2021 MISSION DECLUTTER and CLEAN

Ms_W

Home schooling so not been here for a week but wrote down what I've done so far:

10/01/2021
29 glass jars, 1 book, 1 jumper = 31

11-/1/2021

31 paper pads, 1 bubble bath = 33

14/01/2021

3 paper pads, 1 school book, 1 coat hanger, 1 school top,1 hair clip, 3 xmas cards, =10

total so far 252/2021

EnergyShifter

Happy Birthday Vicky       

pamsdish

Belated Happy Birthday @EnergyShifter
Happy Birthday @VickyV

ilovetea

Haven't been on here for a while but I have been getting rid of things.   Not buying anything either apart from a few bits of food which is being decluttered into me!.
63-66,4 crafty bits to neighbour
67, insence sticks to charity bag.
68-86, 18 items on e-bay sold.
87 Pedometer -bin.
Have a few more bits that will be going very soon. Looking round to see what can leave.
Take care every body.
    ilovetea  xx

basketcase

ScarletRibbons said:

I can feel a wardrobe tidy coming on as well, might do that over the weekend unless something more exciting beckons (as if!)

   Talking about looking for exciting things, I've just decluttered an episode of Mock the Week as I had my breakfast.  They were commenting on "Lockdown 3" and where people were getting their kicks. Dara O'Briain was saying he ordered things just so the delivery man would call.  The whole lot of them then went into a very funny (well, I thought it was) routine with O'Briain acting as a Southern Belle flirting with Amazon drivers etc. 

  That said, I'm aware that the delivery man is the only person some people do see - which isn't funny at all...  I've never understood why people laughed at the sketch where Mr Bean sends Christmas cards to himself.

  I thought of a possible conversation I might have with DD, along the lines of:

"Done anything exciting today, mum?"

"Yes.  I sorted my yarns, putting them into 3 under-the-bed plastic thingies.  I categorised them by weight and arranged them by colour.  Do you know, I've got 92 unused balls?  92!!!  Well, 93 now cos I've got one left over after finishing a project.  And that doesn't even include the partial balls..."

"Errrmm...  Good...  Very nice...  Do you happen to have a pair of 5mm needles going spare?  I've decided to knit a jumper."  She actually  did ask that. And  I did, of course have a spare pair.  One can be too minimalist, I feel... (she says, pretentiously! )

   I love this thread - so many great posts and wonderful ideas that it's impossible to quote and thank everybody.  It's not only motivating, people understand wanting to open a cupboard because it's EMPTY!  Plus it can change your ideas about decluttering.  For one thing I now think of myself as following a Maximalist Lifestyle!  For another, I've shortened my To Do List.

  Reading other posts, I've realised that ' 1 Decluttering Action per Day' was something I felt the need to do on top of everything else I was doing, whereas often things I was already doing were decluttering at the same time.  As a result, I've turned things on their head a bit, adding extra categories (thank you to the good people on here who have suggested some of them), I can multi-task, feel I'm making better use of my time and lower self-imposed pressure about "wasting" it!

I think I'll call it Not 'Decluttering' Decluttering.  A few examples:

Ironing/decluttering - I despise ironing  (hawk, spit, ptooey, ptooey) - always have.  It'll always be clutter, because I put off doing it.  In fact, this should probably be 'No Ironing Decluttering!'  2 birds with 1 stone?  I can do that.  In fact, 3 birds because I can declutter my recorded programmes backlog too!

Bank Statement reconciliation/decluttering - I use a basic financial system to which I can download transactions.  Regular bank recs mean I don't need to keep the statements and I'm sure I'm on top of money, so less possible financial stress.

Knitting/decluttering - I tend to feel guilty because it's low energy and  "I should be doing something else".  I am.  I'm decluttering a project (and my yarn stock)

Readind/decluttering - see knitting!  Stern note to self: BUT MUST NOT GET WAYLAID.

Admin/decluttering - Somebody waaaaay back on the thread (probably yesterday! ) posted about decluttering tasks.  Another brilliant idea. Filling out  that  form/banking that cheque/making that phone call etc get put off because they take a disproportionate amount of time.  But if I'm achieving several things at once - the admin side, plus shortening the To Do list, plus knocking off my Declutter Action and removing a stressor?  That provides motivation to do it.

I remember Shirley Conran's remark in Superwoman (yes, I'm that old!)  along the lines of "Your house should be as clean as you can get away with".  I think it'll work for me.  Reverse psychology?   We'll see.

Sorry.  I've wittered...

Siebrie

Black_Saturn said:

It has been difficult to find motivation today; a dark day. There are responsibilities I cannot shut away from, so I am present, but I am waiting for the inspiration to clear under the sink. I keep telling myself to get ahead with it, but it is not yet happening.

Dear Black_Saturn,

I'm late to give advice, but for the next time: I always find a difference between what I think I should do, what others think I should do, and what I would like to do, and this blocks me from doing anything. Some things cannot be postponed, but most things cleaning- and clearingwise are fine in whatever order you tackle them. So, if you don't want to do under the sink, what DO you want to do? Even something small as the shoebox with the gloves on the topshelf of your wardrobe is fine. Small things get me going, and I maybe even get round to tackling the larger spaces that I didn't want to start with.

Happy_Kitties

20       Vit C tablets of DD which have turned to dust-packaging in recycling
21-25.  Moisturiser products x 5 I won’t use-donated to NHS collection point 
26.      3D cinema glasses-recycling

nannywindow

Basketcase I'm also that old and I still have the Superwoman book on the shelf ! and yes I still refer to it especially when I have an almost shtf moment, seems to calm my nerves, so much sense in there. Shirley C made drawings on the back of an envelope of how much furniture she could put into a garage when she thought she had to downsize and I often have conversations with my DD about it for when I'm left on my own and I may have to move into hers

Vicky Happy Birthday

My decluttering for yesterday - about half of a very large bottle of wine  Well it's always someones birthday somewhere and it may go off if I leave it and don't want to throw it away and be wasteful 

My decluttering for today - the contents of the washing basket and a headache

nan

PS I did put the wine bottle in the recycling too !

Floss

I'm getting very good at decluttering admin while at my desk listening to snr colleagues wittering on Teams 😁. 

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

100.  Assembled mobile flip chart stand
101.  wall plaque thingy

102-4 - 3 x cans of cider to cousin
104 - 106 - 3 x xmas presents to family