2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

Dfw38

Oh my goodness @Florenceem. What a shock for everyone involved. Hope all ends OK.

TC77

@Floss thank you, a good reminder I should make a plan

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks to include MMiM - do this before I go to bed

2. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ I have an acronym - I.R.I.S. being Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off 

3. Implement a new sleep/wake up regime - start going to bed earlier (target before 2:00 a.m.) get up earlier (target by 9:00 a.m.)

4. Deal with ‘Urgent’ daily mail immediately & the rest at the weekend

5. Don’t put it down, put it away

6. If I spot a mini task deal with it immediately e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc

7. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed

What a gloriously sunny & hot Wednesday ☀️ DH watered the seedlings & potato plants, filled the bird feeders & fed the worms & trimmed the front hedges - ours & next doors 👏 Not sure if anyone remembers that we started work on DH’s office earlier in the year but never quite got around to finishing it 😔 Always the way with us - we start a project & ashamed to say never quite finish it 😔 So I asked DH to find the missing leg for his hand built desk. Of course no joy, but because the garage was tidier he found a suitable bit of timber which he has cut to size, filled in screw holes & once dry will sand, undercoat & paint 🥳 Then fix in with brackets. I decided, in my wisdom, to work up a sweat by doing some housework 😉 The first thing I did was to swap over the cushions on the sofa that DSis uses & put the cover back on. Then cleared the large coffee table that is designated for use by DSis including emptying the lower shelf. Moved it out into the middle of the room & got rid of all the cobwebs 😱 The revealed carpet was then vacuumed & I also wiped down the skirting board & vacuumed behind the unit (which was dusted & polished) holding the TV, Sky box & VCR. Then got bored with housework & went through the ‘toot’ from the coffee table. Mostly paperwork which I sorted & filed in its appropriate box files. Ended up with an inch of shredding - 2 & 3 year old bank statements. Also binned some broken reading glasses, tidied up a load of bits & pieces into a nice box - the only one remaining in packaging corner 👏 Then tackled the coffee table - wiped down then treated to a good polish with Mr Sheen 😅 Box files returned to lower shelf & everything else put neatly on table. Took the opportunity to thin out the stack of magazines & newspapers - one newspaper & 5 magazines recycled 🥳 I also had a quick tidy of packaging corner & now have several carrier bags & quite a bit of bubble wrap bagged up for CS. Tidied up the two ‘items’ we use as shoe racks, cleared out an area by the side of the dining room table then carried on & vacuumed the whole of the downstairs - which had been the only housework I had intended doing 🤣 Emptied the hoover 3 times & returned it to its home in the under-stairs cupboard. Finally dusted & returned items to the area by the dining room table - consisting of several frames (for a project 🙊 😉), a largish mirror, a smaller decorative mirror & several pairs of DH’s boots/trainers.  Two items were not returned - half a box of large carpet tiles & DH’s stepper have been relocated to the garage 👏 Quite pleased with my small foray into housework 😊Then I joined DH in the garden where we weeded the smaller raised bed, planted out the two types of radish seedlings & the small leek seedlings. Watered them in & watered the rest of the plants. Just as an aside - what we thought was a chard plant turned out to be a huge beetroot 😉 which has been sliced & shared between the two wormeries. DH has also managed to watch todays TT races & booked all the hotels for our Round Britain Rally trip to Scotland in July 👏 Sadly a couple of our favourite hotels are no longer in business 😔 DSis has spent the whole day in her room apart from occasional forays to the kitchen for hot & cold drinks. She used to love the sun but not any more. 

1411 - 1418 Newspaper, 5 magazines, drinks cans, cardboard box - recycled 

1419 - 1421 Kitchen detritus, broken glasses, shredder bin emptied - binned

Pic 1 - tidied table

Pic 2 - tidied area next to dining room table 

Pic 3 - unexpected beetroot

Now I will turn my mind to cheerleading 😉

What a busy Tuesday Liverpool_Anne 🤩 I think your subconscious decided that you should leave the secateurs at OH’s house so that you would do a bit more gardening 😂 Excellent gardening work (even though your initial plan was thwarted) 👏 As you did so much work on your own & generated 2 bags of clippings which were taken to the Tip, I am awarding you a medal 🏅 Re the dead bird you dealt with it exactly as I would have (& have) done - keeping yourself safe 👏 You & OH must be nearly finished at OH’s house now 🤞 A perfect drying day for the towels & the shower curtain come dust sheet 🤞After such a busy day I am pleased to hear that you relaxed with a bit of crochet & some TV watching 👏😊 

Lovely post 2Scratters 😊 I agree that Florenceem is an inspiration 👏

EnergyShifter, sounds like your holiday in Spain is just what the doctor ordered 😊 Shame about the packing but seems like you have done well at the charity shops 👏 

Florenceem, such a shame that the chap wasn’t up to scratch in his cleaning 😔 I just hope it didn’t cost too much 🙏 I hope you are being careful cleaning the bathroom 🙏 I fell off the sofa reading “I thought - it has finally happened - I've gone rusty - then I realised that it was bits from my new orange towel.” 🤣 What with that & the multicoloured bruises it must look like you are wearing Joseph’s coat 😥 

vulpix, what a palaver with DD1’s flight 😔 I doubt there were any explanations forthcoming about the reasons for the shambles 😔 I hope you enjoyed your peperonata 🙂 I will send my cousin’s partner round as she prefers mushy 😉 You must be getting quite excited about your cruise, I think half the fun is planning what to take with you 😊 Fingers crossed that the builder turns up & that decisions can be reached re the kitchen renovations 🤞 Hope you manage to get a good nights sleep tonight 🤞I will try to send Mr Sandman your way 😉

