Decluttering?

We had to move house last year, so took advantage of the opportunity to have a thorough cull on the way. We went to the dump every Sunday for two months in the same way other people go to church, and our nearest charity shop (helpfully open on Sundays!) stopped letting us donate stuff after a while. Extremely few regrets tbh. I disposed of a dress that had a hole in it then spotted someone else wearing the same one out in public a few months later and felt a pang for mine, but then I've not gone on eBay or anything to see if it's available for repurchase, so I clearly can't actually be that bothered.

I still haven't gone through all my theatre programmes fom years gone by though. It should be an easy enough job, I've got some good storage boxes that are full of leaflets and things that can absolutely be chucked out, and then the best programmes that I definitely want to keep should fit in them neatly, but I'm still working through culling books so it'll be a few months more before I'm ready to tackle *that* job!

|Yes this has provided us with motivation. Have helped clear two houses last year, don't want to leave THAT for our daughter.

I honestly thought this thread was going to be about Marie Kondo when I saw the subject, I was all ready to come in swinging with a "she isn't saying you have to get rid of all your books, stop misrepresenting her!". 

Can you pay someone to do it for you?
I've got so much tatt but just can't be motovated to do it myself.
Love the idea of scanning the photos etc.
I even bought a USB turntable 2 years to convert my vinyl and so far I have done Shirley McLaine live and Earth Wind and Fire. So I've worked out.if.I do an average of 1 a year I will.finish when I'm 123 years old

You can get people to come round and help you but it costs. If you take it steadily, then you should be able to declutter yourself. Marie Kondo recommends an extreme method like putting all your clothes on the bed, all of them and going through each item but this is scary. Other methods have different approaches. Just take shirts or trousers say or shoes and don’t try to do it all at once. Of course, clothes are easy compared to what Kondo calls All the rest of your stuff!

We downsized four years ago and used the charity shop collection service. Most of them do this now and our hospice also has a furniture shop so you can get rid of big stuff too. But we also find that freecylce is brilliant. People have to collect and take item as it is. This is good for electricals because charity shops don’t take them. So old CD players, even broken printers. Your rubbish is someone else's treasure! We managed to get rid of roof tiles through freecycle And of course you can get something yourself from it.

We are still decluttering. Recently had a boost after reading a declutter book and then watching the Kondo progs which are really another kind of human drama programme. She is a therapist. But I do feel unburdened and smug. You should see my underwear drawers! Yeah, and the programmes actually kickstarted OH and daughter into a good sort out of clothes and papers.
So,I would say that decluttering is good for you on the whole but can be stressful so start small, just one corner of a room or one kind of item at a time if you feel stressed. And maybe watch the Kondo progs, if only to marvel at her commercial success.

I highly recommend it. We gathered tat for years until we needed our roof replaced last so needed the attic emptied. We're also of an age where we are more aware of the time left.

I think "And you’re only allowed to keep things that ‘spark joy" is a great motto. The great thing has been that the things we genuinely love are now easily accessible instead of hiding amongst a pile of tat.

We've used various approaches:

1/ music, DVDs etc are now digitised and we have Spotify plus a couple of Alexas. Ditto with books although we have plenty of vintage and non-fiction left. I've kept some vinyl and 78s as well 'cos I love setting them up and playing them.

2/ We got a skip for the roof and a large pile of stuff went into it.

3/ We've used charity shops to get rid of the tat that still has some life in it but wasn't worth selling.

4/ I used Ziffit to get rid of books and DVDs that had some value. It was so easy to do with a smart phone.

5/ We had a garden sale for the tat with a small value. Great fun - so much so I'm planning on arranging for the whole street to do one in the spring.

6/ I have a pile of vintage stuff that will either go on eBay or to the Classic Car Boot fair that's held at King's Cross regularly (Because we have a 1966 Morris Traveller). Again the Boot Fair is great fun and a chance for celeb spotting - Michael Barrymore bought a pair of 1930s swimming trunks from me.

I’m a regular de-clutterer. I also sorted most of my childhood stuff when Mum had the loft insulated and honestly haven’t missed anything I threw out (got a bit on eBay for a few 80s toys as well)

I currently have one “Cupboard of doom” which contains theatre programmes, a few boxes of sentimental crap like cards and whatnot and various things like ornaments that were gifts or souvenirs I don’t want to throw out but have nowhere to put currently.

The books thing, I have a morbid fear of turning into a crazy book lady after experiencing my friend’s parents house that ...well anyone who has been to The Strand in New York? It’s like if that went feral. But in all seriousness, I only keep about 20% of the books I read anymore, because I know very few I’ll revisit, and I like to think of giving them to charity shops or friends as setting them free for others to enjoy and do the same...And anyway it’s just paper and glue.

On that note the same friend as above got really angry (to the point she rang them up) that BHF put a sticker on their books suggesting people return them to the charity shop when they were read...

And I agree. I keep a handful of novels that I do re-read, and a variety of “coffee table” books. And in my case books for work (either teaching or research) but run of the mill novels and non fiction are a revolving door.

I saw something on tv the other day with this mad woman getting people to talk to their clothes and folding t shirts and then store them standing up. Is this who is being referred to?

Do we need photos? I reckon my 'decluttered' might still be someone else's idea of cluttered. Istill have stuff, just a lot less stuff than I used to have.

Hahaha! That's me.

Also, kind of ironically when doing book culls, I've started reading some of the books I'm meant to be clearing out because I've never read them, and start thinking "This is quite good isn't it."


I hope you spoke kindly to them and apologised first.

I've been thinking about this on and off today and I've realised that I haven't really decluttered - all I've done is move things onto electronic storage - scanned photos, DVDs, music. And I've now got MORE magazines as I've downloaded scanned versions of out of copyright fashion mags from the 20th Century as well as old comics. It just doesn't take up much space any more.