Decluttering: Personal & Miscellaneous

So this is the last in the decluttering series using the Pick Up Limes 30 Days of Minimalism.

Photos
Non-digital photos are a group that I had already dealt with many years ago when I went through all of them and put the ones I wanted to keep into albums.  At some point I will go through and scan them all before getting rid of them, but I'm going to leave them as is for now.

For the digital photos I've gone through all the ones I've taken and deleted all blurry or just plain bad photos.  I've uploaded all the ones I want to keep on online storage and them deleted them from my phone and tablet.  From now on I'll go through my photos on a regular basis delete ones I don't want and uploading those I do so that the storage on my phone and tablet remain low.

Hobby Supplies
I don't have a lot of these really, but there is much more then I need as had been trying to see if there was a particular hobby I like.  I've realised now that I really don't have time to do these hobbies or, at least, I'm not prepared to make time for these hobbies at the moment.  The two hobbies I do do when I have time is sewing and knitting so those are the only items I've kept, though I have gotten rid of any additional fabric and thread as I'll start any additional projects from scratch.

Sentimental Items
This is a category which I had a number of.  I'm not someone who buys nick-nacks or teddy bears myself, but other people have brought and I've always felt bad about getting rid of them.  However, the truth is I don't really like having these item, especially as I have dust allergies, so I've decided that it's time to let them go.  I've also realised that getting rid of them doesn't make me care about the people who gave them to me any less or appreciate the thought behind them.  They're just not my thing.

Holiday Decorations
I really don't have a large number of these anyway and all the ones I have I use so there wasn't really anything for me to get rid of.

The Car
I didn't have one when I was decluttering so this was a category I didn't need to bother about.

The Mind
This is something I've never been very good at, but this year I've decided to take up yoga (which I do at home) and this should help me with taking time for myself to keep my mind calm and decluttered.

There are many methods around now to help you decluttered your stuff, whether it is the Kon Marie method or The Minimalists packing party, but I thought this was a very good way of going through all your items and making sure you don't miss anything.  Definitely worth giving Pick Up Limes post a look.

Decluttering: Kitchen Items & Phone & Computer

Kitchen Items

There are a few sections in this category but I had already decluttered most of them when I was first packing up these boxes. There was a few storage containers I definitely won't be getting rid of and a box of kitchen items (which also had some knick knacks in it) for me to go through.  As this mainly contains items I usually use on a daily basis and so there wasn't too much going, so I was surprisingly pleased with the items I did manage to get rid of.

Phone & Computer

Apps

Last year the phone I had been using for about three years died.  And not in a 'oh by the way I'll be gone soon so you might want to save some stuff' way, but in a turn myself off and never turn back on again way.  I decided to not bother getting a new phone as I wanted to look at my contract in the new year and just brought a cheap second hand one to tie me over.  The thing was, it didn't have a lot of storage or memory and that meant I had to be very selective about which apps I put on.  It gave me an opportunity to really look at what I used regularly and which apps I didn't use at all.  Now that I've changed my contact and have a new phone I only have on it the ones I really use.  If I find I stopped using any of them in the future they will go.

Stored Media

I'm not really a photo person anymore and very rarely took photos with my phone (I'm not even entirely sure right now where i've put my camera).  However, during my course I took a lot of photos of the work I was doing and the landscape I was working in.  All of it was taking up precious storage space, but I wanted to keep a number of the photos as I reminder of what I can do.  So, I've actually used my Facebook account for once and uploaded the photos there.  I can now delete everything off my phone and SD card to free up precious space.  All pictures I don't want to keep have been deleted.

Email Inbox

This area has taken quite a while to do, in fact more than a day, and that’s because I have so much in my email account.  The reason is probably because I just shuffle my emails into their set holder or delete them without really paying attention to what I’m doing or how much time this is taking.  I’ve really taken my time on this one, unsubscribing to emails that I no longer read (still have a few to go in this as and when they pop up) and going through my email folders deleting emails or even the folders that are no longer necessary or useful.  I think this will be an ongoing thing in the future and should, hopefully, now take a lot less time then before.

Subscriptions
I’ve never really had a lot of subscriptions so this wasn’t one I had to do too much work on.  The biggest issue I have is trying to read all the information and magazines these subscriptions produce.  There were two that I pay for myself, which are more memberships rather then subscriptions, to the RSPB and the Bat Conservation Trust.  I am keeping these but have asked both of them to make me as paper free as possible with only emails instead of the usual magazines.  Of the two that were gifts I am keeping the subscription to BTO (again paperless and email based) and have stopped the BBC Wildlife magazine subscription, not because it was bad but because I just wasn’t finding it easy to find the time to read it.  It was basically a waste of a gift and that seemed a shame.  I don’t have any other subscriptions so that was it.

Decluttering: Office & Media Supplies

The next category on the Pick Up Limes 30 Days to Minimalism challenge was one I knew was going to be a lot smaller for me than the previous.  This is because I had already been doing some decluttering on this category during the last year.

