2021 MISSION DECLUTTER and CLEAN

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. 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 😉

4. CLEAN & EMPTY SURFACE AREAS - DAILY

Monday has been mostly dry with the temperature in double figures (11C) 🙂 Got up to find a parcel addressed to me 🥳 not from DH so great excitement 🥳 Turned out to be a ‘hamper’ from my friend B - several bottles of Italian beer, packet of olives, salami, mini breadsticks & couple of packets of cheese snacks 😋 I phoned to thank her - she is working from home. We had a short chat & are both really looking forward to meeting up next year 🤞 DH filled up the bird & squirrel feeders; blitzed vegetable peelings for the worms; dug up the leeks just 10 & only 2 properly sized; finished the final paint touching up in the bedroom 👏 I finished making the soup. Then accompanied DSis to the P.O. to send her parcels to France. The customs forms are a real faff (different ones depending on tracking or not tracking) - you have to list the full contents, weight & cost of each item 😖 - one of the continuing ‘benefits’ of Br*xit  😡 I am still waiting for all these marvellous benefits that are coming our way 🙄 Sorry will jump off my soap box 😉 DSis continued on to sm whilst I returned home 🙂 Dinner was pork steaks, roasted tomatoes, mash & peas with DH & I having some of the vegetables I roasted last night 😋 Wudupa.

2251 - 2255 Kitchen recycling, 3 newspapers, glass bottle - recycled 

2256 Kitchen detritus - binned 

We are definitely speeding along Liverpool_Anne 😉 Sorry to hear that you have been in the doldrums ☹️ but do like your description 😉 Sounds like you are keeping up with the day to day clearing up which is a decluttering win 👏 So sad to hear about your friend’s Mum - how awful 😣 What a lovely gesture to knit & send a shawl 🙂 Fingers crossed that you get to see your sister next week 🤞

balabooberlies, Love the sound of Daisy 🙂👏 Fully agree that if you have a reliable car (even if temperamental) there is no need to get a new/newer car - the old adage rings true “better the devil you know” 😉😉 Roll down windows - what a bonus 🥳 Wishing you luck in finding a car maintenance course 🤞 it is always so gratifying when you can do your own mechanical work 👏  

Quite agree Floss 😉 an Alfa Romeo is meant to be driven fast 😉

You are very welcome Blackberrycurved 🙂 Hope the jab has no side effects 🤞 Please try to be kind to yourself - try to strip out or delegate any excessive Christmas chores 😉 Sorry that you are feeling overwhelmed by work ☹️ I will bet a pound to a penny that when you put the Christmas lights away they were NOT tangled - that is up there with socks being eaten by the wm 😉

Ah yes GrannyKate but you are still decluttering 👏

Siebrie - Happy Birthday, Joyeux Anniversaire, Gelukkige verjaadag, Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Buon compleanno. Sounds like a wonderful birthday (apart from the ‘yucky’ dinner 😠) 

What a lovely chatty post vulpix 👏 So many talented people - hand sewing, knitting, up-cycling, crocheting etc & we have carpenters, gardeners & soon we will have a mechanic 😉 👏 Hope you picked up a Bakewell Tart 🤞- I will be round later 🙂 Thanks for the bed restoration tip 👏

Good work Happy_Kitties 👏

Well done on sorting out a frog, oceanspirit 👏 Having done so much decluttering it makes cleaning a lot easier & is a measure of your success and the progress you are making 👏🙂

Excellent work bit_by_bit 👏 Six bags out 🥳 Well done on getting all your ‘stock’ into your craft room 👏

Lovely to see you nannywindow 👋 The problem with our reliance on technology is that we really miss it when there is a problem ☹️ What I never understand is why it takes so long to sort out 🤔 You are honoured - a face to face with your GP 🙂 Hopefully he/she will be able to get everything sorted

Well done EnergyShifter 👏 Especially downloading course materials 👏 I must say that you have robbed yourself of at least 2 & probably even 4 from your numbers 😉 A huge frog of FIFTEEN modules 🤩 IMO 3 modules should count as one item 🙂

