Decluttering!

[merryone]

Jeez, you have been busy! I could probably weed out more clothes and shoes if I put my mind to it, but they're all hanging neatly/folded away, so wouldn't necessarily gain any more vital space by doing so! I looked at my computer desk earlier and realise that this area could do with a bit of tlc, went out today so I'm a bit tired, so will probably have a go at it tomorrow. Like I said, I desparately need a new computer chair, but that'll have to wait till I can afford it lol! Saw a lovely brown leather one in my catalogue, it was perfect, matched the settees and had a slightly smaller "footprint" that the one I've got now, not only that the price was good too and of course I could just bung it on the account...Wish I'd ordered it straight away because now it seems to have disappeared from the catalogue and the only other one that fits the bill costs over £200! I know I can go to John Lewis or Argos but then I'll have to pay straight up, or put it on my credit card (which I don't really want to do!) Oh well, I'll organise the stuff on the desk, I'm sure that's quite a bit I can get rid of....Oh and another tip which is not necessarily decluttering, but if you see something that you know's gonna be perfect and make your home look better buy it straight away! Just had another quick peep at the catalogue and they do have the chair but only in black or white..I suppose I could go for the black,but it doesn't excite me!

 

[maymorganlondon]

Shoes and boots decluttering didn't happen. All the clothes are now nicely folded and put away. Feeling very virtuous.

Shame about that office chair! That is so annoying.

Will try to tackle shoes and boots tonight, by when I hope my laundry will be dry enough to fold and put away.

It's actually not doing the mundane everyday stuff that makes the house look unloved, so I'm trying to just do it straight away. I've always been terrible at it in the past.

I can see this thread has a LOT more miles to go... Thank you for starting it, Merryone!

 

[merryone]

Shoes and boots decluttering didn't happen. All the clothes are now nicely folded and put away. Feeling very virtuous.

Shame about that office chair! That is so annoying.

Will try to tackle shoes and boots tonight, by when I hope my laundry will be dry enough to fold and put away.

It's actually not doing the mundane everyday stuff that makes the house look unloved, so I'm trying to just do it straight away. I've always been terrible at it in the past.

I can see this thread has a LOT more miles to go... Thank you for starting it, Merryone!

You're welcome...glad it's been inspiring! Since I started this thread the friend who inspired me to embark on my own journey has started to work on her own place, last time I went round to see her, her front room looked "amazing"...she's very creative which helps but she actually gathered up all those flyers and concert tickets and has made them into works of art! She's made a couple of collage pictures and put them into frames, but the best thing she did was to lift the glass from a really nasty old coffee table she had and completely covered the surface in tickets then put the glass back - I reckon she could start a small business by making peoples sentimental paper clutter into objects d'art!
It's true what you say about the mundane stuff, but it's not until you clear a work surface or table that you see how dusty and grubby it is underneath, but a clear surface is a lot easier to keep clean and takes only a few mintues. My biggest problems were laundry/mail and I'm pleased to say that both are still well under control....Just looking over at the lamp table by the settee and all I can see is this hideous bright red mesh fruit bowl....I really really want to get rid of it. It's in the shape of an apple..hubby bought it to go in the kitchen 'cause it goes with the colour scheme in there, but it's too big and takes up a great big chunk of work surface, so I just popped it on the shelf under the table. I've already got a fruitbowl, it's a small attractive wire thing, but hubby said that it got on his nerves because smaller fruits sometimes fell out of the side! rather than arrange the smaller stuff on top, he'd rather buy something the size of a bucket....agggh. Next mission hide hideous red bowl in the attic cupboard, get nice little wooden one to satisfy his need not to be chasing stray satsumas across the floor....Oh and sort out this computer table area! Here's the two fruit bowls, just so you can see what I mean...I know which one I prefer lol! Also thinking I might just get the expensive chair and put it on buy now pay later!

