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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Decluttering thread 10 - Spring is here, time to get those surfaces clear!

997 replies

TidyClutterIsStillClutter · 27/02/2025 17:33

thread 9 is full, and I can’t find a new thread. Can anyone point me to thread 10?
tia

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
SydneyCarton · 25/07/2025 11:16

Obviously I forgot to take the bag of clothes before school finished so will have to lug them down to the bins in town. I'm debating whether to keep a bag of outgrown uniform bits until September to donate to the school or just to recycle them as normal - some are OK for second-hand spares but others are quite faded and stained.

Bought some new ex-display trainers from Vinted but have a couple of pairs which are ready to chuck so 1 in 2 out. Also decluttered my hair for the first time since November - self-care is not my strong point!

Bufftailed · 25/07/2025 16:59

Agh tackled understairs cupboard doom. Horrible job. Been putting it off for years. Got through all tools, screws, cables, electrics, random stuff. A lot in the bin. Have 4 large boxes of papers, old uni work, DC school materials to sort. But the worst bit is done. I now have about 25 old tins of paint to dispose of. Any idea?? Also 8 old phones! And a fire extinguisher. Dump trip in a van tomor morning to get rid of as much as possible. I feel like the whole house is at least 2 weeks full time work. Need to keep going!!

jandalsinsummer · 25/07/2025 17:00

Hello team! Back trying to sort elderly rellies house out. I have 2 weeks, they have a load of DVDs and Videos think Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer etc.

a) is there any second hand market for these? (Money is very tight so even 2 quid a pop would be worthwhile)

b) what is the best way to sell? (No car so car boot is out) havn’t done eBay for years, opened a new account last week to buy some music books but would need advising how it all works now

c) best way to post?

I would need advice about selling on eBay, how to avoid being scammed, how to take payments the whole thing! I don’t have PayPal and not keen on it.

thanks heaps

IndianSummer78 · 25/07/2025 17:27

Bufftailed · 25/07/2025 16:59

Agh tackled understairs cupboard doom. Horrible job. Been putting it off for years. Got through all tools, screws, cables, electrics, random stuff. A lot in the bin. Have 4 large boxes of papers, old uni work, DC school materials to sort. But the worst bit is done. I now have about 25 old tins of paint to dispose of. Any idea?? Also 8 old phones! And a fire extinguisher. Dump trip in a van tomor morning to get rid of as much as possible. I feel like the whole house is at least 2 weeks full time work. Need to keep going!!

Be careful about going to the dump in a van. It's a commercial vehicle, regardless of who owns it or for what purpose and you'll probably be charged commercial rates. Unless perhaps you're not in the UK?

Tins of paint they have a special recycling point for at the dump. Unless it's still useable then someone might want it if you advertise it for free.

Phones can go into electrical recycling. Advise you do a factory reset on them first if they still work, to do a basic level of erasing your data. Or sometimes they have a second hand value depending on what they are, you could try Cex if they're in your area.

Jandals everyone pays with PayPal on eBay and lots will consider you a scammer if you don't offer it. I think you'd be wasting your money listing items if that's how you feel (I don't use PayPal either, so I understand). DVDs your best bet is FB, Preloved or similar but you won't get £2 each. Last time I bought some around 8 years ago I got 160 for £50. Charity shops will take them, they sell 5 for £1 in my local one. Last job lot of DVDs I got were about 100, free. You could try Music Magpie if you'd rather sell to a company but will get peanuts, if they take them at all.

Out today:

Face cream used up.
Uncomfortable knickers binned.
Three tops I don't like donated.
Trousers that remind me of an unpleasant family meal donated.
Skirt that was a mistake purchase donated.

Total is 3662

jandalsinsummer · 25/07/2025 17:41

@IndianSummer78 thanks
(impressive total)

I paid for the music books with a credit card is that just going into PayPal?

