Counteracting the clutter in 2023

[emma_p]

That is pretty good going, Cerise!

[FiveO'Clock]

Good work, Cerise!

[Squirrel]

Brilliant work!

[Morganna]

On a side note, what do you lot call the style of folder in Morg's photo that is orange? They do not exist in foreign, and I think I desperately NEED a stack of these in my life for my ADHD people. I will ask MIL to bring some over for us.

They are envelope files, I think.

ETA here they are:

https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/offi ... lsrc=aw.ds

Cerise, you should hire yourself out. That would have taken me weeks

[Squirrel]

On a side note, what do you lot call the style of folder in Morg's photo that is orange? They do not exist in foreign, and I think I desperately NEED a stack of these in my life for my ADHD people. I will ask MIL to bring some over for us.

Try document wallet.

However speaking as an ADHD person , I prefer the clear plastic ones with the poppers like the pink one Morgs has. Being able to see what’s in there is beneficial for ADHDers.

[Morganna]

On a side note, what do you lot call the style of folder in Morg's photo that is orange? They do not exist in foreign, and I think I desperately NEED a stack of these in my life for my ADHD people. I will ask MIL to bring some over for us.

Try document wallet.

However speaking as an ADHD person , I prefer the clear plastic ones with the poppers like the pink one Morgs has. Being able to see what’s in there is beneficial for ADHDers.

Voila!
https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/leit ... -p-8025327

[Little My]

Cardboard document holder/wallet is what I was leaning towards, but I will keep envelope files in mind too, thanks! I was just having a total memory blank on that. They will fit letter size, I think. Just unnecessarily long.

That is a satisfying bonus declutter, Cerise!

[Squirrel]

I mean these ones:
https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/whsm ... 38663.html

In my first proper job I had a colleague who called them “job bags”, as in, you put everything from one project in together. The concept of a job bag has always stayed with me (yes it’s simple but I’m a thick and need to learn these things) and I use them a lot. Everything stays in, securely poppered shut, you can rummage easily and take things in and out without having to faff around. Eta; and you can see at a glance what’s in them

[Little My]

However speaking as an ADHD person , I prefer the clear plastic ones with the poppers like the pink one Morgs has. Being able to see what’s in there is beneficial for ADHDers.

We do get the plastic ones with poppers here, but they feel bad to me and you can't write on them. I should perhaps confer with my children though. (I am already trying to think of ways to make high school a little more organised.. )

[Morganna]

I have linked to both, LM

[Little My]

ETA here they are:

https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/offi ... lsrc=aw.ds

That's the ones! Thanks.

[Squirrel]

Yes I’m sure they’ll have a preference. I think at their age I favoured a ring binder, it felt very grown up and sophisticated :memorylane:.

[FiveO'Clock]

Any tips for people with ADHD appreciated. My husband is ADHD and we declutter and organize something and then it's a mess again in a week. I've told him we just need to keep paring down until we reach a level that's not overwhelming to him. It doesn't help that I'm slightly OCD and a former semi-hoarder.

[Little My]

Yes I’m sure they’ll have a preference. I think at their age I favoured a ring binder, it felt very grown up and sophisticated :memorylane:.

They have been using ring binders for a few years now, as they are mandatory kit at school, but they are both rubbish at putting things in binders. It's like the coat hangers versus hooks thing.

I have no idea if my new paper organizing ideas will help or fail dramatically.

[Lola]

I’ve been productive today & took 4 big carrier bags of stuff to the charity shop, one black sack of old clothes to the charity bin thing in Asda car park, and took a return to the post office. I’ve got another return to take to Next but I’d had enough for today It’s in my car boot ready to go anyway.

The house doesn’t look much different but I feel better knowing it’s all gone.

I bought this book (on kindle ) by Shira Gill. Emma P linked to her website a few pages back. Anyway I really like this woman’s approach of doing things in small steps rather than clearing out a whole room at once as it feels far more manageable, and she’s got some good tips like not buying a load of storage solutions until you know exactly what you need

Minimalista: Your step-by-step guide to a better home, wardrobe and life https://amzn.eu/d/7rYh6dG

[Morganna]

Well done, Lola. It works like that sometimes - I can go days without seeing progress (on all sorts of things, not just decluttering) and then suddenly do a tiny thing and see a huge difference.

My day has been frustrating. I was supposed to be at book club this morning with a poetry meeting here this evening, but both have been cancelled. The date was wrong for the book club, and the poetry one is dying on its feet, but I didn't find out it wasn't happening until half a hour ago. I've wasted the day, first getting ready to go to the book club (and frantically finishing the book after a very late night getting as near the end as I could), and then cleaning the house thinking that people would be coming over. Instead of getting rid of clutter, I've got two enormous cardboard boxes that housed the baskets I bought to store it in. The baskets are really nice and great value (Amara sale) but the plan was to put the large one at the side of the sofa to chuck things in when I want to tidy up, then empty it on Fridays. It's a system recommended by someone I can't remember, who has a basket for each of her children, and puts them at their bedroom doors once a week. It will fit between the edge of the sofa and the wall, but will be far from unobtrusive . I might have to change my plan. The smaller ones are perfect though.

[Squirrel]

Well done Lola! Sorry about your frustrating day Morgs.

My planned office/filing cabinet clear out didn’t happen because life got in the way, but I did do some little bits and pieces here and there. The charity shop is also open again and they were pleased to receive our treasures , so I still feel like I’ve made progress this week.

My email inbox is completely out of control so I’ve had another spate of unsubscribing which feels satisfying.

[rosy]

It’s soooo satisfying clicking the unsubscribe links! Half the time I don’t even remember signing up for the nonsense emails.

I took two boxes of stuff to the charity shop this afternoon and I’ve got a huge bag of fabric to take to college, so I’m on track to donate 365 items this year (I didn’t quite make it last year).

[Morganna]

My collection comes on Wednesday, so I have until Tuesday to get as much as possible out of the house. I've been tidying today (made easier as I have a little bit more space) and plan to start filling bags with clothes after my class tomorrow, and hope to have a lot to go out by Saturday night.

[ParisGal]

We took a half-car full to charity on Thursday. MIL said before hand that they were really picky and didn't want to take most things, but they took all our stuff, so either we were lucky with the person who took our donation, or MIL is donating stuff that should go in the bin. Or else she's heard something on the grapevine that she's misconstrued, as this charity place is the sort that puts out the French equivalent of Gu pots for sale

We reorganised the kitchen cupboards and sideboard by the dining table. I'm not entirely happy, but it's better and we got rid of quite a few things. Only the glasses to go through now, which is going to be tricky because except for the shot glasses, it's mostly stuff that I love but we never use (martini glasses, cider glasses from northern Spain, fancy beer glasses...) And yet we don't have enough normal sized red wine glasses really, as we actually use those and they've gradually been broken over the years. Do have enough giant ones though