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

Don’t know how to book a charity shop slot , we normally just drop off at BHF local shop and didn’t see any info differently online so I do hope if DH goes to see them in the weekend he’s not wasting his efforts . Might have to try to call them I suppose if they answer ...

nordicmom yeah you sound s bit crazy but you do sound like a loving mum and doggy mum. I think it’s ok to keep a memory box for your children and your lovely dog.

vinorosso I hope your appointment goes well next week.

I just discovered I have three hand whisks and one electric whisk. I’m sure I’ve got rid of a couple of whisks already so I am getting rid of two of the hand whisks.

Day 217:
Just deleted photos and emails

@Nordicmom I just rang to check whether one of my regular shops (because I have gift aid set up) was taking donations. They explained you have to book and had a space for a week today. I know a couple have already said no more donations as they have been inundated since they opened back up on Monday

We have gift aid set up in a few , will try to call to check today then ...

Turn out at least one is taking donations without slot booking so hoping DH can take some of the pile today if not all . Also my lovely home edit organising containers came so I’m trying to gather some motivation for going to declutter kitchen but I slept unbelievably badly again and am in agony everywhere and shattered so don’t know if that’s possible

I am joining thread as badly need to declutter. I looked in garage looking for stuff that could go and even found many old boxes from a lawnmower we have had 3 years, a microwave we have had 2 years. This must be DH as he hates throwing away boxes. I have found 5 boxes that can be cut down and recycled. Some of newspapers too. I am ditching some of my old Chinese containers as no one could do that much cooking for freezing. Have 3 bags of old children's clothing going to Salvation Army. Threw out a few old cake tins.

So I finally sat down this morning and went through the large box of cds I brought from mums house a month ago. Kept any I’m on but the rest are off to charity/ we buy books/magpie.

It feels good to have done a complete box and not done part of one and put the rest away for that mythical ‘another day’...

77 cds to charity
18 books cds to music magpie
23 to we buy books
8 to ziffit.
3 empty cd cases in bin
One cardboard casing to recycling

Feels good. Thanks for helping keep me motivated!

Welcome caringcarer. You’ve made a good start.

It hadn’t occurred to me that some charity shops might require you to book a slot, let Sophie hope I can rid of my first bags next week.

I called the BHF one we use they said they take donations so DH went around midday there and to Cancer Research shop near it and we got rid of all our charity shop stuff in one fell swoop there was quite a bit ;3 really big plastic storage boxes worth of clothes mainly kids ones , dvds , console games , puzzles , board and card games , a few dress up outfits , pencil cases ,one soft toy , the toucan kids craft boxes and a glass cake stand . I feel really good getting them out of here after all this time and glad to be hopefully making them money they were all in such good condition so I hope they’ll give someone else joy and be useful still ! Now I have space again to collect more to go out once I have some more energy . My home edit I design storage bins came I’m trying to motivate myself with thoughts of organising utility cupboards with them but I was far too tired today . Also spotter silver wire pantry baskets by Idesign on Amazon I might get a few to see if they’re nice .

Day 218:

One child's book in charity bag.
Emails

Two bags for charity shop on Friday.

Also gave dsis her huge bag of birthday pressies. So they’re out of the wardrobe.

Recycling was sorted yesterday and the huge boxes left the garage and have been broken into the recycle boxes.

2 Kilner jars in the glass recycling.
4 more out the cupboard.

Great job on handing over to the charity shop nordicmum. Must pop mine in the boot on the off chance somewhere near here is actually accepting anything!

Went through one of the desk drawers today and binned an old wedding invitation plus a a tatty plastic wallet. Also relocated a few cables to the big bag of cables to sort out. I also found 4 ipad chargers in the under bed drawer so a couple of those can go. I have a feeling one is broken so need to check them first.

Have finally got around to taking photos of a couple of things to sell on Vinted so will try to upload in the next day or so once I've figured out how it works. Some new with tags that DH bought as a present and then forgot to return in time when they didn't fit. Very annoying that it's my issue to deal with and I won't get anywhere near the money back that we would if he'd been more organised.

FatLadySang I also need to do CDs. We've got 2 big boxes in the garage from when we moved 5 years ago!

Charity shop drops haven't happened here. They will have to wait.
We're nearly finished giving the flat a thorough clean and tidy (well tidy as can be). There's not been any major outs but some more paperwork has gone along with some random bits and pieces.

Had a last minute sale of dc clothes last night tho they can’t pick them up on Monday now as their dc might have chickenpox!

