2021 MISSION DECLUTTER and CLEAN

moneyonmymindsam

Welcome back JaneyJim. 
Sorry to hear of your sad news of pa. 
Take it easy and take each day as it comes, you seem to be off to a flying start for 2021.
😁

bit_by_bit

Wow Mrs SD. Two medals AND  a gold star. I am so grateful for them. They represent a very hard slog that is nearly over.
In return I would like to give you a very well deserved 🏅. Many thanks for your unending and considered support not just for me but for everyone on this thread. I am suprised that you find any time for decluttering and cleaning with us lot keeping you so busy at the moment 
Hugs for all those struggling and well done to all those who are managing even one thing out the door. The Charity shops are going to be overwhelmed again I feel.   

kat360

Mrs SD- thank you for my gold star 
We tackled the girls room yesterday, we got rid of a black bag full of broken toys and random detritus. Between home-schooling and looking for a job today ( the universal credits advisor told me that I have no reason why I can't find a job as I no longer have to do the school run and the kids schooling isn't compulsory) I managed to clean out our storage footstool. I didn't realise how much stuff had been put in there, 2 broken chargers, 5 pens that didn't work and a few books that I've read already.  

vulpix

Well said bit_by_bit. Couldn't have said it any better.

  I planted the bulbs. Summer flowering Peruvian daffodils called Ismene. I say planted, the compost was a frozen block so stood it in the sun a bit and broke bits off to cover the bulbs quite badly. It will sort itself out when it rains.
 
  I have given up growing veg as I couldn't give it away. Most people in the village grow their own and have the same problem. I still have rhubarb, thorn less blackberry, and strawberries and a little garlic. I gave away the gooseberry bush and currants last year as I was overwhelmed with fruit and the freezer was groaning. My Mum asked me not to give her any more homemade jam as she had a cupboard full ! 

   I have a crazy cottage garden which is "no dig". It looks like it's a lot of work but it isn't. If you don't disturb the soil, weeds struggle to grow. I don't water the garden either. I water something when it is first planted then it's on its own. If you water, the plants only have surface roots and so are not very robust. They have to grow deeper roots to find their own water and they are more stable.  I do water pots though but not if it rains and only if it is very hot. One big soak is better than a lot of drizzles.

  When we came here there was no garden so I have laid the patio and built walls and brought soil in. Previously it was  broken concrete and glass. I brought a lot of my favourite plants with me and others have been gifts or cuttings. I would say including the stone flags from ebay it will have cost about £300. I also save seeds and take a lot of cuttings.

   I love being outside but I am a fair weather gardener. I look forward to being able to have friends round again to sit in the garden and have cups of tea. Sorry to bore non gardeners. She did ask haha.

   Not done much else. In the process of crocheting another baby blanket, made a cake, just general household stuff.  Mr V has got me a chair out of the loft that I will make a new seat for. I will do anything to put off cleaning. Oh started the ball rolling with the cat flap idea. On about plan Q now. Waiting for the glazing man to get back to us.

 74. 2 pairs socks to rags
 Pounds gained £90
 Pounds lost 7lb
 Vx

mothernerd

Mum wasn't feeling well so she had decided to go back to bed once her friend had phoned (glory be - finally listening to her body and me), so I was free to get on with things. Finished off a pack of basmati with wild rice at lunchtime, added a scoop to each of the portioned chicken in black bean sauce I made yesterday for mum and ate the rest with the second half on my chicken and broccoli in oyster sauce. 

Lovely day so I went outside and have wood stained all the pieces of an 8' x 4' raised bed - left them drying all over an old dining table, 3 of the bins (covered in bin bags) and a small table. Polystyrene slats broken up and placed by the black bin (will put them in tomorrow morning, when I move the raised bed pieces), one box brought inside and broken down (tape and staples in normal rubbish bag) and will be put in the paper bin after it has been emptied on Wednesday. Was going to do the second raised bed but one corner was trapped (in the shed of doom to make a support and lots of bits shoved behind and on top since) so I have filled about 14 2 l bottles with water/ melted snow collected in the metal buckets which are now free for stone/ soil collecting when I start digging out the area where the raised beds are going. . Some of the bottles were in the shed so can see the contents of several boxes now.

