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

I've just decluttered my old bedroom at my parents (recently moved in with partner) realised I didn't use any of my clothes / shoes at my parents house so decided to prep for when the boot-sales are back up and running at the end of April, also have about 5 bags for charity!

sleepingstandingup Noooooo. What a nightmare. I hope that you're all ok and you manage to not get the virus. That reminds me, one of my to dos is to order some asymptomatic tests. dd1 tests at school so I thought I'd also test myself.

I'm looking at last week's to do list and redoing it. Lots of tasks not done! I also have a couple of admin projects. Anyway the plan is to do one hours painting a day, thirty minutes photo sorting and fifteen minutes in the Room of Doom. I'm also going to spend less time cooking proper meals of an evening and more time with dd2 who's behaviour is terrible at the moment.

today i've successfully decluttered a pack of marmite hot cross buns. yum.

and am almost finished an eye cream. hoorah.

i'm taking a bag of dm's to the saddlers today to get it repaired hopefully - so this will be an out, and then a back in again, and an out again once it goes back to her.

@stealthninjamum thanks, you reminded me to do the same. I just wish we knew if it was a child, teacher etc. Someone saw DSs 121 on site and the only time they're really not together or in the same room is lunch time so likely to be a lunchtime supervisor. I'm HOPING if it was the one who sits by him 30 minutes every day they'd have said something but who knows. DS is pretty antisocial so fingers crossed, esp as shielded him this time last year. Will feel better once my tests come I think.

Decluttered sanity by doing 18+12=? on a number line where you just from 18 to 28 then 29 then 30. It's actual insanity.

sleeping I didn't get round to ordering the tests today. I've been non stop busy and haven't even had a shower (usually do it after drop off). Good job noone's allowed near me! We used to do those number lines but it would be frogs hopping on a lily pad. Sometimes dd2 (who is doing addition with 4 or 5 numbers) refuses to do it unless I sit and draw long number lines with frogs.

It is frustrating that they never reveal who had covid. I understand the need for privacy but you think they'd ask the person who tested positive if they were happy for their name to be given out, I know I would if it was me. With dd1 the class whatsapp group parents just revealed who had it and as the kids all sat behind and around dd1 we kind of knew to be extra careful.

Anyway I have done more painting, stopped because I'm running out of paint. I think my doors will need four coats and I've only painted 3 so it's all taking longer than I expected. I have thrown away a lipstick and that's it. Also I've done lots of admin, laundry and tidying.

My dining room is now resembling a dining room/bar again, instead of a classroom.
DH off work this week, and has a tip slot tomorrow.
Also sorted Christmas decorations .

Today, I’ve decluttered all the crap on the fridge bar a couple of magnets, plus some junkmail and bits of paper.

Most importantly - I cleaned my oven. It was embarrassingly bad - never cleaned in my 2.5 years of having it 🤢🤢

I've been sorting out various kitchen cupboards.

Outs: 14 lightbulbs. (We've been slowly switching to LEDs.)

Finished tidying DD's room today. Several papers in the recycling and some broken pens binned.

Broken bungee cord out. :-)

I decluttered a job application so now I can get on with some physical decluttering. I'm struggling to multitask as I always feel like I should be doing something else.

@ememem84 I know you love beauty products, I'm decluttering The Ordinary EUK (antioxidant) I bought ages ago and forgot about, it's in oil and very moisturising and feels lovely.

SleepingStandingUp Sorry about the bubble burst.

My cleaner has said she’ll rehome old clothes for me which is fricking brilliant. I’ve clothes which are perfectly nice at either end of the size spectrum due to medical things and I’m really excited about having a proper clear out!

(To be clear I’m usually a 12-14, dropped to 8-10 on a medically restricted diet and bobbed up to 16-18 in lockdown. I’ve no interest in getting down to a smaller size but 12-14 is fine for me personally).

@Vinorosso74 Sorry you didn't have better news but wishing you well for this week's appointment.

Decorator has postponed unfortunately so I've moved the bookcases back. I can't face sorting out the books yet, perhaps that's a job for when I have a few days off at Easter.

I had a pile of tags from new clothes - I tend to keep the tags until I know I'm not taking the clothes back, but they I don't sort them out quickly enough. Anyway, they've all gone in the paper recycling.

