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.

Love the description "raggedy tea towels"

One pair of mouldy(? It's white and it shouldn't be there!) jeans recycled. Total is 2193

Today DH removed a bunch of plants from the garden I had told him I wanted gone . We had the gardener recently and they’re soon coming again to do maintenance but he looks after the veg boxes , and mows and weeds in between visits . He also packed up a couple of camera lenses to send to the shop he’s sold to before , and will list some old binoculars and another lens on EBay . I looked through dog toys as I do monthly when the dog gets his toy and treat box and found a couple to go as usual . I also did DD art drawer so it’s nice and tidy once again as is the now organised school stationary drawer . I will do the “ junk drawer “as well which is in pretty good order already, and I need to still do board games and DD big books . Maybe tomorrow . Also planning on attic but it’s been too hot there in the day although I do have a fan there .
Going out :

• 1 my finished book
• 1 DD baking kit used up
• 1 pair of DD small golf shoes
• 4 grubby dog toys
• 1 DD small puffy coat
• 1 set of old binoculars
• 4 Camera lenses
• 2 learning to draw books
• 1 mini colouring set ,both to charity shop
• a bunch of temporary tattoos
• 1 little box
• 2 pairs of old scissors
• 1 ruler
• a pile of paper
• 3 old colouring books to recycling

I’ll need to check my new this year’s total …

New total is 997.

@Nordicmom your husband sounds so hard-working! I have to coax mine a lot more to get him to do stuff (although he nordoes).

I've also cleared the garden a bit (ours is dinky) and tried to make it nicer. Went around the house yesterday just clearing rubbish. Not many outs but it looks nicer.
Out went a laddered pair of tights, a cleaning product which I hated the smell of, a swim nappy and the rest of an old food supplement. Total is 745.

980 outs so far this year. I need to do my wardrobe next. Still got to get ds to try on a bunch of his summer stuff.

I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and I worked out that I could buy a pack of five tshirts, two packs of three shorts and three leggings for under £50 so I need to be mindful of this and stop stashing and buying things in the sales to put aside! Sold lots of summer bundles on Vinted but 75% just gets donated. I think I will leave vinted now for when I Unpack the kids Autumn and winter kit. Better to sort it in season as it come out rather than out of season as it gets packed away

The person I offered the bundles of ds clothes still hasn't set a firm time to collect. Would I be unreasonable to slowly start getting rid of it? It's all rattling around in my car getting dirty. Some of it is new with tags and I think some would sell on Vinted. I don't need the money bit it's nice thinking it's going to good use and I'm buying the kids clothes mainly on Vinted or Asda so £5 of sales buys something quite nice.

It's things like this that get me stuck. I'm not offering again purely because I now feel frozen between upsetting the person I offered to and those things actually not really leaving my possession. To be 100% honest it's just likely to come back into my house and hang around. At least if it doesn't sell on Vinted I donate it after a week now.

Not happy. In fact it's made me feel bad about my decluttering like I have self sabotaged

Get it listed Incessant! If they really wanted it they'd come collect it ASAP, not use you as a storage warehouse until they need it. To avoid feeling frozen in future I'd offer with a must-be-collected-by date of one week later, if you've still got it on that date it goes elsewhere and they can't say they weren't warned.

Yes I'm not chasing them again so hopefully that's that. I don't think they can want it that bad anyway or they would have collected it before now

I’m annoyed on your behalf @IncessantNameChanger it’s just rude to keep someone hanging around when you’re doing them a favour. Get rid of the clothes, I love that feeling when something had actually left the house.

im finding it hard to find things to go so yesterday found a mug that’s a bit faded and an old plastic cup. im also waiting to hear from someone on Facebook who was interested in my bookcase that I have been struggling to get rid of so fingers crossed it’ll be gone by next week which is when I’m hopefully getting the garage crap gone.

That's so inconsiderate @IncessantNameChanger, I had a woman who did that yo me 3 times. I just stopped replying.

But yesterday I listed a pile of 6 baby books on a local fb group and a woman came to getvthrm on her lunch break. Result! Also went through my paper drawer.

