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

Aw footprints I felt just the same with my youngest - trained as a peer supporter after DS, then found myself totally floundering years later. It’s very different when it’s your own life and child and all the stress and worry.

Zero decluttering here, life is Getting In The Way.

One perfume bottle out and Toss satisfied, one pair of tights DD2 put her toe through and a handful of crappy plastic toys I binned while tidying up. Week two of homeschooling almost done, thank God. Much harder than last time when I only had one child in school and there was no structured learning, just do what you can. This time there’s two of them, twice daily zoom calls and a whole timetable. It’s much better for them but it is hard.

Hello everyone!
I’ve not been very active on here recently - 2020 ended with my Dad being very ill and then passing away (cancer, so it was expected but still really bloody awful - he was only 65) so everything else took a back seat for a few months.
But I’m back and on the decluttering wagon. And this time I need to be ruthless - we’re aiming to put our house on the market in early Feb so it needs to be clutter-free for photos and viewings (and because I don’t want to pay a removals firm to move stuff that I don’t really want!)

I’m off to catch up on the rest of the thread (between nursery runs for the 3yo and homeschooling 5yo DD and dealing with a teething 11mo...)

After suggesting I do medicine again Toss then suggested I do writing supplies so that’ll be today’s challenge.

clettercletter I’m sorry to hear about your dad

cletter I'm so sorry to hear any your dad. Hope you've got people around you in RL to support you x

So sorry cletter 😰💐

@ememem84 that's great news that they still take donations.

@Inthetropics @SingToTheSky glad to know I'm not alone. I've had some over the phone support and husband has been sent to buy nipple shields...a very welcome in!

@Clettercletterthatsbetter sorry about your loss, your dad was very very young.

Toss: car boot. There's no way I'm leaving my house or putting clothes on to venture out to see what's in the boot.

Day 129: husband had a sort through the baby clothes, 2 things are too small and2 things are hideous so that's our outs today done and dusted.

Hello all. Sorry to hear about all the aches and pains. Hope you are all OK. Hang in there footprints, you know it does get better but the first weeks are so hard.

Condolences on losing your dad Cletter, being expected doesn't make it any less painful especially when someone is relatively young.

Thank you to whoever suggested food as a quick win up thread. I found a bottle of squash best before 2017 this morning so that is gone! I'm just about to go through this week's homeschooling stuff and bin the bits we don't need any more.

Thank you for the sympathy everyone. Between funeral planning and Christmas and then straight into lockdown and homeschooling I’ve not really had time for it to sink it, but it hits me at random points during the day.

Congratulations @footprintsintheslow on your beautiful DD! I hope you’re enjoying lots of baby snuggles! It’s almost a year since I decluttered my uterus of a similarly hefty baby boy and it’s gone so fast! Enjoy the snuffles and squeaks (and I hope feeding gets easier soon - I’m another trained peer supporter so you’ve got lots of us here if you want some advice).

I’m attempting 2021 outs this year (didn’t quite make it last year). My goal for today was 11, to take me to 300 but I’ve managed 33 so far so I’m at 322/2021. I think the decision to get the house on the market has spurred me on to be a bit more organised!

@Inthetropics

Haven't decluttered anything in the last few days and today i've got myself some danish butter cookies and have only just now realised that the lovely lovely tin they came in should probably obviously count as an in. My current numbers are now the following:

Out: 18
In: 13

Since Toss hasn't actualy worked for me, i spent a couple of minutes searching for new resources to help me declutter and am pleased to say i've found a list of 365 things to declutter on a blog. Yay! I'm very excited to start going prompt by prompt this friday/weekend and see what else i can get rid of that is of no use to me anymore.

Ooh, can you signpost us to the list? I don’t have room on my phone for any more apps!

90:8
I decluttered painkillers into me and sanity out. Phonics, maths word problems, favourite planet and Neil Armstrong. All sounds so harmless doesn't it.

91 No actual decluttering but I've binned the papers I sorted out yesterday

I'm going to declutter ice cream after the kids are asleep

2021 day 15 update:

1. General decluttering: More work paperwork shredded.
2. Toss app prompt: today was clearing out a shelf in the fridge, and I’ve thrown out a jar of salsa that was several weeks old and looked manky.
3. Mum’s stuff: still nothing.

