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

wooglecone I know knocking a wall down is drastic especially as it has stairs on top so might be important?

Anyway my stupid coat cupboard declutter has become A Project. It is a cupboard under the stairs and at the end is the circuit breaker (fuse box) with an Ugly Shelf where I have put boxes in the past with things in them. To the right and left are some hooks for coats.

So today I bought new hooks so I can remove the existing ones which I have never liked. I am also wondering whether I can remove the Ugly Shelf and buy some furniture with drawers - kind of like the wire drawers that you get in ikea with baskets. Then I could put shoes/ summer / winter stuff in them. Just need to get something that fits the space.

I am also polyfillaing holes in the cupboard and am intending to paint it. It will be the nicest coat cupboard ever and I will make a child sleep there be incentivised to keep it tidy.

80moves wow the pressure is on! I think you might need to do a bit more than 1 a day unless they're big items.

Wow stealth that does sound like a project. Will be satisfying when done though. In our last move we inherited a large full height coat cupboard with a rail. Lovely except everyone dumps their coats near it not in it

I'm dying some clothes atm so that's a container of dye out and a job ticked off.

So this week I've got a bag of clothes to take to the charity shop, have sorted through a couple of bags of my DDs old clothes and intend on getting them ready to sell on. I've put a pair of trainers that I bought in the wrong size and have been sitting in a cupboard for a few years up for sale on Facebook marketplace. Hopefully I will get a buyer soon.

But now my DH has been offered some dining chairs for free and he wants to get four of them for our new house. We already have some old chairs sitting around which he says we will get rid of. I really don't like the idea of getting furniture before we've already moved in that might make our living space more cluttered. I said 2 would do but he has already made his mind on 4...It's so frustrating!

I've been going through one of my boxes: my old school books, projects (etc). It's weird seeing some of it and comparing it to my memories. Other bits I don't remember at all. It's slow going but I have got a few pieces of work to chuck.

I'm not going to finish it tonight but at least I've started it.

You know those plastic balls you get to dye clothes with? I caught myself trying to save it "to repurpose as a cat treat toy". (Smh.) We already have a Kong which she doesn't play with! (Or did have; tbh, I can't remember if I charity'd it.)

Anyway, crisis averted! The dye ball is now in the recycling.

We moved house in February and had a big clearout at that point but sorting through stuff took a lot longer than we expected so we only managed to de-clutter some of the stuff and had to pack the rest 'as is'. There is still a lot to be done and I'm going through some of it every weekend. Last weekend I freecycled two items (a grill and a poster) which were nice but not something you could easily sell. I was really pleased that both things found new owners, it's a shame to throw things away when there's still a lot of life left in them.

Well done sandandsea that's one more thing gone.

I took two bags of things to the charity shop earlier but they don't really count as they were stuff I found already and put on the charity shop pile.

The main thing I've been doing is the bloody cupboard under the stairs. On the ugly shelf is a loose piece of wood that has no purpose but has been there since we moved in so that is going. I have put up two new rows of coat hooks, polyfillaed lots of holes that have always been there and looked for light storage that could be put in there and removed easily to get to the circuit box. I haven't yet found that storage. In the mean time we have coats and shoes everywhere and are living in a mess.

Thanks, Stealth.

Yesterday's items were a kaftan and a biro. The kaftan's a toughie. I like it but it's kind of a plasticy material which makes you feel all sweaty. No good for the hot weather which it's made for. I haven't been wearing it so it's pointless keeping it.

As for today... I'll get back to you.

I went to IKEA yesterday

I've let you all down. I am truly sorry.

Aroundtheworldin80moves - Don't worry, I'm sure we've all done it. What are you getting rid of to make up for it? One in, one out, remember?!

I bought a storage box. And planned new furniture and cushions for new house.

We are gaining 3 extra rooms in our new house.

One of our watering cans has a big leak so it has been binned. I think the other one is going the same way; I’m considering replacing with a metal one. Otherwise I have mainly only managed to declutter admin jobs this week.

One storage box isn’t bad for an Ikea trip 80moves! We need a couple of things but I’m waiting til we have a few more and I can justify the £30 delivery charge for online orders as know if we go in person we will end up with all kinds of other stuff.

Your coat cupboard project sounds good Stealth. We have a box for ‘out of season’ hats, gloves etc but those in use don’t have a home and are usually found on the hall floor.

Last weekend I did quite a bit of cleaning and sorting out. I cleaned the corner around and behind the TV, which is a dust magnet but isn’t done often as it requires 2 people to pull out the TV and hold up cables etc.. I also dusted the windowsill in the living room, the mantlepiece and the magazine rack table which holds the phone. I put away some of the clutter from the mantlepiece and binned some bits of paper. I also cleaned the windowsill of the landing and our bedroom, then cleaned the inside of the 3 windows I’d cleaned the sills of. I then started on the desk in the dining room which holds the computer. An A4 basket is now holding the pile of scrap paper, and I have put away a lot of the stationery which was lying around.

