Decluttering Club thread 2 2022 - trying to reduce stuff a little at a time.

[londonmummy1966]

New thread for those wanting to declutter

Old thread here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4441273-decluttering-club-thread-20-22?pg=1

Small bag of stationery items to the charity shop today. Main reason for going was that they had tons of the packets of geriatric jelly babies last time I was there. Thought they'd make a great present for DH who is 60 tomorrow (DC and I have not let him forget it for a while now) but sadly they had all gone. Bought some books and chocolate etc to give him tomorrow so not too much in...

Today I managed to finally empty the larder shelf of food left over from Christmas and got rid of most of it .just a few chocolates and mini panettone’s etc left . Lots of packaging to recycling . Also got rid of kids of candy from Halloween still in another food cupboard and organised a daily medicine basket some of which was old so got rid of the packaging and put the expired meds into a bag with others to go to pharmacy later . Repackaged a bag of meds for travelling and will put them in a suitcase ready for the next trip . Unpacked a bag of snacks we had with us on the last one . I cleaned the 2 bottom floors of the house after my bad back stopped me doing as much as usual for a few days . Now pretty crippled again though . We’ve also done a lot of laundry today the pile is much smaller but I’ve got to keep at it and next fold all the dry laundry again and then work through rest of the back log of dirty washing , especially DD stuff for her school trip coming up . Will also get rid of any hopelessly dirty etc items they’re just cluttering up the utility .
DH cleaned the rest of the bathrooms tonight and we’ve made an appointment with the landscaper for fri afternoon so that’s something …

Yesterday we cleared out a binbag of rubbish from the living room. All tidy and ready for a vacuum today.

My back’s still bad especially after yesterday’s deep cleaning in 4 bathrooms but I did go over the two first floors again and did some deep cleaning in the kitchen and utility plus more endless laundry . Finally sitting down a bit for late lunch but have wet laundry to deal with still . We have more admin and all the dry laundry folding to do in the evening I’m hoping there will be some outs from that to the clothes bank / rags . we also have the weekly food delivery coming tonight but cleaning the fridge and putting it all away is DH job since I do the ordering . I’ve asked him to wash the ground floor floors and to change two beds too. Just talked to the next door lady yesterday and she has two women daily doing everything in her house , gardener , a lady doing her ironing and we have the same window washer I’m so far happy with . he was great ;so quick at doing 23 windows 3 partly glass doors . We are meeting with a new landscaper on Fri and I’ve found gardener but they only do weekly which we don’t need yet but in the future they’d have more work and then it might be hard to find one when it’s summer . I also finished another book but DH might be reading it , he’d taken it from the charity pile . More decluttering will have to be later . I guess the auctions of our big items will end soon then hoping they’ll be out of here in the weekend !

Was going to say I don’t think I’d want a stranger in my house daily unless I can’t do anything anymore because of my poor health but once we have sorted out dining room and attic a bit more i was thinking of getting some one /2 people from an agency to come weekly to do all the big jobs ,and we are trying to figure out where to get someone to do DD schools runs although I do have a regular driver now which helps . I’ve just been having trouble getting and out of the car with my recent pain .

Nordic do you have arthritis? Its sounds very difficult. I bet you will be happy once the prams have sold. Your house sounds hard work with so many floors and rooms. A cleaner sounds a good idea. My friend had one every six weeks for a deep clean.

Stealth I was really upset with my eldest and really had a deep clean of the kitchen. I dont know how it happens but I haven't empted the drainer for weeks so that was indeed a bit minging. Now the kitchens tidy I took great joy and telling the eldest to get his plate out the sink and put it in the dishwasher. He said his tough love paid off with my deep clean but everyone is on strict instructions to maintain it now. Hopefully it's a few minutes a day to do before I go to bed and that's it.

@IncessantNameChanger - you are a very tolerant parent compared to me - being told that my teenager had applied "tough love" would have led me to apply it back and told them to get on with their own laundry in future - tough love for when they go to uni! Mine tell me I am the wicked witch of the west though.

I get sick of having to remind DD to do things. The main one at the moment is dirty socks and underwear left behind her bedroom door.
Got rid of empty cat food pouches and dry food bags yesterday. Another volunteer has found somewhere they can be recycled. Just taking a break from cleaning and tidying our bedroom. Ditched an almost empty contact lens cleaning solution (not sure how long it had been open). Found more sample size serums, have left them out to use them up!
Pondering about selling an old dress of DD's. Think I might try and if no takers within a week then I'll charity shop it.
Best get back to the cleaning....

I've fallen out of habit of reading this thread the last few days, and my decluttering has faltered as a result!

Just decluttering the end of a nearly empty bottle of wine before doing bedtime and looking around for something I can ditch!

