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

Oh yes me too Stealth, wishing you more laughs this year x

Older DC approved 7 dvds to go. Tried explaining at least one thing a day to older ds (15), oh but we’ll have nothing left! Err, I don’t think so!
He does like to keep stuff too, only DD is good at getting rid of things,.

Hope everyone is ok after the bad weather yesterday.

Yesterday I did another ten minutes on DD’s clothes and almost have a full bag to go to charity now, and decided to get rid of a dress and scarf that I don’t wear. I also did some baking with DD and started a new crochet project (making a Totoro toy for DD), so yesterday felt good

I’m planning to get more done today. DD has said she doesn’t want to keep some baby toys so they can go today (if she doesn’t change her mind).

The other good news is that DH’s manager has asked him to work from the office more, hurrah. I felt much better on Friday when I had time after the school run to get laundry etc done, instead of feeling trapped in the living room until he finishes working in the dining room.

Everything still standing in my part of the world, thankfully.
Today I've reclaimed my bedroom, landing and front room and the loft stuff is sorted.
Binned; 1 manky quilt, 2 manky pillows, 1 holey airbed and a box of cables.
To the tip; 1 gas bottle, 1 double camping stove.
Currently in the shed awaiting Charity shop run; 1 stool, a ride on horse, 2 cushions, 1 new pair of hiking boots, mattress topper, 20 soft toys, 2 battery soft toys, dolls buggy, doll and changing bag, 2 waybaloo toys, finger puppet theatre, toy train, 2 18mnth tops, 3 18 mnth football kits, vtech toddler laptop, large throw.
Back in the roof; bag of soft toys, bag of toddler toys, 5 airbeds to join the rest of the camping stuff.
Everything fits by the chimney wall and is labelled.
Productive weekend.
Hope everyone else survived the weather and has had a good weekend

Weather fierce but no damage here. Chairs and table stacked and weighed down - we’ve learnt from previous storms. But sleep very badly disrupted. Minor progress in finding yet more holey socks and a torn fabric bag to start yet another rag bag

Well done @Rowgtfc72 sounds like a very constructive day

I've been through the stash of small bits of fabric - one bag of very tiny pieces in the bin, the rest sorted by colour into a set of drawers I emptied in the week.

I've filled another bag for the charity shop - a mixture of DDs stuff and a cull of the DVDs. A few more things on ebay.

Out - a cello (fingers crossed it doesn't come back again) to a MNetter on another thread
Viola case to DD at school - but she sent her big double case and violin back so actually a net loss. I also sent her an advent calendar card I found in the Christmas card box and some perfume samples from my bathroom clear out in the week
Over the door shelf unit left outside the house and taken by a mum perching it precariously on the back of her buggy.
Several pastry cutters and some children's baking pans to a local mum.

Am considering converting the cello free corner into a reading "nook" as it is by some book shelves - I have an armchair downstairs doing nothing that could come up but I'd have to buy a floorstanding reading lamp - sometimes solutions require more stuff. WIll defer decision until after Christmas as the tree can go in the empty corner in the mean time

Thank you for the kind words, I’m normally quite tough but I’ve had an emotional couple of days. Yesterday dd2 decided to sort out her toys and we got rid of two rubbish sacks of her toys. She wasn’t as attached to them as me as many were presents that she had as a baby and couldn’t remember where they came from. She also cleared her notice board and threw away a picture of her dad. That also made me sad because she used to crave his attention but now I think she only sees him to be kind as he has no one else.

Today I have done loads of shredding, got rid of loads of cardboard boxes, some schoolwork, a school play script. I have the equivalent of 3 or 4 binbags of stuff to leave the house now.

rowgtc that sounds like an amazing effort. You must be so satisfied.

londonmummy I have a reading corner, I love it. It just has one of those IKEA rocking chair, a side table and a lamp over it but that part of the house always makes me happy to look at even though I rarely sit there and read.

ellieq I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you that dd wants to get rid of her baby toys. Dd2 was getting rid of stuff she said she liked yesterday but said she wanted them to go to children who have less than her. Unfortunately some of her toys sewed by grandma will go in the rags bag but this is the first time dd2 has been so generous.

Everyone’s doing so well!

Dc have agreed the play theatre and puppets can go to a girl down the road (no idea if her mum will be thrilled lol). So that can go from behind a door where it’s been hanging for years.

Have cleaned up, photographed and listed one big set of DS1’s toys.
The second still to go. Hope they sell now he’s finally agreed to part with them. He’s 15 and they’ve been boxed up in a cupboard for a few years with him adamant that he’s keeping them forever!

Have a parkrun tshirt to post once I’ve worked out the price. And a last Lego set I’ve agreed to drop off.
Piles of stuff by the front door to go, just need the organisation to get it out/people to collect.

I hope it's ok that I just gatecrashed this thread? yesterday I ended up gaining a plastic drawers unit free from neighbours I'll either use it to condense the toys in living room thereby losing things 👍🏽 or doing the same in DD's room

Sometimes new storage can help. I’m resisting getting anything furniture or storage wise until the building is finished and I know what space I have. Hopefully by then I’ll have got rid of loads of tut too.

Except I am collecting and washing old jars for my future pantry - hopefully!

Haven’t managed much at all today. Tomorrow lots is coming in, kitchen, oven, f/f. Not going to be usable for a while so can’t get rid of the old ones yet.

Not such a productive day today - I took the bag of stuff I sorted yesterday to the charity shop. Was pleased to hear the lady manning donations telling her colleagues to process it quickly as I brought in "good stuff".

