Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
Hope you've all had a bit of this lovely sunshine.....although it's just tipping over into muggy here at the moment. I planned a busy day today to try & keep my mind off it being Completion Date on my parents' house. No particular reason why anything should have gone wrong at this late stage, but it's been a stressful time & I think it was because I just really need it to be over now, that my unhelpful & very imaginative brain was coming up with all sorts of potential catastrophes.....mostly in the early hours of the morning! Not to worry though, none of my totally haywire scenarios occurred. Instead I received a phone call from the solicitor late morning to say the sale had completed successfully & the money had already been transferred to our other solicitor, for finalising the Estate. So there was no need for me to spend a large proportion of my morning practically upside down at the back of a flowerbed taking out the stresses on the naughty bindweed which slinks in from next door.
I've done today's declutterings too, for my July challenge. A full 16 items for 16th July - this can't make very interesting reading, but it motivates me to keep going with it, so apologies in advance that as the month progresses, the daily number of things gets bigger:
* 4 x little packets of buttons from a dressing table drawer. Originally must have come with various garments, but I have no idea which, as didn't recognise any of them, so they have now been added to my button jar.
* 1 x fancypants nozzle from my hairdryer. It's one of those which is supposed to diffuse the hot air & give one's hair loads of 'body'. I've tried it precisely twice. On both occasions it kept falling off, & my hair looked as though I was on my way to audition for a tribute heavy metal band.
* 1 x pair of hiking socks which Mr F accidentally felted in the washer. I don't know why I kept them as they would barely fit a small child now.
* 1 x little knitted ornament which I made ages ago to test a pattern. It's badly faded from the sun, & it also keeps falling off the windowsill (either that, or cat bashes it off).
* 1 x frame. Was in a box of cluttery stuff. Have decluttered it into use. It's exactly the size required for something I was intending to have professionally framed. I have a mount for it, so it should look fine.
* 2 x ancient nail polishes which pretty much duplicate similar colours I have, which are newer.
* 4 x small packets of sugar found right at the bottom of a container where neither of us will ever, ever, think to look for sugar! Opened & added to sugar jar.
* 1 x random metal tube from an old espresso machine we no longer own.
* 1 x holey sock. Am usually quite good on 'make do & mend' & had put this aside for mending, but realistically, I can't see me getting more than another wear or two out of it before it just holes again, so I'll save my time & bin it.
And I'm pleased to say that I've already identified an annoying item which will definitely be on tomorrow's list.
It's very satisfying clearing out all these random little odds & sods, I must say. I think I need to do this challenge every 3 or 4 years.
Cheers for now,
F xx

DawnW

I am enjoying hearing about your decluttering challenge Foxgloves. It has inspired me to do my own, less organised version. Yesterday I took 3 bagfuls of stuff to the CS, and rounded up half a dozen sachets of different moisturiser samples from all over the place, to get them used up. One is already used and the packaging binned
Now pondering what could go today....

wishingthemortgaheaway

I'm loving your decluttering lists, please don't stop posting about them.

foxgloves

Sounds like you are also onto the clutter monster, Dawn.
Wish - Lol at you enjoying my clutter lists. They feel so dull to type, but the reality is that most of us have heaps of these annoying bits & pieces and although I'm an organised kind of person, my home is no exception where clutter is concerned. I can't recall the originators of this challenge but I think they were American, had a minimalism blog & were waaaayyy more hard-core than me. I seem to remember each item had to be photographed on Twitter & had to leave the house that same day. A few of my items haven't left the house at all, they have been returned to use i. e today's sugar packets & photo frame, so are no longer clutter. Most though have gone in the bin, recycling or charity shop bag.
The best bit is shifting stuff I've literally walked past hundreds of times when a decision followed by a 30 second walk to the bin would have dealt with it.
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

I read something the other day about only ever touching something once.
So, post - pick it up and deal with it.

