30 bags in 30 days decluttering method

Is anyone watching the Stacey Solomon programme?

I watched that one episode with the young family where the father had ADHD, started projects, didn't finish them and left his stuff everywhere. The mother seemed just overwhelmed, saying she sometimes got home from work, sat in the car and dreaded going in. They found a couple of thousand pounds scattered around the house, either in cash or unwashed cheques! I do hope they can keep up their new way of a tidier life and don't relapse.

Nick Knowles started off with a similar programme, I prefer his presentation style, Stacey is too huggy/kissy.

Tried to get rid of a medium sized item today but we have to await a decision, if not wanted it goes to the charity shop 🙂

That should have been 'chuckout', not checkout!

Welcome to the checkout zone, Patsy It's addictive once you get started.

Is anyone watching the Stacey Solomon programme? She and her team go into houses where people have serious clutter issues and clear the house of everything, putting it all in a warehouse so the owners can see how much of everything they've got - one woman had 443 pairs of shoes! Then they have to pick what to keep and what to get rid of, and the team clean and decorate the house ready for them to come back. It makes such a difference. The last episode featured a young family where the dad had ADHD. The house and his workshop were overrun with clutter, and he was overwhelmed by it all. They sorted it our and labelled drawers and cupboards so that he knew where everything belonged when he tidied up. It made such a difference. My house is nowhere near as bad as the ones on there, but thinning out the 'stuff' creates room to tidy up, and makes the place seem so much calmer.

Oh, I have some old files, Doodledog. There’s no stopping me now!

I’m a late starter, but began my decluttering exercise yesterday and took 3 bags of towels & bed linen to our hospice charity shop. Will carry on, as this really needs to be done.
(Don’t forget if you pay tax you can be a gift aider, and the charity will get 25% more on the goods they sell.)

Someone is coming this afternoon to collect a bag of old files and folders. I was surprised anyone wanted them, as most people have gone paperless.

So that's a bag for today.

Some more gone today, part is just purposeful using up and not replacing in my store cupboard, sugar for marmalade. I unearthed some bits for fermenting so they are now binned, I will never be fermenting kimchi etc again. I suppose all in all, a carrier bag worth

If you're talking to me, maybe, no. One is Georgian an I think the other is older.
Dark wood. The older one has some damage. Traditional H hinges.

They aren’t mid century classic are they? There’s a market for things like that. I’ve got a tv guy coming out on Tuesday. He’s going to sort out my catchup problem, look at all the old tv’s I’ve got and advise me if I need to buy a new tv for the living room. This has needed doing for such a long time and I’m quite excited about it. I don’t really know what size of tv to have in the living room: I don’t like the massive tv’s that people have these days. I think he’s used to doddery old technophobes like me!

I have 2 bow-front corner cupboards I don't know what to do with.
Was hoping one of my "girls" would like them as they were my parents' and they really loved them. I took them down to decorate but don't really want them... 🤔

I can put the jelly in recycling. I might put it in the freezer with the latest chicken carcass and put it out on collection day. Can old dog kibble go in the green bin, too? I used to buy a large bag for economy but she only has it for supper and I read that kibble should be used asap once the bag has been opened and I realised it might be the reason why she gets a bad tum every now and again.

Me: "this wool is brand new, unopened"

Ooh, which shop, where???

(No, you really don't need more wool, Callistemon)

MayBee70

We went through a phase of eating jelly ( I learned how to make trifle). But it has all expired. I wouldn’t usually bother with BB dates but the packaging has deteriorated. How do I dispose of it? Will it go into the compost bin? Or should I just put the whole lot in the bin. I feel so awful sending it to landfill. I’ve also got gelatin that’s expired but I think that’s ok to still use.

Can you soak off the packaging in cold water, put the jelly in the food recycling but I think the packaging would have to go into general waste.

Done nothing today but have offered a large item to someone who might want it; he's coming to look tomorrow. 🙂

SueDonim

I took my shopping trolley round to Oxfam but it wasn't my usual lovely woman today. The person taking delivery of donations:.

