I'm not just talking about putting the washing away and clearing last night's dishes and the sort of everyday stuff. It's the pile of boxes in the corner of the bedroom that have been sitting there for the last 5 years, notes from courses I did years ago, Xmas cards from former pupils, half-finished knitting projects....

Why do I find this so difficult? It's actually really emotionally draining going through all my old stuff. I need to have a chuck-out of a lot of it and while I'm upstairs sorting out all this guff, nothing else is getting done - tea, washing, school project, lesson plans.....

The general level of mess and accumulated junk in my house has reached critical level and I need to do something about it before I go completely insane. C'mon people, let me hear some encouraging remarks from you. MAKE me keep going!

How about just doing 15 mins a day on that corner??? Or try the "throw 5 items out every day (I mean small items, like old Christmas cards etc). It does work....

But well done you - I HATE sorting stuff out, I find it incredibly difficult to throw anything out and avoid it!!

GO SCOOBY! Go SCOOBY



How's that??

I do sympathise. I have always found tidying up a bit traumatic because you feel like you are throwing away so many memories. But if you can let go of things, it feels incredibly liberating when your surfaces are clear, when your cupboards are not full to bursting, etc.


Yep, I've tried that too, and it does work - gradually. Little and often is (like with so many other things) a good way forward.

Perhaps you could try alternating your tasks? One day go through one of your boxes, and the next day do something productive but non-emotionally-draining, such as sorting the working from the non-working biros in the huge pile of the things we all seem to amass (and I STILL can't seem to stop taking the free ones in barclays ).

Several years ago, I read this page on iVillage about getting organised. The DEJUNK thing somehow got me quite excited at the time (perhaps it was the idea of categorising everything - ironically for such a messy person, I just love organising things into boxes). The initial flurry of excitement lasted a few days, and I managed to get quite a bit done before getting fed up with the whole tidying thing. I come back to that technique every now and then, and I still find it helpful.

Good luck, and don't forget to report back!

Thank you so much! I'm in pretty much the same place and really need to bit the bullet now!
- disappears to make a start. Send a search party if you don't hear from me in the next 6months! he he.

I remember reading one of those 'get sorted' pages a while back and thinking what a good idea it sounded ..........

I need exactly the same thing - piles of 'stuff' from years ago, stuff from my parents old home, the childrens' stuff from when they were littler, I need to get rid of so much of it.

Thanks everyone, I've just had a break and come back up and while there is still a mountain to climb, there are bits of the floor visible that I haven't seen in years. Have managed to throw out half a black bag of stuff so far, and have generated 27 boxes of books - I figured they were better off boxed and stacked rather than gathering dust on shelves. I've catalogued them so I know where everything is, in the unlikely event of ever wishing to refer to them again. Have found lots of old school photos - I started making a collection of each year's little passport sized photos when the kids were small - must finish that project - good to see how different/similar they are with each passing year. At least I shall have them all in one place now. Also designated a box for each child for their drawings, letters from school and so on....

I'm promising myself a new cupboard once I've sorted everything, so that it can all be stashed away out of sight instead of sitting in heaps!

It's so refreshing to find that a lot of other people are in the same boat as me!

Last year we had a project, started in the new year, to generally make the house more habitable. Our aim was that when we had visitors on the horizon, it wouldn't generate 3 weeks' worth of hard work before we could allow them over the threshold! Unfortunately my mother scuppered last year's attempts by having health problems in June - these have been very long lasting, necessitating bathroom alterations and stairlift installation.

So here we are at another year. I too have a corner of the bedroom that was tidied out about 5 years ago and really should be given another dose of attention. But I agree that the little and often approach seems to work best and we're embarking on it again this year.

If I get too dispirited, I like to clear something big, but easy so that it's really obvious to me, and the rest of the family that I'm making progress. I have 2 weekdays without teaching so I try to do some clearing on one of those days each week.

Good luck to everyone else in the same situation.

I too am trying to have a clear out of children's clothes and toys and general clutter...

