The countdown to Christmas - but still decluttering one item a day. Thread number 15

[stealthninjamum]

Thread number 15 of the ‘declutter one item a day thread’ and this bunch of mumsnetters are still decluttering our houses slowly by getting rid of one item a day.

It’s always challenging at Christmas for declutterers, as we fill our house with more presents, food and children’s toys. This thread should give us a bit more accountability as we keep plugging away slowly while we making our homes more organised and decluttered.

Obviously Christmas won’t be the same this year and the stealthninjahousehold won’t be having any visitors but I’m still keen to spend the last couple of weeks making my house a nicer space to spend time in.

Newbies are always welcome. We just get rid of one item each day and report back on the thread.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4053749-Getting-rid-of-one-item-a-day-thread-number-14-where-we-extract-precious-autumn-leaves-rocks-and-twigs-from-our-children?pg=1

other outs - which i decluttered while making coffee:

• nescafe azeera coffee tin- there was about an inch of coffee left after i'd made miner nd have a second tin in the cupboard. decanted one into the other.
• tea bags - emptied bag into the canister
• christmas candle - cinnamon and something - tried to light it but it just wouldn't go and there was only a smidge left anyway. have started on a new one - white company winter wonderland.

Well done on being able to get rid of some furniture, Stealth! I love it when that happens!

Today's items so far:

1 bauble off the tree. (I don't like it.)
1 teeth whitening kit. This has been hanging around the house for ages! I suddenly thought today that I could take the tubes out of the box and just store them away in the bathroom. But, in doing that, I noticed the expiry date. They were over 11 years out of date!!!

A box set of 8 books have just left the house, given to a friend. And 5 charity shop bags are in the car. The bookcase has just been advertised on Facebook so that’s loads of stuff that is actually leaving the house.

@stealthninjamum those wallets are fab aren't they.

@abouquetofsharpenedpencils welcome along, good luck on your challenge.

just had a very brief ruthless sort out of the cabinet in the dining room. its where we store all our paperwork and random shit.

i've ditched the majority of ds' artwork from nursery. have also emptied my record of achievement folder and have put the degree certificate etc in my file of important things. i've refiled some of the manuals for things we have.

feeling good that this has been done.

should have been working but hey ho.

Just smashed a glass lid to one of my Pyrex dishes. So that counts too.

Day 99:

The buggy board was sold and actually picked up.
Clothes and boxes gone up to attic
Photos and emails
Cards delivered.

Hand cream done.

@IWillWearThatGlitteryWoolly @stealthninjamum @footprintsintheslow
Thanks for the warm welcomes!
I am excited but quite nervous about my challenge as I am a massive procrastinator and just feel completely overwhelmed.
I am currently reading the Marie Kondo book but still not completely convinced.
Today, I repacked a parcel to return and took it iff to the PO. Oh and I started on the Christmas wrapping.

Thanks for the new thread, stealth, and it sounds like you have some big outs. I'm impressed with everyone still making progress despite the busy time of year.

Today I finished using up a tube of foot cream (targeted it a few days ago, and it only had enough left in it for three "treatments"). In the bin. Also sent a pair of holey socks to the rag bag.

Does anyone have alternative uses for nappy cream? I found a brand I really like but need to figure out what to do with the leftovers from buying such a wide variety of brands initially.

footprints yes I love the wallets, I bought one for DVDs and one for PlayStation and computer DVDs but I might put my grown up DVDs in third wallet as I realise I’ve got lots of box sets so we might run out of space.

Also footprints tomorrow’s a big day for you!!!! Tell us how clutterfree your house is!

abouquetofsharpenedpencils I agree it’s great to start with big items for an immediate difference and I was lucky when I started I got rid of big baby and toddler items.

Also and this might sound contradictory but with small things take it slowly. Lots of us found it really hard to declutter an area or type of objects. I used to be frightened that’s I’d miss something but I very rarely miss anything I get rid of. In the first or second thread I struggled to get rid of my cookery books so I got rid of a couple every so often. Now I’ve got rid of two thirds of them and I learnt that I never missed any of them. Same with CDs, DVDs, papers etc. I think kondo can be a bit unrealistic with the pace she expects people to go but I do really like keeping similar items together and buy much less stationery / wrapping paper / batteries / because all my things are better organised.

unlimitedchips do you mean like sudocrem? I have a friend who recommends it to put in spots although I’ve never tried it.

