Decluttering one item a day thread number 18 – quickly stashing our clutter in charity shops now we can let people back inside our houses

[stealthninjamum]

Here we are again, still decluttering and still chatting and sometimes getting rid of some clutter.

This is a group of mumsnetters who aspire to live in a lovely clutterfree environment, usually scuppered by husbands, children, dogs and in my house ‘valuable’ bits of twig and stone or origami versions of aardvarks and komodo dragons.

We are slowly decluttering our houses, chatting and updating each other on our slow progress as we go. We only aim to get rid of one a day but often manage more. Newbies are welcome to join us.

Since the last thread charity shops reopened and things got closer to normal. I’ve now invited friends over for the end of June so have a month to get the house ‘guest ready’.

Previous thread here.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4183135-Decluttering-one-item-a-day-and-counting-down-til-the-opening-of-charity-shops-thread-number-17?pg=38

I have to dismantle the boys draws, make the new one and move the clothes over today. Not looking forward to that.

Having my son off self isolating feels like it's going to be impossible to do much but I'm sure I will. Little and often

How old is ds @IncessantNameChanger? Can you just plop him in the room with you while you do it?

He is nine with mental age of a three year old as he has ASD. Actually he isnt much trouble at all all things considered. He is a happy little chap and can do lots for himself, unless its food related. He never stops eating. He has asked to watch Godzilla so that's going on in a minute to distract him from eating.

Godzilla series or film? Depending on which it could buy you over an hour! 😂

hi everyone!

I did a lot of decluttering & sorting last month.
this month I'm struggling to find the motivation.

It's one of the films so I'm just stopping for a cup of tea. It's working so far!

Amazing stories of de cluttering !

Think ds and I hit "the wall" over the weekend !
It was hard to keep going as I still had bags everwhere ..and nowhere to put the new bags !

We did take some of his stuff to my mums loft .
She has a massives "floored" loft ...
And i resisted in not taking anything fFROM
her loft to bring home with me 😂😂

Charity van came this morning...normal bins out tonight ..
So hopefully tomorrow ..i will feel as if i have a breathing space to ..well continue !

I think I will need another charity load collected by the end of the week .
Still not decided on all the dvd's and games .
I did want ds2 and 3 to check them as well
before they go .

Think my big and hardest one this week will be my wardrobe !

Oh ...and i do have a pile going in the garden for the " man with a van " scrap and recycling person .

In fact we were so unmotivated by any thing on Saturday...neither wanted to cook ...
So we enjoyed a MacDonald delivery !!

Ferris is another good app for getting rid of once-loved items

I cleaned both ground floor and first floor today so now feel half dead due to arthritis. We’ll see if I can move tomorrow . Been putting off the first floor for a while when it was hot and I was decluttering and doing other jobs and going to appointments and meals out finally so it was a bit dusty by now . I don’t have many ornaments etc out to gather dust so it doesn’t take too long but I hate the bathroom cleaning thankfully DH does the showers and baths for me generally since they cripple me .
We have tried to deal with much open ended admin that we just can’t seem finish . despite getting over 25 household jobs and admin off the list the other week there seem to appear lots more all the time . it’s really getting to me. We seem to not be able to resolve most of them for now ,it’s beyond annoying . Dh is so busy and stressed at work and DD starts her 9 w of summer holidays end of this week , DS end of next and I despair thinking about it . due to not being able to have all the usual camps and activities and holidays abroad etc lined up like last summer as well it’ll be weeks of everyone arguing and yelling in here DS and DD can’t be in the same room for more than a few minutes without starting for the last few y unless maybe if they’re playing a PS 4 ( which eventually results in yelling too ) , we’re all watching a movie or playing a boardgame . I’ll have to try to send them to grandma as much as she’ll have them there’s lots of watersports etc to do and DH has all his holiday left so can take time off during the week this summer and join them , I will stay home in peace and quiet I think ! We have the huge added stress of impending move , selling our other house , DD changing schools ,DS starting A- levels too.
Needless to say no decluttering today except

• a dog toy he made a hole in

Two items out of the house today as two of the ring binder folders I put on FB were collected - the woman messaged me yesterday evening and was able to collect today, which was nice and quick. I’m pleased someone else can use them.

That all sounds very stressful Nordic, Poe you. I hope you’re not too achy tomorrow. I have arthritis too, and it’s easy to overdo it!

• Poor you! No Poes involved

Thanks EllieQ it’s nice to talk
To someone who can sympathise!

Not read back yet but yesterday's out was some fairy lights which came with a vase which broke. They are an awkward length, told myself I would use them at Christmas but didn't. Also sorted some bits of paperwork which have been cluttering the top of a cupboard for weeks. Hooray.

