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!

Quite a few more outs - another pair of my holey pyjamas bottoms and another empty shoebox!

My husband sorted through our child’s clothes to take out anything too small/totally done, so about a third of a binbag’s worth is destined for the charity shop and the rag bag is full. The drawers now have space rather than being filled to bursting, yay!

Spent bit of time tidying and cleaning this morning. Bag of books has gone to charity shop. New charity bag and textile recycling bag on the go. Been doing some general sorting so things have been put in those or the bin.
Have gone through my jumpers but it's too warm to make decisions on them!

Lots of positive reports today.

I made a dump run today but just 3 items as the boot was filled with two broken chairs. Otherwise, more sorting than decluttering and I have started to put away the garden furniture that I can do alone - chairs mainly. I prefer to do this when everything is dry, so the good weather has helped. The heavy stuff will be next week when I have some assistance.
1597/2020

I have made no progress at all. Life is batshit crazy at the moment. I finally had an out today - remembered at last to pass a book on to a friend.

I have been decluttering smaller items - a baby bottle, two old cot sheets, pair of PJ bottoms, kinder egg toys, small random plastic bits that I had hope to reunite with their game.
I need to make some decisions about bigger items and think about moving some furniture around before Christmas.

Tried to start on son's roomful of mystery boxes today. My printer is in there and i risk being injured or trapped whenever I wade over to it. Distracted by long exchange with FB about posting some PC games to him.
And then I was called in to work. The shock!
But my builders knocked down the garden shed of Despair and dug holes for my jew gate. I can't believe how fast they are and how much work they get through. Makes me feel guilty.

Pjs out today. Well the shorts anyway. I managed to catch them last night on ds’ wardrobe and ripped them whilst wearing. Threw them away this morning as I was getting changed.

My day 15 update:

I’ve got rid of one item - the toddler all-in-one waterproofs that I sold on FB at the weekend were collected today.

I’ve also decided what I’m going to do with my old Brownies uniform that I found at my mum’s house - I’m going to remove the badges to keep in my memory box, and put the uniform (including belt and bobble hat) in the charity shop bag. DH suggested I give the uniform back to the Brownies for a secondhand uniform sale and I had to explain that the uniform had been redesigned since the 1980s

singtotheaky don’t worry if you have a few days off, just keep going when things calm down. I had moments over lockdown where I couldn’t declutter. Or where I would throw away a car park ticket in the car and consider that an ‘out’

Today I’m going to advertise the big chest of drawers, I thought I had yesterday but it didn’t go through which is really annoying. I’m desperate to have the space.

I also ordered one of these

www.amazon.co.uk/Haoranjia-Organizer-Double-Sided-Wardrobe-Organiser/dp/B07WH7QBXH/ref=mp_s_a_1_19?dchild=1&keywords=wardrobe+organiser&sprefix=wardrobe&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1600241257&sr=8-19

With a view to organising dd2s underwear and clearing a couple of drawers. I have filled it with underwear and emptied one of her two underwear drawers. We threw out about ten pairs of knickers and some tights but she is clinging to a million pairs of socks.

Anyway I’m still decluttering toys and dress up outfits. I’ve got another 2 or 3 bags of stuff I might try to drop to a charity shop later.

CD's out today, some home burned music cds and software for devices I no longer have. Paperwork still not done, but I'm starting on the box room anyway. First thing is to clear the top of the chest of draws, then hopefully build some modular shelves to sit on top of them.

Can I have some ideas please ladies? My kitchen is being fitted in October. Obviously we need to empty the current one. Has anyone seen any cheap racking? I’m thinking I could repurpose them into the shed once the kitchen is done, meaning they’re not wasted, and the shed gets organised.
Does anyone have any tips for living with minimal stress with no kitchen? How do I keep the kids away from the snacks 😂

We are going to have to put the dining table in the lounge which means decluttering the stupid units filled with tat first. How do you know where to start?!

em8725 I bought this for my garage.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M01PC3Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

It's to keep stbexh's stuff on. It was relatively easy to assemble. It has no screws and I had to bend some of its metal to make it more stable and slot together. I couldn't be bothered (feeble, female fingers) to bend all of the bits as it's just in the garage and so it doesn't have to be completely stable (no toddlers or pets in there etc).

