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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: AS: Decluttering support
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To The Pain
Shipmate
# 12235
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
The thought 'it may come in useful one day' is a very strong one! Having watched hoarder programmes a lot, I think it's that thought which is the problem, not emotional attachment.
I definitely identify with this. I have a friend who insists that an active imagination is a curse when it comes to decluttering. There are also things in my life that are destined for a particular project, just as soon as I get around to it. And things that I just know will be perfect for something that past experience tells me will crop up just after I excise the item from my life.
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Now occasionally blogging.
Hire Bell Tents and camping equipment in Scotland
Posts: 1183 | From: The Granite City | Registered: Jan 2007
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
I have this problem too. But it's true -- I can't tell you how many times I've wanted something that I tossed out on an earlier purge, e.g., I finally have a skirt that would go perfectly with that blouse, only to realize that the blouse went to the rummage sale last year, or I'll look for a book which was purged from my shelves a few years back.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
Status update on Project-Move-In:
I've gotten rid of all the moving boxes! (Thanks, Freecycle) Granted, there's now piles of stuff all over the floors, but one thing at at time.
We consolidated the crockery from mine and the housemates' into the "good" stuff which we will use and the "spare" stuff which is being stored on top of the cupboard.
All the major furniture is now where it's going to stay, so finally stuff can be put into the bookshelves.
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
Well done ecumaniac - what a huge task! I hope it soon feels like home.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
I know this will sound wrong to some of you, but one of my decluttering dilemmas has been what to do with books that I've acquired on the death of various relatives. They all look like someone would be delighted with each one, maybe to fill a hole in their collection. But to me, apart from having belonged to people who I loved, they are part of the heirloom thing that Belle Ringer mentioned which really helped me.
Well, yesterday, one way or another, I visited an antique bookshop in a town far from me where the window display included a copy of a book that I have, at a good price. They are interested in my books, so I'll be sending them details soon, and hopefully release those into the hands of people who will really appreciate them.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
I'm sure the books' new owners will be very happy with them. I know I've gotten plenty of enjoyment myself out of 2nd hand/antiquarian bookstore finds.
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Decorating the smallest bedroom, and the consequent de-cluttering, has provoked me into declaring September de-cluttering month. Misjudgements with when it was likely to be sunny meant that we spent two complete days emptying the under-stairs cupboard, and two of the three lofts (the other is almost impossible to get into, thank the Lord, so there was nothing up there).
Well, three car-loads of STUFF have gone to the dump (this is all stuff that you wouldn't or couldn't give away!), an entire garage-full of furniture and linen has gone to a local project, and the garage is STILL full of what you might euphemistically describe as CR*P - mainly belonging to the children, who have both moved out but are not in a position to take it all. They'll be home in a couple of weeks, at which point they either have to bin it or give me a business case as to why it should stay in our loft!
We've been in that house twenty years and there was one box that had survived THREE house moves without being opened. I am feeling very oppressed by all this STUFF and have told my husband we are implementing a 'one in, one out' policy in future. His response was to say, 'so if I buy another book I have to get rid of one of yours then?' ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
My problem is with gifts - I know that once they have given it to me, it's mine to do with as I wish, but it just doesn't help when I look at some hideous decanter that was a wedding present (until the donor dies, at which point all bets seem to be off for some reason - maybe I know then that they won't see it at the jumble sale?) Oh, and pictures - just can't seem to get rid of them, or alternatively to stop buying them *sigh*
Mrs. S - one day the children will be glad I did this now!
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I noticed the other night that one of my favourite skirts was so thin you could see though it in places (especially on the bottom area), so this morning it went down to the clothing bank in the car park with a silk shirt I can't get some grease stains out of and a pair of shoes that have gone beyond repair.
However, on the way back I looked in Oxfam's window, and came back with a Babylon 5 video, three LPs and a couple of CDs, all for £2.
Oh, well.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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snowgoose
Silly goose
# 4394
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Posted
I have huge amounts of beads and beading supplies, and I can never find what I want because my workroom is so cluttered. Another problem is that I make dog and cat blankets and beds for Siamese Rescue and for local animal shelters, and people give me fabric and batting and old blankets and so on for that, so I have piles of that stuff all over the place.
