2020 - banish the clutter

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

One thing I left off from yesterday’s travelogue: two separate occasions we saw a solitary bull lying down in a paddock - they were enormous & looked absolutely bored to tears or maybe just sad that they had no cows to ‘play‘ with 🤣
Sunday has been overcast & dull all day & quite chilly apart from a 5 minute view of a hazy sun ☹️ A hot breakfast set us up for the day - full Scottish for DH, scrambled eggs & mushrooms on toast for me together with a slice of toast & marmalade. Left rather late, 10:15 a.m. & started the journey back to England via lots of old & new landmarks. The only ‘exciting’ thing was that we used the Queensferry Crossing to cross the river Forth but decided to cross back using the Forth Road Bridge - an absolute no-no (now just buses, taxis & 125cc motorbikes - we are anticipating a £50 penalty notice arriving in the post in the next couple of a weeks ☹️ Stopped off at about 2:00 p.m. for a comfort break + coffee & cake. Finally arrived at our pub hotel The Grantham Arms in Burroughbridge a couple of minutes before 7:00 p.m. & pleaded for dinner - the kitchen was about to close 😱 Went to our room & were back down - changed & faces scrubbed - within 10 minutes 😉 First beer on tap 🥳 & dinner was lovely. DH had pan-fried tiger prawns on samphire & the last steak in ale pie with mash, shredded cabbage & lashings of gravy. I had tomato & garlic oil soup followed by fish pie topped with cheesy mash & shredded cabbage. My fish pie was more than enough for 2 people with healthy appetites 😉 - even DH couldn’t help me finish it 😱
Everything was absolutely delicious 🤤 DH has paid the bill including tomorrow’s breakfast
We were upstairs in our room before 9:00 p.m. as both of us are exhausted. I nipped down for my last cigarette - no hedgehog tonight ☹️

Wildlife: horses, cows, sheep, seagulls, swallows, bees, a solitary hawk circling.

Thanks Nicnak 👏 Shame about the cancellation of the garage conversion but I think you can probably get storage units from Freegl* & then tart them up a bit. A project that you would probably enjoy 😉 With a skip coming you will have plenty of room. 

Ooh, yes please boazu 🥺🙂🙂 - mine was a combination of 2 recipes & I forgot to write down my version ☹️😔  I quite agree that our stores should only be extras of the food we know & love 🙂 Talking about weather, I think this is our first trip into Scotland during which not a single drop of rain fell on us 🥳 - fortunately for us, we missed the deluge in Perth where apparently people were using canoes to go down the high street ☹️ The extremes of weather appear to be getting worse - either way too hot or way too much rain - no happy mediums any more 😔. Tongue in cheek  😛 I blame it on Boris 😛😜😝. You are definitely setting up your requirements for Hygge - sounds cosy & relaxed 😌 as an antidote to the bleakness of current life. 

Wow, You have been busy bit_by_bit 👏 Refugee Centre, working at the CS & clearing out the garage 👏 If the camping stuff is useable, it might be worth hanging onto Justin 😉 you may be able to rent it out if you need a bit of cash 🤣 

Wow, another busy bee Gem-gem 👏. That was a major card making project & as such I am awarding you a Gold Star ⭐️.  That reminds me it is almost time to start writing my Christmas cards 😉😉😏

Oh dear elsien ☹️ I agree it is a shame that they didn’t plan better, but as you say it is an incentive to continue decluttering but responsibly 👏 

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

MrsSD ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  🏅

1484/2020

TC77

1579 - ink cartridge freecycled

1580 - 1583 halloween and easter things to CS and one binned

1584 - paperwork sorted (a little)

1585 - pen binned

Housework and cleaning and 1586 - hoover now in a cupboard not out

[Deleted User]

Mrs SD here's my chutney recipe

Spicy Ripe Tomato Chutney  makes 3 -4lbs.

