Decluttering and ruthlessness!

Last time I moved 15 years ago, I had 43 years of stuff in the attic alone to declutter. Had moved 5 times before and a lot of the stuff had just remained in boxes for the 43 years. Two skips needed plus trips to the recycling yard. I could not believe how all the stuff had accumulated basically sentimental and keep it in case it's useful later approach. Felt so good to get it all cleared out. Now, being on my own, it's definitely a do I need it now approach as well as a do I want my family to have to clear out my junk when I'm gone. I know most of it will not be kept so why hoard it now.

Ask your kids of friend to help.
When my daughter moved I helped her declutter. Much easier with a 2nd person to refer to!

Hi, don’t bin photos that mean so much to you . Bin stuff you’re not emotionally attached to.

I moved back to the UK after 26 years abroad and downsized at the same time. I found it very positive to rid myself of things I had kept without ever really using or looking at. Having had to clear my parents' house after their deaths, I vowed never to give my children such a sad and laborious task.

Hi, I know it can be difficult but we recently cleared my parents’ house as they’d both recently died. We started off so sympathetically and tearfully but after days and days of sorting through mountains of stuff that no one wanted, no charity would take, etc., we were absolutely sick to death of it all and started just ruthlessly binning all their possessions that they’d held onto for decades. I vowed I wouldn’t have my children getting rid of my stuff in such a hard hearted fashion so I’ve started decluttering now. Thinking of that may help you get rid of things whilst you still have the energy to give things away and there is pleasure in your stuff helping someone else, hope this helps and grit your teeth and get in with it! Good luck .

I have good intentions but find the task overwhelming. What I do now is to give myself a 15 minutes of time to go through a tiny amount of clutter. It's working. I actually had a large empty storage box after just 3 sessions. I cleared a lot of my husband's rubbish, with him beside me, in just half an hour. It took longer to put it into the various bags and bins for recycling and charity shop than to sort through it, but that wasn't a problem once it was sorted. It's hard to let go of some things. We are putting a few favourite photos into big frames as a collage. Much better than lots of small frames that clutter up the windowsills. I have been selling my clothes, one by one via an Internet site. Good luck with the de-clutter.

Re the last move when I was in that horrible stage of de cluttering by myself. I kept 2 shopping trolleys in my hall and put things in them that I was uncertain about, I waited a week or so and then took all the contents to a charity shop. I rarely took anything out but the trolleys helped me to feel at peace, mentally

Nowadays, I get moments when I cannot he bothered and so I lift myself up and go and tackle just a drawer. It is effective, the Marie Kondo system, in my underwear drawer, was done over 5 years ago and is still in place albeit some contents have changed

If I don`t want to do any actual decluttering, I might go and do some baking or make ready meals, always trying to use ingredients that I already have. I am making progress that way eg I have brought 3 kilners of home bottled gooseberries into the kitchen and plan on using them for small crumbles to freeze. Those gooseberries were stored in my garage

Cateq

We have loads of cds but no cd player, but DH won’t part with them. Any suggestions on how to get him to change his mind😂

Buy him a cd player radio plus an amazon cd file. He can then listen and choose, or not, whether to keep or throw. The ball has to be in his court and being a man, he needs to think it is his decision

My husband was a collector and a hoarder. It has been a long process dispersing his stuff, with as little as possible going to landfill.
A local auction house takes almost anything, so they came and cleared the garage/ workshop, to which Ihad added various other collectibles from the house. Over a few months it raised nearly £4000, with many items making only £10, but the better ones made more, and best of all it got stuff out and recycled, not landfill.
I still have more to do, so now I will get off Gransnet and do at least 20 minutes.

We have done one car boot sale every summer since 2015, except for Covid year.

The most we made was £151.50, the least £58.

But not about the money, it was getting rid of ‘stuff’.

The earlier ones included things inherited from Mum, didn’t really want them, but sentimental.

Books, ornaments, household items.

But you get more realistic as time goes by, and realise the family will just dump stuff eventually.

Hope to do one in 2025, but not much of value left!

Still ‘stuff’ in loft and garage, so will have to be more ruthless.

I’m pretty good at de-cluttering as I go along. In fact I’m taking a few things to a charity shop tomorrow.

