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 Cletter - yes, I've read Everything That Remains; I used to listen to their podcast too, but found it started repeating itself after a while, especially if you'd read any of their books. I'd like to watch their documentary as well and we've just got Netflix so can finally do so once I've stopped binge-watching Marie Kondo.

I don't envy you all the ferrying round. Mine are a bit older now so don't do half as many activities and can very often get to them (or meet up with friends) under their own steam, but I can remember the days when I was chauffeuring them to at least one activity every single afternoon, not to mention them having friends over several times a week. I feel exhausted just thinking about it now!

I haven't done so well with the minimalism game today: just four old pairs of socks in the bag for H&M (which we may get to in several months' time... and will then realise we've forgotten to bring the bag as per usual). Oh, and one more business card.

Pile of outgrown toys left yesterday. MIL too them home with her. MIL and her friends have a central toy collection which they swap round depending on who has which grandchild staying or there that day. They vary in age from baby to secondary school age so it's an efficient system.

One entire boot of stuff to charity including:
3 huge mirrors
4 bags of outgrown kids clothes
A laundry hamper
A rug
A waste paper basket
A cd rack.

I've still got a fair amount of clothes to take over but I swear half my house is in the charity shop at the moment

Oooh and also, I had a delve into my father in law's wardrobe where I left some clothes when we moved out (8 years ago ) and found clothes SO old they're back in fashion (bustier corsets etc), my fave pencil skirt I thought I lost and my mum's original Mary Quant Ginger group wool dress. The dress will never fit me ( I'm too boogie) but a quick google shows that similar pieces are selling fro £200+. I'm going to get it dry cleaned and see if I can sell it for some rainy day funds for the kids. I actually took it to a vintage shop in London about 11 years ago and they said that nobody wanted things like that anymore. HA!

Boobie*

There haven’t been any outs this week. And we have had a major in which was the shed. Once that is built that will mean the garden and some cupboards/loft upstairs will have bits going to the shed!

I have managed to clear some of ten piles of crap sorted and put away so that’s good

Welcome, @StillBee!

I love the Minimalists' documentary; I've found it really inspiring. I haven't done the 30 day challenge yet but love watching this sort of thing on yt.

I'm currently reading 'Goodbye, things'. Really enjoying it.

willow thank you for your advice, I don't know why I hadn't thought of that already!! I'm going to have a poke around the storage unit and try to sell some of the bigger, more valuable items. My friend also says she bundles things to sell, say three or more things that are similar, so she can get rid of more that way. I think I might have to give that a go!

Out: a pair of leggings with holes, and a few clothes from the DCs.
I do find it harder to find the energy to sort through things when the DCs are home, so these were easy things when I was putting the clothes away.

Early morning out: some cassette tapes.
Yesterday, the DCs brought me the tapes and asked what they are, I told them we didn’t have a player for them, and then put the box away. And woke up this morning, thinking why was I keeping them if we don’t have a player! So off they go into the donation box.

I have just wrestled some clothes out of DS grasp, to put into Charity Shop.

I bought him some new long sleeved tops and underwear so before they get put in his wardrobe , the old ones go out .
I can see the first ripples of "Hoarder" appearing in him, or it might just be sheer bloody idleness that he CBA looking through things.

My DC know what my DMum was/still is like that she never threw things out so our house was always cluttered with "stuff".
We weren't even allowed to get rid of things that we our own because someone at the Church might want that except it never got there .

I do a massive declutter when I go to their house ( 3 piles : recycle/rubbish/charity shop) but it is really difficult to make her get rid of things even broken or unsafe .

Now she's fairly immobile (so even more a risk of tripping over the clutter ) she cannot bring things in or tip out a box of things to look through , but never tidy it up again

Yesterday we threw away the pool cover as it was falling apart. I think we've had it for 3 or 4 years, so it's done well.

Today we threw away a couple of ripped pool toys, put the pool away after spending the last day and a half draining it. We just have to put away the foam tiles once they are dry and the outside is done! It will be nice to have that area cleared again until next summer.

I’m decluttering the hall today. All the kids are in school now so I’m determined to change my life and sort out. I’m going in, wish me luck!

Good luck! The first week both DCs were at school, I managed to get rid of loads of stuff. Mainly things that needed to be binned/recycled, but also a boot load to the charity shop.

Third week in, and I’m losing motivation, but downstairs looks 100 times better than it did a month ago!

Today’s job is to go through my socks, once again I just grabbed the first ones I saw this morning, only to find holes in both of them.

A lady took two Aldi bags of uniform off me last week to try on and has brought it all back today as her son is thinking of going to a different school!! Aaaargh!!!

Another saying good luck Medway hall will be immediately visible improvement so very motivating!
Few more outgrown bits for the charity bag and a couple of books also in there. Need to gather together some toys to list on E-bay, hopefully Playmobil will be popular with Christmas coming
Penelope you will have to reframe it as another opportunity to stop wearable uniform from the rag bag

I have to pick dd up a time 1.30 this week so didn’t get enough done but....

21 things given away on FB
A pile to sell,
A pile to resort
Put some clothes away
Washed outside windows for first time in? 15 years??!!

I have a mountain to climb. Plus a full sink and batch cooking yet to do this afternoon

Can I do this?

Oh and hall wasn’t finished dispite a list I went off piste!

Well done Medway! It’s a great start, and those windows must really help with more light!

I still haven’t sorted out my socks, so off to do it now!

17 socks with either holes in them, or the elastic had gone or that I know I’ve already thrown away the matching socks. No wonder my odds of have socks with holes was rather high! And that not counting the ones I’m wearing right now, or the ones in the wash.

An easy win that will make my life that little bit more comfortable.

Well done Times. I feel a bit panic stricken atm but it’s only the second day of all the kids being at school. I must try to remember I have months to finish it all

Yes, it is a big long job, but someone said there’s layers to a cluttered house, so the first time you’ll get rid of the obvious things and the house will improve a bit, then you’ll find more things to get rid of, and again the house will improve some more, you might get to the stage where you can even get rid of storage, but all this takes a while!

I've got 3 outs today including a worn out clothes brush. I'm going to see how I do using sellotape (which I've already got) instead, rather than replacing it straight away.

I just discovered some drinking chocolate in the cupboard which was over 4 years out of date! DP was too chicken even to try it. It's another out.

Ahhhhh I’ve missed so much and not been very good at decluttering!

Was away for a few days.

Today I sorted oldest DC room and half the cupboard in there. Outgrown clothes stripped out, bigger size hung up. Decent stuff will be sold.

Outs: 1 baby bath support given away via Facebook marketplace.

Baby’s room still not emptied or decorated

Signing back in for decluttering duty