Getting rid of 'stuff' & 'things'

[Muffy]

im trying to de-clutter my house and get rid of 'stuff'.
I seem to have heaps of 'things' that makes my house look messy as much as I clean and organise it!
Any tips to sort out what to keep and what to throw?
I dont really have the patience to sell things on ebay, once I decide what I want gone I want it gone asap.. Kwim?

Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated

[Rivlas]

I am down sizing and have a box which I am putting in anything I don't want/need. When the box is full it is going to the op shop.
I am not looking in it after I have put something in.
It is taking time as I want to clean each room properly as I go.
If you want to keep things for later then box them and put in the roof.
I have also found doing it the day before the garbage comes. Then it is gone forever

[Amaunet]

I firstly throw anything that a) serves no purpose - such as ornaments, nic nacs etc (dust collectors), b) I haven't used in recent memory, c) is a double up, d) doesn't fit anywhere to be put away (or I can't rearrange space to fit), e) is broken/damaged (i never get around to fixing them) Next, I give everything a place and develop "systems" for keeping things organized (eg sorting baskets in my laundry), labelled tubs for toys, defined spaces for toys etc

I also cull regularly, but I love organizing

[peanutter]

A friend put all her perfectly good things (books, candles, clothes, toys, homewares, art, collectibles, etc) in one part of her house, then invited me and a small number of other friends to come and take anything we liked.

Made some friends very happy, and reduced the number of trips to the op shop!!

Rule of thumb: have you used it in the last 12 months?

Do you have something else which you could use/borrow if in a pinch you really needed it?

[Rowellen]

Some great tips from PPs. My tip would be to be ruthless. Forget about who gave it to you, why you bought it originally, if it serves no purpose now, it's gone. I really struggle with this one so I often put things in a box and put it aside to re-look at later. Have one box for the bin, one for charity, one for ebay if you can be bothered.

I have sold some things on Ebay as I felt they were too good to just throw out or give to strangers but for the most part I have found it's a waste of time. The main things that I have found sold well were big ticket baby items that were pickup only like the bumbo, walker, jolly jumper, nappies (on FB not ebay), hardly worn brand name clothes but other things like cheaper branded clothes often don't sell or aren't worth the effort in listing. After spending 3 hours taking photo's & writing listings for a dozen items, sell maybe 6 or 7 if that, then go & forth to the post office 3 times because people never pay at the same time or arrange pickup with several people meaning I have to be home at particular times for several days because they invariably can't come at the same time, paying ebay & paypal fees, the cash received is definately not worth my time. I've been caught out a couple times on postage as Australia Post seems to have really tightened their rules and increased their prices.

Another tip is not to do it all at once. I like FlyLady's tip - have your bin & giveaway boxes ready, set your timer for 15 minutes and go flat out until the timer goes off. Once a day until the room is done. Or 15 minutes in one room, then 15 minutes in another room and so on if you have more time available.

[Muffy]

Thanks for the tips
Today was bathroom and laundry day - I emptied both of them, cleaned from top to bottom and sorted through everything in there. The kids and I have 2 sheet sets and 2 doona covers each, I put all the hair and body products I havnt used recently together and gave them away and took out all the old towels and donated them to rspca.

Now for the rest of the house! Lol

[~*familyof3*~]

Same as peanutbutter if we havent used it in 12months it goes.....other than xmas tree of course

pls excuse the spelling mistakes on my galaxcy

[Rowellen]

Wow! Well done what a great effort.

[Muffy]

Thanks! Its suprising how much better I feel now when I walk in there!

[LimeSlice]

I just did this due to moving cross country, and reeeeally needing to downsize to save moving costs, so it was ruthless.
I did the first round about a month before moving, one garbage bag for the bin, one for the op shop and one for the buy/sell page. Went nuts for the week and then left it for 2 weeks, and went back and did it all over again. I found that stuff I was doubtful about or could find a sentimental reason to keep, went in round 2. It was much easier the second round to get rid of things knowing I had not used them during that period.
If they can easily be borrowed/replaced/sourced second hand later IF I need them, they went. And straight to the op shop the next day. No mess, no fuss, and whilst I got rid a MASS of things I *could* have sold on ebay or gumtree and made some money, it was soooo much better for my head space to have them gone straight away and out of the house.

I am having the removalists come in the morning with all our stuff, and will be culling again, round 3, while unpacking and I am sure I can get rid of a third of it.

I am a bit of a hoarder, so I need to do this every year or so to get rid of it all.

[Muffy]

Today is kitchen day! Going through all the cupboards and cleaning top to bottom!

[Cherished]

I hate hoarding! As a result I have been ruthless all my life at giving things away or donating to the salvos or just throwing stuff out. This has resulted in regret on several occasions when I've thought later on when I wanted something "why the hell did I throw that away"!!! Now I am a bit more selective since we have our own house and we have space to store things. Doing it this way means that we have the big plastic containers with handles and wheels and we have a label maker so everything is clearly marked and easy to find again and it feels tidy. I also hear you on wanting to get rid of it straight away once you've decided. This is why I rarely give to friends. If it's not good enough for the salvos it's in the bin there and then. This way I can drop it off to the salvos as soon as I have my pile. Mind you I have offered things to friends but I always give them a date by which they need to pick it up, if they haven't collected then it's off to the salvos.

Have fun with the kitchen, I did mine a couple of weeks ago and it's great! I bought loads of containers half price at big W and went through my pantry too.

[Madham]

I can vouch for the kitchen, looked fabulous, very neat and organized minus a few trays/containers returned to there owner

[Muffy]

Haha im glad it actually looked clean! I spent all bloody day in there!
now the back of my cupboard looks bare without the trys

[Beach Mama]

Same as peanutbutter if we havent used it in 12months it goes....

Sorry but peanutbutter made me laugh out loud so loud Dh asked me what was so funny teehee!

I go with ...........

If I ( or someone else in the house doesn't love it - it goes, If we haven't used it in 6 mths it goes, if it isn't useful it goes.

Having everything have it's own place really helps as well as you declutter -speaking of which I might have to tackle the shelving unit in the riding room tomorrow!

[~*familyof3*~]

Lmao sorry peanutter :s i get mixed up when i post from my phone

pls excuse the spelling mistakes on my galaxcy

[jlk]

I've just done my office/sewing room, god I was ruthless, lol