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

@Nordicmom

Also I got the laundry mountain folded last night and there were a few more outs from that to clothes bank and charity

Need to fold laundry mountain. And put away.

Marking place.

Earmarking to go in our move although most will be replaced :

• a dining table and 6 chairs
• a low bookshelf
• a chest of drawers
• a dresser
• footstool
• a little side table
• DD little bookshelf
• set of toyboxes
• a night table
• a little wardrobe
• an armchair ,maybe a matching footstool
• DS bed
• DS desk and chair
• maybe DS tall narrow bookshelf although if in good condition I might keep it for the

guest room

• DS night table
• spare bedroom bed
• spare bedroom night table
• maybe spare bedroom chair and a wardrobe too will have to look at these again to decide I was thinking they’ll go to the top floor guest room in the new house .

More outs.

• a top of dds which had got wet at nursery then had been wrapped in a nappy bag (nursery standard practice) then had been left in our laundry basket in garage (which gets warm….) and had got a bit mouldy. Nothing I tried got it clean and the mould was v visible. Binned.

A pair of my old pants. Binned. They’ve seen better days.

Did a bit more on DD’s clothes today and have added 5 summer dresses (age 4-5) to the charity bag. I’ve nearly finished all her age 4-5 clothes now, and I’m pleased that I’ve only kept a few things (a couple of favourite dresses and tops). There might be a few age 4-5 things in her chest of drawers, so I’ll need to go through that too.

I finally looked through DD last two y school books and recycled most .I kept a few with pictures of her doing things in science class and funny stories etc . Also kept two pictures , a brochure she’d made , a little “ monster “ she’d crafted and a pencil case she made at a sewing workshop . So out last night :

• about 15 DD school note and work books to recycling
• a couple of half finished bond assessment books to recycling
• 1 homework and 2 piano lesson record books to recycling minus the plastic covers
• an unused notebook and 4 unused bond assessment books to charity shop
• 2 used up craft kits and one art one to bin
• will check with her about a lego movie making kit ( unused ) and a light up drawing board whether she want to kept them
• a bits of art to bin I have huge box full of both kids art so not keeping much more just selected pieces I already have some from these school years .
• some old stationary to bin

I am now going to decide if I’m keeping the wheeled white basket everything was in in the kitchen corner . we have two of these ,the other one is in the living room it’s full of big kids encyclopaedias etc . I will check what condition that is and if the other one is broken in any way it can go . Oh and I kept a Pom Pom animal craft kit that she got as a gift and is unopened . Happy I got around to this I’ve got to keep at it since soon we’ll have a firm deadline once we book the truck hopefully for the end of the next month ! I am just thinking about all the boxes we have in storage and I don’t think I’ll have time to go through all the kids clothes and other school book boxes etc before we move with everything else to do so might just have to move them straight into the attic room except the changing table that can go and the Bugaboo which we’ll sell . Dh will take the kids to Thorpe Park today if it’s not raining too much since we have tickets with fast passes already . I’ll watch the puppy and will have to get something done here maybe those remaining 4 kids clothes boxes . Need to get the moving truck quote so have to fill in a long form and list everything and finally choose rest of DS clothes for school tonight !

Pair of jeans and a bra. Gone. Both had holes.

Last night I folded and put away the washing and decided to have another wee rummage through the kids clothes and mine. Managed to find two full bin bags of clothes for recycling along with 3 duvet sets. Decided i’m going to buy two all white duvet sets for our bed and declutter the other one thats currently on, leaving us with just one set on the bed and a back up set.

Today i’ve sorted out the last two kitchen cupboards and decluttered a ton of empty medicine packets and empty tubes of cream (?! Why were they there!). Sorted through some paper clutter, batteries and lightbulbs too.

Got rid of a top I used to like but it now makes me look fat! Into charity shop bag.
Also picked up some quite ragged pj's, put them away then checked myself, now in the rag bag

DS2 says he doesn't want a new bed with new mattress. he likes his mattress (it's only 2 yrs old) but we need the frame for bunk bed, so he & DH will build 7" bed frame and will get a mattress extension instead so his feet are not dangling in a hole🤣 that just saved us over £600.
he's getting nice new red bed sheets, found 7"×3" fitted ones!

Also DS1 will get a new bed instead of DS4, as all of his (Ikea) furniture is black apart from bed so it makes sense to make his room look nicer.
his current bed is the same as DS4's.