Pots, off the table straight into he dishwasher or washed up.
I think it's impossible to do that with everything (although someone may disagree with me) but minimising the amount of times it's touched has to help productivity and clutter.

foxgloves

Wish - I heard that once on a management course. It was about paperwork & was designed to curtail stuff being read, shoved in an in-tray, then having to be read again because by the time it comes to dealing with it, one has forgotten what it was. I use it a bit at home for post. For instance: Post arrives. I open it & instantly put into the recycling bin anything that I don't require. Of the stuff I have to deal with, I put anything really urgent aside to tackle asap, then everything else goes in my wicker stair basket, so it is on its way up to my HQ, where it will be dealt with, filed or whatever required. Mr F's approach....open his post. Put anything which needs dealing with or filing on the kitchen dresser where it can often sit until I tidy it upstairs to get rid of it or put it in his work bag. Anything he doesn't want i.e junk mail...is carefully ripped into neat little shreds about the size of a stamp, then left in a pile on the worktop. If asked what the pile is, he says it's on its way to the recycling bin. The bin, as I am fond of pointing out, is 3 steps from the worktop! It's just a different mindset, isn't it? Another rule of thumb' that I find very useful is 'Don't put off any task which would take you 30 seconds or less to complete'. This is a very good mantra for clutter avoidance on work surfaces.

foxgloves

And while on the subject of clutter, I'm still on my July challenge. Today's 17 decluttered items for 17th July as follows - they are so random......true what HHoD has already said, about a lot of clutter being from unfinished projects & outstanding tasks. Anyway, today's gubbins:
*1 x holey top. I only use this for gardening & it probably looks a bit glam for that as it's black with black sequins, but it was a charity shop one & I wore it till it got tatty, when it became 'gardening gear'. I was stripping it off yesterday when I counted 11 holes in the front alone!! Time to go, my muddy, sequinny friend! (Not the Triffid top, in case anyone thought that has been resurrected.........)
*1 x old lidded compost bucket. Or, it was. No lid & broken handle. Binned.
*1 x tube of very ancient sun cream.
*1 x sachet ancient dried catnip. The scent seemed completely to have disappeared to me, but I decluttered it by 're-catnipping' cat's favourite toy mouse & presenting it to him......he promptly started trying to bite its ears off, so he's got a better nose than me!
*3 gifted plants which have been sitting around in pots - now all planted out in the garden, pots put away in shed.
*2 x letters received a while back. Replied to them today, so no longer need to keep them.
*2 photos which have been hanging around in my in-tray for a few weeks added to family history box.
*1 x book of raffle tickets. Prizes all a bit on the posh side for us pair of hippies.
*3 x tiles which have been sculling around the veggie garden annoying me. Also annoying me was the wonky birdbath. Ha! Solution! Decluttered the tiles to underneath the birdbath & now it is level. Why didn't I think of that before?
*1 x trade union magazine which arrived for mr f & has been ignored - I have it primed ready to put in his work bag when he gets home, so another item shifted from the kitchen dresser.
*1 x penknife. Shame as it's a good one, but I haven't treated it kindly. It's so rusty I can't open it & the blade is damaged from all the times I've used it to pierce holes in the base of pots & trays for planting.I actually bought it for taking cuttings properly. No point keeping it, it is beyond saving.
So that is another 17 items of clutter on their way.
Am still resisting doing my jam jar stash & some of the big box files in my HQ (home office). Must tackle them both before the month is up.
Cheers all,
F xx

foxgloves

Greetings diary readers,
I'd intended to pop on & tell you the results of my beansprout experiment....from that packet of ancient seed I decluttered back into use recently, but I still have outstanding tasks on today's job list, so beansprout musings will have to wait till another day. I'm sure nobody is exactly waiting with baited breath......
I have managed to do today's declutterings - 18 items today for 18th July. Still only the teensiest tiniest foray into my jam jar stash, & nothing yet from all my home admin box files, but I will do these before the month is out, definitely. So today's vanquishings:
5 x library books back to library. These have been sitting around for what seems like ages, all multiple renewals, just waiting for me to get round to copying out a couple of recipes & other bits I needed. I have done that first thing this morning & all the books on my shelves are now vertical with nothing shoved horizontally on top.
1 x cardigan to the charity shop bag.
1 x photo
1 x set of notes for a little project I started over 10 years ago & have no interest in pursuing.
2 x postcards I've been meaning to send for a while. Written. Posted. No longer sitting on my desk.
1 x strange unidentified magnet.
1 x draft letter to MP. My rage on that particular issue has abated, but if it comes back (& it may well do given the current political situation), I am quite sure I can easily rustle up another one.
1 x cat emergency leaflet. Useful first aid info for a new owner, but all common sense when you've had cats as long as we have.
2 x diet recipe booklets - to charity shop bag. Quite nice, nothing wrong with them, but they duplicate very similar stuff.
1 x very annoying sliver of soap. Actually, it's not really the soap that's been annoying, it's ME! I opened a new soap, moved this last little bit to the kitchen sink to finish up because I don't like wasting things, but have forgotten to use it ever since, so it has gone in the bin. To be fair, it was 'proper titchy'.
1 x mystery hair clip. I don't really like it, rarely use it, but the odd thing is that I have absolutely no idea from whence it came. I know where it's gone though - the bin!
1 x jam jar.
And that dear readers, is the lot. Must hie me away upstairs now to do the ironing.....my worst domestic job, apart from clearing up cat puke, so the sooner it's all done & neatly hanging up, the better.
Cheers,
F xx

