uncluttering one day and one thing at a time

Occasional check in

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 02:59:51 GMT

Posted by: fred_mouse

I've rather dropped the ball on check in posts. I'd like to claim that I'm going to be doing weekly posts (and I'm going to put it back in my reminders, so maybe!).

With that said: what have you achieved in the declutter sphere? Have you done a tiny thing? Something marvellous and magical that has transformed your life? Made a plan but haven't yet carried it out? Tell us, tell us!

Comments open to locals, lurkers, drive by sticky beaks, and anyone I've forgotten to mention.

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Intermittent check in

Tue, 13 May 2025 07:59:29 GMT

Posted by: fred_mouse

Attempting to get back in the habit of weekly(ish) check ins here. Love that people have been tracking their decluttering!

So! On that note: what have you achieved in the declutter sphere? Have you done a tiny thing? Something marvellous and magical that has transformed your life? Made a plan but haven't yet carried it out? Tell us, tell us!

Comments open to locals, lurkers, drive by sticky beaks, and anyone I've forgotten to mention.

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And the end of July brings an update.

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 08:22:07 GMT

Posted by: sisterofbloomerjunior

So cleaning- mostly the basement- has basically helped me find a heck of a lot of our tools and battery chargers. The ones I can’t find either the parts for or no longer work have been disassembled and had the internal batteries removed. (The county does offer repair clinics, but those are usually too far away from me.). I’ll drop off the batteries and other hazardous waste at a collection happening in my neighborhood about two weeks from now.

We have a donation table in the neighborhood for clothes and other items that I’ve been leaving items at pretty much all summer. About the only items I’ve taken are a hockey book I haven’t read yet and a Chicago Bears daily calendar from 1990(? I haven’t seen it a while. Maybe Mom tossed it?). Most of the cleaning I’ve done in the garage so far has been sorting through tools and I haven’t done much in any other room since April.

I’ve joined a challenge that runs throughout August to stop food waste in my county and two neighboring ones. Depending on the weather, I’ll relocate some day lilies away from the air conditioner.

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Weekend check-in

Sat, 03 Feb 2024 08:29:19 GMT

Posted by: fred_mouse

What unclutttering have you done recently?

Taken the bins out? Win!

Sorted things into 'keep this' and 'rehome that'? Win!

Actually got stuff out of the house? Win!

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Unclutter check-in

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 09:50:48 GMT

Posted by: fred_mouse

What have you achieved in uncluttering recently? Today, this week, this month? The tiniest bit counts!

note: I'm aiming to post check in posts once or twice a week for at least a couple of months. I am not going to aim for any specific day of the week but whenever I'm online and think of it. If other people make check in posts, I'll just skip a few days and then post -- the more people we have doing this the better!

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Unclutter check-in

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:33:17 GMT

Posted by: fred_mouse

What have you achieved in uncluttering recently? Today, this week, this month? The tiniest bit counts!

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preparing for the new year

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 17:02:09 GMT

Posted by: wychwood

We're coming up towards the traditional season of uncluttering!

I've been doing a little bit of reorganising spaces:

Replaced an under-bed storage box that was really hard to get out with a much easier one
Sorted out the contents of that box and the two next to it and moved some things around
Pulled out a bunch of travel or mostly-used toiletries from one of them to go ahead and just use up (most of them have been in there since well before I moved into this flat, which is... six years now)
Put a small storage box on my bedside table for pills etc so I stop knocking everything on the floor while trying to find the correct packet first thing in the morning

Also, on the digital front, some post-Christmas updating of catalogue spreadsheets with my new presents, before I shelve them, and clearing out of assorted emails that were waiting for me to do something with them!

Anyone else using the downtime before New Year to get some decluttering done?

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weekend check-in

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 09:39:15 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hi all, it's the weekend and it's time for me to declutter. One of my current challenges is that the two rooms I most want to work on (living room, study) are also the two rooms where other people in my household like to hang out, and decluttering can get in the way of what they're trying to do. So I am seizing the moment while no-one else is in the living room, putting on some women's ice hockey from earlier today to keep me company, and seeing how far I can get.

Share your challenges, successes, tactics and strategies in the comments!

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weekend check-in

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 08:34:30 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

It's Friday, it's the weekend for me, and I've ~~probably~~ definitely got too many goals for it, but here's some themes and a check-in for everyone.

ongoing decluttering - I actually filled our general waste bin last weekend, but it got emptied yesterday morning so I am free to declutter some more!
getting things out of the house - I've built up several bags of donations now, so the trick is to get to the charity shop today before the usual weekend rush means they have to close to donations
seasonal clothing - the seasons are definitely changing in this corner of England, and my clothing storage is ... not a full-on mess, but definitely showing entropy. So I'm going to do a little tidying and straightening and repacking, one area at a time (to keep from getting out of hand), and make it easier to find the warm layers now the mornings are colder.

