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!

Well done on the painting, Strange!

sandandsea ah now I understand your reluctance to get rid of the gadget. I have a similar issue in that I have a 20 year old magimix which I love. It can with some kind of juicer that I’ve never used that sits in a cupboard with the pasta maker. I don’t imagine anyone would ever want it and it seems wrong to part it from my magimix but if I moved house I would probably have to get rid of it so I should really get rid of it now.

glitterywooly that’s actually confusedofenglands idea to declutter November and prep for Xmas in December. I will still be decluttering every day with a view to ‘finishing’ the Room of Doom. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that dc don’t self isolate because that would make Xmas preparation really hard. The biggest problem is wrapping Santa presents in secret. Dc don’t visit their very dad often so last year I forced exmil to have them for one night so I could do it. This year exmil is shielding so understandably won’t have dc in her house. I’ve wrapped the Santa presents that I have so it’s less of a job but if we isolated it would be a complete pain.

Anyway I’m now going to look through the weekly to do list and see what’s left. I am going to focus on filing / shredding the remaining piles of paperwork that are spread on the floor and shredding all the stuff I’ve found this week.

I meant to say well done on the painting strange. Have you finished your stairs? Your house will be lovely. I am still on Pinterest/ YouTube admiring staircases.

I've got all the glass to go up the stairs but not all of the clamps or the three panels we need for the landing so can't finish it properly just yet but at least the woodwork paint is done, The clamps are just as expensive as the glass panels! I've now got to wallpaper and paint the walls at some point this week ready for the carpets next Friday. I'm 43 and fat so it's slow progress but progress none the less I will have a nice, finished home for once instead of half jobs in every room.

When I get home I going to go through a box that I know will have loads of outs. It's been there too long so it should be an easy win.

45 mins in the Room of Doom and I needed a break. The R of D has a big bookcase with 5 full shelves. The paperwork is daunting but today I put the actual used files on the bottom two shelves and maybe 20 empty box files and folders on the top 3 shelves so suddenly it feels manageable. I kind of tipped out lots of boxes of shit. I’m determined to find homes for EVERYTHING instead of putting it another box. I also shredded / chucked out lots of school related paperwork. I am creating memory boxes for some of dcs stuff like party invitations and school certificates. I feel so confident that I am finally over my habit of filing every piece of paper or putting it in a box which I revisit / add to every year.

The only stumbling block was my wedding cards. People wrote such lovely messages I couldn’t throw them out. If I am give them to stbexh he will accuse me of being manipulative to get him back even though I have been with my boyfriend for 18 months now.

Re cards, I'd throw any from anyone you don't see now, and any fr his family unless you're still particularly close. Then clear any of the generic ones. If nothing else it should reduce the board and you might find you only want to keep a handful

thanks sleepingstandingup I ended up doing what I always do which is putting them in a folder to think about.

So I spent another 2 hours in the RofD and sorted through, filed, shredded piles and piles of stuff. The room is a mess but I have tipped stuff out. I am not going to do my usual putting it in a box and tidying away. I have now created two big sacks of shredded paper and a black sack of crap. I had to throw away a broken ring binder and hole punch.

Not quite as impressive as Stealth but I set a timer for 15 minutes in the utility room and got rid of an empty pack of cleaning stuff, lots of empty snack packets (abandoned by DH) and two cardboard boxes. Thought that was OK in the time! Still very untidy in there though...

Day 73:
Photos and emails
One present given out
Rabbit food sent across road.

@stealthninjamummy I know what you mean about it feeling more manageable now that you've got an area for the paperwork to go. I'm planning on buying pretty tubs with lids to stack in cupboards so that things can be like with like.

What I'd do with your cards is have a look through them, smile/laugh/cry and remember but I'd close my eyes and shove them a bin bag. I used to be very sentimental and keep all sorts but in the last few years I have managed to part with things like baby clothes, congratulations cards, dc's pictures. I just don't have the room to store things so they have to go. I do keep some very small things, maybe a couple of letters the dc have written when they were little but they take up no room really. At first I felt bad but it doesn't bother me now.

The only out today was a brand new spray bottle of vitamin d for mil.

Last night I text a plasterer who was doing some work over the road because I would prefer the passage/stairs and landing to be a better standard than my wallpapering. He didn't get back to me so I started papering and lo and behold he rang me when I was into my third strip! So it now looks like I'm getting the walls skimmed next week! Yay!!!

So tomorrow's outs will be the paper I've just put up and the crappy landing wallpaper. I'm so happy

That was a bit of an essay!

DS and I arranged that he would get a lift from a mate and collect all his books this morning just after school run, so I really had to get a move on with the bagging. It was all loaded into the car in about ten-fifteen minutes. A vast improvement on my original idea of taking a couple of bags round every few days. It felt a bit strange, to see his prized collection leave the house. My baby is finally away, sniffle

Now that kitchen is clear of extraneous paper and magazines, it was time for my desk this afternoon. Several important brown envelopes that need immediate attention from DH, which he'll do this coming week. Then we start on the taxes for January. I'm glad I was so meticulous about filing this year - everythiing we need is exactly where it should be.

