Decluttering and ruthlessness!

‘ One day, this will all be yours’

I did make a start, but found it quite difficult to get rid of stuff that was too good for the bin. British Heart Foundation was my usual, but they had stopped taking things.
An old fashioned jumble sale is what I need.

...you can scan them all in and store them on an external hard-drive. This takes time, but saves a lot of space

We scanned our photos over a period of a couple of years and have one of those electronic photo frames that displays random photos every few minutes. Most of the time it gets ignored but every now and again one of us will say 'Oh look there's so-and-so' or 'Where the heck was that taken' and we wander off down memory lane.

I have a question. I have a very pretty jar which belonged to my Grandmother. It means a lot to me but not to anyone else. It is about 80 years old but I doubt it’s valuable. I couldn’t bear it to go to a charity shop and would love it to be on display somewhere. It is immaculate. Does anyone know if any organisation accepts such items to use rather than to sell? It would look gorgeous in a NT property for example but I don’t know if they’d want it.

Start with things that don't have sentimental value, such as knick-knacks and things bought on impulse,

Move on to things you have not used for years and see no forseeable use for in the future.

Harden you hearts and do not allow the thought "it might come in useful one day" to cross your mind. It HASN'T anytime these last twenty years, has it? No, so OUT IT GOES!

Photos? Ask yourself two questions, are they clearly labelled as to who these people are and what the occasion was, and will they mean anything to those who come after you?

I inherited a vast number of family photos of people w hom I have no idea who were, only which side of the family they probably belonged to. No use, at all. The photos that actually mean something to me, I have kept - the rest I disposed of.

Or you can simply put them in a large box labelled old photos and leave them for the next generation to throw out.

Alteratively, you can scan them all in and store them on an external hard-drive. This takes time, but saves a lot of space - however, you will need to remember to upgrade as computer programs change!

Books, records, cds, tapes - are you going to re-read them, listen to them and do you have a record player, tape record or cd player you can use? If not, there is little point in keeping them.

Should say when I moved here I sold some things via vintage cash cow including gold and silver jewellery made enough to buy double bed ,mattress and bedside for my spare bedroom.

Calendargirl I've used Ziffit and We Buy Any Books for books, CDs and DVDs. We price them up on both because sometimes there is quite a difference. As you say, very few things are worth much. We eventually made nearly £200 pounds, which paid for the hard drives we copied the DVDs onto, but gave most stuff away.

Also, if they are not in very good condition they won't pay for them and you have to pay postage to get them back - not that we ever wanted them back, but it makes a difference to what they pay you.

I find Anglo doorstep collections are v good.
They come on time and they take books.
And give some money to charities.
Heard of them on GN

I have a serious declutter when I put my old house on the market as I was doing it on own and moving from large 3 semi to 2 bedroom bungalow which isn't small for a bungalow.

I was ruthless. As I decluttered I packed boxes ready for my move . When I unpacked found things I didn't really won't . Been here 5. 5 years and still decluttering as my mobility gets worse and getting rid of things that are to heavy or I no longer want or need.
But I found when I decluttered my old house it decluttered my mind and let go of things I had held on to long . I set myself a task of filling 2-3 boxes a day .

Funny enough had a declutter of Christmas decorations before my grandsons decorated my tree. But while I got rid of old ones I brought some new ones 🤷.

Oops, I meant dvds!
See, I'm still pining for my books.

Hmm, I often wonder if it's worth the effort these days, of even trying to give things away.

I do think there are some good, established book collection companies, though, so probably that will mean you at least make enough for a coffee, out.

Today I felt I must ‘do something useful’, but didn’t really want to.

So I have been looking through our DVD’s and pricing them up on selling sites.

Some are worth nothing, some about 11p-15p each, one is worth £3!

I need to get up to £5 to be able to send them off.

Has anyone used these sites, and who do you recommend?

Is it worth the bother of packing them up, or should I take them to the next car boot sale we do? (We do one a year in the summer).

