Unclutter 2014: days 51-60

[nou]

As previously noted, I'm doing Unclutter 2014, which involves getting rid of 1 thing per day in 2014, plus an extra thing for every thing that comes into the house. I thought I'd also keep track of where the things go (landfill, charity shop, recycling, etc). I'm planning to post once every ten days, giving a summary of how I'm doing.

Days 1-50: 175 out (32 landfill, 87 recycled, 38 charity shop, 7 gifts, 3 Freegle, 2 used up, 6 archived), 31 in, net total out: 144.

Day 51: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 52: 1 out: book used to pay for lesson at Trade School.

Day 53: 1 out: travel-size shampoo bottle that had been hanging around for ages (used up, recycled bottle, counting as 1 used up).

Days 54-56: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 57: 19 out: 8 pieces of trash that had been hanging around in the shed for ages (landfill), 4 containers of takeaway food that had been in the freezer for ages (food in food waste, foil containers recycled, counting as 4 food waste), some pickled garlic, chicken fat, and tinned anchovies that had been in the fridge for ages (food waste), an empty wasabi tube (recycled), 2 empty packets (landfill) and an instruction leaflet (recycled) from kitchen drawer.

Day 58: Nothing in, nothing out.

Day 59: 1 out: a ginger teabag that had been sitting on its own at the bottom of a tin for months (made tea, drank it, used the tin to consolidate another clutter).

Day 60: Nothing in, nothing out.

• Total out so far: 197 (42 landfill, 89 recycled, 38 charity shop, 7 gifts, 3 Freegle, 1 bartered, 4 used up, 7 food waste, 6 archived)
• Total in so far: 31
• Net total out at day 60: 166

Comments

[semielliptical]

Wow, you're doing great on your net total out! It's surprisingly satisfying to finish up the small things, isn't it? Like the last tea bag on the tin, or the little bottle of shampoo.

[nou]

Thanks! And yes, those little things are good to do, and very useful too as the accumulated free space does end up being quite significant.

[fred_mouse]

I really appreciate that you are listing little things in here, because I tend to gloss over those in my own head. Mind you, I've so *much* to declutter that I could do a few years worth of something big every day before I start to get to that point!

(in my defence, the first six months of that would be toys and books that my kids have grown out of, if only they would agree that they don't need them anymore!)

[nou]

The little things do add up! And clearing them out is particularly handy for making sure that the little things I do want to keep don't get buried in the clutter.

Yeah, family members who want to hang on to things can be tricky when decluttering. Are your kids old enough to appreciate the "gamification" of unclutter yet?