Decluttering one item a day (and having nowhere to put it!) – thread number 16

[stealthninjamum]

Once again this tireless group of mumsnetters are decluttering our houses by getting rid of one item a day. Of course this year I’m just piling the stuff behind the settee because the charity shops are all closed but luckily noone’s allowed to visit me to see my clutter mountain.

This is an accountability and general chatter thread and newbies and old hands are always welcome to join in the conversation while we keep working on our houses making them clearer, organised, and clutter free.

This year some of us are trying to get rid of 2021 items and some of us are working through the Toss app that tells us what to get rid of each day. Then we report back on the thread with an update.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4105255-The-countdown-to-Christmas-but-still-decluttering-one-item-a-day-Thread-number-15?pg=1

Update - figured I’d update so you didn’t think I’d got crushed in the sheer amounts of crap. Dh has been checking in every now and then too. 😂

The carrier bags are for charity.
The rest is to go in the loft as well as a high chair and the sun parasol for the garden table.
Two bags for the bin so far.

Oh and the bedside cabinets have been picked up by our charity shop as well as the kids old trampoline.

I am winning at life today!!!!!!

Stealth Thanks for the new thread! And... yes! Broken bottles, stuff that i don't even know what it is, broken pieces that i don't know where they're from, parts of stuff, lonely lids... how come i still find this type of stuff lingering around?

Threw away the broken lid of the bottle we use for juice. We have a spare bottle that's identical and has a good lid so no idea why we were using the broken one.

Out: 30
In: 16

Oh, and i've not been able to catch up with the thread. I was surprised there was a new thread with 2 pages already!

Things have been photographed for eBay. Things have gone into the loft. Charity shop stuff is in the car for drop off tomorrow.

I am done. Wahoooo.

I’ve put pictures up on dds wall. Have reorganised the under bed storage. Yay!

inthetropics I know this stuff just hangs around for ages, like this morning’s items were useless crap that had been in drawers for years.

WHat a fantastic day ememem84 I wish I had your energy.

I wanted to get rid of a jacket for Toss and found two lightweight children’s jackets to go. They won’t be replaced, dc prefer hoodies. I also found a bag that’s like a foldable shopping bag that looks like a big yellow duck or chicken. That’s going too as neither child has ever used it.

160-2: D's has cleared away all his Toy Story toys as he doesn't like it since the newest film where the teddy breaks the baby because he likes babies and his Go Jetters toys because, well he's never really played with them he just likes me buying the magazine's! Also his DC fairies have gone. He's v sweet and is always like "let's give this to X because they like it!" so I may keep at least those out for Easter?? when he sees his best friend.
162: pile of associated rubbish in the bin Inc some broken toys
163: one set of costumes in the garage for later (as in for the twins)

Toss prompt was pots and pans so I ditched a pan that has never worked on our induction hob and no idea why I kept it!

I've bagged up a lot of clothes and donated at local clothes bang.

Feel so happy I've made a start!

Now I just need s way of stopping all this looking ugly / getting back in a mess. Yes it's all your, plastic boxes largely the twins and the open stuff largely DSs. I've looked at Kallax but I think we'd struggle as hard to secure it to walk (beading and light switch) and anything short would be too little. An I destined to have boxes like this for a decade?

Can I join in?

My parents are hoarders
If I could, I would keep everything...In the loft though as I hate clutter
But we are moving house (downsizing) this year and I have to get rid of a lot of stuff..

I've done really well and sold loads of the baby stuff (sob) but I just have to keep the clothes and the prams 🙈 but the bulky plastic crap has gone!

Anyway, I'm going to do one thing a day

I'm going to upload one (at least) items onto Facebook market place or Ebay
And also try to get rid of something

Today I got rid of a old dress that's not nice enough to sell, and going to take a pic of something to sell in a min!

