2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Siebrie

I have restarted my work in the garden, as the state of the inside of the house is what it is at the moment, until the plaster is dry. I filled 1 container with whatever I pruned: vine, lovage, sage, decorative flowerheads, dead foxgloves, finished raspberry canes, etc.

The plastic rabbit hutch I got free with our free rabbit (now deceased) 2 years ago was put at the roadside with a 'free' sign, and was gone the next morning.

I'm gathering the courage to put the garden set out front as well, as I hate it, but we have nothing else to sit on in the garden at the moment.

bit_by_bit

Congrats @mhagster. Now rest at least while the sun tells you to 

Big hugs @vulpix. I hope MiL preks up. She is lucky to have you and MrV. They will miss you both at work. massively but sometimes you have to just bite the bullet.

Thankyou @Mrs_Salad_Dodger It was easier talking to him away from home over a meal and a pint. Yes missing DD already.

Well it is done. Moved DD yesterday in the blistering heat up to Manchester. Flat ok apart from the broken bed, broken hob and failing 'fridge freezer. Spent all the afternoon helping unpack, set up her computers. DH fixed her play one just before we left. It went Kaput on Sunday night adding to the stress. Plus her streaming box was late and sent to the wrong house (her mistake). 

It was hot work but despite the temperatures her flat is quite cool.

Home from Manchester at 1am after a lengthy diversion due to roadworks on the motorway.

The van was well laden and so I have counted out 14 bags and 10 large items. Signature updated. The house seems empty but I suppose that is expected. 

Right. Time to water the pots before the heat gets too much. 

QueenJess

It’s so hot and I am not made for the heat! Did some tidying today interspersed with some sorting out. All the books are in piles now and I just have to figure out how to store them. I also tackled the next size up clothes for DD and got rid of any ones I didn’t like. They fit nice in there now ready for when she goes up to the next size. I also have a big pile of things for the attic but refuses to go to there in this heat.

Despite doing a few hours of work in the house, I swear it looks exactly the same. I think instead of clearing a single room I’ve been doing bits and pieces in every room and so that’s why. Hopefully it’ll suddenly look amazing at some point! We certainly have some empty shelves/cupboards for the kids stuff now. Boxes and boxes of stuff have been taken by other people and three big bags of stuff are going to the charity right now with DH. So I really should be noticing the difference! I really don’t know where all this stuff hides out or how we fitted it all in.

Anyway, my progress today:
3557-59 - books
3560-61 - toy
3562 - cleaning stuff
3563-64 - paper
3565 - activity book
3566 - magazine
3567-68 - packaging
3569-3605 - baby clothes
3606 - pack of stamps
3607-3611 - greetings cards

mhagster

Hello! 

Penultimate shift decluttered….yaaaaas! One to go! I can definitely do it! 

Picked up mum’s ashes today. I’ve been parking near the undertakers for almost 6 weeks. I walk past it every day but just felt too much other ‘stuff’ around. But popped in today and oh just wait a moment and then I had her in a box in a fancy bag! Oh! Okay! I need to leave you in the car as I’m going to the estate agents! So she’s at mine for now. 

And finished yes finished the slabs all 121 of them and it looks so much better than it did. Went round at lunchtime and then took the dog around teatime as I’d left the power washer out to dry off properly. Was just there for half an hour each time. 

Tomorrow is my it’s all done ( or all I’m doing ) day. Just a few things still to go , a couple of things to be picked up by other  people and that’s it! 

Had a box of stuff at my front door so sat down at my table and went through it. An awful lot of stuff in one wee box. Lots of photos. A pile of letters from when I was 18. The sympathy cards sent to mum when dad died, so much love and care in them and I don’t know that she ever appreciated just how much people did care. She wasn’t one for emotion. Anyway I’ve read them acknowledged them and popped them in the recycling bin. They would mean nothing to my children when I go so why keep them? Almost thirty years ago. Anyway a pile of stuff in the bin, a pile in recycling and then a few mini piles to go in peoples mini piles! 

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

843.  Caught up with replying to emails.

Must admit to being one of those people who is  really enjoying the heat.  This temperature is just right for me  I have a day off tomorrow and am heading to the Coast to meet with my cousin.  Been working today but had a lot of no shows - it's an August phenomena - so I had a chance to catch up with a few things. 

Over the last week or so I've been working on a retirement plan - I'm 61, self-employed, no private pension & no partner.. Up until now I've been saying I'll never be able to retire so no point thinking of it.  But very slowly and gently I'm facing up to things.  There's a lot more to do on it - especially getting the numbers crunched - but at least I've made a start and I feel better for it.  It's already become clear that the key factor will be to  downsize to release equity - I've known that for a while but its only the last few days that the penny has dropped that therefore its where I need to focus my energy.  

844. Wood to neighbours
845. dental appt & changed dentists
846, Bag of dried up markers
847. Returned some client referrals to a place I work - decided I need to take some time off and try to get away before I have eye surgery.
848. Set up a contact lens scheme "holiday" - while I await eye surgery
849. Temporary fix for glasses
850.  Ink stains off DS' desk 
851. Worked on retirement plan
852.  Email enquiry to eye surgery clinic - they've already replied - reassured
853 & 4. 2 x DS' clothes - he wore them for a month when he was in hospital and wouldn't change them.  When he came home he agreed to change but made me promise not to throw them away.  11 months later ....
855. Green bin full of bits of tree
856. Black bin full of bits of shed (its nearly all gone now!) 

