Getting rid of one thing a day decluttering challenge Part 5

[StealthNinjaMum]

We’re still here!

For 4 threads a group of mumsnetters have been getting rid of just one thing a day. We’ve been throwing out, selling, recycling and giving our stuff away.

But we're still not finished.

Newbies are always welcome to join us. Just get rid of one thing each day and come back here to discuss your progress and get support when it gets hard.

Previous thread here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3298777-Getting-rid-of-one-thing-a-day-decluttering-challenge-Part-4?msgid=81434878

Gah! I've been very bad at this in the last month or so. I need to look through old paperwork, sort at least some out and dispose. Must renew search for suitable place to advertise old Penguin paperbacks. Charity shops apparently just dump them, which I understand but hate to think of any book being thrown in the rubbish. Any ideas?

On the plus side, I did sell a pair of DD's DM shoes on eBay and have put another pair up for sale today.

I did nothing yesterday.

Another delivery arrived - highchair for ds. So another box for the recycling.

GreenWillow that sounds awful, I hope dc are better and you can get back to normal.

Gibble hope ds is ok.

Bagel there are a couple of websites that buy books one is webuybooks.co.uk I tried it once and it offered me so little for my books I didn't reach the minimum value so just gave them to a charity shop. I didn't realise charity shops might dump them, that's depressing. You could always try doctors surgeries (ours has a bookcase and you can take a book for a donation to charity), Facebook or free cycle.

I was busy yesterday but managed to get rid of more plastic things that I don't know what they do. Today I'm looking at the playroom. When dd2 was struggling with reading I made hundreds of flashcards so I'm going to go through the very easy ones and will throw them away. I'll make some new ones now, she needs to have grammar and times tables reinforced, but it'll clear a space. I also want to get rid of some more books.

I hope all the ill and injured are feeling better soon.

I ironed some sheets and pillowcases last night that were washed at the weekend, and are destined for the Charity Shop. Looking at the weather forecast I don't think I will be attempting a drop-off this week after all. That will give me a chance to sort out even more stuff this weekend and hopefully hand in 3 or 4 boxes one day next week. It is depressing that Charity shops might bin paperbacks without putting them on sale at all. There is a dedicated Charity Book Shop in the town that I work and I donate anything old or unusual there, as I feel they will deal with it more sympathetically. I am still trying to decide what to do with Mum's cookery books. There are a number of Good Housekeeping ones from the 1950s and 1960s which bring back memories, but I don't know how likely I am to actually use them.

On the mattress front - I woke up and turned over quite a few times last night, but on the whole I slept much better.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will investigate.

I'm back. Lots of flashcards have been chucked out. I also half emptied a drawer in the spare room while making the bed for dmil tomorrow. I found lots of papers to be recycled and items of stationery that need to be moved to their new homes and a charger for an mp3 player that died years ago. I have a tiny bag of electrical wires and stuff to go to the dump but I don't know when I'll have time.

Ooh I have to get this off my chest. I have put a couple of baby items on freecycle. Two days ago I received a message 'Hi.Is this still available.' and I replied and I haven't heard back. Yesterday I received another one 'Hey. Is this still available.' from a different person. I replied and she didn't reply. What is with the rudeness? How about salutations and thank yous and signing off emails? And then how about replying or arranging a pick up time? Or just saying 'actually I'm not interested, please feel free to let someone else have it.'

More digital decluttering. Over 1900 emails are currently in my trash. There's more to do. (EEK!)

That’s so rude Stealth. This is what’s putting me off listing stuff for sale.

Very impressed with the digital decluterring SandandSea, pretty certain I will never get there although I try to keep work email vaguely organised.

Not much to report here today although I did manage to avoid additional clutter by finding DH the item that he requested for Christmas that we already own....

My plan for tomorrow is to clean the bathroom (oh Joy) , wash the shower curtain, sort through the cupboard under the sink and put anything nearly empty on the shelf to use .

Glass to recycle

I have some pans that I;m swithering about. Cannot remember the last time I used them, but if I do recycle them , I bet I;ll suddenly need them

Sounds like you all had a productive day!

I got so annoyed with people not turning up to collect free things from gumtree that I put a post saying it is on the front drive at 10 ....... first come first served.

We had four parcels into the house yesterday so a net loss but one massive thing out - my beautiful wedding dress (sob!).
I’ve been reading Marie Kondo and thought it wasn’t bringing me joy being sat in a box but there is a charity nearby that sells them for £500 and then uses the money for people with terminal illnesses to get married. So it will hopefully help to bring joy to others. I still have mixed emotions about it though!

@Chunkymonkey123 that's such a lovely thing to do, it's another special memory you will have of your dress, knowing it benefited others. And good idea about the gumtrww/freecycle... I'm another one who is cursed by people who don't turn up. Or expect me to deliver to them. Its free for goodness sake!
Today's items, 2 babygros and a kids t-shirt in the charity shop pile and a random broken tupper ware lid which led me to sort out, again, the tupperware storage. I want to treat myself to the Pyrex dishes you can freeze. Does anyone have them, would you recommend them?

I've never used Gumtree or Freecycle but I have posted on local Fb selling/free groups and I think items have always been collected. I think the very nature of it being so local makes it easier as people are out and about in the area anyway, so they're not factoring in an extra journey to collect.

I haven’t got the pirex ones but I threw away all my Tupperware and replaced with the Lakeland stack a boxes which has saved so much space in my cupboard and my freezer.

I HAVE got a couple of the Pyrex ones, when they were available with tokens through some Tesco offer a few years ago. I have only used them a couple of times, though, so can't really comment on their usefulness!

I believe you can freeze glass (??). I'm thinking of re-using glass jars for this.

Today, I've decluttered more emails and I am utterly SICK of it! My trash folder has over 3,000 emails in it!! There's more to do. Lots more.

Ooh i didn't know freezable pyrex dishes exist. I really don't need to know this as it'll be something else to own!

I've done nothing today other than a few bits of post. Freecycle woman arranged to pick something up and didn't turn up. Another woman is now picking it up tomorrow. I also bumped a few Facebook sales items and will take them to the charity shop Tuesday if no-one wants them.

Mil is here and the spare room doesn't have the usual charity shop pile on the bed. I think I might fill bags rather than create a pile and put each single bag in the car as it's full rather than chuck things on a mountainous pile and then wait until I have 5 or 6 bags to go. It's nice to have a spare room and I think the pile always overwhelms me.

My tiny hire car is full to the brim with stuff for the Christmas Market tomorrow. None of it will be returning (fingers crossed!).
DH’s car is full and there are still 4 MASSIVE boxes of stuff which yet has to go into his car to be taken tommorow. All of those boxes are likely to return but I am hopeful that we sell enough stock to have a rejig and get rid of at least 1 of the massive boxes- 2 would be flipping awesome though!
Today I bought a Bluetooth speaker. I have wanted one for quite a while as we keep wanting one to use at cubs. It’s not something that I can afford to buy out of my Cubs budget though so I’ve bought one for myself which I shall use at cubs and loads of other places 😀

Gave away about 10 books today.

Chunkymonkey that was a truly selfless thing to have done.

I thought prexy could be frozen? Any kind? I’ve got loads. Some new from offers at coop and some old from eBay my grandma etc. All of it goes in the freezer.