Decluttering!

[pyjama princess]

I've managed to take 2 large bags of books to the cancer centre over the last couple of months. And I've got another small box of books to go to a charity shop. They're books the cancer centre won't be able to sell (very out of date academic books to do with hubby's job) but the charity shops offload them to companies who pulp them to reuse and they get a small payment for them. I know I could take them to the council recycling centre but I'd prefer a charity shop to get some benefit.
I can't get any more decluttering done at the moment as hubby is struggling with his health - not cancer related thankfully. The GPs are trying different things and once they find something that works I should be able to get back to it as hubby will be able to do more for himself.
Keep going folks - we'll get there!

 

[DunmowDizzy]

I’ve been quiet on here lately. Had teenage sons all home over the summer so house was super cluttered with bodies and their stuff. I have also been concentrating more on decluttering the extra pounds that had accumulated on my body during a long period of high stress much more than the accumulated clutter in the house. However have started to get my mojo back was going to have a weekend away last weekend as had some leave from work but at the last minute got motivated to decorate a room in the house. That of 16 year old son. Also turned out another 6 large bags of clothing and bedding and donated to charity shop. Carpet is being fitted in sons room in a weeks time so a deadline for this task to be complete. Feeling happy to be making progress again but do still feel overwhelmed at times which wobbles progress made.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I'm in the middle of my twice yearly change over of clothes. Now that I'm resigned to not having another warmer climate break this year it's time to put summer clothes away and bring out the woolly jumpers. Trying to cull both summer and winter clothes at the same time.

Ye gods! How many black and navy trousers does one female require! Especially one that will only be working 2 days per week! Already the wardrobes (yes plural!) are bulging and I'm not finished yet. If I never bought another item of clothing in the next 20 years I don't think I would have worn them out.

Summer sandles and winter boots on Friday - work tomorrow for a rest!

 

[Pick-a-Lily]

I culled many summer tees when I swapped my clothes over a couple of weeks ago. Trying to stick to plain, neutral colours now, rather than the bright, gaudy patterns I'm tragically attracted to!

 

[maymorganlondon]

I was having a think about my wardrobe contents just this morning!
I have a lot of stretchy black and dark grey trousers - enough to wear a pair every day without panicking about doing the laundry. I live in them in the week and at weekends.

I'm now thinking I need to go shopping for more tops, though, as I was brutal earlier in the year - I hate short bodied t-shirts and had far too many of them. I'm reluctant to splurge, but a couple of extra ones in good, slightly deeper, colours would be extremely useful.

Most of my clothes, as I've KonMari-d my wardrobe, are folded up in drawers rather than hanging in the wardrobe - so I can see exactly how much of what I have. One drawer with trousers on one side and t-shirts on the other doesn't seem excessive, but it doesn't seem like too little to function either. Mostly my wardrobe now has coats, jackets, dresses, cardigans, jeans, tailored trousers and floaty or hard to fold tops.

Under the KonMari method you don't put summer clothes away in winter / winter clothes away in summer, so that makes it much simpler to see what you have in total. As I'm at the tropical moments stage of life, pretty much summer is my default dress code (sitting barefoot in birkenstocks in a short-sleeved top and trousers).

The wardrobe remains the most successful part of my decluttering so far... once I get that elusive mojo back, I will press on with the other categories in deadly earnest.

Tonight I have a bit of a challenge - I've got to find some documentation which is in a nice plain white envelope!! As a starting point, I do at least know where I've pooled all my paperwork... but I suspect the search could fill out most of the evening.

 

[iloveshopping]

I've started on the piles in the corner which moved with us 2 years ago. They haven't been touched until today. I took a small load to the charity shop which is a start.

 

[maymorganlondon]

I've started on the piles in the corner which moved with us 2 years ago. They haven't been touched until today. I took a small load to the charity shop which is a start.

Well done! Making a start is a good start.

 

[stratobuddy]

I have spent days sorting through piles of receipts, to throw away those that weren't needed for guarantees.

Now I am a bit worried because I found one from LIDL in early 2005 for a TARGA which cost 1P short of £200

I've absolutely no idea what a TARGA is, apart from a very expensive motor boat, or a hard top for a convertible sports car, neither of which Lidl sell.

In fact, Lidl don't normally sell things at anywhere near that price. But I have the receipt for it, and together with a few other items it was over £200 in total, so I haven't misread it.

So my decluttering of receipts has left me in a quandary, what on earth did I spend £200 on and now have no idea what it was and where it is?

 

[merryone]

Strato that really bugged me and I've had a look...could it be some kind of laptop computer? I looked up and Lidl did sell a "targa" notebook!

 

[stratobuddy]

No, I've definitely not bought one of those, or anything similar from Lidl

 

[merryone]

No, I've definitely not bought one of those, or anything similar from Lidl

computer monitor? speakers?

 

[stratobuddy]

Yes, you've cracked it, a flat screen monitor when they were new tech and much more expensive than they are now, was stashed away when I bought my all-in-one touch-screen PC about 6 years ago.

Thanks for your help.

 

[merryone]

You're welcome....It just bugged me, I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to stuff bugging me..glad I've helped..It was a long time ago, not suprised you couldn't remember what it was lol!

