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

Sounds like you have a busy house Willow, how long until exams are over? I hope that your DC are appreciating your efforts!

I've made 2 attempts to drop off charity shop bag this week and failed twice...yesterday I went first thing and they weren't open yet and today they weren't accepting donations. So it's back in the car boot for a third attempt, probably next week.

I started to go through my make up bag this morning, 4 ancient mascaras have duly been binned.

I've emptied another ring binder and have a pile of papers in recycling.

Other outs include 2 medicine bottles with syringes. (So tempted to keep them for icing cakes, which I will never do.)

Spent the day at School Sport Day, so no personal outs...

But the rest of our Scout storage store goes to new homes tomorrow. Plus our old sofa bed since DH has the van.

Yesterday I started another bag of outgrown clothes... Wish the kids wouldn't grow so fast (DD7 has 9-10 leggings now...)

More file sorting here.

I've binned (recycled) a pile of old insurance policy booklets and a delivery box.

2 more ring binders are also now empty and will be going to charity.

I'm leaving my mortgage files until last. (So many documents!!)

I'm thrilled to write that I've got 2 boxes of stuff going out today. They've been hanging around my dining room for AGES!! (I was tempted to sell them but never found the oomph to do it.) They're going to a local charity which is also good to know.

I've also cut down a large bush which had died.

Dropped off the thread for ages, only to come back and see that Woogle's had the biggest declutter of all! Congratulations! Hope you're both doing well and not doing too much!

Hi motherwol, thank you! My heaviest declutter to date Haha! Hopefully I've managed to attach a little pic :)

So far this week we've mostly just been keeping on top of laundry but also done a fair bit of recycling. Nursery has been cleared too as we've integrated everything into the rest of the house.

DH has done some more gardening and filled the brown bin, hes hoping to do more but it's been chucking it down here.

She’s gorgeous Woogle.

Sounds as though your filing is going really well SandandSea. I need to start on mine again, I’ve been catching up from being away last week so not much has been done although I did enough to find the receipt from last year’s boiler service and realised it is due again imminently!

Yesterday’s item was some outgrown school uniform. DD has grown a ridiculous amount this year!

Oh, Woogle, she's adorable!

Lovely baby! I must remember I am definitely not having any more

Busy week as I’m now back at work and trying to engage my brain again. IT have forced an extreme digital declutter on me by deleting my account, so I’ve had to be set up from scratch as a new user . Really not ideal and it took ages to sort out, but it could have been worse and there was lots of stuff I really didn’t need anymore so in a way it’s good to start with a clean slate.

Chucked out some more expired sachets of laxative (how bunged up did they think I was ) and an expired bottle of calamine lotion which had almost solidified. Plus a bag of outgrown baby stuff for the charity shop

Not cheeky at all SandandSea, I was thinking the same about noting them all somewhere. I could put them into my phone but I am bad at just dismissing reminders on there and then not actually dealing with them. Maybe it’s a good excuse to start doing some better forward planning in my notebook of random lists, unless anyone else has any bright ideas?

Sydney my work did exactly the same thing to me during my first mat leave. As a result I have been logging in from home every few weeks to keep my account active this time which is not ideal but better than the alternative. How’s your return to work been? Think I saw upthread that your DS is a similar age to mine.

Lots of tidying today and DH threw out a bin bag of stuff although no idea what was in it. I think it may have been his collection of empty toiletry bottles. I did ask if there was anything for recycling but was told no! Also some more outgrown baby clothes back to the lender.

Raspberry - I have auto-reminders (eg. Moonpig & phone) and also use a manual diary (which I complete every Dec/Jan when I buy the new one). I find it helps me to be specific in my reminder too so I know exactly what to do without having to waste time looking up anything else. Eg:

Call xxxx to book boiler service (due xx/xx). Tel: xxxxxx.

2 days later:

Check: Have you booked boiler service?

There may be better ways but this is working for me atm.

RaspberryBlonde Return to work has been pretty good, thanks. It’s the third time I’ve come back to the same department (I’m a civil servant) and each time there’s been some IT issues but this is the worst! I tried to log in every so often as well but something cocked up with our WiFi and then DD1 started school and everything just went out of my mind

DS is one in July and already walking so that’s another incentive to declutter so he doesn’t pull stuff on top of himself and fall over things.

Like the collection of empty toiletry bottles, it sounds depressingly familiar

We're on a roll here! Sorting out DP's office with quite a bit going out. Mustn't dawdle!

Thanks everyone, I think so too, but then I'm terribly biased 😂😍
I also need to remember that though sydney, two'll do just fine haha! I think I'd be bereft if my work did that to my account though, I rely heavily on Google drive lol.

Good going sand! Keep up the good work, nothing like an unexpected rush of work getting done to make you feel awesome!

I decluttered some lemons into a lemon cake earlier, then we had guests and now half the cake is decluttered 😂 my brother is coming soon too to visit his new niece so I imagine it wont see the end of the day!

Quite a lot of paper out to recycling today and a fair bit to charity too, including a large board game and numerous DVDs.

Also, ... ... a buyer turned up!!

I've got good news and bad news!

Bad news: We haven't managed to finish sorting out DP's office. (Though it is very much improved.)

Good news: We found a Christmas present which he had bought for me and forgotten about... in 2016!!

Happy Christmas!!

Good work everyone, especially the lemons I love lemon drizzle cake 😬 Still only inching into the bay window of doom. But lots of old photos gone, several bits sold via eBay and a balance bike out yesterday. Next bulky item to be listed on eBay today.

Balance bike gone is a good bit of space cleared gassylady! Also it might only be inching toward TBWOD, but those inches will add up to a good stretch of space!

One slice of lemon cake survived the multiple visits day. I'll happily declutter that later. Today we have the midwife coming to do the 10 day sign off and then need to go out and get a playmat of some sort for DD2. Car booted DD1s when we were adamant there wasnt going to be another DC haha. Might be more ins than outs today 😬

Sorted out a big bag of old towels for Freecycle, as I got some new ones as a birthday gift. Realised the old ones were close to 20 years old, as I got them when I started uni! Hoping someone on freecycle wants them for their dog or as dust sheets.

I think there will probably be more stuff in than out this week - I've got some new clothes on order as previous declutters had left me with an empty wardrobe, and I'd been holding off buying stuff in case I got given things for my birthday. But none of the things on my list got bought, so now I'll have to buy them myself!

Decluttered the kittens (sob) who have good homes lined up. Also removed a cat tree, two baskets, four litter trays, six bowls, eight cat toys and quite possibly a partridge in a pear tree.

As long as you haven’t decluttered the five gold rings as well ManyPaws ! Sounds like good efforts all around

Hope the Christmas present was worth waiting for SandandSea!

How's your daughter's foot doing Willow?

My DS is also a July birthday Sydney. He's not walking yet but gets about fairly well with a combination of bum shuffling, commando crawling and rolling. All look like a lot of effort but he's pretty quick when he wants to be! I've just been through the
cupboards in the utility room this morning and moved a few cleaning things to a higher cupboard. There's still one low one with cleaning bits in but it's a double so I'm going to tether the handles together.

It's pouring down here still so have made some good progress here. Out are a pasta maker (unopened since I was given it a decade ago) and a tube of tennis balls (unopened since university). Both can go to the charity shop. I also started to look at the study cupboard of doom. Turns out DH actually has two holdalls and a giant padded envelope of old papers in there, not just one bag as I thought. I also found another bag which seems to be full of change so I'm about to empty it and hopefully end the day a bit richer! Still haven't uncovered my degree certificate though.