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

Friday i.e. Christmas Eve was a dark, damp, dreary day & then the rain came ☹️ DSis popped out to do a last bit of shopping. I on the other hand was feeling very bleugh (heavy cold) 🤒 & stayed in my dressing gown until late afternoon then had a relaxing bath & finally got dressed, sort of - tracksuit bottoms & t-shirt 😄 DH made bacon sandwiches for him & DSis. I had crackers & duck pate. Watched TV, did the small amount of wudupa. I cleared the dining table & found a tablecloth & then decided to prep all the vegetables except the cabbage 🙂 to give myself a head start for Christmas Day 🙂

2318 - 2319 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans - recycled 

2320 Kitchen detritus - binned

Christmas Day was dreary outside but lovely inside 👏 Early afternoon the three of us opened our presents. I never did get around to buying DH a present but DSis gave me a stollen to wrap 😉 All of us were really happy with our gifts 😁 DH & I then retired to the kitchen to get dinner started. Everything based around cooking the turkey joint for 2 hours. At Christmas I am always so pleased that when we had the kitchen done I chose to have 1 large & 1 small oven & the warming drawer 🥳 Anyway I was responsible for nearly all the vegetables including the roasties & DH dealt with stir frying the parboiled sprouts with bacon & chestnuts in honey 🤤 + the duck breasts & venison fillets + the gravy 😉 

So dinner was turkey, duck & venison, roast potatoes, roast parsnips & carrots, mashed potatoes, mashed swede, cabbage & sprouts (DSis declined the venison, swede, parsnips & sprouts 😉) For many years our accompanying drink has been a bottle of champagne - usually VC - so DH & I were really looking forward to our annual bottle 🙂 We were sadly disappointed ☹️ Having fought his way to the cork, DH pushed the cork out - no ‘pop’, the cork just fell out - it was discoloured. However we thought we might be lucky so DH poured some - no fizz & a very peculiar colour but we persisted & ventured a taste - vinegar  🤢 Fortunately we had a bottle of Prosecco 👏 Dinner was delicious 😋 & there are plenty of los for bubble & squeak on Boxing Day. A knock on the door gave us a lovely surprise - 2 of a neighbours 3 children had baked Christmas cupcakes & were gifting them to all the neighbours 🥳 DSis & I have watched Strictly, Call the Midwife & the Royal Variety Show. Yes I did do the wudupa - on my own 😉 All in all a lovely Christmas Day + DSis’s son phoned from France & we got a call from our DB in Germany 🙂

2321 - 2327 Kitchen recycling, 2 glass bottles, plastic bottle, cardboard packaging, cans, mini gin bottle - recycled 

2328 - 2330 Kitchen detritus, plastic packaging, glossy wrapping paper & cracker detritus - binned

You have made me blush EnergyShifter ☺️ Hope you had a lovely Christmas Day.

Blushing again ☺️ - thank you oceanspirit 👏

Thank you bit_by_bit 👏 Your seat is reserved 😉

mothernerd I see you are still working hard on your decluttering 👏 Please, please try to take it a bit easier over the festive period 🙏 - you need time to recover from your illness and a little tlc will go a long way to getting you healthy 🤞 It sounds like you are well organised & everything is crossed that you manage 3 days of sleep 🤞😉 Hope you had a lovely Christmas Day.

Blushing again elsien ☺️ You have done really well & very pleased to see that the ‘One in, One out’ rule has become a very useful habit 👏 What a lovely sentiment in regards to Christmas 🙂

Great work balabooberlies 👏 especially dealing with frogs 🙂 Here’s to you becoming a tech wizard 😁 Lovely post to Vascodakarma 🙂

Hope you had a lovely day Gem-gem 🙂

Blushing again TC77 ☺️  Well done on clearing down more emails 👏 Like you I have lots of hugs going spare 🙂

Vascodakarma sorry I am late in posting my congratulations on making it to Reykjavik 🥳👏 I could not be more pleased for you - you deserve it 👏 The change of name has worked wonders 😉👏 I hope you have a smooth trip whilst whale watching & try not to fall into the volcano 😉

Great work short_bird 👏

I hope everyone has had the Christmas they wanted & that Santa brought you everything you need & a at least a couple of your desires 😉

MrsSD   🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇🥇🏅   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    2330/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £675.00 to end of December

Floss

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger you should return your champers to wherever you bought it & get a refund - it sounds like it has been stored stood for too long before being put out on sale. Glad you had a backup of prosecco!

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Floss, unfortunately we cannot remember where or when we got it ☹️ Used it as toilet descaler 😉 We will be getting a couple more bottles of the Prosecco & will keep the receipt when we buy our next bottle of champagne 🙂 
Hope you had a lovely day yesterday 🤞

balabooberlies

Black Saturn

good to see you back.

Hopefully the wonderful, dedicated Mrs S.D will start with a new thread for next year.  She is amazing.

