Getting rid of one thing a day decluttering challenge: Part 3: Are we nearly there yet?

[StealthNinjaMum]

For 2000 posts a group of messy mumsnetters have been chucking out, selling, recycling and cooking weird cakes.

Are we free of clutter yet? Sadly not.

Thankfully we're here to get support and be told off when we have a relapse and bring more clutter into the house, garages, sheds, gardens.

Newbies are welcome to join us, it's easy we literally just get rid of one thing a day and report back.

Previous thread here

@StealthNinjaMum - I'm so impressed! I was thinking of charity sacks which are smaller than big, black ones but don't let me stop you.

@fancypantscar - Welcome! And congrats on a great start!

Well done on the table linens Stealth. I did that a couple of months ago. Had held onto lovely embroidered table linens from our time in Vietnam. Four table cloths that never fitted any table we had! But I kept them as they were gifts and I liked them. But when I was clearing out our dining table a was ruthless.

Well done on the wardrobe IHate.

I went shopping and bought two new bras the other day. Decided they fit and are much more comfortable than all of my others so I did a big bra clear out this morning. There is a charity bra collection box at the gym so I’ll drop them tomorrow. And I will get rid of a few other clothing items to charity shop along with some cushions.

Had some success in the bathroom - finished a bottle of shampoo, a serum and a body lotion. Also chucked a body lotion I don’t like as it takes forever to rub in. And a little hotel one that I couldn’t get anything out of no matter how I shook and squeezed!

Right challenge update as I have no-one in real life to talk to

Four very stuffed carrier bags of stuff in the car for the charity shop. Haven't got time to do it now, will go tomorrow. Have spread a picnic blanket on the room of doom floor. Will attempt to put about 2 big sacks of stuff on it tomorrow to go next week. I'm not sure this can be done without getting rid of big items (and most of those have gone now) but I did ask for a challenge!

Yaay!! Go Stealth!!

Thanks @SandAndSea 

@StealthNinjaMum wow, pretty inspiring stuff. Good luck, excited to hear how you get on!

So ended up going right through the kitchen and have two bin bags for the recycle centre and a box for charity shop. That's the kitchen done. It's a bit of an easy win to start, once I get to the kids rooms it'll be slow going I'm sure.

Have 'done' my bathroom cabinet. Lots of silly bits and bobs have been binned, cleaned etc and all tidied into a new container. There's still a bit of scrubbing and a bit of grouting needed but it's definitely looking nice in there.

DH attempted to assemble the bed. The screws that came with it were totally random. Fuck knows why he even tried to put it together. DS isn't going into the room for a month or so yet, but he's impulsively thrown his bed away, leaving him with nothing he can sleep on as the bed isn't long enough he claims it's my fault and I didn't show him the picture of what I was buying. So the bed is being returned (if it doesn't cost a fortune to post back).

1. He showed no interest. He didn't want to look. He said he didn't care.

1. How he would know it would have the wrong screws by looking at a picture and 100's of 5 star reviews is anyone's guess.

So I made him dump his bed for no reason apparently and unless he wants to buy a new bed himself, he's going to have to deal with it. I can't fund the christening and buy a bed of his standard on MA.

I've been going through my CDs and have found 4 so far which are going. At the same time, I've made dinner using frozen leftovers and have announced that we've got to start using up the freezer. DP has just asked me if we're preparing for an apocalypse.

Wow impressed with those hauls Stealth and fancypantscar

How annoying Carpet, can you get new screws at all?

Honestly Grey the whole thing is awful! Nothing fits together, bits are damaged... it makes no sense! The reviews of these beds and this company were outstanding. I've emailed for a return and refund but they seem to be ignoring me. Going to head to good old reliable ikea and get myself the one I should have bought in the first place

I also decluttered the bathroom drain of my post-partum shedding today

I need to get back on this. It’s been a busy few days and I’ve fallen off the thread. I have carried on with the decluttering even if it’s only one thing that’s gone each day. Most of the stuff that’s gone is either clothes or paper. There’s so much paper in this house that needs sorting through it’s ridiculous.

I am now in panic mode as we need to get the house ready to sell a lot sooner than I expected. We may well be able to move into our new house in about a month. DH didn’t want us to get the house on the market too soon because he was worried we would end up with nowhere to live. So now we need to sell asap so we don’t have to pay for two houses for too long.

I don’t know where to start. I think I might start in one room decluttering and packing anything we definitely won’t need and then get any repairs/decorating done before moving onto the next room. So now I just need to decide where to start. I probably should get off MN and actually do something!

Oh carpet that's really annoying and so disappointing for you, I hope they stop ignoring you and pick the bed up soon.

thanks greyclouds my haul wasn't that impressive, I have a "charity shop pile" on the spare bed and I add to it daily so it was the stuff I've mentioned over the last few weeks. But the four bags in the car will be joined by a the bag of napkins and tablecloth I'm chucking out today so hopefully that will be 5 carrier bags actually out of he house tomorrow.

So my real challenge for tomorrow is to do two sacks (bin bags). I advertised a bedside table on Facebook and someone should be picking it up tomorrow so that's half the challenge almost done! I will report back tomorrow on how well I do.

Bobgoblin that sounds really stressful . You can ignore me but I would suggest the kitchen first as they're so full of breakable things that take longer to pack. I'm sure you have a million mugs, out of date food, gadgets you don't use?

