Decluttering 2013, the saga continues ...

wik

Has been a good week so far
today posted 18 things sold on ebay...
listed 99 last weekend - sold 19.. i am happy with that....
lots are old craft magazines.
took 10 books to CS today
have a room to start this weekend!! youngest dd is no longer liking pink!!! hmmmmmm!!! so many pink things for a friend who has a pink loving dd and also some bits to be kept for my darling niece when she is a bit older... I shall give the box to my brother at easter... it can then be kept in his loft not mine :rotfl:
wik x

Lilyplonk

Good morning :wave: everybody - not quite sure why I'm up and about at silly o'clock :undecided, My eyes went 'ping' and that was it - couldn't drop back off again, no matter what I tried :mad:.

Mrsgibbs - I'm so sorry to hear that you and OH are having problems. I've 'been there' - albeit 25yrs ago - and know exactly how you feel. The thoughts of being on your own can be terrifying and it's not an easy decision to take - especially where children are concerned. I hope you've got somebody close who can listen to you without judging, or trying to make decisions for you - (((((BIG HUGS))))) to you and your family.

AimingForBetter - don't worry about your decluttering for the moment - babysteps is the way for you to go right now. Just try to keep on top of 'small daily stuff' (dishes / junkmail / rubbish / recycling etc), so it doesn't get any worse. How you're feeling is far more important than any major decluttering that requires huge amounts of 'emotional/physical energy'. Give your new medication a chance to settle down. Are you able to get outdoors for a 'bit of a walk' each day - it can make a real difference to how you're feeling emotionally, even in the wind/rain - I find that mentally it helps to 'blow the cobwebs away' and helps me to 'think straight'. My daughter struggles with depression and I can tell how bad she's feeling by whether or not her curtains/windows are open - try to make sure that you open BOTH in the morning before making your first cuppa. You really can't underestimate the effect of daylight and fresh oxygen on your emotional wellbeing - (((((BIG HUGS))))) to you too .

I need to 'play catch up' with my efforts this weekend where I can - no major inroads were made at all during this past week .

Got the hairdresser coming later this morning to give me 'a shearing' - going away in mid-May and need it doing again PLUS colour about a week before that, so it had to be this week. Dreading to see how much grey there'll be when she trims the remaining 'red' out :undecided. It's lasted well since last September, but was a bit of a :eek: at the time. This time around, I'm going for a 'let's blend' instead of 'get rid' :rotfl:. We've also got dgd2 (age 5) for an 'overnighter' tonight - apparently she got very envious when her older brother stayed a couple of weeks ago, and now wants 'her turn'. She's a proper little :A and a delight to be around, so we're really looking forward to having her here.


Oh well, time for a quick 'dance around the sofas' and 'wish/swipe' in the bathroom - couple of minutes and both will be looking much better. Need to think about an evening meal for OH - possibly Oxtail Stew from the freezer with mashed pots - I'm on Boiled Ham Salad for tonight. I'll get a chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow then it can get stretched during the week :j.

Be back in again later, to see how everybody else is getting on. Take care all - luv Lilyplonk xxx

good_advice

Morning all
A blustery rainy day here in Hampshire.
Got up and opened all the curtains, made a coffee. Fed the dog and gave him fresh water.

Taken on board what my adult DD said = less bread .
I often have toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.
So this morning I am having an apple and Muller rice for breakfast.

Decluttering = yesterday tossed some free coat hangers in the bin. I used them to dry wet washing on. Now just have the coloured plastic ones. The good velvet type ones are in my wardrobe and all match.

Yesterdays washing sorted out and todays in the machine. I will be hanging up indoors.

Crafting today = I have been cutting up old cotton clothes for patchwork.

Decluttered the ironing.

Guineapigsqueaks

Morning fellow de-clutterers

Rainy day here, DS's footy training called off which means less running around and laundry for me this morning and one less cleaning of boots, but also means I haven't really got going yet this morning, done DS and DD breakfasts, but now back in bed with cuppa .

Have to try and make some progress today with cleaning a few rooms and finishing a few half-done de-cluttering projects as I go. Got the weekly shop to do this morning though. Going to take the one task at a time approach and try to think about what I've done, rather than what I haven't, so as not to feel it's all hopeless .

When I've finished posting, I'm off to do the "all washed and dressed" routine, then off to Mr T for shop as I have a £6 off £40 voucher. Should be fun there on a Saturday morning, I know how to live a little :rotfl:.

Hope everyone has a good day x

Chris25

I also have all my son's and daughters books and paintings from playgroup onwards in there. My son is just about to sit his GCSE's
I have newletters from Playgroup and school why am I keeping them. Before I through them out, I often need to write a date down as a diary of memories. Why??? are we actually going to look back and think oh yes. In there are also party invites that my son daughter received - do i need to keep them or even log them in my calender. Who cares? Is anyone going to know ( or care) if I just chuck them out. The trouble is because I look at things and think I need to remember(log it somewhere) it takes such a long time to get rid of anything and it seem such an unsurmountable task.