That's a great start.  I couldn't have done without this thread this year and I look on it as my starting point to a better clutter free life.  Lots of simple techniques (I have to keep things simple) have made a difference in the way I look at my hoard and so how I am to deal with it.

But even more, it's the warm encouraging support.  So many many giving people on here.

Good luck

bala

x

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

Well so much for Boxing Day 😉 DH is still in bed but having said that he did stay up for the cricket 😉 & it is very tiring when England keep playing so badly 😔 DSis popped down from her room for a cuppa & some crumpets. I got up very late & am currently watching one of my all time favourite TV adaptations - Stephen King’s The Stand starring one of my favourite actors Gary Sinise 🙂

Lovely to see you Black_Saturn 👋 Sorry to hear that life has been tough this year ☹️ but nice to hear that you remembered us 🙂 There is absolutely going to be a new thread for 2022 Decluttering 🙂 and your seat is reserved 😉 Great start to 2022 - 38 items already 👏

Blushing again balabooberlies ☺️ You are all so kind & hopefully with all the support form our fellow declutterers a few more of us will clear the clutter & join the group of ‘maintenance declutterers’ 

It must be said that I do enjoy our lovely warm & friendly community 🙂 especially the back & forth exchanges about our lives 👏 So a shout out to all the people who keep the MSE Old Style Forum up & running with a special thanks to Martin Lewis for starting up this wonderful place & helping us negotiate the financial pitfalls of life. A true champion of the people 👏

MrsSD   🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇🥇🏅   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Decluttering Target: 2021    2330/2021

2021 Savings Pot:  £675.00 to end of December

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Just popping in to say that the 2022 Decluttering Thread is up & running 🙂 The new title is      ‘2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD’

I will round off the 2021 Decluttering Thread by posting the Awards List on the 31st as we say goodbye to a 2nd difficult year for a lot of people and look forward to a brighter year for all of us. 

There are already a baker’s dozen of us aboard the 2022 Decluttering Train (electric of course 😉) 

Radish72

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6322097/2022-decluttering-campaign

Vascodakarma

I came across a good tip for those who want to travel light and that is to take your oldest, tattiest underclothes and discard them along the way. I fully intended to D clutter my old swimsuit at the blue lagoon spa this afternoon knowing that the elastic was pretty wretched anywayand it probably wouldn’t survive much longer, but I ended up decluttering a whole load of inhibitions as well!! I got completely naked in a communal changing room!!! Twice!! And it was okay!!! No one looked at me any differently than I looked at anyone else! I was even confident enough to take full advantage of the free moisturiser and liberally apply it to my entire naked body 😳😂😂😂 my skin feels wonderful tonight 😃

So in short, my achievements for today were hiking a huge lava field, climbing an extremely active volcano (there was a large earthquake this morning when we stopped at a geothermal pool - the first time I’ve felt the Earth move in awhile😂😂) and having a hour long Bath outside in the snow 😂 

I lost my brother, my only sibling, on Boxing Day a few years ago - we were separated as children but one of my few  memories with him was climbing Mt Tiede in the Canary Islands so today was about climbing another volcano, unloading a lot of grief and moving forward. I’m tired of being sad,  I want to be able to enjoy Christmas in the future especially as I have my two grandchildren now. 

Putting my life in order, not just my home xx

short_bird

I'll carry on here till midnight Friday to sweep up any oddments for 2021...
2568-2578: another 10 items binned or to recycling
2579: rest of veg cooked so I have the makings of bubble and squeak when I get home.
2580: another 50 emails deleted.

I've also been sidetracked by The Stand, mostly due to Jamey Sheridan. (so good in Law and Order Criminal Intent)

Foofoopuppy

I hope everyone has a restful Christmas, with not too much clutter gifted to you! 

I haven't posted as much as I would have liked this year, it's been a really tough one in a lot of ways. So I want to set out all I've done decluttering wise to remind myself that it isn't a total write off :

1. Kept to my goal of purchasing no shower gels and working through the vast stash I had.

2. Not exactly decluttering, but obtaining the appropriate storage for shoes and bags, under the sink, packets in the kitchen and some under the stairs. I will further sort out under the stairs when putting Christmas decorations away. 

3. Replacing and finally getting rid of old furniture including a mattress and frame, a couch and a fridge freezer.

4. Keeping on top of making sure clutter isn't coming into the house too much (still have a weakness for books!) and ensuring rubbish etc. is all cleared away promptly.

5. Decluttering a job where I no longer felt I had a future and no longer enjoyed going in and feeling as though I was not appreciated. 

6. Finally dipping my toes into investing with a S&S ISA - something I have been meaning to do for a couple of years but always felt too intimidated by. I have decluttered some fear of the unknown.

I have a couple of goals for next year as well, but am going to take some time over the next couple of days to solidify my thoughts and goals.

It has been lovely and motivating to follow you all along, and I will continue to do so next year.