My life has improved since my son and daughter-in-law gifted me a cleaner twice a month. I was and am a tidy person for the most part, but I am getting a bit old to enjoy the bending and such. I say hire one if you can. I am sure you will find it relaxing and freeing up your time for things you would rather be doing.
Some books and records are on their way out tomorrow to the Oxfam books shop. At last my grandson H is available to carry the boxes downstairs and load/ unload the car.
... the idea of cleaning out that little gully that the shower door slides along is not filling me with joy.
Solidarity!
In our division of labor I clean the bathroom, and I'd rather scrub the toilet than clean the shower door's gully, as you put it. It's old, so never looks clean, it collects kitty litter, as the only place for the litter box is next to the far end of the shower, and it's horribly awkward to clean. I cuss whoever decided there should be a door instead of a rod and curtain every time I clean this thing.
When you do clean it, I am with you in spirit - very profane spirit!
Indeed, me three here!! I'm more than happy to use the microfibre cloth to wipe the door and the rest of the shower surround, every time we shower, but the gutter thing, is a damned nuisance and requires a paint or toothbrush to clean out the mess, yucky!
Alas bags of stuff still in the car because the charity bin was full and the person hasn't rung me back about it (no surprises there!)
Four boxes of books and two of records taken to Oxfam today.
I got rid of the last of my French books, thinking it is still fairly near the start of the academic year. That is if students still read literary texts in the foreign language? If not they will be pulped I guess, but out of my house.
Oxfam staff were too busy even to say thank you, let alone get my details for Gift Aid.
The decorator has finished. New carpet comes tomorrow and either tomorrow or Saturday my son will come and restore furniture to its place. Then it will be up to me what else goes back in the room. It will not be minimalist, but hopefully uncluttered. I shall take my time.
I have achieved little this week. Must do better.
Last night at supper I had a small serving accident, and I dropped a large ladle of loaded baked potato soup onto the small gap between the stove and the countertop. Yeah. So, I ended up pulling out the stove to clean it as well as the hidden side of the base cabinet that brackets the stove on that side. Needless to say, it was not a fun job, but it did afford me the opportunity to area vac the entire niche, as well as wipe-down the wall behind the stove, the cabinet panels on both sides, and clean the floor tile underneath. In the end it turned out to be a very satisfying task, so much so that I turned and pulled out the refrigerator and did the same thing there. Judging by the amount of dust, dirt and grime removed it is clear I need to do that chore more often than I have been. Unfortunately, while I was on my hands and knees I saw how unspeakably dirty the toe kicks of all of the kitchen cabinets were. I mean, wow -- some of them might qualify as school science projects. Yuck. So, this Saturday I'm going to do a deep cleaning of those.
Sounds like a pesky but productive event @The_Riv. I'm impressed that you were inspired to look at the toe kicks of the kitchen cabinets (I dare not look at my own!).
Back briefly to report that the bags of clothes are now in the charity bin. I woke up early on Friday and drove to the church early when I thought there was a good chance of doing a drop off without many people being about. I was thrilled to find the bin appeared to be pretty empty, so perhaps my phone call prompted a pick-up.
I've just ordered a few new books, so I think I'll have to do some decluttering to make space for those (urk).
I hope those useful things have now come to light, Puzzler!
I've had a week of mad cleaning due to a visitor coming, I was also making lunch for them so gave my kitchen a double clean, then made a mess cooking and had a quick once over the grot that I created. Nothing as thorough as doing the kickboards, though! However, the fronts of kitchen drawers and drawer pulls all got a good clean! Even climbed up to clean the rangehood and the dishwasher with the stainless steel cleaner, so I think I'm good until Christmas now!
I want the husband to bring in my mystery box of things to go through as i suspect some of it can go, and I want to check for a missing wedding photograph as this box is the only place that I can imagine it might be hiding. If it's not there, then I give up!
I am now hosting our French group this coming Friday, which will spur me on to get the place back to “normal”. Three more bookcases to fill. Several more pictures to put up, and a good clean throughout.
Yesterday I had a frantic search for my choir folder for a concert. They ( I have several) used to live in the narrow space between the piano and the wall. Found eventually in an upstairs cupboard.
