Decluttering one thing a day part 8 - the one where we de-tetris the cupboard of doom!

[WoogleCone]

Welcome! This is thread 8 of the declutter one thing a day challenge!

This is just holding the discussion open until @stealthninjamum gets her computer sorted and back in action :)

Everyone is welcome here, new and old. We implore you to join us on our mission to clear the cupboards, swipe the sides and declutter all debris!
We recycle, reuse, give away, donate or just plain chuck it out to help clear our spaces.

If you're new, start with a small mission - can you tackle one small area at a time? Be it a bedside table, a bathroom cabinet or The Kitchen Drawer?
Just one thing a day is all we ask and report back here with your outs for the day, or week at a time. It's very easy to get the bug when you start small and have success!

Will we find any more big bags of change? Can we sell more big ticket items? Will the school books all get returned? Will the happy meal toys ever stop multiplying and just how many books can we say goodbye to?!

Previous thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3525812-Part-7-of-the-decluttering-challenge-can-you-get-rid-of-one-item-a-day?msgid=87790915#87790915

I was looking for a document , DH un-earthed the Cupboard of Doom and founf (alongside the aforementioned Document)

A calender for the Year 2008

One of my work diaries for 2014 ( I have about 5 work diaries in my wardrobe , all years , I need to g through. There's nothing confidential in them, just dates/places/phone numbers)

Out of date Car Insurance documents .....

So that's the next hurdle , to sort through.

I did have a laugh with my DS (he's 19) going through all the things on the 2008 calender , we did plan some nice days out for them.

Not much out today - bits and bobs.

Lots of washing up and cleaning of the kitchen. I even scrubbed the sink and deep-cleaned the compost bin and washing up tidy.
I cleared old food out of the fridge.
I posted a for sale ad online.
I packaged up and posted off another 3 items.
I've been sorting out my diary, fine-tuning arrangements etc.
And, I'm just going to do a bit of filing.

The only outs yesterday were a couple of gifts that I dropped off. I did spend the evening sorting out our finances which was much needed and it has decluttered my mind a lot. I'm going to try and get back on to the house decluttering today. I might see if I can get at least some of the ebay pile listed and possibly a kitchen cupboard sorted.

purplefrog I also wondered if it was you who varnished a broken chair about last summer and inspired me to varnish garden furniture I'd had for about ten years but couldn't quite remember. Feels like some of us have been on these threads forever.

Not much clutter going but my general organisation means I am using stuff up and not buying new stuff. So I have a bag of scrap paper in a drawer that gets used for shopping lists every day (have one in front of me now) and I threw away a second nail varnish today. The post pile has mounted up again so I'm going to go through that tonight when dc are in bed but generally it's tiny compared to how it used to be.

Very slow going here sadly, managed to get rid of a rag bag & that’s about it. Ds new bed arrives in a week or so so his old one is going along with a knackered toy drawer as there is space under new bed for the contents. Really need to get my head in the game & get stuff done, feels like holidays are flying by & ive achieved nothing

I've finally finished painting the bathroom! 4 coats of white paint later it's been slow going as I've had to do all my running round and helping family etc. Still got to do the second undercoat on the door and frame and then a couple of coats of satinwood but I'm almost there.

My outs today:

A toilet brush
A broken paint tray
3 dried up rollers that had been in a bag amongst the decorating tools
Empty paint tub

That's it for today, I've got a rotten headache so I'm going to have a little snooze on the settee

After finally getting my log in details fixed I can finally comment!! I've been following this thread for a while now and impressed with how much you all are getting done!
Its very motivating and I've got a bag full of clothes, as well as a box full of random stuff from our bedroom I just sorted today. That is all going to our storage unit along with a glass shelf unit I've been wanting to get rid of for a couple of years now.
Hopefully we'll have a yard/ storage sale in a couple of weeks and get rid of a ton of stuff. We really need to make some money back for back to school shopping, especially as mine go back the 21st August(I'm stateside). But a lot of what gets left will go to the charity shop.

Bought some books at the book sale

A dozen going out tomorrow though, for a net loss of two. And the book sale supports the library, especially an adult literacy programme.

There are Little Free Library book boxes all over the neighbourhood where I live, which makes dropping off books easy (also makes accumulating books easy but heyho)...
littlefreelibrary.org/

munchmunch that's awesome work! I did my spare room recently and the wood needed four coats. It's such a boring job and super frustrating to have to do it four times.

Welcome hungryhazeleyes you've made a good start. It must be great to have a yard sale, we don't really have them here so I sell things bit by bit on Facebook and take stuff to the charity shop.

So back to my recently decorated spare room, it has a bookcase in it that I had hoped to give away but I can't as it's full of books. I have put another three in the charity shop pile but am reluctant to give them all away as dd2 is behind in her reading so we've still got loads of books she should've finished with by now.

Agree yard sale would be great. I haven’t even seen a traditional jumble sale advertised that I could donate to. Few bits for rag bag found as the washing has been done this weekend. Have promised to pass on a couple of books to a friend do barely ticking along

Yes gassylady people don't seem to have jumble sales these days.

