Decluttering Club thread 20(22)!

[Mommabear20]

Let's go!

Have just caught up on the thread and I’m impressed with how much progress everyone has been making!

I posted back at the start of January saying that I had Covid but was feeling slightly better, then over the next few days I got much worse. Spent almost a week in bed sleeping and barely eating, like having the flu, and I’m still not feeling fully recovered now. DH has also been ill, though not as bad as me. I’ve been really shocked at how ill we’ve both been, despite both of us being vaccinated (though not boostered yet).

The Xmas decorations are still up as just doing the basics of childcare and cooking wipes him out, and the house is a mess. I’m hoping to be able to tackle this at the weekend, then move back into decluttering. As you know, it’s a struggle for me (health/ energy wise and emotionally), but I’ll keep plodding on.

@pollyannaperspective im still working on 1 thing a day as well. Though working 4 days a week means my 1 thing a day quite often gets put to the side ready for my weekly charity shop drop off
Tonight I'm going into the loft to sort the Christmas decorations as dh put them away whilst I was visiting my parents and im itching to put them in the right boxes as I know he won't have put them away correctly

Would anyone be interested in a sister thread for just organising rather than decluttering? I feel like a few people, myself included, have mentioned that it's getting tricky to find things to declutter now, but that our homes could do with a bit more tidying and organising! Would be a place to share organising tips and hacks? Thoughts?

@Mommabear20 I would be. Decluttering will still be ongoing as the kids will grow out of clothes, books etc, but the lion's share is done now the Room of Doom is my tidy office & the rest of the storage has been re-assessed & sorted. So a Getting Organised & Staying Organised thread could be useful. A bit like maintenance after weight loss! 🙂

Organising thread is up! Have titled it 'Organising our homes, 1 day at a time!' Feel free to come say hi over there too!

Def @Mommabear20

I really need to do a digital declutter next as I have three computers with photos stored on them and one of these laptops is older than DD1 who is now 15!

@EllieQ that sounds horrendous, hope you are feeling a bit better now. Can someone just declutter Covid!?!?

Oh and last night the element on our oven blew up which just put the tin hat on all the things which keep going wrong in our house.

Thanks mommabear I think I’ll be on both threads. I kind of like this one as a place to discuss storage, how to get rid of stuff, moan about our families and generally chat about random stuff but I will definitely also go on the new one.

I’ve had a good couple of days. I have thrown away two craft sets that will never be finished, put one in the charity bag and lots of Halloween makeup that we probably haven’t used for ten years.

Total out in 2021 70 items.

ellieq I’m so sorry you’ve been so I’ll, I have heard that often you think you’re getting better with covid then you suddenly get worse.

polyannaperspective I’m sure we said January 2021 that we would finish our rooms of doom.

@CatrinVennastin Digital de-clutter desperately needed here too! Emails confirming M&S orders, photos of things long since sold on eBay on cameras roll...argh!

I also want to re-organise my organisation 😀 I need to re-do all my domestic finance spreadsheets & so on. Think this is another job for the Organisation thread - see you there @Mommabear20 😀

two iPhones are going out now on the way back to work 😳 don't really understand twig 🤔

I took a mostly untouched kids puzzle book into the care home for those that want to, to have a go. Some are more into doing things than others so I’ll see how it goes down, may even end up buying more in future. But one thing out anyway.

Today is work and then mums taxi service most of the evening so probably nothing else will go.

The builders had a good tidy up and sort out, skip swapped for an empty one, etc. so they’ve had a good day.

If they can just sort out the new fridge I can move stuff into it and let Dh figure out what he wants to do with the old one (says he wants it in his office but not sure how he’s going to get it there…)

Out, +1 when I find my last post for the number

Cleared out a lot of ornaments today, all donated, and I can finally see my dining room window sill again - has it always needed painting so much?!

I have to say, I love seeing the positivity and general friendliness of this post. I was on another earlier, and the responses made me go into tears and as such haven't been back to it since, although I did see some really nice supportive replies on it, I cant bear to see the others.

Bedspread to charity that I have always loved but is too small for the bed - I have others which fit so donating and hope someone else enjoys it.

Digital declutter too massive to even consider although the thought of 2 phones and how to sync the contents brings me out in a cold sweat @seperatedmum ......

Evening all. Just caught up on today's posts, have barely touched my phone today. It was my day off with DS (1) so been v busy. Great to see how well everyone's doing and I'll try to find the organisation threat in a moment! Today was a good day for decluttering, in the to-go (or gone) piles: 1 top and 1 pair of trousers of DS' that are too small, 1 nightie and 1 top of mine, 1 chipped glass, 3 toys, 2 cushions, 1 blanket, 1 fitted sheet, 2 sponges, 1 unopened nappy cream. 1 chipped glass, 1 unused notepad, 1 pack of hair bands, half a pack of paper clips, 1 rubber, 1 earrings box, 1 unneeded lid, and a load of old train tickets/receipts!

@LittleTwiglet I know what you mean! I generally find Mumsnet to be very negative but I love the positivity of this thread! Has really helped me!Y sucks may not be in a row just yet but I at least know where they all are now! 😂

Managed to get all the clothes dropped if today which is a huge out! Although I did pick up my £50 clothes order for the kids from the post office on the way home! 😂 it is all bigger sized stuff that was in the sales so I don't feel bad about it so taking that all up to the garage on Friday as I've put a double hanging rail unit in there to hang all their bigger sizes there to make space in the house. Going on Friday to pack everything up in the garage that we don't want to keep and then I can arrange the charity collection! I do plan to keep the bigger ticket items for a car boot sale in spring but there's so much 'stuff' that I couldn't possibly fit it all in the car anyway which would mean doing more than 1 which just stresses me out too even think about 😆

*my ducks may not all be in a row, but at least I know where they all are now 😂
Damn autocorrect 🤦‍♀️

littletwiglet I’ve been on this thread since the first one and it really is one of the loveliest part of Mumsnet. Well done in the window sill, I am slightly obsessed about keeping mine clear, clear surfaces really cheer me up.

