2021 MISSION DECLUTTER and CLEAN

leelad

Morning MrsSD and fellow declutterers, my decluttering has been food related over the weekend. Carrots finished growing, more carrot top than actual carrot 😄 😄 so made a pesto with the carrot tops and the small carrots went into a shepherd's pie which we will be having tonight. Potatoes were dug up over the weekend, 109 new potatoes from a 50cm container. Not bad at all. No joy as yet on the online selling, had an enquiry on the bookcase but after dimensions were provided, she said it would be too small for her. Ah well. Tiredness is catching up with me after all the running around over the weekend, now double jabbed after Fridays 2nd one, and I need to get ready now for work. Oh and daughter is now walking again after her broken leg from end of april 🙂 Have a good week, cheers 🙂

GrannyKate

Just a few things to report - I have a long mental list of things to do this week.  Quite a bit of childcare this week but they are at school so should get things done.

1209 Weeding 
1210 Seedlings planted out
1211 Meeting papers shredded
1212 GS4 delighted to pick first cucumbers, more strawberries and a small bunch of carrots used for Sunday dinner.

TC77

@leeland (and others) very impressed with all the food growing. We have strawberries as they've overrun since last year but that's all. So good your daughter is walking again, must be a relief for you all and for her in time for the summer holidays.

@Liverpool_Anne thanks, I've drawers I'm putting some of her things in, for a while she was somewhere she hated the bed so got one from a neighbour and some other furniture, as well as boxes of papers which DD can't face sorting out. My be important things as  she worked for a few years and couldn't find info for student finance so having real problems with them. I've boxes I've asked her to sort things into, and hopefully in a few weeks she will. We don't have a loft as converted it and filled in with more furniture etc ( I sleep in it) but should have enough cupbaord and wardrobe space for her things as house is too big for me and DD2. Also have things that will go in new shed - now have provisional date of 16th august for its arrival! Saw the cost of moving, gosh think I will be here longer until I retire and make proper longer term plans so do need to sort out.


The sun is out and hope everyone's week goes as well as possible. 

Wednesday2000

I haven't been on here in a while. We have accepted an offer on our house and our offer has been accepted on the house we want so I am in decluttering mode.

Yesterday I went through lots of paperwork and recycled a lot of it. Some old manuals were recycled too.

My oil burner broke which was the second one I had so I won't be buying that brand again and that was binned. We are looking at the house we want to buy again this week so my brother is looking after my dogs for the day. I decided to give her my panda teddy to play with/rip to pieces while he is working from my house. I binned a dress I bought from a chazzer as I noticed a hole too.

GrannyKate

I have got off to a good start with my list of things to do after a week off although not much real decluttering.
  
1213 Got up to date on all survey sites
1214 Recent photos downloaded, sorted and saved
1215 Three bags of rhubarb from garden diced and frozen
1216-1217 various emails from organisations I belong to answered and filed
1218 My friends at BG sent an email and message last week re complaint from 17 May! - I have sent a reply
1219 Meat order for myself and DS2 completed for tomorrow
1220 Mr M groceries ordered for tomorrow
1221 Driving license renewal done on line and old one posted to DVLA
1222 All July birthdays done 
1223 Accounts and finances updated including replacing cash from Xmas stash which I had used in birthday cards
1224 Random emails deleted along with electronic and paper junk mail

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

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

2. JUST DO ONE THING EVERY DAY (courtesy of bit_by_bit) OTHER THAN DAY TO DAY CLEANING & DECLUTTERING 

3. ONCE A WEEK LEAVE THE HOUSE (e.g. Go into city centre for bank & butcher;  go to local town for cs dropping off or buying; visit the pub with DH 😉

Sunday was a brighter day & more importantly warmer 👏 DH washed both motorbikes then spent time in the back garden tidying up + fed the worms & filled the bird feeders. My day was knitting & cooking to make sure no fresh vegetables/fruit wasted. Dinner was hm cottage pie & broccoli from freezer. So tasty 🤤 Two single portions left which were bagged & frozen + extr cottage pie mix for the freezer. Wudupa twice 🙂 

1285 - 1290 Kitchen recycling, glass jar, glass bottle, drinks cans, plastic bottle, cardboard packaging - recycled 
1291 Kitchen detritus - binned

