Mega Decluttering Tips

robgilmo

JDE said:

robgilmo said:

Same thing here, except my tools are all at work, My other half just keeps buying stuff, usually useful for a day or two kind of stuff. Kids toys are the worst, and clothes, even clothes that doesnt fit them any more gets kept!

This is basically describing my house. I try to keep my larger tools at work but it’s an hour round trip which can be a bitch when you’re in a hurry.
The toy situation here is ridiculous. Got my youngest into Lego predominantly because it’s small and easy to tidy up/step on, which has helped, but he’s too much like his mum - “don’t throw away that broken, two year old Happy Meal toy, I was playing with it.” For 10 years I have tried to get a grip on my wife’s hobby of keeping everything she has ever seen. I’ve given up. I tidy where I can, sneak out bin bags and charity when I can and just let it slide when I have to. Different strokes I suppose. I have OCD and she likes stepping over fucking rubbish every time she wants to go into the kitchen. 

I spat my orange juice out, must clean that up, but yes, I know that feeling. Fucking useless piles of shit everywhere, drawers bulging at the seams, wardrobe doors not shutting properly, and small baskets of , well , bits. Fucking little bowls of bits everywhere!

slacker

meltedbuzzbox said:

Gentlemen, grow some balls!!

For DVDs, CDs and books use music magpie. The pieces aren't amazing but they are better than nothing and less of a faff (donating to charity).

I've got 4 electrics 3 basses 1 acoustic 2 drum kits 3 amps a bass amp and 20 pedals I don't think keeping that lot tidy is unreasonable.

Ive never hidden gear or costs I've shown my wife the klon told her how much its worth and that it's paying for my funeral as my family is more unhealthy than hers. 

TTBZ

darthed1981 said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Man cave. Store it all in there. 

One of our issues, three bedroom house, no spare room with children all over the place!

I'm in the exact same situation. We just moved house and I took it as an opportunity to do a massive declutter. I was just ruthless and got rid of a load of shit I hadn't used for ages. Felt nice to get rid, I was holding on to way too much crap just in case I had a use for it.

Guitar shit currently resides in the dining room which is as close as I'll get to a man cave for a long time! It's a weird feeling since for the past 10 years I've always had a room where all my guitar stuff has been set up ready to play whenever. Now the amp is being stored away (bands gone to shit) and I'll be getting a HX Stomp for a compact headphone rig I can hide away. Would quite like to convert the garage but it'll be a big job.

Philly_Q

I've got no partner or kids to pacify but I have got a hell of a lot of clutter.  Guitars, guitar parts, guitar boxes, guitar mags, books, CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays. I've "intended" to sort it out for at least the last 10 years but in that time it's only increased.

So I have no tips to offer.

We are going t have to clear my Dad's house this year and I'm wondering if that will inspire me to sort out my own place.  It might... but it also gives me another excuse for putting things off until later.

revsorg

This is a great book - one for all the family

Emp_Fab

mgaw said:

as above  show no mercy, if it aint in regular use its a goner

That’s no way to talk about his wife.

Moe_Zambeek

I use Ziffit for selling books and CDs, DVDs are more difficult. Ziffit offered me more on average than all the others; music Magpie was generally the worst. Also eBay can work sometimes, I sold off a cassette collection I would initially have accepted 40 quid for, drip fed on amazon I got 5 times that in the end. I still ended up with books and CDs no one wanted and they went to charity.

It’s a great feeling decluttering, much of what I got rid of was kept ‘just in case’ and really was just an encumbrance.

amarok1971

I have just had a massive sort out in readiness for moving.. ive enjoyed the process and i never want unnecessary clutter ever again, although i currently dont have a kitchen table lol

ChuckManual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZRlEKiogtE

Musicwolf

If you are sorting stuff out then the rule should be 'pick it up once'.  By that I mean, pick it up, decide whether it's staying or going.  If it's staying, put it where it's going to live.  If it's going then bin, charity shop, whatever.  No moving stuff between piles or putting off decisions.

I've just been helping my wife to sort out her Mum's house (her Mum died just before Christmas).  Delicate at first as she comes to terms but, eventually, you have to get on with it.  None of this 'that might be good for so-and-so who's daughter is going to college in September'.  If Mrs So-and-so or her daughter isn't here to take it right now then it's off to the tip.

munckee

The books and blue rays are just stuff move them on. 

Missus munckee has begrudgingly accepted that I have a reasonable amount of stuff in the house (3 electrics, 2 acoustics, 3 amps, pedal board plus 3 or 4 random pedals).  The THR and the acoustic are on display in the lounge as she likes them (or dislikes them least.) the rest can't be seen.

She is less accommodating about hearing the 'racket' though : )

UnclePsychosis

Look up Marie Kondo and the KonMari process.

