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

Loads going on here atm and yet, for some reason, deciding to bin a tablecloth which I've never liked and which has been jamming the drawer for YEARS, seems really significant.

• By 'bin' I mean 'Charity', of course.

Ivegotbills (love the name) welcome. It's great having guests coming, such a good motivator to carry on (and this thread obviously).

SandandSea excellent to get some money.

Nofilter I am being so naughty. Have ignored my long list. But well done you for sticking to yours.

Agghhh. I started to write a long post and my browser lost it!

I have spent a couple of days sorting out toys. I have so many incomplete sets like Peppa Pig furniture (no figures to go with it, think I sold them), cars, a rainbow tail from a favourite doll of dd2s and I can't find the doll. There are a few things that are going to charity shops and I have found a few things to sell.

I mentioned before that I had a big pile of stuff behind the settee, ready to sell. You can't actually see the pile unless you stand by the window but I had hoped to clear it away. Having halved that pile it is now growing again. But at least I'm actually selling stuff rather than thinking about selling it and then not doing anything!

Slow day in terms of decluttering but knocked a few jobs off my list AND mucked out 4 stables and have hay to 14 horses as my yard owner is on her hen do.. after driving from Wales so totally ready for a shower and bed now!

Thanks stealth I do seem to be focused more these last two weeks due to the list...

I do not like my "for sale" pile either it's cluttery!

I've now got two huge cardboard moving boxes for it all...

Trying to chip away at it when I can grrr it grows fast!!

I'd like to join, 1 thing a day seems very much doable. I moved into this house just shy of 18 months ago and it's annoying me just how much random crap is in here. I have been getting rid of stuff but it's been in small bursts. Some weeks I'll throw nothing and then I'll chuck out 17 things in 1 hour

Today I:

Ticked off 2 things off my life admin to do list
Found a seller for quite a few baby items (bulk selling) so that will leave my top of fridge space free

Tomorrow I'll make a start on old clothes.

Welcome Monkey!!

We had friends round for the football at short notice so had a bit of a declutter in the living room. Even managed to give away some stuff to them! Win-win...well, except for the actual game of course.

Well done to everyone on their chucking out today and thanks for the warm welcome.

Not done much in the last couple of days, but have made 2 banana & oat breakfast loaves with some spotty bananas this morning - will freeze 1 & hope the other tempts my breakfast averse teenage dd! I cleared out my baking stuff while I was doing it, so it's tidier.

Have a lot going on on the family front at the moment so am trying to be gentle with myself & not beat myself up for doing more!

Today's item is a pair of broken sunglasses that DS mauled to death a few minutes ago

I have emptied a box of doom and chucked out a few very old cards, bits of plastic, what looked like part of the inside of a computer. Dh is also testing an old video recorder tonight. If it works I'd like to donate it to a local boy on our ASD network who likes them. Would be nice to give a working electrical device away rather than take it to the tip like I had to do with three old style TVs. Talking of TVs I found a TV I forgot I owned in a cupboard too so that is going. It's a small handheld TV that no longer works.

That sounds like a lot of TVs stealth and really kind of you to think of the little boy...

I'm getting ready for a tip run, decluttering across the board, loads of old garden tubs, 10 bin bags of packaging and bits we just don't need...

The delivery driver collected the old style radiators this morning at 7am!! why do I get the worst time yuk! But that's a nice space left in garage now...

Got all the utilities to deal with for the period when my apartment has been empty so I shall add those to the list, the energy meter is broke so needs prioritising.

Off to the farm for a mammoth work out again - already feel slimmer from yesterday's regime - I like it!

You are all so inspiring! How long has the thread been running? Has anyone run out of junk yet?

I love this thread! It's amazing how hard it is to start decluttering, but now I've started it's hard to stop!

I've been in dds wardrobe today-she is away on a trip until the weekend so I'm putting all too small/too young/too grotty stuff in a big shallow plastic tub for her to check over before chucking. It's about a third at least of the total.

She was meant to have done this herself but I think she is probably overwhelmed by the amount of stuff.

Hopefully she'll be pleased with my efforts and not cross with me for interfering-it's a tricky age (13). I think she'll be able to see outfits better when the rubbish has gone.

I'll carry on tomorrow and will report back.

Hi all, I'm new to this decluttering thing and trying to learn the new tricks. So far I've culled down my shoe collection so now they all fit in my wardrobe and my front room is clear. I thought I would move on to clothes next and started looking at jumpers.

I pulled them all out and picked them up one by one but found myself putting them all back I wear them all and love them all I just couldn't . Nevermind I thought, I'll move onto the next and started to look at skirts. But after taking a look at those too, the same thing happened and I put them all back.

