Decluttering one item a day (and counting down til the opening of charity shops!) – thread number 17

[stealthninjamum]

This is an accountability and chat thread for mumsnetters who dream of living in an uncluttered haven of calm and tidiness.

Bit by bit we are slowly decluttering our houses and keeping our fingers crossed that charity shops will open on 12th April – although we’re also adding to the list of places in the second post that will also take our clutter.

The aim of this thread is to help us get rid of just one item a day or 365 a year. We just report back on our progress and then chat about anything and everything. The thread is for anyone so newbies are always welcome.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4144854-Decluttering-one-item-a-day-and-having-nowhere-to-put-it-thread-number-16?msgid=105205665

@Vinorosso74 Hope you are ok .

Finally caught up on the thread, everyone is doing so well. BlackeyedSusan It does get easier with time, I've been doing it for years and every pass over a room or cupboard means there's less to declutter.

Outs: cover for broken umbrella already thrown away, jumper that has seen better days, playpen, far too many Easter eggs and a bottle of wine.

I've been watching some of these videos on YouTube for inspiration, they are all decluttering bloggers who did a whole house declutter for March. I'll have to try the BBC programme as well.

Whole House Declutters - Mega March Motivation
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ-AWUEixtg3PfIghyhPLbMsHX36-yDUu

NordicMum Make sure you have a rest as well, that's a lot of decluttering!

Another book into the charity bag today. I’d read it for book club, and while I enjoyed it, I won’t read it again.

DH also used up the ends of two rolls of wrapping paper while wrapping DD’s birthday presents. Of course, her birthday means there’ll be more stuff coming into the house!

Abroad and I have had my children remote schooling since March 2020. I am absolutely desperate to sweep through their rooms. Once they see it they need it.
In the meantime - bought new towels for adults and gave away a mountain of old ones to dog rescue. We now have a two pairs , two handtowels , two bathmats.
Going to do the sheets today.

Delighted to drop off the first of two carrier bags (max donation) to local charity shop on the first day they are receiving. Dump slot booked for variety of electrical cables, dud headphones and an old router (probably 10 years + old) and a bag of general rubbish from DC's sorting efforts.

Day 215:
Listed a vase on freecycle and someone wants it.

It’s only 10am, but I’ve already got rid of two things today The first was a gift bag that had torn, so couldn’t be reused - it was a paper one so has gone in the recycling.

The second item is more significant, as it was DD’s changing mat (she’s 6 now ). I’ve found it so hard to let go of her baby things, but the plastic cover had cracked in several places, so it couldn’t even be passed on to anyone. I cut it open and took the foam padding out, which I’ll put on freecycle to see if anyone wants it before I throw it away. The plastic cover is already in the bin. I did think that I should have cut a piece off to keep as a memory, but I’ve talked myself out of it. We have photos of DD on the mat, and that will be enough.

I haven’t been on for a couple of days because I’ve been too busy. I have started to redo all my books to see if I get more on ziffit or WeBuyBooks and I now have two boxes to go and a massive pile of unscanned books.

I also had my covid vaccine which wiped me out yesterday but I’m fine now. And lastly my computer’s gone wrong. It says I need to reinstall the operating system and I’m frightened that if I do that I’ll lose all the files. It’s one of those jobs where I have to sit down for a couple of hours and either send it back to the manufacturer or get a local Facebook it to fix it so I don’t know if I’ll have time. I need to get the box out of the loft as I don’t even know if I have the operating system in it.

Anyway I hope everyone else is well. I will catch up on the thread later.

@EllieQ my Mum is decluttering at the moment and has taken to ringing me to ask if I want various things ‘after I’m dead’ (my Mum’s not in the best of health but certainly not near death’s door!). It’s quite difficult to say well Mum no I don’t really want my first baby blanket but of course I now want you to treasure it for eternity!

Planted out some seeds this afternoon so packets are now in the bin. They were pretty ancient so not holding out much hope that they will grow!

Well done to those organised enough to have got to the charity shops. I think I am going to aim to take some things next Friday once DD is back at school.

Ellie I think we still have a couple of changing mats around, my excuse is we still know enough people with kids in nappies who use when they visit. Obviously not recently! I'm not sure that I have any fond memories of mine though! Hope your DD has a happy birthday.

emem84 I want those flamingoes so much but it’ll just be more things to pack when I eventually move house.

alexthelittlecat I’ll watch that YouTube video later.

I’m slightly miffed with ziffit and webuybooks. Last week I scanned in loads of books. Anyway it was a mess so I emptied the baskets and started again and both offered me less money than last week and Also didn’t want all my books this time.

So I am now getting rid of 35 books for £22.19 but last week it was something like £40.

It makes me reluctant to take my other mountain of books to the charity shop in case ziffit / webuybooks change their minds again.

