De-cluttering

[fossyant]

An open fire takes care of that

Don't even have a fire place in our house......

 

[dan_bo]

Don't even have a fire place in our house......

I do

 

[BearPear]

I could have made this post!!! We have made a commitment to de-clutter and titivate the house this year, starting with the loft. Mr BP was up there passing things down and I was under the ladder telling him that most of it needed to be kept! Then he refused to take it back so the spare room now looks like a scene from How Clean is Your House (without the muck!) All we need is about a dozen cats to make a complete disaster zone!

As for tidying an area by moving stuff to another surface - have you seen the BP family in action, this is us to a tee! Spooky!

 

[Baggy]

Simple: If you haven't touched it or thought about it in the last twelve months then it goes.

Excellent, I can get rid of the hoover

 

[snorri]

Lidl were selling various boxes at good prices so I bought loads of them, about 30 I'd say and I then set about filling them and getting rid of the piles of random junk and disintegrating cardboard boxes. It just happens that lidl have got some more identical boxes in right now, I've just bought some more.

I'm not so sure that your system is a winner LeeW. It sounds a little like that Parkinsons Law thing where you collect only enough rubbish essentials to fill all the available space.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Baggy, I share your pain... just looking around, everywhere there's stuff, not a clear horizontal surface in sight, and a lot of it IS mine that I should really chuck... but I have difficulty parting with stuff, some inesecure sentimentality I guess. I need to get better, it's driving me mad.

 

[HelenD123]

Has anyone here who is a hoarder/untidy/allergic to housework ever succeeded in de-cluttering?

Baggy - unfortunately I suffer from all three. One tip I heard for sorting out clothes was if you haven't worn it in the last 12 months you're unlikely to again, unless it's that outfit you keep for special occasions. When I come across things I don't need any more I put them in a carrier bag ready for the next time I get a charity bag through the door (I get these pretty regularly).

 

[jig-sore]

actually this has reminded me of my great uncle.

he is a serious hoarder of plastic model airplanes and has more than 2000 of them in his loft !!! some are very old and rare and he often duplicates them as well because many have different construction options

he's in his 80's now and still buying, i just hope his house never catches fire !!

 

[Baggy]

Well, it makes me feel better to know we're not alone, anyway!
Thanks for all the suggestions - We've given away loads of stuff via freecycle, charity shops etc, I suppose most of the stuff we have that's problematic are bits and pieces of bike, books, numerous shoes, overshoes, decorating and diy equipment that gets left lying around because the outhouse is a mess etc etc...so should start by sorting out the outhouse so tools etc can go out there.

Rationalising our storage is also a must. Instead of the wardrobe in the living room (too big to fit upstairs, full of panniers/paintings/helmets) we should really find a dresser with shelves for paperwork/books/cds, and more shelves.

At the moment I do know where most things are, but have the same fear as summerdays...and BearPear - we love cats so we're on aslippery slope

 

[Baggy]

but I have difficulty parting with stuff, some inesecure sentimentality I guess. I need to get better, it's driving me mad.

My parents are from the make do and mend era, so have to fight the "it might come in useful" gene. Am also very sentimental about some things.

That deosn't extend as far as the bent chainring I found sandwiched between a stack of paperwork on the kitchen dresser

 

[Arch]

actually this has reminded me of my great uncle.

he is a serious hoarder of plastic model airplanes and has more than 2000 of them in his loft !!! some are very old and rare and he often duplicates them as well because many have different construction options

he's in his 80's now and still buying, i just hope his house never catches fire !!

My grandma had a Cupboard of Soap. It was a freestanding single wardrobe, and it was stacked full of soap. Not fancy soap, but triple packs of Simple and Fairy and so on. Whenever she saw a multi-pack on offer, she bought it. My sister and I used to go up to the top floor and just look at it in amazement. As someone once said, it's a mercy she never got rising damp, there'd have been lather all the way down the road.

When she moved into a smaller house, she made my mother sort through all the clothes she (gran) had collected from charity shops over the years - bags and bags of them - and Gran decided which should go to which charity shop, based on some odd hierarchy she had in her head. Bottom of the heap, for some reason, was the Spastics Society, as it was then. Having capitulated, and bagged stuff up according to 'quality', Mum swore us to secrecy and took it all to the Spastics shop.

 

[Speicher]

I have recently done a lot of tidying up, and sorting things into boxes. I hate throwing anything away. You should not see the utility room which is a recycling area chock full of stuff.

Our recycling now includes most plastics, so that will give me the impetus to start. How long is a piece of string - er look in the box with the blank labels and string and Treasury tags (who remembers Treasury tags )

The local market has a sweetie stall, and she "sells" the large, and empty containers that sweeties arrive in, before being sold. She takes donations to the Air Ambulance in exchange for these very useful boxes - about 8 inches sqaure and 3 inches deep, and see-through.

Over the years I have gained a lot of the contents of elderly relatives houses. Lots of stuff has gone to Freecycle. At one stage, after the builers had been here, I had my own cardboard recyling plant, and bubble wrap reclamation facility. It is amazing how many people want those items.

I think I could set up a fabric shop, definitely a button shop, and if you need a screw (steady on at the back there!) I have now put all the screws in one box and all the bolts and nuts and washers in another box.

There is a lot of clutter, but it is very tidy clutter.

 

[Campfire]

Baggy I have a similar problem. My parents are of the make do and mend culture, and right too, it takes a lot of earning to get things. They always have had things like double glazing, new front doors etc but other things they've made do with.

I'm not quite like that, do like my gadgets etc but do like to collect certain things and books which I don't like to part with.

I'm having a good spell selling some things on Ebay but I really don't know where all the stuff comes from!

 

[Globalti]

3 words...

CAR... BOOT... SALE !

Yes... if you haven't touched it, worn it or used it in the last year Ebay it or take it to a car boot sale. Whatever you haven't sold, take straight to the recycling centre on the way home.

Easy and very therapeutic.

 

[gary r]

Simple: If you haven't touched it or thought about it in the last twelve months then it goes.

I know a good skip hire company.

there goes my principia !!!!