foxgloves

Just a quick visit, as we are both off to the dentist shortly. Not my favourite place, but am being brave. Cat has been to the vet so he's been brave too.
Decluttering..... And still the items keep coming. Today's 19:
*1x flowerpot retrieved from back of hedge. Decent condition so tidied away in shed with others of its size.
*1 x knitting needle with no knob on the end. Bin.
*12 x old yoghurt pots already used for planting up seedlings. Noticed these older ones are getting very brittle. Recycling bin.
*1 x old china plate which doesn't get used. Charity shop bag.
*1x c. 50cm piece of unidentified plastic pipe. Bin.
*2 x flowerpot saucers, too small to be of any use.
*1x metal handle found in pan drawer. Assume it's from a broken colander we replaced last year.
Wishing everyone a nice end to the week.
F x

foxgloves

Well, diary readers, here we are again. Survived the dentist yesterday. Very unusually for me, no treatment required, so just two check-ups to pay for, including a set of x-rays for me. So grateful for the NHS.
Our grocery shopping trip to town took longer than expected this morning, when due to the most utterly tedious saga imaginable, we were unable to leave the multi-storey car park, until we'd jumped through a number of hoops. Bureaucratic hoops, that is.... Neither of us are really built for leaping through the other kind! I've calmed down now by enjoying a little wander around the garden & picking tomatoes & another punnet of beans.
Today's declutterings have been done, including one of my dresser drawers. I'd have sworn there was no clutter in there, as I go in that drawer so regularly. Wrong!! And the following items were duly decluttered:
*1 x remote control. Investigations revealed it doesn't go with any device we currently own. Binned.
*1 x lone cocktail stick which was sticking up from the join in the drawer base & jabbed me hard in the finger. Revenge taken by breaking into little bits & adding it to the compost bucket. That'll teach it to mess with someone on a decluttering mission!
* 1 x paper knife which I got free with a pen decades ago. Replaced by a very classy one I found in this drawer..... I didn't buy it. Ooooh, apparently a gift from Mr f's ex, which I can have for my desk 'if I like'. I do like!
* 3 x items plastic cutlery. Urrgh, I loathe plastic cutlery. Decluttered down to greenhouse to use as plant labels.
* 3 x bottle stoppers. Was sorry to see one of these go. A nice gift about 20 years ago. Cork now rotten, so no longer use able. The other two were more functional, but rusty. Bin.
So there WAS clutter in that drawer. Just shows how we can become immune to seeing it, until we challenge ourselves. Drawer looks really organised now.
And today's other items:
* 2 x mouldy garden chairs.
* 6 x glass tea light holders which have been spoiled from being left outside all winter.
* 1 x bundle bamboo sticks from one of those room fragrancing kits.
* 1 x large cardboard box. Cut out two free moisture mats for worm composting unit & chopped the rest up for normal compost bins.
* 1 x council bin collection calendar. No need to keep as I write garden bin days in my diary to make sure I maximise use, as it's a charged-for service.
Mr F's cooking night, so I'm going to do a couple of little jobs, then put my feet up with the Guardian, a newly-baked apple muffin & if I smile very sweetly, maybe a cup of tea.
Hope everyone OK,
F x