I'm struggling with the kids/homeschooling etc but I hope this will give me something to focus on and the feeling I get when I sell something is amazing so hope that will help my mood in general
I find it cleansing

Good luck everyone

@stealthninjamum I’m exhausted now!!! Literally so tired. I haven’t stopped all day. But it’s done.

The only area I haven’t really tackled is the dcs toys in the living room. Basically because I can’t be arsed. Save that for another day.

Belated thanks to stealth for a new thread. Well done on everyone's efforts today, amazing effort ememem84.
Tackled a longstanding 'to do' item today, filed related papers and am now ready for meeting next week. Also decluttered my electronic files for the same organisation. This is all in prep for my standing down (it's a volunteer role) and wanting to be able to hand everything over to make it straightforward for whoever will follow me. Due to DH's declining health I am thinking of doing this once I have done next week's meeting rather than waiting for the AGM due in June.
I have also purchased some storage boxes to fit the metal cabinet which will hold all the mini camera tapes currently neatly stacked but I want to move the cabinet so they need to be removed, at least until cabinet is in final location. There are some other DH collections that may get the same storage treatment - lots of the freebie type of radio you get at sporting events. He only has the two ears so I am at a loss as to why we have ?20 plus.

Thank you for the aptly titled new thread stealth. This is my main hold up at present with the charity shops being closed.
Welcome to new declutterers and well done to those successfully getting stuff out their homes!
I'm still chugging along with small outs and using stuff up. I found a few balloons in a drawer; it's DD's birthday at the weekend so I plan to use them up. I did buy a No7 skincare set from Boots in the sale. I think it was quite a good bargain so had a few ins but have started using things in it.

I'm in awe of @ememem84 ! No wonder you are exhausted...

Last week I spent one lunchtime in the garden and filled up the brown bin for Friday's collection. Can't remember which day it was, but it was the only day that everything wasn't frozen solid! I also put three holey socks in the rag bag when I sorted out the clean laundry.

Since then I have concentrated mainly on paper, as that bin goes out this coming Friday. So, yesterday I took a load of magazines upstairs from the cupboard in the living room, and sorted out the older years. Last year, or maybe the year before, I decided that we would only keep a certain number of years of various mags, so I re-organised the neat piles on the bookcases in our bedroom, and chucked out 47 magazines that didn't meet the age criteria. Yesterday I also looked through a ring binder I brought down from the loft a few weeks ago, and chucked around 95% of the contents. At lunchtime today, I went through a ring binder of knitting patterns which had been pulled out of magazines. I think they dated from the eighties. The worrying thing was that most only went up to a 97cm/38 inch bust! I guess that tells you something about the current size of British women - myself included! Anyway, I threw away lots that I would never think about making now. I only kept a few where I liked the stitch pattern or motif that I might use elsewhere.

Declutteed one pair holey socks.

Tidied fridge, sorted a few papers, put recyclables in bin, put bin and food waste bin out.

Sorry to hear of your DH @pollyannaperspective

Amazing work @ememem84

Instead of buying a shredder, I've brought one of those roll stamps that makes it impossible to read the address. I didn't want another large item cluttering my cupboards so that's all the letters from the weekend now in the bin

Day139

Someone gave me some baby clothes so they've been sorted into keep, pass onto friend and charity bag.

@ememem84 Amazing work! Wish I had some of your decluttering mojo.

Today was a bit mixed; I got rid of some old business cards (recycled), a bag of small toys and pin badges (charity) and the Christmas cards (also recycled). I had a new yoga mat delivered, as sadly the old one was falling apart and was chucked a week ago, and a very nice person gifted me a bottle of red wine for finding their purse on one of my walks. I don't drink wine, really, so will pass it on to a friend and as such won't count it! So one item in, three out. Total of nineteen bits and bobs removed from the home. Might see if I get the bug to do more later!

Ooh @SleepingStandingUp are you happy with your roll stamp thing? If so, can you link to the one you got? I hate my shredder as it’s so noisy and forever getting jammed or overheating and going on strike because I shredded for more than a few minutes at a time. It is also so top heavy that if it gets knocked even slightly it topples over and because it lives under my desk that means it often topples onto my foot so the prospect of decluttering the shredder and getting a small roller stamp instead is very appealing.

