Decluttering

Dear Maybee, how did the washing machine react? I have a nasty suspicion that you need a repair person.
Yesterday we cleared out a very old music system. A Technics.
I have the idea that I could have sold it on Ebay for £300 or so. But couldn't face the hassle.
What I realise is our clutter is the relics of our earlier lives.
Things like lolly pop makers for the grandkids and plaster cast moulds
They're at Uni now.

I don’t want to rain on your parade MayBee, but buying extra ‘stuff’ like you just have is probably one of the reasons you still have so much ‘stuff’.

I still use soap powder, but have a plastic sort of measuring cup which was in one of the boxes years ago.

Or if you have plant feed such as MiracleGo, they have little plastic spoons that you could use for soap powder.

Saves acquiring more ‘stuff’.

I bought some of these from Dunelm Mill last week. The sort of thing I get really excited about. Because I still use soap powder I never know how to get the powder into the soap dispenser without getting it everywhere. I thought I’d get some to keep bird seed and peanuts in as well as I can then just pour it into the bird feeder. The possibilities are endless.

I’ve just put it on with nothing in! I’m always so careful to balance heavy items too. And thought acrylic things didn’t hold much water. I must be the only person in the world that still owns and uses a spin dryer. I feel sorry for the wood lice in the porch. They get under the cupboard that I use to sit on so I can take my shoes off. I don’t understand how a creature that has existed on this planet since the beginning of time so successfully seems to be so suicidal. I always feel sorry for them if I lift a plant pot and they all scatter; I think I must have split up several generations of one family as they scatter in all directions. I’m just going to have a little chat with my washer. It’s a cunning plan but it might just work. It’s a Bosch so do I need to speak in German…I failed my German O level miserably. When I did the oral exam the examiner felt so sorry for me she asked me the questions and then answered them herself.

Maybe be brave, give the machine an easy load to wash, I expect it'll be fine. You did the right thing stopping it straightaway & taking everything out.
I always talk to my washing machine in these situations & tell it how much I need it & "you can do it" but I do know it doesn't make any difference - it is the only machine I talk to although I curse my laptop sometimes.
I have a spidery porch too - it has shoe cupboards but DH won't use them for that reason, his shoes pile up in the hall.
At a standstill with decluttering as I suddenly had the urge to paint hall, stairs landing & that took a while. At least you get to the end with decorating though.

I had a disaster last night. Looked after the grandchildren and fell asleep on the sofa when I got home. Waking up several hours later decided to wash a fleece sofa throw as the dog was at my partners which always gives me a chance to wash any doggy smelling sofa stuff. Now, I’ve washed many throws and thought I’d washed this one before but part way through the wash a horrible banging noise came from the machine. The throw was too heavy once wet. Turned it off. Had to drain it. Removed the throw and a duvet cover and then had to find a way of drying them. Thankfully have a separate spin dryer as back up for any times that I’m without a machine. Still haven’t tried using the machine again but worried that I’ve damaged it. If it needs replacing the garage is too

full of junk to get a new machine into the utility room and the old one out. Spent today cleaning the porch which leaks ( leak goes through asbestos, too) and is always full of spiders and dead wood lice. The container where I keep my walking sticks and poles had two inches of water in the bottom so the leak is getting worse. My house has been cluttered for years but always clean. Now it isn’t clean either which is bad.

My decluttering is still at a standstill.
I had hooks on the wall in Brian (cupboard).
I decided to decant some stuff from bulky boxes, into some of the bags for life, and hang the bags on the hook.

All

All was going swimmingly, then the whole lot fell off - bags, stuff in the bags, and the hooks. (No more nails job, years ago)

It all scattered into the space I'd cleared to enable me to get in the blooming cupboard.

Today we parted with an old music centre and an irrigation system.
Been in the shed for years and they have both gone on Freecycle.
But loads more to do.
But I am getting more ruthless...

I tried on a Seasalt tunic last night that I’ve never worn. I love the fabric ( which is probably why I bought it) but I can’t see me ever wearing it. Along with all the treasures in my house I’ve got beautiful clothes, too, that won’t get worn. I think the time when they would have been worn was during the covid years but I now no longer go to the sort of places that I used to. I can’t bear to part with them, though. And I often find something in my wardrobe that’s decades old and start wearing it again. The jeans I wore yesterday hadn’t been worn for years. Yo yo dieting is an ongoing problem.

Cabbie very amused to see your expression 'it doesn't owe me anything'! It reminded me of a conversation only yesterday with my husband which was actually on the subject of decluttering, talking about how many dressing gowns I own (and I rarely wear any of them, just keep them for holidays and in case of a hospital visit!). I recalled how my lovely late mother-in-law had long ago looked at me wearing the oldest dressing gown in my collection and said with slight disapproval 'Well, that dressing gown doesn't owe you anything'. That would have been sometime in the 1980s! Maybe it's now time to let it go .

I’ve been sorting clothes, a bit, and I can’t believe I have actually managed to decide to get rid of three tops! One is a shirt with frayed cuffs and neck, so it doesn’t owe me anything, another is one I never liked and is tight on the hips, the third is too short and thick.
I did buy a new painting at the weekend though.