Spent time starting to put things in my newly cleared sewing cupboard - something very therapeutic about a lot of matching boxes and labels. Have put aside a few things for the charity shop but plan to fill a tote bag with books tonight as I'm going for a walk with a friend tomorrow and will be passing an Oxfam Books and Music shop on the way.

Big box of medical stuff gone from the hallway as lady collected it. Been trying to find a suitable home for over a year.

Slightly outweighed in the stuff department by new fridge/freezer arriving though!

PO later with 2 packages: a DVD and tshirt I’m selling.

Have listed both the big bundles of DS1’s toys.

Made it to the PO so out today:

Medical supplies big box
Parkrun tshirt
Silly dvd for my sister (video footage of birds for her indoor cats to watch!)

Tomorrow I need to bring in more paint for DDs wardrobe so I can move her back into her room and attack the spare room which still have stuff from my dearly departed mother in (she only died last year so not been there years but it’s too much stuff that I don’t need to keep forever in my house).

A slightly more constructive day to day as I tackled the kitchen table which has been piled high with stuff for quite a long time. A box full of paper in the recycling bin, a couple of broken trays in the rubbish and a box of cookery books to go to the charity shop a few at a time. I also took a bag with more of the girls' reject stuff and a couple of cookery books to the charity shop.

The good thing about today's declutter was that I found quite a few things now had homes and that I was picking things up and putting them away where they should go. That made things quite a bit easier.

Have loaded another car boot full of stuff into the car this morning in the hopes of dropping it off at our garage later.
The main thing I want to tackle now is the mountain of Christmas presents that need to go to various family and friends which will clear our dining table!

@londonmummy1966 - having homes for things does sound like progress!

Out charity bag in the car but didn’t actually make it to the charity shop.

Have gone through my filing cabinet and binned/shredded loads of old papers. Have a pile of my parents (both died now) stuff that I have to keep for another year I think. May box it up and label it so I can shred all at once next year.

hello all!

Went through the old piano stool and now have a huge pile of music books for a friend who mentioned she was interested, hopefully will pass along to her next week. Need an empty box for them.
If I drop off the last playmobil I could have that box I guess. (Kind of annoyed that friend who said she wanted them hasn’t arranged to come round as I could’ve sold them to a later buyer who has been round.)

Found a pile of nerf bullets in there too 🧐 they do have a proper home at least.
& Some old bits of paper for the recycling.

Plus some Christmas wrapping paper added to pile of stuff for a charity collection on Saturday.

Hello zing how are you doing?

Welcome separated mum I love new storage furniture, I hope your decluttering is going well.

I have been wrapping presents so chucking out Amazon boxes. I spent an hour earlier tidying my stationery drawers. They’re all neatly labelled but the scissors and sellotape were in the wrong drawers and so I ended up moving everything around. I still have too much but am busy organising Xmas so in the holidays will sort through it properly and declutter it.

Hi Zing 👋

I haven’t started wrapping anything yet. Dd has, she requested some brown paper that she is decorating which is pretty cool of her.
She’s also written tonnes of Christmas cards. I’m not doing any anymore.

Went through the shoebox I’ve been chucking bits for a charity shoebox in - but I never got to round to actually doing.
So most of that can go on Saturday for children’s toys or homeless bags. The box can also go.

I wonder if I piled up everything I’ve got rid of since joining here what it would look like?
My house still feels pretty chaotic tbh, not helped by not having moved DD back into her own room (have the paint for the wardrobe now, just need to get on with it). Hoping her room will feel so organised it spurs me on.

Welcome Zing

Well done everyone. Today was my volunteering day so didn't get that much done but DH had cleared everything from the top of a set of cupboards so I sorted through that - put a few things in their newly established homes, put a few things aside for the charity shop and filled a bin bag with rubbish -including a carrier bag full of degraded loom bands from when DD2 went through the craze a few years ago.

Although it isn't finished it was lovely coming into a very much decluttered kitchen this evening.

Off to a family funeral tomorrow so won't manage anything until the weekend at the earliest.

@LivingInABuildingSite I really wish I'd taken photos of every pile of stuff as it left the house! Just thinking about it all, I honestly don't know where or how it all fit into the house! We still have sooooo much stuff too!

I've loaded all the Christmas presents that need delivering, into the boot of my car so they're out of the way and I can get them all taken this week! I want rid of them before presents from other people start arriving for our DC! We don't have room for both lots! 😂

I just need to tidy this by tomorrow's 7pm.
🤣

Good luck Zing!

Before photos would’ve been a good idea but would have had to cover the whole house lol.

Anyway, decided to tackle a random shelf in DHs study which turned out to be full of stuff from my parents - why I don’t know?!

Box of old stamps I’m offering for free on Fb.
Couple of bell ringing books (from my mum) also listed on FB
Bag of running medals from them both - in the charity bag, no idea what else to do with them!
Some old papers in the recycling

Kept going back to the Decluttering at the speed of life questions.
Does this already have a home?
Clearly not!
If you didn’t know you had this, would you have know where to look for it?
Definitely not!

So, that sorted that shelf!
Although, not out of the house yet like so much else.

Found yet another box of old stuff. Not even my parents, more like my mums grandparents. Lots of junk but I’ve picked out a few key pieces that I find interesting to keep.
Rest to recycling, harsh but I can’t keep everything and some really is just day to day paperwork that isn’t significant.

@LivingInABuildingSite

that's a good day's work for you!
I kept on diarracting myself so did everything else but the clothes.
ffs