Oh balabooberlies ☹️ what a nightmare. I hope you manage to sort the insurance & your bank account quickly 🤞 As to the OH - I think you might need to lay down the law 😖 You are too busy to molly coddle others who should no better. Hope everything goes well with your dad 🤞

Please look after yourself oceanspirit 🙂 You are obviously doing too much & fatigue is the result. A bit of ‘you’ time is needed. Very pleased that you were feeling better on Sunday & managed to get a few things done 👏 Hopefully the shredding will be therapeutic - I think of it as a reward for having sorted paperwork 😉

What a lovely post TC77 🙂👏 I rather like the idea of a ‘Thank You Day’ 🙂 Perhaps we can have one every 3 months 😉 Btw great decluttering 👏  What a hassle - 3 routers & still not sorted 😖 Sounds like you have dealt with/started to deal with a few “frogs” so everything is crossed that your luck turns for the better 🤞 
Your DD is lucky to have you & hopefully your gentle persuasion will help her to get organised. Sorry that your tentative plans to move are on hold for a while but having more time to plan your future might be a good thing 😉

Liverpool_Anne, Glad to see you have started training your OH 😉 Not sure I would have been so generous as to have only a minor strop 😖 it would have been a full blown tantrum 😔 I was lucky that my DH was trained by his mum - it was just the 2 of them - also he is a gentle, caring soul not a mean bone in his body 🙂 & a sad face usually gets him to do the things I want 😉😉 I appreciate that your OH finally did the washing up & defrosted the freezer but why the tea towels couldn’t have been put in the wm rather than leaving them for you is a ‘mystery’ - I am being kind 😉. You have been very busy again & I 
am awarding you your 2nd Gold Star ⭐️ You are a work horse and you really must take some time for yourself 🙂 I know what you mean about getting distracted ☹️ - when I do start decluttering or cleaning I pick a start point then notice something else needs doing & go off on a tangent 😉 However your tangent was a safety issue - so well done on sorting out the CO2 detectors - one medal 🏅 Very impressed that you took the time to think about a solution for TC77 👏 

Lovely post nannywindow 🙂👏 I do love that we are all so supportive of each other - it makes our lives so much better knowing that we are not alone in our struggles.

Excellent work EnergyShifter 👏 A medal 🏅 is coming your way for utilising the burst of energy sensibly & not overdoing it 👏🙂

Nice to see you leelad 👋 What an impressive result from the growing - well done on your carrot success 👏 I never even got any carrot tops 😉 Please take care - try not to exhaust yourself - you have a wife & daughter to care for 🙂 Excellent news about your daughter - it has been a long time coming 🙂

Great work GrannyKate 👏 Another person who has managed to grow carrots 🙂 I am slightly envious 😉 Everything listed classes as decluttering - dealing with emails, photos etc ASAP stops them turning into potential frogs & all the stress that involves 👏

 Nice to see you Wednesday2000 👋 How exciting - offers accepted & decluttering started 👏 Shame about the cs dress ☹️ & very annoying about the oil burner 😖 What a nice brother you have 🙂

MrsSD   🏅 🏅 🏅 🏅🏅 🏅 🏅     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    1291/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £164.80 to end of June

Wednesday2000

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Nice to see you Wednesday2000 👋 How exciting - offers accepted & decluttering started 👏 Shame about the cs dress ☹️ & very annoying about the oil burner 😖 What a nice brother you have 🙂

Thanks! Yes, he is a nice brother.

mothernerd

Many many apologies for being awol again. Today I am incapacitated. I have had my left ankle strapped up for the past week (just doing too much but have learnt that strapping it up as soon as I notice a problem helps). I've been coughing all night (plus spluttering and sneezing, my mask is a right mess) and dizziness - 2 minutes standing is my limit, so taking things very slowly today. Hair needed washing and did not feel up to it so washed my face twice with a hot flannel (one of my new favourite things), had to sit down for the second wipeover. Then I put on shower gel and got into the shower. Sat down with my head against the side of the shower, holding the shower head on my neck and letting water run all over me and finally wet my head, turned the shower off and rubbed the shampoo bar on. Rubbed with my hands then rinsed, needed to use all 3 grab rails to get myself back on dry land.

