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!

Have a few hours to myself today. Glorious sunshine this morning, so will open all doors and windows and batter away at my "office", which has become a dumping-ground for everything I struggle to decide about. With any luck, I'll have time to start on the detritus from long-ago art work from nursery. I keep stuff because I have the space. I need to help my mental health by removing triggers from a world that no longer exists. Most of their work is online or classroom apps now.

Put Home Edit on my netflix watch list.

Lovely sunny morning here although a bit chilly I suspect. Hoping to manage some gardening later on.

Yesterday another big pile of bags went out with the shopping delivery. There’s still quite a few in the garage but I think a few more returns will do it. DS also decluttered a plate by throwing it on the floor and smashing it. Of course it was one of the nicer ones rather than the several that are old and chipped. I am so over toddlers!

I’m also thinking about a toy cull @Elenorrigbywoes. At least it’s looking like birthday parties will be out for the next few months so we will dodge some things coming in from friends.

Going to try to declutter DD’s wardrobe today as her hairbrush has gone missing and that’s the only place I can think of it might be.

Also bright and very breezy here so will need to wrap up when I go out to replant some tubs with bulbs.
Quick wins this morning - decluttered the scale in the showerhead, removed the dead toothbrush batteries for disposal at supermarket, 3 items of ood food and two old medicines for the pharmacy to dispose.

Aim for later is to organise my larder/winter/covid lockdown/brexit prep stores as we are quite rural and I like to have enough stored to see us through any periods of bad weather. And also to get the bulbs etc planted.
1634/2020

@gassylady at the moment I don’t recommend it. The box was full of tat, it was a mystery style box of warehouse clearance.
We can make our money back selling things for £1 each but it’s going to be a slow process. It takes up a LOT of time to list everything. And then of course arranging collections etc.

I’ve sold stuff already and have £4 back in the pot. Obviously the aim is to get as much as I can per item.

It’s a pain but I’ll get there. There must be others out there that tell you what you’re getting in which I suppose would be better.

ellieq I used to take stbexh’s paperwork and put it in a carrier bag and hang it on the back of a door. Obviously we’re divorcing so I would always suggest people take my advice with a pinch of salt but at least it got it out of the way. I personally think there’s something nice about having a clear dining table, it’s just such a big space, and I have been known to hide clutter on a chair where it can’t be seen!

pickledlily I love that little unit. I have just put dd2s undies in one of these
but she seems to have too much stuff to put in it. I have decluttered her underwear but it still doesn’t fit. She has various sports socks, school uniform socks for summer and winter, little vests. I don’t think it’s particularly excessive either as we’ve worked hard to get rid of stuff. Maybe I’ll get a unit like yours. She has a big chest of drawers in her bedroom but it wasn’t very organised.

footprintsintheslow I found Hoarders on amazon prime slightly compelling if depressing otherwise I have at various points listened to podcasts or seen youtube videos usually recommended on here.

I’m starting the weekend in a mess – usually I’m like this at the end of the weekend. I just had a big food delivery that I need to wipe down (am I the only one that still does this?) and lots of uniform and sports kits to wash. Dc do not want to see their dad so I won’t get a break. Yesterday for the first time in ages I didn’t throw anything away. Today I’m going to try to finish decluttering the utility room.

My charity clothes bag went yesterday. Every time I tried to put it in the charity bin in the supermarket car park it was full, and I don't want to leave stuff lying around littering the place. So when a charity bag came through the door, I took my chance. Unfortunately for them I ignored didn't read the "good quality" section of the instructions so they've got the rag bag as well. They got some decent stuff as well so they can't really complain too much.

Today I'm doing the dining table. It's where I work when I'm at home, so I need to clear it a lot more than it currently is. I've got stacks of papers already, and it's only 3 weeks into term. I'll be removing names from test papers (last year's, that I brought home so I could clear some space in my filling cabinet in my classroom) so I can recycle them this afternoon. This is one of the jobs I'd normally do in June/July in school, but lockdown stopped me doing that.

I have a Charity Bag to go this week.
Got a couple of coats and some winter clothes ( washed ) ready to go.
Sorted out the shoes - 3 pairs are fine so can go in the bag , the rest not sure where I;ll put them. Still wearable but not sell-able .
One of those Shoe Banks ?

Couple of weeks ago I recycled a load of glasses ( to Charity Shop not glass bank) , ran them all through the dishwasher and wrapped well.

We are going to play our usual game of Family Phone Swaperoonie .

My DD is the phone fanatic in our house ( she has the iPhone 8+ ) DS has her old phone ( 7) and I have her even older phone (6)
My phone is too shit old to use the Covid Track&Trace App .
So , DD will get a new phone , DS wil have her 8+ ( he really doesn't mind) and I will have the 3rd Hand 7 ( I mind even less )

Everyone is being very productive.

@gassylady yes I mean Tidying up, but I realise I made a typo in my post and it should've said I can't do anything whilst watching it. Normally I crochet but when there's subtitles I just can't keep up.

Anyway, Day 8 update:
Lent out: 4 Demi jons and lidded buckets on a long term loan.
Tidied: bottom of wardrobes.
Attic: summer clothes away.
Removed from house: 2 pairs of sandals, 1 pair of new Toms, a cheesy Princess book 🤮 and The Charity bag gone has gone.
Out of date Meds gone to pharmacy.

