2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

short_bird

vulpix said: His need for "stuff" is greater than mine as his Mother used to throw his toys and belongings away when he was a child. He doesn't have a single item from before he left home.

Mr V is not alone: I got home from school one day to find the comics bought for me had been given away to the kids down the street. The giving of "stuff" was the expression of love in our house so 6 year old me couldn't deal with it. Unsurprisingly, I hang on to a lot of stuff and expect the purchase of stuff to plug any gaps in my life.  

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

1023 - keyboard brush
1024 & 5 - 2 x badges
1026. bracelet
1027. Laundry bag
1028. tupperware
1029. Cushion
1030 & 31 - 2 x earrings
1032 - 1039 - old socks to dusters
1040 - reconfigured bedroom

Well I am happy to say that my cataract was successfully decluttered yesterday.  This morning I can see better than I have for over a year.  🙏 My sight is still settling though so I am going to be cautious and not venture out until DS is home as the last thing I need is a fall that undoes the surgeon's good work.  

My elderly cat peed on some slippers and trainers near the front door - I only discovered it this morning.  I will throw out the slippers but I'm trying to salvage the trainers.  May have overdone it a bit as I'm a bit wiped out and headachey now so will take it easy for the rest of the day 

1041.  Cataract!! 🙏  
1042.  Cat Pee slippers
1043.  Broken charging cable
1044.  Reconfigured hallway as a result of cat peeing incident.  
1045.  Removed lens from glasses

Wednesday2000

florianatwobob said:

On the plus side the only damage done was a bruised knee (I managed to bruise above the kneecap so walking has been fine) and some grumpy obliques/ribs (not cracked ribs just muscular aches). 

I was just saying on another thread that I am ultra paranoid about falls after I fell over and cracked my rib coming home in the winter last year. I am going out in London tomorrow and I am charging my LED torch to bring with me. The walk to the train station from where I live now isn't very well lit in places.

florianatwobob

Wednesday2000 said:

florianatwobob said:

On the plus side the only damage done was a bruised knee (I managed to bruise above the kneecap so walking has been fine) and some grumpy obliques/ribs (not cracked ribs just muscular aches). 

I was just saying on another thread that I am ultra paranoid about falls after I fell over and cracked my rib coming home in the winter last year. I am going out in London tomorrow and I am charging my LED torch to bring with me. The walk to the train station from where I live now isn't very well lit in places.

I feel your pain @Wednesday2000! I do the walk regularly in the daytime and I know about this lumpy bit of ground but it caught me by surprise. I usually have a torch about my person as soon as it gets dark too just because of poorly lit areas. 

weenancyinAmerica

vulpix and shortbird - I too have a problem with parents giving away stuff that they had given me - and still feeling the pain - and I am 75. My parents gave away a teddy bear of mine when I was about 5 that was my favorite toy. Now I have so many teddy bears that I am afraid to part with. I have started giving some to toy drives, but it still hurts. My parents gave away other things of mine also - and it still comes back at times and I resent them for it. Therapy hasn't helped. Parents - always ask first - if you don't want a life-time of trauma for your child. 

Gers

My DM gave away my early numbered Beatles White Album along with the now very highly prized huge colour posters of each Beatle which came with the album.   The album was a Christmas present to me in 1968.

TC77

I'm sure I asked my daughter before getting rid of pooh bear but was reminded daily for years. Feels. Like every  room is a room of doom and just moving deckchairs around. Did delete more emails, put away lots or things , item in new cs bag and 2 for donation hub.wondering if it'd ever possible to get to maintenence  mode ? 

Fizz2015

Morning All, my house feels like a house of doom, expecially with washing and ironing everywhere. Need to give it a good go today to get on top of it all.  Would like to put my tree up this weekend. 

I have exceeded my amended decluttering target of 500. Not sure if I  could another 500 before the year is out or putting pressure. I am working for next 3 weeks, 2 Christmas days to fit in and a holiday to pack for. Very lucky to be heading to canaries on 31st.

On the subject of getting rid of children's possessions, I allow my  daughter to make a choice and decide. This includes toys,books, clothes, artwork and craft. She is old enough to understand we can't keep everything and we donate/pass on what we can. She has a few items of clothes (far too small) but wanted to keep so in a box on top of the wardrobe. I struggle to get rid of things (though have worked really hard on this the last few years) and have made real progress. 

