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

It's decluttered from my mind not that it counts because it's still on the damn fridge. But I've been told I'll need to bring DS, and simply 'hire a sitter' for the day and night and book into a hotel 😂 and cancel two days worth of holiday booked for another time so I can make it... she didn't quite get that I wasn't calling her looking for solutions.

DH is undecided if he's going so he can keep the peace, so I have to keep it for now.

Decluttered five prescriptions waiting to go to the pharmacy. Realised how overrun the medicine drawer is again.

Do AA batteries and empty deodorant bottles count

carrot I think it all counts!!!

My motorbike has gone!
DD has spent the day cleaning and tidying downstairs. DS tang sky on Friday evening and ranted at them to the point where they ran a line test and came out today to fit a new line so DD stayed home to deal with the engineer. My kids are better at adulting at 14 & 16 than DH and I are at 40 & 41!
I’m going to have my tea and then start sorting through the bags full of stuff that DD has put there for me to sort!

Really slow day in terms of decluttering - exhausted!!

However I threw around 20 things away. Finished dressing table drawers, old hairbrushes and bobbles. Emptied whole cupboard of tinned food for a friend who needs it more than I do and bits and pieces of food he could use - ended up giving him 3 big bag fills he was very pleased.

Packed up six items I’ve sold on eBay - £150 not a bad start! Returned a few things too- packed up to go to post office tomorrow...

Tackled kitchen - my brother used every single item of crockery and pans I own cooking yesterday - 3 dishwashers full!!

Actually that sounds like quite a lot - quite pleased at that haha! #lovethisthread

I put a notebook in the charity bag. It's nice, but I need notebooks like I need a hole in the head!

A slightly more successful day today. I had a look through the kitchen cupboards and a broken lunchbox and a selection of very out of date food has gone. I’m not usually too bothered by dates on things but I figured if we’ve had it so long that it’s 3 years out of date we’re never going to eat it so it might as well go. I need to go food shopping tomorrow so I’ve done a meal plan and shopping list so I won’t fill my nice tidy cupboards with things we don’t need.

I made myself tidy up downstairs after tea so when I get up in the morning I’ll find a nice tidy kitchen and lounge. Quite a few papers went in the recycling at the same time.

I’m going to try and get a decent night’s sleep so fingers crossed that DD sleeps a bit longer tonight. I really didn’t appreciate being woken at 4.45 this morning! I hope everyone else has had a good day.

Well, I'm surfacing after a six-month slump, during which I just and no more kept my head above water, and little else.

On Saturday, I shifted a few bits and pieces into the garage. These are things that I do not want or need in the house. A pair of boots that are too narrow for me, raggy clothes for rags or dump.

Today I put eight old Radio Times in the recycling. Also four local weekly newsparers, cardboard packaging for new shirts. Cut out some puzzles for DGD from the backs of six cereal boxes and recycled the remains. Put three extra plastic tubs out with the plastic recycling -usually I keep them forever, just in case :-((

Things that go into the garage do not come back into the house, unless they are for diy or getting mended. The garage is bursting.

My current magazines all fit on their shelf.

Sounds very organised! bobgoblin I should also put lists on the fridge where DH can see them.
Talking of large items, I have 2 underbed storage boxes Do they not fit under your bed now, PurpleFrog? They sound like something that could come in handy, but if you've got a new bed or something then fair enough.
Do AA batteries and empty deodorant bottles count Everything counts, Carrot. In my posts, anyway.
A motorbike is a significant win, Gibble!
Nofilter - please don't call that day slow! You'll make me feel inadequate
I've just chucked 2 shorts, 1 boot and 1 t-shirt of DDs. I'm trying to find a charger cable to sell some stuff online but I haven't used it since January and can't find it anywhere. Very frustrating.

A washing basket of crappy bits and pieces to the bin, another basket to the charity shop. I feel like the end may be just in sight for this playroom. I'm doing this because it's absolutely freezing here and I don't want to go outside. But my feet and back are aching now!
I must do the final step which is get those baskets into the bin and the boot, otherwise DD will come home from school and reclaim it all. I've got two hours till then so I'm having a little break.

Kitchen drawers sorted
Unwanted really old duvet cover binned
Old shoes ready for the bin too

Ive been through books and most of DC cupboards
Finally got DH to part with 3 tops he'll never wear (dozens more in his cupboard but he wont let go)
Just got my knick knacks to go through and the last of the personal papers
Asked school about recycling paper as can't find where to take it here
This thread is really helpful - thank you

Talking of large items, I have 2 underbed storage boxes Do they not fit under your bed now, PurpleFrog? They sound like something that could come in handy, but if you've got a new bed or something then fair enough.

They weren't under our bed - our bed is a divan with built-in drawers. The teenager has decided they are now surplus to requirements. I'm in 2 minds about them. They have sliding lids which mean that you can pull them out partway and get to the contents, but the lids are a bit of a faff and are not completely dustproof. I suppose I could stack them on end in the loft until I decide what to do...

You've all cursed me

DS and DH now have a sickness bug. There goes my plan of sorting the bedroom!

