Getting rid of one thing a day decluttering challenge: Part 4

[StealthNinjaMum]

And the decluttering continues…

For 3,000 posts we have been slowly transforming our homes from hovels to palaces.

We’re not quite there yet some of us are further than others but we won’t give up until we have a decluttered existence.

We just get rid of one thing a day and report back to showoff for support and to be told off when we’re naughty and bring more clutter back into our homes, gardens, sheds, garages.

As ever newbies are welcome to join us.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3243987-Getting-rid-of-one-thing-a-day-decluttering-challenge-Part-3-Are-we-nearly-there-yet?msgid=79207142

Tomorrow is a busy day where I would normally say I'm too busy to do anything domestic (except the usual washing, cooking, organising for 6 people;))) but

I'm going to do 10 mins in the school admin drawer of doom which is bulging with shite from at least two terms so that I'm sticking to the every day thing.

Ds1 is starting uni so will be easy to toss school letters related to him except maybe his report cards-or do I just chuck them?

Buffys

No you're not bonkers-I'm sure shredding is an excellent way to say bye to a less favourite chapter of your life.

Listed a toy for sake this time last night and it was collected by 9 this morning so was chuffed with that as it was quite an awkward one to store in the to go heap.
Everyones doing really well we should all feel good about that every item gone is abit more light let into the house

Can I join? Today, I gave away to charity 5 blue ikea bags full to the top of clothes that haven’t been worn in a long time (mine and dh’s). Some of it still had tags!
I am now filled with dread that I left something important in a pocket and I am really anxious 😟 this can’t be normal as objectively all the stuff had been washed so couldn’t have anything in pockets... could it?! cries Will try and only buy something if I get rid of an equivalent thing first to try and keep it all under control.

I listened to the podcast on homeless clutter. It was interesting but common sense and reassuring that I'm doing quite well with this decluttering and tidying thing.

As promised I started with keys. We have a drawer in the sitting room with keys, a pot and a pot in the kitchen. I found three sets of keys in the sitting room pot that I am going to throw away because I think they were either this house (before I had the locks changed) or a previous house. When dh has gone to work I'll test them on the doors just to make 100% sure they're not useful. If dh knows I've done this he will panic so I won't tell him.

While looking in the sitting room drawer I threw out some tiny plastic bags with things like dowels, screws and washers. Probably leftover bits from flatpack furniture. I also found what I think is the missing part of a breast pump I had to throw away because it had a missing part!

Today we have to wrap presents for dd1s friend. It's only two days since we used the sellotape but who knows where it has been hidden?

3 sets of keys are tested, couldn't get them to work on any locks, and are now in the bin. The sitting room pot (more of a bowl really) is empty. I am wondering whether to put it in the charity shop pile.

Just realised I have too many glasses. Lost count at about 85. This is after I got rid of a few a couple of months ago. 3 Disney glasses have gone in the charity shop pile. We have some really horrible patterned crystal glasses that aren't mine and a 'happy 18th birthday' crystal glass that I'm fairly certain doesn't belong to me or dh. Will ask dh if they're special before I get rid of them - just in case. The glasses aren't really a problem, we have a reasonable amount of space and on the tiny amount of occasions when we've had 20 people over there are enough for people to have prosecco and red or white wine and water/ soft drinks without having to wash glasses up. What I don't like is having maybe a dozen that I don't like and wouldn't give to guests. It's these ones that I am intending to get rid of.

I took the day off work yesterday and intended to spend a while sorting out the dining room. The main motivation for this was the annual boiler service which is taking place this afternoon. Gulp! Sometimes the engineer wants to check all the radiators, so I always have to make a safe passage to each one in the rooms that are a tip used as storage. I folded up the two large clothes airers and hauled out a lot of the stuff piled behind them. I managed to find a bag of rags that I thought I had already got rid of, and one containing 2 winter jackets of Mum's that I thought had already gone to the charity shop! Oh well, at least that is 2 bags that can go soon without spending any more effort. As well as a lot of dust I also discovered a sock I had been looking for, and a tag for a collectable item I sold a few weeks ago. Typical! I had put off listing it at the same time as a similar item as I knew I had seen this tag somewhere, but couldn't remember where. It had obviously been on a shelf in the unit and had fallen down. Sigh!

I got hauled off to help with building some of the flat-pack storage for the back sitting room in the afternoon, so didn't manage to get as much done as I had hoped.

I went round this morning before work and piled lots of stuff on our bed from the landing and the spare bedroom, so the radiator can be accessed there. I will have to remember and deal with that early this evening or I will get a huge shock when I go up to bed!

I really need to get this all sorted out before the boiler service next year.

Ha ha love that purple frog. We had a plumber around a year ago and he politely commented how much stuff we own. I was mortified and almost want to invite him back to fix an imaginary problem to see if he notices how my house has transformed.

