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!

Joining please! I have absolutely loads of stuff to get rid of. Everywhere I turn, in every room, there are piles of things to sort through & get rid of. DH is clearing out the garage, thus bringing even more crap into the house 🙄 Also his parents are coming to see us during the week (which I'm dreading) & they seem to see us as a charity shop for all their junk! I've told DH to ask them not to, but he won't.

We are also broker than broke, so trying to sell what I can. Should have somebody coming this morning for some Christmas lights that were in the garage. And going to watch DS1 play football later so will take some old shoes to the clothes bank. Finally, the lady across the road is after old bedding for the dogs' home & warm clothes for the homeless so can donate a few of DH's bits.

Just a load of emails this morning - down to 14 in my inbox! My work one is a whole other story!

Also trying to sell stuff to make some extra cash, and have listed a few things this morning.

I am feeling better this morning @stealthninjamum, thank you. I’m finding this thread really helpful, and it motivates me to do at least one thing per day

I've sorted out a bag of kids clothes and random items to go, will take it to the charity bin tomorrow.

I stall on baby and pregnancy items - as we might want another baby but not sure yet, so difficult to know how many items to keep just in case. I'm currently keeping things that would be difficult or expensive to replace, and a few favourite items, but giving most away. As whenever I'm pregnant people bring over huge bags of baby clothes anyway!

I would like to reduce the amount of bed linen we have as it's all so crammed in that I only use the stuff at the front end of the drawer anyway. How many changes of bed linen do you have - I was thinking 3 (1 to use, 1 to wash, 1 in cupboard). Currently have 5 sheets I think as we were given some.

Just a load of emails this morning - down to 14 in my inbox!

I cleared my inbox earlier this year and I LOVE having a clear inbox. Great that the unread ones are just things "to action" rather than loads and loads of items.

I was doing so well with my emails (my main account at least, I pretty much ignore my old ones) for several months and then suddenly I stopped dealing with them the other week and now I’m up to 600+ unread and can’t bring myself to tackle it. WTF.

Oh my inbox has over a thousand unread emails. It really bothers Dh, who is religious about sorting his inbox. I figure I'll worry about that when the actual physical stuff is delt with.
Sorted through a box of old postcards and sentimental bits this morning, and a few have gone in recycling. I need to do another stricter go through though, as postcards I bought on holidays got a free pass, but realistically I'm not going to put them up again.

Wow 600 unread in a couple of weeks - you get a lot of email!

Once I'd cleared my backlog of unread emails, which were mostly junk/ old subscriptions and mailing lists, I then unsubscribed or blocked every incoming email that I didn't want to receive again.

I unsubscribed to a whole ton of emails a few weeks ago. Makes such a difference now.

I need to work on photos on my phone. Do I really need to keep all 8000?!?!

Out today - another bra. The wire popped through and was poking me in the boob. So that’s gone. I need new ones anyway but was hoping to make them last a bit longer. Sigh.

I managed to give 3 pairs of shoes to a friend, in a drawstring bag. So counting that as 4 items out!

Buyer now coming tomorrow for Christmas lights, so hope they turn up! Also a school mum is buying a Trunki from me. So if that all goes then will be another 2 items gone & £11 made.

Am going to spend this afternoon sitting down & filing the boys' lockdown homeschooling work into Lever Arch files. It is currently all loose in a box 😬 So not getting rid of anything but will be neater & take up less room, hopefully.

3 pairs of DD's pyjamas into textile recycling as she discovered they're too small (and well worn). Done a bit of cleaning and tidying today.
Off to see what else I can sort out now.....

I took two bags of clothes and toys to the charity donation bin.

Two bags of rubbish into the bin.

(Small bin bags).

Also a locked box has a broken lock, but dh says he can replace it, so don't need to buy a new one.

Wowww so I just scrolled down to see when I stopped dealing it it. 14th August! 😱 Clearly my perception of time is totally skewed 🤣😳

Next time I have a quiet few minutes I’ve resolved to deal with it. It’s so ridiculous, most are things I’m not needing at all (I did unsubscribe to loads of places last year! But they creep back in - all those “put your email in for this free download” type things) so it really shouldn’t take long at all.

