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Housekeeping

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

976 replies

StealthNinjaMum · 09/05/2018 08:45

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
bobgoblin · 09/05/2018 21:37

Can I please join you? I saw this thread earlier today and it’s exactly what I need. Our house is a complete mess. There’s stuff everywhere and it’s impossible to keep tidy because all the cupboards, drawers, tops of cupboards, under bed spaces are filled with more stuff. I have a mad tidy up when someone is coming but that just involves shoving things into rooms and keeping the door closed. Every now and then I have a big purge but fall back into bad habits again very quickly. It doesn’t help that DH likes to keep things in case they will be useful at some point in the future!

Anyway, we are moving house in the next few months and I refuse to pay for someone to move the 10+ years of crap that we have accumulated while living here. I hope that posting here will keep me motivated to finally get rid of most of the junk.

I started well today. I found some clothes that the DC had outgrown and they went in one of those charity collection bags. I’ve started to fill a carrier bag with some more clothes that I found when I was sorting through the clean washing. I just need to remember to take the bag to the charity shop when it’s full!

Kahlua4me · 09/05/2018 21:40

Well, I have started.

I tried your suggested methods of little and often and doing something whilst waiting for the kettle, and now have 20 magazines gone! Some of them are over 18 months old so I am not likely to read them ever again.

Feeling motivated.....

SandAndSea · 09/05/2018 22:10

Well done, everyone and welcome, @bobgoblin !

Gibble1 · 09/05/2018 23:33

Happy new thread y’all 🎉🥂.
Nowt done today as had a meeting straight after work. Tomorrow is my day off so I will be sorting out a large amount of badges for the cubs and will try to get rid of some stuff.
Namajesty well done! That’s some going to get rid of 132 in 9 days!

highlandcoo · 10/05/2018 00:17

Hi all I would love to join you.

Getting rid of one thing a day seems manageable whereas tackling large amounts of decluttering just is too daunting. Great idea!

Now off to find my one thing before going to bed Smile

abitoflight · 10/05/2018 00:28

Still going here too
I've got 2 carrier bags of random bits that left over from new bedroom to rehouse or bin this morning. I'm optimistic of doing more as v busy today and I fancy a morning pottering.
May be post pics of shirts I'm not sure of too for opinions

StealthNinjaMum · 10/05/2018 06:47

Good work Kahlua. Presumably that means you have a stack about 6 inches high gone? I log the significant things that go out and find it quite motivating to see how well I've done (currently I've got rid of over 500 carrier bags of stuff. That sounds like a lot but it includes furniture and stuff in the garage and sheds)

Welcome highlandcoo and bobgoblin

I need to set some targets/ jobs today as I've been undisciplined lately. So today I am going to put up for sale at least 10 items from my pile in the sitting room and bag up my stuff in the spare room to take to a charity shop.

OP posts:
nocutsnobuttsnococonuts · 10/05/2018 10:39

stealth 500 carrier bags is amazing. I wish I had tracked how much we got rid of from when I started decluttering.

Mine is at a stage where it's now manageable can hide in cupboards and I'm not ashamed of the mess. There's still stuff to do but my biggest hurdle is stopping the stuff coming in and getting it out once sorted. I'm determined to sell stuff as I think of all the money wasted but it's not shifting. I'm unsure whether to just think fuck it and charity shop the lot or hold out longer.

Today I have written a strict meal plan - need to use up most of my cupboard stuff as I've been advised by my doctor to start the fodmap diet. If I stick to my plan all the banned foods only I will eat are going to be used up by next Friday. Got 5 things to take to the food bank and defrosting some disgusting soups ready to throw away. Got a few more bits to take to work too.

Also to go is manky old placemats/coasters - we never use them as the table needs sanding and repainting anyway.

Maybe more later once I finish work :)

StealthNinjaMum · 10/05/2018 13:29

nocuts I'm the same, most of my clutter is hidden and when people turn up unexpectedly the house isn't spotless but it's generally clean and tidy. I have mountains of clutter dotted around in rooms where I don't let people go and we have built in cupboards every where. I am slowly getting rid of them.

A few bits advertised on Facebook and people have shown an interest. I also took four bags to the charity shop with clothes, children's shoes, books, a child's step, board games. I also found two jigsaw puzzle pieces from jigsaws I threw away a couple of months ago as they were incomplete. Very annoying!

Good luck with fodmap. I know a couple of people who have had some success with it but it is very restrictive.

OP posts:
LilQueenie · 10/05/2018 13:57

Todays attempt will be:

  1. clear around my desk area
  2. clear dds table
  3. dump rubbish in kitchen
  4. clear counter top
  5. get rid of more stuff

I'm also going to start choosing to do one thing each day to relax with as a sort of chill out time. today will be doing some colouring.I have a few adult colouring books and Im sort of after dds beauty and the beast one. Grin

LilQueenie · 10/05/2018 15:41

I just came up with an idea. I keep magazines of all sorts. The cooking ones like aldi, sainsburys, asda ones and so on barely get looked at for the recipes but thats the only reason I keep them. Maybe this will help others. What I decided was to take a pic of the recipe and upload it to pintrest so its still there should I need it. I've just chucked around 6 magazines in the recycling thanks to this.