We live in a 3 bedroom house and the box room is my office - I have taught online for 17 years and need my own room for privacy and quiet. Our now adult sons shared a bedroom when younger but now one has a long term girlfriend we need another bedroom. So we have placed an order with a national firm to put in an office/studio in our garden for me to work from. It is like a garden room but with insulation and electricity and heating/cooling via an air pump. We expect it in about 2 months.
We had hoped they would run the electricity from the box in the outhouse but they want to run from the main box. This means running wires through the kitchen and conservatory. The kitchen is okay because the contents of the shelves are easily moved at short notice but the conservatory is a nightmare. I have mania and it is demonstrated in the contents of the conservatory. The side we need to clear has a huge desk with my (much neglected) glass cutting stuff, jewellery making supplies, and a small kiln and a tile cutting machine. Underneath is old clay (which needs throwing out), glass slumping moulds, huge boxes of glass and die cutting equipment and dies. And miscellaneous rubbish, obviously. We will need to tidy this and pull out the boxes for access. Opposite there is waist height deep shelving with twenty years worth of my craft stuff - like popper presses from when I had a cloth nappy business, mixed media art, fabric dyeing, etc, and miscellaneous ‘stuff’ has been dumped in front of this.
So today I started by tidying the top of the shelves opposite and I’ve thrown several bin bags worth out and have space clear. Next week I want to clear the floor beside this. I am treating this as an opportunity to de-clutter and re-organise my life. Short goals towards a tidy room.
After three years, my screened-in side porch is now fully neat and tidy. It was the dumping ground after our move. Now it is a nice place to sit and have a cup of tea and work on my art while all supplies are hidden away when not in use.
I'm still completely defeated by my place. Not even able to make a start that last for more than ten minutes. But then life feels very crowded, and as ever, the flat is an embodiment of the state of my mind. Just about functional, but not, to overuse a word which is at the limits of its meaning, sustainable.
The Loon is coming home tomorrow for a week spent sorting out his bedroom. We've accepted a quote to floor the eaves storage behind his room, so the plan is to empty it out, and box up, in labelled boxes, as much as we can. Once the eaves storage is properly floored, we can store a lot (most?) of the Loon's stuff, and start to convert the room from being solely his bedroom for his visits home, into a combination of his bedroom and a study for the NE Man. He's 30, and oughtn't to need a whole room whose only function is to store his stuff.
I think the Loon gets overwhelmed by it, so I've suggested we take stuff down to the living room, for him to sort through there.
The labelled boxes can be kept in our guest bedroom (formerly the Quinie's bedroom) once they are packed, pending the flooring and storing them in the eaves.
My main concern is that the NE Man will try to push the Loon faster than is comfortable for him, and everything will come to a grinding halt.
He has a large three-piece suite (3 seater settee and two armchairs) in his room, so that's a bone of contention. I think they can stay, the NE Man would like them gone.
I am constantly surprised by the fact that parents’ homes are used for storage of adult offspring’s stuff for years. Not apportioning blame, which could be on either side. Equally surprised by a friend who is currently turning her house upside down to accommodate her daughter’s 30th birthday party arrangements.
I’ve got quite enough of my own stuff already, thank you.
I'm hoping we can get rid of one of the armchairs. I have suggested to the NE Man that having a comfy armchair in what will be his study, or a settee to stretch out on, might be quite pleasant.
The NE Loon struggles to throw anything away, which is why I will regard any progress as positive. The Quinie has cleared her room to the point that her bedroom is (and has been for some years) a functioning guest bedroom. The Loon's bedroom doesn't function as anything other than a store room / place for him to sleep when he visits.
Last time he was up, he agreed that all "age 15" clothes could go to the charity shop (he's 30!) We went through all his pens and binned all dried up felt-tips and I took that as a win! I'm happy to keep going at that pace (slow but steady wins the race!) but the NE Man is ...less patient.
I'm married to one of them. He has items (teddies, knitted things) dating to his childhood. Plus shedloads of music on vinyl and CD (now available on Spotify). Don't get me started on books.
I am constantly surprised by the fact that parents’ homes are used for storage of adult offspring’s stuff for years. Not apportioning blame, which could be on either side. Equally surprised by a friend who is currently turning her house upside down to accommodate her daughter’s 30th birthday party arrangements.
