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!

Outs: loads of junk from lockdown DIY to the tip before it shuts. Hooray!

It sounds like everyone is doing great! Nothing out for me today, but I have had one in - a new houseplant! It was a considered purchase though and something I’ve been meaning to buy for a while to fill a certain spot, so I’m happy.

Lots of ins here - whoops. I've decided I'll call them considered purchases after reading your post wondering as it makes me feel better plus isn't totally incorrect. Microwave, TV, TV stand. Also got a lamp and some slippers coming this week as mine are totally worn through.

Outs: any packaging for the above straight away, plus an old bike helmet. Not loads, but getting and carrying all of the above wore me out so hey, at least there was one proper out!

I've had a lovely evening watching a proper TV, too (first TV I've ever owned - good secondhand deal!)

Only 1 tiny out today- a sachet of body lotion. I have hundreds of sachets/trial sizes of toiletries, which I was saving for holidays, but I have decided I will use them all up before buying any new products.

Fell off a bit. But outs for today:

One Tshirt of ds’ which has a stain that I just cannot get out. It may fade with sunshine but we have none of that at the moment. He has a million others so it’s been binned.

Water bottle. We have too many. I do not need three. I usually keep one at work and one at home. So have kept the two better ones and the third will be for the charity shop.

Day 44:

Calpol syringes recycled x 1 million

Kitchen cupboard cleaned and silicone butter moulds 🙄, fabric napkins and food covers, table cloth listed on freecycle but in charity bag for now.

More toddler lockdown art recycled.

Broken ice cube trays recycled.

Other than a few computer files that have gone nothing has left my house.

However i had an epiphany. It occurred to me I HATE dc’s dirty laundry basket ever since one of them pretended it was a boat, climbed inside and broke it. It’s too small and so has mountains of washing cascading out of it like lava from a volcano and when I carry it to the washing machine tiny socks and pants fall out through the broken bit and usually land by the front door waiting to greet any visitors. So I decided my life would be easier if I decluttered it and bought a new one. So today I started researching for a new perfect laundry basket. I haven’t found The One one yet but It is my current Mission in Life and I will not rest til I’ve done it.

Coming back onto the thread after making very little progress in October. It was a tough month - DD had two weeks self-isolating at home due to a Covid case in her year group, then earlier this week we found out that DH is going to be made redundant after knowing his job was at risk for the past couple of months.

I still have the ongoing problems of too much clutter in a tiny house/ stuff brought back from my mum’s house to find a home for or declutter/ struggling to get rid of baby things and accept I can’t have another child/ chronic disease affecting energy levels/ little time to declutter as I’m usually either working or looking after DD (who is 5).

I think I need to go back to daily updates to motivate myself to do some decluttering! So today was a good day - DH took DD to meet a friend at the park while we can, and I had a couple of hours to do exciting stuff like hoovering, laundry, and some tidying and decluttering. I cleaned and tidied the top of my bedside cabinet, and dealt with some random paperwork piled on there (filed a couple of things but the rest went in the recycling), and cleared a pile of stuff on my chest of drawers so there is a empty space on there. I also listed a few more toddler coats and waterproofs on FB marketplace (no interest yet). So only a couple of outs, but progress is being made!

2 more old batteries added to the bag for recycling.

My curry was not amazing, but it was perfectly edible and it used up 3 tins from the cupboard. I have three more portions left so have frozen them for another time.

Over the last few days my outs have included:

Buffet food for our Halloween tea
Pumpkins x2
A bag to the charity shop
Cardboard in the car waiting to go to the tip (along with some of mil's rubbish)

I've got two old newel posts and bits of wood to put in the car tomorrow also for the tip.

My in's will be mdf to make doors once the frame has been made for under stair storage.

@stealthninjamummy my washing epiphany is this:

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/sortera-waste-sorting-bin-with-lid-white-10255897/

We have one for lights and one for darks. Other people may want one for whites and one for towels etc.
There are a few sizes but the smaller one when full is a full washing load so you know when the box is full, it's time to put a wash on.

Everything gets sorted at the point of putting it in the wash bin so it's everyone's responsibility. Even the toddler is getting trained.

@EllieQ god sounds like you are having a tough time so don't be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you've made progress against the odds.

Can you get some sucky bags and keep just the precious baby clothes for when you have grandchildren or just for posterity down the line?

footprintsintheslow thanks that’s really interesting. I am completely overthinking this now but I have been wondering whether to get one big pop up basket that fits in a space on the hall or a basket with two or three compartments like the current broken one which is also ikea. This is separate to my basket which hides in my wardrobe. We have an independent hardware store nearby so I am going to shop there first before lockdown.

ellieq sending hugs. I’m sorry things are bad for you at the moment.

My plan for today is to go through a massive tidying list and then spend thirty mins in the Room of Doom decluttering. I might do that first in fact to get it out of the way, I’m really dreading it.

Welcome back @EllieQ sounds like you have had a rotten month at least your husband knows now I always find things more difficult when they are maybes.

@stealthninjamummy we have a curver upright hamper in every bedroom that all that person's washing goes in. I then have an open basket (two actually) to gather up a dark or a white load in from all the baskets. I found that this way washing doesn’t live on the floor rather than get moved to a central
basket.

Three items sold on eBay May post those later if the torrential rain ever stops.

