The decluttering one thing a day thread - part 12

[AlexTheLittleCat]

For StealthNinjaMum

We’re still here.

After 11 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/3799710-The-decluttering-on-thing-a-day-thread-part-11?pg=1

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

Lane have you tried Pinterest for ideas? Someone suggested it to me for gardening ideas for a kids fairy garden, I'm going to give it a go. Or you could make a mood board with colours, ideas etc. Ebay might to a cheap place for anything you decide on?

I like the flylady zones too, it gives me a focus to work on a little of everything and I'm hoping if I stick to it eventually the house will be sorted (even though I have been decluttering for years...)

Good idea alex! I did take a screenshot today, my friend shared someone’s business page - they make plant pot hanger things that are actually really beautiful and I was thinking with screenshots (I tend to do those a lot for anything I need to remember - I really need to declutter my photos!) maybe I could keep a document on Pages where I note ideas and photos

Nothing else out today, actually focused on ins - chose some bits for the toddler to play with, and have decided on a comb binder for home ed stuff (totally sick of loose sheets everywhere, and the way I’m now planning I’ll actually be making my own workbooks for DS, so I think it’s finally time... I am embarrassingly excited about this!)

Timewastingbutfun With school books I only keep the creative things. I’m only at primary school stage but that includes any art or creative writing and excludes grammar and spelling. When they’re younger for most subjects they might do one or two sentences and a picture. I kept those but things like science, French, maths were easy to get rid of. Also a lot of their exercise books just had six pages that were written on and a thick book of unused paper which I have kept as scrap. I only have a fraction of stuff for each year and anticipate keeping less as they get older and just do writing.

LaneBoy I’m like you, in the past I’ve bought loads of storage solutions but I’m now in the position of getting rid of them (slowly) as I declutter. I recently gave a friend some huge Really Useful Boxes to help her move house and they were really big. It’s a satisfying feeling knowing they were once full and I have got rid of the contents.

I’ve said a few times LaneBoy that I have focused so much on decluttering and making the house ‘less awful’ that I don’t spend much time on making it ‘nice’ and ‘homely’ but actually I do have a lot of things around that I love. Over the last ten years I have slowly bought pictures, photo frames, lamps, rugs, throws, cushions. You can’t really rush it or you’ll buy stuff that you don’t like that adds to the clutter. About 18 months ago I decided I wanted either a mirror or big painting to go over my fireplace. I had in mind what I wanted and spent about a year doing searches on facebook marketplace and eventually bought a big, expensive looking canvas for only £20. So don’t get upset if you think your house isn’t as ‘finished’ as you’d like. I suspect I’m older than you and it’s taken time to slowly buy nice things.

MrsTidyHouse I am like you. Items bring memories and my ipad has so many photos I never look back at the photos to get the memories back. I suppose I have just learnt to live for the moment more and enjoy where I am today and that involves being efficient with my behaviour and not having to sift through clutter to find what I want.

Going back to what makes a homely home I think probably the most important thing to me is lighting. I have a variety of lamps I love that set the mood of each room. Each lamp is on its own on the furniture or perhaps next to a photo frame. Having a beautiful lamp for me is an incentive to keep the surrounding space clear. (By beautiful I don’t mean fancy, they’re quite plain, but I love them).

Laneboy yes I look at people with things from travels – like colourful rugs – and think it might mean I’m boring too as I don’t have any! And I identify with losing some of yourself. I had started a few hobbies and I was making friends and that’s all stopped. This won’t last forever.

Anyway the good news is I finally finished reading a book I bought 5 years ago! I really enjoyed it and am tempted to keep it but it’s taken 5 years so I don’t think I’ll read it again. It's going in the charity shop pile.

I’m intrigued as to the book! :o Well done on finishing it. I have no idea how many books I’ve left unfinished over the years, mainly due to being disorganised and putting them down somewhere and forgetting about them.

That’s one positive of lockdown actually - in the last 2 months I’ve finished two books I’d had on the go for ages, and read 4 others and started a fifth. Also started an audiobook for the first time. That’s more than I’d read in over a year previously! And actually that is part of my identity that I’m reclaiming - I have always enjoyed it so I hope I can continue making time for it :)

Lamps are definitely something I’d like. Soft, warm lighting. Our living room has two ceiling lights and we had so much to buy when we moved that we just have basic white shades. I’d love wall lights but the faff and expense involved in installing that is way beyond us. We also agreed ceiling fans would be awesome 🤗

Photos - another thing I would love to sort. I would like to have some of those big frames with multiple individual frames (all jumbled up so you can have sort of a collage) full of family photos going up the stairs :) one of the many things I’ve not made time for yet.