The process is a mix between "so obvious why the hell didn't I always do it like that?" storage tips and "don't tidy by room, tidy by object type in an order that makes real sense" with a bit of psychobabble thrown in on top.

It sounds poncy as hell but on a practical level it really works.

darthed1981

munckee said:

The books and blue rays are just stuff move them on. 

Missus munckee has begrudgingly accepted that I have a reasonable amount of stuff in the house (3 electrics, 2 acoustics, 3 amps, pedal board plus 3 or 4 random pedals).  The THR and the acoustic are on display in the lounge as she likes them (or dislikes them least.) the rest can't be seen.

She is less accommodating about hearing the 'racket' though : )

The consensus I think...

Speaking to the missus last night, I can't part with my whole movie collection, so we are buying a couple of sideboard- style cupboards for the living room so I can pile things inside them, but she can put trinkets on top...

So the genesis of a compromise, plus we can paint the room properly with all the shit out of the way.

munckee

darthed1981 said:

munckee said:

The books and blue rays are just stuff move them on. 

Missus munckee has begrudgingly accepted that I have a reasonable amount of stuff in the house (3 electrics, 2 acoustics, 3 amps, pedal board plus 3 or 4 random pedals).  The THR and the acoustic are on display in the lounge as she likes them (or dislikes them least.) the rest can't be seen.

She is less accommodating about hearing the 'racket' though : )

The consensus I think...

Speaking to the missus last night, I can't part with my whole movie collection, so we are buying a couple of sideboard- style cupboards for the living room so I can pile things inside them, but she can put trinkets on top...

So the genesis of a compromise, plus we can paint the room properly with all the shit out of the way.

When I still had a dvd player I put all the dvd's in a big folder type thing and all the boxes in the loft for space saving.

darthed1981

munckee said:

darthed1981 said:

munckee said:

The books and blue rays are just stuff move them on. 

Missus munckee has begrudgingly accepted that I have a reasonable amount of stuff in the house (3 electrics, 2 acoustics, 3 amps, pedal board plus 3 or 4 random pedals).  The THR and the acoustic are on display in the lounge as she likes them (or dislikes them least.) the rest can't be seen.

She is less accommodating about hearing the 'racket' though : )

The consensus I think...

Speaking to the missus last night, I can't part with my whole movie collection, so we are buying a couple of sideboard- style cupboards for the living room so I can pile things inside them, but she can put trinkets on top...

So the genesis of a compromise, plus we can paint the room properly with all the shit out of the way.

When I still had a dvd player I put all the dvd's in a big folder type thing and all the boxes in the loft for space saving.

Yeah I'm leaning that way with chunks of the collection.

Snags

We're quite lucky, in that in theory we have more than enough space for the two of us (although we don't, because shit expands to fill available space, and both of us view the whole house as ours ). Also, historically there was a lot of overlap in what we were into (books, music).

Now there are issues though because Mrs Snags is mostly into knitting, and whilst wool is fairly bulky, it squishes, and all her paraphernalia is quite small. Whereas guitars, amps and pedal boards are ... more obvious. So the basic rule is most of my stuff gets dumped in my old office from when I worked at home, but it's too full of general shit to use as a man cave, so I keep one, maybe two, guitars downstairs on stands for practice, with a Fly 3 tucked away. She keeps her knitting wherever the hell she likes (mostly in a bag in the lounge).

In general, though, the rule is "cupboards" - if you can hide it, it's fine. It's when it starts cluttering up the living space/publicly visible areas it's a problem.

Oh yeah, and apparently leaving amps on the landing outside the bathroom because it's "dead space" is a bad thing.

It does mean we're on the verge of potentially getting rid of every single book we own, though, which is a day I thought would never come. It's just dead space, and we could re-purpose the rooms into his'n'hers play spaces, if we did that.

Bowks

All my CDs are in now in mahoosive wallet carry cases. They take up a fraction of the room! 

I think the majority of our DVDs will be next to go. 

Bowks

Also, I am reading with interest, as we are about to move and the full extent of my gear collection will be under the spotlight. My other half knows wha I have, but maybe doesn't appreciate how much room it takes up!

Snags

Should have said that in all matters of decorating ans soft  furnishings I defer to the distaff side. I veto anything I think is really awful, but otherwise let her get in with it, maintaining just enough involvement to pass the "does he care?" test, but not enough to venture areal opinion. Because actually I don't care. So it's her house with my shit in it. Apart from the bits that haven't changed since we're moved in. Which is an issue. Because I don't care. 

King85

robgilmo said:

Be brutal, dont be afraid to bin stuff, if you dont use it, bin it.

Don't bin it unless its useless, take anything you can to your local charity shops.

But yes be brutal, if you haven't used it in 12 months chance you wont again.