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

@WoogleCone - I might try local fb selling sites first. That way, someone could try it on and you're more likely to get a good price for it. If not, eBay?

I haven't been doing much clearing recently but I counted the 'out' items on my list for this year and I'm easily hitting one good item a day, so I'm quite pleased.

Today, I have a nightie which has to go. It just doesn't spark joy. Actually, I've realised that it positively brings me down, so it's going. I've also found some homemade cake in the freezer which I am defrosting for later.

Two returns parcels posted.

This will be DC2 and I've sorted through the toys this morning and created a very small bin pile (mcdonalds toys and the like), a small pile of baby toys to be moved to the baby toy storage box and some for inbetween ages bagged up ready for the loft. Some also taken to charity, plus another couple if books. There is space in the drawers

Bit sporadic on here with updates but have to share a BIG clear out and not by me but DH (who never chucks anything out)!

about 8 years ago he bought a 'classic' car to restore. Spent ages (months) sourcing and buying parts for it and then lost interest. So I had car parts and a shell of a car in the garage, the cellar, the loft, the garden.... meaning other things had to find alternative homes. Anyway he decided he was never going to get round to it so he sold the lot as a job lot and I suddenly have space again.

I'm hoping he is on a roll and will now sort out the rest of the garage so we can put bikes and lawnmowers and tools back in there and we can use the garage again.

Also sold a desk on Facebay so that's gone from the hall (only been there 9 months)!

Must confess though that the books I was sorting and cataloguing are still in the spare room - I'll try and get onto that this weekend

naturistmum fantastic news about the car, that would really annoy me to have something like that hanging around.

I am getting rid of a gadget that I believe produces carrot garnishes. I also have two cherry stone removers and I am wondering whether to get rid of one or both of them.

I’ve definitely stalled in the last week. A combination of DS having exams at school, DH being away on business, me being away for the weekend and a cold that just won’t go away. I mustn’t lose momentum.

wooglecone this might help.

www.stillwhite.co.uk

Went to retrieve some king size bedding from my ottoman and realised that 90% of what is in there never sees the light of day. Didn't have time there and then to sort through it but it's on my radar now to go through it and charity bag it up!

I don't have to look far to find something that needs a clear out!

I need to find something to clear out today, might do a drawer in the kitchen while I wait for the kettle to boil for my next cuppa but I must stop prevaricating and do some paid work!

Tip run has finally been done! Woohooo!

Lots and lots of cardboard, 2 old sky boxes, a broken light bulb (that was brand new and dh smashed 🤦‍♀️) hard plastics and polystyrene all gone.

I think I'll leave the decluttering at that for today and just get on with general tidying and throw out day to day rubbish but first I'm going to watch an episode of consumed on Netflix.

Definitely ditch at least one cherry stoner Stealth, you can anyways buy some cherries if really needed for baking (frozen ones are good). That's unless you have very bountiful cherry trees in your garden in which case can see they might be handy.

Managed to sort a random box of cables last night... Quite a few are binnable so are in a bag to go to the tip. There's a few for a camera that I think we still own so am hanging onto them on car I can find it! DH was surprisingly helpful at identifying mystery cables!

Hope all the poorly people are on the mend.

Struggling to motivate myself at the moment and ignoring ever increasing to do list. Today's feeble effort is a 24 page booklet that came with a paddling pool describing how to inflate it in a million langauages.

Still poorly but have identified a depressing jumper which can go now. I wore it for decorating recently and it felt too shitty even for that. It's never been good but I've been keeping it in the hope of somehow getting my money's worth from it.

We also got a lot of practical things like slippers, shower gel (so much for my plastic reducing efforts!)

We had a lot of half or almost empty bottles and pots of toiletries last year that were driving me mad. I slowly worked my way through them, using them all up - it was most satisfying! I still have a few to go.

I've found that it really helps having cupboards and drawers organised so you know exactly what you have and don't keep buying it.

My cupboard of cleaning products is a prime example - it was a total mess, with various bottles of cleaning stuff, rinse aid, dishwasher tabs, dusters here there and everywhere. I kept buying more stuff because I thought I'd run out when I hadn't!

It took me about an hour to sort it and now everything is in its rightful place and I can see exactly what I've got and what needs replenishing when I come to do the online shop.

Your description of your husband’s cooking style made me laugh willow, you have such a lovely way with words! We have an expensive KitchenAid which was a wedding gift and is supposed to do everything yet actually is rather useless.

I’m very excited about your impending arrival keiki, good luck! Our third (and last) baby is 2 months old and I’m quite wistful that I’ll never be pregnant or give birth again.

