museumworker's quest to consign mortgage to history!

museumworker

CathT yes, the paperwork did take a few hours. I graduated my degree 5 years ago, and the way I see it, I took the notes to help me remember and digest things at the time. Looking at them now they are like hieroglyphics, I would rather read the original book or article should I need to rather than rely on them! They served their purpose - I have my degree, so time to go! It was, as chamichelle said, very carthatic!

Today I have decided to send my 30 odd books on readitswapit to charity, they are getting in the way and I have had them up a few months now. Whilst I have had a few books I wanted from there, its not essential to my MFW life and I'd rather the space. So 30 things decluttered:j!. I'm sure it won't be long though til I have a few more to put up there :rotfl:!

The party was great, despite OH having a sore throat and DD being tired! She was an angel, and it was great to catch up with old friends (and get out of the house, I've been feeling a bit flat).

Toots I think you're right about DD being exhausted, as well as ill. It is a very long term for them. Thanks for the advice about the John Lewis wool, I will wait until the price drops a bit further before going in especially. I need to identify a few projects for the year so that I can buy what I need for them. I got that flower knitting/crocheting book for Xmas :j but it looks REALLY hard, :eek: I've never followed a pattern before. Don't know where to start! Please post a picture of the coat, sounds gorgeous!

chamichelle hope you feel better soon, there are some really nasty bugs out there. OH is going downhill again... Scanning is a possibility, although sounds like more work! Need to ponder.

tyo hope your decluttering going well too. What have you got rid of so far? Definitely time to take stock and make some challenges, I will think of an end of year summary, new years challenges over the next day or so.

Courgette

museumworker wrote: »

Avoiding that sinking post Xmas feeling - there is so much to do around the house I feel like I can't ignore it any more.

I feel exactly the same, was about ready to bin pretty much every single thing we own yesterday

Yesterday I managed to declutter 2 massive boxes of paperwork down to 1/2 a box. Think bye bye A level essays, old job descriptions, and most of my university paperwork. Couldn't quite bear to get rid of the uni essays, but may take another pop at it. Literally hundreds of pieces of paper gone, our recycling bin can't take much more!

:rotfl::rotfl: I did the same thing this summer, definitely hierogliphics too! Once they went I didn't miss them at all and now don't really know what I was keeping them for

I have photos from when was with ex (DD's dad), I'd like to sort those out but were quite hard to look at - will set that as a challenge for an evening or two. Any tips for dealing with photos?

Really difficult, but think how much better you'll feel when you've done it. For what it's worth I would do the following:

• remember that you're collecting memories for DD for her to have in the future. Try not to allow yourself to think too much about each picture and the time when it was taken
• for each packet/envelope thingy: spread them all out on the floor/table in front of you so you can see them all at once. Chuck out the out of focus ones, then the duplicates/near duplicates, then the ones which are really unflattering. Try to do this as quickly as you can. The rest of them can then be put back in the envelope to be ignored for the next decade at least. Personally I wouldn't worry about puttng them into folders, let DD do that when she's older
• as soon as you start feeling fed up, put them away to return to another day
• Put them in a box clearly marked 'photos for DD'
• go and drink massive amounts of booze to recover

Hope some of that's helpful. Photo decluttering can be really tough can't it

cha97michelle wrote: »

I can understand why your DD is so out of it. The bug i currently have has knocked me for 6 for a good few days now. I can't wait to shift it. Your christmas sounds quite relaxed.

Me too, just feel awful

Good work on the decluttering. I got rid of a load when i had DS1. We had boxes of old uni notes behind the sofa in the living room which i did not touch in the 2 years we had lived here so i binned the lot. It can be quite cathartic.

Can the photos be scanned in?

Seconded, good work on the decluttering :T:T:T

Lula-Hula

Hello, glad your christmas went well.

I think this time of year is perfect for decluttering & charitizing & regifting stuff ... I love it .

My DD was poorly for about a week & its taken nearly 2 weeks for her to get back to normal.

Hope you enjoy the party
xx

museumworker

Courgette thanks so much for the photo advice, I think you're right (although mentally I skipped to the have a large drink bit which made most sense to me!:rotfl:) Will not attempt albums with these but just to reduce the number. They are from when OH and I went to India together, great but painful memories but will mean a lot to DD when she is older and can see pictures of us together. Hope you feel better soon too.

Lula-hula thanks for popping in again, and glad to hear DD is on the mend. I've read your diary over Xmas, your sense of humour is fantastic and made me appreciate my relatively quiet one .