I’ve got quite enough of my own stuff already, thank you.
The children had moved out. We put the house up for sale. Called the oldest child and said, "Come get your boxes of stuff." He replied, "They are not mine. "It belonged to a high school friend he had known eight years ago. Well, tell your friend to get his stuff. It seemed his friend had moved out of the country four years ago. We went to the Goodwill charity shop.
Sometimes keeping stuff at the parental home is emotionally equivalent to keeping close ties to one's birth family. It depends on the person, but that's the reason I'm very careful about pushing LL too much on disposing of stuff... My own mother wanted us out and gone the moment we turned 18 (she basically got her wish) and later in life actually gave us our baby teeth and infant keepsakes (saying, "You'll want these more than I"). My sister and I were speechless. I went home and told LL he was getting his baby teeth over my dead body (because really, what child gives a damn about his own babyteeth? It's parents who are supposed to have that emotional attachment...)
She also took down all the family pictures which showed any of us and put up landscapes etc. instead.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I left home in 1995, having
been at boarding school or uni for most of the time between 1982 and 1994. My parents downsized in 1997 so I moved as much as I could out whilst renting a room, and a lot of that followed me round until we got a flat 10 years later. 8 years after that we got a house, and finally moved some big things I'd not been able to move before (eg vinyage lawnmower).
I really didn't think there was much left, so imagine my surprise when my dear mother started unearthing all sorts of stuff that apparently was mine (eg all my old school reports) that she wanted shot of. I think I was being used as a proxy for throwing away the sort of stuff most parents keep about their kids that starts to seem a bit pointless when said kids are all North of 40.
I admit to still having my son’s baby teeth. His were such a rarity that the dentist called his colleague in to see them. Front four lower teeth were joined in pairs, with only two roots. Second teeth grew normally.
I also have my plaits, cut off at age 14. My grandson W won’t let me throw them away. Who’d have thought it?
Obviously I have a huge task still ahead of me, but that room is for next year, not this week.
Sounds like we are all working through a lot in our goal of having a tidy house. I'm one of those guilty children that left stuff at my parents place, my sister had a lot more there than I do due to the fact her rentals did not offer the type or quantity of space she needed for her stuff. I tossed quite a bit after Mum and Dad died, rather than bring it home to add to the stuff of my own kids and husband.
I had no success with my mystery box. When husband kindly got it down for me, I discovered that it was full of daughter's books and not my stuff at all. Very disappointing, but at least I checked. I do know where there are some other boxes for me to go through, but they are hard to access, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get onto them.
I'm very glad @Graven Image Image that your porch has been sorted, it sounds very nice.
Don't be put off @ThunderBunk even 5 minutes of returning stuff to it's home, or putting in the rubbish, or even a plate into the sink, it all makes a difference.
I hope the Loon's visit can be successful without too much stress @North East Quine
Originally posted by Firenze: Don't get me started on books.
This is a lot of the issue. Our list of books show that between us we have over 4000 books. The list includes the several hundred books The Loon has already taken down to his own place, but he still has several hundred here. I'd estimate we have about 3,500 books in the house.
When the NE Man retires, he will be bringing the books he has in his office at work home - these books will be in addition to the thousands here and there is currently nowhere for them to go. There are four bookcases in the NE Loon's bedroom; if we empty them into boxes and store them in the eaves, the NE Man can refill those bookcases with his books.
@North East Quine are you familiar with the LibraryThing ? At one point I used their barcode scanner to catalogue my books, it’s helpful in working out what you want to keep, if you have duplicates etc.
At one point we probably had over 6000 books, when Mr P brought his home on retirement. He sold some, but was constantly buying new ones. Since he died I have sold about 60, but given many to Oxfam and National Trust bookshops, as well as friends. There are still about 300 of his, ( Christian Ethics, works of Calvin, anyone?) and about the same of “ ours” to disperse eventually, plus about 300 to be returned to downstairs bookcases = this week’s task.
I'm still completely defeated by my place. Not even able to make a start that last for more than ten minutes. But then life feels very crowded, and as ever, the flat is an embodiment of the state of my mind. Just about functional, but not, to overuse a word which is at the limits of its meaning, sustainable.
