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

Hi @ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba it is!
Was thinking a few months ago that excitement for a lot of things had plateaued, bored of our routine and our house and our area.... be careful what you wish for
Got to try and get sorted with a 6yo, 3yo and a 6 month yo. Yikes!
DH cleared out his cds, got rid of over 400 and has kept about 10 to keep him going until we go (waiting for visas to be approved and expect it to take anything between 12-18 months). The biggest challenge is working out what we need to keep for our life here for now and clearing the rest ASAP.

Aww, congrats on new baby!

And yikes to doing anything with a small baby and 2 just barely older children🤣

Congrats!

We're hoping to buy our first home in the next few years, so hoping if I can have a very ruthless de clutter now and be strict with what we buy in the future, it'll make moving a whole heap easier!

Good luck with your move! 😊

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba @Mommabear20 thank you my youngest dc is the only thing keeping me sane most days! My other 2 dc either love each other to the point of smothering or argue over every.single.thing.... they both love babyice though so that is 👍
Sounds traumatic @zing! I am going to use the same technique as you @momma! Especially when I see how little our stuff is worth to resell and how much aggro it is to get rid of other things that are not worth the effort on ebay and the like. Good luck to us all!

My wardrobe is done. I’ve ditched a laundry basket full. And two bags for life of rubbish.

Have also put aside some make up for dsis. As it’s nothing I’m going to use.

Oh my goodness so glad to have opened this thread. I’ve been psyching myself up for about six months to get decluttering…
This weekend I:

Went through all the paperwork piled up in the kitchen, filed or binned everything.

I am losing my laundry room to piles of clothes for recycling/gifting on to specific people/charity - this weekend I went through it and have now 5 bags loaded into the boot for the charity shop and one box to send to my sister. I’m not holding things for specific people anymore.

Sold two “Micro” scooter helmets on Facebook in about 2 mins, for peanuts.

My motivation is hosting a 6yo party at the end of September and I must make space!!

I also binned a huge pile of odd socks/tights/random bits of clothes that piled up on the counter top in the laundry room. Gone!

Not getting anything done today 😭 1mo DS, who usually loves his baby carrier and will have sleep for hours while I wear him, will only settle if we're cuddling on the sofa today 🤦‍♀️ I have however made a list of literally everything in the house that I need to go through/do so I have a visual of where I'm at 😊 it's shocking how much crap we have 😂

great progress by so many of you today!
I've had 2 rubbish nights in a row so I feel quite run down.
DH had to go to his office this morning despite being on holiday, but will carry on building Shed 3 today - once it's finished we can clear out Shed 2.

New uniforms arrived, which reminded me that DS3 needs his navy suit & pink shirt bought asap for his prom next week. We agreed that a trilby would suit him very much (not sure of what colour) and I'm trying to talk him into wearing a pair of orange Chucks, but I might be failing🤣

I don't think I have the mental energy to sort old uniforms today so I think I'll carry on with sewing blankets.

oh and of the 18 pairs of shoes I put outside for peeps to take 11 pairs are gone already! yay!!!
I wish I could do that with clothes too, somehow.

@Mommabear20

Two more bags gone from the kids wardrobes

Dsis also took a hair towel for her boyf and two hair treatments. He has luscious long hair the bastard

She took the make up but not for herself - for someone else she knows who will use it.

I’ve a couple of T-shirt’s for colleagues new baby. And a bag for friends boy.

Just spent the last 30 minutes assembling boxes 😂 now to get them filled!

