2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

vulpix

Wildrose all our paperwork is in A4 folders in a pepper box from Lidl. I have told this story here before but it bears repeating. My friends cousins house caught fire. She was able to direct the firefighters straight to her box of paperwork and precious photos. Very little else in the house was salvaged due to fire,smoke or water damage. Her neighbour had an unattended bonfire which spread to a tree and the tree fell on her roof. 

 Vx

mhagster

Hello

Felt strange having ‘nothing’ to do today. 

So here’s what I did 😆

took 15 books to supermarket charity shelf. Off our bookshelf. 

I have a charity bag filled with clothing. Got collection on Friday.

Anything beyond salvage was chucked. Bleached and painty tops/leggings. Out! 

Much paper recycled. 

I have three boxes/carrier bags for charity. Hope to drop off tomorrow. 

Rug moved to garage. For now. 

Big box of stuff for keeping (photos etc ) moved to garage. 

Old curtain pole in recycling bin. 

So I now have my spare room back again! There’s 2 baskets of stuff, 1 for niece and 1 for auntie. So I know they will go at some point soon. 

Also chucked out a laptop bag. I’d brought it round here on Friday but walked into the room it was in and it smelled. ? ( most likely )cat pee. No thanks! 

So I feel quite productive today but also realised I need to somehow de-activate from being so busy! 

QueenJess

I have all my paper work in a single deep filing cabinet type of drawer. That’s plenty with most stuff being online now.

More decluttering and tidying done today. I did the coat cupboard which I’ve been putting off for ages and the gift bags. Also found lots of other things whilst doing a general tidy.

3640-44 - duck food packs
3645-51 - kids clothes
3652 - broken toothbrush holder
3653 - shoe box
3654-55 - hats/gloves
3656 - planter
3657 - book bag broken beyond repair
3658-63 - gift bags
3664 - sticker sheet

Floss

vulpix said:

Wildrose all our paperwork is in A4 folders in a pepper box from Lidl. I have told this story here before but it bears repeating. My friends cousins house caught fire. She was able to direct the firefighters straight to her box of paperwork and precious photos. Very little else in the house was salvaged due to fire,smoke or water damage. Her neighbour had an unattended bonfire which spread to a tree and the tree fell on her roof. 

 Vx

That's a great point Vulpix, I must give that some thought. Most of my photos are stored online but I do have some old pre-digital ones in albums, along with a few things I would want to rescue like a watercoloured sketch my dad bought in 1973, and my & my mums jewellery boxes. 

Wildrose

Thanks @vulpix and @EnergyShifter. I ordered the fireproof document box so I'll put house deeds and important certificates in there.
I'll go through the filing cabinet and get rid of everything no longer needed then either box files (I have some already somewhere) or manila folder thingies, if I can work out what they are, for papers I have to keep. Then either the loft or the very top shelf of the built in wardrobe, which is so high I need a stepladder to reach it. So practically the loft really.

Tonight I worked my way through a large plastic tub of photo albums. Lots of photos taken by ex of landscapes and tourist things which none of us can identify any morre. So did a lot of thinning out. I'm going to make some photo montages using some of the empty picture frames I've found in my wardrobe. That way we can enjoy them.

florianatwobob

It’s funny Mrs SD as this picture is a studio portrait of my grandad with two of his sisters, he’s sat and they are standing either side of him. He’s slouched down a bit in this chair looking very comfy and and quietly confident. He died in 1949 but it was nice to see a younger picture of him with two of his sisters who clearly loved him.

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, yesterday I had lunch with some ex work colleagues including one who said this was her first outing since before the pandemic! She retired at the same time as me and really didn't want to retire and has spent her time gardening and pottering she says. It was a nice meet up and I only left in time to get home, get changed and out again to the footy so nothing decluttered except money. By the time I got home my knee was starting to ache again. 
Today I have tried to keep moving around as I don't want it to sieze up again but I did get out to post a couple of cards to my nephew, I a get well card as he is recently out of hospital after having his veins done and the 2nd for his birthday. I have had to send them to my niece to pass on to him as he is currently homeless and staying with friends, but nobody has an address. My niece is now house sitting at a different house from when I visited her after 2 weeks in Wales. I am seriously thinking of putting trackers on the pair of them
Tomorrow I have my blood test booked.