I've reached a temporary sticking point. All my diy has meant I've got a laundry/general mess build-up. I'm surrounded by stuff and it's suffocating me. I've been watching minimalist videos on YT to motivate me. I'm just going to have to jump in...

@IHateYourCarpet - Hope they feel better soon.

SandandSea - I still think you've done things in the right order because all the laundry/general mess will be back a week after you've done it while the DIY will be permanent improvements. (I actually keep meaning to do a permanent thing every day before I do general housework but I haven't really mastered that yet.)

Thanks, @PenelopeFlintstone . Yes, I've been thinking that if I've got less stuff and the diy's done, I could even pay for a cleaner to come in and blitz and it would be done. I still hate that 'surrounded by dusty stuff' feeling though.

I still think you've done things in the right order because all the laundry/general mess will be back a week after you've done it while the DIY will be permanent improvements.

I agree. I'm another one who is attempting to do DIY at the moment. I am fixing one of our kitchen chairs, on which one of the upright supports on the back got broken a couple of months ago. It is sitting in the dining room to keep it away from the dogs, but is sitting in the space I normally have a second clothes horse for laundry. This has cut down my drying capacity enormously and I really need to get it finished.

Of course, if DP had mended it when he originally offered, it would have been a simple glue and clamp job, but it lay for so long that someone knocked a bit off, and one of the dogs ran off with it and swallowed it. Sigh! So, it has now required gluing, filling, sanding, more filling, more sanding, wood staining... and still to go ... more wood staining and varnishing. I almost decluttered it, but Ikea no longer do that model, so decided we would hang on to it. I'll do the final bit of stain tonight and check to see if I have any suitable varnish. It has taken longer than I expected as the end of last week was too wet to sand it outside, plus I had to wait for a tester pot of suitable stain from Amazon as I drew a blank at B&Q.

if I've got less stuff and the diy's done Oh, my dream

Of course, if DP had mended it when he originally offered I feel your pain...it sounds like a long and painful job but you'll be able to look at it with pride. Better than having to buy a whole new set of chairs, too.

I should write a DIY list and put it on the fridge for DH. I think he'd work through it. I saw a thread once where posters didn't like this idea as husbands should see the broken things and just use their initiative but that wouldn't happen here. He just wouldn't see the things and I'm too old to retrain him now. It would be nice, don't get me wrong.

I feel your pain...it sounds like a long and painful job but you'll be able to look at it with pride.

It will at least be functional! It can go somewhere round the table where it won't be noticed as much. The time taken to do it in total has not been very long, but for every 10-15 minutes of effort it has had to be left to dry for a number of hours.

@PenelopeFlintstone - It's my dream too. One day...

I feel like I'm wading through treacle today. I did a fair bit of exercise yesterday so I'm a bit achey. That's my excuse anyway.

I've done one cluttery job which is to send off photos etc to a seller re getting a refund for a defective item. It was another 'luxury' purchase by DP which has ended up being a waste of time and money. (Like all the clothes I've bought this year which have now ALL gone back, apart from one bra which is a replacement.)

RIGHT! That's enough dawdling! I'm going to go move some shit!!

I'm the same on the DIY front SandAndSea and PurpleFrog- the spare room is a mess right now but I'm working hard to paint the bed frame a bit every day. Tricky getting down onto the floor with my massive bump! It's that hideous knotty pine so needs a billion coats of sealing primer stuff. But it's going to be good in the end .

Hope the family get well soon Carpet and that you avoid the dreaded bug!

Gibble a motorbike decluttered, wow!

I'm well impressed with your progress and eBay earnings NoFilter

Thanks Grey - it’s feeling really good, noticing all the little things as progress... shook me out of my frozen in bewilderment of where to start phase...

Having a total day off today, house to myself - DD on play date with DM... reading a book but cleaning up after myself as i go so as not to make more mess...

Ordered paint for walls, extension hose for fertilising the grass at the further end of the garden, big boxes for tack & TV cardboard boxes to protect them during the 2hr Drive!

:-)

Purplefrog I shouldn't be laughing at your dog eating part of your chair but I'm afraid I am. What a lot of work for you to do because your dh didn't fix it straight away.

Carpet hope everyone is better. Dh was sick on Saturday but out of bed after only a few hours so hopefully it'll be like that.

I have had a good day in terms of stuff actually leaving the house. Too often it goes in a 'charity shop pile' or 'sell' pile. I have chucked out lots of shredded papers and lots of garden rubbish. I also took 4 bags to the charity shop with clothes, books, a vase I mentioned last week, children's shoes, toys, some ruined trousers of dh's. For today's one item I added some extra children's books.

I don't have my file in front of me but I am fairly certain that this brings my total of carrier bags of stuff that have left my house since January 2017 to 600! I'm sure none of my friends would have a clue that I had that much clutter because it was so well hidden. I am really embarrassed by it but I imagine most of it is either baby stuff , furniture we don't need and dh's clutter.

That’s AMAZING stealth I bet it feels so much calmer and a pleasure to be home...

What has it been like keeping it all moving for all of that time? Have you found your attitude to “stuff and needing it” has changed?