OK, decluttered:
Glass pie dish, barbie clothes, sewing scissors and dressmaking pencils, star cookie cutters, giraffe wrist rattle ds has outgrown, 2x adult waterproof trousers, brand new kids slippers, bag of kids clothes, 1 fat quarter, 6x kids books, 2x disco balls, accessories for jungle gym, home hair cutting set, a broken abacus, a wooden love spoon with teeth marks in it... 2 x happy meal toys (minion cards), a pen that has run out.
Jobs done today: vacuumed car and sorted a bag of essentials to keep in the boot: spare clothes for kids, plasters, scissors and baby wipes. Can anyone think of anything else I should add to the bag in case I get caught short?

raspberryblonde I loved dds going into school with their uniforms on as I was on top of the kit but despite that dd1 still lost two items. I can’t believe she’d come home in just a t shirt and skort having lost all outer clothes - and didn’t notice she’d lost them.

@Iceisnice I have a toiletries bag for each DC in my boot with nappies, wipes, change of clothes and nappy bags in, a phone charger and USB connector that goes in the cigarette lighter, first aid box, dog poop bags, de-icer for winter, a selection of long life snacks for me DH and our 1 year old (always try to make sure we have enough formula and boiling water for baby off going out of the city), and a thick blanket for each DC in case of heating failure or breaking down.

polyannaperspective well done on tackling the paperwork. How is your Room of Doom? My decluttering in there has stalled since the holidays which is a shame as I’ve done so well with it. I have just started Xmas shopping so have hidden a few bits, it’s so much better than last year, it makes me happy to go in there. (Although it still has too much clutter!)

Welcome cocopoppsssss it sounds like you made a good start, I would try to keep up even with five mins a day or whenever you’re doing another job like waiting for the kettle to boil.

nordicmom I’m sorry to hear about your dh’s uncle. It’s good that you’ve got two months before you have to leave the rented place. When we sold our last house we had a bridging loan so it took us a month to empty it. It’s slightly frustrating that the first house was bought from a hoarder so when we left that house had to pay to move all her rubbish to the new house and then it took me years to take it to the tip. Stbexh had hoped to leave it but the buyers understandably kicked up a fuss so I bloody got rid of it.

iveisnice you sound busy but it all sounds exciting.

What great progress kimdeals and a good incentive to get the house tidy before a party.

My update. I’ve advertised the stuff I mentioned last week - chairs, campaign stuff etc and am waiting to hear from people. Today I advertised two side tables, one had been in dd1s room with a pile of crap on it and another in a bathroom with a towel on it.

@Iceisnice

OK, decluttered: Glass pie dish, barbie clothes, sewing scissors and dressmaking pencils, star cookie cutters, giraffe wrist rattle ds has outgrown, 2x adult waterproof trousers, brand new kids slippers, bag of kids clothes, 1 fat quarter, 6x kids books, 2x disco balls, accessories for jungle gym, home hair cutting set, a broken abacus, a wooden love spoon with teeth marks in it... 2 x happy meal toys (minion cards), a pen that has run out. Jobs done today: vacuumed car and sorted a bag of essentials to keep in the boot: spare clothes for kids, plasters, scissors and baby wipes. Can anyone think of anything else I should add to the bag in case I get caught short?

Bottles of water. Savlon or similar. Nappy bags. Socks. Paracetamol or similar. I also keep a couple of granola bars in mine. Just in case. Ice scraper.

Thanks for the replies @Mommabear20 and @ememem84, got most of those (and added a new bowl, just in case of car sickness! The glamour ) Will get the couple of bits missing tomorrow. Don't often use the car but will have to use it a lot more from next week: school is one way and nursery is about 10 miles in the opposite direction. Don't want to kick myself if I don't have what I need!

Another one night feeding here! Have definitely made a couple of bad purchases.
Ice - wow sounds exciting
Couple of pairs of shoes out today. Sorted a few baby clothes that my little one never wore so not sentimental.
Good idea on the emergency car stuff, I think I should put something together.

Has anyone had much luck with thrift plus?

