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

Oh no, Gibble!

Hey everyone, good weekends?

Mine was dull, worked through but because it was so nice the main part of my job was dead and I'm not allowed to man the sunny part that was a little busy.

But DH did do some more gardening, I'm thrilled but also cross with him (lightheartedly) because he's pulled a muscle in his back by overdoing it. So currently as bad as each other hobbling around, him with his back and me with my almost 36 week front.

Got the docs soon and DD then at nursery for a few hours, aiming to get some stuff done while she's there. Unfortunately the tip is closed on Tuesdays but will try get to the charity shop at least.

Off now to buy some new clothes and watch penelopeflintstones video.
Stealth - you should do these two tasks in the reverse order!!

Gibble - you are ruthless!!!

Penelope I bought the clothes first although you're right I should've watched the video first. She was helpful but I couldn't live with so few clothes however I agree about getting rid of the things that don't fit or things we spent money on but don't wear as they just depress us every time we open the wardrobe.

I'm fairly minimalist with my clothes anyway but it was interesting to watch.

Hello all. We were away over the weekend so no decluttering done plus a huge influx of chocolate! Everyone else sounds so productive. It's the last day of holidays today so hopefully tomorrow will be fresh start!

We have a few chipped mugs and plates, I should chuck them as they're all cheap ones. We actually have some nice mugs we've never used as the cupboard is full! I'm putting off tackling the kitchen still.

Hope that all the injuries and ailments are better soon.

Day spent sorting Scout Equipment... The amount of broken stuff that has been stored for years is unbelievable!

Sorted a few ornaments out Am I the only person who still has them
Also my dh has a few coat hangers that he hangs shirts on (to lazy to open the wardrobe). As they are showing their wear, I opened his wardrobe to find 20 odd decent ones. Old ones sorted for the bin and a good 15 sent off for charity plus a pair of trousers and a heap of paperbacks.

DD at nursery but I realised we have no food so went to Asda instead of clearing stuff. I did however drop off two bags of stuff off to the charity shop on the way so I'm give myself a big tick for today!

Just catching up on thread...

@Gibble1 - Really sorry to read that. Is that your 3 unlucky things out of the way now? Hope you feel much better soon.

Thanks, @IWillWearTheGreenWillow! I don't think I've ever been described as a stalwart of anything before. It's really nice to know I've been helpful. Thank you.

@stealthninjamum - Are you having a name change fail? Your name isn't in the usual green.

@PenelopeFlintstone - Yes, I would almost definitely get rid of chipped crockery. My one exception is a slightly chipped cake holder thing which I inherited. But, tbh, its days are probably numbered. If you feel resistant to this, then maybe just keep going for easy wins. I'm sure there will come a time when it's easier to let go of the crockery.

You know we were talking on here about holey clothing? Well, this weekend, I discovered that 2 of my favourite items have random holes in their fronts! (It's pretty annoying.) One of them might become my go-to decorating top, but the other is a maxi dress so will have to go.

Hope everyone's had a good Easter break! I've done no actual decluttering for a few days but will be back on it soon.

@PurpleFrog - What does "30-day "Good 'Til Cancelled"" mean? I'm planning to post some stuff soon, do I need to know this?

@stealthninjamum - 30lbs is brilliant!! Is there a particular diet thread you'd recommend?

greenwillow sounds like you don't have many clothes to begin with. I may have to revise my view that I don't have many! I definitely only have about a third of what I did have and I wear most of them.

I have a double wardrobe (so maybe 4 foot wide) with a rail that is 2/3 full so lots of empty space, 3 small drawers on underwear, 1 large drawer of vests/ tops/ camisoles/ gym clothes and a drawer of summer bottoms i.e. shorts, linen trousers etc. I do have about 6 winter coats but all were half price in sales and I love all of them.

I did change my name to do a potentially outing post but came back to this. My previous post looks red on this machine. I wonder why that happened.

@SandandSea My diet thread is The 2019 Bunch, we're on thread number 3, but posting has really quietened down so you can either join us on the grounds that there're about 5 left and we've done well or you might get more from a new thread that has more diet chit chat and conversation about recipes an ways of dieting. How do you think you want to lose weight? There are also threads on things like fasting, weight watchers, low carb. I always go for a general one and lose weight by calorie counting which effectively for me means limiting carbs as they are often high calorie and not filling.

Today I'll be getting rid of a candleholder and weird photo holder that was a gift from bil / sil many years ago. Still removing traces of inlaws from my house!

