Join me in getting rid of at least one thing a day decluttering challenge?

[SandSnakeOfDorne]

I am trying to declutter, starting with our loft and garage both of which need some work doing so need to be a lot emptier! After they're done I want to declutter the rest of the house. I've already got rid of loads of stuff but I'm starting to lose motivation alone!

We have quite strict rules for what we can put in rubbish so I'm selling, free cycling, taking stuff to the clothes bank etc. At least one thing a day. I'm hoping to be done by Christmas!

Anyone want to join me?

Update on the Carpet Moth larvae. Having pulled everything out and hoovered all of it, we have sprayed olbas oil all round the room. There were barely any larvae under the bed- I was half expecting the carpet to be gone under there. So we are very pleased 😃 and will be even happier if we manage to sell all of our treasures 😁

I bet your bedroom looks and smells great!

I've got rid of today: a small kitchen appliance and a small insulated box for taking wine to parties/barbecues. I don't know what they're called in the UK, even though I'm from there!

lijkk I would say 7 pencils is too much if they don't use them much and they might not make you a grandmother for another 15 to 20 years but then I am saving duplo for my grandchildren and my children are primary aged so you probably don't want to listen to me!

Before Christmas I sharpened all the blunt pencils (there were loads) and chucked out the ones with broken leads. They are now in two pots. We also have millions of biros and felt tip pens and I am constantly telling shouting at dh and dds to throw them away when they have dried out as every time I go to use one it doesn't work.

Well done SandandSea that must feel good.

Wow Gibble you've been busy. I hope you sort out the moths.

penelope I didn't take any items out yesterday but I did go through my wardrobe and put aside about 5 t shirts, 3 skirts, one jacket and some scarves and belts. I'll try to take them to the charity shop next week.

Sorry just spotted your updates Gibble is that good? Have you got rid of the moths? Do they just need to be hoovered up?

That's 'out' enough, Stealth. I can't go to the shops every day either - they're quite a lot of miles away from me, but if it's in a shopping bag either on the verandah or in the car boot, or even at the front door then that counts for me. It's mentally out and will be literally out very soon!

I didn't pause long before Ebaying our Duplo. I'm not sure if Duplo will last well over 10-20+ yrs. Plastic degrades over time even if you put it in dark dry place. That's without allowing that someone might decide the current chemicals were bad ones.

Wooden Brio train tracks might be hard to get again, though. Could be good reasons to hold onto that. I dunno what will happen with DC's hundreds of Lego sets. Hard to store!

No don't talk about brio tracks! I have a massive box of them I'm intending to sell this year. I do not need to keep them for grandchildren who might not be born for another 30 years. or maybe I will

The grandchildren might not like them. They might seem really dated to them.

I hope that didn't sound rude. I was sort of thinking out loud - sorry.

networking & design are things future little kids will also like.
Brio is timeless. BUT it's just one more bit (big box of bits) of clutter to stress us out for next 20 yrs. Selling it now means more money you can use for other things now, AND it means added space & peace of mind in the meantime (is my logic).

I need to grab hold of those ideas wrt a few things in our house, I've been wrestling with, actually!

Brio would go in the loft where it could be forgotten. Whereas, My batch of pencils can fit into a large envelope with all our other writing implements so we won't forget we have 'em.

Hmm you're all doing a good job of persuading me to get rid of the duplo but it is hard. I don't really see it as clutter because I have a fairly empty but organised loft (mainly full of boxes) so I imagine that at the end of the year the house will be organised, most toys that take up space will be sold / given away (e.g. happyland, brio, dollshouse, a million play dough sets, toy kitchen) if dd2 stops playing with them and the loft will eventually be empty apart from duplo, lego and playmobil and suitcases which will be carefully organised in their boxes. I think if grandchildren don't like them I will just sell them for even more money as they'll be vintage by then.

Sorry I think I mentioned this last year but some of you are new - one of my great lifetime annoyances is that my mum decluttered last year and gave me lots of childhood crap that I wish she'd thrown away. She gave me my childhood lego and I looked through it and discovered it was my brother's and she had thrown mine away apart from the instructions - just so I can remind myself of what I owned! So in the Room of Doom is a massive box of my brothers lego that upsets me to look at and even though I think we are nc at the moment (because they forgot my youngest daughter's birthday) I have to look at it every day. Maybe I should put that in the loft. Dbro has a tiny one bed flat with no loft and it won't fit. It just reminds me that bro was the favoured child, even his clutter was carefully preserved!

Wow that was a rant. Might visit the stately homes thread in relationships - but actually they weren't that bad.

Had a very quick declutter of a bedside drawer today and threw some papers away and an empty box. I keep tentatively poking a finger in the drawer and removing bits. At some point I need to tip the drawers out and find better homes for everything!

Stealth - if you've got the space, then why not put the duplo and your brother's lego both in the loft? Out of sight is out of mind.
If you've got space to keep the Duplo and you love it, then keep it! :)

Let.s throw away the things we don't like first, before we chuck the ones we do. lol

I would sell your brother's Lego. Out the door now. Give him 2/3 the profit.
My dad collected 1940s-1950s Baseball cards as a kid. In 1990s he rediscovered this hobby & spent $$thousands getting back all the cards his mum had tossed out 30-40 yrs earlier. I bet Gran didn't do that to her youngest, either (youngest was fave kid in large family).