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weekend check-in

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 20:17:55 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Welcome to a weekend check-in. I have some tedious paperwork to complete, and I said jokingly to my sibling on the phone "I will probably end up tidying half the house rather than do this paperwork". Only it turns out I need a specific document, and I have lost it ~somewhere~ in this house, and that's not actually a joke any more.

I'll ramble a little in the comments like I usually do, but please check in with your challenges and successes and surprises, and let's cheer each other on a bit.

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weekend check-in

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 18:32:59 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hi all, it's been a while. Today's check in is brought to you by me finally finally doing a reorganisation of the living room furniture that I've had in mind for literal years. This was not strictly a decluttering exercise but I ended up doing some along the way. (Because I am a nerd who has done too many projects, there were many cries of "NO SCOPE CREEP" as I made myself stop sorting out a shelf that wasn't on the critical path.) And now I have things I should try to move out the house over the weekend.

I'll ramble in more detail in the comments, please join in with your own goals for the weekend, large or small!

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weekend check-in

Sun, 28 May 2023 12:10:59 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hi all and welcome to the weekend check-in. Last week I set myself an ambitious to-do list and er, managed three of them. But that's three more than none!

This week, in a flashback to January, I have tested positive from covid, am isolating from my family in my room, don't have any symptoms, and am considering applying the Dana K. White 5-step decluttering to the places I didn't get to in January. (For one room that I didn't think was that messy, I didn't get around all of it in January, and I pulled out a LOT of rubbish / recycling from the places I did tackle.)

One thing I have managed to keep up since January is keeping the places I decluttered free of new accumulating rubbish. I do a little pick up in here most days, usually when I get an hourly movement reminder from my fitbit. But there are plenty of shelves and stacks to go through still.

Share your challenges and successes in the comments!

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weekend check-in

Sun, 21 May 2023 08:11:11 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hello hello, how are we doing?

Last weekend I did the first-pass of the last remaining boxes of my mother's things, allowing me to return six empty storage boxes to my stepfather on the Monday. Lots of the contents went straight to the bin/paper recycling, but now I have to deal with what's left. And I'm still trying to get things to leave the house. This weekend is more challenging for getting anything done: spouse is away for a week at a conference, so I'm doing all the childcare and housework on top of my job, plus I have an aunt visiting town for a course. So I'm going to scrabble together a to-do list here and hope to get through it.

Bag of books to the Little Free Library (can hopefully do this on my way to meet aunt this morning)
Bag of things to the charity shop (this afternoon when I get back from town, unless they're already full by then)
Parcel up the baby things to my sister-out-law for her niece, and send (this afternoon when I get back, because then I can get it collected hopefully tomorrow)
Parcel up the box of papers for my youngest brother, and send (as above)
Photograph the things for probable-giveaway, and circulate to brothers to see if they want anything before listing it (today, and ask them to tell me by next weekend at latest)
If the box of things to giveaway at the end of the road has still not gone at the end of today, give up and put in the bin tonight (it's had 3 days, in very good weather, with a lot of passing foot traffic, if it's not gone now it won't)

Stretch goal: we've had a Christmas tree up for nearly 18 months, it was kind of a joke all last year that I was too busy to take it down but the joke isn't funny any more. I'm actually embarrassed about it. Maybe if I'm on a productive roll this afternoon I'll finally take it down. (And I will not be the one putting it back up in December this year - if the others in the house want it, they can do it.)

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weekend check-in

Sat, 13 May 2023 10:22:30 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hello! Today is another weekend where I'm trying to work on decluttering. My theme this weekend is "getting things to leave the house", and I seem to have discovered a side-theme of "timewarp".

First: five bags of my mother's things that I sorted out for giveaway last August and left in the garage awaiting carriage to the nearby charity shop. This morning I finally labelled them, realised I couldn't carry all the bags on foot at once, and loaded them into the cargo bike instead. I got in before the rush at the charity shop, so they are all GONE. That's a huge relief.

( further adventures in things that have been waiting to leave for a long time )

How are you all getting on? Share your success, failures, aims in the comments.

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weekend check-in

Sun, 07 May 2023 10:10:56 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

Hello all, I fell off the uncluttering wagon in, er, January. But I have a surprise! free! Sunday today so I thought I'd try to get back on it, and check in with the community while I'm at it.

