2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

865. Set up a DD I'd been meaning to do for months
866 & 7 - 2 x bins cleaned 
868.  Booked post-baptism meal for next weekend.

Only worked half a day yesterday but somehow still managed to feel shattered.   Had a new sofa delivered yesterday.   I always buy cheap and cheerful sofas as my cat damages them so no point getting a good one.  My new sofa is one of those clic clac ones that convert to a bed which was one of my main reasons for getting it - the other being I can actually fully stretch my legs out on it unlike my old one.  At the moment I'm trying the room out with both in it.  It's more full than I'd normally like but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be & in a way it's nice having a cosier looking room.

Another fairly light day in work which is good as the next couple of days look hellishly busy ! 

869. booked dentist
870. booked eyebrow wax
871. booked meeting with a colleague to heave her go through an appointment booking app with me 
872. Birthday card to nephew
873. Rearranged 2 rooms to accommodate new sofa

vulpix

 Flamingo 747, My children are grown now. I had the same technique with all of them,and they are all different with clutter as adults. Ds loves books in particular and has trouble letting go, other stuff he has no attachment to. DD1 is a maximalist but surprised me with a recent house move that she easily sent car fulls of belongings to charity.DD2 is quite spartan, there are no frills at her house. What I did with each child was take an afternoon with each one and have a yes/no session. They knew that whatever they got rid of went to help children less fortunate than themselves, clothes or toys. Pictures stayed on the fridge for a while and were replaced as new ones arrived. The significant ones I saved and put in a file which I gave to them when they were 18. It also contained other keepsakes like swimming certificates,photos etc My eldest had an 18th party and the file was the star of the party as the guests were all loving seeing themselves in photos from primary school. The best thing was a letter from my sons friend in y1 apologising for biting him. DS was his best man last year.

 We had a lovely day out in Lincolnshire yesterday,the weather was perfect. We drove bottom to top through the Wolds. First time we have been since just before lockdown. It is a lovely area.

 Vx

wort

@flamingo747 it does oDepends how old the children are . vulpix is right to let them know where they are going to be sent, have a box for donation and a bag for rubbish then let them decide with you. If they are very young do it when they aren’t there as you will know what they don’t use or play with.
if it’s a case of they have too much toys but all still age appropriate, then try removing half to store in a loft or garage to see if they play more with items when there are fewer, sometimes having too much the child gets multiple things out at once because they get distracted easily. 

So if you can and they are able to then teaching them to get one thing out and then put it away before getting out something else is really good as they learn to be tidy. My dd did this with her child.
If they are teens 😳 your on your own😂😂 

flamingo747

@vulpix that is so cute about the letter! I also file away the fridge drawings

@wort he is ten and mostly plays computer games  so we have lots of lego/nerf/cars that are only occasionally played with

Siebrie

Flamingo, it helps if you set a physical limit, for instance 1 shelf, or 6 boxes within a cupboard. They can fill it until it is full, after that choices need to be made. Nothing is to be kept outside or on top of the limit.

I rotate the toys: always paper, colouring pens and craft materials; sometimes barbies, sometimes little pet shop, sometimes playmobil, sometimes dolls, sometimes kitchen toys, etc. Only 1 container with 'sometimes' toys is downstairs, the others are in the attic; we rotate about every 3 months.

TC77

Mrs SD, my womble instincts have been reined in for a long while but at the weekend also found some strawberry shaped bowls, and pained red with yellow spots on a wall (a set of 4) so they've come home. DD2 asked where I got them and I think this encouraged her to spot the cat tree/house - I think 4 cats could occupy it
So little physical clutter except 1 pen, and abit of paper, but have been dealing with frogs. Persuaded council to buy listening device and loan it to DD2 (has APD) and should get it friday - had been told not to bother trying by the same council!  trying to use a single to do list rather than random bits of paper.
Going to a party at the weekend - lincolnshire - borrowed 2 dresses from a friend, then went round CSs and finally found 2 dresses, brand new but half price so reasonable. 2 will go back to friend.
Thinking of having a week per room, or type of things over the winter, eg photos, electronic, bedroom including drawers but may be too systematic for me!