My sympathies. Having had to deal with my late father's crammed 4 bedroom house may I suggest you try this?
Take an armful of stuff and plonk it onto a work surface of patch of floor where you have room to make 3 piles, then go through and do a rudimentary sort:
[1] File/Keep
[2] Throw/Dispose
[3] Donate/Return
Before you do anything else take the second pile, bag it up and take it out of the flat. Not only will you instantly have more space but you will feel 'lighter'.
Next, divide pile 3 into charity/thrift stuff into labelled bag or box, and put the items to be returned (probably books) into a bag or box marked with the name of the lender. If you have time/energy take the donate things to the organisation straight away.
That leaves pile 1 which you now have time to go through. File everything you can, the rest goes into a small 'pending' tray or basket. At the beginning of every day go through the pending and deal with it.
If you repeat these - maybe try to do 2 armfuls a day? - you will end up with a tidier home. Good luck.
It sounds as though a lot of people are busy tidying and decluttering and we are too. Mr Nen is in Sorting Mood which is always a tad stressful. A lot of our clutter is his (only child, grew up in a relatively large house, never had to throw anything away) so I encourage the decluttering when the mood comes upon him. He is currently building up to a trip to the tip and taking with him (among other things) a caseful of cassettes and several boxfuls of CDs. Also a pile of books from his university days that he confesses to never having read... other such piles are available...
Our smallest bedroom is my study and at a conservative estimate there are around 700 books in here. The difference is that I know I want them all. I had a big book declutter when I moved them in here... some of which I regret.
We do still give houseroom to some of the Nenlets' things but are gradually working our way through those. The other day I found Nenlet1 and son-in-law's engagement cards so they'll be transferring to their house when we next visit.
I am sad to hear that @Lamb Chopped . I have my kids' first teeth and their first pairs of shoes and quite of lot of things from their childhood and school days. I did have a clearout of some of it years ago, and am still sorry about some of the things I got rid of.
I had to clear out My Old Mum's house when she died, back in 2004, and I kept (and still have) several storage boxes of pictures and ornaments which are meaningful to me. Some may be of intrinsic value (brass knick-knacks brought back by My Old Dad from army service in India in the 1930s inter alia), but most will be of no interest or value to anyone who comes after me.
However, for some reason I omitted to keep the three ceramic Hyacinth Bowls which she had (she loved hyacinths), and have regretted their loss ever since. One was light mauve, another dusky pink, and the third was a deep purple. Odd, isn't it?
Something of a decluttering mood has come upon me recently - I've disposed of a fair number of books already this year - and now have numerous CDs in my sights. I mostly listen to music via YouTube, so I'm hoping that Our Place might like to have some nice CDs for sale at their *Christmass* (sic) Market!
@North East Quine are you familiar with the LibraryThing ? At one point I used their barcode scanner to catalogue my books, it’s helpful in working out what you want to keep, if you have duplicates etc.
One of the Loon's friends catalogued all our books when he was doing a Masters in Librarianship. We were his practice run for something. So we know what we have, and we've already got rid of duplicates. The Loon maintains the catalogue to keep it up to date.
I'd like to do a cull of recipe books as I'm increasingly using online recipes, but the NE Man is resisting that. And I'd be happy to do a cull of novels which will never be re-read.
I have enough room in my house to keep whatever I want, but I often imagine myself moving to a 2 bedroomed flat or a care home, and remind myself that I can’t take everything so will need to declutter, so why not do so now? I don’t act on the thought very much but it is there at the back of my mind.
@ThunderBunk I do get that, our first flat had no storage and fortunately we didn't have much stuff being only newly married. Having said that, the kitchen storage was good for the size of the place and allowed us to have drop sided table which mostly was pushed against the wall.
Having to buy wardrobes, and other non permanent storage is an additional expense that's unwelcome and adds to the complexity of moving if you ever have to do it. It's quite a vexed thing, which will be no news to you. Very hard to be able to do much without appropriate storage and that is very hard.
I'm having that fantasy again - the one where my Premium Bond wins the big prize, I buy myself a flat just for me, and I keep it spotlessly clean and tidy as a bolthole.
