u/Firstdibs66

It's hot. A bit too hot for me to sit outside right now. Got a visitor who currently has control of the TV remote and there is only so much daytime TV repeats I can cope with out of politeness! Perfect opportunity to stop putting off the inevitable.

I've got to put away the washing I've just caught up on after the building works....but I'm determined not to simply shove the stuff 'out of sight, out of mind'. I have to sort it out as I go.

I'm doing it in stages as it's so hot upstairs but I'm on my first drinks break and I've already got a pile of 10 items that I've tried on and decided against keeping.

Little black dresses that wouldn't fit the brief anymore and if I need one in the future, I'd find a style that suits my 'now' body shape and size.....polka dots might be 'in' but not all dots are made the same (at least not for my backside!).....a dress that I looked at on the hanger and my first reaction was 'why would I buy THAT?'...

Next stage.....I think it's time to face the fact that the two dresses I've kept for years for 'parties' and felt a million dollars in.....let's just say that I'd be surprised if they could wrap around one leg anymore. I've realised that as sad as I will be to let them go, I feel sadder every time I see them in the wardrobe knowing that I'll never (EVER) be able to wear them again and I'd probably look very dated even if I did. I managed to let go of my old dinner service when we finished the kitchen work so this has given me the boost that I need to finally say goodbye to these dresses.

Tastes change, fashion changes and bodies definitely change (at least mine definitely has 🤣) I think that's the push I've needed to finally let go of some of this stuff.

I'm hoping that later today, it'll cool down enough for me to sit outside with a cold drink and my book....I'll have earned it by then.

Hope you're all having a nice day too.

I'm really enjoying rebuilding my space by curating what I already have. By thinning things out, we're able to actually SEE and appreciate the really nice things we have. Amazingly, the space looks completely different and apart from one new lamp (repurposed the old one into a new space and didn't have one that I could use in the old place), I haven't bought a single new thing.

All beds are now cleared and made, ready for the visitors next week and the To Do box isn't actually as full of stuff as I'd expected.

I'm still working on it, and the latest things I've unpacked are some really pretty jugs that I've never decluttered in the past - but now they're unpacked, I've got to decide where to put them. And I don't have anywhere for them. So next decision....what to do with them? Sell? Donate? Ditch?

The first one I've just noticed has a crack that goes the full length of the jug. Any value it had is gone and I know that my charity shop won't sell it in a broken condition. Decision made.

The second is pretty but a quick Google search shows it's a piece I've obviously picked up when I wanted pretty things and couldn't afford much. So in the donate box it goes.

The third has a potential value, so I'm going to visit our local auction house who do free valuation days. I sold all my Edinburgh crystal through them a while ago and something will be better than nothing.

In addition, I'm also going to take the various Babycham glasses to see if they can sell them. I picked them up cheap as a nostalgia thing a few years ago but they've just been stored in a cupboard ever since. Maybe they'll realise a few pounds - maybe not but I have no use for them.

It's all still a work in progress but I'm definitely getting there. ....and I'm looking forward to having a glass of wine later, using one of my 'best' glasses now I've ditched the crap ones 🤣

Still unpacking and decluttering as I go. The donation box is filling up and so is the bin! The building work has given me so much motivation because I've had to see what was squirrelled away, that I didn't use or need.

I'm very close now but I'm working to a hard deadline. We have visitors arriving in less than a week. If I haven't sorted, they have no beds as everything from downstairs went upstairs during the work 🤣 I'm determined not to just shove stuff back in the cupboards just because I have room for it, so today I've decided to try something different, purely for speed.

If stuff has an obvious use or place - it goes away. If it's rubbish - bin. No use for it - donate box. But there are extra jigsaw pieces that aren't part of the current puzzle and I will go through them....but not over the next few days. So they're getting a designated To Sort box. As soon as my visitors have gone, I can go through the box at my leisure (maybe half hour at a time while I'm having a coffee) and it won't take long to deal with.

I'm feeling very motivated but I have to prioritise right now to get to the point where the house is visitor ready (not perfect, but ready) and this feels like a good way to do it. Wish me luck.

Hope you're all having a good day too.

Just wanted to get the perspective of the community!

We got married last year. A family member asked if they could organise a framed photo from the day as a Christmas present. We thought a framed photo would be a lovely thing (and way more thought into it than the usual stuff we end up with!!)

