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

Hi I’ve been lurking for a while and have posted a few times but never stick to it. Anyway we’ve had a busy summer away for a week the last Friday of school back a week then away for a week just up the road from us. With the hot weather and the rush to get my work bits finished in time and packing for holidays I haven’t felt much like cleaning or sorting stuff. Dh got signed off work for all of august (stress) so he decided that while me and ds were away in the caravan (2nd holiday he only came for the weekend we were due to stay till the Friday) he would paint the living room as we had to have 1 wall re plastered earlier in the year.

trip didn’t go to plan and ds and I came home early on the Wednesday so since then as the livingroom turned out so nice it made the rest of the house look shabby he is now painting the playroom and hallway/stairs too.

we want to have an extension done to give us a kitchen/diner the plan was then to turn the dinningroom in to playroom/games room and the playroom in to my office /craft room.

as the prices have gone up so much we still haven’t got this done so along with the decorating we have moved my office from the spare room upstairs to the playroom. And most of the toys will now be in the spare room.

a consequence of this is the the whole house feels in chaos! The old playroom and the spare room are both a mess there is stuff in the dining room that needs to find a home and stuff in our room too.

Today I am trying to get the spare room and old playroom sorted. I’ve moved a chair from our room into the spare room and swapped it with a cupboard. The cupboard is currently just dumped in our room till I can clear some space.

I’ve still got lots to move downstairs so the old playroom is also a mess. We are hoping that by doing this we can also downsize the number of toys ds has that he doesn’t play with. Not much decluttering as such but lots of sorting and organising going on.

I have my parents round tomorrow afternoon and I am hoping to have the downstairs rooms tidy and organised as they don’t know we have been doing all this.

Cleaned and tidied the bedroom this afternoon, found a couple of old nearly finished makeup bits which went out. DP sorted through some paperwork last night so some stuff has gone in recycling.
I've gone to get some wrapping paper and realised we've just about used up the stash we had so all progress.

Tidied up today. A proper tidy. No cleaning really. Other than messes I’ve made today. Cleaners are in tomorrow so that’ll help reset the house.

today I put pictures up on walls. Which took them off the floor in the living room corner. Making it look a bit less cluttered.

I found a shelf for the cupboard in the kitchen in the garage. So fitted that and have made use of shelf - moved my picnic stuff up there out of the way. And created space in a huge drawer so we can utilise that for lunchboxes.

binned a load of the kids artwork.

also reorganised the understairs cupboard. Now have a shelving unit in there so have used this space better.

Currently having a bath. but before I leave the bathroom I’m going to sort the bathroom cabinet. I’m also going to do a face mask so 15 mins or so while that’s setting will be enough to do the cupboard.

grouped things together in the garage too. Drinks all in one place. Tools in one place. Laundry stuff in one place. Made it relatively clutter free. At least we can walk in there now.

Sorry for your loss lightand

Today's outs:

• 2 baby dresses
• 2 baby romper suits
• 1 baby top
• 1 baby tights
• 3 baby hats
• set of 3 children's books
• 1/4 of a box of art work

Quite pleased with my efforts today. I'm getting there slowly

So my wish of having downstairs sorted is probably not going to happen. Just too much stuff to go through.

this afternoon I did get the chair from our room in to the spare room and move all the cabinets from one wall to another in there. There is now a nice little reading nook for DS. I also sorted through a couple of the trays (we have the trofast units). Put things back together and got a couple of bits to bin.
I also emptied the bags and wash bags from holiday so these and the packing cubes have all gone away. Whilst I was doing that I took everthing out the drawer they go in hovered it and tidied it. Also 1 bag out. Did the same with the swimming drawer and got rid of 3 lots of mine and 2 of DH swimwear to the clothes recycling bag.

Been busy with the builder painting our loo ceiling ( hopefully that’s done now !) and DD had Gymcamp then DS a driving lesson . Then builders tried to come do another job without scheduling with us so I was very annoyed since I feel like I’m im being pulled to every direction atm and were trying to
leave on Sat for a week and a bit. The movie last night was good but then h told me the landscaper had announced to him the works are starting next Mon when we are away without anyone bothering to check that was ok with us !!!!! We do want to be her in the beginning to meet people to talk , to see the skip going in front if our garage etc so had to email them . I’m now still trying to sort things out after only managing laundry cleaning some admin etc in the day . Sorted out some stuff for the dog for his boarding . He’s going fri night ahead of our leaving on Sat . I’ll try to get a bunch of my own clothes in my suitcase now , DH was still putting a grocery delivery away . Came home late it’s extra busy at work so he missed a train by an hour . He’s still feeling the effects of his covid but I think some of the symptoms have eased a bit thankfully . Just a few things I’ve noticed today going
-8 old bra inserts that were falling apart
-1 old vitamin packet
-1 squeaky toy that doesn’t squeak so I know the dog won’t care about it
-a handful of paper crafts from DD book shelf
-1 useless sharpener I noticed in ds room ,I gave her one with a container from DD room (she takes everything from school drawer it’s bloody annoying when I need new items she’s half used everything )
Back to packing now ( I work best in the evening and not when the kids are up bothering me ) although they generally entertain themselves or have something scheduled .

I've been away at my parents having a lovely time, their house is big and the stuff they keep (kitchen equipment etc) is very well looked after, I think I'd use the space differently tho, my sister just moved into a brand new house there so lots to think about. work tomorrow

The summer hasnt been kind to me on the decluttering front. I have tonnes to get rid of but been busy enjoying the kids company.

