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

Been totally slacking this past week or so as I've had some family commitments on but today I've emptied the medicine cupboard, switched the cutlery and utensil drawers round and cleaned and re-organised them, not including the medicine cupboard as I'm rearranging all my cupboards!

So far I've chucked:

•Various expired medication binned and their boxes/instructions recycled
•Batteries to go to recycling
• broken knife
•potato peelers x2
•plastic cutlery
• a chopstick
•umpteen medicine spoons
• balloon whisk
•garlic press

Yesterday I emptied the shelves on the tv unit into a basket so that's clear and I'll have to go through the basket later.
Also got a TV set top box and remote for the tip.

I'm just going to declutter this lovely snowball cake then I'm going to get cracking!

Hello all!
I thought I would share a couple of tips for selling unwanted items that were given to me a professional organiser who decluttered and organised my house from top to bottom. There is a service called stuffusell.co.uk that lists higher priced items (over £30) and they take a 1/3 of the selling price on eBay which I thought was pretty good value considering the effort it takes to photograph, list and post your item. I had some old designer clothes that I sold through them successfully. There are other sites out there but they seemed to charge more.

I also sold some clothes through the Depop app. Has anyone else used this?

For bigger items, I listed them on the app called Shpock which was great for things that were too large to post. I even sold my old sofa on there and it went in a matter of days!

Good luck to you all :) It really is the best feeling once your home is decluttered. I decided to dedicate several days to decluttering my house (with help of course) and it was the best thing I did! If anyone would like the details of the lady I used then please just message me. I can highly recommend her.

I feel like I'm dragging myself through treacle at the moment. However, I have finally finished copying all my business cards into my address book and binned them all. I've also posted more for sale.

Haven't posted for a week or so but I threw out a few things over the weekend including
A bag of DH's clothes to the charity shop.
A bag of old unused candles to the charity shop (I bought them because I liked the colour but I hated the smell)
Some medication I no longer use.

Thanks for the selling tips frog. I’m thinking of selling off some baby bits and was looking online to get an idea of prices. It amazed me how many people had photographed completely crumpled up clothes on an unmade bed, I found it so off putting. I was wondering whether it would make a difference to give things a quick iron and fold them nicely, hopefully that would make them sell quicker. I think I’ll start with some of my maternity clothes and see how that goes.

We have a couple of unexpected items to go - an ornament I smashed yesterday by accident and a pair of DH’s suit trousers that ripped while he was in the office 😂😂😂 Fortunately it was at 4pm and he was wearing black pants 😂😂😂

I’ve bin ill and it’s not shifting quickly so I’ve got some catching up to do when I feel better.. it’s all I can do to get in from work eat dinner and put DD to bed with no energy for tidying. I might tidy up my work bag later as I’m sure they’ll be stuff to bin in that..

Well done to everyone for your continued efforts! Chloe my mum does a lot of evay selling and always irons the stuff I give her and photographs it on a hanger on a white door and I think that looks pretty smart compared to some..

Today's outs are 3 tops and two balls into the charity shop bag. One eBay item sold. One broken hair clip binned. Many ins from relatives house (towels, tops, night dresses, cutlery, blankets). Tried very hard to be sensible. I need to seriously make more space.

Also this evening:
Some little pots I used when weaning DC.

@chloechloe - definitely iron clothes. Photograph them against a plain background. I often use a length of fleece fabric from my sewing stash. Larger items I show on a hanger against my light wood wardrobe. Give actual measurements for individual items i.e not bundles. (You shouldn’t then get people trying to return them saying they are not a 14 even though the label says they are.). One bugbear of mine is photos of clothes laid out on the floor. I guess other people’s floors are probably a lot cleaner than mine, but I find it offputing.

Today, I decluttered the boot of my car and a lot of little bits of junk went in the bin.

I've gathered everything for charity together - it's about 2 big sacks worth - intending to take it very soon. And, guess what? I've had a msg from a potential buyer about one of the items!

Will she be another time-waster? That is the question.

Well done @SandAndSea. I still haven't dropped anything off at the Charity Shop as it was (unexpectedly) raining first thing in the mornings earlier in the week. But I have just sold another eBay item, so will have to go into town again tomorrow to post it. I have just had a look at the online forecast and at the moment it is looking fine. My Charity stuff isn't all together yet. I checked the contents of a small craft kit yesterday, and looked out a couple more bits. I have a mental note of what will be going in this batch so it shouldn't take me long tonight to gather it.

Fingers crossed your buyer isn't a time-waster!

Keeping my fingers crossed you have a genuine buyer sandandsea!