Anyway, cut to Christmas morning and we open our gift. Two lovely pictures - except they weren't photos in frames, they are two great big canvas pictures. We aren't really picture type people. Anyone who really knows us, knows this! There seriously is not a single position in our house that either of us could imagine putting these things up. I know it feels very ungrateful and maybe it is, but we can't display them through politeness. They're just not us.

We thought that we might get the same pictures printed and put them in nice frames. But what do I do with the canvasses themselves? I'm working so hard not to 'store' things, especially things we don't like but even so. This just seems a little harder to do. That's not like me - I've been known to drop off unwanted gifts to the charity shop on the first available date, so I can be tough.

Your thoughts, support and suggestions welcomed. Thanks in advance.

Managed to clear enough boxes today to get to the dinner service that you've all been supporting me to declutter.

A chance conversation with our neighbours has already resulted in an unwanted sofa bed being bagged for a teenagers den, and a dining table, chairs, side table and TV stand going to the brother in law of the other neighbour as he's about to set up home from nothing. She popped over to collect the little table and I mentioned the dinner set. She practically bit my hand off! Apparently he'd already said he was going to be eating off paper plates so when I showed her the plates, she said they'd have them. I know it's going somewhere to be used and appreciated until they can afford what they want and I only need to transport them next door. He's also gaining a coffee maker!

I'm really happy that good stuff isn't going to waste....and I'm not holding on to it.

Building work over! Let's celebrate! Carpets fitted and I got my furniture back by 9am yesterday morning. And so it begins - the great unpacking.

It was pretty overwhelming at first. So many boxes (we sent the big furniture away for a holiday, but packed up and stored the contents in boxes upstairs.) Pick a box.....any box! It ended as quite a productive day. Nowhere near done but four empty boxes over to MIL for her to prepare for her decorating work.

We'd done quite a bit of sorting while it was going away, which has made it a lot easier now it's time to put it all back, but it's definitely an ongoing process.

Over the last two days, I've also managed to find a good home for a sofa bed that still has lots of life left in it but isn't right for our space anymore, but apparently our neighbours son and his mates will be pleased once their garage is turned into their den! An unwanted dining table, chairs and side table have gone to the other neighbour, whose brother is just about to set up home from scratch. Her FIL was glad of the TV stand. I'm grateful for the space! She's also having the spare (spare? Who has a spare? Oh - that would be ME!) coffee maker, kettle and toaster for work. I'm so glad that this perfectly good stuff is going to be used.

Today I'm on a mission. I WILL get to the boxes that hold the dinner service that you all helped me to decide to ditch. It's so silly but the thought of letting go of this is really energising and I can't wait. As the title suggests, I'm so close to this action that I can almost taste it!

It'll also mean that it creates a path through the chaos upstairs to allow me to empty some more boxes for MIL. It's a WIN, WIN, WIN.

Hope you all have a good day too.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to my dilemma about whether I should declutter my full dinner service that I've kept for 'best'.

I think when I made the post, I was probably 80% of the way there - knowing that we don't use it and we're unlikely to use it.

You guys took me to 95%. What's tipped me over to decision made? I've googled images of tables set nicely with crockery just like my everyday set and I've realised that when I need to do 'special', with a little effort my table can look just as elevated than it would with a dedicated (once in a decade 😄) dinner service.

Now all I need to do is wait until I can actually access the boxes it's in, so I can donate it. At least it's already packed up! And even better, that's a cupboard and half freed up 👌

Renovation almost done and I'm still thinking about what's going where when we unpack in (hopefully) just over a week.

I bought some new coffee cups (old ones will be donated!) and the thoughts of crockery got me thinking about the full dinner service that we have. It wasn't expensive, the only sentimental value it holds is that it was the 'nice set' we bought when we first set up house. We don't use it for every day use (not practical nor robust enough) but we don't even bring it out for 'special' occasions any more. In fact, I think the last time I remember using it was Christmas around 4 years ago.

There's a lot of it. It takes up space. It's probably a bit old fashioned now. We don't use it. Logic tells me what I should do.....but there's just this teeny part of me that is reluctant. But I know that if it finds a home in my new space, it'll be like a squatter and never leave- so now is the time to make a decision. I don't want to store it out of sight for six months.

Come on community.....tell me what I already know 🤣

Major building work is progressing and I'm glad I did a fair review of the stuff that came out of the cupboards and cabinets, before the work started.

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The builder tells me that the end is in sight (we'll see!) and so my thoughts have now turned to how I'm going to put the stuff back.

