2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

TC77

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger so impressed with all the knitting  and how wonderful donating to the CS. My dd2 volunteers at that CS just for an hour a week for Duke of e award but is bringing back finds.
Will be up early clearing for decorator. So much stuff to move but through away some unidentifiable objects and sponge ( washing car type) with snail trail! Cleaned some stuff and will clean others before they go back.
@Siebrie sorry you're overwhelmed. I think this time of year is often more overwhelming when you have youngish children and important to get things right for them.overwhelm is too familiar a friend to me !

Floss

@GrannyKate please confirm that your insurers will cover the cost of the dehumidifier - if it is on overnight & you have a smart meter it's easy to track the cost, and they should be paying not you. 

GrannyKate

Thanks @Floss - yes they do pay something towards electricity - I got £79 the first time it was here so should get more as it has been longer.  Smell is getting worse - I need them to make a decision on whether they need to look for more water somewhere or another leak.  I understand that if they find a second leak I would have to pay another excess (£350) on insurance - it would be a coincidence though because smell started immediately after the leak and never had anything like it before. 

Better get showered and dressed as I need to go out. 

roundtuit

Morning all xx 

I've brought down an armful of books from the RoD.

I'll go through them today and see what can go to cs.

Rxx

bit_by_bit

Glad you are feeling better @Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Popping by to report that the dining room is still a mess but just because I am sorting all the presents on the table. I am delivering some early Christmas and birthday visits in the next few weeks so need to be prepped. 

My seed stashes are also on the dining table - collected from corners in the porch and round the house. I hope to sort them by tonight but not promisng,

I have been working upstairs preparing the main front bedroom and dumping ground as I want to redecorate it before DD brings her boyfriend to stay. We moved in 25 years ago and that room has been decorated twice, except we never got the blown vinyl off the ceiling. I want it off and have torn a bit to annoy me to get on with it.

I have found more summer clothes I put away from last year so will have to merge it with the stuff I sorted last month. Maybe throw donate some of it. If so it will be bagged and put in the loft as the CS will most likely rag it at this time of year.

On the landing I have two bags of 'in and out' crocheted blankets, baby hats, mittens and bootees vulpix and I have made for my old colleague. She is taking a final suitcase of them to Africa when she goes over Christmas. I believe I have  more stuff from vulpix to come. I see her tomorrow.  I will deliver those bags next week.

Also a bag of books for the garden centre charity shelf, a bag of clothes for refugee collection centre, and another for the CS but only rags. A bag also for the local radio station collecting blankets to give out this winter. 

Finally, for the loft- two suitcases and some sleeping bags. DH wants to hang on to two in case any of the children want to borrow them. There is still a pile of stuff on the bed but it will be gone shortly as it is relocated to the bin.

On a positive note: I sorted all Christmas/ birthday wrapping and cards last january and they were exactly where I left them stored under the bed. I won't need to buy anything for some years 


Have a good day all, hugs to those who need them. 

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

974- Used Clubcard vouchers for a senior railcard voucher
975.  contact lenses that are no longer the right prescription
976 -87 - 12 x pieces of detritus from various drawers (also found my Monzo card, EHIC Card & 5 euros !)
988. brush

Had one client this morning now I'm finished for the weekend.  Caught up with work admin & spent a couple of hours tidying & decluttering - including in the garden.  Took 2 bags of stuff to CS - felt unexpectedly teary handing over the wooden advent calendar which we've had since DS was at Primary School.  Hopefully another child gets to enjoy it as much as he did.

989.  Bat and Ball set
990.  Enamel wall decoration
991.  Broken laundry basket
992. Garden loppers - broken
993. Old Lloyd Loom style chair - left outside 🤞
994. Took down and put away solar lights
995. Torn storage bag
996 & 7 - 2 x books
998. Hooks set
999. Decoration
1000 - xmas dec stand
1001 - 13 - 13 x items of detritus from garden storage

Whoo Hoo - broke the 1000 items barrier - my target was 2022 - got a feeling that I won't hit it by the end of the year  

QueenJess

Things are slowing down here as I've tidied all the "easy" things away and now need to try and make myself tidy away the remainder.  It's all the stuff that's a bit random and requires more thought/more effort now.  Maybe I should just do a single room so I can see the result more clearly and make me want to carry on with the rest.

The room of doom is possibly not that anymore and is just a bit of a mess.  I've slowly been putting the odd thing away in it everyday and it is making a difference.  I even put up a picture on the wall that's been hanging around for about 2 years and when I got a new lampshade in the post I put it up within the hour!  Still got 2 pictures to put up on the wall though.

More bits gone:

4910-11 - posting bags (used)

4912-28 - kids summer clothes outgrown (charity)

4929-34 - packs of stamps not needed (donated to local school)

4935-38 - paper (reused as notepaper, then recycled)

Right... I will tackle some tidying today... wish me luck!

Fizz2015

Evening, well my cold is nearly gone. Had a few days leave which has done me the world of good and a chance to declutter (I'm on a mission). 

110 bag of soft plastics recycled

111- Electric wall heater - Rehomed

112 - Pop up play tent - Rehomed (person collecting didn't even say Thankyou).

113 - Major Frog - work laptop fixed (I clicked on a dodgy link) but had to go office on my day off to fix. I can claim the hours back.

114 - posted card to colleague

115-145 Items to ragbag - charity shop.

