my New Year's resolution this year was to declutter my house, but

Thanks...I've done a few of those on airplanes...in fact everybody should on a longer flt to keep from getting a blood clot.
 

I only do housework when I'm in the mood too, and it's not that often. I'll do the basics when needed, vacuuming, bathroom, kitchen floor, etc. I have an open field behind my house, and it gets super dusty all the time, I stopped even thinking about that years ago. The dog tracks in mud from the yard, and when we take him to the park...so I just wait until it dries on the carpet, and vacuum then. All my drawers, cabinets and closets need to be arranged and de-cluttered...but when I do make the effort, the re-clutter is effortless. :p I don't worry too much about cleaning, just won't live in a pig sty, lol. :playful:
 
UGH, I'm not having another garage sale, we had one a few years back and really unloaded a bunch of crap, I mean good stuff. But it was a lot of work and some people want your stuff for next to nothing when you are already selling it for a song!

Oh yeah duh-o, we collected coffee tins and spic tins and other assorted tins, anything that would have had a food item in it. We had well over 100, they were all up on a shelf that went along 2 walls of the kitchen, up high on the wall. Anyway I sold them all in one day at our garage sale, a couple of the right people happened to stop by and one guy was fixing his garage up like an old store type place. So holy smokes, he bought a ton of them. I had coffee tins back from the late 1800's and on up, same with the spices and nut cans. Weird hobby, I know! We used to have fun about 20 years ago haunting flea markets and garage sales for the things.

I don't know about where anybody else lives, but the prices have really gone up on "junk", everybody thinks they are selling an antique treasure.

I have been junking/antiquing since I was a little kid, started with my grandma, so that's over 50 years! and boy howdy I do know my junk and how furniture was made and what's what with all sorts of old stuff. And man, sometimes people really like to try and pass off some junk as something it's not!

Well anyway...now I am just rambling.
 

SeaBreeze said:
I only do housework when I'm in the mood too, and it's not that often. I'll do the basics when needed, vacuuming, bathroom, kitchen floor, etc. I have an open field behind my house, and it gets super dusty all the time, I stopped even thinking about that years ago. The dog tracks in mud from the yard, and when we take him to the park...so I just wait until it dries on the carpet, and vacuum then. All my drawers, cabinets and closets need to be arranged and de-cluttered...but when I do make the effort, the re-clutter is effortless. :p I don't worry too much about cleaning, just won't live in a pig sty, lol. :playful:
Click to expand...

Well since I've been on here all day you can imagine how much I did around the house...who cares right?
I always plan on it for tomorrow, then tomorrow I get on my iPad and before I know it, it's time for bed.
 
Old Hipster said:
UGH, I'm not having another garage sale, we had one a few years back and really unloaded a bunch of crap, I mean good stuff. But it was a lot of work and some people want your stuff for next to nothing when you are already selling it for a song!

Oh yeah duh-o, we collected coffee tins and spic tins and other assorted tins, anything that would have had a food item in it. We had well over 100, they were all up on a shelf that went along 2 walls of the kitchen, up high on the wall. Anyway I sold them all in one day at our garage sale, a couple of the right people happened to stop by and one guy was fixing his garage up like an old store type place. So holy smokes, he bought a ton of them. I had coffee tins back from the late 1800's and on up, same with the spices and nut cans. Weird hobby, I know! We used to have fun about 20 years ago haunting flea markets and garage sales for the things.

I don't know about where anybody else lives, but the prices have really gone up on "junk", everybody thinks they are selling an antique treasure.

I have been junking/antiquing since I was a little kid, started with my grandma, so that's over 50 years! and boy howdy I do know my junk and how furniture was made and what's what with all sorts of old stuff. And man, sometimes people really like to try and pass off some junk as something it's not!

Well anyway...now I am just rambling.
Click to expand...

Ive had garage sales and they are a LOT of work, I agree. We have so many here ...I don't go because I'm trying to get rid of junk not buy more and you are right about what they are asking for their junk,it is ridiculous...forget it!
 
Good luck with the de-cluttering. Best thing for it is to watch Hoarders closely. I started recognizing the 'reasons' they had for getting into that situation and had a real hard rethink about what I owned, and what owned me!

I looked around at all the loaded furniture and sorted in my mind what I had there because I liked it, from what I had because it had sentimental tentacles imbedded in my psyche. aaaaghhhh. Scary!

I was (still am a little) carrying around treasured items from previous generations. Their treasures, not mine. How dumb is that? They haven't come back to collect or dust 'em so why should I still carry them about with me? They're gettin' heavy.

I'm fobbing off as much as I can to 'kind homes' with the younger generation using grand tales of Great Granny and how she treasured something and I know she'd want them to have it. ... let's spread the burden and guilt around eh?... and sometimes it works, but the youngsters are too smart in the main to fall for loading up with other people's junk nowadays. The ones that take them probably whack them on eBay or into an Op shop anyway.

I'm downsizing real soon and trying desperately to take only what I need and a few things I like to look at for decorating. Easier said than done!

Do it while you're still fit enough. Pretend you are moving into a home under half the size of what you're used to. That focus' the attention a treat. I can guarantee it!
 