Going to call local charity shops this week as already have several bags of stuff for them. Get the hall back if possible!

Out: 2 huge bags to charity shop & 3 socks to rag pile

In: 9 items of clothing . The thread talking of flares coming back into fashion put me into a panic. I found a great pair of jeans for 35p (yes, really, 35p) & size=-"age 15-16" that fit me like jeans used to fit me back in the 1980s. Omg, I have discovered what "size" I am at last!!

Today I broke down a lot more wood for burning. Speaking of which, I have a chill rn from outside walking so now is good time to go burn some wood.

Finally got around to listing the playmobil up for sale. Hopefully being picked up tomorrow. Took ages trying to figure out what went together!

Sorted under my bed (ottoman bed but broken so can't do unless dh is here to hold it up!) 2 bin liners full of clothes I havent worn in over a year and probably won't. (Jeans etc, I only ever wear leggings including for work!) Sandals and 2 pairs of gym leggings for my mum. Bag full of shoes sorted for dd2. She now has trainers and beach shoes so some money saved, dd1 has pinched my crocs I dont wear so the pair ive ordered her can go back when they arrive!

Bags for life sorted out, 6 ready to give back to my mum when I see her next weekend. Bag of barbies for my sisters preschool she works at.

Big box full of empty lol balls boxed up and label ordered to send off to be recycled with terracycle. (May have told a little white lie to dd2, I told her the more that was in there the higher chance she has of winning a prize in the prize-draw so she put all of the empty ones in there. Instead of keeping them and gathering dust. There is a prize draw but per box sent off so not a total lie!)

Omg I did make it finally to declutter that display cabinet in the kitchen but after dinner and board games so it was late and somehow it took me all night again since I was looking through 30 cookbooks and all my recipes that I’ve cut out trying to decide what to keep ( there were some family recipes mixed in that I did find and keep ) also as usual did laundry and cleaned everywhere quickly . Didn’t start dusting everything this time around though I recently did it . Thankfully DH study is still looking tidy except I emptied his bin and put a few things away he is hopeless at that there’s always a few things left lying around it drives me crazy !
Out tonight ;
-20 ( out of 30 so proud of myself 😊) cookbooks to dump book collection

• a lot of paper to recycling ,threw away nearly all of my cut out recipes and a notebook
• 7 little cook kits out of 9 had gone old 😒DD also has a hot cross bunny one so 3 left they always had a odd flavour with weird ingredients so good riddance to be honest I explained to her that we were sorry it was our fault but we can bake and cook anytime without these kits she got a subscription for from grandma at Christmas before last
• an extra car key safe
• 3 Christmas potholders
• 2 tiny bunny mugs
• ceramic jug I got with a flower delivery years ago and haven’t used since all to charity shop
• kids cutlery
• an old kids lunch bag to bin
• one big whisky bottle to recycling from the collection once DH has a last sip of it ( never really drinks and gets them as present so there’s a few )
• kids plastic cowboy hat

I also put in a box to go to new house 6 new glass teacups I forgotten were there , some garden tea light lanterns , a set of 4 little metal pots , glass Easter egg ornaments and glass heart ornaments . That bottom of the display cabinet is now pretty empty ! I wish I could do this all at more of a speed I’m so bloody slow when I’m always tired and everything hurts all day long . Also do have trouble deciding sometimes like about these damn cookbooks !

I keep falling off the wagon with this and the TOMM that I try to follow. So here is a list of the jobs I want to get done this week.
My jobs for this week are:
Change Ds bed
Sort out the basket in the dinning room of stuff that needs putting away
Put all the camping lights away that we got out due to a power cut a few weeks ago
Go shopping for summer bits for Ds
Take back clothes that don’t fit and exchange
Pair up socks and put away
Take photos of clothes that are too small for Ds and see if friend wants any
Clear car out of rubbish
Hoover car
Towels away

These should all help with the feeling and look of being less cluttered. And as lockdowns are lifting I would love the get the house in a position where I’m not manically tidying before someone comes round.

Day 219: yesterday
Too small baby clothes in the bag for friend
H got rid of 4 items of clothing in charity bag.

Day 220: today
Listed a baby girl bundle to sell
Couple of items for friends daughter in the bag.
Couple of hangers out.

nordicmom that’s an amazing effort with the cookbooks. It took me years to get rid of mine getting rid of the odd one here and there.

