Decluttering support thread
Lothlorien
Glory
in All Saints
Out, damned spot. Rubbish removal ideas.
Comments
Partly I wanted to get some ingredients used up, but we also seem to major in late February birthdays in my workplace and we celebrated them all today. Apart from one who had all day meetings, so we'll finish up the cake tomorrow with celebrating that one.
Yes!
This is exactly my method. 15 minutes a day. I’ve been doing this for five years now - we are not totally sorted, but getting there, for sure.
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Apologies for not coping with the coding.
Huia
Although some books are too tatty to give away, there are many the charity shops will accept, and a lot of outgrown books along with some classic books* that I am going to pass on to one or other of my previous employers to build up their libraries. Two bags gone to the charity shops, another three packed up ready to go.
* Things like Michael Morpurgo's Arthur and a hard back copy of Little Women in good condition.
Seriously, I know that decluttering takes time and doing a bit a day can work wonders. My efforts today will just mainly involve shoving things in boxes and relocating them, but I have begun an earnest attempt to reduce my hoarding tendencies and part with accumulated possessions and... yes, even books (that's how much I love my man!) and am making real progress. It's just that I've accumulated so much over the years that even the huge number of boxes and bags I've filled and relocated to the charity shop/tip/storage facility where I'm assembling boxes of car-bootable stuff seems to have made little visible difference to the environment. It does feel kind of good, though.
I will use this thread to keep the motivation going. Well done to all of you who are doing likewise. It's good to have partners in crime.
8 carrier bags of books went to one of my old jobs a week ago, plus unnumbered bags to the charity shops and even some in the bin. We're still finding clothes that are going out, but we need to replace them if we lose any more. (I replaced a bra and swimming costume and they both managed to pick up with whiff and go out with labels attached.)
As I've mentioned before on this thread, he has copies of organists' journals going back to when Methuselah was in short trousers, and he's adamant that they're essential to his professional study. He chooses to ignore the fact that for at least 15 years, they were in his parents' attic (where I wish they were still).
This week I tackled it again, first sorting into a few categories (e.g., pictures of me, of my sister, my parents, etc.). No bad dreams. the next day I went through the pictures of myself -- not too depressing, because I'm still alive. This coming week I hope to tackle another category or two and hope the bad dreams stay away.
There are a few of my maternal grandparents (at least I think so!), so I'll mail some of them off to my cousin -- there are also some that I think are of his father.
It's a slow, depressing project, but I can't just dump out the whole box. I have no difficulty tossing out duplicates, really bad pictures, and the mysterious ones I can't identify.
Other than my cousin (whom I haven't seen in over 60 years), there's no family to pass them onto. Like me, my cousin has no children, nieces, nephews, etc.
Oooh! I could have written exactly these words. Life with a professional organist and pipe-work enthusiast summed up exactly! The other night he appeared with a box file which he inherited from another organ fiend, deceased. I fixed him with a beady eye and asked if he had left it to anyone in his will, and he has! (But not to me....)
They had so many boxes of St*ff that you could have built fortresses with them - and they moved into a house half as big again!
Mrs. S, looking about for St*ff to be disposed of!
The Smudgelet had said to get rid of anything (it was his room) but I didn't want to take that responsibility so sent him photos of each thing and asked him to confirm in writing! Hmmmm... he is almost as bad as me. Needless to say, only one item on the list found itself in the car boot box.
I just boxed Boogielet’s things up and took it to his place the next time we visited - he wasn’t pleased!
I’m having a go at the dreaded ‘under the sink’ today. How does so much stuff fit in one small cupboard?
(I’m sure I’m the first to use the grey question emoji - do I get a prize?)
This does mean we now have a very nice spare room/study.
I hate to disappoint you, but Bishop's Finger got there first, in a post in TICTH on 30th March. Sorry about that.
I presume G-P is feline...? ;.)
The fact that I was already slave to two other cats didn't disturb her in the least.
But it's given me a bit of motivation and my man is utterly amazed at a) how many books I've agreed to send to the car boot sale / charity shop and b) how little difference it seems to have made! Next room on the agenda is the bedroom. I can do this.
You think that that hasn't already occurred to me? How long have you known me? The problem is, if the bed gets anything else stored underneath it, I'll need to buy a stepladder to get into it!
It doesn't take long to refill a wardrobe, however...
In addition, my hall space is an overcrowded mess. Really time to reorganise and get rid of the seagrass chest AND CONTENTS. Also ancient and overlarge coats and fleeces.
Any chilly sheep out there?