Day 216:
5 children's books given away
2 hope punches and the vase picked up via free cycle.

I didnt get rid of anything yesterday as I went to get dd1 some new summer clothes in town. But proud moment I stuck to my list. So she got shorts, some light coloured tshirts, trainers and joggers for pe. But she tried on and just kept the tshirts that she preferred so 2 rather than 4 i bought. And I just got 5 pairs of shorts in the colours she asked for rather than more just in case!
Saw loads of cute things for dd2 but she has so many clothes I didnt buy her anything! I didnt buy myself any clothes even though I saw lots I liked. Even with my mum saying to treat myself of how much dd2 would love the lol doll shorts!
The only off list things I got were some hairbands (we go through so many dds leave them everywhere and I snap about 4/5 a week as my hair is so thick 😂). A cookbook ive been looking at in tesco from the charity shop and a book I've had on my amazon wishlist forever but couldn't justify price but found for 99p in the charity shop.

It was quite a big moment for me as I love shopping and always come out with poundland crap or more clothes as I liked them or dds would like them!

Welcome habibihabibi have you really been homeschooling for a year without a break? That would drive me mad. I don’t know how old your dc are but mine at quite good at decluttering now. I sell a lot of their stuff and sometimes give them money so they don’t mind so much. A lot of toys for younger kids are big so it does get easier when they’re out of the way. I’m quite pleased that this week we’ve got rid of a couple of hundred books. I say got rid of, well I sold some and the rest are in boxes / bags waiting to go.

Well done for your shopping trip nocuts. I’m like that now And it’s great knowing I don’t bring much extra clutter into the house.

This morning I’m in a bad mood. Dd2s behaviour has been dreadful again and rather than shout at her (she has asd so I have to be gentle) I have focused my anger on filling two black sacks with garden toys to go. I never throw plastic away but I am so angry with life and living in a big house full of clutter I am going to just get ruthless and throw it away.

I’ve also got rid of a changing mat but it’s one in one out as DS steadfastly refuses to get into pants. MiL had a spare though, so no new purchase and a decluttering win for her. Also some outgrown/unwanted clothes which I’ll probably recycle rather than take to the charity shop as I expect they’re a bit overwhelmed. I do have books and some mugs and glasses to go to charity eventually.

DD2 has had a birthday so some inevitable ins, but nothing too bad. Also a much needed declutter of hair for both girls and hopefully for DP too next week. DS has an adorable Christopher Robin style curly bob which I think also needs a chop, but it’ll be his first haircut so not sure if he’ll kick off

Still recovering from last Saturday night clear out and cleaning session , my head hasn’t turned properly to the left ever since I’ve done something to that shoulder and neck so I haven’t managed to do much more yet although planning to return to the kitchen soon . I can visualise a few things that are going from the display cupboard bottom ( top is our wedding China I still love 17 y later plus wine and champagne glasses so that’s all organised and staying ). I can get rid of probably a few more cookbooks I’ve been weeding through in every clear out ,last when we moved here a year ago . We only use a few and most things are online anyway . Also to go kids Easter bunny mugs I got last year but they’re tiny even for DD . A couple of little unused tea light lanterns I’ll pack with other new things for our new house they won’t be used here but are pretty . Then there’s about 10 or so unused DD Little Cook kits I got a years subscription for her from DMIL for Christmas a year ago but so far all the ones she’s made with DH have been less than impressive with weird ingredients advertised healthy and not tasted as nice as a normal version so I want to look through them with her and only keep a few she really wants to make and get rid of the rest since they’re just sitting in the cupboard and we can cook and bake other stuff with her . Other outs :

• more worn clothing to ragbank from clean laundry pile last night
• kids clothes to clothsbank at dump
• new looking or new ones but too small to charity shop ( I’m going through all DS T-shirt’s he’s got long arms suddenly but is thin so long sleeved T-shirts have to go even if they fit otherwise )
• too strong scented (pinacolada ) dog wipes to bin, I like him to smell yummy after grooming him but these were just too much ! Same US brands face ones were good though . We normally use eco unscented for everyday cleaning of him . He just had a first proper trim at 6 m and omg he’s so much easier to brush and keep clean but looks like a different dog altogether ! Much lighter under the baby fur that has been trimmed off we knew he would be but it’s still a bit weird
• a few more dog toys 2 were too hard plastic I don’t want him to damage his teeth on them now that he’s biting harder , also some soft ones covered in blood ( he’s teething ) I have actually kept a little tooth I found on his crate mat earlier it was so tiny but just like a sharks tooth . I put it with the kids little teeth 😁.

