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 haven’t done anything. Except I did declutter some more weeds from the f

Ooh. I’ve never pressed post too soon before
...front garden. that was supposed to say.

I might go and look at the horrible shelves.

I think @VallarMorghulis’ post demonstrates very well how one task leads to the next in a chain which sometimes makes everything seem a bit unmanageable.

I have only used a Cash For Clothes place once. It was about 5 years ago and it was an actual shop which used to exist in our town. I got £7.50 for 15kg clothes including a few pairs of footwear. They were mainly middle of the road condition - supermarket brands, with a bit of wear i.e. not pristine condition.

Since then that shop has closed and the money paid by other places has gone down from 50p per kilo. I now put that sort of stuff in the Salvation Army bin at Tesco, so it might go to someone who needs it or be recycled. Better stuff will be eBayed or go to a Charity Shop direct.

raspberryblond I did their wardrobes last week but I could go through and find broken stuff, also the masses of artwork my two still produce :-)

I've just spent far too long clutter clearing my savings. I've closed one account and set up another instead. I'm counting it as it's been weighing heavy and has taken me ages to get round to. Outs include the old bank card and reader thing. I've also updated my files.

Wow! Willow, that's great news! Enjoy your celebrations!

Hello, can I join in please? I’ve been lurking a bit and doing some decluttering but think it’s time to get real!
I’m on maternity leave with my second. He’s 6 months and I can’t get him into his own room yet as it’s full of stuff (some his, some not). I must have cleared it 5 or 6 times and it gets filled back up again. Feel like my house is an ongoing game of jenga and I’ve had enough!!
So will aim for at least one out every day but with a focus on the baby’s room after today. I’m keen to avoid waste so will be selling/donating/giving away as much as possible.
Yesterday i decluttered 17 pairs of outgrown pants to DDs nursery to use as spares. Today’s outs were a pair of slippers, bundle of baby clothes and an electric breast pump sold on eBay.

I've been through a big, internal debate tonight involving two large, heavy and frankly, glorious blankets and a bulging bag-for-life of craft stuff. I'm sorry to write that I've decided to keep the blankets as DP and I are both weak in this area. One of them is going to be kept in the car though.

The good news is that I have already found a charity which is keen to take the bulging bag.

And, I've now tidied about half of my 'under the stairs' area.

(Disclaimer: I'm storing 6 empty cardboard boxes under there.)

Welcome, Mynameisnotthis! Well done on de-lurking and getting real with us. Keep posting!

Welcome Myname & fab news Willow hope you all have a fab time celebrating!

Those are fantastic results Willow, he (and you) must be proud!

Well done GreenWillowsoldestson! Greenwillow you must be so proud.

Welcome mynameisnotthis. It's a great motivation to know you want to give your baby his own room and you've made a great start.

sandandsea six EMPTY boxes. Come on sand you know we've talked about this before .

I have just found some tights-without-feet in my drawer - not sure why I bought them. I am also still dithering about jeans. I have a pair of green jeans, I love their colour but never wear them because they are so low rise you can always see my knickers at the back.

I have also semi Kondoed some tops. What I mean is I have sort of folded them up and sort of put them in the drawer so you can see all of them. I have just done this with half a dozen and I am wondering whether to do it to all of them in my wardrobe.

Stealth I Kondo'd my drawers last year and never looked back! It's so easy to find things now and looks so neat, I highly recommend doing it. I haven't quite been able to convince the rest of my family although my DS does do something similar in his drawers (he's 9).

😩 I’ve posted twice now and they’ve disappeared.
In short -
Thanks for welcomes! Well done willow DS, great results!
Yes stealth it’s great motivation as he’s in his big cot bed in our room. He’s my last baby though so I’m torn about him going no way of convincing DH to have another

Not very productive day as have been up since 3.30am having been tag teamed by the wee ones. Still listed a baby bath and bundle of clothes on Marketplace and put out a pile of collapsed cardboard boxes for recycling. Oh and 4 pairs of pants to the textile recycling bag.

Must do better tomorrow.