Started to feel the cold so shut up the shed, put the lid on the can of paint, washed my hands in a bucket of freezing water to get as much paint off my hands as possible before going back inside (mum has the outdoor tap muffled up fro winter), unlocked the door, left wellies outside, stood on the doormat to strip off my painting clothes and put them in a bin bag (want them again tomorrow if weather is okay but don;t want to get paint streaks on anything), scrubbed my hands, cleaned out the sink and sat in bed until my iceblock feet thawed out. Simple tea, mum only wanted tuna butties (min kitchen cupboard stock up from stores) and I put periperi sauce on the chopped up chicken breast that didn't get used yesterday, finished the bag of oven chips and had mediterranean veg and added mushrooms cooked in garlic and herb dip (free with DS3's pizza. Remaining veg plus a couple of ancient red onions, any wrinkly peppers, more mushrooms and anything else that needs using will go in a veggie pasta bake and I also want to do cauliflower/ broccoli pasta in cheese sauce (some to eat and some in a dish for another day).

More sewing whilst mum was watching her serial on my laptop, finished a shades of pink heart and should use the rest of the six skeins as I am doing another with a slightly different pattern). Again I will keep the cards and add up how many have been used at the end.

So I think my total for today is 5 (but some waiting to actually leave the building) but lots more being 'consumed'.  I feel really good today as I was outside for about two hours, worked steadily and most important was doing something I want to do. Shed of doom is in the state it is because mum kept saying it was the wrong time of year for painting and demanded that the yard be cleared so I just shoved stuff in there rather than doing it the way I wanted - putting up shelves and hooks so things were off the floor and clearly visible. Current total 337/ 2021 and I finally got through to the chemist to order my next two months of medication.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. KITCHEN WILL CONTINUE TO BE LEFT CLEAN & TIDY EVERY NIGHT

2. JUST DO ONE THING EVERY DAY (courtesy of bit_by_bit) OTHER THAN DAY TO DAY CLEANING & DECLUTTERING 
3. CLEAN ONE ROOM (TOP TO BOTTOM) EVERY MONTH (hopefully 3 weekly by the end of the year)

The road to hell is paved with good intentions 😞 Monday 1st February was supposed to be my day with Earnest, he did visit but attached himself to my DH 😉😉 He peeled & chopped loads of vegetables & made soup. He then did some work in the quagmire that is the back garden 👏. He dug up/harvested all the chard & leeks from the tabletop garden bed, then removed all the compost which he added to the small raised garden bed. The hand built (by DH 👏) table top bed is now lying face down on the lawn ready to be reinforced & then moved along about 6’ - out of the shade of the olive tree 😉. Unfortunately this means moving spare patio slabs & bricks. He also filled the bird & squirrel feeders. He then moved to the garage to blitz vegetable peelings for the wormeries.
My contribution for the day was to wash the leeks which although they had been growing for 8 months were mainly the size of large/very large spring onions 😱. I made a cheese sauce for the leeks - our entire ‘crop’ was just enough for a side dish for 2 people ☹️☹️ (Good job DSis doesn’t like leeks 😉👏) which DH & I had with our sausages, mash & tinned tomatoes. The chard has been washed & is currently in the fridge in a colander - it  will be chopped & bagged for freezer. I did do the wudupa 😉

272 - 275 Kitchen recycling, cardboard packaging, foil tops, drinks cans - recycled 
276 - 277 Kitchen detritus, Uu compost bag - binned

Fingers crossed that I can do better on the 2nd of February 🤞

How generous of you Frogletina 👏 you probably made their day 🙂

Steady progress villagelife 👏

balabooberlies, I was thinking more of social history as I assumed the watches were quite old 😉 or you could go with wort’s quite sensible suggestion 🙂

Viking_mfw, as far as I am concerned you were successful & as such I am awarding you a Gold Star ⭐️ Your perseverance in the Minimalist Challenge has set you up nicely for the continuation of your Decluttering journey 👏👏🙂

Wow Ms_W 🤩 you have been busy 👏

Brilliant work leelad 👏 your daughter’s den brought a smile to my face 🙂 & a lovely reminder for you of how well you are doing on your Decluttering Journey 🙂😉 I am also very pleased for you all that your wife is on the mend 👏🙂

Thank you cheerleader EnergyShifter 👏

Nice to see you back oceanspirit 👋 really pleased that your fatigue is finally being shown the door 🤞 A well thought out & well executed plan of attack from which you have already reaped benefits 👏 so I am awarding you a Gold Star ⭐️ you have stopped clutter coming in & saved time and money. Well done 👏

