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

Ohhhh now I'm thinking about my mugs. How many is an acceptable amount to have!?

I'm waiting for my recycling bin to be emptied so I can chuck a load of chipped glasses.

Wrt payslips- I’m nhs and have been advised by colleagues to keep every March payslip as well as P60s. One of my colleagues has lost several years worth of pension and has no proof of her contributions. The hospital she worked in was knocked down or had a fire or something and she can never get it back.
So she tells us all to keep the March one as it shows our year end pension contributions and gives us proof of what we’ve paid in.

I've got people coming this weekend so I'm trying to do a bit of everything at once by way of preparation. I'm continuing with my diy bits - 'slowly slowly catchy monkey'. I'm tidying up and doing laundry (got stuff everywhere). My online shop is being delivered today. And, I've got 2 items to post off.

This year, I've been trying hard not to buy unnecessary stuff. A few weeks ago I had a late night, online shop and bought 3 dresses which all ended up going back. Yesterday, I bought 2 dresses and a tankini. As far as I can think, these are the only clothes I've bought this year, so I think that's pretty good going. I'm feeling quite pleased with myself anyway!

Gibble1 - that's a good idea regarding payslips. I have no idea what I have. I may have totally cleared out some previous years in the past. Our payslips are now available to us online - we no longer get paper copies, but I am religiously downloading them each month and saving them electronically in folders labelled with the correct year. I am leaving paperwork in general at the moment - I am just trying to put it all together when I come across it. My plan is still to eventually scan lots of it before I throw it out.

@StealthNinjaMum I've whittled it down to the pre-cruise document used to check-in and our door keycards to prove we were there in case the points we accrued ever go astray. I really need to purge the filing cabinet as I have a load of paperwork on the living room table that should really be filed away. Still, the table looks a bit better and I've got a big pile to be shredded. I did find a smear test letter in the mess so I suppose I should Woman Up and book it.

Nice tip about the payslips :) Which reminds me I have a filing cabinet for sale that I should really list tomorrow!!

I'm trying the same approach with the DIY SandAndSea, though it's all a bit too easy to put it off until tomorrow.

Nothing decluttered yesterday, but a bunch of nappies going on Freecycle tonight (hopefully), and I've booked the mattress pickup with the council for next week.

penguin I think I threw those away apart from one set of dds keycards which we used at home afterwards to pretend we were still on holiday.

Feeling bad because after putting my four items in the charity shop pile I did NOTHING and the house is still a mess! I ended up having a lovely walk to the shops, buying a ready meal, having lunch out and strolling back to do the school run. Dc are now doing homework so I am going to punch some holes and file the things on the table for ten minutes.

stealth
Oh yes so we did discuss thag before i clearly declutter my mind faster than my house! Thanks for the tip i am going to bin them excpet marchbknes and p60s. Out wage slips are going online after September so atleast that solves one problem. Although im still not sure how i feel about that.
Today got rid of a toy that was for sale.
Hows everyones evening?x

@Betsy86 - Not bad, thanks. One of the dresses I bought yesterday has, by some miracle, already been delivered! It's horrible on me so is packed up now ready to go back.

I've also got a new throw which has really lifted the living room. The old one is in the charity sack. I never did like it. The new one is all warm and soft - much nicer. (I've been practising 'one in, one out' for years now - it really helps.)

I've also got rid of a scarf. I've been debating about it for ages. It feels good to decide to donate it.

I’ve defrosted and decluttered the freezer today. It’s needed doing for ages. An assortment of random very freezer burned leftovers went in the bin. The drawers were all cleaned and reorganised and now I know what’s in there it’s all more likely to get used.

I found another few broken electrical bits so they’re in a box ready for the tip. I might see what I can find in the shed/garage in the morning so I can go tomorrow with a full boot. I do enjoy a trip to the tip!

Also in the bin went the bath toys. I don’t know what possessed me to buy toys that squirt water and which are impossible to clean. I got rid of a bottle of bubble bath that smells rather unpleasant and won’t get used. So now the bathroom looks a lot tidier. It’s surprising what a difference just getting rid of a few things can make.

I’ve decluttered some admin jobs including advertising a craft fayre I’m holding in a couple of weeks.
I’ve also decluttered a bottle of kettle rescaled which has been in my cupboard for a year to do the Scout groups burko. It was delivered to me at 22:05 and clean by 23:00!
Also shampooed and flea combed the woofers tonight. They were less than impressed by the whole experience.