I've got rid of some old holiday brochures in the recycling and shredded some associated paperwork - it's stuff we no longer need but I was keeping it in case we wanted to go back to any of the same places again. It brought back memories going through it all.

I'm not managing to declutter an item a day but am managing to consciously spend a bit of time on it each weekend, which is an improvement.

I managed to get a lot of laundry done yesterday.

Dh also used up a sheet mask and some eye stuff.

And we finished off the cake he and the dc made for me for Mother’s Day. It had fresh cream in it so needed eating. That’s my excuse anyway for having two huge pieces yesterday.

I finally used the last of the stock cubes dated .... 07-2016. :-)

Set myself a target of 20 books of mine in the charity bag. Managed 23. I don't think they've been read in about 10years.

Lots of tidying and moving stuff around. I thought I had all the photos in one place and have been organising them and then found a massive new box of them so that's really irritated me. I have thrown a load more away - perhaps 30 - but don't think I'm going to finish this week now so my bedroom floor will remain a mess.

I managed about ten minutes in the Room of Doom but didn't throw anything away but moved things to other rooms so kind of successful. I can't believe I didn't do the memory boxes and photos before because lots of the things I must've looked at half a dozen times in the room of doom are certificates, photos etc things that are now rehoused.

I've got 5 more items 'out' (for the pile) since my last post. I've also posted another ad online.

I'm so pleased with my living room at the moment that I keep stopping to look at it. I do know that this is very sad. Overall, my downstairs area is still holding its own. But, my bedrooms are possibly worse than they've ever been!

I'm going to strip a bed and sort through the bedding now.

Sand I also look in to the few sorted rooms here to enjoy them.
We have been consuming various food gifts.
De-cluttered the last of my Mother's Day cake from DCs in to DH, I had shortbread from a birthday hamper and we finished the last of the cheese at lunch. All delicious.
I have also set aside a block of chocolate from a corporate Christmas gift to put in the local foodbank collection point.
Meal planning for the next week to use up lots that is just shoved in the freezer.
Confession - door to Room of Doom has remained shut for some time. Will need to get back to it this week.

I've been sorting and tidying with tiny bits of decluttering. Moved a small chest of drawers up to my bedroom. It is exactly the correct size for A4 papers, and now serves as a filing cabinet. I can look through paperwork last thing at night or early morning without waking anyone. Lots of paperwork tasks to list and declutter.

Day 186: Monday
Listed a pram suit on market place

Day 187: yesterday
Tidied garden and recycled a couple of broken bits.

Too much sunshine to update!

Sandandsea I decluttered my airing cupboard in March / April 2018 and it still gives me joy. I have been known to open the door just to admire it! At the moment its the only part of the house that is tidy.

I am feeling so demotivated today. I have thrown out some holey tights and a plastic fairy cup that dd1 dropped on the floor and cracked. Poor thing, she must've had it since she was a toddler, and I thought my big school girl who will soon be bigger than me was going to cry. Meanwhile I was internally thinking 'whoop whoop something else gone!'

More decorating to do today.

[quote AlexTheLittleCat]@Vinorosso74 Sorry you are feeling sore, hope it is getting better today.

@EllieQ and @Times10 and anyone else struggling with their kids, I saw this article the other day and thought of the thread. It basically says that when our children act up or shout, to take our responses down a notch - so if they shout, you respond more calmly than normal and it defuses the situation. I'm trying it with DD and it's helping.

www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/03/hunt-gather-parent-timeless-advice-for-modern-parents/618172/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Outs: some emails and too much chocolate[/quote]
Thanks Alex, that was interesting to read. The comment about expecting children to be irrational resonated with me - I think I find this hard to accept! DD’s behaviour has improved since she went back to school, and I can see that she’s much happier

I’m lurking and reading, but have taken a break from daily decluttering for now. I did reorganise my dining room cupboard at the weekend so all my wool is now stored in there. I had one box on the top shelf (which I couldn’t reach), and had the big roasting tin that only gets used at Xmas on a lower shelf, and finally had the genius idea to swop these around so my wool stash was accessible!

Hoping to return to daily decluttering soon as it really did help my mental health. Glad everyone is doing well!

(finally) Used up some ancient hand lotion & a book into the charity shop pile.