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!

November day 9 update: I went through another pile on the chest of drawers in my bedroom and found homes for almost everything - photos gone in the photo box to sort later, and some paper into the recycling. All that’s left is two old pairs of glasses, which I need to take to recycle, if I can find anywhere that takes them.

Had another push whilst DH put the big ones to bed.

I have a load of Blue Nose Friends toys on the shelf, they're just collecting dust - they've been wiped and boxed.

Do i-

• take tags off, wash and add them to the toy pile?
• charity shop them?
• try and sell them?

Also have three Meerkat toys I'm gonna see if I can sell.

Some ornaments and candles for the charity shop as well as a physics book

Bin pile: A flower from my friends 2013 wedding, the entire Storyboard cast which I made before DS lost interest, Space which I also made for school, an old material toy box, a seal ornament with a broken bit.

Out today: 3 dead leaves
In today: 5 dead leaves
Oh well

@SleepingStandingUp

Don’t cut the tags off the Blue Nose Friends! I sold a pile on eBay a couple of years ago. I got a reasonable amount, but I know I would have got more if they had still had their tags on.

After dc went to bed I started to go through more wires and tested some to find out what they go with. I found three that work with the early 2000s camera I mentioned earlier. I also found a second iPhone wire and iPad wire and two unused headphones that were free with phones, so it’s great to have spares when the normal ones vanish. Those of you on earlier threads might remember I bought labels and at one point started labelling all my wires. I’ve been going round electronics tonight doing it again.i still have a load of random wires that looks like a box of spaghetti but it’s a smaller box than earlier. I have been putting off doing electrical wires and the Room of Doom for so long but I finally feel I’m making progress.

glumygloomer 😂

@GlumyGloomer

Out today: 3 dead leaves In today: 5 dead leaves Oh well

How old is your child? 😂

[quote PurpleFrog]@SleepingStandingUp

Don’t cut the tags off the Blue Nose Friends! I sold a pile on eBay a couple of years ago. I got a reasonable amount, but I know I would have got more if they had still had their tags on.[/quote]
It's having the patience to list them all, o think I have about 20. And what do I do about them being s little dusty? I've wiped them down but bunny may have to live with is forever cos I think his white ears needs a bath

I'm so behind on the thread atm, I'm still on page 3. Stealth, if you're still pondering laundry, how about using coloured stickers to get the chn into sorting their washing? (I'm desperate for someone to use the kallax idea so I can live vicariously through them.)

My outs have been rather pitiful recently. In fact, I've got quite a few ins for me. Earlier this year, I gave away some of our old Christmas stuff so I've now got to re-buy things. Cue: a new tree, tablecloth etc coming soon. On the plus side, at least I haven't been storing loads of old stuff all year. Also, the new tablecloth should actually fit properly, which the old one didn't.

Anyway, outs include:

1 card wallet - tatty and joyless.
1 shower curtain - old and ripped in the wash.
12 curtain rings - old and not needed.
1 peg bag - too small and spills pegs everywhere.
1 t-shirt - worn & joyless.
1 stone - returned to the beach.
1 lovely candle holder. I came close to giving this away last year and then decided to keep it, 'just in case'. I haven't used it since then! I actually feel a sense of relief now it's on its way out.

I was looking through my kitchen gadgets tonight. They're mostly in 1 small cupboard so there aren't many, compared to when I started on here. Still, I've realised that I've got 5 different types of blender/chopper. Five! (I didn't buy all these - they were mostly given to me.) Anyway, I know which one I'm definitely keeping, I just need to play around with the others and have a think about it. I'm going to get them all out now and test them tomorrow. I've got a load of apples which need eating so I might use them and then make an apple pudding.

I've also been thinking about a case I've got under my bed. It's got a few old things in which I wasn't ready to part with before. I think I might go through it again soon.

Thanks all for being here and reading my ramblings!

Not much decluttering going on here atm. Keeping things tidy, tackling massive laundry piles. Mostly trying to declutter paper and home admin. Understairs cupboard straightened up a bit, more space for storage.

Did a fridge-freezer tidy. Several items too far gone for soup/stew, now in food waste caddy. I've been taking far greater care over shopping lists, keeping an eye out for special offers. At the same time avoiding impulse buys. A tricky combination.

Recycling trolley out before dark.

Actual declutter = three holey socks.

Sleeping she's 4, and is forever trying to take the scenery home when we go out. 99% of the time she'll forget about her finds as soon as we're through the door. I tend to just leave them in the buggy then ditch next time we're out. (To be clear, the buggy is for the 1 year old)

sandandsea i love the sticker idea. I couldn’t find something that was exactly right so I had a brainwave. I swapped the dcs broken laundry basket with my large pop up one. It’s so big I’m hoping that it will fit dcs washing in with no overflowing undies yet it can also be carried to the washing machine. Annoyingly dc have left yesterday’s clothes in a pile next to it so didn’t have the common sense to use it! It’s not perfect but I spent so many hours doing research online last week that I did no washing!

sandandsea five choppers / blenders? That’s loads.

