2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

QueenJess

Hello 👋, can I join very late for this year please?

I’ve been very busy decluttering for the past 7 years and got rid of so much stuff it’s silly. It’s now more about maintenance and ensuring the stuff doesn’t take over, although what tends to happen is that I have less and less stuff but the kids get more and more…

I do find all the stuff stressful, so less is more for me. I also hate tidying so less is better and I hate an untidy drawer/cupboard to the extent that I won’t tidy things away into it because it’s messy. So basically all my mess tends to be out where I can see it and it stresses me out!

I count using up toiletries for those things I have too much of and I also count digital things (eg files, documents etc, so I’m quite liberal with the counting. I started the year doing increasing targets per day for each month (eg 1 for day 1, 2 for day 2), although I just logged it separately as I tend to go through phases of doing lots and then none. I’ve finally got to the stage where I can’t keep that going as there isn’t enough to get rid of, so I need a new target now. I think I’ll go for 500 for the rest of the year. It may well be too hard, but I will have kids clothes to get rid of when they go up a size later in the year and as I say, I’m pretty liberal with the counting. Now if I could only stop so much kids stuff coming in through relatives, kids parties etc….

TC77

@EnergyShifter I totally agree about having people in the house.  I never used to understand why people left things undone and sometimes think as I get older I may just let the house fall down around me! Have roofer next week, that's one day and they're outside. 
Decorators week after, can't face people coming to measure for carpet. For me it's people in the house, combined with too many decisions and many experiences of things going wrong so fear too! 
One pen out, at my home!
Now down at my dads first time since funeral.DB has been down- sorted cables into.about a dozen boxes and 26 remote controls! Now have to match with their tv/dvd player etc.
Will do tip run with old.plastic stuff - some disintegrating.

short_bird

Mrs SD:
Interestingly, I have received emails from the airline, from the hotel and from the gig I'm going to on Sunday: reminders that surgical masks or FFP2 masks are mandatory on flights, at the event, around the hotel (and a reminder that masks are obligatory in shops and cultural centres). No fabric masks. So I'm actually less worried about being in crowds or on the plane as a result. 
(Gig? Going to see Sparks. Yes, they're still going!  The event is on my birthday and I booked tickets last year not knowing if the event would happen, if I'd be able to travel to Germany for whatever reason. Well, here we are and I'm printing and packing! Last time I went to Berlin was... 1994??)

mothernerd

On Tuesday, I made a successful attempt at tackling the cube shelves, without moving the bed - the cube boxes nearly fill the space between the bottom of the bed and the cube shelves, so getting the lower ones in means moving anything in the way (the floor lamp had to lie along the bed) and lining them up exactly. Boxes on the bed to sort, stuff moved out of the way (on the bed or on the floor).

Finished with 6 filled cube boxes in the cubes (top shelf has no divider so the printer lives up there), 2 'temporary' boxes broken up and recycled, some bits from downstairs added to the mix (2-3 more empty cubes down there now), some of the bits that were in the cubes found new homes (and in some cases doing double duty as bookends). 

Moved on to the bookshelves and everything came apart. Couldn't get the little shelf supports into the holes where I wanted them (very old shelves, passed through multiple owners), then I fumbled and dropped them, the back was coming off. I'd moved books here there and everywhere to free the shelf for moving and then most of the rest fell off and cascaded. Gave up but when I needed to go to bed I made a further attempt, used another two boxes for support (more space in the wardrobe), used 2 additional spaces where cubes had been and all the books are the right way up and it looks tidy and much calmer when I'm in bed. There's even room for more books (some on the middle tray of my bedside trolley).

However when I'm not in bed I can see the utter chaos that is my bedroom floor and the bed has fewer things on it but some are difficult to tackle (the angle-poise head floor lamp needs to be manoeuvred back onto it's base, bed pulled out and then shuffled along to the top of the bed so it's in position for sewing/ reading, could come round to the outside of the bed but would have problems with wires.

However I left it because the helper elf came yesterday and we moved 2 car loads of garden stuff including 2 sets of shelves which will be staying in the garden (one's for the herbs). Both need painting but those will be use ups, as I have both types of paint (including rusty metal paint). We also refilled the brown bin at mum's with squashed plastic bottles (might regret that as will probably need a load of them to use as 'potting on' plant pots but decided my immediate need was to get rid of as much as possible)and a filled bag into the rubbish bin.

Third set of shelves came as pieces. Other things were proper spades (child's spade and a couple of trowels left behind for any work that needs doing), 10 l white metal buckets (ordered tomato plug plants which will grow on the kitchen and front room windowsills), seed trays and lids and some diy stuff. Found 5 jars of food (pickles, mint sauce and pasta sauce) in the shed shelves and a 2l bottle f fizzy water (paint for mum's garden left behind), broke up the remaining glass door but left it until I find a suitable container.

