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!

I only got one item out the house today - an item of clothing to a friend.

But I sorted out a big bag for charity bin, and another item to give away soon. And I listed some things to sell.

Where are you all selling baby and kids stuff?

One very old lipstick in the bin.

I need to clear my tomatoes too.

I dumped a burst football. I did a quick tidy outside and binned some random bits.
I've made a list of things to clean and sort before Christmas - it is a fairly big list. I painted the utility room and did a quick tidy there so that's one big thing off the Christmas prep list. I think I'll start with the bigger jobs as when I leave them until nearer the time they just don't get done 🤷‍♀️. I'm much more realistic than I used to be.

Outs: a cake candle holder and a medicine dosing lid.

I’ve also done a bit more organising of my cupboards and squeezed in some items that were previously on the worktops, so they are marginally clearer.

I’ve definitely lost momentum, but I’m managing to get rid of something every day, even if it’s something very insignificant/small.

Done very little decluttering today but did return one library book during my shift there

My day 29 update:

A small out today - I threw out a small bag of snack wrappers that had been kept as there was an promotion where you had to send in tokens. We’d sent the required amount In, but for some reason more wrappers had been kept. I’ve been seeing the bag in the computer desk for months, but only got round to checking with DH today, in case he had a Reason for keeping them.

I've had a quick out already (thanks to getting the idea from this thread). I woke up first in the house was sat and started clearing by inbox.
I thought I'd just do a month at a time but I ended up clearing back to May! Must've taken about 6 minutes to get rid of 1000 emails.

Thanks again whoever gave me that idea.

My tomatoes are also sad but I picked all the green ones last week and put them inside with a banana which seems to be working OK. Need to dispose of the plants though.

Have hit a decluttering wall this week and nothing has gone at all. Really need to sort myself out!

We have a few tomatoes left too. I've picked those which are starting to ripen but left the green ones for now. We even have more flowers but doubt they'll develop much further.

2 bags to charity
1 small bag given away locally
Mostly clothes

A good day today :)

Next step:
Get dh to get down more bags from attic to sort out
Go through books again

I’m hoping I’ll get more done later, but I’ve recycled an empty jam jar that has been on the worktop for months.

Sorry if this has been asked before, haven't RTFT or any previous ones, but is there anywhere that will take (very) old mobile phones?

I've got several pre-smart phones, all more than a decade old and all (I think) not working / no chargers, as well as a largely defunct iPhone 4, iPhone 6 which won't charge, and an iPad 2 with a broken screen.

Anything I can do with these, or are they really just for the tip now? TIA.

Music magpie?

Day 12:
Inbox cleared back to 2016
Freezer defrosted and a few undesirables have gone.
Two glass bottles recycled as won't be using them again this year.
Old toiletries sorted from drawers.

Will it ever end? Or will we carry ok until we own nothing?

Slow progress the last two days but two lightbulbs recycled today. Hoping to get last of bulbs in tomorrow, weather permitting.
Have cleared about 50 work e-mails today.

One top that refused to sell on eBay went out in the charity bag this morning.

The best place I found for getting rid of ancient mobile phones is Oxfam. I handed in 4 earlier in the year. It took me an incredible length of time to wipe them first, as I first had to find a suitably large SIM card and then contend with dodgy buttons and batteries not holding charge.

I have just got rid of an iPhone 5c I traded in online with GAME. Unfortunately they decided the condition wasn’t ‘good’ so I got £10 less than I expected. It was still around 3 times what Music Magpie promised, but I would have got more on eBay. I could have got GAME to send it back after receiving their quote, but I decided it wasn’t worth it.

@turquoise50 last time I checked the Apple Store either give you a credit or recycle for you, depending on age/condition of the device.

Bedroom dresser/chest of drawers today. These will be collected on Friday. But they’re out of the room. Yay.

Have also got rid of some sunglasses cloths, a few ropey old hairbands and some foreign coins.

My new jeans (smaller size) arrived today and fit perfectly. So the old ones that were too baggy and kept falling down have gone into the charity bag immediately. So overall I've still got as much stuff, but at least I'm getting rid of the old baggy ones rather than keeping them in my drawers "just in case".

Feeling too tired this evening but deleted a load of emails. Still quite a lot to go....

I went through some boxes of sentimental stuff today, and managed to cut down a bit. Madest thing I kept was my cat's vaccination records. He's been dead about 20 years now. In Kondo terms they don't exactly spark joy, but I just couldn't throw them. Maybe on the next wave of culling.
Most significant out was a bus stop number plaque picked up on a night out in my late teens

My day 30 update:

We had to buy a new webcam last week (for the endless Skype meetings), and today I put the box that it came in into the recycling. Normally that could linger for months but DH agreed we didn’t need to keep it.

I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress after joining this thread at the start of September. I’ve gone through most of the stuff I brought back from my mum’s house, and been able to part with things that I might have struggled with before. Thank you everyone for your support! I’m going to keep going and will keep reporting back

Halloween name change (HungryHazelEyes - not on the thread much these days).
I've had a couple of outs the last couple of days: a pair of leggings that I've had about 5 or more years. They were well made, worn during the cooler months, but past their best. A tray that I gifted to ILs, bought for a craft project years ago, that never got done. We have been doing better at eating all the leftovers that are made as well so less food waste. DD brought me a pile of clothes last night that she doesn't want anymore so I'll have to figure out what to do with them.

I've been pretty slack recently. My house is a right mess atm but I do have a few outs today:

1 bag of light fittings.
1 tub of ood marge, missed the other day.
Plus, something else I can't remember...
Oh, and I also got some stains out of a top which I'm pleased with, especially as it's almost new.

I'm still loving my fridge - I keep opening it to admire it!