I have found another couple of children's books to go and finished a sample of eye wrinkle stuff.

Well done, everyone! I haven't done much clearing this weekend - had a lovely beach day today instead.

I've had zero enquiries about my latest ad so I've decided to let that go to charity now, so that's my one thing today.

Stealth - It might have been me who oiled a bench last year.

Hungry - Welcome! ... Storage unit?? (My ears pricked up at that.) Do you find that's worthwhile?

I think storage units might work for some depending on how much they cost and the type of things you are storing, but they don’t come cheap in the UK. If you want the stuff out the way do you really need it? Is the stuff worth more than it will cost you to store it for x amount of months/years?

Also not to mention the time and effort taken moving it from A to B.

SandandSea DO NOT THINK ABOUT A STORAGE UNIT!

Don't worry, Stealth. I like the idea more than the reality. I especially like the idea of clearing everything cluttery out of my house and putting it in a big storage box somewhere else. You know me and boxes! But, I don't like the idea of paying for it so it won't be happening. Better to get rid of things I think.

Stealth - it was me who varnished a broken chair last year! One of the dogs broke a kitchen chair. One of the upright spars on the back had broken diagonally along the grain, so only needed gluing and clamping - a ten minute job. DP offered to do it, but didn’t... the dog broke it more and ran off with and ate the bit that fell off! So, a ten minute job turning into about a week, by the time I’d finished gluing, filling, staining and varnishing the blasted thing!

As far as the storage unit goes, it's worth it to me, but my in-laws pay for it, not me lol! It's in prime location to have sales right at the storage unit, we just have to take tables and canopy over to set up the sale.
I must admit, if I had to pay for one, I wouldn't. We do have a couch and a chest that will go to a bigger house, whenever we can afford to upgrade our house that is. I do have way too much stuff left in the storage unit, this time a lot of what gets left will be donated instead of hauling back inside though.

My outs today so far were some leftover food in the fridge. It seems I found cherries from our trees that were neglected when picked a month ago! Oops. I also found several Tupperware containers that have been emptied and washed, ready for lunches this week.

Wow! So excited to find this thread - today I cleared out a kitchen cupboard that's been driving me crazy for years......and I couldn't tell anyone in real life because it's such a tiny achievement in my hugely messy house.
Found 28 jars of assorted herbs and spices that were all out of date (oldest one March 2008)... sadly my DH refuses to be guided by use by/best before dates - but that's another story (and I threw them out anyway!

I've found my people! Today has been an unexpected de-clutter sort of day. DH and I are back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off work (couldn't afford a holiday this year) and have both got some sort of cleaning fever on.

He's finally built our new bedside cabinets that were in boxes in the living room for 3 months, then cleaned the bathroom and fixed and filled the wall cabinet with our cosmetics that had been hanging about.

I've cleared the garden of old and broken toys and taken them to the tip, then cleared the living room coffee table of all the gathered paper work and binned most of it. Found DCat's vaccination certificate which was a huge win as his jabs are due.

I've now got the de-clutter bug and will tackle the big kitchen drawer tomorrow....

I can see I’m a bit (very) late to the party, but I hope you don’t mind if I join?

A few rooms are being decorated here and it has really shone a light on how much stuff I have accumulated!! I swear it must be breading

Today (Technically yesterday I guess now) I finally made a start. From just one bedroom I have managed:

• 2 binbags of rubbish
• 4 Charity shop bags filled
• 2 bedside tables rehomed via Facebook Marketplace
• 2 boxes for going into the loft
• Several boxes of paperwork I can’t yet face, a quick glance suggests some may even be pre-millennium

And I haven’t yet finished that room! I’m going to pace myself a bit more so I don’t burn out or become demotivated as it really does seem like I have an impossible mountain to climb

Things are less good here, haven’t caught up with everything since I posted about Nappies. I have not put up the nappy advert yet 😳
I have made a pile of books to go to the charity. Not sure when they will actually leave, but it’s a start.
Looks as if everyone’s being pretty busy!

Well today has been successful
Smear test this morning so that's something off the list.
Tidied couch of stuff and threw away a broken back. Went through paperwork and got rid of bits into recycling.

Yes I've been slowly tidying and decluttering. I can find things now and trying to put similar things together

purplefrog yes I remember! I love that the dog ate the bit and made it an even bigger job!

theresnoonequitelikegrandma ha I love hearing about old food, I had some herbs that were about ten years old too but they lost their flavour so got binned.

Welcome fifipop185 and squeakypig.

Excellent work fifipop185 although I'm not sure you'll fit in if your furniture was only sitting around for 3 months and squeakypig me and sandandsea are the ladies for the pre-2000 paperwork!

coldhandscoldheart I can't remember reading about the nappies but I gave some away to a food bank last year (about 4 years after we stopped needing them!) and they were open.

Today I went through the fireproof box where I keep important paperwork and chucked out a couple of bits of unnecessary paperwork and an unusuable plastic folder as it had a massive hole. I had got this folder free with 'number one' magazine (a rival to Smash Hits in the 1980s)! i felt quite nostalgic about it, it has held my GCSE and A Level certificates since the late 80s!