Decluttering one thing a day - Part 9

[SandAndSea]

Welcome to our 9th thread in the Decluttering One Thing A Day series!

As you might imagine, we aim to get rid of one thing a day (or the equivalent, if we miss a few days).

The idea is that aiming low in this way prevents us from getting overwhelmed. It's also sustainable so helps us to develop effective clutter clearing habits which last.

In reality, many of us have found that once we start, we often get rid of far more than just one thing. (But if we don't, that's OK too.)

Everyone's welcome! We're a friendly and supportive bunch, from aspiring minimalists to full-on clutterbucks! We're also pretty green so you'll find lots of recycling, freecycling, donating and selling.

Previous thread here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3612006-Decluttering-one-thing-a-day-part-8-the-one-where-we-de-tetris-the-cupboard-of-doom?pg=1&order=

Willow I have my last three things on eBay before I give up. A pram that lots of people ask if it’s available on FB but never get back when I say it is. Six last season girls Next things for £5 and 21 boys tops for £4. If I can’t sell them at that price then they are all going to my dd old nursery as spares. I might try to sell a bag of dds clothes as a job lot for £10 but if that doesn’t work then it’s charity. A big portion of clutter is things I intend to sell that in reality have very little worth or kids clothes in case I have another. I’m past 40 and no luck with ttc for 2 years except a MC. Plus I have 4 amazing kids so don’t need another, just want another last one. I’m stuck somewhere in my head but I need to have the house I need for now, not two years back in the past.

Medway- I struggle with keeping stuff to hand down to my other kids. Such guilt at the thought of getting rid, but it’s like a weight on my shoulders having so, so many clothes knocking about. We have 4 too. Absolutely no plans for another!!

Brutus it’s getting a bit easier on the handing down front as my eldest is 16 and extremely thin. His brothers are either chunky or dyspraxic so can only handle pull on trousers. Then my youngest son either shreds his clothes and the intact things go to my friend who has a younger son. But my youngest and only dd, that’s a massive struggle. She loves leggings and sparkles so I’m trying to stick To only those things and she’s has enough now.

I’m looking for next years Halloween outfits in the sales today

I sorted out the rest of DS room today, big bag of crap went in the bin. Just little bits of toys etc. I managed to pick up a nearly new IKEA cube unit on fb marketplace to display his lego models. All looking much more organised in there and he spent 2 hours this morning playing with it all 👌

Hello Sandandsea

Tbh I can't remember if I've posted on this thread before, but if not I've certainly been lurking and am completely signed up to the idea of getting rid of one thing a day.

It's so nice to go to bed thinking that even if I haven't had time to get rid of much, all those single items add up!

I'm quite often looking around the house at 11om for something to declutter - it doesn't take long to find something!!

Thanks to everyone who posts on this thread - it's very motivating

Hello to the new people! (Sorry I didn't take note and remember your names!).

I haven't had much decluttering happening lately, other than finishing half - used bottles of lotion, I think I have used up 3 throughout the month of October! It does feel good to only have one being used at a time though, just have to stick to it.

I do plan on decluttering my house of Halloween decorations this weekend, although will then replace it with autumn/Thanksgiving decorations. While I'm taking things down/ cleaning/ raking leaves, I will be on the lookout for anything I can get rid of.

Also I managed to put some old Halloween costumes on fb to sell, but had no luck. I will set aside a couple nicer costumes to sell next year (at the beginning of October!), but the other 2 I'll take to the charity shop, along with anything else I can think of thats in the storage unit, waiting to be sold still.

I do have my DDs bike helmet and pads that I need to list to sell (now people are thinking about Christmas) as well as some lunch boxes. I will also work on that this weekend.

3 rusted oven trays & cooling rack out today & a few more bits added to the charity bag. Getting dc’s to go through toys this weekend & will drop off donations on Sunday.

I am pleased with myself today. One giant bag for life went to the charity shop.

I gave away 1 x maternity top and 1 x baby jumper to my heavily pregnant friend. Ahh the sense of joy of decluttering.

I joined this thread a couple of weeks ago and made decent progress. We’ve since been on holiday, but now I’m back to it. I’m determined to stick to making progress, there is some real incentive on this thread.

Out - two massive bags of clothes my youngest has outgrown, a bag of swimming odds and ends like swim float and arm bands which is going to my SIL, shoes to the charity bin and I’ve advertised a massive bag of hangers on my local environment conscious FB group.

I have some nicer tops to sell on FB selling groups but if they don’t sell by mid week I am charity shopping them.

Only things that have come in are Christmas as I like to get going early. Even this is late for me. Stocking presents for my DC and proper presents for nieces, nephews and friends’ children.

Good evening, sounds like many of you have got through a lot today 😊

Today, I went through the kitchen cupboards and found........wait for it......five tins of oxtail soup. Hmm, guess what we’ll be having for lunch in the next few days.

