Keep on getting rid of one thing a day decluttering challenge!

[StealthNinjaMum]

After a thousand posts our homes are beautiful, decluttered places of harmony and relaxation….. or perhaps not?

We’re still trying to recycle, freecycle, sell our unwanted stuff and most of all clear out our houses, garages and sheds.

It’s easy to get involved, literally get rid of one thing a day and report back for support (and sometimes finger wagging if you’ve ‘accidentally’ bought a load of new clutter!)

Please join us and a warm welcome back to

@SandSnakeofDorne @PenelopeFlintstone @MajestyRoyal @Cupoteap @Gibble1 @SandAndSea @Medwaymumoffour @Rainbowqueen @Namethecat @lljkk @CapricornWithAUnicornHorn @Helsingborg @Panda81 @abitoflight @fannyanddick @AbbieLexie

(Apologies if I missed anyone out)

Original thread here

Ive heard great things about her and the book. Will pop to library when I can prob in the next few years

Cider sorry! I thought i replied to you. Men just dont get it sometimes.
Stubborn things when it comes to a new toy!

Ds has been sent home from school
He was feeling very dizzy last night

Verb I talk to myself enough lol
Dont think I need to talk to the old receipts and mints in my hand bag too

I have just sent dh out to buy a takeaway curry as he is being so irritating (just by existing and talking to me). I am so used to having my own space, loud music when I'm tidying and long mumsnet breaks that having him home is a complete pain.

From the house perspective this is my first break and I have pretty much spent three and a half hours doing housework and tidying. I have chucked out a very old unused nappy, shredded, filed, advertised lots of stuff on our Facebook sales site and had some interest. Also someone picked up some unused tiles. My utility room cupboards are much emptier.

I also bought a fireproof lockable box to store our papers in like passports, birth certificates, possibly important computer files in the loft. I'm not really worried about the fireproof aspect but it is good to have our documents hidden somewhere where they won't ever be stolen if we're burgled and when I was tidying the Room of Doom I found things like A level and degree certificates and all kinds of stuff that would be impossible to replace if they got lost.

baubles hope ds is OK.

I too talk to myself and I sing a lot and dance when doing housework - another reason why I don't want dh home.

Well the veranda came up fairly clean and the old bits and pieces that I don’t want to use are now in th garage. Need a tip run now.

I hunted out the cushions that I had used two years ago. The seat pads are very faded. No problem I thought. Chairs are Ikea so I’ll just buy new ones. But no. They don’t do them separately. Need to try to buy new ones some how.

Today I’m decluttering water, painkillers and stuff to try to kill off a UTI. Came on very quickly this morning. So I’m in bed as it’s easier for my constant trips to the loo.

Don’t think I will achieve much today.

How's LO feeling now he's on antibiotics Lost?

Bought DS new cot sheets - but to be fair he does need them. His current ones don't fit, so they can go straight in the charity bag.

2 items to Post Office today (Ebay sales). Another jigsaw ready for charity shop. Long unseen carpet patches are emerging in my bedroom (whoo!).

Whisper... I found a Kew Gardens 50 pence coin!! May make a tidy profit off of that.

Well, I'm just about ready to kill DH. After bragging about his three nights of 12 hours of sleep, he's turned my immaculate house into a tip. I spent ALL evening cleaning up after him yesterday, yet now, I'm hoovering yo crushed in biscuit crumbs from the carpet and picking up sweet wrappers from all over the house before DS chokes on them. There's just stuff everywhere. He KNOWS we have people staying tomorrow, and I even said how happy I was as all I need to so was wipe the bathroom down the morning of. But no. He's just a messy, untidy shit and now I'm starting from scratch. I need to get into the bedroom to change DS's bed and sort the washing out and pick up all the washing he's dumped on the floor - but he's decided now is the perfect time for a nap, half an hour before DS wants to go to bed. Haven't started dinner, and ugh. It's just pissing me off. I just can't cope with the level of mess he creates.

I love him 😩 but I just wish he understood how fucking long it takes to clean the house with a four month old that rarely sleeps.

@CiderwithBuda try eBay, you can probably find the cushions there without the rest of the set.

Cashew that's really annoying! Id make him pick it all back up and clean it himself prob quicker if you did it yourself

Cider plenty of water, rest and a warm bath might help. I have kidney probs and get a lot of utis. They hurt. Like a bitch.

Cashew have you ever seen the cot sheets in ikea?? Cheap as chips.

Ds was sent home from school. He was in pain. Hes doing ok atm.

I feel fucked. The only word for it.
Baby has been quite past few days but know its prob due to the anterior placenta. Hes still moving etc and im only 21 weeks so not too worried.

Hes kicking now. Tried to get up to get icecream but had very sharp pain across stomach so will be staying put!

I did a fair bit more chucking of crap today.

A big bag of paper has left the house.
Chucked some stuff out of fridge too.

DesertIslandPenguin - great idea. Thanks.

Lost - I’ve been taking Waterfall D -Mannose all,day and lots of water. It’s seems a lot better. Will see how it goes tomorrow.

Ugh. He has apologised, without any prompting, for being such a shit. So I guess I forgive him. I think the issue is we're both so dramatically either end or the spectrum in terms of tidiness, it's hard to manage that sometimes.

Lost I am still kicking myself for not picking some up last week when I bought the cot! Ikea is around two hours away, so I need up using an old John Lewis voucher from our wedding (just realised this is decluttering...). So at least they didn't cost me anything.

Hoping for a really constructive day tomorrow

Bedside tables now clear on top. Granted some stuff has been shoved into drawers but now I see how bland they look. Any ideas how to revamp a bit? Maybe ive over decluttered......

Eesha can we see a picture or of a similar one ? I'm sure we'll think of something between us!