Out yesterday:
6 books
8 old birthday cards
1 cat box/bed thingy we made and the cat hated
Old exhibition guide
Kids holiday club "passport"
Small pouch that something came in

Total is 763

1. No regrets sort out of undies and socks done
2. kitchen re-org under way - just cleared a plastic bag worth of old meds and vitamins. Moved wine glasses back into conservatory storage overflow as we don't need them every day. So now everything looks a bit neater. Still not fully optimized, but better than before. Tea making stuff can now go into the reclaimed space and plates are a lot easier to reach.
3. gave away a big bag of fabric + sorted another to the side to deliver
4. Sorted through maternity clothes and donated of a big plastic bag worth. Just waiting to fit back into my original jeans and then the rest will follow.

Still plan to mend the dress but have put that on the backburner for now.
Admin / shredding docs still on to do list :(

On its way out:
pregnancy pillow
baby bump belt
safety seatbelt
donut cushion
all listed.

Just resurfacing after a run of night shifts. Not much gets done during those.

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures - make some decisions on what is going where; all at least downstairs together for us to look through
2. Decide about the shelves we used to have as cat shelves/put up or get rid - DD doesn’t want them so will prob get rid
3. Take sentimental broken wooden box to a friend who says he’ll try and repair it
4. Cull of bedding currently sorted into sizes
5. DS2 paperwork: started blue badge

Not quite outs yet:

more stuff on Vinted - some of DD’s better stuff to list on there (need to take photos and list approx 5 items)
21 items in a Music Magpie box but waiting for password reset email to actually confirm sale - system is not working for me - need to try this again
pile of Allen keys - gave up on collection so now in recycling - OUT ☑️
box of DVDs - maybe library?
old ironing board (Friday) - DH forgot to put it out
15 party bits listed on FB

Out:
7 rubbish/broken party decoration bits
approx 20 Allen keys
732+27= 759

5 things sold and will be posted this evening.

Try and get some mending done tonight so I can reorganised sewing compartment. Also contemplating donating some children's plates as I have new ones now, but they're still useful. It's the still useful that trips me up and often a slower decision. Since kondo I'm much better at 'I paid money for this, keep it' as if it's not used I know that the money is gone and I don't have any value in this item anymore.

New shelf going up in the larder. No new things to put on there but organise what is existing better.
Will give a bottle of gin to a friend as it's not a brand I like.

Few more sales on Vinted, small bag of clothes to charity shop. 544 outs year to date.

Lots of stuff set aside to put on our local free site but I can't quite face the hassle just now.

Sorry guys… I seem to have dropped off the thread a bit. You are all doing so well 😊 We are struggling a bit here, everyone keeps getting poorly and we’ve had some other issues to contend with including a bit of a flood.

2024 Total - 769

May - 31
8 kitchen stuff from flood damage (so far - a lot more to come!)
2 boxes
20 - garden storage box and most of contents (estimated - might have been a bit more - this was rather good as my other half seems to have got with the programme “that’s cheap if we need to replace it”)
1 vinted

I’m going to do a bit of a push on the kids clothes again I think. Anyway.

One top and trousers I never reach for. One shampoo used up. Total is 2196

My bookcase has gone, I’m so delighted. Someone had been vague about collecting it and then today someone messaged on trash nothing and has just taken it.

Yey for bookcase going!

@Realfastfoodie sorry to hear about the flood - leaking stuff internally or a river type flood?

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures - make some decisions on what is going where; all at least downstairs together for us to look through
2. Decide about the shelves we used to have as cat shelves/put up or get rid - DD doesn’t want them so will prob get rid
3. Take sentimental broken wooden box to a friend who says he’ll try and repair it
4. Cull of bedding currently sorted into sizes - DONE ☑️
5. DS2 paperwork: started blue badge

Not quite outs yet:

more stuff on Vinted - some of DD’s better stuff to list on there (need to take photos and list approx 5 items)
21 items in a Music Magpie box but waiting for password reset email to actually confirm sale - system is not working for me - need to try this again
box of DVDs - maybe library?
old ironing board (Friday) - DH forgot to put it out
15 party bits listed on FB - Gone ☑️
lots of bedding listed on FB freebie site

Out:
2 torn duvet covers into recycling
old pillowcase into recycling
2 knackered fitted sheets into recycling
759+15+5=779

@LivingInaBuiltSite - internal water leak. Fairly dramatic but could have been worse!