In other news, the Loon is here and progress is being made, albeit slow. It's clearly going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
@North East Quine it's good to hear the Loon has arrived and the process has begun. I wish these things were easier than they are in reality. For some people they feel their memories are in their things - I'm like that - so to toss stuff is very hard.
Then there's the practical side of how unpleasant it is even to make the piles, keep, sell, donate, toss (or other combinations) makes for on lot of stuff being divided into 4 and then dealt with. In some ways 4 lots of mess hanging around until the process is finished either in one fell swoop or in a more delayed fashion, it is a lot and when people manage the process completely differently because of mindset or personality, it's hard and very very tiring.
Alas I've made no real progress this week, but the jobs are getting done, the washing is up to date, the ca-tlitter trays are clean, the bin almost ready to go out and I try to recognise that it's not just the big culling that makes for a tidy house it's also the ongoing little things.
I actually did clean the yucky channel for the shower doors quite soon after my last post here.
Having been unable to get down to floor level for a very long time it was not a fun job, but the grot is gone for now, although there is some hard lime-scale residue still to be dealt with.
Getting to the bit next to the loo was the most difficult, as I occupy more space than is available, so mostly it had to be done at almost arms-length.
While there I cleaned the floor, the outer surfaces of the lavatory pan, and the wall behind the lavatory. All areas that Mr RoS apparently doesn't know exist and, once having discovered their condition,I could not leave.
Shouldn't grumble, though, at least he knows how to use a lavatory brush!
The following day, and for several afterwards, my knees, glutes, back. upper arms & shoulders were complaining, but the sense of relief at what was done was worth it.
Further cleaning and tidying has been done in the last couple of weeks, as we had visitors, with a small child, at the weekend, so the sitting room had a better clean than it has had for some time. Even in some difficult to reach, behind-the-furniture areas. I had treated myself to an extending microfibre "feather' duster, so was also able to get down the cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling.
These visitors are due back the week after Christmas - long enough for it to need doing again before they arrive.
At least I already had all their Christmas presents bought and wrapped, in case they needed to take them away with them on this trip!
An hour a day (usually at lunchtime) for the last 3 days has meant I have entirely cleared the piled up junk on the floor of one side of the conservatory, just some plastic boxes left to look at. 2 more bags of rubbish and a bag of good craft paper for a friend’s parenting club. I still need to find a home for some fabric (now on the shelf) but a good start.
Heroic assault on the fridge-freezer. All drawers and shelves taken out and washed, to be restocked only with in-date items. Lurking jars of chutneys, dressing, sauces, mayonnaise and Korean chilli paste ruthlessly culled. Shrivelled veg discarded. There is now a lot less in there, but none of it likely to be a vector for botulism.
Next thing will be to carry out the same operation on the cupboards. But for just now, I'm puggled.
Congratulations on the fridge-freezer clear-out, always a worry that something might be lurking undiscovered and a joy to see it all pristine and tidy.
Yesterday I sorted the chaos of my chest freezer into some semblance of order. Over the winter I must take an effort to reduce the contents to a level where emptying it for the purpose of defrosting and cleaning is possible, before next year's garden produce is clamouring to fill it again.
Assuming, that is, my back continues to improve and I can start gardening again.
@North East Quine are you familiar with the LibraryThing ? At one point I used their barcode scanner to catalogue my books, it’s helpful in working out what you want to keep, if you have duplicates etc.
Chiming in here to add that there's also an app called Libib, which of course I have had downloaded for some time (:rolleyes:), but never used.
The annual occasion of bringing down from the attic our voluminous Christmas/Winter Decorations is drawing nigh. I always look at it as the best opportunity we'll have all year to sort, cull, and reorganize the entire contents of the attic, because that's when there's the most room up there. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe this year?!
A couple of months ago I made a big effort with our main freezer, which is in our garage. I made a list of all the batch cooked meals in the freezer, with the idea that the NE Man could pick what he fancied for the next day's dinner each night, and I could bring it in to defrost.
It hasn't really worked. Reading the same list repeatedly has just meant that all of the options now sound boring and unappealing. I've hidden the list away so that I can use it as a reminder of what's there.
I've currently got 30 home-cooked meals in the freezer, and it's a bit dispiriting that my efforts have actually made them sound less attractive to the NE Man!
