2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, well I have caught up with the posts and sorry for the little reply posts but I couldn't keep them all in my head. 

@Mrs SD, lovely pics and glad you are home safe. I know what you mean about wanting your own bed. Whenever I am away as much as I love a holiday at some point I always want my own bed and a proper cup of tea I hate to say it but I suspect the left over sun creams etc will probably be used by the reps. I know someone who worked as a rep and it was common practice as those sorts of things are always expensive in holiday resorts and the reps live there for months so couldn't possibly take enough to last in their luggage. I never mind them having it though as I'd rather it was used by someone than lug it home to sit in a cupboard for ages

The past week seems to have been filled with socialising and going out. I drove up to near Preston to collect some football tickets and spent 3 hours in a pub drinking coffee with OHs dsis and bil before driving home. Then on Saturday I drove myself and a friend to Leicester for the community shield, great game but I didn't get home until gone midnight. On Sunday I went to a friendly football game, on Monday it was the last celebration of OHs birthday when we went out for lunch with lovely neighbour and yesterday I went for lunch with 2 ex work colleagues and didn't get home until 6.30 .

I have managed to sort a few things inbetween though. I have done some weed removal in the garden and am filling up the green waste bin when it's cool enough to work and not raining, we have had a couple of days when it has rained so the weeds are taking advantage and threatening world domination again I have cleared the fridge and done several loads of washing though the ironing is still shouting at me. We have been swimming but OH has been struggling and has decided twice a week is too much so we are cutting it back to once atm. I think it's because it was so hectic around the birthday celebrations that always spread over a couple of weeks by the time we see everyone. I will be working on reinstating the second swim in a while. 
I have sorted a few admin frogs and I got a cheque for a tax rebate. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I opened the envelope Meanwhile OH has been buying things that keep getting delivered and I have given up asking what they are as there are loads of them, most appear to be birthday or Christmas presents being bought in the sale for various family members but it is a bit annoying as whenever I do manage to clear a space it fills up again with parcels
I am still not back up to full speed and I have realised it is 2 years since I had the iron infusion so I am probably needing something like that. I have an appointment for a blood test in a couple of weeks so I will see what that shows, meanwhile onward and upwards as they say
Take care everyone

mhagster

Hello

one more shift decluttered 5 to go ( I can do it) 

Round to mums this afternoon. Windows opened , fireplace polished, kitchen floor washed! Estate agent came and I felt it was very positive. Signed up with them but everyone else needs to sign too! It will be a couple of weeks before it’s ready to go on the market. 

Filled the rubbish bin with rubbish ( emptied yesterday) and garden bin emptied this morning so that will be filled quick enough again! 

I’m not going back round tonight. I’ve just decided enoughs enough! 

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Evening
Sorry i haven't caught up on all posts, hugs to anyone who wants one 
Managed to take 2 carrier bags to the CS yesterday; counldn't carry any more as my back is still sore.  Shredded some paperwork which will be collected tomorrow with paper recycling.
love Deni 

