I had some new fence panels fitted this morning. The only access to the back garden is through the garage and the room behind, which is on the list for decorating. It now needs a good clean up, but there is nowhere to move anything to, until the garage is emptied. The garage is already full of stuff and I am waiting for things to be brought down from the loft and study, then all will be collected for a general auction, then I can use the space to clear the back room. Now that there is some space in the study, I can put smaller things in there that I want to keep.
So it is a question of starting with a target and working back from it.
Such a long haul.
I hope my son and grandson can suspend their hostilities enough to come over and help very soon, but that’s another story told elsewhere.
I sorted my handbag collection at the weekend, I don’t actually have that many, but I gave half a dozen to the charity shop. The hardest to get rid of were those I used for my daughter’s weddings. As they married in 2002 and 2006 and I haven’t used them since it really shouldn’t have been so difficult.
But of course I gave myself permission to buy a new one. 🤦♀️
I'm much the same, Graven Image - although I ruthlessly decluttered when I moved back to Scotland, I seem to have acquired an awful lot of Stuff since I got my own place.
Piglet I think I am the opposite of you with hand bags (I've never had one and use a backpack) and shoes (one kind of shoes and one kind of sandals). Unfortunately both manufacturers have decide to delete the styles I wear.
Gosh I hate it when you've found something comfy to wear and it just disappears from stock. I have been wearing some inexpensive linen blend culottes and I have managed to pick up some preloved ones, for which I am thankful. I am always wary of wearing preloved shoes, except where they have been purchased but nor worn. I keep hearing Mum's voice in my ear, that other things can be preloved, but not shoes!
Yesterday’s sort out resulted in Mr Bee discovering a box of family photos he’d forgotten about, and a bag of flower fairies, Barbies and assorted dolly clothes being put aside for the charity shop.
Yesterday tidied up the medicine cupboard at our place. Husband had stolen half a shelf for his batteries which seem to breed and make a mess. They have been relocated and half a box labelled as "to be checked" to see whether flat or not.
At the weekend I scored a cardboard box with lid at the Swedish shop. Husband thought it was unnecessary. Box now labelled as plasters, bandages and dressings and full to the brim!
Sorted out clear plastic containers and they are now labelled colds/hayfever and pain/fever with all the appropriate painkillers and cold/sinusy stuff in them. Other clear box has been labelled with Cheery son's name and all his daily medications are easy to grab out of the cupboard rather than being a mess.
A small cardboard box has been labelled, complementary medicines and all the stuff like probiotics, fish oils and sleepy gummies stored there. I just hope others in the household will keep them in order!!
I even found some of son's mislaid medication which means we won't have to buy any more until mid-year which is very good news!!
Yes, that would be ideal @Huia. Aussie ABC's program The War on Waste had host Craig Reucassel returning a whole heap of blister packs to the companies which manufactured them. Obviously a bit of a stunt but I think he has a charity page for people to contribute to as he continues to pressure for recycling of the blister packs. I dread to think how many gazillion must be used every year planet wide.
Superdrug had a blister pack recycling bin, but AFAIK discontinued it because they were overwhelmed with returned blister packs.
A member of our congregation set up a collection point for blister packs which she took into Superdrug once she had a bagful. I gather lots of people doing the same is what did for the scheme; they were expecting people to drop in one or two in passing, not people arriving with carrier bags!
That's interesting NEQ, perhaps they just completely misunderstood the extent to which people would participate in such a scheme?
Today I've been decluttering paperwork ready for shredding. I've decided to throw out any paperwork pre 2020, bills, statements etc. We still get such things in paper format as the other half does not ever look at these things and if they come to him electronically I'll never see them.
It was a pretty rough job, so another day when I'm looking for something quiet to do, I might do a second cull, ro put things in more accurate chronological order, but for now the stuff that has to go has been pulled and everything else is in the archive folder with this year's folder just needing a few extra empty sleeves inserted to be ready to go!
I did find a bill that's due in 2 weeks so have put that aside to be dealt with. I'm very glad I didn't file it!! It was a bit of a close shave, though!
This morning I am going through a box of sermons written in ink by my late husband’s father and grandfather. They are in batches with rusty paper clips which need to be removed before recycling. As I write, the bin has just been emptied. I have already got piles of paper, journals etc waiting to refill it.
Trying to decide what to do with wine and champagne glasses. I no longer drink, my sons only drink at holiday dinners. So with limited space for storage in my mobile home, I am thinking box them up and put on the top shelf of the closet that I can only reach with a step stool. My late husband's cocktail glasses are off to charity. I have no idea what to do with half-full bottles of other liquors. Seems a shame to just pour them out but I have no drinking friends to give them to. Where I live people are into wine but not booze if they do drink.