I agree; in theory.However, I have loads of books; which I re-read, so operate a one in, one out policy; same with clothes.
at least that doesn't add anything!
 
Wish I'd gone that path, if I read one I particularly like it gets filed to read again later, about 20 years later! Also have a lot of craft and reference books that I don't want to part with, siiiiigh.
 
Only problem Di is when you move to a smaller home and think to your self now what will I need and what don`t I need ?
well! I need this and I need that and before you know it nearly everything goes with you hehe ! how to decide is hard !!
I moved from 5 bedroom and 2 story home to a single story 2 bedroom smaller compact home easier to clean .. well it would
be if it didn`t have so much stuff in it.. I really need to declutter but not as a resolution as I`d not keep it.. don`t make any
as too hard to keep them..
 
Vivjen said:
Why is it that I have one drawer for crap, then it spreads....?
Click to expand...

I've always had a "junk drawer", but it has grown into a junk room. No kidding - I have a small room upstairs that has all of the crap in it. A bunch of suitcases (I traveled a lot when I was working). a dresser that was my Grandmothers, you name it. I have boxes and boxes of books that I can't part with because I'll read them all again some day. lol

I have to de-clutter when I'm in the mood to do it and then I can go great guns. I'm like most of us - clean the house to make it presentable but don't look too close. I do find that if I'm angry or upset, I can whip through the house in no time and it gets spotless. My kids used to say that they always knew if I was pi**ed off when they came home from school because the house would be spotless....
 
Funnily enough my kids never said that......
i wouldn't mind so much, but it is a never-ending cycle; fridge, freezer, drawers; I am good at moving things from one place to another though.
 
Do you follow the rule; if you haven't worn anything for a year....get rid of it? I tried it with jumpers last year, and I haven't missed any yet.
 
No, unfortunately.

i have too many clothes because I have a very generous daughter who always takes me shopping but since I don't work, I just don't have the opportunity to wear them...I still have stuff with the tags attached.

In July my family and I went on a wedding cruise for my niece , my daughter bought my whole wardrobe...fancy dresses etc. where will I wear them again??

Ive even thought about joining a church so that I can wear my nicer clothes, lol.
 
That, to me, would be quite an extreme way of using clothes! but, here again, you have brought up the differences between sons and daughters; just before Christmas i bought my 33 year old son two shirts and one pair of trousers, as he had none!
 
The stuff I put out for council cleanups is usually all quite useable, just that it has served it's life with me. What gets me are the people who will knock on my door, asking if they may take it? So many just sneak around in the dead of night, sort through to get what they want, and leave the rest strewn over the footpath.
 
We take ours to the local tip here, where we separate it, so that as little as possible goes to landfill.i doubt wether anybody would want my broken lamp shades, and extinct Christmas lights!
 
We have a big garbage pick up here too twice a year, but it has to be a certain size and I can't chop up some of the big things.

We too have people driving around picking up stuff, nobody has ever rung my bell though .
 
I have been trying for 5 years to declutter, i have sold quite a few things on Gumtree which is a site that's free to advertise on, at the moment i have a large box full ready to take to the Op shop when my injuries allow me to, then i can start on another box or 2 or 3 or 4 OMG it's never ending, i'm sure it breeds in the back room as each time i look in it seems to have multiplied
 
Vivjen said:
Do you follow the rule; if you haven't worn anything for a year....get rid of it? I tried it with jumpers last year, and I haven't missed any yet.
Click to expand...

Yes Vivjen......I do this every 18 months to 2 years.....a couple of things I have missed, well for a minute, then I moved on. :bonvoyage:


It's the best thing to do if you can.....I think the first time is the hardest then you toughen up....:gettowork:
 
Towels, duvet covers, and sheets definitely multiply in the dark. I have to operate a one in, one (or two) out system on them...or else I would suffocate.
 
Diwundrin said:
Good luck with the de-cluttering. Best thing for it is to watch Hoarders closely. I started recognizing the 'reasons' they had for getting into that situation and had a real hard rethink about what I owned, and what owned me!

I looked around at all the loaded furniture and sorted in my mind what I had there because I liked it, from what I had because it had sentimental tentacles imbedded in my psyche. aaaaghhhh. Scary!

I was (still am a little) carrying around treasured items from previous generations. Their treasures, not mine. How dumb is that? They haven't come back to collect or dust 'em so why should I still carry them about with me? They're gettin' heavy.

I'm fobbing off as much as I can to 'kind homes' with the younger generation using grand tales of Great Granny and how she treasured something and I know she'd want them to have it. ... let's spread the burden and guilt around eh?... and sometimes it works, but the youngsters are too smart in the main to fall for loading up with other people's junk nowadays. The ones that take them probably whack them on eBay or into an Op shop anyway.
Click to expand...

Great post, lol......I have a son that loves all the old stuff, his home is the show piece of our ancestors' lives....and so it goes.
 
Well since I joined this forum I havent made any headway at all...it's all of your faults!

Ths place is addicting , had I known that I wouldn't have made any resolutions...oh well it won't be the first time I break them.
 
I must admit.....I haven't done a lot......just about enough to keep things ticking over! Maybe next week..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top