Hoarding - Springing Ahead

GreyQueen

whitewing wrote: »

M & S voucher successfully used this morning. We'll probably bankrupt M & S if we start redeeming vouchers from years ago, lol.

I must remember to trade in some of DS' text books. He won't be resitting exams so they can go while they still have a trade in value.

:T Bravo! Poor M & S won't know what hit it's 4th quarter profits, but we few, we band of hoarders, we will know, hey?

Today I am feeling rather pleased, even though the day has only half-gone. My tradesman had been and gone by 9.30 am and both before and after I was working on my scrapbooking project. Condensed version is that it involved the sorting and destruction/ recycling of a lot of materials of the paperish nature and I'm about to have a further shred-a-thon. I also found a glue stick had dried out, but I did have a working one, so it didn't hold up the project. Dried up one was binned, of course.

Intended to laminate the h.m. covers for my project but found that they're just a bit too big for my A4 laminator so went up to the copy shop. There I got stuck for about 20 mins behind a PITA of a customer (me and about 8 others ) and the poor copy assistant was going a bit spare. I offered to leave the project there and collect late this afternoon or tomorrow, so I have done so.

I nearly bolted when I realised how long the other customer was going to take to be served, but felt that I wanted a sense of completion of this project and that if I went away, I would be some time before I went back again, and now that I'm nearly there I want to finish it up. And the copy shop tends to be busy at most times anyway.

In rootling for the makings of the cover for my project, I re-used something I'd saved and have effectively gone down a folder full of carp. Because I had to rootle among my folders in the mag files on top of the wall unit, I discovered a few other bits which have effectively 'timed out' which wasn't their status when I last had a sort out up there. So they were able to go, too.

As half the stuff is off the unit, I propose to get the rest down and have a good dust and tidy.

Oh, and I also ran an errand to the pharmacy, which had been postponed for a few days, so that's one thing off my To Do List.

Hokay, onwards and outwards. It's raining and I'm not tempted to head allotmentwards, which was a possible plan for this afternoon.

whitewing

Greyqueen, you have inspired me.

I think my job this weekend will be to start to tackle the scrapbooking cupboard. At the moment it contains finished albums, scrapbooking tools, paper etc and actual items to be scrapbooked. (I also have the boxes of stuff to be scrapbooked). I think I am at a stage now that I can pull things out of the shelves of the cupboard and sort through a shelf at a time with the eventual aim of having all the (sorted) momentos and photos and certificates in the boxes, and only actual equipment on the shelf. I can whittle down or repurpose equipment that I don't need. In fact, it is DD's birthday coming up so I could make her a craft pack for her birthday too, with stuff I no longer need.

I am very pleased with this new direction, thank you GQ.

GreyQueen

Oh wow, I'm an inspiration. So pleased. I've only been procrastinating about my project since 2003........:rotfl:I even took it to the folks' for Christmas, thinking I would do it there, and didn't.

The copy shop rang about 5 mins ago, there's been a bit of a technical hitch with my binding project (cover was too thick) and it will have to be done slightly differently and the assistant wanted to check I was happy with the proposed work-around. I am.

Poor woman was working like billy-o when I saw her, and I hope her employer values her as highly as they should. I might ask to speak to her manager and pay an official compliment. Too much good work goes unacknowledged, I find.

Now, bearing in mind that I do go thru my files quite regularly, I'm surprised at how much stuff I'm able to fillet out of my 5 lever arches and a few other bits and pieces. I'm shredding some, recycling the non-confidential and turning non-conf-with-one-blank side into scrap-pads for use at work. I get thru about 7 sheets of A4 (quartered) per phone shift and aim to make every piece of paper work hard. Don't like waste and don't like using 'new' paper for the kind of scribbled notes which are only of relevence during the call I'm on. They go into confidential shredding at the end of the shift.

I also found some info relevent to a trip in 2013 and not relevent now. It's a truism that organisation is a journey not a destination. You never get there because life is constantly changing. You will, presumably, be hanging onto your birth certificate but the vaccination records for a pet do lose their relevence over time, when the animal passes on.

I remember something Don Aslett said in one of his books about how he holds up a magazine as an example when giving decluttering talks. To point out how 70% of any mag is advertising and these become irrelevent over time and how new ads are constanly coming out. About how anyone harbouring piles of old magazines is harbouring 70% by volume of outdated ads, and how most of the rest isn't liable to be stuff which is too challenging as the editors won't want to upset the advertisers.

So, with a typical magazine, you have 70% outdated ads, plus 30% outdated fashions and the odd wee gem. Probably about 5% by volume.

Thought-provoking, isn't it?

whitewing

You could probably make a 'thank you for your excellent service' card for your copy shop lady from your stash.

I may make some pretty, very simple notebooks for mother's day for a variety of mothers/aunts etc from my unusable scrapbooking stuff. I came across one that I made in a stamping craft lesson. It was very pretty, just normal photocopy paper cut with my pretty-edged scissors, and a front/back cover. DD can help so she gets to do something with mummy and it will use up stickers/paper that I already have. They will use the notebooks by the phone. Hmm another good idea, keep talking GQ you're firing off synapses in my brain.

pigpen

8 items packaged up for posting.. ebay sales!!
2 pairs of wrecked trousers which I shall never fix binned.. along with a holey sock and several odd gloves.


I also have a home for the changing table if I can sort delivery across town!


roooooooooooom

ginnyknit

Old tea towels in the bin, new ones in the drawer. Ds's stuff nearly gone and I cannot wait to put my stuff on the shelves out of my bedroom. Think there is still a lot of stuff that can go in the bin etc. Maybe do a little of it later. Also given him some kitchen things so room in the cupboards too.