Absolutely no need for apologies balabooberlies 🙂 Sorry to hear that you have had such an awful day 😞  but you should be very proud of yourself for doing so much decluttering 👏 From my point of view 1000 emails should count as TWO bags 🙂 Excellent work on decluttering the ‘Bay of e’ frog 👏 - now that you have started, practise will make perfect 👍 Fingers crossed that you will have swift sales 🤞By the way ‘The Rock’ what a brilliant name for the car 🙂 Ruminated, pondered & cogitated 😉 

MrsSD   🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇🥇🏅   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    2256/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £675.00 to end of December 

Floss

balabooberlies said:

P.S.  I have ruminated (love that word) and pondered today.  The car is going to be called 'The Rock'.

Love it x

balabooberlies

Thanks Mrs S.D and Floss

huge hugs

x

TC77

I'm much more generous with my counting than others , 1 module is 1 item and 1000 emails many bags . 
@ bala hugs and sorry such a tough day. Love the name and idea of your van although no suggestions on adapting it - will leave to those more creative. 
Little done here and just trying to get through work and RL. A/e the other night wirh DD1 with chest pains - advised extreme stress, still battling to get her mh support - been months  and she's struggling to eat so last night late night shopping and delivery and big frog to tackle getting her PIP renewal form done. 
Loveliest friend out of hospital after over 5 weeks in ICU with covid . Focusing all the good stuff I have and how life is so much more  difficult for so many. 
Deleted a subscription and some emails deleted , counting as 1 and hopefully few more bits today. 
Reading all messages and feels a real community and inspired by everyone and hugs and positive vibes to all 

balabooberlies

TC77

Sorry for your struggles.  I know how hard it is.

I don't know if this will help but one of my youngest cousins was born with Microcephaly which means small brain in Greek.  Her brain never told her she was hungry so every mealtime was a nightmare for my aunty.  The only thing  she would eat was crisps.  On phoning the Microcephaly Society the lady that I spoke to advised 'Then let her eat crisps'.  Very Marie Antoinette 

I looked after her one weekend (Aunty in hospital) and was really worried about food.  I am no cook !

So I did what I do best.  Made a beautiful salad (my forte) and then loads of little bowls of things.  Humous, prawns sprinkled with lemon, plates of cold meats, new potatoes, boiled eggs, breads etc.  You get the picture.  Then I just gave everyone a plate and invited them to eat.  Never seen my cousin eat so much.  No pressure, the choice was hers.  Presented with one plate of food was a mountain to climb for her.  She couldn't cope.  But presented with choice, and more importantly, mental AND physical space (empty plate) left her to move at her own pace.  I don't know if this will help with your daughter but there might be a little kernel of something in that experience.

Love to you and all

bala

x

vulpix

 Bala I think the empty plate and choice of what to fill it with can apply to many situations.  I also want to say about your teary day yesterday that you are making great strides in many areas. Keep your plate empty and just eat a little at a time.xxx

 MIL almost came home yesterday, then it changed. We went down anyway and put long date milk and stuff in the fridge. There is no medical reason for her to be in hospital. It is the shortage of people who want to work as home carers that is the problem. She will get 2, 30 minute visits a day. basically to make sure she hasn't fallen out of her wheel chair again. That sounds as if she is ok. She is very frail.

 Mrs SD , I know Mr SD is on the clock when he does his round Britain ride but I would recommend the brewery in Bakewell for a visit. It has a very nice cafe/bistro. You should come with him when he is not on the clock and just have a nice holiday here.

 Christmas, bring it on. Christmas party with craft club today. What is protocol ? can I take my knitting?

 Tomorrow I am going out for lunch with my Mum and Brother.

 Thursday we are going to Chester. I have gone to Chester for years at Christmas, long before I knew Mr V. It is a lovely place to walk round, a Christmas tree festival in the Cathedral and a Winter Watch parade. It is a revival of a Medieval procession around the gates of the city. On youtube for those of an interested disposition .(Mrs SD)

 Vx

bit_by_bit

Welcome back @nannywindow

I know what your on about vulpix but can't think of a better way to explain  Looks like you are haveing a fun few days.