CheesePlantFeet · 25/07/2025 18:07

Sorted out the cupboard under the sink

Charity shop: 9x plant pots, car paint

Bin / recycling: balloons, 2x coat hangers, nail file, socks, expired hand gel, 5 empty packets, 2x candle stubs

Total 1521

Acheyelbows · 25/07/2025 19:11

Sorted through two cupboards and bagged up Instant pot accessories for the charity shop. This made cupboard space for the bread maker and blender that have been living on the table for a year.

Old deck partially dismantled outside and second tonne bag filled with branches.

Pillow (washed and never returned to correct shape), eye mask, never used as uncomfortable, thrown out. Uniforms recycled.

Broken cabinet downlights replaced with new set and wired with switch. Old set and transformer thrown out.

Lidl frappe pouches, hot chocolate pods and a bag of Lidl chocolate coins past BB date found stashed on top of the cabinet thrown out.

Sgl bed dismantled and moved to garage, one sgl mattress taken away when new small dbl delivered.

Magazine leafed through and recycled, cardboard from new fan purchase recycled.

Handbag sorted through and swapped to use an older leather one that was still in great condition. New one gifted Xmas 24 still not in use, not really an everyday style but will make an effort to start using it or it will become a relic in the ottoman bed base like it's predecessors.

Can't believe it's nearly August, need to organise a skip and get cracking on the back shed.

TidyClutterIsStillClutter · 26/07/2025 09:23

DS was round here yesterday to sort out his final things and then we took them back to his flat. Two large binbags of warhammer and other similar stuff. Another bag of odds and ends.

Destined for the paper bin:- all his uni notes and ancient payslips and bank statements. Also a stack of battered comics that I bought at a jumble sale about thirty years ago for £2.

OP posts:
EllieQ · 26/07/2025 09:44

Almost the end of July and my decluttering total is very low. I cleaned and organised a corner of my bedroom at the start of the month, felt very pleased with myself and vowed to keep up the good work, then… nothing.

The only things that I have decluttered this month are: a singing birthday cake toy (which I’d hidden away when DD was a toddler and only recently found again, half a box of stones that DD had collected (she wanted to keep the other half), most of an ice cream carton containing paper creations of DD’s, and various papers and junk from her school bag, which I emptied after the last day of term. Need to do that more often as it was a mess!

I’ve also sold two items on Vinted, so used up two padded envelopes from my stash.

I’ve told DD that over the summer holidays, we’re going to go through all her toy storage and decide what to keep and what to donate/ sell, as she doesn’t play with most of it. I suspect this will be harder for me than for her!

IDareSay · 26/07/2025 12:06

Still running behind on posting but decluttering going well.

W/E 20/07 (Week 29)
2025 – (1190 + 33 = 1223 ) = 802 to go

Digital
None

Stuff used up and not replaced
Spectacle cloth, face mask, fruit tea, body lotion = 4

Recycled/binned
Book, old curtain rails x 4, DH socks x 12 pairs, DH pants x 6, broken wallpaper brush, tea towels x 3 = 28

Charity shop
New donation bag now full. Really must get it out of the house next week!

Vinted
1

CherryRipe1 · 26/07/2025 12:34

Everyone doing well, congratulations! My decluttering has stalled due to a drunk driver writing off multiple cars in my street, DDs & DPs included. Police been round. Cars have been taken away by insurance company & hire cars delivered so guess that's a big declutter, however I could cry as I now have all the crap from their cars in my dining area. DD is moving so had her car full of stuff & DP carries lots of tools and materials in his for his work. On a brighter note I rejected a derisory offer on eBay yesterday then woke today to find item sold at full price to another buyer so posting that off today so that's less in packaging stash . Managed to repot a load of herbs yesterday so used up my home made compost and got some old seen-better-days plastic flower pots to get rid of. Anyone know what can be done with them? Going to list a fire pit I never use.

CherryRipe1 · 26/07/2025 12:47

Also, anyone got any ideas what I can do with a chest freezer full of frozen meat? It belonged to a deceased elderly relative. Would dog rescues take it? Seems a shame to put in food waste. Maybe leave some out in my garden for the urban foxes🤷‍♀️

IDareSay · 26/07/2025 16:15

That's awful about the cars @CherryRipe1 especially as you say they were full of stuff 🙁 I know how much crap I take out of mine when it goes in for servicing, stuff just accumulates in there, but moving and working stuff is necessary clutter!

