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 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

I did finish the washing up on Friday night & also dried up & put away. 

Saturday was a dry but overcast day. I was up earlier than usual - 09:30 a.m. Returned a call to B*ots opticians believing I would be picking up my final pair of glasses. However, it was bad news - the specialist lens fitters were unable to make up the sunglasses I had ordered - either a refund or try to find suitable frames as advised by the optician. Appointment booked for Monday. Whilst drinking my first cuppa of the day I finished knitting & making up beanie number 7. Dealt with the last of Friday’s mail, wrote a menu plan & a smaller than usual shopping list. DH went to sm about 2:15 p.m. & came back with another bag of bark. We have no excuse not to put the garden to bed for the winter 😉  I looked for & found the pattern for wrist warmers. I have knitted the first one of the first pair. Takes a bit more time than usual as it is a cable stitch pattern, so won’t be as quick as knitting beanies 😔 Dinner was risotto cakes for DSis & DH, I had spaghetti with red pesto sauce. Wudupa.

1982 - 1986 Kitchen recycling, magazine, drinks cans, paper packaging, cardboard box - recycled

1987 Kitchen detritus binned

1988 Tape measure to CS bag 

Great work TC77 👏 When does DD2’s football pause for the holiday season - seems a waste of your motivation having to be a chauffeur 😉🙃 

Oops, just seen the time so will be back later to cheerlead 🙂 

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

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1988/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £469.22

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

Another grey day weather-wise here this morning. 
I've supped my first brew and finished another book - which will be returned to Babs. 
My 2023 calendar has arrived and prompted me to think of taking some time out today to do some Admin....which has been sadly neglected recently. I've kept 'meaning to' but never quite got around to it. Story of my life....hence my pseudonym 😊

And now I've looked up and seen the cobwebs in here (LR) 😳 that's another job to go on the list. Or should I just change my name to Miss Haversham? 

Wishing you all a good day.
Brew 2 and toast needed here, then I'll take up the last singles case* and get dressed.

* Stephanie Mills to Shakin Stevens 😊

Rxx

EnergyShifter

roundtuit said:

* Stephanie Mills to Shakin Stevens 😊

I'm loving hearing about your singles collection Roundtuit - the names of the artists are real blasts from the past & are bringing back lots of happy memories !  ....& now I have  "This Ole House" playing on a loop in my head  

GrannyKate

Morning all - getting stressed by the floor situation.  Main bathroom warm and dry as toast but small bathroom next door still smells awful.  

GS4 decided to make a sit on car with a large storage box he found.  He used up the last of the brown parcel tape which late DH bought in a pack of 12 at Cos**o probably 10 years ago.  It was losing its stickiness.  

1241 - Two more letters of alphabet finished (N & O) in my Family History checking
1242 - Birthdays presents wrapped and given to GD3 who is here overnight.  I bought birthday candles convinced I hadn't got any but there were loads in decorating box
1243 - Paid coins into bank - £51 - GD4 has this amount to choose table things, crackers etc for Christmas table
1244 - Apron in CS bag
1245 - Wardrobe tidied where spare linen and towels are.  Looks neat but I still have swimming stuff in there as I can't use airing cupboard.  
1246 - A few Christmas gifts bought

Tried to keep up with surveys and competitions this week.  I have done some tidying and sorting.

roundtuit

@EnergyShifter aw thank you. 😊.  They're all upstairs now  - and that's a bit more LR floor reclaimed. There's a bag of LPs in RoD - Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is at the front - I've not delved any further.

I had a peep in the bottom drawer of the cabinet in RoD....it's full of neatly arranged videos. Proper ones, not taped off the telly ones. So that's one drawer and two boxes full of videos still in RoD. OK. Noted. 

A cuppa coffee and half an hour's Admin next.....join me anyone?

Rxx

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

Seems to have been a fair bit of rain overnight although Sunday 10:00 a.m. is dry with blue skies & fluffy white clouds at the front of the house but overcast at the back 🙁. Making myself a cuppa but may go back to bed after it is drunk 😉 Back to cheerleading 😉

EnergyShifter, I am keeping everything crossed that you can book something very quickly 🤞& I hope you have a lovely time & that the weather is kind 🤞Good decluttering 👏 but such a shame about DS’s merino wool hoodie 🙁 Hope you enjoyed both the concert & the light show 🙂

Taping inner critic’s mouth shut is the only way to go roundtuit 🙂 Your current method of decluttering is working a treat & you are motoring along 👏 I think Floss has got it right - you have a TARDIS that is also connected to Narnia 😉 Excellent work on the drawer 👏 & you found time to get dressed as well. Loving the eclectic mix of singles & now Don’t Go is is running around my head closely followed by Don’t Leave Me This Way 🙂 

Excellent work TC77 especially the progress made on frogs 👏

QueenJess, another person doing excellent work especially decluttering tasks from your To Do list 👏

bit_by_bit, your allotment trip sounds like it was very productive 👏 Excellent & eclectic work done for your MiL & FiL 👏 Sounds like they won’t recognise the place when they get back from their cruise 😉 So pleased that I piqued your interest re The War of the Worlds Immersive Experience 🙂 (DH & I were lucky enough to go to a stage show of War of the Worlds several years ago & that was excellent especially the very large Martian machine 🤩)

Floss, I had to smile ruefully at the idea that roundtuit’s wall unit is connected to Narnia 😉 as well as being a TARDIS. 