Tree Bee that's very good going! Books are the one thing I really struggle with decluttering! I find that I have to wait until I've run out of bookcase space to drive me forward. However, once out of the house I rarely wish them back.
Someone from the auction house is coming on Wednesday to assess the situation, so I am making sure everything that is to go is in the garage or the adjacent room. That has meant emptying three bookcases, rather prematurely, given that we have not yet packed up the books in Mr P’s study.
The house is the most chaotic it has ever been.
I hope your auction house assessment has gone well, @Puzzler. I hate that to make progress, things have to get worse before they get better. It is good though, when it's all done.
Progress here appears to have stalled because a couple of things that I want to get rid of are Santa presents from my childhood. Silly, I know, but once they are gone they are gone. It has helped somewhat to know that Cheery daughter doesn't want them, so I am more leaning towards the decluttering!!
I had been leaning towards selling my baby brooch for scrap, but daughter indicated she wants to keep it and start a family tree of them. That took me totally by surprise as I thought she'd have no interest in having it! Now, I have to find it and hers!
One trick that helps some people when they have to declutter sentimental attachments like Santa gifts is to take a photo of the item. That way you still "have" it (and the memories) even if you declutter it.
That's a great idea @Lamb Chopped , thanks for reminding me. A friend used to do that with her kids' art from school. She took the photo on the day they brought it home and then much later the piece could be quietly disposed of. Having 4 boys they would have been up to their eyes in creations, otherwise!!
I will do the photo with my special dolly and then I'll have that to keep!
I seem to be in a season of replacing numerous small essential items... so far this month that's included a new clothes drying rack, a new shopping trolley, a new toaster, and several charging cables!
New walking boots are next on the list... and the T-shirts are due a cull.
This also means working out either
when a friend is visiting with a car so the growing pile of items for disposal via the tip (sorry, household recycling centre) which needs a booked trip (no just turning up any time and I'm not allowed to turn up on foot) or
when the Mobile Household Recycling is next coming to a street on/near to my walking route to work so I can get up at an even more ungodly hour than I already do in term time to dispose of the stuff there at 7.00 a.m. when they open for business. They've gone by 12.00 noon and it's Monday - Friday only. They never seem to be on my patch out of term time!
Dropping in here to say that I've not made much more progress on my decluttering, still have the pile of things cluttering up the bedroom, that I'll need to move in order to give space for my sister to stay at the weekend. It's not definite that she will stay, but I want to be able to giver her the option.
I hope you are coming to the end of your replacing list @Japes and not too many more expensive items cropped up for you!
I've done a bit of replacing myself over the last month, some new jeans and some shoes as I needed day to day ones that were good enough to wear out with jeans, and the ones I had have been moved on to be gardening shoes, so you can imagine the state of them!!
The garage was duly cleared by the auctioneers, and I have now been able to move other stuff into it out of the house, giving a bit of tidiness, though the hall is still full of crates of books waiting to go, with hundreds more upstairs.
The three bookcases were sold privately, thanks to my daughter who advertised them and then had to deliver them as they wouldn’t fit in the buyer’s car.
I am getting very weary of the long process but have to press on. I am now concentrating on downstairs, tidying and decluttering ordinary household items to make space and to make it easier for a final pack up when the decorator comes in April.
The study will just have to wait. At least I can close the door on it.
Meanwhile Mr Puzzler’s watches come up for auction today.
@Puzzler, I think it gets like that sometimes. When sister and I did the parental home, we could only go at weekends and some weeks we didn't do anything to do with the house. We went into the garden, or to a book sale, or out for a meal. It did help us to keep going, by having a break every so often. It sounds like you are doing well, it's a massive job.
I hope you are coming to the end of your replacing list @Japes and not too many more expensive items cropped up for you!
Thank you, I think I have!
I discovered when I'd got me, and a carefully sorted trolley full of items for recycling, including some metal/plastic bits from church of the kind of stuff thrifty souls who have long gone to glory had kept "just in case" and which had, um, gone rusty or had no label telling us what it was being kept safe for, (though some items were reclaimed by the odd-job people with much rejoicing!), to the Mobile Recycling point that the Recycling Truck was no longer part of that, and only one rubbish truck was there. The chaps running it was as grieved as I was...
So, back it all came, via a day at work, and Plan B will be considered.
Thanks for the encouragement, Cheery Gardener. I must be doing something right, as the estate account is a bit richer from the results of a previous auction, and other items have been sold this week.
It is the unsaleable items which are the headache now, as they certainly cannot go in the bin.
