2021 MISSION DECLUTTER and CLEAN

stellata

I've been MIA for ages as family stuff and work (which is good) caught up with me so I've not only not decluttered but backslid and am feeling a bit overwhelmed now. Hopefully can get back on it tho. Made a start today by sneaking a few of the concrete lumps in my front garden into the bin for the collection tomorrow. They're only fist sized but there are at least 50 in the pile so it'll take a few weeks. Also lit a fire for the first time in ages and used a pile of cardboard to light it so that's gone. I had Ex's furniture cluttering up my house for a while as he moved, but that's gone now too. Hopefully will be back to proper full time work next week too so the routine will help. One downer, I saw my old house had sold again, I'd always told myself I'd buy it back one day but not to be. Not sure I'd want to actually live there it's more just nostalgia I think. 

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)

Sunday has been a gloriously sunny day & quite warm when the chilly breeze stopped blowing 🙂  DH & I bit the bullet with the seeds we planted a few weeks ago - sadly most of them did not germinate - only have true seedlings for radishes & leeks. We checked all the other pots & transplanted any other weedy seedlings to seed trays, potted up some chard & tomato seeds & these are now on the south-facing kitchen window sill. Everything crossed 🤞 that we will get seedlings. We do have quite a few healthy looking potato plants 🙂 and both our rhubarb plants are doing really well 👏 I see apple & rhubarb crumbles in our future 🥳 Hm soup for lunch for DH & me. Dinner was hm spaghetti Bolognese 😋 DH did most of the washing up & I dried up & put away + finished the last few bits. The only other thing I did was a 4 day menu plan - still trying to empty at least one freezer ready for defrosting 🤞
A couple of pleasures today - a robin visited & also Mr & Mrs Mallard came into the garden & strutted their stuff 😉

768 - 774 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, glass bottle, plastic bottle, newspaper, cardboard packaging, magazine - recycled

775 - 778 Kitchen detritus, empty compost bag, a few non-recyclable plastic pots, Uu marker pen - binned

Excellent work villagelife 👏 isn’t it nice when you realise you have done more than you thought 👏🙂

Great work mandy47 👏 Good luck with selling your books 🤞Well done on sorting paperwork 👏

Great work HappyKitties 👏

Good work nannywindow 👏 a bit of decluttering & a decent amount of baking 👏 I will pop round tomorrow for a couple of sausage rolls 😉😉

Great work short_bird 👏 You didn’t set a target but as you have decluttered 500+ items, one Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way 🙂

You have been busy EnergyShifter 👏 You knit really fast 😉

Good work oceanspirit 👏 remember the fable 😉

Great pictures Gers 👏 I see what you mean about the wm - doesn’t look the same 😞
Maybe your garden will surprise you - just overgrown plants & not dead ones 🤞 

Well done newlywed 👏 decluttered a few bits & probably lots of weight 😉🙂

You have been very busy retiredinfrance 👏 Shame about the body lotion - I always thought only us ladies were really picky with our lotions & potions 😉😉

No need to feel overwhelmed stellata 🙂 You have been busy with more important things - family & work definitely take precedence 👏 A good start with the concrete lumps 👏 I think it was nostalgia as you noticed your old house sold rather than it being for sale 😉

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    778/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £41.00 to end of March

TC77

Morning,  DD back to football so sat and Sunday am taken up. Forgot how many injuries,  with a girl hit in the face during training, nose bleed but she refused ice ( big believer in it ) and a couple yesterday. DD had one fall and later in bare feet and casually said her foot hurt later and showed me a big stud imprint and bruise!
761 emails 
762-765 old sim  cards deleted. 
766 emails sent ( and some £ owed received) 
767 alot of easter egg decluttered into me 
768  pen
769 unlocked sink after several attempts.

Fingers crossed CS takes sofa today and will ask if they'll take the bags for their other shop . 

Hope the week starts well for everyone. 

ruby_eskimo

Oh thank you for the star Mrs_SD, although a few of those lbs have snuck back in so can't take the credit for all of them at the moment.  Slowly trying to make them go away again though with a bit more activity and less snacking!

3 more items of clothing on the donation pile this weekend and a lot of boxes have gone in the recycling bin.  Quite pleased that we've managed to keep the house relatively tidy after the manic spring clean last weekend.  Going to try and do a little bit every day so we stay on top of it now - or at least that's the plan.  Still need to tackle the clothes declutter and the desk sorting but they'll get done...eventually I'm sure!  

Hope you're all staying warm and safe out there - we've woken up to snow this morning so not quite looking forward to my "run" later but will give it a go anyway!

GrannyKate

Only a light dusting of snow here at the moment.  I have small people for 3 days so not much cleaning etc going on.
720 Easter flowers to garden bin
721-724 4 old albums emptied and binned or to CS
725 Box of paper to recycling bin at tip.
726 More stuff cleared from computer.

I have decluttered a significant sum of money to order new computer.  

retiredinfrance

Mrs SD, we have a Monsieur and Madame Pigeon come every day into our garden, so lovely to hear about your Mr and Mrs Mallard. 
On the decluttering front i emptied a small jar of bits of metal - bits of zips old hair pins rusty needles ( sewing) from the top of the dressing table. As Granny Kate , I think says.... Oh well, it keeps me happy......

