Decluttering thread 7 - as the days lengthen we’ll feel more motivated to declutter

[stealthninjamum]

Sorry for the long thread title, I’ve just seen that the old thread has reached 1,000 posts.

For newbies this thread and the old one a day threads are for a group of mumsnetters who are decluttering. We’ll share tips and advice and inevitably the conversation moves on to organisation tips, pretty storage solutions and persuading our families to join in.

We’re all at different stages of decluttering so join us for support and chat.

@daffodil2023 the cot was meant to be temporary so that another family member could collect it but ten years later no one has claimed it.

I have been struggling a bit to declutter as so many areas are clear now. I took three bags to the charity shop yesterday and I have shredded and thrown out some papers. The playroom is a bit of a disaster so I might spend some time on Lego sets now. I wonder how long it would take to get rid of them if I did an hour a day.

Well I've finally started.

I've drawn up a (long) list of area by area. Some small (a particular cupboard) and other areas larger (shower room).

My journey commences

4 empty plastic things into the recycling box...

4

I had my sons pip assessment this morning which then meant driving him to school after so I didn't get back until gone midday. I think he found it overwhelming but did well. I laughed when he said he can get dressed in ten minutes!

Ten hours more like.

Then I had a phone call from dd occupational therapist which was more sad news. She said she has assessed her a few times before and she is unrecognisable now. I'm beginning to wonder if she been assaulted or something.

Anyway the house is a utter tip. It's also now filthy. Four hours of blitzing would see it right but honestly I need to do everything ( bar washing up and laundry). Ds new disability socail worker is coming tomorrow. In two minds to give up and let her see the mess as that's the reality of parenting three sen kids and doing three reviews at once, or getting her off my back. They don't help so I'm inclinded to hide my reality and low mh from her.

I'm back to "what will be, will be" which is true. One day at a time and if I need to get assertive and go to appeal I will. But today there's no suitable school to appeal over. Its dds current school or somewhere that I will never accept.

Good to see everyone chipping away. Its so good to build habits as I know I can jump back in too as I had a good method. Keep going

9 cardboard boxes gone, contents rehomed elsewhere. Total is 1996

@IncessantNameChanger I wouldn’t necessarily jump to the conclusion your dd has been assaulted (although obviously look out for it). Puberty seems hard for autistic girls and it seems to be a big time for school refusal and anxiety. Both mine changed and i actually wondered if someone had abused my older one. She is now back to normal - whatever that is - and is so much better at coping. My younger one is in the midst of a breakdown and is a different child to how she was. I’m hoping that she will also learn to cope, with maturity (and OT, Salt, and a psychologist)

im wondering if there’s anything that could help when you have the very busy periods like now. For example could you get your washing done as a service wash at a launderette so it doesn’t hang around? Or a cleaner for a couple of hours a week.

Anyway I hope the meeting has gone well. I would probably have put all the clutter in a bag in the bedroom to tidy afterwards.

I struggle to get rid of DVDs because we still watch them as we don’t have a smart TV. Anyway today I decided to donate 2 DVDs of The Office as I can watch it on iplayer and one of the Spider Man film with Toby Maguire. I also put in a horrible science kit that I’d never opened. I have to accept dd2 is never going to be interested.

Have listed a card playing table to FB free page.
Also have a pile of hangers I need to list too.

threw out a broken hanger that was loitering

Need to find more energy and do more….

262+1=263

Have got collection times booked for table & pile of hangers.

I have also booked a repair slot for the microwave - still under guarantee so that’s good, 🤞 they can fix it. (Built in Neff so not just a cheap replacement job)

Washing machine is making a bad noise, and tumble dryer given up too. Sigh. Have phoned the local repair hero guy but the bugger is away on holiday for a few weeks, how very dare he!!

263

Anyone got any recommendations for places or charities that might like to come and take a free piano? Needs a tune but I can't move it at all...

Hi everyone.

I have seen this thread before but not posted.
I just dont know where to start with all my stuff.
I have bags of stuff everywhere.
A massive cupboard in the kitchen that I haven't opened for years. If I could clear some of this I could store some stuff.
House is 2 up 2 down and just me and dd live here.
I work fully time plus 2 evenings.
Weekend I am very unmotivated and I need a kick.

Around here you could offer it for free on any local Facebook group and someone would come and collect.

Absolutely blitzed my house today. Its now untidy but clean. Socail worker didn't turn up!! Tomorrow it might actually make clean AND tidy. But let's not get carried away just yet. Three!! Loads of washing done. I thought I was on topos that.

@stealthninjamum omg a cleaner is my idea of hell, I'm not tidy enough for that. Maybe if it ever gets tidy. I just can't think straight about dd. I need to pay for a private psychiatrist really but I can't book when I'm in a flap. I will do that later in the week.

I think I'm done with Vinted. Suddenly I'm getting no views. My posts asking on the Fb support group never get published so I can't work out what's going on. Local clothing bank has agreed to take it di it will all go this weekend and I will take a Vinted break.

Dd said her knickers kept falling down do I told her to bin them. Life is too short for uncomfortable knickers. I wish I could take my own advice

I did try that last year but there seems to be a few going free and not being taken...will try again, thank you!

Went through a binbag of clothes waiting to be sold that's been sat in a corner for well over a year. Pulled everything out and was really honest about what's worth selling, and I'll take the rest down to the charity shop today, so that's 15 things out in 5 minutes.