BBB sorry to hear you are up and down. Despite that you have still managed to do more than one thing. Well done on the uploading of pics. Part of my hoard is the because of the same thing. I relook at all of my stock every now and again as sometimes its not worth the effort to sell either timewise of finacial wise. I stopped selling clothes, only sell books and small things and have near enough stopped buying. Life is too short and I don't need the money so badly nowadays. However I do have a plan to go travelling so the funds go into my travel pot. Love the name of the car. I hope 'The Rock' gives you many happy years

Saw DiL for the first time yesterday since the disagreement we had 6 weeks ago. It was all amicable and fine but no doubt I sad something to upset her that i will find out about later. Anyway. Ice broken. Her baby is due in the next week but even when she wasn't pregnant she was easily upset/insulted. 

Listing some stuff from my Sisters today, but not going to be at it all day. I am at the CS this pm. Did manage to get all the decs out of the loft at last.

Finstickle

I was travelling with work last week (a very rainy Preston) so didn't get a chance to logon, luckily though, I decided I would catch up otherwise I would have missed @accidentalglixch beautiful puppy dog!!!

So, drum roll please...........

364 - DD's Christmas jumper from last year
365 - Hair grip thing I didn't like, bought a cheap plastic one - should have known better, have since replaced with a lovely metal watermelon painted one which I love 

365/365

Happy days in the house of Finstickle.
No mini-targets @Mrs_Salad_Dodger, though I will continue to count anything that goes between now and the New Year
And with Christmas coming, there is bound to be a certain amount to deal with.

Also, my mum has just got a new kitchen including an induction hob which none of her saucepans or frying pans work on.  These are coming to me to pick through any I want - I definitely don't need them all, but need to be good and pass them on.  I also have a few bits listed on EBay which should go this week.
 - Vinted sale all went through well and I found it very easy and user friendly 

Still no cards written - tomorrow's job.

mothernerd

This will be a bit confused because at some point I stopped jotting down what I'd done (at least twice I've come home early, had a shower and crawled into bed. Some things may have already been mentioned but I'm including them, there are many more things that have been missed.

On Sunday I was greeted by DS3 who said they had messaged me to say not to go, as they 'couldn't cope with me' that day. I stayed but was banned from going upstairs - DS3 came down later and was a bit more polite.

So far the 'skip or waste collection' pile (out in the backs - some has been out in the yard a while, some has only gone out over the last two weeks) contains the old pet cage (squashed yesterday) and bits of the former (had to be separated until Booker could have his bits fixed, but the girls kept eating their way out of it and creating havoc - they ate through the phone lines, made a little nest inside the old sideboard which had suffered during the move from the 'big' house 7 years ago).

2 single mattresses, pieces of an 8' x 4' raised bed (keeping it but used the pieces to make the broken bed usable and some pieces were trapped under the mattresses), slats from bed frame (keeping the frame for another raised bed - my original intention, but may 'skip' if I get fed up), old computer, old printer (been in the bottom of one the wardrobes for 7 years), another set of bed slats that had been in the yard for long, they were semi-disintegrated, some of the slats from my home made garden fence (more going but the mattresses are currently leaning against them).

3 sacks of cans to the far car park recycling point (every time I leave the house I get people asking if I'm all right - just tell them I need to rest for 5 minutes or that according to the doctor, it's my new normal). I'm sure the staff and customers at little arseda were about to call for an ambulance on Saturday. My new routine is to sit on the self service till (not yet had it say 'unexpected item in the bagging area') for 5 minutes, put the basket on the shelf, put it through and then sit for another five minutes before the walk home (across the car park, behind the church and library - used to be sub 5 minutes).

More wood (my grandma's old mangle table, which I've had since 1982 and is probably a lot older than me) last used as a garden table (I drilled a hole for the parasol with a spade bit) and has been painted several times, old freezer drawer, tool caddy, old x-box, two filing cabinets and two mirrors (one used to be fixed on the back of the sideboard which went out about 3 years ago -it was never 'square' after the move), broken brooms (sticks rotted away), a child's waste bin.