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 during daylight hours 😉 AB2 playing zero - 20/9/2022

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

Tuesday was another bright dry day & I was again exceedingly lazy. Still no call back from plumber so will chase Wednesday.   I had a bowl of hm soup with a dollop of sour cream (improved the flavour no end 😋) for lunch. DH phoned a couple of times - had a completely dry day of riding & got all his landmarks. He saw this view & was compelled to take a photo 😉

Finally got home just after 8:00 p.m. which was 10 minutes after DSis & I had our dinner of pork steaks, mash & mixed vegetables. I had plated up DH’s dinner which had been placed in warming drawer to keep hot 😉 Wudupa. DSis & I started watching another Korean series, Monstrous - very weird 😒 

1682 - 1684 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, cardboard packaging - recycled 
1685 Kitchen detritus binned

flamingo747, hope you like today’s photo 🤞 Congratulations on completing your decluttering 👏 

I can see you have been given a few useful suggestions re tackling children’s clutter 🙂

EnergyShifter, how lovely that having 2 sofas makes your room feel cosy rather than cluttered 😊 Excellent decluttering 👏 Fingers crossed that work is not as busy as you predict 🤞

What a great way of dealing with children’s clutter vulpix 👏 I have to say that I was not that surprised that the same approach with each of your children led to a different outcome 😉 as I think that ‘clutter’ is a subjective topic 🙂 Your day out in the Lincolnshire Wolds sounds delightful 😊
Another great way of dealing with children’s clutter wort 👏
Siebrie, yet another great way of dealing with children’s clutter 👏 

The bowls sound lovely TC77 😊 no wonder your wombling instincts were re-ignited 😉 Dealing with frogs is sometimes far more gratifying/satisfying than ousting physical clutter 👏 Lincolnshire seems to be a theme - hope you have a thoroughly lovely time at the party 🙂 Good luck with the systematic approach 🍀

MrsSD  🏅🏅🏅🏅🥇 🌟 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1685/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £469.22

TC77

Systematic approach sounds a challenge so interested in how to do this , think maybe @GrannyKate or @nannywindow had a bingo system , interested in how to make this work.
Unsubscribed from few emails and booked BG as rad in my study not working. Work early worrying so decided to use the time. 
Going to buy my 2023 calendar. 
Hope everyone is staying warm and safe. 
Loving the photos and looking forward to Lincolnshire shirt visit.

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Morning all
Lovely photos Mrs S_D
I went to Lincolnshire a few years ago and really enjoyed it, hope to go back.
I've unsubscribed from a couple more emails and dropped off some soft plastics at the recycling yesterday.
To the office today so will be decluttering hours of my life in meetings
Love to all
Deni 

QueenJess

@flamingo747 my kids are still very young. They have places to store their toys and have no more space. From the age of 2 I decluttered with DS (although he needed a lot of help) so he understood that if he wanted new toys, he needs to make space for them. More recently (he’s 5) he understands I will declutter toys before Xmas/birthday to make space, but this time I went through categories with him and said e.g. can keep 30 of your favourite colouring/craft creations in the box. He happily and easily picked these out and wasn’t bothered that the rest would be gone. He has never missed them. We did that with all the categories and I picked what I thought was a reasonable number each time.

In the summer I also left out how many kids toys I thought was reasonable and put the rest in the attic (DS helped to pick which of of a certain category such as puzzles he wanted to stay and which ones to go up there for a while). A few weeks ago I tried to rotate, but DS didn’t want any of the toys we put up there at all and wanted to keep out the ones he had. So a failure in rotation, but on the plus side it looks like we don’t need any of the toys in the attic! Just need DD to grow out of them first in case she wants them.

I think there was a study that showed kids love new stuff and even if you wrap up an empty box and tell them it is empty, they are still excited and think it’s a brilliant present. So they really don’t need all those toys and I’ve tried to stick with the ones you interact with and use imagination (eg bricks/blocks), rather than plastic things that are designed to entertain them. I did also find framing it to DS as “you can keep your favourite 10” and he can pick was a much more positive message than “you need to get rid of half”. If I asked him the latter, he would say he would want everything.