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!

Oh no, we were told you could only get it once!! Tbf to him he didn't get it with the singleton just the twins. And because there were two he still had to pick one up, albeit carefully and fully dressed lo. No slacking in the house of lots of babies 😂😂

So about 4 bags deposited at our hospice charity shop, I'm missing a bit of a baby mobile so have kept it back but will offer it my friend of i find it. Also about to set a time limit on a doll thing I'm holding for a friend.

I will remember to get off at Spar and do my return and then post the god damn baby who I've had since I sold her parents.

Just brought 20 books which need wrapping seperately. God help me.

I think bar any other sort out, that's all my charity stuff

Christmas lights have been put on outside tree. So that clears some clutter from the house.

Dh will no doubt have to redo it at the weekend. But the ideas there. Also they’re solar lights...... hmmm

Have also opened the last 2 days of my clarins calender and thrown the boxes away. It was taking up space.

And and and have throw away all of my hard copy paper notes from the assignments I wrote in the last 18 m. I have notes on my computer and backed up in the cloud. So don’t need them.

My charity collection got cancelled and I'm still waiting on the car tyre, but apart from that... I've pruned a big plant (lots of leaves going out) and I've got 2 worn cushions for the pile.

Day 93: two lots of presents out
Toddler art out
Photos and emails
Birthday cards recycled

@SleepingStandingUp

Booooo Ellie does not have my dolls house. I'm in the Midlands and the grandparents collected it by car

It is a shame!

Today’s update: No further sorting, but I have shredded/ recycled yesterday’s grocery delivery receipt and some prescription request forms. I’m trying not to let it build up again.

A few ins today: collected two Xmas presents from click & collect, but one will be posted off. Also bought some crackers for Xmas day - they have toys inside that DD will like. Still have a few presents left to buy so I’ll be in town again on Saturday.

I'm struggling to find decent crackers.

Wrapped the teachers presents and I swear to god the last of DSs presents

Made a came, didn't seem big enough, doubled it, just checked on it, it's done this..... Foamy.

How weird about the foam @SleepingStandingUp

I’ve just been tidying my messy desk. Lots of old papers, tissues, wrappers etc went in the on/recycling. I also discarded an old mascara and an empty powder compact (I guess I kept it with the idea of buying a refill, but I think it’s about a decade old and I don’t wear much make up these days).

It then sunk massively. My Mom reckons too wet, makes sense, took ages to cook and the outside was well crispy. O decluttered the outside of my cake 😂😂

And I pair of old kitchen scales that don't measure right and an oven dish that leaked, thankfully just water

sleepngstandingup I love that you haven’t posted the baby yet, if it were me I probably would carry it around for ages too.

Was the cake edible? I am a terrible baker but my dc would probably still eat that.

I am still struggling. The house is a mess as I am now running around after dd1 making her homeschool. This morning she had no trousers as I haven’t done any washing since Monday and she refuses to wear her school skirt.

Yesterday I think the only decluttering I did was the council newsletter. I tore out the page on winter bin collections to stick on the kitchen noticeboard. Normally I think ‘ooh I must read that and it sits unread for three months until the next one so to have it in the bin within three days of receiving it is fantastic.

I also deleted a few hundred emails.

Today’s out will be dd1s onesie that has a hole in it. It’s fantastic timing as I can get her a new one for Xmas.

I am also going to go back through my computerised weekly to do list in a minute. Until last week I had been really organised for about six weeks doing things on my weekly list. I am now going to just note all the outstanding jobs and do them at a much slower pace. Some can’t be done now until dc go back to school in January and the Room of Doom can wait again.

Was the cake edible? I am a terrible baker but my dc would probably still eat that. Probably in small slices with lots of cream. It's VERY dense. Thankfully the twins are having a cake smash so will decorate it and they'll ruin it hopefully. I had to cut the crust off else the cake would be strong than the babies lol

O think the baby just says everything there is to say about me.

DH is home today so no decluttering but hopefully some tidying as he's here to help with thebeasties

@SleepingStandingUp never seen a cake so that before?!

@IWillWearThatGlitteryWoolly that sounds incredibly unfair and bloody ridiculous to be honest.

@stealthninjamummy does Dd need to wear uniform for home schooling?

