2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

weenancyinAmerica

Managed to finish transferring all information, including phone numbers in the back of calendar to new one. Made myself a froglet list -only forty items on it so far, and have completed four. Some take several steps, may need to list the steps separated - make dog appointment for rabies shot, get shot, send in license renewal, for instance. I made a list of what needs to be done by room and by subject - wardrobe, health, also. Included the decluttering that needs to be done. Very quiet downstairs yesterday and it will be today as downstairs roommate working 8 hours a day  - her first job in years. Then she has a couple of day off and will work three more days next week. So I actually have a lot of thinking time without the TV set being on. 

Been working on adding my niece's (by marriage) genealogy into Ancestry - finding a number of discrepancies that I am trying to clear up. One one side she had early French-Canadian roots and early New England, so there are hundreds of people to be added. The other side is Dutch (also a lot) and Greek and Bohemian - only about 5 generations so far on those lines as my Greek and Slovakian language skills are almost non-existent. Dutch and French I can do without a problem. Just finished indexing two films for the Swiss parish my mother's ancestors were from (over 1000 pages). Can read the records, just don't ask me to go far beyond the genealogy words. 

We have set up for 12 Friday book sales and 2 Saturday book sales this year with the Friends of the Library group. Still have thousands of books to sell with several hundred showing up every week. We don't have to worry about running out! 

Now to learn to sell more on Amazon and eBay. Got a royalty payment of $2.07 on Friday on my last book I wrote. Need to work on advertising it better. Need to finish getting website ready this year as already have domain name. Six books being rewritten to get out also as had to bring them up to date (one on third revision already). Already have orders so need to concentrate on them. All from people who already have bought the first editions and are willing to buy the updates as soon as they are available. Makes me feel better about it somehow.

Still trying to figure out how to get roommates motivated. We are going to shift rooms which will require a lot of decluttering starting in mid-January. But I have to have cataract surgery on both eyes and possibly surgery for a torn rotator cuff (doctor is checking to see if anything can be done - I'll know next week), so I will be taking it slowly moving stuff. WE will be storing what is in one room as roommate isn't using most of it, cleaning up that room for me to move into, so my room will be the first one done. Then the hoarder will move into the room I am leaving. Make take a few weeks. Then one roommate will be moving downstairs and the other roommate will move into his room (sharing a room right now). Their rooms won't be that hard to do. So we will be having a major clean-up this year. I already clear out my emails daily and keep up with my trash. Don't have a large wardrobe and have very little in the way of toiletries and household cleaners. Main problems are papers and books, but these are "corralled" in boxes at the moment. Should be even better after the room shift.  

Then we just have the two storage rooms to do - the old garage and the current garage. A lot of clear out there. So I will be visiting this site every day for motivation. All of you keep me inspired to keep going. Happy New Year.

grandmanerd

Day 2
9   9 pizza boxes - collected 4 from the front room (2 bin bags added to a bin then a layer of pizza boxes then 4 full bricks to squash it down to put more in another day. Then found 5 more in front of the tumble dryer hidden under a layer of other things and then some clothes underneath (only theirs).
10  2 more paper sacks then lots more boxes - smallest was an ice lolly box, largest was a box for 32 packs of crisp but most were in between
8    8 random items (I've left my note book downstairs but the WM, TD and DW are all going, quilt, food and drinks have come upstairs (+ a rubble sack of their clothes all clean and dry), I have my suitcase full of other clean dry stuff, the bottom 2 sections of the fridge were given a final clean (done a  while ago but there was lots of stuck on stuff which came off easily this time) and then filled with 2 huge bags for life full of meat veg, salad and yoghurt. I've decluttered a pizza (their's but it's been on top of a set of drawers since Thursday so it's mine now) and I've had a shower and am dressed in a lovely clean duvet (will do various creams when I'm sure I'm dry).

