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

That looks beautiful, @PenelopeFlintstone .

Yes, SandAndSea. Thanks. It's not mine though. Mine is a stick with two green dots

I kind of lost my way with decluttering, been really busy and it just hasn't happened! I'm back and going to aim for a large bag out at least per week.

stealth the craft kits, could you take apart and just put the bits in with the craft stuff if they use pom poms etc. Then it's still being used.

Not sure how helpful it is I did a 2 year nvq recently and it was all online based. I had one folder that I kept notes in as I worked better on paper first then typed up. I thought I'd need loads of folders but never did. Now I'm completed I have chucked all the notes as I have it all on my laptop.

DD did GCSEs last year and is now doing A levels. Not used a single lever arch file. They are available in the £1 shop so I would get rid as your DCs will want to buy fancy ones if they do need to use them.

I suppose giving the kits away makes me a bad mother who spends no time with her children!
Or you could say, you stimulated their interest in craft stuff, now they prefer to use their imagination rather than be limited by kits....

That plant will be pretty, PenelopeFlintstone.

Thanks for comments about folders. I do like stationery and some are really pretty. It's going to be hard to give them away. Maybe I'll start with 5 ugly ones and go from there!

DC use single lever arch files & box files or their GCSEs. heck, I use box files for some paperwork. A quality box file can cost £4.50 new, I think.

I have been lurking and following this thread (and the previous ones!) for what I think is just over a year now. I don't know why I haven't posted before, shy I guess.

Time to give some encouragement & inspiration to others, to payback what I have got from this thread & the lovely contributors.

I have been decluttering and getting rid of one small supermarket shopping bag of stuff a day, every day.

At first it seemed like it wasn't making any difference at all, but I kept going, I got better at it. My house slowly started to look a bit better, it got easier to clean. Vacuuming is so much easier when you don't have to spend hours clearing the floor first.

My mum turned up on Sunday morning recently without warning (we were all in our pjs, that's fine) & the house was quite passable :) I used to dread visitors.

I have just done my standard Sunday afternoon tidy up etc & I don't have enough random crap anywhere to fill a bag. I seriously don't! My house is tidy & as calm as it is going to get with my kids ;)

If you are just starting out, or part way through but not seeing the difference yet just keep going. Keep the faith, it WILL make a difference. One day you will turn round & think Wow! is this my house.

Apologies for the long post.

Wow! That's amazing Tr1skel1on. Please stay on.

I originally lurked on the 'throw a carrier bag of stuff away a day ' and have also stuck to it. Sadly my house is not yet tidy and calm. One day... one day...

Have talked myself out of giving away binders. Aghhhh.

@Tr1skel1on - Welcome! I'm so pleased that you decided to de-lurk. And even more pleased that you think we're lovely!

@StealthNinjaMum - How about selling them on fb? £1 each??

Stealth - I've realised I keep suggesting you sell things on fb and I'm sure you don't need such reminders. I saw someone at a car boot once selling a load of files for £1 each which is what made me think about it this time. If it's any consolation, I've got a load of uni files still to go through so I will be in a similar position, when I get to it.

Thanks so much Stealth & Sand for the lovely welcome. I just wanted to post to encourage others that the end is eventually in sight and you can get there!

If I can do it anyone can. My house was a disorganised mess.

I have a child on the autism spectrum who does so much better when stuff is tidy & easy to find. Equally trying to Marie Kondo stuff all in one go was impossible.

One small bag a day out of the house, every day, no matter what, is what has quite literally changed our lives.

@SandandSea keep reminding me I need to be pushed!

I tend to sell dds things because I feel guilty about getting rid of them. It's a bit of a pain waiting in but they object less to things going. Also dh doesn't think I should get rid of anything without getting a child's permission and clearly that's ridiculous.

Today's item is a onesie that no longer fits dd2 and a Marks Sparks card that I haven't activated but seems to have been sitting on my dressing table for months years.

Have ditched more packaging. Yay.

And am on a “bag of any size” out of the house a week until the house move.

Some clothes and five books.

I’m in. At the beginning of September the children swapped bedrooms. Four different room changes, all emptied of anything not needed. Except one room! We’ve got rid of bags & bags of stuff to different causes & people. Life is looking calmer but we’ve still a long way to go!

Today I did my clothes & cleared 3 huge bin bags of stuff!

A few weeks ago I alternated between 15 minutes cleaning and 15 minutes decluttering and it worked really well in the sense that it never became a chore/ boring as I knew I was going to move on. I am now going to do a time table with 30 minute alternating slots.

I'm focusing on arts / crafts / stationery and the usual Monday housework - washing, ironing, tidying.

I've been slacking the last couple of days but I did put my recycling out yesterday so that counts

Need to do ds’ 9-12 month clothes and his toys. We have far too much stuff. But am holding off until we move.

The great declutter of dparents house will then begin along with the great clutter of our new house and the great declutter once we’ve moved it all in.

Ruthless. Must be ruthless.

Nice to see some new recruits!

It is over 2 weeks since I last updated, but other things have interfered with decluttering. Two weekends ago we at last got round to sorting out some large items that have been lying in the garden since we replaced the garage door earlier in the year. I was determined they weren't just being dumped back in the garage. Anyway, 4 large items were earmarked for the tip and the others were washed in soapy water and left to dry in the sun then neatly stacked in the garage. We took 2 of the items to the tip this weekend. As they needed 2 people to unload them from the roofrack and carry them, we took them to the largest tip in the area as we could park right next to the skip and unload and fling in one movement! I also dumped some flattened large cardboard boxes and 2 largish bags of textile recycling while we were there.

I discovered a pile of tourist brochures from 2007/08 - most of them have now been binned.

I have continued with sorting magazines. I have decreed that we should keep no more than 5 years worth of information-type magazines. Some have been earmarked for selling, but a lot of others have now gone in the paper recycling bin. The bin is now heavy enough that if I manage to sort any more paper stuff before Thursday it will have to wait inside until the bin is dragged up the gravel driveway to the roadside, or the bin will be impossible to move!

I hope to get some magazines on eBay tonight - my selling has ground to a halt in the past couple of weeks.

Ha ha purple frogs laughing at the tourist brochures from 2007 / 2008. How do these things stay there for years? I was am the same and dh has some National Geographic magazines from the 80s (he was a nerdy child) that he will not let me get rid of.

I have had such a good morning. 1.5 hours spent decluttering and 1 hour doing housework - obviously the 2 overlap but because I knew I was decluttering an area I didn't leave it/ get distracted when I heard the dishwasher and washing machine. I ignored them til my declutter period was over and it was my housework period.

So in the 'to go' pile I have some ring binders, lots of old art projects, some packaging from crafts things, fishtank ornaments and a couple of craft sets. As part of the declutter I have tidied up lots of stationery, put similar items in bags / boxes, put lots of labels on drawers and put lots of things away (clips, glue sticks, coins) that just sit on surfaces.

Hi 👋 I was on the first thread and cleared out lots before our house move about a year ago. Inevitably it's all built up again though. So now I'm back for round 2!

StealthNinjaMum - I'm afraid I do keep some leaflets, especially for things we actually did do on holiday, but I've no idea how this pile survived intact for so long!