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

Hope everyone enjoyed a good day yesterday. We had a lovely lunch and then just chilled by the fire. Agree @stealthninjamum I too can see the difference from last christmas. It didnt take long at all to get the main living area guest ready. DH and I only exchanged consumables -toiletries and I only get gifts from a couple of friends and they gave books so can easily and guilt free be passed on when read. Even my in laws who go notoriousy overboard had reined it in this year. As long as I avert my eyes when passing the playroom stuffed full of Lego and dont think about any of the heartsink cupboards or pretend not to notice stuff strewn all over the kitchen island! I’m happy at the progress made and onwards and upwards into 2022 I guess

@MotherWol

I totally get you. Your mum's way of giving gifts is something I also can't stand (it's actually a huge trigger for me for emotional spiralling).
I never understood why someone, who claims they love me & want to make me happy, chose to completely ignore my wishes regarding gifts. Why do people insist on giving stuff that's all about them, not about the recipient? I think it's passive aggressive behaviour which I detest.

One year, while I was doing Weight Wartchers, every time food/diet/health came up MIL would try to force her pick-of-the-year diet book down my throat.
I ran out of ways to be polite so I ended up boldly telling her to stop it, I don't want her to lend me or give me a copy, I was happy with my weightloss programme which I don't want to discuss with her anyway and I certainly have no time, energy or interest to read a 94668890 page book I couldn't give a shit about.

Not only did she gave it to me a few months later for my birthday 🤬, she actually gave me another copy a year later too🤷‍♀️
I binned them both, and I just wish I had thought of doing it in front of her.

On that jolly note I hope you all had a reasonable to lovely yesterday.
I'm off to eat leftover duck, stollen, and random cheeses🤣
See you all soon!

Hope everyone had a nice day yesterday! It was just the three of us and was fairly chilled, though I did feel sad that we weren’t with extended family.

DD was up early as she was very excited about Santa She got a lot of presents, but nothing too large. Though we don’t have quite enough space for her current toys, never mind the new ones! Her favourite present was a mini notebook and pen set from her stocking.

I got some nice presents (books, socks, PJs), but was a little disappointed with one present from DH - I wanted a household item that he has, but the version he’s got me isn’t the same and isn’t as nice. I know I sound ungrateful, but I just wanted the same one he has. He’s normally very good with presents and the other things I’ve got from him are great.

It sounds petty, but I feel that at my age (early 40s) and feeling quite comfortable financially, I don’t want to have things that are compromises or ‘not quite right but will do for now’ - had enough of that in our younger years. But I don’t want to mention it, as it will hurt his feelings. It’s tricky.

Two dresses and a cake tin are off to dparents. Dsis Will get her dresses back. The tin is dms.

Fils give the kids sack loads of stuff. Literally sacks. Half of it is stuff that they either already have or is stuff that’s too small. Ds is 4. And is way out of age 12-18m clothes. So is dd (age 2.5) so she can’t even benefit from it. I’m seeing a friend on Tuesday who’s little boy is actually 1. So she’s getting all the stuff.

Dd was given age 7 pjs and clothes. So I guess she’ll grow into them.

Then there are the toys.

Ooof it’s insane.

@ememem84 I hear your pain that is exactly the sort of thing my in laws have done in the past. My MIL once helped me sort out toys prior to a house move. She made scathing comments about the amount and the duplicated items. I then took great delight in pointing out she had bought about 80% of it including the duplicates 🤣🤣🤣

Hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday.
Sat here in the chaos of Christmas. Dd still in bed, dh stuck back into the lego.
I'm contemplating a small walk just to escape the mess!
I'm back at work tomorrow so won't see any of the mess for the rest of the week. I come home, go out, sit for a couple of hours, go to bed.
Absolutely itching to start emptying drawers and cupboards! Tree down next Saturday then I shall begin

Hope everyone enjoyed their day yesterday!

We had a good day, DD was a little overwhelmed with presents and refused a nap so she was a little cranky by bed time but other than that was lovely!

