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!

Should have added that he wants to buy everything himself. He is not open to the idea of shopping my cupboards. I'm a bit disappointed about that, but I haven't said so. Just that the offer's there if he wants it. In all honesty, he makes total sense about why not.

Having lived with walls of floor-to-ceiling boxes in the past while elder children moved between flats and jobs, I've no intention of letting that happen again. But I'll help him as much as I can this month, because I don't want him to feel pushed out.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Dm kept all my stuff. And I mean everything. It’s all in the loft at dparents place. She keeps threatening to sell and make me take it all.

Dd has shuffled her way through another pair of trousers. She’s better learn to walk quick!!

To my eternal shame, I know for a fact that there is a bookcase and a load of clothes in my mother’s loft I left there ten years ago. I really ought to go and sort it, I can’t imagine I need ANY of it if it has been untouched in that long! And actually, once I’ve sorted out the stuff in my exes loft, I need to move that into mum’s attic so clearing away the old stuff First would at least be a lot of a peace offering

Dms other threat is that I’m
Executor of her will. So I’ll inherit all the crap that’s in her loft one day. Joy.

Ddad can’t get up in the loft anymore as he has a dodgy knee. I don’t want to go up there because spiders. Am tempted to get a clearance co to empty it for Dm. Then we can sort it and tip it. Or transfer my junk to my loft...

Third time lucky with this post...

I got rid of a fair bit of stuff mostly from under the stairs and the kitchen, including a whole box of “wedding mementoes” (but I’m keeping the wedding disco CDs to listen to in the car!).

Still wading through paperwork, I found some stuff from when I was selling my first flat, including the estate agent flyer for it. Loved seeing the old place. It was a studio, and good to remember how happy I was without 80% of my stuff.
My poor parents let me use 2 rooms and their garage to store my crap, for a decade. I'd have a go at it every now and then, but most I still kept for 'when I have a big enough house'. Well, I'm in the biggest house I'm likely to get and it still doesn't fit.
MrsTidy I think you are doing a good thing. In a way getting some distance from stuff can make it easier to let go, but ultimately I wish I'd just faced up to all my teen/young adult stuff before getting bogged down in the detritus of adulting.

I was also hoarding a load of stuff at my parents' house until they downsized a few years back. I did get rid of quite a lot but am still working through loads of random bits. It is now mostly sentimental stuff like postcards from friends who I've not been in touch with for years now. I should have another look at it as it is a full cupboard full.

School is having a clothing collection for charity next week so have a deadline to get a few things sorted out for that. Still failing to get everything else to charity shop!

After spending a lot of time lurking on these threads, I have decided to finally join you. I have a small house and it’s full of clutter - partly because I don’t have time for decluttering, but mostly because I find it hard to get rid of things. DH is the same.

There are a lot of sentimental things, and a lot of sadness as well - I still have all DD’s baby things (she’s five) as it is hard for me to accept we can’t have another child (age/ health issues). My mum died last year and we are clearing out her house, so more stuff is coming into our house - my stuff that was left there when I moved out, and things that belonged to her that I want to keep (though I am trying to be mindful and only bring a few things I love).

I also struggle to find time for decluttering - I have been working all through lockdown, while DH has been furloughed and doing childcare, so most days I go from working to spending time with DD (who got quite clingy the longer lockdown went on). I have a chronic disease that affects my energy levels, and I’ve struggled with my mental health in lockdown, so I haven’t have the mental energy to deal with anything. The house has got quite messy as well as clutter - we’ve both been leaving stuff around the place and not dealing with it.

A long tale of woe there! But I have that ‘back to school’ feeling and want to make a start on dealing with all this stuff. I feel that I can manage getting rid of one thing a day, or putting away one thing a day!