Yes, I've done this - kept every card, note, artwork etc from others to the children. I went through the box & asked them last year - do you want to keep these? - an emphatic NO! So I went through the box taking out all the ones that had been bought but keeping all the hand-drawn notes & cards (even though they weren't for me) and tried to find another use for them. Playgroup, school nor a local Church craft group didn't want them for anything so I cut them up to use as shopping lists. it was extremely painful but I'm glad now that I did it.

When the children are home on Easter break, I'm going to get them to go through their own old artwork & school books so that they can do what they want with them. I have kept letters, cards, drawings etc, specifically for me & my husband but I realise that this stuff takes up too much space - particularly as I've been keeping all my own cards & letters (but when I re-read them recently, I realised that i couldn't even remember half of the people that sent them to me). I really could cry at the time invested in moving it all around when I could have done other things.

A couple of years ago. we had relatives coming to stay & so, many, many boxes had to be moved into the garage to make space. I discovered when going to bring them back in (ages later as they were out-of-sight-out-of-mind) that the mice had had a field day with all the pasta art & other bits felt a bit too icky to bring back in - so they got turfed out, accidentally, so to speak.

And now my mum has given me all the cards & letter I sent her - my children don't want them, so what do I do with them? I have seen programmes where they suggest taking photos so that might be the thing to do!

I've also kept their clothes in the hope of passing onto grandchildren until I realised (& they told me that no child of theirs would be seen dead in any of the clothes that they were 'forced' to wear ) that the loft would be full if I kept it up.

After passing on what I little I could to other family members, I took most of the clothes to the CS and the assistant asked if i was offloading the contents of a shop! I told her that the family had been saving them up to donate.

Seriously though, a friend has had so much trouble going through her mother's, then unfortunately her MIL's accumulated-over-many-years, 'sentimental items' after their deaths - it's taken her almost 2 years. I've thought long & hard about how much my children would have to do if/when anything happened to me & my husband & realise i need to take action.

It really shames me to look around & see how much 'stuff' we have - especially after watching something like last night's Comic Relief & to see how some people get by with so little.

Anyway, got rid of 3 old rusty bikes from the shed last week - the chap at the tip said that they get recycled by a volunteer group who do them up & give them to a worthy cause.

mitziliz

Hi everybody, You have been keeping busy decluttering, Well done :T. I seemed to have lost my mojo this last week BUT yesterday I did sort out some books for my friend = 19 and about 10 for the c/s, this morning I have sorted thro my jewelery boxes, (all cheapy stuff) and I have sorted some bits for charity shop and few bits of odd earrings/broken necklaces which I believe to be gold/ silver, you know the really cheap stuff that breaks/bends easily, I will take those to see if I can get a few pennies, they hardly weigh anything!:rotfl: I've still kept FAR too many items :mad:
I have a bedroom full of stuff :embarasse which for some reason I keep putting off going in there to make a start. Must try harder!
The sun has just come out here, which always make me feel better going for a walk with DH this afternoon.
Well I hope you all have a good weekend, Hugs to all who need them,
x

AimingForBetter

Morning all

Lilyplonk, thank you for your kind words and sensible advice. I do try to make sure curtains and windows are open (unless trying to keep the warm in during subzeros!) and get out weekdays on walks for nursery drop off/pick up. We have a lot going on much of it financial due to a failed business and, as for many, it's tough to cope. Admitting it and getting help has been a major step for me and the level of meds just not quite right yet, ho hum hope to get the right balance soon.

The household basics are getting done but that is about it, will just try the decluttering again in a while.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
AFB

Florenceem

Another FLW on Eb.. :j
I ventured into the bottom of a wardrobe - found lots to list.

pollys

Well done everyone

I've had a very productive afternoon. I ventured into my two youngest sons bedroom to help them tidy up and we ended up having a major declutter.

1 black bag of books to charity shop
1 black bag of books to school
1 black bag of books/toys/games for a family we know
1 black bag of games to charity
1 black bag of rubbish
1 black bag of recycling (mainly cardboard)

We now have 4 redundant storage boxes.
Will hopefully continue tomorrow as we still have the clothes drawers and wardrobes to do.

Sitting down with a coffee now.

Pollys

DundeeDoll

Very busy week at work. Moved office so lots more decluttered and i suspect still some stuff to go. Off to Poland early o'clock tomorrow for a week with work so no decluttering. Today though i toothbrush principled my bathroom. Ie. everything out then only things we use and like back. This has meant splashing out £3.50 on deep red shampoo, conditioner and bubblebath to go with candles, pots and towels. Looks loverly