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We've put in many hours making decisions on exactly what we wanted done and I've decided that I want to have a more curated space once it's finished.

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Which means deciding what goes back....and it can't be everything. So searching out lots of tips and tricks to help with my decisions .

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I read quite an interesting article over the weekend which I found useful. It said that people hold onto things that they believe have (or will have) value in the future.....but they don't/ won't. Case in point ...bloody Macdonald's Happy Meal Toys. Other half is convinced they are collectibles but the article addressed this. Maybe in the past when children actually played with them so unused ones were rare...but since they've been marketed as 'collectible'. ...we're not retiring on our Happy Meal collection!

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Glasses that have gone cloudy because I was stupid enough to put them in the dishwasher. Please explain to me why, when we've got no company and I have a glass of wine, I reach for the cloudy glasses? It's not even as though I'd be using 'best' glasses if I didn't. I just automatically use the most shitty ones. They're now in the glass collection box. In the same vein....the random novelty drinks glasses (happy 40th, glass inside a glass) are also packed and will be dropped off at the charity shop tomorrow.

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We have quite a lot of glass that we've collected. Nice, not overly valuable and some of the pieces are chipped. Again, I'm not inclined to keep broken stuff and I've looked to see if it's worth anything, which I don't think it is....so I'm steeling myself to ditch them. That'll be quite a biggy for me but I don't display them prominently because they're chipped, so what's the point?

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I'm still deliberating a wooden music box that was bought for me by my ex husband in the 90s. I have no emotional connection to it and I can't see any of the girls in our family wanting such a thing. I might do a little research, although I doubt very much it has any true value, and if that's the case - it'll go as I don't want it on display and there's no point having it in a cupboard.

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I've still got a long way to go but I think that having time to really consider what I want to display/ keep will make me feel much less weighed down once we have our new space.

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Any other tips or suggestions in my quest most welcomed.

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Complete downstairs renovation happening. Start date was 1st June. We had to clear EVERYTHING away in preparation. I knew that despite everything being 'away' and out of sight, my cupboards still have stuff. I also knew that if I didn't spend time sorting it as I was packing it away, I would simply unpack it all on the other side of the work. So that's what I did. Cupboard by cupboard, drawer by drawer.

We have deliveries due for the work, and we had to make room in the garage (mainly his domain, not mine) so we took the opportunity to scrutinise the stuff in there too.

I booked tip runs every other day..

By Sunday evening, we were exhausted - but done. 7 car loads went to the tip, 4 charity shop runs and a few bits taken by family who had a use for them.

Who knew I didn't need three cafetieres? George Foreman grill not used in at least several years before COVID? Broken microwave that's sat in a box in the garage for three years? Gone....all gone!

The work began on Monday. I'm not going near the guys unless they want a drink made. I'd had visions of sitting in my garden, happily reading - after all, it's not like I can do anything during this carnage can I? Except the weather had other plans for me.

So guess what? I'm upstairs surrounded by all my shoes. It's been on my to do list to go through them for ages and it seems like a productive use of time! I wonder how many I'll actually manage to say goodbye to? I'm fully motivated and have seen the benefits of ruthlessness downstairs so I'm hopeful 🤞Wish me luck.

Oh wait....is that the soft call of the builder asking me to pop the kettle on?

Received a belated and beautiful wedding gift from friends overseas as we just visited them. A photo book with memories of the trip we took to see them last year.

I'm not very body confident right now and looking at the photos, taken within the period of a week, I couldn't believe that I was looking at the same person across the various images. In some, I look ok....but others? It's definitely me in all of them, but that frumpy person that looks huge? That's me too but why do I look so different?

I've taken time to really look at these images. The main difference? The clothes I'm wearing. The top (in the truly awful photos) has quite fussy details around the tops of the arms, the silhouette is shapeless. It's just.......terrible.

So I've just emptied my summer tops drawer and removed four tops that are the same (shopaholic here could never just buy one - I had to have 'it' in every colour!)

In addition, yesterday I wore a little top for the first time as I'm trying not to reach for the trusty favourites every time I get dressed. It was......ok. Sort of. Nice summery colour but not my colour. Nothing wrong with it, but I felt kinda frumpy. Decision made....off it goes....along with the other three exact same tops in other colours.

Another expensive lesson learnt, but gradually I'm learning what suits and what really doesn't. And if it doesn't......