As to the plant pots, our local garden centre has a big open shed in the car park where you can leave them; even the tattiest ones seem to get recycled; have you anywhere like that locally? Our local allotment society also seem to be able to make use of most things if they can be dropped off.

No idea about the frozen meat; are there reliable dates on it? Leaving any in the garden might attract rats.

CherryRipe1 · 26/07/2025 16:32

@IDareSay Yes, it was dreadful, the driver was totally out of it & I suspect other substances involved. CCTV footage is unbelievable, really lucky our neighbour has it so owe him big-time. Yes I was a car hoarder, standing jokes about my cars as dumping grounds (Volvo estate) & partners work & hobby involves a lot of stuff! That's life🤷‍♀️.
Ah thanks, I'll make some inquiries about local allotments and garden centres.
Dates not really reliable, there's supermarket and butchers meats but some of its been rebagged. I tried the Dog Trust but they can only take dog meat & can't take raw frozen for human consumption meats due to salmonella and no cooking facilities. I'll stick it on local sm, maybe dog owners will want it.
Yes, true, I forgot about the rats. I see foxes on camera at night/early hours, they're quite active & sometimes have rats in their mouths! Shame, as meat is so expensive.

stealthninjamum · 26/07/2025 20:29

@CherryRipe1 i’m having palpitations just thinking about how much crap
is in my car and how it would be awful if someone crashed into it.

Ive just rearranged my main larder cupboard and another one. I keep gadgets in cupboards so toaster / air fryer and toastie maker have been moved around. I threw away one manky lunchbox and a tin of gone off coconut milk. To my delight with those two items gone my cupboards look so much better and everything fits now. My larder cupboard has trays and I just made up some labels for ‘vinegars’, ‘oils and fats’ ,’ condiments’ and ‘cooking ingredients’ so hopefully my dc and cleaner will stick to the system.

IndianSummer78 · 26/07/2025 21:38

jandalsinsummer · 25/07/2025 17:41

@IndianSummer78 thanks
(impressive total)

I paid for the music books with a credit card is that just going into PayPal?

You bought them off a business though? They've got the ability to take card payments like they would on any other website they're running. As a private individual you won't have that ability. Unless eBay are somehow offering that as a facility to private sellers now? 🤷 (I can't see how that would work.)

People have an additional layer of protection as a buyer by using PayPal, so when purchasing from private sellers it's generally all anyone is prepared to do, unless they're doing cash on collection (and eBay isn't where people go to look for cash on collection items they usually expect it to be posted). Even when purchasing from an eBay business people often prefer to use PayPal for purchases.

eBay isn't safe and is full of scammers, both buyers and sellers. As a buyer PayPal offers extra protection against getting scammed, as a seller PayPal leaves you more open to being scammed. eBay is not much more than an online noticeboard where people can advertise stuff for sale and random people send them payment in exchange for the goods. Don't believe the hype.

It's been hyped up since day one as a safe place to buy and sell, it isn't. It's not much safer than seeing an ad in the back of the local paper or hobby magazine, phoning the number and sending off a cheque in the post to a random selling something. At least then you'd have their name, address and phone number! I've done my fair share of this back in the day as both buyer and seller and it's always worked out fine because the majority people are honest. Whereas the anonymity, and scale of reach, of eBay attracts scammers.

The feedback system is largely worthless. If you don't sell anything for 3 months it resets to zero, sell one item with good feedback and it's now at 100% positive. Lots of businesses with thousands of feedback per month have zero customer service, they sell things and if they don't arrive do nothing to resolve the issue, leaving the buyer to resort to claiming a refund from PayPal and although they've got thousands of excellent feedback putting their percentage at 95.8% they'll also have a few hundred negatives per month from customers who've been let down. Some people gain lots of feedback by selling 1000 ebooks for 99p to make their account look good, before selling (or scamming) the thing they want to sell (or rip people off for). There's nothing eBay can do to stop sellers friends bidding on their stuff to push the price up or to "buy" it for the purpose of leaving good feedback (they don't check the seller got paid).