I would start by decluttering your sitting room first so that you can then move everything into it and declutter your kitchen / dining stuff as you move it. Sounds like a big job, let us know how it goes.

@StealthNinjaMum Thankyou that’s helpful.

It’s just a bit of a daunting task. Me and my DP are two different people when it comes to organising. He likes to think about it only when it’s time to do it, where I spend a while planning things to make it easier.

I think I should start in the lounge ASAP. To give myself enough time to get it done. I’ll start on the stupid units, there’s years worth of photos in there.

Child free until 3 and on a roll!
Outs so far, three pairs of kids socks that are grubby and stained (my smallest ruins socks at an alarming rate) I bought a new pack yesterday and instead of just adding them to the box, I decided to chuck the manky ones out first.

Also set aside To get rid of, three of my jumpers that are shapeless and bobbly and old, a pair of well worn sandals that look ok but have sat in the back of the wardrobe unworn for at least two summers and have that musty smell that old leather shoes get after a while.

I’ve also put aside two Pairs if sandals, one brand new and one worn twice. They’re immaculate so would like to eBay but I suppose it’s the wrong time of year. They’ve got to go through, they’re taking up valuable space for no good reason.

em875 it is daunting but you’re right to plan. I used to stick things in a big bag, hide them in a cupboard and then leave them there! Definitely don’t do that!

Good luck with the lounge and update us on your photos, that’s a job I need to tackle soon.

Sorry for the excessive posting. I am on such a roll at the moment. I have finished all the dress up outfits and now got two charity shop bags and a bag of plasticky tacky toys and bits to be thrown away and a bag of rags. I’m going to try to sell Halloween outfits and Harry Potter bits. The Room of Doom - where these bits live - is still no clearer - is it a magic clutter producing room?

I had another poke through the under stairs cupboard, braving the spiders. I am dumping a bag of leftover ikea anti slip mat - it smells a bit fusty and is surprisingly bulky.

I also got rid of lots of dust bunnies and a pair of formerly white, now grey, pants. Rejigging the cupboard a bit means I should be able to fit in some boxes of DIY stuff that are currently living in the kitchen.

I’m hoping I will get a bit more done later.

@StealthNinjaMum you are inspirational! I’m still way too dithery.

Right ok. I’ve sorted out everything I’m keeping from the stupid units. (Theyre corner ones so everything was stacked inside rather jauntily)

I still need to decide what to do with it all but the stuff I’m not keeping has been divided into bags, charity shop and skip.

I’m off to work so hopefully they’ll magically tidy themselves into new homes whilst I’m at work, but I highly doubt it. I’ll probably have to tidy more of DP and the kids stuff!

Wow sounds like you are all racing along at the moment. Slower here this week as work very busy but fair bit of paper shredded. I love the look of those shelves Stealth they may fit into my kitchen to hold some extras supplies for isolation weeks this coming winter. EllieQ I was a brownie with a bobble hat too might that be worth a go on eBay? There may be a collector out there! Wherever it goes take some pictures of it for your memory box

Freecycled a tent and binned a pair of earmuffs that were beyond repair!

Not a lot done here but have grand plans for the weekend as decorators and new carpet next week so stuff to be boxes up and moved around

I posted a bundle of maternity clothes today - not sure if they will sell but I am going to give them 2 weeks and see.
I decluttered the fridge and dumped some sad looking tomatoes. I put some old clothes into my recycling bag - I'm getting much better at making decisions about clothes - if it is old, doesn't fit well, I don't really like it then it goes straight into the recycling bag or the charity bag.

Not for anything out today but have decided to get some embroidery hoops and stretch the dcs first baby grows over them and then these can go on my gallery wall up the stairs when I do it.

Frantic “cleaner is coming tomorrow so stuff everything in cupboards so they can actually clean surfaces” clean done just now. This is why we have stuff everywhere.

My day 16 update:

I’ve now removed the various badges from my Brownie uniform to be put in my memory box - took some photos before I did this, as a memento. I did think about possibly selling it on eBay @gassylady but it has a few tears, and the ones that I saw on eBay didn’t seem to be selling (no bids).

I’m trying to decide whether to put the uniform straight in the charity shop bag or keep it for the dressing up box. Think it will be for the charity shop, when I can find one that is accepting donations!