The Declutter Diary

[AnotherCountryMummy]

I've decided to remove (recycle, donate, bin etc) at least one thing or group of things from my house every day for a month and see what happens.

We have too much stuff and I feel like life would be simpler with fewer things. Anybody want to join me?

Day one: two bags of toddler clothes straight into the Salvation Army charity bin.

So gone over last 3 days is
A old fan
2 pairs of trainers
A box of unused toiletries donated
8 mugs
A candle that I was given that I don't like the smell of
2 bunches of dried out flowers
A large mirror
A broken stair gate
A carrier bag of random wires, dried out glue, tons of medicine spoons, some broken pegs ect

Just the thread I needed. This house is driving me mad! Thought I would clear out a drawer in kitchen to put clean tea towels in. At the moment, they go upstairs to the airing cupboard and then we have to bring them down when we need them. Was doing quite well, until DH came to ‘help’. He decided we couldn’t get rid of the 20 ramekins, 8 sundae dishes, 6 shot glasses and 11 mini dessert glasses that were in there. Most have never been used and the rest possibly once! We compromised and put them all in the top of a cupboard that we never use. At least, I now have a drawer for the tea towels. Did get rid of about four kiddies’ aprons that are now too small and some past their best place mats and now have two very organised and only half full drawers so that is a very small win!

I’ve found a home for the travel pram that isn’t next to the stairs gathering dust.m

So the pram hasn’t actually left the house but now has a proper place to be. That counts right? I prefer my clutter to be ejected from these four walls but we do still use the pram.

The dining table has also been cleared and some baby clothes are ready for the charity shop.

But be warned, it gets addictive. I sometimes walk through a room, look at something and think ‘time for you to go’ 🤣😂

I felt the same but thought it would be a shame since we've been married for 30 years...

😂😂😂

Good morning everybody! I fell off the wagon the last couple of days as I was busy/out of the house a lot. However, I was mentally listing things that are going to be thrown out over this weekend, so hopefully that still counts!

I'll post my list later today.

I used to be on the 'one thing a day' decluttering thread and sadly missed the '2023 things in 2023' so I'm glad to have found this.
3 bags to BHF yesterday - from a DD wardrobe clear out, a decluttered kitchen drawer and odd bits from my wardrobe.
Today I'm finally going to throw out the knickers that I avoid wearing in my underwear drawer which have been irritating me for ages!
I also tend to just take one item at a time from hanging rails that I notice I've not worn.
I've got so many work jackets that I never wear - I'll try to get rid of one today.
I live between 2 houses and hope to move home in 2 years so definitely don't want to pay for loads of junk to be stored

Hi everyone! we went to the farm today but managed to clear a basket of bras, knickers and some very worn socks, some glass candle holders popped onto olio and a box of cinnamon scented t lights given to my sister! Also left the farm without going to the giftshop so no stuff added to the house for 9 days!

Joining late - I am constantly decluttering/cluttering and I'm so DONE with it.

I had a massive blitz of 1 room yesterday, both bins are full, 2 bags for friends with younger DC, 1 bag to sell, 2 bags to charity. The room did have a big pile of stuff and a large cupboard full. It had become a dumping ground

Clutter breeds clutter and I'm determined to banish it.

BruceAndNosh, 😂😂
Pleased here, actually got a bin bag of clothes to recycling yesterday plus one pair of child’s trainers and some winter boots.

Room for a little one?
I've been a woman On A Mission for the last few weeks and lurking in here during motivation dips.
Been merrily filling doorstep charity bags, off loading baby stuff on marketplace, filing unidentified crap in the bin quietly instead of giving people the chance to claim in then return it to the swill of unidentified crap.
Gathered up half done candles and burning them one at a time so they aren't wasted but we don't have loads of them on the go at once anymore. Did a toiletries cull of the bathrooms so people are forced to finish one bottle before a new one comes out of the cupboard.
Getting some traction, life is on the up... and then DH discovers Temu and I'm about to be inundated with yet more nonsense 🫣😭😭😭

Today's out pile is...
A lightshade that is beyond saving
Another spare duvet
A old chipped cracked tray
5 tubs of dried out playdough
A tub of old bath toys
A old storage box ( before I refill it)
A pack of newborn nappies donated along with some unused baby bits ( my youngest is now 3 😁)
Also the highchair put on olio as ds is my last so have to let some bits go! ( took a photo of it)

Recycled a bag of biros and other pens at Ryman's.
Got rid of two threadbare towels.
Next going through cards from birthdays and anniversaries that I have saved as mementoes.

