Decluttering one item a day thread number 19 – running out of ideas for original titles

[stealthninjamum]

Another ‘one a day’ thread. We’re still here.

This is a group of mumsnetters who are slowly decluttering our spaces and organising our lives, chatting as we go.

We all want to live in a nicer, emptier, clearer more relaxing environment and this is our space to talk and moan about our husbands and children who often do not share our desire for such a peaceful, decluttered haven!

We only aim to get rid of one item a day, when we have time, although often we manage more. Newbies are always welcome to join us.

Previous thread here.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4259830-Decluttering-one-item-a-day-thread-number-18-quickly-stashing-our-clutter-in-charity-shops-now-we-can-let-people-back-inside-our-houses?pg=1

Some information on getting rid of items that have been asked about on previous threads.
If anyone has anything to add to this list could you please highlight it in bold and hopefully I can update this post for the next thread.

SELLING THINGS

Ebay
Facebook sales sites
Shpock
Gumtree
webuybooks.co.uk
musicmagpie.co.uk (for CDs, DVDs, Games, Books, iPhones, Games Consoles and LEGO)
ziffit - for books, CDs, DVDs and games
Sellitback
Zapper
GAME / CEX for phones and games and electronics (CEX in particular)
Apple Store credit or recycle old phones.

www.thrift.plus is a second hand clothes site where you can sell your clothes. It’s for more high end clothes than www.isecondthat.co.uk which will take Tu and primark.

Also someone on the thread has recommended the Vinted app for selling children's clothes.

TO GET RID OF THINGS FOR FREE

Freecyle has a good app called trashnothing
Olio is a site for giving away food and other household items.

Charity shops. Some will collect which really helps if you’re just starting to declutter and have a lot of stuff to go.

Animal shelters like towels and carpet squares and sometimes bedding and duvet covers.

Homeless charities will often take warm clothes and coats, especially in the winter.

You can advertise things on Nextdoor

Some council tips have a place to drop off quality stuff to be sold.

Some charity shops will take rags if you label them as ‘rags’, this could be materials or clothes that are too scruffy or dirty to sell or donate to someone. Also some councils will collect rags (but you’ll need to contact your council)

Supermarkets are getting better at recycling. My local Tesco has recycling points for batteries, toner cartridges, glass bottles, books and and light bulbs. My local Sainsbury’s has razer blades.

Bras. Oxfam shops take bras and so do some smaller lingeries shops. Bravissimo do a scheme whereby they send good bras to Africa and strip down those that are too old for parts as well as donating 70p per kilo of bras to MIND. Also smallsforall.org take brand new knickers and good condition bras and send to Africa

Some charity shops will now arrange collection of clothes and other things – these are some links depending on your area.
www.heartuk.org.uk/other-ways-to-give/clothes-recycling

www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/time-for-a-clear-out/donate-your-items/arrange-a-free-collection
(BHF also collect toys, puzzles, books, CDs, DVDs as well as clothes)

www.mariecurie.org.uk/donate/charity-shops If you live near a shop

www.icollectclothes.co.uk/ will collect your clothes in some areas.

Nurseries and preschools will often take old toys, games, books, craft sets and/ or stationery. They might also take clean (obviously) underwear and clothes to keep as spares for when children have accidents.

Soft toys. The Teddy Trust

and

www.lovedbefore.london/donate

Foodbanks take all sorts of food (if it is within date) and sometimes half open packets of nappies.

Rymans take old pens

Oxfam take old phones

John Lewis also have a make up recycling scheme:
www.johnlewis.com/our-services/beautycycle

And a small number of Boots stores www.boots.com/boots-recycling-scheme

IF YOU’RE HAPPY TO PAY FOR MORE BULKY WASTE

Clearabee have been recommended to get rid of more bulky garage – type waste and Hippo Bags can be bought from some DIY stores.

Also www.clearwaste.com is apparently a site to get quotes from registered waste disposal firms (but none of us have used it).

If you do use a company to remove this sort of rubbish (eg a man with a van) please make sure they have a license and are officially registered. Too many dodgy people offer a cheap rubbish disposal service on facebook and just flytip. You are liable for their flytipping.

This gov website tells you who has a license Waste carriers, brokers and dealers environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers

Thanks for the new thread!

Thanks for the new thread, Stealth!

I’m trying to decide where to focus on for the next lot of decluttering. I was pleased with myself for going through almost all of DD’s age 3-4 clothes, and it was fairly easy to do as I could just spend ten minutes a day going through a category (tops, dresses, PJs etc). So I could easily move onto the bag of her age 2-3 clothes and work though that.