146-246 Clothing and shoes - charity shop

247- 287- toys and books to baby bank.

288-289 - 2 pairs of old shoes bin (would recycle if I could.

290 - 313 - nappies, wipes and toiletries bought and donated to baby bank.

313-420 - Dd's clothes & shoes passed on.

Still ploughing through the washing mountain and need to declutter my clothes but a lot has left the house which I am proud of. Already got another charity box and ragbag on the go.

Would like house to be a bit tidier before the tree and decorations go up this weekend plus the outside lights.

TC77

Evening, healing vibes to those unwell.
Accepting that I have not done anywhere near what I had hoped on the decluttering front at the start of the year. I didn't know I would have my dad's house to sort but that's not really the reason, or though it and the rest of RL has taken over. T
aking the view second half of next year will have more time to myself, and will use nos so setting my target for next year as 2023!

Decorator started kitchen and hoping that I will put things back neater and cleaner and have some plants (fake or real) before the end of the year. Lots of rubbish out for bin day tomorrow! Unsubscribed from few newsletters and long work days. Hope to do something at home at the weekend. 

grandmanerd

Yesterday I moved a wall and I'm claiming 100 points for it. Next door's back garden wall fell down a while ago (two self seeded trees undermined it, it's been bellying out for some years and very unsafe for the past two). I have now found out that it's affected my wall too, so where I was hoping to get away with a repair (just on the corner nearest the neighbour's) my wall has to come down and be rebuilt with new bricks.

The materials are coming on Sunday and the builder starts work on Monday. So I needed the space that next door's wall is currently occupying. I've moved small amounts over the past few months as I wanted/ needed to get into his yard (he's been in a nursing home for the past year and apart from some rubbish been thrown out of the house and into the yard, nothing's happened) to tackle the 3' nettles and brambles and the ivy that was everywhere including nearly at the roofline. 

So yesterday I sat in the space I've already made, picking up bricks one by one and throwing them behind me (to about the middle of his yard, rather than on the edge). Shuffled my chair back and forth, each time being able to reach more of the piled and loosened bricks (I did start off bagging the plaster and black mortar in rubble sacks but then decided it would just get shovelled up and dumped on the brick pile. I would normally sift all the useable soil out but it's so contaminated and mixed with the old black mortar that I didn't bother. Tackling the roots near to the wall was enough of an effort (I normally keep these under control but it's been too dangerous to go near the wall when it was in danger of falling).

Stayed out longer than I wanted to (daylight went but luckily the car park lights illuminated the place I was working). There are about a dozen bricks left plus some of the coping stones and a huge stone slab (original topper for the gatepost 2' x 18" x 9") which is going nowhere (definitely someone else's problem). If I get home whilst it's still light today, I'll move the few remaining loose bricks and either scrape all the debris off the whole patch or just scrape a path through and move all 5 bins to the very end of the backs (metal fence between us and the backs of the shops.

DS3 was also persuaded to come outside and he took down another big chunk of our wall (I'm saving over £400 by taking the wall down ourselves and not having a skip).  I'm going to lay my bricks over the site of a former cobble walled raised bed that's nearly the length of the yard. I'm not planning on them being perfect, it will be a platform for plants in large containers but will help suppress the weeds.

I went through my list of jobs and some have been moved to next week. By this time next week, I should have two new washing line posts in place (there are hooks on the house wall so potentially 4 lines the length of the yard) so any bedding and towels are going to be bagged up until I have washing lines (they can stay out until they get dry or I really need them). I'll do a clothes wash if I need to (all the ones I've done are now dry so there's space for more to hang indoors).

Much as I'd love to clean the mattress and remake the bed from scratch right now, it's a big job and will take a lot of energy so that's also been moved to next week (bonus I can use a couple of to be washed items to cover the mattress overnight - it needs to be kept damp to work effectively). I have a clean tarpaulin I can put on top so the damp doesn't get through to me. It recommends using a colour fast towel but a couple of sheets/ duvet cover should work (especially as one has had a violent encounter with a leaky pen, so needs treating as well).

I need to go to mum's again to put the bins out next week so won't go in between. I can go towards the end of next week if there's still stuff that needs doing (+ meeting my brother and niece next Wednesday, she's already talked him into giving me a lift home, he could go via mum's). The plumber didn't come. I was only a couple of bus stops away when he phoned me. He was surprised when he found a gap in his schedule to squeeze me in. Well the gap was where he and his wife were meant to get their COVID boosters. Hopefully going to rearrange. Oh and the wheel came off my walker (luckily just after I'd got onto the bus) when I was bringing my first load of shed bags home. Going back to mum's for the good walker using only a stick half killed me.

Today I'm travelling to the far side of the borough and then just over the border into Lancashire to the hospital where I had my right hip replaced, to see if I need an op or if there's anything else they can do for me (or if there's anything more I can do). It's 2 long bus rides and I might go an hour early (to avoid the morning rush) and have breakfast at a cafe between bus rides, much better than sitting in a traffic jam for over an hour. I'm taking drinks, a book to read and paper to write those 2 letters so that they can go in the Christmas cards (which should have gone out already but I can only juggle so much).

On Saturday I'm meeting grand-baby and her parents for a Christmas lunch and gift exchange. Going to settle down and have another couple of hours sleep  now (I'm only awake now because I went to sleep before 9 pm last night).