I’ve not got much done this week due to several unexpected appointments. I’ll try and catch up in the next few days.

For those of you battling paperwork, I would really recommend the GeniusScan App (it’s free). You just take a photo of your paperwork and it converts it to a PDF stored in your phone which you can then email. It’s great for forms you need to fill in and email off. I also use it to store info letters from kindergarten after putting the dates in my diary. Previously the letters used to live on the kitchen counter until they became redundant. Now to home the rest of the clutter that resides there!

Slightly belatedly I've realised I'm terrified of labour so keeping busy can only help.

Today I have cleared in the books properly and binned a couple of filofaxes from when I was a kid and 4 diaries from 2001-2004 that had survived 3 previous culls

Good luck Keiki! Fingers crossed for a quick and painless labour.

I hope the poorly people are improving. We haven't had any poorly humans, but both dogs have been ill over the past 10-14 days. They are almost back to normal now, but I think we are still suffering from the after affects of the disturbed nights. I haven't really felt like decluttering, but have sold a couple of eBay items and chucked a few small items. I'm hoping to get back on the wagon this weekend.

Stressful busy day but a jumper that never looked good on me and a swimming costume I struggle to get on are leaving tomorrow!

Thanks Pippa I'll have a look on stillwhite tonight :)

You'll be super fab keiki, labours might not be a walk in the park but keep positive and go with the flow is the best advice I could give! Sending you lots of and for after!

Today has been productive here, two tip runs and the conservatory is looking a lot better. I sold three dresses on Facebook, bagged them up and used three ends of rolls to package them so decluttered the wrap box at the same time haha! Also have someone interested in a pair of shoes but they haven't paid me yet so haven't wrapped yet. Fingers crossed before I go to the post office! So that's space in the wardrobe and about £40 made. The shoes is another £35 so feel like I'm winning it will all come off debt though booooo

Just a few days leave left before back to work, have made our meal plan and shopping list for the morning, only the essentials will pass the threshold!

It had much chance to do stuff the last few days but I have got rid of a few cosmetics that just had a tiny bit in - and my daughter's read a book tonight that neither of them liked so I've put it on the charity pile to take at the weekend.

Also not sure if it's decluttering but we've been eating stuff up out of the freezer which has been in there for a while and needs using up.

I cleaned out my wardrobe when I first started this... but some of the things I left in there... I still haven't worn so probably should do it again but even more brutally!

Planning on decluttering the booze cupboard a little bit tomorrow ;)

I decluttered a soft toy to a colleague today. It's for her dad with dementia and he's wanted one like it for a while apparently.

Yesterday I did a bag of paperwork at work.

Dd2 is planning on decluttering at the weekend, as she's doing a sort of jumble sale at Brownies next week and wants to sell some of her old toys. Bless her.

keiki hope you're ok, keep busy if it keeps your mind off childbirth.

greenwillow is that the sheet on the video that penelope recommended? I keep meaning to do something like that. I have started to do meal planning but I had a delivery from sainsbury's this week and some meat went off within 24 hours so I had to rearrange my meal plan around it. I prefer to go shopping every day but it is so much less efficient.

I am getting rid of two kitchen scales that take up half a shelf and replacing with flat electric scales.

I've never been able to manage it in ten mins willow haha, took me at least forty mins last night 😂

Got my parcels out this morning, spent slightly more on groceries than intended but did get some command strips to put the new frames up with. No erroneous chocolate or beer much to DHs disgust

Dropping DD off with Grandma soon and then I've set aside two hours to just sit down and do whatever the hell I fancy!

DS is grumpy (teeth/cold) so am letting him doze on me...this has increased nap time from 30 mins to 90 so far. Fortunately have my phone so have been doing admin and catching up with emails. Means no decluttering though!

I’m trying very hard at meal planning at the moment as we have a freezer full of stuff which I’m working through. I do usually get it done in 10 mins but then spend most of the week rewriting it! Know what you mean about being the grown up though and eating things to make life easy GreenWillow. I keep threatening to introduce a veggie day but DH then garnishes it with ham or something so it’s a bit pointless!

Hope you’re doing ok Keiki, I was weirdly more worried about labour second time around. Definitely good to keep active though.

I looked at getting rid of various old mobile phones yesterday but turns out they are so old none of the recycling sites will pay me for them and I’d have to pay postage to send them, so they’re going to the tip in the electrical bag.

Going to do some decluttering in kids’ bedrooms this afternoon I think, have a big pile of outgrown baby clothes to go into storage, and a box for DD’s vast collection of hair slides and so on to go into. Nothing to get rid of but will all look a lot tidier! Am very envious of those of you with DC who are embracing decluttering!