My weekend feels like so long ago. I think they only things that went were some packing tape, sellotape, marker pens that didn’t work. I had to look all over the house for brown packing tape to box up my ziffit boxes and it was in a really random drawer that I organised years ago so I’m not sure how it slipped through the net.

Anyway my two ziffit boxes are labelled on my front door step waiting to be collected. It’s the tip of the iceberg of what needs to go but now dc are back at school I think I have about 5 weeks to remove everything that I’ve been putting away since the November lockdown and then declutter more.

My goals for the next five weeks are to

1. Take everything to the charity shop
2. Finish organising photos
3. Finish painting the landing

4.finish decluttering the Room of Doom.

That should keep me busy. First I am going to enjoy the silence and have a long bath.

Kids garden game taken to dparents yesterday.

Forgot ,out as well

• 2 ring folders recipes were in

Stealthninja , I have also gotten rid of my cookbook collection chunk by chunk in several declutters so it was even harden now and took me really looking at them if there’s recipes I’d actually cook I took a few photos if there were just one or two in the book . I think I do have more trouble getting rid of stuff than DH I have the sentimental attachment and the whole what if I need it ( despite not using it for years ) . As a teenager I decluttered all my little kid stuff away ( my parents kept some childhood toys art etc ) and had practically nothing except a few clothes . Then coming here 20 y ago I had only taken 2 suitcases of clothes with me and left one cardboard box (I then reduced to a shoebox of papers next visit )at my parents . Somehow that and the fact that my mom keeps stuff like years and years of newspapers have made for a bit of a complicated relationship to things apparently . My dads always said when he’s old his birding home room will have nothing in it but a few boys of furniture . They have taken stuff to charity shops periodically so she doesn’t keep everything but there’s always been a lot of things . I’ve always been very tidy ,clean and perfectionist although that has had to go a bit with kids ,dog and my illness . I have found myself get a bit anxious with the decluttering even though I have yet to regret anything I’ve thrown out all these years . DD wants to keep everything but we can’t or we’d drown in it and I’ve explained that to her we are not keeping all the stuff she never plays with when she then gets more age appropriate things for birthdays and Christmas she actually uses . I have to do the decluttering without her though and make the final decisions otherwise we’d get nowhere . She still has wooden blocks from when she was about 1 since she plays with them about 3 times a year and DH makes me keep them 😒...ditto pretend food she doesn’t use more than a few times a year why is it all still in a big basket under her bed ?! I’m dreading doing her room. There’ll probably be clothes to go ( books we recently did so not many if any to get rid now ) but the toys will be problematic I don’t want her to feel like when she was little mummy threw all her toys away . I’m trying to find a balance somehow

Just set a 30 minute timer and have whizzed through my wardrobe and under the bed.

A huge river island carrier bag of my stuff and some of dds stuff which I won’t pass onto a friend in for charity drop off.

A pack of outdated vitamins. From last year. Oops.

Also used up scraps of packets of sugar and dried fruit and made dhs nans fruitcake. The recipe is great for this as calls for “fried fruit 500g” and “sugar” so I’ve taken a chance on the sugar and mixed about 4 different types to get the right amount.

Also currently soaking the last of a jar of dried chickpeas for dinner tonight. I love chickpeas. But hate the dried ones. Such a faff to soak. Annoyingly cheaper than the tinned ones. But man such a faff. Keeping the jar though.

I have wasted my morning! After my bath I checked my phone and I was 57th on the driver picking up my ziffit books’ list to collect. So I spent half an hour watching him on a map do the last dozen or so houses. Anyway he did his 56th drop five minutes from my house and I’m waiting for him to come here. It’s been forty minutes! Am I the only obsessed with courier real time maps?

nordicmomim now clinging onto cookbooks for sentimental reasons. Like I have the first two Jamie Oliver ‘naked chef’ books where I barely made any recipes other than I think pasta and pesto but they seemed so modern and fresh compared to my mum’s cookbooks which were the only ones I’d used up until that point. I’m now wondering whether to get rid of them. Dd1 has allowed me to get rid of one of her cookbooks but I have been hanging onto it because we used to cook together when she was smaller. Now she can make a cake on her own. Maybe I will get rid of all 3 books.

nordicmom can you give your dd money for selling things or tell her about children who can’t afford toys? My stbexh comes from a hoarding family and he would get really angry if I even thought about throwing away a child’s toy. I do see his point that I have no right to throw away someone else’s possessions but I had a pretty good idea of what dc likes playing with and they have never ever asked for something that has gone and they refuse to go to his house because it’s too cluttered.