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=

Hi everyone! I'm back! [Waves]

I'm still catching up with the thread, but, the washing is on, I've posted a big item for sale and have a few more things on the out pile (mobile phone and charger, rug etc).

@Times10 mine are still at my mum’s but I remember weeping when I read a nursery report of mine which basically said I couldn’t sit still & talked too much 😂

In other news, I’ve rearranged many boxes but not actually packed that many. Not really any outs. There’ll be an in later too although it will stay in the car for now.

times10 I skimmed a couple and found them disappointing. No really funny one-liners and I couldn't face reading the rest but they are 30 to 40 years old so it feels wrong to chuck them out!

I have shredded some papers and decluttered one lonely Beatrix Potter book!

I did the paparwork! Woop! 🏆

Paperwork 😁

purplefrog I remember the upheaval when you got that boiler, i bet it’s so much easier now!

Some things definitely are! Although, I realise that I still have a carrier bag of stuff sitting in the dining room that was removed from the cupboard under the kitchen sink so the engineer could access pipes. We gained an under-counter cupboard as the new boiler needed more access space around it, so I have no excuse not to put that stuff away properly!

Now that we have had the boiler over a year, I need to look at our gas usage and see if there is any visible improvement on the last one.

@StealthNinjaMum - I would keep the documents as well. My mum presented me with a folder about 8 years ago containing similar things. I need to check if my degree certificate is there, as I don't remember seeing that.

I ground to a halt after the last school sweatshirt. The kitchen is still hideous, the bathroom light has blown and the ceiling is too high for any of us to reach. The office needs more attention, the paperwork is piling up, the so-called paperless school has sent home more leaflets in colour combinations that render them illegible to me, LG has built a den using all the kitchen chairs so that no-one can sit at the table, and all I want to do is eat biscuits and sleep.

Phew!

Today and tomorrow are for tidying and sorting.

Stealth- I also found my reports as my parents house and they showed a steady decline from working hard and achieving very highly, to....the opposite!! I need to bin them.

I’ve found a box of stuff which, amongst dust bunnies and old paperwork, contains what I can only imagine are unwanted Christmas presents- some pjs and a scarf with labels on that I barely remember seeing!! How bad is that?!

Welcome, @Blonderthanthesun, @RumRumRum, @user1494055864 and @ohyesiknowwhatyoumean! Apologies if I've missed anyone.

It's always lovely to see new people joining. If you're new, please do say, so we can welcome you. The thread's been going for quite a while now so it's hard to remember sometimes.

I'm just catching up after being away...

Thanks, @RaspberryBlonde!

@PurpleFrog - I'm curious about why you use cereal boxes to dispose of shredded paper. Do I need to do this too? Please do tell!

"Each pile is a new opportunity" - @Medwaymumoffour, you're an inspiration!

Thanks, StealthNinjaMum! I've got knickers and bras all in together in one small drawer. Socks in another small drawer. They are both pretty stuffed and 'chucked in' but it works because they're all fully decluttered. (I did Kondo-fold them for a while but found it a bit of a waste of time. I pair socks and Kondo-fold tops and bottoms which really helps with packing.)

Stealth - It's definitely harder to get rid of things which have been kept for a long time. That said, I got rid of all the school reports which didn't feel good and if I can do it... I've kept my vaccination docs.

@Coldhandscoldheart - Fingers crossed for an easy sale!

@Tidy2018 - Time for a break!

@BrutusMcDogface - It's perfect timing as lots of people are in need of things like this at this time of year.

You're all doing wonderfully. Well done, everyone! There's so much good work going on here.

Where can I get rid of two school sweatshirts in good condition but the style has been discontinued? They wear jumpers and blazers now so nobody will want to buy or use them as uniform.

Blue - Charity shop or rag bin??

Yeah, rag in I think, nobody will buy them from a charity shop. 👍

@SandAndSea

Regarding my use of cereal boxes - I just spent five minutes looking at our Council's website and (eventually) found this in their A-Z of recycling:

Shredded paper
Recycle shredded paper in the paper and cardboard bin at your home, and at some of our Recycling Centres. Please wrap shredded paper in newspaper or in a cereal box to reduce the chance of this spilling onto the street.

