More decluttering

I love Freecycle - I cleared out most of my garage through Freecycle. I've also given away lots of unwanted furniture and boxes of bubblewrap, lamps, a chandelier, baskets. I used it to get a mannequin for dressmaking, a shoe rack and a stool.
Got a bit fed up with it when people didn't turn up to collect things or emailed asking for things then disappeared. Now I say if they haven't collected the day they say and I don't hear from them it will go to the next person to ask.

There are about four charity shops near me. One is open but doesn't accept any more donations. The other three just haven't reopened for whatever reason. All the books and DVDs I sold online were originally going to go to the charity shop but they all closed before I had a chance to deliver. I still have four or five bags waiting to go though.

Freecycle is usually the answer to everything. Recently we've given away some old bits of wood, some bags of small stones for a garden project, old plastic drainpipe which someone wanted for a children's project, excess plants from the garden, some large plastic garden pots... you name it... people love something for nothing. I give them my address and then leave the stuff on the front lawn. It only takes seconds to list once you've signed up.

i am still decluttering . my charity excepts most things .sally ann. it does look cleaner ....

If I use cash for clothes I have to get a cab there (6 or 7 pounds)
They usually give me 6 or 7 pounds for my bag of stuff, and I'm left feeling a bit deflated.

Mind you, if I deflated a bit then I might fit into some of the clothes.

I used one of those 'Cash for Clothes' places once, an online one. Spent two weeks sorting clothes until I got the right weight (can't remember the weight but it was a huge bag and very heavy). Checked them all to make sure they were in good condition, even ironed and washed some of them that had been in a cupboard for a long time. Should have been £25 worth. They collected and after three weeks paid me about £7, said the rest were not good enough even though most had hardly been worn.
I think they sell them on, so they only want stuff that people are likely to buy. I'd rather give them to charity to be honest. But even they don't want them at the moment

Also, selling as a large bundle on Ebay would mean the buyer coming to pick up as postage would be too expensive.

Well, you can sell clothes as a 'bundle', which gets them out of the way faster.

I'm in the same situation.
None of my clothing is designer or anything - maybe 2 or 3 pounds an item if I'm lucky.

Have you a "cash for clothes" place near you?

That's one way of shifting bags at a time, but a full black sack would probably pay 6-7 pounds or so. (And they're picky; they examine every item!)

MissA - I think that must be mine

I'm interested to hear about your Ebay adventures because I have masses of unworn clothes in my wardrobe that I would like to sell on, but it doesn't seem worth the effort for £2 a time.

My handbag was a bit too small, so I found one in a charity shop last week.
New one was £4, but I found £2.50 inside it.

Just listed my original one, so hoping I may make a profit.

It's all fun and games now, but I'll be cursing if it sells for £1.50 and I've to go to all the extra work of packing it, etc.

We're slowly decluttering as we know that we will be moving in two or three years when Mr M retires, so I am planning ahead. The house is full of books, DVDs, books and more books. We've sold a few online, made about £150 so far. That will pay for the hard drives we are going to use for storing scanned photos so I can get rid of boxes of photos.

We've also been slowly shredding old paperwork - slowly mainly because we killed the shredder and had to buy a new one.

Mr M isn't very good at letting go of anything he owns. Every now and again I mutter something along the lines of needing to make space for new things we actually want to use, or not wanting to live in the past and it seems to be having some effect. After twenty five years he has finally thrown out an old Sony record deck thing that has only ever been used to collect dust and pile things on.

Possibly, but possibly not, and it's blooming hard work queuing up to get into the post office.

I've decided to take the easiest option for me, which is bin anything unless it's guaranteed to be worth selling. (It goes very much against the grain, though)

MissA that book would probably be worth a fortune on EBay.

I've just thrown out a book called "the modern home herbal", featuring people with tight perms and crimpolene trouser suits. (And that's just the men!)

Our local tip is operating as normal, one or other of my sons have been every day this last week and there's only been one other car each time.
My loft will be totally empty soon.

That’s odd I’ve been twice to our local one with no problem. I realise that’s of no help to you though !! Sorry.