Will be re decorating and changing the furniture in the bedroom these next couple of months so I'd like to go through everything in there and declutter.
I'm aiming to have a place for everything, after all a tidy space is a tidy mind. Cliché
Hoping it helps with my insomnia as the visual mess + the not knowing what's inside drawers makes my brain very chaotic when trying to sleep. I think a well organised room will benefit me immensely. Hopefully

Can I rejoin these threads move so fast!

Going to have a go at the kids rooms tomorrow, for those with dc how many toys do you keep? I've been looking at houses online and the kids rooms are literally bare. Dd has a small room with a 2x2 kallax and dolls house then under her bed is stuffed to the brim! not mentioning the pony palace in the loft. I'm stumped as she loves her toys, treats them well but we don't have the space. Ds is Lego mad and his shelves are full, along with 2x4 kallax and his wardrobe full of less played with toys that he wants to keep. I'm just at a total loss on how to go about it!

clutterbugger my kids rooms are awful. They have far too many toys but they are getting better at getting rid of them and recently I have been told it is OK to get rid of / sell some cuddly toys, ponies, octonaughts and Hello Kitty toys. We still have a tonne of lego and playmobil and a ridiculous amount of pens and arts stuff (that aren't allowed in bedrooms but sneak up there) and books. We have lots of furniture in their rooms but the stuff spills out of it. I have kind of given up a bit.

Today I have put aside four tins of tomato soup for the food bank where I dropped the nappies off. Dh is on a restrictive diet so can't eat them and no-one else likes them. I also found a tin of potatoes that went off in 2005 and a tin of corn that is probably just as old. These are being binned.

I've done loads today and am still going. Both dresses have gone back and a pair of wellies have gone to the shoe bin. The porch has been scrubbed clean (which included removing all the old sealant - a horrible job). Most of the downstairs has been hoovered and dusted. I'm about to start on the kitchen.

I've not been around much the last couple of days but got rid of some knackered electrical things in the recycling skip and some old dressing up things DD had outgrown went via Freecycle.

My plan for today:
Half an hour in the office
Half an hour in the playroom
Try to find my washing machine warranty, so I don't have to declutter the washing machine unnecessarily.

Thank you @StealthNinjaMum thats reassuring! Feel like I've exhausted the soft toy/little nit-naks, everything they want to keep are things like dress up, wooden train tracks, mlp collection, Lego collection, nerf guns, action figures... there's not really any crap left after kondo. May pop a couple of things in loft and try to rotate. Will have to do something as ds has a friend coming back with us after school today.

Thank you @StealthNinjaMum thats reassuring! Feel like I've exhausted the soft toy/little nit-naks, everything they want to keep are things like dress up, wooden train tracks, mlp collection, Lego collection, nerf guns, action figures... there's not really any crap left after kondo. May pop a couple of things in loft and try to rotate. Will have to do something as ds has a friend coming back with us after school today.

Penelope I hope you had a good day.

I have made a list of 13 jobs that I will do. None are decluttering, just housework jobs but I'll find things as I go.

I also have 2 pairs of dd2s knickers to be thrown away because the elastic has come away from the cotton. Not sure they really count as I would throw them away anyway for being damaged but dd2 does have too much underwear so it should make the drawer clearer.

Thanks @Stealth.
I did time in the office but not the others. Still progress, I guess :)
Good luck with your long list today.

I did about 9 jobs from the list and am feeling really, really pleased with myself. A lot of it was time consuming admin / filing. I also did a small amount of shredding. Not sure any of it is proper decluttering - like the stuff I have had hanging around for years.

Anyway I need to pop out now to do 2 more jobs.

I'm feeling lousy today, so haven't achieved much but at least I've just put on a load of washing! Decluttered a carrier bag of random rubbish and crap from my room yesterday. Little but hopefully it'll all add up...!

Well done, stealth! It's so satisfying to tick things off! Maybe I'll write myself a list that includes "make a cup of tea"; "pick kids up from school"!

So lots achieved, tidyish house, but I was feeling a bit unsatisfied that my house is still full of rubbish and I'm going slowly at the moment in terms of getting rid of clutter. So I've just arranged for the Council to pick up a single bed and barbecue. I think they might be the last big items we have and I really need to focus on toys, books and paperwork.