Part 7 of the decluttering challenge - can you get rid of one item a day?

[StealthNinjaMum]

Back again!

A group of mumsnetters have been emptying our homes, gradually decluttering our homes by getting rid of one item a day.

We’re very green and like to recycle, sell, give away and sometimes eat our clutter I’m still alive after the 8 year old gherkins.

Newbies are welcome to join us. We just get rid one thing and come back to update everyone on our progress, get support when it gets hard, and suggest new household systems and ways of doing things.

The most exciting thread on mumsnet. In this thread @SandandSea will tell us what she’s going to do with her big plastic sheet…..

Previous thread is here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3463110-New-home-for-the-new-year-still-getting-rid-of-one-item-a-day-part-6?pg=40

Gibble - that’s terrible about your car. But at least there was nobody in it. Could have been so much worse.

Can’t say I’ve achieved much here. Took a bag with some old bath mats and a fitted sheet that doesn’t fit the bed to a clothes recycling box this morning. Finished a few bottles from the bathroom.

Sofa cover gone (sofa bed , ancient , that has already been dismantled)

Funny you mention the garden wooglecone as I got up before dc this morning and swept some of the patio and removed leaves and weeds from the cracks. I think that counts as decluttering. I also bought some weedkiller to spread around the rest of the patio. It's rare that I have been so virtuous before 9am.

aroundtheworldin80moves that probably isn't the case, no child will ever grow up complaining they grew up in a messy house. And you're tackling it and they'll be learning good habits just by watching you.

greenwillow what your ddad said was so right.

Oh God manypaws if that was me the heap would stay there for days months

Just a few bits out today: instruction booklets and a software disc for gadgets decluttered recently (previously forgotten).

My kitchen is looking wonderful atm apart from my dishwasher. I've discovered a world of gunge in the door hinge inside. I've wiped it but it's going to need a more thorough seeing to. Be warned people! It isn't pretty.

I think garden definitely counts stealth, it has the same happy making effect when dealt with! DH got as far as weeding around the house walls (we need to put some concrete or something down as there's gaps where the weeds are finding their way in/out). He also got a few from the patio.

I did more work decluttering today but DD was poorly so sat with her when I got home. She'll be off nursery tomorrow too so I suspect I'll be her pillow all day like DH was today! If she sleeps I'll do my best to get something out!

Spoke to the garage today and the repairs have been authorised by the insurance so I will get it back in about 2 weeks. In the mean time I have a tiny car.
Bought a shark hoover today. Love the lights!

Sounds like good news, Gibble1.

I've just chucked (recycled) some course schedules/brochures, which I reckon I've been keeping for about 15, maybe even 20 years! Crazy! I didn't even do the courses!!!! I was just thinking about it.

We desperately need to sort our garden, although it does look better now DH has managed the first grass cut of the year.

Sounds very frustrating about the car Gibble, I don’t understand why courtesy cars are always so tiny.

Ditch the iPod MotherWol! Although I have a similar age one which did switch on again with a very long charge from the mains and is still going. I have a newer one but don’t like it as much.

Got another bag a out to the charity shop yesterday...curtains we brought from our old house that don’t fit the windows here. They were in good condition so could possibly have sold them but decided not worth the effort. I’ve also sorted some kids clothes to be lent out, they’ll be going this week.

Another early start I have pruned a couple of bushes that had got out of and now I have a busy couple of days taking dc to various activities so I won't be doing any housework.

Gibble - I'm horrified to hear about your car. Just glad no-one was in it at the time. Do you think the spirit of the microwave arranged it as revenge???

I haven't done much over the past couple of weeks. I'm hoping now the evenings are lighter I will be a bit more motivated not to just curl up in front of the telly in the evenings.

I have done some work outside. I filled the brown bin with prunings two weeks ago for pickup. I also got round to dealing with our knackered whirly (rotary dryer). It came with the house and we used it for a few years, then it fell into disrepair and got partially swallowed by a hedge, which we got removed 16 months ago. I cut off all the tangled rope, then my plan had been to take a hacksaw to the pole just above the base. We haven't worked out if it is concreted straight into the ground, or whether it is sitting in a socket. Anyway, DP tried to wiggle it about to see if he could dislodge it and broke it off just above ground level. So, now I have still to deal with jagged ends. Sigh!

I also started dismantling an old rabbit hutch which was badly damaged in one of the storms last autumn. (Our current rabbits have never been outside in a hutch. I think its last inhabitant was a bossy chicken that we separated from the others temporarily, and before that a young pigeon on its road towards release after being nursed back to health.)

DP was sent off to the recycling site with over half of the wood from the hutch and the rusty whirly. The rest of the hutch is now flat-pack once more, but I still have to finish dismantling the big panels.

I am NOT looking at the vacuum cleaners with headlights. About 10 days ago I ordered new filters, brushbar and soleplate for our trusty upright Dyson. I fitted them on Saturday and it is like a new machine. I am hoping now that I have a spare washable filter that I will actually wash it every 6 months as recommended.