 

[maymorganlondon]

You're welcome...glad it's been inspiring! Since I started this thread the friend who inspired me to embark on my own journey has started to work on her own place, last time I went round to see her, her front room looked "amazing"...she's very creative which helps but she actually gathered up all those flyers and concert tickets and has made them into works of art! She's made a couple of collage pictures and put them into frames, but the best thing she did was to lift the glass from a really nasty old coffee table she had and completely covered the surface in tickets then put the glass back - I reckon she could start a small business by making peoples sentimental paper clutter into objects d'art!
It's true what you say about the mundane stuff, but it's not until you clear a work surface or table that you see how dusty and grubby it is underneath, but a clear surface is a lot easier to keep clean and takes only a few mintues. My biggest problems were laundry/mail and I'm pleased to say that both are still well under control....Just looking over at the lamp table by the settee and all I can see is this hideous bright red mesh fruit bowl....I really really want to get rid of it. It's in the shape of an apple..hubby bought it to go in the kitchen 'cause it goes with the colour scheme in there, but it's too big and takes up a great big chunk of work surface, so I just popped it on the shelf under the table. I've already got a fruitbowl, it's a small attractive wire thing, but hubby said that it got on his nerves because smaller fruits sometimes fell out of the side! rather than arrange the smaller stuff on top, he'd rather buy something the size of a bucket....agggh. Next mission hide hideous red bowl in the attic cupboard, get nice little wooden one to satisfy his need not to be chasing stray satsumas across the floor....Oh and sort out this computer table area! Here's the two fruit bowls, just so you can see what I mean...I know which one I prefer lol! Also thinking I might just get the expensive chair and put it on buy now pay later!

Your friend has genius ideas, she could definitely do something with them! The point (and sadness) with sentimental items, is that we put them away rather than bringing them out and displaying them and celebrating the memories they invoke.

I know that once I'm fully decluttered, keeping things clean will be quicker. It's no accident that the most frequently cleaned rooms in my house are the toilet and bathroom... not quite zero clutter, but very little.

The kitchen is moving towards being decluttered too. I've a kitchen implement carousel, which is very useful but never gets turned, so the stuff at the back might as well not exist! I have a cutlery drawer that barely gets opened as all the stuff I regularly use is out in the open.

I have great sympathy with the fruit bowl dilemma. I got rid of mine entirely as the fruit stays in the fridge until I'm ready to eat it, bar the bananas, which are I split and store in a basket (I used to use a tree, but apparently if the "fingers" are still linked, they ripen faster). I wouldn't give the red item house-room, personally. I like your other one, but possibly I'd use it for decorative objects rather than as a fruit bowl. I know I'm in agreement with you about which one goes and which one stays!

I hope you get sorted with your office area and a chair which suits your needs. Have you tried searching on ebay or similar to see if someone has the one you liked in the brown? I have a rather large black fabric office chair, which is currently a dumping ground for things... in due course, when I get sorted out, I will decide if I should cover it or just leave it as is. It's very good quality and I wouldn't get anything like that without forking out a large sum of money, so I'll either try to tone it in with my colour scheme or build a colour scheme around it.

The bags of donations in my car should be going to charity on my way home today. That will be 10 more bags of stuff out of the house, and I'm still on that first KonMari category.
If I can actually finish the shoes and boots tonight, and get some bags out tomorrow, that will be the end of the clothes category.
I've decided to skip doing books for the time being, as I'm hoping to sell as many of them as possible, and that may take a bit of time. Instead I will do category 3 next, and try to make a start this evening.

I will report back!

One of the most useful things about this thread is that it's giving me accountability. I live alone, and although I talk about my decluttering a bit at work, nothing's in black and white. I come on this thread and I see what I said I'd do, and then have to either confess I've not done it, or give an update.
It's also great to hear about others' successes or problems and how they solved them.

I hope to be able to say - by this Friday - that I've done my papers category, as I've only 1 more weekend before my visitors arrive! Watch this space...

I got watching an American method called the Flylady method on you tube. Anyone else had a look at that?
It's a little and often method. I got SO depressed when the lady said when tackling paperwork only tackle 1 inch at a time... and then said "you'd be finished in 6 months" - I can't wait that long!!!!

One thing all of the methods I've looked at do seem to emphasise is that you have to treat decluttering, cleaning and tidying with love. And although it sounds strange initially, I think it's very true that when we get into a pickle with clutter there is a lot more going on emotionally / mentally, and often getting to grips with that is what breaks the cycle. So showing yourself, your family and your home love, or gratitude begins to rub off on other areas of your life.

