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.

Wow dancingtomusic what a good idea, they both look great - you can’t really see that the second one still needs work.

Minimal decluttering for me today other than maybe some weeding in the garden.

Ah, the perfect thread for me. Thank you. Hello all! I live in a lovely, newly redecorated flat which is too small for the sheer amount of furniture, books and clothes it contains! Today I took 2 boxes of books to the local book swap and am slowly but surely selling clothes on ebay.

I need this thread, my small flat is overflowing from the amount of crap we have in it. I've no idea what to do with the stuff right now since tips and charity shops not open but will do my best.

WOW dancingtomusic that is such a good job. In my mind I was picturing it cut in half horizontally and that seemed like it might be complicated 😁🤣 Just playing decluttering Tetris here - our recycling centres reopened this week. But not yet taking any of the stuff we need to go like rag bag, broken small electricals, tetrapaks, Wood, batteries !🙄 My husband has listed several large items on eBay to take advantage of the £1 selling fees so we shall hopefully have a bit more room in the garage soon. All the courgettes I planted have germinated so have found neighbours and friends to take the extras so that will have to do for —identified but not yet moved—outs this week

Welcome ardnassa and gingerkittykat this is a lovely part of Mumsnet, come back and give us an update.

ginger I feel your pain. Fortunately i’ve got a biggish house but I am still desperate to get rid of stuff. Today I have been decluttering the sun cream as I work in the garden. In a minute I’m going to sort through dds stuff for homeschooling tomorrow. There’s bound to be shredding and filing to do

Dared to declutter under DD bed and the top of my wardrobe .

DD had boxes with paperwork that she sorted and shredded as needed
I had some old books (not for Charity Shop, they were BogBooks so they're in the bin)

Some DVDs that have been there since forever and I'm not going to watch them again.

DD curtains ( badly faded so they'll go in fabric recycle )

Some plastic containers: large Astonish Powder tub, Fabric conditioner and a washing powder box to go

I'm doing a drip-drip of listing outgrown children's clothes on fb marketplace. Gradually they are being sold and collected which is good.

DH has been to the dump today to get rid of an ancient broken pram, old blinds,other random stuff.

I've ordered new makeup so am doing a big clear out of my stuff and binning anything that's gone cakey or yucky.

Glad this thread is still going strong!

I have been allowed to throw out some weird art thing made by a child. It was hanging from a shelf, I can’t tel you how pleased I am that it’s gone.

70isalimit what’s a Bogbook?

Four pairs of jeans and the five sizes too big ring sold and packaged up to take to the post office!

I bloody love throwing away kiddy artwork. I always take a photo of it first in case they realise. Then I say it's in the loft now but here's a picture so we can still see it whenever you want. (It's not in the loft of course, I've filed it under B for bin).

Thanks everyone! Hi Ard and ginger!

Sold a office chair on gumtree today, just so happy it has left the house.
Cant believe it! It was cluttering up my sitting room.

Nothing done here! Spent the day (or at least the afternoon once I’d stopped lazing/wallowing 😳) getting sorted for the next half a term of home ed. I have a few little tasks I want to do tomorrow though like go through toddler clothes and sorting some boxes full of random crap

I've also decluttered a sun cream bottle, which almost never happens here as I find it lasts years.

Other outs:

Some OOD food. (It's quite rare for me to have any these days.)
A large box for a gadget which I was keeping in case it needed to go back.
A plastic food container plus lid.
A jam jar plus lid.
An old shower curtain which has been used for all sorts of things but finally fell apart.

A present for a relative, which has been strewn all over the place for ages, has now been pulled together and is almost fully wrapped. (To be finished soon.)

Thanks all for warm welcome! All my books have been taken so am feeling quite chuffed and inspired by your successes too, so may do something similar with DVDs.

I have a slightly broken chair that am desperate to get rid of, but no car/tip. Wondering whether I could sell it for free on gumtree as a doer-upper/project...

Have a day off today so may list some more things on ebay too.

Stealth one I read in the bath and the toilet - they don't go back out of the bathroom but DH put them on the wardrobe.

I have one in there that is falling apart and I saved one to replace it. The others (all "ChickLit" , nothing highbrow) in the bin.
No-one would want them,

Morning all, I came looking for a decluttering thread as I have set my husband and myself the challenge of Binning 10 items per day, each, in June!!

This would mean that by the end of this month our house would have 600 fewer things in it..... I'm loving this for a bit of inspiration and when I break for a cuppa ill have a scan of the prior threads.

10 items a day sounds horribly difficult, particularly as I'm specifying BIN rather than sell/donate, but we have so much sh*t in our house that I don't think it's an unreasonable challenge (eg every time husband goes to screw fix he picks up one of those tiny pencils.... He goes 4-5 times a week! I wouldn't be surprised is he coiod fulfil his end of the challenge through pencils alone!! Although to be fair if he does have that many pencils to get rid of we may try and offer them to the school?!)

