2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

kimplus8

I’m in for 2023. Having a huge declutter over the next 2 days. Tip booked for Tuesday and recycle charity shop booked for Tuesday too. I have my determination and several boxes/ bin bags to fill. 

ionafan

Hello everyone, and thank you to MrsSD for all your encouragement.

I started lurking on the 2022 Decluttering Campaign a few weeks ago just to cheer on a friend who had come over from the Flyladies, at a time when I was unable to do very much flying myself - I had major heart surgery at the beginning of December, and although I'm recovering quite well, it is going to be a very long slow haul back to full health.   DH and I retired from full time paid work 12 and 14 years ago respectively.  We have both been doing voluntary work, but of course I am now on sick leave and DH is also recovering slowly from a hip replacement in July (and may need the other one doing soon).  I am lucky to have two magnificent younger friends who help me with housework about once a week and our small garden once a fortnight. 

DH is not particularly domesticated (he prepares breakfast and knows how to fill and start the DW) and is a "collector": he has crammed his man-cave from floor to ceiling with box upon box of model railway and wargaming items.  I don't even attempt to declutter his things, unless they begin to spill over into the rest of the house!   However, this year, spurred on by my declining health and the very real possibility of surgery not going as well as it actually has done, I started a major declutter of my own belongings and general household stuff, as well as confronting some admin frogs that had matured into huge cane toads.  Dealing with all of that has been a huge relief to me and makes the house so much easier to manage.

The two remaining areas that I need to concentrate on in 2023 are connected with my main hobby: my family history.  As the sole grandchild of a couple who produced 7 daughters (five of whom never married) and no sons, I have inherited many family heirlooms, hundreds of family photos and boxes of books and papers - nothing of any monetary value but a huge amount of sentimental value.  My family history research started 60 years ago when I found a notebook in my great-aunt's house in which one of my gt-gt-gt-grandfathers had listed all his relatives' details, and my family tree now includes over 2000 individuals.  My children and grandchildren are very interested, and I want to update the family tree program and catalogue and annotate each item for their benefit.   My aim is to consolidate the photos, books, etc into a smaller number of boxes for easier storage, and to sort out the many boxes of print-outs of family tree information so that they can be filed under the names of individuals,  rather than by the family surname which may stretch across several generations.  Fortunately I now have the time to do that.  I'm not going to try to count every single bit of paper or duplicate photo that I throw out, but I will measure my progress by the number of lever arch files that I manage to fill - I've saved about 20 for that purpose and am hoping that this will be sufficient!

EcoIntent

I have people coming today so have done tidying away as opposed to decluttering but last two days are:

16. Empty advent calendar
17. Empty advent calendar no. 2
18. 2022 Calendar no. 2
19. 2 x old pin badges that had been crafted with
20. Paper packaging waste from last year's Circuit machine
21. Cracked tray
22. Hot water bottle rubber insert (made in 2012 so expired)
23. Cover for said hot water bottle
24. Single frayed glove
25. Frayed phone charging cable
26. Assorted bits from fridge and freezer deep clean (not a lot we are much less wasteful these days)
27. Assorted expired food bits and packaging from snack cupboard deep clean
28. New puzzle - sold on eBay (got for a gift and as a pattern not a picture - not my thing)
29-33 - 4 ice blocks (return to mum)
34-35 - 2 dinner plates (return to mum)
36 - Large ice block - don't like the size / shape

x

Brie

Question to the group.....do you store stuff in your car?

Lots of times i'll leave things in the boot - the warehouse clearance box of coffee pods which won't fit in the kitchen cupboard for instance but that's fine as it's temporary.  I have, however, a pair of slippers in the back of my car that I bought when visiting family overseas early in 2020.  They were meant for MiL but turned out not to fit her so I popped them in a sturdy envelope intending to ebay them.  But they were in the way so they went into the back of the car.  And have remained for nearly 3 years.  