Today I put a book (bestseller Christmas present - didn’t really enjoy it) in a box for the charity shop. I added a boxed mug for good measure (a Christmas present from about 6 years ago).

Wow @ememem84 well done on all that effort! You have got some stamina there, I'll bet it feels so good to know you achieved what you hoped to.
Everyone has done so well today, even just being mindful of the ins is progress because I am sure most of us ( myself included) has sabotaged previous attempts at decluttering by just buying without connecting the reason why my house is so cluttered.
Not has a productive decluttering weekend or day today but managed:
5x twistable pens that had no more lead
2x cheap supermarket glue sticks, I think water was stickier to be honest they were all they had in our little sainsbury's but we had the branded glue sticks delivered with our monthly shop. Was probably the most exciting part of the delivery! No more tantrums over gluing home learning work.
I have also sorted through one of the photo albums my grandad gave me and have sorted some photos for my brother and sister.

On the subject of charity shops I don’t know if anyone noticed I added to the second post with a couple that a pp mentioned in the last thread. It seems that more and more charity shops are collecting or you can go on their site, register that you want to donate, print out a courier label and get it taken away.

I think BHF and Shelter do this - I mentioned bhf on the second post but not shelter.

After my last post I found another three bags that could go and about 9 half completed craft kits that I advertised and a couple of people have shown an interest. I can’t remember if I already said that two children’s jackets will go as my Toss mission for today.

Ah thanks @stealthninjamum I'll look at BHF as they get alot of our stuff although I'll def save some for our hospice's shops too.

@Miaowse amazon.co.uk/dp/B085PX79ZF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_EPYdGbP510G7R?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1]]

I've had a look at my books again, frustratingly after doing the Ziffi thing.
So 164: another few books

165: Also throwing my nappy bag, it doesn't machine wash well, and it's a pink colour that's dirty. By the time I'm taking the babies out I won't need to worry so much about chilling bottles so their nappies can just go in one of my many handbags.

166: broken file that had cards in. They were all in a drawer but I have a tendency to forget what I have and then but duplicates so i might put them back into a different empty file.

It feels ace to have done all that. Dh is appreciative too. Things are tidier and I’ve made space. We have soace but just werent using it properly. High chair in the under stairs cupboard taking up space when Dd doesn’t use it anymore? What’s the point. Shoved it in the loft. Same with bouncy chair.

I was fairly ruthless with clothes. Mine. With dds I dithered. But she’s my littlest and my last. And is only 18m. But I did it. Things are going to better homes.

I had to get my mojo on today and just get it done. I took a days annual leave to do this (had another last Thursday and just had some rest and me time - read a book and drank tea). It’s not something that can be done with the kids around and I’ve done well.

I’ve “zoned” things. Washing powder etc is on top of the tumble dryer. Cleaning things all on top of freezer. Stationary is all in one drawer. Etc. I’ve used baskets in the airing cupboard to put the dcs blankets etc. Much neater.

Something j learned from watching the home edit. If you can’t fold xyz then shove it in a basket on a shelf...(looking at you fitted sheets...! But they’re all kept with their matching bedding inside a pillowcase - why I didn’t learn this earlier....)

I’m still on a declutter. The dcs have “outgrown” baskets in their wardrobes. Toys need doing. And I’ll keep an “outgrown” basket in my wardrobe too. Although mine will be more like “don’t like it etc” am determined to wear everything in my wardrobe. Have earmarked a pair of boots for the charity shop too I think. But want a few more wears. Just to make sure.

Wow! Lots of good progress being made.

I looked in my underwear drawer, but I've decided I need more time to do that properly, eg try on bras before deciding whether to keep or get rid of them. I have got rid of one pair of socks into the textile recycling bag.

This really is one item a day at the moment!