Yet another problem is all the "heirloom" stuff. We have tons of the Gander's parents' things, and he won't let me get rid of any of them until he ascertains that no one else in the family wants them--oh, and we need to wait until they actually see whatever it is before they decide whether they want it or not. I call this the Curator Problem.
I did manage to cull a huge pile of clothes and send them to the thrift store, and now my closet is not nearly so crowded, so that is something.
This house is 3200 square feet of Too Much Clutter, and I am finding it totally overwhelming. God help us when we need to downsize.
Help!!!!
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Lord, what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man? --Terry Pratchett
Save a Siamese!
Posts: 3868 | From: Tidewater Virginia | Registered: Apr 2003
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
I noticed the other night that one of my favourite skirts was so thin you could see though it in places (especially on the bottom area), so this morning it went down to the clothing bank in the car park with a silk shirt I can't get some grease stains out of and a pair of shoes that have gone beyond repair.
Glad you decluttered a bit, but I know that at least around here the clothing banks and thrift shops don't want donations that are stained or worn out. They'll just thrown them in the trash.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
it just doesn't help when I look at some hideous decanter that was a wedding present (until the donor dies, at which point all bets seem to be off for some reason - maybe I know then that they won't see it at the jumble sale?)
What a pity that lovely decanter you gave us for our wedding got broken two house moves ago ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
ecumaniac - sometimes that triggers a necessity to find a replacement "lovely decanter"
Pigwidgeon - the clothing banks in car parks here list on their sides that:
- some goes to thrift stores/charity shops for reuse as clothing,
- some goes to industrial use for fabrics (rags and fibres in recycling)
- some does get binned, but it's a small percentage they quote
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Curiosity killed ... wrote quote:
ecumaniac - sometimes that triggers a necessity to find a replacement "lovely decanter"
They probably wouldn't even remember they'd given it to us (yes, it was that long ago!)
My mother, the Dowager Mrs. S, lives in a house even bigger and more full of cr*p than ours. She's 88 and struggling with a large garden and mentioned to me on the phone last night that she had considered moving. I nearly burst into tears then and there ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif) but recovered in time to tell her not to even think about it.
Tonight's task is 6 box files full of memorabilia from holidays long ago (where's the 'tearing your hair out' smiley when you need him?)
quote:
God help us when we need to downsize
That was the line I used on Mr. S when he balked at tackling the second loft
Mrs. S, looking wildly round the office to see what can be de-cluttered here
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
They probably wouldn't even remember they'd given it to us (yes, it was that long ago!)
It was probably an unwanted gift to them!
(We have a similar decanter - I use it as a vase for single roses, works rather well)
Good luck with your memorabilia boxes. I have 6 too, but am nowhere near tackling them. Still plodding through my study bookshelves.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
quote:
It was probably an unwanted gift to them!
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Thyme
Shipmate
# 12360
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Posted
Mrs S - had to reading how you had to persuade your mother not to move...
I am pottering on getting rid of bits and pieces here and there.
I think that I will have decluttered so many clothes soon that I will be able to get rid of a large wardrobe. That means I can make the space it occupies into a nice sitting area.
quote:
Originally posted by snowgoose:
Yet another problem is all the "heirloom" stuff. We have tons of the Gander's parents' things, and he won't let me get rid of any of them until he ascertains that no one else in the family wants them--oh, and we need to wait until they actually see whatever it is before they decide whether they want it or not. I call this the Curator Problem.
Hmm, Would the Gander be amenable to setting a date by which if they haven't viewed the stuff and made a decision it goes? Can you send them photos so they can decide and then set a deadline for collection? Or is it the Gander who is having trouble releasing the stuff? Tricky when it is someone else's stuff.
I think my next project is making a start on old photos. We have a large quantity predating computers. We never look at them and last time we had to root through them, I doubted if we really want to keep most of them.
Our house is up for sale and I would like to have the house decluttered of everything we don't want to keep and don't have to keep before we move.