In their place will be the cream crackers and Ryvita that live on top of the fridge in a biscuit tin (amongst all sorts of other things, which has now been cleared and cleaned. Yay.

And I still haven’t touched the cupboard under the stairs....

Tomorrow, I’m fluttering my eyelashes at dh in the hope that he’ll put the stuff in the loft from the main and back bedroom, just to finish the rooms off. Fingers crossed.

Thanks @IWillWearTheGreenWillow, I spent yesterday being overwhelmed at work instead lol. But making progress decluttering emails, and I have a nice tidy desk.

I have earmarked a candle to go out. It lives in the bathroom, I rarely use it & it’s gone a funny colour.
I’m hoping to get a couple of things to the tip this morning before we go out.

I’d hit that point yesterday where everything looks much worse before it looks better, there was stuff everywhere in every room.
Now there is stuff everywhere in some rooms and I tidied enough to get the vac round.

Late last night I went through the cupboard under the sink that contains Tupperware. It's something I have been putting off, all I can say is there is a special place in hell for Tupperware. How do I end up with mismatched containers and lids?

@SalemSpellman I know for a fact there are loads of tupperware boxes and lids behind the kickboard in my kitchen, where they've slipped behind the drawer. I need to get them out and sort through. Maybe tomorrow though as we're going to a theme park today (in the pouring rain) ☔🙄

Oh God, I forgot about the cupboard under the sink

@SalemSpellman, I feel your pain with the Tupperware (a reminder to sort mine out .... again).

I think I’ve chucked away the Tupperware bowls last time, but forgot to chuck away the lids that go with them, one bowl and one matching lid at a time. So, about 20 lids to 10 bowls.

I know that I end up with mismatched numbers because DH tries to chuck them out without me noticing.

@Coldhandscoldheart 😄. Does he succeed ?

Dh has just said he will soon be de cluttering the loft.
He has a few things in the loft he wants to get rid of, so what I pass up to him later, he will swap for bin stuff. One in, one out.

I’m looking forward to the tidy mind at the end of it.

Remember it takes years to clutter up so you can’t fix it in a day/ week / month

@Medwaymumoffour, I’ll keep that in mind. I have Thurs and Fridays off plus the weekend, so I can get most things sorted, but I must remember to rest in between. It’s a form of exercise I’m sure.

Apart from people we know, nobody would guess there is only two of us with the amount of stuff we need to shift.

Damnation, I typed a big post on my phone, it said it posted it and it's not here!

You're all doing so well. I've lost the kitchen again so, when I've found it in a bit (it only took 10 mins yesterday - hurrah for decluttering!) I am taking photos of it and WhatsApping it to everyone with a note that says "this is what the kitchen should look like when you've tidied up after dinner".

Plans today involve decluttering fallen leaves from the garden (if it ever stops raining) and hoovering downstairs because I have guests coming this afternoon.

Well done everyone! It sounds like you're all doing really well.

My outs yesterday were a jar and 2 lids. Plus, (without wanting to out myself) we managed to repair a significant household item ourselves, using google and eBay. I reckon we must have saved about £100+ on call-out fees & the part, so I'm feeling quite pleased about that.

Today, I'm hoping DP is going to help me sort some things in the house. The weather here's dreadful so that might be in my favour.

Candle out, the glass jar is waiting for the recycle bin to be washed.
Did supermarket shop this morning and realised we need to start eating the cupboards, which may mean some slightly weird and wonderful meals.
2 things to the tip today, also two boxes of glass (they didn’t collect our bin last week).
DH has taken the kids to the swings, so I’m going to pack a couple of boxes.

Welcome Three! Not much done the last couple of days but two items gone (a water bottle which was really manky and a broken toy). Got DD to try a few clothes on this morning and we now have more stuff in charity shop bag and a few for textile recycling. However, I need to replace some long sleeved t shirts. She needs to slow down growing!

I'm afraid I've not managed to do much as it's half-term. I have gone through our Halloween costumes and there are a couple I'm intending to sell but annoyed I didn't sell them last week. Last year I made a bit of money selling them before Halloween.

I have also been going through Christmas presents and decorations this morning. I've had a few deliveries and not opened them until today. I'd forgotten I bought them so now I've got a stash of presents that take up much less space in the cupboard than lots of parcels and I know I need to buy less. I have also been looking at Christmas decorations. About two years ago I decluttered them and the ones I got rid of had belonged to exh (they were scruffy and didn't match my colour scheme). After 20 years with him I assumed we weren't going to split up (!) so threw them away! So I've been sorting through them wondering if I can find enough generic baubles for him that he won't notice how many have gone! I suspect I'm going to have to be honest with him. He is a hoarder so it will be interesting to see if he gets angry. He's also a bit of a grinch so might not care.