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!

Gave away a couple small items- a mini loom and a Chinese calligraphy set - and posted three very old PC games. It hasn't been that easy but I'm glad they've ended up with someone who'll appreciate them rather than in the tip! I sold two others for a nice chunk of cash.

The new gate has been installed and the old one, which had literally rotted off its hinges, went into the skip along with a few bits of junk that were too big to put it my car to take to the tip.

So far today I’ve put the old travel cot in the skip, it has a huge rip in it. I’ve listed the stupid units for sale to give me some motivation to sort the stuff that was inside it. Someone’s coming to collect this weekend.

Two bags to the charity shop this morning, and they’re desperate for children’s toys, so they can have two more bags this afternoon.

Now to empty the recycling bin and have a general tidy up ready for the chaos of home from school/go to work.

miaowse thanks that’s sweet.I am mortified about how much clutter I have / had and it was all hidden so none of my real life friends knew. I am really enjoying decluttering/ tidying at the moment.

em8725 that was quick work emptying the stupid units.

gassylady I don’t think the shelves are attractive enough to go in a kitchen and they’re very industrial looking. I didn’t go to the trouble of folding the metal bits to secure them so wouldn’t be safe in my house and the metal edges were rough. But they are perfect for storing stuff in the garage and because I haven’t secured them properly it’ll take five seconds to take them apart when I give them to stbexh.

Today I’m going to catch up on a bit of housework and start emptying the utility room again. That will take weeks. Not least because I heard dd2 tell a friend that I make the yummiest lasagne and toad in the holes ever and I don’t think I’ve made either from scratch since lockdown started. I got out of the habit of cooking when I had to do 20 meals a week so I’m going to spend more time cooking - until the inevitable second lockdown!

@ChampagneCommunist

Thanks for the new thread. Some paperwork and a broken pepper mill has gone today

lovejunk.com is a good one if a bulky item that cannot be reused and needs to be recycled, I used it a few times in London. This is a good list! Thanks for putting it together.

@ChampagneCommunist I'm sorry! I meant to add my message to another message.

Hey, just a chipped mug so far today.

Today's outs are a very small pie/flan dish, which I haven't used since Dh moved in many years ago, and some star and heart shaped dishes from my wedding. I kept one of each and put the rest in the charity bag, which is getting really heavy now. BHF have started doing furniture collections again, so hopefully they'll start collecting other stuff again soon.

Like Stealth I'm also trying to catch up on some housework today. I've tackled the side at the back of our kitchen which was full of all the home learning stuff-some has gone in recycling, rest in a carrier bag in case school need any of it. Some dried up paints gone out from "art box", said box to go away in cupboard. It looks so much better!
One slight problem is the charity shops near me seem to have stopped taking stuff so my new donations will have to stay here for longer.

I haven’t decluttered much (apart from a broccoli that had grown mould - it only got delivered Sunday) but done a load of cleaning, a food order and meal planning so I can cook from scratch a bit more.

A few weeks ago I found a couple of weird plastic things in the utility room - like flat panels but I have no idea what they’re panels of. So I decided today to chuck them out.

I’ve been away on holiday so no outs, but a huge success is that I also bought nothing back from the holiday - no souvenirs/mementoes and managed to stop DH doing so too!

Oh yes preventing stuff coming in is a big win!

Just the end of a toothpaste that no one else in the house seemed able to finish out today.
I have a BHF furniture collection booked for next week. At the moment there are two beds and mattresses cluttering upstairs that I will look forward to waving off. Also have the packing for the new replacement bed to put out for recycling at the start of the week.

Just a quick one for me: about 5 out of date items from the fridge.

Loads of bits of to us and paper between bin and recycle. Pile to sell then charity if no luck. Didn't count though as bitty

To us? Today

My day 17 update:

Added the letters I brought back from my mum’s house to my box of letters and postcards (which is now full!), put the shoebox that they were in out in the recycling box. At some point I will go though that box of letters and put them in date order, even if it’s just to group them by year, but for the moment they are nicely stored in a pretty box on top of a bookshelf.

Today I used up a nearly empty shower gel that has been languishing for months. I also threw out a pair of old socks (and lots of dust).

Not working today so going to pick through the rest of my bedroom chest of drawers. Should be a good haul of socks etc. I also have four or five things to list on eBay as that much awaited £1 selling fees offer has come.

Today I decluttered enough of my hair from the brush of the vacuum cleaner again to make me wonder how I’m not bald. I have very long thick hair and it seems to clog my Dyson up every few weeks until I have to take it to pieces and cut all the hair out so the brush will turn again.

A couple of outs this week - pair of jeans that had worn through at the crotch and DD's outgrown school shirts. Not actually left the house yet, but they're in bags to go. I've also purged a bit more child artwork. Basically following the one thing a day principle with it until the point they notice and complain!

I seem to have hit a brick wall today. I could do with sorting through our under stairs cupboards but that involves emptying loads of stuff out to do so. The one in the lounge is easier but DP is working in there and I don't think me crashing around is helpful on his calls!

No outs yet today but lots of sorting done. Most of the photos I have are the big ones with frames round them. They’re sentimental though, so I need to buy a box for those to go in the bottom of my wardrobe.

Also need to declutter the alcohol which is in my desk 😂, so who knows, possibly a few more outs later on. It is Friday after all!

I want to clarify it’s only there as it’s a child proof storage place, but really doesn’t need to be there! It’s sentimental bottles like one I got for my 18th birthday, one I had on my engagement etc.