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?

Thanks to the recent PP's I've decided to sort through some paperwork too. I've been painting and shopping all day so haven't had much time to sort through anything but the DC are in bed so looks like I have a spare couple hours.

My daughter's room is shocking, so I'm going to move my bag a day mission to there. It will make my job of finding things to ditch much easier!
I'll keep going till she notices! and then deny it.
If I could post you photos of her floor, you wouldn't think me mean.

Filed more paperwork. I now have two organised boxes to put in the loft. (I have got rid of so much paperwork that I don't feel bad about doing this).

I have also found two CDs out of about 200 to add to the charity shop pile. I started going through dds CDs trying to put them in the right boxes with the correct inlay cards and have just made a big pile of CDs and empty boxes on the table! i can't face doing any more.

Suitcases are being picked up tomorrow (fingers crossed) by a lady whose parents are paying for her to go on holiday with her children so I feel like I'm doing a good thing.

I decluttered my nail varnishes. Sorted through them all and chucked all the ones which were dry/gloopy. I had 137 in total I now have 42. I did try to get it to 40 but I really couldn't. 65 to go to the charity shop. Most of them I have zero recollection of ever using.

Wow! That's a lot of nail varnish! Well done on clearing so many.

I've been a scrubber today! Been scrubbing the bathroom grout and generally de-moulding. Did a bit of filing too and lots of laundry.

Wow, 137 nail varnishes! You must feel so satisfied having got rid of them, and I bet you'll think twice before you buy more.

After my last post I avoided doing more paperwork (again) and went through our big, big tub of duplo. I got all the empty boxes out of the loft and started to put the correct duple pieces back in the boxes - ready to sell (or put back in the loft to save for grandchildren!). I finished filling 5 out of about 12 sets and put them back in the loft. I think I will sell half of them and keep the half that I like the best (winnie the pooh sets, a zoo, Disney princesses). Note how I don't consider which ones the dc want! I'm hoping to get more money selling them as complete sets rather than a big tub of duplo.

I have a cake stand that I've put my remaining varnishes on on my vanity table. It looks so much more organised than the drawer I had them in before. And I won't be buying any more because I can't fit any extra on there .

Well done on sorting out lego. All DS's get thrown into the toy box I'm dreading having to sort and pack them to sell on.

Today I have sold an old kenwood chef and a billion extra bits for it. 25 miles closer for DS to the jamboree.

Can't sleep so have got up and, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, I cleared 5 things out of the fridge. How keen am I?!

Spent another half an hour sorting through paperwork. I shredded a few bits. I had hoped to finish filing this week but haven't been very motivated. I also spent another 20 minutes sorting through duplo again and put more i n the loft.

Best bit of all, my suitcases advertised on free cycle were picked up. They took up an enormous amount of space. The rest of the house is a tip so I might give dds another movie night (i.e. stick them in front of TV while I do uninterrupted housework).

Hurrah! For freecycle!

I'm doing out my pots and pans cupboard as I type.

I've got a couple of hours to spare. I'll have a declutter of the medicine cabinet. It's small enough to make me feel like I accomplished something today but big enough to actually make a difference to the kitchen.

I was going to ask for some words of wisdom on how to release that laptop. But I realise I can just put it back in the cupboard and get rid of something else! I can't get the idea out of my head that it might have value - I've searched but can't find any info.

Penelope does it work? I presume you've find similar ones on eBay? You're right you can find other stuff but at some point you will come back to it. (But that's Ok, I often go back to things and find them easier to get rid of second or third time I've looked at them.)

I've finished my pots and pans cupboard!! It was a bigger job than I expected. I've got rid of quite a few bits: trays, saucepan lids and even my wok. That took a bit of debating but we hardly ever use it and it's so cumbersome in the cupboard, it just had to go. I've explained the new layout to dp (loudly and slowly) but I suspect he wasn't really listening.

Well done Sand. Dh was horrified last week when he went to use a pan and I explained it's the 'nit pan' and we don't use it for food. DD1 once had a particularly nasty infestation of nits so I use it to boil the nit combs. Maybe that should go in the bin!

I did more filing last night and threw away my degree notes that I had been looking at a few weeks ago and dithering about. This morning I put a few bits on free cycle that people have shown an interest in..

I've read this thread during a sleepless episode through the night. It has inspired me to tackle the junk underneath my bed, finish the woodwork and wash the walls in preparation for painting.

I had a declutter fail yesterday by buying 8 rolls of wrapping paper for 25p each. my local pound shop has reduced all the Christmas wrapping paper to 25p a roll. It'll be rude not tbh, I bought 8 rolls for the price of one at normal price.

I will balance it out by clearing the rubbish underneath my bed so that I can store the rolls underneath there.

Well done on the degree notes, Ninja. I've got mine out of the loft, but still in their (large) box, where they've been for too many years. I'm just so attached to them. I'm building up to it!

Welcome, Moss! I look forward to reading your updates.

Thank you. I ordered the hallway carpet today so the guys are coming to measure up tomorrow. Then I've got three weeks to paint the hallway and landing before the carpet is fitted in early March. I knew that if I waited until I've painted the hallway I'd never order the carpet. So I'm forcing myself to get off my backside and so something about it.

Stealth - no, I can't find any on ebay. Not in the UK, Oz or the US. Not one. But lots of parts for it.

Today I managed to get rid of a Nintendo DS game.
I have also spent the entire day baking for a cake sale tomorrow so have used up A LOT of ingredients. But they only came into the house yesterday so don’t really count do they?

I've made a list of things to sell this year:

2 rain coats from posh high street shops
1 push chair
1 wedding dress
1 morning suit

All funds raised will go towards our summer holidays and will make welcome space in the cupboards.

Well done mossbystrand I need an incentive like that. I have a vague 'I want to be clutter free by the summer' objective.

Sand my notes aren't out of the house yet! I may still change my mind. Bin men come tomorrow so hopefully I'll get rid of them.

Half term so I'm not optimistic about doing too much. It should be easy enoughto get rid of a couple of bits of paper a day or receipts but I am still used to getting rid of a bag a day so it feels slow and the dc will be making a mess everywhere too which will make it feel worse.

Ah I also fell into the trap of 'its on offer now so I'll get it for christmas'.

I have 6 rolls and two spare sellotapes. Plus one of those party bags full of sticky bows and matching ribbon (you know the bags that you get in the card factory when you realise you can't be arsed wrapping the last minute present for the person who's birthday you forgot until half an hour ago).

And the clutter free by summer has got me really thinking. By summer I could have a clutter free house which would be AMAZING.

I'm thinking of doing a room a week. Completely gutting out a room a week and selling/charity/chucking everything that I don't need. Any spare cash made can go towards new decor as im currently trying to redecorate the house. Today is Monday so is better get started right . But where oh where do I fucking start

Capricorn you can do it by the summer! Just keep going, you're already doing well just with nail varnishes. A room a week would be amazing and some rooms are quicker than others. I can't do that as I need to go back to things a second or third time before I can persuade myself to get rid of them.

Anyway after thinking half-term would be slow, I have had a great day (and it's not even 3 o'clock!). I sat with dc doing arts and crafts and every time they moaned about a felt tip not working I threw it away. (Got rid of a dozen out of hundreds). Then I went through books again and put aside two bags of books including 14 ancient travel guides I'll never use again. The best thing is I spent time chatting to dc and a friend who had a playdate and I won't feel too guilty when I stick them in front of the TV later to do more decluttering!

Only negative thing is I am waiting for someone to get back to me about something I advertised on free cycle. I am at the stage where I am tempted to just chuck things away to speed the process up.