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 had trouble sleeping in the night since the pandemic started so I normally sleep in the morning and even in the day . My DH has been working from home and my kids are older 9&16 so I’ve been able to do this . I’ve got myriad health problems sonthst makes everything harder and we only have a few w until moving so it’s a hurry now . We are tired and stressed but getting through this somehow . The sale of our old house is progressing too finally and due to complete around same time as we’ll move from this rental to our new house surely after that there’s less to do !

nordicmom you have so much on your plate at the moment, I hope the house sale / moving goes well and you can start to enjoy all your efforts in your lovely new home.

I have done nothing today, just Mumsnetting and a bit of washing / tidying. I broke an old bowl, which I can’t replace so I suppose that’s my out. I also found three of the four Amelia Jane books in a book set and have wasted ages looking for the fourth just so I can donate them all together. My brain really can’t cope with things being apart so Its quite a big thing but I am tempted to just donate the three books I found, throw away the box, and donate the fourth when it appears.

Ins are a couple of Xmas presents.

Loosing my mind here and so tired haven’t even had a shower yet today. just been trying to sort out school and moving and doctor issues all day it seems . DS missed 3 deliveries in the one hour today I asked him to watch for them ! I was furious !!!A slight issue with our useless lawyer who hasn’t responded after we sent him something he asked for so maybe tomorrow will not be straightforward and things delayed . It’s unbelievable but true to form he asked for it the day before completion!!!! He’s been useless the whole process our lawyer dealing with selling our old house seems much better . This one was recommended to us by the developer because he had already dealt with several other sales in the development so we went with him gggrrrrr…
In general I seem to have a tired rage today I feel throwing things around and every one and everything is getting on my nerves . I was so wrapped up in everything that I completely forgot my meds at lunch which of course made me even more tired 😒.

I’ve been so stressed this summer I’ve had to have a retainer made by the dentist because I’m grinding so much at night I’m
biting my tongue repeatedly while asleep and bleeding on my sheets . I did it last night again right after changing the bed ( I can’t wear the retainer it makes me gag and it’s so uncomfortable being very tight ) after having a few weeks break .
More deliveries came you can’t get through the door now so we better get the keys tomorrow so we can take stuff there …

nordicmom I’m sorry to hear that but as you said earlier it will get easier in a few weeks. Is it tomorrow your dd starts her new school? I hope it goes well.

I have found a boxset of secret seven books missing one book. It’s probably in the same place as the missing Amelia book. I have also found two books that are going, the DVD of moulin rouge that I’m sure I’ve never watched in 20 years and a board game ive not played in about 20 years.

I'm having a major wobble right now. I feel suddenly extremely broody for some reason and very tearful. I think I need my hormones checked but I cant due to the shortage of vials for blood tests.

Dd goes back to school tomorrow. I hope I start feeling better soon. I sorted out a bag of 50 items for charity but its staying until I feel better.

I hope everything calms down for you nordic. I have a cpap machine I sleep with as I have sleep apnea. It was depressing thinking I have to use it every night but over time I have worked out how to live with it and it's a game changer now.

Does anyone else feel like they've done so much, yet the house doesn't look any better?? Honestly I've got rid of so much stuff and organised even more but the house doesn't seem to show it 😭

@Mommabear20 I totally feel like this. Did so well at the start of the summer holidays. Now we're going to be back to school and the house looks cluttered again. Going to do as much as I can before school starts!

First day of new school and the completion day for our new house today . Wish me luck !!!

@Nordicmom good luck!!!

I've got DD in her playpen with some toys and a Christmas film on, DS is in his body carrier and snoozing soundly (for now!) so let's do this!!! Got the bathroom and kitchen on my to do list today!

@Nordicmom best of luck!

@IncessantNameChanger sorry you are wobbly today. I have days of feeling unsettled, when I can't quite figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. I call them my "untethered balloon days", not so much the freedom but the feeling of not being grounded. I hope you can distract yourself with something.

2 of mine started new schools today (DS5 in y7, DS6 in y3) and it's all so strange.
You'd think that my 7th child starting junior school is something I'd be used to by now, but I still got nervous!
I guess it's because he's coming from a different infant school than the majority so he looked a bit unsure and I got worried he'd get upset or cry.
But the teacher was lovely, she found him a buddy to chat with so it was all good.

I feel shell-shocked that they are already back at school. It's just weird😁

I was not well yesterday so stayed in bed.
Better today but will have to take it easy, which is annoying as there's so much to do.
I hope you all have a productive day!