Her "have you booked?"
Me: "yes"
Her: "put it there" points to floor
Me: "this wool is brand new, unopened"
Her; "yes put it there, well look later"

I scuttled away but caught sight of my lovely lady and said I'd missed her, explaining that the woman in the back shop was very brusque.
LL thanked me and asked for my gift aid number which I gave
I didn't like to say I was made to feel guilty cluttering the sorting area.
Honestly though do you agree some lessons in customer service are overdue?

I’ve been too busy to do stuff in the house but I have disposed of a vase. Dh accidentally smashed it while we were doing our training exercises! 😩

We went through a phase of eating jelly ( I learned how to make trifle). But it has all expired. I wouldn’t usually bother with BB dates but the packaging has deteriorated. How do I dispose of it? Will it go into the compost bin? Or should I just put the whole lot in the bin. I feel so awful sending it to landfill. I’ve also got gelatin that’s expired but I think that’s ok to still use.

This has been such a help! A little every day. . .I had the brain wave yesterday to just peek into the loft and see if there was just ONE thing so. . . Out went some model planes DH made years ago and are starting to deteriorate. My contribution was some children’s paint pots and two children’s umbrellas. Today I’m returning a jigsaw to the NT book shop-keep on keeping on little by little

A ‘do you want this?’ message is the answer to getting rid of your children’s left behind stuff I’ve found Maybee70. I take a photo, send it to them and they reply with a yes or no. If it’s a yes it goes in a box in the garage (which my daughter takes away when she comes, my son is still at home so he has a unit with all his stuff he will take when he has his own home), if a no, it goes straight to the charity shop. It’s easier for them to make decisions if it’s just one or a couple of items, they won’t want to confront piles of their stuff all in one go.
Both my two are quite unsentimental - it’s often me who wants to keep their things, but I’m resisting, because if they don’t want it I’ve figured it clutters up my house now, and it will be thrown away after I’ve gone anyway.

Not really. It’s my children that need to do it as most of it is their stuff. They’re quite happy for me to throw everything in a skip but when I lost my parents I found great comfort in the few things they left behind and there were things from my childhood that I would have given anything to still have. My partner would happily go through everything with me but I feel that it isn’t his family home or his memories. We don’t live together but alternate between our homes. Throughout the pandemic we were at his house which is why my house has been neglected.

MayBee - Have you got a friend who would be willing to help and encourage you with your efforts? It's much more enjoyable when there are two of you getting stuck in!
Good Luck

It’s the wood that’s covered in poo. And it eats away at the paint. There is a window at the back of the house where they use the glass as target practice though! I have to keep the bins at the front of the front garden or they get covered. It’s really gross. This is the back step. Don’t look if you’re squeamish!

Have a lovely break, Guesswhat!

MayBee, it sounds as though you are making good progress. Getting the outside done up might spur you on to sort out the inside to match. Someone on here mentioned self-cleaning glass a while ago. I don't know how it works, but maybe that is what your painter was talking about. If it's something that stops poo from sticking to the glass it might be worth investigating?

Day 16 - (Yesterday) - A small bag of clothes for the charity shop.

Day 17 - (Today) - Nothing, as I’m on a weekend break away. What a cheek, eh? With all that I have to do in that house of mine! .

I’ll have to do a massive catch-up on Monday.

Have arranged for someone to paint some of the windows in June. He said he could put something on the windows to stop the pigeons but I pointed out that they don’t sit on the windows but roost in the trees and just aim at the windows. Need to phone about replacing the glass in some of them first. Speaking to a tv engineer tomorrow. Got to arrange to have the gutters cleared (another tree problem). If I had my time again I wouldn’t live in a house surrounded by trees. I can’t get to Saturdays repair shop so my electrical items that could be repaired will have to sit in a box for another month.I’m not getting to throw much out…

A small bag of art and craft items for the charity shop, a small bag of recycling put out and most put back in a wardrobe in a spare bedroom.
As DH said - one of your paintings might be worth millions in 100 years time 🖌🎨🖼