with a small drawing and brief description, into neat business card folders. So far I am managing to st n my hands re new patterns

Shattered, I worked harder today than expected, all diy stuff, that just in case stuff that I know I will never use. Such as hundreds of screws, part used tins of paint, two wonky tool boxes. I am back from the tip so no changing my mind now. Little by little, spaces are opeing up

One more 18 litre really useful box to sort and I need to be ruthless, some of that stuff was prior to moving here. No nap today so I need to be ready for bed early, I know I will doze off later if I sit back in my recliner, cannot be doing that. I want a good sleep tonight. No clearing of anything tomorrow

Yesterday , I felt really exasperated with all those dress patterns .
What was I thinking of ?
Found good homes for them and kept my favourites .
And today it will continue ....

Ooh, so now I have energised myself, it was going to be a lazy, not doing anything, day. I am going to sort those tool boxes later eg the one full of all sorts of screwdrivers. I talked myself into it just now and yes the mastic can go too. Those boxes are only £4 each so every cleared one can go to the cs

Those wrenches that I bought from qvc, 6 years ago, what a waste. They take up a fair bit of room and I have never used them. Destined for the cs

It is all I need, a word here and there from you brilliant posters, it is like turning that key in my back and I have gone from a lazy day to what will be a positive day. I have always used the word positive. For me it means that I have achieved something, however small, not wasted the day

camlyn

My problem isn't with clearing anything out but persuading DH that we don't need "stuff" - "we'll keep those JUST IN CASE!"

I understand dh dilemma, sometimes you need just one old item to repair another old item and you cannot get these things today. Everything now is metric, spanners etc. Plumbing is now push fit. I have been there done that and breathed a sigh of relief finding the right size, it was only a spanner but wow.

Sanding has changed, abrinet is the modern way so old sanding stuff could go. For me, that reduced my storage a bit. Best way might be to go category by category eg old paints, sanding, sharpening, tape measures, spirit levels, drills I have one large hammer drill and one small makita for easy stuff, more drills are not needed

I bought a few tool storage boxes, for allen keys, screws, chisels etc. I think I have six, all labelled on a storage unit. They are neat and I can grab one quickly. I keep mastic tubes in one just because they are still full. I still have opportunity to further clear but not yet

www.diy.com/departments/12-5-plastic-3-compartment-toolbox/1518915_BQ.prd

My power tools ie sander, jigsaw etc are all based on the makita battery system, apart from the hammer drill. It might be possible to ask dh if he would like to change to one system, if he has a lot of different power tools. That would neaten things

I have a box full of pages and pages from magazines about wood carving, at least the magazine bulk went a year ago when I dd that major job of tearing out. Oh dear, I have such a dilemma about my wood carving tools and equipment. I took it on after my husband died, started going to the wood carving group, loved it and that pesky lockdown finished the group off. It shut down in that big place and eventually retreated locally to some and that is too far to travel

I bought loads of tools and equipment and now it is languishing, most in the garage and all the gauges are safe neatly in big pizza carriers, under a bed. These are items I would definitely not give away but I would sell them, the alternative is that I leave them to AC to sell when I pass

I know I said I would not go back to selling on ebay but one of these days, in the right frame of mind, I may list just one gauge. They are top quality, swiss, all of them. Then I can slowly gather a following before I list my most valuable carving items.

My problem isn't with clearing anything out but persuading DH that we don't need "stuff" - "we'll keep those JUST IN CASE!"

Have you thought about photographing the articles you want to keep and storing them in a folder on your laptop? I do it for articles about places I want to go, and gardening stuff - it’s easier to find than articles, which I tend to forget that I’ve kept.

One newspaper used to do a 24 hours in various holiday destinations. I always used to keep them because I always hoped I’d travel to them one day. Very little chance if that now though. Still can’t bring myself to put them in recycling, though.

Woollywoman

Good luck, folks…. I am quite good at decluttering, but my weak spot is newspaper/magazine articles (strangely)… ones with tips on health, travel, you name it… ridiculous really!
If anyone has any tips on how to be more ruthless with bits of paper, please feel free to tell me…

One of the best things we ever did was switching to reading the news online because during the pandemic we didn’t want to risk going to the newsagents. It took a while to get used to it but it has stopped me hoarding loads more newspaper articles. I just had to always cut out and save anything I found interesting. I do still love finding old newspaper articles, though. I had a local paper that I’d saved for some reason and, reading through it ( I love all the old adverts etc) there was an article about my partners father who I didn’t know back then.

Woollywoman

Good luck, folks…. I am quite good at decluttering, but my weak spot is newspaper/magazine articles (strangely)… ones with tips on health, travel, you name it… ridiculous really!
If anyone has any tips on how to be more ruthless with bits of paper, please feel free to tell me…

I will let you know if I manage to work it out myself!

I did decide that most articles pre 2018 are not worth keeping.
Like everything else, things age.

The things I know I have a ridiculous quantity of are
Scarves, I really don’t know how many I have, but it’s a very large amount
Tea towels, I can’t resist them, and it’s not like I do a lot of drying up.
Mugs, now only two of us, so we could probably have a different one every day for a month.
Candles, power cuts hold no fear for me, I’ve got them in every shape, colour, scent imaginable.
Books, I do take a bag to the charity shop sometimes, but I soon replace them.
That’s about it I think, everything else in moderation.

Good luck, folks…. I am quite good at decluttering, but my weak spot is newspaper/magazine articles (strangely)… ones with tips on health, travel, you name it… ridiculous really!
If anyone has any tips on how to be more ruthless with bits of paper, please feel free to tell me…

We scanned all our photos and put them on a USB stick so we can display them in a digital photo frame. We had boxes and boxes of them stored in a spare bedroom, which have bow all gone. Now we have the photo frame on all the time - it changes photo every minute and although we ignore it most of the time every now and again we notice a photo and it sparks off a discussion, especially with visitors. It also means all our photos are safe and labelled.

I've been decluttering since January 1st and I'm truly appalled at the accumulation of stuff .

I thought that I could whizz through it in maybe a week .

Yesterday , I sorted through mountains of dress patterns .

Everytime I open another bag or box I get a wave of despair .
I also feel guilty -how could I let things slide ?

Today , I plan another couple of hours sorting .

I'll get there eventually !

I promise myself some chocolate and a film if I get through it !