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

@Medwaymumoffour - Next time you're tempted to bash yourself up, go back and read some of the previous threads on here. We've all had old receipts etc to throw out at some point. Honestly, you are not alone! I'm genuinely impressed that you've sold 70 things this week. That's really good by my standards. Pat yourself on the back for all that you're doing.

Another tip: myself and Stealth (I think) and maybe others too, keep a list of all that we get rid of. When you're feeling unproductive, it's great to look back at it and see what you've actually done.

My outs today are 3 items of clothing to the rag bin.

I have to admit that I've also got quite a few ins, in the form of new bedding. But, we're getting rid of a big bed and swapping things round and getting a smaller bed instead. So, overall, we will end up with less stuff (but currently, it seems like more). It's a work in progress.

@Sunshine1235 - Wires can be taken to the tip or donated to local projects, if you've got any that are appropriate. I would post on a local FB group and see if anyone would like them.

Willow - Sorry to read that about your Dad. I'm raising a cuppa to him as I'm writing this. I'm sure he would be very proud of the way you are handling everything as it sounds like you have it covered, even if it doesn't always feel like it. You know, the most impressive child I've ever met was home-schooled. He was just stunning to me - so calm, eloquent and beautifully confident. He's grown up now and has done really well academically and socially.

I’m sorry to hear a few of you are having a tough time at the moment.

Decluttering has been on a total go-slow this week, and so far I haven’t managed anything beyond a few outgrown kids clothes and clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button on a couple of email lists.

Tomorrow I have a plan though - I’ve made a list of some key areas I’d like to go through, mostly hotspots where clutter collects - our house seems to be breeding piles of crap at the moment!

IWillWearTheGreenWillow to your Dad.

StillBee in the last few years I’ve bought whenever I see a bargain. Unfortunately this means I overdid it for my DD for her first few years. Now drowning in stuff so trying to rein in back in whilst I can hopefully still mould her expectations. In reality my early bargain hunting also results in buying too much.

Clettercletterthatsbetter well down on the list. I think that might be my next step too!

Outs yday: 1 crib mattress. It’s going to the dump but so far is in the boot of the car. Ironed 44(!) items! Including things that I’ll list on eBay today - £1 max selling fees!

Out: 1 dress. Well, it's in the box to go back to my parents'. I often take "old" clothes back with me so that I have a more or less full wardrobe of clothes to wear when I'm there, plus have most of the cosmetics and toiletries I need there too, which saves on valuable suitcase space when I have more important things to bring back.

Myname Yes, that's exactly the same mistake I've made. It wasn't too bad when the DC were little and would wear more or less anything I'd bought for them, even if we did end up with slightly too much stuff and I lost track of what we had, but I can't risk it any more. I bought quite a few shirts in bigger sizes for DS, for example, but he decided about halfway through primary school that he wasn't going to wear shirts any more. The same with trousers; I had lots of lovely bargainous pairs ready for him to grow into, but he'll only wear jeans now. (He will agree to wear them at my parents' so they weren't a complete waste of money - but obviously I only need a very limited number there; quite a few have already gone to the charity shop so I suppose at least someone else is getting a bargain!)

SandAndSea Keeping a list of decluttered items is a great idea. I've been doing so as part of my now abandoned 30-day challenge and found it very motivating, so I think I'll carry on (with the list if not the challenge) next month too.

@IWillWearTheGreenWillow

It is a max £1 selling fees weekend on eBay, not listing. You need to activate the offer before listing. You can either do this from the email you were sent, or look at the Promotional Offers section of the "Seller Hub".

I am just about to photograph a pair of boots to hopefully list later today.

Out: a tub of out of date sudocrem, some attachments to the food processor that we’ve never used (the attachments, we do use the food processor sometimes) and DH got rid of a full bag of clothes.

I didn’t manage to tackle my whole list today (story of my life) but did manage:

• Small pile of papers from the kitchen side to recycling plus assorted children’s ‘crafts’
• A matching game with many missing pieces to recycling - I have no idea why we’ve held onto it for so long!
• 14 books for the charity box
• Set of coasters for charity
• 7 items of children’s clothing for charity
• Unsubscribed from another 8 email mailing lists - I’m trying to get into the habit of clicking ‘unsubscribe’ rather than just deleting the junk!
• Listed 8 items for sale on FB/eBay
• Sold a baby wrap which will be posted tomorrow
• Unused smoke alarm for... charity? Electronics recycling? (We have mains ones in our house)

And while I was out this morning, DH went through the drawers in the living room sideboard as well as the cleaning cupboard and the kitchen drawers, and rid them of the cleaning products/cables/random crap that we don’t need - hurrah!

Sounds like a really productive weekend for everyone!

I bought a cheap planner from Poundland and have done every job that needs doing in the house. Then I do a plan for the week from the list and note my in / outs. Let’s see if I stick to it!

