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?

Yesterday I got rid of-
75 - tea tray
76 - 85 random stuff from the cupboards in the downstairs loo (I still need to finish this)

I’ve done most of the Christmas shopping over the last 2 weeks do I dread to think of the comparison but I did sell 10 wooden toys first.

I’m aiming for 20 things today.

Day 6:

• 2 long sleeved t-shirts of mine with holes in the sleeves
• 1 bunch of pants with holes in the seams as well (sorted through all my clean ones,9 to go today )
• 1 Halloween pumpkin decoration made of branches or something we have never used since I don’t like the colour in hindsight
• 1 puzzle DS finished
• 1 toucan craft box DD has grown out of that I spotted in an unsorted box from the move before last, I really have to look through it all hopefully more there that can go .

I need to pack Halloween decorations away neatly today and decide if I’m keeping it all in fact just remembered I threw another one away which will go into tomorrow’s lot since I haven’t counted it yet .also need to fold the clean laundry and there’s always outs there with these growing kids and the laundry mountain !

I’m afraid I’ll jump ahead a bit or I’ll forget what we’ve done today !

Day 7 :

• 4 sets of curtains
• 2 roller blinds
• 1 lampshade from the rental house, we are now returning landlords own ones back in their places

Day 8 :

• 2 unused Advent stocking kits to charity
• a few packets of wrong school socks sent back
• 1 box of light fittings also sent to us in error going back, what is wrong with all these companies ?!!!
• a couple of DD old flu shot certificates to recycling
• a small bag of coins joining the other in the car waiting to go to bank soon hopefully
• a bunch empty coin bags we’d been given at some point no one needs
• a clay model of teeth DD made that’s been displayed for ages that’s cracked and she doesn’t want to keep thank god ,I have a picture anyway …

@Nordicmom that’s loads!

86 - 96 finished sorting out cupboards in the downstairs loo and sorted out some stuff to donate to the hygiene bank
97 - sorted out Halloween stuff but I would say only one of the things I binned I would count as Decluttering.

Day 5:

3 big mailing bags, 2 big padded envelopes, 1 big cardboard box, 1 belt with a broken buckle, 1 pile of old paperwork.

Day 6:

1 wicker basket, 1 diary (from 1998!!), 1 big mailing bag, 18 old paintbrushes, 1 pen, 2 sponge brushes, 1 ringbinder, 1 blusher brush.

Oh hooray! I’d been inspired by last month’s thread into doing this on my own but it’s better in (anonymous) company. So far I’ve done:

1. Box and bag that current perfume came in
2. Surgical stockings from recent op, old cleanser
3. Old toothbrush, party hats, iPhone earphones box
4. Box of Cheerios that everyone has gone off, winter coat that I’ve just replaced, holey underpants belonging to my partner, box of syringes of anti-clotting injections from recent op taken to GP’s for disposal
5. 4x old jams cleared from condiment shelf, 1 out if date cough medicine from kitchen cupboard, 1 bag of baby clothes offloaded onto a neighbour (horrible feeling she’ll manage to give them back though so not counting these as a full item…)
6. iPhone box, 2x old catalogues, pot plant that’s wilted beyond salvation, big bag of scarves, hats and gloves (I’m deciding this counts for two as it was a lot of different items!)

Day 6: 3 t-shirts, 4 Bob the Builder toys, 3 mailing bags, one bump lotion out, one roll of parcel tape in. On balance I'm -34 I think.

Tomorrow I'm doing a trip to the MyHermes drop off point and the charity shop, which should boost my numbers quite a bit!

Day 9 :

• 1 lampshade from the rental house
• 1 set of Halloween fairy lights that are broken
• 1 yellowed plastic storage box (we’ll use it to take stuff to charity shop )

-1 book DD already has ( checking about a few others ditto some frozen colouring and activity books she was earlier saying she’s too old for it but now we’re seeing the musical with friends on last day of term so who knows )

• 1 too small DS once used Halloween costume to charity
• 1 other too small costume to rag bank
• 1 mask
• a few more broken Halloween paper and wood decorations

- a few Halloween napkins and cups As you can see I organised all the Halloween stuff and now the neatly labeled 2 boxes can go to the attic room until next y . Also sorted out one box that had a mixture of items hastily thrown in there in an earlier move . Now it’s just memory box stuff and gone to the attic too .

Oh cAn I join?! Prob won’t do the strict rules but my aim is to do something towards decluttering every day until Christmas (except 22-28th Nov because we’re away) and have managed so far to do even a little thing and sometimes a big thing.