Plus DH, (not here today) will be reluctant to part with them, though he hasn’t watched them for years.

But once gone will not be missed.

And it has filled up the afternoon, and it is a sort of declutterring.

That's the sort of thing that's in my cupboard too, along with diy stuff, jackets, all sorts.

It's not working for so many different things, unless it's properly organised.

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.

I feel for you, I really do. It's an ongoing problem until you have cleared enough space to find a home for everything.

I changed my pantry into a cleaning cupboard to house my steamer, boxes of cleaning cloths, ironing board, window vac, hoovers, etc. Put some electrical points in so I could recharge everything. Was really useful until I started using it to put things away out of sight, now I can barely get the hoover out when I need it. The trouble is when you've organized it once you really want to move on and do a different place so it's hard getting back to reorganizing it.

If it’s not been used in about a year it goes, either to the charity shop or sold on.
Every few months I sort a drawer, clothing at the change of the season, shed every year with MrJ, I know the few pieces in the loft need a review.
We keep very few books, maybe half a dozen, once read they go, my daughter has our old photographs, we don’t have any ornaments.

I feel a bit the same about my books.
The ones I've kept are under my bed, never to be read again, but I miss my dusty old, musty old bookcase, and its contents.

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

Good advice. AreWeThereYet. 😊💜🧡

Once you start decluttering it almost becomes addictive! I've held on to so much tat that I think will fit me eventually or material that might make a nice dress ect, ect.
Now I have my little cottage planned & l'm sending loads to the Charity shops.
Like me, you might find the process freeing. Good luck. 😉

First thing I did was a sweep of the house looking for anything that was obviously broken, unusable or unwanted and easy to get rid of. Found all sorts of things that had been 'put away' and never found again and replaced.

Once all that rubbish was gone I did drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard, starting in the sitting room while I was watching TV.

As you make a bit of space it's easier to put things away in a proper 'home' where you can find them. I now have 16 pairs of scissors of various sizes, most of which I will probably never use but at least they are all in the same place when I want a pair and can decide which ones to dispose of!

Scan photos. Copy DVDs and CDs. Then get rid of the physical ones.

Do the things that are easier first then you can focus more when it comes to the harder things.

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.

DH is on a decluttering mission. Garage done before Christmas, as was the shed. He’s now onto his office which of course holds many distractions from the past.
We downsized some years ago so I thought we had decluttered, but apparently not. We may move again, as I’d like a little more room. It’s still in discussion!
When we last moved we started with the worst areas first.

My way of dealing with it is asking myself, if anything happens to me what will my family do with it all? I was left with copious amounts of ‘stuff’ when my parents died. Dad died after Mum and I was living in Germany. I had 2 weeks to come back and clear everything, I had a 4 year old and twin 3year olds. It compounded my grief to have to go through so many things. So now I keep things fairly minimal. It’s difficult but I give items that I’ve loved to my favourite charity shops in the knowledge that it will raise funds for them rather than them being sat around or dumped in future. Which is often what happens.

How do I declutter?

On 1 January I select a room and look at each item in every drawer, cupboard, cabinet in said room, consider remaining usefulness of the items and sort useless items to piles for bin or charity.

Next room same. My husband attempts garage and sheds.

Mid January I quit, bored with the project. I've typically completed the kitchen, all gathering spaces, playroom - my main goals.

It is difficult but I am getting to the stage where I look at something and realise I just don't want it and would be happier without it. I think about selling it but to be honest I may as well give it to charity as I'm then helping them. I have a collection of ornaments which my children think are hideous as well as photos and all the stuff we keep because "it may come in handy". And the garage is another matter - full from end to end. Actually it gets me down. My advice is be ruthless and you will feel better.

There is a decluttering thread, thats non prescriptive, and just as much chat as decluttering, but we have each achieved a bit of throwing away, moving about, and reorganising.

I'll be using the thread for about the next 20 years, the way I'm going.