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

Really impressed with how much you have got done, @ememem84!

2021 day 25 update:

1. General decluttering: Shredded more work paperwork.
2. Toss app prompt: Skipped all three prompts today, as I didn’t have energy or time.

Decided I’m going to only update on mum’s stuff at the weekends, as it takes more time and emotional energy than I have during the week.

Not a great Monday today. DD had another huge tantrum this afternoon, just as I’d started a piece of work that needed a lot of focus. I actually had to stop work and go upstairs, though I could still hear her. DH got her calmed down after 20 minutes, but my focus was just shattered for the rest of the day Her behaviour is so frustrating sometimes.

Used up a box of floss today (counting it as an out because I have FOUR more partial ones in the queue) and did a bit more filing/shredding.

Not an out, but I did finally finish unpacking the hospital bag from DD's birth (NINE months ago...).

She's year 1 @EllieQ? Has DH spoken to school about it and see if they can talk to her or make any suggestions?

What's the home edit @ememem84?

Check in for the day - baby sleepsuit with hole, cushion cover into fabric recycling bag in back of car. Bottle of tonic water and mini bottle of wine that must have gone out of date by now, into glass recycling bag.

@SleepingStandingUp the home edit is a show on Netflix. And they’re on Instagram.

Essentially they organise people’s homes. It’s rather nice to watch I find it very soothing.

oohmama sorry I didn’t welcome you yesterday, I meant to but what with homeschooling I don’t get the time to Mumsnet that I’d like. I think we’re all suffering with homeschooling a bit, I’m going to bed at 9 most nights and my house is a mess. One a day will become habit to you, and I chuck stuff out whenever I put stuff away or do a job.

ellieq I’m sorry you’re still finding it hard. My dd often refuses to write so I often transcribe for her, at least we get her ideas down and I know she understands what she’s learning. This will only be for a few weeks so my priority is to make sure she doesn’t go back to school behind rather than trying to get her to do the work. She had a live french lesson yesterday and the teacher suggested the girls might like to write flash cards with vocabulary. Dd will refuse so I will do it then she’ll happily learn them. Just like I do flash cards for her spelling tests and put them on apps. School are happy for me to do my own thing a bit.

Toss wants me to go through my pots and pans. I have two stainless steel pans that must be 15 years old that match my saucepans that still look new. I have never used them because I didn’t want to ruin them. I think I’ll throw away a ruined non stick pan and start using them. One looks like a wok so I’m wondering whether to just give it away as I have a tefal non stick wok that is also about fifteen years old and in great condition.

I put something on Facebook and had sooo many messages
And now I'm having doubts!?

Is there anyone else here who struggles with being so sentimental but also wants a clutter free organised home!! 😭
It's a constant battle for me!

Toss gave me baking goods yesterday but these are in pretty good shape at the moment so I’ve skipped it and got silverware 🍴. I’m sure we have a crappy knife and fork that have somehow ended up in the cutlery drawer even though we didn’t buy them, so they can be binned, plus some plastic spoons from weaning days. DS is 2.5 and definitely my last so they can go. Might also bin the sets of cheap chopsticks that come with the takeaway as obviously DP likes to keep them in case of a Chinese Food Emergency even though we have six proper pairs and two kids ones.....

@oohmama

I put something on Facebook and had sooo many messages And now I'm having doubts!?

Is there anyone else here who struggles with being so sentimental but also wants a clutter free organised home!! 😭
It's a constant battle for me!

ME! i really struggled yesterday getting rid of the baby things. I know i'm not having any more babies, and know that the clothes etc are no good for mine now as they are all grown up (18m and 3...)

but still.

i've taken the stuff to charity today, and have a bag for friends.

the first baby grows they wore i've stretched over embroidery hoops and will pop these on our wall up the stairs. and have today bought two box files for sentimental stuff for the dc.

dm has boxes of stuff in her loft which she's kept for sentimental purposes for me. all of my old exercise books from school, all reports, all artwork. all of that stuff. i do not want to go through it. because its too much. she's also kept all birthday cards.

i kept the dc's first birthday cards (not all of them, just the ones from close family),

I’m back, and hopefully here to stay this time. Christmas time/the end of last year was so busy for us both with work that we completely ignored all the clutter.

I’ve got some rather large piles of stuff to go to charity or to be sold, but I can’t give any of it to charity until they open. In the meantime I’m sick of looking at it.

I’ve rejigged and decluttered the lounge units (again). It’s surprising how much can sneak in when you aren’t on top of it.

My plan for the next few days is to empty and reorganise the bathroom cupboards, and sort out the shower rack, and hopefully get it on the wall after 2 years of living here😂

oohmama it is hard to get rid of sentimental items but in my view the longer you have them the harder it is to get rid of them - you get a sort of ‘well I’ve had it for twenty years so it seems odd to throw it away now’ mentality. My mum hoarded all sorts of crap like my school reports and childhood teddies and only gave them to me last year. I know that I can’t get rid of them now and just wish she’d done it for me.