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks

2. Deal with Old Frogs & potential frogs ASAP but at least one on FROG Fridays.

3. Reduce/Restrict time watching TV and playing AB2 during daylight hours 😉

4. Declutter/Relocate one item every time I stand up.

5. Don’t put it down, put it away

6. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed

Thursday has been blue skies, sunshine & heat up until about 4:30 p.m. Now cloudy & a lovely cool breeze. I have been a busy bee today - used secateurs to trim out most of the tall bits of the front hedge then DH used the hedge trimmer to level the hedge back down to 5’ - he tidied up all the clippings as well 🙂 I then gathered together all the holiday clothes & emptied the laundry bag - now have 2 empty suitcases which can go in the loft 👏 The 3rd suitcase has all the cables, toiletries, Tilley hats & shoes still in it & will be sorted tomorrow.  Four loads of washing done, 3 loads have dried on line, 2 loads folded & put away. The third dried load is a mixture of ironing & repairs. The 4th load of washing is on the line & the 5th & final load is in the wm 🥳 I also folded & put away the washing I did before our holiday 😔  With so much washing I needed a new bottle of washing gel & to refill the soda crystals bottle - yippee to the stock & location list 😉 Both items found immediately 🙂 I am currently ignoring mantra 3. as I am clearing down recorded programmes from the planner - one series at a time. So far have cleared Silent Witness & am working my way through The Royal 😉 Dinner was Chinese. Tomorrow’s tasks are - sort & put away contents of last suitcase, menu plan & write shopping list, send DH to sm 😉, descale kettle, deal with the last of my holiday post & phone bank. If I am feeling particularly energetic I will do the mending & maybe even the ironing 😉 & I should do the hand washingThe last load of washing has finished but won’t be hung out until tomorrow. As there are so few items, I will do the wudupa just before I go to bed.

1151 - 1153 Kitchen recycling, cardboard box, plastic washing gel holder - recycled 
1154 Kitchen detritus binned

Liverpool_Anne, I never have a cup of tea when I am away - for some reason even if I have my own teabags the local water & milk seem to make tea taste different 😔 Like you I really don’t mind who uses the lotions & potions - as long as they get used 🙂 Occasionally socialising & going out is the only way to go 😉👏 Excellent decluttering 👏 I did have a rueful smile at “the weeds are taking advantage and threatening world domination again” 😁 Yippee to the surprise tax rebate 🥳 not often they return money 😉 Fingers crossed that the blood test results are fine 🤞

Your hard work has paid off mhagster 👏 Hopefully everyone else will sign quickly & the estate agent can get the house on the market quickly 🤞

Good work Deni_debt-free_dreamer 👏 Please take care of your back 🙏 

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1154/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £228.22

QueenJess

It is the last day of our “test” holiday today and I seem to have survived it. Almost didn’t as DD was a total nightmare sleeping somewhere new, but got over it thankfully and partly helped by being absolutely exhausted everyday. We did think about going home for a while though… I think the kids have enjoyed it, but it’s been absolutely exhausting.. DD is likely a permanently wired highly and naturally caffeinated little person where everything needs to be explored and nothing escapes her attention. Cannot sit still for more than 2 seconds and clearly is too intelligent for her own good. We did have a chuckle as she is learning to talk and only has 10 words… one of those is now “traffic cone”. Interesting sense of priority!

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger your holiday pics looked amazing and glad you are home safely. It sounded very relaxing and basically the opposite to our holiday!

I’ve enjoyed being away with a lot less stuff though and so the decluttering will continue in earnest when we get back home. Top of the list is kids toys as we seem to accumulate far too much of it due to the kids being the only grandchildren on both sides and they have access to all my old toys that were kept, plus we were given some by a friend. I will get rid of what I can, but with DS I think I will go through it with him and box up the things he doesn’t play with (I will do this with him) and put the box somewhere. Then if he changes his mind there is no risk for now and hopefully will encourage him to be a bit more ruthless and mean he will actually keep his room tidier as it will be easier to clear up. I dislike his materialistic tendencies and I’ve tried to talk to him on holiday about not just asking for everything and waiting to get the best thing because one great thing is better than 10 average ones. Not sure he got that though… it is a work in progress!

DDs toys will definitely be curtailed as she doesn’t need much to play with. She prefers investigating the world around her anyway and it makes no difference if she has one or many toys. As long as she can stuff her face, see ducks and tractors and have bubbles, she is happy! Now she is starting to show preferences it will be easier to keep out what she is interested in and can keep other things out that help with things like fine motor skills (although she is doing fab there and can eat individual peas with an adult sized fork at 16 months.. she got a lot of stares in restaurants as she skewers each individual pea!). I may box things up and experiment with having very little out.