I'm in awe of all you've managed to achieve @Puzzler. As for unsaleable items can you put them on freecycle or a similar site? We have a Facebook page for free items in our town and we've managed to re-house a few things that way.
Today is my Lipreading class and bookshop shift day so I'd better get myself into my coat and off.
All the talk of decluttering has got me thinking. We moved to our current house in 2000. Stuff was put up in the loft which hasn't been touched since. Guess it's time to sort it all out while age, mobility and own transport is still on our side, and not leave it for someone else. If we haven't needed it in 24 years, I don't think we ever will!
Most of the stuff in my loft and garage was brought here when we moved here in 2013. I do not understand why Mr Puzzler felt it necessary to keep it or why he refused to embark on a process of decluttering whilst he could, knowing how hard it would be for me to do. He said he was sure I would go before him, for no good reason. He must have thought he was immortal.
Most of the stuff in my loft and garage was brought here when we moved here in 2013. I do not understand why Mr Puzzler felt it necessary to keep it or why he refused to embark on a process of decluttering whilst he could, knowing how hard it would be for me to do. He said he was sure I would go before him, for no good reason. He must have thought he was immortal.
Women are statistically more likely to live longer than men; this was last pointed out to Mr Nen and me during a conversation with our financial advisor . However, in our case I would say Mr Nen is likely to outlive me as he is very fit and not overweight (neither of which applies to me ).
If I outlive him I will be in a similar position to you @Puzzler as most of the stuff in the house (including a double garage and the loft, not to mention two rented lock-ups ) is his, including the ashes of his late father which, according to the Dust to Dust thread in Purgatory, will have turned to cement by now .
I had an antique chest with an old lock. The key to the lock was not the correct key, but if you played with it you could sometimes make it work. We just stopped locking it. One day our then three-year-old grandchild locked the lock and we could never open it again. We used it as a coffee table and over time I forgot what was in it. 12 years on when I moved I gave my son the chest as he always liked it. He just called to say he had been able to open the lock. He found Christmas decor and board games. He lives miles from me now. I told him to make a trip to a charity shop. Clearly, I did not need or miss these items over the years. He said, "But Mom I remember these from when I was a kid." I wonder how many years they will again sit in the chest before he moves them on.
David's parents, on one trip to visit us in Northern Ireland, brought with them a medium-sized bookshelf's worth of copies of The Organ dating back to the year dot about 1925. Some of them were falling to bits, and David had managed to live without them for the previous 16 years. Could I persuade him that if he'd lived without them for that long, they could be ditched when we next moved? Could I heck.
In fairness, he did read them a lot, but he also left them lying about a lot, which used to drive me crackers.
I came to the decluttering mindset after my parents died. They had lived in their home for 30+ years and as far as I could see had thrown away nothing! I could see they started out with good intentions, I found a garbage bag full of boxes, labelled with the location of the purchased items. Of course over time, they had moved those items to new spots, but never updated the label because that bag was found in a storage area under the house. Out of sight and out of mind. Later they couldn't manage the stairs, so the whole system just didn't work.
When we moved house after 25 years, I tossed heaps. Not to the rubbish, we had skips for that! But to the recycling shop at our local waste disposal. It was a mixture of our things and things I'd brought home from the parental home. As I packed boxes I very happily put things aside to go to new homes. It was the golden opportunity to declutter and I wasn't going to let it pass by. I was fortunate to have the luxury of time to do it and not everyone has that, all our previous moves had been get the stuff in boxes and get to the new location. Phew!
@Darda we have stuff in our ceiling too, I've hung onto some dining chairs as I thought they would be handy for kids moving out of home. However, I've decided that as that is not imminent there is no point keeping them. I'll send them to the local auction house and if my kids need help with furniture when they move out, I'll deal with that when and if it happens.
I really don't want to leave for my kids the situation that my sister and I found myself in. It took us nearly 3 years of weekends to get rid of it all. Food, books and records to charity, two massive garage sales, small keepsakes to the neighbours and sister and I still ended up with tons of stuff. I still have boxes in the wardrobe to go to the auction house and have sold lots of stuff already. Even now, I look around my house and have a pile of stuff ready to go once the visit with sister and aunt are done this weekend. I'm even turning books over, which is something I thought I'd never do, but am finding it easier as it makes space for new books, which I always love!
I think over time I'm coming to the realisation that everything is temporary and our possessions and passions also form part of this and that it is not necessary to hang onto everything to love our families and hang onto the memories. It's a really slow process though.
@Piglet, stuff left around is starting to drive me crazy too! Thank goodness most of it is contained to a couple of rooms and I just close the door and walk away!!