On the subject of paperwork I have 2 fireproof file boxes that seriously need sorting out and various other bits of paper stored in shoe boxes that also need sorting out. One thing I would say is don't declutter too much of this while in any sort of emotional turmoil. I gleefully ripped up all the paperwork connected to my divorce when I got the decree absolute along with various other things that had joint names. I later realised they included share certificates, I am still trying to sort that out, and I discovered when trying to sort my state pension that I needed the date of my divorce. Hey ho, you live and learn I do think it is a good idea to sort essential paperwork so if something happens to me whoever is left to deal with stuff doesn't have to rummage through the house to find it. All I have to do is put this excellent plan into action

@vulpix, sorry to hear that your Mum is still not well. One of the main topics at lunch yesterday was looking after the parents and how they have all suffered from the lock down, losing confidence and needing a lot more support generally even without illnesses.  I know how much it can take out of you having looked after both my parents, and I was 30 years younger then. I hope things get better soon, hugs

Hugs also to everyone else who would like one, you are all amazing people and even though I am hopeless I love reading about all the good work you are doing.
Take care everyone

QueenJess

Not much decluttered per se today, but I did spend ages putting a big load of stuff into the attic and had a bit of a rearrangement up there so I can find things. It probably needs a clear out, but it would take me and DH doing together over days and I just don’t have that time. I also have a bit of decision fatigue at the moment, so I am happy to do a tiny bit of it every time I go up there and hopefully it’ll eventually get better.

I am currently rearranging DD’s room since we moved her into there at night as of yesterday 😬. Means I need to put some stuff from our bedroom in there and so just trying to put it in a way that doesn’t look cluttered. Our bedroom on the other hand now looks huge without a big cot in it!

Theres always more to do of course… I have a couple of cupboards that I feel are too full but am struggling with how to proceed, an attic that is too full and my library that is currently the room of doom and needs a good tidy (not least because I work in there and I don’t want to do it in a complete mess!).

Just plodding along really… However, interestingly I started the whole year thinking I had a couple of months of major sorting and decluttering and was mainly there by the time I joined this challenge. At the start of the year I motivated myself by trying to get rid of 1 thing on day 1 and 2 on day 2 etc, starting again at the end of the month. I didn’t stick to that rigidly as sometimes I get rid of nothing and sometimes I’d do loads in one go, so I just noted where I was on my phone. I just picked a number when I joined this challenge as continuing it this way would give huge numbers (465 for a 30 day month). However, I did keep tracking the other way on my phone out of interest.

I only count things that are leaving the house but did include deletion of photos and permanently deleting some emails. In the main though, I have been counting physical things. Unbelievably, I am now 79 items away from completing the whole of 2022 and it is only August. Completing the year would be an amazing 5,360 things eliminated from my life. To be honest it is pretty mind boggling how much stuff you can cram into a house! I really hope it is impossible to eliminate that much next year as it really does feel I have less stuff overall and so hope I am making good progress and stopping things coming into the house.

I do feel like there is more to do to be fair, but I really hope I am further down decluttering path and really just on maintenance watch (which includes watching the kids stuff like a hawk 🤣)

3665 - a puzzle I no longer want
3666-73 - cardboard boxes from the attic

mhagster

Hello.
My day has not gone to plan however here’s what I’ve decluttered! 

An envelope of stuff posted to cousin .

10 bags of garden waste…picture if you will 10 thick polythene bags filled with garden cuttings that languished in the heat for about a week and then had torrential rain on them! Green goo! Some may have gone on my feet and jeans! 

A rug to the carpet recycling bit at tip. 

Three bags/boxes dropped off at charity shop. 

