well I have been having a "summer-clean"

have cleared out some boxes in the bedroom that had been sat in the bottom of the wardrobe since we moved in (over 2 years!)

shredded some old bank-statements from 2005

cleared the bathroom shelves of old make-up and toiletries (some make-up had been sat for over 10 years!!!)

and put down some rugs that I bought 8 months ago but had been waiting til we started decorating etc - though sod it, gonna put them down now...

so that's 2 bedrooms and the bathroom......just 2 more bedrooms, then I might tackle the study

but I feel oh so much better for doing it :)

When we moved a little while ago I watched the removal men carrying boxes labelled 'JUNK' from my old loft to my new loft. It would be perhaps understandable but they had originally come from the house before that........ and all unopened.
Now isn't that bad?  :-)
Do I need a clear out or what?
Perhaps you might inspire me.... I'd have to do it when the OH is out though, he keeps everything.

we still have 4 unopened boxes in the garage, I think they have china in....

the garage wants sorting, but as it's mostly full of his junk...er sorry I mean belongings...then I will have to leave that to him ;)

I don't like throwing stuff away, but in the case of make-up, lotions and potions, well they have a shelf life so no point in keeping, no matter how expensive they were....

I will probably still end up with a box of "junk" but there's room in the garage ;)

What are we like?
Maybe the OHs are right ...... we'll need some of that stuff one day. :-)
I wouldn't mind but he can never find anything anyway.

I'm the oppposite. I cant abide "hoarding" and have a good clearout...every couple of months :-)
I cannot live with clutter and mess and used to have regular arguments with my ex becuase hge would tidy while i was at work, i would get home and think the place looked wonderful, only to find the crap had been shoved in cupboards and drawers!!Being tidy is about everything being organised-not just the initial appearance of a room!

When I moved to New Zealand I shipped loads of junk with me including a whole box of just my old school exercise books!!! I obviously didn't need them as 13 years later thay were still sitting in the box. I was strong this time and chucked them before paying for them to fly around the world again :)

the place looked wonderful, only to find the crap had been shoved in cupboards and drawers!!

ooops - welcome to my life!!!!

though my intention is to box all the "crap" and hoard it out of sight....so I'm certainly hoping to achieve some degree of organisation ;)

I really to sort my house out!! :) :)

I could do for you?! I find having a good sort out so relaxing and theraputic & i love that great sense of achievement at the end when the place looks spick & span. I recently spent 6+ hours cleaning my bf's house. I know im sad but i love it and it always makes me feel better.....plus, i now feel safe that i wont catch some deadly disease from some of the germs that must have been lurking in his kitchen and bathroom :-)

I recently had a real good sort out, some of the items I gave to charity shops and others I advertised and so far I have £145 from items I no longer needed.

Aah would you Freds mum :) i wouldn't wish it on anyone :)
Might sort paper work out later though, well that's a start!! :)

well hello fredsmum.......i have a right challenge here for you then, keep you happy and busy for days ;) :) :)
When can you come? have to be when OH is working, he is very untrusting when I get that 'clearout' glint in my eye!

Sorting out paperwork is a great way to start. get one of those filing type boxes and have sections for car stuff, bank stuff, water, electricity etc etc.
Then when you get imprtant paperwork you just put it in the front of all your other stuff and hey presto, got yourself an organised filing system. Never again will you need to hunt for a really important document & it will free up room in the drawers where you would have chucked the paperwork :-)
I have 6 weeks off over summer, you could hire me out :-) :-) :-)

Hi Fredsmum,

Can I book you for the whole six weeks - it'll take that long to sort out my house (think 20+ years of hoarding by OH )  as you'll be in 7th heaven you can stay for free and all the home-cooked meals you can eat  :-D :-D :-D

Ooooh don't, this is what I am doing this weekend!

I've just booked monday and tuesday off work for a 'break' - in reality I will be spending my 4-day weekend clearing the house out :-P

It's a debt thing mostly - I want more space, but primarily I need to gather anything and everything that I can sell (all but the most sentimental things) to get some money to try and help myself get out of my steadily increasing debt.

