Things that have gone- 16

We recently re-configured the storage in our garage, so it was a good chance to go through a whole bunch more stuff. I was able to turn out a variety of items that we haven’t used in the 2 1/2 years since we moved in.

1. 20 mixed cardboard boxes for moving (Since we don’t plan on ever moving again and we’ve redecorated most of the house now, there will be no further need to keep boxing our stuff up. We don’t have the room to store all of these boxes anymore and decided there are other priorities for storage. Also, if we did keep them; we’d have to pay out to board more of our loft which seems crazy for some boxes! They’ll only deteriorate up there, so it was the best decision to let someone who needs them, take them).
2. Bundle of car care stuff (this wasn’t even ours, someone had left it in the shed in our last place and I took it because it seemed wasteful to leave it or chuck it. That daft ‘just incase’ scenario again. Thankfully I was able to give it all to a family member who would use it).
3. 3 metal poles (Used to hold up the storage we removed from our garage. Freecycled on to a gardener who wanted to use them to prop up their plants – perfect).
4. A cake tin (Purchased as a recipe specified it was needed, but it never worked as well because it was too large. Decided to stick to standard tins and freecycled this on to someone who could use it).
5. Bunch of rubbish (Took a large box of broken carpet gripper rods, odds and ends of carpet that were too small to use, empty paint cans and a broken drill to the tip).

That’s actually quite a lot more stuff gone when you look at it! I think I’ll be able to let go of some more, once we’ve organised our new space a bit. Stay tuned minimisers!

Things that have gone this week- 14 & 15

My decluttering has slowed with good reason, so I will probably only post these updates periodically from now one. Still – 3 months of solid decluttering is pretty good going. I’d in-fact say I’ve completed 7 months of decluttering – since I started before Christmas! I just only started documenting the process 3 months ago.

In the past 2 weeks, I have away a room-sized piece of carpet that had been taken up and a room’s worth of carpet underlay. I sold a craft kit on eBay and I took a big bag of stuff to a charity shop. It contained a food serving tray that I was given when I set up home. I’d never used it and I had to wonder why I’d kept it all these years. It was the old ‘it might be useful’ approach!

We were given an UGLY soft toy monster by some relatives who stayed in May. I know I should’ve photographed it for fun. I smiled gratefully, accepted it and promptly put it in a bag to go to charity as soon as they left! Actually, my husband says we should keep these kinds of gifts; since people made them for us. I just bag ’em up and he never misses them, since we neither have need for them nor find them attractive to have around – I basically don’t see the problem.

I also gave away a pair of slippers a family members had asked us to keep here, for when they come to stay. The most ridiculous part was, they only ever came here once a year AND they never wore the slippers! I bet they won’t even know they are gone, on their next visit.

I also gave away several books I’d finished reading which is progress for me – as I always used to hold on to everything I’d ever read, pretty much. I gave away a large clip frame and mount, along with some more mounting board that I think I’d literally had for 20 years and never used! We paid to have our pictures professionally framed and they look great. Sure, there are ways to save money but learning to picture frame isn’t one for me. I was too scared of doing a crap job and paying someone else – meant the job actually got done and done well.

Do you have any decluttering stories to share? Do post in the comments 🙂

Now is a great time to sell on eBay!

It’s a great time of year to get busy selling items you don’t need on eBay. You will help yourself by clearing clutter, making space for (select as many as apply):

1. Christmas gifts
2. Christmas guests
3. Christmas decorations
4. You!

I don’t know if my recent rash of sales has been due to the Black Friday effect, the fact that Christmas is coming or payday is nearing. I’ve often been heard lamenting at how slow eBay is lately, sales seem to sometimes take weeks and months to come, which isn’t helpful if you’re hoping to shift clutter! I made a concerted effort to list a whole bunch of items in one go – I had about 65 items for sale when I started. I went through all the cupboards in the house and anything that hadn’t been used in the last year had to go. In fact I found items lurking that hadn’t been used in years, some in at least 10 years! Those items were mainly lurking in amongst my craft supplies. So I had clearly been too lenient on my previous decluttering attempts.

I was also ruthless with my wardrobe! I had to get most of my clothes out in one go, to shift between my summer and winter wardrobes. I was slightly taken aback at just how many clothes I actually had. It’s so easy to by one thing here, another there and you soon don’t realise just how much is squirrelled away. The vast proportion of what was listing was clothing items. I really can’t say if having that volume of items listed is what made them shift faster, but I can’t think of any other variables from my end. I didn’t set them at silly, low prices, I always calculate my costs and include shipping in my item price as I don’t think buyers want to be adding that on.

Anyway, I’ve sold around £200 of items in just 10 days. It’s made a fantastic difference to the amount of space around the house and also boosted our Christmas coffers. So this post is just to encourage you to get sorting through those cupboards and set your stuff free! eBay is a really great place to start, as there is such a huge marketplace of buyers out there. There’s usually someone out there to buy the things you no longer want or need. Now when I think about it, I visualise £200 worth of bank notes being stuffed into the cupboards around our house. The reality is that’s the truth of the situation! I think it was Joshua Becker who said that spending money on things you don’t need now, is robbing from your future self. Well, thinking of it like that will surely give you a new perspective on things!

Still going!

I’m still going. Slowly, but surely I am getting rid of stuff. Today I took 2 boxes of books we unearthed in our loft to the charity shop. I constantly have items listed on eBay too. Yesterday saw the sale of a DVD, a slow cooker that was still new in its box from our wedding and a pair of lampshades that didn’t go with our new decor. The day before I shipped a hifi, we only need one! And a clock, again we only need one!

A quick look down my eBay list reveals these items have also gone;

1. DVDs
2. Minidisc player
3. Bass amp
4. Bass guitar and music books (husband meant to learn and never did!)
5. Clothing
6. Curtains
7. Airbed
8. Timer switches (brand new, never used!)
9. Water feature for garden
10. Dusting mop
11. Garden furniture (you only need one set!)
12. Bath panel (didn’t fit our bath in the end, brand new)
13. Beach shelter
14. Butterfly feeder
15. Radiator caps (came with our new radiators, but we didn’t use all the sizes)
16. Canvas wardrobe
17. Dining chairs
18. Desk fan
19. Dressing table
20. Bikinis (brand new with tags and never worn)

Well, that’s 20 items out of our lives in the last month and some! Some items we sold multiples of. I can start to see the clear surfaces in our house now and the floor!

I wonder how many more things I can apply Joshua Becker’s principle of ‘you only need one’ too. What items have you only kept one of?