Magazines | Manuals

Over a year ago I looked at all the magazines I was keeping (which I had told myself I was collecting) and decided to get rid of them all.  I large proportion I donated but the rest got recycled and I realised I really wasn't rereading them and, therefore checking them was pointless.  That meant I didn't have any magazines to get rid of in this case.  I also get rid of the manuals of products when I get rid of the product, so nothing here either.  However, I did notice that I had a lot of old programmes for old shows and properties that I visited when I was a child.  I never look at these either and they don't bring back any real memories so I decided to get rid of them.  Stored with these were some old posters I hadn't used in years (and forgot I had) and some little things.  They are all leaving my possession as well.

Notebooks | Textbook

Textbooks are another category that I had gotten rid of a while ago, probably one the third move it did where the idea of packing them up and moving them yet again was just not appealling.  The big problem with scientific textbooks is that they date incredibly quickly.  Lucky I was still able to donate these, but if I had kept them any long they wouldn't have been useable for anyone else.  All the notebooks I am keeping as I do genuinely use these.  I just won't buy anymore until I'm down to my last one.  

CDs | DVDs | Books

I went through all my CDs and DVDs when I first packed them up before they were transported to my parents house.  Right now I've reduced them to a size I am happy with, but I think this will decrease even further in the future as I'm not really getting the opportunity to listen to or watch them at the moment.  This kind of makes keeping them a bit pointless.

Books are a different matter.  I have been holding onto books from my childhood and books I've already read for a while.  So it was time to say goodbye.  A number of my children books have gone to my niece and nephew as they are the classics (Wind in the Willows and the Little Princess), but I have to admit I couldn't quite bring myself to get rid of The Hobbit.  The rest has made their way to a charity shop.

Old / Unused Electronics

These I cull full on a regular basis didn't find anything here.

Receipts | Bills | Documents

All of these I have been keeping in this metal filing box for years.  It's big, heavy and allows me to hoard more paperwork then I actually need.  So I decided to challenge myself to getting all the paperwork I need into a smaller plastic file.  I turns out I've been holding onto paperwork which is a lot older than I actually need and receipts for products which are well past the warranty date.  It actually ended up being pretty easy to downsize all my paperwork.  Kind of wish I'd done it a lot earlier.

Stationary Supplies

This is one area where I am definitely a hoarder.  I don't know what it is about this category, but I just like to buy and store it. In 2016 I told myself I wasn't allowed to buy anymore pens until I used up the ones I have - I still haven't gotten through them all yet.  After they're all gone I'm going to be using fountain pens instead to help reduce my waste.  So I pulled out my stationary box and went through everything that wasn't a notebook or pen and found a whole load of envelopes, containers, labels, plastic wallets, and mini cardboard boxes which I never used.  These have all gone now as I don't remember the last time I actually used one.  If I need any again in the future they will be easy enough to find. 

I don't have any products to go through from the General Household Items category (apart from two towels but I'm keeping both of those) as I left everything like that when I moved.  It's definitely a category to keep an eye on in the future though.

And so that's a few more boxes gone through and a few more items less.  Things should be a lot easier when I have to move them all again.

Decluttering: Clothing

And so it begins...........

I don't expect to declutter a lot from each of the categories, but it'll be a start and with my not buying unnecessary products this year it should reduce in size any way.  I'll also keep and eye on what I'm actually using and get rid of anything I thought I would use but haven't.

The amount of items I have in the clothing category is a suprise to me in its size. It might be smaller then many people's, but it's still a lot larger then I realised when I started. (I also need to apologise for the quality of the photos in all of this series as a lot of them were taken in the evening.)

Bags | Purses | Wallets

Getting rid of.

I've been going through these on a regular basis so I didn't expect to get rid of many.  However I did actually manage to get rid of half but being very realistic about what I actually use.  In the end I only kept a family heirloom and two bags I use all the time.  I didn't include my work bags in this as I use them all the time.

Clothes

Getting rid of.

I started by getting rid of all the clothes that were off colour (even if I loved it), misshaped, and didn't fit anymore.  Then I got rid of the items I no longer wear or hardly ever wear at all, but just liked to keep in my wardrobe. There is still a lot of items, way more then I need, but I wear and love all of them so I'm keeping them for now.  If I stop wearing any item this year I'll send them off to charity as I only have good quality items now.  I really won't need to buy anything in this category this year.

Undergarments

Getting rid of.

I pretty much use all of my underwear, despite having a lot, so I knew I wasn't going to be getting rid of many things.  That being said, there were a few products that I've stopped using now and have sent to charity or binned.  This is another area in this category I won't need to buy anything for this year.

Shoes & Beauty Products

I didn't have any products to get rid of in these two sections.  For the shoes I'd already decluttered all the ones I don't wear when packing up my things in the first place.  I've also already been getting rid of my beauty products through my project pans and project use-ups so I didn't bother going through these.

Accessories

Getting rid of.

This is most definitely my largest category.  Unlike clothes and shoes that rarely fit properly, accessories always do.  It's also the category that I have the emotional attachment to as these are usually items I was given as a gift or which I collected on my travels.

Getting rid of.

It was quite a bit more difficult for me to choose what I was getting rid off from the category, but in the end I just pulled out all the items I haven't warn in a long time and which didn't have any particular memory connected to them.  And then quickly put them in a charity bag so I couldn't change my mind.

And that's it for this category.  The largest one is done and now takes up less room then before.  Even though I have specifically decided to go on a no buy here, I also know this is going to be easy to do as I've already found my style and have everything to fit this.