Great fun!  Honest... :-P

>Sorting out paperwork is a great way to start. get one of those filing type boxes and have sections for car stuff, bank stuff, water, electricity etc etc.

Then when you get imprtant paperwork you just put it in the front of all your other stuff and hey presto, got yourself an organised filing system. Never again will you need to hunt for a really important document

I did that for 18 years, OH would NOT put things in the front or even in the right place so I gave up - the horse was dead no need to flog it any more :(    Now OH has to search for hours for any important document :eyes rolling madly:  and I just say "it's where you filed it ! "   Not ideal but it got to the stage where I was plotting hubbycide

I also moved and cleared out. Have any of you heard of freecycle? they have local groups and you can join free, you offer stuff you dont want, you get stuff you do want, they collect it from you the only thing is it all is free. I got rid of an old chest of drawers, and dressing table ( Dad replaced some when Mum Died). Two old bikes which had been in the shed for at least 6 years. A mobile phone charger, old guitar of one of my sons ect.
You can get plants, bits of stuff like paving slabs ect. Made me feel good because a young lad got his biked pinched and I had one that was sitting doing nothing, he was chuffed!!
My hoarding area is next to the microwave, when I cant fit any more in I sort it in the garage with the mice!!!!
My OH has statements back about 17 years, will not let me shred them!! How can magazines show minimalist living, we are junk magnets!!!

Bit like when the wear the same pants until they get threadbear, men can't get any further into a drawer than the first three pairs. When I got a new chest of drawers he had 23 pairs of pants some almost new!!! Where's my trousers? under your clean shirt, they do not move anything just open the door and whine a bit, they haven't perfected flying out the wardrobe into his hands yet!!

Two years ago while my OH was away on a fotball trip I hired a skip and got rid of loads of junk from the loft, garage and shed. He still has not realised. He just thinks I keep it all tidy and it is there, because YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT MIGHT COME IN HANDY!!!!!!! I think he plans to appear on " Money in the Attic" one day LOL.

Trouble is OH hoardes and I believe in tidy living. If it is not used bin it.
Shoes of course are naturally exempt from this reasoning!!

am afraid most of what I am chucking is, quite literally, junk....old postcards, **important** papers or articles that are so important they've been sat gathering dust for 3 years (roll eyes!)....

make-up and toiletries get binned too, and old nail-varnish....

I keep looking at my knicker-drawer.....really must throw some out but there's something about comfy pants eh ;)

I'm not a knick-knack person, though I do still have a box of photo frames, but they have vintage photos in of my family going back a few generations, as soon as I find somewhere for them to go I'll be displaying them.....oh and I have about 6 prints that need framing too....

hubby has some painted plates, not my thing at all, they were his g/parents, but I will pack them away and they will be kept...

so even though I need to tidy up and sort things out, I have very little I could sell or (f)recycle....

and I come from a long line of hoarders (you should see my dads garage!!!) ;) 

How dya fancy a couple of weeks by the sea in sunny Scotland?!  Our house seriously needs a good clear out!!

Are you chaps still on about a good clear out?

Well, since posting this morning, I've taken the dogs out, fell down a flight of stairs, been to casualty, had my leg strapped and sent home with anti-inflams.
I hope you've all been busy.... I've to rest, put my feet up and do nothing.........and it's official!! :-)
Dogs are ok.... Dog Nanny is here and she's offered to do all my jobs so it's not all bad.

Oh no, how did you manage that?! Must be the time for it-i fell down the stairs on Saturday but managed to get away with just a few friction burns (had to explin that one to the new bf) :-)

Well, now you defiantly cant have a clear out :-) you need to rest :-)

I bumped quite a few on my butt so sitting comfortably may be out of the question. :-(
(Wearing Crocs on wet terracotta tiled stairs... Lethal !)