MissAdventure good advice from MayBee70... I hope you're doing as you're told! I'm sorry your treatment is so haphazard, you've obviously had a very rough time and you deserve better.

Ah, that's really kind of you to say.
Unfortunately it's an ongoing thing - blows up really huge, bursts open so i get patted on the head by thebreast care team, as they try and tell me it happens.
I wore a colostomy bag on it for 6 months.
Then the minute they can they discharge me from their care until the next time.
And there always is a next time.
I still need to potter a bit or I'll seize up.

You must stop decluttering till your infection has gone. Time to chill out on the sofa and watch box sets. That’s an order! ( I’ll do double to make up for it to stop you feeling guilty…)

I actually caught myself holding three boxes of stuff, trying to bend over and pick up a nail to put in one of the boxes

I had to be really stern with myself to leave it on the floor, put the boxes away, then throw the nail in the bin. .

Oh dear, that's awful for you Miss A, so sorry. Take it gently, the clutter can wait! I'm finding it too hot to do much and am just faffing about with stupid little bits and pieces, kidding myself I'm doing something useful but not making much impression at all. Yesterday just one small bedside lamp went into the charity box... every little helps as they say but I'll be 150 years old before I've finished at this rate.

I've hit a stumbling block with the decluttering at fhe moment.
(My mastectomy wound is obviously infected yet again)
I can still do little bits and bobs, though.

So I shall when I've got some energy.

Toooo hot here today to do anything other than listen to the radio.
Good to send precious things to distant charity shops. Luckily a lot of my things and a lot of really nice things have come from charity shops over the years so I dont feel too bad about decluttering them. The shop has benefited twice. And if distant I won't have to see or think about them ever again...and vow to never ever buy non essential things again.

I very nearly bought a Seasalt shirt in their sale which would have been a mistake as zi have Seasalt shirts already in my wardrobe not often worn. . Hooray I stopped myself.

I now am using the china I love, there is plenty of room in the kitchen cupboard and I also found a few nice thungs which I am using now as well. And if they don't get used regularly they will go in a packing box ready.
I bought a tin of black olives today...but have 3 already in the "pantry". Oh dear. Checked the dates and 2 are already best before today. Hopeless.

MissAdventure

I don't even know where food waste ends up.

our food and possibly garden waste? goes to a recycling plant near Wallingford but the trail ends there -

MayBee70

Made my annual trip to Dunelm Mill yesterday during which I buy lots of things that I think will make me more organised, spend a lot of money then get home and find that I’d bought some of it on last years visit ( eg fizzy things that will make my toilet sparkling clean) and then add everything to the clutter. Had a narrow escape in the garden. Hadn’t realised I’d left a large plastic container under a bench covered by a tarpaulin. It was filled with rainwater ( tarpaulin obviously hadn’t done it’s job) but, thankfully there were no dead rats in it ( mind you that’s probably because it was full right to the top). No idea why I’d left it there. I always put a stick in any buckets or watering cans in the garden so that, if I go away and it rains any mice can climb out.

Had you left your watering can on its side while you went away, a cute little mouse family could have made a cute little mouse house in there, cute little squeaking baby mice, lovely!

HelterSkelter1

Thank you SORES. I bought 10 boxes on Amazon this week. For about 80p each. They are Royal Mail ones and have encouraged me to pack up loads of stuff which I have stacked up in a corner of the hall by the front door ready to go.
I need some more. They are brilliant. Not too big so not too heavy when full.

I made 3 trips to the British Heart Foundation shop with sets of china which they will sensibly price as they are quite collectable.
Am pleased with what I have achieved. Sorted some vinyl and one handbag is ready to go.
Lots more to do, but I have made a start.

o good, ok, you’re welcome

I’m at it today, emptied 3! boxes of STUFF I had completely forgotten I had, musing, why do I keep all this STUFF.

I released two tan leather bags, unused, were a terrible price eighteen! years ago. They were classic (old fashioned) one a designer. I hope someone will love it/them and ponder,
‘how could anyone send anything this good quality to a
Charity Shop?? and so stylish??’
I took them to a posh charity shop in another town in the hope that I wouldn’t ever see them again and feel a pang.

PiscesLady

Loving this thread, I need the inspiration!
MayBee I use this to get rid of fat/oil. Turns it solid and goes out with the rubbish.

Thanks. I didn’t know about this. I’ll get some.

Loving this thread, I need the inspiration!
MayBee I use this to get rid of fat/oil. Turns it solid and goes out with the rubbish.

MayBee

Old vegetable oil can be taken to our local ‘tip’ / recycling centre, but this is no use if you can’t drive there.

I have been decluttering for a while. Books have been going to Cancer centre where son is having chemo. Clothes to charity shop but better ones selling on Vinted. Stuff from the garage/workshop I have been offering free on local FB page. Last night I advertised a Flymo lawn mower in working condition and it was snapped up in less than 20 minutes.