PurpleFrog - Oh, I see; it's a spillage thing! We've been told to use the landfill bin because of privacy, which is another issue entirely. I'd like to be greener though so I might try this, thanks!

Hmm, our council doesn’t take shredded paper at all 🤔

Managed to empty DD's wardrobe with her today - a goodly pile of old clothes out, and everything back in in a much more user friendly fashion, including moving things over from her chest of drawers. DH can get that out tomorrow.

Sand - thanks for the flowers :-)) Much appreciated, and I really needed a break.

LB fell and cut his lip yesterday evening. Blood everywhere, no real damage done. This leaves me shaky and exhausted most of today. The kids have done lots of jigsaws in the hallway, and that’s great, but I have to hold my tongue about how twitchy I get with this kind of thing within just a couple of hours. And then they reminded me that tomorrow is no uniform day for CiN.

I’m listening to a podcast about the isolation of travelling to Mars. Sounds good to me.....

Hmmm tidy a one way trip to Mars does have its appeals some days!

Not much new for me. Eldest son school refused yesterday and was shocked how much I tidy up and how quickly the younger ones destroy my hard work.

I did some decluttering of dds clothes yesterday, sorted and grouped by age but as I expected I hardly wanted to part with anything so decided to leave it now until the weekend and go back to my stuff.

But the plus side is I could prepair the house in 30 mins today for my sons disabilities social worker visit. She said it looked tidier so that’s good!

@Medwaymumoffour whilst school refusing not great, perhaps a good thing that he has seen and realised that. Perhaps a casual chat off the back of that will help get him further on board.
It never ceases to astonish me how much mess small children can make and at what speed.

I’m back at my cluttered house and I’m looking in the pantry for something to eat. I’ve counted 9 bottles of vinegar, all dusty and a bit sticky and in need of a bath.
There is red wine, white wine, 2x malt, basic white, rice wine vinegar, and 3 bottles of balsamic 🙄
How about you? Similar?
The reason we have three bottles of balsamic vinegar is because when we go on holiday to self-catering apartments we usually have to buy that sort of stuff because I forget to take it and then we bring it home. But the truth is I haven’t used balsamic for years now.
Does vinegar go off? I had one once which tasted a bit ‘stale’ but I couldn’t find anything online that said it did go off. Do any of you have any experience in this area?

I think vinegar can go past its best, yes. Balsamic notwithstanding (too sticky!) can you repurpose the rest for cleaning if it's beyond eating / cooking with? Taps don't care about the colour of vinegar, they still come out shiny!

Further sorting of DD's room and outs due today, and probably a family meeting about it Not All Being My Job. We are too busy and complex a unit for it to be 5 people, supported by me, in an inverted triangle. We need to be a net, all supporting each other and tidying as we go.

You can use vinegar for cleaning if you have an excess 🙂

I think vinegar can go past its best, yes. I think so too. Definitely tastes funny.
Balsamic notwithstanding (too sticky!) can you repurpose the rest for cleaning if it's beyond eating / cooking with? Taps don't care about the colour of vinegar, they still come out shiny! Okay! Actually, after reading the preview I can recognise that I'll never do this.
You can use vinegar for cleaning if you have an excess Yes, that's what the 2L of white vinegar was bought for :) I haven't used much.....
I'm going to take one malt and one balsamic (once DH opens them so I can taste them) to the other place. I'll also take the rice wine vinegar and other sushi supplies away with me. I've chucked the white wine, he can keep the white, I'll take the red.
It'll change from 9 in one place to 2 in the bin, 3 at one place and 4 at the other place. Sounds more reasonable.

Good luck with your meeting GreenWillow. I didn't think it was a tantrum at all the other day; just a short list of perfectly valid complaints.

9 bottles of vinegar. I think it says something about me but also about lifestyles today, and marketing and glorification of food. Do you agree?

If you could only keep one type of vinegar, what would it be? I'm thinking white wine might be the best all-rounder but I'm going to google it.....Google didn't help me.

(I've just realised we also have apple cider vinegar.)