Still throwing an item away a day – part 13

[StealthNinjaMum]

One of mumsnet's friendliest corners this is the 13th 'one item a day' thread to inspire and motivate a group of mumsnetters to declutter their houses, gardens and lives bit by bit, one step at a time.

Each day we get rid of just one item and report back. We’ve all got different challenges and problems and it keeps us going to discuss them and work through them together.

Newbies are welcome. It’s not just decluttering, join us in the chat about recycling, organisation, grumbles about hoarding family members and obviously our many successes.

Previous thread here.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/3913755-The-decluttering-one-thing-a-day-thread-part-12?msgid=99387987

And for 2020 some of us are also aiming to get rid of 2020 items!

A mouse mat (destined for the charity shop), a few old scrapbooks (to be recycled), some smelly, leaky vacuum storage bags (binned).

Hope to find a few more things to discard later.

Exciting news about the new piggies @MsAwesomeDragon

Sorry to hear about the guinea pig MsAwesomeDragon.
Not many outs over the weekend. Finished off two small notebooks so they've gone. Unfortunately, DD bought 4 new books today. I need to go through some of her old books and shift them out.

I actually felt inspired by this thread to get on and do some more. So after I sorted the cage etc for new piggies, I emptied a cupboard in the kitchen. Some of the fruit bars I think of as for dd2's lunchbox have been there for years because she doesn't eat them any more. Best before 2016!!!! So they've gone. And all the takeaway boxes that we keep "because they'll come in handy" have been bagged up to go to school for the food tech department. They'll use them when kids forget their own Tupperware or if their own container isn't quite big enough for the food they've made. I'll drop them off tomorrow. I feel quite happy with that as a productive afternoon.

Welcome notaflyingmonkey. What sort of stuff do you have? Is it possible to even put it to one side and declutter or will you need to empty spaces/ declutter the rest of the house to store it? On the face of it that does sound like a good idea to move the clutter to one place to sort through it but we talk about tidy up tetris on this thread a lot where you organise your possessions and seem to constantly move them around - while you declutter - to more suitable places.

Today wasn’t as productive as I had hoped but it’s still progress. I found homes for half of the stuff in the Bag of Crap in my bedroom so there’s a slightly smaller Bag of Crap in my room. I shredded some paperwork and stapled together a few bits ready for filing. I found two child’s hoodies for the charity shop.

Also was it this thread where someone mentioned razor blades? I was in Sainsburys today and I noticed that Gilette have a box for recycling razor blades. I hope that helps someone.

Oh darn, I got rid of a bag of old razor blades recently. I’ll check our local Sainsburys when they next build up, @StealthNinjaMum

Hi I'm hoping I'm amongst friends when I admit I'm excited to see this thread... I love a lack of clutter. Things are not disastrous, but I have a variety of areas of doom. The meter cupboard (including numerous parts of long gone hoovers), under the stairs (instruction booklets, old laptop that needs wiping, electrical cables that I don't even recognise) and the cake making cupboard (I rarely make cakes). To name but a few. I will make a start slowly but surely!

Not hugely productive today, still wading through the filing (some of the stuff is over a decade old). I did clear the top of dd1's chest of draws, which had accumulated all sorts of rubbish, and ordered a pretty bin for her room.
Awesome sad to hear of your loss, and slightly jealous of your impending arrivals. I aspire to guinea pigs when the kids are a bit older. Science can also use that sort of takeaway container, they're useful for putting out practicals.

Day 6 update. Today I went through a shoebox full of old birthday and Xmas cards (from my late teens, mainly). I have put a lot of Xmas cards from various classmates in the recycling (I think we used to just send cards to everyone in the class), but have kept the Xmas and birthday cards from my family for now. There were a couple of cards from my grandmother, who died years ago - I felt quite emotional seeing her handwriting again.

Having to report in here every day means that I’m making myself do something every day, which helps!

Continued this weekend on the music. Nothing to declutter as yet, but everything is now where it belongs. Often, I find it easier to declutter a few days after tidying, so I've left it all for the moment. It all looks a lot better.

Today I concentrated on the recycling. Not real decluttering, just getting everything into the recycling trolley for Tuesday, and putting some things in the garage for a dump run. Had a bit of a tidy in there. Threw out some minging boiler suits.

2 of my recent 'ins' have been 'proper' food storage containers, as opposed to my normal, recycled mishmash. So, I've been through my containers tonight and have a few to go out, as well as a few other bits and bobs.

Outs include:

5 pots with lids.
3 lone lids.
1 sock.
10 receipts.
1 spray bottle.
1 bill.

It's been a tough evening and clearing these and coming on here to talk about it has brought me a little peace for which I'm very grateful.
[heart]

Hello to newbies!
awesome sorry to hear about your guinea pig 💐

Today's outs:
🌻 About 4 boxes of tea. I don't drink it, I prefer coffee. I'm in the US so no one here drinks it when they visit. I had one box BBE 2011, the others were either 2014 or 2016. If I feel the need to get more I'll have to just order it online. I'm sure it wouldn't taste the greatest 4 years after BBE date.