If an account is suspended for dodgy dealing, being a scammer or breaking eBay's rules, or if they get too many negative feedbacks for their liking, all that's needed is a new email address (which can be obtained easily for free in less than 5mins) and 5mins after that they've got a new eBay account.

The buyer can't do anything if they get scammed voluntarily sending a bank transfer because they chose to do it and they don't have the sellers address for taking them to court (and some people don't pay even if you win in court). Buyers also don't have to take the risk of items getting lost or damaged in transit if they use PayPal, eBay itself may or may not refund them but PayPal almost definitely will if it doesn't arrive.

PayPal also generally come down on the side of the buyer in disputes about the item's condition or description. There's been cases where sellers received "their" damaged item back from the buyer only to find it's 100% not the good as new item they sent out, but the buyer's old damaged one (that's quite a common scam from scammer buyers), only they're stuffed because they can't prove it. There's even been cases where the seller has opened up the parcel for their "returned item" to find it's eg a box of old bricks instead of the playstation they sold. Buyer has a signature for the "returned item" and gets refunded by PayPal.

UK laws is buyer beware for private sales of second hand goods, it's on the buyer to check the condition of the item and it's specifications to ensure its what they want and it's their risk if it's lost or damaged in transit. So long as the seller didn't completely lie about what it was eg selling a pair of trousers and saying it's a dress and so long as they posted it, that's their job done. eBay and PayPal rules make the seller responsible for describing faults in the item and for delivery, so if it doesn't arrive or arrives damaged the seller has to refund, sometimes including the postage. This is how the seller can get scammed by buyers wrongly claiming it didn't arrive or was damaged (always send items with "signed for" tracking to help avoid this).

So with all the scamming going on, people are rightfully wary of paying with anything other than PayPal. Refusing to offer it as an option will have a lot of people automatically assuming you're a scammer and your listings are unlikely to do well as less people will be willing to bid. As an eBay seller, be prepared to get scammed occasionally and to lose both the item and the cost of posting it, on top of the fees you paid to sell it. If you can't afford to take that hit occasionally, I'd advise don't sell on eBay. You have to weigh it up that it's the most used second hand selling site versus the potential to be scammed.

Cherry I wouldn't sell or give away the meat, you're leaving yourself open to trouble if someone or their pet is poisoned. At least label it as not for human consumption if you do pass it on. You don't know of it's been continuously frozen or if there's been a power cut at some point. If it was me, I would put it in the food recycling just before collection so it's still frozen.

Donated:
One dress and one jumper.
Total is 3664

IncessantNameChanger · 26/07/2025 21:39

Gosh that's alfwul about the car. A few weeks back there was a similar incident near us and the driver even wrote off cars off the road on people's drives. The mind boggles!

My car is 7 seater and packed full of crap. We cleared the boot for the airport run but no ideawhere dh put the crap. He has form for emptying boots into sheds and garages. Then it gets ruined and skipped. Inc the kids coats so I must ask him.

Got back from holiday and my saggy swimming tsnkini came home as dh packed everything.

My next task is yet again sorting dd summer clothes as she didn't wear lots that she packed and I can cull it AGAIN! She went into Mango in Spain and bought a skirt and top and I need to stick to this method of letting her buy exactly what she wants on our rare trips to the shops. It costs less overall to buy one full price outfit she loves every few months than me buying up bargains on Vinted.

Saying that she is 11 soon and I noticed we packed a 7-8 playsuit from Next that still fits her but she has never worn. Ever. Urgh! I might try it all on Vinted but think we're at the end of summer season selling. Resisting the urge to look on Vinted to buy her a few more summer playsuit. If we get rid of over ten of her things I might let myself buy two Vinted margins to scratch my hoarder itch.

Good news is that everything well and truly fits easily into her wardrobe and draws now. First time in her life. By Christmas when some Christmas jumpers are out grown she will have empty draws too. Which I will not fill.

