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 keep going to the marie kondo book for inspiration. I've decluttered 6 dresses and donated them to my mum and sisters. I know Marie kondo says not to but they were brand new and were happy to have them. I got rid of one pair of jeans that wouldn't button up at the top and donated 3 of dds school tights. Really need to get the house in order before dd starts reception.

@faithfulbird20

I've found this book more useful than KonMari's. especially because that I discovered I had already been doing stuff Julie recommends!

Thank you I'll have a look and see if I can get an online version @ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

Today’s decluttering: one summer dress that I put on today and realised it wasn’t comfortable - I have thought about getting rid of it before, but today I made the decision and it’s gone in the charity bag.

I also sorted through some more of DD’s clothes and put 5 tops and 3 pairs of jeans in the charity bag. I kept two of her tops, but felt ok getting rid of the rest. All age 4-5. I did start going through some age 2-3 clothes that were in the same bag, but couldn’t quite manage to part with any of it yet.

It’s a bit frustrating to be going so slowly, but at least some things are going out.

3 more days of school.
I'm hanging by a thread, can't wait for summer holidays to begin!!!

I need to devise a strategy for summer decluttering.
2 of mine are leaving their schools that means sorting uniforms is the first thing to do!

Thanks for the book link Zing. I have ordered it from Ebay.

I'm going to have an impressive number of outs this week dispite everything else that has been going on.

I only sold two of my four Ebay bundles so the other two are going to charity. I have lots of uniform to go into schools for their second hand uniform sales and some to rag.

Got the police around tonight so I guess I had better tidy up as today's job!

[quote ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]@ememem84

declitteruing?
🤣
I mean it's apparently already almost impossible to find but now there will be zero chance😉[/quote]
Bahahahahahahahahah!!! Rather excellent typo!

🤣
it really made me laugh, thanks for that.

I'm just annoyed I added a typo myself, thus ruining your beautiful word!

you're welcome! clearly shows where my mind was! haha!

nothing out today, other than a bunch of emails and money.

I recently gave away a great weights bench on Ferris - the app is really easy to use and items generally disappear pretty quickly!

we've just bought extra oven racks, pizza trays & drawers for the fridge.
I recognise it's the opposite of decluttering, on the surface - but this means I can sort the ovens to be more functional which save a bit of cupboard space and I can put all my nail varnish back in the bog fridge which means I can organise the little one better.

obv crap use of "&".
racks and trays are not for the fridge!

zing i work on the basis that buying things to organise things isn't clutter. its a system.

i have containers in my fridge (although not as many as i'd ideally like because we have a small fridge). but when we get our new kitchen....its game on. i'm getting things with labels. #fancy

i'm sat in DDS room currently working from my new desk. i'm next to her wardrobe and can see so many things which need to go.next work break....i'll pop some into the box for charity shop;

I'm on 82 out so far this week! Very happy with that. I have all the kids PE kits, foest school kits and my sons one night a week boarding case so hopefully some easy wins in there too.

Not bad as I have had the week from hell

I’m just about to put ds out in the bin. He’s 3. So far this evening he’s kicked me in the face and has told me he doesn’t want me. He doesn’t like me and he doesn’t want me to be his mummy. He’s 3. I’ve told him it’s not nice. But man it’s pissed me off. He’s over tired. He’s hot. He’s 3.

He doesn’t listen to anything I say and DH hasn’t backed me up with anything. Ds kicks me in the face and DH still thinks I should let him have all his stories. If it was an accident then maybe. But it wasn’t.

But he’s three. He’s tired. And he’s hot.

Bah.

Hello all dropped off the thread after first couple of pages. Have enjoyed a binge read of everyone’s posts this afternoon.
Essentially work has been quite intense and various other deadline driven stuff has been going on.
But have been limiting ins to essential purchases, putting outgrown clothes and more of those holed socks to rag bag each time I do a laundry load and dealing with post ASAP so basically treading water. Except for Lego mountain have ground to a halt there - needed a bit of a break from that

Ememem84 my dd who is almost six has ASD and is having epic meltdowns which seem to be getting worse and more frequent so I feel your pain. It's right to tell them they make you sad and it hurts and it's not ok.

I am fed up of trying to pre-empt every tiny thing that doesn't go her way after school. She used to meltdown before school but they let me take her in 15 minutes before everyone else. Now she is kicking off at home time.

If it wasnt illegal she would have been chasing me around the M25 on my way at 100mph to Scotland to get away from her. I do all the calm reasoning. But in my head shes in the bin too.

