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.

@pollyannaperspective Hope your DH is ok.

@gassylady That sounds hard.

I saw an interesting thing on facebook earlier that I thought might appeal to some of you. Somebody was putting plain cardboard on their borders with leaf mulch on top. I don't understand the reasoning but apparently the cardboard stops weeds growing and the mulch is good for the soil. I don't have any cardboard as I'm not really doing any online shopping but might be a good idea for someone.

I went through a child's bookcase and have got rid of 67 books. Well they'll have to stick around for a while but there is an agreement they'll go. We have hundreds of books so the bookcase doesn't really look clearer but it's a start.

I hope everyone’s well. I have added another 7 books to the ‘to go’ pile. I also have permission to get rid a game but it has missing parts and I may tear the house upside down looking for them!

A thread I need to read ... we're halfway through a kitchen reno now on hold with the lockdown so the last 3 mths has been challenging to cook & wash up in the laundry (& to find various bits in boxes in the spare rooms), but finally starting to put some stuff away into drawers. Still no water or power in the kitchen yet :)
So - Ive started a box of kitchen clutter, ornaments from years ago that are just a bit tacky now, dozens of coffee cups & tea set china thingys. Getting ruthless.
But have hit a wall (DH) with our shelves of books. I dont keep many fiction books - read on Kindle a lot - but I do have (quite a few) sewing/quilting etc etc books which I want to keep. My DH though has lots of shelves full of Wilbur Smith books, his & his sister's story books from their school days (theyre both 65+) & some American type encyclopedias for home handy stuff - have never seen him read them.
Would love to toss them but they are not mine so, ideas or suggestions on how youve managed your partners hang ons. Or am I being mean.
The wardrobe will be next ...

Hello eenymeeny, you will get a lot of advice here on 'encouraging' reluctant DHs but basically we've mainly found that it's best to stay with your own stuff and inspire that by how amazing the house looks! My DH can see the theory now but so far isn't great at turning this into action!

All of the boxes went with the recycling yesterday as well as a big bag of used batteries. On the down side DD asked me to get out a birthday gift that I had donated over a year ago. She's got it for her birthday in 2018 so no idea how she remembers. Haven't admitted to getting rid of it yet...

Stealth I had forgotten that leaf mould trick so thank you. I actually found a bag of the stuff in the garden earlier this week which is ready to use. Cardboard might have to wait for autumn though now I've got rid of all the boxes!

Massive sweep through house yesterday looking for cardboard and paper. Still collecting our kerbside recycling here but not sure for how long that will continue so we made the most of this weeks Few more holey socks and torn jeans into rag bag - old one full so stashed in a corner of garage. Thinking I might take some old kids books into work but not sure if people would be happy to take them for their kids at the moment. If not they can start the next charity shop bag

Welcome eenymeeny. I agree with raspberry that the best way of bringing family members on board is to declutter as much as you can and tidy things away so they can see the benefits.

Having said that my house has gone from bad to worse. Dd2 has let me get rid of lots of her books but we haven’t reorganised her pit of a bedroom and the house is an absolute mess from having dc home constantly. I have created crates of clean washing and not put any away and dc now get their clean stuff out of crates rather than drawers. And my laundry baskets are like volcanos with dirty washing spilling out. We have unopened post and school home learning crap everywhere.

So plan today is to put clean washing away and do two loads of washing. Then tidy the homeschool stuff. And maybe spend another half an hour with dd2 decluttering her stuff.

Cleared out the kitchen cupboard that holds baking trays, kids drinks bottles and baking kit. Took it all out and threw out all the useless stuff. Now everything fits back easily and I had space to store the three rolls of kitchen roll I bought in Aldi!!!! It is one of those horrid corner units with the build-in turntables. I hate it - some day when I get the kitchen I want I will have one line of units and one huge island - that's all, no corners!!!

DD has decided to clear out her wardrobe so I told her to make 3 bags for friends DD; for charity and for charity rags, and we can store them in the boot until the shop reopens and we see friends again.

@eenymeenymineymo
I left my DH's stuff to him, but I did all my own stuff and he saw how lovely it was and gradually agreed to me helping him with some stuff and he did some other stuff himself.