We each have our bedside lamps on ours. DH has custody of the many TV remotes, and I have a wedding photo and aloe plant on mine. They don't look cluttered at all. We also have the grey ikea cardboard storage boxes underneath, they fit perfectly and can hold a lot of junk. DH keeps old medicine and cables in his.

I won't go into what mine contains

I'm coveting one of these for the bedside table instead.

https://goo.gl/images/8nhH6a

But that's more clutter! So I need to murder the aloe plant first

Another pair of holey socks gone today.
Sorry for those of you who are ill or living with irritating people.
Last night I decluttered a little bottle of prosecco I got for my birthday and today I’m decluttering a bottle of Saint Miguel. DH buys alcohol and puts it in the utility room above the washer. This does my box in! I have explained again that it is to go in the cupboard with all the other drinks and glasses. If there’s no room- drink something else until there is room 😂

Good decluttering Gibble

I decluttered lots of screws, raw plugs, buttons, pen lids that appear everywhere. I also decluttered a picture frame and did lots of shredding. I shredded my 1993 to 1995 bank and credit card statements and an old chequebook. I also threw away old instructions and a couple of installation disks for printers that we don't need.

We don't have bedside tables as such but we do have unlatching chest of drawers (I emptied the one on dhs side a couple of weeks ago and haven't yet advertised it). I am interested in what you all think should go on them. My chest of drawers tends to have lots of pictures / cards made by dds on it and books I never read.

I think I'm really getting lots out the door because I've just started this decluttering in earnest. Lots of easy wins now I know it's ok to let go of "stuff" - i.e. gifts we will never use. It's like I've had "permission" to let this stuff go now. Thanks to you all for your help with this.
Now I'm actively looking for stuff to chuck, every time I open a cupboard. Found an out of date cider vinegar bottle in the kitchen cupboard yesterday, and I'm thinking about repurposing it maybe as a cleaner, or deodoriser. That's what I did with the vodka that was out of date - googled and it transpires you can use it as a glass cleaner, and it wasn't half bad. It made me clean the windows, at least, and made me feel a bit less guilty about the waste. It makes me more likely to get rid if it's not just being tipped straight down the drain. Do any of you feel that way?

I don't have little bedside tables Stealth; only tall chests of drawers covered in stuff, so I can't help.
Tutu - I don't really suffer from guilt but I wouldn't have chucked the vodka. I would've kept it thinking it would get drunk eventually. Maybe that's why I don't get the guilts? Because I'm only chucking rubbish? Like today: about 10 lids from plastic cups and long-gone containers. Actually, I did feel a bit guilty that I've never found the containers. feels wasteful to throw the lids, especially as now I've done that the bottoms will probably quickly turn up!!

I found some roll-out icing dated BBF 2016. .

Hoping to persuade DD to make a grand cake with it this weekend.
Plus lots of other squeezy icing tubes. I am encouraging DC to add as much icing as they like on top of biscuits.

Iljkk I'm fairly sure that sort of stuff doesn't really go bad if it's sealed!

DH redeemed himself this morning he getting up with DS who had me up all night.

Vinted hasn't got me much interest, so I'll stick the dresses on eBay at some point today.

I haven't done very much in the past week.

I did fill 2 large garden bags full of twigs and leaves that were taken to the recycling site.

I also went through a pile of instruction leaflets and threw out a lot for electronic items we no longer have. I need to find a home for the rest where they can actually be found if needed.

I also had a look at my bedside table this week. It is an ikea one with 2 shelves that are open to the front and back. I have now put a rattan-effect plastic basket on the top shelf to hold all the small items that keep falling off and getting lost. It is still a work in progress...

This morning the kitchen bin was needing emptied, so I squeezed in the contents of two old suncream bottles first. One had definitely gone off and had separated. The other one had 2015 scrawled on it. The bottles are now waiting to be washed for the plastic recycling. I read recently that suncream in the drains contributes to "fatbergs", so decided to dispose of it in a better way. I just hope nothing punctures the bin bag between now and Thursday morning!

This thread inspired me to declutter the bedside tables. We've always had bedside lamps on both and a diffuser (my side) and Yankee candle (Dh's side) so the tops have been generally pretty clear. Sorted through the drawers and found batteries, bobbles, clips, pens and all sorts of random bits. The first drawer is now home to make up wipes, micellar water and cotton pads. Bottom 2 drawers have PJ's in didn't bother doing DH's

Since finding this thread around a week agoI have really tried. My energy is low but managed to do:

1. a massive amount of laundry
2. sort dds wardrobe giving away loads of it (we did get some stuff in for free but much needed stuff in her size)
3. attempted decoration of kitchen with sticky tiles from poundland. Our kitchen is in a bad way. It actually feels tons better now that I can see light at the end of the tunnel on this one. Also found some anti mould and damp paint so can attempt the ceiling and bathroom areas.
4. cleaned bathroom and the dreaded behind the toilet area. yuk. think awkward corners with damp.
5. cleaned and decluttered a windowsill
6. gave away a pile of stuff
7. decluttered hallway in part
8. finally moved some stuff out of house into storage cupboard.

Doesnt seem much but also spent the weekend with dd so not much time indoors. We did accumulate some more stuff though thanks to a car boot sale. mainly for DD.

Todays list. to spend an hour in the kitchen purging and cleaning. clear a section of a room (dds mess) and sort and clear a shelf hopefully with another few items to give away on our local cloud site.

I've just tidied dd(10)s room. Very satisfying. I've been moaning at her for weeks to do it. All clothes folded up Kon Marie style and a bin bag of general crap in the bin. I helped her sort it recently so there wasn't anything decent to sell / donate but it's amazing how much rubbish accumulates.

@LilQueenie - did you say Doesn't seem much?? Oh, yes, it does!!! Made me tired just reading it!!