Yesterday/today has been a good step in making some good space in the conservatory. DH sanded down a huge chest of drawers we inherited for DDs room and today I put the first coat of furniture paint on. It'll be ready for another coat just after dinner later so I may well do that. Feels good to upcycle something instead of buying new and having it go to waste. It was my grandmas who passed away last year and I think she'd be pleased to know it was now going to her great granddaughter.
That'll make huge space in the conservatory anyway so well on its way to getting sorted. Then I'll tackle the brick work haha.

Whilst we feel great about that, we also went to Costco today to stock up as lots of our stocks were depleted so now weve got a full hallway of bulk stuff. Need to find homes for all that!

Thanks Louise and purple for the eBay tips. I'm just on eBay now looking at the value of one of my items wondering if it's worth £30 to send to stuffusell. I'm not sure. I think I'll read up on how you actually sell on eBay tonight and take some photos.

chloechloe I look on Facebook sales sites and am always shocked at the photos people put up. I looked at a mirror earlier and the room in the reflection was an utter mess and people sell bookcases with a load of messy crap on them. When I sell stuff I spend ages clearing a space so that my house looks nice and doesn't detract from the item.

vroc and every one else who is poorly, hope you're feeling better.

Over the last two days I have got rid of lots of little bits of crap. Bits of papers, old receipts, instructions for an old video recorder recycled, lots of old valentines cards sent back to stbexh who is having secondt thoughts and doesn't seem to want a divorce. twat, and stuff from the dining room - table confetti, wine bottle toppers, paper umbrellas for cocktails.

The buyer apparently needs more time.

Moving on... I've made another decluttering decision: an old shower curtain which has been used many times as a dust sheet etc. Its time has come.

I've also advertised another item.

@StealthNinjaMum - I was actually thrilled to read that (about your STBX). I guess the grass isn't quite that green, huh? Hope you're doing OK.

Thanks sandandsea I think stbexh is having some kind of breakdown but until he gets help I'm not letting him back - not that he's actually asked. I'm not even sure I want him back, my life is easier without him, less cleaning and clutter and I am swimming, losing weight, booking courses, joining meetup groups, buying new clothes and underwear. Tomorrow a friend is treating me to see a comedian so I am enjoying being on my own more than I thought. And tonight I'm playing board games with dds. I don't know why but I never did that stuff with them, I'd be so busy washing up or mumsnetting after dinner it'd suddenly be bedtime. Now I'm giving them more of my time as they only have one parent and the washing up can be left in soak.

Sorry for the long post.

wogglecone I meant to say earlier that was lovely to read, that must be so satisfying to upcycle something from your grandmother.

Thanks for the tips frog. I’d never given much thought to people photographing things on the floor (we have a shoes off house - controversial on MN!), but now that you’ve mentioned it, it will no doubt bug me! I’m too amazed at the photos you often see stealth - we’ve sold quite a few pieces of furniture on EBay and most of the time has been spent in me clearing a space to photograph things in without any clutter in the background! You should be really proud of how you’re dealing with your separation and it’s lovely to see that some positives are coming from it. Stay strong, it can’t be easy with the ex messing with your head like that. You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone seems to apply in his case!

Glad to read that, @StealthNinjaMum . It all sounds really good.

It sounds like you are really focused on positive change Stealth, hope stbxh doesn't mess you about too long.

Hope that the buyer comes through Sandandsea.

Lots of small bits and pieces out here...empty bottles of cleaning stuff, some paper work from school, a holey nightdress and some old coasters. Plus the usual stack of drawings by DD!

Thanks everyone!

Sadly, the flaky buyer hasn't replied. Another buyer is 'thinking'.

A third is hopefully, coming tonight - but that's for a freebie.

How frustrating sandandsea all that waiting around.

3 sleeping bags gone to stbexh. 1 (belonging to his brother) was really mouldy so he'll maybe need to take it to the dump. My airing cupboard already gave me joy but now it is missing three massive sleeping bags it is really making me happy.

I made it to the Charity shop this morning. One large carrier bag with the 2 bedspreads in it I washed a few weeks ago, and one medium bag with lots of random bits. I had hoped to take more, but I also had a reasonably large board game to take to the PO, so after manoeuvring that lot on to the bus this morning I was very glad I hadn't!

I hope to bag up the stuff for textile recycling this weekend.

Well done, @PurpleFrog ! I'm super impressed that you took stuff to charity on the bus! That shows real commitment in my world.

Well done, @PurpleFrog ! I'm super impressed that you took stuff to charity on the bus! That shows real commitment in my world.

It does explain why I really needed a dry day. If there had been more I probably would have persuaded DP to give me a lift in to work. I'm afraid I try too hard to match the donations to the shop, and a lot of that stuff I felt suited a shop in the town that I work, rather than the ones in the town that I live in. I have gift aid cards for around 4 big Charity Shops and I also donate to a couple of smaller ones. Of course, some of our local shops don't do certain categories such as children's clothes or toys or bedding, and some specialise in other things such as books or music.