Quiet morning here - OH is going hell for leather on prepping the walls for painting. DD watched a film whilst I sat with her and started populating my online calendar. It is great with my new phone, I literally see it straight away on my phone once added online, which means I can check my diary with my phone or via the web. Plus I am adding people's birthdays with an annual repeat which means should be much much less to do next year - gone are the days of having to transcribe people's birthdays and then forgetting them when you lose your diary (that is so 2010 :rotfl: as that is what I did this year!). Have set up a reminder 3 days before so can get card in post, and on the day so can email them. That is the theory at least :rotfl:! And means I have saved my usual £9 a year on a diary :money: (well, £18 this year after missing diary antics!)

Took DD to spend a Mr A voucher she had for her birthday, she bought a jumpsuit with cats on she looks really cute in and a hat. She loves clothes shopping so was v happy! Went to see FIL and step-MIL for tea and took present which they loved . I was naughty and took advantage of the Organic Surge offer on the grabbit board - bought my favourite shower gel for £3.99 and got a free £7 scrub which has won awards, and no postage costs either! Am about to run out of face scrub too! Having broken the spending seal over Xmas it now seems quite hard to fix .

Back home now, sausages for tea - but first have to give DD a bath to deal with those pesky nits :mad: - am determined they will be gone by 2011. We did it 3 days ago too, but she is suspiciously scratching...

[Deleted User]

Hey mw
on the decluttering front 2 bags of stuff to go to charity shop
bag of kitchen stuff to go to friend who has moved into new flat
all xmas pressies recieved vaguley unpacked!
all xmas pressies bar one for other people given!
pile of clothes for clothes swap or charity shop

large amounts of chocolates eaten therefore no longer cluttering up kitchen (surely that counts? :rotfl:)

sounds like you guys had a productive day today (shopping always is in my book!:D) I too seem to have gone a bit spending crazy this month so will be reigning it in for jan methinks!

re: the photos - tough one for sure, I agree with courgette as much as poss trying to keep in mind you are doing it for dd rather than getting stuck in the whens and wherefore's of the memories attached to each photos- much easier said than done tho , and Id second the drink afterwards! (probably not during....)

good luck on the decluttering challenge- is a good idea methinks to keep accountable on here!

tootallulah

Hi MW, nits blooming nightmare, suffocate them by combing olive oil through her hair and leave it on overnight. They need to breathe and can't do it through oil. No chemicals and a beauty treatment at the same time.

museumworker

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]tyo sounds like you're doing fab on the decluttering :T, I'm about to take a trolley load of stuff to the charity shop, have asked DD to find one book to take too. Decluttering chocolates (by eating them) definitely counts! I actually haven't had many this year though, and have had a real craving for them.

toots thanks for the olive oil tip - I suggested it to DD and she hated the idea, but I think it would work! Currently I use a shed load of conditioner and a nitty gritty comb. I have used the over the counter treatments but not convinced they are any more effective (and are quite expensive!). If the next comb through doesn't sort it out, I'll get out the oil!

Am working on transferring my contacts over to new phone, and on online calendar - more to do there.

Today I hope to:
* [STRIKE]order card for great niece[/STRIKE] £3.49 spent
* call 2 x friends
* [STRIKE]take stuff to charity[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]exercise[/STRIKE] 40 mins of target toning
* [STRIKE]drop presents off to neighbours[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]play games with DD for at least an hour[/STRIKE] wanted to watch alice in wonderland instead, snuggled up with popcorn and hot chocolates
* [STRIKE]declutter 1 x box[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]pack for going away tomorrow[/STRIKE]
* email sis back or call her
* more online diary done a bit, and have emailed mum to ask her for family birthdays
* more address book co-ordinating
* write firm challenges for next year

OH is cracking on with prepping the walls, we are hoping they should be ready to paint once we get back from our new year trip away.

museumworker

Oh, and £1,000 put to savings :j! Means we're just shy of £20K this year, almost twice our £10k target! Considering we have spent hundreds extra on decorating things for the loft this month, I think that is very good

tootallulah

I think it's brilliant, well done to you both.

museumworker

I did it :j! I tackled the photo box!

Just took one pack at a time and got rid of any duplicates or out of focus ones. Have thrown away 350 photographs! Think I could get rid of lots more, but for a first attempt I am really pleased. I have been avoiding these for years because of the painful memories with ex. Now I realise I have nothing to be scared of - and there were some happy memories there too. I have loads of photo sleeves I bought years ago too, so could easy organise them into an album at no cost to myself. For now, have condensed it into that box I tackled the other day - so now have reduced 3 boxes of stuff to 1 :j:j! Will set myself challenge to do album in 2011 - am pleased with today's progress.

Thanks for everyone's support, don't think I could have done it without you :T! Asked OH what I should do, he said keep every one because they have memories... that is how we have a house full of clutter!