Been over a month since I last posted as I've been working away a lot and life has got in the way of the decluttering.

Renovations on the house are still very slow and will be a long time until things are tidy.

27 items sold on eBay as I've 'decluttered' 3 stone in weight recently so am having to sell all the new clothes I bought ready for this summer.

DP did a tip run and took with him:
1 x large box of old paints

1 x box of fabrics
4 x bags of old tools and diy stuff
1 x box of unwanted tiles
1 x pile of old stair spindles
2 x Christmas bags (huge ones)
2 x photo albums
7 x old toys
20 x CDs
Cat toy
Pillowcases
Kids gloves
Power bank
14 x toys to the donation area at tip
23 x clothes donated

Total for year 836

We're going away for my 40th after spring break and wanted the house to be nice and tidy by then but we just won't have the time.
To make things worse the health visitor contacted us yesterday to say she's coming next Friday to do DS' 2yr assessment (just before we go on holiday 🤨). We will have to put a lot of effort in to make the house acceptable before she comes as we're renovating the hall and it looks dreadful as you come into the house. The downstairs rooms are heaving with stuff so hopefully she'll be able to ignore it all 😄.

Success! @stealthninjamum
Glad all ok @Realfastfoodie but not nice
Congratulations @PissedOffNeighbour22 3 stone is a massive achievement- is that through any particular programme/method?

2 Pairs of shoes out. Larder has been reorganised. Plan over half term is to eat the freezer - lots of mystery boxes

@Maeploy yes I'm taking Mounjaro weight loss injections, calorie counting and increasing exercise (as much as I can with my knackered spine).

Really shouldn't have sold all my smaller clothes as part of last year's decluttering 😂

No new decluttering this week. A load of previously sorted baby/ toddler stuff will be going to a local charity next week - they only take donations on one weekday morning so it’s been tricky to find a time when one of us is free. This weekend I’m going to dig out the two baby play mats from under the bed to add to the donation pile.

I’ve also had people asking to collect stuff I’ve posted on FB, going to the point of arranging a date and time, then not turning up. It’s so frustrating!

The winter duvet has been washed and put away, so isn’t in a bag in the corner of our bedroom. It has to be washed at a laundrette as it won’t fit in our washing machine, so that delays the process.

Interestingly, DH spent some time this week clearing and tidying the pile of stuff on his bedside cabinet and the random stuff in the corner beside it. It seems to have been mostly packaging, but he also found two unused phone cases to be donated as they don’t fit his current phone. Maybe all my decluttering has been a good influence on him!

In contrast to all the previous no-shows, all 3 people due today came and collected, yey!

Jobs:

1. Hang up framed pictures - make some decisions on what is going where; all at least downstairs together for us to look through
2. Decide about the shelves we used to have as cat shelves/put up or get rid - DD doesn’t want them so will prob get rid
3. Take sentimental broken wooden box to a friend who says he’ll try and repair it
4. DS2 paperwork: started blue badge

Not quite outs yet:

more stuff on Vinted - some of DD’s better stuff to list on there (need to take photos and list approx 5 items)
21 items in a Music Magpie box but waiting for password reset email to actually confirm sale - system is not working for me - need to try this again
box of DVDs - collected through FB ☑️
old ironing board (Friday) - DH forgot to put it out
lots of bedding listed on FB freebie site - lots gone already

Out:
1 slightly defective blind collected
2 x king size sheets collected
Single bedding duvet set collected & sheet
Box of 35 dvds collected
779+35+2+2+1=819

(nearing the 2024 target of 843 by the end of this month)