I can recall all that because yesterday, I collected an abandoned trolley (there were another 2 on the car park on Sunday but I didn't have the energy to collect them), put a filing cabinet drawer in 2 trolleys and loaded one with wood (many many bits, including some pulled from a muddy patch in a corner of the yard) and the other with plastic and metal bits (broken stool). This is so that when the skip is coming (I may order one for today if I can) all the bits can be taken to the end of the backs (only 5 houses), put into the skip as soon as it arrives and he can take it away again, straight away.

This happened 4- 5 years ago, when I went round clearing bits after having long overdue house
repairs. Because some people leave their cars in the backs and there is a tight corner, I moved stuff in sections on my dolly truck and stacked it against the end house wall by height. The skip man asked if that was all there was (I had a bit more - only ordered smallest size skip).

On Sunday I walked to my house using my dolly truck. I fastened one of the narrow water butts on, so I could take the hoe, rake and stiff garden brush which I used yesterday to pull more ivy off the walls and paving and scrape some bits clear (safer to go up and down the path). I also took one of the small bags of sand and cement to fasten in the new grid and cement the bricks back in place around it (when weather is suitable). I have left 2 bags in the shed here which should be enough to fix the remaining side of mum's front garden (needs good weather and discussion on boundary with neighbour - he'll be agreeable but want to ask before I do it).

And the rotary airer because one of the neighbours has left a large chunk of concrete in the backs and I wanted to see if I could stand the airer in it (I couldn't). It has been used for a rotary airer or parasol before but the holder is damaged. Weird people - terribly houseproud but don't care about anything outside their back gate. He still sweeps the yard every day in summer, but I'm the one who deals with the weeds around their gate. He and his former wife were decorating once and locked both their sons out. The 3 year old was 'playing' with a real hammer. He smashed the bricks on the car park wall and then came in my house and proceeded to walk across my front room - he broke five things in 2 minutes, including ripping the panoramic whole school photo taken on my school's 50 th anniversary, before I chased him out again.

Yesterday I used the walker to walk to my house, took 3 bags of stuff (4 more numbers for the reverse advent calendar) to the food bank (very well received), then tried to work out my shortest route to get cash from the cash machine, buy some hot food (greg's is shut), drop books at one of the cs and pick up my puzzle book. Opted for the mall and was very extravagant and had a full English at my favourite non-chain coffee shop/ cafe - resisted their gorgeous cakes. Picked up the latest large print puzzle book as well. Set me up for the day.

Beloved asked if she could work on the large bedroom on her own and DS3 bagged all his cosplay outfits as asked. I called him down to help with things a couple of times. I have done all the usual paper/ rubbish/ bottles and cans here and at my house each day although numbers of rubbish bags are reducing a lot. Have conquered the washing mountain but a lot is still wet, despite swapping stuff on radiators, doors, the airer and the dryer regularly. I came home at 6 pm last night as I wasn't feeling well (tried a brief lie down in hopes that I could carry on) and still don't feel great. Going to have onion soup (cold in my stomach), put clothes on and call for a taxi. Won't get as much done as I wanted to, but will try.

Have also brought many cans into here, sorted them into what mum will/ won't use, divided mine between me and the food bank (got to do the top shelf in a wardrobe as well) and the ones mum will use can go back in the tidied cupboard ( a layer of tinned tomatoes and a layer and a half of soups were already done, the top layers were a bit mixed up). I'll be putting back rows of peaches, pears, rice pudding, grapefruit, tuna and maybe a few other bits (cook in sauces - I do my own from scratch) and she likes the pasta and sauce I bought as a standby (something else she can cook for herself quickly when it's a 'good' day)

I'm going to count it as 188. I worked out I needed to dispose of 47 items a day to reach my end of year total and I've put in at least 2 good days and I'll count a day each for what they've done (I've counted rubbish as I've put it out but not when they've done it directly and they've also sorted stuff and run the washer, dishwasher and dryer when I haven't been there.

So 188, running total 793/ 2021

short_bird

2418-2420: 150 emails out
2421: 2GB data deleted
2422: batteries taken to recycling
2423: another piece of post returned
2424-2426: 3 items to rubbish, many more to go.

As it's December and there's lots of front of house work, I'm in "oops, that shirt needs ironing to help it dry out" mode.