Decluttering Demons!

[Rouge]

Here you can discuss all things to do with decluttering your home!

What is your next or current decluttering mission? What tips do you have to make decluttering less stressful?

Lets get our homes organised!

[Astrolady]

Ebay is a great place to get rid of the "cr@p" when I decluttered our space in the roof alot of it went to ebay and 90% of it sold.

Every once in a while we also get in a small miniskip to clear the sheds, cause we declutter the house and put it in the shed LOL.

Love

[Lucy]

My demon is the kids "stuff"........all of their birthday cards, their little certificates from school, the bits and bobs that I can't part with.

I currently have little piles of such precious tat aroud the house.

I do have a plastic crate for each of then, but stuff never makes it that far........

Some of it I want to keep out ready to scrapbook, but it just lurks, making me feel guilty!

[Astrolady]

Oh Lucy I have a great resource for that........ MUM !!! She has 2 spare rooms so I brought 3 large crates on wheels and when the kids make stuff, I keep the best of it and give it to her PMSL. The daggy stuff I ditch.

Love

[Astrid]

Next decluttering mission = the whole house
I suppose the shed, it needs to be a lot more organised so we can put most of the spare room into it so we can renovate it into Maggie's room.

Just can't sell on ebay, I just need to get the stuff out when I have decided it has to go. If I hang onto it to sell it, it just gets in the way. So off to charity with it all!

Tip: use old green bags in boxes for storage. Great with loose things like cables, power boards etc. Helps keep different items separated, without losing storage space.

[AngelPunks]

My SIL used to get into the habit of a major clean just before the pest guy was to come each year - yes she did this with 4 children + me (they're now DS 29, DD 27, DS 25, DD 23 + I'm 37). She doesn't do that now that the kids aren't at home - ok while her & my brother are in Europe visiting the DS 25 the 23, 25 (+husband) & 29 year old have moved back home.

We've just moved so I've taken it as time to go through things, I did do a "bad" and moved all the boxes that were from Mum's place when we sold it after she died to here unopened - I'm gradually getting ready to open them & sort through them.

[Roryrory]

I have saved all my decluttering targets for my upcoming mat leave - I figure they are all things I can do "sitting down" and will keep me from doing crazy things like trying to wash all the floors in the house in a single day. I plan to declutter:

my kitchen cupboards and excess bowls/cooking gear
the "junk" drawer
my wardrobe
the bathrooms (too many perfumes and creams I am keeping out of guilt but never use)
Flynn's clothing (too many hand-me-downs I am keeping out of guilt)
my craft boxes (too much material/scrapbooking stuff I am keeping out of guilt)

Funny how guilt figures so much in the things we choose to hoard LOL!!

[{sarah}]

My next job is the spare room which will become the new bubba's room. There's lots of just *stuff* in there, plus Zander's old clothes. Though I have gone through the sizes up to 0 & have packed a whole pile into a bag to go to the Salvos already.

[Astrid]

Ok, tackling the shed today. OMG the amount of brewing stuff DH has, he really needs to sort through it, all I can do is consolidate it on one lot of shelves in the shed. Actually the shed would not be too bad if it was not for DH insisting that we hold on to the boxes for the TV etc "just in case" we move. I am sure if we do that removalists these days will have boxes to accomodate flat screen tv's. I have to drag them all out before I can even get to all the other stuff.

So now back to me trying to be ruthless

[Roryrory]

Astrid i so sympathise on the beer brewing and cardboard box hoarding - my DH used to be exactly the same!!!

[widdly]

Oh i REALLY need to wave a magic wand around here to get the house decluttered and organised!

Every now and then i get motivated and start throwing things out and organising cupboards and sorting paperwork into portafiles and im always stuffed by the end of it and think i'll do some more tomorrow, well tomorrow never comes and after a couple of weeks im back to square 1....

I really need an extra room on the house to put all the toys and stuff in and shut the door on it when we have visitors.

our lounge/dining is filled with toys, the kitchen is tiny and Archie constantly pulls everything out of the cupboards and onto the floor.

I reckon in another 12 months Archie wil be happy to go to his room to play during the day so i can get all his toys out of the lounge and keep them in his room (wishful thinking), i cant wait to turn the lounge dining room back into a sophisticated adult space!

Starting to feel motivated again.......lookout house!!!!!

[Astrid]

Finding more and more brewing stuff - it is neverending Half of the stuff is coming back inside, I can't make a decision on it, so I have to wait till DH is back this weekend. Most of it is old computing crap (floppy disks, cover cd's from 10 years ago, odd cables). I would turf the lot, except DH would crack it.

Pity this type of thing cannot be done in 15 minute bursts, but it just takes 15 minutes to open the shed and get to the stuff. I am going to be exhausted by the end of the day.

[Roryrory]

Most of it is old computing crap (floppy disks, cover cd's from 10 years ago, odd cables). I would turf the lot, except DH would crack it.

OMG - were they twins separated at birth?? There are PCs hanging around downstairs that DH won't turf so he can use them to do something with his telescope (pointing it in the right direction automatically or something) and one of the drawers in Flynn's room (that could be used for his clothes grrr!) is full of old computer boards and bits!!

[Astrid]

OMG - were they twins separated at birth?? There are PCs hanging around downstairs that DH won't turf so he can use them to do something with his telescope (pointing it in the right direction automatically or something) and one of the drawers in Flynn's room (that could be used for his clothes grrr!) is full of old computer boards and bits!!

Maybe, especially if he has old scuba diving gear that he refuses to part with, even though he has not been diving in 13 odd years and won't be in the forseable future.

[Roryrory]

That is freaky - DH has scuba gear but its only been about 2 years since he dived!!!!

[Astrid]

Very freaky! Well I made some headway in the shed, the amount of bottles for brewing is just plain ridiculous! Told DH of my progress as I thought he would be happy, but of course not, he wanted me to clear out the spare bedroom. Slight problem with that, unless more space is made in the shed, there is no where to put the stuff from the spare bedroom. My back is beginning to hurt now

[Phteven]

Today I took 6 garbage bags of baby clothes and toys to the st vincent's bin!!!
It was kind of bitter-sweet because I was keeping them just in case I ever needed them again but that's not going to happen so I've got rid of them.
I did keep one shopping bag full of favourites for my grandchildren and also some of the clothes that were once my nephews to gift back to him when he starts afamily (including the outfit he wore home from hospital).

[briggsy's girl]

kitchen pantry done today - and OMG! the amount of space we've ended up with! i'm in such a great frame of mind about decluttering again now that i've seen some results - just have to get DH in the same frame of mind and we can start on the next room!