Things that have gone this week – 12 & 13

I’m late again in posting, as I have slowed down the pace of my decluttering. Partly due to the temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius – it’s just too hot to do anything much!

I have managed to sell one item on eBay each week, both blouses. The only other thing that’s gone is a tonne of weeds from the garden! Hence my lack of blogging, I’ve been trying to get outside more and enjoy summer.

1. Vintage Laura Ashley silk blouse
2. M&S pink cotton blouse

Stay tuned, as I aim to be posting more!

Things that have gone this week – 10 & 11

Wow, time flies – especially when you have visitors. I apologise that I missed a week, so I’ll stick the 2 posts together. As we’ve had people staying with us, I did not want to clutter up my space with more items waiting to go and so it really did slow down to almost nothing. I only sold 2 items on eBay, but that’s OK because I haven’t had time to list any more. I took a small bag of items to a charity shop just to get them out the way, I seem to recall it was a mix of books, clothing and household bric-a-brac.

1. Brand new M&S Bra
2. Brand new Bagpuss Cross Stitch Kit

I found these items lurking in my cupboards, brand new with the tags on. I decided I was not going to use them and I put them up for sale. After our visitors had left, we ended up with a whole bunch of food items that they bought and didn’t eat. They were kind of random items, like herbs, condiments, strong blue cheese and health food items that we would never choose to purchase or eat. So I offered them on Freecycle and someone gladly came to take them. Amazing what you can give away! Until next time…..I’m not even sure if I will have sold any more by then, but I have some more items waiting to be given away.

Things that have gone this week – 9

This week has ended up being a bit of a blur and I turned another year older. But, I am still getting rid of things!

Things I sold:

1. A black 1950s style, net petticoat which never actually suited any of my dresses as it was too short and too full.
2. Two vintage floral tea dresses (1 pictured), but they were the same style – too tight on me.
3. Another pair of shoes! (Hangs head in shame!) This time a pair of vintage style Clarks T-Bar shoes.

This week I sold 4 items on eBay and I took a small bag to charity, containing a book, a dress and a board game. All of the items sold were purchased second hand for a few pounds and I ended up turning a nice little profit on these. But must try harder not to buy more! The petticoat was picked up for £4, brand new with tags and sold for £20 – still with tags on. The dresses cost £6 each and sold for £20 together. The shoes were picked up for £3, barely worn and sold for £10.

Stay tuned for hopefully another post next week!

I got rid of 15 pairs of shoes!

I don’t feel proud about that title, let me tell you. But I have continued my serious declutter. I am certain that I still own more than 15 further pairs of shoes and that number also needs to decrease. However, this is a MASSIVE step forwards for me and it’s truly been enlightening – look at all these shoes I had and there was absolutely no way I could use them all. Let’s just say that these 15 pairs that have gone are the ones that have had the least use, or even that I no longer wore at all. I don’t have pictures of them all, as I only started saving my images recently. Here is just a fraction:

I calculate that I have put £157.45 (gross figure) back in my pocket. Considering that only 2 of the pairs I had owned from brand new (and both of those were bought at around 70% off), I calculate that I am in profit despite my careless ownership. None of the other pairs cost more than £10 second-hand and most a lot less! However, that is not an excuse for me to go and buy more!

It might be optimistic, but I hope that I can one day get down to around 6 pairs of shoes. I’m envisaging:

1. Knee high boots
2. Ankle boots
3. Trainers
4. Sandals
5. Work shoes
6. Smart shoes

And really that would be more than enough! But I will admit that I have a slight weakness for shoes, probably more than anything else. Still, I can try.

Things that have gone this week – 8

Wow, just when I think I’m going to slow down with the declutter, it picks up again! As usual, I got carried away and forgot to photograph everything that went. Never-mind, that’s not important- it’s more important that these things are no longer part of my life and space. I sold 5 items of clothing on eBay and then I gave away lots of things (see list below). I have now almost hit £1,500 of items sold (totalling 109 items to date!)

Rather than sending our used carpet to landfill, we were lucky enough to find someone who wanted it via the Freecycle network. I would also have tried allotment owners and pet shelters, before landfilling it. We acquired horrible terracotta orange carpets in all our bedrooms when we moved in. It was a vile colour (in my opinion) and stained in places. However for someone, it proved better than having no flooring at all and I’m glad that it could be re-used. In turn, we re-used the beige carpet we removed from our lounge diner to carpet 2 of the 3 bedrooms, with a bit left over incase we ever want to do the porch or small toilet.

We also sent our used stamps to help a charity. It really is amazing what can be re-used. I found some leaf grabbers in the garage, that I’d picked up at a car boot for £1 a few years ago. Now we live in a house without trees, so it was time for someone else to use them. I was finally ready to admit that I was not going to teach myself anymore guitar than I had done 5 years ago and I let it go to someone else wanting to learn, via Freecycle. I freecycled  2 pairs of tights that were huge on me, to someone wanting to make a fancy dress outfit! I found an old picture that hadn’t been up on the walls for about 5 years which I freecycled. Finally, I also sent a free gift that came with my watch to someone who could use and enjoy it, after it had been stuffed down the side of a cupboard for a couple of years.

