Decluttering

My problem is that I’m obsessed with keeping drawers and cupboards well organised but can’t get to grips with what’s outside of the cupboards.

I need to de clutter, it's the cupboards that are full. My living space is very clear and I don't have alot of ornaments, but anything I don't use I have put away, a case of out of sight out of mind.
I am starting tommorow with a trip to the recycling centre. I then hope to clear one thing a day. I have been thinking this for ages though.

Thanks for the encouragement, I was spurred on to take six books to the community book swap box, and for once I didn’t bring any back! Although six books hasn’t really made much impression on the amount of stuff that needs to go. But onward and upward, maybe this could be the start of something.

Decluttering some yarn. I did three rows of crochet today.

Very interesting to read all this! I started decluttering several years ago... I bought a little notebook and pledged to get rid of one thing a day and I stuck to this for a long time. Trouble was that there were many thousand things to get rid of and I'd be about 200 years old before it was finished...

Art and craft stuff is my big problem. Got loads of embroidery fabric, threads, calligraphy stuff, knitting wool, paper, card, paint, crayons, rubber stamps, wood, it's just endless. We downsized 6 months ago and I disposed of piles of stuff in readiness so how can I possibly still have at least 20 packing cases of crafty stuff? They are all in a small bedroom where, hopefully, I will work on future projects but it needs decorating. It currently has wallpaper featuring dinosaurs which aren't really my cup of tea! So the boxes will all have to be moved out to a downstairs room which at the moment is stuffed with numerous boxes of books plus bedding, linen, surplus curtains etc from our family home. I kept all this in case our move fell through and we stayed there till popping our clogs and needed it for all the beds/guests. In the end only 8 days between exchange of contracts and the move so it all got thrown on the removal vans and I'm still sorting it all out.

And then there's the clothes... ancient stuff that I live in most of the time, posh stuff that rarely sees the light of day, stuff that's too big but I should probably keep 'just in case'!

Off now to find something to chuck... will follow the thread and hope to be inspired by more efficient declutterers!

Good luck valdali..

I amazed myself today and threw out a top. I have so many, I won’t miss it, but I can rarely bring myself to get rid of any.

I've got two floor standing fans in the cupboard, and they take up souch room.
The bases are ideal toe stub, trip hazards.

Chocolatelovinggran

There must be something in the air today, MissA- I've just decluttered one bra. We can sleep tonight knowing it's a job well done..

I've thrown one, and lost one.
The one I've lost has a false boob in it, though.

I’m really enjoying reorganising my kitchen cupboards. If anyone wants me to satellite in and do theirs I’m available…

There must be something in the air today, MissA- I've just decluttered one bra. We can sleep tonight knowing it's a job well done..

Oh don't talk to me about books! We have two six-shelf bookcases in our living room, two in the loft and a little one in our guest room. Full of stuff that we haven't looked at for years. Old reference books/encyclopedias/gardening books (I go online now if I need advice or information on gardening), art books from my Uni days, autobiographies of old sixties pop stars, football books. None of our books are classics apart from a few school prize books. My books take up about two shelves of the 5 bookcases.

I know I wouldn't miss anything that I got rid of, but my OH won't let any of his go and I don't see why I should get rid of all my stuff if he's not willing to. Petty I know but even if I binned the lot it wouldn't make that much difference in the great scheme of things.

Add to that about 15 large crates of old football programmes in the loft - it's a wonder the ceiling doesn't fall in!

Yippee. The old bicycle has gone. I didn't see who took it. But it had 2 very flat perished tyres so it must be someone who will refurbish it. It wasn't rideable. Bit it has gone. We have another similar in the shed, but it is DDs so I must check with her firsr. It is a sort of collectable old Ladies Raleigh, but again not rideable and would need money spent before I could sell it. If it would sell of course.

Calendargirl

But the books are his problem, not yours valdali.

If he hasn’t room to store them, he should either

a) make room
b) get rid of some.
c) put them in storage, (but not with you!)

Otherwise you keep holding on to them until he gets a bigger
home, which could be years away.

Surprising how it focuses the mind, when the responsibility for storage comes to the actual owner of said items,

I might mention it, seeing him this weekend. He will act as though he thought he was doing me a favour leaving his precious books to adorn my home & life - he reads non-fiction & I read novels for preference, although I read a lot of his during Covid. His flat is like an Alladins cave, the older I get the more I like uncluttered surroundings.
I will find a tactful way to broach the subject...

Indefinitely!

Well I don’t need to throw away my coffee percolator because I broke it last night whilst moving things away from the ant invasion. Which is annoying as, even though I rarely drink percolated coffee I do like to have one in the house. I’m rearranging my kitchen. I can’t see what’s in the larder as it’s jam packed so I’m moving things into cupboards. Trouble is I don’t have anywhere to put the stuff I’ve moved out of the cupboards! And when I eventually have my knee done I won’t be able to reach up to the top cupboard shelves but, by then I should have reduced the amount of stuff on them. But what I have moved is now labelled with use by dates. How long after best before dates can baked beans be used? And how do I dispose of them?

There's no stopping me, today.
I've thrown away one bra

Think yourselves lucky. I had about3000 books to get rid of after DH died. I sold a few, gave away a lot to friends and colleagues, took 12 boxes to Oxfam books and the rest to a National Trust bookshop.

I have just been down to the shed of doom. And now an old bicycle is propped against the front wall in the hope it will be taken today by one of our many passers by. It is a busy road.

HelterSkelter1

Fancythat. At least if altogether on a book case in one room they can be boxed up quite quickly when necessary.

i have one big bookcase, 1 small one and 1 small one in attic.

Sorry, four bookcases if you count two long shelves as well

At least they can be contained in a book case.
Or three bookcases and two boxes in the attic

Eeeek!

Fancythat. At least if altogether on a book case in one room they can be boxed up quite quickly when necessary.

I have reduced my books by about half over the last year. And we have an excellent hospice charity book shop in the town so they all went there.
I now am trying to work on the basis that if I get rid of a book and then later down the line want to read it again, I can borrow it from the library which keeps the library busy.

I must attack soon the cupboard with tablecloths and other linens much underused.

Books are a problem

As I said on the other decluttering thread, books were by far my biggest "failure".
I only got rid of 6!

But hey ho.
At least they can be contained in a book case.