Getting rid of one item a day thread number 14 – where we extract precious autumn leaves, rocks and twigs from our children

[stealthninjamummy]

Well I never thought I’d still be here, on the 14th thread where a bunch of mumsnetters get rid of one item a day while we slowly declutter and reorganise our houses.

It’s autumn and some of us have commented on our children’s beloved treasures that are coming in like conkers and precious twigs that have been named. This is the thread where we focus on sneaking these things out and getting the house ready for Christmas even if we don’t know what Christmas will be like this year.

New joiners are always welcome, just get rid of one item and let us know. We’ve all different issues and challenges and it’s nice to have a friendly chat with a fellow mumsnetter.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4003927-Still-throwing-an-item-away-a-day-part-13?pg=1

And for 2020 some of us are also aiming to get rid of 2020 items!

My bra broke today. So that’s something out!

Also finished some vitamin d tablets.

@SingToTheSky going to PM you

Have been a bit slack updating this! Managed to get rid of a few bits yesterday- gave a magic painting book, some Halloween plastic jewellery & a random piece of plastic toy food to a friend for her smaller DC. Also decanted a craft set into another container, so could throw that box away.

Am trying to relist a few items to sell now, but no bites as yet. And if a national lockdown is announced this afternoon I won't be able to sell anyway, which will be a pain as I need both the space & the money! Although I know that is a minor concern in the grand scheme of things.

I finally sorted out my kitchen shelf - some stuff has gone into drawers where it actually belongs, and other bits have been decluttered entirely. Very satisfying as I've been meaning to tackle it for years!

On a more general note - does everyone on this thread have an "end point" in sight with this decluttering mission, or do you see it as an ongoing process? I would like to reach a point where everything in our house is either "beautiful or useful" - for me that is the ultimate goal. I feel like once that point has been reached, continuing to ensure the house stays clutter-free should be a lot easier!

More bits listed on eBay to make the most of another £1 selling fees weekend. Still haven’t got around to the playmobil though keep putting it off as I know there are so many fiddly little bits to find.
I agree wondering and would add I want to KNOW what I have (and where it is!) not constantly find stuff I thought was already gone or that I’d forgotten I had and have therefore gone to replace

wondering7777 I no longer think there is an end point. Children get bigger, clothes wear out, we put on / lose weight, items break, we get bored with things, get given presents etc. My aim is to have a generally clear house with half empty drawers / cupboards, all similar items in the same place, efficiency in doing those boring daily jobs and to not leave my dc with millions of things to get rid of if I died tomorrow. I think I’m close but it’s he Room of Doom that needs focus as that is all my sentimental items, papers, children’s school work. And that excludes dcs toys because I am fighting a losing battle with those.

I also agree it would be great to know what I own but these days I am fairly close to that point.

Today we decorated the house and dd2 made a right mess. No decluttering done other than I removed some sheets of paper from the kitchen noticeboard that were two years old! How have I been living with them? I love my noticeboard, I even had it specially made yet clearly don’t use it.

Day 43:

Some lockdown toddler art work recycled from the art washing line.

Then husband had a declutter of the electrical wires box so got rid of a few obsolete bits. Plus earmarked two internet routers to go.
Does anyone know where routers go? Do people buy them or can they get recycled somewhere?

Finally built our wardrobe today. I have put ALL of DH’s t-shirts on the bed. In the hope some of them may leave the house 🙄😂

I will likely get rid of some of my stuff too. I don’t have a lot, I am a creature of habit and wear the same comfy items in rotation basically. But there are a few things I could probably get rid of like some leggings. Now I’ve discovered lockets I don’t wear normal ones anymore 😂

footprintsintheslow Is the router the little box that gives you WiFi? I think we switched service provider and our new company gave us a free post envelope to post the old router back to them. Alternatively our tip takes electrics so if yours is similar you could take it there.

Well done on building the wardrobe singtothesky that’s great progress.

I’m up late because I’ve been decluttering computer files and emails and photos. It all started because I decided to update my CV and the last version was on an old computer and here I am 5 hours later having decided to tidy and declutter it. There’s a lot to do I have millions of photos.