My theme for today is "getting stuff to actually leave". So far I have

( done more than I thought actually )

Nothing has actually left the house yet, but a bunch of things are a lot closer to doing so. Progress! Now I'm taking a break, further adventures will be added in the comments.

How are you all doing this weekend?

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weekend check-in

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 17:27:23 GMT

Posted by: wychwood

I did another charity shop trip with my friend yesterday! A bag of assorted clothing and bits, and several bin sacks of books - the rest of the non-fic (I had so many books about sailing that I never read!) and the first few shelves of fiction. I'd finished re-reading a couple of books to see whether I wanted to keep them, and subsequently cleared out my whole remaining collections by those authors, too.

I'm feeling a bit ruthless right now, but if I ever have a really desperate need to re-read Alistair MacLean I feel sure there will be a secondhand paperback out there somewhere. And given how much of a slog I found what used to be my favourite, we're probably good...

How's everyone else getting on? Done anything much?

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it's the weekend!

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 22:21:08 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

How have your weeks gone?

I made a start on the book I mentioned last weekend, and... then got to the front of another two library hold queues, so switched back over.

I also acquired Several Useful Things from a skip, which have not yet made it to their final destination (i.e. the allotment).

But! I have sown a bunch of seeds, including finishing several packets, on the grounds that they're already several years old and there is no point keeping partial packs of seeds that might not even germinate lying around. I wound up going through one of the boxes under my side of the bed yesterday, to get some fiddly wee screwdrivers out for my partner, and in the process went "... huh. I... really do not need this any more." about several things in there -- so they've been moved to recycling or The Waste Electronics Pile etc as appropriate! So: not nothing. :)

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weekend check-in

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 10:05:13 GMT

Posted by: wychwood

How's everyone getting on? I didn't do much last week - finished a couple of small projects up so I could put the component parts away instead of having them sitting around for months (or years, in one case...). But today I'm planning to go through the rest of the non-fic bookcase I've been working on; I'll update in comments as I go, hopefully!

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checking in!

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:29:16 GMT

Posted by: kaberett

Last week I: acquired something that needs some TLC, for which I don't have a designated home in my house yet, but which I am sure I can very trivially make someone else's problem, and make their day by doing it. (It's an overlocker. It was on Freecycle. Apparently nobody else wanted it?!) Nevertheless it is sat on one end of the sofa staring accusingly at me and I should Do Something About That.

But I did also do some actual uncluttering!

( Read more... )

How about you?

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weekly check-in

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 14:16:24 GMT

Posted by: wychwood

Where's everyone at today?

I bribed a friend to take me to the charity shop yesterday with all my heavy bags, and completely cleared out the donations pile in my spare room, which was exciting.

Then today I went through my stash of used (but reusable) padded envelopes and bubblewrap and so on, and threw most of it away; I haven't needed one of them in years. Half-a-dozen in assorted sizes kept in reserve should be plenty.

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weekend uncluttering / check-in

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 14:01:42 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

It's the weekend, and for me that's decluttering time. So let's make it a community check-in too. How is your week going for decluttering things? Set goals, vent about difficulties, celebrate our successes in the comments.

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weekend uncluttering / check-in

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 13:33:52 GMT

Posted by: rmc28

It's the weekend, it's when I'm trying to get some uncluttering done, so this is both a prompt to myself and a check-in post for everyone. We're a couple of weeks into the new year, when many people start setting new goals and trying new routines. How are we all getting on?

Comment to celebrate our successes, commiserate over our difficulties, and to cheer each other on.

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How's your uncluttering going?

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 12:56:31 GMT

Posted by: tanaqui

Apparently I need to unclutter my to-do list, my procrastination skills or my brain, because I've been meaning to make this post for a week and not got round to it!

But now is the perfect time for a check in. Many of us are uncluttering right now so we can welcome family into our homes or in anticipation of gifts coming into our spaces. Or starting to think about our uncluttering goals for the new year. So how is your uncluttering going?

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How's your uncluttering going?

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 11:31:09 GMT

Posted by: tanaqui

I realised it's been a while since we had a general "check in" post where we can pat ourselves on the back about our successes, talk about the challenges and struggles we're wrestling with, and motivate ourselves by sharing our plans.

And, of course, cheer on others and provide suggestions for those who ask for help.

So here's that post!

(I'm planning to make more posts like this, but I'm absolutely not committing to doing that on any kind of regular schedule — and would be more than happy for other people to put up "check in" posts when they feel the urge!)

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