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

nordicmom Sorry to hear about your relative.

Ah so no toddlers is the secret!

sing I’m doing a Marie kondo “get all of one thing in the same place and blitz it” with the dcs clothes and toys and books next week. Sad that I have to use my annual leave to do this but no other quiet time really! Haha.

Dsis is going to help me with the toys and books.

I also need to do my clothes. It’s going to be a kondo mess for a few days!

I'm checking in coz I'd like to revive my efforts this week, when paid work is going to be quiet.

Maybe I'll have a target to do one hour decluttering & 2 hours (per day) of cleaning/tidying/DIY this half term.

There's definitely enough to do.

Most my outs in last 2 months have been stuff like working thru DD's massive potion & soap pile; useful but... tiddly in net impact.

(sort of) just took some boxfulls of stuff to charity shop, and listed things on local giveaway pages. :)

Sort-and-tidy is going well. At some point earlier this year I must have just stopped putting things away. Decluttering non-existent, but made a mental note of things that are on the cusp of being too young for LOs, and which might quietly disappear during summer term when we are outside more.

I’ve been quiet here but have made some progress this weekend.

I’ve gotten to work on my craft things. My storage shelving broke so I replaced that and its freed up some space in drawers for me to use for some other stuff thats cluttering downstairs.

I’m going to review my ‘gift wrap’ station. I definitely have some things to declutter there. Also going to work on some stuff in my side board like baking things.

Listed four more things on ebay, one has sold so will package that up for tuesday.

I think I could also do with getting rid of some
Old dog toys the dog doesn’t look at too.

I also have gotten a new (more compact!) tv stand so my old one will be going FB market place this
Week.

The outs (or listed on ebay) so far:

A coat (new with tags)
Seasalt trousers that never fit me
2 x new in box makeup
1 dvd box set
At least one bag full of craft items, mostly yarn and cardmaking items. The good stuff is for the charity shop, some recycled, a little binned.
Couple more clothing items
Shampoo bottle
Lots of glass jars
Electrical extension lead thats too long and too big

No actual decluttering recently am just maintaining the areas I’ve done ,doing laundry , admin and everyday cleaning . We’ve also managed to change half the beds winter duvets into thinner summer ones and take them to be washed . The remaining two will be changed when new duvets arrive on Tue. Also got DH to wash windows . When we move out we’ll use the excellent cleaning company I found during our last move ,and a window washer neighbours had to do the outsides since DH can’t really do the top floor outside windows properly because of how they open . Also need a gardener to come trim the bushes a bit . However of the top of my head a few recent outs:

• a few more things to the rag bag
• a big bag of useless rags I bought for dusting that are too rough for that so off they go to the fabric recycling finally
• a useless dog brush to bin ,we tried different ones when our puppy was little but we’ve found the perfect pin brush now that I've bought two of ,one in travel bag
• a plastic dog shampooing tool that isn’t needed
• a too small DD swimming costume
• awfully smelly scented colouring pens someone gave DD
• earmarked to go DD wooden blocks she’s too old for and doesn’t play with ,she does lego and her new knex
• also tentatively thinking the pretend food and other kitchen stuff can go she doesn't play with either ,it’s just gathering dust in a big basket under her bed
• earmarked to go some wooden kitchen utensils although will replace those

Sent to grandma’s today with DH and kids ;

• a dog agility set ( this outdoor one needs turf to put it in we don’t have in this rental but will at the new house ,grandma’s got a lovely big lawn this could be used on this summer
• 3 new dog toys
• a water bowl
• a boat engine cover

Another dog toy ...

Cleaned the ground floor again tonight and managed to declutter a few more things
-5 manky dog toys ( and washed all the plastic ones were keeping )

• a few old kids water bottles to recycling and others parts to bin
• 4 old wooden spatulas and spoons but they’ll be replaced
• half a packed of puppy pee mats we don’t seem to need anymore since it was a big box just in the way in any case I do have another unopened packet I’ll keep just incase

Also had a look into the remaining kitchen cupboards I need to go through and there might not be much to get rid of because when we moved here I had done that already . they just need to be organised again and I’m sure there will be some items to go as always .

Another impressive list nordicmom! It has prompted me to list a pair of joggers on FB marketplace that I ordered online a few months ago - they didn’t fit, but I forgot to return them before the deadline.

End of month paperwork sorted and a few bits to recycling.
2 bags ready to drop off at Charity Shop tomorrow.
DC returned from University and onboard with sorting their stuff to be put back in to refurbished bedroom. Books added to charity bag and checking if some 'games' based books have any resale value or will be recycled.

Have continued today and out so far ;

• holey pyjamas and a big pile of too small pants to rag bag
• Nintendo DS game case that’s empty we’ve gotten rid of the other ages ago so don’t know where this came from

Started on the under stairs cupboard and on the first glance pulled out

• a manky old football, DS has plenty others left I think
• a pair of my old sandals I have newer pair of I don’t both
• a stinky dog weekend bag I thought was long gone
• an electronic game DH was meant to have removed a battery from and then thrown away
• a book to add to book collection pile
• a chipped cereal bowl
• a Dino dig kit and a mug someone else can enjoy to add to charity pile
• also threw away some useless fabric masks

Then looked into a kitchen cupboard and out goes :

• a stained cutting board ,we have many others
• 2 scratched pie dishes leaves me two and I can only make so many pies
• 2 old casserole dishes again we have many more newer ones
• 4 glass bowls I kept 3 new different size ones no one on Earth needs 7! when I also have metal and plastic ones for baking !

Feeling good about all this now I’ve also gotten more laundry washed but am hurting from yesterday so maybe have to clean first floor tomorrow and just do other things today like my food order and read those newspapers when it this nice and quiet ! Next finally eating my takeout food in front of the tv 😊...