Hasthisreallyhappened · 26/07/2025 23:54

I emptied the bottom of my wardrobe and organised a few bits a lot better. Very random crap gone in the bin, my Chillow Pillow (don’t think they make them anymore), it was my favourite thing back in the days of the menopause but it’s perished. Sandals that gave me a blister and a lot of padded hangers that ive had probably over thirty years ago

CherryRipe1 · 27/07/2025 08:11

@stealthninjamum We are not alone, an old work colleague had a car full of junk and a musician friends car looked like he was permanently off to do a car boot sale.
My uncle was an extreme hoarder with rubbish seriously almost up to the ceiling in places and 2 sheds full of skip dived junk. I am not embellishing this at all. The clearance blokes were flabbergasted.

@IndianSummer78 That's a very informative and insightful post, definitely eBay is Caveat Emptor and Venditor, fortunately I've been extremely lucky in the 25 odd years of buying and selling with only one small scam, a buyer haggled furiously to get an item cheap (£4) then said it didn't arrive but it had, however I couldn't be bothered to argue the toss so refunded her.
Very good point about the meat, l think I'll just recycle it in the food waste bin, the risk is too great.

1 waterproof coat out on the wall. Daughter put a plastic toy out & that's gone.

Realfastfoodie · 27/07/2025 11:08

CherryRipe1 · 26/07/2025 12:47

Also, anyone got any ideas what I can do with a chest freezer full of frozen meat? It belonged to a deceased elderly relative. Would dog rescues take it? Seems a shame to put in food waste. Maybe leave some out in my garden for the urban foxes🤷‍♀️

So, it might sound strange, but why wouldn’t you eat it? The dates for how long things can be kept in deep freeze are guidance. I would definitely check things as I defrost them, though!

CherryRipe1 · 27/07/2025 12:05

@Realfastfoodie Some of it has come from butchers and markets and been rebagged with no dates or dates faded. Some meat looks a bit freezer burned & as @IndianSummer78 said, the freezer could have got switched off or had a power outage & defrosted then refrozen. I think it's only fit for foxes or carrion birds & due to rats round here can't risk that. Sadly it's got to go in the food waste bin.

Cleared the garden of broken ceramic & terracotta pots & broken/rotted wooden planters. Looks loads clearer. Stuck another thing on eBay & found a couple of hats for the charity bag.

Hasthisreallyhappened · 27/07/2025 14:22

Five bags of random crap, papers and receipts from bottom of the wardrobe either put where it should be or binned. A bag of leather boots organised so boots attached to its other ready for the shoe bin at recycling centre.

Pigtailsandall · 27/07/2025 14:31

I feel like the summer holidays have crept up on me and I'm all a-fluster because I have super-patchy childcare and so much on. I hadn't decluttered in days but just did days 204-208. Out went a stretched pair of socks, uncomfortable pants, broken hair claw, small makeup bag with a broken zip and a jewellery pouch. Nothing big but stuff that's broken or not fit for use. Need to be more on the ball daily

Pigtailsandall · 27/07/2025 14:33

CherryRipe1 · 27/07/2025 12:05

@Realfastfoodie Some of it has come from butchers and markets and been rebagged with no dates or dates faded. Some meat looks a bit freezer burned & as @IndianSummer78 said, the freezer could have got switched off or had a power outage & defrosted then refrozen. I think it's only fit for foxes or carrion birds & due to rats round here can't risk that. Sadly it's got to go in the food waste bin.

Cleared the garden of broken ceramic & terracotta pots & broken/rotted wooden planters. Looks loads clearer. Stuck another thing on eBay & found a couple of hats for the charity bag.

I get this, I'd definitely feel it were a shame too! But I'd also not eat it. Reason to get a dog? 🐕 :)

IncessantNameChanger · 27/07/2025 16:59

I have almost tackled the holiday washing. Amazing we bought some of the things back as they are fit for the bin ( swimming costumes, dh pants but I only Cound mind and the kids things). So a few possible outs there.

I'm feeling much less stressed as it's the holidays now so I'm eyeing up the house to clean and tidy. So nothing new out but I can see some easy wins once the washing is complete and we are fully unpacked.

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