My last post was ten days ago, as I've barely decluttered anything since then. I have kept a tally of declutters, no matter how small or trivial the items. The change in my mindset is so important.

Binned -Two unidentifiable pieces of plastic from the emptied storage tub.

In donation pile -
Two unwanted children's books.

Working cordless phone and cradle. Volume too low for me.

Tidy house yes I totally understand that about mindset, and getting rid of tiny things makes bigger things easier I think

Sounds like we are all doing well. Nordic that sounds so painful and hard. It will be so worth it to get to a lower maintenance level.

I'm a bit hacked off today. I have had another complaint on Vinted. A tshirt in a bundle that cost 50p had a pin prick size pen mark on, so when I went to "resolve the issue the entire sale was refunded! There was Boden, Joules, White company and Frugi bits in there for about £16. So I'm down on postage and someone had it posted to them for free as they wasnt happy their 50p Next tshirt was used.

I have sold £60 worth of things all knocked down to £30 in my account that I cant withdraw now.

So I deleted all my listings and have 58 items going to charity now. Ebay isnt worth waiting for the 80% off fees day. I have never had such picky feedback on Ebay. I'm feeling like my kids clothes are really scanky now!

Well that can be my lesson to only buy things my dd will wear to rags as wearing a Boden dress once and it having no resale value is totally nuts. I must stop that.

I have one ongoing bag for donation or rags and I'm done with selling now.

Gutted. More so that it taken up my time and room etc.

This probably sounds a bit pathetic but I feel burnt out now 😭

I have done 80 out so far this week. Some is in the car boot still but its definitely going. I think I'm going to take a break for the rest of the day and just tidy up where I have created some space.

😫

@IncessantNameChanger.. that is excactly how i feel today !
Weather isn't helping much either!

My "mojo" has definitely..up and gone !

Ds wanted his gf ( ohhh sounds so weird that ! He is 20 ..and she is his first !)

To come to our house to watch the football ..
My eyes nearly popped out of my head ..
I asked " does she like an obstical course to get in the front door ??!!
They are now going to her house instead .
Phew !
Otherwise ...everything would have just got " hidden" for another day .
All ds's out for the evening ..
I can potter on my own -With lots of wine-

this morning I tidied a drawer where we keep all plastic plates, cups & reusable water bottles.
threw away all cracked things and those with missing parts.

also sorted big corner cupboard (tins & dry ingredients like flour, pasta, rice, sugar etc).
added quite a few things to shopping list, didn't realise we ran out of lentils, baked beans, garlic oil, balsamic vinegar and thin noodles.

I've also set up my Bullet Journal for July, just need to transfer dates to monthly plan.

after weeks of inactivity and no motivation it felt good to do something.
I even had time to put on nail varnish, or as I call it red war paint to support England this afternoon!❤⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

dinner is sorted too. I think I deserve some sort of badge 😁

I feel I've been gone for ages, but I think it's only been about 5 days.

Welcome zingdramaqueen and pineappleapple and anyone I've missed.

incessantnamechanger I'm so sorry to hear about your negative reviews. Some people are really picky. It does seem like a lot of effort which is why I have never bothered with selling clothes. (That and the fact my dc get everything really dirty I'm sure it's not worth selling). Try not to get disheartened, you've done so well since you rejoined the thread.

I haven't done much, mainly admin and booking activities for the summer holidays. I have however put two pyjama bottoms in the rag bag (the tops vanished years ago and have never turned up!) and shredded lots of papers.

Hi all, I was here for a bit earlier in the year under a different username, but took a little break from MN. Caught up with this thread and got lots of ideas and inspiration, thank you - there's some great work going on. Just had an offer accepted on a property that we will rebuild so will move into smaller place/some storage whilst that's happening. Time for a big clear out! We still have things in the garage that we moved with 7 years ago. I've made a list of things to tackle and going to try and crack on with some small jobs this week, then tackle the bigger jobs in the summer holidays. I'm going to start tonight by going through the bathroom cabinets and shelves with a bag for the rubbish and a bag for the hygiene bank.

Bit of progress here as I have sold our old living room curtains that were taking up loads of space in my office/spare room! I had tried eBay and gumtree with no luck but about ten minutes after I listed them on a local nosey neighbour type site someone snapped them up.

They were massive curtains for a big bay window so she's got a bargain and I have more space.

Planning to tackle the loft of doom tomorrow. I don't really know where to start as there's no room to move up there. I was hoping my sister would come and collect her stuff which she has been storing in there for 5 years now but she's made another excuse not to so I have said the suitcases and picture frames have to go on free cycle as they are taking up a huge amount of space.

I am not being unreasonable on this am I?