De-cluttering, still at it, still no end

M0nica

Both of the above reported.

Am I missing something, M0nica. Why have you reported them??

Calendargirl

I’ve sorted through some old newspapers from the loft.

One had details of my Granddad’s death, which was why it had been kept by my mum, (1947). It has gone into the recycling bin.

One had our wedding photo and report in, 1972.

That was retained, the rest of the news was so interesting, local jobs, property sales, adverts….oh happy days!

That’s what I like looking at in old newspapers. Old adverts for cars and electrical appliances! I had an old newspaper that I’d kept because our local football team had got into the premiership and it had an article about my partners father, who sadly died quite suddenly just as he was about to retire. Thankfully, because of the pandemic, we switched to an online newspaper which has saved me no end of clutter!

I’ve sorted through some old newspapers from the loft.

One had details of my Granddad’s death, which was why it had been kept by my mum, (1947). It has gone into the recycling bin.

One had our wedding photo and report in, 1972.

That was retained, the rest of the news was so interesting, local jobs, property sales, adverts….oh happy days!

Chocolatelovinggran

Oh MayBee , I can relate to your story about your parents. Mine threw everything of my childhood away, including all photos.
My one consolation is that no one can see the dodgy fashion choices I made in my teens.

We all did that!

Yesterday I started serious soring and packing. One bedroom is fully packed, apart from what the removers will do.

The heap in the garage for the Boot sale has grown even larger. Late in the day we packed it all in and at 6.00am this morning were up and about with an estate car packed to the brim heading for the Boot Sale

11.00am had us making our return journey wth beaming smiles. It wasn't that we made a huge sum of money - we didn't, but the thing we sold were all the big bulky things, including a large coffee table we nearly didn't take because we thouh it wouldn't sell at a boot sale - it did! Plus a large heap of garden containers from a B&Q 99p bucket to one huge round container with handles. All sold to one person for a tenner! Everything else are good a charity shop would take. This gives us a big space in the garage to dunp stuff for the next Boot Sale in a fortnight.

Paperwork really is an on-going task. All I did this week was my tax return along with a request to be taken off self assessment

I have been working all day, sorting skirt patterns and getting rid of any I now know will not fit, nor flatter, this comfy aging figure of mine. No point living in the past. I only removed one actual skirt, having done a previous cull

I have not started on tops and can see dozens, with not enough skirts. The skirts I like best on me include a 6 gore skirt that I made in black a while ago and ended up wearing it to my husbands funeral. It still fits and flatters me today so that pattern is top of my skirt patterns and I cut one out today, in a lovely barkwood fabric

Also I love a pull on A line skirt, I have several in linen and cut another today in cotton, plus a neat top. That means 2 portions of fabric stash are removed to become nice wearables. There are no dresses that need culling, I have tried them on and they are all lovely

Tops need doing, several will need to be removed and also some paper patterns and quilted things I have made. I am finding this job exhausting

It’s an ongoing task. One area leads to another. But I did find a stash of cash in a letter rack!

It is cooler and damp today and a perfect day for some de-cluttering. I am going to work on my wardrobe but need to make notes as everything is hand made

Viscose items are in the line of fire, I often use cheap viscose/rayon fabrics for toiles, garment testing, I do not like these fabrics next to my skin, nor the way they crease.

I will only keep the actual paper pattern if I like the style on my short stature and will make it again in future in a decent linen or cotton

I went to bed with that aim last night and it is still there today, that is me sorted. I have been waiting to be in the right frame of mind to do this important job

Did you get your paperwork sorted cabbie? I am well behind with mine

My son has been declutterng my garden, including the shed. I now have room to move some gardening tools from the garage to the shed.
Today’s task has to be sorting paperwork in my study. I’ve neglected this for too long, so that it has become a major task.

I throughly tidied out the garden shed and wood shed yesterday, I am leaving a certain amount of stuff for our house buyers, getting rid of a lot of things, that will not be needed in our new garden.

As a result the Boot Sale pile has grown larger and we will be off to the tip this afternoon.

Any work on my garden has been put on hold as the undercover potting area of my garden has a Robins nest; very precariously made in a scrunched up plastic bag. I wondered why the Robin kept flying out whenever I went into it to get some soil. Need to keep an eye on the dog when they fledge.

I think we should also consider re-used in our own home to save bringing something in

I have just used 1m of pima jersey cotton stash to cut out 4 pairs of knickers, alovely colour and I have already taken gorgeous white stretch lace out of stash. Also 2 pairs cut from a wrapover jersey cotton top that I made but never wore. It is not much space regained but tiny steps will do me

Thanks - I'll probably do that, Ebay with 'make an offer'. I'll invite DS & D-i-L round to eat & help me put the tent up for photo, DH will say he's too busy & it is quite big.
Mum has an event shelter / small Marquee, it does the circuit of the village, when people have special birthdays they borrow it for the party. You should get a good price for it I reckon.

valdavi Why not put it on ebay and see what someone will pay.

