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

I bought three bottles of Method Shower Cleaner (ylang ylang) from Costco ...........it smell like an expensive hotel bathroom

I feel the urge to clean the bathroom now (and declutter , obvs )

I'm still suffering from the worst cold in the world ever so not a lot has been done this week at all

Tonight I cleared out the kitchen cupboard that houses herbs, spices, condiments, that sort of thing. Elderly half-full a jar of capers anyone? No, thought not.

I now keep looking in the cupboard just to admire my handiwork.

stealth thats so much clutter out of your life it must feel great to look back at the out the door list!
wooglecone i think your dh has turnt the whole thread on 😂

70isa ylang ylang cleaner is really nice isn’t it!!
pippistrelle so glad im not the only one who gets joy from staring at tidy spice cupboard lol

I now keep looking in the cupboard just to admire my handiwork.

I do this too!

@reallyanothername sounds like you need to do not much! Have the time to rest and recover and you will feel better for it when you're back on top form next week to declutter

Got rid of the two pairs of shoes that I said I would. A quick glance at the reminder showed that I need to go through and be a bit more brutal... For example, realised I still have some 'clubbing heels' that I think even Victoria Beckham would struggle to walk in now that I am a 30+ mum who feels hard done by if not in bed by 9pm, safe to say they can go I am going to cull the pile. I shall keep the token semi high nude heels that go with everything (my wedding/christening guest shoes ) and a pair or two of black heels for work (client visits, court trips etc the only time I'm found in non flats ). Most other things can go I think

betsy I do love looking at the list, I am used to the house looking a certain way now and get frustrated with the clutter and go back to the list to realise my house is nothing like it was two years ago and I've done really well!

I love my cupboards too - particularly in the kitchen. my wardrobe is the worst cupboard at the moment but I'll tackle that when my chests of drawers get delivered.

I went through more stuff and found more unwanted books and toys then took three big carrier bags of stuff to the charity shop. I was then naughty, I bought a cardigan and evening bag in a sale.

I'm just going to spend another hour in the room of doom to finish filing paperwork and I desperately need to file / chuck out school work.

I sorted out my knicker drawer and chucked out 20 pairs. Still have about 30 pairs and yet probably only wear about 6 pairs.

Also chucked out some socks and a pair of pyjamas.

I don't have any more space. My belongings gave just been stuffed in. I guess that makes it easier.

I've been through our Christmas decorations box which dp packed up when I was away and re-packed it. I have some old (inherited), glass baubles which I needed to make sure were properly protected. I've also sorted the lights out etc to make sure it's all easy to put up next Christmas. And, I've added in all the bits he forgot. I've replaced some of the old tinsel which is now in the charity bag (new tinsel delivered today) and recycled a tree decoration which has had it. I've also diarised to remind myself not to buy Christmas cards as there are some in the box. I'm going to hold off putting the box away until I've laundered the Christmas table runner/mats, so I can add them in and get them out of the dresser. (I only have 2 tablecloths plus the Xmas runner and matching Xmas mats - total - but the dresser drawers are not at all deep so I think this will work well. I also love the idea of finding it all again every year when I open the box.)

How lovely sandandsea my Christmas decorations give me more joy than nearly anything in the house so it's going to be so lovely for you opening them up in 11 months time.

walkingtheplank 50 pairs of knickers!?

I had a productive hour but made the house far, far worse by emptying drawers and making piles of things. I filled two more bags of charity shop stuff - ornaments, ring binders, many packs of cards, key rings and created a pile of new electronic goods to recycle that was mainly wires and two cassette ealkmans that I forgot I owned. I put stray leaflets in boxes and organised my shelves where I keep my paperwork. If dds go to bed nicely I might do filing tonight.

Productive afternoon here as several empty tablet boxes recycled, still chipping away at the work journals too. Paid my road tax as car passed its MOT so reminder letter shredded.
I also keep opening my spice drawer to admire its beauty and the under sink cupboard too!

gassylady I have about 5 years of the road tax forms all neatly filed. Why don't I shred them?

Stealth I have no idea why you don’t! I find shredding very satisfying so very therapeutic. Take a pic as a reminder of previous years costs then shred away

I’ve not had a good week. Nothing out since Tuesday. I’ve been working FT and dealing with 13+ entrance assessments for DS and ongoing water pressure/boiler/hot water issues triggered by the water board digging up the road.

Actually, we ended up with 2 new emergency stopcocks yesterday (after the original engineer from the water board broke both of them). So I guess the two old ones left the house. But that seems a bit tenuous.

I’m going to try and be a bit more productive over the weekend. Hopefully I can catch up on the days I’ve missed by getting rid of extra stuff.

Today's items were a diffuser plate which we no longer need as no gas hob any more and a couple of empty bottles from the bathroom. Also finished a bottle of cleaning stuff. I need to do more mopping, for some reason I have about 6 bottles of flour cleaner; it must've been on offer at some point! A bag of stuff also went to the charity shop yesterday.

I must get our shredder out, it's been languishing in a cupboard for ages but have loads of paperwork to deal with.

Boiler issues sound a bit of a nightmare Oubliette, hopefully the work won't take too long. You sound like you have plenty going on, I hope the assessments go well for your DS.

Stealth I have a sneaking feeling I may have a cassette Walkman lurking somewhere. I used to listen to it walking to school.

Well done to those tackling wardrobes, still no progress on that front. I'm currently hanging on to loads of not particularly good stuff because it's convenient to BF in.

We’ve had three water board engineers round in the past 36 hours, and the boiler is currently being inspected by plumber #4. Still no hot water, but the cold water supply to the kitchen sink has been restored (we ended yesterday with cold water supply to everywhere but the kitchen sink, and no one could work out why).

May I join?

Have clutter is most rooms - if I had some help it would get done quicker, maybe in a day, but I don't and it's difficult to get motivated sometimes.

Will look forward to getting some mutual support from this thread and post my progress every day - that's the plan

I hope Plumber #4 did the job, Oubliette.

This evening I cleared out the tea cupboard. No one was ever going to drink the chamomile or the peppermint I got especially for a friend as I know she likes it: she last visited my home about six months ago, and drank coffee. There were other never used teas, but now they're gone, and I have another cupboard to admire.

Hello Maria. I think this little bit by little bit approach is useful for when motivation is lacking. You start off intending to clear just one thing but before you know it, you've gone through the whole shelf/cupboard/file.

Well done on the cupboards pippistrelle I did our tea bag cupboard one day last year when I realised how out of date the funny flavoured tea was that I was offering someone - not that it goes off I’m sure..!

Been busy with work last three days so went off this evening to find three easy wins - did a pile of recycling which included a 2004 uni magazine I’d kept for some reason and inspired by walktheplank the knickers I was wearing they were a little worse for wear!!

I agree with pipistrelle that when you break this job into very small chunks and think you'll just do a bit you find it's easy to do it. I often set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes and end up spending an hour on a boring job because I want to finish it.

Today I'll be going through a pile of dd1s year 4 school books removing unused pages and putting them in a scrap paper pile and chucking most of them out. I started doing this yesterday. I have boxes and bags of their school stuff to go through.

It's working

Decided to clean up a laptop keyboard to take to the charity shop and before I knew it I'd got 3 bags to take! What made it easier was that as I sorted through a wardrobe I found plastic bags with items I'd clearly put together for donation, and then left them in the wardrobe

Right. Plumber #4 is about to return with the new part for the boiler, so everything should be back up an running once he’s fitted it (fingers crossed).

I’m going to do some decluttering. Starting with the coffee table, and then moving in to the piano (both of which appear to be covered in piles of stuff).