I really need to go through DS's bedroom, I realised this weekend that he has a lot of crap in his room that really doesn't belong. Not sure when we can get to it since we have a lot of other things to do around the house. Lots of unfinished jobs. It's frustrating 😒

HungryHazelEyes

Nobody drinks tea, that reminded my of when I lived in Manhattan in the 1980s, I bought tea (liptons) from the supermarket it was rank, I made my mum post me a huge box of tea bags from the U.K., when anyone came to visit I always wanted three thing brought over, tea bag , mcvitirs Digestive biscuits, and Bacon. It’s so funny how different the Uk & Us are, I only drink tea in the house probably five mugs of it a day, Coffee is a thing I have when I’m out, a big latte is my favourite.

Unfinished jobs are just so annoying, I would say just decided what one bothers you the most and get it finished. If you priorities one job at a time you will soon get through them.

Welcome to noregrets78. I have a baking cupboard too despite rarely baking.

EllieQ what a great update, just a little bit every day helps.

Not doing much decluttering today, I’ve cleaned the kitchen and hoovered and I think I might read a book for the first time in ages. Declutteringwise I am sort of following Flylady. I have so far removed a large adults dictionary from the kitchen and a very basic child’s dictionary into the decluttering pile. After I cleaned my surfaces and floor I opened my flylady email and discovered I need to clean out my toaster which actually sounds like a good idea, I can’t remember when I last did it. However I suspect I’ll need to clean my kitchen surfaces and floor a second time after doing it!

Stealth try putting the toaster on a large tray or roasting tin to contain the crumbs.

Just remarking place before it disappears! I’ve not done any decluttering at all. DH took a few games to donate to an event the other day though.

Now that it’s the new term and other home edders are getting into the swing of things again I will try and sell a few educational resources on FB soon. I gathered a few workbooks and games along those lines a while ago so I just need to get round to it.

StealthNinjaMum

My tip for cleaning out the toaster is if you have a garden then take it outside then all the crumbs that come out of the toaster the little birds can eat it. Pull then crumb collector underneath it then give it a good shake and push the up down lever loads. You will be amazed how much stuff comes out. Then the kitchen stays clean as it’s all in the garden and the birds have a treat.

Decluttered DD back to school this morning along with a pile of papers which was her summer holiday homework.
Sorted a few life admin bits out this morning. Got rid of a belt off a skirt I no longer have.

Hope it's Ok for me to pull up a (clutter-free) chair and join you? I've felt inspired to start by chucking out a broken plastic bucket (beach toy). I also finally remembered to take about a kilo of dead batteries to the bin at Tesco.

This is a lovely thread and so helpful on a practical level. Thank you :)

Funnily enough I also cleaned my toaster tray this morning while I was waiting for the kettle to boil. Wish I had seen Pollyanna's and Nanalisa's advice first though!

Sorted out some more outgrown socks which escaped my cull a week ago plus an old handbag to go this weekend. I also texted my brother to see if they want any baby things although it's their second so suspect not.

Charity shop was closed on Saturday so still have that stuff. May have another go on Friday.

Hello I love this thread, I've been lurking all summer. Smallest DS is finally back to school so I've had chance to take the three bin bags full of games and toys out of my car and to the charity shop. I've spent weeks trying to make sure they don't see inside the boot because it would all have ended up back in the house.

We're about to start some major renovations so I want to get rid of as much clutter as possible so I can properly assess what we need in terms of furniture and storage.

Please can I join? A recent house move has shown me how much we have that we don't need!

Tote bag of “stuff” released back into the office today. As am back in work not wfh. Hoorah. So notebooks pencil case journals etc. All back at my office desk not cluttering up the house.

Waaaaahooooooo

Just got rid of my fax machine and 8 rolls of paper! Haven't used it in years and paper should last the new owner into the 22nd century!

She also took some school books to use for personal tutoring. DS left school in 2012. 😳

Also seem to have decluttered a cat 😭 . I've had her since 2011 but this spring I took in a stray, who then gave birth and has been determined to clear my house/garden/street of all cats except herself and her remaining kitten. Poor MineralCat has been cowering in the living room since June and if she goes out, UsurperCat attacks her when she returns. Have tried to rehome Usurper but strangely nobody wants an angry cat that won't be touched, except occasionally by me. I feel terrible and my son will be heartbroken. Have done the usual FB notices, flyers in neighbourhood, calling at dawn and dusk but not ver hopeful.
Sorry for the digression and welcome to all new declutterers!

Thank you nanalisa unfortunately I need DHs help with a lot of the jobs or I would have them done by now! Although if I do start he will jump in to help, possibly with a pissed off attitude, but at least something will get done.

No outs yet today, but it's still early here.

Welcome to more newbies! The thought of moving right now scares me with how much stuff we have. It's not as bad as some homes I've been in or seen, but in places we have too much stuff. I do want to move to a bigger house (mostly so we can have a spare room for guests, and get some chickens for fresh eggs) but I don't know if or when that'll happen.