I'm now going to cut myself a fringe!

Stealth - I did look at those hanging storage things but my DD is such a midgety scrap that she wouldn’t Reach the stuff at the top so I thought drawers at the bottom would be better. She has a bigger set of plastic drawers at her dads which are much better but were too big for the wardrobe at mine. These are a bit wobbly but I might glue the sections together and see if that makes it more rigid.

I did ponder if a plastic vegetable rack type thing would work well - something like this www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07G285JCZ/?psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&coliid=I71SHTT399IMW&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&colid=2VOFSK32AEOTK

Might be a solution for pants and socks and hats/gloves etc but prob no good for bigger items

Hello can I join this thread? We are moving house soon and I am doing a big clear our before moving.

Last time we moved I regretted paying to pack and transport loads of Stuff to our new home. Seeing it all piled up in boxes really focused my mind on how much Stuff we had.

I've been watching the Minimalism documentary on Netflix to get me into the mood.

My priorities this week are: two baskets of doom in living room which accumulate random stuff. Kid's school uniform - only keep the number of items they need - we've been gifted so much that they have far too much. Cloth nappies - either start using them again or give them away...

Welcome socks :)

Got a big basket of outgrown clothes out today as SILs visited and they have a GD younger than my toddler, and I added an outgrown toy, probably could have sold it for a few quid but meh. Meant to give them some board books too but didn’t have time to sort.

Emily seems genuinely happy- she's great!

@IamtheOnewithSocks

My priorities this week are: two baskets of doom in living room which accumulate random stuff. Kid's school uniform - only keep the number of items they need - we've been gifted so much that they have far too much. Cloth nappies - either start using them again or give them away...

Culling some of our cloth nappies is on the agenda this week too.

Welcome socks. Footprints I have also given up on the cloth nappies, not sure if it's the brand I choose (Alva baby, cheap as new on ebay) or I was doing something wrong but they leak so much and I ended up doing so much washing. Keeping them in case there's a run on nappies again like in lockdown, then they are going out next spring.

Outs: sorting out outgrown childrens clothes. I have a charity bag!

Today I threw out a pot of moisturiser that still had about a third of the cream left, but it smells really bad - must have been open for too long.

I also found a body cream I’ve been using sparingly from time to time as I love the smell and have saved it for best. I’ve made a conscious decision recently to try and finish off part used toiletries and also start using things rather than saving them, but the body cream now smells different, again probably open too long. I’m still going to use it as it doesn’t smell off, but the scent has deteriorated. I will try to learn the lesson for the future!

I also used up about half a bottle of bbq sauce that has been lurking in the cupboard for ages (it actually expired last month but it’s so full of sugar I figured it would be fine). My food cupboards are still pretty full, but not as rammed as usual and it makes it much easier to see what I have.

Not sure why my previous post says it was withdrawn at my request - I didn’t! Have reported it and hopefully my (bog standard) post will reappear 🤣

I haven't done much clearing recently as I've been distracted by doing some decorating. This is ongoing which has somehow thrown the entire house into mess. Anyway, I have got a few outs, including:

• My hairbrush. I just use a comb normally so had put this away and forgotten where. It was old and missing several 'spokes'.
• 2 old bits of soap.
• 1 packet of brownie cake mix which has been in the cupboard for ages. (I usually bake from scratch but thought I'd better use it up and managed to force a few down tonight.)

Morning all!
Socks it's great to cull the stuff before you move, I really wish we had (but instead we had a baby just before moving so ended up with even more stuff). It's nearly a year on and I'm just getting around to sorting stuff now.
Dd2 has decided her bedtime is 11.00, which isn't great, (I'm rubbish with kids sleep) and to get through it we've been watching Tidying Up on Netflix.
I like Kondo, even if I couldn't follow her method. I definitely do not have time or space to fold everything. The show does leave me rather jealous of the amount of storage space American houses have, but as we all know if the space is there then it'll just fill up with stuff. My house with minimal storage is certainly encouraging me to cull the clutter.

Looks like they withdrew the wrong post as the one I requested to be removed is still there (wrong thread!)

My day 26 update (didn’t post last night as I had a headache and went to bed early!):

I listed a few things on a local FB selling page yesterday morning, and have sold a pair of DD’s old wellies, which were collected yesterday afternoon. Someone else is interested in another pair, so I might get rid of them today

I’ve got lots of stuff listed to sell, and a few black bags out today. I’ve reorganised my daughters room to make the most of the storage in there, and have told her if she sorts out some bits to sell she can have the money for it. Hopefully that will encourage her!

pickledlilly I like those veg storage rack things, I think if my hanging rail thing doesn’t work I could consider something like that for dd2.

Welcome Iamtheonewithsocks. It sounds like you’re making a good start.

Welcome anyway kitschplease - are you decluttering?

Ellieq hope you’re feeling better. It’s been nearly a month, that’s amazing. Do you feel lighter yet? It’s a lovely feeling when you start to see results.

Yesterday I did nothing! (Well apart from the usual 3 loads of washing, hoovering, bedmaking etc). I watched videos of people doing diy and did nothing. We’re going out today so I don’t know if I’ll get time to do much other than throw away some old bills/ receipts and get the uniforms and homework ready for tomorrow.