Comments
I'll just slip in an "Ooooh, matron!" anyway, I'm sure it'll be appreciated.
I attempted to explain to a fellow cricketer that the Knotweed was spending the weekend playing Dungeons & Dragons online.
Ever since, I've been asked regularly about her online dungeon. Luckily she's put up with me for 20+ years, she's heard near-enough everything.
In our division of labor I clean the bathroom, and I'd rather scrub the toilet than clean the shower door's gully, as you put it. It's old, so never looks clean, it collects kitty litter, as the only place for the litter box is next to the far end of the shower, and it's horribly awkward to clean. I cuss whoever decided there should be a door instead of a rod and curtain every time I clean this thing.
When you do clean it, I am with you in spirit - very profane spirit!
Alas bags of stuff still in the car because the charity bin was full and the person hasn't rung me back about it (no surprises there!)
Hoping to get back onto jobs tomorrow!!
I got rid of the last of my French books, thinking it is still fairly near the start of the academic year. That is if students still read literary texts in the foreign language? If not they will be pulped I guess, but out of my house.
Oxfam staff were too busy even to say thank you, let alone get my details for Gift Aid.
I have achieved little this week. Must do better.
Back briefly to report that the bags of clothes are now in the charity bin. I woke up early on Friday and drove to the church early when I thought there was a good chance of doing a drop off without many people being about. I was thrilled to find the bin appeared to be pretty empty, so perhaps my phone call prompted a pick-up.
I've just ordered a few new books, so I think I'll have to do some decluttering to make space for those (urk).
I've had a week of mad cleaning due to a visitor coming, I was also making lunch for them so gave my kitchen a double clean, then made a mess cooking and had a quick once over the grot that I created. Nothing as thorough as doing the kickboards, though! However, the fronts of kitchen drawers and drawer pulls all got a good clean! Even climbed up to clean the rangehood and the dishwasher with the stainless steel cleaner, so I think I'm good until Christmas now!
I want the husband to bring in my mystery box of things to go through as i suspect some of it can go, and I want to check for a missing wedding photograph as this box is the only place that I can imagine it might be hiding. If it's not there, then I give up!
Paid M for 3 hours in which he cleaned the oven and grill, cleaned the bathroom and did a global vacuuming.
As I have not been up much housework this past six weeks, an enormous help.
Yesterday I had a frantic search for my choir folder for a concert. They ( I have several) used to live in the narrow space between the piano and the wall. Found eventually in an upstairs cupboard.
We are going to Heidelberg soon so I'm busy getting the house in order for the housesitter.
We had hoped they would run the electricity from the box in the outhouse but they want to run from the main box. This means running wires through the kitchen and conservatory. The kitchen is okay because the contents of the shelves are easily moved at short notice but the conservatory is a nightmare. I have mania and it is demonstrated in the contents of the conservatory. The side we need to clear has a huge desk with my (much neglected) glass cutting stuff, jewellery making supplies, and a small kiln and a tile cutting machine. Underneath is old clay (which needs throwing out), glass slumping moulds, huge boxes of glass and die cutting equipment and dies. And miscellaneous rubbish, obviously. We will need to tidy this and pull out the boxes for access. Opposite there is waist height deep shelving with twenty years worth of my craft stuff - like popper presses from when I had a cloth nappy business, mixed media art, fabric dyeing, etc, and miscellaneous ‘stuff’ has been dumped in front of this.
So today I started by tidying the top of the shelves opposite and I’ve thrown several bin bags worth out and have space clear. Next week I want to clear the floor beside this. I am treating this as an opportunity to de-clutter and re-organise my life. Short goals towards a tidy room.
I think the Loon gets overwhelmed by it, so I've suggested we take stuff down to the living room, for him to sort through there.
The labelled boxes can be kept in our guest bedroom (formerly the Quinie's bedroom) once they are packed, pending the flooring and storing them in the eaves.
My main concern is that the NE Man will try to push the Loon faster than is comfortable for him, and everything will come to a grinding halt.
He has a large three-piece suite (3 seater settee and two armchairs) in his room, so that's a bone of contention. I think they can stay, the NE Man would like them gone.
