The decluttering on thing a day thread - part 11

[StealthNinjaMum]

We’re still here.

After 10 threads my house still isn't tidy!

So join me and a lovely group of mumsnetters who simply get rid of one thing a day and report back. Gradually we’re developing good habits, reorganising ourselves, often improving our mental health and having friendly chatter along the way.

So newbies are welcome, just check in with your news and join in the general chat about recycling, organisation and housework.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3760076-Decluttering-one-thing-a-day-part-10-the-countdown-to-a-clutter-free-Christmas?pg=1

ALSO many of us have set a target to get rid of 2020 items this year and will report on that.

I've been googling and I believe Oxfam take old mobiles and recycle them responsibly. Good to know!

I've decided to get rid of another phone - it's one of the very simple 'spares'. I think 2 spares is probably more than enough.

I've also remembered that DP has another old phone which he uses as a torch (even though we have a torch). I'm going to work on him to hopefully get rid of that one too.

SandAndSea - I also have some old phones to get rid of. I was just going to put them in the "small electrical recycling" section at the recycling site, but I have changed my mind.

A lot of charities used to send out envelopes for old mobiles, cameras etc. but i think those stopped after the Royal Mail restrictions on mailing batteries came in. I also knew that Oxfam took phones, but wanted to ask in our local branch first.

Of the four phones I am definitely ditching, two date from around 2004 and two from around 2009. So far I have managed to charge one of the older ones and return it to factory settings. The other one is not switching on. The two newer ones are refusing to start without a SIM (one of the original large ones). They are O2, and I tried a Virgin SIM from one of the older phones but they didn't like it. At one time O2 sent me various SIMs trying to get me to change from PAYG, so I am still hoping to find one of these. I know how to wipe them if I can get them started up. Sigh! On the other hand, they will not have much on them...

Purple - I've done master resets on mine but have since read that it's also worth encrypting the data first. I don't know enough about this but wanted to flag it up in case it's useful.

One box of misc scalextric track and two cars out to the dump. They have a 'shop' so hope to put it there in case someone more skilled can get it going again. Next charity bag started with a new pencil case (youngest DC is 20) and wooden toy car.

I've just been getting rid of small things the last couple of days. I've spent a bit of time today putting everything in the right drawers in the kitchen. Sorted out the bathroom cabinet too.
I was going to order a blanket box before Christmas but it never happened! I really need to do that so all spare duvets and pillows etc can live in there.
I'm still working my way through all the shampoos, conditioners and various hair products I have. Give it another month and I think I should have used the excess.

SandAndSea - it was a master reset I did on mine - I am not sure it was new enough to support encryption! I can't remember now how much data was kept on the sim and how much on the phone itself. I should consult the manual. The older two didn't have a camera, the newer two did but I only remember taking one photo on mine as it was really crappy.

I checked the Oxfam info and it is fonebank they use. They say dud phones will have their components recycled. The older two phones don't appear on their listings, but our newer two phones are worth 10p each!

I think I will try to find a SIM to get the newer two going enough to wipe them, then hand all four in to Oxfam. We also have 3 newer old phones - one basic one I want to keep as a spare in case we need a "disposable" one for something, the other two are destined for eBay once I get time to sort them out. They may well be worth encrypting before wiping - thanks.

Still working on the decorating so not much time for clearing clutter but someone just picked up smallest pickle’s bed guard so that’s bed guard out and £5 in. Sadly, the pickle in question also vomited spectacularly all over our duvet last night and it won’t fit into our washing machine, I’m trying to figure out if it’s more economical to get it laundered or just buy a new one as I suspect the cost will be entirely similar.

Oh, poor Poorly Pickle - hope they are much improved today. We have a similar conundrum with the printer - it's leaving yellow streaks all over everything. We can either fix it and spend £250 on new ink, or tip it and buy a new printer. Sadly, I think I know the answer.

1 manky mattress and 6 cardboard boxes from the new bed to the tip today. The old bed will hopefully be going to the furniture project as soon as I can get hold of them. Not counting it as out yet, though.

583/2020

I half gutted the master bedroom today. I've got rid of so much - clothes that don't fit me, stuff that I seem to hand onto despite them serving no purpose and so much rubbish e.g. tags for clothes.

I've been super organised and taken some clothes to the post office, the returns for my dress binge the other week. Normally I end up forgetting about them and taking them to the charity shop. It will be a nice in when the money is recredited to my account.

I also discovered that I did have as many pairs of socks and pants as I though and will be looking forward to buying some more - yes this is how exciting things are for me.

I need DH to go through his stuff and declutter.

New total 500/2020.

Purple - I don't think mine were new enough to support encryption either. I'm going to have to hand it over to the Gods and hope that Oxfam have security covered.

