November Declutter Challenge

[Hetyanni]

I'm sure there was a thread on this for October but I can't find it now!

I am planning on decluttering 1 item on the 1st November, 2 on the 2nd, 3 on the 3rd and so on for all of November. If I bring anything new into the house, I declutter an extra thing that day so things aren't just being replaced. I am planning on keeping a box in the porch for this purpose so it can be collected together and donated each time there is enough.

Would anyone like to join me?

Well done everyone - sounds like a good day. I have failed to discard anything, so 5 to go tomorrow!

I thought I'd give this a go. Not sure if I'll be able to find the 400+ things to declutter or keep it up for the whole month but maybe I'll surprise myself!
For the first 3 days I've got rid of 5 magazines and some Xmas cards I received last year that I hadn't chucked out!

I’m in!
It works out at about 15 items a day if you spreed it equally over the month which would be more practical for me.
So far I have got rid of;
1-4 breastfeeding top
5-6 sling
7-10 cookbooks
11 - paperwork
12 - cocktail sticks
13 -24 food for tin on the wall

Numbers are the totally number of items decluttered.

The best decluttering tip I’ve read is look and your stuff and decide what you want to keep rather what you want to declutter.

@notthissticky 1000 items
kept a note of major items and also running total everything counts as 1 apart from paperwork( where 1 is a several sheets so 6 months bank statements from 2011 is 6 incedentally being self employed need to keep 7 years minimum but for most people 2-3 years is ample) so not 1 bag of clothes but 5 t shirts 2 bras and 1 jumper = 8 items
I also don't count items you normally throw away like yesterday's newspaper / left over food or junk mail but would count old magazines birthday cards and out of date cardamon pods

it definitely helps to say what are my 10 favourite mugs / tops/ cookbooks rather than which mugs/tops /books shall i declutter

OK, 27 further items gone today so I am good now until Monday. Will try to get a headstart on next week at the weekend.

25 Napkin holder
26 Random paperwork
27 random items from a box under my bed left over from holiday packing
28-32 dresses put in wardrobe to sell next summer
33 - wall sticker
34 - bag of children’s
creations and small rubbish toys

35-36 bibs
37 - wok
38-39 toys
40 - lampshade

Getting things out of the house is more complicated than I remembered. Especially with DH comments about how the kids still play with things. They literally play with rubbish too but I’m not keeping that either. I suspect DH would though! My random notion to try and get rid of a 1000 before we the Christmas decorations out will not be happening.

I have a busy day tomorrow so I’m not sure how much I will manage to get done.

Day 3 :

• 3 kids sweaters

Got rid of four packets of cat treats expired 2018 , a broken stapler and some old phone screen cleaning wipes, so -6. Received three items I'd ordered online and will reuse the packaging, so that's +5. All in all I think I'm -32 +7 so -25. The items coming in are significantly bigger than what I'm getting rid of though...

Have also listed quite a few things on Facebook and have had a reasonable amount of interest. Doesn't count until it's actually out of the house though😅

Day 4:

• a couple of broken Halloween paper decorations (and might find more to go when packing them away properly )
• 1 more bath towel
• 1 more hand towel ( I decided to get rid of all the cheapest quality ones when I just organised the linen cupboard ,these were then still in use but now washed so then can go )
• 1 pair of my old pyjamas trousers with holes to rag bank

@Nordicmom you managed all that before 6 this morning. I’m very impressed. So far I’m only managed two and I’m aiming for 15 items a day.

I woke up
At 4 then didn’t go straight back to sleep …

Helloooo!

My decluttering efforts went down the drain 5 weeks ago when I got this mother of all colds.
I'm still not back to normal🥴

don't you just hate it when you have so much to do but your body's going "talk to the walls coz none of this is listening!"🤬😭

Hope you are all well.

@Nordicmom I hope you get more sleep tonight.

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba if I physically cant achieve what I want then I find writing a list so I can get started straight away helpful.

Today’s list;
41 - 42 finger puppets
43 - 63 random bits from the kitchen junk drawer
64 - 74 keys unlabelled

I’m pretty sure 3 of those keys are for a property we sold over 8 years ago.

Hello, I need to join in. I am experiencing “stuffocation” in my house.

I have cleared the following items:

• 1 dress (bought only a few months ago in charity shop 🙄)

• (2) unopened pack of men’s socks (apparently dh can’t wear trainer socks because they’re “twattish”)

• (3) chipped mug

• (4) used perfume sample (🤢 I don’t want to buy full size bottle so that’s a good thing I suppose)

• (5-6) bath toys starting to get a bit slimy and black

• (7) Tesco magazine

• (8) pair of women’s shoes

• (9-10) baby sleepsuits

I think most of my items I’m going to be decluttering will be outgrown babies clothes and toys. I want to get rid of a lot of my stuff as well, I probably won’t have much luck persuading dh to part with anything. I’m surprised he let me take the socks for the charity bag tbh. I thought he’d want to keep them in his drawer unopened for the next 40 years “just in case.”

@Fallagain

thanks. avid list writer here.
lists are not the issue. having to have naps because I'm wiped out and can't even do basic stuff are
it's tedious

[quote ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba]@Fallagain

thanks. avid list writer here.
lists are not the issue. having to have naps because I'm wiped out and can't even do basic stuff are
it's tedious[/quote]
I know that feeling. I know it’s common to feel that way after a virus. Maybe you should talk to your doctor and get your bloods checked.

there are no "routine" blood tests done at all because they have a severe vial shortage.
and GP appointments are such a palaver to get.

thanks for advice but I just wanted to moan about being sick of being sick.
It's not even finished with me yet

1st - an old light fitting binned
2nd - a pair of leaky boots (that's two things in my book!) binned
3rd - 3 eyeliners I never use binned
4th - 2 pairs of PE shorts and 1 Forest School trousers donated to school, cardboard box in car to take to school for craft

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

there are no "routine" blood tests done at all because they have a severe vial shortage. and GP appointments are such a palaver to get.

thanks for advice but I just wanted to moan about being sick of being sick.
It's not even finished with me yet

Moan away. There is nothing worse than not having energy.

4 things for day 4:

3 bottles of old sun protection spray
1 can of DH's deodorant that smells like my Nan (my Nan doesn't smell bad or anything, it's just a bit...off-putting!!)

I think I'm currently -22 on aggregate. I left work much later than planned so couldn't drop my parcels with things I'm giving away on FB off at the post office. Would have been -10, and actual big items (clothes), not just random crap! When I got home, there were two parcels waiting, which works out as +7.

I have a bag ready for the charity shop, together with today's parcels, for tomorrow, so should soon be back on track!

Reminder (for everyone, hope I'm not cramping OP's style.

5 November target total decluttered: 15

Day 5 was:

• 1 pair of kids old Ugg Australia boots
• 4 babygrows

Day 5 for me: 5 old pairs of boys' pants.

They're 16 and 18 now - why am I still finding age 13-14 pants every time I clear their rooms? It's a mystery to me! Pretty sure I've got them all now...