However, in some ways that’s not an immediate problem as the boxes/ bags of her old clothes are stacked in a corner of her room, and are fairly out of the way, while there are other things dumped around the house that are in the way of everyday life, so really I should tackle them first. But they are trickier to deal with (needing to make decisions/ find a place for stuff to be kept/ decide how to dispose of stuff), while the clothes are easier as I have already made that decision and know where they can be donated to. I’m leaning towards the ‘quick win’ of more clothes, tbh.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I haven't talked to anyone IRL about my health. One friends got a looming horrible event, another has just lost someone and recently I have started to find it hard to talk to my sister as she didnt even acknowledge what I said when I told her dd had been diagnosed with ASD. She also told me she couldnt help me years ago as she had work the next day after a horrible ongoing period of my eldest school refusing. I told her I couldnt cope with him any more and he was in the car we was going to drive him to the police station. I think I was on the verge of a breakdown. His school threatening me with fines. A baby. Two disabled kids. No help. Even when I was ready to walk out on my life. I think since those two things I dont know what else she would dismiss so I dont risk finding out.

Anyway I'm feeling very sorry for myself and tired. Nothing done again today as I volunteer on Tuesday mornings then had a blood test this afternoon.

I have other things to do this week but they can wait until next week now. One of the things is to chase my sons disability socail worker ironically as she was supposed to assess my daughter by the end of the week.

Ironic how the person who is supposed to help me is adding to jobs!

@IncessantNameChanger oh gosh! I hope you're doing okay! That all sounds a lot for one person to deal with! Have you considered a charity such as the Samaritans for someone to talk too? I fell into a depression when my parents split when I was a teen and found their email service a life safer (literally!).

@mommabear20 I didnt know the samaritans could help unless you was suicidal?

I had councilling just before summer for my mum. She was abusive mentally and physically when I was a kid. She is still mentally abusive to me but I have put more space between us since the councilling. I think with her and the kids disabilities I have been a mess MH wise and physically for a long long time but as per the norm.you never talk about it. Just normalise minimise and ignore. That's why I hoarded. My head is a mess and in a way my house reflects my head. No one ever wonders why any one would hoard. I dare anyone to be 100% mentally stable in my shoes some days.

Anyway I thought therapy was really helpful but it makes your realise things you cant unseen.

Also falling back into bad habits always feels comfortable and safe so I really need to make sure I'm not doing that. I dont think I am as I'm not interested in buying things anymore.

I'm just tired all the time. I could really do with a free week.with nothing on to do a post holiday sort out. I dont have any plans tomorrow or Friday so I will crack on then hopefully

Ooh thanks stealth

Placemarking and will update with my outs

A load of hangers in the charity shop bag
And annoyingly my belt snapped today. Sigh. It was a cheap one. But still.

Thanks for the new thread.

Ellie I would definitely do the clothes whilst you are on a roll with them. If not you could leave them then find in 6 months they are a difficult job. An easy win is good!

Incessant sorry you are feeling tired, I do hope you hey chance for a breather today. Samaritans I think are amazing if someone is suicidal but that's the worst case scenario for them, anyone can call them to offload and if you think it would help then do. Would some more counselling be helpful? Go easy on yourself and use some of the time you have the next couple of days to rest.

I realise I need to carry on with little and often, I keep stalling. One thing a day really works if I do it every day. Some days I end up finding lots to go but on my non motivated days finding just one thing would keep me in the mindset. Have a bag of baby clothes someone has passed on, that should be tomorrow's job. There will be some bits I can use but inevitably some I can pass on straight away.