I’ve got quite enough of my own stuff already, thank you.
The NE Loon struggles to throw anything away, which is why I will regard any progress as positive. The Quinie has cleared her room to the point that her bedroom is (and has been for some years) a functioning guest bedroom. The Loon's bedroom doesn't function as anything other than a store room / place for him to sleep when he visits.
Last time he was up, he agreed that all "age 15" clothes could go to the charity shop (he's 30!) We went through all his pens and binned all dried up felt-tips and I took that as a win! I'm happy to keep going at that pace (slow but steady wins the race!) but the NE Man is ...less patient.
I'm married to one of them. He has items (teddies, knitted things) dating to his childhood. Plus shedloads of music on vinyl and CD (now available on Spotify). Don't get me started on books.
The children had moved out. We put the house up for sale. Called the oldest child and said, "Come get your boxes of stuff." He replied, "They are not mine. "It belonged to a high school friend he had known eight years ago. Well, tell your friend to get his stuff. It seemed his friend had moved out of the country four years ago. We went to the Goodwill charity shop.
She also took down all the family pictures which showed any of us and put up landscapes etc. instead.
It wasn't hard to get the message.
been at boarding school or uni for most of the time between 1982 and 1994. My parents downsized in 1997 so I moved as much as I could out whilst renting a room, and a lot of that followed me round until we got a flat 10 years later. 8 years after that we got a house, and finally moved some big things I'd not been able to move before (eg vinyage lawnmower).
I really didn't think there was much left, so imagine my surprise when my dear mother started unearthing all sorts of stuff that apparently was mine (eg all my old school reports) that she wanted shot of. I think I was being used as a proxy for throwing away the sort of stuff most parents keep about their kids that starts to seem a bit pointless when said kids are all North of 40.
I also have my plaits, cut off at age 14. My grandson W won’t let me throw them away. Who’d have thought it?
Obviously I have a huge task still ahead of me, but that room is for next year, not this week.
I had no success with my mystery box. When husband kindly got it down for me, I discovered that it was full of daughter's books and not my stuff at all. Very disappointing, but at least I checked. I do know where there are some other boxes for me to go through, but they are hard to access, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get onto them.
I'm very glad @Graven Image Image that your porch has been sorted, it sounds very nice.
Don't be put off @ThunderBunk even 5 minutes of returning stuff to it's home, or putting in the rubbish, or even a plate into the sink, it all makes a difference.
I hope the Loon's visit can be successful without too much stress @North East Quine
Don't get me started on books.
This is a lot of the issue. Our list of books show that between us we have over 4000 books. The list includes the several hundred books The Loon has already taken down to his own place, but he still has several hundred here. I'd estimate we have about 3,500 books in the house.
When the NE Man retires, he will be bringing the books he has in his office at work home - these books will be in addition to the thousands here and there is currently nowhere for them to go. There are four bookcases in the NE Loon's bedroom; if we empty them into boxes and store them in the eaves, the NE Man can refill those bookcases with his books.
My sympathies. Having had to deal with my late father's crammed 4 bedroom house may I suggest you try this?
Take an armful of stuff and plonk it onto a work surface of patch of floor where you have room to make 3 piles, then go through and do a rudimentary sort:
[1] File/Keep
[2] Throw/Dispose
[3] Donate/Return
Before you do anything else take the second pile, bag it up and take it out of the flat. Not only will you instantly have more space but you will feel 'lighter'.
Next, divide pile 3 into charity/thrift stuff into labelled bag or box, and put the items to be returned (probably books) into a bag or box marked with the name of the lender. If you have time/energy take the donate things to the organisation straight away.
That leaves pile 1 which you now have time to go through. File everything you can, the rest goes into a small 'pending' tray or basket. At the beginning of every day go through the pending and deal with it.
If you repeat these - maybe try to do 2 armfuls a day? - you will end up with a tidier home. Good luck.
Our smallest bedroom is my study and at a conservative estimate there are around 700 books in here. The difference is that I know I want them all. I had a big book declutter when I moved them in here... some of which I regret.
We do still give houseroom to some of the Nenlets' things but are gradually working our way through those. The other day I found Nenlet1 and son-in-law's engagement cards so they'll be transferring to their house when we next visit.