Perhaps agree in your mind that his stuff gets to stay in certain places and you clear out all the rest of the space. He will soon realise that your space looks better and he will gradually clear up his. Eventually my DH agreed that his clutter ruined the conservatory (he had 2 racing bikes, repair gear and golf stuff that was all to precious for the shed) and at the start of lockdown we tackled it together and now he is thrilled as we have a wonderful quiet seating space for the sunny days in lockdown.

I agreed to him hanging his bike on the walls of the conservatory - they look like art installations and they are not in the way and he gets easy access and I get the rest of the conservatory for furniture only - he moved all the ancillary items and golf stuff to the shed.

A kind of productive day. I put the clean washing away and filled the drying frames with another three loads of clean washing. As I put it away I went through dd2s wardrobe and found 15 items to go and some other bits to be put away in different places. She has a million pairs of socks so tomorrow I will try to persuade her to throw some away.

I'm a lurker! Decluttering continues here but Not very fast. I'm starting to feel irritated so hoping that will help me be more decisive. OH has cleared some stuff out - not that you would notice but he has. Recycling bin filled and charity bag filling up for when this is all over. Thank you. to everyone who posts as I find it very encouraging and supportive.

Welcome, @eenymeenymineymo and @AbbieLexie! So glad you find us helpful, Abbie.

I can't sleep (again) so I'm up and doing things, albeit in a bit of a sleepy fog.

Outs include:

• The labels from a new pair of jeans which I took ages to try on. (I had bought the same pair before but, I know, no excuse really.)
• Boris's letter and a receipt.
• A jar and lid - I've got too many again. I think I'll have to do the whole cupboard out again soon.
• A bottle of wine which I'm finally finishing off. (I'm not a big drinker so they tend to hang around, annoying me.)

Most of my house is in uproar at the moment. It looks like everything's 'out'. There's a pile of dirty dust sheets, a giant bag of bags and an even larger pile of 'for the tip stuff'; the vacuum cleaner, a large box of stuff for BIL, a keyboard, a wheelchair, a cat blanket, some holey socks, a pair of glasses... all this and more surrounds me now!

DP oiled the living room doors (great!) but, they're now too speedy (oh dear!) and apparently, this is why we have an old newspaper on the floor.

Similarly, he broke a cupboard and hasn't got around to fixing it, which is why there are metal bits and a screwdriver on the kitchen side.

I haven't written a list for him for ages but I can definitely feel one coming on now.

The good news is that the living room and bathroom are still OK. Also, I've put away the clean laundry, filled the wm and dw and wiped the kitchen round.

I spent quite a bit of Sunday in the garden and cleaned out our garden store. I found that DP had left a bag of chicken food in the incinerator which he had stored in there. It was a crawling mass of maggots and spiders. not envy! I double bagged it and put it in the landfill bin, but now I think I should have emptied it on the compost heap for the birds to pick through. Anyway, that explains why some hay stored there earlier in the year had moths in it. Sigh! Everything was covered in webs and pupae cases. The incinerator is still in the garden as, after washing, it had maggots still left in the gap under the rim. There is also a small pack of fixings for feet for it sitting on the back doorstep that have to be cleaned and fitted. I hope to do that this weekend, and get it back in. The store itself looks great after being scrubbed out with hot soapy water and left to dry. I hope to get the flattened cardboard boxes out of our paper bin and into it this weekend. Some gardening program recently was talking about putting in raised beds. It said that you don't have to clear the ground - just put down a weed-suppressing membrane, then cardboard, before filling with soil and compost. I think I might keep some of the cardboard and try this, assuming we actually get around to getting our planned raised beds sorted this year.

Well, according to the most recent bin calendar on the council website, we have no bin collection this week. About half the street have put out their green bin. Next door put their one out at 6.15am this morning, setting one of our dogs off barking who woke me up. Sigh! The green bin will be collected next week along with our blue (landfill) one. I bet everyone will just leave out their bins until then. Groan!

I'm doing yet more cleaning and decluttering today. Outs so far:

• Two old takeaway leaflets and a clothes peg found under a cupboard - probably belonging to the previous owner.

• A grimy old chopping board left on top of the dishwasher that also belonged to the previous owner. I only just noticed it (after several years!) as our dishwasher sits under the kitchen units. Fishing it out and chucking it was very satisfying I must say!