 

[merryone]

My mate as you rightly say, has some genius ideas, but what would look fantastic in her place, would look blinking awful in mine...she's in her mid 40's so slightly younger than me, but she's always been younger in her ways, she's not had kids, whereas I have, so now the kids have left home, what we want is a "grown up" living space, neat and tidy with nice things in it, sadly we don't have the time and money to decorate the place luxuriously to our taste, but don't really want to be too quirky either...it's just not "us". I'm done for today...yep i've "lost" the hideous fruit bowl and I'm just gonna look down town in a bit for a nice little wooden one to sit on the shelf underneath the coffee table. The coffee table has an nice lamp on it that matches the standard lamp that's on the other side of the sofa, it's more "mood" lighting than for reading, so hubby, bless him went and bought the most hideous snake necked chrome halogen light and plonked it on the table beside the nice lamp...it's hideous and we had an argument about it, he said he can't read by the lamp and would have to put a 100wt bulb in it, I said well you might as well just leave the main light on then, and the lamp's only supposed to take a max of 40! So today I had a stroke of genius and stuck his hideous reading lamp between the back of the settee and the wall so it just curves over the back allowing him to read....it actually looks quite good. I said in the earlier thread that practicality has to take precedence over looks, and whilst this is true - he takes that opinion too far at times. Gonna look at the second hand shops to see if I can find decent computer chair and maybe a new filing chest! Ebay's a good bet of course but again it's having to spend readies...at least in a second hand shop you may get something incredibly affordable!

 

[stratobuddy]

Even remote controls cause me a clutter problem.

I have, at a quick count, 12 on my coffee table in constant use, and about 30 in drawers for my "not currently used" equipment.

The in-use ones are a problem, they are all different shapes and sizes. 2 are round so have to be flat on the table. Many are conventional shapes, so I have each of these stored vertically in a drinking glass. Then there are the credit-card sized ones (eg Bose) which tend to get lost among the other clutter on the table.

My dream would be to live in an almost empty room, with just

(1) my all-in-one hi-fi (it does CDs, Bluetooth, TV sound, DAB radio, internet radio etc)

(2) my TV

(3) ONE remote control that did everything (even a "universal" remote control won't do half of the functions I need)

(4) my PC, with sound coming from the hifi.

How many remotes do you USE and how do you store them?

 

[merryone]

Remotes? In the front room we have a couple, one for the tv/blue ray and another for the virgin box, however, hubby's downloaded an app and does it all from his phone! We have a console settee, and that consists of two recliners and in between a flap that you lift that covers a hidden compartment to put tv mags, remotes etc in, so when not being used we pop them back in there, it also has a couple of drinks holders...I love it! The other remote is a teeny tiny one for my brennan music player but it's so small and unobtrusive that I just leave it on top of one of the speakers. Back in the day when I had more remotes..we tried those revolving holders, a dog that sits on the arm of a chair with pockets in it! These purpose built things are never much good cause these remotes as you say come in all shapes and sizes. The dab radio/cd in the kitchen I've velcro'ed the remote to the side of the unit, so it doesn't get lost! I've got an internet radio dongle that just fits into my usb on the computer..got it from bid for about a tenner and its really good! Forgot that the dab clock radio has a remote too, but that's kept in the bedside table drawer...Oh and of course the two remotes for the tv in the bedroom are stored on the shelf on the table it's on when not in use, otherwise on the bed beside me lol!

 

[stratobuddy]

Remotes? In the front room we have a couple, one for the tv/blue ray and another for the virgin box, however, hubby's downloaded an app and does it all from his phone! We have a console settee, and that consists of two recliners and in between a flap that you lift that covers a hidden compartment to put tv mags, remotes etc in, so when not being used we pop them back in there, it also has a couple of drinks holders...I love it! The other remote is a teeny tiny one for my brennan music player but it's so small and unobtrusive that I just leave it on top of one of the speakers. Back in the day when I had more remotes..we tried those revolving holders, a dog that sits on the arm of a chair with pockets in it! These purpose built things are never much good cause these remotes as you say come in all shapes and sizes. The dab radio/cd in the kitchen I've velcro'ed the remote to the side of the unit, so it doesn't get lost! I've got an internet radio dongle that just fits into my usb on the computer..got it from bid for about a tenner and its really good! Forgot that the dab clock radio has a remote too, but that's kept in the bedside table drawer...Oh and of course the two remotes for the tv in the bedroom are stored on the shelf on the table it's on when not in use, otherwise on the bed beside me lol!