Oh totally shoes are exempt, you can never have too many shoes in all colours and for all different reasons. Last could I had about 42 pairs. I got two this week, plus 3 pairs of boots, one short riding wellies in his car, pull on boots waterproof in my car plus walking boots, all for dog duties!!
Plus Birkenstock lovely for all day, oh new fitflops recommend them, trainers about two pairs slip on ones about 6. Can't walk past Shoon Shoes in Winchester. The words "SHOE SALE" makes my boys faint when they were younger "Im not going with you if we are visiting a shoe shop" Mum. Makes my pulse race...... Oh a client that we are working for has a wardrobe built with all her shoes in box's colour coordinated. Good job her OH is loaded, our carpenter is hand making her wardrobes and cupboards for her shoe box's its costing a mint (Around £50K)
I must sit down now, the thought of anyone throwing shoes away.

Well, since posting this morning, I've taken the dogs out, fell down a flight of stairs, been to casualty, had my leg strapped and sent home with anti-inflams.
I hope you've all been busy.... I've to rest, put my feet up and do nothing.........and it's official!! 
Dogs are ok.... Dog Nanny is here and she's offered to do all my jobs so it's not all bad.

What a lady has to do to get a day with her feet up :-D

Joking apart I hope you are OK Tooolz.. 

Thanks Blue,
Very little chance of getting my feet up as no one in this house seems to notice empty water bowls, pups needing a pee, dishwasher needing emptied etc.
Yes I get a cup of tea if I ask, but there is a limit to how much 'nursing' I will get .......so shuffling around it is until the dog nanny arrives.

A sobering thought isn't it.....what happens to your dogs if you are injured?

ah tooolz, hope you are feeling better soon...

I know when I'm ever ill (I suffer with migraine attacks occasionally) I'm left to deal with the dogs, hubby has admitted that "ill" is not in his vocabulary, so I said to him that I hope I never break a leg, or something that REALLY prevents me from doing the basics!!!!

oh, and 2 more bedrooms done yesterday, have told hubby that he is in charge of cleaning the bathroom and en suite....any bets on whether it's done when I get home from work????

Ditto migrane get your Doc to perscripe Maxalt Melt 10mg. Only for real emergancies they melt on your tongue and the headache goes away.
I once had a migrane for two weeks, the Doctor said it was a severe attack perscriped Melts in about 1 hour it had gone. I always have a couple but hardly ever need tem now. But they work always..
I had migrane ever since I was a child.

Talking about having a clear out...came home from work last night at 10.30pm and there was a huge bin bag full of OH's clothes!!!!he had cleared out his wardrobe...shock...mostly shirts a couple of pairs of trousers and a suit from about 20 years ago!! Worst thing with my OH is that he is still the same size now at 54 as he was at 17!! even his soft touchy feely leather trousers he bought aged 21 still fit like a glove, and low and behold he still wears them Yum Yum!!
I have been whinging at him for years to clear out things like shirts that he has had for 20 odd years!! at last i can put his ironing away in the wardrobe withour getting smothered and having to fight my way in LOL
Aileen.

I know we have two huge chest of drawers new last month and OH has his own its onlty half full!! He has one draw for dog walking tatty gear and one for posher stuff!!
I have knickers in one and bras in another, how we managed sharing one I do not know.
Still uses the top few pairs of pants though!!
But its nice to have space.

Thanks DEARLADY, in the words of that popular karaoke song " I will survive".
Dog nanny is here...... yeh...I've got a cup of tea in hand and all dogs sorted.
Two nice clean, tired little hairies asleep on the sofa with me and others out for a run.
G*d bless her.

Re: migraines... I think I've alredy recommended Zomig to you. It's the only thing that's ever worked for me. 

i have a rule in my house.
if it has not been used / worn in two years recycle it or thorw it out!!!!!!!!
no questions asked its gone, end of story.
so no boxes of junk or overflowing cupboards in my house but i do have lots of dodgy stuff that i cant bring myself to thorw away.
Its hidden under the bed in the spare room so no one knows its there. he he !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm trying to do that one myself newf3!

So, so much stuff in this house that needs to go.  It just isn't big enough :-P

i have a rule in my house.
if it has not been used / worn in two years recycle it or thorw it out!!!!!!!!

similar but OH will not obey ! You would think after 30 years I would have been able to train him would you not??