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!

@AnythingLegalConsidered I love your trolley. I really love it when a piece of storage furniture maximises the space, it’s such a perfect fit.

confusedofengland sorry to confuse you with the new thread, I suspect with half term starting tomorrow I won’t be on Mumsnet much to do it again.

I haven’t yet found anything to throw out other than bits of post and scraps of paper but I have had such a productive afternoon. I did a really long list and dd1 was so ‘bored’ she helped me complete it. So I start Monday morning with a largely organised house although I will probably be tearing my hair out by midday because dd2 has made a mess.

AnythingLegal love the laundry trolley and the perfect way your machines tuck under the eaves. I buy large bottles of detergent and conditioner to reduce cost and plastic do we need something far less sleek looking
emem hope the cuts aren’t too bad. Our reflexes can be counterproductive sometimes.
8 items sold on eBay to be posted tomorrow hopefully. Have found some more things to list to make the most of the £1 selling weekend.
A food processor nd some Christmas bits ordered but still overall more out than in

ememem84 that’s a drastic way to declutter, I hope you’re ok. I hope it wasn’t a much loved vase.

gassylady you bought a food processor? That’s exciting. I love mine and it’s over 20 years old and still works.

@stealthninjamummy it was!!! It was one of a few things I’ve got left from my very first apartment when I moved out of dparents house. So it’s old. But it did have a chip in it.

A pair of boots and a box are going out tomorrow. Boots are being returned in said box.

Oh @ememem84 that’s such a shame 😕 It’s just typical it would be a nice one.

I have spotted a ‘lantern’ made by dd2 that’s basically a jam jar with bits of paper stuck on it and a metal handle with beads. I think it’s sufficiently old that dd2 will forget making it so I’m going to just take it apart and put the jar in with my recycling. It’s always good to get rid of home made crafts.

I've just finished cleaning out half a cupboard which I hardly ever go in. (I suddenly remembered it.) I found something random which I'm quite sure I accused DP of losing - eek! I now realise that it was probably me who tidied it away. At least I've found it now though, eh?

Anyway, I've cleaned and organised it a bit more. It's the cupboard I keep shoe cleaning stuff etc in and I know I probably have too much as we hardly ever use what's there. But, I keep looking and then leaving it. I'll have to go back to it.

Outs:

1 box of grass seeds.
1 packet of screws - from Woolworths! I think I can safely let them go.

I also found some WD40-type stuff so I've used it to treat that oil stain I mentioned upthread. I've sprayed it. Then put on washing-up liquid. Then poured on boiling water. Rubbed it and put it in the washing machine on 60. I'll keep you all posted.

Just to add that my 'Home Edit meets Poundland' fridge organisation is still working really well and I'm still really enjoying looking at it! I think it's keeping cleaner too. It's easier all round.

Top update: the stains are still there but seem reduced. It's hard to tell as it's still damp. I've treated it again - with bicarb, washing up liquid and vinegar. I'm leaving this to soak for a while and will wash it again tomorrow.

It sounds like everyone is doing a great job. Just how do we end up with so much stuff?

@wondering7777 I was pondering that this morning. DS2 asked how many objects we have in the house & I guessed it was easily in the millions Sometimes I imagine that all our things are in one big room (like a Yellow Box) & how much space getting rid of each item would create. Although that's rather overwhelming so I prefer to celebrate each item going out, like we do here.

I expect I will have more outs today as have the afternoon sorting. But so far sent 1 school library book (lurking in the car) & 1 empty plastic bottle (for rocket-making)to school & the PTA has announced they are doing Bags4school, where they get cash for our old clothes, so will try to sort out a bag for that.

@confusedofengland it’s interesting thinking about how much stuff we own. I used to log everything that went out and I’m sure you could fill a small room with it. It included furniture but still I’m sure I have got rid of many thousands of items. Rather than thinking about clutter these days I am very mindful of my time and how long it takes to do tasks and so I have built decluttering into my routines. When I realise a job’s taking too long I try to declutter and organise an area to make it quicker. My house is still largely a mess as I have children(!) but I have said before that tasks like wrapping a present or finding my winter accessories are effortless and take no time whereas they used to be a massive time consuming chore.