I’m annoyed I’m not up to anything today. DD has agreed to help do more in the living room though ready for when she’s allowed a sleepover so that’s something. I’m very glad we already did a fair bit because it was so awful in here before.

It was Ben Elton Time and Time Again and I bought it in Tesco 5 years ago thinking I'd read it on holiday. I was also reading the book about the Swedish 100 year old man who climbed through a window - that also took about four years! I really enjoyed it but it's going. I tend to read a lot of dc's books so Harry Potter, Percy Jackson etc to make sure they're suitable for them.

LaneBoy I have a few photo frames dotted around the house but have at least three photos of stbexh and also the dc are toddlers in them. I really need to update them but there's always a more urgent job to do.

I'm upset about Laura Ashley closing as they have some lovely lamps. I used to go in and admire them but not buy them which is probably why they're going under! I am intending to buy a couple of lampshades from there as they have a good sale on.

I went to the attic to get envelopes. Found a collapsible box that would be good for laundry but full if papers and gift bags. Do you Keep gift bags to regift? I threw away two brochures.... the box is on my list but the whole attic is overwhelming.

@Hellohello2020 I keep a select few gift bags/wine bags for regifting. Sometimes they're still immaculate once we've opened whatever's inside, seems so wasteful to get rid of them. Only keep threw or four at a time and make sure to use them up!

House looks quite tidy today so while DS had his nap I decided to find 'secret' clutter hidden in drawers etc. Out so far:

• broken bubble machine
• rude bottle opener from hen do, won't use again!

-old towel -out of date ovulation tests -the last of a pillow spray -old keyring -broken ipod holder (DH ordered himself a new one, so technically one in, one out - but at least not hoarding the old one!) -2 x MIL food containers, back to MIL -ramekin dish

Just goes to show, even when things look ok, there's always stuff lurking! Have a few things to list on fb marketplace too

Made it to the tip! Felt a bit guilty about a couple of things, but really no one would want them.

Just checking in with a not very productive weekend.

A broken necklace and a broken toy from the bottom of the toy box

hellohello2020 I do keep gift bags to regift but I have so many I'm wondering whether to recycle them.

Wow Meg that is bloody brilliant my youngest would love that but definitely beyond my skills. Lots of ins for a birthday this week but as it’ll stay in so s room I can ignore those!

Wowww meg 🤩😍 that’s amazing! Thankfully our door is “panelled” in shape already (I really don’t think I could emulate that like you have) - but there’s no actual grain IYSWIM. Although actually I may be remembering the doors at the old house, these do seem more solid. The old ones had sort of sheets of thin mdf on either side. I’ve just looked at ours and they look different so I think I was getting mixed up with the old house 😳

Now the question is how much sanding would I risk in trying to find a decent grain 😳😂

Fun Door!

I’ve realised that however long lockdown started ago (feels like years now) I still haven’t managed to create a new routine. Feeling rather overwhelmed now, as the mess seems endless and yet I can’t muster the motivation to really do anything. Because I’m stressed out about it, I’m not doing anything else either. Basically spending my days not achieving anything at all. It’s so frustrating seeing the days go by and having nothing to show for it. I just don’t know how to get into a better routine, especially as the summer holidays are approaching and I don’t want September to come around with nothing changed between now and then!

Routine is so hard isn’t it. We’d got a good thing going with the chores but then we added more and now it’s too hard it feels like we are near square one again (maybe square three or so? :o) I’m really hoping the end of term brings a lot of relief for all of us and makes it easier for the rest of life to be figured out. In the meantime I’m just trying to do what I can even if that’s throwing out literally one thing but it’s so frustratingly slow. I can definitely relate to the days just going by - in some ways I can’t believe we’ve been in lockdown so long, and yet March seems forever ago. On one hand I’m totally aware we don’t have to be the paragons of productivity, I love all the memes that were going round about it being ok to just get by, that you don’t need to redecorate the whole house and learn a million languages etc. I’m very good at telling other people that sort of thing. And yet really I still end up pressuring myself - I have turned into someone who always thinks of what to do next, I’m constantly stressing about it and find it harder to just relax because I feel guilty - even down to feeling like I have to watch something new (instead of just chilling in front of a comedy I’ve seen a million times, which I usually find relaxing). I’m glad I can manage things like deleting a few emails in a spare moment but it’s like I can’t just stop without feeling guilty. Life has become one massive to do list and I still don’t feel productive at all! I still sit and stare into space or faff online too much.

