Thursday 12 September 2024

Decluttering By Date And Design

Bless, a blogfriend for many years, is doing a declutter-by-date this month. That is, on 1st of the month you declutter one thing, on the 2nd discard two...until the end of the month, when 465 items should have left the home

.She has given herself permission to stop when she reaches 300 items [that should be 24th Sept] unless she gets carried away, and manages 500 in the month. 
After Liz sorted out the kitchen for me the other week and said I did not need to keep every empty glass jar, so she'd put them in recycling, I decided I needed a concerted plan of action. I would attempt to declutter in categories.
one belt. I have a lovely leather belt for my jeans, using my M&S tokens. But it got mislaid when the jeans were washed. I grabbed this one [roiled up it the drawer behind my pjs. Why?] I wore it for one day, till best belt resurfaced...but it is cheap and old, and disintegrating. It has gone [ok I admit the buckle is in a tin with other fastenings]
two potato peelers. Both brand new [bizarrely they arrived with other online kitchen purchases] They will go to CS, and thus free up kitchen drawer space 
three cracked terracotta flower pots from the back garden. They were stacked up, waiting to be smashed and used for drainage in other pots. But I have plenty of shards in a bucket in the garage already. My Grandad used to refer to daft people as "crackpots" which always made me giggle when I was little. Binned
four brown cardboard boxes. Not flattened into recycling bin, as usual, but torn into small pieces and added to my compost as a layer of "brown waste" [recycled into garden]
five
 out of date make up items. I don't wear a lot of 'slap' - and I had a load of freebies which were old, half used, and not exactly healthy looking. They have gone. Since the Dundee fall, and my lip developing an interesting paler patch, I do wear lipstick more. But those will get used up quickly. Bin 

six
plastic Huel bottles. We both have these protein drinks occasionally. But as I am not making any more Technicolor-Joseph-models at a Holiday Club, I don't need to hold on to all these bottles! recycled
seven magazines, all freebies, which were cluttering the coffee table, recycled
eight glass jars with lids. There are still some in the cupboard, because I will be making marmalade shortly- I'm down to my penultimate jar! recycled
nine split, cheap plastic flowerpots. Horrid thin things which had been in the greenhouse - with equally pathetic tomato plants inside.  No recycling triangles. Gone into regular bin.
ten
 cardboard egg boxes. Intended originally for seedlings. Unlike Carol Klein on Gardeners' World last week, I do not spend every other moment propagating new plants, I won't need 120 little cardboard 'eggcups' this autumn. Another layer of brown compost 

So that was 10 groups - 55 items gone up to Tuesday evening. 70% purposefully recycled. I have decided to start this again for the next ten days.Thank you again, Bless, for your inspiration!



19 comments:

  1. I'm a hoarder - just in case it's useful, haven't used it yet, too good to get rid, too expensive to give away etc etc. I think I might try this in a slightly different way. Today's the 12th so I'll look for 12 things and then I'll work down to 1. I hope that will work as it ought to become easier and if I add more then that can only be a good thing. I can use one of my "Oh, that's a nice notebook. It'll be useful." if I can find one in the clutter and keep my list.

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    1. I wrote 1 to 10 on my list, and each day filled in how many items, so it wasn't strictly one on Day One etc

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  2. Well done! I could take a leaf from your book! Kx

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  3. I've done a similar programme. I made a list of the number of days (e.g. 1-30) but didn't necessarily do one item on day one. That might be the day when I was full of enthusiasm and got rid rid of thirty items. Then on a day when I was feeling lazy I could remove just one item, as long as I removed 465 items over the course of the month. Worked better for me.

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    1. If it works for you (465 is a fantastic total)

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  4. Very admirable. I am currently gathering clothes, heeled shoes (only wear flats now), handbags never used, books, lamp shades, bric-a-brac, kitchen items and old curtains for the local hospice charity shop. I feel amazingly liberated. Regards Sue H

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  5. And the Hospice will be blessed by the money raised.

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  6. I find every little thing that leaves the house makes my heart lighter. I try and do two bags (any size) of anything (any quantity) to charity shops every month.

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  7. Wow, this sounds very organised. Like Ruth, and I suspect many of us, I'm a hoarder. Every bin day my husband encourages me to go and look for stuff to bin because we have an 'allowance' of 3 black bags every 3 weeks and he likes to take full advantage of that!
    Alison in Wales x

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  8. As we are moving a lot of 'getting rid' has been going on, and stuff is still leaving the house. I did have to raid the local book exchange telephone box in my daughter's village for something to read though. Signed Iris's plaster yesterday and drew a picture of Sheva cat too. Hope Bob's foot is healing well. Take care. Xx

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    1. I hope Iris is healing well. Doodling on plasters is fun

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  9. I did similar at Lent and cleared so much stuff! Catriona

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    1. I have done Lent declutter in the past too

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  10. Oh, I do like your decluttering by categories, Angela! Well done! And thank you for mentioning me and my post. :)

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  11. You've done really well. I plan to recycle a set of patched sheets into rags for DH now that the new set I ordered has arrived. That will be one more item for my list this month, which hasn't reached 40 items yet, but I have plans......

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