30 bags in 30 days decluttering method

I hope the flood warning came to nothing, MayBee?

Elrel I know what you mean about getting things done being a catalyst for sorting things out. It's a nightmare when it's going on, but at the end it's lovely to have both a calm and organised space and the new look. Carpets in particular force your hand, and it's amazing how much stuff can be in a hallway. We had new flooring put down in ours last year, and the amount of shoes, coats, bags and books that went to charity was amazing!

Patsy70

Oh, dear, did you put it in the recycling bin? 🙄

It was something that was dealt with (I thought) but is now needed ☹

Elrel

I must get all the ‘loose stuff’ out of my living room and hall as I have ordered new carpet. Live alone, no transport, not very active. I need to sort books, toys, ornaments and many piles of paper. Must get the ones I keep upstairs out of the way. Maybe adult grandchild will come and help.
I haven’t read the whole thread but strongly recommend Freegle and Freecycle. I have offered cardboard boxes, glass jars, toys, books, clothes, lamps, sometimes in response to others’ requests. In the past I have received many items myself from a sofa to a toothbrush holder!

I’m terribly aware of being in a house that is a trip hazard. Eg I don’t have a nearby power point in my living room so I have an extension lead which I use to charge up my ipad and it goes across the doorway. I know that it’s an accident waiting to happen eg I had to rush to the phone this afternoon ( flood warning!).

karmalady. It will only be organised chaos I’m afraid in that everything is in boxes eg toys that need batteries checking/removing. Things to take to the tip. Things to take to the repair cafe. But at least a lot of it is in see through labelled containers!

Oh, dear, did you put it in the recycling bin? 🙄

Patsy70

I’m still focussing on upstairs and sorted out my filing cabinet on Friday. Why did I need to keep old car documents, old insurance paperwork etc? I’m also deleting all the emails that have found their way into my mailbox!

I'm trying to sort out old receipts, paperwork etc today but why is it I can't find the one thing I need?

I must get all the ‘loose stuff’ out of my living room and hall as I have ordered new carpet. Live alone, no transport, not very active. I need to sort books, toys, ornaments and many piles of paper. Must get the ones I keep upstairs out of the way. Maybe adult grandchild will come and help.
I haven’t read the whole thread but strongly recommend Freegle and Freecycle. I have offered cardboard boxes, glass jars, toys, books, clothes, lamps, sometimes in response to others’ requests. In the past I have received many items myself from a sofa to a toothbrush holder!

maybee, wd, I love coming back to a tidy clean home

Yes Grammaretto, some things are so heart-wrenchingly difficult to part with. Much easier if AC want things but I think they already have what they want

I have a lovely cream enamelled large heavy roasting tin, had it for 7 years and have never used it. It is in the under-oven drawer, pristine and cream and shiny. I just bit the bullet, photographed it and sent that to a dd, if she wants it well and good and that would stop me dithering

In the meantime, I am making a very big effort to stop myself from buying things. Yes I am another who gets that endorphin rush

I’m going away for a few weeks next weekend and I want the house to be far more organised to come back to than last time. I’ll be working non stop till then. I’m happy with my tidied decorating/paint cupboard and from now on I’m going to be far more careful about storing paint. I just need to work out how to dispose of the paint that can’t be used any more. The yard sale will be soon after I get back so I need to be on top of that too. But I still haven’t started on the loft …

I cleared out the under stairs cupboard in a rather ruthless frame of mind, then had doubts about a few bits and bobs - might I miss them 'in the future' so went to bed feeling less than satisfied with myself . Getting ready to go out the next day I went to find my boots and the sight of that beautifully clean, organized little space has lifted my heart. I cant stop peeping in!

I’m still focussing on upstairs and sorted out my filing cabinet on Friday. Why did I need to keep old car documents, old insurance paperwork etc? I’m also deleting all the emails that have found their way into my mailbox!

I have a bag collection on Wednesday, so need to set out as much as possible by Tuesday night. I'm losing momentum, but am nowhere near getting to the end of the necessary decluttering. I need to read my ADD strategies again, as they really helped when I started doing this. I'm not diagnosed as having ADD, so I feel a bit bad about 'claiming' it, but the strategies do help, and accepting that maybe I do have it is good for my self-esteem, after a lifetime of feeling hopeless at a lot of life skills.

So. I will send 20 minutes stuffing a bag this afternoon, and do at least the same on Monday and Tuesday, which should mean that I've cleared a decent amount of space.

Still well done Karmalady!
You have made a decision. The puzzle board does indeed sound useful.
I don't have a garage to hide things in so have to have clutter in plain sight.
Some is really hard to deal with.

I contacted some colleagues of DH who are planning to come here this week to take away any of his archives that could be useful to them and the organisation.
I suppose it's a good thing so why does it fill me with dread?

I failed bigtime grammaretto. The puzzle board stayed in the hall overnight and my downfall was to admire the workmanship and precision cutting of the parts. I fished its cover out of my bin and made a new space under a bed. It is fine there, another year in which I will see if I ever get around to doing one of my several jigsaws

In process I fished out some big folded cardboard that I was keeping, in case I had to return a big item. That will almost fill my boot today. I kind of feel disappointed that I discovered feelings for my puzzle board

Upside is that I see small spaces appearing in my garage.