I am sad to hear that @Lamb Chopped . I have my kids' first teeth and their first pairs of shoes and quite of lot of things from their childhood and school days. I did have a clearout of some of it years ago, and am still sorry about some of the things I got rid of.
However, for some reason I omitted to keep the three ceramic Hyacinth Bowls which she had (she loved hyacinths), and have regretted their loss ever since. One was light mauve, another dusky pink, and the third was a deep purple. Odd, isn't it?
Something of a decluttering mood has come upon me recently - I've disposed of a fair number of books already this year - and now have numerous CDs in my sights. I mostly listen to music via YouTube, so I'm hoping that Our Place might like to have some nice CDs for sale at their *Christmass* (sic) Market!
One of the Loon's friends catalogued all our books when he was doing a Masters in Librarianship. We were his practice run for something. So we know what we have, and we've already got rid of duplicates. The Loon maintains the catalogue to keep it up to date.
I'd like to do a cull of recipe books as I'm increasingly using online recipes, but the NE Man is resisting that. And I'd be happy to do a cull of novels which will never be re-read.
Having to buy wardrobes, and other non permanent storage is an additional expense that's unwelcome and adds to the complexity of moving if you ever have to do it. It's quite a vexed thing, which will be no news to you. Very hard to be able to do much without appropriate storage and that is very hard.
In other news, the Loon is here and progress is being made, albeit slow. It's clearly going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
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More seriously, good luck!
Then there's the practical side of how unpleasant it is even to make the piles, keep, sell, donate, toss (or other combinations) makes for on lot of stuff being divided into 4 and then dealt with. In some ways 4 lots of mess hanging around until the process is finished either in one fell swoop or in a more delayed fashion, it is a lot and when people manage the process completely differently because of mindset or personality, it's hard and very very tiring.
Alas I've made no real progress this week, but the jobs are getting done, the washing is up to date, the ca-tlitter trays are clean, the bin almost ready to go out and I try to recognise that it's not just the big culling that makes for a tidy house it's also the ongoing little things.
Having been unable to get down to floor level for a very long time it was not a fun job, but the grot is gone for now, although there is some hard lime-scale residue still to be dealt with.
Getting to the bit next to the loo was the most difficult, as I occupy more space than is available, so mostly it had to be done at almost arms-length.
While there I cleaned the floor, the outer surfaces of the lavatory pan, and the wall behind the lavatory. All areas that Mr RoS apparently doesn't know exist and, once having discovered their condition,I could not leave.
Shouldn't grumble, though, at least he knows how to use a lavatory brush!
The following day, and for several afterwards, my knees, glutes, back. upper arms & shoulders were complaining, but the sense of relief at what was done was worth it.
Further cleaning and tidying has been done in the last couple of weeks, as we had visitors, with a small child, at the weekend, so the sitting room had a better clean than it has had for some time. Even in some difficult to reach, behind-the-furniture areas. I had treated myself to an extending microfibre "feather' duster, so was also able to get down the cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling.
These visitors are due back the week after Christmas - long enough for it to need doing again before they arrive.
At least I already had all their Christmas presents bought and wrapped, in case they needed to take them away with them on this trip!
Next thing will be to carry out the same operation on the cupboards. But for just now, I'm puggled.
Yesterday I sorted the chaos of my chest freezer into some semblance of order. Over the winter I must take an effort to reduce the contents to a level where emptying it for the purpose of defrosting and cleaning is possible, before next year's garden produce is clamouring to fill it again.
Assuming, that is, my back continues to improve and I can start gardening again.
Chiming in here to add that there's also an app called Libib, which of course I have had downloaded for some time (:rolleyes:), but never used.
The annual occasion of bringing down from the attic our voluminous Christmas/Winter Decorations is drawing nigh. I always look at it as the best opportunity we'll have all year to sort, cull, and reorganize the entire contents of the attic, because that's when there's the most room up there. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe this year?!
It hasn't really worked. Reading the same list repeatedly has just meant that all of the options now sound boring and unappealing. I've hidden the list away so that I can use it as a reminder of what's there.
I've currently got 30 home-cooked meals in the freezer, and it's a bit dispiriting that my efforts have actually made them sound less attractive to the NE Man!