Yesterday I finally put a empty bottle of bathroom cleaner in the recycling (it had been on the bathroom floor for a couple of weeks). Today I have put DD’s 5th birthday cards in a envelope, then put that in her memory box so they’re not cluttering the top of my chest of drawers (her birthday was at the start of lockdown!).

glumygloomer well done for spending your evening doing paperwork. It might not feel like you’ve mae a difference but honestly just grouping paperwork documents together makes it so much easier to file. I am a bit of a paperwork hoarder but about 90% of it is nicely organised and it does make life easier. Every bit of time you spend on it now makes your future life easier and you don’t have the black cloud of ‘must file paperwork’ job hanging over you.

mrstidyhouse Four weeks sounds reasonable to me but I’m wondering if you could do it with him? It might be a nice thing to bond over as you can laugh about childhood toys/ horrible clothes? Probably projecting myself but while my dc are disorganised hoarders (they’re still quite small) we do laugh at stuff like ‘remember when you were obsessed with ponies/ Rapunzel / the colour yellow’ as we do it.

Welcome ellieq that sounds tough but it would be lovely to hear your progress - it really can work to have small goals that build up over time. Are there any ‘quickwins’ that you can make to create a positive sense of space that spurs you on? For example I remember getting rid of large toddler toys (although that might upset you) and had a jumperoo and ball pool sized space and I am always obsessed about keeping my window ledges and surfaces clear.

My update. Ha – well once again I haven’t done anything I said I was going to do! I have sold / given away a few toys / books since yesterday but the best thing is I took two large bags of rags, clothes and books to the charity shop and a load of children’s shoes to be recycled.

So for about the fifth day in a row I’m intending to spend some time in my hall and sitting room. Think I have lost the Flylady motivation!

Mrstidyhouse Four weeks will give him a chance to do most of it? It's better to start it now. Good luck with it!

Welcome EllieQ. That's a good start, if you do a little bit here and there it will make a difference. I'm trying to do five minutes here and there and it's helping (both with decluttering and tidying/cleaning). It's hard when you are busy and have a lot going on.

Stealth I also have lost track of flylady but instead trying to chip away at the to do list in time for the kids to go back to school.

Welcome EllieQ - you have made a start and that is the hard bit. It does become a habit and some days you can get rid of more than one item. At the start I grouped items together that were similar. I had a lot of stuff everywhere and had doubles of some items. I put a bag under the stairs and I filled that for the charity shop. I gave away a lot of things to family and friends. Good luck - every out is progress.

I had a good day with cleaning and got some jobs done that I had planned for the weekend. I recycled the birthday cards from the last birthday which was a few weeks ago and I dumped some random plastic bits. Small outs but still outs.

Hi, may I join this thread? I deluded myself into thinking I'm on top of my clutter , but last week my long-awaited attic renovation began. Long-awaited as in I've been waiting for the builder since February. Plenty of time to clear out 10 years' worth of boxes, right? Including boxes that have been moved twice without being opened?

But if course I waited until 10 days before, when I was on AL. it's been overwhelming but I discovered FB groups and have shifted so much. A bed, a wardrobe (plastic IKEA one), exercise mat, printer, fax, sofa, chair, coffee table, son's toys (he's 26 ). Have become surprisingly hard-hearted about DS's childhood treasures (which of course he doesn't give a stuff about).

Great right? Except that things I'm keeping or that still waiting for pickup are jammed into my living room and son's room and the house feels totally chaotic.

I can't even clean because every inch of floor is covered. Tell me it will get better!

Hello all, this thread is wonderful. I'd love to join. I am definitely on the verge of being a bit of a hoarder. I know I attach lots of significance to 'stuff' - someone mentioned being really triggered by sorting out a pile of magazines and I totally got that. After 6 months of lockdown with three kids, my husband and my mother I am well and truly sick of the inefficiency of my home though. We have way too much stuff and lots of things don't have a proper home, so I spend ages hunting for them/arguing with my family about not being able to find them.

I've been slowly sorting through stuff and listing lots on eBay that I don't really need. Does anyone have any sort of golden rules that they follow for eBay? Like you'll list it 3 times and if it doesn't sell you take it to a charity shop?

Welcome to all the new folk. Frogs I do exactly that list up to three times very occasionally a fourth if I think it’s a something I’ve tried to list at a poor time eg wellies in the middle of summer. Have realised the money is lost when it’s spent not by sitting in the house waiting for eBay again! I also don’t bother listing if I don’t think the price will be worth the effort of photos writing the listing etc. I don’t have Facebook or Instagram so can’t comment on how those measure up

Finally some outs. Holey socks... I was sure I checked all the socks recently, but still finding some in the laundry piles.

