2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

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

Saturday was an overcast drizzly day but no real rain. Another lazy day all round although I did watch the Channel 5 documentary about the Queen from the start & the 1st 2 episodes of the rerun of The Missing. Fortunately I don’t remember it at all 😉 Dinner was sausages, mash, baked beans & chopped tomatoes 🤤 Wudupa.

Sunday is a brighter day with some sunshine early afternoon but now overcast. DH in bath trying to sweat out a cold & I am relaxing in the TLC Carriage 😉

1472 - 1476 Kitchen recycling, cardboard packaging, drinks cans, booklet, glass jar - recycled 

1477 - 1478 Kitchen detritus, uu pump action toothpaste - binned

Excellent decluttering GrannyKate 👏 Hoping that time spent in the TLC Carriage will help get me back on track 🤞

EnergyShifter, pleased to hear that you had a lovely holiday 😊 Enjoy your extra days off & hope the weather is kind for your cousin’s 50th birthday 🎂 Great decluttering 👏 & thanks for the kind thought.

vulpix, I don’t think of any of my fellow declutterers as strangers, more like extended family & friends 😉 & Thank you for the lovely compliment 😊 I believe the handy DIY gene sometimes misses a generation 😉 However the Crafting gene appears to be alive & well in you 🙂👏 To my mind not having enough stuff for a car boot sale means that you have successfully completed the major part of your Decluttering Challenge - well done 👏 Good luck to you & DD1 re the cleaning & reallocation of the remainder of ‘stuff’ 🍀 Thank You for posting vulpix - reminds all of us that organising our thoughts is a great tactic in our ongoing attempts to declutter 👏

QueenJess, you might be busy at work but your crafting skills have come in very useful - not only decluttering stationery but making it look beautiful 👏🙂 I am also loving the conversation re ‘pencil extenders’ 😄 thanks for the picture 👏 It would appear everyone is hanging onto theirs 😉

TC77, I’m with you - scrap paper & bulldog clips 😅 The cover all option for decorating means you have time to sort when the decorators have finished 😉 Excellent decluttering 👏 & hope you find your numbers book 🤞Everything crossed that you find the pencil extender at your dad’s🤞

Great work short_bird 👏

Lovely to see you roundtuit 👋 Brought a smile to my face that a pencil extender brought you out of lurkdom 😄

The funk is gradually lifting, I was only one day behind in posting 😅

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1478/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £228.22

vulpix

Phew. Just sat down. A busy day. 2 sheds emptied, painted, rejigged and refilled. Lots in the bin. Lots in the car for DSS. Mini disc player given to a neighbour. 

 Trellis put up, tv put on the wall in the giant shed/studio. Sentry box screwed back together. Garden chair leg adjusted. Front door hinges adjusted. And DSS is here till Wednesday!!!!!

 Rain forecast for tomorrow so plenty of indoor jobs to do. 

 Shepherds pie that I made yesterday in the oven and banana bread mk 2 waiting to go in. 

 Banana bread is an experiment. I didn’t weigh anything and I have no sugar so I used some rose water sugar that I made ages ago for something else. 

 I agree Mrs SD we are a merry band of friends here. I am glad you are feeling a bit chirpier. I imagine when I revisit the boxes from the pantry of doom there will be plenty for a carboot sale. I did spot some things in the shed that can leave. Some tiles and a small oak coffee table. But not just yet. I am on a mission to get all my jobs done whilst I have the muscle. 

 My Grandad had a pencil extender and I bet my Mum still has it. Loving your notebook too Queen Jess. I am SABLE in many categories and notebooks are one of them. I say notebooks but most are half used text books from the kids school days. 

 Love to all Vx 

florianatwobob

Things have been moved back to their original locations this weekend. 

The decorator popped round 9am on Saturday (woohoo a lie in compared to last weeks 8am start) for some tiny fiddly bits in the hall. When he’d finished DSis and I headed into town and came back with some violas for the garden pots. I think we’re going to need some winter cheer this year. 