Two more areas I’m happy with !

I have sorted my wardrobe , taken out anything too A/W to go into Vacuum Bags

Four items into the Charity Shop bag
There's some kitchen things that need to go but I'll do that next week when I have time .

I have to get DS to sort some clothes , he's got some tops/jeans that need cleared out .

nordic your house is beautiful. Im sorry to hear about your relative

ememem its so hard getting rid of kids toys/books. And equally stopping the flow if them coming in the house. Its taken me a few years but finally I no longer go to carboot or charity shops and come out with bags if stuff. I have a list of things I can and will buy if I see them but nothing else. Eg for dd2 she loves Dr suess so if I find one she doesn't have (rare!) We buy it, Arianna grande/little mix merchandise as shes recently become a big fan (for her birthday), barbie dolls clothes and dinosaurs. Same for her birthday. Usually I would buy cheap bits second hand or online bargains. This year I have stuck to lol omg dolls, plus a new fur coat (she loves hers and it's wrecked now), a couple of books, a game and llama teddies. No random not quite what she wants dolls that were cheap or this looks fun plastic rubbish thats forgotten about after a day. Her sister has bought her some fidget toys (all the rage apparently!), my sister is buying her some dinosaurs she fell in love with and my mum is getting a doll that she wants.

We had our new bed delivered, so I had a massive sort out. 5 bin liners from my room and I'm still not finished. Theres clothes, shoes, coats, bags in there. I dont want to keep things just incase anymore, when will I wear these faded, bobbly hoodies? Jeans? I havent worn them in over 2 years. I live in leggings and tshirts. Boots that have been unworn the last 3 winters, am I ever likely to wear them?

Still a long way to go, I still shamefully have 70+ tshirts. But many ive had years and there's band tshirts from gigs and ones I've bought for going to different events so lots of memories attached to them...

We have a tiny room, there's literally our bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers. Our girls have the bigger room in our house. Heres under our bed im really happy with it! As you can see I own alot of leggings (left) and tshirts!

Today apparently tipped to be the hottest day of the year so far I’m blitzing the house while she is at work and the dc are at nursery. I plan on getting rid of a lot. And sorting a lot out.

Will report back later.

Good luck em!

I’m hopefully focusing on my studying today as I’ve neglected it. Got lots more out of the house (well in bin bags at least) the last few days. Yesterday I decluttered and sorted the kitchen drawers and the utensil pots, it’s all much more sensibly organised now. Decluttered a lot from one of the Kallax units in the living room too - stuff like puzzle books that I could take the time to use up but I really don’t enjoy that much (I’m a puzzle nerd and like a particular magazine I treat myself to occasionally, so I’d rather just stick to those in future).

Also being home educators we have a LOT of educational resources and I need to be much more realistic about what we are likely to use, and what is worth keeping for our youngest vs the space saved. Have gathered the workbook/activity books type stuff from that unit, once I’ve got the rest from the other unit I’ll go through them all at once. Actual books is not something I’m ready for yet 🤣 I’ve pulled a few out and stashed them to sell but I need to do a lot of more urgent stuff before I focus on the main bulk.

Ooh and also, I’m just copying this over from a thread I’m on regularly as I realised people here might have good ideas!

I had an idea of something to do for DH for Father’s Day if I can manage it. The DCs can choose him something but I’d like to do something with some space memorabilia he’s got. Basically a looooong time ago his dad wrote to either NASA or ESA, as DH was absolutely mad about space. They sent him a load of stuff - large photos etc. It’s thus special to DH but he never gets to enjoy it as it’s just stuck in a squished, manky cardboard box. So I’d like to make it so that it’s something he can really enjoy. However I don’t want to do scrapbooking type stuff - I don’t want to risk damaging photos and I’d want to make sure he could still handle the actual items rather than being stuck down etc. Nothing that can’t be undone/rearranged basically as I know he’d love it but it’s not MY stuff to permanently arrange IYSWIM.

Wondering about maybe an old fashioned photo album with the cellophane type overlays? Or maybe just a really nice box and something to protect the photos 🤔 any thoughts please?

Outs so far:

Dove soap bar and a toothpaste. And I’ve replaced both although toothpaste is the last one I think…I’m counting little wins today!

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed lately it’s that little wins add up fast! I’ve really not got rid of anything big lately but I’ve thrown out so many little things from various “categories” and the difference is massive

I’ve been quite good so far. Actually very good.

One bag of clothes from my wardrobe. - charity
One huge bag of bedding from under our bed. -charity
A couch cover which is cheap nasty and icky. - bin
Two bags of kids clothes - charity
A further bag for friends little boy
Emptied two boxes of water wipes into a basket so have put the cardboard in recycling.

And that’s just the upstairs.

Oh and I finished another book yesterday.

Bag of broken toys binned.

None for charity shop BUT dsis popped by and helped me organise the stuff so it looks less.

A quick update from me. I have done the new thread although ogviously we can keep posting on this one til the end.

New link

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4259830-Decluttering-one-item-a-day-thread-number-18-quickly-stashing-our-clutter-in-charity-shops-now-we-can-let-people-back-inside-our-houses?watched=1&msgid=107843954#107843954

I haven't done much - I have got rid of a few photos, receipts, broken pens but have been enjoying the sun with dc.

Properly fell off. It's harder ATM as I'm not feeling o to massive shifting and most of the obvious stuff is gone.

480: hand knitted jumper that's got too small, normally when I was DSs hand-knitted stuff they grow exponentially
481: two water bottles that don't perform as I need them to
482: couple of hand fulls of toy bits and pieces sorted from the toy boxes