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

Hi everyone, I haven't been on the thread for a while and for the past couple of weeks haven't made much progress, but yesterday I decluttered the kitchen side which was totally covered in about a foot of stuff and tidied and reorganised the drawers. I filled two charity shop bags ( with among other things, many colouring books), one bin bag, and one bag each for my DS's and his friend's stuff. It looks so good, now the challenge is to keep it all tidy! I've also made a start on fixing the towel rails that fell down in the bathroom, and the blind that fell down in the living room.

@NutellaQuest would there be any ideas here? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/1255803-How-do-you-store-wait-for-it-your-CRISPS

Or I was wondering about the things for storing placky bags?

Decluttering! My house is a pit.

Today DH has done a tip run. I’ve put a load of stuff in the loft, and also taken out and got rid of a couple of empty boxes.
Put some of my yarn stash on eBay too, first lot already sold.

Annoyingly the Facebook marketplace sale of our old sofa has failed though - the buyer didn’t turn up.

I’ve given myself a list of things I need to put on marketplace or eBay later today, been saying I’ll do it for weeks! Today is the day it will actually happen

Very slow here, but I have got rid of another bag of outgrown clothes and am starting another for textile recycling. Also a pair of slippers which have a hole in the toe and a bag of Christmas decorations, ribbon, labels etc which hasn’t been opened in three years so I doubt we’ll miss it. We’re off on holiday tomorrow so I’ve decluttered the children to the in-laws for a bit so I can get packed and tidy up a bit. Have also decluttered about six inches of hair and keep doing a double take every time I pass the mirror

ownerofmultiplechimps I need to do this too! I have some nice outgrown baby stuff and a load of girls party dresses that I want to put on my local selling page but for some reason I never get round to doing it. It’s not a sentimental thing so I really don’t know what’s stopping me, I suspect it’s the faff of taking the photos, deciding a price, writing the listing, responding to messages etc etc. I am in the grip of inertia!

More decorating done today plus the following outs:

1 broken, underbed storage box. (The contents will now fit in a cupboard since I cleared that a while back.)
Grout pen - old, dried and hated it anyway.
2 x old tubes of filler/caulk.
2 x old paint tins.
Toothbrush.
Sandpaper - used.
Trainers - bought online and took me a while to realise they're too small.

Hey, nice ideas. Thanks. Sadly the link to whatever it was in 2011 has gone. I think it was spot on too. I am surprised the kitchen firms don't make something as those pull out larder are pretty standard these days.

I have a cardboard box from Waitrose deliveries in the meantime which fits the bill fairly well.

Have just had a slightly pushy request for second hand school uniform. I am happy to part with the worn out stuff, but think I could sell the better things. WWYD?

Hi all
Not a very productive weekend here as we were out all day yesterday. However I have gone through the kids shoes - 2 pairs in the bin, 2 pairs of football boots to pass on and I only need to get one pair of shoes for the start of school. Also I suggested we may not need so many computer games leading to putting 12 games on Facebook to sell. If they don't go we can take them to cex to trade into 1 new game.

@NutellaQuest
‘Oh, I was just writing the ad for gumtree. Shall we call it £20? When do you want to get them? ‘ and give them the worn stuff as well.
Obviously more than £20 if that’s what you think.

Or just give them whatever you don’t want to sell and list the rest.

Nutella - I think it depends where you're at wrt clutter clearing. Iow, if your house is quite clear and you've got time, then, you might like to sell your clutter and make a few quid. But, if this is just the tip of the iceberg and selling it is going to slow you down and distract you from decluttering a lot more stuff (which, in turn, is distracting you from a lot more life!) then, it might be worth giving it away. An alternative, is to save it up for a car boot sale - but, only if you're actually going to do one!

Only just saw Coldhands's post. Good idea! If you can get a quick sale, go for it!

Marking place

We’ve moved to a new flat in the past month and I’m determined for it not to end up like the last place (we were overcrowded, it was teeny and I accidentally hoarded a bit). Moving was a nightmare because of all the random stuff we’d collected.

Now the new place is lovely and fairly clear but it’s because we have a “cupboard of doom” full of boxes that I need to sort a bit at a time.

So, hello!

I'm liking your thinking ladies! I will look at employing these tactics. :-)

I used to carboot a lot, but I was disappointed recently with how much I made for the effort. Have decided to only spend time selling the better quality stuff.

Am working on sorting and storing ATM. Have a lot to sort. Home is almost impossible to run as it is. I find it easier working out what to get rid of when I can see all of the same types of things together, and that in itself is a job. Trying to ignore the current frustrations of a summer cold and the school holidays!

I managed to clear my bedside drawers. Loads of sachets which are now on my dressing table to plough through.

Like Nutella tried to put things together and return things to correct places.

Threw loads of paperwork out.

My freezer is decluttered as it kindly broke. Luckily a relative has my food in another freezer but so frustrating

Welcome inomniaparatus13 and congratulations on the baby! It sounds like you have had a productive few days but I’m sorry to hear about your dad, it’s must’ve been moving to see how much he loved you.

nutellaquest I bought some plastic boxes from amazon recently for my Lovely Understairs Cupboard (formerly the Cupboard from Hell or Cupboard of Doom!). I checked the dimensions and that they would fit.

raspberryblonde yes I ditched 3 pairs of bootcut jeans. It’s odd but I am not a particularly fashionable person but there’s something about their colour and style that even I look at them and think ‘old fashioned’.

I am still getting rid of leaves and twigs now as the winds blew a lot down although were nowhere nearly as bad as had been forecast.

More decorating going on here. Outs so far today: another 2 old paint cans and 4 sticks (paint stirrers).

I have been through the larder cupboard today, inspired by Nutella mentioning hers. Several expired items into composting food waste and all things regrouped into my IKEA boxes. Looks very satisfying

Have followed coldhands example and listed some nappies. They have prints so am hoping they’ll sell. This has been on my to do list forever.

Well done on evicting the jeans Stealth. I went through drawers and found a couple of clothes things to go. Also have some worn out stuff for this week’s recycling collection.

Hope you can get a replacement freezer sorted soon woodhill. It’s the most annoying thing. We’ve been unlucky enough to have two break down, both times when they were full!

Did a bunch of shredding yesterday.

Does anyone know, if I posted the Nappies to a buyer, how do I make sure I get paid - it’s on Gumtree & I don’t use PayPal, and how do I find out about postage costs to add on?
Cheers

I’d be tempted to register for PayPal Coldhands, it’s pretty easy to set up and means you don’t have to share bank details etc. I found some stuff on the Royal Mail website recently about costs although I find packaging properly is almost as dear!

I've done some more decorating. I've also done some filing and have cleared through my stash of lightbulbs. I've got 6 lightbulbs and 2 boxes to go out.

stealth - is there any way you could send me a link for those boxes please? My Waitrose cardboard box isn't doing brilliantly. But at least things aren't falling off and getting crushed!

This has probabaly been done to death, but do any of you use the companies that buy clothes by the bagfull and give you a price per weight? I was wondering if there is much difference in how much you get and figured one of you might have done the research already. No point reinventing the wheel!