What do you do about unused craft stuff like cards I have made or yarn? Donate or bin?

Really need to do my underwear drawer, it’s atrocious!
But I’m fairly militant about getting rid of anything not being used and having more space and no clutter. Regularly put a box out at the end of the drive for people to take from, feels lovely to see it taken.

I am on a similar mission, filled a large bag with clothes I don't wear, ready to donate.

My downfall is books. We have a LOT of books and I get very torn discarding them. And papers - like articles from magazines. Boxes of them.

I find it hard to get rid of what I view as knowledge.

Tips welcome, as I don't want to become an old lady with tunnels through her teetering magazine piles.

Also wondering whether to give up on the mini trampoline. Bought second hand for DS with dyspraxia for motor skills in winter but its been a 5 min wonder.
We are in a smallish flat with very little storage so clutter has no place to hide it's visible and it does irk me. I feel like my brain is cluttered because of it.

I'm on the other decluttering thread, the long running one. I guess this thread will end in a month so I just wanted to say when that happens anyone who wants to is welcome to join the other thread. We all just use it however it suits us, there aren't any rules, please don't think you're not welcome there. Obviously I'm not trying to poach anyone from this OP's thread while it's running though!

Just hopped on this thread to say to AllTheYearRound you don't need all those piles of magazines and articles. I used to keep that sort of thing too. Until I realised I never re-read the magazines or looked up anything in the articles. I always used books if I wanted to look something up. Now we have the internet. You don't need all that stuff

Hello!! Thank you for this thread! It's been a great motivator because I wanted to declutter so I could come on here and say I managed it!!!

I managed to clear the side in the kitchen which had become a pile, literally a pile, of random half-eaten packaged food. Like a pack of bagels with one bagel left, or a pack of crackers with two crackers left, etc. Towards the bottom of the pile some of it was mouldy, urgh.

Also threw out all of dd's old baby bottles - they're by MAM and I found out it costs almost as much to replace the silicone parts and teats as buying the whole thing new! They call themselves a sustainable company!! So thrown the lot out as we'd have to buy new parts anyway for the new baby and this time we'll get a different brand. It was a huge open box overflowing with random bottle parts and dummies and it's gone.

The visible part of my kitchen has transformed and I now have so much countertop space!

A week or two ago I also cleared the last three boxes we had from when we moved in (yep, nearly 5 years ago) and threw nearly all of it away except I found my wedding jewellery lol. So that was nice.

This morning I cleared out my bedside drawer which yielded almost a bin bag full of crap. Byeeeeeee to that.

I'm a borderline hoarder so this is a big deal for me, I'm very proud, I'm going to try and keep this up. Kitchen cupboards next.

Ps I've also begun a clothes-for-charity-shop sack but it's stalled about a third full on our landing. I need to fill it up and take it to the shop ASAP. Will report back when I've done that!

My heart sank in shame when I showed 3yo dd the kitchen after I'd decluttered... she said "oh is it a new microwave?" Nope, you just couldn't see the microwave properly because it had been covered and surrounded with piles of debris. I'm never letting it get that bad again, I swear it. If it looks like we won't eat the last bagel, it's going in the bin!!

I retired 4 weeks ago and returned from holiday 2 weeks ago. Really struggling to motivate myself so much so my husband asked if I wanted to go back to work!! So last week I decluttered one bathroom....so much out of date creams and potions. Today I did my clothes drawers. I've put on a lot of weight so have moved the things I'm hoping to get back into. Now my drawers are tidy!

Thank you! 3 more bags of things gone today, and a wardrobe dismantled and donated and a clear out of plates, mugs and bowls. Had so many taking up a entire kitchen cupboard. Great hearing how everyone is going!

Need to do this too

This made me laugh out loud 😀 Why is it that microwaves get so cluttered? Mine is exactly the same.

I'm back on the wagon!

Today I decluttered my sock drawer and threw out loads. Went through the toddler books and donated a handful. Some more toddler clothes and a pair of shoes. More tomorrow!

Thank you for the encouragement to let go @IndianSummer78 I do feel like it weighs me down. I have to go through it as there are occasional photos and things in there. Can you link to the long running thread for if/when this ends?

Thanks!