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 will be back with you all later this week. The kids are going back to school this week and I'm in the middle of discovering that nothing no longer fits and I cant find hardly anything. Joy.

I should have ticked over in the holidays but was having far too much fun!

Charcoal face scrub and a bubble bath gone.

Also a kids foaming soap.

Back to the decluttering after a few days visiting PIL! Yesterday I did another 15 minutes on DD’s clothes and bagged up 8 pairs of jeans/ leggings for the charity shop. I also got rid of an old mattress protector that has torn around the edges (gone in the bag of textile recycling).

Did have some ins yesterday - two new mattress protectors (one for us and one for DD), and a new bath mat (I will get rid of the old one).

Feeling quite good at the moment and ready for a new start in the form of DH starting his new job and DD going back to school. I am still WFH, but I’m looking forward to peace and quiet, and perhaps a bit of quick decluttering at my lunch breaks.

Welcome tiddledpink. Nordic make sure you have a rest too, you are doing so much! EllieQ I hope you enjoy your peace and quiet and I'm glad your DH found a new job. Outs: old pair of sandals which were falling apart, some gardening and various other items. Ins: new plants for the garden.

I love autumn, it feels like a fresh start again. Outs for the future: the rest of the baby weight, clear out in the kitchen and have some peace now the schools are back.

sydney carton it’s so freeing when you can finally get rid of stuff that you’ve earmarked to go. Well done on the toys and books.

mommabear20 I used to have a cleaner but she was shielding, with covid, so isn’t regular now. She used to do 4 hours a week. It’s a big house and not really enough to clean it properly so it would be. Hoovering, cleaning kitchen, utility room, bathrooms, dusting, wiping bannisters, polishing furniture, cleaning windows etc. Since stbexh moved out I have noticed I need to do a fraction of the housework as he caused so much mess / dirt. She did a thorough clean when we were on holiday which was amazing.

tiddledpink good luck with the house move. Your list made me laugh - pinecones and broken items, hair bobbles etc - as that sounds like one of my lists!

Dd1 has agreed a craft kit can go.

My pile of crap behind the settee is getting big again so it’s an effort to pull the curtains. This is the place I put crap before it gets sold / donated so my main focus will be to actually get stuff out of the house today. Also I need to catch up on admin and organise an online shop.

Am I the only one worried about food shortages? We generally have enough stock to last us for a while but I’m now simultaneously emptying the freezer of old stuff while ordering stuff like frozen fruit and veg so that if there are shortages we can still eat healthily.

@stealthninjamum I'm seriously considering it, but just the kitchen and bathroom as those are the 2 I find it's hard to find time for a thorough clean in.
And not planning to stick up on food for DH and I, but am ordering an extra crate of dog food and a few extra tins of formula for DS. We can make meals of random stuff or order in if needed but dogs and baby are restricted to their usual foods. 🤷‍♀️

@Mommabear20 I think it's Oxfam in partnership with a maternity retailer. To be honest the retailer is probably the main winner but none of the charity shops near me sell maternity clothing so at least it will get it to the right place.

Link here www.uk.isabellaoliver.com/pages/second-hand-september?storeRedirect=UK&om_campaign=omme_045f0468-fc8_27556_185324&om_send=404f117a0e3046368a9443da8530207a&utm_campaign=omme_045f0468-fc8_020921_io_uk_shs_7938&utm_content=uk&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ometria

@RaspberryBlonde amazing thank you! I was going to sell them, but after 2 pregnancies they've definitely seen better days, but with wear still let in them.

My new shelving arrived 😍😍
And the kids have actually cooperated and both napped at the same time so I've been able to get all my lovely organised boxes onto them! They look so pretty!!! 😂😂
It's sad how happy they make me 🤣🤣

mommabear I started by asking my cleaner to just do kitchen and bathrooms and the job grew!

I have taken three bags of rags, shoes, books, clothes etc to the charity shop and had two side tables collected. I have also done lots of admin so am feeling very pleased with myself.

thanks for the welcomes. not as much done today with having to head to the office; but i did make a start on the decluttering of emails and redundant folders on my personal account.

whilst DS was at his sports club tonight I have managed to remove a further 5 pine cones from his bedroom 🙈 and filled half a bag ready for the clothing bank just from 2 of his drawers.

I have started to collect up the mountain of paperwork (think large trofast box) that is scattered around; this will be my evening task of sorting into keep / shred piles.

Bloody hell I lost my long post 🤬!
So tired I’m delirious here .
Out recently

• a lawnmower
• a metal garden table and 4 chairs
• assorted crap from DH old house shed
• assorted old cleaning stuff mop etc from old house
• old towels , sheets , mattress and pillow protectors to rag bank
• DS T-shirts , sweatpants , hoodie etc to clothes bank
• 2 chargers ( big plates ) to charity
• a marble trivet and a cheeseboard to charity
• pile of old plates and bowls to dump
• another brand new not needed board game to charity I packed the rest from a toychest we are not keeping and they’ve gone to new house already ( we’ve got some in another storage we can play )

My brain doesn’t work anymore I need to sleep so more later !