Some paper to recycling trolley, other to shredder.

LG found a video-cassette yesterday, no idea what it was, so I'll see if we have any scart cables and maybe we'll watch cartoons from the olden days.

Decluttered a pack of Penguins. Off to bed now.

Thanks for your thoughts on the cards strange I suppose the thing I find difficult is that they also belong to stbexh and some were from his relatives and friends of his parents. I am shredding all the birthday cards and valentines cards from him but then I feel they’re mine to shred. Anyway I just realised that I can shove the cards in the box with his CDs that I’m putting in the garage and not think about them again.

mrstidyhouse I suspect I have multiple scart leads and if you can wait for me to go through wires could send you one!

Well mil took a bag of presents to her house ready for Santa and I put the wood from the cupboard I removed from the bedroom and put on the landing a week ago outside.

I've had lots of Christmas decoration ins so might try and convince DH I need to make a start on the window tree now so the stuff is off the stairs. Our bins are absolutely chock full, mil also took a bag of recycling to hers so that's also good.

I think the clothes are Def getting a bit tight on the babies so will swap them out over the weekend I think so will be three piles - bin (joys of weaning), charity and sell. We've been gifted tons of stuff so I'm mindful to donate that stuff and only sell what I paid for so it's a bit of a memory game!!

Good going everybody!

No actual outs here yesterday but I sorted out all the books in the playroom & am hopefully going to list all the too young ones this weekend. Ds3 is also currently using up some of our sticker stash.

Annoyingly, yesterday, I went to deliver the 3 double duvet sets somebody had asked for but I couldn't find the house! Was down a narrow country lane in the dark & houses had names not numbers. Really annoying as took loads of petrol money & also had the DC in the car with me & they were really playing up by the time we got home as bored.

Oh no confused that sucks. Have they contacted you since?

So I've chucked some more plastic cups and bottles in the charity bag. DS wouldn't take a bottle from 4 months so we brought literally every style in creation trying to get him to drink so I have a clutter of them and I'm not even sure what age they're meant to be for! Also moved out the bottle warmer and the insulted bottle bags. Not sure if there's any point selling but might list anyway.

Also, gulp, we've decided to swap the clothes over for the next size up. Soooo glad I brought their 1 year birthday outfits in 18-24 months 😭😭😭😭😭😭. So it'll be 4 bags - sells, bin, charity, pass on and were swapping everything instead of the slow insidious swap I usually do which causes chaos

I think I need a new baby.

comfusedofengland what a pain, you think they’d be aware their house is hard to find and give you a good description of where it is or look out for you.

Inspired by katef I am wondering if I buy a bookcase with two drawers if I can then condense the paperwork to fit them. It shouldn’t be too hard. Then I get rid of the very old bookcase. There are lots of empty ringbinders which I would have to get rid of.

This weekend I’m intending to sit dc with their DVDs to work out which ones to get rid of. The rest will go in the wallet I bought last week and a box in the loft. Then that bookcase can go.

footprints I love your daily reporting. Are you seeing a difference yet?

Thanks confused, I've signed up for Qmee. I'm up for the decluttering in November and Christmassing in December. I'm trying to get prepared early this year in case any of us need to isolate and the shops being very busy later on in December. I also need to finish some decorating StrangeAddiction. I need to do the kitchen again, it's a clutter magnet.

Sleeping Have your twins just turned one? I bet they are adorable!

I have forgotten to post for a few days, but enough items have left my house. Yet another pair of holey socks in the rag bag and about 40 medical accessories have gone in the recycling (we swapped from one type of product to another and the old accessories aren’t compatible - I offered them on a support group but no takers). I also got rid of four more cardboard boxes that had been hanging around getting in the way.

@AlexTheLittleCat not even 1 yet. Three weeks left. I'm feeling very prescious about those 3 weeks and wish I'd had a later section so they aren't 1 for longer 😂😂

My broken bra is in the bin, stained baby clothes in the bin, rest in garage or listed to sell. Also used up some near date bits in dinner

@stealthninjamummy sometimes it's only the daily reporting on here that motivates me to keep on the straight and narrow.

It's hard to find anything to get rid of at the moment. I do need to throw some real photos out. It didn't occur to me that I could do that until I read this thread.

Day 74:
Real photos...doing that now in a minute.
Daily emails and photo deletion
Clothes I can't fit into for the attic pile....see you after the birth clothes.

I've just thrown out hundreds of photos. People I can't remember, people I don't like, repetitive scenery and so so many blurry photos of cats I've befriended whilst I was on holiday.

footprints it’s great being accountable even to Internet strangers. And it made me realise as I was about to put dc to bed that we hadn’t gone through the DVDs. So we just did it and 21 DVDs and video games are going. The bookcase they’re on is now half empty. Next week I’ll get rid of the bookcase and put the remaining DVDs in the case I bought.

I’ve spent a good while this afternoon deleting 2.5k duplicate photos on my laptop and that’s just from one year (and not yet finished). Will finish that year tomorrow and then actually look at what pictures I have and get them sorted into photo books so we can actually look at them.