I have a feeling my failing will be trying to keep hold of things to pass on rather than just taking stuff to the fabric bank or tip!

Welcome 44pumplane 10 a day is fairly easy at the beginning (unless you’re already a tidy sort of person). Do you have any target areas? I always start with my hall as I love people walking in to a hall with no clutter. But if you’re looking for a quick win you could go through your kitchen looking for food that’s gone off and decluttering your freezer.

I feel like I’m doing minimal effort at the moment but today is a pair of child’s socks and a play suit that no longer fits her. I have bags and bags for the charity shop and so they’ll go there for another few weeks.

Wow, everyone has been so productive! Hello to all the new joiners.

DD went back to school today so am hopeful of making a bit more progress on the clutter front. I’ve just been into her room to change the bed sheets and while I was there gathered a pile of scrap paper and various other bits of rubbish (genuine like tags from new clothes, not ‘precious’ rubbish!).

I’ve packed away all the winter weight duvets which were cluttering the spare bed. I’m finding I have to keep a close eye on that room T the moment while there is no prospect of guests visiting any time soon!

That's a good challenge 44PumpLane - best of luck with it! Everything that makes its way out is a win.
I've gotten rid of some random things like three soother holders - only one child had a soother and he stopped a few years ago 🤦‍♀️ I don't know why I kept them. I used to have a habit of keeping things in case they would be useful and I am much better at getting rid of things now.

I have decluttered some pens and pencils and holey socks :o will attempt toddler clothes sorting later I hope but for now I’m going to read outside for a bit for some sunshine and air, and then we desperately need to assess the food situation. Shopping habits hugely affected by lockdown (no car, usually have two small tesco deliveries a week) and endless top up shops have built up to the point I have little idea of what we have!

Ive found my inner cleaning monster over the last couple of weeks.

Lockdown has become a bone of contention between DH and I as he is just buying things all the time as he is working from home. He hasn't been cleaning or tidying whilst ive been working longer hours than usual (public sector key worker) as he says his days off are for relaxing so lost my shit and started cleaning, tidying and throwing stuff out on my one day off to prove a point.

Last week i disposed of the following:

⭐️All the toilet roll ends he cant put in the bin (6)
⭐️Decanted all the dregs of mostly used shower gels into the open bottle and threw the empties away
⭐️Loads of amazon boxes
⭐️Packaging for all the purchases
⭐️Finished a half used candle and threw the container away
⭐️Threw away some out of date food in the fridge
⭐️Two old lighters that were dead
⭐️Put the animal treats in the animal treat jar instead of leaving them in the open box next to the empty treat jar

Did a deep clean of the kitchen, utility and living room.

Today I have:

⭐️Finished another half used candle and binned it
⭐️Recycled an empty glass jar
⭐️Shredded three lever arch folders full of course notes from my training courses ive been on with work and will take the empty folders in for the admin team

Not sure how much more I will throw out but still have three bedrooms (not going in his office) and a family bathroom to get through.

I may make the 2020 items by the end of the year!

Clean tidy house, clean tidy me.

I cheerfully threw out all the big baby toys and clothes, but have stalled on the latest, just outgrown clothes. Does this mean I want another child? Or do i just need to chuck it in the loft for 6 months to give it more distance? Does anyone else struggle with such irrational feelings?

Not much going out but, on the positive, not much stuff is coming in at the minute!

I have thrown away a tatty pe bag as kids won't be needing it in the near future!

I do think the slowing down of stuff coming in will help us all long term!

Aww I don’t think it’s irrational keiki if you need to delay that decision and they can be put out of the way for a while then it’s worth doing that.

I have just been through the toddler clothes and basically halved what we have. I’m not entirely sure all the t-shirts I’ve kept fit well, but I also don’t want to rush into buying more as otherwise she only has 3! So I’ll make a specific effort to try her in those over the next week or so. Still need to put it away again and bag up the too small stuff, but I’m a bit frazzled as today was full on with DS.

The bedroom is a mess again 🙄🙄🙄

Been back on it today. Have been doing the bedroom de-cluttering and tidying today. Managed to dispose of the following:

⭐️Free pump bag from DH convention
⭐️Pair of trainers
⭐️Old loyalty card from shop
⭐️DH old wallet after putting everything into the new wallet he purchased 3 months ago
⭐️Two random shaving attachments that have never been used and shoved in a drawer
⭐️Piece of wood that was in the garden from a DIY project
⭐️Some dried up biros
⭐️Shredded some paperwork
⭐️Random cables for old tech. Im never going to use an apple 30 pin adaptor again!
⭐️Another sodding empty toilet roll!!

Slow progress, however the rate ive been going over the last few times ive been doing this decluttering i think i may actually make the 2020 items by the end of the year.