Yes Willow fire away with any SEN questions. Btw it’s not that your family doesn’t fit the system, the system fits square pegs in square holes. Our children do not need their edges filled off to fit into the square holes, they need need the right education where they fit. A bespoke hole for them to just be themselves.

Who’s going to download a Christmas plane app from the App Store? They are so good for monitoring tat in ( disclaimer - not in my hands!)

I’m on track for a good week decluttering. But my broodyness is creeping in, holding me back. We keep saying no more, then trying ‘just once more’ and I’m forever in baby limbo holding onto things ‘ just in case’ I’m far too old. Plus I’m bordering on being a child hoarder with four. I just hate saying goodbye to baby years. Head says no, heart is slower to follow suit.

I did notice someone selling everything for £1 max on a kids FB selling site. Seems like a good idea. I have made £130 in one week selling my girls Jojo mamma Bebe bits. Glad to think they we be loved again.

I really can’t think about Christmas yet! After seeing how much stuff the DCs have, my heart sinks at the thought of adding more... We also have a January birthday and the baby is due at that time of the year too. So it would pay to be organised now but I just can’t face it.

Some more outs yesterday : out of date tea, that we’ll never drink. And some glass storage jars that are too tall for our cupboards.

I don’t want to think about Christmas yet either! Both of my children have birthdays in October, so we’ll have an influx of ins before Christmas to contend with first.

Though I do want to get all the decorating and bedroom moving done before Christmas as I’m due a few weeks later and the house needs to be sorted!

Question about shoes: we’ve got a clothes bank at school that accepts clothes and shoes. Now I know the clothes can be worst for wear (holes/stains etc) as they can still make rags/other things with them, but do the shoes have to be wearable? The shoes we’re getting rid of have holes and the soles are deformed, so I don’t know if they can be accepted or if I should just bin them (I was going to bin them, and then thought I better ask here first, as the school gets money from the clothes so I don’t want to throw them if the clothes bank can still make something from ruined shoes.)

@Times10 do you think you kept the lid, because you also kept the broken pot somewhere ‘to be fixed when I get a minute’ ? That is something of which I am guilty.
Re shoes, I must admit I’d never thought of that, I always bin really bad shoes & only donate those I think might have some wear left.

Today’s plan
I have done a bit more weeding - the end is in sight, but is taking a bloody long time to happen.

Going to go through each room and see what can go, unless I do the hall cupboard. Mmmm decisions. Perhaps I can fit in both.
I want to get a pile of stuff organised that I can get out of the house tomorrow in one big lot.

We are nearly ready to put the house in the market, it just needs to be (much) tidier. It’s getting in my nerves, I feel as if I’ve alreday thrown away everything, but there’s still so much crap lying about

Cold I thought I might have, but I’ve cleared the kitchen cupboards and haven’t seen it, so I must have thrown it out. We replaced the pot ages ago, so the lid could have been decluttered then!

I need to weed too, might spend some time today before the rain comes.

Good luck with putting the house on the market!

Times - unless shoes are totally trashed I put them into the recycling bin. They used to send abroad where a company Re furnishes and sells on.

27 things out today! Also well on track to get rid of more selling and donating this week so I feel quite positive. It was so nice to take my old Phil&teds to the tip. It was like a tank in my hall. I sold it on eBay but the seller was 100 miles away and didn’t collect within three weeks so I refunded and dumped it. It felt so good!

Just going to focus on cleaning now until the dc start to come home from school.

It’s still a tip, couldn’t fit two of the kids shoes today! Gah! Dd went into school in party shoes and ds his trainers. Let’s hope they turn up today

Medway- ok thanks, I think I’ll take them to the clothes bank then.

Can you create a shoe zone, where you put all the shoes in as you find them around the house? It could be a box, or just an area in the hallway to start off? Long term, a shoe rack has made a massive difference to our mornings, but you’d need enough clear space first, so a box might be a way to start containing them.

Yes we have a giant shoe rack AND a basket just for school shoes. Obviously I need to make sure they go straight into there as they come off, not I suspect in the toy pile of doom.....

Oh yes, we have a rule that shoes come off straight away, it helps keep the flooring a bit cleaner and we know where to find the shoes when we go out. But it wasn’t always the case, so might take some training!

Today’s outs were all the clothes to the clothes bank, and glass bottles to the bottle bank. So no new items in the away pile, but the pile has shrunk considerably.

I've done about an hour's household admin today. I'm now up to date with all my mortgage and banking filing and have a pile (about 2cm high) of old docs to shred. I really did used to file everything! Every flyer, overdraft offer letter and almost blank 2nd page - they were all there!

Times - Someone told me that the shoe bins are for shoes in any condition as there are organisations which repair and recycle them in ways we wouldn't think of. (I don't know what that means but you get the gist.)

Ok thanks! I’ll take them in tomorrow then.

Out: old body lotion. I never use it, so not sure why I opened it and tried it instead of just donating it before opening it. Oh well. I’ll know for next time.