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!

Sorry forgot to say the £650 went to the charity.

I have an ebay auction going at the moment which ends today, no bids yet. I got an offer last week for £15 under asking, which Dh persuaded me to turn down, as he's confident people will bid last minute. Personally I think it will end unsold.
At the moment I've got postage free (£5). For relisting would it be better to drop £10 with free postage, or £15 with postage paid by buyer?

We have a village 'free-table' day once a month so I'm currently busy trying to accumulate a couple of boxes of stuff to go out for next week.

@ememem84- I wouldn't buy one, I don't think, but I have given a good one away and I was really surprised how many people wanted it.

I’m not sure if it counts as an ‘out’ because I’ve replaced it but living in a caravan, you have to be a bit clever with storage and the one thing that was taking up space for very little usage was the cat carrier. I have a very old wire cat basket that gets used once a year to take the cat to the vet and is frankly, a bit manky looking as it’s about 15 years old. It’s been sitting on top of my wardrobe irritating me so I’ve bought a folding fabric carrier which takes up hardly any room and is absolutely fine for the occasional quick trip to the vets. I just need to decide what to do with the old one, wonder if a cat rescue centre would have a use for it or if I should just bin it? The top of my wardrobe will look a lot tidier when it’s gone.

Nanalisa The car boot sounds great, the charity must have been pleased! I forgot to say thanks for the Christmas planning ideas, I must do that this, determined to be organised.

Glumy Try listing the item again? I've had things that take a few weeks to sell. The free postage works well if you are a business seller with lots of the same item (I think it may push you up the rankings?) but I'm not sure about normally.

Not really out of the house, but DH had a load of stuff in a kitchen cupboard that is now in the shed, woo hoo! This means we can now store pans and colanders more sensibly than ramming them into a couple of drawers.

I've put a few things on freecycle, and have a coat and pair of boots to take to the charity shop later.

alexthelittlecat that’s a good idea about packing my board game, I have chucked out most boxes but I have ordered some stuff from amazon so will keep one for this game. I was keen to avoid buying lots of bubble wrap that will sit around for years but maybe I should start selling on ebay.

sandandsea would you just tape the bag for life around the item? That might work as I have loads of bags but no tape and no bubblewrap. First I will stop throwing away boxes from amazon (and be like you with a box collection.)

Waves to comeoneileen11, welcome! A drawer a day is a fantastic effort. I used to keep old children’s clothes in really useful boxes, stacked in a cupboard, until I decided I definitely wasn’t having more dc.

glumyglumer thanks for mentioning sellitback and zapper, I’ll try to put them in the second post next time I do a new thread.

singtothesky I’m like you, I find it hard to focus on myself and the house. I think that’s why this method works. Even in a bad week I can usually find 7 things to go even if it’s just socks.

Welcome danascully2.

So Flylady made me do my bedroom last week. I still have a big bag of stuff to rehouse around the house, I'm going to do that today / tomorrow. This week she wants me to do hall / sitting room but they're my two tidiest areas of the house so I'll spend half an hour doing them later in the week.

Today I have made some furniture for my garage to store some of stbexh's stuff from the utility room. I have found a few things to throw away from the garage, some scooters to sell, empty bottles, lots of leaves. I'm going to see if I can get rid of various bits for free eg plant pots, old doors, concrete from the garage and might have to pay for some old stuff to go. Anyway as much as I dislike Flylady I am pleased that she gave me the impetus to start on my utility room because it probably was the worst room in the house and I had been putting it off for years.

Unexpected result this afternoon. Had a charity shop bag (of clothes/shoes from DC's wardrobe sort as now returning to university) in the boot of my car and, while out for shopping, found Scope shop open and receiving donations, so bag dropped off. 19 items donated.
1523/2020
Plan for this coming week is to sort through my shoes and also a cupboard in the kitchen full of mugs we never use.

Two more eBay items sold and posted. Feel like I might move some of my listings from Depop over to eBay as they’re just not selling.

Also six really badly caterpillar infested cabbages gone into the garden waste from the veg patch, along with the french beans that have finished.

Had quite a productive weekend although apart from the bits DH took to the tip nothing has actually left the house! The charity shop pile is huge!

