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

MrsTidy you reminded me to
Email the school office about donating my DD uniform end of term since we are leaving the school .

Stealth DH is taking them during the week on the school run now .
I was awake half the night so only just got up but already did that school office email before eating even and DH is off to wash rest of the windows in the topfloor then cutting the front garden hedge then that’s two more things off the list . DD has done one piece of homework yesterday morning without being asked and is now doing the other. DS will walk the dog so DH won’t have to spend time on that now . Yesterday he took DD to the nearby park for the first time and on Tue Eve he’ll watch her and the puppy while we’ll go out for my birthday dinner . There’s benefits to having an older child for sure 😊!

And now we’ve gotten 8 things off the list this morning already and several others are pending …

In our infinite wisdom, we have decided to spend the hottest day of the year so far swapping DS3's room and the spare room / sewing room / my office. This also involves a flight of stairs.

I am a very hot sweaty mess, BUT we have sorted through DS3's clothes and put a load in the fabric recycling and are boxing DS1's remaining stuff to take to him next month, when he moves into his first real flat rather than a student house.

Wow @IWillWashTheGreenWillow. That is a great result. I spent Friday decluttering my wardrobe. I am so happy. 3 bags to charity shop yesterday - it was the first time I had been there since our lockdown started at Christmas. I had sorted it into 2 bags of good saleable clothes and a designer bag and 1 bag of rags that they get paid by weight for.

I now need to do my DS2 wardrobe- it has 12 months of ‘what will I do with these’ clothes that are too small and need to be passed on or too big (DS1 clothes) and need to be stored!!!

Here is the wardrobe

Decluttered - DS wants a jug and set of glasses that I never use. Hoping to take them to him tomorrow after school drop-off.

Nest of tables out of shed and into house. Already look very nice, Will be very useful.

Shed is starting to look doable. It's easier to see groups of things and remember why they were put there in the first place. Rather reassuring to realise there was some sense behind it all, even though I think differently now.

Forgot - also decluttered to the shed a broken tv, which had been sitting in the middle of the floor, waiting to spring miraculously back to life. Although, I keep wondering if I could plug it into an ancient freeview box and listen to the radio while tidying the garage or shed.

Good work everyone !
In the end we got 12 jobs done today plus DH and DD baked me an early birthday cake since they’ll have no time tomorrow, which we had after the years first barbecue , both were yummy! DS took DD to the park again and walked the dog twice ,evening walk while DH went to tidy old house garden where weeds were little trees by now apparently! I thought DH had done it quite recently but I guess not … He’ll go back to mow it more but he has removed all those huge weeds now . I played a board game with the kids I hadn’t before while he was there after dinner thinking we can then maybe put it to the charity pile . It was actually quite fun for us all despite 7 y age gap with kids so we’ll keep it . Good to know though ,I’ve been wondering about it if it’s just clutter . We didn’t get the under stairs cupboard done yet it was too hot for me to do that anyway but so good to get all these random other tasks off the list . Have several pending waiting to hear from other people next week hopefully and a few admin ones we’ll hopefully do on weeknights . Tomorrow I’ll enjoy my birthday and won’t do jobs !

Hi
Would like to join you please.
Am in a post-lockdown shit tip atm and need to get out from under for my own sanity and so I can get some repairs done. Right now it is c.h.a.o.s. - can't have anyone over syndrome.
This week...

1. I will be taking some stuff from the loft to the skip
2. I will continue on my floordrobe
3. I will read some books to DS then recycle them
4. I will put jenga in the wood recycling
5. I will do the bathroom within an inch of its life, change the toilet seat and buy some lino.

I have to be ruthless with kids' old clothes. Sadly this means not washing to charity shop in the main and throwing out. Otherwise I am never going to succeed in the declutter.

And breathe.

Good luck @ButYouJustPointedToAIIOfMe! Slow and steady is the answer (we are 18 threads' worth of proof of that!).

Planned outs today:
DH is going to disassemble the broken bed in the loft and take it to the tip. We've used it three times in three different rooms, and it's only Ikea, so I think we've had our money's worth.

annasgirl what a beautiful wardrobe, I’m very jealous.

buttoujustpointedtoallofme welcome to the thread. I agree with greenwillow that for us slow and steady is the way. Having said that we all find ourselves having the odd big burst too.

I’ve mainly done tidying and cleaning after the weekend. But so far I have

• put three pairs of dc shoes into the car for the recycling bank
• put three carrier bags of charity shop stuff in the car
• advertised some toys from the Room of Doom on Facebook sales
• thrown away 5 small plastic toys (from my childhood)
• shredded a load of papers

I’m waiting to hear from my decorator and electrician. Because they are doing small jobs for me they will squeeze me in when they can - which I appreciate as they do have waiting lists of a couple of months. So I’m particularly keen to keep clear the areas where they’ll be working which is the Room of Doom, landing and a bathroom.

Hello Declutterers, hoping I can join in too?

Have just been reading through the last thread instead of cleaning the kitchen as it's too hot today.

I did declutter the kitchen over the weekend and have given away loads of stuff via Freecycle. The charity shops near me have all stopped taking donations so I've turned to freecycle as just need it all gone.

Our house had got so cluttered over the past year as both DD's and DH were at home full time plus I run a business and used to have a unit in a council subsidised arts centre which was closed down just before lockdown so I moved all my equipment and stock back home and have taken over the dining room and part of the spare bedroom.

I can't find any other affordable workspace locally so am going to have to work from home from now on I think hence the declutter and re arrange of the house to fit everything in!