We always have ins too, my goal isn’t an empty house just to get rid of what we don’t use and have what we keep better organised . One in was a dog life vest since we have boats . Should be the only one he’ll need until it wears out since it goes up to 10 kg and he probably won’t be that big ever . Other deliveries are larger T-shirt’s for DS , home edit clear plastic organising range items (boxes I’ll try in utility cupboards when I get that far and a few to the kitchen plus a flat wide box for DD fossils and gems she’s getting a national geographic digging kit for birthday she wants to be a palaeontologist like great grandpa ) , new pants for DS , toiletries to replace what we use daily and heat pads for my left shoulder that used to be my good shoulder ( right has been bad for about 6 y prob due to arthritis) so now it’s hard to sleep etc with two bad ones .

Seems like there's lots of good work going on here. I haven't been doing a huge amount due to other things taking priority recently. But, I'm back on it today and have quite a bit going out. We've also done a tip run and have arranged for our huge pile to go to a charity next week.

We've been in the loft today and have finally (in April!) put our Christmas decorations away (!) alongside some other bits and pieces.

Outs include:

1 bag4life of polystyrene packaging bits.
Some chunks of polystyrene.
3 boxes.
A wad of papers.
4 old kitchen tools (big spoons etc) - 3 of which will be replaced as we use them all the time.

Also decluttering some hair of DS finally next week it’s looking pretty long since last app in Before Christmas he hasn’t let us touch it . DH uses clippers so his is fine , DD grows hers and I’ll just go have my colour done . Next week also DH dentist and hygienist hopefully are ok it’s only been about 6 m since the last , then my nail app which will be weird and later I’m back to dentist due to my filling coming off for second time . Need to get on with some other medical
App too I’ve been putting off for the past year while dealing with the most urgent ones but practically shielding otherwise ( I’m on steroids ) but I am kind of waiting to have my second shot before starting to go out more I’m worried about not getting as good a cover from first shot due to my immune system being a bit suppressed. I’ve only gone out 4 times so far this y and that’s to dentist twice , to a drive in Covid test and to the vaccination so the hair dresser will be weird !

nordicmom you kept the dog’s tooth! Awwww. Too cute.

After chucking out 2 bin bags of garden crap I went through the pile of charity shop stuff that I have decided to get rid of since the November lockdown. Some of it was glass so I wrapped it in newspapers. I had forgotten what I was getting rid of so I managed to fill three big bags for life with mugs, candleholders, coasters, kitchen gadgets, a coffee percolator, 22 children’s books, a hat, pasta dishes, kilner jars.

I drove to my favourite charity shop and found it opens next Wednesday. Oh well at least the boot has crap and the house is getting clearer - not that you can see it yet.

Forgot to mention that the three bags for life are Disney branded ones that dc don’t want any more so that’s good decluttering too.

@AlexTheLittleCat I'm up and down. Op is next Thursday so will be pleased once that's over but am nervous about results after that.
I'm self isolating now so have a few days to do things here. We had a lovely day out to a NT place earlier in the week and DD didn't buh anything in the shop.
Had a constructive day today, some cleaning has been done which can be finished tomorrow. DP and DD got rid of a decent amount of paperwork from home learning and work. I've tidied the back garden and put some plants in we got at the weekend.

Stealth I had to keep his baby tooth like my kids 😁! He’s my furbaby my third child now that I’ll probably never get to have the baby I wanted for years . He’s my first ever pet having been allergic my whole childhood ( grew out of it it was replaced by hayfever I didn’t use to have then ) so I waited to have him for 45 y ! He’s definitely bringing me comfort for not getting to cuddle another baby I hold him instead . He’s a little Shih Tzu so enjoys being cuddled and being in a lap at times 😊! I kind of felt sad for not having a bit of his hair from the groomers 😁! I’m aware I sound crazy ...

Vinorosso74 ,good luck to your op next week , I’ll be thinking of you !

Out went 6 DS too small long sleeved new looking T-shirts ( hence charity shop ) and decided to also remove 6 short sleeved ones now that I found more next size up online and ordered them ( the short sleeved ones for now ) . I also have an eye on an unused sweater of DH he has never worn so surely he can let it go he probably doesn’t even remember having it anymore ...
DH has a work team building activity on zoom soon he needs our kitchen / dining room for a while so I think I’ll go there after it once he’s moved to the study for the rest of it ! I’ve got to just go do that cupboard and not keep on thinking about it . I should not start cleaning everything else though as usual which will take half the night and cripple me . If I see mess I can’t leave it and that’s a problem when I don’t have the time or energy for it . No one else here sufferers from that infliction clearly ! They are virtually blind to mess and dirt I can’t think of any other explanation for leaving it all when I don’t nagg endlessly or go clean it myself 😒

@Vinorosso74 good luck for next Thursday hope all goes smoothly.
Much excitement here today as I’ve managed to book a charity shop slot for next Friday and I can drop up to FIVE bags or boxes! Planning toys and books first as clothes can be hidden in a cupboard much more easily.

2x bags to charity shop. Yippee.