The bookcase was moved back to its home on the landing and whilst the books were reviewed not many were identified for rehoming. I’m tempted to put myself on a book buying ban until I’ve whittled the TBR pile down….I am weak willed in this area though. That said I did finish a book last night which  found it’s way into the Ziffit box when I got up this morning. Next book selected from the pile too. 

With the bookcase back where it belongs knock on shuffling and sorting happened today and I put away the ironing pile  and sorted out some household bits. 

Found a couple of bits for the charity bag (bag 26 or 27 this year). That many charity bags sounds awfully wasteful but we’ve now got to the stage where things like books/DVDs come and decisions are swiftly made as to if they’ll stay as soon as they’ve been consumed. 

Planted up the violas this afternoon with DSis (she was tackling her own ironing pile this morning) and then cooked dinner - Somerset pork with ‘wombled’ apples, mash and leeks with lashings of gravy.

I had the energy bill arrive yesterday. A mixed bag, we’re actually in credit and used less than we paid for over the last 6 months. That said I need to find out why the smart meter isn’t sending gas meter readings so I ended up with estimated usage (actual was lower than the estimate). They’ve also notified me of the revised DD amount… only £150 more than we’re currently paying! 😧 

I’m now going to steep myself in the bath with a book from the TBR pile whilst I can still afford the luxury of a long bath!

basketcase

QueenJess said:

I didn’t realise a pencil extender was going to cause so much interest 😂. Hopefully they’ll make a comeback now! I use mine daily once my pencil is too short (as it is at the moment).

Out of interest I looked for some online and secondhand they are still impossible to find. The best I could see was some on Etsy for about £25!

Did you try Art Suppliers?

I googled pencil extenders UK and loads came up - pencils4artists, Derwent, artsupplies, greatart, atlantisart etc.  All reasonably priced too.

Someone told me recently that they thought Etsy seemed to be getting a bit expensive.  Wouldn't know - never used it...

QueenJess

Etsy used to be really good, but it’s now 95% drop shippers and finding people who are actually making things by hand is very hard to find. It’s so irritating that I rarely use it now, but used to use it much more a few years ago.

Saying that, I did get someone to build a couple of freestanding shelves to find my very awkward shaped indoor cupboard from there. It was fab and cheaper than getting someone in since it was just a tiny space anyway.

TC77

Vulpix, I've inherited many half used exercise books from dd2 after her gcses, not that I don't have my own stash:) 
Someone remind me about sable , Is it stock/ stash x beyond life expectancy? 
@basketcase nice to see you and hope life is OK and not too tough. 
Dilemma DB is at my dads , do I ask him to look for pencil extender which may give him ideas that he wants it. 
Etsy always looks expensive to me but good to hear worked well for people.abitnof garden and some frogs half done. Cancelled ( hopefully postpone) my sewing lesson and want to be here for the decorator to make sure things covered!! 

Siebrie

stock/ stash acquired beyond life expectancy

The top shelf of my kitchen cupboard has sprung pantry moth (where's the schocked/hairraised emoji?). It probably came from some food stuffs husband brought back from West-AFrica last year. I had to throw out about half the items from the shelf and clean it out properly. Which I was also happy to do, because many of the food items were used once and then forgotten, which is typical of husband.

Husband returned after 10 weeks in his mother country. He spent an extra week there, because he claimed he contracted malaria. He can show me neither doctor's notes, nor bills, nor medication, nor prescription, and is unwilling to visit our GP for follow-up. I think he spent an extra week there with his mistress Once we finish our home renovations I'll be filing for divorce. I wish I could do it sooner, but I cannot afford to finish them on my own, and I would prefer to stay in the house with dds.

In more mundane news: 5 boxes of old paper put out for bin men.

D123456789

Hello all, it’s been a while since I read this thread and I’ve missed 2100 posts, so not much chance of catching up!, Life seems to have been so busy since LO started school last year. 