That is a strange cake phenomenon Sleeping. Hopefully ideal for smashing though!

We decorated our tree today so I have chucked a couple of broken baubles and identified a couple of bits of tinsel that will go after Christmas. I also relocated all the paper DD brought home from school in her end of term clear out straight to the recycling bin!

The school scenario sounds ridiculous Woolly. You would think local schools would be vaguely consistent (although it's not the case with the several people I know with isolating children either!)

Few more old photos from my childhood binned - either burred or unrecognisable places/people. Lots more socks in the rag bag. Few more books sold on eBay, packed and sent. Fingers crossed for interest in the playmobil 🤞

The one we're eating I've brought from Tesco!

There's teen Rob is using l fondant icing on it cos it kept marketing so good help me if they actually eat lol.

Took the presents for the TAs in this afternoon as my only out but I have a new cake stand, 3 balloons, a banner and 3 be cuddly toys because DS @ was adamant he needed them for the babies

Day 94:

Decluttered garden for five minutes of leaves, toys and pots.
Photos and emails
Glass jars...which is hard for me as I like to stash jars.

Today’s update: More shredding of work paperwork. Previous bag of shredded paper went out with the recycling earlier this week.

Ins: a parcel from my sister with a present for DD and a couple of family photo albums (mainly holiday photos with mum & dad) - I had a quick look, then asked DH to put them away somewhere as it was a bit sad.

No outs, unless you count losing a face mask, I’m hoping to find somewhere in the house, as it was my favourite one!

Sadly lots of ins as I brought a load of stuff from parents to sort through. Hoping some will quickly be outs though 😄

Out went the musical italian food book for children....no ideal why i had it....mine left home over 30 years ago..!!
Listed for sale a chrome towel rail and car warmer seat....!!
But what to do about the foam cup cakes a friend keeps buying me...currently stuck on top of freezer collecting dust....??...He will notice if I bin the lot..!!

Oh dear... Could you tell him you've had a move around and out them upstairs? Is he the kind of "friend" who goes in your bedroom?

Please can somebody help me get motivated. Had to move in a hurry a couple of weeks ago due to relationship breakdown. My dining room is full of bags and boxes that I need to move and downsize as determined not to fill the loft here. I have to make a start as my adult children are coming for Christmas but I just can’t get going. I keep faffing about doing little bits and breaking off at any excuse . In my defence I am working full time and dealing with teenage son’s traumas as well. Any tips gratefully received.

@footprintsintheslow sorry I wasn't clear, dd1 doesn't have to wear uniform to homeschool, but because I hadn't done any washing she ran out of jeans and got very shouty when I suggested she wore her school skirt as noone would see it.

earsup foam cupcakes? Could you not pretend a child ate them?

sandgrown I'm sorry to hear you have so much on. Is it just the dining room with bags and boxes? If so I would say that it isn't the end of the world if you have Christmas with clutter in your dining room. I would maybe focus on getting the rest of the house perfect and then - if you have time - set a timer for 15 minutes to do the dining room every day. I haven't heard glitterywoolys HALT acronym before but it makes sense.

My house is a mess now both dc are home and I am struggling to keep up with the housework. I tend not to eat during the day but with dc it's an extra meal and associated planning/ shopping/ housework / cooking and dd1 leaves finished mugs of tea everywhere so the dishwasher is used twice a day.

Anyway yesterday I wrote the Christmas cards. Ages ago I bought a really cheap pack of cards but they look really twee, like chocolate box houses in snow with Victorian figures. They're going in the charity shop bin. I also decluttered about 4 biros writing them. So my shoebox of xmas cards is half empty so I'm now tempted to put them in a clear bag with my drawer of birthday and thank you cards. This is a good step as it's a drawer I organised ages ago. I am intending to declutter that drawer later although it's fairly organised, I might not even find anything to declutter.

I've been very focused on getting organised for Christmas. Posted most cards but not the parcels-will do that on Monday.
Spent yesterday afternoon wrapping hoping I would finish some of the rolls of paper. I didn't. Does anyone have a wrapping paper storage thing they would recommend? Not a huge one but something better than the long carrier bag we use.

Chucked some rubbish today and cleared some counter space.