1. Bustier
2. Coast Party Dress
3. Laura Ashley Gypsy Skirt
4. Frock & Frill Beaded Top
5. White Stuff Reversible Skirt
6. Roll of carpet taken up from office
7. Roll of carpet taken up from bedroom (Both rolls of carpet went to someone in need of carpet, via Freecycle)
8. Leaf grabbers (Given away on Freecycle)
9. A5 envelope of used stamps (Given away via Freecycle to help a charity)
10. Free gift of 4 nail varnishes that came with a watch I bought a couple of years ago (given away on Freecycle)
11. 2 pairs of black tights that were meant to be one size, but came up to my armpits!!! (Went to a man for a fancy dress costume!)
12. Guitar & music book (Freecycled)
13. Puffin picture (Freecycled)

Who knows what next week will hold? Why don’t you join me for Week 9 of my decluttering adventures.

Things That Have Gone This Week – 6

Here we are, week 6 and the clear out continues! I took 2 of those massive charity plastic sacks to a charity shop this week- they contained yet more clothing, from both me and my OH. Plus board games, footwear and a whole stack of books. These were all things I hadn’t been able to sell, so I hope the charity shop will have more luck than me! I also took another big plastic sack of clothing that was too worn to a textile recycling bank. I had been planning to hold onto it for rags etc, but at the end of the day there was more than I was ever going to re-use and we don’t have the space to keep it all for years. I understand that it can be recycled into padding for car seats and the like.

Add to all this the 8 items I sold on eBay this week and I’d say it’s been a pretty good week 🙂 I got £92.45 for this little lot which I am pleased enough with, for stuff I don’t want the responsibility for anymore. This is the net figure, not minus postage etc but it’s still pretty good. I didn’t buy any of these items new and I ended up in profit on most of them.

1. 2 sacks to charity
2. 1 sack to textile recycling
3. Turquoise Monsoon Skirt
4. Vintage Laura Ashley Velvet Ballgown
5. Vintage Laura Ashley maxi skirt
6. Laura Ashley shirt dress
7. Clarks Silver Ballet Flats
8. Tu Pink Dress
9. Juicy Couture Jeans
10. Ice Skates

Another 2 items have bids on them too, so they’ll be included next week. But this was probably my best week so far for getting rid of stuff! Are you decluttering? If so, how’s it going?

Things that have gone this week – 5

Well, I was hoping a few more items would sell on eBay this week. But only 3 things have gone – a pair of shoes, a white blouse and a red dress. This pair marks the 12th pair of shoes I have gotten rid of! 12 pairs of shoes and I don’t even notice the difference. I still have more than 12 pairs, so a few more need to go!!!

Despite this, I have also recycled a whole lot of old papers and cards. Goodness knows why I was holding onto them! I had a Birthday card from 20 years ago amongst my selection. I am hoping to give away or donate some items too this week, either to charity shops or on Freecycle. I also traded in 14 books on www.webuybooks.co.uk which was a medium sized box worth. So there is definitely a little more space here!

Things that have gone this week – 4

Welcome to my weekly update of things that have found new homes. I try to keep a flow of items in and out of my home and I am currently massively trying to downsize my wardrobe. This week, 6 items have found new homes and they are all in the category of clothing, shoes and accessories- hooray! I’m sorry about the rubbish quality of the photos, I still haven’t discovered how to pull my higher quality images from eBay. Altogether, I’ve managed to put £60 back in my bank account by selling these- so averaging £10 per item – not bad considering 4 of these were purchased second-hand for much less!

1. Red wide elastic belt
2. Vintage denim Laura Ashley Maxi dress
3. Vintage Topshop Fishtail Denim Skirt
4. Laura Ashley Boucle Tweed Jacket
5. Dorothy Perkins Butterfly Print Maxi Dress
6. Vintage Ravel Red Court Shoes- BNWT

Stay tuned to see what I manage to get rid of, over the next week! Chow for now and Happy Easter everyone! 🙂

Things that have gone this week – 3

It’s time for another little update.

1. Dictaphone
2. Blouse
3. Short Summer Dress
4. Maxi Summer Dress
5. Tea Dress

The dictaphone I was given to use at University and it had lain undiscovered in a box since moving house in 2013!!! I’d kept all the original packaging, instructions the lot until the other month when I decided I was never going to find it again. Yes, you can tell that a few months later I found it again! What are the chances? It still sold for a few pounds on eBay, though I would have got a lot more if it had been in-tact. You win some, you lose some!

All the other items were second hand purchases that I had worn a few times, but no longer. It was time for them to find new homes and be loved again. The advantage of making second hand purchases is that I didn’t really lose any money on these items. My wardrobe declutter continues and I hope to shift a few more items this week. Sunday night is the best night of the week to sell on eBay.

Things that have gone this week – 2

Here we are, another week has passed and several more items have sold. In-fact, I have now surpassed the £1000 mark. You can read here about how I made £800 selling my no longer used/needed, everyday items on eBay.

 

1. Retro 1970s summer dress
2. Bridesmaid dress and matching sandals
3. Pair of purple shoes
4. A vintage black velvet jacket

2 is something I had to admit that I was never every going to wear again, particularly as I could no longer do it up. I struggled to let it go, as I felt responsible for it in some weird way, as someone else had purchased it for me and it was linked to an important family event. But surely it is going to do more good being worn by someone else at their wedding or prom, than gathering dust in my wardrobe? I am really grateful to have the space back, as those big, netted skirts take up a lot of room! I still have all the pictures to look at from that special day.

1, 3 and 4 are examples of over-purchasing in charity shops! Trying hard to avoid this now I am more conscious of my buying triggers. Just because it is a bargain doesn’t mean to say I have to have it, especially if I do not need any more clothes and shoes! 1 and 3 were never even worn. 4 was worn once to a Christmas party. However, the fact that they were purchased second-hand in the first place, has meant that I broke even on them.

I’m still hoping to sell a few more things. What have you let go of this week? Have some items been easy to let go and some been hard?