Tomorrow I have a relatively free day and hoping I can clear the two drawers of crap in the kitchen above the bins. I last “sorted” them a year ago and I know for a fact I get the same 3 things In and out On a regular basis. Also going to put up some pictures tomorrow so they’re not all lying around propped up against walls

6th:
*some random hanging basket lantern thing which had turned into a big grey glob of melted plastic (previous house owners... we've been here 3 years )- bin
*2 pairs of trampolining socks - clothing bank
*an old torch which doesn't work any more - bin

• 2 passes for Goodwood - recycling

7th (total 28 items)
*a key to our old house - bin

• a suspicious smelling lipstick (Heather Shimmer ) - bin
• a sweaty looking lipstick - bin
• an out of date cold sore cream - bin
• an old Lakefest mug - recycling
• a unicorn ornament - bin
• out of date Anadin - bin

I've got a massive pile of too-small clothes to tackle, some for Vinted and some for charity. I've never used Vinted so I'm procrastinating a bit with these

Today’s haul
98 - 102 cups and saucers and a milk bottle vase set
103-104 - boxes oat milk sachets
105 - bookcase
106-112 children DVD and toys

I didn't count it up but I threw away some pens, a bunch of really bad quality stitchmarkers & plastic cable needle things, a t-shirt with the cuffs shredded to pieces and some random bits of old clothing.

I had a reasonably good night's sleep by falling asleep on the sofa so today felt less like a rag doll in a tumble dryer and more like fairly content zombie.

I have plans for tomorrow but don't dare to jinx them

Ooh I love this idea. Gutted I missed the start. I don't feel ready to jump in with both feet and start with seven things. Might try and start from one?

I'm not a hoarder but I do struggle with getting going with stuff like this.

This is so inspiring. I cleared out our “random gifts” drawer and gave away 9 items and have been given the go ahead from 9yo DD to just give away everything in the two random toy boxes she hasn’t opened in a year

@SirSamuelVimes

Ooh I love this idea. Gutted I missed the start. I don't feel ready to jump in with both feet and start with seven things. Might try and start from one?

I'm not a hoarder but I do struggle with getting going with stuff like this.

Starting anywhere is better than not starting at all

Day 7:

1 old bottle of eye drops, 1 old nail varnish, 1 old lipsyl, 2 plastic toothbrush covers, 1 pack of sticky notes, 1 massive pile of paperwork, 1 mailing bag.

I'm up to 54 things gone in total.

Day 7:
Busy day today running around with family so just opened the Useful Things drawer/hiding place for random crap and grabbed 7 things i know could you - a couple of expired warranty booklets, repair kit for an air bed that’s long gone, some other documents that could go.

7 things I know could go, that should say!

21 things out today and 0 in! 💪 It was a mix of tiny items and clothes. Could've been 24 but me and Hermes don't see eye to eye at the moment so the biggest item is still waiting to go...

So far I've got rid of 71 items this month but had another 16 come in, so -55 on balance. I'm really not sure how I'll feel if at the end of the month there's no noticeable difference...

I'm proud of myself for a recent hotel stay - I left the soap / gels etc
I've put a carrier full of clothes into the M&S recycling box in store and got a little gift !

Day 8:

3 tops, 1 pair of trousers and 1 pair of shoes have gone in the charity bag to take out at the weekend.
4 of DH's T-shirts have gone in the rag bag for him to take to work tomorrow.

63 things out so far.

(Can anyone see my Day 7 post? It's disappeared for me!)

days 3- 7
several extra jam jars I am never going to make 30 -40 jars of marmalade jam chutney I might need 10-12 so binned 15 jars, and 6 CD's, old filter and flex hose for a hoover 24 items ( running total 27 items) need to find 9 items for today

8th:

1 foot scrub that I hate but hung on to because it was a gift - bin
1 old lipstick which I used to camouflage a cold sore then - bin
Went through 5 lever arch files and binned old receipts. letters etc - I'm counting those as even though I have the physical files, they have been decluttered
1 more pair of sodding too-small boys' pants

Up to 36 items now.

The Big Sort of Kids' Clothes has begun.

Clothes that are too damaged for any other purpose get cut up into squares to be used as cleaning cloths and clean offcuts kepts for future sewing projects.
I cut up: 5 t-shirts, 2 dresses, 2 shorts, 1 babygrow &2 popper vests so far.

I've also thrown away 37 pairs of undies.

Having been ill for nearly 6 weeks I'm glad I finally have some energy but I'm taking it slowly.
And I'm watching 30 Rocks at the same time so I have entertainment.