[ 04. September 2012, 12:30: Message edited by: Thyme ]
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The Church in its own bubble has become, at best the guardian of the value system of the nation’s grandparents, and at worst a den of religious anoraks defined by defensiveness, esoteric logic and discrimination. Bishop of Buckingham's blog
Posts: 600 | From: Cloud Cuckoo Land | Registered: Feb 2007
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
quote:
I think my next project is making a start on old photos.
Oh photos *sigh*. I emptied a load of stationery out of a four-foot long pine blanket box (ended up taking six lined pads to work, in an interesting reversal of usual practice!) and filled it completely with photographs. Photographs in all manner of albums, loose photos, photos in boxes, photos in folders just as they came from the developers*. I don't think you could squeeze another single print into that box!
*oh, and there are some slides somewhere as well...
However that did free up two whole drawers in the divan base, into which Mr. S could put his excess jumpers, to free up some space in another set of drawers ... am I just playing an endless game of put-and-take?
Well, we still have to go through the photos, but at least the bottoms are not falling out of those drawers any more! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
Mrs. S, rapidly approaching smug
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
Last year, our County Council changed the way they collected household rubbish - previously they would collect old clothing for re-cycling, and I used to put clothes that were not good enough for the charity shop in there to keep it out of landfill. Now they won't take clothes, so I take the really scruffy stuff down to the clothing bank where at least it might be recycled into stuffing for car seats or whatever they do with it.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
It was probably an unwanted gift to them!
I was describing to a friend the Asian tradition of giving money as wedding gifts. He said that he was totally against that idea, and that he would insist on gifting some sort of meaningful/memorable item to me at my wedding.
I replied that was fine, as long as he wouldn't be offended when I put it on eBay/freecycle if it didn't fit inside my cupboards or if I had to move abroad.
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Ecu -
Did the box files last night *phew* and threw out a black bag full of fliers from attractions WE'D NEVER EVEN BEEN TO and had completely forgotten were there.
That freed up a whole shelf to take a multi-coloured kite in the shape of a sailing boat, which moved it from the top of the wardrobe, so there was room for my sewing box (which freed up a bit of floor).
Now the empty box files can go in the Little Back Bedroom to hold old theatre programmes, holiday diaries etc - hooray
Mrs. S, still playing put-and-take
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Ethne Alba
Shipmate
# 5804
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Posted
finding spaces in places i never knew we had
now, how to stop my lovely fella filling those spaces with bits of paper?!
Posts: 3126 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
A Taser might help - but may be thought a little drastic.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Ethne Alba
Shipmate
# 5804
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Posted
all paper left for more then a day is dumped in a box now.
Posts: 3126 | Registered: Apr 2004
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snowgoose
Silly goose
# 4394
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Posted
I have given away 2 large bags of beads and, with the consent of the Gander, 2 sets of dessert plates that were his mother's. There is a chair that is now destined for the thrift store as well.
And more beads will follow, I promise!
Fortunately, I have several beading friends, and my neighborhood craft group can usually find homes for excess crafting materials as well.
It's not a lot, but it is a start!
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Lord, what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man? --Terry Pratchett
Save a Siamese!
Posts: 3868 | From: Tidewater Virginia | Registered: Apr 2003
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
The study is done and dusted
Now to start on the books ..... ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
(I expect this to take a couple of months as I only give half an hour, three days a week to decluttering these days - slow and steady wins the race!!)
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Jenn.
Shipmate
# 5239
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Posted
I spent 2 hours yesterday looking for a piece of paper. I discovered we have more boxes of paperwork and half done filing systems than I thought. Paperwork decluttering is one of the things I hate most, but it definitely needs doing. Pray for me!
Posts: 2282 | From: England | Registered: Nov 2003
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Last w/end finally ran the old mattress, wonky ironing board and various deceased appliances to the dump. So the kitchen cupboard is more or less tidy (Look! 62 rolls of toilet paper!) though there are things at the very back which I think I may leave for the next owners of the house - as I suspect they were left for us.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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To The Pain
Shipmate
# 12235
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Posted
The Box Mountain has been removed from the spare bedroom in order to fit in Lodger 2 and as a result my bedroom and living room are feeling a mite claustrophobic. I just need to summon up the energy and inclination to get through the new piles one box at a time. I also need a new clothing system, as I have much less hanging space than I did before but only slightly fewer clothes.