Thanks for new thread !
Endless toil here all day but we made headway it’s looking quite good in this end considering there’s still 4 d left . Dh took a carload last night again which helped to stop me panicking about running out of time . I was in the kitchen and emptied rest of the 5 drawer chest of DD art , school drawer , junk drawer etc so that’s another bit of empty furniture that we won’t keep . I also did a load after load of laundry but dh just discover a load from last night of DS clothes he hadn’t hung he thought they were clean and dry so they had to be out back in the machine overnight with Dettol . DS room is virtually empty and I asked him to pack his toiletries he’s not using in the next few days I’ll look through them and we’ll add DD stuff dh will do his I’ve packed what I can of mine , need to look through dogs ones maybe something can go . Feeling a bit depressed about the mess of boxes waiting in the other end since we don’t have a lot of our furniture to empty all the contents into . Several pieces coming tomorrow and possibly on thu but after the table being damaged I’m worried . Also despite me sending the pictures of the damage to them twice and calling yesterday about it I’ve had no response to start the process of collecting the damaged one and put us down for a new one . They did tell me that a new one would come earliest in a couple of weeks so I’m annoyed about that since then we won’t have a dining table until then . We should get our counter stools tomorrow if we’re lucky and me and DH could possibly use a sideboard that’s a long plain table shape and height just narrow but we’ll have to seat DMIL in that too on Sunday since she’s meant to come to help us . I am not taking the current knackered table with us I want it taken away by the movers with all the other stuff we don’t want to keep .
I managed to Ask my friend to drive over to witness my signature on the selling our house contract so DH will mail that tomorrow . Maybe completing will be possible next week ! More blinds arrived so DH can put them up on the remaining bedroom windows tomorrow when he waits for furniture . He did his own when he had to sleep over the other night .
Been throwing away stuff here and there I can hardly remember it all anymore but at least out ;

• wheeled basket which had some of dd soft toys in it was damaged and at least 9 y old
• stationary and paper from DD art and school drawers
• a bunch of random stuff from the junk drawer
• earmarking old toilet brushes , loo roll holders , a couple of bathroom and kitchen bins some of which we will replace but we might be able to manage with the built in bins we’ll see . I can’t think anymore so more in the morning

incessant something I find helpful is to get a bin bag and walk around the house and get rid of anything that’s rubbish and then to try and get things off the floors. Clean floors help me massively.

@IncessantNameChanger no! They're there for anyone in need. I'd highly recommend contacting them as it's helped me immensely in the past, Im not the kid of person who is comfortable with people around me knowing im struggling as find the pity worse some how, but the Samaritans are anonymous so it's easier to unload and get some help.

Thanks for the new thread Stealth.

I threw away a pair of socks with holes yesterday. So show progress here still.

Sounds like you have lots to deal with at the moment Incessant. I have nothing helpful to add except thinking about you, and there have been some great suggestions from others.

I would also just finish the clothes Ellie, there is a lot to be said for the satisfaction of finishing a task! I'm just waiting for a close friend to have her baby (any day now) and then will be dealing with baby clothes. She will get the boy/girl things depending what she has and the rest are going to a school clothing drive at the start of October. She'd better not go too over due!

Some progress here today . DH went to new house early after the school bus drop off ( I even remembered to send harvest festival food with DD ) for the window film guy and he did a good job so now we have privacy . He took another load with him inc more of my clothes , some drawers and a few boxes etc random items I was too tired to pack more after last nights load . Then a first of 3 furniture deliveries today came ; two counter stools for the kids so now they at least have a place to eat at until we get a replacement dining table . Will get a third of the same stools they seem good apparently. Landscapers from the other day came back with some plants to buy we missed then and DH got 2 little baytrees that look perfect on either side of the front door . Just need pots for them . He’s now trying order a tv for the family room above the fireplace with installation on next Wed . I have to choose sofa if I find one in stock for tv room where our existing bigger tv is going I’ve had trouble since the one I wanted doesn’t quite fit then then colour was out of stock in other sizes/ shapes but I’ll try to look again later and just decide on something . We still have another mystery furniture delivery and one of 4 items we know of . I’m hoping DH will be done mid aft and could come home to do stuff like packing and school run instead of DS . We sent our contract to our lawyer so hopefully the house sale will then progress .

Also got a few deliveries of smaller items for here inc my new sheets so I might actually get them in my bed by sun . I’m in the process of washing everything in sight and the laundry pile to fold is crazy now I’ll have To face it today . Also have to sort DD stuff DH brought from her room which is now empty except for a bit of Lego in one box , 3 books , a few clothes , a laundry bag from her bin and her furniture. I have to reschedule my blood test I foolishly agreed to have day after moving ,I’ve already cancelled it . Need to chase the company about this damn dining table table ,I forgot to call yesterday. need to book an Ocado for the new house on sat so we’ll have fresh food there on moving day . Need to find the snag list to see what more we want the developer to fix . They’ve rectified a few little outdoor issues and a bathroom door that was stuck, positioned the dishwasher better that was a bit stiff to open and close , apparently they also came to paint the garage door without us asking (the snag report mentioned little marks on it I hadn’t had a close look so maybe they noticed it while doing other jobs ). My heads a mess I can’t remember half but I’ve been too busy and tired to write a list …

Have decided to have today and tomorrow off from any house work (exact dishes which unfortunately don't wash them selves 😡), organising and decluttering as DH has a couple of days off, then I'll get back on it on Friday as my DM is coming over to watch the kids so I can make a start on the shed. My main goal is to half the amount of Christmas stuff we have, we never use most of it but Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year so I always buy more stuff each year that we simply don't need or use! 🤦‍♀️

Oh and the landscapers came back with a quote that was much less than I thought and if we complete soon we can then get on with it

Thanks for the support.