@SandandSea As far as I can see the old 7 or 10 day fixed-price listings have disappeared. If you want to list at fixed price (i.e Buy it Now) you have to list for 30 days initially, then that listing is automatically relisted every 30 days until it sells or you cancel it. It looks like you have to pay for the re-lists but not the original listing. It is not completely clear and the people on the eBay Seller Forums are not sure either! You can still list in auction format as usual and that now accepts offers if you want it to. I don't like 30 day listings as you tend to only get a lot of views at the start and the end of the period, unless it is a rarer item which will turn up on the first page of searches. I have listed 4 items this week, mainly as auctions starting at the lowest price I would like to sell the item for, but allowing offers. That may be revised for next week!

stealth I think it's because your OP name on here has capital letters in it.

Hoping to get the baby car seat cleaned today but also have to get prepared for work tonight. It's quite the event in the work calendar, probably will be the busiest night of the whole year (or at least on par with one in December). This is my last late shift before maternity though which is wonderful, only 7 shifts total to go!

Oh so I have to share this with you all. I've had a sideboard in my sitting room which does not fit, but we bought it for our last house and DH hates to get rid of things. Anyway, since we moved in here (almost 8 years ago) I've wanted to get rid of it. And install white cupboards on each side of our beautiful fireplace. So at Christmas DH finally installed the cupboards for me. But we still had the sideboard. However, we had to get another sofa for the room - we have an 18 year old leather one, but as DC are getting older, and longer, we no longer all fit together so we need a second one. And the only place to put it was where the sideboard was.

So, at the end of that long story, today we have (hopefully) sold our sideboard and a man is coming to collect it. DH and I have cleared it all out (I am a minimalist but the sideboard was like Monica's storage press) and it is waiting to be collected. I am so happy!!!!! Even if there is still an hour left of sorting to be done for the pile of "not sure" on the sitting room floor.

The new sofa should arrive in the next two weeks.

Waheyy annasgirl that's great news!

Enjoy your new sofa!

It’s such a big win when large items go isn’t it? And woohoo to getting money for it!
Stealth, it’s the capital letters that have ungreened you I think.
I am busily decluttering YouTube videos.

Just hoovered the area where it was - oh wow, so much dust but it was a really heavy sideboard.

Yes DH is determined to try to sell anything we need to get rid of. He has just managed to sell some Ikea shelves which were taken down to be replaced with the cupboards. Who knew people will buy second hand shelves!!!

Sideboard is a great bit of decluttering!

Another day at the Scout hut. The good news ... All broken stuff disposed off, the rest catalogued.
The bad news... We have two 'new' tents in our personal camping stores plus a few other bits... As the Group is closing, we can buy things off the group. The rest is redistributed to other Groups in the District.

2 bin-bags full of shredding after getting some boxes down from loft and realising that the 'Keep for 6 yrs, just in case' files, e.g. final bills and docs about our old house are now 8.5 yrs old. 3 box files duly freed up

Opened a storage box on office shelf and realised it was full of random paper crap of no use to man nor beast, so threw it all away.

Bag of worn-out clothes deposited in recycling bank on way to work.

That's really annoying, I name changed for a couple of posts and came back and it has removed the capitals from my name.

I went back to my settings and there is no other choice of name with capitals so WAVES TO EVERYONE, IT'S ME OP.....

Annasgirl think that was probably the biggest item to go today, you should get a prize for declutterer of the day.

ginandroses that sounds an organised systems, I have some papers that are 25 years old. That reminds me I need to use some of them to claim PPI back. I did that last year with an old credit card and was given the princely sum of £43 back!

Thank you stealthninjamum PPI deadline is August, good luck.

@stealthninjamum - Can't you just go back to your previous name? I'm sure I've done that before. (For some crazy reason, I'm missing you being in green.)

Yes, I think Stealth can. I've done it once. Just make sure you copy it exactly - 3 capital letters. Unless something's changed......
Thanks everyone for the comments on my chipped plates. I'm going to get them all out today and see what I'll be left with if I chuck the chipped ones.
About the clothing video, it's true that she doesn't have many clothes but she loves it that way. I can sort of see why she has clothes for different aspects of her life, as sometimes I've got loads of clothes but still nothing to wear to certain things like a wedding or a funeral. It is good though if, like GreenWillow, you've got a wardrobe that you can mix and match to suit all occasions.