Not an easy day today. DD has been waking up during the night, and last night she was awake for over an hour, then once she was settled I couldn’t get back to sleep. No homeschooling done today, and I really hope we all have a good nights sleep tonight!

Sorry to hear about your dad, cletter. That's far too young.

out - several old pieces of LOs' artwork. LG's is finished for now. LB has much less of this kind of stuff, and should be sorted next week.

Yesterday afternoon was quite productive:

Took the boxes from on top of dds wardrobe and sorted through them. Dfriend has had a baby boy so I’m getting rid of the more “girly” stuff I was saving.

One bag for charity
One bag of dribble bibs and some more unisex things for dfriend.
8 items listed on eBay (this includes a bundle of trousers of dds)
Three bits in the bin as we’re just too raggedy for even charity shop.

Today I’m hoping dh will help me get the rest of the clothes down from the attic and I can do similar with them.

Taking my old riding hat to the stables with me as am giving it to instructor for a spare.

@Clettercletterthatsbetter thanks for the bf support

Couple of bits of paper out oh glove compartment and some general rubbish out of car boot. Thanks to Toss in last couple of days. We seem to have tons of packaging again at the moment so may sort through later after packaging up latest eBay sale. Sorry to hear about your dad cletter must be especially hard at the moment with all the restrictions

I didn’t manage to find anything yesterday but I was so busy doing home schooling and making food and snacks and more food. So I’ll spend today looking for more stationery as that was what Toss asked for yesterday.

Cleared out the car ready for its service. Got offers on 3 items I had listed and just waiting to see if they will turn up to collect or not. Otherwise a bit of a quite week. Finished off a travel size shampoo this morning so that’s one for today.

Sorry to hear about your dad cletter, that’s a lot to deal with on top of all this other stuff.

Toss is suggesting freezer food for today’s prompt and there’s definitely things in there which can go. We did chuck a packet of meatballs yesterday to make room for the Sainsbury’s delivery but I’ll give it another go at some point this weekend.

The girls have got my old breast pump and bottles out to play some kind of game with , and I’ve binned a pair of nipple shields and an out of date pack of breast compresses which were in the bag. Might be something I can list on Olio; it still works but it’s five or six years old so I wouldn’t want to take any money for it.

92: Still in pain albeit less so, so another lazy day. But found a foam ball in the big ones room one of the bitey twins had munched on so an easy out. I might go declutter chocolate whilst DH is walking the kids. They better not return until Dr who finishes.

Sold a dress but that won't count until I post it

Bright some new funky crayons for the babies to eat draw with as they're not mark making yet but should be apparently

92:10

I tidied up the cupboard where I keep wrapping paper and associated bits like tags. I can now find everything and also got rid of a stray battery, some scrappy bits of paper that are too small to wrap anything, some crumpled beyond use document wallets and some of DH's business cards from a job he left over 10 years ago. There were also some old bills which I've put in a pile to shred. That might be all I can manage today but at least it's a visible improvement!

Sorry to hear you're still uncomfortable Sleeping is feeding feeling any better today footprints?

Thanks Raspberry , it is getting better (with drugs). Hope Sing and Footprints are feeling less sore today too

93 I've chucked a menu that came through the door and sorted the mail rubbish instead of ignoring it

2021 day 16 update:

1. General decluttering: Went through my pyjamas and nightdresses and put 3 pairs of PJs and 1 nightdress into the charity bag, and put 1 pair of PJ bottoms and 1 old hoodie into the rag bag as they weren’t good enough to donate to charity. It’s now much easier to close the drawer!
2. Toss app prompt: None today - I forgot to update the app yesterday after clearing some old salsa from the fridge, and when I updated it this morning, it didn’t give me another prompt for today.
3. Mum’s stuff: Ordered some nice storage boxes for things I need to store for a while before I feel up to making a final decision.

Had a much better nights sleep last night, and I’m glad I was able to do something substantial this afternoon instead of just doing one quick thing. Need to decide what to tackle tomorrow.