I had one of those on trial. It sounded fine, but the database couldn't find 1/2 of my CDs and I ended up typing loads of names in manually, eventually I gave up and returned it. I bought a 64GB ipad instead, have over 7000 music tracks on it, but it is now full. I play them via Bluetooth onto the hifi.

 

[merryone]

I had one of those on trial. It sounded fine, but the database couldn't find 1/2 of my CDs and I ended up typing loads of names in manually, eventually I gave up and returned it. I bought a 64GB ipad instead, have over 7000 music tracks on it, but it is now full. I play them via Bluetooth onto the hifi.

I didn't have too much trouble there, however what I do regret now is splashing out on the product when it was relatively new to the market, and of course now, the newer models come with blue tooth as standard, this one has no bluetooth capabilities at all which is really chuffin' annoying....I used to have a pair of wireless speakers set up in the kitchen but somehow I managed to lose the transmitter..don't ask me how, but I did and now the only remote speakers you can buy, unless you want to spend an absolute fortune are bluetooth ones d'oh! Funnily enough the Brennan was bought during an earlier decluttering mission when my shelves were so full of cds that they were piled on top of one another and in stacks on the floor. Don't get me wrong I love the thing, but I wish I hadn't rushed into it so early!

 

[stratobuddy]

Yes, the one I tried didn't have Bluetooth either (what a stupid name that is!) so it had to be wired up to the speakers.

 

[maymorganlondon]

I have my TV remote, my DVD remote and my lights. That's it.

I will get rid of most of my music as I only listen at work, using YouTube. I go through phases of being obsessed with a piece of music and play it to death then I move on. It's a far cry from when I was younger and haunted record fairs and was always hunting for rare vinyl or recordings. I never listen to music on the radio either, unless it is classical music while I work, even at home.

 

[DunmowDizzy]

I have my TV remote, my DVD remote and my lights. That's it.

I will get rid of most of my music as I only listen at work, using YouTube. I go through phases of being obsessed with a piece of music and play it to death then I move on. It's a far cry from when I was younger and haunted record fairs and was always hunting for rare vinyl or recordings. I never listen to music on the radio either, unless it is classical music while I work, even at home.

I've had Spotify for the last few months and love it! Rarely watch any tv now and radio is on far less too. Discovering new music and most of all rediscovering old stuff and able to enjoy all I couldn't afford to buy before or even knew existed. It's a bargain well worth the £15 a month we pay for family membership.

Oh and no clutter necessary in house or car. B&O play speaker is being well utilised.

 

[merryone]

I did it! I got rid of all my crafting bits..well that's a bit of a lie...I kept a box of pens and pencils, and the double sided tape, but that's all, so if I get the sudden urge to make some cards all I have to do is go out and buy some card...probably won't though, but the box of pens and pencils etc are not taking up an entire cupboard like the rest of it was! I used to do a hell of a lot of posters and notices for work, but we're pretty much all "digital" now, so I've not been asked to do anything for yonks, and to be fair I'm happy about that. Sadly this little exercise hasn't made any difference to the appearance of the place as it was all tucked away upstairs, but it feels quite nice to have extra space, and that's earmarked as I said to store xmas pressies when the time comes! The only downside to all this decluttering is how surfaces are more exposed..for instance now I don't have random clothing hung up over the back of the living room door, I can see that the glass could do with a hell of a clean and the bannisters in the hallway need another good lick of paint...got some spare paint, so I (might) be on it tomorrow! Computer table looks much better though, keyboard clean, table clean and all paper work neat and tidy in the trays!

 

[maymorganlondon]

I did it! I got rid of all my crafting bits..well that's a bit of a lie...I kept a box of pens and pencils, and the double sided tape, but that's all, so if I get the sudden urge to make some cards all I have to do is go out and buy some card...probably won't though, but the box of pens and pencils etc are not taking up an entire cupboard like the rest of it was! I used to do a hell of a lot of posters and notices for work, but we're pretty much all "digital" now, so I've not been asked to do anything for yonks, and to be fair I'm happy about that. Sadly this little exercise hasn't made any difference to the appearance of the place as it was all tucked away upstairs, but it feels quite nice to have extra space, and that's earmarked as I said to store xmas pressies when the time comes! The only downside to all this decluttering is how surfaces are more exposed..for instance now I don't have random clothing hung up over the back of the living room door, I can see that the glass could do with a hell of a clean and the bannisters in the hallway need another good lick of paint...got some spare paint, so I (might) be on it tomorrow! Computer table looks much better though, keyboard clean, table clean and all paper work neat and tidy in the trays!

