2020 - banish the clutter

newlywed

Decluttered some weeds, trimmed the tomato plants, decluttered some snails into the pavement where hopefully some hungry birds had a feast.

Decluttered two old pillows, and our mattress - but have replaced them so not sure if it counts,  new mattress has decluttered some back pain too so hopefully that will continue. 

Decluttering the freezer contents ready for the next Tesco delivery.   Need to use up some veg and we have a forest of rocket If anyone has any idea other than pesto! 

TC77

1481 - garden rubbish

1482 - cut up two containers and used base (with sides) to subdivide large shallow shelves in kitchen, padded tops kept for packaging and sides binned!

1483 radio in CS pile

1484 broken lid binned

1485 receipts and small paper declutter

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

Just lost a very long post 😖 I will try again sob 😢 but unfortunately will probably forget loads 😡 
Wednesday we were woken @ 6:00 a.m. by the sun streaming in through our window. Regrettably we faffed around so much that we didn’t leave our hotel The Victoria Inn, Threemilestone until 10:00 a.m. after having a full English breakfast with lots of coffee, packing the bike & a long delay whilst DH paid the bill - the ubiquitous computer problems. Stopped off for petrol & tmi coming up - I had a dicky rear end - not ideal on a motorbike trip 😞 Fortunately the landmarks we visited & took photos of did have ‘facilities’ which were open 👏🙂 I do so love Cornwall - rolling countryside, twisting narrow country lanes & the sea (although no sea view this visit). Then into Devon, over Dartmoor (cows, sheep & ponies on the road 😉) & found a farm shop (in a complex) just 10 minutes before it closed 👏 Potatoes, tomatoes, 2 types of mushrooms, shallots, specialist cheese & a pot of honey. DH then treated us to a shared cappuccino & two small pots of ice cream (strawberry for DH & honeycomb for me) 😋 Whilst we were waiting a chap initiated a conversation with DH. Famous in our household - Craig Doyle a TV presenter re Isle of Man TT also Rugby Union & the Rugby World Cup. DH had a nice chat with Craig whilst I just listened & drooled because a) he is rather good looking & b) I love an Irish accent 😉 Then back on the bike through Somerset waving at Stonehenge as we passed, into Surrey & then across London: wailing sirens - all police cars, traffic & too much light even though COVID has put paid to crowds of people. Did follow two Lamborghinis (1 orange, 1 black) which raced each other through the Strand Underpass.
Arrived home just before 10:00 p.m. DSis made coffee whilst we unloaded the motorbike & we made toast & marmalade as a snack. Left the unpacking until Thursday 😉 

Wildlife seen: cows including Belted Galloways & Highland cattle; sheep including Scotch Blackface; Dartmoor ponies including a foal feeding from its mum 🙂; geese, chickens, ducks; seagulls, hawks, rooks, swallows; alpacas but no ‘push me, pull yous’ ☹️ & pigs.

Strangest sight of the day - a very well dressed & lifelike scarecrow on a sun lounger at the side of the road in front of a lovely cottage. Even scarecrows need their Vitamin D 🤣 

Lovely smells again - mown grass, manure & wood fires. 

Thursday has been hot, hot, hot 🥵 Unpacked bags, did 3 wash loads (Only a few bits from our trip) & managed to line dry 2 loads worth. The third load will be on the line overnight. The main task of the day was to completely empty & sort the garden shed. Swept & Vacuumed the floor, dusted the shelves, cleaned the hand built drop down table & removed the cobwebs. DH put up some extra hooks so everything is hanging up. Shelves rearranged & now like is with like & I have a completely empty shelf 🥳 A few bits have been relocated to the garage & a few bits were binned or recycled. DH treated the 3 of us to Chinese which means tomorrow’s dinner is sorted  🥳 DH has also been sorting his office. My last job was giving the garden a good soaking. We now have lots of GREEN tomatoes but have yet to see our first red one ☹️ Today’s sm trip has been deferred to Friday. 

1389 - 1396 Drinks cans from our trip, drinks cans, 2 cardboard boxes, plastic safety cover from old hedge trimmer 🙄, damaged plastic lid from feed bin, kitchen recycling, 0.5” paperwork from shed - Recycled 
1397 - 1405 Four pairs of manky garden gloves 🙄, damaged plastic netting, kitchen detritus, 2 bottles/containers of unidentifiable liquids - labels came off ☹️, bag of general shred detritus - Binned

1406 - 1409 Four pairs of new garden gloves - CS bag

Such a shame newlywed 🙁 Decluttering old mattress & pillows definitely counts as does weeding 😉 Well done 👏 Re the excess rocket perhaps bag & freeze for soup on a chilly day?

