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

*used

Yesterday I threw an old, dried out, crumbling, not used in 4 years mop out. Contemplating a second mop tonight. I do also have a third mop that I actually use and will be keeping! Definitely liking the one thing a day decluttering, even if I don't always manage that - if I do, it feels like a win, rather than disappointing because I haven't completed a whole cupboard/bag or something. Builders should be done today so I need to clean the whole house over the next week.

I've cleaned out the toaster today - at least 3 handfuls of crumbs!! They just kept coming.

I'm another one who wouldn't pay for someone to help me declutter, but then I don't usually think of employing someone to do anything I can do myself. Like a previous poster said, I don't tend to put a value on my time or energy, but I do realise that my income:time and income:energy ratios have changed quite a lot over the years, so should probably consider getting people in to do more things.

I sold another item on eBay yesterday, so that is another largish thing gone from the corner of the bedroom plus a 35cm x 45cm Amazon box gone from the loft. I dropped it off at the Post Office first thing this morning. Talking about first thing, we got woken by one of the dogs barking at 6.50am this morning. It turned out to be the bin lorry that had set her off. It never comes up our street that early, so the brown bin I had dutifully filled with leaves on Saturday is still full of leaves in the back garden. Sigh! We did manage to get the landfill bin out in time though.

Wow, you've all been so busy! Gibble your son's fundraising sounds like amazing achievement, I hope he has a great time on the trip.

I'm tackling toys this afternoon, I feel bad about doing it without DD but she anyways wants to keep everything! I'm not actually getting rid of anything except random bits of paper and stickers which are no longer sticky, but a box of stuff that is not played with is heading into the garage until DS is big enough for it. There is now actually space to put some new things away come Christmas!

SandandSea I know what you mean about toaster cleaning. Where do all the crumbs hide?

Re paying someone els to declutter... As someone else said probably out of reach financially for lots of people, although probably something that would depend on where you are. I would quite like minimalism but DH likes things like candles, picture frames etc, so I'm aiming fir everything having a home and ditching unused stuff. Would there be demand for a class of some kind I wonder. So you wouldn't do the declutter for people but advise on how to start etc. Almost like a real life version of this thread...

Sold a 2nd pair of DD's old DMs on eBay but I have bought myself a new pair of boots 😊 Still my other pair of black boots have lasted about 3 years and I wore them constantly. Will still wear for outside, muddy walks.

Need to dive back into the spare room and sort out some stuff I chuck in there for a charity shop run.

Will tackle DD over Christmas hols to go through her clothes. We did it before uni but she refuses to get rid of things, like her favourite, faded pair of pjs that are so saggy around the waist I'm surprised they don't fall down!

RaspberryBlonde Maybe clutter watchers instead of weight watchers. We could post before and after pictures every week! That wouldn't work for me, I'd hate people to see my clutter.

I did more shopping today, finally ordered my turkey and food. Because i left it so late I have to pick things up on the 21st which is really annoying.

I went through my makeup and found a makeup bag to put all my makeup in in a bathroom cupboard. I will probably be throwing out a makeup set my mum bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I have used some of the colours but I just won't use the rest of it. I am wearing makeup quite a lot these days and I do feel good. I am using up my really old mascara but I think hope it's a myth when they say you should chuck it out when it's a couple of years old to get you to buy new stuff. As long as it hasn't been opened I'm sure it's fine. But I'll get back to you if I get a hideous eye infection!

I sorted out my purse today. It had got to that point where there were so many receipts I could hardly shut it. I can't remember if there's Konmari method for organising receipts, but I only sort my purse when it gets to this point and there are very few receipts that I actually need to keep.

GreenWillow - I've also got eggcups that are never, ever used. Plus, they stand in a biscuit tin - no lid as they're too tall, then other random shaped objects get placed on top and regularly fall out when I open that cupboard door.

I don't think I can bring myself do that quite yet, GreenWillow, but I did see a vlog the other day (Minimal Mom) about having smallish baby boxes for each child. I plan to do that for my two - I have enough room for that - and those baby egg cups can go in there. That small move will greatly change the functionality of that cupboard Yay!

Hi everyone, thanks for the welcome earlier; it's so encouraging to hear how you're all doing.

I did get half of the horrendous dining room sorted but got a bit distracted trying to be overly thorough and go through everything in the sideboard first. Did chuck a lot of old recipes and travel tips cut out of newspapers so that was good.

At this stage, however, I think I need to concentrate on getting tidy for Christmas and realistically leave tackling what's in the cupboards for the NY. Will try to stick to throwing out one thing a day though .. shouldn't be hard!

For the last two days I've been helping DH completely clear his late mum's house .. so between us we've packed up most of her life . She wasn't a hoarder and it wasn't an insurmountable task, but nevertheless a salutary reminder of how much stuff we collect over time. Good to remember as I continue to declutter ..

We've been restrained and only returned home with a beautiful tea-set, a framed "mentioned in dispatches" certificate belonging to DH's grandfather, and some family photos. I think that's fine.

As we had the skip an extra day, last night we decluttered the final storage radiator and two clothes airers that were getting to the annoying point of dropping bits of plastic coating all over the place every time they were used. They will need replacing, but I'm ok with that.

I proudly went to put my makeup bag away yesterday and discovered another one! Clearly I've already decluttered my makeup and forgotten I've done it.

Dc finish school today so my focus is on finding space in playroom.

Also I have just noticed a hole in the jumper I'm wearing so that will be a rag.

Phew! Finished work until the New Year. Can’t wait to get the house organised and everything ready for Christmas. I can’t remember when I last had this much time off before Christmas as it’s not usually a good time to have leave. So while I’m up in the attic getting the decorations down I’ll see if there’s anything that can go, and put anything up there that I really want to keep. I know I have some old sets of Christmas lights, the ones with the spare bulbs, so they can go if they are not working.

I’ve only got rid of a couple more things this week, but I did also regift some Yankee candles that I got given in the summer which saved some money. My PIL arrived today with two huge bags of gifts for the children when we said we weren’t getting them lots this year but it’s very kind of them even if it does fill the house up!
I’ve now watched 7 episodes of consumed on Netflix which I’m loving and have just seen that Marie Kondo has a Netflix program starting on the 1st Jan, I’m so excited!

Today's plan: I have a table in my mudroom which covered in decorating equipment and my plan was to sit it all there and use it all up. However, it's too messy and makes the room look terrible. So, today I'm going to make space in a cupboard and shift it all into there, culling as I go.
I'm going to put some shoes on so my feet don't ache and get on with it. Then I'm going to break out the Christmas decorations

We managed to declutter a packet of gift tags today and a roll of wrapping paper. 2 bags of Christmas presents have been wrapped ready to take to family tomorrow. The mug order should be arriving tomorrow and 4 more have been ordered by our lady who has bought hundreds of £££s worth of stock from is during the last week 😀. DS’s fundraising is now down to below £400 to raise and I am so relieved! It’s now an achievable amount. He has 5 1/2 months left and has a bag pack next Saturday which could net around £80 and then a race night in February and a cake sale in February too.
We still need to sort out his birthday and need a couple of small gifts for him to open as he had a week yachting in April which was his present. Perhaps we’ll get him some more clothes.

You have so much coming into your house, Gibble - mugs and cubs lucky dips, and so much else. You do amazingly well to declutter at all. I take my hat off to you

Term finished yesterday here as well so moving into damage control rather than decluttering mode I suspect!

Starting to work my way through stash of wrapping paper and tape. Annoyingly am going to have to buy gift tags as my stash of those has vanished.

5 boxes that can go to someone else is good news GreenWillow!