Lodger 1 has come up with some nifty solutions (she has even less space than I do) and now rolls a lot of her clothes and constructs 'log stacks' on shelves. I think I might wind up cutting down boxes from the move to use as drawers on my shelves and come up with some other solutions.
At least everything was set up in Lodger 2's room when she arrived. She seems to be settling in fine but I would like all of us to be able to use the living room more easily.
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Now occasionally blogging.
Hire Bell Tents and camping equipment in Scotland
Posts: 1183 | From: The Granite City | Registered: Jan 2007
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Panda
Shipmate
# 2951
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Posted
Last month we won in the school raffle a box containing a cut-glass decanter and glasses. There's a sticker saying they were made in Czechoslovakia, so obviously someone's doing some decluttering!
Now what do I do with them? Can't send them back to school - the secretary will recognise it and the original donor might just win it back!
Posts: 1637 | From: North Wales | Registered: Jun 2002
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Panda:
Last month we won in the school raffle a box containing a cut-glass decanter and glasses. There's a sticker saying they were made in Czechoslovakia, so obviously someone's doing some decluttering!
Now what do I do with them? Can't send them back to school - the secretary will recognise it and the original donor might just win it back!
Send it to me! I need a decanter, and haven't got one!
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
quote:
Send it to me! I need a decanter, and haven't got one!
No no no, Ecu (if I may call you that), nobody NEEDS a decanter any more! it's just more STUFF ...
Mrs. S, wishing someone would drop all hers ...
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
I really do!! I've gotten a bunch of fancy red wine which requires "breathing" and I'm not going to drink it all at once, so want a decanter. To be fair, a plain jug would work too, but I don't have a jug either.
So anyone out there with excess decanters, send one to me!!
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ecumaniac:
So anyone out there with excess decanters, send one to me!!
You'll probably end up with a collection ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
By the way - thanks Panda - the school where I volunteer has a fair coming up - must see what I can dump (ahem, donate )
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
The wardrobe cull and loft sort-out mentioned on the Safe from Kidnapping thread has resulted so far in five bags of clothes being taken to charity shops.
There will be more, when I've ironed my way through the 20year old creases that didn't wash out, but some has gone back into the loft until I've dealt with the present old-clothes mountain.
Someone has opened a second-hand/reclamation shed/yard in the village. I'm now wondering if I dare send Mr RoS down there to sell them some of his accumulated junk, or is that just asking for more to be brought home?
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Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
Also - two bags of clothes that didn't survive twenty-odd years in the loft have gone into the recycling bin.
No success so far in persuading Mr RoS to take three old televisions and a clapped out buggy to the tip
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Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
Posts: 3060 | From: Sussex By The Sea | Registered: Jun 2005
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Master S. and the Intrepid Miss S. were home at the weekend, so they were bullied into going through their Stuff. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif) Two more car-loads to the tip; three boxes of books for the Oxfam bookshop; a huge box of clothes for the local clothes bank; three BIG carrier-bags of cuddlies for a Cub fund-raising sale; and a garage-load (like a shed-load but more polite) of stuff to be got rid of on e-bay or Freecycle.
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
And - again linking to the Safe from Kidnapping thread - while searching for somewhere to accommodate bridesmaids' dresses long outgrown (still have to ascertain what is to happen to them eventually, but haven't the heart to pester The Intrpid Miss S. any more just now), I found at least six pairs of trousers that I had got too fat for - and now FIT INTO! Hallelujah! ![[Angel]](graemlins/angel.gif)
Mrs. S, exhausted, but several steps closer to getting her car back into a garage!
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
I found at least six pairs of trousers that I had got too fat for - and now FIT INTO! Hallelujah!
Mrs. S, exhausted, but several steps closer to getting her car back into a garage!
Hoooorah! Well done Mrs S and Roseofsharon too!
Today's decluttering half hour for me will be spent emptying the smallest bookcase on to the setee - once it's empty only cherished and wanted books will be allowed back.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
...and you will have nowhere to sit and read as the settee will be covered with book!
![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
...and you will have nowhere to sit and read as the settee will be covered with book!