We have been given lots of 'stuff' so plenty to find homes for tomorrow. Thankfully there's only a couple of bits that won't be staying, mainly because it's things we already have and like that aren't anywhere near needing replacing.

I did something not in the spirit of this thread yesterday- I have a habit of not touching mess till I know I can complete it so things sit there a long time therefore there was stuff in the table just clean paperwork and crafts but I wanted to clear the area for Christmas dinner so I put it in a washing basket and left it till I can sort it. 🙊 I'll want the basket plus I'm tidying some drawers like I said about the photos previously so it should all tie together as should the new toys there's not too much with my new toy storage. happy St Stephen's day

Oh and I popped my head into the loft STBXH's domain previously on Christmas Eve and I feel ok about culling that too

Happy Christmas everyone. I was at the hospital on Christmas eve getting not terrible but not great news. So I need to declutter a few stone in weight next.

So much stuff in, in the form of toys etc but that was just from us and friends. So I'm going to start my "sort your life out" declutter as from now.

Only bought a outfit from White stuff in the sales. I'm only going to buy what I cant normally offord in the sales. Seen a few nice dresses in m&s so I might go in there tomorrow. I also need a new table lamp but that's it.

I had a lovely day yesterday. Cleared and dressed the table. It was a massive job last year so maybe things are getting there after all?

Happy Christmas all. Feeling quite pleased as have got all of the packaging and wrapping in the bin so at least it is out of the house. I've also managed to find a home for most things. Like some others we got a selection of clothes in enormous sizes plus a couple of duplicates of toys we already have that I may keep for future presents. Don't know why people don't just ask what size the DC need! Everyone had had a nice time though, DD thought it was the best Xmas ever!

Tomorrow am going to start switching DS clothes for the next size up.

Sorry to hear you had bad news Incessant, hope you're OK.

That sounds annoying about the gift Ellie. I Amado for a couple of things that were nice ideas but not quite right and understand the not wanting to complain!

Am going to go and declutter some of the piles of leftovers now.

Sorry to hear about your bad news Incessant, but good luck with the weight loss!

I have done some actual decluttering today. I had kept some foam padding from the inside of a baby changing mat and posted it on Freecycle type groups, but no-one was interested, and it’s just been in a bag cluttering up our bedroom. This evening it went in the bin! I am pleased with myself and having some Prosecco to celebrate

The last of the gifts went out today. Yay.

Tomorrow we embark on the sorting of toys. Things need to go away.

Sorry to hear about your bad news Incessant.

Glad everyone else seems to have had a good time. Not too much junk here as we haven;t had family presents yet. The hit of the season was a pair of rubber ducks from Poundland although the upgraded Christmas stocking gifts were also popular and well received. wrapping paper in the bin here too. ( I actually used newspaper so it was cheap as well as green. )

I've packed another bag for Thrift+ so will send that off when the Bank Holidays are over. Beyond that I am just feeling rather lethargic after too much food and drink yesterday.

Sorry to hear about your news Incessant.

So far out -
2 x double duvets as no longer needed. Donated.
3 x pillows as got new ones. Tip.
1 x huge bag of baby clothes. sold.
1million piles of Christmas wrapping paper, cardboard, etc. Tip or burned in the fire.
Lots of random kitchen bits. Donated.
Old baby toys. Donated.

Now just counting down the days until its acceptable to take down the Christmas tree and find wherever you need to take the old ones too. And to be able to pack up all the decorations and store away so I can make some room for all the toys that have made their way into the house the last couple of days!

More decluttering yesterday (sort of). I threw out/ recycled the packaging from PJs that I bought for DD back in October or November, after I spotted it stuck in the bottom of her wardrobe. Normally I wouldn’t count packaging as decluttering, but as it’s been there for so long, I decided to include it.

I bought some storage boxes to go in DD’s toy cupboard, as everything is just piled in there at the moment, so today’s job is sorting that out.