But swapping stuff round in blue & yellow rooms can start asap, so I'm gonna take some "before" photos now.
so excited!

Thrown away an inflatable slide which had sprung a leak which can’t be fixed. An egg cup. Boxes from out door toys.

And a pair of ds’ trousers with a hole which is too big to fix.

A collection of Mis matched cutlery in the metal recycling.

Savlon cream finished

DS 9-12 month clothes have gone to a friend (two big bags). Did a bit of a car clear out as well.

Have cleaned downstairs again while DH and kids were at Thorpe park . Puppy had gone to top floor which he’s never done on my watch then got stuck there but not barked since he’s scared of going down the stairs and peed on the spare room carpet very unhelpfully . Was a very dark stain and the first carpet cleaner didn’t help . Next trying another product the vanish animal one . Thank god we are leaving and having the carpets washed anyway and these are not our carpets . We have managed the nearly 11 m of his life with only two incidents on carpet or any soft furnishings since we’ve kept him mainly on the hard floors until recently and needn’t careful . He was meant to be housetrained now so surprised me today . He’ll now be watched even closer and I’ll just close doors on him in the first floor . He has learned to get over the thing we’ve blocked the downstairs stairs with until now since we couldn’t easily put a gate in . Will have put one in the new house I guess . The carpets are lighter there as well I don’t want him peeing on them!!!! There’s plenty of room for him downstairs there .
I was not impressed by the state of the the topfloor . kids and DH had left their rooms untidy again also stuff on the landing and the family bathroom was not clean either I didn’t check DS one or I would have exploded . They have been cleaning there after coming back while I did downstairs which had also been left dirty . They claim to but none of these people seem to manage the daily wiping the kitchen scrubbing sinks cleaning floors and dining tables etc maintenance I’ve done all my life so I’m then always having to angrily do it all with my arthritic body while screaming at them . Removed privileges from kids until they do their jobs better . I didn’t dust DH study this time he’s doing it now the rest took me so long I haven’t eaten dinner or had my shower yet . Livingroom is now full of stuff for the new house I’ll have to check deliveries and pack things ready to go to condense things to less boxes and to stack them more . We better get the keys on the 2.9. We need to start taking things there ASAP . We’ll get a zip van for a weekend I think so we can take big loads .
DS finished another puzzle so that’s going .
-Earmarking old toilet roll holders (5)

• toilet brushes
• any scratches bathroom bins I’ll need to check those
• kitchen bigger bin
• draining board
• coffee machine and toaster
• probably towel and sheet laundry bins all to go but they’ll be replaced

I will look through towels and sheets and pillow protectors etc in linen cupboard,some of them will go . We’ll have new duvets on our beds when we move then I’ll check the current ones and they’ll to laundry or will be thrown away ditto pillows . So much work left DS has gone through his drawers but I’ll have to do his wardrobe although been getting rid of clothes as they are washed .

Oh yes and wooden laundry drying racks will go and be replaced too I think we’ll get a heated airer or two for utility room .
Don’t know what else I can manage tonight so moving truck online form and ordering the clothes might have to wait

Moved onto the bag of age 3-4 clothes today, and have put 8 dresses in the charity bag. I have kept one summer and one winter dress. Still got a lot of clothes to go through, but I’m pleased I’ve been able to get rid of some of them.

My summer holidays are almost up. We have got a full week left now. I'm going to find and wash any 5-6 clothes for dd then charity shop them.

I went to primark today and got her two swimsuits for next summer in the sale and a cute Victorian style dress she promised she would wear ( unlikely! But its gorgeous so I couldn't resist it. So much for not buying her anything new.

I'm feeling very ready to start again. I have to really aim for about a bin bag out in dd room as it's still slightly overflowing.

On the plus side she is 7 and has lots of 5-6 clothes. She is very tiny. She is the eldest in her year as she should be in the year above. But 5-6 wont fit next summer so it's time to go.

Plus she has quite predictable tastes in clothes so somethings are easy outs.

No new outs yet. Hopefully first full week of term should be lots of easy outs

Good work guys!! Excellent decluttering!!!

I’m aiming for a bag of clothes to go to charity shop today. Dds “outgrown” box is almost full so I might just have a quick rummage through her wardrobe and see if there’s anything else that can go.

