2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Floss

Deni, I'm doing a similar decluttering of a normal 5 day week to be working a 9-day fortnight, same overall hours but over one less day. I can't wait to start!

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Floss said:

Deni, I'm doing a similar decluttering of a normal 5 day week to be working a 9-day fortnight, same overall hours but over one less day. I can't wait to start!

Sounds fab! I think you might be near me in the NW.
I might ask for compressed hours when i've been there a bit .....

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Deni_debt-free_dreamer said:

Floss said:

Deni, I'm doing a similar decluttering of a normal 5 day week to be working a 9-day fortnight, same overall hours but over one less day. I can't wait to start!

Sounds fab! I think you might be near me in the NW.
I might ask for compressed hours when i've been there a bit .....

Or I might be confusing you with someone else whose name starts with F !!

bit_by_bit

Bummer about the builder @vulpix. Is that rug back yet? Happy birthday to MrV  Mrs Christmas is called to duty 

Thankyou @MrsSD. I did a financial redo again over the last few days. There is little room for the penny challenge really. I do very well with sweep ups though. My plans and income don't match and I spend a lot on eating out still. Going to try harder next year. I don't think that gene is lazy, just resting in theTLC carriage. 

Still got the bag of rags in the car so it will go by Monday.

Worked at the CS yesterday. Bought home a playmat for little visitors over Christmas.

I have a huge amount to do so off out now to do some of it and avoid having to do it all tomorrow. 

Have a great day all. 

florianatwobob

I’m another 9 day fortnight-er! It’s great. Especially as I work from home at least half the week  

Floss

florianatwobob said:

I’m another 9 day fortnight-er! It’s great. Especially as I work from home at least half the week  

Me too with the WFH - I do 2 days in the office.

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer I'm in the leafy Cheshire suburbs near the Mersey 😉

grandmanerd

Quick update (will be back later). 3 items (already listed) for the 15th) 1827. Friday 16th - cleared out a corner, 5 broken pens (over a few days, they keep slipping down under the bedclothes and then I kneel on them - ouch - when I'm trying to crawl back across the bed), tarpaulin (used for stain removal) taken off the bed, folded and sent downstairs to be stored, paper to paper bag, rubbish to bin bag, useful items fished out and put to one side (I can only stand so long let alone picking bits off the floor - I was starting to cave in at the knees and have to stop before I end up on the floor, stuck in a corner), collected toilet roll middles from the bathroom to add to the paper bag. 

Books, craft items and toys (mainly duplo as I took out a few pieces to add to the baby's sensory toy basket) put back on the shelves or put away in drawers (quite a lot of space in some drawers due to earlier efforts but couldn't use them until I had enough floor space for my feet), an old clipboard file binned (broken corner so it's no longer protecting the contents. All A4 stationery pads put into a magazine box (later added the miscellany I've been collecting all week and the Christmas planner and cards so I know where they are). Presents, ribbon , luggage labels (repurposed as gift tags) and hearts (bought an assortment from a cs a few years ago, now reusing the metal and slate ones as embellishments on presents - they gave me joy, they can go and give someone else joy now) however the wrap had gone into hiding by then so didn't get to  wrap the present until later. More addresses into the Christmas planner and the last few pages of the old diary into the paper bag. 32 items so now on 1859.

Saturday 17th. Swept out my tidied corner (I kept forgetting to reach down the handbrush and shovel and thrown them across to the corner). Merino wool quilt and mattress cover into the clean corner, dirty duvet cover (was used to keep the mattress damp during the stain removal and has also had an encounter with some lurid pens and markers - shocking pink and purple) thrown down for washing, clean sheet moved back onto the bed (it's only been on for 2 days but other things kept pulling it down the bed until it disappeared) plus a white heavy cotton bedcover. Cleared the floor space in front of the drawers and foot of bed, all the way across to the door side of the bed. Repeated the procedure for getting things out from under with a metal ruler and coat hanger. 

