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

That's a gorgeous blanket Woogle!💕

Life has been getting in the way of decluttering. But 2 pairs of toddler shoes passed on yesterday and the same mum will buy a small bag of toddler clothes 😃 small wins!

Well worn shoes Penelope?! Errrr. Fetishists? Well desperate times....

Thank you battenburg small clothes is something I need to go through again, my 3yo is already at my waist, she's so tall and still growing!

I’m struggling a bit with motivation at the moment. I really need to sort through the pile of doom and to file/bin the paperwork in it. That’s my goal for today.

That’s a lovely blanket woogle! I learnt to knit as a child and would love to start again as I can imagine it would be nice and relaxing. My mum is amazing at knitting and crocheting and makes some lovely things, (as well as a few bizarre ones!).

I’ve donated a Swiffer and three boxes of pads for it to my MiL - she insisted I buy one when we moved into our new house and it’s sat unused for 3 years. She was delighted to take it all off me so she has a second one at home.

Whilst she’s here and cuddling the baby I’ve also started going through my jeans to decide which to keep in my quest for a capsule wardrobe. I have quite a few of good quality pairs to get rid off - I’m optimistic in thinking I will EBay them but I expect the EBay pile will just languish gathering dust. I think I need to bulk buy some of those plastic envelopes to post stuff in - what do the Ebayers among you use?

@SandandSea I'm quite enjoying The Joy of Less. It's not too preachy, and quite gently encouraging, even if you're already on board with the idea of decluttering and being more minimalist. It's quite good on the practical side of why we end up with too much stuff in the first place, and maintenance to keep it from mounting up again. I also really liked Less is More by Kim Carruthers, which is also quite a practically focused room by room how-to guide. I didn't really care for Goodbye, Things, or Stuffocation, which were the other two my library had.

Thanks, @MotherWol , that's good to know.

@chloechloe - I tend to save bubblewrap here and there so I always have a bit of packaging and then use a bag4life on top. Or, a box, depending on the item.

chloechloe I tend to get the thin plastic envelopes from Poundland or pinch them from the office, you used to be able to get grey ones from the post office (special delivery bags) that you could just turn inside out, but I don't know if they still do that.

I try to re-use plastic envelopes as much as possible, turning them inside out if necessary. I also have a selection of new ones, bought from eBay. I have 10" x 14" , 12" x 16" and a few larger ones. There are lots of sellers on eBay, and you can buy mixed lots if you want.

Ooh I've been away from the thread for two pages. I am totally behind on my decluttering and house organisation, I just haven't been motivated. To some extent I have got rid of so much crap already my life is a million times more organised but I have still got loads to go. Will read the thread now.

Chloechloe (on page 30 now) I think I am cricket on the clutter bug website. If it was up to me we would have completely empty spaces everywhere. When I don't know what to do I often clear window ledges and surfaces but generally get daunted by piles of crap everywhere and give up so I totally agree that the search of perfection leads to procrastination.

greenwillow (on page 31 now) I feel your pain about the hoover. That would really annoy me. Can you move the shelf in the cupboard up?

Bloody mumsnet. I am actually sitting here annoyed that a complete strangers vacuum cleaner doesn't fit in their cupboard!

I've caught up and I'm impressed jealous with everyone's efforts. My house is a bit of a mess at the moment so I am going to spend one hour tidying and putting things away. Lots of loud music and dancing should motivate me. I find that by actually putting things away I often end up going round the various rooms finding clutter / mess as I go so it can be quite a productive way of working and not as regimented as making myself focus on a room / space. I am finding it hard to stick to lists at the moment but clearly need to get out of this low / no tidying mood of the last week.

Thanks for the packaging tips wol, sandandsea and frog. I’m currently on mat leave —so unable to raid office supplies and stick things in the post there—. The mixed lots on EBay sound like a good idea and I think I’ll see if there’s anything in the recycling pile to reuse. I’ve been good at not buying anything recently, except for new clothes for my chunk of a baby boy.

There seem to be a few crickets here stealth. In an ideal world I would have clean surfaces everywhere. DH on the other hand likes to leave stuff out to remember to deal with it which drives me mental. Then again he’s really good at ploughing through his to do list so maybe there’s a lesson to be learnt there!

I really need to go through my stash of used polythene mailers and put them into some sort of size order. It would save me ages going through the whole box each time I need one. I found another carrier bag full the other day, and I still need to put them beside the others. Some of them seem to have disintegrated so are obviously biodegradable ones. I have got into the habit of using one over a box as I feel it makes the package more weatherproof, and means I don't have to obliterate all labels on the box...

... which reminds me - I sold another eBay item last night , so I have 2 boxes sitting in my office at work ready to post tonight. I didn't bring in any charity bags today as it was raining first thing.

Well done, @PurpleFrog ! What's your selling secret? I've got a load of things to sell but have found it very hit and miss so far.

