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

@SingToTheSky how about putting it into a frame so it could hang up somewhere he'd see it all the time?

@SingToTheSky I’d get big frames and get the pictures (some of them at least) framed and then let Dh choose where they get put up. The others I’d have copied and made into a photo book. And would put the originals in proper photo files. I’m sure WHSmiths or similar sell them. And the. Make Dh a sentimental box….

My declutter has ended. Things have been rearranged so instead of two boxes of duplo kicking about in the living room we just have one huge one (without getting rid of any). The beauty of this is it’s in an ottoman and this doubles as a seat/couch side table. Win win. And we already had it so no new storage boxes.

I did bring in some battery candles for my outdoor lanterns. A whale sprinkler for the garden for the dc and a wicker basket planter which I’ve put the cats toys in and tucked it away next to a chair.

Other news. We will hopefully this year be decluttering a load bearing wall from our house. And also the entire kitchen. Finally got permission from our building department to do it. Yay.

I’ve caught up with the thread now, I’ve been doing minimal decluttering what with the lovely weather and dc off school

nordicmom I’m sorry to hear about your relative.

nocutsnobuttsnococonuts I’m really impressed with how many tshirts and leggings you pack into such a small space.

singtothesky rather than create a photo album that he might not look at could you scan in the photos and create some kind of collage that could be stuck on a wall. Or could you just frame them?
sleepingstandingup I’m struggling at the moment. Because I have decluttered the main areas where I spend time (ie kitchen / dining room / dc’s clothes every time I put them away) I have to actively make myself go into a room to declutter. I spent a few minutes going through some photos and chucking them out at the weekend and some pens and a notepad but that was it.

One good piece of news I sold a lot of books and toys last week and managed to earn about £50.

ememem when you say your declutter has ended, is that really it? You're finished?

I’m intrigued by this too ememem84 but assume u meant for today ...
I was extra tired after Sun and Monday efforts so no cleaning in the first floor today except for the daily vacuuming and bathroom refresh .
I spent half the day looking on the internet for random things like wetsuits to replace DD old ones , a football , running kit and a hat for DS and sunglasses for DD .
In the evening I rallied and went through 3 half empty storage boxes from my upstairs spare room cupboard that houses things like wrapping paper and found several things to go mainly to charity so out today ;

• 2 unused sticker books DD has already had
• 4 brand new kids books we already have as well
• a sticker glass window craft kit
• 2 scratch art books
• make your own tshirt kit that we won’t use all to charity shop
• some old chocolate to bin
• earmarking 2 pairs of too small brand new girls shoes
• ditto a new baby blanket, bottoms and cardigan I bought when i was doing IVF. I’m

trying hard to just let go and give them to charity despite the emotions ,I have saved tons of kids clothes already so do not need to save more despite them being new . Want them to go quickly once I’ve decided so not selling anything I’m happy to just donate . Realistically we won’t have more kids . I am too old ,sick and tired to put myself through more ivf or anything else by this point I think . I find these kids clothes pretty difficult to deal with I am getting better at it though and have been able to put some I don’t care about so much to charity recently .maybe one day all the boxes will go until then the clothes are neatly in labeled boxes in storage

• broken headphones to bin
• DS old baseball cap that I did replace to bin

Ordered DS some running shoes and clothes now that he’s gotten into doing it daily so maybe I’ll get him to throw out some old knackered trainers , also hoping to toss some old skateboard ones if he has 3 pairs like i think... -Earmarked DD old wetsuits one inherited from DS so well used by now once we get the new ones -Ditto her sunglasses which must be too small by now once I find new ones

• another book ,one I haven’t read this time but not interested so out it goes

Decluttered - four odd socks.

All of LG's pjs, which she somehow managed to outgrow over the long weekend. Replaced with enormous teeshirts that DH no longer wants, that come almost to her knees. Softer and cooler during warm summer nights.

More outgrown school uniform, not being replaced as I have better laundry routine and rarely fall behind now.

One Pair school shoes.

Outgrown wellies now repurposed as planters.

@1990s

ememem when you say your declutter has ended, is that really it? You're finished?

Oh sorry. I meant for today. I’ll keep ploughing on one thing at a time.

Yes that's it is@stealthninjamum there's plenty of stuff to do but I have to make more of an effort to go through boxes stored nearly away etc. Half term here so that's obv not helping although I seriously need to get most of it sorted at least once in the next 6 weeks!!
DS needs his clothes sorting, he's at the awkward stage between clothes - age 5 too short, age 6 too wide so that'll be this week's plan

Yes @SleepingStandingUp I am much better organised these days, I go through cupboards whenever I use anything or put something away and stuff just goes without any particular thought from me. Yet I have an absolute mountain of clutter to sort through. The worst is in the Room of Doom and it's hard to get through that without focusing all my efforts.

ememem84 that's exciting news about the kitchen.

Anyway today I got up early to do a 'project'. So I spent a couple of months on the photos. I probably did most of the project but have since found some more photos/ albums/ and films to go through. I also have a pile of school photo bits of paper that I never ordered. The reason is I could never get the website to work. I tried a few times last week, emailed the school photographer, and today called them and left a message. It would be good to have bought some school photos even though I generally think at £9.95 they're a complete rip off.

What about these box frames for displaying your DH’s photos etc @SingToTheSky ?

www.hobbycraft.co.uk/white-deep-box-frame-20cm-x-20cm/567510-1001

Yesterday’s decluttering: one book in the charity bag (a book club book that I didn’t finish as I wasn’t enjoying it). But I’ve ordered the next book for book club, so it’s one out and one in.