So Days 1 and 2 of 12 days of Christmas completed 156/ 2023 

Hope you all have a wonderful 2023

EnergyShifter

I have heard of and done some of those  New Year traditions - first footing, opening the doors & the 12 grapes (Spanish) but I had never heard of any of those New Year superstitions. 

The crying cats one made me laugh!  We're in big trouble as our elderly & (almost certainly) deaf cat is constantly yowling at the top of his voice!  I guess we could just wear ear plugs !!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year  xxx

DrCarrie

I got rid of some wrapping paper that I have a thing about saving. I do have a fair bit of tissue paper left but I have cleared 2/3rds of the stores. I plan on finishing that drawer under my bed tomorrow as well as my socks and underwear 'organiser.' Decluttering formally starts tomorrow. 

charlies_tribe

Thank you for the welcome back.
Wishing you all a fantastic new year 🎉🥂

roundtuit

Morning xx Happy New Year 😘 

I woke up excited at the thought of the decluttering adventure ahead in 2023. That is a good way to begin.

Be warned. There be dragons ahead. 🐉.  Well not dragons exactly but I thought it only fair to warn newbies that when I unpack a bag or a box (and there are still a lot to unpack) long lists are the norm.

I need to calm down. I'd come up with a plan but I've discovered that ad hoc works best for me. Less pressure as nothing to live up to. Numbers and targets would become an obsession. I know it. Eventually all the cleared dots will join up. In the meantime I'll celebrate every new inch of uncovered horizontal surface.

Let's do this 😁

Rxx

Kittikins

Happy new year everyone 🥳

We (me, beloved and DD) had a jolly NYE, watching Sam Ryder and the fireworks woke us up and we chatted and laughed together for another hour. Bliss!

As the weather seems good, I shall be putting out the first goodie box of the year.  Round our way, lots of people started putting out unwanted books, toys etc by their gates during lockdowns and we got into it as well.  There are two little girls on our close who have done very well out of me saying farewell to lots of children's books and craft goodies after leaving teaching last year!

 The last two items on the list aren't going in the box, naturally 🤣 but hopefully people will take some goodies away for us.

7 books

9 lanyards

10 felt kit

12 gloves two pairs

15 balls of wool

16 teapot

18 two more pairs of gloves!

19 recipe book

20 broken machine

21 closed an online account

21/2023, not bad for the morning of day 1, I don't think!

Suffolksue

 Happy New Year 
Round like you ad hoc is best for me and I’d get obsessed by numbers too ,would get in a state over how to count etc 
horizontal space in my bedroom sounds good .
I’m not washing or cleaning today ,but am going to gather stuff for my first charity shop bag of the year .I have a very vague plan .
Does ironing count as cleaning ? 

Wednesday2000

I had to do a load of laundry yesterday as we went to Tesco and got absolutely soaked in the awful rain. I then washed our slipper boots in the evening too as I read on here I can't do any washing today, haha!

I couldn't go out last night as planned as my brother was ill with this flu bug everybody seems to have at the moment! I decided to make use of the time and put on some music on YT as I looked at my home and decided what I needed to do. Reduce visual clutter!

I moved around the first living room and put the large white desk up against the window and moved one of the white chairs upstairs to my desk with my laptop. It looks much better in there now. I cleaned the floor too.

I totally cleared the two shelves by the freezer by taking out everything I keep there (miscellaneous stuff like pegs for the garden, all our vitamins, masks and hand sanitiser) and then rearranged some storage boxes and put it all into two white boxes. Such an improvement.

I threw away some OOD condiments from the fridge.

I am donating a fold out bed and a white chair (the one I previously had at my desk) to a charity shop or a used furniture store this week, hopefully.:)

I have four pictures by the console table in the hallway ready to go to a charity shop too.

I almost missed the New Year starting as I was so busy and I was up until 1.30 doing all this. 

ilovetea

Good afternoon everyone and a Happy New Year.
 Decluttered 2 calendars while waiting for the kettle to boil this morning.!
Hope everyone is getting better after the lurgy that is going round.
Will be back later with a list.

  Take care.    ilovetea