I have had a rare free day and broken into the mess. Toys tidied. Ds3 clothes thinned out. Sofas cleared.

I will tot up the outs once they actually leave the house. Feel much better now as I think it would only take one more day like this to get house back into the

"Ahh a unexpected visitor! Give me 30 minutes and its tidy enough to pass"

Hopefully I can still be on track to get tidy by Christmas.

Next job is to sort out dds school uniform as that all went into a draw over summer and since fishing it all back out I'm not sure where her skirts are. She is looking like britney spears right now

Have cancelled my 6 handbags on eBay and will take these to charity ahop tomorrow. Just not selling so out they go.

I can repurpose the box for party supplies….

Just checking in - thanks for the new thread

Binned - six items of Barbie's/Princess dolls' clothing.

Ds is 4 tomorrow. So I’m expecting an influx of toys….will have to weed out the old ones.

Day off for me today so have made a start on decluttering a room that's due to be decorated soon. So far have filled a bag for life with books to go to the charity shop and filled an archive box with general crap including incomplete packs of playing cards/snap, dried out felt tip pens, pieces of paper with random scribblings/drawings not good enough to be filed away, half-used colouring in books etc. Looking much better already but will need to finish at weekend.

Outs here- 4 baby grows. I have a bag where I put anything my lo has outgrown then I sort through to see if it is from anyone who wants it back, them I look through to see if any is unsentimental enough to get rid. Bit of a long process really.
Incessant sounds like you have done really well today.

Out here recently :

• a large standing fan heading to the dump next Tuesday DH is taking off after our moving day to cart the dump pile from this house away and hopefully also stuff to the charity shop
• more old clothes to rags and clothes bank and charity shop

-more kitchen utensils to bin

• a beyond rescue griddle pan am getting a full black one next this white one stains too easily on the outside ,we haven’t been able to clean it

A long day here again . Dh was home in the morning taking apart his study packing up computers etc then he went to the new house for the afternoon . We had a delivery of a bookcase which annoyingly had two little bits of damage ( which pretty handy dh thinks he might be able improve after researching it ) but I think since it’s such a pain to return the table already and we have 5 more things to receive from them plus several other bits of furniture to order we’ll keep it . I’m afraid of anything else now not being in good condition though . We have received 13 pieces of furniture from them inc 7 chairs in good condition and both with marks have been large items .we think it must be happening in the delivery by two man process after quality control in the warehouse . Our tv mount from John Lewis was delayed as well .we are trying to have one installed next Wednesday evening so I do hope it arrives before that ! The water softener company did come though and we will have one installed . It’ll be in November when there’s next availability . A few more deliveries to current house too and I was washing more sheets etc . Packet a few more boxes and generally emptied areas , placed an ocado order for new house , sorted out new school clothes box and checked what we need for winter ( a few more kilts and long sleeved shirts ). Made a few household stuff orders and am going to tonight pack more bedding and towels , 2 remaining boxes of DD stuff in the livingroom ( her room’s empty now except for furniture ,a few books ,one box of Lego ,some clothes and a laundry bag ) . Need to try to do some of the clean laundry mountain and pack it . I need to get stuff ready for a morning car load too and DH is taking one tonight soon which is nearly ready . He’s moved all the box piles out of the way of furniture coming with the movers on sun ,located everyone’s bedding . I’m Still sorting out the sheets . Wipes all the new furniture so things can be unpacked right away without cleaning anything anymore . He’s seen the guy that promised us a skip and requested it for tomorrow we’ll see if it’ll be there . A huge amount of packaging in the garage that needs to go in it . Tomorrow he’s got his uncles funeral in the aft so I’ll pick up DD . Then need to pack pack and take apart furniture do laundry etc we still have sat left after that but I felt like we’ll run out of time I get so tired I have to stop and that’s what I’m fearing . Oh yes abs we’ve contacted a taxi company trying to book me a regular school run but no answer yet .