2020 - banish the clutter

ziggy2407

Hi everyone

I love this thread - so supportive and inspiring and it definitely spurs me on to do something, although its been a long, long time since I posted here I have been reading and cheering you all on.  My biggest victories since joining this thread are: 

Dealing with post and junk mail straight away
Finishing off bottles and jars before opening new
All my loyalty cards have been hole-punched and popped on a keyring along with a trolley coin and a folded bag for life and now in my everyday bag
All other bags for life are in car boot ready for big shopping days
Emails accounts are sorted daily (instead of ignored and left to multiply)

Lockdown provided us with a great opportunity to re-decorate /revamp most rooms and use lots of supplies from home.  Items we've bought have been bought using funds made from selling surplus/unwanted items.  Lockdown and the great weather also meant we were able to sort our garden/deck area and DS was a great help in making new fence panels, clearing gutters and painting shed and lots of odd jobs.  

Keep up the great work everyone and keep on inspiring.

bit_by_bit

I thought I had decluttered my ususal work trousers to the rag bag, luckily they turned up neatly folded in my work pillowcase  I was meant to throw out my old ones but I hadn't.
Decluttering is definitely working. I hosted a socially distanced craft night lat night and cleaning up was a lot easier than it had been in the past. 

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

551 - spruced up a decorative fire-guard - painted with chalk paint - very shabby chic now...  
552 - spruced up a "found" chair 

553. dead rug
554. spruced up cast iron door stop (I can't stop spraying things with chalk paint!! - its become an obsession) 
555 & 6 - decluttered 2 x email accounts .... 

Had the day off today but have been feeling very low energy and unmotivated... had some disappointing news yesterday which left me feeling flat... I've allowed myself time to mope today so the plan is to shake that feeling off and spring into action tomorrow!! 

Gem-gem

Has it has it really been two weeks since I last posted! Where does time go?
Have been helping Mum out -  family member had an operation this week, so have been spending some time there. 

Decluttering: 
cleaned out the shed (again)
did our my jumper draws and wardrobe
Recycled:
18 sweet corn plants
lots of foliage from tomato plants
plastic trays from shed
cabbage outer leaves 
carrot tops
plastic lids
uu garden sprays
uu body lotion

Broken box
Binned:
Uu garden sprays
directors chair
bin bag of 'c...' from shed

Neighbour has been also clearing the excess clutter. He gave it to me and long with more stuff from the house £91 made at a boot fair, £78 profit. Neighbour didn't want any money so he has a fruitcake coming his way. Have already given him some tomatoes, courgettes and cake. 

Some of the things that I Sold (mine)
dressing gown
pyjamas
jogging bottoms
jumpers
cardigans
coats x 2 (for £8 each)
suit (for £8)
books
pyrex dish
2 cushions
2 money boxes (for £8)
picture (for £3)

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

Hi there fellow declutterers 👋 Ashamed to say that Thursday & Friday have been very lazy days for me 😔 (DH got back just before 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday)
No cooking - DH treated us to a Chinese which does us for two nights’ dinners. The OddB*x delivery arrived just before midnight last night - contains a cauliflower, 2 corn on the cob, 2 aubergines, 17 very small red onions, 4 potatoes, one courgette & one butternut squash & a bag of green beans. 

DH went to sm today for a few store cupboard items & some meat. I harvested some more green tomatoes - 1.036 kg.  I can see more tomato chutney & probably some red onion relish in my future 😂  
Still in a bit of a funk but hoping to join up the odd bouts of activity into sustained progress

😉

1584 - 1595 Office recycling, kitchen recycling, 3 plastic boxes & lids, 5 plastic lids, drinks cans, Uu wul bottle - Recycled

1596 - 1597 Plastic packaging, kitchen detritus - Binned

Good work Rootle 👏

Brilliant work greent 👏 The rate you are going I can quite believe you will reach your target by the end of October 👏 Then you get to set a mini target 😉😉 to the end of the year 😉😉

Excellent work VickyV 👏. No need to up your target - you have brought in required items not clutter 😉

Great work ailz95 👏 I think it is called ‘Clutter Creep’ - you start one task & get drawn into expanding the range of your decluttering 😱 However the satisfaction when you finish is far greater than when just completing the initial task 😉😉 🙂 Perhaps you could design see through masks ailz95 - I am sure there would be a market for them. Ignore me - just read Wanna_Bee_Free’s post 👏 