Can you actually get to your local tip?
I have more than one car load of cardboard boxes (which I didn’t flatten initially and now there are too many) but tip “slots” have to be booked on line - one at a time - even although the place is deserted.

We have sorted the house and now need to start on the loft and garage?

We have decided that Monday is a trip to the tip to take from the garage what we can see needs to go then it will be a case of sorting through all the stuff we can’t see!

We have taken two large bags of cuddly toys from the loft that our DD’s aged 30 and 33 didn’t want us to get rid of.They are both coming over next week so can take them home with them or we will get rid of them.

Our plan is to empty the loft as it is getting a bit tricky going up there now????

At the moment I am trying to do one room at a time, it will be easier when the weather cools down, as the bedrooms upstairs are so very hot and the crawl space ( which is our loft) is boiling.
I’m with you Craftyone about giving so much stuff away, anything that my DD can’t sell on eBay will still go to Charity shop, but most can be sold.
Most things I’m holding onto are sentimental and that is taking some time. I’m going to photograph the stuff, if the DDs don’t want it, then it will have to be sold too. I’ll keep the photos as a memento.
Now the weather seems to be on the change it will be the turn of the wardrobes to be sorted, I agree though it does make you feel better to get rid of stuff that is just in boxes.

I think that keeping stuff under the bed is almost like keeping stuff in the loft, except for safer access, it does mean crouching down to get at it and I forget what I have there. I shoved many things under 4 single beds when I moved, out of sight looked tidier. Two of the beds are hypnos hideaway so they have a lot of storage space

I managed to completely empty one space and partially did another. The other under-bed areas will have to remain as they are, while I use stuff up. I am not about to give everything away, I have done my share of that. Lets just say that I have hardly shopped over the last few months, this is nothing new to me. I follow my mum and now I know why after watching Ruth Mott on youtube. It was the post war influence, slowly I am trying to psychologically change

De-cluttering is well under way, I did just one little one yesterday, a ufo (unfinished object) a complicated finely knitted jumper that was hard to assemble and has been in a box for months. I finished it, can wear it and the box is empty now. Small tick, it does add up

I started before lockdown and was doing very well, even getting rid of some furniture.
However, when lockdown started I lost any impetus and acquired a mañana mindset.

The house is quite tidy but we have a lot of cupboards and an attic.

I'm no longer holding onto stuff for people who don't live here
I need to be tougher.

I'm still doing a little bit, here and there.
My PayPal balance is almost £150 now, but it's hard keeping motivated.

All of my books are under the bed.
Why, I'm not sure, as I haven't looked at any of them for years.

I'm going to have to grit my teeth and fling them.

mrsmopp

I’m a terrible hoarder and I keep everything., it’s a good job we have the space! My mum was the complete opposite - if I finished reading a book, out it went!! Her house was always immaculate and mine is a tip!
I haven’t tried selling online yet. Remember when we used to put a postcard in the newsagents window? That usually worked. Must try harder.....

Hopefully you don’t have any children who would have to deal with this when you’ve gone ?!

Well I resisted having a clear out throughout lockdown but this week while it's been much cooler and chucking it down my son and I have been trying to sort the loft. Our loft is quite well organised with different areas for each person stuff. Anyway, first day a car (4x4) load of my stuff went to the tip. Second day a car(4x4) load of general household stuff went to the tip. Today yet again the same car took a full load of my ex's stuff to the tip and I have quite a pile of stuff to go to him for him to decide what to do with it. We're maybe a third of the way through the loft, then we need to start on the garage, a lot of the stuff in there isn't mine so others need to be involved to some degree but I'm no longer holding onto stuff for people who don't live here. It has to be done as I'm converting part of the garage and having a roll up door fitted and they need space to work so there's a time limit on that. I had a massive clear out about 5 years ago so apart from the ex's stuff none of it is that old. I did however find 26 quid in £2 pound coins, no clue who's that was but I'm claiming it as my reward for getting in the loft when I'm disabled and my legs are buggered.

I went past a charity shop on the way to the supermarket today. I had a sigh No more Donations, but people seemed to ignore that and a huge bags of stuff was left outside.