Great stuff stealth digital clutter is a huge issue for me 😳 I did do some of the home ed downloads the other day to try and make planning easier but then emails have got away from me again and I daren’t even think about photos and screenshots 😳

I agree @gassylady, to know exactly what you have and where to find it would be so calming! I’m getting there slowly but have a way to go yet.

@stealthninjamummy I intend to decant phone photos to laptop later so I can delete from phone. Thanks for the push to do it!

I agree with Stealth that decluttering is probably an ongoing process but I love Wondering's idea of useful and beautiful things only. Unfortunately I'm not sure that DH has the same idea of what that might be. He is much more into knick nacks and things than me. For example we have a radio in the kitchen. It can't pick up a signal in there and we have a smart speaker so it is never used. But he won't let me get rid of it because :it looks nice'.

I had a quick look on the desk and threw out the letter about kids flu vaccine as they've had them now. Also a random flyer from the water company.

Digital declutter is on my list too. All my photos are on the laptop and I really want to get some printed. We are going to send some nice family photos out at Christmas. We have some nice albums but might just do photo books so it only needs sorting once.

Well done on the wardrobe Sing. It's been a long wait!

A bag of dressing up clothes went on their way to a younger child yesterday.

I first tried decluttering last summer as we were moving house. Well... We are looking to move again in February. Into our own home. And stay there a good few years hopefully!

Out, more shoes. I’d actually bought replacements a while ago and hadn’t got rid of the old ones.

I’m hoping to use lockdown 2.0 to sort out things drastically. I’m thinking konmari style maybe? Lockdown won’t actually be much different to our normal day to day though, as DCs will be at school and DH at work.

I’m thinking maybe konmari style but per room, as things are starting to be categorised in rooms anyway, we don’t have too many overlapping areas. I would love to get our bedroom sorted, as that’s by far the worse room in the house.

Yay @footprintsintheslow that’s one of my jobs - to get photos off the phone and backed up. I have cloud backup for photos but I’m not happy unless things are on a computer where I can see them.

That reminds me raspberryblonde I have two digital radios I keep looking at. I could get rid of them as I can use my phone to listen to the radio but I don’t feel quite ready to let them go.

I ended up staying up til about 4 deleting photos and files. I still have lots to do but once I’ve done it I can do a backup.

No plans to do any real, physical decluttering today, but as I’m doing lots next week I’m not too bothered.

Busy morning so far, sorting through the bookcase in our bedroom as well as the linen cupboard.

A bag full for the charity shop, a pile of books to go back to MIL, another pile to go to DH’s work, for references.

We need to buy some plastic boxes to store clothes in the loft. The one thing we’ve been strict with is giving away DC3 clothes away as soon as they’re outgrown.

I said 1 bag for the charity shop, but we actually filled 5 of those large plastic bags (not quite a big as bags for life but bigger than normal carrier bags) and DH is dropping them off today. A bit of urgency as we’re assuming charity shops will close again on Thursday.

The bedroom doesn’t actually look much different (or maybe we were blind to the mountain of mess). The boxes of pens are still mocking me though!

I sorted through a freezer drawer and dumped an ancient box of unidentified stock. There were also three boxes each containing a single chicken thigh. I’m defrosting those to make a curry, which will nearly use up a tin of coconut milk that went ood in April (sure it’s fine but if it smells weird when I open it I’ll discard instead). Feels good to clear a bit of space, but I expect I’ll fill up the space again later freezing portions of chicken curry.

I’m also getting rid of a couple of plastic beakers - the plastic is scratched so I never feel they are properly clean. I found various little bits of plastic to go - those clips that hold shirts in place in the packaging, I cannot fathom why they didn’t go straight in the bin, but I guess that’s why my house looks the way it does!

Not decluttering, but I used some elbow grease to clean my cooker & it worked brilliantly. I also rejigged a cupboard and should have enough space to put away a thermos flask that’s been stored on the worktop.

@Times10 I’ve been kicking myself that I didn’t get my binbags today the charity shop before this announcement. I will try to go tomorrow in case they are still taking stuff.

Hope you manage to donate your bags!

@Miaowse Luckily DH phoned ahead and one of the charity shops was happy to take everything.

I’ve already filled the boxes he bought today and we need more.

@Times10 oh brilliant, hope the charity shops near me are the same! Sounds like you’re on a roll.