Well done Nicnak 👏 and ?congratulations? on the divorce. Your illness has been a life changer Nicnak & I trust that you are now fully well. I must say you are a decluttering demon & I am looking forward to awarding you more gold stars 😊

November it is then boazu 😉 You really are in squirrel mode & I like it that your hubby ‘assists’ you - mind you he is the one who is reaping the rewards of your inner squirrel‘s full whiz mode 😉 Brilliant - a new log store 👏 Ooh 😯 rhubarb, tomatoes, plums & runner beans 🥳 I might stay the whole of November 😉 😉 

Not a ramble at all TC77. Rather, a considered post with a really good method of deciding what to declutter. I really do like the idea of a memory box with instructions to get rid once it is no longer required 🙂 - hope you like the euphemism 😉 Well done on the decluttering 👏 a nice steady pace 🙂 & also great repurposing 👏

Like the way you have dealt with your 2nd ex, Floss 👏 Practical with a nice swipe 🤣

You should be happy nannywindow 😉 The things we keep eh 🙄 Sheds seem to hide almost as much weird stuff as attics & garages 😆 It was a wonderful trip 🥳 Off to Scotland for a few days in a couple of weeks 🥳 

Great work Happy_Kitties 👏. “Justin” & Ron have a lot to answer for 😉 but I am very pleased that you are kicking Justin into touch 😆

Good work Rootle 👏 


P.S. DSis has finally managed to get rid of the headache she has had ALL day - just in time to go to bed ☹️ She really does not like the hot weather. 

BE KIND. STAY SAFE. BREAK THE CHAIN. SAVE LIVES.

MrsSD ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  🏅

1409/2020

Willowtree222

Reading your adventure sounds amazing. How lovely to see such wildlife. 
Sadly, I will have implications for life, but it just means I appreciate things a lot more especially a cleaner and clearer house!
Bread maker has sold, been paid for and is being picked up tomorrow. Ex taking the kitchen units out of the garage in a few weeks too. Yesterday, I binned some rusty garden tools. 
My total has gone out of the window!

[Deleted User]

Just been for an early morning walk before it gets too hot out there and left the dehydrator on to finish the tomtoes with the result that there is now a sauna in the kitchen...it WILL be worth it! won't it?  Mrs SD you are welcome for the whole of November and a share of the goodies but you'll have to put up with my cooking...you have been warned.

A sort out in the store this morning because it's downstairs and in the cool and a go through of equipment etc. on the shelf unit to see if there's anything else for Hedgehog Rescue.  Found two clip neck bottles in there last night which I've filled with water and left in the fridge overnight so we have something refreshing to dip in to today, who knows what else will surface?

LameWolf

Floss said:

 Nicnack & TC77 I've just got divorced for the second time...first wedding album was binned 5 years after we split (after removing a couple of pics of my grandmas & parents), second one was left with him when I moved out as he had wanted the costly album printed...but I have kept all of the digital photos.
Wedding cards were binned shortly after each split, with the most recent ones filling his recycling bin along with all the cards he had given me (making a point while recycling them!).
I have kept all digital photos of him in an archive folder hidden out of daily sight, but printed ones were removed from their nice frames & left in his house along with the public declarations of undying love such as his personalised anniversary gifts to me. I don't want them but his other woman might have found his duplicity interesting...!

When I left the Ex, I literally had just my car and the clothes I stood up in. At that point I had no idea if I'd be able to retrieve anything else at all; so when I was able to make a few trips back to get stuff, I concentrated on useful items and official paperwork rather than mementoes. As a consequence, I have literally NO photos taken before I was 42, apart from a few of PennyDog, which I did snaffle, along with her collar (she had passed away a few weeks previously).

TC77

LameWolf - thanks for sharing, sounds like a very tough time for you, and puts things in perspective.

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 has been hot, hot, hot 🥵 but with a cooling breeze. Lazy day - watered my tomato plants - will the tomatoes ever go red ☹️ Then spent several 20 minute sessions emptying seed pods from some alliums - only about a third of the way through 😱 Also washed & re-proofed DH’s motorbike trousers & mine. Line dried. DH took DSis to the sm. Dinner was the rest of last nights Chinese. Just now went out front to have a cigarette & four young foxes descended on the house. Too brazen by half & can’t scare them away. They think it is a game 😱 

1410 - 1414 Cardboard packaging, Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, drinks bottles, paper packaging - Recycled
1415 - 1416 Kitchen detritus, plastic packaging - Binned

Great work Nicnak 👏 don’t worry about totals - you are still decluttering & that is all that counts 😉 You have a great outlook & it is cheering that you just get on with life 🙂

A treasure trove in your kitchen boazu 👏 I cannot believe you can’t cook boazu which is what inferred from your comment 😉 My tomatoes are a nice size but so far not a hint of colour. At this rate it will just be pots & pots of green tomato chutney 🙁

LameWolf, I agree with TC77 you really did have a tough time but you seem to have come out the other side stronger & more resilient. A shining example to all of us.

BE KIND. STAY SAFE. BREAK THE CHAIN. SAVE LIVES.

MrsSD ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  🏅

1416/2020

Willowtree222

Thanks for sharing Lamewolf. That must be awful. I was lucky that I got so much. My ex did manage to take one thing of DD's that I feel gutted about, it's something that can't be replaced either. At least I know he is looking after it as it belongs to DD. X

[Deleted User]

I can cook MrsSD but I don't do 'modern' we like good old fashioned simple and most of it home made so it might be a bit boring and bland to the more modern palate.

Waiting for the sky engineer to come and give us a new sky box, ours keeps freezing and not talking to us and doing it more frequently so it's time to update so today will be decluttering the old one and installing a new one and dehydrating a large number of courgettes that seem to have accumulated in the fridge drawer over the week and also some more tomatoes because whenever I look at the greenhouse it seems to have more ripe ones to pick and now the garden outdoor ones have joined in too, not quite but almost inundated!