Also put away our stash of gift bags (we keep them to reuse). Have given out three with presents and only received two new ones, so have decluttered one gift bag overall

In of 1 covid vaccine yesterday, feeling fine so far so have told DH we're going to do a trip to the garage today with everything from DC room that either isn't needed right now or that can just be gotten rid of to make room for DS cot to go in there when he turns 6 months old which will be way sooner than I'd like! Why do they grow so fast? 😭😭

Two bags of toys in the car by stealth. They will go to charity shop tomorrow.

Also some broken toys thrown away.

The dc won’t notice.

Have also sorted a bag for dfriends little boy. He’ll be 1 in jan and we’re seeing them today. Summer things my dc have grown out of. But taking the opportunity to get rid of things….

Wow well done to everyone who is straight back into decluttering! I am feeling very keen to start over. I'm also very teary and crying too much. I have a overwhelming sadness about my kids growing up again.

I'm booking myself into a private gp for proper fertility testing. I'm sure this could be a covid and sense of loss thing?

The bad news was about my back. I'm in no pain ( having nerve pain, swelling, breathlessness and fatigue) so thought it could be MS. Its not but my spine is degenerating so some problems in my dotage I think. I haven't felt myself for the last six months. I complained to the gp but they brushed me off and asked if I wanted to see them again if all my consultants discharged me. Well they have now.

Anyway I went to the sales yesterday so I have a day of trying things on before I return them. I only wanted a few dresses but got 6!

Git the younger boys tops so I need to make way for those too. My nine year old ds with ASD shreds his jughing bottoms but I resisted buying more as I thought 6 -10 is enough. I should replace as they get ruined

DC room got done this morning including taking stuff to the garage so I'm very pleased with that!

Going to tackle the mountain of laundry and dishes that have piled up over Christmas this afternoon! Don't mind laundry but dishes are such a drag! Can't think of anything left to declutter off the top of my head which I suppose is a good thing! I know there's definitely more that can go but think it'll be more little bits as and when I see them!

Day 8 of covid isolation, feeling pretty down about the fact that I won’t be able to see my sister and her family before they go home. My entire Christmas week has been stuck inside.

On the plus side, DH took the kids out this morning so I’ve properly cleaned and tidied the front room and it feels much less overwhelming. Small pile of DD1’s clothes out along with a broken storage bag; donate bag hiding until I can get it out of the house without DD1 noticing.

Have packed away Christmas tablecloths and some serving plates today. Have also turned out, cleaned and rearranged several drawers/cupboards in the kitchen. This has liberated a couple of unwanted pans and water bottles for the charity shop bag. More importantly they annoyed me every time I opened them!

I've had two very lazy days so back to a bit of decluttering. I have packed a bag for life with stuff for the charity shop - some Christmas presents - I always feel a bit guilty giving them away so promptly but they are things I'll never use so its better someone can enjoy them. Also some clothes that aren't good enough for Thrift+.

I've also tackled the work top in the laundry room. I threw out a load of odd socks as no one bothers to try and reunite them, also disposed of some dessicated swimming caps and unboxed several bottled of Zoflora - they now stand in two neat and tidy lines.... I culled my vases as I usually use jugs these days as glass gets manky fairly quickly. There's now enough room on the work top to fold clothes!!

Hi everyone. I was last on this thread (well one of the previous iterations) about a year ago, full of enthusiasm. Which died. Moved house since then, into my childhood family home. Now have two house's worth of stuff crammed into one. Which I have done very little about. We moved before Christmas...last year.

Anyway, back on the horse. Today's item was a pair of threadbare maternity jeans. My youngest child is two and a half and I have no intention of having another. I have umpteen ancient shit pairs of jeans to do the gardening in, and these were so threadbare they were indecent, therefore coupdn't be worn outside if any danger of anyone coming into the yard (we rent out land and sheds and the neighbour comes through the yard every day to feed cattle). There was some good material on them that could have been used to patch, if I could sew, which I can't. I didn't even recycle them. I threw them in the bin. Go me.