Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

I've got the thirteen bags of books for the charity shop on the landing at the moment and I wanted to put them in DS3's room. So I decided I'd better pick up all his rubbish and give his floor a sweep first. I haven't touched his room since he went to uni after Christmas, apart from taking out all the plates, cutlery and mugs. Anway I half filled a bin liner with rubbish from his floor and discovered a dusty sock and our bottle opener among the rubbish 🤣. When I swept it I found two sticky stains where he must have spilt a drink and not cleaned it up 😱. It's lucky he has a laminate floor! So I had to get out the floor cleaning fluid to get that off. How does he manage to be so messy? 🙄

Willowtree222

I tidy DD's room and seconds later it's back to how it was. An absolute mess! X

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

abba1772 said:

thats a lot of books for the charity shop.......I keep thinking if the charity shops are going to get overwhelmed with all the donations as everyone is decluttering (including me) it'll be some surge in their stock after this is all over xx

Nicnak said:

I think they might be overwhelmed too. I know a lot of people who have a boot full of things ready to donate. I am just glad that I did mine before the lockdown otherwise I would have a lot of things too! 
x

Yes I wouldn't be suprised if they get massive donations once they open. Luckily for me I have a huge warehouse style charity shop near me and they'll take any amount of stuff, they don't even look at it they just take it. That's where I donated roughly a thousand books last summer.

Lucky you!  The charity shops in our nearest town are tiny.  None of them will accept more than 6 books at a time and some frequently refuse any more stock of books.   Likewise with clothes, they can't store multi bin bags of stuff from each donor.   I once sent DH to donate lots of my lovely books to my  favourite charity shop.  He ended up walking the length of the small town trying to get rid of them all and managed it in the end by leaving a few at each one.

We tend to donate big items on Freecycle but even then where we live is pretty isolated and potential recipients don't always want to come out this far even to collect things which are well worth having and are totally free to them apart from their petrol to get here.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I've got the thirteen bags of books for the charity shop on the landing at the moment and I wanted to put them in DS3's room. So I decided I'd better pick up all his rubbish and give his floor a sweep first. I haven't touched his room since he went to uni after Christmas, apart from taking out all the plates, cutlery and mugs. Anway I half filled a bin liner with rubbish from his floor and discovered a dusty sock and our bottle opener among the rubbish 🤣. When I swept it I found two sticky stains where he must have spilt a drink and not cleaned it up 😱. It's lucky he has a laminate floor! So I had to get out the floor cleaning fluid to get that off. How does he manage to be so messy? 🙄

Sorry but I can't agree with all the people who seem to treat their offspring's behaviour so indulgently.  To answer your question, he's messy because he's been allowed to be.  Sorry to be blunt but it's the truth. I expect he's learned the hard way now he's living independently.  Presumably his Uni room isn't such a tip .    When he comes home, please don't let him fall back into the habit of expecting you to clean up after him.  He's an adult after all.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nicnak said:

I tidy DD's room and seconds later it's back to how it was. An absolute mess! X

Children 🙄.

Delichon said:

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I've got the thirteen bags of books for the charity shop on the landing at the moment and I wanted to put them in DS3's room. So I decided I'd better pick up all his rubbish and give his floor a sweep first. I haven't touched his room since he went to uni after Christmas, apart from taking out all the plates, cutlery and mugs. Anway I half filled a bin liner with rubbish from his floor and discovered a dusty sock and our bottle opener among the rubbish 🤣. When I swept it I found two sticky stains where he must have spilt a drink and not cleaned it up 😱. It's lucky he has a laminate floor! So I had to get out the floor cleaning fluid to get that off. How does he manage to be so messy? 🙄

Sorry but I can't agree with all the people who seem to treat their offspring's behaviour so indulgently.  To answer your question, he's messy because he's been allowed to be.  Sorry to be blunt but it's the truth. I expect he's learned the hard way now he's living independently.  Presumably his Uni room isn't such a tip .    When he comes home, please don't let him fall back into the habit of expecting you to clean up after him.  He's an adult after all.

I think people need to use their own judgement and bring up their children in the way they see fit. DS3's room at uni is also a complete tip, so no change there. His room gets cleaned once every holiday by me. The rest of the time he lives in a pigsty of his own making. I agree that's he's an adult and I don't believe that me nagging him to tidy his room will help him to behave like an adult.

[Deleted User]

Nicnak said:

I tidy DD's room and seconds later it's back to how it was. An absolute mess! X

Yes, but isn't she still only 7?  I've an idea that HHOD's son is in his 20s!

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's really warm outside in my garden, twenty degrees according to the forecast ☀️. They say it's going to be warm again tomorrow and then get back to more normal spring temperatures on Sunday. My washing should dry quickly, but I think I'll leave the gardening until Sunday when it's cooled down. I've got a jeans wash drying on one clothes horse and bedding drying on the other 🙂.

I've unpacked a cardboard box of my mum's books that were on the landing and have found a home for them and my bags of books for the charity shop are in DS3's room now 📚. The landing is looking a lot tidier now. I've also done some things that have been hanging around for ages, like packing away the christmas tablecloth that I keep in with the christmas decorations, tidying up my bedroom a bit and hanging up one of my mum's paintings in DS1's room. So a few niggly things sorted and the house is looking a bit tidier now 🙂. Once the washing is dry I'm going to put clean bedding on DS3's bed so it's nice for him when he eventually comes home.

There's lots more that can be done but I'm feeling a bit tired now, so I'm sitting down for a bit before I decide what to do next. I must make sure I water all the garden pots this evening as it's such a warm day.

I hope everyone is having a good and safe day 🙂.

doingitanyway

Your book cull is seriously impressive. 
Its lovely to be able to wash and have clothes dry outside isn't it? 
Nice to have one of your mum's paintings up too

HairyHandofDartmoor

doingitanyway said:

Your book cull is seriously impressive. 
Its lovely to be able to wash and have clothes dry outside isn't it? 
Nice to have one of your mum's paintings up too

Thanks DIA 🙂. I miss school, so I'm trying to keep myself busy and get some things done that will make me feel positive 🙂.

EssexHebridean

LOL much as you'd love to have him home HH it's quite handy DS3 not being there at the moment isn't it! Out of sight is a good place for CS bags! 

Also loving being able to get clothes dried outside - the airer isn't even up at the moment as we have one of those wooden racks outside and are managing to get pretty much a full load at a time on it. When I change the bedding at the weekend it will be outside-dried stuff going on and I'm really looking forward to it! Ridiculous, but it really is the small things, sometimes!