We have one of those big(ish) event shelters we used in our antuque fair days. We are going to erect it in the garden when DD visits, photograph it and then ebay it (buyer collects)

I did take the boys' festival tents to the charity shop & amazingly they accepted them

What does everyone do with camping gear? (swampy mentioned it). I've got quite a lot I want to get rid of. Probably a good time of year / weather to do it! I'm just not sure how much to ask for it, it's so long since we bought any.

I’ve been distracted by finding a new series, The Great House Revival. Four seasons to catch up on. Another programme in which I can watch people create calm out of chaos. And I sit watching it whilst sitting amongst chaos; ever the procrastinator. At least there’s no danger of me becoming pregnant which all the people in these programmes seem to do! I actually feel better today than I’ve felt for ages. Must be the better weather.

I have been side-tracked with preparing to go away next week on a midweek break with my ACs and their families. It's incredible how much stuff you need to take for a C/Parcs break. We are each taking a meal for the evenings plus extra bits for the GCs who may or may not eat the same meals as us. Wine and whatever booze we like plus soft drinks, tea, coffee, the list is endless. I have a freezer box to pack with bits I've been given to transport and I was nominated to bring cleaning bits and pieces, foil and the like. I know we won't come back with much of it but already I'm at five shopping bags, freezer box and suitcase that I'm in the middle of packing. That lot in itself creates clutter until it goes in the car.
However, the GCs games have been tidied away into the bottom of the wardrobe, put another item on Vinted to sell, Some of DHs trains have been packed away into boxes - still lots to do in his train room, camping gear to be sorted, and lots of random rubbish to go too. So the clutter is dwindling slowly - too slowly!!

My house is a trip hazard because of the clutter. Growing up I was always fascinated by old stuff in peoples houses and I need to come to terms with the fact that my grandchildren aren’t interested things like old box cameras etc. Annoyingly losing my Facebook account means that I can’t now take part in the groups I used to belong to eg Ladybird Books, which I collect.

Perhaps the shock of finding you are no longer able to deal with life the way you did, and how hard it has hit you, is perhaps the thing you should deal with first. Think about seeing someone to talk this through with and come to peace with. Then, and only then, should you start decluttering, you might then find it so much easier.

That’s why I’m trying so hard to declutter. It all starts with that. I’ve always been a collector and I have to remember that it has given me joy over the years. It’s sad that so many things are now just sitting on shelves, still loved by me but with the threat of ending up in land fill hanging over them. I’ve always been so healthy; old age has come as a bit of a shock and hit me hard.

Maybee, I think deep down that you know the answer. Getting older can make people unfit, unwell and tired. Time to seriously think about the next stage.

I did that in the autumn. Paid some lads a lot of money to clear a load of stuff from the garden. I was pleased with what they did but a lot of it has grown back. But the seeds are endless. The garden was swept on Sunday and by Thursday was covered again. The car wasn’t driveable. The were all over the windscreen wipers. I’m on a very small pension and there’s a limit to how much I can pay out on a regular basis. It costs me a lot to have the gutters cleared twice a year. I’ve only just started paying a window cleaner but still have to clean the bird poo off them myself as it’s too dried on for him to do. Even though everyone takes their shoes off when they come in the house the seeds get everywhere. I have Hugg mats everywhere to try to contain them.

MayBee70

Trouble is there's nowhere in my village that I could move to and I do want to stay here. I'd really like to enjoy may garden instead of constantly sweeping up these horrible seeds. The pine needles are a nuisance [I have to get my gutters cleaned twice a year] but controllable. The Silver Birch are now huge. I wonder if one of those lawn vacuums would help.

Maybee yes a garden vacuum would help greatly but in your case I would get a good quality powerful one, industrial as you don`t just have leaves. It will cost of course but should help make your garden manageable

Obviously the seeds are not going to stop, year on year and I would manage this by looking forward ie de-cluttering and also tentatively exploring areas within a radius from where you live. A vacuum would give you some breathing space

Your mind is overthinking, ie this and this and this, all at once and that has made everything overwhelming. Can I suggest that you face one thing at a time, starting with the vacuum cleaner to catch the seeds while they are fresh and crisp

If it is seeds on the lawn that bothers you most, I would definitely pay for a gardener. A powerful mower would also pick up and chop the seeds, you need to ask the gardener to take the trimmings away or at least bag them

Why not pay someone to do it. Accepting as we get older that we need to pay people to do things that we previously did for ourselves is no big deal.

I recently paid a couple of lads to do some garden clearance for me. I had got behind because of our expected move, and DH's ill health. We are also getting the movers to do a lot of the packing for us when we move, for similar reasons. DH cannot do any packing and I am daunted by the thought of doing it all on my own. I have never had garden help before , nor had the removers do the packing for us.