I'm about to declutter my biggest item yet, as we've booked a council waste collection to take our horrible broken sofa away, plus a too-small chest of drawers from the DDs bedroom. We have two sofas, neither of which are especially nice, but one is practically falling apart, so we're getting rid of it and moving the other sofa into its place, and then seeing how we get on. We're two adults and three children, so can't all squeeze onto it, but a small armchair or some floor cushions might be the answer. Should free up more space in the living/dining room in any event.

DP is so annoyed at having to pay to get rid of it (despite never actually getting plans together to move it ourselves....) that he's determined to dump other things himself, so I'm hoping to work on him to maintain the momentum and make a couple of trips to the tip while he's fired up . There's a highchair (too gross now to reasonably pass on), plus a couple of stools and some old kitchen cupboard fronts languishing on the balcony which I'm itching to chuck

DC are not cooperating today! 🤦‍♀️
Not got a single thing done so far! DD just gone down for her nap so hoping DS and DDogs go for naps too so I can at least have a coffee while it's still hot! 😂

We completed on our new house around midday and have just been measuring windows for temporary blinds and checking things so far only snag other than needinga bit of paint into the front door frame unless a mark comes off with cream cleaner is a en-suite door that’s not closing properly so they have to fix that . They came to collect a few bits from the garage and to adjust the dishwasher a bit but otherwise looking good and a lovely bunch of white flowers and Fortnum &Mason personalised champagne bottle and truffles waiting for us 😊.

Sydney

that's a big one! it will be so nice once it's out of the house.
I can't wait to get rid of the nasty king size mattress my youngest are sleeping on.

Today I sorted through all sorts of papers from DS2's GSCE year. That's 10.6kgs of paper going in the recycling bin!
I always save the unused pages of notebooks and cut them up for shopping list squares & notes.

That's all I've done so far because I started a diet yesterday and needed quite a lot of time to research some info and plan meals; I'm gonna do some batch cooking next week.

I'm gonna have to pull myself together and finish tidying in craftroom so DH can set up his office there...I really don't have the energy so wish me luck!

A bedding set, some of the dcs paints, some socks, and some of their pjs.

Ins are:

Art cart - which has been filled so now all their art stuff is contained in one place.
Jammies x12 for the dc (6 pairs each)
New socks for the dc
A booster cushion for dd.

Ooooh and a dishcloth. Binned because it was a bit holey money

Moley

Hope dcs had a good first day back and good first days in new schools. We had a decluttering of schoolbag, pencil case, coat session and got rid of twigs, broken pencils, pens etc.

mommabear faithfulbird is there any particular area that looks cluttered that you can focus on? I frequently feel that my house is a mess but now that most things have a home tidying them away takes considerably less effort than when I started this.

nordicmom congratulations on completing.

A good couple of days for outs. As well as stationery I also put some pyjamas and a top in the rag bag. I have been meaning to do it for months but every time I wash them I forget they have holes and then put them away again!

I also have four Xmas jumpers going, some more foreign coins to oxfam later, and I had the children’s chairs collected this morning which were quite big.

Day x - lost count😁

A friend came to collect another 50 jam jars DH found in Shed 2.
She was happy to take DD's old bike and a large metal trolley as well.
She's also a crafter so I managed to convince her to take a huge bag of fabric & yarn "chips" to use as toy filling!
The bag on photo was completely full, I only have that much left because the other bag was bursting.

I'm now back to shoving stuff in boxes on bookshelf clear space in craftroom.
I will go through everything one by one and declutter at a later point, but first I have to ask DS6's teacher if she wants any crafty stuff for school.

Tip of the day: if you find an ancient parfume sample DO NOT be tempted to try it out on the inside of your wrist.
Even after washing it & wiping it 4 times, then using Dettol & washing up liquid your arm will still stink like a musty cellar full of dead rodents...🤢🤮
I'm trying lemon juice next

Have got another car load of assorted stuff to take to the garage tomorrow. 😁 another order of boxes arrived today so can crack on again this weekend 😊 I do love a good storage box 😂

Finally emptied my car boot of charity shop stuff. Yay. All donated today.

Ins - pair of black boots and a body warmer I needed. Plus nappies for dd.

@ememem84
Well done!

@Mommabear20
I'm fond of boxes & containers, especially tins. I may have bought random things a few times just so I could keep the box!🤣

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba 😂 my DH doesn't get it! 😂 I could probably open a storage container shop! 🤣

@Mommabear20

🤣 you are so my tribe.
I even find it hard to get rid of the Amazon cardboard boxes. Because you know, they might come handy....