It's bin day tomorrow and they will also take textiles for recycling etc. so might sort something this evening.

Work days over for the week, did manage to find some airline freebie hairbrushes DH had been storing (why?) and took them into the care home.

211+4=215

Found 3 empty plastic bottles that had beer in them once. DH was saving them to return to the pub - even when we leave them outside on delivery day they don't take them so they've gone in the recycling. I'm sure if they wanted them they'd have taken them by now.

Yes I have arthritis and many other problems .
I did go on the school tour today though , nearly didn’t make it to the end because of all the climbing up and down the stairs made me insanely dizzy with my vestibular migraines and when I start sweating I can’t stop until I stop moving and cool my body down properly then my painkillers also started to wear out so after we got back I was on the sofa for a few hours until I was able to get up . Tidied and cleaned a bit downstairs and put laundry on then went up to sleep until dinner . I knew this would happen so I had quickly done first floor before leaving which was easy today thanks to yesterdays efforts . DH took the day off and went to do a sport and found out that we can declutter a bigger board back to his moms from cluttering up the garage ,yeah !He also did both school runs which helped me a lot . After dinner and bedtime I went to town on the six baskets of clean dry laundry ; 3 of sheets , towels , mattress and pillow protectors which didn’t take too long and we used some in my bed we changed sheets for , 3 of clothes I put some of to clothes bank and rags ; 1 DD small fleece , 1 dd small jeggins , 1 DH T-shirt , 3 pairs of DS pants and 18 pairs of socks .
I tried to get some admin done too but I’m far too tired . We only got an email sent to ds physio and some forms printed . Tomorrow I’ve got to make several calls and bookings and order stuff also have to find some pictures for the landscaper coming on fri . Auctions are also finishing tomorrow so with any luck we can get rid of some if not all 4 big items soon !

Sorry to hear that Nordic. That sounds hard and full on with young kids.

Not a great day for me. Lost my car key, proper lost and I lost the master key years ago. I hope I find it and it reinforces the fact that the house is too cluttered. Bugger.

My mum has potentially be told that she might have a life changing diagnosis and selfishly I can not cope with that and the secondary Hunt for my son. She needs someone to advocate for her and go to her hospital appointment ( which she has been told theres a 8 month wait for).

She has been fit and healthy and never once offered help in all the years I have been a mum. She still thinks ds will get over his ASD and go to mainstream secondary. Truth is even most of the local SEN schools dont want him. Dm was abusive physically and mentally when I was a child and still hits my kids given half the chance and abuses us all still. No support from anyone mentally or physically ever as a mum. No one asked if I needed help during my appeals. Now I'm going to be expected to take this on as I dont have a job and it's my place to care. I just cant do it all. I have suggested mum.gets a cleaner, gardener etc but she wont do it. But she can bearly cope. If she gets this diagnosis she will deteriorate.

Folded ds10 tshirt draw today and thought of his big brothers wearing them and all the things he will never be able to do like them. I had a cry.

My mum was saying that a girl ds age up her road goes to school in a taxi so she must go to a SEN school totally oblivious that's her grandsons life too. I just feel like I'm the emotion and task donkey. I so done. My mum.wont help herself by seeking help.

I just dont know what's going to happen but I cant take on one more thing. I just cant.

I have told my sibling I am not caring for my mum while caring for my disabled child. They want to move mum closer to us both but sibling never sees or phones dm so it would all fall to me. My existing commitment is invisible.

@IncessantNameChanger that sounds absolutely unmanageable and I am sure you are doing a brilliant job (as much as anyone would be able) already in your circumstances without the additional burden of your mother's diagnosis. I hope you can push back without feeling guilty because you shouldn't do.

I started listening then got distracted.

My daughter came home unexpectedly with her cat for a long weekend. It was so lovely to see them both, although I would have liked some notice about the cat, as he fought with ours.

I didn’t get as much done as I’d have liked to, but I did some things

The top shelf of my wardrobe had a foot spa, face sauna, lots of perfume bottles, and about 30 mini bottles of Molton brown shower gel. I’m going to try the foot spa and sauna on market place, and then a free page if they don’t sell. Threw away most of the perfume as it was stale, and moved the others to somewhere I’ll actually see it and use it. The little shower gels I’ve put in a box and I’m going to use them until their gone. My husbands taken a few. They last three or four showers each. All that plastic, it’s horrible.

Ive sorted the cats toy basket. Donated half to my daughters cat, and threw a few away.

Very shamefully instead of putting my clean washing away it’s been in a heap in the corner of our bedroom. I’ve gone through it, folded and sorted everything, threw a few things, and have put away everything else.