I struggle with getting rid of children’s clothes as well, @Nordicmom - I have all most all of DD’s clothes (she’s 6), though I have sold a few coats/ snow suits and donated old school uniform. Like you, it’s hard for me to accept I won’t have another (age and health issues). It’s tough

Ooh thanks all, great ideas! I could def put some in a frame. I need to have a proper look through, there’s so much in the box but I can’t sneak a peak when he’s around!

1 x hat returned to owner
1 x bag sent to be mended
3 x necklaces sent to Stroke Association in the post

Thank you to whoever posted about Ziffit on here. I'd never heard of it and I love the concept. I now buy books from World of Books which is where they resell the books.

Excellent recycling!

And all my charity shop stuff has been dropped off. Phew!

I went in the Room of Doom and found a shoebox of photos which is annoying as I thought I had nearly finished them. They’ll go into the newish boxes I bought, so will fit into my system.

So far I have thrown 9 photos away
and I will post 2 to a friend. I am also giving away an old photo album.

I also got the school photographers to set me up with a new account and found some more bits of paper of school photos. I have a decades worth to print! I think it’ll be nice to go in their memory boxes

So fellow declutterers are any of you selling stuff or just getting it out?

My 5 bags of clothes, there's some nice stuff in there and could possibly get some money but it was all charity shop buys. So should I just list on olio and get it out of my lounge? We aren't really well off but have everything we need.

I'm quite time poor right now, have lots of other jobs to do in the house/work and would rather spend evenings with my girls so stress of ebay, posting etc is really unappealing right now! I just keep thinking of the money wasted!

I’m mostly just getting stuff out. We don’t have any valuable stuff really so I’m just donating, things like outgrown clothes to nursery etc.

However I am collecting together a lot of books and some board/card games, especially educational stuff - DS is home educated and things like that often sell quite well on Facebook locally. So once I’ve gathered everything I’ll just do an epic post. Most stuff would still only be a few quid but the volume that I could shift makes it worthwhile.

@singtothesky if you wanted to protect the photos could you laminate them? (I literally laminate everything! Currently making photo collage posters and other posters for my girls rooms!) I must get my old gig tickets out to do the same with, its on my to do list!

@stealth I love the fact you have a room of doom, it always makes me smile as I refer to my worst area as the cupboard of doom! Its a total dumping ground and so much wasted storage space!

nocutsnobutsnococonuts i’ve been doing this so long that I tend to know what sells so I do sell things on Facebook eg quality toys (so brands like Lego, Duplo, playmobil, ELC, orchard games), unopened craft boxes, book sets, school uniform. I have also made a reasonable amount on ziffit and webuybooks. To me the key thing is I just like stuff leaving the house rather than the money. I also have a rule that if something doesn’t sell in a week it goes in the charity shop bag.

Sadly we have two Rooms of Doom. I have a study and stbexh also has a study that’s even worse. I am really happy with mine as you can see nearly all the carpet now, there’s just a chest of drawers and a big double wardrobe to declutter and a few piles of paperwork to go through.

Today’s decluttering: The last of the A Level/ GCSE notes have gone in the recycling!

I’d kept a few examples when I’d sorted through my old files last year (essays with good marks or nice comments), which are in my school memory file, so I’m not sure what held me back from getting rid of the notes I didn’t want to keep. But it’s done now I just need to sort through the rest of the stuff in that box (empty bags, mostly).

I also contacted a couple of local charities about taking the cot/ travel cot, as I feel ok about getting rid of those, but haven’t had a response yet.

@nocutsnobuttsnococonuts I sell decent baby clothes and some of my old clothes with labels on on Vinted, it isn't masses of money but I buy off there too so it events out. I've just shed two bags to iSecondThat so I'll get a small cut if it sells within 100 days. It's stuff I could try and sell myself but I just need the space really. I may well send another couple of bags to there or Loopster which does similar. Some bits that would need collecting have gone on Sphock - bath seats and large toys mainly. And I always check Ziffit or similar for books.

But ultimately there's too much to sell everything without continuing to hoard and take up space.

483-4: two parcels sent - Xmas jumper and walking trousers
835: some old pencils and lidless pens from DSs crayon box
836: wax crayon holder as all have gone in crayon box. DS will never bother putting them back in the fancy stand.
837: some bits of paperwork, old newsletters, etc
838: DS has discarded some pajamas that don't fit although he's taken against wearing anything for bed ATM so I might declutter some more!!

Oops that's 488. Not sure what happened there!!

Charity shop run tomorrow - I did another cull of my clothes and filled a small bag. I also cleared out the bathroom storage and found a Kate Moss moisturiser and a few other bits and bobs that the charity will sell with other toiletries in little potluck bags.

I’m just getting stuff out. I would sell it but it’s such a faf to sell on fb at present and ebay are a nightmare. I can’t sell currently using PayPal so that’s out and our post is rubbish so buyers complain. Also post from here is pricey.

I love your style, Nordic.

I've got a burst of decluttering energy this morning so have a few more things for the pile:

1 pair of old jeans for rags.
1 purse.
1 cake stand. (I love it but we never use it and it takes up loads of cupboard space.)
4 tiny plastic pouches.
2 scratched plates.
1 chipped mug.

I'm still working through the box of coursework and have another similar box which I'm hoping to get rid of completely. I will keep you posted.