So I'm up to my 4th metre of the side fence. That is digging until it is flat level with the paving (have left it a little higher at the back as there were lumps of concrete in places. Added the stone layer and then put in the fabric container bags. These are recycled materials (fabric is more like recycled tyres, not flimsy) the unfold to make a container 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m (with an extra piece across the middle - I've been putting a cabbage/ broccoli plant in each corner of each half and a buried top half of a plastic bottle in the middle to get water to the roots. The top of the bags have been stapled to the bottom edge of the fence panel - there is a concrete panel at the base of each fence panel.

Next I have a layer of link-a-bord boards skewered into place. I did intend making a little partition with them (3 boards high) to hide the bags altogether but I couldn't get the bits I needed and the bbq skewers do an excellent job of keeping a single row of boards in place making the container bags stay square and in place. There is a small gap in front of that (about 6", considering having a row of troughs with beneficial - pest deterring - flowers in.

The first raised bed is in place. I built the first two - spent a whole day moving 'small' stuff so that I could move both tables all the way across the yard to put end to end (raised bed 8' long, tables about 5' each). Bed has been lined with weedproof fabric to prevent soil escaping between the slatted sides. I have  a roll of unused weedproof fabric but have just finished the old stuff (some on it's third usage - no waste here). That bed has been filled and planted up with the tomato and pepper plants that were homeless plus rows of lollo rosso lettuce, 5 spinach plants and some 'poached egg'plants.  

These are just 'bedding in' but all the previously planted stuff is thriving (two dried out cabbage plants swapped out with spare ones). Many buckets of soil have been moved (getting easier now as I'm digging out at one side of a 4' space, sifting to remove stones, roots and weeds and then tipping the bucket into the bed/ bag at the other side of my workspace. We finally got some rain so hours of watering avoided (hate to use tap water but all the snow melt and water butt stocks have been used. using the 'watering stations ' (halved plastic bottles) gets water to the roots rather than the surface where the first rays of sunshine burn it off.

Last week I tackled the rose bushes and mum is cross. I am working to a plan we agreed ages ago - I bought her 5 new roses last year which were supposed to go in the bed facing the main door (side of the house). Mum put them in the side bed with the 2 existing ones even though I've said all along that this whole area needed flattening and rebuilding properly. She also made new plans for the side of the house (flattened and all the bins housed in a row, keeping the path area clear). Did that last year, with an afternoon's help from someone still fit enough to do serious digging. At mum's request, 3 rose bushes were dug out (she didn't tell us until we had started putting the top stone layer in so we had to backtrack) and I carefully wrapped the roots until she could do something/ tell me what she wanted doing with them. After a few weeks they died and she threw them in the bin (very keen on deciding that things have died and throwing them, is mum).

So she's upset (then worked herself up in stages to 'might as well throw them away' and phoning people to tell them how awful I am). She said this about the clematis and and the rhubarb, both of which are thriving in new spots once I'd dealt with any dead/ unhealthy bits. She had assumed that I could make the bed how we had agreed whilst keeping the rose bushes (she seems to have killed 4 out of the 5 new ones) in the same place and magically, The soil wouldn't drift down on top of the rest of the garden and the roots wouldn't be exposed.

Okay back to decluttering. Lots of paper out including a whole section of paperwork and a bag of scraps (from the old address book and notebooks - all useful info now safely stored), lots of boxes and a day when I went out with a full bag of paper and another lot tucked under my arm. Bins have gone away full. Currently have a weight in the top of the black bin, so there will be room for another tomorrow before they go out for collection. About two bin bags worth is old garden stuff, broken toys and things that had been put in the shed (for Justin) and are neither use nor ornament.

Lots of use ups. My meals are increasingly bizarre as I'm coming into the house exhausted and barely able to stand up. I included crab spread in a food order a couple of weeks ago and my emergency meal was to put crackers (ones mum doesn't like and my own oatcakes), cucumber and apples on a plate add a cutting knife and a spreading knife and sit watching a serial, assembling my food on my knees (on the recliner).

My main concern is that I don't feel I'm doing any 'real' decluttering, a lot is maintenance and not being 'engulfed in a tide of filth'. The garden is progressing well but other things are on 'hold'. I'm running a thread this month. I didn't really feel up to it but thought that I needed to get myself/ my life sorted and that writing it out and letting other people share the journey wasn't any extra effort.
I think I've been using the garden work as a displacement activity to cover my unhappiness as I didn't know what I could do (if anything) about my situation.