I should ebay them (price new is about £60 but if I got £20 that would be great) so what's stopping me.  Other than the fact I've never sold anything on ebay.  (bought things a couple of times but that's it.)  I really should do this as we also have a hankie from the 1960s that was a comic book promo item featuring Batman and Robin.  I've seen similar on ebay for a ridiculous amount.

Alternative of course is to charity shop stuff which is much easier but not very MSE.

Natty68

Hi all, I'm hoping to be more productive this year, than last year, on the decluttering front 👍

Not sure if I want to set targets, or amounts to actually declutter especially as I'll be getting rid of a lot of stuff in one go now and again.

I'll put what I've decluttered on here in large sums or small items, either as I do them orat the end of the week 👍

But I need to declutter the house desperately to get it on the market a.s a.p. Then I'll be decluttering a house...lol

I'm also enjoying reading all your decluttering news too ☺️

sumb7170

Hello all, I’d like to join again as requested in the 2022 thread, please.

Having said I won’t be as ambitious with so many items and targets as I did in 2022, here are mine for 2023:

·      2023 physical items decluttered or frogs ticked off!

·      Read a book every other week - total 26

·      Mend one item per week - total 52

·      Weight goal of losing 24kg

·      One significant home maintenance or improvement job per month - total 12 (of my wish list of 20)

·      Sort out and use up old toiletries and excess cleaning products or donate / dispose of so only one of each

·      Operate a 1 in 1 out rule for clothes, books and ornaments, excess items in = a negative number!

·      Try mending or buying secondhand before buying anything expensive as new.

Wishing a Happy New Year to everyone on the 2023 EDT!

Love H x

2022 Decluttering Campaign 🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wednesday2000

That sounds like a substantial job on your hands with your family history project Ionafan. Good luck with it.

We don't have a car in our household Brie.

I have plans to call a local charity shop that accepts furniture next week as I have a few things I would like to get rid of. We are going to decide exactly what we are getting rid of tomorrow as we might move my husband's desk around to a new position. I am also going to book a bulky waste collection next week to empty some of the shed.

I am hoping 2023 will be very good for decluttering as I really am in the mood at the moment.:)

grandmanerd

2023 items out in 2023
I came back from DS1's on Thursday but was ill for the last 2 days at their house - coughing my head off (DS1 said it was considered very rude to die in someone else's living room) and slept sitting up with one of the cushions off the couch to support me. Came back in a taxi as I felt very wobbly. I have started doing the 12 days of Christmas but am going for the 12th day each time. Lots of rubbish and recycling to get out - some will only go into the yard but it will be out of my house.

Before I went away I had a bin bag in each room and one for the yard, when they were nearly full I went round gathering up random carp from everywhere and 5 full bags went into the bin. The next lot were part filled but left lots of jobs unfinished - in the end I decided my priorities were to get me and my stuff to DS1's without making myself so ill that I collapsed into bed at their house and stayed there for 6 days.

I've had a lovely time, lots of good food, relaxing and reading. A couple of their friends and their 3 yo came for Christmas lunch and they'd booked an escape room adventure on Wednesday evening so me and the dog babysat each other but absolutely no pressure the rest of the time. Lovely presents, all much needed - a brand new walker (the ones I have belonged to mum and her partner respectively), a new dress, 2 pairs of leggings and a heat pad that goes in the microwave. They'd done fill your own crackers and mine had a little owl brooch sitting on a crescent moon.

Done what I can since I got back but very slowly. I should be in recovery now because yesterday I coughed up most of my lungs and cleared my blocked nose. I've left gaps which I will fill  in as I go along, but so far it's
Day 1
1   1 overflowing paper sack (bin was emptied whilst I was away, used bricks to squash it down so DS1 could get more in
2   2 full black bin bags
3   3 bags of recycling
4   4 points for decluttering > 100 emails
5   5 pizza boxes
6   6 - 3 part used toilet rolls (already in my room), 2 kitchen rolls and assorted tissues from my bags - used for 'emissions'
7   7 empty herb and spice jars from putting 2 into 1 and discarding those which were a solid lump (did try breaking them down)
8   8 cards, letters, emails (that one's for the I O M) using animal note cards for replies as out of Christmas cards
9   9 empty cans - opened but not rinsed out for recycling just left dotted all over the kitchen (1 was mine)
10  10 gift bags and wrap, tissue, wallpaper for covering boxes, packaging into an empty bottom drawer
11  11 addresses and other details transferred from random bits of paper and coa details in cards
12  12 cardboard boxes