Talking of sentimental items a few weeks ago I found a 25 year old notebook that I used as an address book. I have been looking at it for a couple of weeks and it has reminded me of so many old friends. I had a bit of a session one night googling people I had forgotten existed - including the UniBoyfriendWhoBrokeMyHeart. I should throw it away, it makes me sad. Will see if I can do that today.

Ooh forgot that I came on to post about pots and pans. From the pots and pans cupboard I am getting rid of one frying pan, the spare colander and the spare cheese grater. I will be using the frying pan I’ve never used - if I don’t like it I’ll get rid of it and buy a new one.

I've kept all the baby clothes! So so many of those massive vacuum bags worth!
I just can't get rid of them so my compromise is getting rid of all the other stuff like jumparoo, high chair, Moses basket etc!
But one day they will have to be sorted through but it's all abit much to get rid of in one go!
It's like I'm letting go of the baby stage and it makes me feel so sad! Eventhough I don't actually want another baby 🙈

And my biggest fear is ending up like my parents, it's actually really sad to witness
They are trapped living in a house that is completely impractical for them
They could move and get a lovely smaller house but they can't because they are hoarders
So Everytime I go there, it gives me the motivation to get rid of stuff!
Sad but true!

Going to list 5 things onto Facebook later!

stealth that would have been an amazing thing to look back on. All those memories. I'd find it really hard to throw that away too.

Today on Toss I've had vitamins and medication. Got quite a few things thrown out in enjoying just doing a prompt a day at the moment to help get me motivated.

It's my daughters birthday tomorrow so will have more clutter to sort with packaging etc!

Forgot to say I totally get the baby clothes. My baby is three months so have been sorting through 0-3 and getting sad she hasn't worn a lot of outfits because we've not been anywhere! So she'll be making use of them over the next week or so haha. I'm definitely not going to have any more (got two girls) but it's still hard. I've tried to be ruthless and I've managed to bag up a lot and donated to clothes bank etc.

Had a much more productive day today and we are gradually catching up on the home learning that we have fallen behind on. Who knew 5 year olds could be so stubborn and headstrong?!
Outs:
2 sweet tubs which we have had for 7 months... even DH didn't like them and he is like the labrador of sweet treats so they must have been yucky .
1 plastic drinks bottle
Duplicate hole punch
2x throw blankets that are surplus to requirements.
1 hairband that has been chewed
3 twistable pencils whose lead has run out
1 photo album
Unwanted photos shredded
Book
1 concert programme
6 happy meal toys

oohmama my ex in-laws were hoarders, real make do and menders so they basically never threw anything out.

filofaxx the notepad / address book is in the recycling bin. It’s a big thing to get rid of.

I used someone else's Toss task and cleared my pants drawer too! Today's was vitamins and I found some vitamin D I'd forgotten about and now won't need to buy more.

Welcome oohmama. I have family with hoarding tendencies and I don't want to live like that either, I've gone the other way and have been on a constant declutter for years. Occasionally I throw away something I later want, it's only one in several hundred. I decided I can't keep the other 200 things just in case I may want one of them.

I'm debating decluttering an adorable gro bag with a robot on it, it's the Grobot. I love it, not having anymore babies.

Went through my wall cupboard of crap today. Not finished as I still need to file all the bank statements and sentimental memory box type stuff which I did decide to keep.
Outs : shredded receipts from Christmas presents now safely received, 2 cookbooks and a book about dying well (!) pulled to be sold/charity shopped.

My FIL is also a hoarder. I've not been inside the house for some time but whenever I go in I just want to get rid of things. So much could go straight in the recycling....... Thankfully my own parents aren't and are quite organised.
Today, I got rid of some paperwork. I've been gradually using up candles and am pleased to see the drawer they were all in now has space in it.

Thankyou for the welcome! I am SO glad I found this thread..
I feel like I do need abit of support with this :(
Having a wobble and feeling anxious about getting rid of stuff?

I just need to keep the big picture in mind
We are moving back to the city and will be downsizing massively
I'm worried about it
But the lifestyle we will hopefully have being there will hopefully outweigh the fact we may not have much storage 🙈🙈

Gone through my silverware (which sounds so much better than the cutlery drawer!) and binned the crap knife, plus some takeaway chopsticks, a giraffe shaped straw that has some black gunk in it, two plastic medicine spoons and a petit filous plastic yoghurt spoon. I’ve kept the crappy fork as we seem to have lost a couple of the proper ones. There’s a bent vegetable knife in there too but it’s still got a sharp point so I need to properly wrap and label it.

11 items Tossed.

I did get rid of an old kite
A pillow inner
And some other rubbish
Also a black bag full of charity shop (for them they open)

@SleepingStandingUp

She's year 1 *@EllieQ*? Has DH spoken to school about it and see if they can talk to her or make any suggestions?

He hasn’t discussed it with school yet, but I’ll mention it to him. It’s hard because she’s so up and down - today she has been fine, and done schoolwork without any complaining.

@stealthninjamum DD also refuses to write anything down for us, but if she gives the answers verbally then DH marks the work as done - we’ve told school about this and they’re fine with it.