New home for the new year - still getting rid of one item a day part 6

[StealthNinjaMum]

Here we are again!

Little by little a group of mums netters have been decluttering our homes by getting rid of one item a day. Whether we eat it, bin it, recycle it, sell or give it away we are slowly tidying our homes.

Is this the thread where we finish? Probably not

As usual newbies are welcome to join us. We get rid of one thing and come back to update everyone on our progress and get support when it gets hard.

Previous thread is here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3381702-Getting-rid-of-one-thing-a-day-decluttering-challenge-Part-5?pg=1

Close to minimalism is a distant dream. Achievable if it were just me, I think, but the other members of my household are not minimal.

Does it feel liberating @sandandsea?

I removed two broken lamps from the house yesterday. I thought a little used one only needed a new bulb, but it turned out it was broken so I whisked it away. I did replace one of them though, but it was still a net reduction. Plus, I encouraged/helped my daughter clear her bedside table: it's quite a big surface and had accumulated a whole heap of stuff on it. Looks much better now. (Although probably not for long...)

Ah, minimalism! If only. Don't think we'll ever be there, DH is too fond of picture frames/scented candles/random ornaments! People are always buying me candles etc but it's him that likes them!

Have finally decluttered DD back to school so am making some progress today. Couple of tshirts and an unwanted cuddly toy into the charity bag and have moved a whole load of playdoh into the garage to see if it is missed. Bottom drawer in the kitchen had been tidied too so that DS can have his bibs and plastic plates in there as we'll be starting weaning soon.

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! I'm not there yet but I can definitely see it poking through. For example, in the past, when I've cleaned out a kitchen cupboard, such as under the sink, it's got messed up again pretty quickly. But now, it's staying clear and I can't imagine anything messing it up because there isn't anything else to go in it. (So long as I can stop DP bulk-buying products.) If anything, it's going to get clearer as I'm still using up vinegar which I had over-bought without realising (before it was clear).

@pippistrelle - Sometimes it does, definitely, but not today as I'm stressing a bit about some things on my to do list. I love sitting in my living room though. It seems to stay tidy now and is also cosy and relaxing. It's not labour free though; I'm still benefitting from all the cleaning I did before Christmas.

I'm nowhere near minimalism! I would love to be but the rest of the family resist it with every fibre of their being.

The only thing that went out yesterday was the recycling, but that's ok, I was at work for a LONG time. We had an open evening so I was at school for 12 hours, which is exhausting. I am in awe of people who do 12 hour shifts regularly.

My dining table is still clear! It is unheard of for us to keep it clear for more than a week at a time, but it's nearly 3 weeks since I cleared it. We've used the table to work at (me), do homework on (DD), eat at (all of us), and do some craft (DD and me), and we've tidied it all away once we've finished. And my desk is tidy at work, that's my new year resolution that my desk will be tidy before I leave every day (and the board will be clean too). I've managed all of 2 days with the work desk, but I hope I keep it up, it's so much nicer coming in to a tidy desk in the morning.

Today DD and I have added a couple of toys to the ongoing charity bag.

I have various places of Doom in my house. It's often behind the sofa, but that's currently clear because I sorted that in the summer holidays and shoved all the crap in the understairs cupboard of doom. Dd1's bedroom is a whole room of Doom, but I've shut the door and am ignoring it. She's 19 and at uni, so I refuse to go rummaging and sorting in case I find something I don't want to know about, as well as having the rest of the house to sort out first.

sandandsea I know what you mean, most of my cupboards and drawers have nice empty spaces. I have been a bit lazy with filing recently so there are more papers around than I would like so I need to address this. Lots of stuff in today as my mum and brother visited laden with Xmas presents. I did manage to fill a carrier bag with toys and books so that'll go in the car tomorrow for the next charity shop run.

Another quite productive day. I organised the airing cupboard and found a brand new sheet still in the packet that is the wrong size for all the beds so that's started a new charity bag. There's been a small offcut of carpet on the landing for ages which I thought DH was keeping for some purpose. It turns out he thought I wanted it so that's started a new pile for the next tip run. I replaced two pillows on our bed with two new ones DM gave me a few weeks ago that she didn't need. A top of DDs went in the clothes recycling bag as it's too small and stained from nursery. I also decluttered my work bag and a whole lot of paper from there went in the recycling. I did buy a new coat but it was much needed and I have one that I will now get rid of.

I'm still a long way of minimalism and once again our table is covered with stuff but we are definitely all getting better at tidying away now we have slightly more space to put things. To be fair most of the table is covered with piles of DH's paperwork which is sorting, shredding and filing. He has a lot to work through!

I don't expect to get much done until the weekend as I'm working but I will try and find at least one thing to keep the momentum going.

Sorted out my work bag lots of paper shredded- always therapeutic. Couple of mugs sorted out to take into work as were always short there.