Anyway my daily update. I have sold a toy, given away 8 books and I took 5 bags to the charity shop. I loaded them in the car and because dc we’re happily watching a movie together I drove them to the charity shop. Then I did a second coat of paint on one of the landing walls. I can’t believe what a productive day I had. I have a couple more presents to buy but I don’t have much more to do really.

Today’s update: A bit more shredding of work paperwork done. Christmas cards written yesterday were posted. DH wrote his cards today and used the last one from a box, so the box has gone in the recycling.

Have to keep reminding myself that the small things count!

So nieces presents gone, all school presents gonme. Two more friends presents wrapped and will hopefully go Friday, but they will be being exchanged for 🎁.

If the baby doesn't go to sleep I'll be decluttering him to the garage...

@abouquetofsharpenedpencils I like a very quick job. So if the kettle is boiling open up the nearest cupboard and see if you can identify an 'out' maybe a novelty mug that doesn't get used.

I have a bag on the go for charity shop constantly and I'm forever listing things on my local freecycle page on fb.

I forgot to add to yesterday's list that I got rid of a lovely wooden puzzle on freecycle yesterday. And it actually got picked up within the hour.

@stealthninjamum you've had a great day, I bet getting that painting done feels fantastic. Can you get away with just the two coats?

Day 100 for me and it'll be a struggle to think of anything. My husband can't believe I've been at it for so long and is worried what I've got rid of but he hasn't kissed anything so far... except for one small ceramic heater which I begrudgingly got back out of the charity bag.

footprintsintheslow it looks like one is finished, the second where I was hurrying because I had to cook dinner is a bit patchy but I’ll just put a roller over a couple of spots and hopefully it’ll be ok. These are small walls so there’s still a lot to do but I love it so much, Even with the one patchy coat my landing is so much lighter.

Today I’m going to have a lazy day. I think I have two more Christmas cards to write, maybe I’ll put more charity shop bags in the car and hopefully an item to go will jump out at me.

Yesterday’s outs:

Four duplicate David Walliams books we got with some happy meals. Sorry if anyone is a fan but I thought it was awful, and we certainly didn’t need four

Used up tub of baby powder- I bought one for sandy feet at the beach this summer but could only find a regular one rather than a travel size, and we had less beach days than expected, so I’ve had two on the go. I let the girls go a bit crazy with it after bath time

sigh. just when i thought that the dc couldn't have any more art in the house ds comes home with home made decorations. which dh has said we have to put up. fun.

Four duplicate David Walliams books we got with some happy meals. Sorry if anyone is a fan but I thought it was awful, and we certainly didn’t need four charity bag or bin cos frankly I'm not sure passing those on is considered an act of generosity. They're awful. No idea what his longer books are like but I kept hoping I'd choke on a chip to end the pain.
The Tom Fletcher ones out now, about the girl with the time travelling van, are considerably betyer

I hate David Williams books - full of lazy stereotypes and trying to put nasty stuff in to be a modern Ronald Dahl. We have several, I would like them to go. Hmm I might get rid of a couple today.

Thanks for the tip, Stealth. Yes, Sudocrem, Bepanthen (two tubes), and I think there's one more brand floating around here. They are all open, so can't be passed along but I hate to throw them out if they have a use.

I'm not a fan of david walliams - his books, his so called comedy, or him as a person.

the dc have a book of his "boogie bear" and its awful. made worse by the fact that it also comes with an audio cd which he reads. sigh.

also got rid of some bleach. the bath drain hasn't been up to scratch for a while (possibly my fault for not using the hair trap when i shower - i shed hair like a yeti!) but last night was the final straw. dd (18m) did a poop in the bath (not envy) and some went down the plug hole. so i emptied about half a bottle of bleach down there before i showered this morning, put the plug in, then when i was done filled the bath with cold water. just let it out. so much whooshing and gurgling...! very satisfying.

Just wanted to have a rant about selling stuff on FB! I posted a couple of things on a selling group at the weekend. Got a message really quickly about one item, replied saying when they could collect, no response for two days, so I messaged again to get a reply saying sorry but she hadn’t seen the message notification! Surely if you send a message about buying something, you would make the effort to check

She decided not to buy it in the end. So frustrating!