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

Thanks for cheering me on! Most/ lots of the bags were from the cupboard under the stairs for selling but in all honesty, I have neither the time or the inclination to sort them out and do a boot sale 😳.
Anyway, today a cub parent who has become a friend put up a 2 drawer malm unit for her friends to peruse prior to Facebook selling. Just the thing for DD to have as a bedside table. She happily swapped it for DS’s old mattress and I took her a giant bag of bedding, a feather duvet and a mattress topper to hunt through too. All were washed and I have loads of room now!
Am currently bringing ALL OF MY PAPERWORK into the lounge to start sorting. I feel a bit sick actually as I know I have mountains of the stuff and it’s mostly mine. I have to sort out my scouting stuff, my professional stuff and then all the house stuff and DH has to sort out his business stuff. 😱😩

Oh and it’s in every room and on every surface in the house 😢

It’s exactly what I did/am doing. I also put a polypocket for stuff which requires action now.
So far 1 large bag gone.

Gibble I love this way of sorting out the paper clutter in 10 minutes

I know I posted one of this lady's before - we're not related, honest

@Melji1213

Do you have a link, I was about to take my dress to the tip, but it is 100% silk and lace. Although I don't want my dress I hate waste. I had thought of crafters but not this particular good cause.

Gibble GreenWillow paperwork is the worst. It took me two months but that was the approach I took too. I haven't finished in the sense that there is lots to shred but the significant thing is that most of my paperwork is in folders in chronological order and whenever I get a bill I sometimes file it the day it comes in - although usually it takes about a week.

I am still focusing on 'me' in particular my wardrobe. Today I am getting rid of more colourful jeans - light green this time. I have got rid of more clothes than I have bought so need to get shopping.

@melj1213 don't lurk! It's lovely to hear from you. Currently I have a mountain of shoes and clothes and I'll sort them all out and dispose of them properly, I will make sure that my dress is recycled although it's not a traditional wedding dress but I'm sure it'll go to a good home. ( although dd2 wants me to put it in her dressing up box now. She wants stbexh to come home and has rescued our wedding photos from the bin too).

Another bag of clothes out (A jacket, loads of unworn trainer socks and bras). Also put a load of large cardboard boxes and packaging into recycling.

Go Gibble, brilliant progress!

Things are moving here. I'm hopeful that I'm on a roll. I think I need to try to move quickly to keep the momentum going. Back later...

I am on a roll! Sold a shelving unit on Facebook that has been collected. Sold an eBay item (still to post) and my mum said she'd have a pillow and cat bed off me (to go weds). Also binned 6 inches worth of cards from Christmases past.

Well done, Keiki . I'm off the roll, I think. I've spent ages going through one of my boxes and I still can't close it properly. I have taken out a small file from it and have about 30ish papers to recycle. I know it's something but I'm disappointed. I might see if I can find a bigger box for the contents and just put it away as it's bringing me down as it is.

The good news is that I have a friend booked in to take some cat stuff off my hands. They take up quite a bit of space (a big cat tree etc) so I'm pleased about that.

Hey Stealth, it's one thing a day...30 papers is not to be sneezed at! Definitely a success in my book, don't put your efforts down.

So today I took a bag for life bag of books to work. All have gone now.

To many to namecheck but wow such good work. I’ve had a couple of weeks with lots of visits to sick relative. But at least keeping up with general recycling and post as it arrives. Half term means I might be able to get some sorting DCs wardrobe done.

Another 2 bags of clothing to the clothing bank. I’m so glad things are finally leaving the house (rather than just being bagged up and ready to leave).

2 pairs of socks in charity bag and 3 unpaired socks in fabric recycling. Small but satisfying as meant I was able to consolidate my 2 sock drawers back into one. Also combined leggings with tights now that I've decluttered the tights draw. Slowly, slowly....

All of the paperwork bags are now emptied and gone through. I have burned masses and masses of confidential items (over 1ft thick of A4!). Yet another carrier of paper for recycling. 1 bin bag full of rubbish (dead folders and the like). I just have the 2 filing boxes left to empty and sort.
Funny story- turned up for work today, had my jeans around my knees and someone says “your name’s not on the board”. So I got dressed again and said I’d have a coffee before going home. Went and made a coffee and put the books out in the staff room then one of the seniors came in and said she had tons to do so could I actually stay and have a day off tomorrow instead please? So yay! Bonus day off for me and I still managed to get the paperwork sorted. But I did make DH do DS taxi to and from explorers tonight.

I know what you mean, Willow . I gave up trying to fight the tendency to dump things by the front door. Instead, we now have a trunk for dumping shoes/boots and a bowl for dumping pocket stuff. They contain the mess nicely.

I'm struggling to get rid of things on a daily basis, but still escorting from the premises at least a week's worth of things at the weekend. This weekend I went through sports clothes and nightwear, and charity shopped or put out for recycling anything that didn't fit, was uncomfortable or, otherwise, just unworn.

I also spent some time remonstrating about being 'the only one round here who does any bloody housework'. Having differing standards is a gigantic pain in the bum. Has anyone successfully resolved it?

Also - a specific problem - is there anything I can do to prevent coats being layered on the post at the bottom of the stairs when there's a perfectly good cupboard with coat hooks about five steps away?

DD's birthday at the weekend. We're now awash with craft sets, books, and stuff again. I feel like such a grouch - pretty much everyone only got her one gift, but she's got a lot of extended family, and it all adds up. She's happy, it's her birthday, I shouldn't begrudge it, but I just see more piles of things that I'll have to take responsibility for, and it makes me grumpy!

Today's one thing out: half a Colin the Caterpillar cake has gone into the office to prevent me eating it for breakfast.

My bulky, space-wasting, cat stuff has left the building! (And gone to a good charity.)

Pippistrelle we have this problem too. It’s just too tempting especially when you know you’ll be putting the coat on again in an hour. Making sure we had a space low enough for DD to reach helped although she’s not quite mastered hangers yet.

Gibble that’s amazing progress on the paperwork. Still avoiding mine! Not much comes in now as most things are paper free, but there’s a backlog of older stuff.

Today’s item was a charging cable that doesn’t work. I need to run around and check if we have any clothes to go tomorrow as school is doing a collection.