Ta for link meg :) I love the word “scumble” :o

I just had a sudden panic that when my new friend pops by for a doorstep chat it might be raining. And people are allowed in houses and so I could invite her in for a cuppa, but I don’t really invite anyone in normally apart from a few close friends. The living room and hallway are better than before but when I barely know someone it’s scary. Especially as she mentioned in one of our chats that she hates clutter 😳

Morning all. Following talk of the flylady zones I had a quick look and have decided to tackle today's mission of decluttering the fridge! I've been meaning to do it anyway so am posting here for accountability. Otherwise it's all stuff coming in for DS birthday and all of the stuff DD is bringing home from school, none of which she will let me dispose of.

Loving all the ideas for home improvements. Jigolo that door is fantastic.

I don't think we have much of a routine Times but things keep changing in terms of working or not and whether the DC are here or not. I know how you feel about not knowing where to start. I feel I should be superproductive as I'm saving 3 hours a day working from home, but somehow it just disappears!

Need to cheer myself up a bit here as it is very rainy and DS is not taking the return to childcare well. Day 1 he cried when I left him, day 2 he cried when we arrived at the childminder and today he started wailing when I put his shoes on to leave. I know he needs to resettle but it's very draining.

times10 I completely empathise. I have no routine at the moment. I am just trying to see this as exceptional period and keeping everyone sane and not shouting at dc much is my priority.

laneboy I had all sorts of ambitions. I was 'just' going to spend five minutes a day learning spanish as dc do it at school, do an online painting course, and do all sorts of DIY. Instead I've spent much of the last four months glued to the news feed on my phone and and doing meal plans and extra cooking.

jigolo I love that door. I wish you'd come and do mine.

I have done a to do list which is mainly admin. Yesterday I deleted about 5k emails. I had to do some admin which involved reading and replying to emails and obviously I procastinated by deleting old emails! The homeschool stuff has resulted in papers everywhere. I'm going to just focus on tidying that rather than decluttering.

Thanks for the encouragement! Today’s out was from a filing box that disintegrated, spilling papers everywhere! I’ve thrown out a good amount, and reorganised the rest, until we buy a new box file.

Well done! That’s brilliant. For me the key is to celebrate that in itself, and try not to get caught up with “well yeah I did that but I should also do xyz”. Sometimes I’ll do more but I’m really trying to be proud of what I do get done and not focus on what I didn’t. I love the FlyLady thread as we post a “ta da” list of stuff we did do.

Thankfully the rain stopped so didn’t need to invite new friend in and we had a lovely catch up in the fresh air :)

Not expecting to do any decluttering today as studying is the focus (that’s one thing I did sort of pressure myself into, it’s enjoyable (and free) but making the time for it has been tough).

I do need to decide what to do with the clothes a friend dropped off yesterday though. Much as I’m grateful for handmedowns, can I admit to being a little bit frustrated that it was four big bags half of which was sized a few years too small (and she would know that)? When I offer handmedowns I’d only give what I thought they could use. If I CBA or lack the time to sort it by age, I would donate to charity instead, I wouldn’t give it all to someone who doesn’t have a car and therefore just has to store what they can’t use. 🤦‍♀️ Gah. I’m not sure what to do with it. I’ll ask if my friend with a smaller child wants it as she could collect but they’ve just been decluttering so may not want it.

Loads of Little outs yesterday, broken bits of wax crayons, dried up pens, a heap of inflatable dinosaurs all with punctures in from a birthday party at least two years ago, more paperwork.

First box down from the loft emptied. Contents from 1989/90 in the main. I've filed 1 form, extracted the specific purchase invoice from a raft of publicity docs and filed and given a briefcase to DH as I couldn't open it. He has now and it is from his DM (long dead) with lots of his childhood photos in it. We will look through and I can put in his 'memories box' those he wants to keep. The rest is now in either the recycling or the waste bin. 91 items out!
923/2020