Whilst writing, I've decided to charity one of my sale items. It's been hanging around for far too long, I don't love it and I would really rather have the space.

I've also recycled another tube of ood face stuff. I don't know why but it never occurs to me to check dates on toiletries - it was 2 years passed its use by date!

Interesting eBay talk, I've been thinking of selling on eBay for years and never get round to it. I have a couple of unusual items that I think I might put on eBay. I'd give them away for free if I thought the new owner would really want them but I think they're quite niche - one is an old piece of technology and one is an old, very rare boardgame.

Anyway I have run around like a mad thing. I have chucked out loads of papers and put together another pile of exdh's stuff. I chucked out some of dd1s schoolbooks that I missed when I culled them a few weeks ago.

I have also started to empty carrier bags. I have a terrible habit of putting things in a carrier bag and then leaving the carrier bag hanging on a door for 6 months 2 years. So when I met dd2s teacher in the parent consultation before Christmas I put her school report and a notepad in a bag with books and magazines for dds to read while I was meeting the teacher. I have now emptied that bag. My house is full of those sort of things. I have met two solicitors about divorcing h and have two sets of notes in bags somewhere! Also when dds have doctor appointments or after school clubs I do the same and later find a bag of magazines and books.

I think my eBay secret is experience. I know that isn't much help, but I have been selling there since 2004. My usual tactics in recent years are:

(1) To do lots of research on completed items to see if an item is worthwhile selling in the first place.

(2) Spend some time taking good photos in daylight and write a good description, taking some inspiration from identical items that sold for a good price.

(3) Set a price about two-thirds of the way through the range of sold prices, then list as Buy-it-now with offers.

Stealth - if you haven't sold before, start with some more mundane items first to gain some good selling feedback. eBay is perfect for selling niche items. I sell lots of items there that Charity shops wouldn't take - including old technology. There are also lots of sellers on eBay selling old board games and board game pieces. I have used this in the past to complete a game before selling it on eBay myself. In fact I have a couple of pieces on order at the moment to complete one of my Mum's old games, as I don't think the missing bits will turn up now.

Today I decluttered a bag of baby clothes back to their lender, now that I've managed to get in the loft. Unfortunately I've also recommenced clearing the relatives house, so that's more stuff into mine (and a major reason I'm decluttering my own stuff to keep levels down!).

I've sold a lot in the past on ebay, firstly when we moved to this new house we culled alot before the move, then more after. Since then I've sold a few items, on average a month, but I've lost heart recently and I've just been giving to the charity shops, even the bigger expensive items. There is a local charity close to my heart that does a lot for a specific disability so I feel like I am helping them in a way. Both DC's are really ill today and I've been at work all day so today's paltry effort is a broken hair clip that I didn't even know was in my dresser drawer. It still counts right? Someone is coming to see if they want to buy our double pushchair on Thursday and I really hope they do. It wasn't cheap to buy and I'm selling at a great price but by god some people have been so cheeky! So I'm hopeful this sale will actually go ahead. It will boost the coffers nicely and free up some space. Due to being mostly clutter free now I've managed to store the pushchair away in the house so I never see it but every day I know it's there and I get all annoyed at the space it takes up!!
Good to see everyone is getting on well

@PurpleFrog - Thanks for that info. I possibly price too high. Though not always. Sometimes it's the opposite, strangely.

Another item today: a broken saucepan.

@IWillWearTheGreenWillow - But do you really need that wok? I got rid of ours some time ago and, even though we have a weekly stir fry, we've honestly never missed it.

Hello all. Some good progress to report this week...bag of DH’s old clothes out for recycling today, plus he did another tip run yesterday. I’m also sorting out baby clothes to return to the lender although some have already gone to charity as they originally said they didn’t want them back. Twice! It is at least forcing me to sort baby stuff properly so it’s roughly stored by size.

I’m now pondering if we need our wok...I have a giant one stored in the garage which was too big for just two of us but probably right for 4. Annoyingly it doesn’t fit in kitchen cupboards though at the moment.

Good luck to the ebayers, I’m considering selling my maternity clothes on there as I had some quite nice stuff for work.

I am another cricket I think! I have some excellent ideas on organisation but they are probably overcomplicated and have no time to implement the way I want to, the paperwork in particular! I am trying to get better at doing small chunks though.

I may try some of those books MotherWol although have a pile of others to get through first. I am slowly talking myself around to getting rid of some that I had at university. They’re still relevant to the subject but not what you’d read for fun. They probably have some resale value but imagine the postage would horrendous! Any ideas?

The house is tidier and yesterday was relatively successful so I think I'm going to go around tidying more stuff and inevitably I will find stuff to go. So far today I have gone through a small pile of papers that was mainly receipts and loyalty cards. I found a national trust card that expired in 2017 and an old debit card that expired last year so I'll be destroying those. I might also spend ten minutes on going through old school stuff as I still have mountains of those that I started weeks ago.