However, OH is hopeless. He still has a trunk in the loft containing all his text books etc., from when he was a student at Oxford over 50 years ago, I was clearing out a box of WI stuff yesterday - I had to ask him to lift the box for me and on top were two, old, out of use laptops. I said here was the perfect opportunity to take out the hard drives and take them to the tip, no. He put them back on the shelf. He said there was no hurry.

Get a good scanner for photos and papers! I realised that a lot of old family pictures had faded quite badly; now they're all safely stored on Flickr, I can share them with other family members, and they won't deteriorate any further.

There are declutters that specialise in helping people to down size. You might like to look up your local agent and ask for an introductory session.

I have a declutterer for 3 hours 1once a month as a PA.

This was on Gransnet on 18/4/22 - www.gransnet.com/life-and-style/home-and-garden/top-tips-on-decluttering-from-marie-kondo?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Gransnet_Daily_180422_Monday&utm_medium=email

Most of your stuff you won’t remember having it, or where it is if your looking for it, and probably would never set eyes on it unless you were moving or had to create space ( another room etc) I was the same until I had to down size and so had to get rid, which I’ve done 3 times now. Bear in mind I bought more things over the years, gadgets etc, so it accumulated again. Final and deciding factor was when my son said he didn’t want ANY of our stuff, photos , crystal and lots of things which I geeky were not only sentimental but if good quality and value, and even photographs. So I got ruthless and got rid of the lot, apart from the photos. I then got a lot of the framed photos which don’t suit my decor in our house and put them up in the walls in our garage, so I see them almost daily. I haven’t regretted getting rid of anything. Gave it all away to friends and charity, I now know what’s in our house, and most of the time remember where it is, and is being used even if it’s only twice yearly. Decluttering majes life easier for you now, and your family later. I’ve kept a small box of mementoes.

midgey

I deeply regret giving away my CDs. I hadn’t listened to them for ten years but now…….I wish I had them!

Don't despair, I think many people regret getting rid of some of their CDs, as there are key albums that are part of our memories and also streaming services may eventually increase prices. . Have some fun going into charity shops and searching for your favourites, and buying them back. Most charity shops sell them for less than a pound, often 3 for a pound. Just don't let your new oee owned collection get out of hand !.

My wife is a squirrel keeps bringing stuff home that we don’t need, it gets looked at once then packed away, I’ve given up trying to stop her.

We had an after Christmas tidy up and a lot has disappeared, there is a lot more that hasn’t been looked at for 5 yrs that will go next time I have a cull.

I was looking through boxes of stuff from my mum’s house and came across lots of tickets from shows, programmes, etc. My solution was to create a Memorabilia folder on my phone and take photos of all these items to put in there. That way, I got rid of the physical item, but I can still look at the photo if I want to (which I rarely do, it’s true to say!)

For each room get 3 large boxes. labelled Keep; Maybe; Go

Work through that room putting items in one of those boxes.

Bin the ones in the bin box. Keep the ones and put back the ones in keep box. Maybe box ...keep for 2 weeks then go through again. Decide if bin or keep for each item. Usually by then it's easier to decide. Any still left repeat process. ...

Good advice Madgran77, especially the going through it once more
Something's need a just once more decision don't they?
It's heartbreaking to throw away something that you will never be able to get back or replace. 🤔

DH asked why he's putting away the same number of large Christmas boxes that he took out as he thought I was going to cull some things.
The problem is, it's the wrong time of year to donate Christmas decorations.
They are all tidy and labelled. 🙂

Keep; Maybe; Go

As a friend said "Do I love it, do I want it, do I need it."

Tidying up my bedroom yesterday I found three loose cotton caftans .I had absolutely no recollection of buying them .
Today, after church clearing (decorations) I've come home and thought about it .
I bought one of them for a party .
I'm trying to remember the theme .
Somewhere in the house is the beautiful brocade ribbon which I bought to hand stitch on the others - only where did I put the ribbon ?
It's not just those caftans -it's a couple of dresses waiting for new buttons .
My New Year resolution is stop buying things and to sort through the mountains of unworn forgotten stuff and to take as much as possible to local charity shops .

MissAdventure

The big cupboard I decluttered before Christmas now needs doing again, because as Christmas approached, I started lobbing things in the cupboard.

All the things on top of the fridge freezer got swept into a bag, and chucked into said cupboard.

You sound so like me! I’m horrendous at this! 😂😂😂

I have clothes at the back of the wardrobe and keep thinking "I might wear that again" but I never do