All the paper picked up and put where it wouldn't fall off again (spent late afternoon sorting it into keep, recycling and transfer info 
elsewhere before recycling), picked out useful items (pens, pennies, usable pieces of felt etc) and later swept all the rubbish up. had a shower (+ one extra bit of grooming), took my pills, cleaned my mask and left it wrapped in a clean towel to dry. Have resumed cleaning for 5 minutes every time I go in the bathroom (I really want to get everything out and sweep and mop the floor but knew that was beyond me yesterday - not a lot in there but moving stool, chair, wooden storage box and all the bits takes me all day now). My bedroom takes priority for once and I can always do the floor by moving wet cloths around with my feet whilst 'enthroned' (sorry if tmi).

Layered up warm and comfy. 4 bags of paper and 4 cardboard boxes to the blue bin (boxes were too big to use in drawers and too  small to be useful for packing etc). Removed stuff from the TD and did the fluff removal.  next lot in (I've reluctantly taken the decision to use the TD as there's no chance of doing anything in the kitchen unless all the clothes, bedding and curtains are processed). I'm also counting these things in my decluttering total as 'can't see the woods for the trees' or even get through the trees to the sink or back door. I was hoping to make full use of my newly installed washing line posts but the weather put paid to that.

Clothes from the WM hung anywhere possible - cupboard handles, window handles, door handles, over door hangers. New load put in and set off. Went under the stairs and condensed their gadgets into a smaller space (want to hide more of the records under there and put away the tools I sorted weeks ago). Put cans and rubbish sacks behind the back door to clear some floor space (can't get beyond the bottom of the yard safely and don't want rubbish in the yard attracting vermin - pest man has been out this week due to ancient rubbish in next door). Their pasta and pot noodles put away on the shelves (noodles have been on my couch in the front room for weeks - since they were delivered, they'd made it to the kitchen but just put down on a chair which I need for sitting on to sort onto lower spaces and cut up cardboard.

Gathered up an assortment of food (fridge has my ys haul in and want to use all perishables before I go off to DS1's next Saturday) plus 2 l caffeine free drink, 1 l of fizzy water (a treat added to my previous order and not drunk because other stuff was piled on top hiding it (I moved all DS3's sugar free drink to the side of his chair rather than blocking the entrance way), a bottle of non-alcoholic Chardonnay (bought for festive period but probably not taking any with me to DS1's because of space constraints), a new bottle of washing up liquid to refill the UU bottle I keep in the bathroom for mask washing and the remains of a tub of raspberry sorbet I found in their freezer (it's definitely mine), all brought upstairs to UU.

That's another 23, I think so 1882 / 2022. Today so far I've cooked a joint. Added a drained tin of small potatoes (bbf 2018 - they were fine so I'll add the other 2 tins to my New Year menu as potato salad (with plain yoghurt with a dollop of mint sauce stirred in)
and a tray of butternut squash and a tray of special sausages (both from the freezer) to fill the oven. I've had 2 sausages and a handful of butternut squash (just for quality control) and they were both delicious. I've put a bag of frozen prawns in a large pyrex jug to defrost - I have a large tub of reduced fat coleslaw to use up so I'll spice up the dressing and add the prawns later and eat more of the salad leaves and bits with that (2-3 meals) and I've brought more uu (mostly salad) back upstairs with me.

5 sacks or cans and bottles and rubbish are now safely binned (have more cans to go in but my hands were frozen so any squashing or moving to the town centre recycle point will happen on a warmer day). Items taken out of the TD, cleaning rags were dry but the 2 towels have been brought upstairs and will finish drying over the bathroom door and my bedroom door. Fluff removed and next batch in - a purple towel and a navy throw (both  their's). Emptied the WM - large items so nowhere to put them but the duvet cover seems to have come clean and not infected anything else. 