6lbs ripe tomatoes
8oz onions chopped fine
1 pint malt vinegar
2 good teaspoons paprika pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1  teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the tomatoes in a deep bowl and cover with boiling water, leave until cool enough to handle and slip off skins and remove 'eyes' and cores and 'mush up' the flesh and seeds. Put the tomatoes, chopped onion, salt, pepper, spices and half the vinegar into a large pan and heat gently to simmering then cook, stirring occasionally until they become thickened and pulpy.  Dissolve the sugar in the remaining vinegar ( keep stirring and it eventually becomes absorbed) and add this to the tomato pulp and continue cooking until it  thickens.  Pot up in sterilized jars and seal immediately with the lids.

I've evolved to this over many years and it gets better in flavour the longer you keep it.....in theory because we usually munch our way through it fairly quickly!

bit_by_bit

Thankyou Mrs SD. I have been busy but try and fit things around other activities to avoid wasting time and energy going back and forth.
So I have took a few more items to the CS which I will call one bag. This takes me to 54/52 items so I have met my target for this year. However I think I will now increase it to 100 bags. The chances are good I will reach that target so 54/100 it is.
I have taken photos of lots of stuff to sell which I am just preparing for when I put it on The Bay and The Sticky Tree. It will be worth it as going on the prices on there I will make a profit as well as clearing clutter, a winner both ways. 
Love the quote boazu. I even looked it up.

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

512 - old tea towel
513 & 514 - 2x prints

Spent weekend alternately resting, walking & pottering.  Lots of tidying / cleaning done but very little decluttering.  Towards the end of last week my iphone gave up the ghost so I need to send it for repair - thankfully I had a very old  phone with a smashed screen to use in the mean time - felt very grateful that I hadn't decluttered that - I almost did a few times... 
515 - old duvet 
516 - spruced up dresser in kitchen
517 - Help DS claim SEISS  

TC77

Wish I could declutter the mice that keep coming back  running around in our extension roof.....bought large amount of wire wool to stuff in holes,  - had new decorative air bricks put in last year and didn't put mesh in behind ... our cat keeps the mice out of sight but still there any and all  tips welcome

1588 - some boxes and bits of packaging recycled

1589 - 1594 4 plates sold (still have 8 of the set left but know will never need 12!), in box, paper and bubblewrap)

EnergyShifter

somerandom said:

Hello, I would love to join this group again! I was a member last year until June then life overwhelmed me....

Since I last posted in June last year my DS left school & is now on a gap year which he is funding through his YouTube channel - he's at home a lot at the moment. (i'm self-employed at work from home too - so that's interesting :rotfl:) I ended a relationship - sad but for the best. I paid off my mortgage!! :j I'm half way through an amazing course! I've allowed a bit of weight to creep up - a couple of kilos - and I'd love to declutter that.

I get such a lot from decluttering - not just the additional space but the shift in my energy & I really need that shift at the moment. I'm deep in "Winter Stuck-ness"! I so much more enjoy sharing the journey with other kindred spirits.

My clutter is a mixture of "stuff" and "life admin" - in fact I struggle with the "life admin" side of things way more than the physical. So I would love to count these in my target. In honour of 2020 I will have a target of 20 items / tasks a week that are outside my ordinary.

Sorry to clutter the board - I'm just quoting this for myself as I'd forgotten my target for the year- (not too easy to search as I lost my original account when the forum changed earlier in the year.)  
I went for 20 items / tasks a week = 1040 - I'm currently at 512 - I'd better up my game!!! 

silvasava

Our local hospice has a van coming to the local carpark on a Wednesday so I'll have a quick and dirty search to see what can go. I've a top and some shorts already and a glass worktop saver. I've also got some people coming today to pick up a cushion cover and some Dowe Egberts coffee jars. Not a lot but still out the door!

[Deleted User]

Currently decluttering some tomatoes to make sofrito for pizza bases and pasta sauces and also some plums from the tree to go into the freezer for later in the year.  OH lifted a few maincrop potatoes last evening, not a huge amount or huge in size so I'll use them now as I don't think they're quite ready for harvesting.

Primrose

Please can somebody explain How i unsubscribe from this thread in an explanation a five year old can understand.  (Not that I,m  not Interested in your decluttering efforts but my mailbox is being overwhelmed at a difficult time and I don,t understand technical terms.  Thanks.