Tuesday 30 June 2015

Rubbish?

At the beginning of the year, I boldly stated that we would attempt to get rid of 1000 items from our house, either by donating, selling or throwing away (after recycling!).

We hardly did anything at the beginning of the year:

January = 36
February = 10
March = 3
April = 0
May = 0
June = 119

As you can see, April and May were desert months where other things were happening, family needs, bad backs etc. You just cannot move in an attic with a bad back!

However, most of June DB brought things down from the attic, for us both to decide on what to do with them. Just when he got started his back became painful again. Thank goodness for Chiropractic treatment yesterday!

I am being particularly brave in getting rid of most craft items as well as all the items from my BA and MA courses that we just don't want. Where they can be recycled they will be, sold if they can be, after that - binned!

We are not going to reach 1000 by the end of the year but if we get even 1/3rd or 1/2 of that figure, it will be good. Less stuff is always good:)


7 comments:

  1. I sold my BA books almost straight away through the student union. As a mature student I think I felt a younger student would benefit from them rather than a box in the loft. There is something quite therapeutic about having a good clean clear out.

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    1. I sold half mine on Amazon before they changed all their rules. The rest I gave to our local library. Couldn't sell them through the union or library as they were overwhelmed by them. I love having a good clear out and hope we can be rid of more and more stuff.

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  2. I've decluttered 835+ items so far this year, most of them either donated to the charity shop or sold; very little has gone in the bin, though I feel certain that will change once we tackle the hidden area at the bottom of the garden, and the garage!

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    1. Well done. We might be around the 300/400 mark if we had been able to keep at it. Hardly anything is being thrown away unless it is beyond repair.

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  3. I so need to do something like this.. well done on what you've cleared so far :o)

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  4. We've worked through most of our stuff, DH and I both got rid of all our Uni stuff many moons ago, but DS's books from his LL.B and LL.M are still in his old room here. He seems to think that even though they have a house of their own now, the rooms he used here are still 'his'! They're almost finished decorating their study/office now, so as soon as that's finished, he'll be taking everything, he may not know it yet, but he will!
    The kitchen is my problem area, I'm a gadget gatherer, and as I have loads of storage space, I find it too easy to keep things, whether I use/need them or not!
    DH is the same with his shed, he always loved woodworking, but now that he's retired he's into it in a far bigger way than before. In the past year, he's bought a table saw, a chop saw and a scroll saw, but hasn't made space for them by getting rid of anything else! Therefore getting to the back of the shed is something of an obstacle course now!
    We've charity shopped nearly all our 'work clothes', keeping a couple of suits each 'just in case', although I don't relish the thought of power dressing and stilettos these days, I'm far too used to jeans and trainers now!
    I haven't been keeping count of things leaving the house, but at a guess it's probably somewhere about the 300 mark, so I probably need to up my game!

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    1. We try to live by the William Morris rule "Have nothing in your house That you know not to be useful or beautiful" we also add if it hasn't been used in a year, get rid of it. Things we aren't sure about go into the attic for a year, if they haven't been used, they go!

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