I've been posting more things for sale and have one buyer booked in. Fingers crossed!

Lol at the spirit of the microwave getting my car, it wasn’t me that killed the microwave but it was lost to a Scouting family and my car was full up with scouting stuff so quite possibly it was a revenge act 😂
So the other insurance company tried to ring me 3 times today. I finally rang back and whilst dealing with them asked if it was at all possible that I could get a larger car just for the bank holiday weekend as dh’s is not useable for the family- his rear belts don’t work (yes 🤦🏻‍♀️ And I will try to repair them Thursday) and the vauxhall viva I have will not fit DH 6’5” and DS 6’1” in at all and I don’t see why we have to be trapped at home for a 5 day holiday when there is absolutely no doubt about me not being at fault as I was in the bath!
Insurance agreed that that was entirely possible and fair as I said I can manage with the roller skate for the rest of the time so they booked me a bigger family car for Thursday to Monday. Car hire place have rung and I’ve been booked a corsa or fiesta. Absolutely ludicrous and I might as well just stay with the viva. Am beyond cross and now have to ring the insurance company AGAIN to get them to either change it up or cancel it as it’s utterly pointless! Car hire co did offer me an upgrade at £7 a day though- cfs of the highest order!

Hi all, forgot to check in last night so I'll be quick now and hopefully update again later.

Yesterday went through the wardrobe (my side anyway) and got out three t-shirts, an old cardi, dress and skirt for the textiles recycling.
From the other side of the cupboard I got rid of a box and then turfed out the pram stuff and small car seat and have washed all the interior upholstery bits which are currently dripping onto towels and my kitchen looks like an old washing room! Very glad it's done though, just need to scrub down the frames and put it all back together again ready for new bub.

DM visiting today and midwife appt so we'll what I get done!

Jealous of all these new Hoover's with headlights!!

So much talk of hoovers stop it ladies, mumsnet just costs me so much money!

I pruned loads more last night so before I pick up dd from a sleepover I'm going to pop it in the garden rubbish bin, and will count that as today's stuff got rid of.

I have also grabbed a pair of trousers with a hole in it that I'm sure dd has worn 8 times and I keep thinking of putting it in rags pile but somehow wash it and it goes back into the clothes drawer. Today that cycle stops;.

gibble that is really annoying about the car. Could you ask for one with a sunroof so your menfolk can just stick their heads out?

My buyer turned up!!!!!

Good news sandandsea I had some old leftover items from diy projects that I advertised on a Facebook group a couple of nights ago to see if anyone wanted them before I landfilled. One person messaged me with 'yes pleese' and that was it. Have asked when they want to collect. Tumbleweed. Sometimes it's harder to give things away than sell them.

My old computer has also been deemed unfixable by an expert. So it's in a dump pile with a few wires and an old TV.

Have just filled car up with 3 bags of stuff for the charity shop that's been sitting around for weeks. Have also done lots of shredding as usual.

Sounds good, Stealth.

I've got family coming for Easter so am whizzing round again. I'm also going to have to go to the dump tomorrow as it's full of stuff and we're going to need it clear.

Something's been shifting in my brain recently and I think I'm getting ready to chuck a load of good stuff which hasn't sold. I've been loving my clear kitchen and would love the whole house to be like that. Anyway, there's a charity near me which I particularly like so I'm going to make another pile for them, rather than just giving to the nearest one or whatever. It feels like quite a big step somehow; like a leap of faith or something like that. Good though.

I'm wearing a top with two tiny holes on the front. My white jeans, currently in the washing machine, have worn thin at the thighs. I still have difficulty throwing these away. I have enough money to buy more, and I have loads of clothes that I don't wear. What's going on here? Analyse me, and possibly yourselves, please.

Oh, that’s the problem I have all the time - anything familiar and beloved is also worn and a bit shabby (toys, clothes, —DH—)

greenwillow they're just plain leggings so I'm hoping she won't notice! she will

penelope I think it weird Kondo suggests we start with them. Even though I don't have many clothes I am still attached to unsuitable and / or a couple of tops with holes in. Maybe Kondo wants us to start with a challenge so that everything else seems easy. It is tough, I have a top with ruching that makes it look like I have no mumtum and I still wear it even though it has a couple of holes. Given that clothes don't have ruching at the moment I can only assume I look really old fashioned in it so should throw it away just for that reason. but I am old fashioned

A day without my babies so I am going to do tidying tetris (thank you to whoever coined that phrase). I am going to spend a few hours with music on very loud finding homes for the crap that has accumulated in my bedroom and on surfaces and I know the new homes will have more crap that will be chucked out / moved etc.

I'm going to throw out the jeans because I don't want anyone laughing at me from behind , but I'll keep the top for a bit longer. Maybe it can be my new painting/decorating t-shirt. Excuses, excuses.