Only small efforts for me tonight...
A dress into the charity shop bag, which I haven't worn for a long time. Almost got rid of another one that o haven't worn for a while but in the end decided I will give it until after the summer to see if I wear it again because it's just so pretty! Also recycled our 2018 calendar from the kitchen. Just sticking to my 'mum diary' in my handbag for this year... Less for the work surface!

I had a cleaning day today, laundry etc.

Last night I binged the whole season of Marie Kondo. DH came home towards the end but watched a bit too. I'm at work now and true story he's just text me a picture of his t-shirt draw all folded correctly with the caption 'this sparks joy'. Don't think I've ever been so turned on hahahaha

Wow @WoogleCone ! He's a keeper, that's for sure!!

I've got a list of admin jobs to tick off in the next few days. I've done 2 of those today, which isn't bad I guess. Tomorrow, I'm expecting an insurance company to call me back and am hoping to tick that renewal off then (all going well). I really need to catch up with my household filing too... Urgh! I hate these sorts of jobs.

Does anyone use an app or any other system to log what they've decluttered? I think it would keep up my motivation if I can look back and see how much I've decluttered over the course of a week/month just by doing a little amount each day.

I love tidying cleaning but due to my Sen child .I have one secret my wardrobe
That’s the only place that’s different and I think it’s my way of coping
It’s a mess
Will do everything else apart from tackle this

whystay I just use the notes app on my ipad when I get rid of a carrier bags worth of stuff. I write what's gone, roughly how big it was and keep a total. So far I have got rid of over 800 bags of stuff which sounds like a lot but includes some massive items - settee, computers, bed, chest of drawers, broken washing machine as well as all the other stuff.

I have been a bit demotivated but today I need to catch up with a few bits of admin. Will do that and try to get stuff out of the room of doom.

I don't have Netflix but found an episode of Marie kondo on YouTube last night. I found her quite inspiring. Might buy some chests of drawers as I really want to fold my clothes up.

Morning all!

Not too bad so far today, on laundry load #2, got a new mortgage deal, added a couple more bits to the textile recycling box. That's getting full now, will have to get DH to help me get rid of it all.

Off to sort the dishwasher now and then will re-evaluate my next task.

On a mission to sort the kitchen drawers today and get some bits together for another tip/ charity shop run

Everyone seems to be going great guns on their decluttering
Asked DH to review his wardrobe contents while I put DS to bed last night, but nope. Found him playing GTA instead if only I could declutter his Xbox
Not a huge amount of energy today so I think by the time I get home from work, it will just be a short decluttering session. I have identified that I can declutter 2 pairs of shoes. Years ago when at uni, I bought 2 pairs of pink canvas wedges on sale for £3 a pair. I've ended up not wearing/rarely wearing either of them, even though they're so pretty. They're more summer outing to the pub type shoes but that's fairly incompatible with our life with DC. Plus now I'm older, I'm more of a flat shoe kinda person I think I should be ruthless and put them in the charity bag tonight. I mean, unmarked soles after 10 years must say something that I don't need them... I may also head up to the loft and seek out an item up there to declutter. Energy levels depending of course, after DS has gone to bed

Does anyone use an app or any other system to log what they've decluttered?

No, but now I really want to find one. Actually, it might provide a useful thing to do with something from my notebook stash.

Even though I am relatively up to date with the paperwork I have just spent 20 minutes going through the post pile organising eye appointments, shredding and in a minute I'm doing filing. Paperwork is in the room of doom so I need to do a load more filing. It's just never ending. There were some toys I was hoping to sell in there but I'm just going to take them to a charity shop.

I have also ordered two chest of drawers for my bedroom.

I've just spent almost an hour on the phone but have finally renewed my insurance. It's a relief to be able to tick that off. (I've saved quite a bit per month too.)

I can hardly believe this - I've saved £185.96 a year just by changing one insurance provider!!! Utilities next.

@whystay - Like Stealth, I've been keeping a list in the notepad on my phone. It's quite astonishing to look back on it actually. In the last couple of years, I've got rid of another whole house of stuff!

That's amazing sandandsea. Now I've got my utilities organised I need to start switching suppliers.

My final update for today. I have been brutal. Shoved a load of toys in charity shop bags and lots of other plastic bits in a black sack. I have produced two bin bags of crap and another carrier bag of charity shop stuff to go with yesterday's two bags.

I have also been filing joint account bank statements from Stbexh. Normally he puts them in a pile in his man cave and I found about 8 months worth. He doesn't even open them so won't know they're gone.

I also have loads of CDs, computer software, Nintendo and PlayStation games where the game isn't with the packet and I have been trying to bring them together but it's time consuming. My aim is to actually finish with paperwork next week to the point I can start working out my pension value and get in touch with the gov to top up my state pension. I need to get my ducks in a row for the divorce lawyer. In fact I need to find a divorce lawyer.