2022 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

weenancyinAmerica

Yesterday turned out better than expected. Picked up the presents at one sister's to take to the party at the other sister's house. Got there early as traffic was very light. She had put up eight more trees after we had done the two big ones and put out the creche sets plus other decorations so the house really looked festive.  Niece and nephew arrived with their children and we gathered for dinner. All had sandwiches of turkey, ham, or roast beef, plus salads of several kinds. Overdid my sister's fudge for dessert - but didn't have any other dessert and today I actually weight less than yesterday. We also did a salute to my brother-in-law's late father at the end as December 25th was his birthday. Drove home after dark which was slightly scary as I am facing cataract surgery (both eyes, separate days) this next month. But my roommate doesn't drive freeways. Really quick home trip as almost no traffic again. Stopped at other sister's and dropped off the presents going the other way. And made it home with a lot of the leftovers.  Have a full refrigerator and freezer - and what did my other roommates do - they went out last night for pizza. We won't have to shop for the next week anyway which is good - as we are looking at 5 days of rain. It was so hot here for Christmas they turned the air conditioning on at my sister's - actually was 29C (85F) here, hotter than expected.  Wore our Christmas t-shirts instead of sweaters.

Did managed to declutter though and de-frog:
found out grand-niece and I wear the same size in shoes, so gave her two unworn pair of shoes
gave my nephew a bag of 30 Little Golden Books as he collects them
gave my sister a dozen Christmas books as she collects those
and gave the Grand-niece and 2 grand-nephews about 50 books as they love to read (2 boxes full)
and paid my sister back the money she had loaned me after two of my roommates couldn't pay their rents last month

and these were in addition to the books and things we gave everyone as presents ( jewelry box with bracelets for the grand-niece as part of her present). 

Hope everyone has a great Boxing Day. 
   

SecondStar

Potential silly question - what is a frog/frogs? Outside of the squidgy hopping things!

short_bird

SecondStar said:

Potential silly question - what is a frog/frogs? Outside of the squidgy hopping things!

There was a management technique called "Eat That Frog" which was doing the worst or most hated task first thing in the morning so it was out of the way.
Something that's been on your to do list for a while could be a frog, also something that's a complex job could be a frog.
Also, might be something that's emotionally fraught.
After a while, you either get to break down a job into smaller pieces or it becomes time sensitive so you have to do it.
Folks occasionally refer to "tadpoles" which is a small job that could just sit there and grow till it's utterly enormous in your mind but, when you do it, it's  finished in 10 minutes or less! Or you know it's something you don't like doing so it gets pushed down the list. 
Occasionally, something becomes a frog because if you can't do it "properly", there's no point in starting. (Your definition of "properly" may vary and might even be someone else's definition of the word!)
Hope that helps.

TC77

I count a frog eaten when tackled part of an ongoing complex thing, and other non ohsycial decluttering. Can do your own interpretation 

short_bird

5236-5238: 150 emails delated
5239-5249: 11 GB data deleted
5250-5263 stuff to bin
5264-5273: items to recycling.

wort

A very merry Christmas to you all, I hope everyone enjoyed their day.
i had caught whatever the lurgy is that’s doing the rounds up here, including a cough that tickled and kept me awake all Xmas eve night, on top of a full on day at work where I dropped something heavy on my foot.
christmas day after cooking and eating started to feel worse, but went to family to wish them happy Christmas before home and going to bed. 

Spent yesterday on the settee doing nothing, today is back to work.
hoping the lurgy clear by NYE .
See you on the new thread .x

sumb7170

Hello all,

Wishing you all seasons greetings!

So I’ve not posted since March, no excuse really as my work contract finished at the start of April and I’ve not worked since.  I needed to sorted out all my competence evidence which was a huge frog, and I finally managed to do that and get it all verified on Mon before Christmas!

I have been reading along although I got over 20 pages behind due to Covid which I’ve now caught up with.  This forum has been keeping me inspired with all your progress, thank you so much @Mrssd for running it.  I’d like to join for next year too, please?