mhagster:  I'm glad you felt the time was right to pick up your mum's ashes   

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, just popping in to say nothing much done decluttering wise apart from cold drinks. I met up with an ex work colleague on Tuesday who is having a bit of a rough time health wise and is trying to decide if she can go back to work. Unfortunately financially she doesn't have a lot of wriggle room but she does need to look after her health. Glad I didn't have to make that choice but I gave her some advice from a union point of view and it is possible she may be able to retire on the grounds of ill health which will mean she would get her full pension. 
I am struggling a bit with the heat and am sitting here with a cold flannel on neck before I try to sleep still they have forecast thunderstorms for next week so we should be grateful for the sun while we have it
Off now to try to get some sleep, I am exhausted
Take care everyone

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

Sorry I haven’t posted in a couple of days but feeling rather guilty as have done nothing much at all 😔 Wednesday & Thursday have been hot, hot, hot 🥵 The last suitcase is finally empty & is ready to go in the loft. The swim shoes have been emptied of sand & left out in the sun to completely dry. Now put away - awaiting our next beach holiday 🤞 😉 The last bit of hand washing - a white beach shirt which had been soaking for 3 days is now on the whirligig. Still stained but thought I’d try sunlight to see if that helps 🤞 If not I will try vinegar 😉 DSis & I had risotto cakes for Wednesday’s dinner & I also had a bit of salad. DH arrived home about 9:00 p.m. Thursday. We had hm cottage pie & peas for dinner. DH had a good time, got many landmarks new & old& met up with a couple of friends. He also brought back all his empty plastic bottles for recycling 😉
Wudupa.

1208 - 1217 Kitchen recycling, 7 plastic bottles, plastic cup, drinks cans - recycled 

1218 - 1220 Kitchen detritus, plastic packaging, ood food - binned 

Great decluttering accidentalglixch 👏 How old is Remi now? & did he crunch his ice cubes 😉

Almost there mhagster 🙂 Excellent work in the garden 👏 How very random & rude 😠 

Good decluttering QueenJess 👏 Hopefully all the scheduled pick ups will be made 🤞

2Scratters, letter posting counts as decluttering 👏

Now that is what I call TLC florianatwobob 🙂 - a mini boozy session with colleagues 👏 Good news about your young carpenter & introducing you to a decorator 🙂 A friendly BG engineer 🤩 

short_bird, hope you have a great week off 🙂

Great work TC77 👏 Hope the antibiotics work quickly 🤞 DH has some tablets that have to be taken an hour before eating or 2 hours after eating but at least it is only twice a day 😉

Excellent decluttering oceanspirit 👏 Enjoy your shredathon 🙂 & Good luck with finding your shorts 🍀

Great work in the garden Siebrie 👏 Hope you reach a decision about the garden set 😉

bit_by_bit, shame the weather didn’t cool down for the big move ☹️ but great work getting so much done 👏 Two Gold Stars ⭐️  ⭐️  on their way - one for 85/100 bags & the other for 17 large items out 👏

Excellent decluttering QueenJess 👏 Perhaps you could snap a few before & after photos - to convince yourself that all your decluttering is making a difference 😉 Perhaps you are living in a TARDIS 😂 either that or you have gremlins who keep bringing more stuff into your home 😉

Well done mhagster - one Gold Star ⭐️ coming your way for dealing with the patio cleaning so quickly & efficiently 👏 Excellent decluttering & all done in less than 11 weeks 🤩 

Excellent decluttering EnergyShifter 👏 How exciting planning your retirement - sounds like you have made a good start 🙂 

Nice to see you Liverpool_Anne 👋 Heat is so exhausting so I hope you can get a couple of decent nights sleep 🤞

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1220/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £228.22

mhagster

Just popping in to say I AM DONE! 

Hurrah!

one house emptied ( bar things people still to collect) 
one summer job done ( lesson learned don’t say yes because you’re flattered you were asked 😆) 

I’ll still be back and forth at mums just not relentlessly. 

Aunt coming through next week and we are going to garden

Garage still to empty but waiting till Estate agent takes photos then I’ll get skip. Shouldn’t take long to empty . 

Well done me! 

florianatwobob

Well done @mhagster! I hope you’re chuffed with yourself. 

A non working day for me which was meant to be a ‘do nothing day’ however a 6.30am text from AO told me that my chest freezer was arriving between 7 & 9am. As we ultimately need one that will cope with being in the shed we went new in the end. However I did get an extra 10% off! 

Amazingly the main freezer was still freezing and yesterday the main fridge kicked in again! It was a relief as suggests that it will be back up and running after a switch off, defrost & reboot. 

The freezer contents have been switched over to the chest freezer, old towels dug out for the defrost, shower water saved and thrown over the plants, two plants repotted bins out and back and then it’s a takeaway for tea. 

Hope everyone is taking care of themselves in this weather

QueenJess

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Excellent decluttering QueenJess 👏 Perhaps you could snap a few before & after photos - to convince yourself that all your decluttering is making a difference 😉 Perhaps you are living in a TARDIS 😂 either that or you have gremlins who keep bringing more stuff into your home 😉

Yes, two gremlins who are 5 years old and 16 months old! You have to be on the lookout the whole time to stop things coming into the house and often it’s impossible with kids parties and family bringing gifts etc. Even on Weds we went out for lunch and DS was provided with colouring and a pack of crayons. We managed to leave them there otherwise we would end up with loads of packs we won’t use and give them away at a later date.

No decluttering today, but I have been working through some boring jobs (washing, changing beds, checking school uniform requirements and ordering what is needed etc) as well as trying to tidy up the mess I’ve made. It’s starting to look better and everyone has now picked up their allocated stuff. More to do, but want to clear up a bit more before I make more mess again!