One trick that helps some people when they have to declutter sentimental attachments like Santa gifts is to take a photo of the item. That way you still "have" it (and the memories) even if you declutter it.
I rather think I'd find that worse than just not having it. It would be a constant reminder of the thing I had lost. Mrs C got rid of a couple of my beloved childhood books. She claims she didn't, but the books are no longer here, and she was the one filling a box with children's books and taking it to the charity shop, so the evidence is rather against her. Error, rather than malice, I imagine. I still feel occasional twinges of sadness when I am reminded of their absence. Having a photo of them would seem rather like a taunt.
Even the photos can become a burden, be they real or digital!
I have yet to give any thought to all the CDs, LPs, DVDs and K7s( cassettes tapes) and the equipment needed to play them. And music scores. That is just too big a task for now. About 15 hi-fi items have gone to auction already, even two old reel-to-reel tape recorders ( an Akai and a Tandberg, for enquiring minds) and some to the tip, others to a talented lady who recycles phones and laptops for charitable purposes.
I often have in mind a future for myself in a neat and tidy two- bedroomed flat with what I will have room for. I have also come to realise that I don’t really know for certain what my ‘ style’ is, for want of a better word. I began married life with whatever friends and family donated. Whatever has been bought new has had to fit in with what is there already. Mr Puzzler and I had rather different tastes, so we compromised. Many items have been bought at antique fairs. Looking round the shops and online for a new occasional chair, I don’t like anything I see today.
Comments
So it is a question of starting with a target and working back from it.
Such a long haul.
I hope my son and grandson can suspend their hostilities enough to come over and help very soon, but that’s another story told elsewhere.
But of course I gave myself permission to buy a new one. 🤦♀️
Now I think about it, I amass shoes like Imelda Marcos with shoes ...
Time for some more declutterage, I think.
There's still no shortage of clutter though,
At the weekend I scored a cardboard box with lid at the Swedish shop. Husband thought it was unnecessary. Box now labelled as plasters, bandages and dressings and full to the brim!
Sorted out clear plastic containers and they are now labelled colds/hayfever and pain/fever with all the appropriate painkillers and cold/sinusy stuff in them. Other clear box has been labelled with Cheery son's name and all his daily medications are easy to grab out of the cupboard rather than being a mess.
A small cardboard box has been labelled, complementary medicines and all the stuff like probiotics, fish oils and sleepy gummies stored there. I just hope others in the household will keep them in order!!
I even found some of son's mislaid medication which means we won't have to buy any more until mid-year which is very good news!!
A member of our congregation set up a collection point for blister packs which she took into Superdrug once she had a bagful. I gather lots of people doing the same is what did for the scheme; they were expecting people to drop in one or two in passing, not people arriving with carrier bags!
Today I've been decluttering paperwork ready for shredding. I've decided to throw out any paperwork pre 2020, bills, statements etc. We still get such things in paper format as the other half does not ever look at these things and if they come to him electronically I'll never see them.
It was a pretty rough job, so another day when I'm looking for something quiet to do, I might do a second cull, ro put things in more accurate chronological order, but for now the stuff that has to go has been pulled and everything else is in the archive folder with this year's folder just needing a few extra empty sleeves inserted to be ready to go!
I did find a bill that's due in 2 weeks so have put that aside to be dealt with. I'm very glad I didn't file it!! It was a bit of a close shave, though!
The house is the most chaotic it has ever been.
Progress here appears to have stalled because a couple of things that I want to get rid of are Santa presents from my childhood. Silly, I know, but once they are gone they are gone. It has helped somewhat to know that Cheery daughter doesn't want them, so I am more leaning towards the decluttering!!
I had been leaning towards selling my baby brooch for scrap, but daughter indicated she wants to keep it and start a family tree of them. That took me totally by surprise as I thought she'd have no interest in having it! Now, I have to find it and hers!
I will do the photo with my special dolly and then I'll have that to keep!
New walking boots are next on the list... and the T-shirts are due a cull.
This also means working out either
when a friend is visiting with a car so the growing pile of items for disposal via the tip (sorry, household recycling centre) which needs a booked trip (no just turning up any time and I'm not allowed to turn up on foot) or
when the Mobile Household Recycling is next coming to a street on/near to my walking route to work so I can get up at an even more ungodly hour than I already do in term time to dispose of the stuff there at 7.00 a.m. when they open for business. They've gone by 12.00 noon and it's Monday - Friday only. They never seem to be on my patch out of term time!
I hope you are coming to the end of your replacing list @Japes and not too many more expensive items cropped up for you!