You have been very busy D123456789 👏 For a while I used the Marie Kondo folding method for towels & teatowels but now I use the rolling method 🙂 so much space 😉

You have definitely earned your chill out time 🙂

Moneyonmymindsam, yet another busy bee 👏 You have done some excellent decluttering 👏

Good work Barny1979 👏

Your DH seems to be ‘trying’ very hard charlies_tribe 😉👏😉

Yippee Viking_mfw - on target for February 👏

Nice to see you JaneyJim 👋 Sorry to hear about your dear pa ☹️ The one “good” thing about the new format is that they finally took out that awful message about reading the rules that appeared on every single page 😖 I am with you on the lack of really good emojis - like the wagging finger emoji when I am trying to warn people not to denigrate their decluttering efforts - very annoying 😠 Absolutely you can count reading 111 pages 😉 You have made a great start 👏 Sounds like you have a very sensible dog 😉😉👏

You are very welcome bit_by_bit 🙂 You have earned your medals & gold stars 👏
Thank you for my 🏅- I do actually enjoy the cheerleading - it is a thank you to all of you for sharing your lives & making this a supportive & helpful thread 🙂 A bright spot in each day when there is so much depressing news around.

You are welcome kat360 🙂 Well done on sorting out the girls room & the storage footstool 👏 I was incredulous & very angry at the universal credits advisor’s comments 😖 Precisely who is going to look after your children whilst you are out working? & not too sure that no homeschooling would go down very well with the school/s or the government😡 

A fair weather gardener vulpix 🤔 yet a very successful one 👏 Your no dig garden sounds wonderful 🙂 A very big thank you for the info about watering 👏 - it makes sense & maybe that is why my carrots never grew 🤨 Another lb lost - well done 👏

Wow, wow, wow mothernerd 🤩🤩🤩 You have been busy - painting, decluttering, topping up your Vitamin D, stoking up your well being, finally getting your mum to ‘listen to her body’ & persevering with the chemist 👏 A very successful day & I hope you are proud of yourself 🙂🙂

MrsSD  🏅🏅 🏅⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    277/2021

Savings Pot: 

balabooberlies

Hi Mrs S.D.

sorry, my poor way of explaining things.  Wort is right, my family wouldn't have a clue.  When I am in my forever home......I will sell them and buy plants/seeds etc.  In memory of the lady.

x

ScarletRibbons

Good morning, I meant to post the other day and didn't.

.Whilst putting away some ironing I decluttered 2 tops into the charity bag, one of them hadn't been worn for 3 years, so I said bye bye to it. It's quite a dressy lace one, and the last time I wore it was for an 18th birthday party. Realistically, I'm not going to be wearing it any time soon, so as I say I said bye bye.

Thats 3 bags for the chazzer now, though one of them is books.  If the chazzers don't open soon, and it doesn't look like they are. I'll need a skip on the landing.

Have a good day everyone!

ruby_eskimo

Morning all!  Now that I'm back to working at home, I can get back into a proper routine which allows me time to clean and declutter.

Started last night with a quick clean of the living room and kitchen (DH even did all the washing up 😲) and I even managed to go through a shopping bag that was filled with the contents of my desk from my last job that I left a year ago 😂.  I was only motivated to do it because I need to find a certificate from some training for my current job but it wasn't there so I'm assuming it's in the big box of papers in the spare room.  I've booked Friday off work to use up some annual leave so will be using the day to got through said box and file / shred as appropriate.

Also managed to make a start on the laundry pile that was getting a little out of control and have a second load ready to go on the airer at lunch time.  Will also strip the beds and wash the sheets this afternoon and give the bedrooms and bit of a whizz round with the duster and some polish before I go on my afternoon walk.

Hope you're all staying safe.

pamsdish

Did some tidying away in spare bedroom yesterday, to be honest it is the only room with clutter, but things keep getting put in there, looks more reasonable and did put some things in to better places.
Decluttered to bin, cordless drill battery, just don`t know where it fits, microwaveable wheat bag, burned a hole in it, this always happens think my M/W has a hot spot, must remember to place more to one side.
Hopefully a set of kitchen scales, being collected later today, lovely scales, displays time, temp all the time, which just means it burns through coin batteries, don`t mind that so much it`s just that the battery goes with no warning half way through  weighing something.