I think your name is perfect roundtuit 😊 You do way too much work to ever be Miss Haversham 😅 Well done on moving all the singles cases - so much extra space on the living room floor 👏

Well said EnergyShifter - Happy memories indeed 🙂 My Shakin’ Stevens song is Green Door 😅 currently in a sing off with Yazoo’s Don’t Go & Communards Don’t Leave Me This Way 😉

Sorry to hear about the floor situation GrannyKate 🙁 Excellent decluttering 👏 Love it that GS4 has sorted out his own C…. present 😉😉  Good luck with the competition entries 🍀

Really admiring your taste in music roundtuit 😊 ‘Rumours’ is one of my all time favourite LPs along with Bat out of Hell & Dark Side of The Moon. Must confess that I am looking forward to you delving into the bag of LPs at some point - just to remind me of my youth 😅

Will now resume my knitting & probably have a second cuppa before getting dressed 😉

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

I AM A STAR 🌟 

Decluttering Target: 1988/2022

2022 - 1p Savings Challenge: Running Total £469.22

roundtuit

Well that took longer than half an hour- but it's a job well done. All filing now filed - there was a lot as documents have been unearthed from here, there and everywhere over the past few weeks. Bank statements checked and filed. Papers to be shredded added to shredding pile.

Then I went upstairs and put all my Christmas shopping together, checked off what I'd bought for who, and stored all the gifts in the ottoman that I emptied earlier in my decluttering campaign. 😁 
 I've brought down my emptied shopping bags and hung them with the bag of bags - which is looking quite lean as I've been grabbing bags out of it to hold donations.
There are 7 bags and a box destined to leave the house to various donees (is that a word?)
I do have Bat out of Hell and several other Meatloaf LPs as he was/is a favourite of mine; saw him in concert 3 times in the 80s. I don't have Dark Side of the Moon. I can play you some Demis Roussos, Madonna, Beatles, or Belinda Carlisle though. Or Englebert, saw him a few times too (Mum's crush 😍). 

I think my wall unit more probably leads to Middle Earth rather than Narnia. Maybe there are two doors? Can you believe I'm actually looking at the wall behind to see if there is room enough for two doors. Good news: there is....but we'll (I'm assuming that you're coming with me) have to fight our way through the underthestairs Cupboard of Doom before we reach anywhere...ah, there be dragons 🐉 in there. 

Ooops I get carried away. 😁

I'm going to consolidate my lists and work out what I still need to buy and draw up a Countdown to Christmas. Cor! I'd rather go to Middle Earth 🤣

Rxx

grandmanerd

Okay on Friday first thing, 2 bags out to recycling and 2 very large cardboard boxes cut and folded and into the paper bin. Mr Builder attached the gate (but unfortunately the walls either side have to come down and be rebuilt) and I started to move things around in the yard. Very wet and cold so he went off to an indoor job and I came back to bed to get warm. More pots were put away and I now have a full cutlery drawer (next step is to start removing my good ones and then they can take whatever is left in the drawer if they want). 

5 heavy library books were returned (made the decision to keep my newest ruck sack - it's difficult to get on so won't be using it for every day but it is very useful for occasional use - it will go on one of the hooks behind my bedroom door so it's not in the way. Made it to the library but gave up on going the extra bit further to the cash machine. Felt really done in by then. Later in the evening I attacked the sock/ underwear drawer - 5 items to the bin, 7 to donate and old varifocals to go to the Vision Aid bin at the opticians (prisoners in this country grade and repair them so they're learning a trade and then they're distributed in the developing world).

Will revisit my toiletries and stationery for more things that could go to the food bank (little treats for mums and stocking fillers for children, might add first aid things again). There are still some of mum's toiletries that I will use but slowly so may do a clear drawers/ helping someone who really needs it trade off. Appointments made for flu jab and COVID booster. That's 20, making a total of 953.

Yesterday I went shopping earlier rather than later. It was Christmas lights switch on, so the car park at the back (directly behind my house) was fenced off all day and we had a dj and various entertainments from 11 am till 7 pm and a funfair on the Civic Square. It was a lot better than I was expecting - I think the dj was the one who hosted the Women's World cup parties in the summer. Much better than the one who encouraged a lot of bad karoke. The switch from Thursday evening to Saturday meant it was very slow to get going (at 2 pm the crowd was still about the size of the council workers and performers added together). 

Other events were held elsewhere. The library had Brownies carol  singing and local  authors signing copies of their books and a 'Christmas Market' on the pedestrianised area.  One or two nice things but nothing worth buying, however I did spend money as I've finally signed up to be a member of my local Wildlife Trust - hedgehogs might be extinct in another 2 to 3 years and many populations including butterflies and bees are in sharp decline (and bees pollinate over 60% of the food we eat - no bees, we all starve).

