The Minimalism Game February edition!

[ImFree2doasiwant]

Time for a new thread! The aim is to declutter your home, removing 1 item on the 1st of the month, 2 on the 2nd, 3 on the 3rd, and so on up to 28 items on the 28th. By the end of the month, you will have decluttered over 400 items!

I will be posting daily.

Yikes I'm back after being super busy and half term. So pleased to see you are all still here and still churning out the big numbers. 12 days to catch up 150 items.....got a day off to myself today so going to see how I go.

Day 11 - 18 plastic toys freecycled (and gone!)
Day 12 - 4 wooden toys set aside for charity, 8 plastic toys and 4 storage box free cycled, old diffuser binned Total 17
Day 13 - 6 storage boxes and a box of cars freecycled, old pen binned, notebook gifted, blanket, 2 towels, 2 duvets covers with pillowcases to charity Total 16

Day 14 - 4 paperweights, 3 cloths, 2 sheets and pillowcase recycled, sheet and mattress cover freecycled, plastic mat to charity and 2 broken games to bin Total 15

Day 15 - advent calendar and plastic box to bin, 8 trophies recycled plus a tankard, bag of medals recycled (split medal from ribbon them all so counting as 2) bad of mascots freecycled Total 14

Day 23

• 3 fabric masks from DS drawers
• 1 lone sock both to rags
• 4 DD books to school charity collection ( we’d just taken a bunch to charity shop a while ago but she found a few more she’d finished )
• 3 DD magazines she’s finished to recycling
• 3 sticker / activity books DD finished
• 1 moving box unpacked from under stairs cupboard
• 1 more old dog toy
• 1 old pair of kids trainers
• 1 broken pen all to bin
• 1 metal mint box to recycling from DD room
• 2 food boxes returned to MIL

-2 pairs of old kids pants to bin

I’ve got 6 towards tomorrow but otherwise I’m now having to look for things daily and trying to not fall behind …

Nordic I like the idea of a charity box and dump box on the go. My problem is I set things aside and then never get round to taking them so I get disheartened. Maybe if I had actual boxes that I filled and emptied regularly I would do better. However not at that stage yet - masses still to do.....
Quick lunch break update
Day 16 Game which has stopped working after the batteries leaked binned, head and wrist sweatband recycled with 3 scarves, hat, top and 6 socks in packaging to charity shop Total 13
Day 17 Hat, shorts and 4 t shirts to recycling (6) , 2 trousers, 2 t shirts and hat to charity (5) , eBay old GPS handset Total 12
Still 6 days to do to catch up

Continuing here a bit today
Day 24

• 3 more yucky dog toys to bin
• 1 suction cup towel holder from the rental house I found in the utility to metal collection
• 1 pair of old broken glasses go bin
• 1 case for glasses to charity maybe
• 2 pairs of DH faded old pants
• 2 pairs of DH old pyjamas both to rag bank
• 10 packets of dog treats decluttered from the cupboard and the rest organised ( a couple of packets that had gone old , several opened he doesn’t eat ever and a few that had little left I let him finish )
• 1 packet of sticker chalk labels to charity
• 1 old wooden spoon we used with the food disposal in the bin
• 1 old rubber in the bin
• 1 bottle of useless descaler I will never buy again bottle recycled

SuperDiaperBaby, in our house I declutter and DH job has always been to cart it all away . Now that we have more space I can keep a few large storage boxes stacked up in the attic room and fill them for charity then they’re taken also we have a double garage now so that’s where all boxes and other stuff to dump goes then DH takes them when ever there’s a good carload . we live near to a dump luckily so he can easily do that on weekends .

And you are doing excellent !

I'm so glad I did this month back because I've been hectic & would definitely have thrown in the towel if I had to try find my big numbers this week😅

1. 7 & 6- painting sponges x3, tub, reindeer food (oats with glitter🙄), a shell, dried out pritt stick, pouch, ribbon x7, craft set x2, box of buttons, necklace, instruction manual, a bottle of floor cleaner that was here when we moved in😳

Thanks for the encouragement Nordic I think I might have to retrain my husband!

Lunchtime update on last night's progress.
Day 18 - cloth bag to recycling, 2 out of date food to bin, 8 unused but in date food to Olio Total 11
Day 19 - 5 brochures/magazines to recycling, 5 loyalty cards bin Total 10
Day 20 - Funnel,5 chipped bowls to bin, 3 beeswax covers Olio Total 9
Day 21 - 8 jars recycled Total 8
Day 22 - Travel towel and book to charity, broken watch, 2 candles and diary in bin. Pile of old cards recycled. Total 7
Day 23 - Handful of badges, bag of balls and broken animal toy to bin, 3 toys/balls to charity Total 6

Caught up til today. Tabby I agree needed to be working backwards with a good start or I would have thrown in the towel!