Wannabecitygirl · 10/05/2018 17:50

Yesterday I sorted my wardrobe out & today I did the show cabinet. Two bags to take to charity :)

SandAndSea · 10/05/2018 18:22

I'm feeling pleased with myself... I've shredded and binned a set of course notes. The course was years ago, has always felt bad to me and I haven't looked at the notes since. They're gone now!

Star for me I think! Grin

IHateToCashew · 10/05/2018 18:56

Blitzed the spare room this afternoon! Knackered now, and it's no where near done.

I've emptied two black bags of rubbish, cleared under the bed, got another big bag for the charity shop, full of towels, old bedding and unwanted decorations.

And I managed to clear enough space, so I 'created' an airing cupboard to keep the towels in by moving a huge storage unit into the cupboard where the ironing board lives. No idea why I didn't think of it sooner. That frees up two drawers in the bedroom too.

I also discovered a secret cupboard Grin I wasn't here when the furniture was moved in, and when I was decluttering the bookcase I found it was blocking of the most MASSIVE cupboard I have ever seen. It's not hugely accessible, but DH is going to sort out his stuff at the weekend and put a load that isn't used very often in there for storage.

Just ordering a pizza as my gas has been turned off, then I'm going to go sort out the old curtains that can probably be donated to charity too, seeing as we received some new hideous curtains to replace them with a few months ago. For some reason the housing people are absolutely baffled I have my own curtains and don't want theirs...

No interest on any of my eBay items which is a bit of a pain, I may list some of the stuff on Gumtree to see if I can shift it.

The only downside about my day is DM is bringing all of my childhood books that she kept for some reason for DS to have ... There are hundreds. So I'll need to whittle those down when they arrive next week.

Hope everyone else has had a fantastic day of decluttering!

StealthNinjaMum · 10/05/2018 19:57

Well done sandandsea it will get easier.

cashew I think everyone on the thread is probably jealous of you discovering a new cupboard!

I advertised lots of books and toys on Facebook and a lady has already picked up a toddler toy for £5. I also threw away tiny material samples I had when I bought our settees (5 years ago). I guess I thought I might use them for something but instead they hung out in my bedroom in a drawer.

queenie ooh that's a good idea. Sadly I have chucked out a load of recipes I saved a few months ago.

OP posts:
lljkk · 10/05/2018 20:24

I have done well on Ebay lately. 1 item sold each of last 3 days plus 5 items over weekend. Little pile of MORE STUFF to list on Ebay. Some old clothes into rag pile, too.

AdaColeman · 10/05/2018 20:28

Lovely new thread!
I've had the garden waste bin emptied today, and the front garden looks nice and tidy.
(Hope that counts!)

ememem84 · 10/05/2018 21:03

Decluttered today:

  • a whole bulb of garlic
  • remnants of bottle of fish sauce
  • honey (which had crystallised but I melted it)
  • onion
  • a sad looking lime
  • sad looking lemongrass.

All pulverised and whizzed into a Vietnamese marinade for pork which is currently chilling ready to be cooked for tomorrow’s dinner.

Also took a bottle of squash to work as well as a load of teabags (earl grey) to top up my teabag stash.

Bag of clothes to charity shop
Recycling in the car
Started using my glass jars (old jam jars) for freezing.

SandAndSea · 10/05/2018 22:06

Oo, I didn't know you could freeze glass jars! That's good to know.

Cashew - You lucky thing! I would LOVE a secret cupboard!!! Grin

bobgoblin · 10/05/2018 22:09

I’ve made a good start today by sorting through all my clothes. I was only going to do one drawer but I got a bit carried away! There’s a pile sorted for the charity shop and another pile to go for recycling. I found an old and broken laundry basket so that’s gone into a pile to take to the tip. I just need to make sure that I get these bags and piles out of the house now and not leave them in the hall for weeks.

I did a quick sweep around the house and managed to collect a pile of things for the recycling bin so that’s made the place start to look a bit tidier.

I’m going to try and keep the momentum going tomorrow by clearing a cupboard and shelving unit in the lounge.

birkenstocks4ever · 10/05/2018 22:09

Can I join in? We've just had building work done and are in the last stages of decorating. There are approx 11 🤤 big Aldi bags of dvds, boardgames and books to go back in playroom next week. I think I can thin down what goes back on the bookcases - hoping that it'll be 8 bags worth of stuff going back and the other 3 to charity. Should get me off to a good start!

AdaColeman · 11/05/2018 06:19

Freezing glass jars ~~ when you do that, be sure to leave plenty of air space for the contents to freeze, or the jar will be cracked.

ememem84 · 11/05/2018 06:37

ada already one step ahead. Have left space. Dh suggested filling right up but nope. Space must be left. I told him the freezer might explode otherwise.

AdaColeman · 11/05/2018 06:52

Great stuff ememem!

CiderwithBuda · 11/05/2018 07:33

Morning all! You are all doing so well. Can’t say I’ve achieved much this week. I seem to have brought more into the house than gotten rid of. Which is not good!

Yesterday I did get rid of two half packets of nuts that were past their use by dates.

My bedroom is still a mess from starting to sort it last week. Need to be a bit more ruthless I think. Will try put outfits together and create a bit of a capsule wardrobe.

Not sure I will achieve much today but will try get rid of one thing at least. Even if it’s only a magazine.