Three is a great age! 2-3 is hard work. 5-11 they are at their best. Then there are some more wilderness years until they hit 17.

Parenting is a joy......
.... to some people I'm sure 🤣

I’ve calmed down somewhat now. Ds is asleep in bed next to me. No idea when he got there. But when I came up to bed there he was. So he can stay until DH comes to bed.

Have kids they said it’ll be fun they said.

Have just ditched a bra. Wire was poking out. So bye bye bra.

Ah you need to put in a "have you been misold parenting / adulting calm?"

I hate adulting.

For the first time ever I no longer have a big bag of clothes in dd room waiting to be sold or donated. I'm ahead of the game now. Just need to finish unpacking ds suitcase and putting all of dd clothes into my spreadsheet.

I guess after this I rethink their clothes to the magic perfect number of each item? Or wait until they are back at school in September?

my older kids and I made these cards over 7 years ago (in our old house) and I only recently found them in the loft in a random crap box.

so I decided to "declutter" them by actually using them up!
I wrote 9 thank you cards today and DS6 wrote 6 so that's another 15 items leaving the house tomorrow in a very useful way

oh dont get me started on adulting. ffs sometimes i wonder why i dont just do what others do and move back in with my parents and let them take care of me. i mean i'm 'only' 36 so how can i be expected to look after myself....? #jokesimctuallyrathergoodatadulting

it is hot here again today. all windows and doors are open to let the air through the house. i'm in dds room working. ts bright airy and sunny which is nice. but man its hot .

outs so far - a dove bar which i used up in the shower.

Not a good start today. I noticed that dd forest school boots are a size 7 pair that I donated as spares to the school last year. So I fished out all of her donated things again as I knew I had lots of pairs of 9 in there. So basically everything I donated to school is back in the house. I was also going to donated the kids first Halloween outfits but decided I cant face that after all 😫

ememem84 I might sorry to hear you had such a bad night with ds. Maybe he crept into your bed because he knew he’d done wrong. Dd2 behaves badly to test me but then needs cuddles to know I still love her. She has ASD and is very young for her age so I think gets overwhelmed with life.

Decluttering is going slowly here. I have got rid of one child’s dress that is too small and some holey socks. But I did do some admin jobs yesterday - I've mentioned these before. I had a broken camera that the camera shop can’t fix so they put it on eBay to sell as parts. This means that not only have I got rid of a camera that’s been sitting round for about ten years but it’s box, case, wires, charger, instructions. It’s so satisfying to bring leads and gadgets together. I also paid in two cheques from closing old, dormant (originally Abbey National) bank accounts. Again it’s great that a whole area of paperwork is sorted that’s been hanging over me. I originally tried to close them two years ago and a bank employee didn’t do it right and covid happened so I didn’t get round to finishing the job.

I also went to the West End last week with tickets bought from the decade old theatre vouchers I found in the Room of Doom.

So I love it that my time in the Room of Doom means that these historical jobs are getting done. I’m going to filing and shredding today in the R of D.

@IncessantNameChanger
that is a PITA!

is decluttering your mind counts?🤣
I have ADHD so having to remember things and on time is a bit like having a washing machine on all the time - every new thing adds to the load and each of them is just constantly swirling around until it's done and I can tick it off and discard it.

today's must-remembers so far:

• DS5 in uniform NOT PE kit
• DS6 in party clothes NOT uniform
• wake up DS1 early to take DS5 & DD to school
• remember to take thank you cards for DS6's friends and for teachers
• leave early so DH can quickly get flowers for infant school head teacher & meal deal for DS6 packed lunch (coz leaver's party)

we've been there for 16 years and it's our penultimate day. very very weird!

• give thank you cards to kids
• give thank you cards to teachers
• give card & flowers to HT
• remind friend about school pick up today

all done!!! phew! and I didn't forget a thing!
I don't know how neurotypical people go threw their lists. I always wonder if it might be not even a big deal to complete such a list.
but to me it's huge.

still have DS5's leaver's assembly to see at 2pm, sort pick up for DD& DS5 and remember to pick up DS6's friend but the lion's share is done.
thanks for "listening"😁

right, better empty dishwashers before I spend the whole day reflecting on end of an era and also sitting on my laurels..

zingdrama I don’t know if I’m neurotypical but I definitely think you’ve achieved a lot. If you look at the positive impact of cards and flowers on people its much more significant than a bit of admin. I always find the last few days of term really stressful as I get these kind of admin jobs done. It’s got better this year as dd1 is in secondary school and so didn’t need presents for teachers.