Thanks everyone. I’ve managed to find homes for a couple more things that I brought back from my mum’s - two pictures have been hung up (thanks to DH), and two books have gone onto our (overflowing) bookcases. I think my first goal will be gl go through everything I brought back and find homes, though some of the emotional stuff (letters and cards she kept) might need to be boxed up until I feel more able to deal with them

Thanks Gassylady - I think I need to do that, give myself a limit on what time I'll spend doing it.

EllieQ - that all sounds really hard. Very difficult to get rid of that emotional stuff, and even find the reserves to tackle it. I like the idea of breaking it down into specific tasks.

Tonight I made a start by sorting through the two cupboards in our family bathroom and ensuite - we had loads of duplicates. I threw away a massive collection of out of date mini toiletries that I'd saved in case I ever really get into going to the gym (LOL for me!). And heaps of half used bottles of cream for my kids eczema that I keep in case we ever run out of the cream that works. I'm hoping I'll notice when the prescription is running low now I can see better. I now have a box of displaced items, but will leave that for tomorrow to find homes for them. And also need to sort out my makeup, but that's for another day!

Today I haven’t done much. I brought in some cushions for dds room, and a new storage box for my Covid lockdown take two - winter edition- stockpile. Have also retidied the understairs cupboard. Dyson is out in the garage and will give it a clean and will list on fb.

Have been crafty and made some covers for cushions for outside and a bench cushion.

Tomorrow I’m taking bags of baby things to Dfriend. Hoorah. A car boot full. She knows it’s coming.

Welcome @EllieQ and @FrogsLegs14 it's a really nice thread to be on.

I'm still wading through paperwork. More bits into recyling or burn bag today, and the end of phase 1 is in sight. I've just got half a box and a rucksack left to go through. Then I need to actually order and file it all, shudder. I'm actually looking forwards to getting back to sorting sentimental stuff after this. My goal is to turn my box room into a little child free sitting room for me, with all my nice fragile stuff in. Earlier I think I complained about Dh dumping a chair into my room, but I've decided to run with it. I've ordered some decorative brackets for fixing my coffee table, which should be joining the chair shortly, if I can make room for it. The game of tetris continues...

Ooh lovely cushions Ememem84, also your wooden floors are gorgeous.

The outs - I am donating a set of knitting needles in a case. This is the set I previously kept after donating another set of knitting needles. However, I haven’t done any knitting in recent years, so silly to have them sitting in a box unused.

I also found a Christmas stocking that can go, a carrier bag’s worth of old wires and a carrier bag half full of old razor blades (I think they were put to one side while we investigated whether or not they could be recycled but then they got put back in a drawer). So nothing massive but at least I’m keeping up the routine of decluttering daily.

Gosh this thread is moving quickly atm! Well done everyone!

I've got quite a few outs but a lot of it has needed to be replaced, or will be soon, including:

• 1 pair of holey trainers. (I might have counted these before but they've been hanging around for ages. The trouble is, they're like new, apart from one small hole by the big toe. I'm finding it hard to accept the waste. They have to go though and I've just ordered some more so I won't be without for long. They're going to go in a shoe bin so they will be recycled.)
• 1 broken kettle.
• Salt & pepper shakers. (They're pretty old and one of them broke so a new set will be coming in.)
• 1 pair of old speakers. (Again, on their last legs.)
• Some cat food. (She doesn't like it so it'll go to a cat charity.)
• 2 jars with lids.

1 present is also wrapped and will be going out tomorrow morning.

Goodness lots going on a the moment! I have decluttered DD back to school (plus a load of 'treasure' from her school coat including a conker, a feather, numerous pebbles and a milk bottle cap!)

Will catch up properly later.

Welcome newbies! There's a lot of decluttering going on.
I found more cards to go out yesterday and DP has cleared out some of his paperwork. We have a dump run booked for tomorrow so a lot of stuff can actually go. It's mostly small items (batteries, textiles, shredded paper etc) but it all needs to go. Recycling didn't go this week so we'll take some of that with us too.
DP has sorted some books out to go to a charity shop so all progress.
I have some household/life admin including secondary school applications to do so will aim to spend a day doing that next week once school returns. Then I will get back to decluttering!