So my goals  and achievements were:

• 5,000 (<14 per day!) physical items decluttered or frogs ticked off or emails unsubscribed or anything else I feel justifies being counted!  So my total was 1069.  To add 880 items recycled, 207 to the tip, 416 to cs, given away 80, uu ood food and craft items 27, unsub 6, recycled 36yrs payslips and 48 cheque books (!) and 1031 jobs, including some large frogs = total 3,800 / 5000.
• Read a book per week - total 52.  Read 29.
• Mend one item per week - total 52.  Mended 66
• A 1 in 1 out rule for clothes, ornaments and other similar items.  Delay before buying things by a week, if I don’t buy, put the purchase price into a  pot.  Lost track of both of these!
• Don’t buy without trying mending first, then secondhand as the next option.  Tried to!
• Use up old toiletries and cleaning products so only one of each.  Did well on toiletries and only have some of the kids ones left, cleaning products getting used slowly.
• Sort ornaments into four - 1 for display, 2 for storing and swapping for display later, 3 for selling and 4 for donating / disposal.  Failed!
• Weight goal of 1kg per week averaged over a month, so 4kg a month.  Failed too, same weight as I started the year!

I’ve only just added up all these numbers and I’m pretty pleased with how I’ve got on with decluttering, especially as some bags of items were not individually counted before the bag went, so that got counted as a single item.  I’ve not achieved many of my targets, so next year I won’t be as ambitious with so many items and targets, and will try to keep better records.

Thanks again for all the moral support you’ve given me, hugs to all who need / want them, and see you on the 2023 forum!  Thanks again to Mrs SD, I think you really deserve a medal 🏅too!

Love H x

I have a star ⭐ and a medal 🏅 🙂!!!

vulpix

Wrote a post yesterday and forgot to press post🤦‍♀️. 

 Sorry for some people’s Christmas being derailed by this bug. I still have sore throat and earache lingering. I am glad that your Christmas Day got better weenancy. 

 Went to the shop yesterday to find Easter chocolate on display. 

 I am home alone today so will start a new notebook and write down some goals for next year. First one will be to use up a biro that I have been using exclusively for about 2 1/2 years!!!  I had a lovely decorative pot with 10 pens for Christmas. Mr V also received a set of 8 pens. We will need to be eternal to use them all up. Not to mention all the other pens kicking around the house. I feel another collection of pens being given to my son for work. He is an English teacher. There’s always some student who doesn’t have a pen isn’t there? Once you stop being a student and finish work there isn’t a lot of opportunity for using a pen. 🤣

 That has jogged my memory for something to write down. Frog tickling. That’s what I will be writing about in my notebook today.

 Vx 

EnergyShifter

EnergyShifter said:

EnergyShifter said:

1099. broken fairy lights
1100. half a pack of smudge sticks - neighbour
1101. Tibetan meditation bells - same neighbour

Lovely to hear about everyone's Christmas.  Sorry to hear about various bugs and mishaps.  Wishing you all well

Ours was uneventful - in a good way.   On the day I went to a local Church in the morning  - couldn't get to my normal church due to no public transport  - it was a lovely service and they were very welcoming.  I was very taken by the female Priest who delivered the service with her little girl by her side.  I will definitely go there again.  

Back to wake up DS. Much food and a walk to feed the donkeys (our Christmas tradition).  Some lovely gifts - mostly consumable plus a very much hinted after cashmere hoodie which I know I will wear a lot.  

Boxing day - woke up in the mood for moving stuff around - reconfigured my bedroom - it's got a much better flow now - my bed was a little too near the door before.  Another walk in the afternoon - this time along the River.

Today - Did a reorganisation of the cupboard under the stairs - It is literally the only built in storage in the house (other than kitchen cupboards) and it's the place that most gets me down when I look in it -  it has too many purposes - it holds tools, DIY stuff,laundry, ironing board & iron, cleaning stuff and now shoes (due to cat pee incident).  Moved some stuff to the garden storage and some to go up to the loft.  It's much more bearable now.  

I think that's my organising energy used up for the day.... the sofa beckons ...

Have a great day everyone xxx

thriftyscotslass

Hello to All

Season's Greetings and Best Wishes. 

I would like to join in your merry gang for 2023 if I may? I have been reading along and am inspired to get started. I just need to think about targets and how I am going to record everything. I like the idea of using a physical notebook @vulpix, so shall give it some thought.

Today, I am just enjoying the feeling of having successfully decluttered Xmas Eve, Xmas Day & Boxing Day - such a relief.

Love to all,
Thriftyxxx