Stealth that is exactly the point my DH doesn't grasp at all. He sees it only in terms of what can fit into a space, not does the space work.

Dh says he’s on board with the declutter and sometimes (like yesterday) he does jt. Other times it takes me ages to get him on board. Then he blames me for it.

Today’s annoyance is that the kids have too much. So maybe we shouldn’t get them anything for Christmas. My thoughts here are no - the oldest is 3. So no. And we just need to pack away some of their things and actually tell fil not to buy so much crap for them

But alas. This has fallen on deaf ears. So he’s suggested that I clear out my wardrobe instead. Surely I can’t possibly need or want all of the clothes I’ve packed in?! yes and bugger off if you think I’m getting rid of any more

ghostofglumy Can I guess you do more life admin than your dh? I bet if he bought all the birthday presents for kids parties and wrapped them or if he put dcs clothes away he’d see the value in having less clutter and more organisation.

It’s hard getting through to people sometimes, before he left my stbexh started to declutter his clothes but, that was the bit that most affected him.

ememem84 I see it as inevitable that children have lots of stuff but it’s important to keep on top of tidying things away as you go and get them in the habit of tidying from a young age - neither of which are things I actually did!

I agree about presents from in-laws. I didn’t buy my dc many Xmas presents before they were 3 because I felt they wouldn’t understand. But my in-laws and parents bought them large scooters, cars, quad bikes, tents, ball pits without asking me. My house resembled a car park with toddler modes of transport lined up. Then my mother in law would make a passive aggressive comment about how many toys we had implying my dc were spoilt when she had bought half of it!

Ooh a rant, it’s good to get that off my chest!

Stealth how did you guess? He's improved a lot this year, but for a while he definitely had the idea that he made money, and everything else was on me.

I think part of the issue is that the in laws always ask what the kids have or want. And I suggest duplo is always a winner. Or some “food toys” (the Melissa and Doug style ones are good. Ds has a sandwich shop station and a till etc. And it falls on deaf ears.

Last year three bin bag sacks arrived for each of ds and Dd. Mostly full of tat - stuff from charity shops which was broken or dirty (no issue with charity shop gifts but please be clean and not broken!!!) dog toys, colouring books which had already been used. All sorts of shite. Which I had to say thank you for then ditch at the first available moment.

Glumy it's tough isn't it when you're the only one trying to make the home nice. For a long time I gave up and my house was a pit and then I found that by decluttering and teaching dc to be tidy it eventually got better and stbexh slowly came on board. Of course now he apparently lives in a slum and dc come home telling me how he never throws anything away.

ememem84 yikes! That's awful. DD2's school fair has a second hand teddy stall every year and some of the teddies donated are disgusting with all manner of stains on them so I have to be quite careful to remove them as soon as possible. I'm hoping that they can't hold the fair this year because of covid.

Day 31 (which was my original aim).

1 camping mat gone to live in MIL's garage.

2 parcels posted.

1 crappy tatty cheap and nasty covid mask bought for my 2 year old by MIL gone in the charity shop bag. (Not sure what two year olds wear masks and why they'd want one that doesn't meet any safety specs).
There's a definite theme on this thread.

Photos printed from phone. Maybe more of an 'in' but it means I can clear the photos from my phone.

Emails deleted for the day.

21 records put on fb freecycle.

1 football memorabilia coin collection listed to sell.

Bunch of ebay stuff posted and a few more things listed. Did a tiny bit more shredding then consolidated lots of remaining documents into one box folder. Need to get a couple of bags dropped off to charity shop before they close again on Friday

3 medium-sized items sold today, which was good. Also used up some tomatoes in a yummy, healthy soup.

My real achievement of the day was clearing the tops of my chests of drawers. There is still more sorting to do - I need to go through my jewellery & get rid of what I don't wear & also the big basket of toiletries - but I think it looks a lot better! It was very satisfying- although arguably I should have been putting washing away or stacking the dishwasher instead I plan to paint the wall after half term, too.

Oops, this is the before photo

Wow confused you have made good progress there. That must feel satisfying.

Last message from me I think.

confused that's an amazing effort, it's so much better. Don't worry about the washing or dishwasher, most of us find it's hard to declutter and keep the rest of the house tidy. In the long run this will be so beneficial and you'll have a beautiful newly painted wall too.