Some time last week they had another shower leak (water not kept inside the curtain and ran under the bath - seal was taken off to repair one of their earlier disasters and through the hole in the kitchen ceiling that's been there so long none of us really notice it anymore - will be repaired as part of the kitchen renovation). Anyway water got into the jar of mum's washing gel tabs so I've been peeling one or two at a time from the soggy lump and today I poured some of the liquid in the bottom of the jar into the WM drawer. I've put my rich dark green velvety bed cover in (it needs the washer to itself) as that will be warm and festive looking and it dries fairly quickly.

Added more drinks from the can stash (that will be moving into the kitchen cube shelves as soon as I can manage it). One of the bags fell  off the step as I started to go upstairs. Called for DS3 to help and he hit his head on the doorframe. Now that door frame is a bit low (maybe 6'4" instead of 6' 6" but he hit the top of the door frame in his bare feet so he must have grown again and is probably 6'8" now. He carried up both the bags when we'd picked up the fallen contents and I put a towel over each shoulder. Gave him 2 more jobs to do - putting stuff near his couch into the bin bag I gave him yesterday and taking their clean clothes and bedding upstairs to put away. He had also asked what 'I' had done with the cutlery 'thing' (the one that goes in the DW). I had a look and said it was on the floor in front of the WM (so there's  a  chance that they might run the DW - hiding my pots is working, they have to use the DW if they want to carry on eating (and bring the dirty pots back out of their room). 

That's another 18 (reporting it now because I'm at the bottom of a page) so 1900/2022, only 132 to go. I might manage that by the end of the day (or I might have another little sleep).

short_bird

5070-5075: biscuits to the staff room at one venue, teabags and biscuits to stage door at venue 2...

Floss

@grandmanerd I am amazed at how much you do, but also concerned that your DS3 & his partner leave so much for you to do, and don't seem to do thrir own chores like laundry. How will they manage when they are not sharing your home with you?

weenancyinAmerica

I think more came in this year than I managed to get out. But still trying. 

Spent most of my time this year trying to declutter the storage areas of the library and get books out to people who will like them. We had twelve sales this year and raised $3700, considering we only charge 25 cents a book for adult books or $1.50 for all you can fit in a bag no matter the size at the last sale, and 10 cents for children's, or $1 a bag. Our best sellers were DVDs at $1 each and some jewelry and picture frames from a deceased member's estate. We also sold a few toys and puzzles this year. Next year we are also going to add a few sales on Saturdays now that we have the library back to its regular pre-Covid schedule (just this last month!). And we still have several thousand books to sell. We have other sources of income for our Friends of the Library group and actually raised just over $26,000 for the year - my first complete year as President. 

Still having trouble motivating the roommates to help clean the house - and still have the Husky taking up the entire backyard. One roommate has just started a new job - her first in about ten years. Another is on medical leave from his job for the next six months. One is still working - at Mickey Mouse's Place with late hours 4pm to 1 am; and the other roommate still thinks he is going to get married and move out soon - but this is the fifth woman he has said that about this year - so I'm not holding my breathe. At least he has met this one in person and not just texted her like the other 4. So far the Husky has been the most cooperative one. The two inside cats don't help at all and the two outside cats just add to the mayhem. One of the outside cats has been stealing towels from somewhere and bringing them to us. Now he has also started bringing placemats. At least it isn't mice or rats any more. And Deni - one of our indoor cats used a small rug as a toilet also - so it went out fast. Our rug was blue. No more small rugs.

Having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. Usually go several times to help my sister put up Christmas trees (she had 23 last year), but only doing about six this year (we went up and did two 7' trees). My sister had surgery the early part of November and didn't feel up to it this year. I did get to go see the Nutcracker this year as my great-niece and great-nephew were in it. Only have 6 Christmas presents to get ready and two more birthday presents. Have everything, just have to wrap now. The weather here isn't exactly helping - it has been cold in the mornings but is expected to be about 24C on Christmas. Not much of a chance for wearing the Christmas sweaters this year unless my sister turns on the air conditioning.  

Do plan to keep trying decluttering - I could probably do 2023 items just in the living room.