Seeing what needs a good clean seems a small price to pay for that lightness of feeling that losing the clutter gives. I envy you having reached this stage, honestly!

I finished work at quarter to midnight last night, so no chance at all to sort out shoes or anything else. Tonight will be clearing the decks in the kitchen and bathroom for the return visit of the plumber to fix my leaky bath tap... this time armed with a replacement tap. I'm supposed to go and get weighed tomorrow evening, but I think I'm going to go on Saturday morning instead this week and use the evening to do what I was intending to do last night.

What I did do yesterday was take all those bags of carefully sorted out clothing clutter and donate them to charity. So it's definitely not coming back in the house!

I've got 2 or even 3 boxes of card making stuff, which probably nearly makes up a cupboard-full - card blanks, lovely papers, but an awful lot of crafting gadgets I've never used, and probably never will... there are a few other categories to get through before I reach that one, though, so probably I won't be making inroads until sometime in September.

What I also use some of my crafting stuff for is my giftwrapping at Christmas and birthdays. I used to work in a shop when I was a student and we did a lot of giftwrapping, so I think I'm fairly competent at it... and I like to try and be a little bit creative with it if I can.

DunmowDizzy, I don't really understand Spotify or any of the streaming services... and I doubt I would get enough use out of them to justify the monthly subscription. It's different when you have a family, I think, but I watch very little on the telly - mainly news, current affairs, history and natural history programmes. I listen to talk radio in the car (Radio 5 Live, not actual Talk radio), and I watch a fair number of channels on You Tube. There are some great vloggers out there with really interesting content. I realise that I like to be the one who chooses what I want to watch when I want to watch it... not simply choose from amongst what is provided on TV channels.
I totally get the absence of clutter - I have an MP3 player somewhere which I need to charge up and use (currently buried under other clutter that needs a good sort-out)). I have stuff on my tablet. I also have stuff on my now-defunct laptop (I must get around to getting the battery replaced then upgrading the security on it). All of that means I absolutely don't need CDs all over the place for music... and I need to think about whether to let my brother give me a Fire stick for my TV in place of all those DVDs.

I've been carrying my decluttering onto my phone - all the old sent items deleted, and I'll start on the inbox tonight. I also cleared out all my extra wishlists on Amazon, and updated the one remaining one. I can't be bothered with my QVC wishlist, as it's such a clunker and I can't afford the time it takes.

At some point my home, which currently resembles a tip, will begin looking loads better than it does today. The most obvious "win" at present is my wardrobe... but I'm already plotting to stow some of the stuff that still needs sorting in there until after my brother's visit. It might not be the best of ideas, but it's the one which gives me the least stress.

 

[merryone]

Don't be too envious, just keep on going and I'm sure that before xmas your place is gonna look absolutely amazing! Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy with what I've done, as I said before my home's presentable, I can find things when I need them, the place is more comfortable, and I have much more time now to relax and do the things I want to do, but if I want to reach my goal of having a home that I'm really proud of as opposed to being happy/satisfied with, it's all big stuff. Eg most of the place apart from the bathroom and kitchen could do with redecorating, the bedroom - a new floor, redecoration and new furniture. A few years ago, the whole place was painted, and I've decided that the colour scheme in the front room is far too dark and other than that there's quite a lot of other bits that need doing..need a replacement window in the bathroom, was gonna get it done when we got our kitchen window done, and for some reason the window fitter could only offer replacement glass and surrounds to go into the wooden frame which has a nice window cill where I put my toothbrush holders etc, and that they couldn't replace the window frame window cill, they could take it out, but leave me with just a window...I don't want to lose my window cill it's useful....I just want a nice uvpc one instead...perhaps I misunderstood, 'cause it seems weird, but another thing I've gotta try and sort out along with window in the front room, one won't close properly, which I know can be fixed, but the main problem is that we're getting condensation between the double glazing panes, so that says to me that it's buggered and I'll probably have to get the entire window replaced (large bay)! The money's not too bad a problem 'cause I've got money put away for such improvements, but with both of us working full time, it's really difficult to find time to get quotes, let alone get any work done! Seriously one of us could do with having six months off in order to get the place sorted...and over all because the place is too small for the amount of stuff we need, there's always gonna have to be compromise! It's not all bad though, we own the place and the freehold, and so many people we know are paying more than double in rents than our mortgage costs for places that they'll never have to stop paying for, with the constant feeling that at any given time their landlord can give them notice to leave. My mate, the one who's currently in the throes of decluttering is paying £850 per month for a place that's pretty run down, ok she's got a separate toilet, but other than that she's got a nasty little shower room that's the size of a shoe box! For now gonna just try and keep the place clean and tidy, stop buying uneccessary clutter - for example I was looking around Robert Dyas in my lunchbreak the last week and for £3 they were selling a lunchbox set of lock n locks including a neat little drinks bottle....I had it in my hand, in fact I nearly picked up two sets...and then I thought to myself...FGS , you've got a whole cupboard full of lock n' locks, and a drinks bottle..so I put my potential purchases back on the shelf - proud moment lol!