My purpose in going out shopping was to see if I could find some things locally before resorting to buying online. Mr Builder had said he got his last drain cover at the pound emporium but no joy (and due to the queue I'd decided I wasn't going to buy other things unless they had the drain cover). Used my points in B00ts to buy 2 meal deals and a flannel. I will be buying some organic cotton flannels but this is just to tide me over. I know I should have flannels and brought some back from mum's but not seen them for several  months and I'm fed up of using random rags or an item of my clothing that's in the washing pile. Tried Will co for drain covers (no) and hunted in vain for the cold water washing up liquid.

Was getting tired and hungry but decided to see if the flower stall at the market had pots of white hyacinth or cyclamen. I could see his stand from where I was but not what was on the  shelves. No again, but I remembered one of the stalls inside that sells a miscellany of household goods. Success, I have a drain cover. He also has a range of white enamel with blue rims pie dishes etc. Not sure if they're cheaper than the ones I've seen elsewhere (definitely cheaper than places that think they're trendy) so will check first. I'm thinking that the larger pie dishes are big enough to roast anything I want to eat in the future and will work for things like pasta bake. They'd be a lot lighter and easier to store than pie- rex or ceramic casseroles. I avoid non-stick bakeware (the non-stick migrates into your food) and it's getting harder to find alternatives.

So came home, ate and then straight outside. Four apple trees are now planter in individual incinerator pots (I'm going to keep them as they are for now and will  paint them when they start to look shabby), more than 20 smaller tubs and planters have been weeded and the soil decanted into the 90 l bins along with 3 boxes worth of cardboard mulch which I peeled from the pavers. The weeding is still in small piles, will count that when I bag it up and bin it (bags are only to transport it to the bin, they get reused). I have used most of a roll of weed proof membrane but think I have enough (cut lots of right size squares so I could decide if that needed adding to the list). have used one bit leftover from another project and have a small extra piece (there may also be some small patches in mum's shed). 

I was wet and muddy almost from the moment I went outside but wanted the apple trees safe (more incinerators have been part filled already) so glad to come inside, strip off the muddy clothing, scrub the worst of the mud off my hands and arms and pull on an old cotton nightie and wrap myself in a blanket (DS3 wanted me back in the house before the food delivery came). Once I'd put away the fridge and freezer stuff I came upstairs, had a shower to get warm and ease muscle ache and then got into my bed/ nest and spent the rest of the evening (was asleep  shortly after 8 pm) relaxing.

So that's another 34, making a total of 987/ 2022.

I have plans for today. I have a page and a half long list of categories to gather (and that's just from stuff on the bed or what I can see). Most of it is small and I have boxes gathered to corral it. I want to concentrate on things that can leave the house - more books (rebought some old favourites when I was in lockdown and the library was closed, but some of them aren't keepers), hoping to wrap present for DS1, darling d-i-l and grandpuppy before next Saturday (meeting them for a meal). I also want to go through the sauces and preserves. There are some jars of jam, some cranberry sauce and onion marmalade - all of which I love but am not supposed to have. D-i-l loves jam so I can have a teaspoon or two whilst I'm there at Christmas and leave them for them to finish off. Mum could eat a jar of jam in about 3 weeks, if I buy a jar it takes 6 months to a year to use up. 

This is a busy week, I will need to use buses so even one extra trip taking things to the cs or bringing things back from mum's shed will help. I think it must be dinner time. See you later.

Blackberrycurved

I am getting back on the decluttering train slowly. I haven't quite got both feet on yet.

Today I have
Killed lots of e mails
Burnt a few magazines and unwanted junk mail.
Emailed a piano teacher to ask how much per lesson.
So will be decluttering cash.
Emailed a Tai Chi class to ask how much per lesson.
So will be decluttering pounds.

I have made salmon with ginger and rhubarb for lunch tomorrow and tea on Tuesday.
I have made pork loin and apple and green beans for tea tomorrow.

For the next 7 days
I have photos that need to be framed and hung.
My bedroom is chaos and -
my Frogs are 6 boxes of photos, memories and cards which I need to reduce somehow?

If I can do this then next week I might be on my way to getting the house ready for Christmas x
  

QueenJess

A bit of Sunday tidying and I found a bunch of things to declutter at the same time.  House is still a mess, but very slightly less of a mess now...  Anything going to buy nothing are going to be picked up tomorrow.  Still need to label up the charity bag to send off, but it'll wait for another day.

4758-68 - digital notes deleted

4769-70 - high chair insert (buy nothing)

4771-73 - bibs too small (charity bag)

4774-75 - internal shelf extensions not needed (buy nothing)

4776 - broken Lego piece binned

4777-84 - paper recycled

4785-86 - kids clothes too small (charity bag)

4787-88 - plastic bags (reused for buy nothing)

4789 - clock not needed (buy nothing)

4790 - bathroom supplies used up