2020 - banish the clutter

TC77

701 - 704 tops to DD1

705 broken speakers

Doing spring cleaning, meant to just hoover bedroom but seen skirting boards ::neutral  hopefully will be able to update with lots more. aiming for 750 by the end of the weekend as keen to see improvement. Tidied a surface in bedroom and makes a difference but as things moved elsewhere is a case of moving deckchairs around and really need less deckchairs.

Hope everyone has a safe easter x

Gem-gem

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

1. WRITE AND USE “TO DO LISTS” - MINIMUM 30 MINUTE BURSTS OF ACTIVITY AT LEAST TWICE EVERY DAY

2. KITCHEN WILL BE LEFT CLEAN & TIDY EVERY NIGHT

3. I WILL ENDEAVOUR TO BE NICE TO EVERYONE & TRY TO SEE THE FUNNY OR PECULIAR SIDE TO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
4. DAY TO DAY DECLUTTERING WILL CONTINUE

Wednesday was another gloriously sunny day & warm. I finished scarf no.36 & started scarf no.37 (I now have 8 scarves ready to go to the homeless but of course no way to deliver them ☹️ + I can’t count as they are still cluttering the house ☹️ 

The last portion of the ropey beef joint was slow cooked with onion, potatoes, tomatoes, wrinkled carrots, stock pots, mixed herbs, Worcestershire sauce & a dollop of tomato purée - 🤤 with cauliflower, mashed potato for DSis & mashed sweet potato, carrot & parsnip for DH & I. The rest of the wrinkled vegetables - carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes + cauliflower stalks & leaves - were chopped, bagged & frozen ready for my next hm soup. 

DH did our weekly shop - milk, meat, vegetables & a few cans. In fact everything on my list 👏 plus he treated me to some Belgian choc chip cookies 💕 A big bonus of course is that my bank balance is not reducing 😉 as DH is paying for everything 🤣 

Thursday is another dry, sunny & warm day 😁 First good news of the day is that the Recycling bins were emptied - 1st time in 3 weeks 👏 so no excuse not to to declutter 😱 
I have phoned my bank & transferred monies to my DNeph in France - he had phoned his mum (DSis) yesterday - unable to afford food 😱 Fortunately DSis & I took the decision to hold back the money our DMum had left him (12 years ago). My DNeph is exceedingly bad with money - if he has it, he spends it - with nothing put by for a rainy day 😔 He is 29 years old & should know better 😔 The money has been eked out over the years & there is still a quarter of the original amount left - I have been exceedingly frugal with his money 🤣 obviously I had a premonition 😂 

701 - 702 Kitchen recycling, cardboard packaging - Recycled
703 Bag of kitchen detritus - Binned

Well done boultdj 👏 especially the flea tablet 😉

🤞 for a quick sale Nicnak 🤞 Yippee 🥳 target reached in 100 days - a Gold Star ⭐️ for you 👏 

Oh heck Marpau 😠 The sc*mb*gs of the world never let up do they 😡 I hope you get this sorted tout suite 🤞 

Good luck with paperwork decluttering Abbafan1972 🙂 Do you have a staple remover? If not, I would just tear the corners off 😉

Congrats on getting your fresh vegetables ailz95 👏 Weird items missing - maybe Jamie Oliver has been using the ingredients for his recipes 🤣 

Well done stellata applause. I THINK you have done quite a bit and you are so right that the sunshine helps 😆 

Brilliant work greent 👏 One Gold Star ⭐️ coming your way & as I am so impressed with all your hard work in the garden I am awarding you a 2nd Gold Star ⭐️ I will call in next summer for strawberries & cream 😉 - I’ll bring the cream 😆 

One Gold Star ⭐️ for you nannywindow 👏 such hard work in your garden & you Ned some encouragement

Great work Gem-gem 👏 However I did shed a tear 😢 when I read about the teddy bear ☹️

🥳  TC77 - great work to reach 700 in 100 days 👏 

Stay safe everyone

MrsSD ⭐️ 
703/2020

The teddy bear is back indoors. Hubby couldn't believe that I had discarded him after 48 years. He kept moving it around the garden to wherever I was working. I then found it on my side of the bed. So it is now back in the spare room along with his stuffed duck that is over 60 years old. 

short_bird

221: shower gel used up
222-236: 15 carrier bags to the local Real Junk Food Project so they can sort and distribute excess food from supermarkets. (Came back with a bag of root veg, some vine cherry tomatoes and a box of blueberries the latter well within use by date, also bunged them some cash to help their work.)