Another bag dropped into a charity shop - largely the cookbooks this time. Few bits for the rag bag pulled out of the washing once done, yet more holed socks

Charity shop run done today: 1 big box and 1 bag4life out.

Dropped an old large handbag full of books to the charity shop. Sorted the children's books so that's another job done.

Digital declutter-have deleted a load of files from various laptops, consolidated and put all the ones I want to keep in my Google Drive. Also went through emails and deleted hundreds, made some new rules so they go into various folders etc. Recycled some old journals as well and sorted bureau and games/crafts cupboard so it's better sorted. 2 bags for charity in total so far.

I'm getting better with using up food; we get a veg box now and I just Google recipes depending on what comes so no more random ingredients everywhere. Also I'm collecting receipts for a month or so so I can monitor my spending habits and see if there's anything I can work on there as sometimes I can shop a bit impulsively (not major spends but like buying cleaning products when we already have some, that kind of thing). I'm trying to work on that this year and not stockpiling things.

Hello. I'm new, going to start in my attic. I have a junperoo a bought on Facebook marketplace for my baby for either £5-10 thinking I could sell for the same but no-one is interested. Where would you recommend getting rid of it? It's just sat in the middle of the converted attic room.

Hello, I’ve checked in on a couple of previous threads but never properly got going. But now I have! I’ve got two very small DC so find it really hard to get the time but I had some childcare this week and used it to declutter their room.

I took one bin bag full of stuffed toys to Oxfam, many with tags still on, that have never been played with. And two big bags full of their old clothes.

I also put a bin bag full of stuff in the bin which I feel bad about cos I’m trying to reduce how much I send to landfill this year, but it was all just crap with broken or missing bits that no one would have wanted.

Over the next couple of weeks, some friends of friends who are expecting a baby are coming to take DS’s cot, baby towels, grobags that are too small, a play mat, a quilt and a baby gym. I will feel BRILLIANT once all that stuff is gone.

I’m feeling really good to have started. My DM is dying and I think decluttering is giving me a sense of control.

Hello days, hellohello and rain, good to have more people on board. Rain, I'm very sorry to hear about your DM - remember to look after yourself too.

I finally went took a first pass through the bedding from under DS2's old bed yesterday - a single duvet cover and pillow case, a very old (and cheap!) king size duvet cover and a fitted sheet so old it's from my childhood put in the recycling bag. I also gave my brother 5 king size fitted sheets as we don't have a kingsize bed anymore; and 4 bars of chocolate, obvs.

This still leaves me with 6 single duvet sets not committed anywhere; but some will have to stay as we only have 1 kingsize duvet and I'll need emergency covers for illness etc.on the spare singles.

596/2020

Can’t remember how many things I had decluttered when I last posted, but am currently at 427/2020, having got rid of:

Lots of old payslips and bank statements which will go in the confidential waste bin at work
Some party bag toys
3 outgrown coats that won’t do for DS
4 old cushions
Baby sling
Random Christmas decoration

DP definitely seems to be slowly coming round to the idea of getting rid of things we don’t use/need, and he amazed me by taking a jacket out of the wardrobe and putting it straight into the charity bag saying “This can go, I don’t ever wear it” . Still keeping his ten year old once worn ski jacket tho

I'd love to join the thread, I've been reading for ages and getting lots of inspiration but haven't got around to posting!

Rain, sorry to hear about your mum.

I also have small children and the house is slight chaos as we don't have a lot of storage, I realise that is the problem as well as too much stuff but I don't want to buy storage for things we don't need! I've been decluttering for years but it's an ongoing thing. Getting a regular charity shop bag together and having an ebay push now (I don't like ebay, it's a lot of effort for not much return but we have some random things which aren't great for charity shops).

I'm getting rid of all our baby things as LittleCat outgrows them and I'm on a mission to finally sort the house out as the clutter stresses me out and makes it impossible to find anything.

Been reading but not posting over last few days . But no visitors staying this week! I decluttered the cutlery drawer on Friday... And it genuinely seems to be making people happy as we can actually find what we need as I've got the organiser we bought six months ago in there now. Other than that, more outgrown clothes (and some disliked clothes) bagged up for charity shop, some manky bedding for the rags bin, I've built a Lego set and disposed of the box, and bought the kids laundry baskets in an attempt to stop them hiding their dirty stuff under their beds.

One giant and unwanted sofa is going right now. Our lovely next door neighbour is helping DH to move it.

Ours is now complaining (loudly) to me as if I can stop it.

Oops wrong thread! That was about our cat and the wind....
Item on Gumtree has gone. I'm waiting for person to say when they will collect item I have on Freecycle, to be fair I don't expect them to come today.