Decluttering and organising thread 8 – it’s nearly summer

[stealthninjamum]

These threads are accountability threads for mumsnetters who are decluttering and organising our homes.

We’re all at different stages of decluttering from the beginning to the maintenance phase and use different techniques. Join us for support and chat .

We discuss all things to do with decluttering, the things that stop us decluttering, how to get over them, where to dispose of our clutter, how we can encourage our families to join us, and pretty storage solutions which is the fun part.

I’m doing one last big push to get rid of loads of stuff before the long summer holidays when it’ll inevitably turn to chaos again.

Useful tips
Some of us have found the Toss app (on apple) a great place to start with decluttering.

Many of us love Dana K. White (A Slob Comes Clean) on youtube and podcasts.

Many of us at the start just take a timer for 5 or 10 minutes to just make it seem less daunting. I used to start by clearing surfaces.

If you want to make a big impact quickly then increasingly charities will pick up your furniture, books and clothes so you don't even need to leave the house. Or if you have hundreds of books / CDs it's really easy to use the Music Magpie, ziffit or We buy books apps to get them taken away and earn a (very) small amount of money at the same time.

The BBC TV Program Sort Your Life Out is particularly inspiring.

When I do housework I listen to podcasts from a Slob Comes Clean, Clutterbug, the Declutter Hub and The Art of Decluttering. If you think you have ADHD then Clutterbug talks about this a lot as she has ADHD, and Amy from The Art of Decluttering did an ADHD season about 8 or 9 months ago which gave some good tips. My dc have ADHD so it’s something I’m very interested in.

Wow @IncessantNameChanger that’s great. I’m not managing much out of the door just at the moment, but not buying stuff is at least half the battle I think

Yes not buying is key. Luckily I think I started getting better at that last year. Now I'm even better and I also count my ins. I don't go near the shops. Only when I'm out for my sewing course I pop into two charity shops on the way back to the car. I don't buy anything online either unless it's Vinted or school uniform from Asda ( sometimes M&S). I really miss the buzz of shopping. But hopefully, when I do buy something it's really going to be needed.

out bag of clothes recycling
out bag of soft plastics
neutral cheapo scrubs set arrived returned needs to be replacedI did try to order the expensive ones to be fair also we shouldn't have to buy them ourselves
always quite energized after Parkrun

Where are you working that you need to buy your own scrubs @Riverswims

Few books and a couple of outgrown hoodies to start yet another charity bag
Old scratched beyond useable stockpot gone but the replacement has already been ordered so neutral there. Last of a box of shower steamers used up this morning so a tiny bit of extra space in the bathroom cupboard.

One dress too tight and one leggings too big so falls down. Total is 2876

mixed dental practice 🥴

3 x black bags full of children’s clothes gifted to a family in difficult circumstances.
A bag of old odd socks turned in to a very useful and pretty fraught excluder.

Today’s out was a pair of trousers that had stopped fitting dd1 about three years ago yet for some reason we’re in my walking trousers/ thermals drawer.

This week:

13x bits too cloth recycling (baby clothes, socks and maternity bras)
11x cloth nappies sold
43x cloth nappies and bits to cloth recycling
5x plastic boxes and bottles to recycling

361 + 72 = 433

1 box hair dye used up
1 sleep mask binned
Total is 2878

Guys, I’m suddenly drowning under stuff again. I blame the change of season. Also it’s birthday party season, both for the kids and all their friends so about a million “ins”.

I need to significantly reduce the amount of crap in our house asap.

We finally bought some new bedroom drawers today to replace our broken ones. The bedroom looks tidier now there isn't one drawer sat out overflowing with stuff. The old drawers have gone to dump and DP decluttered quite a bit of stuff from his drawers.

Went through all the old baby clothes, and sent anything too manky to clothes recycling this weekend. Still 2x binbags for the attic, but I have family that'll appreciate it next year / haven't quite given up on the prospect of another baby...

@Riverswims take a look at the HMRC website you may be able to claim back some of the costs as they are necessary for work.
No further outs here but this week will sort through cookbooks again - bought a bunch of river cotfage ones from WOB. They were quite dissapointing so may keep only one but will find an out to swap it with.