Ahhhh but ... we have two setees and Mr Boog is a floor sitter!
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
once it's empty only cherished and wanted books will be allowed back.
The vast majority of my (fairly vast) collection of books are cherished and wanted ones. I've been known to discard books and then miss them so much I buy them again.
My decluttering here will have to go on hold for a while as we gear up to clearing my mum's house...
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Nenya wrote ...
quote:
My decluttering here will have to go on hold for a while as we gear up to clearing my mum's house...
I know just how you feel - we'd just embarked on ours and the garage was full wall-to-wall with Stuff when I rang the Dowager Mrs. S, who has lived in the same capacious Sixties house ever since it was built. She started to say something about moving house, but I cut her off with a brisk 'Don't even think about it'.
It is agreed between us that she won't try but will leave it all to me and a skip or several once she has Passed Beyond The Veil. (She is 88, after all, and every time she tries to clear a cupboard or a book shelf, she just ends up putting it all back where it was).
Mrs. S, praying heartfelt prayers for her mother's continued healthy existence
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Thyme
Shipmate
# 12360
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Posted
quote:
by Nenya: I've been known to discard books and then miss them so much I buy them again.
My decluttering here will have to go on hold for a while as we gear up to clearing my mum's house...
I've done the buying books again thing as well Nenya. Sometimes by accident.
Good luck with clearing your mum's house. It's a very emotionally draining process.
[ 19. September 2012, 09:05: Message edited by: Thyme ]
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The Church in its own bubble has become, at best the guardian of the value system of the nation’s grandparents, and at worst a den of religious anoraks defined by defensiveness, esoteric logic and discrimination. Bishop of Buckingham's blog
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Beethoven
Ship's deaf genius
# 114
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Posted
Well, I've made a bit of progress too this summer. A couple of horribly shouty painful days were spent getting Ops 1 & 2 to tidy their rooms properly, but a good amount of stuff was removed - some to the bin, some in a crate awaiting transport to a charity shop. Since then, they've both managed to keep both rooms reasonably tidy - and both believe me absolutely when I say 'if x isn't picked up in the next 30 seconds/1 minute/by the time I..., I'll throw it in the bin'. Harsh, maybe, but it's keeping on top of the girl-related clutter around the house.
And one day a few weeks back, Mr B casually said, 'can you tidy the landing this afternoon'. Four hours of intensive work later, I had it done. It's a combined landing/library(!)/study area about a metre wide and 4 metres long, but was where all the clutter we couldn't face dealing with got dumped. It's amazing how much bigger it seems now, and how easy it is to get to my computer!
Inside our end wardrobe is another matter altogether. That's a hidden-away bit for storing clutter, so it's pretty full now. I need to sort out my wardrobe, and make proper use of the storage racks at the back so that we can actually see what's there and get at things, but that's definitely a project for a day when I feel a bit brave!
Well done to all who've made progress recently...
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Who wants to be a rock anyway?
toujours gai!
Posts: 1309 | From: Here (and occasionally there) | Registered: May 2001
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Thyme
Shipmate
# 12360
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Posted
That sounds like hard work. Especially the shouting.
I have made a start on the shoes. Donated two pairs. It's not so much the shoes that is so upsetting, more the fact that I have to acknowledge that my killer heels days are over.
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The Church in its own bubble has become, at best the guardian of the value system of the nation’s grandparents, and at worst a den of religious anoraks defined by defensiveness, esoteric logic and discrimination. Bishop of Buckingham's blog
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Thyme
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# 12360
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Posted
A pile of knitting magazines in the recycling bin. I've taken out the bits worth keeping. Possibly these bits in their turn will be decluttered many years hence. For now I prefer the illusion that I will actually knit some of these things.
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The Church in its own bubble has become, at best the guardian of the value system of the nation’s grandparents, and at worst a den of religious anoraks defined by defensiveness, esoteric logic and discrimination. Bishop of Buckingham's blog
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Roseofsharon
Shipmate
# 9657
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Posted
Thinking guiltily of the tattered 'vintage' patterns I have secreted away (knitting and dressmaking).