Last thing, our bedroom needs decorating before we can think about selling the house. There’s a big, double stacked bookcase in our room full of my ‘to read books’ (well some of them 😳) I’ve transferred half of them to big hessian bags that can be moved to another room. I’d have done more but I ran out of bags. I want my husband to get me some fruit boxes from Lidl as they’re really strong, and stackable

4 books have gone on the eBay pile unread, one because I’ve read it on my kindle, and three because it turns out they were a series of four, and I’ve stupidly read the fourth, which has spoilt the others. I’m not that bothered

Anyway sorry for the huge essay

@IncessantNameChanger - you have my sympathy. I have Ds2 with SEN and although things are pretty calm and settled now, they haven’t always been.
My Dm (nothing like yours from the sound of it, so sorry about that) lived near me whilst all my siblings have scattered. And she was terminal, panic button that called me, etc. she was v miserable at the end and wanted to go. There are many times I’m thankful she got the peaceful end she wanted being pampered in a care home and dying in bed. And I don’t have to worry about her anymore. Sounds cold to some I know but she wanted to die for 4 years after my DDad died.
The SEN stuff is always such a draining battle, you just have to bulldoze on through somehow. But somehow find time for you as well x

have gone through running clothes and have a few bits to give away, nothing has left the house though.

Nothing has left my house either. I'm a hoarder. Mostly to have a wall up to protect myself from my mum.

So nothing out when I feel like this. I so want to Disappear in a pile of stuff, disappear into my bunker of clutter.

I decided where I cleared the kitchen I will move things every day until everything is In its optimal home. I cant do much more right now.

What a sorry mess I'm in.

My sibling never phones or visits my dm but shes going to sell her house and move and pack dm across two countries? We never ever sit all three of us and talk. I feel like I'm going to have a breakdown if I get caught up in that. I told Dh while he was at work and he hasnt once asked about dm possibly diagnosis.

I feel like surrounded by emotionally frigid narcissists some days.

I need a good drink but I'm on a diet😭

@IncessantNameChanger please don’t worry about dieting while you feel like this. Maybe limit it to consciously eating more healthily, but if a drink in the evening or a bar of chocolate get you through what sounds like an awful time, then don’t deny yourself.

So sorry to hear about what you are going through @IncessantNameChanger ! You do not have take on more than you can handle . I wish you strength to say No !
Today I haven’t done more decluttering but our item auctions ended so hopefully they’ll all be collected soon if we get lucky . One is agreed for tomorrow at least so that’d be great . The most expensive item buyer cancelled unfortunately ( our first problem after DH started selling a couple of bigger things a few y ago ) so DH has offered it to the next person we’ll see maybe need to relist . I just did the daily cleaning and tidying plus lots of laundry which reminds me I did throw away some really stained dd pyjamas and a few old socks . DS had a hospital app for his back and now needs another scan and then a follow up appointment so I then had to reschedule something else for him , also rescheduled my own dental app , cancelled DD riding because of her broken finger , ordered a few things inc a raincoat for DH so then the old one can go . Also confirmed some dog grooming appointments and a restaurant table and booked a lunch for me and DH we never go by ourselves ! Then I tried to continue registering for DD senior schools but the printer broke so that’ll be decluttered to dump and DH ordered a new one . I’ve got a school coffee morning and a breakfast with a friend so I better head towards bed , more in the morning !

Yesterday I got rid of a couple of notebooks and tidied the play kitchen (chucking out a handful of unmatched things).

Slow progress but progress nonetheless!

I need to declutter the toys. I always find that toys are a easy quick win when things are a hard

I made it to the charity shop so got rid of that box. Think I’ve already included all the items in my count though.
Have another box ready to start which also means that box can move from its current random spot in the kitchen.

Haven’t really managed anything else apart from usual laundry. Sat outside in the sun and read some of my book instead.

another bag of good outgrown clothes sent next door and 2 full bins of garden waste made- which was making my garden smaller so definitely clutter. loads of bits gone from DS's & DD's rooms they just won't clean

@IncessantNameChanger wishing you the best of luck.
@Nordicmom you've been very productive!

I gave DH a book to take to the tube station (little book trade shelf there). Small wins!

incessant after reading your posts I think I need a drink too. Your mum has been so abusive, I know it’s easier said than done, but what’s to stop you blocking her? You have enough on your plate. Perhaps you could send eldest ds to live with her and give her some ‘tough love’. (I’m so annoyed he said that). Do you have a hobby or something you could do to relax and take your mind off everything?

I have made a mess in the house but chosen lots of stuff to go. I’m sure last time I reported my items ‘to go’ total for this year it was less than 1000. Well it’s now up to 1484 which sounds like a lot but about 300 of those are old sainsburys Lego cards that I chucked out. I gave dc a huge box of plastic tat and they only wanted two toys from it so it’s been distributed between a binbag and the charity shop pile. I also sorted through a load of old school stuff and threw loads of worksheets away.