Yuk wondering, how long had that been there?

Good job on scrubbing, Purple, but I think you'd have heard me shriek from here if I'd found maggots!

Today, I have had my first decluttering oops - I needed the mincer, which we put out before Christmas. Although it was rusty, so it saved some cleaning faff.

Eeniemeeny, welcome! My DH laughed at my decluttering efforts (in a kind way) and called me a fun-sponge when I sorted and folded all my tshirts so I could see what was there, à la Marie Kondo.

Then a week later, he sidled up to me and asked quietly if I could show him how to make his drawers look like that .

Abbie, welcome!

Today's outs:

3 DVDs, 1 video tape thingy (?), last night's leftovers used up as tonight's curry and some frozen cake defrosted for pudding.(I'm feeling resourceful!)

That reminds me of when I investigated a leak in our airing cupboard and found some of the previous owner's clothes that had fallen behind the water tank Wondering. Not quite as bad but still ewww!

I think I’m feeling traumatised by purplefrogs update!

greenwillow sounds like a happy marriage when your dh asks for advice in Tidyi g drawers.

I have had a really productive couple of days now that the house looks better! I am largely on top of washing - being able to hang it out helped cheer me up. I went through dd2s entire wardrobe and got rid of loads.

I also went through the bathrooms with dds sorting out hair clips and hair bands. I found pots for each gir and we threw loads away. I have put aside a few pots of eczema cream that have passed their use by date. And I found 5 nail clippers. I don’t recall ever buying them but @Reastie pointed out that they probably came in a Christmas cracker.

I also cleared the counter in our downstairs toilet as it had hairsprays on it for headlice and we haven’t had live for about three years.

The rest of the house is still chaos with stuff everywhere but I am not very good at both decluttering and keeping the house tidy.

Just a used container of Diprobase out today - just 18 months to use it up.
Was hoping for a small cull on car books but, apparently, they are all wanted. Will try again when asking where on the car books bookcase they need to be positioned.

I have just decluttered 4 inches of DD's hair, as she decided it was too long and heavy. Thus far, she is delighted - cross fingers that holds!

I decluttered a box of toys from the children's playroom. Unfortunately it only went as far as the loft till after lockdown, but I got it out of their grasping little hands with only minimal wailing and gnashing of teeth. Feeling like a winner

Yuk wondering, how long had that been there?

I know - it wasn’t pleasant! I thought I’d got rid of all the previous owner’s bits and bobs that had fallen behind cupboards and that sort of thing. Hopefully that was the last of them!

To be fair, we are still using the kitchen knife DH found down the back of the cupboards in his first flat, 25 years later. It was a student let in Chelsea and we reckon the knife must have been £££££ as it's still going brilliantly 4 kids, 5 houses and a dog later!

I dumped an old scarf and a shirt that had a hole in it this morning. Decluttered an Easter egg!

My out today is probably a mug. I say 'probably' because it was a special gift with really lovely wording, which meant a LOT to me at the time and still does. But, it's too small to use, has a thick lip (dreadful) and is not my style at all. So, I am a bit torn but tbh, I'm sentimental about everything and I just have to draw the line somewhere...... don't I?! I've done so much decluttering over so many years and I've still got stuff everywhere, so it has to go, doesn't it??

(I've got it out and I'm thinking about it a bit more.)

@SandAndSea its a hard decision but we’ve been decluttering for years and I don’t remember you regretting getting rid of anything so my gut would say just let it go.

I have gone through dd1s wardrobe and decluttered a load of clothes. Both dds went through a phase of going to craft parties and decorating t shirts they never wore. Thankfully we’ve past that phase and both girls are happy to have got rid of the t shirts.

I have also discovered that you can boil risotto rice and my eldest child prefers it to normal. We have one bag of normal rice and two oldish ones of risotto rice so we’ll be able to have rice without buying more. In my area it’s still hit and miss whether you can buy rice so if I see any in a shop I know I can leave it for someone who needs it more.

Decluttering of leaves this morning as I got up before dc to do some gardening. It was too hot to do any yesterday so we had a picnic in the garden. We’ve spent more time in the garden so far this year than I think we did in the whole of last year and I am wondering whether to buy more furniture and / or a tiny barbecue.