TC77

706 - bits of rubbish off floor and corners as spring clean half bedroom

707 - keep fit equipment - doesn't work for me

708 - suede shoes I love but abit too big - been keeping for years in the hope they will eventually fit - taken ages to part into CS bag

709 receipts recycled

710 wireless ear plugs opened and adjusted and packaging binned (too many things never been used so trying to change this).

710 - 711 suitcase of summer clothes taken out and put in drawers (marie kondo style) and will be taken out when I want to wear and then ironed as needed, and winter clothes put in suitcase.

712 credit card cancelled and cut up

713 other paper work and folders put away

714 vintage plates taken from under chest of drawers in bedroom (don't ask) and in kitchen cupboard so may be used.

Slow progress but cleaning as I go and tidying as well.

Hopefully more later.

nannywindow

Thanks for my first gold star MrsSD.

Still more de-rooting needs doing, but had a day off today helping DH recycle a fence panel. We had to put it at the top/side of the garden as someones Jack Russell dog and it's Greyhound friend, have broken down a 3ft fence    Now lets see the JR climb over a 6/7 footer, although the GH ( more like a pony ) could probably still clear it in one leap. The panel was cobbled together with extra bits of wood that DH had kept for Justin and painted by moi with leftover shed paint. This is one time I will let him off for keeping things   Decluttered several pieces of wire and metal and I also unearthed an Asda men's underarm, goodness knows how it got there, but it certainly wasn't ours. Found and binned several assorted kids balls/ small toys as we no longer have neighbours.

We had the last of the rubber chicken today, I think it was on a bit of elastic too. This time it was yesterday's leftover chicken curry put into hot dog rolls.......... very tasty too.

Gem Gem I too still have my teddy bear and I couldn't bear to part with him ( no pun intended ). It's now about 60 years old, and still  has a leg and an ear hanging by a thread   BTW I don't want to spoil it's individuality by fixing it, it's been like that since my childhood and it won't be the same bear to me !

Take care and keep safe all

nan xx

greent

Thanks for my stars, Mrs SD!

We've spent the day sorting the garage (almost down the 'down' part - still have the loft to do. Nest batch of items from me are: 

1001. blunt pair of nail clippers – binned

1002. 2.5 tubes of hotel shampoo which my hair doesn’t like – used for handwash and dregs to wash garden pots

1003. very rusty mitre saw – binned

1004 – 1011. Various colour/ size ‘tapes’ for kitchen cupboard and worktop ends from over the years – binned

1012. cracked guinea pig food bowl – binned

1013 – 1019. Rags from fabric recycling used to clean garage / things in there and then binned

1020. under cupboard heater (old and rusty) – binned

1021 – 1032. Lots and lots of different sorts of kitchen odds and ends (cupboard fittings etc) – binned

1033 – 1034. Empty (as near as) paint tins – binned

1035 – 1040. Various tubes of silicone/ sealant etc which were dried up – binned

1041. 2 short lengths of magnetic shower rubber seal strips (too short for any of ours) – binned

1042. mouldy plasterboard sheet – binned

1043. lots and lots of mouse poo and bits of things chewed – binned

1044. cardboard box nlr (used spare plastic crate) – recycled

1045. never used pressurised garden spray bottle – CS

1046. several broken wooden curtain rings – binned

1047. pair of ends from a wooden curtain pole (pole long gone) – binned

1048. weird curtain metal hook things for some long gone Laura A5hley curtains – binned

1049. 2 shrivelled fuel pellets – binned

1050. very old out of date fire extinguisher (small) – binned

Very tired, dirty and hot and bothered now!