I don't have any expectation of ever making anything from them, but I love looking at the fashions of yesteryear. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
But, another bagful of old clothes went to the charity shop this w/e
[ 24. September 2012, 13:58: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
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Talk about books -any books- on our rejuvenatedforum http://www.bookgrouponline.com/index.php?
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The Kat in the Hat
Shipmate
# 2557
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Posted
New windows was the incentive to clear out my office. I decided it was time to get rid of all the old teaching resources I had kept.
I now have 20 empty A4 files (waiting to be filled with the stuff I couldn't find) & a life time supply of plastic punched pockets.
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Less is more ...
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Little Miss Methodist
Ship's Diplomat
# 1000
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Posted
Way back in January I posted that I had decluttering goals for 2012. They were:
- Tidy and clear out / rearrange all kitchen cupboards.
- Make better use of the storage in the dining room.
- Declutter the Junk Cupboard
- Clean up the Balcony.
As of yesterday I can happily report that I have cleared out and rearranged all the kitchen cupboards!
I got rid of some mugs I didn't *love*, a mountain of carrier bags, and created a cupboard specifically for baking stuff, as well as freeing up an extra shelf in my larder cupboard.
I am very happy with the way my kitchen works now and just need to get used to looking in different cupboards for things!
I've done some work on the dining room but not lads - the storage is definitely better but could still be improved. I've done nothing at all with the balcony or the dreaded cupboard.
What I have done is rearranged my bedroom so that the wardrobes are on a different wall. It makes the room look loads bigger (why didn't I arrange it this way 6 years ago when I moved in?) and means that I can fit a bed side table on either side of the bed! I used to be able to with my old bed but it was only a small double - the current bed is a full sized double and there wasn't quite enough room for both bed side tables so one of them sat in front of the wardrobe I didn't use as much (store coats I hardly wear etc) rather than by the bed. Now they fit either side of the bed like they are supposed to and the room looks great.
In fact, the room looks so good that it inspired me to get on with something that i've been meaning to do for ages and I hung some pictures up in the room so now it looks transformed.
It's not strictly speaking decluttering (though I did get rid of some clothes that I hadn't even realised I still had because they had been lurking in the back of the wardrobe for so long), but the newly arranged room somehow feels less cluttered with furniture even though there is the same amount in there, so i'm counting it anyway!
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Tell me where you learned the magic,
The spell you used the day you made me fall....
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Eleanor Jane
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# 13102
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Posted
Encouraging to hear of everyone's progress, well done all!
I had a bit of a blat over the weekend - got some more drawer organisers (I love these things, you can fit so much more in!) for my clothes and some little stacky shelves for the pantry so now we have nearly double the pantry space! We had very deep shelves which aren't much use for storing cans, packets of pasta etc so now we've got two layers in the same shelf.
As it's been so cold, I did a bit of a winter clothes to summer clothes swap and managed to throw out and charity shop a couple of small bags of stuff. Need to get around to actually taking them to the charity shop, but we'll get there, I hope.
I'm quietly revelling in the organisation. I do find it helps an otherwise extremely busy life to feel that things are a bit more under control at home. You too?
Cheers,
Eleanorjane
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The Intrepid Mrs S
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# 17002
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Posted
Eleanorjane wrote
quote:
I'm quietly revelling in the organisation. I do find it helps an otherwise extremely busy life to feel that things are a bit more under control at home. You too?
Oh absolutely! I really don't know how people function at all when every surface is covered with Stuff, and there are things at the side of every step of the staircase, and clothes all over the floor... last Lent I persuaded a friend that, rather than giving up chocolate or whatever, she should hang up her work clothes when she came in, put away her shoes, put the dirty washing straight into the bin and so on. She's still doing it and reckons it's transformed the upstairs of her house (downstairs is still a bit of a tip, but one step at a time ...)
In other news, here at Intrepid Towers we got rid of a HUGE box of clothes, a small trolley, a stool, three bags of cuddly toys, three boxes of books - and with some judicious reshuffling of what's left, I can now get the car back in the garage! Hooray! These colder mornings I was getting bored with demisting the windows before I could go to w*rk.
I allso de-cluttered my jewellery boxes and a drawer of bits and pieces (where's the smiley for 'smug'?)
Mrs. S, dusting off her hands
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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