Judith's Jottings » Blog Home Page
Yvonne and the skip full of clutter - 2nd October 2017
Yvonne is a good friend of mine, not to mention an enthusiastic reader of 'Judith's Jottings'. I'm sure she would agree that up until recently she's done odd bits and pieces of decluttering but nothing major.
Then everything changed - when she hired a skip!
Recently Yvonne has been practically euphoric about her decluttering and a big part of that involved hiring a skip. Yvonne was more than happy for me to interview her about her experience with the skip, especially if it might help others.
What made you hire the skip?
My partner is a hoarder, and we had seven old windows and three old doors lying about in our 'paddock', shed and garage 'just in case they are needed' to quote him! They were far too decrepit to do anything useful with and I knew I wouldn't get them into the back of a car to take to the tip. There were also a lot of unidentifiable bits of metal (large and small), plastics, lots of broken things, rotting things and more!
Despite an initial reluctance my partner got quite enthusiatic in the end and I had to rescue the odd thing that WOULD come in useful! Friends came to help which made a bit of a party out of it. We had it for two weeks so plenty of time to deal with it.
How did you feel about your house before?
Haven't started on the house yet! I tell a lie - I'm now tackling my wardrobes, but that's for the clothing bank, not a skip.
How do you feel now?
I wish we'd done it years ago, it was such a relief, we look less like a junk yard, and the 'paddock' is 3 foot wider!
I feel I can get on with rejuvenating the 'paddock' and other parts of the garden. The shed and garage need a further going over as we've unearthed more unwanted stuff under the layers (geology!) so am planning a smaller skip when we've tackled other things in the house and garden that have been neglected.
Has this exercise had any impact on your mood in general?
Even though we've uncovered more stuff since, it's been a really uplifitng experience and has fired me up to do more, indoors and outside. Before the "Joy of Skip" I felt as if I had a crushing weight over my head - this was literally so in the garage, there was stuff hanging from the ceiling! The physical nature of the task made me feel as if I were heaving away a big black cloud.
Any other interesting nuggets of 'skip wisdom' that you've gleaned?
When you book a skip tell them what kind of things you are going to put in it and they will advise you on the size. We had a 6 yard builder's skip which was just right for the doors and windows - and we filled it with the rest. Most skip companies won't take hazardous materials such as tins of paint. We had 40 years worth accumulated in the garage! The tip took these for disposal.
I made a plan (in my head) of what we were going to put in the skip and how it would be packed so that there were no 'air pockets'. I'd also collected stuff together in the paddock beforehand.
Of course if you need any help deciding whether or not you need a skip, or any practical support with decluttering, then do get in touch.
Keywords: skip hire
Click here to go back to the blog index
