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 saw a good tip once which was to buy up white, gold and silver wrapping paper as you can use it all year for birthdays too.

I've just decluttered the Christmas tree and decorations, and recycled/cut up the cards for gift tags next year. Feel a bit sad now
Have also culled extra tree lights and will figure out somewhere to donate those. Going to go through my bookcase now...

I think a good rule for my household from now on is that if it needs to be kept it needs to be stored properly. Shoved in a bag which gets shoved in the loft not to be looked at for 10 years , then fished out of the loft, and shoved in another bag and shoved in the shed....is not storing properly, is just churn.

Just decided to declutter my emails. Does deleting 350 emails count? Still a few hundred to go!

Absolutely peregrina! I love a clear inbox haha.

So today has been pretty productive. Had DH at home so chance to do more than normal. Nipped to Wilko's this morning and picked up a few loose bits to help on my way! Nipped to cex too and got rid of another ten disks.

So dishwasher and washing machine are currently on cleaning cycles, love a post Xmas deep clean of those :)

Rest of the frames are up on DDs wall instead of the floor with the help of those sticky strip things.

Tip run completed, 2 bags of plastic recycling, a bag of textiles (went through two of DDs drawers this morning), two other bags of general rubbish/clutter.

1/3 wool stash is packaged ready to send to the lovely MNetter on woolly hugs whose taking it. Hopefully the post office is open later when I go to work.

I need to get the cards sorted too misty, I wonder if M&S are doing those big bins for them again?

I have a lot of wrap left over from Xmas (got giddy last year with 25p rolls from Waterstones) and have just found a bag big enough, or rather tall enough to fit them in, so that should store better. I like the silver/gold idea Penelope, I have a massive roll of brown packing paper that gets used if I don't have "appropriate" paper. Looks good with a jazzy ribbon haha.

I'm sat in the big chair now, finished my cuppa and trying to decide if more clothes culling is a good idea or just to sit and and watch DD play her game that she's laughing her head off too 😂

Another bag to the charity shop and a couple of gross utensils binned.

Oh and a tent we have never and will never use gone to Freecycle.

Tidied the pantry today - not got rid of much but have found a couple of sauce bottles both open and half empty so tipped into one bottle. Now at least when I open the door I can see I have 6 cans of sweetcorn, etc so don't need to buy any for a while! That's a good win.

2 shower wash bottles emptied (both had dregs left). Into recycling and out the door!

Decorations (bar the tree) all down and repacked in boxes. Haven't got them as far as the loft yet but I'll get the kids to help me with that later.

Advertised 3 things on Facebay so hopefully some takers in the next couple of days.

Depressing thing is that I had a memory on Facebook today in which I posted about decluttering and that was 7 years ago! I didn't achieve it, have different clutter now. I suppose it's a win that I haven't drowned in 'stuff'.

Can I join you? I find it really hard to get rid of anything that was my children's. I have huge boxes of artwork, certificates, school books etc in the garage. We can't actually fit the car in I know they won't want them really but I can't part with them. Am going to make a good effort to go through them all.

Starting Monday I am going to try and sort the house out first focusing on decluttering and deep cleaning one room a day. I am going to start with the bathroom I think the lounge and the kitchen might both need more than one day though.

You're all doing really well. So far I have done some shredding - including a pile of birthday cards from last June - but failed to go through the school bags.

Instead I got distracted by a external hard disc drive which I last used in November 2011 to backup my old computer. I tried to use that computer recently and it seems to have died so I'd like to destroy its hard drives and take it to the dump. I also have a laptop that I bought in about January 2012 which I frequently moan about on here as it's full up. Anyway I have spent a chunk of the afternoon organising files and wondering if I should buy a new laptop or a better external hard drive. I hate these kind of decisions.

ifiwasabutterfly I have slowly been getting rid of dcs artwork but have only really done the tip of the iceberg.

The thing is recently my mum decluttered her house and gave me lots of my old stuff (mainly toys) and I actually wish she'd thrown them away because now they're 40 years old I feel I can't throw them away! So I don't want to put my children in that position in 40 years time where they can't throw things away because I've held onto them.