I have also bought stuff in the sales, but it's all listed ready for my in / out count to start up again.

Eldest son got his A levels today, A,A, B and a distinction I am so so chuffed for him.

I'm going to lerk until September I think.

lightand I’m sorry for your losses.

On a more positive note it’s good if you find furniture you no longer need. For a long time I have been buying furniture to keep stuff in but I have decluttered so much in the last couple of years that I am getting rid of it.

I was doing the playroom except dd2 gave me a huge box of toys to declutter and she’d like me to sell them. They’re a mixture of board games, craft sets and playmobil and some bits are in the playroom so I’m aiming to sort through them and kill two birds with one stone.

Another pair of DD’s leggings gone into the too-small clothes bag earlier this week - everyday decluttering in action. Though I will need to buy some more leggings as she is running low now, and some of the ones she’s worn this week have been a bit short.

I’m off work next week, but PIL are visiting so I doubt there’ll be any time for decluttering. Except possibly getting through a bottle of wine 😃I am fond of them, but they can be a bit much at times!

Thank you for the condolences

Unfortunately, just before a funeral yesterday[1 left to go in a couple of weeks time], i went over on my foot. Not too badly. But I need to keep putting my foot up, and finding it best to use crutches, so limited in some of the decluttering I can do for a while.

Yes it does feel good. An unexpected side effect to find I no longer need a couple of pieces.

@IncessantNameChanger Congratulations to your son!

Still packing the last bits here , kids having a late rollerblading DD had gymcamp earlier as well ( have to send them out tomorrow too) to get some fresh air and exercise since then it’s airports and a long flight . Dogs been taken to the new boarding couple now by DH .I haven’t met them just DH and our dog who visited them a while ago . he said they were nice and they’ve had several dogs to stay through this agency already so FX this goes as well as our dogs first time in April when we went to see my family . I of course worry about him if I start to dwell on it but I’ll now have to concentrate on other things. There’s still much to do ,luckily going tomorrow night not in the morning although by them my body will be shattered so evening travel isn’t good for me since I can’t ever sleep in a plane even if in a flat seat . I’ll have to sleep late in the morning and have a nap or something . I’ve run into a few items so
out going :
-2 old dog probiotics
-2 kids old toiletries
-1 old DS rash vest a few more after this / next trip he’s going up in size
-2 more old pants

@Nordicmom I had to order rash vests to Ireland of all places last week coz we kept burning! especially in water. so they're an essential in plus a new hooded towel

Three pairs of gym leggings listed on eBay. I have too many so have let these ones go.

in - new bed for ds. Our old bed. Also out today will be the old bedding. We have enough for dds bed so can let ds’ go.

My ds14 has his friends staying from tomorrow so he always does a deep clean ( possibly because he is ashamed of the house) so me and dh joined in today. Ds has unfortunately thrown out my brand new phones protective screen and insurance receipt. I only bought it on Thursday. Hoping it’s been tied away as no sign in the bins of it.

dd tipped her entire wardrobe on the floor so I sorted that all out. We are planning on moving the baby change unit out of her room and some draws from the spare room in. The baby change unit has two massive shelf’s and a reinforced plank at the front so it’s tricky to use the storage baskets we have for it. I’m itching to go to ikea to get a 1*4 Kallax for her room but I must try the draws first. Maybe it will all fit now.

im also starting to get rid of the trashed summer bits. I still have all the uniforms to sort out as well

DD sorted her pencil case out. She binned 3 dried up highlighters, a pencil and some bits of paper with doodles on.

Today's out:
Two DVD's

It’s great that so many dc are helping with the declutter, I’m sure I’ve been on these threads for 5 years now and I can remember so many of us moaning about our families and now lots of them seem to be helping.

So after dd2 gave me a big box of toys to go, dd1 and I spent ten minutes sorting through a small box in her wardrobe.

Once again the house is a mess with bits of Duplo, playmobil and Lego, and board games and craft sets all over the floor. But I have put aside about 60 BIts Of Crap to be binned, recycled or donated. They include hand made bracelets, hair clips that are too faded / scruffy to donate, unopened makeup, an unopened manicure kit, a purse, A set of cards, gone off slime, the mouth part of a snorkel (I think I probably threw the mask out years ago when I lost the mouth part!) and lots of rubbish plastic toys from goody bags.

My total is 2334 items so I’m edging towards my 3000 item target by the end of the month.

Fallen off the thread yet again but have been slowly chucking out bits and pieces, mostly outgrown clothing to charity shop or recycling. Got a bag of toys and books for charity which I should be able to take tomorrow (back at work but WFH and children at grandparents)

Also found some tinned stuff which is still in date but which won’t get used so will take that to the food bank, plus some stuff for Olio (booster seat and changing mat, some swim nappies). Annoyingly most of these things are in cupboards so won’t visually reduce clutter very much but it’s all small steps in the right direction

Dd broke the toy ukulele. Such a shame not

so I’ve binned it.

unexpectedly free today but no motivation and a bit "what do I first/where do I start" and it's still 2 hours till my dinner is cooked. so I've just remembered the 5 minute timer thing. I'll do that now. see you on the urge side

I am off this week and want to declutter at least 100 items. I find when I post that it motivates me and makes me accountable to myself. We had a birthday last week so a lot of ins and need to find homes for the items and hopefully declutter some used items.

@ememem84 My 6 year old has randomly fallen in love with my old guitar which is at my parents’ house and is not so subtly angling to bring it back home with her on Friday. Not. Happening.

Oh no! I feel the pain. Ukulele has been binned. Phew.