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

Talking of admin, I've gotten sidetracked from the decorating again by my home insurance which is due for renewal.

On the plus side, I've done some more filing and recycling, posted something for sale and unsubscribed manually from a snail-mailshot.

I fear I may still be here on thread 19 as well Stealth!

Admin seems to take up so much time here too, the school stuff in particular is just never ending. I don’t mind it too much, except contents insurance which I dread every year! It’s my dad’s birthday soon, so I think I’ll buy a few cards when I get his to put away...I’ve alread been doing this for kids cards and it’s working well.

Glad your decorating is almost done Sandandsea.

Tonight’s job here is decluttering the ironing pile!

Found some old shoes which will be heading for the charity shop along with a sleeping bag I have washed and dried, and a few more items like our old music stand, and gathered a good deal of rubbish from DS's old room.

I've painted 2 walls today. Getting there.

I went through our pantry today (Friday) and de-cluttered a couple expired foods, as well as taking things out of big packaging to create more space, since we bulk shop at Costco. It felt good to organise the space.
Hopefully I can tackle the sideboard and possibly complete at least one project around the house very soon. Birthday party tomorrow for DS so not sure if anything will get done tomorrow (apart from decluttering cupcakes!!)

I’m going to set myself some weekend decluttering/home improvement goals here so I have people to be accountable to!
This weekend I will:

• go through the box of stuff that is listed on FB but isn’t selling. I’ll put the better stuff on eBay (£1 fees weekend) and add the rest to the charity pile.
• do some work on painting the bedrooms - either work on the nursery or start DD’s new room
• order some furniture for DD’s new room
• pack away my ‘normal’ clothes. At almost 19 weeks pregnant, I need to admit I’m not going to be fitting into them anytime soon so they might as well be packed away and not cluttering up the wardrobe. I’ll go through as I put them away and remove any that I never wear to add to the charity pile.

Spent an hour tidying the toys today searching for a tiny bit of Lego DS couldn’t find. (Found it - hurrah!).

This inspired me to empty our Kallax boxes of random tat into one big Ikea bag (it is full to the top ) Told the kids we are going to sort it and give what we don’t want to charity.

DD had the idea of putting five things into little paper bags so they can sell as a ‘little bag of surprise tat’. So we might do this if I have the energy... though I would love to turf the whole lot in the bin right now

Hi All, I haven’t been posting because I’ve been living at that second house - the one I haven’t filled up yet! But I have been visiting DH in the other house and getting rid of some bits: two Aldi bags full of school uniforms due to a change of school for DD and also added in the uniforms from DS’s earlier change. It was quite a pile. Today I’ve thrown out two empty mascaras, a tinted moisturiser and an empty eyeshadow palette from DD’s room; she’s not here to stop me and won’t remember they were there.

I have :

sorted out clothes in the wardrobe . hung the things I'm not wearing now (but will be taking on holiday ), on a rail
put about 4-5 tops into Charity pile
sorted out some kitchen things for the charity shop
managed to find a pair of black jeggings that I didn't know I owned

I will be putting a couple of coats in the Charity shop when I get them out of the attic

Managed to resist picking up some gorgeous little glass bottles that someone had left by the glass recycle .( They were in a big container and obviously left in case someone wanted them ) They looked about 100mls , they didn't have lids but if there were corks to fit they could be used for Skittles Vodka or even lined up with a few sprigs of flowers in each. But I gave myself a stern slap on the hand and didn't take them

I’ve listed a lot of stuff on FB today and I’ve put it into the boot. If it sells, great! If not, it’s already in the boot ready to go to the charity shop. I hope it sells though. I’ve also thrown away an odd sock, and decluttered my chook pen of multiple feed and water containers and and filled it with new straw. Happy chooks and guilt gone!
One more: I’ve also adopted a set of Chi Chi perfumes that I bought my DD. She’s never used them so I’ve asked her for them and I’m going to work my way through the set of 8.

@70isaLimitNotaTarget Nice bottles are so tempting, aren’t they? I finished off the (not very nice TBH) remains of a bottle of sloe gin last night and struggled not to keep the nice chunky glass bottle for flavoured gin or vodka, but am pleased I resisted and it’s in the recycling now. I also decluttered my ancient bras after getting properly fitted, so I now have a pile to send off to charity. Next up is the tangled mess of tights to sort through now it’s getting a bit chilly....

It’s so satisfying when that happens Emmapeeler! I have a bad habit of spending hours trying to track down things like that. Love the ‘bags of surprise tat’, they would certainly be popular here (not with me).

I went through DD’s felt pens while she was at school the other day and binned all the ones that were running out. We have loads waiting to be used in the cupboard still though.

@RaspberryBlonde oh the hours I have spent looking for eg random jigsaw piece. I’m like a dog with a bone when that happens!

And yes the bags of surprise tat will definitely be a hit... for no mum anywhere!

I have a three storey plastic storage unit full of felt tips pens and crayons in various states... That definitely needs to be ok my declutter list, thanks for the reminder!

That was very restrained of you, 70isalimit. It would've pained me to walk past them too.

I did it! I decluttered the study. The room where everything goes to be dumped and forgotten about has been cleared and useable. There's still A LOT to sort out in it but I'm SO glad it's done.

cheese that is AMAZING!! Well done.

Honestly, FOUR YEARS I've been ignoring it. Feel like a new woman

cheese well done indeed a real achievement. Enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling every time you go in there . Few outgrown t shirts for charity bag. Found a pair of barely worn school trainers worth listing on eBay so will put those on tomorrow.

I spent weeks making children's jigsaw puzzles to sell. I held in to one for about a year waiting for one piece and typically that piece turned up after I threw the puzzle out.

A few of my systems are working. I put the summer accessories away in their labelled box and went through the winter accessories with dc and have now got a bag of scarves and gloves to go to the charity shop.

Well done cheese that’s amazing!

I haven’t done everything I wanted this weekend, but I have:

• been through a box of stuff and listed some on eBay, the rest has gone to the charity pile
• sorted the pile of crap in the spare room
• Packed away my non-maternity clothes
• Found 13 items of clothing for charity
• Binned a very old pillow!
• ordered some furniture for DD’s new bedroom

typically that piece turned up after I threw the puzzle out.

That has happened to me and is always so annoying!!

willow I love the sound of your big kitchen declutter.

Well done, everyone, you're all doing really well!

Cheese - special congrats on your study! It's a lovely feeling to finally get on top of a room after so long.

I've had another busy, 'making the most of the Summer' weekend, so have only done a bit of decorating and haven't thrown out anything.

I have now made a step-by-step list to follow to complete the bedroom with minimal faffing. The cleaner's booked for Thursday so I'm hoping to have it done before then.

Right I'm joining in..! We've recently downsized from - 5 bed house to a 3 bed cottage (much smaller) the stuff I found in that big old house really did make me shudder!! Bags, shoes, clothes mainly but I have a whole storage facility packed to the gills with furniture to! So one small step at a time.. I plan to really go through this stuff day by day. Today I've tackled the boys uniform cupboard. All old uniform is out and off to the school or in the bin 🙌 tomorrow I shall tackle their clothes...! Feels good, long may it continue