 

[merryone]

Decluttering update for me, I'm still pretty much ok..though this time of the year you're starting about amassing the xmas gifts, the wrapping paper and all the paraphenalia that goes with that territory. I decided this year that I'd get it done early, and also get it all wrapped up too..luckily for me my attic room's big enough to store all this stuff neatly out of the way. My biggest problem is the deep cleaning that I so desparately need to do ...especially the grouting in the bathroom, the bathroom floor, and all the uvpc window frames we have around the house. I know I said I wasn't gonna buy any more shopping channel related products, but I kept thinking that the rechargeable turbo scrubber might be just the job to get all this done - I succumbed and bought the deluxe model as it has two speeds, plus extra brush heads...after all you wouldn't want to use the same brush in the kitchen that you use to clean the bathroom, even if you wash them thoroughly after use. What sold it to me eventually was the extension pole that comes with it which means I would no longer have to try and fit a ladder in my tiny bathroom to try and clean the high tiles, or be down on my hands and knees trying clean the floor. I do have a steam cleaner and to be fairly honest, they're not as good as they're cracked up to be - I find mine pretty useful on the shiny cupboard doors in the kitchen, and for blasting the venetian blinds..but other than that I find that steam alone (even high pressure steam) isn't enough to get proper dirt off, sometimes you do need a cleaning product. Anyway, I've plugged it in to start the charging process, which unfortunately takes 3 and half hours first time..and I'll let you know how it goes. I actually don't hold up much hope for this product, even though the majority of the reviews say that it's great...I generally find that my opinion falls into the "useless/waste of money category - but I feel I owe it to myself to give it a chance, cause if I can get the place sparkling clean without breaking my back or generally wearing myself ragged after a long week at work it'll be money well spent! I'll be back with the report later...wish me luck!

 

[merryone]

Still waiting for the ruddy thing to reach its full charge so I can set to work...I'm fast running out of enthusiasm, gonna have to start thinking about getting some lunch down my neck, and I definitely won't fancy starting a blitz after eating and clearing up after that. No point in trying to start using it before the light turns green or it possibly won't work properly anyway! Can't remember exactly what time I plugged it in, but still reckon on another hour. In hindsight I should've charged it overnight..but it's yet another gadget I've bought and hidden away from the husband, as he's totally anti gadget, especially as he's seen what crap I've bought in the past and ended up chucking or donating. A steam press was my biggest/most expensive mistake to date..found it more of a hinderance than a help, partly cos it was so heavy and unwieldy and I just didn't get on with it as I found I was ironing in more creases than I was removing, it was fiddly, I kept burning myself too. Then a bit later down the line I bought one of those stand up steam guns with large water tank...it was backbreaking, and seemed to do little more than squirt water everywhere, performance wise it was worse than the steam press, so I did actually send it back for a refund. At least with a home full of clutter n' junk you don't notice the dust and dirt so much! Though having said that there's no way I wanna go back to clutterville...no way!!!

 

[maymorganlondon]

What version? The Lakeland version claims to be newer, with 300 rpm spinning speed. Still a mixed bag of reviews. Hope it falls into the good rather than useless spectrum for you!

 

[merryone]

What version? The Lakeland version claims to be newer, with 300 rpm spinning speed. Still a mixed bag of reviews. Hope it falls into the good rather than useless spectrum for you!

OMG!!!!! It couldn't be more rubbish if it tried. Eventually it charged fully so I set to work, first started on the bathroom wall tiles..noticed that it seemed to be just redistributing the dirt as being a brush it isn't absorbent, so had to go over it with a wet cloth anyway, so I'm thinking...I may as well have just put the cleaner on the cloth and done the whole lot that way. Then the bathroom sink, didn't even touch the stains, again just redistributed the surface soap scum, and again had to wipe away with a cloth...just thinking to myself what a shame...can't send it back cos I don't like it...carried on the with shower screen and hey presto it started cutting out...yay..it's faulty...full refund. Going straight back Monday! What a load of absolute tosh!

 

[maymorganlondon]

OMG!!!!! It couldn't be more rubbish if it tried. Eventually it charged fully so I set to work, first started on the bathroom wall tiles..noticed that it seemed to be just redistributing the dirt as being a brush it isn't absorbent, so had to go over it with a wet cloth anyway, so I'm thinking...I may as well have just put the cleaner on the cloth and done the whole lot that way. Then the bathroom sink, didn't even touch the stains, again just redistributed the surface soap scum, and again had to wipe away with a cloth...just thinking to myself what a shame...can't send it back cos I don't like it...carried on the with shower screen and hey presto it started cutting out...yay..it's faulty...full refund. Going straight back Monday! What a load of absolute tosh!

Wow, that's bad!

 

[merryone]

Wow, that's bad!

It is....I should have guess that a brush cleaner isn't going to be a one stop clean all solution as the nature of brushes means that dirt is simply redistributed or brought to the surface so you can wipe it clean with a cloth or sponge. I bought the turbo scrub deluxe model..so I shudder to think how badly the other ones perform! Might have been slightly better if they included a sponge or cloth head so you could actually finish the job without resorting to the scrubbing, stretching and bending that this thing puports to eliminate! Like I said though, I'm actually mightily relieved that the one I got is faulty..it's supposed to give 75 mins of cleaning on a full battery...I reckon I was at it for about 15..at least now I can get my money back. I've packed it all back up in the box already, filled in the returns label and it's ready to go back. Now I guess I better get the marigolds on, the shaddazzle and the bleach and get the place cleaned properly. Lesson learned you cannot clean your home with a hard bristle brush it doesn't work!!!!

 

[Pick-a-Lily]

A steam press was my biggest/most expensive mistake to date.

Same here. I couldn't even give the wretched thing away, I'm ashamed to say it went to landfill.