2018 - No Clutter To Be Seen

edwink

Well done every one on your decluttering efforts. Mrs SD you must be thoroughly worn out. Welcome to the newbies always lovely to have more on board to keep us all motivated.

Back to my decluttering finally although I have been keeping up with reading the posts on here. Been busy getting veg beds ready for planting out. Being semi self sufficient we grow a lot of veg to feed us and our ducks and hens. So far lettuce in and still more to sow and some of the tomatoes in to pots and still have one of the greenhouses to clean and then the cucumbers can finally go in. Got so behind this year but slowly catching up with the planting out. Hubby had a serious accident with his arm last year resulting in 2 lots of major surgery in London so I only managed to do a little gardening whilst attending to the ducks and hens and the housework. So we have been digging over 2 years worth of weeds this year so has been taking longer than normal. Hubby ok now but has lost a little use of his hand and now gets a lot of pain in his arm so things are slower. Living this lifestyle was so difficult last year but that year is behind us now. Onwards and upwards as they say.

Best news of all is that poultry are now allowed to Freerange again in the UK and are allowed out. Because of the Bird Flu in the UK all keepers of poultry have had to keep their girls under cover. So basically mine have been in their coop for 3+ months. Plenty of room for them in there as our coop is huge but it is rather dark as had to be covered over during the ban. Because of the size of the coop we had to buy a huge sheet of green tarpaulin to cover it but all though it protected them it made it rather dark. We did rig up some lighting which helped though. Anyway it is lovely to see them out and about today running around like complete and utter loonies like they are and I no longer have to apologise to them every time I see them. I kept saying "it wont be long now girls, sorry you are all shut in but it is not mummy's fault honest". Bless 'em!

1 Hair mask UU
1 Pen UU
14 Flower pots
1 Pair sunglasses broken (still have 4 other pairs though:o)

Also have been decluttering a lot of my outdoor flower pots as are too small and need almost constant watering in the summer. Got a friend coming to choose some on Monday and some will go to neighbour. Won't count those until they are gone but they are lined up and cleaned ready to go.

Edwink

Forgot my total so will plus it next time as still busy here +17/2018

basketcase

Hi All! :wave:

Hope everyone's well and enjoying the sunshine. (Well, for once, it's sunny where I live anyway so I hope you!!!8217;re all enjoying it too.).

Edwink - I sympathise with you and DH. I've had firstly a broken shoulder from a slip on a wet surface, then I managed to trip over a cable that wasn't there IYSWIM) and break the wrist of my dominant hand. (I've called the incidents my Annual Christmas Trip, as both happened just before the last 2 Christmasses. Offspring not amused...:D). I know how lucky I was not to need surgery and it was bad enough as it was. So glad to hear things are on the mend. At least my stuff only feels as if it's growing. :eek:

Mrs SD - Firstly, thanks for the encouragement. Having had a reasonably good night's sleep, I've regrouped. Apologies to all for the whinge.

I've been reading what, for me, is a really useful website/blog called A Slob Comes Clean. Has anyone else come across it? She (an American lady by the name of Dana K White) has also written a couple of books. There's one on cleaning and one on decluttering called Decluttering at the Speed of Life. She has a term for a sort of clutter I'd recognised myself, but hadn't named - the stuff that's waiting to have something done to it. Examples would be clean laundry on the sofa, boxes of items to sort for donation/sale or my handbag waiting to be repaired! She calls it procrasticlutter.

Her approach wouldn't suit everybody - Marie Kondo she definitely is NOT - but she seems to have some good ideas for the un-Kondo minded. I wouldn't necessarily follow it 100% - if for no other reason than I can't! Being from the US she assumes possession of a tumble drier and a dishwasher, neither of which I have. Don't have a garbage disposal either...

Anyway, thinking in terms of procrasticlutter, I tackled one set of bookshelves and some boxes and bags of 'stuff I need to sort', plus a few bits and pieces that caught my eye. As you can see, it was a respectable haul...

Plant which didn't respond to my TLC - binned, 0.75lbs
RSC Programmes - put away, 4.75lbs
Books & Magazines - to recycle, 18lbs
Books & Magazines - to CS, 30.25lbs
Books we want to keep - put on (newly weeded and dusted) shelves, 10lbs
1 x box of assorted stuff (think one of the other threads calls it gibble? Kibble? Or is that cat food??:rotfl:) Clothes/china/ tablemats/books etc - returned to its place, binned, boxed or recycled, 21lbs
DD's bedding - stored, 4.75lbs
Spare throw coat (a sort of blanket that you can zip up and wear) - vacuumed and stored, 3.25lbs
Stationery/books/paper in plastic magazine holder - items filed or recycled and holder repurposed, 12lbs
A4 printer paper - put away, 2.5lbs
Xmas letter paper - put away, 0.5lbs
Monogrammed writing paper (it was a present and I do use it from time to time) - put away, 0.5lbs
Bits of A4 coloured paper - recycled, 0.25lbs