I'm very, very tempted to pull out everything from the cupboard of doom in preparation for the weekend. Realistically I won't have a chance to go through the lot, but I feel like if it's out and visible, I'm likely to give it a shot. I've started reading and watching Dana K White recently though and know she'd be furious so am on the fence 🤣

To be honest you don't sound unmotivated, you sound exhausted from working so hard. Try not to beat yourself up, I bet you've been doing the absolute best you can for a really long time, and that's good enough

I know that feeling though of something's got to change so can you pick one room (personally I'd choose something small and non-sentimental e.g. bathroom) and promise yourself to set a timer for 5 minutes every day. Only do the 5 minutes each day, be ruthless about what to get rid of, and work around the room clockwise. Don't jump over tricky bits and stay in the same room until it's completely finished. By the end of the week you'll have decluttered for 35 minutes total and will be able to see a little difference. After 2 weeks you'll have done a total of 1 hour 10 minutes and might have some clear surfaces. After 3 weeks you might have some cupboard space etc etc :)

Keep it up and slowly you will see changes. Post in here every night with what you've managed to give yourself a boost. Good luck!

I have been meaning to declutter the under stairs cupboard for a while, yesterday me and my partner done it together,

2 books in the charity bag
5 black bags of assortment of stuff that hasn't been used in 2 years
A box of dvds out
1 bag of assorted wires we don't need anymore.
4 cardboard boxes out
4 pairs of outgrown shoes
3 coats that are too small now
1 old pushchair out

It feels so good to have room under the stairs now and know what we have under there.

The next job is the kitchen cupboard at the weekend.

I also have another bag to take to the clothing bank of clothes that are outgrown and no good anymore

Took the five school cardigans I sorted out at the weekend to school this morning for their uniform donation, so they are out of the house. It usually takes me a while to get stuff out after I’ve decided to get rid of it, so I’m pleased with myself.

Found a raincover for a pushchair we had given away months ago. Put it up for free on fb and someone came and collected on time and thanked us a lot. So that's restored my faith in marketplace a little!

I tried to declutter the piles of books I mentioned in an earlier post. It didn’t go well. Only three made it into the charity bag. And the rest are mostly in the ‘to be read’ category so not ready to be shelved yet.

I did go through DD’s wardrobe again and pulled out quite a few things that no longer fit. I swear, it feels like I put her to bed and when she wakes up, she has grown three inches overnight!

Not so much decluttering, but I have organized our family swimming bag so that all goggles and sinkies etc are in just the one place instead of scattered across three different locations.

The car boot had a bit of a clean out in anticipation of a trip we are taking this weekend.

Belated thanks to @IndianSummer78 for her shredding tip, doing little and often is a good idea, especially as I keep finding documents that need to go.

Haven't been able to do much in the last few days (unless binning half a packet of expired nuts counts...), but have discovered minimal mum's 20/20 rule. If you are not sure whether you are going to need an item in the future, but you could replace it in less than 20 min for less than £20, then it can go. I think I am going to use that a lot.

Doing a few 5 mins here and there. Am slowly noticing that things are easier to sort as more things have a place to go to. Sorted out 1 big box of crap, and got 11 outs for the bin/recycling, but more importantly the rest of the box is correctly filed in sensible places, not making clutter. A handful more things for the charity pile too.

2024 Total - 630
March - 72

Welcome @Sunshineandrainbow

There are lots of approaches to decluttering. I think a slob comes clean would say start with a drawer or tiny space with two bags one for rubbish and one for charity shop. I think she’d also say if you find an item that’s in the wrong place ask where the first place you’d think it should belong is and then put it there straight away.

Or if you have an iPhone you could download toss and do an area a day that it tells you.

when I started I cleared surfaces and got rid of big items like old toys and furniture to make a big impact visually.

If you start small but just do a tiny bit a day it does get easier. I’d also say not to worry about ‘finishing’ an area I constantly go back to areas I’ve done as I think it’s too hard to completely declutter a whole area at once like Kondo suggests.

i set timers on my phone. You could start with five or ten minutes. I used to find that I’d usually get into it once I started so would do more than ten minutes but my problem was always procrastinating. I’m now finishing my house with my worst areas (child’s artwork / school stuff and Lego) and still set timers as I don’t enjoy it. But I know it will be worth it.

Not much going on due to the house renovations but I've sold 7 items of clothing on eBay.

Total 574

Did a quick go through of the bathroom this evening whilst DD was in the bath. Have done it before but this time was ridiculously ruthless and binned a bunch of 'might use one day' items. Took another handful of stuff down to the new medical boxes and put them away straight away. Got a carrier bags worth for bin/recycling so probably about 35 items. Meant I could clear the sides of stuff I actually use and put it in the cupboards so the sides are clear now. The whole room needs to be done up as it's pretty minging but at least it finally meant I could move on from bathroom cabinets on Toss so I'll take that as a win!

Wow that’s huge @daffodil2023!

I am still going with outs. This week has been an item sold on Vinted, lots of plastic packaging gone and a couple of things on Freecycle. Got a few books for charity shop bit want to take a full bag.
FILs house needs decluttering, they are finally starting probate so we have time. There us a lot of stuff! I went up yesterday and helped his partner with a few things. Not much out but I took a few things to the dump and brought some bits here we'll use up. There's some other things I've earmarked for DP to take to dump at the weekend. Also got a few things to list on Freecycle, if no takers, then dump.