One pair of tatty pyjamas recycled
One face wash used up
One face serum used up
One newspaper recycled
One magazine recycled
Total is 2884

@Gassylady actually yes we always get the popups to claim back laundering expenses but when I was married it never worked out and gave me any tax back. Maybe now I'm single it will help? and especially during Covid it was insane and surgicals of course 🥵
anyway today I had to clean/tidy for viewing again, on the whole I'm having to do less and less but not so with the younger twos room I actually had to turn down half a days work today in order to attack it. and it was only done on Wednesday gone I just can't get them into the mentality of tidying the way it needs to be tidied 🥺 but with the rest of the house, I'm almost at the point where I could damp dust every day which is what the dermatologist told me to do years ago 😳

Latest decluttering:

• one pair of outgrown PE joggers to charity bag. Already had the next size up, so two pairs are now out of storage (bag at bottom of wardrobe) and in use.
• More shredding done at the weekend - I did two more folders of mum’s paperwork, which I’ll count as one item.
• Three outgrown coats to charity shop. I had been thinking about selling these on Vinted, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort, so they’re gone.

I’ve bought DD seven new long-sleeved tops, so we need to go through her current long-sleeved tops and donate anything that doesn’t fit. She’s in-between sizes at the moment, so this could be tricky.

Still haven’t found somewhere to take the two boxes of baby clothes, which is so frustrating, though DH is ill at the moment so he couldn’t drop them off even if I did find somewhere.

Sold on Vinted of dd
Three pairs of leggings
One coat
Four Christmas jumpers
One Halloween jumper

Bought one pair of gloves for me

October
In = 9
Out = 137

Total for 2024
1797 out
168 in

Dd clothes are looking very sparce now. But there's no urgent need to replace anything for her. Need to try to get her to try on her hand me down brothers pe joggers. Feels very weird her have such few clothes now. I'm sure she still has way, way to much

I have decluttered I think the most random collection of stuff this week :) Not very actively, but just as and when I've seen stuff floating about.

Out this week:
14 phonics books sold on Vinted
5 ancient bottles of soda water - back of the cupboard and totally flat
a condiment we'd never use to food bank
DC collection of stones - yes, I'm counting this as one as getting rid of the random stones has made me very happy (DC agreed)
coffee shop loyalty card
expired cough syrup
tupperware lid with no box
mouthwash
very sticky half-opened bag of sweets
book, given to a friend and hopefully not returned
a huge pile of kids drawings recycled

Total is 1592

Two pillowcases donated.
Total is 2886

only managed a pile of Waitrose magazines and papers out today whilst tidying for viewing/important call/heading into work better than nothing 🤷🏽‍♀️

A black bag of my clothes to school for RagBag. Feel as if you can barely see I’ve done a thing yet gotten rid of so much crap this month 😕. Will really try tomorrow!

Bag of bottle tops (mostly cider and beer) that had been accumulating in the kitchen for a few years went out in the recycling today. I felt like putting a note on it saying we’re not alcoholics, just bad at getting rid of stuff!

Also put the two bags of shredded paper from the weekend out for recycling.

W/E 20th October

Decluttered
Futility room
Still finding more bits to get rid of as I potter about all over the house.

Donated
Easel, ramekins x3, cake tins x 3, mugs x 4, water bottle, headphones, bathmat, pair of boots.

Binned
Dog shampoo, dog ointment, (every doggy item reminds me we are now a home without a dog; I hope there aren't many more to find 😟 ) chipped mug, out of date insect repellant, suncream, saline. Out of date medication (taken to chemist).

Recycling centre
Four big bags gardening rubbish.

I have stalled a bit. It's half term.so doubt much more will get done. Looked back at my photos from April and NOTHING HAS CHANGED! in fact it might look slightly worse. How? How? Arrrgghh! I'm quilting my anger away. Chased up my declutter from council AGAIN.

Do much for the house looking amazing by Christmas. I thought fuck it and have hired a storage unit to put uni sons stuff in and some of the contents of that room into. It's neither decluttering nor accumulating and tbh I just don't care as long as ds has room to return.