Put the food items in my bag, when I stood up the weight of the water bottle pulled the bag off the couch and the pasta sauce broke and covered the contents. Wiped what I could (handbag, notebook, washed my purse, phone escaped - slid 2' away from the bag). Took the bag outside and tipped it out with the other glass (checking to see if my keys were in there - have more for mum's house but only one that would let me back into my own house). Luckily they weren't but abandoned the 3 pens, 1 pencil, pile of tissues and the bag (lovely little jute bag for life but not worth risking cut hands for). Bag will be used to wrap all the glass before double bagging.

27 items for Tuesday and Wednesday, total. Very tired, asleep before ten pm, slept until 6 am, had my pills and brushed my teeth, then fell asleep until nearly 9 am. Hoping for a domestic day and clearing some of the chaos but need to stay awake first of all. baby steps and nibbling away at the elephant in the room.

dustydigger

Threw away 2 more books. Skip read them and knew I didnt want them anymore,and they were in not good enough condition to donate,so in the recycling bin they went.

Rearranged my cutlery and utensils drawer. I thought the cost of drawer dividers etc were completely ridiculous,but I had a set of small aluminium roasting tins 12in x 8in. Two fitted perfectly in the drawer,and my utensils fit without spreading all over the drawer. Also had a small 6in x 6ins plastic container which tucked neatly in the back of one of the trays,and my kitchen timer,measuring tape,bottle opener and the like fit perfectly . No scrabbling around in a messy drawer to find anything, And it cost nothing! Yay,result!.

QueenJess

I'm in the middle of sorting out DD's clothes as she's slowly moving up to the next size and it's too overwhelming to do everything at once!  Put items 1-28 into a labelled bag ready to take to the local charity once I've finished.

Now need to write myself a to do list as I keep forgetting everything I need to do and I know the list is getting a bit long

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

734. Reactivated my contact lens direct debit scheme
735. Ordered a reconditioned iPhone to replace my rapidly failing existing one.  I've counted this as an item as I've known I needed to do it for ages but have been making a meal out of the decision.  

I've been feeling so rough today - I had to cancel my afternoon clients and go to bed.  I did a Covid Test but it was negative and I am feeling a bit better now - so it's a bit of  mystery what was up!  I have tomorrow and the weekend off thankfully.  House has got a bit untidy due to being busy / unwell so hopefully  I'll feel brighter in the morning and get things back in order

736.  Defective charging cable.

TC77, MrsSD & Floriana - I'm so glad you can all empathise with my phobia of "strange men in the house" - I feel much less alone.  I agree TC77- an additional aspect of the difficulty for me is about getting having to make a lot of decisions.  It's so weird, I can do it in work no problem but when it comes to home - that's a different matter... 

TC77

@EnergyShifter agree work I can do decision making so much easier. Glad you're feeling better  take care and can take a couple of days to show + on ltf.
Tip with plastics from my dad's, 5 pairs old glasses to charity and fancy hearing aid posted back to nhs. None mine
 Finally reading a book.on self compassion.and picked up 2 more tester paints for my house - have to make a decision for decoratorsglad.Mr SD on mend and hopenotjers staying safe x

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, it is ages since I posted and I have spent quite a while catching up. I have of course completely forgotten everything I wanted to say to everyone so welcome all the new people and well done everyone on all the hard work you have done. I have done very little in the past couple of months. I have been trying to work out where my get up and go has gone to, it's still a mystery .
I have managed to keep up with the everyday stuff generally but I have a few frogs lurking in the undergrowth that I am determined to deal with tomorrow.. I have had a few tiny wins with things being thrown away and 1 item given away but honestly you wouldn't notice in the general scheme of things.
I have rejigged my lists into different rooms and 1 for phone calls so when I find my guag I can spring into action, this is my fantasy me talking
At the moment I am feeling very sorry for myself as I have a stinker of a cold and have decluttered 4 toilet rolls on nose blowing and uu a tin of vaseline in an attempt to prevent me looking like rudolph Luckily I don't have a cough with it though I have decluttered 3 lft tests,all negative,.
I have spent some time with friends and family who I have not been able to see for a while, including a trip to Wembley with my cousin which was great. When we were younger we often used to travel to away football matches together so it was a real blast from the past. My cousin's son managed to get us hotel rooms at a discount price as he works for the chain and even the drive down and back was easy. The motorway was clear both ways and we did the trip down in 4 hours, with 1 hour break, and the trip back in 4 hours 20 minutes, again with a break. We used our bus passes to get from the hotel to the stadium so it was a very mse trip as well as being lovely to spend some time with my cousin
I am off to bed now to nurse my cold and hopefully it will be on the way out tomorrow
Take care everyone

Liverpool_Anne

Oh, I did read a lovely book, the keeper of stories by Sally Page. I have it on my kindle but I think it's been published long enough to be worth looking for in the charity shops .
Take care everyone