Dispatched my four eBay items yesterday. No other outs except for the usual recycling etc, unfortunately lots of ins in the form of craft supplies and Christmas gifts.
Hallway looks like a mail depot at the moment. Have a whole day of virtual meetings so maybe able to get some unpacked and put away.

@GlumyGloomer our thing is sticks, but they're not allowed on the house so they live on a pile by the front door 😂

With any luck my buyer doesn't pull out and I get rid of the last of my tiny baby clothes 😭😭. She's having them for a song and I'm delivering for free so she better not cancel 😂

Need to do Uni work tonight so there will be very little work done tonight as I need to write an essay plan on the internal structure of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells 😮

@SleepingStandingUp

I just hoovered mine with a handheld vacuum cleaner to remove the dust. Actually, I have looked back and it was only last November I sold them. It was a bundle of 8. (I thought it was more.) I decided that there was no point in selling them singly as it would be the same postage for one as for the whole lot. You could split yours into smaller bundles - 5s, say?

@SleepingStandingUp I am both impressed that you can do a degree with kids and very sad that I can't even remember the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic (is it to do with using oxygen? I think the difference makes multicellular organisms possible but I don't remember how or which way round it went).
I do worry that 4 years of varying levels of sleep deprivation have permanently decluttered my brain cells.

[quote PurpleFrog]@SleepingStandingUp

I just hoovered mine with a handheld vacuum cleaner to remove the dust. Actually, I have looked back and it was only last November I sold them. It was a bundle of 8. (I thought it was more.) I decided that there was no point in selling them singly as it would be the same postage for one as for the whole lot. You could split yours into smaller bundles - 5s, say?[/quote]
I think I'm gonna decide of I can bear to part with them all then check if any are worth any more than the rest but yeah, if not bundles.

Re degree, it's VERY part time and really I should have had a couple of years off around the twins but I'm scared of losing momentum

@SleepingStandingUp

Yes, you should check each individually first. None of ours were particularly rare, and since they didn't have their tags they weren't worth as much.

I'm in awe of anyone who can study while having small kids.

I’m also impressed with anyone who can study with small kids, I struggle to motivate myself to read a book and my children are older.

Anyway I have spent two hours tidying and made a mess in practically every room in the house. My focus was the Room of Doom but I ended up moving lots of crap all over the place. I shredded enough old papers to fill a large bin bag. I have put a jigsaw puzzle in the charity shop pile but that’s the only thing that’s going. I also have a pile of wires and I couldn’t get the photos off my old camera so I am going to have to buy a device to input the memory stick.

I was so looking forward to being able to use the library for studying again as I too find it really hard with the DCs around. Hopefully it will be possible again in a few weeks

Blooming heck @IWillWearThatGlitteryWoolly shocked by the school’s letter!!

I’ve popped a new multipack of children’s pants in the charity shop bag, plus a little ceramic dish.

I found an envelope in a drawer with 5 expired credit cards and associated bumf. They expired between 2014 and 2017. They are now in tiny pieces in the bin and the paperwork is in the recycling. I also used up a deodorant but have clearly been a bit too enthusiastic about using up my stash as I discovered that was the last one. I’ve added a new one to my supermarket delivery & will use my DH’s in the meantime.

@IWillWearThatGlitteryWoolly that's awful, scary there's still that attitude in 2020

All studying is done once they're in bed, they're at the age where if Mommy does anything they must gran it, lock it, poke it, climb on Mommy so nothing gets done in the day, believe me

Outs today- lots of random cards.
X2 gift bags with bits from my friends weddings.

I went through my old letters and photos and removed all photos of people I don’t know anymore or that didn’t spark any joy. (Just rewatched Marie kondo on Netflix) I want to add them into my mums old photo albums, the one with the big pull back sheets rather than the ones with small sections. All my photos are different shapes and sizes. Not sure if I will be able to find them nowadays.

I did have a few ins but I’m very happy as they were the books I’ve ordered to get me through lockdown.

Woolly - What a horrible letter! I'm sure it'll be good not to have that tie and to be reminded every time you see it. I'm pleased to write that I don't still have my Brownie uniform, though I'm pretty sure I kept it for many years longer than needed and I also didn't like it much.

Stealth - Yes, it is rather a lot. I think I had the right amount until I helped declutter my mum's place and ended up taking hers as well. One of the choppers has been used quite a lot for cat food so it's been a genuinely needed additional gadget. I'm not sure if the other chopper works properly, but it's in a set with other attachments and the stick blender might be better than the other stick blender. But, do I even need a stick blender? I think I might be keeping them in case of a blender emergency, but is there even such a thing??! I'm pondering.

Since last posting, I've been through the kitchen again and have a few more bits to go:

1 funnel.
2 measuring cups.
1 stand for hot plates.
A few broken clothes pegs.
Another chopping gadget which I'm posting at the end so you don't notice that that makes 6!

I'm starting to debate pulling out the candle holder from last night. I don't know what it is about this but I'm quite attached to it. I'm trying to be strong.

Few outs today - a boxed cup, junk mail, and a bag of knitted baby clothes. I need to parcel up some eBay bits but that might have to be a job for tomorrow