We live in a tall narrow Victorian terrace with no useful cupboards for storage and old fireplaces everywhere which makes it quite difficult to fit furniture in where we want it.

We do though have a small cellar and I have re purposed an old ikea Ivar unit to use for tins, dog food etc so I have some extra storage there.

Welcome, @ButYouJustPointedToAIIOfMe and @CatrinVennastin!

Happy birthday, Nordic!

2 SpaceSaver bags of A/W clothes up in the attic
Bag of clothes out to Charity Shop

Then I remembered I'd bought some kimono cover ups 2 years ago - so I send DH up into the attic .
2 kimonos (I can wear as a light cover ) some swimsuits that I might wear in the garden with shorts .

Bag of glass recycling out yesterday .

REcycling trolley - stack of Which? magazines from 2018/19.

I always forget something.

Decluttered - roasting tin with lid to DS, along with jug and six glasses.

Properly piled up bits for the tip today - clearing some space in the big cupboard upstairs so I can now sort more crap. Dug out a few more bits to go like an old toy etc.

Today I decluttering a few pieces of fabric to DD’s school for her class ‘Upcycling’ project. DH added two of his old tops to the bag, again without being asked

Finished shredding the old invoices/ emails that I’d shorted last week, and I’m hoping to get through the rest of the folder this week. I’m always struggling for time. DH did bedtime this evening, so I had free time from 7.30, in theory. However, by the time I’d changed the sheets on our bed, loaded the dishwasher, washed the stuff that can’t go in the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen worktop, put away dry laundry, done a quick hoover downstairs, and a bit of general tidying up, it was nearly 9 and I was shattered. All stuff that is necessary and can’t be put off for another day. So frustrating!

I know just how you feel Ellie, the daily stuff just seems to take so long! I usually do some during the day too as I'm still working from home, I have no idea how I'll manage once I'm commuting again!

Ooh, I think we have a stash of elderly Which magazines too MrsTidy. Must dig them out! DH loves them.

Welcome to the new people.

Not much actually out here except a few unidentifiable objects made from clay that I sneaked into the bin. I've also stuck a few things on Vinted and identified about 6 cookbooks to go. DH and I are discussing a skip as we have a few big things like a broken swing that need to go to the tip and for the number of journeys we'd need it may be worth the money.

Welcome catrinvennastin That sounds like a big job but keep us updated. I think we all love pictures of storage solutions and storage ideas so ask away if you want ideas on furniture / storage solutions.

ellieq it's great that your husband is doing stuff without being asked, you're clearly setting him a good example.

Belated happy birthday Nordicmom

A couple of people have shown an interest in toys I advertised yesterday. I have also filled up another charity shop bag with toys and a dress up outfit from the Room of Doom and I moved a few bits of stationery out of the Room of Doom into the ikea trofasts where I keep stationery and arts and craft stuff. I'm now going to spend the rest of the day looking through photos as that's still an ongoing job.

Spent ten minutes going through the suitcase of spare clothes under the DD's bunkbeds - took out all the summer stuff to go into drawers for the next few months, took out anything too old or small for textile recycling, and left in the winter stuff that'll still fit come the cooler weather.

Put about 10-12 items in the recycling bag, which I'll take into town some time this week as I need to return some clothes and shoes we bought at the weekend - DS (almost 3) has only ever worn trainers or soft baby shoes and cried when we tried to put him in sandals

Tried going through some random crap today. Managed less than a carrier bag worth of rubbish, really can’t get my head in the game today! Leaving it now as I am tutoring later. Maybe in the evening I’ll find some motivation

I was on the old threads pre pandemic with a different name. I have seriously fallen off the wagon!

I have four school age kids in a 3 bed semi and serious hoarding tendencies.

I need to start over and replace a broken chest of drawers in the boys room. It's been rammed and in the process - broken.

I'm trying to fold Kon Marie style. Writing my total clothes in and out to make sure I never buy more than I throw away.

It's hard. I hate starting. I have a charity bag ready to go.

Now that all the kids parties, clubs, play dates etc have stopped I realise I dont need so many different types of clothes. Just need to act on that now! Same for me. No weddings o the horizon and far to much formal / smart stuff with no where to go.

It is nice to think that I’m a good influence on DH and encouraging him to declutter, Stealth. I might suggest a trip to the tip and see how he responds We have a few things that need to go, including an old car seat that probably ‘out of date’ now - I know they have expiry dates on them.

Today I had 15 spare minutes between finishing work and DH bringing DD home, which I spent going through the folder of emails and invoices. I’ve now cleared approx 75% of them, and have a pile of stuff to shred tomorrow, with the rest gone in the recycling.

Hello again Incessant, good to have you back!

DH spent yesterday clearing things in the garden and going to the tip, so we've cleared the broken bed, lots of old bits of wood and tree from behind the garage and the big bag of clothes recycling from the weekend.

The aim today is to free up the bedside table we bought for a tenner from Argos when DS1 was born (so, 20 years ago next month!) and get it to the tip before it actually falls in half.

Get more of DS1's stuff into boxes to take to his new flat and get more of DS3's stuff down from the attic room into his new (old) room (it was his when he was born, then he swapped with DS1).

Sort through working papers of mine - I am certain an awful lot of it can be filed electronically, I just need to get on with it.

Consider whether to do the same with notes from my doctorate. I'm a bit scared to put them out, like it's invalidating the work I did, even though I have the finished thesis, the certificate and the title! But it could potentially save me an entire 4 foot long shelf, so...