Excellent work TC77 👏 I think you should count the admin & hospital appointments as two 😉

Great decluttering garden_girl_2 👏 I especially approve of getting your nephew to dig up the roots 👍😂 Good luck with the tooth 🤞

Wow ziggy2407 🤩  I am very impressed with your use of lockdown 👏👏 
I am especially impressed with the first five tasks listed & completed. One Gold Star is not enough, so I am awarding you two Gold Stars ⭐️  ⭐️  Reading on you have been extremely busy - no wonder you didn’t post 😉 So in view of the amount of work that you & your family have done I am awarding you three Gold Stars ⭐️  ⭐️  ⭐️  Thank you for your inspiration 👏

How lovely bit_by_bit 😊 - a craft night & then seeing the benefit of all your decluttering in that clean up was really quick 👏 Two pleasures in one 🙂

We will have to call you “Chalk Monster” 😂 rather than EnergyShifter 😉 Sorry that you have had disappointing news but more power to you for allowing yourself a day of moping 👏 then girding your loins & getting on with it 👍

Excellent work Gem-gem 👏 The amount of decluttering you have done means that you have definitely reached your monthly targets for July & August - so one Gold Star ⭐️  on its way 🙂 Decent profit at the boot fair & nice that neighbour will be happy with a cake & garden produce 😉 Being nosy 😉 is there a plan for your profits?

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

MrsSD ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️   🏅

1597/2020

Willowtree222

I've been back at work and so not much progress on the house. Hoping to declutter a few little bits over the weekend. Think I might have to declutter DD's 7-8 clothes as she seems to have grown 2 sizes in lockdown. Her height has just shot up. I have only just bought her the clothes as well. I am sure a charity will be pleased with some clothes with labels on. x

VickyV

Mammoth day of de-cluttering yesterday; shifted another 127 items!

36-37: 2 manky boxes of chocs
38: face cream
39-43: scented candles (well, not very scented any more)
44: pillow case
45: nearly empty body oil
46-47: too big 'shapewear'
48: old credit card
49: hair dye
50: another bloomin' scented candle
51: mini candy canes
52-53: gradual tan
54: hand cream set
55: scabby 'massage bar'
56-113: 58, yes 58, kids books
114-116: shoeboxes that I was saving just in case.
117-122: 6 handbags
123: eyeliner
124: lanyard
125: "nan" keyring - I'm not a nan 
126: bag of old medication
127: Contents of an old handbag
128: Said handbag
129: face cleanser (v. old)
130: pair of shoes
131: Ruck sack
132: wall plaque
133: unelasticated socks
134-161: Hubby's cycling gear (28 items)
162: OOD protein powder.

Phew! maybe more today. Think I may up my target to 300...

Vicky x

Gem-gem

Thanks for the gold star Mrs SD. 

Yes, I did offer my neighbour some money but he didn't want them, mind you over the years I have handed him a jar or 2 of fresh homemade jam, slices of cake, various fruit and veg from the garden and even a homemade shepherd's pie, when he had been working in the garden all day. With the money, I have bought some new clothes - replaced my jeans and walking trousers  that have developed rips and holes in unwanted places. Also, bought a new fleece - burnt my other one last year.

Mrs SD - What tomato chutney recipe and red onion relish do you use?

Recycled:
Unwanted post

TC77

Garden-girl - hope you've got your next appointment. I've had stage 1 root canal work, taking DD1 to dentist re wisdom teeth - been waiting 11 months for hospital to take out some/all

1696 - parcel of unwanted things returned

1697 - hydrangea to neighbour (have one to plant)

1698 emails deleted

1699 - small paper declutter

More soon hopefully

Willowtree222

I've had a spurt this morning
Hoover to the tip
New hoover box to the tip
Mattress from DD's old bed to the tip
Hoover returned to my parents house

Two tools returned to my dad

Various bits of shredding
New hoover and steamer set up and boxes disposed off
Wok replaced with new one
Old bathroom mat replaced with new one too
A little bit of progress but it's got me back into the swing of things. I'm sure I'll have done a lot more by tonight and tomorrow x