Took a bag of clothes and a bag of houseware to the Charity shop

Lots of paper shredded

Hello I want to join please!

I have a baby on the way and want to declutter ahead of its arrival. I've so far managed one cupboard in the kitchen which is looking much better. I have insane amounts of clothes in several wardrobes which barely fit in them. No order to it at all and no idea what's at the back of them. Also tons of shoes cluttering a large store cupboard, mostly high heels I never wear as I live in trainers.

Hoping this thread can motivate me to get myself organised

Welcome to the thread, @Ticklemeelmo! It sounds like Marie Kondo's way of starting with clothes might be perfect for you. If you've got Netflix, maybe have a look at her show on there?

Stealth - I've also got a giant cardboard box in our 2nd bedroom. I'd forgotten about it! I think I might flatten them all and keep them for when we move. I'll recycle any excess ones then.

Coldhands The problem with PayPal is that if the buyer lies and says they didn’t receive them, or says they signed for a parcel but it was full of screwed-up newspaper or something, PayPal will give them their money back. PayPal is notorious for siding with the buyer, even the crooked ones.
We do give our bank details out based on the notion that that people can put money in but not take it out. That’s in Australia though. There’s more fraud in the UK (I’m English).
What problems can you all foresee by giving out bank details? Are you advised not to? Thanks

Thank you @SandAndSea !

I have seen one of her episodes on Netflix so will have to watch some more. Determined to do a charity shop run today with a few bits I already have put aside.

Someone may well have mentioned this before but H&M give you a £5 off a £25 spend voucher for every bag of unwanted clothing you take in to them, it can be in any condition and they recycle or reuse them.

I took 3 bags of old unsellable ones to them last week and saving the good things for the charity shop

I feel like I'm going backwards here. I've had a couple of days where I haven't been able to do anything because I've been ill and then a couple of days out and it just feels like I'm back where I started. Lots of things in this week as well - school uniform and new sports kits mainly along with some new clothes for DD in the next size up (bought in the sale).

We have made good progress with the garden and have managed to get quite a few things organised. I did clean out the fridge and threw away a few jars that were way past their best. DH also found a bottle lurking at the back of a cupboard that was best before 2011 and smelt rather unpleasant. I was certain we had completely purged the cupboards when we moved but this one had somehow still survived. I persuaded DS to sort out some of his 'art' so a large pile has gone into the recycling already today. He also found two books to go.

Now I have written it down I guess it does work out at one thing a day but it hasn't made a visible difference to the house at all. Today's plan is to clean and tidy the lounge. Hopefully I can find some outs but if not at least I'll feel like I've achieved something.

Welcome ticklemeelmo. You sound like I used to be! I have a biggish house with lots of wardrobes and my clothes used to be spread between about 5 double wardrobes and lots of drawers! I had had some for about 20 years that I was convinced I would diet into and when I realised I wasn't I got rid of them all! (Many to the weigh clothes bank I described a couple of days ago.). Rather ironically I lost weight shortly afterwards and would have fitted into all of them!

I would say I still have a lot of clothes but they fit into one double wardrobe and a few drawers and I fit into all of them. I have had my colours done so they generally go well together and I like my style. Today I've been ironing. I only seem to iron in the summer because I have a few linen and cotton trousers and dresses but I don't really wear them that often. I am wondering whether to be radical and get rid of all of my summer trousers because life is too short to iron.

hungryhazeleyes thanks, I have put all of my vest tops and t-shirts into a drawer now, and they look beautiful - really nice and colourful. Until LI did that they were mainly hanging in my wardrobe. This means my wardrobe now has a ridiculous amount of space, things are so spread out I love it. I have a mountain of school uniform that is too big for dd1 but doesn't yet fit dd12 so that will probably go in there.

bobgoblin that sounds like loads. It will make a difference. Once your cupboards are emptied you can clear things from surfaces into them. Can I set you a challenge to look at one surface (either a window ledge or table top) and clear a couple of items from it. With this in mind I am going to clear my two bedside tables in my bedroom. My bedroom is always the last room I do because no-one else sees it but having cleared drawers / wardrobe now I'm feeling motivated to do it.