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

Had a delivery of 5 clothing items (3x dresses and 2x workout gear). Also bought sunglasses as DS broke my others. Looks like I need to find 5 things to get rid of...

1x dead house plant
1x soap holder from the downstairs toilet (we do still have soap - just in liquid form)
8x dead batteries (do I count them as 1 each or a job lot?)
1x old shower puff
1x broken glass jar which used to hold my bath salts

The last one was thanks to my lovely cat who definitely shouldn't have been upstairs in the first place

I kept going after I posted on Sunday! I shredded a few bank statements (did the bulk a while ago) and some cards - they make such a satisfying sound when they go through the shredder . Also got permission from DH to throw out two pairs of his shoes! So that's me up to date until today. I do still need to find something, as we bought a fan yesterday, so that counts as an item in!

If I haven't owned a car for 3 years am I quite safe in shredding all paperwork? What about things like utility bills? Thinking about having a bash at the filing cabinet...

Haha stealth it wasn’t that much actually as a lot is on my laptop. Two full to the brim 3 tray tier thingys and a big pile that filled the shelf..that’s very kind of you giving those book. I like to do good deeds myself where I can, another child will enjoy those and learn words to boot...

Just listed a Mac make up case and also sold a credit card leather holder and a top and jeans on Ebay...

Packed up another box for the garage and tidied round quite pleased with progress.

Off to visit the future farm with my measuring tape! Can’t wait to see the place in the sunshine..

desert anything tax related must be kept for 5 years I think (could be wrong but I keep them for that) the rest I chuck after 12 months so I have 2017 bills that’s it. So much of it available on email now I’d be ruthless! Shred away!!

X

Im still here haven’t thrown much away this week but did get a new front door and when i do tip run end of week with broken old bits off old one am determined to take some extra decluttering bits with me.

I am currently the same boat as Nofilter need to do paperwork and wardrobes but the heat is destroying me on a evening. Once in from work and little one is still fighting sleep at this time i just cant get myself going after grrr.

Good progree though everyone always feel inspired by all your efforts big or small it all adds up!

It took me 2 hours to get to work today! Awful for a 15 minute commute!
DH has put the new washing line up in the garden so now I hope I manage to keep on top of my washing a bit better.
I have tidied a bag of stuff away into the sideboard so a bag has been decluttered.

I have fallen off the wagon, no time to declutter well... but my 10yo did me the favour of outgrowing a load of things today so suddenly about 30 items in a bag ready to go out the door (& hand-me-down items he'll wear next, so net change is reduction).

We are trying to sell a fully working printer, no takers. So annoying!

Today I have mostly managed to declutter a lot of snapped hair bands from middle dd's bedroom!

I tried to give away a fully working printer - no takers. I couldn't believe it.

I have just sold a toy and have put some in the charity shop pile. I have advertised them several times and I'm now going to give up.

I have also put a few old flannels in the rags pile. We have a pile of nicer flannels in my beautifully tidy and decluttered airing cupboard so we'll be using those.

Hello!
May I join in please? This sounds like my cup of tea! Love being ruthless getting rid of stuff but I always put it off and it ends up driving me crazy!
The one thing at a time might work quite nicely.

The chair was declared finished on Saturday. I wiped off the rest of the sanding dust, hoovered the fabric seat and polished the wood area with furniture polish. So, I got my second clothes airer back up, and am gradually working through the washing that has accumulated. I've washed a number of things destined for the Charity bags, so hope to hand stuff in this weekend or early next week. I sold another eBay item on Saturday. I was very pleased that 4 out of last week's 6 items went! I have dropped the price slightly on the other 2 (they are fixed price listings). I have also managed to list 4 new items this week so far. I hope to bring that up to 6 by the end of the week.

I also have a working printer to sell. It is taking up space and gathering dust on the dining room floor. I got as far as bring the box down from the loft. It is still there because I can't decide whether to put it on Gumtree or Freecycle, but in light of the comments further up the thread, maybe it will just be going to the tip! Unfortunately, there are no manufacturer's drivers available for anything above Win7 or MacOS 10.7 which will limit its market. Sigh!

Try to freecycle it, PurpleFrog (my ecofreak heart speaking out).
I know I can sell the cartridges. I suppose we could save our spare printer for when DD goes to Uni (2+ yrs from now). She could have one in her lodgings that way.

Yes - you are right, lljkk. I really do just want rid... but it is a decent Canon Multifunction one. Sigh! I need to do some gardening tonight as the garden waste gets picked up tomorrow, but I will try to look at it on Thursday evening.

It so depresses me that no-one wants perfectly good electrical items. I had to get rid of three CRT TVs because no-one wanted them. I can understand why, because they'd need a digibox, but then it makes me angry that the government made a technology in everyone's home obsolete.

And talking of obsolete I was looking at my video collection today wondering if I really need the video of 'The Lost Boys' given I haven't watched it for over 20 years. And I have about 5 workout DVDs that are still in original packaging haven't had much use. Maybe time for a video / DVD declutter.

purplefrog I have done two coats of oil on my chairs and they look amazing. The instructions said I need to do three and I haven't done the underneath of the chairs. I'm wondering if I should bother.

I'm sure by the time I've finished the summer will be over (i.e. tomorrow!) but this has been a job on my to do list for about 8 years so I have finally done it.

Today's item is a rug

Found a hole in the top I was wearing today so that can now go.

Well done Stealth! If I show you mine will you show me yours?

Is it an indoor chair or a garden one? If it is for use outside I would definitely oil it underneath.

Hi all, well done on your efforts, despite the heat. The way that electrical stuff becomes obsolete really annoys me, imagine all the unrecyclable waste. I have an iPad 2 that is still fine, but Apple have stopped supporting it operating system updates because of its age, so now many of the apps don’t work. Grrrr.
Anyway, yesterday:

In - new mascara and nail varnish
Out - 3 old mascaras, two old nail varnish. One old school bag, four more items of clothes in charity bag.

Today I need a new frock for a wedding, and possibly some shoes. But I’m going to the tip to take the last load from the shed clearout, so that will cancel it out.

Outdoor chairs purple frog

Oooh - these look good Stealth! I would definitely do them underneath to seal them properly.

Thank you PurpleFrog

They were 8 or 9 years old (can't remember) and they were a bit grey and dirty looking. I sanded them to get rid of some of that dirt and cleaned them and so far have added two coats of Danish oil. They do look much better but I wish I had done them when I got them and they were brand new and yellow as they still look like slightly dirty. I will do a third coat and the underneath. I chose to stop when I did because I ran out of oil and I couldn't get the same brand again (not surprising as I bought it 8 years ago!) and so I'm hoping the new Danish oil (which does look different inside) will go on top and not look odd.

Your chairs look good too PurpleFrog was the broken bit the end bit that looks slightly different? I'm sure if you were to see chairs around a table you'd barely notice.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself so thanks for inspiring me PurpleFrog

Today I am only going to get rid of one thing, the video I mentioned yesterday will go in the charity shop pile (or maybe in the bags in the car). I am going to spend the rest of the day (other than cooking dinner) tidying up paperwork as I have a couple of piles that need to be sorted.

Yes - the broken bit was the main supporting bit at the far left. It got broken diagonally along the grain, so if we hadn't lost a bit, the mend would have been almost invisible. Sigh!

I think you did the right thing leaving the underneath for the new container of oil. If you do 2 coats underneath and then a 3rd over everything it should be fine. Maybe try a little bit first on an inconspicuous 2-coat section to make sure the new stuff goes on top OK?