Day 2
1   1 Quilt from living room upstairs and into my duvet cover (wasn't mine but I washed it and it's been in the front room for months)
2   Cleaned mask and hose using new hose brush (it's very long)
3   3 Notes into wallet (counting later - I have set aside my brother's share of rental income from mum's lodger inc January and there is some in the drawer to use for paying workmen, wallet contents is my money and added 3 notes today)
4   4 filled rubbish and recycling bags
5   5 paper clutter - 1 sack, 1 puzzle book, 3 old notebooks used up (mainly on puzzle workings)
6   6 times I've rummaged under the bed with a coat hanger and scraped random carp out of corners (money, pens, rewards
7   7 bags for life and one suitcase emptied - contents sorted, clothes in WM, hung up, away in drawers, books on shelf etc
8   -
9   -
10 -
11  11 Coins in a jar - counted my penny tin yesterday (some taken out to donate). Coins found today - £27.03 so far 
12  12 cardboard boxes

Will be back later with more (hoping to score big with random carp on top of freezer and fridge freezer) and actual numbers. Must get these bags out to the bins whilst I can still see to go down the yard.

CLEANING on New Year's Day. The house is supposed to be clean before the bells ring at midnight so there should be no need to clean on New  Year's Day. My house won't be  (therefore it'll be messy all year) but I'm concentrating on what makes things worst for me - so I want my bed neatly made, the bathroom done in 5 minute bursts, all rubbish/ recycling outside and as much carp as possible cleared from the kitchen. My local A & E has no beds at all and is only taking emergencies. I don't want to take up an ambulance someone else desperately needs so I'll be pacing and doing what I can. I've been in my room all day so that's my little oasis of calm and tranquility (just need to sort the bed0. Going downstairs now to do what I can and heat soup for myself. Cooking can wait for another day - might defrost the cheesecake or have the fish pie (did an emergency food order for Thursday picking out easy to eat stuff).

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

I was very curious about New Years Day superstitions (I did know about the No Laundry on New Year’s Day) so did a bit of research 🙂 So here goes 😉
1. No laundry - could cause a loved one to be washed away during the coming year - rather creepy 😟 
2. No sweeping, cleaning, wiping etc - see above 😟 
3. Wear your best new clothes on New Year’s EVE to welcome the New Year in - it is believed that you will continue to look & feel your best throughout the year. 🙂
4. Don’t eat any chicken - it is believed if chicken is eaten diners will spend the year picking through dirt for their food i.e. bringing poverty on one’s self - another creepy one 😟
5. Noise & light from fireworks coupled with cheering & music is believed to ward off evil spirits. Oddly enough so is hanging a lemon above the door 🤔 
6. Open doors & windows just before midnight to let out the old year & leave open until after midnight to let in the new year - I rather like this one 🙂
7. Rather a strange one - avoid crying cats 🤔 thought to be a bad omen so avoiding them is your best bet to a year filled with good luck 🍀

So there you have it - although there does appear to be a whole list of others including first footing, fire festivals, banging the bread, rabbits, underpants colour, eating grapes, leaping off chairs 😬 But my favourite one is giving lucky tokens to your friends & family 😊

So whether you believe or not, I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a

                                 Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year

MrsSD

Floss

After buying a smaller version of my best frying pan, I have culled the 3 others I had, along with a gift light-up biscuit tin and another cake tin I only used for small-item storage. Three unmatching baubles I don't like went too, a completed jigsaw & some books I've either read or won't read and I did a quick removal of about 10 tops from my wardrobe as they haven't been worn in 12 months.