Floss

@QueenJess my joys used to have some of their own things at my in-laws, some of my family toys at my parents home and half of their toys packed away in the loft for a month or so at a time as we found the more they had, the less they played with 🤷‍♀️ That way it was "oh I forgot about that, let's play with it for the next month"

mhagster

Hello.

Tip run this morning. Loads of bags of garden waste, some cardboard and plastic…me in the plastic area spots this lovely bird bath! Oooh says I to the chap can I take this? Yes of course! So once I emptied my car I refilled it 😆

Back round this evening. 
5 bin bags of coat hangers getting picked up tomorrow as someone local was looking for some.
A shower seat going to a friend. 

A home found for the remaining sewing machine. 

Photos taken and posted on local page for some other things. 

Tomorrow the remaining ‘stuff’ is coming to a garage near me 😆 it can stay there till I decide to sort through it! 

Dropped off a pile of plastic bags from loft and the last 2 remaining books at supermarket. See…I knew there would be more!

QueenJess

@Floss I think I was going along that route. I will purge whatever I can and then pack up loads of what is left so they have a few things to play with and change it about every now and again. Parents both sides are no use as they are far away and we are just on our own (probably doesn’t help as it means they bring presents when they visit as it isn’t that often - I’ve given up talking to them about it as they all ignore me…).

We are home and half unpacked. The rest is generally in the way. Feel stressed already with all the stuff and so randomly just cleared out the big desk tidy we have for the kids crayons, stickers etc. Already found a ton to get rid of, so need to harness this energy for the next week or so before the feeling wears off! I also picked up a couple of baby toys not needed anymore whilst the kids were making a mess everywhere.

I keep forgetting to reply to people (lack of sleep doesn’t help with that), but whoever mentioned sharing bathroom stuff is a great idea, but my DH would never go for that. He also hoards bathroom stuff which I find really irritating and when I try to help him go through it, it seems to stress him out. We always used to go through everything in the house and have a clear out every year when I was a child, but he never did and so is confused by my efforts. I have two baskets of toiletries in the big cupboard which I hope to decrease to none and fit them all in my half of the drawer in the bathroom. I only have two baskets of extra due to people buying me things for presents that I’m trying to use up (but have years of stuff). DH has three baskets and a whole drawer elsewhere of junk. I would love him to follow suit I considering he claims he is a minimalist 😂. I am following baby steps and so far just managed to convince him to change to bar soap throughout the house and even bar soap for the shower/for his hair. Not bothering to tackle deodorant as I think that’s a non-starter, but I think a clear out is likely to be the next thing on the cards.

2584-2587 - bathroom supplies used up
2588 - kitchen cleaning supplies used up
2589-90 - baby toys
2591-2636 - kids crafts/stickers/activity books etc

Definitely lots more to come!

2Scratters

@QueenJess it was I who suggested the sharing of toiletries. If you keep doing what you are doing (I know MrsSD may tell me off  about this : ) and make a full success of it,  maybe you share his untill he notices. It will no doubt take time and many conversations along the way he maybe on board a lot more. If he likes to think of a monetary value to it all that may help too. You know what will work for you.
2 Scratters xx

florianatwobob

House was gone through like a dose of salts on Thursday. The under stairs cupboard was hulked out and de plastered. The cupboard over the stairs was hulked out and deplastered too. Plasterer back Friday and we have skirting and architraves back on.

The banister is back up but too high (I’m sure it’s perfect if you’re my plasterer as he is very tall) so that’s going to have to come off and back on at the right height (grrrr - I had said to shout when it went back on). It currently feels like you’re mountain climbing up the stairs and having known those stairs and bannister for 44 years it’s most peculiar. 

I also gave a leaky radiator (Brit Gas coming Weds) and the light on the landing no longer works (sparky messaged) and a gap between my threshold and the skirting and a couple of split skirting boards so thats a job or three for the carpenter. 

So despite my snagging list sounding huge….the plastering has gone well.