Have a nice day all, stay warm and well x

Siebrie

Dds have their toys in baskets that slit into a wall cabinet (Ikea Kallax) if the toys are not level with the top of the basket, it won't slide in, so it's a 'natural' boundary; they have to decide what to keep and get rid of the rest. I won't allow them (I know, I'm an awful Mummy!) to make a second box or pile it somewhere out of sight. They know that their old toys are donated to nephews and nieces in Africa, and they know where the box is for those donations. I may have removed and thrown away toys before closing the box and sending it off. That will be part 2 of the training process: deciding something is really past its best, and accepting that they are growing up and that their interests change; it's like the shelling of a skin, to erupt more beautiful.

grandmanerd

The week so far. At least 7 sacks worth out to the bins and recycling, 10 use up toiletries (some of them I'm using up 2 simultaneously, leaving the other one to stand for a day so the dregs have more time to trickle down).  I've had to break out the small pack I bought myself for Christmas (one item I used from mum's stash was so lovely I wrote down what it was called and have been looking for it for a couple of years - it seems to be something they only put out in the gift boxes so treated myself to 3 items for £4). The brickie didn't turn up on Monday so I carried on moving and stacking bricks (I was too tired to do any more on Sunday evening after DS3 did his bit with the sledgehammer) and scraping out soil and exposing roots (now 1' below the original surface of the raised bed) cutting off what I could, adding the soil to a couple of tree bins (will put them in place before I add any more) and then refilling the emptied pots and more from the ones previously emptied.

No builder Tuesday am so set off for mum's - plumber/ gas engineer had phoned me back on Monday night and could squeeze the boiler service in. Bins out, started a letter for the buyer (what I've done in the garden, what plants and bulbs are in the beds and planters, bin rota, started to colour code keys). Boiler is working and meets all the service requirements but ideally needs a couple of bits replacing to meet safety certificate standards. So paid him £50 for the service, £50 to buy the parts (he doesn't think it will be so much) and have given him a spare back door key. He will do the work as soon as the parts arrive and then come to my house to settle up.

After he'd gone I moved all the remaining items out of the shed and put them by the gate. I'd moved the large items (dismantled polytunnel frame, 2 bags of mortar mix, brooms and mops) and all the bits near the shed doorway but must have sat for nearly half an hour, wanting to cry and unable to get the back of the shed items - all of 4' away. All the rooms are empty, I've left the toilet roll and brush in the small hallway so  I won't forget them but still there if I need to use the loo again. Brought Henry hoover and 2 large bags home with me (jammed any remaining cleaning and white spirit bottles tightly into a bag so nothing could spill). 

Absolutely exhausted just wanted my bed and some food. As we drove up to my house I saw a white van on the corner so outside to see the brickie (stacking all the new bricks in the gateway to build walls on either side). He already swept away all the rubble - I did all the loose bricks but left the lumps of old mortar and moved the remaining bricks (including the lumps of 'my repair' - he agreed those are still rock solid).

He offered to deal with the remaining wall (the bottom two courses as I'd spent time working on the soil and roots), take down the small cobble wall, cut out the ivy root (that alone would have taken me days if not weeks). He's suggested I keep the raised bed (I need to do a slight rebuild) and said he'd do my new washing line posts and put my bin out for collection once he'd  moved his van in, in the morning (mine's only collected mid-afternoon, mum's  is gone before 7am). He asked if I had an extension reel (in place just inside the back door) and an outside tap (no but I produced the curly hose I'd brought from mum's).

At 4 am on Wednesday I texted my niece to cancel the meeting with her and my brother. The cough which which has been a minor irritation for the past fortnight, zoomed up to defcon 3 (I'd already been awake a couple of hours when I texted). Think I've also got a cold - the sore eyes and feeling like I wanted to cry all the time should have been a clue. Messaged her a list of questions - she replied to my text mid-afternoon but don't think she's read the messages, so I've sent another text. I want her to persuade my brother to collect all the items by mum's gate. I've left all the remaining bags and the cover for the mini greenhouse in the green bin (in case it rained) so they can lower the back seats of the car, cover everything up and stuff everything in (3 pieces of polytunnel frame might not go in but I can pick those up when I go to do the final meter readings). Just do not want to have to walk back with all the large and heavy stuff in a kitchen bin on my old dolly truck (I can't do it, not without a lot of pain and suffering).

I make that 92 items, so current total is 1582/ 2022. Will be back with more later but I think I'm wobble free enough to have a shower now.