Just going to list 8 items on fleabay now that I have found the camera cables. they were safely stashed in a drawer but decided to hide :mad:

De-cluttered some ropey veg into a casserole and made 2 packet cake mixes up so weekend is sorted too.

Just need to de-clutter my blood pressure now as the Gp doesnt like it so high. Hoping having a sorted house and the excercise from doing it will lower it. :rotfl:

Patchwork_Quilt

Just decluttering some more Christmas chocolate, as prescribed by Grey Queen. Ate left overs for tea and have had fun burning a couple of magazines and bits of packaging, which in turn, will make compost.

If I'm brave, I might venture into the back of the Christmas cupboard this weekend and check the dates on various things like stollen. I don't like throwing food away but as someone else posted on this thread, I'm not a dustbin. If it's no good, it has to go.

Wishing everyone significant progress with their decluttering this weekend.

noelphobic

GreyQueen wrote: »

I was laughing at myself yesterday about my Tesco bag for life. First off, have you noticed that what they're giving out as bags-for-life these days (all stores) aren't a patch on the older ones? As in much thinner and less strong. So this caused me to hang on to the older ones because the newer ones wouldn't be nearly as good.

This mean I'm harbouring a Tesco bag-for-life with one broken handle. Because it's stronger than the newer ones. Even though it doesn't effectively function as a bag any more.......this is lunacy.

Now that I'm thinking more clearly, I clearly need to take that with me and trade it in for a new one. It needs to be recycled, rather than lurk on my premises. Heck, it's just Stuff, it doens't have emotions. And what if it did? Wouldn't it be feeling sad and unloved and stir-crazy because it doesn't get to go out any more? :rotfl:

I'd even contemplated repairing the handle - this is crazy.

I haven't traded in a bag for life for ages, partly because I've got so many of the bloody things. I do remember one of the few times when I have asked for a replacement. I think the staff member was new and couldn't grasp the concept that 'a bag for life' meant exactly that. She had to call the supervisor over to authorise her giving me this 'free' bag. :rotfl:


I have got a few of the really strong ones but am not very good at remembering to take them when I go shopping, especially if I'm in a hurry. I'm trying to be better at this, leaving them in my car as much as possible. Otherwise I end up with loads of the useless flimsy plastic bags.


I also have a thing about not liking to put toiletries/cleaning products or anything like that in the same bag as food, even if the food's in tins and packets. I think I 'inherited' this from my mum but it does make sense. On the very odd occasion when someone actually packs my bags in the supermarket I get very anxious in case they commit this cardinal sin! I was in the Food Bank yesterday and had to get the clients new bags to put toiletries in, rather than 'let' them put them in the food bags. They are only allowed 2 toiletry items (and a single toilet roll counts as one item) so they don't really need a separate bag but I am very anal about this (no pun intended lol!)

noelphobic

VJsmum wrote: »

Spooky, I also found an old M & S voucher today (did anyone else read it as S&M? No? Just me then :rotfl:). I am not sure if its been used or not, but only one way to find out.

Out old pine bedside table went to the chazzer today, along with the two carrier bags I'd sorted a while ago, a clock I thought DD would take exception to going (she didn't) and an old recorder of the kids. And I didn't buy anything :T

I don't like the new credit card style gift vouchers. I end up keeping them even when they're empty and then end up having to get them checked every time I go to the shop in case there is anything left on them. Next time I do that and one is empty I will definitely get them to bin it for me.


I've got nearly £50 on an M and S voucher at the moment. I ordered 3 skirts online and kept the cheapest one. :money: However, when I took the others back to the shop to return I realised that the card I bought them on had expired and I had binned it so wouldn't be able to get a refund back on to the card. I could have got round that by posting the items back but thought there was a danger that I wouldn't get round to it and would end up with £50 worth or skirts that I neither wanted or needed (2 skirts the same but in different sizes. I didn't even try them on when I realised the £9.99 one was fine.) Also, I'd bought them on my Aqua 3% cashback card so would have lost the £1.50 cashback. I did wonder whether I would have 'got away' with asking them to credit it back on to a different card.


I'm not too worried that having the voucher will make me buy anything to add to the clutter. So far I've only used it for a cup of coffee and it is likely to get used up on other cups of coffee plus takeaway sandwiches and food. It was one of those occasions when I thought that throwing something away hadn't been the best idea but am trying to forget about it in case it deters me from my dehoarding mission!

lobbyludd

The wardrobe bits are by the door. if it stops raining I shall put them in the car for a recycling run tomorrow. I've added an extra rail to ds's bed as the extra mattress meant that he could roll off his highsleeper. I've used spare bits from when I turned his mid sleeper to high, and painted his wall with paint already got. Just need to finish the rest of the tin (white) doing bits and bobs round the house and then that tin can go.

I'm trying this weekend to concentrate on using things up to do jobs in the house that need doing in order to declutter/fix things/not spend and not leave the house.

Ds's room is nearly finished, I'm hoping once that's done he'll spend more time in there as opposed to my room, so I can have a sanctuary back again.

Found and decluttered another patch of condensation mould: the design of my house is really stupid, it works fine as a terrace (long and thin front to back) with both walls afixed to another house. But we are 2 semi's set back from the row of terracing which means every room has most of it's available space next to a large cold external wall - all radiators are on internal walls and the rooms are too thin to put furniture away from the walls by more than a few inches, air flow is a nightmare, if a book or something falls behind the furniture it creates a cold moisture trap and blooming mould flourishes.

all more reason to make space.