I have trouble remembering that when I moved into this house thirteen years ago, I didn't have enough possessions to fill it and there were empty rooms

It must be that time of year, I'm doing it too. This is the biggest clearout we've ever had I should think, and although it's a bit emotional at times, it's been very energizing and uplifting. We've been weighed down by rooms and cupboards full of things no-one really needs anymore, and sending it to charity shops, freecycle, (and basically anyone who wants it!) has been fabulously freeing. I always feel that a really proper clearout has to involve painting and decorating - you make the mess a lot worse and then suddenly it's all better. Good luck with yours!

I've found the needing to relocate every year is helping me become a bit of a minimalist. Everytime I get tempted to aquire junk, or feel bad about throwing something away I think "this is one less thing to pack in 6 months time" which is a real motivator!

I bought a Kindle, so that I didn't accumulate any more books (this doesn't solve the problem that I already own more books than anything else, but at least it'll stop the issue getting any worse). I'm also looking to get rid of my CD player (the clock has gone, which makes for entertaining listening... and lots of unexpected ritenutos) and computers with one multimedia PC/Mac. I'm waiting to finish saving up before I make the decision as to which.

I do need to tackle all my accumulated craft-stuff at some point... I always think that it'll come in handy for a project, but it does take up a lot of space, and with work slowly taking over my entire life, its being used less and less...

Some-one once told me that "you should clear out your house every 7 or 8 years, pretend you're going to move, so that you chuck out all the old rubbish".

We've been in this house 15 years (longest we've ever been in one house) and we haven't had a good chuck out. 'Nuff said, really.

I have no problem sorting and throwing out stuff - the problem is that my husband's stuff fills the vacuum. Our wardrobe has 6 men's winter coats in - 5 of these were thrown out by other family members and "rescued" by my husband. Same thing in the garage - one bicycle that we own and four others (not all working) that we have mysteriously acquired. It really is disheartening and causes many arguments.

Groans. This is so familiar. I have a throw-out and persuade my husband to get rid of some of his old junk. He lists it on ebay/freecycle etc. A week later he has swapped one load of tat for another batch and then some.... There is definitely an insecurity thing going on, not being able to let stuff go.

We acquire lots of parts with cars we buy and every 3-4 cars we buy we have a massive parts clear out when we no longer own the cars

Still have lots of other junk, however!!

Maybe we should have a declutterers club, along the lines of the Slimmers thread - set ourselves decluttering goals and root for each other along the way...

I have an entire room - used to be study/music room - now full of clutter plus some extra boxes waiting for me to start sorting. I did manage to throw out half my wardrobe while I was on post-op sick leave, which I felt quite proud about. But I must stop moving junk up to my weekend mountain hideaway instead of chucking it out, recycling or donating...

A while ago I found this article in the Guardian on how to conquer clutter. I thought it had an interesting take on why we hoard in modern times.

I'll join that club, Katica! Like others who have posted here I too have to try and de-clutter by numbers; throwing away a certain number of things, putting another number in the charity bag. Working towards a boot fair tends to focus my mind a bit - I feel less attached to some things if I feel I might get money for them But I love the feeling that I get when a good clear-out is over - I definitely feel less cluttered inside, too.

I'm in this boat too. My husband is a hoarder and I am not. Luckily for me we have a shed half the size of the house. Unlucky for me over the last 14 years he has slowly filled it to bursting.

I HATE arguing so no longer say anything to him but just clear my own stuff round his. Our house is fairly tidy but we have 'one room' that is a disaster zone - it should really have a special name To be fair - his stuff is on one side and mine on the other. He is a mountaineer and you wouldn't believe how many rucksacks and boots that entails (plus boxes and boxes of survival gear, stoves, camping equipment etc). But to be fair I have equally as much in the way of art materials in that room, down the back of the sofa, on the windowsills etc.

His mother and my father have been having great clear-outs in the last year and the amount of stuff that has headed our way has been a disaster. I can't bring myself to take the latest lot out of my car so have a huge mirror and a pair of wellies on the back seat - I have absolutely NO idea where to put them.