Back to mums, was let down by a cleaner at the weekend and it needs doing by this weekend as photographer going in next week. So the little red hen is doing it herself. With a sigh and a polish of her rusty halo! 

So top kitchen cupboards all washed out. Worktops washed. All downstairs skirting washed. And big windows cleaned. Front door side window cleaned inside and out. Hoovered. Thought that was quite enough.

was literally just in the door when the door was knocked. Who was it? Only my lesser spotted brother, last seen at funeral ( 11 weeks ago) has not been responding to texts. Anyway in he comes, tells me we need to go to sealed bids for house sale ( his colleague told him that) so I said only if there’s enough interest in the house! Anyway he’s agreed ( as has sister) to do what I want! ( ha! The little red hen is the only person who has a clue what’s happening.) 

He asked is the stairlift away…er 10.5 weeks ago! Have you put the bannister back up? Er…no I’ve been busy emptying a house. So he’ll do that tomorrow! Wow! Should he empty the loft? Er…no I did that 4 weeks ago. Oh. I’ve told you the house is empty! I’m not sure what he thinks has been happening in the interim 11 weeks since he was last there or how a very full house ‘suddenly’ became ready for sale. And he’s lost one of mums cats. Which to be fair is hardly his fault but my mum would be so upset. Just as well she’s not here then 🫤

Gave him an envelope of stuff. 

Anyway off he went…and NDN texts me to say that council chaps were here to pick up the furniture that’s  been outside for 9 days! So I said oh I can do better than that and told her about brother! 

Then went back round at teatime to cut the grass …the lawnmower went bang! So it’s now at side of house to go to tip tomorrow! BIL had cut through the wire the day before funeral and had fixed it…not any more! And grass was only half cut so I’ll need to take mine round tomorrow to finish it! Sigh! 

And then I did some more pruning and filled 6 more bags that I’ll drop off tomorrow too! 

Took 7 big empty pots over to chap across the street.

Then a quick chat to NDN and home! 

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

I woke DH up Tuesday 05:10 a.m., made him a coffee & filled a flask for him then packed him off on the motorbike for a day of Round Britain rallying 😉 He was gone by 5:45 a.m. & I went to bed 🙂 Up again about 10:30 a.m. - a lot cooler & we did have some rain but not as much as promised 😔 Cleared down some more stuff from planner - now have 90% of space 🙂 & I dealt with a small frog by descaling the kettle 😉 Also took a trip to the Post Office to buy stamps to Europe & posted 2 urgent cards. Dinner was pork steaks, mash & cabbage with a plateful put in the warming drawer for DH. He eventually got home at 9:22 p.m. absolutely soaked through ☹️ He had driven through driving rain for 3 hours 🌧 I had a long soak & even got DH to scrub my back. Wudupa.

(Back in a while as cooking dinner - back again!)

Wednesday has been cooler again with some rain but still not enough to even begin to revive the grass 😔 I met up with my colleague - a couple of beers over an hour & half of catching up - thoroughly enjoyable & will try to meet up again in about 6 weeks. He & his wife had managed to avoid Covid until a few weeks ago when they brought back happy memories from New York together with Covid 😖 His wife had a mild dose but he was as ill as it was possible to be without going to hospital ☹️ After parting company I headed straight home then spent the rest of the afternoon napping 😴 with intermittent bouts of wakefulness 😉 DH has finally put the suitcases up in the loft 👏Dinner was ham, eggs, oven chips & baked beans. 

1243 - 1249 Kitchen recycling x 2, drinks cans x 2, three plastic bottles - recycled 
1250 - 1252 Kitchen detritus x 2, lr detritus - binned

Nice to see you ScarletRibbons 👋 Very pleased to hear that you are now at the stage of maintenance decluttering- that gives us all hope & encouragement to persevere 👏

Wow Floss, I am very impressed 👏 Perhaps I should hire you to get me organised 😉 

I will continue cheerleading on a separate post as I am a bit wary of losing this one 😬  

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1252/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £228.22