Just been into the garage to see if we had something I need - we don't. It's round the corner from our house & I don't really tend to go in there, plus DH assured me he was sorting it out in the summer. It is horrendous! So much junk - old photos, baby toys (youngest DC is 6), broken bits of everything. You can't get past the door easily as DH's idea of putting stuff away is apparently just shoving it in the doorway

So now, I have to add that to the to do list as well as the house. It is honestly stressing me out. I am also having to take responsibility for my grandfather's medical appointments & shopping (so up to 3 days per week) as suddenly nobody else is available. Plus DH has started a FT Masters as he can't get work, so is busy with that 4 full days per week. Feels like a lot needs doing & it's only me that can do any of it. And I can't when the DC are home, so only have daytimes. Feeling stressed by it all

@confusedofengland, it can be stressful when you start so here are some tips

1. Set aside a time say one hour.

1. Decide on one area (I just came on here to say I have cleaned out and decluttered my cutlery drawer to-day, this was not my plan, I planned to just clean the kitchen but it was so messy I decided to do it while I had energy).

The area can be a fridge, a playroom cupboard, a wardrobe, a drawer, a messy junk press or junk drawer - just pick one area.

Then take everything out of there, lay on the floor or counter. Get a large bin bag and discard everything that you possibly can (all broken items which can't be repaired, all old items you will not use again etc) into the bin bag and put in your bin.

Clean the area. Then put back all the items you want to store there neatly.

Finally, decide where you want to store the remaining items and put them away (it does not matter if that place is not tidy, just leave them in that place).

Now, you have one tidy area, you have started.

Try taking one area per day (two if they are small areas). You can get loads done in one hour when there are no DC around.

Keep posting here for support

I encouraged you to dump everything in a bin bag and put it in the bin because you are starting out and need to get a quick win. As time goes on you may want to recycle some items but only do this if you can move them on immediately (take a load that week to the bring centre or pass on clothes to the charity store etc).

confusedofenfland I’m sorry to hear that, it sounds like you have so much on. How is the house decluttering going? Are you making a difference? Maybe you should focus on improving the house and allocate half an hour a week - when your dh is looking after dc - to go through the garage. You could aim to get it clear slowly in six months or even a year? And try to not put things in there.

What needs to go? Could you buy a hippo bag and fill it at your leisure. I really feel for you, the garage is such a horrible job, I did it by myself too. I’m still doing it but I need a skip for the last bits.

I won’t comment on your ‘d’h other than to say he may be studying but that doesn’t exempt him from doing stuff around the house.

I agree with annagirl I am super green but sometimes, for your own sanity, you need to just get stuff out.

Placemarking.

All is not well here (long story) but I have got 7 quid from Music Magpie from some specialist books which no charity shop would have wanted. Also passed a bunch of packing boxes which I got from a neighbour and used while we had building work on to another neighbour who was having building work done. Quite satisfying.

Also put the winter cover on the washing line

Thanks gassylady I have a Robert dyas near me that sells those baskets, I’ll have a look. I popped into a few shops today but didn’t see anything I liked. I have a specific spot on the landing they need to fit, but maybe they could go in their bedrooms? Like I said this has become a Big Project.

Today I spent half an hour in the Room of Doom. I found stuff to be binned and have three bags of stuff to go to a charity shop. I played a bit of tidy up Tetris as I emptied stuff to other rooms as well. Not sure I achieved much but I’ll go back tomorrow and do a bit more.

Welcome anythinglegalconsidered

Just when I was about to give up on it selling, the final pushchair was collected today, hurrah! Have purposely left it in my lounge where I would trip over it daily to stop me shoving it in the boot of my car and forgetting about it so am super pleased to see the back of it. Also, the pair of kids shoes I listed on eBay sold so go to post those off after work. Sadly, the heap of stuff I had carefully sorted for the charity shop isn’t going anywhere as I’m at work all week until Thursday, Friday is my day off, by which time everything will be closed down no last minute runs to the shops for me then.

Thank you all for your sympathy to my ranting! It does all just feel a bit much at the moment. At least with lockdown coming up, I should be able to do more as no activities to taxi the boys to or volunteering for me, which takes up practically one school day.

To be fair to him, DH does do the dishwasher every night, helps with breakfasts/packed lunches & we share school runs (DS1 is at senior school & needs driving as no public transport right now, other 2 are staggered starts/finishes), but I feel like everything else is down to me, especially the 'mental load' of making sure everybody has everything, school communications (a lot as DS2 has an EHCP), homework etc.

No decluttering done today as by the time I'd done school runs, gone to Aldi (lots of bare shelves ) & taken my grandad to hospital there was no time!

Thank you for your kind words, everyone. I agree it has been easier since we found out about the redundancy, as not knowing was really stressful.

November day 2 update: I finally used a photo frame we were given when DD was a baby It was an odd size, and while I knew which photo I wanted to put in there, I kept putting off getting a print done. Over the summer I got DH to add a border to the photo in photoshop and got it printed at the right size, and today I’ve put it in the frame, put it on display, and put the packaging in the bin/ recycling. A tiny step, but I’ve been meaning to do it for so long!

footprintsintheslow I am planning to reduce the baby clothes to one or two favourite items for each age, but can’t quite face it yet! I’m doing ok with sorting through pre-school and toddler stuff, which is progress