Lost my posts a few times now but here’s a recap of what’s gone out recently ;

• 15 + books when they were packed
• 2 large plates ( chargers ?) I used to have 4 , I don’t want to keep just two
• a marble trivet
• a marble cheese board both to charity
• DS uniform finally since we’ve now got all of his new “ smart office wear “ for A- levels at school when they don’t need to wear their uniform but still have rules about it so out 5 pairs of trousers , 7 or so shirts , 3 sweaters and school shoes , need to check if the blazer’s still in his wardrobe and add that . Am keeping his ties for memory box . one is when he got his sport colours (?) for judo which is kind of funny since he only did it for a term or two where as he did karate for years and aikido for a few as well at this school .
• old mattress and pillow protectors , old towels , bed skirts we don’t need on any of our beds they’re unused so going to charity shop, am sorting through linen cupboard the whole contents is on my sofa atm ,it’s a small mountain !

Am going to just pack what we keep and use the ones we have in circulation atm for these few remaining weeks here . Still need to get some pillows , duvets and a few sheets and towels I’m trying to figure out what .

• old socks etc to rags
• DS T-shirt’s , trousers , hoodie etc to clothes bank
• the puppy broke the swing ball so that’s going
• earmarking the old kitchen floor brush and pan they’ve been replaced
• also the coffee machine that is partly broken dh ordered a new one
• earmarking a wheeled lidded toy basket or two out of three I’ll chuck the most worn out one /s
• earmarking the current sheet and towel laundry bins I’ve gotten smaller separate ones for me and DH and am making our two section rattan one the sheet and towel one for the utility room most likely .

We’ve gotten more packing done DH has been working on the kitchen I’ve shown him a bunch of stuff he can pack . Our kitchen and the livingroom have now quite a big box piles so looking forward to hopefully renting a zip van and DH and DS taking them this weekend . Possibly 2 loads in all . Also planning a dump and charity shop trips and taking our mattress toppers to a laundromat . We are getting stuff done there’s just so much left and only 4 w to do it while DH will have to start going to the office ,DD starts at the new school etc .now there’s also a funeral the day before we were going to move so trying to change our date to the Sunday or Monday before the end of the month . We’ve had DD dermatologist she got a stronger antihistamine and topical steroid for her bald patches . Praying they’ll help . DS had a blood test before starting some treatment in 2 w . I’ve booked my yearly bloods which are now a bit late and need to go to optician next week too but otherwise trying go minimise booking anything unnecessary before moving . Cancelled 2 restaurant tables will just have my breakfast with a friend after the new school coffee morning . We ordered the single mattresses now we can schedule delivery hopefully for when we are at the new house next week anyway for shutters etc . Still need to choose a double one . We were planning the garage storage but will need to see how the door opens and measure things carefully before ordering the cabinets and shelves . I just want to get all the ordering done still need some furniture too . Once We’ve got the keys tomorrow I can schedule a big furniture delivery hopefully for next week most of kids stuff is coming on Tuesday already . We’ve got check a bunch of stuff like is the alarm system fully fitted at handover tomorrow . We’ve got wardrobe company’s details we need toask to put in some shelves into two out of 4 rooms . Getting all the paint colours so we can touch things up when needed and have the rest of the banister painted . Also need to decide about new parents drinks on Monday and about going away in October . Puppy’s finally back at doggie daycare after his neutering . God I am sooo tired !!!

And will look through all our crockery and glasses for bad ones now that a dump trip is coming up . Put aside one pasta bowl already there’s bound to be more

… just remembered I’ll have to try to get rid of more kids clothes to charity this weekend too . Still have those 4 boxes around

Nordic that sounds like lots of progress and planning - quite exhausting but exciting too.

Stealth thanks for asking about RoD - no further progress as the coming and going of DC, visitors, planning for DM's birthday celebration (much delayed) along with 3 major work contracts have eaten time and 'headspace'. I think I will get some more done in the next 3 weeks with uni DC before they return. Let's hope I have some progress to report by end September!

Have spent the morning at the park with DD for some 1 on 1 time, now feeling refreshed, so have my list back out and will crack on with the sorting while she naps 😊

@Nordicmom wow 😮 when do you actually sleep! 😂