Well done Karmalady
I took a shopping trolley to the CS today. It's the place you have to phone first to donate. I always get the crotchety woman who almost shouts at me for coming in but today she saw me, shouted to the manager saying " there's a woman here you know!" That made me chuckle.
They always go through everything you donate. Some of mine had to go straight in the rag bag.
But they loved my leather shoe cleaning kit- hardly used. never will be
Gettin' there as they say in these parts .

Yet another unused, would never be used, item. I have had it long enough but there it stands, a large puzzle board, against the garage wall. It is going and while I am at it, I feel quite capable of finding and packing up, my unwanted pickling equipment. Mission accomplished for this weekend

The final clearance of the house going to be sold was the garage. Grandpa's toolbox was rather sad.
I suggested some things could be left for the next owners but apparently Estate agents say no. I loved finding old quirky things in the garage or attic of a house.
Nowadays they make a walk through video for prospective buyers.

I went through all my paint today. I stupidly put cling film over the top of some tins as the metal tops tend to go rusty and are difficult to remove but it hasn’t worked and a lot of it has dried out. So I need to dispose of it. Thankfully the chalk paint which has gone solid isn’t toxic like some paint so I can put it in the bin. I’ve tidied the garage, although there’s still a lot of rubbish in there.

It has been difficult to find unwanted things lately but I have decided that I need to go through all my preserving equipment. Not yet, it needs to be warmer out as the garage is cold.

I will keep anything to do with jam, jellies, marmalade, bottling, kefir, yoghurt and sourdough, including my collapsible proofer, la cloche and bannetons. I wil be sure to find things to do with pickling and other fermentations, including lids with one way valves and dark jars and they will be duly packed and labelled for the cs

In a way, this thread has made me more forward-thinking. I can see me doing the final downsize in 5-7 years as I would be following my dd who will move when their youngest departs for uni. I am hoping it is back to s wales one day. When that happens I will be 80+ and will then get rid of all the nice useful things that I now have, such as the preserving stuff listed above

Having sold my clay mixer successfully I am now about to sell a couple of potters wheels. I never use them and they get used as shelf space.
I took my car full of waste stuff from DMiL house to the recycle/tip today.
There's more to go before the house is put on the market.
I have quite a CS collection now.

Only managed a small bag of clothes for the charity shop this week. Will focus on the filing cabinet next, and recycle the paper.

That's the trouble. The items just get moved about, and I can never remember where they are.

I'm allowing myself one small basket in the sideboard/cupboard for miscellaneous items. If it gets too full then priorities will be exercised. A friend was telling me about the "container idea". You select your container, it will only hold so much, you cannot overfill it so must exercise judgement on what merits a place. It's worked on the stationery supplies. I do not need two dozen HB pencils, 8 highlighter pens, 3 identical staplers, 2 pots of paper clips etc and why oh why does Mr Rosie keep buying those plastic 'balls' containing a 'ball' of tightly packed rubber bands! We have 3!! How often do I actually need a rubber band? I haven't binned the embarrassingly large collection of various 'sellotape' rolls because they will be used eventually, and there's a huge range of types....... You've probably realised I moved onto another 'area of doom' this evening

That sounds like great progress, MayBee. I've had my son and DIL here for a couple of days, but they've gone now, so I can get back to decluttering. When I was getting a room ready for them I got rid of a surprising amount of 'stuff' for a spare room, which is good. I have filled another Doombag though.

What do you all do with miscellaneous items that you want to have close at hand but not on display? The sort of thing that you know you'll use at least once a day and don't want to get our of an upstairs room each time, or that you don't use often that don't have a home. Foot cream, face oils, a bag of emery boards, pen refills - that sort of thing*. I end up using them, putting them on the coffee table, then needing to tidy up, so grabbing a bag and putting them in there 'to put away later'. When I next need them I can't find them, so either get another one, or have to go through three Doombags to find an emery board.

I have a busy couple of days coming up but am determined to find time to fill some bags with clothes. I've been promising myself that I'll do this for months, but keep procrastinating as I hate doing it so much.

*I'm not talking about anything in particular here, and realise that I could just carry an emery board in my handbag. I couldn't carry all the Doombag things in my handbag at once though, and nor do I want to - I'm talking much more generally.

I got up at 6 this morning to put the cardboard out for recycling. It didn’t fit in the green bin and I couldn’t leave it out in case it rained. I painted a grubby looking wall in the hall and decanted the paint into a jar for future use. I’m amazed that the paint was ok as the tin was less than half full and the hall was painted years and years ago (certainly over ten). Having said that, when I stirred it I punctured a hole in the bottom of the tin which, thankfully, wasn’t on the carpet at the time. I’ve got several jars that I decanted paint into years ago: not sure if they can go into recycling? Someone I know has just had a baby girl. I may ask him if he wants the rocking horse. I’m nowhere near finished and I still have the garage, computer room and loft to go through.