What I want to know is: I do still have my Uni notes from the mid-nineties. SHOULD I be keeping them? I finished my pg degree in 2010 so I think it's fair enough to keep those but do I REALLY need essays on Shakespeare that I wrote nearly 20 years ago and haven't touched since????

Where DO you draw the line?

I use one of our bedrooms (long since vacated by daughter) and put things for the charity shop in there as I come across things I want to get rid of. When there's enough to fill a charity bag I take it down and start again. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the clutter in the house though.

I threw mine out a couple of years ago - you are an artist, not a writer! And should you ever need any info, I'm sure you know where to find it. Get rid!! I have one textbook left, that was so expensive I can't bring myself to throw it. (and of course can't sell it as it's probably been superceded 10 times by now )

I have always been a massive hoarder, and find it very difficult to throw anything out. These days there are so many other things to do with unwanted items that it's become easier in a way. I'm ok so long as it's going to be reused somehow, but just rubbishing stuff- I can't make myself do it! I remember some years ago finding a shoe box full of used matches (in their boxes!) from when I had a old fashioned gas fire. I was so sure that there was a use for them that I couldn't bring myself to chuck them out, and they had even moved house with me.
(I am now fully recovered , honest)

Used matches, hmmm, that's up there with the hoarding greats. Anyone else care to share their guilty hoarding secrets or interesting discoveries in the mire?!

I can thoroughly recommend virtual de-cluttering. The mailboxes on my computer and phone are pristine - filed in a specific folder if information is needed for a later date, and everything else deleted as soon as it's been read. Just can't seem to do the same with the house though ...

The room of doom

We had one of these when I moved into my fella's flat. Now we've moved into a house it's not so bad but we've only been there for 6 months!!

He's a hoarder, I'm not so should get interesting.................

Lois

My partner is a similar case. I can't cope with it and after years of arguing and blood pressure going sky high I have learnt ot (more or less) ignore it. I confine my living and working space to certain parts of the house and certain shelves in the cupboards and I go sky high only if these are invaded. I came home from school on evening a couple of weeks ago and there wasn't a spare inch of space to put down my bag. Then I did throw a tanturm (and the bag!) and thing improved for about two days!

However, I cannot claim to be totally innocent as I too have a tendency to hoard. However, I think my tendency hovers around the normal line whereas the person who shares my life is a pathological case.
But you can't have it all ways and I am not going to be driven to choosing between a person and the mess they make!

I find pressure always help. When you find out someone is coming over, you have to tidy up. I find that having individuals doing different jobs puts pressure on me to tidy up. I have cleaners at university, but they only clean up if my room is tidy.

I don't have enough storage space in my flat. I have recently been collecting up anything I am unlinely to use/wear etc again so as to create more space.

It was actually quite satisfying!

I am very sentimental and still have all my school books as well as my university essays. I just think about all the hard work that went into them!

...and most of the cr*p in this house is property of my wife anyway....

I have an idea!!


One reason I personally don't throw certain things out is because I'm afraid of reaching my ancient years and having forgotten most of my life. It happens anyway because I have a shocking memory and 99% of the time my husband and friends say "Do you remember...." I have no idea what they're talking about. My memory span is about 5 minutes (which is why I'm an artist and not a lawyer).


SO. I'm proposing to take a photograph of all the jumpers/ornaments/lipsalves/Kinder-egg-toys/birthday cards that I can't bear to throw out and mount them all in an album... one for each month for each year.


GENIUS huh???


Ok, it wouldn't work with books unless you photograph each page (not impossible: I have my writing book from primary school and it's only about 26 pages). But imagine in your nineties opening a box and finding 120 photo albums representing 2012-2022 !!! And about another 6 boxes. If you took 10 photos a day that would be 36500 photos to look at that afternoon

*... goes off to get started.. *

Wonderful idea, lottie...wondering how long it will take to CREATE the albums though...it would take me UNTIL I was 90 to do it!!!