We were meant to be in NY this weekend (my 50th bday present) - so in honour of that we're having dirty burgers, fries and onion rings for dinner

Chocolatedrinker

Spent some time in the garden today - OH and child wwere working on tidying the garden and planting up stuff for child's first Scout badge (hopefully). So a few more (mainly garden related items);

1757 - 1764 - ood packs of seeds binned

1765 - old plant pot binned

1766 - rotten bug hotel binned

1767 - 1770 - dead plants dug up and binned

1771 - another plant pot binned

1772 - bags of weeds to bin

1773 - 1778 - tubs of bubble mix used up and recycled

1779 - bunch of emails unsubscribed

1780 - 1783 bags of bulbs planted

1784 - 1791 - packs of seeds sown

1792 - 1793 - pencils put into pencil case, boxes recycled

1794 - silly putty tub recycled

Considering the amount of stuff  have recycled/binned/charity shopped/given to someone else over the last couple of years my house should be minimalist, but its still stuffed full of stuff! I think I will be doing 2021 items for 2021 as well!

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. WRITE AND USE “TO DO LISTS” - MINIMUM 30 MINUTE BURSTS OF ACTIVITY AT LEAST TWICE EVERY DAY

2. KITCHEN WILL BE LEFT CLEAN & TIDY EVERY NIGHT

3. I WILL ENDEAVOUR TO BE NICE TO EVERYONE & TRY TO SEE THE FUNNY OR PECULIAR SIDE TO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
4. DAY TO DAY DECLUTTERING WILL CONTINUE

Friday was another gloriously sunny & warm day. Two loads of washing line dried, an apple & hg rhubarb crumble made, relocated the 10 sacks of compost that were delivered from the drive (1 donated to ndn to repot his fig tree) to the back garden, DH started digging up a section of turf which will become a raised bed, watered the various vegetables/fruit that have been planted. Chatted to a couple of neighbours & FaceTime with DB - he phoned DSis & then chatted to me for 40 minutes 😱 Dinner was fish, oven chips & garden peas - all from freezer.

708 Uu mini bath gel bottle - Recycled
709 Coffee tin full of kitchen detritus - Binned

Well Done TC77 👏 Moving deckchairs 😆 but you do appear to have got rid of a few 👏 

Well done to your hubby Gem-gem 👏😉 At least he provided a companion duck for teddy 🤣 

Great work short_bird 👏 & very generous

Good work nannywindow 👏 & extra pleased that you had a rest from de-rooting - the new fence sounds great & I have visions of the JR taking a long run up & sailing of the fence waving to you as it does so 🤣 Another old teddy bear 😀 with its own individual character 😉

Great decluttering greent 👏 Happy birthday 🥳 & think how cheap a trip to NY will be, once this situation is all over - silver lining 😉

Brilliant work Chocolatedrinker 👏 At the rate you are going you will finish 2020 by the end of April & can start on 2021 😉 😉

Stay safe my decluttering chums

MrsSD ⭐️ 

709/2020

TC77

Mrs SD, thank you for all the encouragement - and fellow declutters.

Went to bed in less cluttered room and felt so peaceful and woken up (by refuse collectors - so grateful they are working) again to peaceful room. I also realise I have a built in wardrobe (small but has some awkward shelves tucked away which are only a quarter used and yet I have storage boxes (pretty)  with memorabilia (kids/my childhood etc) which I never look at. Opened and thought not decluttering I want to do anytime soon but can be put in wardrobe and acccessible storage used for books/clothes or things I use regularly.  Find I have quite organised boxes etc but they are in odd places with stuff on top!

715 - box put away in wardrobe - counting as makes a big difference to clutter in room. Will put more in

bit_by_bit

Hi all, 
Still not decluttering much although I have minimised things on surfaces, makes cleaning so much easier. This week when not working I have been dividing time between garden, allotment and bed. DD doing a bit of cleaning and making tea every night. 
I am inspired every time I come on here though. I think I will change my plans to start tackling the RoD today. Banking can wait until Tuesday.
The main decluttering this weekend will be a little pile of chocolate eggs. Enjoy your sunny Easter whatever you are doing