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Declutter November – end of week 4

Posted by on Monday 28 November 2011 in decluttering | 3 comments

No pictures this week because first my camera battery died mid-photo session and now my computer isn’t recognising the memory card. Sigh. Just imagine pics of assorted junk ;)

This week, I got rid of:

  • Big Blue Dog – one of those “oh so soft!” impulse buys at Ikea nearly a decade ago. Deserves a more loving home (and a wash first).
  • A freebie baseball cap from a geek conference
  • A mirror I (charity shop-)bought just before we moved here but never even took out the bag
  • Another old work diary, really no idea why I keep these
  • Two books – one from my women’s studies book stash and one on artists using recycling materials that was given to me but I never looked in because that’s what I use the internet for
  • A stack of papers, which became kindling for last night’s stove
  • A box of misc rubbish – really random stuff from a card from colleagues I barely knew when I left my job five years ago to old mobile phone packaging and lots of tiny bits and bobs including a bottle of artificial vanilla-scented oil burner oil which had leaked everywhere and gave me a headache for the rest of my tidying mission.

It was all from our spare room, which has just been a dumping ground for miscellanea since we moved in. This sorting got rid of two cardboard boxes from up there too.

Declutter November mini-challenge week 4: your hobby/craft stash

And then there was the painful craft stash reduction. I cleared out:

  • Three pairs of knitting needles – a 10mm set, a 5mm and an about 6mm set which has lost their ends. Oh and one half of a broken needle. (…?) (Mum: I’ll put these in my box of stuff for you in case you want these. The pairs, not the broken bit.)
  • Two balls of turquoise acrylic yarn. I’m gradually getting rid of all my 100% acrylic yarn – I bought a lot of it when I first started knitting again but don’t like using it now.
  • Some candle sand – I wasn’t sure whether this was really a craft stash item but I found it in one of my craft stash boxes so I’m including it ;)
  • Four vintage pillow case – bought for the fabric but I have nicer ones I’m not doing anything with so chances are these won’t get used any time soon.
  • A couple of metres of blue polyester. Left over from an old project. A project from 1999.

In my sorting, I also found some things I forgotten/didn’t know I had:

  • A ten pack of wool-heavy green yarn, which I think was 100g a ball, away from the rest of my wool in a drawer.
  • Two BNWT bras and a hoodie
  • Two cute little fabric handbags
  • A script for a play I performed once – and one that just this week I looked into buying again so see if it would be suitable for using with my drama group. Answer: no. Finding that script saved me £8!

So my decluttering this week has actually saved me money and provided me with “new” things to enjoy!

Just a couple of days left now – I’m hoping to get rid of a couple of big things since most of the other stuff has been quite small…

What have you got rid of this week? How did the hobby stash declutter go?

3 Comments

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  1. Linda

    Cheating a bit. Helped my 5 yo declutter her room. Got rid of tons of old art and other ‘creations’. Matched up sets and let her discover the ‘new’ toys that were unearthed. Much better room to clean now!!

  2. bookstorebabe

    I was a slacker this time. Aside from finding a few more books to get rid of, I didn’t really do anything. Sigh…but I got rid of enough things this month to make me want to keep plugging away at it. Slowly but surely!

  3. louisa

    Linda: that’s not cheating, that’s teaching her good habits for the future. ;)

    bookstorebabe: Me too. My last few days were tough but I’ve got on my December to-do list to find another 10 more items to clear out — I’m very determined to make this a habit that sticks!

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