I just decluttered another 8 items - 4 dried out glue sticks, 3 books and also a copy of the Highway Code from 2005! Given how much it’s changed this year I binned it.

Total items decluttered 75

Thanks stealth ninja mum. Guess I could call the number on the clothing bank and ask, I think there might be one on it from memory. I do have some electrical bits so should do a tip run really. I just want stuff out asap once I have decided it's going.
Momma bear I am going through the same thing! Settling into nursery and it is so hard!
For me, the charity shops with friendly staff and easy pram access win! I have some preferences over the actual charity but I tend to spread stuff across a few.
Hope everyone finds the keys! That sounds stressful.

A few outs today that I'm pleased about, a large toy had been earmarked to go but it actually left the house today. A pair of pjs, some expired toiletries and a couple of toiletries belonging to OH. He is good at quick decisions but needs things waving under his nose to make him think about it!

Realised there's a whole extra page on here I haven't read before I replied! I do like having other people's decluttering to read about! It keeps me going!

@LittleTwiglet - this is a lovely supportive thread - if your other one is the one I'm thinking of some people were unnecessarily unpleasant.

@Mommabear20 I'll pop over to the other thread in a bit as I could do with some inspiration on the organisation front....

A reasonably constructive day today. I took all the Christmas cards and used my new label punch to cut them into labels and then put everything in the recycling apart from the ones where I need to write/email back - those are now sitting neatly inside my notebook. The new labels are bagged up in the carrier bag of Christmas wrapping and cards etc that I asked DH to put in the garage 2 days ago and he has walked past about 40 times since without moving....

I dropped a bag of clothes off in the charity bin at TKMaxx and then went through some more bags in the airing cupboard - found a few more things to list on ebay/vinted and did that also listed the things I earmarked yesterday - all pitched to be the cheapest version on ebay as I want them gone tbh. Packed up another bag of clothes for TKMaxx and added some to my Thrift pile. Then discovered that a bag I thought was clothes was actually swimming towels - posted those for free on the local mums group and someone is coming to collect them, hopefully tomorrow.

Doing a little bit at a time is definitely working for me although I am still ignoring the fact that I need to do my wardrobe....

@LittleTwiglet just when I was about to pray to st Anthony I found my keys inside a foam roller I'm clearly not using 😳 DD said "oh yeah I put them there" any luck for you?
the 2 phones have been posted

I've been working overtime today and then had some cleaning to do so nothing has leff the house alas. I have sold another item on vinted though so that will go tomorrow.

You know when you buy skincare kits & you get miniatures of other products to try? They drive me mad for some reason - I find small tubes of creams & lotions really irritating 🤭 But my oldest friend loves them, so periodically I parcel a load up & post them to her, she loves getting a package to rifle through. I put such a parcel together today, that will go in Royal Mail tomorrow. My skincare stash is far smaller & better organised now!

I finally managed to pack the Christmas ornaments away and in the process got rid of 17 related items from unused lights to broken tree ornaments . Also yesterday finally decluttered 6 books from my book drawer I haven’t touched for a year after leafing through them and concluding that they’re too boring to bother with . Now I have 13 waiting to be read and one on the go besides my kindle . I also went through my snack drawer and nearly emptied it all some will go to foodbank some went to trash and recycling . We’re finally getting a big in of nearly all our deposit from our rental house back after giving it back end of nov so very happy about that . We’ve also decided on the trees for the garden so hopefully that landscaping can now progress . They’ll also help us with the foundations for our bike / garden shed so then we can move all those items out of the garage ,put our racking up and organise boxes / big items on those and I can get into the existing big storage cupboard to sort it out and hopefully also declutter something . DH will then also order his remaining storage cupboards and tables . A big in purchased yesterday I’ve even thinking about for a while ; an elliptical machine but one that stores upright . It’ll go into my bedroom for now maybe later into the attic room if we can get it up the stairs . Otherwise somewhere downstairs. I do wonder how much I can use it with my pain but we’ll see . I’m really struggling with life atm I’ve just gotten some more bad news about my health more issues I’ll have to try to sort out so I’m in a kind of an emergency situation panic mode but I’m trying not to fall apart quite yet . Decluttering wise I think I’m at around 200 items now and not counting things like Christmas cards individually.

Fairy castle dolls house has been collected via Olio, plus a large bag of books and a few clothes to the charity shop. Still seem to be innumerable bags and boxes hanging around the living room, although the bookshelves do look a bit tidier. Boxes of Christmas biscuits and sweets (we hugely overbought) are also cluttering up the place and I'm sure could be decanted into one tub, especially the Quality Street which is now down to the toffee pennies that no-one likes....

Sorry to hear you're unwell Ellie, how you feel better soon.

We are also decluttering Christmas sweets Sydney, we didn't buy much but DH got sent loads from work!

I'll probably say hi on the other thread when I have a minute Mommabear. I need a routine as house is a disaster since Christmas.

Londonmummy I am intrigued by the label punch, I still need to cut up my Xmas cards. Do you have a link?

The spare room is a disaster zone currently as I'm sorting though all the outgrown clothes. There's a collection at school next week so some will hopefully go then. Not much else done, work is busy.