1 pile metal to recycling
Total 218+1=219

Keep safe everyone and hugs to all.

stellata

Good point Mrs SD, I used to keep checking online if "my" house was for sale but I havent recently and just spotted the "sold" sign when i drove by. Obviously just nostalgia 

mothernerd

One step forward - nasty alarm has been disconnected (it goes off every time there is a power cut - some so short that the tv just blinked and turned itself back on again) and recently it has decided it was not getting enough attention and just going off randomly. It's on the same circuit as the doorbell (gd spent 2 hours trying to sort it after pressing the doorbell the week before last) and the light switches (mum is using candles and socket lights in the evenings as she begged me to flip the 'fuse box' switch rather than sit through that racket again.

So a member of the extended family (very extended, hasn't been to see mum or sent a card since her partner died) brought his friend (retired electrician) round to fix it. Box outside is a dummy, control pad is only the control pad, found the noise maker, found what I think is the panic alarm (mum let other people deal with all the details when she moved in and the house manual is extremely vague - I fished it out when the gd was trying to sort the alarm but next to useless).

They had me hunting for another large box (the actual alarm), so I've been going round the house pulling furniture away from the walls, in all the places I remembered seeing 'something' on the wall. The two in the corner by my chair were recognisably phone company boxes and the one beside the tv is probably the same - just slightly larger and a smoother shape (previous tenant must have had a cable company). Nothing near the plugs behind the tv or the low sideboard (actual tv unit but it's easier for mum to have the tv at eye level now).

Into mum's bedroom, pulled out the bedside table as I remembered seeing a box of some kind when she made me crawl under the dining table trying to plug C'mas tree lights in (now done away with dining room, which she didn't need or use - only took me 3 years to persuade her). There is a small fake bakelite box next to the plug with a wire running down behind the plaster - think this is the fabled 'panic alarm' - has a hole in the middle which I presume is for some sort of key. 

Having run out of options (I thought under the kitchen sink was unlikely) I had a few attempts in 'my room'. I find it hard to move the bed. From time to time I take as much as possible out of the room, take out all four storage drawers (contents first), then the mattress and move the base (I can move the bed and mattress without the drawers but usually this is when the 'brackets' holding the two halves of the base have fallen off). The only plug is on the far side of the bed (against the wall). Semi sorted stuff everywhere including stuff that should be on the floor. Started picking up/ moving stuff in the hope of working myself round to the end of the bed and possibly insinuating myself in between the wall and bed and use my body to push the two apart (just enough for me to look at any boxes on the wall).

Wardrobes are flat to the wall so nothing behind there, shelves ditto (had to sneak an extension plug in so I could have the fridge freezer plug handy and use the extra socket for more lighting). Tried to pull one chest of drawers out a little bit so I could peer over to check either side of the radiator. I'd already emptied the tiny cupboard that holds the alarm panel (boiler takes up most of the room, Henry hoover and assorted brushes fill any gaps) and removed all the coats and bags from the tiny hall way before they arrived, so most of this activity was done in short busts with five minute sit downs in between. Also put two sets of ladders handy for them to use, if needed.

Then the men said it was done. They had found the box above the doorway inside the tiny cupboard, but neglected to tell me. So I'm exhausted. In a while I will start to push furniture back against the walls. But I don't even want to look at my room. Lots of things I had found places for are now on top of the bed along with some stuff that shouldn't be on the bed, all the clean sheets etc (was ready to do a full remake of the bed including getting the heavy covers outside - now I'll need to disinter them. I'll have to do the full declutter (bag like with like and remove as much as possible from the room) and clear and I hurt my foot again rushing out to insist on giving the electrician something for his trouble. I'm not in serious pain but it's painful to walk on. 

Will ponder awhile. May be able to do  a partial fix. Cupboard is empty so want to add extra hooks before putting things back. Will sit on a chair to bag like with like, concentrate on things that can go (outside, to the bins, shed or another room). Stack bags on drawers in my room, lighter bedding into mum's room, maybe I can use the space behind the couch in the front room. My aim is to have the bed and a small clear area of floor around it. The mattress cover can be sponged in situ. I can use one or two lighter covers for a couple of nights until I'm strong enough to take the heavy cover outside and air and clean it on the line (I have to roll it up, grab it in the middle - basically do a fireman's lift on it then flop it over the line and do all the stretching and evening out from there). Make up the bed later today (more airing).

That might be much later so that might be bedtime. I'll be satisfied if I get that far (anything more is a bonus but not going to risk further injury). So, the grand plan:
Eat something tasty and easy to prepare
Don't put things back in the cupboard until hooks have been located and installed
Essentials into mum's room (bedding, CPAP machine, glasses, wallet, keys, medication, a clean outfit to wear)
AS much as possible bagged and labelled. Stuff out (including shed)
Set up rat deterrent in shed (no recent signs - books for charity shop have not been nibbled).

It may be tomorrow before I report back. I will probably just collapse on the bed at some point. Happy decluttering folks.

short_bird

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Great work short_bird 👏 You didn’t set a target but as you have decluttered 500+ items, one Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way 🙂

Cheers, chuffed with the star!

Gers

What a nightmare mothernerd - hope you can recover soon.  Puts my efforts to shame!

I've emptied most of the contents of the shelving in the kitchen recess, it's surprising what DM has kept.  Seven bundt / loose-bottomed cake tins to start with.  Umpteen times twenty of other stuff.  It doesn't feel right to bin everything, some of it is in good order and could be used to equip a small kitchen.  Think I'll explore a homeless / asylum seekers charity though they might only want new stuff.

The four old fridge drawers are in bin bags to go out along with two bags of glass and two more of food waste.  Meanwhile DM has been sifting through a couple of photo albums which are now empty.  Some photos will be scanned whilst others are in the bin.  It's all moving on.

My sympathies to everyone else doing this.