I've done a bit of replacing myself over the last month, some new jeans and some shoes as I needed day to day ones that were good enough to wear out with jeans, and the ones I had have been moved on to be gardening shoes, so you can imagine the state of them!!
The three bookcases were sold privately, thanks to my daughter who advertised them and then had to deliver them as they wouldn’t fit in the buyer’s car.
I am getting very weary of the long process but have to press on. I am now concentrating on downstairs, tidying and decluttering ordinary household items to make space and to make it easier for a final pack up when the decorator comes in April.
The study will just have to wait. At least I can close the door on it.
Meanwhile Mr Puzzler’s watches come up for auction today.
You are doing a grand job @Puzzler 🙂
Thank you, I think I have!
I discovered when I'd got me, and a carefully sorted trolley full of items for recycling, including some metal/plastic bits from church of the kind of stuff thrifty souls who have long gone to glory had kept "just in case" and which had, um, gone rusty or had no label telling us what it was being kept safe for, (though some items were reclaimed by the odd-job people with much rejoicing!), to the Mobile Recycling point that the Recycling Truck was no longer part of that, and only one rubbish truck was there. The chaps running it was as grieved as I was...
So, back it all came, via a day at work, and Plan B will be considered.
It is the unsaleable items which are the headache now, as they certainly cannot go in the bin.
I need to do some sorting myself and find this thread really helpful.
Today is my Lipreading class and bookshop shift day so I'd better get myself into my coat and off.
Oh dear. Mr Boogs says the same 😳
If I outlive him I will be in a similar position to you @Puzzler as most of the stuff in the house (including a double garage and the loft, not to mention two rented lock-ups
In fairness, he did read them a lot, but he also left them lying about a lot, which used to drive me crackers.
I got as far as thinking about it, then my mind imploded.
When we moved house after 25 years, I tossed heaps. Not to the rubbish, we had skips for that! But to the recycling shop at our local waste disposal. It was a mixture of our things and things I'd brought home from the parental home. As I packed boxes I very happily put things aside to go to new homes. It was the golden opportunity to declutter and I wasn't going to let it pass by. I was fortunate to have the luxury of time to do it and not everyone has that, all our previous moves had been get the stuff in boxes and get to the new location. Phew!
@Darda we have stuff in our ceiling too, I've hung onto some dining chairs as I thought they would be handy for kids moving out of home. However, I've decided that as that is not imminent there is no point keeping them. I'll send them to the local auction house and if my kids need help with furniture when they move out, I'll deal with that when and if it happens.
I really don't want to leave for my kids the situation that my sister and I found myself in. It took us nearly 3 years of weekends to get rid of it all. Food, books and records to charity, two massive garage sales, small keepsakes to the neighbours and sister and I still ended up with tons of stuff. I still have boxes in the wardrobe to go to the auction house and have sold lots of stuff already. Even now, I look around my house and have a pile of stuff ready to go once the visit with sister and aunt are done this weekend. I'm even turning books over, which is something I thought I'd never do, but am finding it easier as it makes space for new books, which I always love!
I think over time I'm coming to the realisation that everything is temporary and our possessions and passions also form part of this and that it is not necessary to hang onto everything to love our families and hang onto the memories. It's a really slow process though.
@Piglet, stuff left around is starting to drive me crazy too! Thank goodness most of it is contained to a couple of rooms and I just close the door and walk away!!
I rather think I'd find that worse than just not having it. It would be a constant reminder of the thing I had lost. Mrs C got rid of a couple of my beloved childhood books. She claims she didn't, but the books are no longer here, and she was the one filling a box with children's books and taking it to the charity shop, so the evidence is rather against her. Error, rather than malice, I imagine. I still feel occasional twinges of sadness when I am reminded of their absence. Having a photo of them would seem rather like a taunt.
I have yet to give any thought to all the CDs, LPs, DVDs and K7s( cassettes tapes) and the equipment needed to play them. And music scores. That is just too big a task for now. About 15 hi-fi items have gone to auction already, even two old reel-to-reel tape recorders ( an Akai and a Tandberg, for enquiring minds) and some to the tip, others to a talented lady who recycles phones and laptops for charitable purposes.
I often have in mind a future for myself in a neat and tidy two- bedroomed flat with what I will have room for. I have also come to realise that I don’t really know for certain what my ‘ style’ is, for want of a better word. I began married life with whatever friends and family donated. Whatever has been bought new has had to fit in with what is there already. Mr Puzzler and I had rather different tastes, so we compromised. Many items have been bought at antique fairs. Looking round the shops and online for a new occasional chair, I don’t like anything I see today.