I haven't managed to get home (to my house) for over 2 weeks, so the tiny me-shaped hole I'd started to carve out will have disappeared. Mum 'wants' me to go home but panics if I appear with a bag in my hand (am I going out, where, why, when will I be back, what If). So I'm working on what I want and need in my life and hoping I can make a step towards sleeping here (so I'm here when mum goes to sleep and when she awakes) but spending more time at my house - goal is several hours 2-3 times a week but anything would help.

I couldn't sleep the other night so scribbled things down about what I wanted in my life and baby steps towards that. I went for a walk yesterday. Only to the end of the street, up the steps onto the canal bank and as far as the support for the road bridge (there's a bit where you can sit and it doesn't get wet as it's under the bridge. Not much but I was outside the gate in the fresh air, walking (hobbling slowly), not many people about, lots of wildflowers and pleasant words exchanges with walkers and cyclists. When I came back I sat in the yard for a while between my shed and courgettes on one side and the rose bushes in large pots and a set of shelves on the other. So when I finish the side fence (moving fairly quickly now I'm not moving stones and soil across the yard and finding places to 'hold' them) I'm going to move across to the other side (outside fence - street side) and work on creating little nooks and crannies to sit in, at peace with the world. I have plans

Floss

@mothernerd it's good to have plans, no matter how small they seem. I'm pleased you're planning your sitting spaces, just being able to sit for a few minutes will give you a different view of your garden & allow a little thinking time x

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

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

2. JUST DO ONE THING EVERY DAY (courtesy of bit_by_bit) OTHER THAN DAY TO DAY CLEANING & DECLUTTERING 

3. ONCE A WEEK LEAVE THE HOUSE (e.g. Go into city centre for bank & butcher;  go to local town for cs dropping off or buying; visit the pub with DH 😉

Monday is a bright, breezy day. Not a lot of sunshine but still quite warm. DSis has gone out for a bit of shopping & to post a letter (cheque enclosed as although he is 30 he is very poor with money ☹️) to her son. I gave her all my mail to post 😉 from my paperwork blitz 😉 DH received the chain for the cage that he built for the large raised bed. That has now been fixed on so I no longer need a stick to prop up the cage when I am tending the vegetables 👏🙂 I finished prepping & freezing vegetables from the bottom of the fridge + peeled & sliced 800g of mushrooms for tonight’s mushroom risotto. I also spent half an hour weeding & sweeping the front path - unfortunately the small amount I cleared means that it will take an age ☹️ However, I didn’t want to overdo it as DH & I are off to Yorkshire & Lincolnshire tomorrow for a couple of days & nights - on the motorbike. It is a miserable experience if I am full of aches & pains before we set off 😉 I’m sitting with a coffee & will do a bit of knitting, before packing for our trip. 

1292 - 1293 Coffee tin, cardboard packaging - recycled 

Lovely to see you mothernerd 👋 Honestly, leave you alone for 2 minutes & you injure yourself 😉 but well done on treating yourself kindly & paying attention to what your body tells you 👏 After all that effort with the bathing you must be exhausted 😩 but very proud of yourself for persevering 🙂 

I am getting tired just reading about all the garden work 😉 no wonder you injured your ankle 😔 That is an inordinate amount of heavy gardening but it sounds like you will have plenty of hg vegetables later in the year 👏 I am awarding you a medal 🏅 for the reuse of weed suppressant fabric & your watering solution 👏 but also a Gold Star ⭐️ for the sheer amount of heavy gardening 👏

As to your ‘dear’ mum’s attitude to all your hard work, I will not comment other than to commend you on your restraint 😉

Please note that absolutely EVERYTHING you are doing is classed as decluttering 👏 remember you are one person NOT an army 😉 Can you tell me the name of the thread you have started? so I can show my support by reading along. Writing out your concerns, thoughts & feelings will help - it will clarify your thought processes & hopefully remind you of how much you have done 👏 especially as you are running two houses. I just want to give you a huge hug, pour you a beverage of your choice & ask what I can do to help.

Floss has hit the nail on the head - anything you can do to bring enjoyment into your life will make it more bearable & will help you to feel in control. You deserve the very best life has to offer.

MrsSD   🏅 🏅 🏅 🏅🏅 🏅 🏅     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    1293/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £164.80 to end of June