So far I have been throwing out artwork where I can't remember which child did it, art / crafts that was mostly obviously done by an adult, art / crafts where there are near identical versions of the same thing. I have also been trying to go through school books and throwing out the uncreative books (spelling tests, grammar, French, maths) and keeping the more creative books (tearing out unused pages to make them take less space). It's a big job. I'd like to be able to get it down to one box of stuff but that will take time.

On a roll - just returned an amazon item that was described wrong (normally I forget and then its too late to return so sits in a cupboard and stays there)! Also cleared out a hall cupboard and binned a remote and charging cable from a portable DVD player that died and was skipped at least 2 years ago.

I'm starting with the easy stuff - I have some spaces that are going to require a lot more time and effort to reduce. I did notice today I have 2 storage boxes on top of my wardrobe that just has birthday/Xmas/Mothers Day cards in from the kids. It has spilled out and there is also a pile next to the 2 boxes. Do I REALLY need to keep every card they wrote?? I do find it harder to get rid of things that relate to the kids but it's getting out of hand now. If I have 3 boxes now, it'll be 6 by the time they are 18! Perhaps its a job for later with a G&T in front of the TV, I might be more distracted and can get it to a manageable 1 box?

Stealth - I feel your pain

Went to the tip just before they closed it was chaos but better than holding onto the stuff for another day. So that 3 big bags of textiles recycled lots of cardboard and bags of general waste gone. My bins empty now so atleast theres a week until next bin day and i can carry on with a gradual sort out and get things in bin rather than piled up!
Feel like i can start fresh now and focus on the smaller daily goals!

To all those buying wrapping paper i bought some alot the other day and asked if I could have one of the empty boxes they are displayed in instore. Its perfect put all my rolls in there and put them away and they dont roll around/ get crushed now.
I would like a proper storage box but to be fair the box was free and doing a excellent job

Chuck out the cards! You could take photos of them first which you will never look at

Or just pick your 3 favourites from each child.

I have got a few things like letters to santa, cards, letters to the tooth fairy but they don't take up much space but you're right they will do by the time dds are 18.

I have managed to clear 3 kitchen draws this afternoon by having a good throw out and a cupboard rearrange, I'm going to to do the dreaded poofy (storage foot rest that comes with the couch) tomorrow it's jam packed with all sorts of junk xx

Been out and about all day so nowt done. Will have half an hour after tea to make a dent in the kitchen.

Can I join please? I really want to get into good decluttering habits. I'm going to try to list what I get rid of every day if I may:

1st January:
Top I don't like

2nd January:
Random DVD cover
Broken necklace (normally I would put it back in the drawer and tell myself I will get it repaired)
Sent back an online purchase that didn't fit

Please may I join?
Happy with my start:
Cleared a kitchen drawer yesterday to make a charging drawer so no more wires
Today I sorted through the pile of letters, school certificates etc that languishes on the side.

Evening all.

I did get off my backside after the cuppa and filled a box of old clothes whilst putting the laundry away. Still lots to do but it's a start!

Post office was closed so the package will have to wait til tomorrow.

That's a great start thatnotmybaby! You inspired me to look at my jewellery box too, I bet I've got a few broken bits in there! I'll have a look at that tomorrow.

Work is dull, hence update #2 today haha so I'll declutter my inbox. Get to finish at 11pm tonight which is nice and early for here! Will update tomorrow with my morning efforts but the afternoon is my 20 week scan so no decluttering then!

On the basis that we're aiming for an item a day, I have just managed that today by removing a bag of frozen berries from the freezer that has been taking up space for a year.

I'm aiming for a carrier bag a week. Situation is complicated by the fact that one adult DC still lives here so until they move out sometime later this year, not only is their room full of stuff, but they are also gradually filling up another room with stuff for their new home. Can't be stored at the new home as it's currently being gutted and the remodelling hasn't yet started. We are also storing stuff for our other DC as their baby is outgrowing things but DC has no loft space they can use. They will be moving Spanish, so should then be able to take back all the stuff. In the meantime, I will concentrate on the living room and my bedroom. Hopefully, once all DCs'stuff goes, we will see a huge difference.

*soonish, not Spanish!

Sharing a tip I saw on an fb clip as posters are clearing away rolls of gift paper.
Tip is to buy a clear suit cover, put a hanger inside, store gift paper rolls inside the cover, zip up and hang in a wardrobe.

Like that one!