Totals
Day's Total 108.5lbs :shocked: _party_
Running total 837.5lbs

Have a good weekend and happy decluttering, everybody!

retiredinfrance

Me back again after long spell decluttering weeds in the garden. DH has come onboard and so
241 large bag of old clothes for recycling
242 pair Wellies
243candelabra sort of thing with anti mosquito candles -never lit to CS
243metal candlestick
244 -254 books to CS
255 pile of mags to CS
Mrs SD I so admire you -not only the strength to sort it all out in France you can also count it all up. I am taking the lazy road.
256metal garden table rusty and so possibly toCS will ask them next week
257pr. shoes to CS worn twice as heels too high
258pile of polystyrene to dump
259 dead printer to dump
260 dead tabletop electric ring to dump

DH has emptied a whole chest of drawers - hence bag of rags see above and decided to give away several big woolly jumpers to CS. I am going through them to wash them etc. Although v v warm they are all handwash and a big faff to dry.. so rehoming is on the cards.
Good to see newbies.... we all started as newbies !!!8230;.

retiredinfrance

Basketcase - do look after youself and thanks for the ref. to the blog. I'm off to read it now. We are currently working through DH's clothes, the utility room aka junk spot and the garage which has no room for the car because of stuff..

parsniphead

I love a slob comes clean basket case and read her book on cleaning. It spoke to me more than Marie kondo who I find irritating to be honest.

I have Decluttered the stairs today and for the first time in ages they are empty.:j

3 & 4 two black bags of rubbish thrown out.
5 wooden carved box
6 scarf
7 two screw in lightbulbs.

Mostly I have been tidying which has helped a little. Anyway DS's friend has turned up so another couple of hours decluttering is in the offing.

By the end of tonight I will have hopefully have sorted some more.

Edited to say that the top of the wardrobe is now clear and there has been a few bits sorted for the charity shop.

basketcase

retiredinfrance wrote: »

Basketcase - do look after youself and thanks for the ref. to the blog. I'm off to read it now. We are currently working through DH's clothes, the utility room aka junk spot and the garage which has no room for the car because of stuff..

I'm fine now thanks, although I do have to use a wrist brace to be on the safe side if I'm lifting or moving heavy things.

You're definitely making inroads into your stuff. Nice that DH is on board.

Hope you enjoy the blog. Some of it's silly, but there are a few good tips in there and I like the fact that she assumes nothing... I also like the silly.

basketcase

parsniphead wrote: »

I love a slob comes clean basket case and read her book on cleaning. It spoke to me more than Marie kondo who I find irritating to be honest.

I have Decluttered the stairs today and for the first time in ages they are empty.:j

3 & 4 two black bags of rubbish thrown out.
5 wooden carved box
6 scarf
7 two screw in lightbulbs.

Mostly I have been tidying which has helped a little. Anyway DS's friend has turned up so another couple of hours decluttering is in the offing.

By the end of tonight I will have hopefully have sorted some more.

Edited to say that the top of the wardrobe is now clear and there has been a few bits sorted for the charity shop.

Well done, parsniphead.:T


I tried to read MK. I can see that she'd help a lot of people, but not for me. For 1 thing, she assumes you've got enough space to lay everything out. I don't. And what if you have to break off in the middle? Do you and your family just step over everything until you finish sorting it? It's the loads of stuff to sort that demoralised me in the first place!


I also confess it put me off when I read that she threw out all her brother's stuff without asking him because she didn't think he needed it! :eek: I know she says she wouldn't do that now. But even so...

parsniphead

A few days in and I have started to see a difference. I think this may be the motivation I need.:D

I have a few jobs this morning then I'm going to spend half hour sorting later.

I just find Marie Kondo too perfect. I need to relate to who I'm reading and slob lady is relatable to me.;)

retiredinfrance

Yes, Parsniphead - that's what it's about - decluttering at your own rate and even one thing out everyday is a massive 365 for the year. When I came back from DD's , I noticed the difference in my house .I tried MK once and never again. I got out all my winter stuff onto the bed, didn't know where to start and then shoved the lot back onto the shelves in my walkin hotpress. No progress - in fact a bigger muddle.

retiredinfrance

Forgot the point of it all .
261 wicker tray to CS
262 another candlestick
263 pile of old jamjars from garage and when clearing them I found our stack of sandpaper which we coudnt find for ages. And one reason why we realised the garage needed attention
264 another bag of rags
Off for my Sunday glass of wine.