This morning whilst putting the clean laundry away, I listed 4 items of new unworn clothing on fleabay - they are summer clothes so might not sell but worth a shot as 70% off fees. I tidied my lingerie / pjs drawer and sorted out some of LO clothes she has outgrown, her draws are tidy now too.

next I have to either list her outgrown shoes or give them away, and tidy the shoe cupboard whilst i’m there. I have hoovered upstairs and down, emptied the bins, refilled the soap dispensers and cleaned the fridge / prepped some veg.

Someone recommended to me the book 30 days to a clean and organised house. I’ve ordered it and 🤞 it works for me!,will try to post the results 😊

TC77

frustrating day at work, been working long days and then get an ungrateful and I think quite rude email copied to other people, have drafted a response but waiting til the morning to reply! decluttered stress at the pool. Two old bank folders (when people got short bank statements), some gardening stuff, few bits of paper, but as I gave up work by 6 managed to get some of my email frogs, one which was v important and had been delaying. 
Also 3 calls between me and DB to bank, appalling, we got a reminder letter, but not the original asking us to respond in 14 days, with the date 'September' so is this the 1st, or 11th? and saying follow up to a letter around 4 weeks ago. It then told us we needed to send documentation and was addressed to my dad and me at my dad's address - empty house. They confirmed they had all documentation and knew problem with their letter, I gave them DBs no which they wanted to check , confirmed mobile no then they rang him at home where he wasn't! They also cut me off in mid flow so I had to call back....relatively minor but annoying...
Decorator arriving tomorrow, with dustsheets but as he's doing the doors in most rooms, I assume he will be moving dustsheets from room to room, so the dust may end up all over the place. Is there a technique to minimise dust from dust sheets - apart from folding inwards and taking outside to shake? @D123456789 I like the idea of 30 days to a clean and organised house - good luck and hope to hear all goes well and not 16 hour days

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

Spent the day in the TLC Carriage reading SK’s The Stand - one of my all time favourite books (if anyone is unfamiliar it is good v evil after a manmade plague 😬) Dinner was oven chips, bacon, eggs, mushrooms & baked beans. Wudupa.

Monday carried on reading my book. DH had appointment with a clinician - blood test booked for 28th 🤔 Dinner was pork steaks, mash & peas. Wudupa.

Forgot to mention - window cleaner took photos of my gutters whilst he was cleaning the windows - they were dreadful. So got him to clean the gutters & he also checked that the down pipes were clear 👏 Now have 1.5 carrier bags full of silty fine earth 🙂

1479 - 1484 Kitchen recycling x 2, drinks cans x 2, cardboard packaging, booklet - recycled 

1485 - 1488 Kitchen detritus x 2, plastic packaging, uu toothpaste tube - binned

Wow you, DSS (& MrV?) have been busy 👏 DSS sounds like a wonderful young man - perhaps you should hire him out 😉 Hope the banana bread came out ok 🤞 I am feeling a bit chirpier 😉but still being lazy 😔 Good luck with gathering together enough items to make a car boot sale viable 🍀 I am probably SABLE in wool/yarn - so need to get knitting - scarves, beanies & wrist warmers 😉

Excellent work florianatwobob 👏 Well done on your potential decision to put yourself on a book buying ban - Be Strong 🙂 Nothing wrong with so many charity bags - shows that you are keeping your home clear of clutter 👏 The smart meter doesn’t sound very smart 😉

Nice to see you basketcase 👋 I love that pencil extenders brought you back 😄

TC77, I wouldn’t let DB in on the secret 😉 🙃 Hope the decorating goes well 🤞

Siebrie, so very sorry to hear that DH has let you down again 😞 Good luck with getting the renovations completed 🍀 Have you had any quotes yet?

Lovely to see you D123456789 👋 You have been busy 👏 Looking forward to hearing about the contents of the book & your success in cleaning & organising 🙂

TC77 hopefully your response will elicit an apology for the complete lack of respect. Alternatively you could forward it to HR 🤔 As to the bank, what a complete shower 😖 Incompetence of the highest level. Perhaps one of those hand held vacuums might be useful re the dust sheets 🤔 

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1488/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £299.22