One pair of ds’ shoes in the bin. Summer espadrilles which got soaked at nursery on Wednesday. They’re not dry yet. But binned.

I offered some of my DC’s outgrown barely worn shoes to my sis and she wants them, so several outs there (though they won’t actually leave the house til next week).

I’m still working on using up stores so cleared 4 tins from the cupboard by making tuna mayo for lunch and a bean casserole for dinner.

Had 3 camping things collected via Freecycle and 1 sold on Facebook. Doesn't help the house as they were in the shed, but it's still 4 things gone and a very welcome £20 made!

Day 9:
Old kitchen table gone to be fire wood.

Make up basket sorted and old make up in bin or can go for recycling if anyone knows of any schemes?

@footprintsintheslow I think I have seen something about Superdrug doing a make-up recycling scheme.

My day 27 update:

Another out today as I sold another pair of toddler wellies on FB and they were collected this afternoon. I had a couple of other people message me about them after they were gone, so I think the heavy rain we had this week meant that wellies were in demand.

Also had a few ins today as I bought DD a new backpack for school, and two new pairs of trousers (with pockets - very important!).

@footprintsintheslow John Lewis also have a make up recycling scheme:
www.johnlewis.com/our-services/beautycycle

And a small number of Boots stores (saw this mentioned upthread): www.boots.com/boots-recycling-scheme

Managed to finally declutter the spring bulbs in to containers and throw packaging away. Find that I need to buy some more so there will be some ins later today.
Found some dumped rubbish from car in the shed - no idea why DC couldn't just put it in the bin! Discovered this when decluttering the outdoor seat cushions back in to the winter storage bag.
Replaced two outdoor lightbulbs so have the dead ones to take to the dump. Have booked a Sunday slot as an incentive to get back to more determined sort out of spare 'room of doom'.
1648/2020

confusedofengland welcome. It sounds like you have lots to do. Are you focusing on any area or is it all a bit random? (Both approaches are good for different people, I’m not trying to be judgy – I’m a bit random myself).

iamtheonewithsocks I have 3 sets of bed linen for each bed and probably too many pillowcases. I love all my bed linen, I love making beds. Well I hate making them but I love getting in to newly made beds.

singtothesky I had got my emails under control until I subscribed to Flylady! Now I have millions unread.

miaowse thanks for the John Lewis and Boots link. I’ll add them to the second post for the new thread. I don’t know when I started that list but it’s fantastic that so many more places are now recycling things.

Anyway my update…….. nothing!

I love the accountability of this thread. At the moment I’m coming on every day saying I’m going to finish decluttering the utility room. And I keep getting distracted by other more interesting stuff. I am now going to set my timer for an hour and I am intending to come back in an hour when it’s done.

Also I have someone picking up the old chest of drawers I emptied about ten days ago. Fingers crossed she turns up as it’s blocking my hallway.

It's been a little while since I posted. On Saturday I refinished a tray for MIL. I've had it for about 5yrs, a project that never got done - until now. I was giving her a vase as well, but she said she already had one just like it and didn't want another. So I'll get that back again 😒
I also made a couple cards, blank cards that I bought several years ago. I'm using them gradually. I used up a couple crafty things as well in the process.

socks I only use one set of sheets for each bed, so they are stripped, washed and remade all in one day. I do have a spare for each one but the preferred set is on each bed.

Why do I procastinate? The utility room is done. Even though I took out some of stbexh's stuff (they're by the front door waiting to go into the garage) the amout of space I have created is enormous. There was a Box of Doom on the fridge which is empty and about seven half shelves (that are in cupboards). I am going to spend the next week year opening the cupboards just to admire the emptiness!

Thanks for all the links to make up recycling.

Day 10:
I was struggling today to get an 'out' but then a leaflet for selling broken gold and old jewellery was put through my door and I've got rid of a few bits and made £230!!!

@footprintsintheslow

Thanks for all the links to make up recycling.

Day 10:
I was struggling today to get an 'out' but then a leaflet for selling broken gold and old jewellery was put through my door and I've got rid of a few bits and made £230!!!

Wow! Did you send it away or take it to a jeweller?