Got this mornings out of the way early as DH made it easy by abandoning his new appliance packaging all over the kitchen🙄
It is a bit disheartening when you're the only person attempting to cut down on 'things'

5, 4 & 3 - books x5, string lights, chalk board, milk storage bags x2, cardboard boxes x3

Day 25

• old food from the fridge and larder ,I will now try to keep on top of stuff going old better . It’s looking lovely and in perfect order after complete emptying and wiping down

too. I will have to continue actually looking through stuff more this weekend .I have several area I want to organise a bit like under stairs and hopefully there’s outs from them . Also have clean laundry to fold and that always results in outs .

Day 26

• 5 babygrows
• 4 vests
• 5 cardigans
• 1 baby hat
• 2 duffle coats
• 1 jacket
• 1 coat
• 2 baby blankets
• 4 pairs of baby shoes
• 1 pacifier keeper all to the charity shop or the clothes bank

I finally finished the kids clothes boxes last night , hopefully I won’t run into any more .

Day 27

• 1 kids hat
• 1 matching scarf
• 1 hooded cardigan
• 1 pair of matching trousers
• 3 shirts
• 2 pairs of baby trousers
• 7 dresses
• 1 romper
• 1 pair of boys trousers
• 2 pairs of bloomers
• 1 skirt
• 1 pair of knitted bottoms
• 3 pairs of leggings
• 1 baby tracksuit top
• 1 matching top

I am convinced there’s another box somewhere since I found a hat for a tiny dress I know I wanted to save but DH swears he’s brought me all the boxes from the attic room here and that there aren’t more clothing boxes in the storage locker we have either but we shall see . I’ve reduced what I’ve kept from 8 boxes to 3 of too small ones and then there’s the one of new too large clothes for DD so I’m happy with that . Today I’ll fold the clean laundry and I need to look through 3 boxes shoes and kids sports stuff etc in the under stairs cupboard maybe I’ll find something that can go I always do …At least I’ll get rid of the one moving box there and will use a plastic lidded box instead . I have 3 days left which might be a struggle a bit without DH getting me stuff from storage locker but I might go up to the attic room now that I’ve sorted the kids clothes although there’ll be more organising up there rather than decluttering now I expect

Nordic I bow down before you. Sort of hope you find another box though to carry you to the end of the month! Already gearing myself up to do March forwards as you have managed 4 months.
Tabby I am on the home run like you.

Day 24 T shirt to recycling, 2 thermal tops to charity, old laptop and charger wiped to pass to someone else Total 5
Day 25 shirt, thermal trousers and 2 hats to charity Total 4
Day 26 3 dried up toiletries Total 3
Day 27 cases from car cleaning kits Total 2
Just a day left....

Thanks for encouragement SuperDiaperBaby , I need it when I feel like nothings getting done and that I just endlessly procrastinate! You are doing great too . After this month I think I’ll just continue on the other decluttering thread I’ve been on before …

Ooh how useful ! Didn’t realise it was 28 d this month I’m not really thinking I’m sure I’ll dig something out for that I still have the under stairs cupboard and rest of the laundry to fold and the attic of course abs I have about 5 put aside now so 23 to gather

This month has totally passed me by! I have just totted up my running list and it cones to 166 so I'm off to work out which day that takes me to....

Im REALLY pleased to discover that I've actually completed up to (and including) day 24.

I'm not sure whether to continue, start a new month or try something different (5 or 10 items a day maybe?)

Haven’t yet folded the laundry but here’s about half of the last days total ;
Day 28

• 1 useless washing up bowl to bin I got to protect our new utility room sink but it’s scratched it instead so I’ll now have to get someone to polish it grrrrr
• 1 DD science kit used up
• 1 book of mine to charity , I skim read it after realising after first 100 pages that I wasn’t really a fan
• 1 unused pencil case to charity
• 1 wooden spoon
• 6 pants
• 4 pairs of socks
• 1 stained T-shirt
• 1 pair of my shoes to shoe collection

I have 17 and I need another 11 items …

I’ve been going through the under stairs cupboard tonight and as I suspected there was a bunch of stuff that can go as usual even though we only moved here a few months ago - 2 pairs of flip flops

• 1 pair of kids uggs
• 1 pair of DH shoes all to bin ,they’re too worn out to donate
• 1 manky dog football never used anymore so it can go to bin as well
• 1 worn out dog leash to bin , I have another unused one but I need to order a new matching collar then get rid of the old one
• 1 DD big craft that’s broken ( she has a similar smaller one on her bookshelf so not storing this one anymore )
• 1 too small dog rain coat it’s warm out so to bin
• 3 pairs of old socks to rags from the clean laundry

I have finally finished the month !

Pile of bottles travel shampoo and conditioner from the days when travel was easier and more frequent!!!! As they have not been moved since March 2020 I think they are any out. February done.

Well done Nordic and ImFree
Anyone else? Tabby?

I am going again but forwards - harder but start of this month is busy.
Day 1 - book I have just completed to charity