I have taken a couple of days holiday this week so today I cleaned the other table in the dining room which holds my sewing machine. I have started making a pair of curtains, so need quite a bit of clear workspace to cope with the amount of fabric. I hate to think when that was last done as I found a lot of receipts and other bits and pieces from 2015! Sigh! Now I need to try and put away as much of the displaced stuff as necessary before I shove the rest in a bag or box. I cleaned the windowsill there, but will leave the window itself until I get round to taking down and washing the voile curtain.

With the weather being warmer I have looked out my shorter nighties. 2 have already been earmarked to go – one tatty one which is waaaaay too short is going to the ragbag and one that is too tight in the neck probably to charity. I’ll look at it properly when it has been washed.

I also threw out a wooden cheeseboard with a Delft tile sunk into it. It has been hanging up on the kitchen wall for years. I looked at it a couple of weeks ago with a view to getting rid, but decided the pottery glaze was too crazed to send it to Charity. Anyway, I heard a bang on Sunday morning and, when I went to investigate, I found the leather thong it was hanging up with had broken and it had bounced off my washing powder box on to the work surface breaking in two. So, I have thrown it out guilt-free!

On Saturday I sold an eBay item which I posted on Monday, and today I sold the item I listed on Facebay and Gumtree around 10 days ago! The buyer collected it this morning - so since I am in a positive mood about selling I have to look out the next few things that need to be listed locally for collection.

Wow, Purple! That all sounds great! Well done!

I'm still plodding on: I've got a pair of PJ bottoms and some more school work going out today.

Thanks raspberry blonde we have lot of boxes and baskets in the cupboard and they all fit on the Ugly Shelf but we still have lots of shoes on the floor all the time so I suppose we just have too much stuff in the cupboard but I don't know where a logical place to keep it is. At the moment it is really annoying me because it is all over the dining room along with the drill, screwdrivers, polyfilla and diy bits. I am tempted to stay up all night tonight painting it so that everything can 'temporarily' go back in the cupboard on the Ugly Shelf and I'm sure I'll find a storage solution when I'm not looking for one.

I took another bag of stuff to the charity shop today. None of it's new, it's stuff I've been putting in a pile for a few weeks.

Thanks GreenWillow but I never seem to finish projects and I'm thinking we just own too much stuff to be uncluttered. I know the whole point of this is to own less stuff but I wouldn't say we own an excessive amount of coats and shoes.

greenwillow can we set you a challenge? I'm sure sandandsea would have some ideas.

How about

1. file / recycle deal with any paperwork that's out

or

1. declutter the KitchenDrawerOfRandomCrap (we all have one right?)

Go for it then! TheKitchenDrawerofRandomCrap it is

says the women whose house looks like a bomb has hit it!

I have found some very old pots of white paint and I'm hoping to start painting tonight - and finish! (depends on whether the paint is usable)

I also found a PlasticBagOfCrap in the utility room. It contained some very old loyalty cards, a 'Go Ape' badge a 'Happy birthday badge' that can be reused, some washers and screws that can probably be binned. Absolutely everything in it could be chucked other than the badge and a box of matches.

Thanks guys, but it only looks like I have done a lot since it is a week’s worth of effort. I ended up watching the tennis instead of doing any more this afternoon. Oh well, at least I still have a whole weekend to do more!

Willow & Stealth - Good call on the KitchenDrawerOfRandomCrap!

From there, I might also suggest clearing and cleaning the sink, kitchen sides and cutlery drawer?? I always feel uplifted when these are done.

Or, how about going through your underwear drawer? I love the effect of this too: feeling good every morning when you get dressed and carrying those good feelings with you throughout the day.

Let us know how it goes, won't you, Willow?

purplefrog remember it's a slow effort. My house looks a mess but it will take me half an hour later to put all the diy stuff away (possibly longer if I tidy the diy cupboards) and it'll be tidy again thanks to the gradual work I've done over the last two years.

I have had a produtive night / morning. I have painted the ceiling of TheBloodyCoatCupboard twice. Later I'll do the walls and then I can messily put stuff back. Some of the winter coats are in my wardrobe and one has gone to a charity shop so there will be more space but I don't yet know what to do about the four baskets / boxes of shoes. I have a bag that no longer fit dd1. I don't usually pass them on to dd2 but as we have less money with ex gone I might see if dd2 wants any of them so I'll need 'in between' storage for them where I will put them and forget about them for 7 years

I have just decluttered a big cupboard full of myriad items including; board games, pots and pans, plastic bags, craft stuff and wrapping paper.

DH is putting shelves in for me today and it will be fab. I might move in there to get away from the mess in the rest of the house ha ha!

StealthNinjaMum - passing on clothes is incredibly tricky once kids are like over 3 years old and have a mind of their own! I have the same issue but with them being a boy and girl, it's at least limited to very unisex items and trainers. Even then I've not had much success. Hoodies are the only things that last long enough and are loved enough by both kids.

I will be tidying my bedroom today. I have lots of clothes on the floor and my table is covered to a point there isn't an inch of surface visible. Wish me luck. I know it can be done and I have time/energy to do it so feeling optimistic!