I collected expensive Breyer horses as a kid. One day, about age 22, I found them all broken. My mother blamed it on unnamed children but I soon realised my mother must have done the damage in fit of temper. I don't plan to go psycho on my kids, but maybe that's something to hedge against, too. :)

My cousins' home burnt down few months ago. They only saved what they could grab in 5 minutes. Their trauma Made me decide that my quilts are the thing I'd grab in case of fire, though. All my other stuff is replaceable.

Can I join? Been loosely following konmarie for the second time but too loosely, however I think I've cracked whatever was blocking me from being ruthless so the past week has seen three full car loads to the dump and I have another car load for tomorrow consisting of pillows (replaced ours and 2dc) and all ours and the kids outgrown clothes or ones that I just don't really like and been through all the kitchen bar the medicine cupboard I'm scared to open it and I'm half way through ds' toys, dds are done too. Luckily our tip has a charity shed as well as the usual recycling / clothes bins so it's a one stop for whatever we're needing out.

I'm starting to see an improvement so trying to keep the momentum. It's also helped that I'm being strict on a night routine of no one goes to bed before the downstairs is clear and clean

Stealth dd has two big kallax boxes of duplo I was planning to keep, along with ds' Lego, their brio and playmobil. I, personally would put it away in the loft and see how you feel in a month or so. I usually find whatever attachment I'm feeling fades if I leave it in limbo a while.

The biggie for me is skincare/haircare/perfume. I've literally got so many they'd last a couple of years easily. I used to get beauty boxes and had a few advents this year. I'm an idiot for it though, I've found a few decent products that seem to keep my skin nice so I don't use the others anyway. I need to let go I think. But it's so hard as I love them all 😩

Teen DD has about 20 squeezy bottles of spot cream, clutter in bathroom. I almost wish I had spots just so they could get used and not go to waste! She keeps buying slightly different ones in eternal hope of finding miracle cure.

Welcome Scatty :) It sounds like you're going well. With all the products that you a) know give you good skin/hair, and b) love but don't use, could you have one of each out and alternate between them so they all get used up eventually? Especially as you do actually like them all, and not forcing yourself to use ones you don't like.

lljkk - could she keep them in her room. Or could you put them all in a lidded container to at least feel like they're under control? I bet you could sell them as a bulk lot on ebay, as they're quite expensive!

Today, I'm going back to my one built-in cupboard and seeing if I can pull out another bag. Want to hear something gross? Mice have eaten my tealight candles kept in that cupboard. Bleugh.

You’re all doing very well! I’m back to work tomorrow so DH and I stayed up late, folded all the washing AND all the socks. And my kitchen is clean with the dishwasher on so we get up to a clean and tidy house tomorrow 😁. (Apart from the dust in the lounge and the non hoovered downstairs but we won’t talk about that!)

I've thrown out a bag of rubbish from that big cupboard, and also a stack of eggboxes and a stringless ukelele. I tried to give away 3 stringless ukeleles not long ago and there were no takers, so I'm assuming the charity shops wouldn't have wanted it. Feels wrong to bin it, nonetheless.

So, that's me checking in on this thread for today. Good luck finding today's unwanted item everyone :)

lijkk that's just shocking, I don't think I have ever been so angry that I have broken something never mind something belonging to my children. I suspect brother has ASD (possibly me but to a lesser extent) but we didn't know at the time. So I think my parents unintentionally gave him more attention and ignored me so I became independent and didn't need them and the cycle continued. The lego thing (and dd2 being assessed for ASD) has brought up lots of childhood memories I'd forgotten about. I would love to throw his lego away but don't want to upset him as I don't blame him for being how he is or contributing to a dysfunctional family dynamic. I'm waffling a bit but dh has a job interview this week outside London so if we moved I would be chucking stuff like duplo out anyway.

Thanks Penelope Scatty. I will continue to focus on the paperwork and deal with the duplo and toys when that's done.

Scatty Welcome. Someone commented recently I always smell nice . Its because I have been using my beauty hoard. i had lots of lovely stuff but saved for a special occasion which never came so now I wear perfume every day. I only have about 5 bottles left now so might start rationing myself again!

Penelope OMG, mice? What with moths and mice we are hosting some quite antisocial pets on this thread.

About to do my usual thirty minutes on paperwork. Need to organise dentists and routine doctors appointment to clear up some paperwork. Last night I went through my wardrobe again and put aside more scarves and a dress I don't love so feeling pleased.

Penelope I aw a ukulele playing course advertised recently. I would offer it to a teacher or group - you never know.

More paperwork filed and shredded. Xmas cards and some birthday cards recycled. Few bits of bric a brac added to charity shop pile. Also cleared a chair in the bedroom. It had bits and pieces on it that belonged elsewhere so I put them all away and now I can sit on it!

Wow, 2nd hand spot cream on Ebay is a thing you can buy.
Posted a pr of skates this morning (ebay sale).

Wow, 2nd hand spot cream on Ebay is a thing you can buy.
Posted a pr of skates this morning (ebay sale).

Wow, 2nd hand spot cream on Ebay is a thing you can buy.
I Posted a pr of skates this morning (ebay sale).