I managed to remove a lot of outgrown socks and tights from DD’s drawers and even better she still has plenty so won’t have to buy any new ones.

I also made a start on kitchen cupboards. It was a very small start but I’ve binned something very dusty smelling loose tea and ancient spice mixes. I think I need a storage solution for spices but not sure what.

Enjoyed listening to some old cassette tapes. Selected five others that are full of out-of-date information, and are now waiting in the utility room to be binned. Also burnt out shredder motor that has been replaced, and some cracked / broken CD cases.

There are only five more garden waste bin days before they stop collecting over the winter months. So my focus will be on the garden if there is some dry weather soon.

I've sorted through some baby toys we got out of the attic yesterday and now have a bag for charity and a bag for our friends who recently had a baby. Nothing has actually left the house here either but in the porch ready to go! Some broken toys in the bin.

I had an unproductive weekend decluttering wise. I caught up with friends and family so will start fresh tomorrow. I dropped two bags to the clothes bank to be recycled so was happy with that. I gave away a baby seat that we are finished with to someone who was looking for one.

I got rid of some plastic I collected when I was making ecobricks - a great idea but unfortunately I just don't have the time. Also got rid of some packaging from my phone which is 3 years old so certainly don't need it.

I've been sorting the cupboard out by the front door (which we never really use). Took my old yoga mat to MIL as she mentioned to me last night that she needed a thicker one than she had. She was happy to have it! I have come across cushions without covers that I was planning on covering (probably almost 10 years ago) and have never been done. I have put them in a box that I hope to fill by the end of the day. I want to make room in that cupboard for other things that are in my sideboard so I can put our shoes in there as they make a mess in the kitchen. Then I'll have the task of getting the rest of the family to put them away when they take them off.

I started sorting through the hall storage. Outs: a few jackets and a hoodie for the charity bag, some outgrown socks for the rag bag and I sorted through all the handbags and rucksacks I found, discarding a gazillion receipts and old packs of chewing gum etc, plus a set of broken headphones. We have way too many bags so I expect I can cull some, but that’s a decision for another day.

I also organised the study a bit, creating more space.

I finished going through the front room cupboard, made space in there for my nail stuff. I then went through the sideboard, moved my nail stuff to the front cupboard and made space in there for the shoes like I wanted!
I threw out: about 20 dried up/ discoloured/ separated nail polishes (kept a few although I wear gel now instead). A few empty boxes, broken xbox controllers, several backs to controllers, 2016 weekly calendar 🙊 and much more that I can't remember. I set aside a canvas that I've had over 10 years and not painted on, I'll see if SIL wants it. I have a couple kites and 4 throw cushions that I'll add to yard sale stuff.

No actual decluttering yet but my bid to find out what clothes I will actually use continues.

Today I’m wearing a pair of boots that my mum bought for me just before I had children and then my calves rapidly got too fat for them so they’ve only been worn once or twice. Am now officially back to the weight I was ten years ago and they zip up easily so I’m wearing them and if they’re uncomfortable, I’ll list them. They’ve been sitting in my wardrobe unworn for about 8 years!

Am also wearing a pair of jeggings which I have to concede are probably a bit too big. They’re quite new so not sure what to do with them, bought last January to wear with these boots which I’ve not previously worn but I’m not sure how useful jeggings that sag alarmingly as the knee and are baggy on the waist are but if I get rid of them I’ve nothing to wear with the boots. Wardrobe sort outs are complicated!

Sounds like good progress Jigolo. We have had a bit of a DIY weekend here too.

Lilly I always have that problem with skinny jeans. I would just wear at home if they are comfy but appreciate that this doesn't solve your boot problem.

Someone up thread mentioned the dining room so I had a look in the sideboard drawer which is one of DH's stash locations. So far I've cut up a few stray cards for gift tags and put a CD in my handbag so I can listen to it in the car. There are loads of free DVDs from when newspapers used to give them away so will probably get them into new bag for the tip to recycle as not sure charity shops will take them. Aim for the day is for the drawer to close without needing to squash the contents down!

RaspberryBlonde - great idea, you’ve inspired me to do the same with a couple of my drawers. It’s so annoying when you have to try several times or move things around to get the drawer to close.

A broken toy gone today plus some too small wellies moved to the throwing out pile.