2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

GrannyKate

@Suffolksue - I do things like this slowly when I feel in the mood.  I lost DH just over three years ago - needed a lot of help with computer and IT related stuff but have gradually got rid of lots of paper.  I have a small cardboard file easily accessible just inside loft for things I might need eg his old pension records etc as I now get a widow's pension from them.  I only keep records of payments to me in my current filing cabinet.  I have reduced the current files from 2 drawers in filing cabinet to one now.  So much is on line but you do need paper occasionally still so I always keep current council tax bill and a recent letter from DWP as these are good for ID purposes.  My water bill has gone down after nearly doubling a few years ago during DH's illness.  I am guilty of keeping receipts for ridiculous things - recently found some for electrical items which went ten years ago!  This reminded me to go through my Christmas receipts box - I keep these for a few weeks in case anyone wants to return things.  

201 Random collection of receipts and notes shredded 
202 Copy of talk requested after I missed it live last night

donna73

Morning all , love reading all your posts over breakfast, really sets me up for the day 😀

@roundtuit I like the idea of decluttering whilst the kettle boils - ours takes an age!! 

@thecraftyforager , that audio book sounds good , I’ll look it up 😀

@mothernerd wow!!! You’re going to smash 2022 items way before the end of the year. 

@weenancyinAmerica , Thankyou! Well it’s been needing doing since I moved here in 1997 lol so a long time coming. So glad we finally did though. 

This morning I’m going to be doing lots of cooking to use up some things lurking in the fridge and  freezer. I’ll drop some cake into the TLC carriage for anyone that needs it 😉😀

mehefin

Found a whole load of bank/credit card statements from 2002!! All shredded and gone. Quite amazed to see how much we were in debt at that point. Glad to say that is not the case now.
Furry creature chewed through pipe under sink. Result minor flood. Waiting on plumber to fix, but did make me clear out the cupboard. Lots of carp binned, and other stuff relocated. No doubt will be decluttering some pennies later!

Baxtersmum

Hello everyone, hope you are all well and feeling relaxed and stress free.
I’ve been grounded, the youngest GD has tested positive, the rest of her immediate family are negative, I’ve had my 3 jabs so she’s staying with me until she does a clear LFT. She’s bouncing around as normal with only a slight cough, so I think we are very lucky to be getting through it with her still singing.

I’m hoping to use the time spent indoors productivity, I’ve got 3 eDay items to post so I’ll need to ask someone to do that for me but hopefully this grounding will make me list a few more things to declutter.

I’ve taken to reading in the morning, I loved the under stairs makeover, I’ve just used some old kallax units to make a recycling point under the stairs, it needs a bit of fine tuning and looks no where near as fresh and organised. It’s given me ideas, thank you. 

Xx

Suffolksue

Thanks GrannyKate  it’s hard isn’t it ,I need help with some computer stuff too.
I am so pathetically proud of myself for sorting Sky and probate ,though the hassle created by Premium Bonds nearly finished me !

GrannyKate

2Suffolksue - thankfully I didn't need to do probate but absolutely agree about premium bonds - they were a nightmare even though late DH had only £100 worth.  Ridiculous bureaucracy - they seem to apply the same rules whether you have £5 or £50000. The banks at least take a more pragmatic approach to smaller amounts.  I tried speaking to SKY this week following an email about my mobile.  Their system could not accept a call from my number (even though that is the account I was ringing about) as they had previously had a call from my son on his number.  

203 Small frogs munched up
204 Three frames to CS bag
205 Two pictures to CS bag - I know I will never hang them up
206 Damaged frame to bin
207 Empty cardboard picture surrounds collected together and home found in filing drawer where they won't get damaged
208 Shelf allocated in garage for empty frames which I think I will use
209 Random carp from shower room to bin

I still have some pictures which I need to decide about - if they are not going on the wall they need to leave the house not clutter up the loft.

Siebrie

@stellata 'like with like' means that you only have 1 spot in your house where you keep certain items.

Pens and pencils are a good example of this: you may have some in your kitchen, your bedside table, your tv-watching chair, your desk or office, your handbag, your craft space, your car, yet never be able to find one when you need it. So, you round them ALL up and put them in 1 place.

This allows you to see how many you have, if they are all working, if you like using them. You then decide how many you will logically use, and donate or throw out the rest. Of course, a pen in your handbag and a pen near the calendar are always useful, but you now know that they are just those ones; all the others live in the designated spot and are returned there right after you have used them.

(The Marie Kondo method specifies that any items not found in the first round, have to be thrown out if found after. They were not close enough to your heart for you to remember them, and so are insignificant to you and should leave your house.)

bit_by_bit

Good reading this morning. 

I took the prepared wood to the allotment yesterday. The garden looks a lot better since removing it and DH chopping logs. 

I am counting the allotment wood as one large item.

Last night I put all my clothes on the bed. The pile totally covered it and was about 3ft high. Sooo many clothes I don't wear. I have sorted them into piles e.g. shirts, summer wer, trousers.

That is as much as I could face. I went and bingewatched a K drama when I put them on the bed and had to sort them as above to get into bed. 

Tonight is when I sort them into Summer hols going away and seasonal. 

Off for a shift in the CS first.  Have a great day everyone. 

Suffolksue

GrannyKate Premium Bonds insisted I got probate .DH estate was nowhere near the probate threshold,but he had put a chunk of hie pension lump sum in PBs !
you are right ,the banks were lovely but PB were a nightmare .
They insisted on probate ,but wouldn’t tell me how many exactly he had before I sent a form .they had partly moved their bereavement service to India ,which then went into lockdown and didn’t know whether his was in India or England !

TheCraftyForager

I’ve been working my way through some old boxes over the past few days –some of them were clearly from the ‘visitors are coming, shove everything in a box’ school of tidying!  Anyway, I’ve managed to get 7 boxes down to 2 with the stuff I want to keep (for now).  There are still bits I need to go through, but I decided to avoid the old letters, photos etc as I knew they’d slow my progress.

So, I can report that the following have left the premises today:

12. Box full of old mugs/glasses – charity shop

13-14 Box of miscellaneous random ornaments and bits and pieces – charity shop

15 Bag of clothes, table cloths etc – charity shop

16 Roll of material (???) – local scrap-store

17-18 Two bags of crafty bits – local scrap-store

19 Bag of old inhalers, OOD meds – pharmacy

20-21 Two bags of rubbish /recycling in appropriate bins

I have my eye on plenty more things which need to be shown the door!  I think I need to prepare my Dad for another trip to the tip