Morning!

Today I'm sorting/rearranging cupboards & drawers in the kitchen.
I bought a lot of Systema lunchboxes in the summer as DS4, DS5 & DD don't want to take the zipped lunchboxes anymore - but of course I need space for them!

So first I'm emptying a big drawer that is full of "one sock wonder" jars & boxes without lids, or just lids without boxes (we constantly find the matching parts so it's worth keeping!) and other containers that we don't use often but come handy when kids do cooking at school and need to take lots of ingredients measured out. I'm sure I'll chuck some out though.

I'm swapping around other stuff too and while creating space I found 6 cans of Pepsi that expired 3 years ago! eek!
So first out today those cans.

More success with the shoes I left outside, out of 19 pairs 15 are gone now.
Also DH sorted bunkbed & single bed for 3 youngest so the rancid mattress can finally go to the dump!
We bought some new pillows for everyone so there will be culling of the old ones too.

Out:

• 9 random lids
• 2 lidless bottles
• 2 logo bottles (left school)
• 1soft lunch box (broken zip)
• 1 formula measuring spoon (quite ridiculous I still have this, DS6 is 7!🤣)
• BabyBel microwave melty thing (we don't have a microwave)
• 2 broken plastic plates

Back to Grandma's:
6 plastic plates, 1 bowl, 1 cup

Into Freebox outside:

• 1 butter dish
• 1 soap dish
• 2 small wicker baskets

In:

• 24 acrylic high ball glasses

I like to drink a pint of water with all the foliage chucked in, but can't stand drinking from a glass glass so these were long overdue! They look so lovely and also the kids can use them so a nice replacement for manky old plastic cups we are running low on anyway.

Ta-da!

forgot to say that I asked DS6's class teacher yesterday and yes, she wants books for class/library so 40 of them going her way today and yes to crafting supplies so now I'm locking forward to going through my boxes of random stuff!

zing I like those acrylic glasses, where did you get them from? We have lots of plastic cups that dc drink from and your post has made me wonder if I should replace them. I’ve just looked through our plastic cups / plates drawer and I think we can get rid of 7 but I will leave it for dc to decide later as they’re allowed to keep a small number of special items.

I have cleared out loads of paper from my bedside drawer - rac membership stuff filed, holiday booking, leaflets from various activities recycled. A flat pack chair leaflet has also been recycled. The good news is that none of these are older than 3 months so I no longer have papers sitting around for years - other than the dining room which still has stuff left over from homeschooling - and the Room of Doom. I also advertised half a craft kit.

Would I be unreasonable to consider decluttering DH, DC and DDogs?? 🤔🤷‍♀️ temporarily of course, but oh my gosh they're a nightmare some days! 🤦‍♀️

@stealthninjamum

it's this one, from Amazon
object permanence is a huge issue for me (if I don't see it it doesn't exist) so seeing my water motivates me to drink it!
I like to prepare icecubes with chopped oranges, satsumas, lemon, raspberries, mint etc so the visual aspect is even stronger on top of taste.

Btw I haven't thrown away any good plastic cups, but we used to have dozens but you know what it's like with wear & tear!
I know I had to throw away at least 5 broken ones just during this summer.

More clothes sorting today - another 9 of DD’s tops gone in a charity bag. I have three bags of her clothes ready to go. There is a clothes bank that we pass on the school run, so I will try to drop them in there this week.

Several ins today - school shoes, new wellies, new wellie socks, and a couple of new long sleeved tops for DD. All necessary, but I’m conscious that I’m bringing more stuff into the house and will need to declutter the things they are replacing.

zing I really like those. I would love to have a drawer of matching plastic cups and plates. I tried to get rid of 3 drinks bottles and 4 plastic cups yesterday but dd2 wanted to keep the cups so I can’t justify buying new ones yet.

I advertised and sold a craft set last night which was quick work. The buyer turned out to be a neighbour.

checking in.
not managed a lot of physical decluttering the last few days but have cleared just over 2700 emails and deleted any redundant folders and generally tidied up my accounts.

today I'll be taking a bag for life worth of paper to the office to be shredded and then I've around another bag full to take in tomorrow.

hoping to finish sorting through DS drawers this afternoon and then the next task in his room will be the book shelf - I know our local library are taking donations for the book sale they are hosting in a few weeks so it would be a good time to get that completed.

Checking in while I enjoy a motivational cup of coffee! I Have a lot to do today And tomorrow as I completely forgot our health visitor is due on Friday afternoon for DS 8 week visit, and have been so focused on decluttering, the house is actually in a bigger state than when I started 😂 and got all that to do while contending with 2 cranky because of the heat, kids 🤦‍♀️
Wish me luck!

Outs - two pens, and a pair of dhs boxers which had a hole. Also the jug thing from the stick blender.

I dropped two bags to the charity shop earlier in the week. Immediately noticed a candle jar that could have gone when I put something away in spare room oh well can start the next bag off!