 

[maymorganlondon]

I am a long way from all the things that need a major overhaul. Part of the objective of the decluttering is to make it practical to get quotes and plan for the electrics to be rewired, the radiators to be replaced, a new kitchen to be fitted and a new bathroom!!!! Redecorating might be possible in several years time if I've not been beggared by the other stuff!

Today I organised all my lock & lock, funnily enough. I have whittled down the non lock & lock stuff a bit and found a new home for what stays.

Laundry has all been folded up and put away. Shoes are still not sorted out but I will have time today.

oh, and the biggest win of the day, which I completely forgot to mention: my bath tap is fixed! It was leaking inside and under the bath. So I've fixed the problem, I hope. Goodness knows how long it was leaking underneath, and how long it will therefore take to dry out!

 

[merryone]

Off to a festival for a few days, so let's hope hubby doesn't go on a recluttering mission whilst I'm away. I've done all the washing and ironing a few days early, cos i'm gonna have loads when I get back, everything's ***** and span, so here's hoping! Funnily enough did some more decluttering. Looking for the charger for my powerbank/speaker to take and couldn't find it, but found I had about 6 identical chargers and wires that I didn't need, so I've binned them...eventually found what I was looking for though!

 

[iloveshopping]

LOL. I'm off on holiday for 2 weeks but as everyone is having so much luck with their lock and lock tidy up, I will have a go at organising mine when I get back. I did manage to restrain myself from buying a 3rd set a few weeks ago. Still haven't finished unpacking. It will be 2 years on 12 September.

 

[maymorganlondon]

LOL. I'm off on holiday for 2 weeks but as everyone is having so much luck with their lock and lock tidy up, I will have a go at organising mine when I get back. I did manage to restrain myself from buying a 3rd set a few weeks ago. Still haven't finished unpacking. It will be 2 years on 12 September.

Oh good grief, that sounds familiar!! I have boxes that I haven't looked in for more than that, and I won't be tackling them any time soon... I'll get the rest of it sorted out first.

Off to a festival for a few days, so let's hope hubby doesn't go on a recluttering mission whilst I'm away. I've done all the washing and ironing a few days early, cos i'm gonna have loads when I get back, everything's ***** and span, so here's hoping! Funnily enough did some more decluttering. Looking for the charger for my powerbank/speaker to take and couldn't find it, but found I had about 6 identical chargers and wires that I didn't need, so I've binned them...eventually found what I was looking for though!

recluttering mission :mysmilie_13:

Your powerbank charger story is one of the most common ones, I think. I'm hoping I won't suffer with that, but never say never... :mysmilie_11:

 

[maymorganlondon]

Today is day one of my first three-day weekend. This one's to prepare for the next one!

I've just gone through all the food (bar one cupboard) and some is in the food recycling and others are in one place ready to go in future recycling, as I don't think I can do food recycling outside of the weekly doorstep collection. All the in date food is organised and accessible. It is only an interim stage, with a few more things to do on the decluttering front probably after my visitors leave.

I've now started on the dreaded paperwork and even just moving the paperwork all to one place is making the other spaces look airier.