7 glasses and one mug are in the charity shop pile. Will speak to dh about other glasses later.

Got a text from DP and phoned him back. Turns out that the untidy house and access to the radiators was the least of our worries. Apparently there is a small leak in a valve in the pipe leading to the boiler. The valve is made by the boiler manufacturer and has been out of production since 2011. Sigh! So the engineer has cut and capped the pipe and we need a new boiler. Another sigh! We have been warned for the last few years that parts for that boiler were getting harder to track down, so were expecting it to happen at some point.

Just as well it is August and not November, but I am now wishing I had made the appointment for June!

We have an electric immersion heater in the hot water tank and solar panels on the roof which also heat the water (when its sunny!). And there is a gas fire in the living room and a couple of electric heaters up in the loft if we need them. So, I guess I had better do some research on new boilers before British Gas come to talk to us next week. Even bigger sigh!

Oh sorry to hear that, that'll be expensive. Can you try someone other than British gas? They're known for being expensive. You could start a thread on property / diy for advice - when we needed a new boiler everyone recommended Worcester Bosch.

I have just taken four carrier bags of clothes, books, rags and the key bowl mentioned this morning to a charity shop. Every day I put stuff in the charity shop pile in the spare bed so I decided some of it should actually go.

Thanks StealthNinjaMum. When I last had a look, Which? were recommending Worcester Bosch. I intend to be armed with models and prices when we see him next week.

We had to replace the boiler in our last house. The old one split some time between Christmas and New Year and as it was a cold winter and we had a 2-year-old at the time I was not inclined to shop around. This time we are not quite so desperate, and it is now a lot easier to compare prices online.

8 books out and £5 in!

Today’s things a few bits of paperwork that had been cluttering up my work bag - shredded always satisfying. Tomorrow a papier-mâché model will be decluttered.

Just a fly-by for me as loads on at the moment but today I've got rid of several instruction manuals for gadgets I no longer have and a hat.

DDs gcse results are in. A mixed bag- she hasn’t got high enough in maths to do her choice of A levels so needs to go to the college later to see what she can do.
We’re going on holiday today too- nobody is packed and nobody is making any effort to 😬. I need to hoover.

Ah @Gibble1 I hate packing. Have anxiety attacks over it. Hopefully as the clutter goes and things have sensible places that will reduce.

Also, has anyone seen the great deal Aldi have coming soon for garage shelving. I've going to get a few so I can put stuff off the floor and hopefully start to sort. Also, going to order a hippo bag (like a small skip) soon.

Gibble hope your dd had a good meeting at the college and is feeling settled. I hate packing too but it's getting easier as dds to some extent do their own packing.

I don't have as many wine glasses as I thought because today I pulled down three boxes of crystal glasses that I thought were unused and actually there were empty apart from with two unused. I am really undecided about this as I love keeping cardboard boxes and what if we move house we have no plans to move house then I'll need the boxes. Please someone tell me to get rid of the boxes even though one is really nice with a silky material

In the same cupboard I have found an old, never been used, stainless steel cocktail shaker. Ladies make me put it in the charity shop pile.

two unused glasses that is meant to say.

@StealthNinjaMum - I wish I could help but sadly, I too have a love for boxes and I also have a cocktail shaker. The unused glasses though...? They could go, couldn't they??

My items today are some ood seaweed (I was going to make sushi) and a bra. I put it on for the first time in ages and immediately felt uncomfortable, so ripped it off with abandon!

Finally gave younger cousin a nice handbag pile of clothes that will suit her more than me she was pleased with so one more bag of bits gone.
Put the box and cocktail shaker outside stealth.... xx

Husband couldn’t fit papier-mâché mache into rubbish bag 🙄 but it will start of the next one. Two children’s suitcases for the charity bag today.

The boxes are in the recycling bag even though they're naice brands. Cocktail shaker in the charity shop pile.

So far today I have found another four manky used batteries in my new battery drawer. Really annoyed, it can only have been dh as dds aren't allowed to touch old batteries. Even when I have a system dh ignores it.

I have just added clutter to the house but nice clutter. I bought a beautiful new lamp for the sitting room and have started to rearrange the furniture to make it fit in. So far I'm not having much luck but I have just found some magazines from 2016 / 2017 in our magazine rack that I am going to chuck out. Dh has saved some National Geographics from the 1980s in the magazine rack and I am tempted to put them in his mancave or maybe the bin.

I am reading another book this week. It has been on my bedside table for about 3 years so with the lamp and furniture rearranging I'm hoping to have a reading area in my sitting room but just can't get it right. We have windows and radiators in stupid places that make the room hard to organise.

Space hopper has gone as well as loads of clothes.