After a couple of busy family weeks, back to the decluttering here.
DC has sold two items (v large) on e-bay so helped with the packaging which used up all my collected bubble wrap. DC also sorted old bedside table drawers and they are now empty and I will arrange for charity furniture people to collect. It produced about 20 cables and other bits of electronics that no longer are needed - so all went to dump for recycling. And then, yesterday, DH decided to deal with sending some bits to a friend that resulted in sorting through a tub we have been keeping for years - mainly more cables and radio ear pieces - and they can go. So another dump booking to make/do this week.
Aim this week is to get uni DC to finish sorting their bits stored in RoD so that I can make more progress in there - DH tub of electronic bits also an out from RoD!
Have a good week everyone

Argh lots of ins for the eldest who is off to uni next month. Very few outs as yet although I’ve said that books must be sorted before he leaves for uni. Some the younger ones will keep but they do have different tastes so not all will be suitable to pass on. As a preliminary step the floor of two bedrooms are now covered in books 🙄

Can I join in for a moan/cry for sympathy? Feel so overwhelmed today. Just so much to sort out and declutter/tidy... it's just too much. I declutter regularly but somehow it all just still builds up... why?!

I'll survive, but I just don't know how this all happens? It's like the stuff just breeds....

@Grellbunt

Can I join in for a moan/cry for sympathy? Feel so overwhelmed today. Just so much to sort out and declutter/tidy... it's just too much. I declutter regularly but somehow it all just still builds up... why?!

I'll survive, but I just don't know how this all happens? It's like the stuff just breeds....

rant/moan/cry away.

i get you - it's like you shut your eyes and more stuff has appeared.

what's the situation? small kids? big kids? no kids?

i'm getting rid of an old biscuit tin today - some of my new kitchen storage jars just arrived and 'm ridiculously excited. yes it'a more "in" but it'll give us space in the cupboard.so its a win.

the goal is for everything to have a place. to make things easier to find and to have less "stuff". minimalist to a point but functional.

Kids - one big, one small - big one in that phase where starting to outgrow toys but not quite.... lots of clothes and toys kept for little one for years so lots of "boxes"

I've never kept on top of "mementos" and school stuff so I have boxes and boxes of them too....that weighs on my mind

Need to start really letting go...

ah the boxes. and the mementos.

i hear you.

ok so - get a box for memories. i was keeping everything but then realised that i didnt need it all. i got rid of so much. (cards from my christening? why why do i need them when i dont know who half the people are and i never looked at them? - i kept the ones from my god parents, and grandparents. the rest i binned.)

my kids "art" i kept the first bit of nursery art. will keep the first bit of school art. i'm getting them framed and then will put them on the wall. the rest - i look at then when the kids dont realise it's gone i bin it.

i have plans on getting a huge ornate frame for each of mine, and then putting a bulldog clip or similar in it. and clipping each piece of art in it until the next one turns up. then switching them out. but haven't yet done it.

in their "memory boxes" i have the hospital bands, their scan pics, firsrthair from hair cuts etc. first pair of shoes. and ds' christening gifts - the candle and the card from the church. dd hasn't yet been christened so will do the same for her when i get round to organising something.

the hardest thing for me was to get dh on board with the decluttering. now we're of the mindset that if its broken it goes. if its out grown it goes. if it is not used it goes. if we have duplicates it goes.

Welcome grellbunt. I’m similar with mementos and schoolbooks and my Room of Doom used to be full of my financial papers, degree notes, photos, dcs artwork, schoolbooks, photos.

It has taken years to sort through it. I still have far too much but I have got rid of boxes and boxes and two items of furniture so I can definitely see the difference.

One thing that made a difference was three memory boxes for me and dc. Before I had stuff I never seemed to have home for and now it has all kinds of school mementoes, programmes, certificates, sports day medals, hospital tags etc. Just let us know how you’re doing and what you’re struggling with and maybe we can help.

Anyway we are back from our second break. The house is still lovely and tidy apart from the huge washing pile which I am working my way through. Today’s out is another drawstring swimming bag - I think it’s the third one that I’ve got rid of in three weeks, they were freebies and kept tearing. My new system is that we each have a bag with our costumes and towelling ponchos hanging in our wardrobe as these things always used to get lost and going swimming / on holiday used to take ages to organise. Let’s hope this system works.