I've decided to leave the clothes for now and I'll move on to nail polishes, DVD's and garden pots. I know I have plenty of these to be gotten rid of with no emotional attachments. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Hello ivegot I don't think it's possible to run out of junk / things to do! This thread is good for motivating you and getting ideas of how / what to declutter! At the moment I'm mainly doing life admin stuff but because of this thread and stealth I'm keeping at it and even how I make lists has become more realistic. I also have a lovely pink clipboard with a little storage thing at the back and my bills are decluttered haha!

Hello sitranced welcome! I completely agree about moving past anything that seems difficult to make decision on. Think it's good to just keep moving really and I'm sure as a result of decluttering other areas you'll be able to go back to the clothes. Have you thought about selling things on Ebay? Maybe that will help you to get rid of a few bits that you don't really wear?

I have a 1 year rule now. If I haven't worn it in a year it goes!

Good progress today. I was handed a big pile of bills from my brother who stayed in my apartment in between tenants (great!) so I've contact NPower and organised an engineer for the meter which is just blank. Added another 6 calls to list (phew). Finally got a cleaner for mums house - the estate agents wanted £165 and £40 to do the oven!! It's a 3 bed semi detached and is small!! Insane - my friend at the farm is doing it for £60!!

Night all xx

Apologies for overdose of exclamation marks in my last post. It reads like a teenager on red bull

!!!!!!!!!

I have a charity Shop bag to go out tomorrow. Some off DD school blouses (still in good condition) skirt, new tights in box ,
Some Summer clothes I put away last year , got the bag out of the loft and sorted through.

Going to clear teenage DS room while he;s away (he's been warned to remove anything he Doesn't Want His Mother To See
Washing his bedding , curtains, nets,windows and steam clean his floor.
Aim to get his duvet +pillows to the laundrette .

That'll do for now I think .

I'veGotBills - don't worry. You're allowed to get excited here. It's not AIBU. Sometimes we even smile at each other in shared hope of a tidy house!!

Also, I'veGotbills - this is thread number 4 and no-one has finished completely. You have the same approach to your DDs room as I have to my DD's room, but I've had trouble getting her to do that last step of looking before I get rid of things. She definitely was overwhelmed by it all, but nevertheless is too lazy to do the last step. Good luck with yours. I expect you'll have better luck because I'm just realising how lazy my DD actually is!!
Sittranced - I wouldn't get rid of clothes that you still like and wear. They are the things to keep! Maybe change rooms: bathroom? Kitchen? Spare bedroom? Those are often cluttered spots.

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My charity shop stuff has made it to the car boot. I'm going past one on Sunday that has collection bins outside so it can go then. Next, I'm going to spend half an hour x2 in my mudroom. It's an overwhelming spot but if I say I'm not allowed to leave for a set amount of time surely I'll have to make some progress.

Also out from the mudroom: a kitchen cupboard door that's been replaced with a cute curtain (I might have mentioned this before but it's actually in my wheelie bin now), a never-opened thing for branding your barbecue steaks with words, names, etc., a mini pair of sunglasses, a few jars and bottles recycled, two ugly unpainted chipboard shelves to DHs shed as maybe he can use them in there. It's still a mess in there though.

Glad it's working nofilter I have been busy just not doing my list!

Yesterday I put a teddy in my charity pile and generally tried to get the house ready for the last day of school - today. I am annoyed I haven't got rid of more toys as it'll be hard when dc are off. I found a tiny plastic bit that had belonged to a toy a sold and so the buyer is coming to collect it today and more random bits from a box of doom.

sittranced If you love your clothes don't get rid of them. Just look for different storage solutions to make them better organised. I never do an area and finish it. I often go back to it and things I wouldn't have got rid of 6 months ago I don't mind getting rid of now. There was a big conversation about 3 threads ago on cookbooks and how hard they are to get rid of even though we don't use them. I have probably got rid of half of my cookbooks now but in stages and I'm happy with that.

I've got bills I think the threads are about a year old. I joined the first one about 9 months ago. Before then I lurked on the throw one carrier bag of stuff away thread. I guess people must run out of stuff as they vanish but I am sure I will still be here until thread 9 getting rid of stuff!

Nofilter the TVs were all about 20 years old apart from the one I found the other day which is about 30 (which only has about a 2 inch screen which is why I forgot it). One had belonged to my grandfather, who died 20 years ago, and so I kept it to think of him but as they were old analogue TVs I could no longer justify keeping them even though they sat on furniture and didn't really look like clutter - just old TVs!