May I join please? I’m currently living in organised chaos, but I seriously need to declutter. With 3 kids, the house is always busy, I am definitely not a natural born housewife either (would much rather sit and play with the kids) whilst everyone is clean and fed, I would love my home to be more organised than chaos! Toys, clothes, paperwork and grown out baby things are the main clutter piles. 1 thing a day sounds really manageable - unsure of what to tackle first ! Looking forward to having people to chat/moan/laugh with along the way

Worst case scenario Stealth PayPal will refund the lot it's more now that there's lots of annoying bits of wood in the way!

Hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday weekend.

carpet my ds has the ikea bed with drawers under, just be careful to get a mattress that fits, dh ordered it and the mattress is a few inches short! We've had to put a blanket rolled up at the end

bob when moving I've found it easier to declutter as we pack with to keep and to go boxes, that was pre dc though!

Does anyone ever use cds? We only used them in the car and now we've got a new one it's a stupid Bluetooth thing with no CD player should have looked for more practical things than cup holders when we were buying and I'm thinking of just getting rid of them along with the cd/iPod player that's sat in the wardrobe for a year. We have an Amazon echo so don't use anything else really. should maybe look at getting rid of the cassettes in the loft too.

@fancypantscar - Well, I do! Apart from in the car where I've got a tape player. (We're a bit behind here.)

Selling update: 1 buyer cancelled at the last minute and 1 buyer showed up.

Argos won't allow me to buy clutter driven 4 hours to get a helium canister and some knives. They're refusing to let me have it without ID despite that I'm clearly married, look over 30, have a child, credit cards and other bits that prove I'm clearly over 18 and I look ancient. Bloody ancient. My nan is with me and they wouldn't let her have it either! She's 80!

They're saving me from myself I guess

Stealth I’ve taken your advice and started in the kitchen. I was tempted to start with DDs bedroom but only because it’s tiny and there’s not much to do in there! So far I have found an old sandwich toaster, some plastic bottles that came with lunchboxes, an old cool bag and a grotty picnic blanket all for the bin/tip. I also put a pasta machine and a fancy corkscrew thing in the charity shop bag. I need to get those out of the house before DH spots them or he might decide to keep them ‘just in case’. They haven’t been used once in about 10 years so I hardly think we suddenly going to use them now.

Also gone today are a pair of maternity tights that are very comfy but far too big for me now so I don’t know why I kept them and a pair of shoes that were falling apart. I thought I’d already binned them but I found them in the shoe cupboard earlier so they went straight in the bin.

I’m hoping to sort out the cupboard under the kitchen sink in between the school run and collecting DD from nursery. I’m sure there’s lots more in there that can go. Now I’ve started I want to keep going and see how much I can get rid of in one day.

Welcome tidyhomewannabe, I hope you're having a good first day.

We have CDs and tapes as well. Ages ago I bought really cheap story tapes from eBay and one of my decluttering tasks is to record them onto my computer. The memory of my computer is full so another declutter job is to clear it!

My update to @sandandsea s challenge. I have almost done it. The equivalent of 2 sacks almost gone. By some miracle a lady came to collect the table I advertised yesterday and I have spent the day sorting through wires. I have a pile of stuff to go to the dump next week - old scales, a large broken lamp, computer keyboard, two computer mice, various wires, a broken electric razor (the third one of dh's I have got rid of in the last few months) and also a pile of greetings cards, thank you cards, invitations to either be given away on Facebook or I'll use them to write shopping lists and to do lists.

This two new sacks is addition to five bags of toys, clothes and napkins that I dropped off at the charity shop this morning.

I can't find anyone to take my nappies yet - have emailed two food banks today but I guess they're probably run by part time volunteers. Might see if the local children's centre are interested.

Sadly my house looks like a tip as I have done nothing else but in the long term it'll make my life easier.

@StealthNinjaMum - Wow!! I really am impressed! Well done! I'm officially nominating you our Thread Winner of the Day!!

Thanks @SandandSea. I don't feel like a winner, another mum popped in to drop something off and my house looked like a bomb's hit it! If only she'd looked in one of my beautifully organised dinging room drawers.

stealth you're so right about it better in the long run. You'll soon get there at the rate you're going.

I'm about argos needing ID!

I'll speak to dh about the cds, may just get cd wallets to keep the clutter down.

Didn't manage to do much more than daily housework today but did iron the curtains I swapped out for a blind in ds' room the other day and put them in our bedroom, the ones we had are going to charity as they're a bit fussy for my tastes. The window now looks huge so that's one task done. Also cleared out dd's clothes. Unsure what to do with those, gave a lot to my niece last month so dsis is drowning in clothes. eBay is such a hassle.

Whoops! Got sidetracked with life and missed that there was another thread. I have been getting rid of things here and there but not in any disciplined manner. However, DH and I have decided that now is a good time for us to go ahead and buy a new house. I have seen an absolutely stunning one but I suspect it will look less stunning with loads of clutter-y tat dumped everywhere! Time to get everyone decluttering...

Buyer no. 3 was supposed to come this morning but didn't reply to my messages yesterday and didn't show up. She's since messaged asking to come tomorrow instead. This is quite a lot of work for a tenner.