QueenJess, the resilience & recuperative powers of the young never ceases to amaze me 😊 So sorry to hear that you are still suffering 😔 although I think that, as a mum & wife, you are ploughing on & not giving yourself a chance to recuperate 😔 The age old story of taking care of everyone else first & putting yourself last. Excellent decluttering by the way 👏 & you have inspired me to add ‘going through kitchen drawers again’ to my To Do list 👏

Excellent work at OH’s house oceanspirit 👏 Although I was a bit disappointed to learn that you were clearing space in your wardrobe for OH’s clothes rather than OH 🤣

Concentration is waning now so will post this & return later 😉

MrsSD (a superwoman) 😇 🎖💐🤩🏅🦸🏅💐🏆 💐🍰🍾🌟⭐️🌟 💐🏅💐🏅💐💐💐🏅💐 ⭐️ ❤️🏅🍾🏅 📣🦸‍♀️

DH Awards: 🥇🏅⭐️💐🏅 perseverance medal 🎖️ 🥇 🏅🏅 

Decluttering Target 2023: 1421/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £166.90

oceanspirit

Neighbour helped move furniture for us today so desk and chair has gone over to OH’s ready for charity collection on Friday.  Some of his furniture has come over here.  I am particularly happy to have a cupboard/wine rack which has slotted into my kitchen where I had a cumbersome trolley - much nicer and tidier.

Now have a couple of empty boxes which I may use tomorrow to clear some bookshelf space.  Will put books in loft for now as these are my reference books to keep.  They were pared down a year ago so it’s possible I may feel able to let a few more go.

More shredding done - mission control improving daily.

TC77

Strange smell has been developing in my car the last few days. Thought perhaps when it went to the garage someone's lunch got left in it. Boot has 2 compartments but never use the lower bit. Discovered box of jaffa cakes use by Dec 21 which smelt abit but not sure they're thr culprit but decluttered in the bin!

florianatwobob

DBro has arranged collection of bulky waste! On Monday his old mattress, desk/computer chair, folding wheelbarrow (I have never understood the point of a wheel barrow that folds…..) book case sides and 2 dying garden chairs are leaving the building. 

I am over joyed as the garden is starting to resemble Steptoe & Son’s yard…..

Floss

TC77 said:

Strange smell has been developing in my car the last few days. Thought perhaps when it went to the garage someone's lunch got left in it. Boot has 2 compartments but never use the lower bit. Discovered box of jaffa cakes use by Dec 21 which smelt abit but not sure they're thr culprit but decluttered in the bin!

Has something been spilt somewhere out of sight?

kboss2010

@Florenceem May I ask, do your cooker hood covers have filters? We had a kitchen fitted a few years ago and when I took the grill down, there is nowhere to put a carbon filter! Is yours the same as it looks similar?

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, a bit of a slow start today as I was a bit creaky again but I eventually got moving after lunch. I tackled the garden here today and got 1 bag of waste into the bin. I also sorted another load of washing and emptied the bathroom bin. I had 3 phone calls to make. 1 was resolved, 1 I have to phone again tomorrow and 1 was a union thing. I have 2 union related meetings tomorrow so after the phone call I checked my files on the computer and was pleased to see I have all the infirmation I need to hand. Made notes of what I will need to take with me and got my paperwork sorted. Then I sat down and did some ironing. Quite productive considering it was such a slow start to the day.

@Mrs SD, sorry to say OHs garden is no where near finished. We have probably sorted about 1/3 of it. It is a very long garden and is just wild.  The brambles are everywhere and with OHs health issues we haven't done much there for nearly 2 years now. Last year I was quite overwhelmed with it all but I am more philosophical now and am thinking we just have to get on with it. Also I think the vit D from the doctor is working as I feel I have some energy at last . Re the dead bird, I looked up the gubberment directives and although it does say not to touch dead birds it also says that there are cases of foxes etc getting bird flu as they are eating them. We don't have foxes in the garden but there are crows and rooks around that would scavenge it. Apparently if you find a dead hunting bird, 3 birds that include a gull or water bird or 5 birds of any kind you should report them and someone will come and collect them for testing. You can also get someone from the council's environment health to deal with them. It occurs to me that 1 bird in 1 garden doesn't really tell you much but if you don't have to report it when there could be 10 birds spread over 10 gardens they aren't going to have any idea of what is happening in a particular area. Still only to be expected when it comes to gubberments

Right off to bed now, hugs to anybody who would like one

788 load of washing sorted
789 bathroom bin emptied
790 bag of garden waste
791 3 phone calls
792 paperwork sorted
793 ironing 
Take care everyone
793/2023

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks to include MMiM - do this before I go to bed

2. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ I have an acronym - I.R.I.S. being Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off 

3. Implement a new sleep/wake up regime - start going to bed earlier (target before 2:00 a.m.) get up earlier (target by 9:00 a.m.)

4. Deal with ‘Urgent’ daily mail immediately & the rest at the weekend

5. Don’t put it down, put it away

6. If I spot a mini task deal with it immediately e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc

7. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed

We had decided on KFC for dinner, so DH logged onto the computer, ordered & paid for - to be picked up by DH. Quite a distance away so he set off about 18:45. After some time he came back empty handed 🤔 He could see the order with his name & the price but he didn’t have a code & the server refused to give him the food. DH came back, back onto the computer. The website is badly designed as there is a check-in button to press before you set off so your food would be cold by the time you arrived 😖 However the check-in button didn’t work 😡 DH took copies of & printed off the order & headed back again. Same server who continued to refuse to give DH his order. Finally a female server gave DH his food. DH got back & I started to unpack the bag & guess what, go on guess………………..You got it, there was food missing - you couldn’t make it up 🤨 I had my meal whilst DH set off for a 3rd time & ended up on auto pilot going to the wrong branch 😬 By this time he was so fed up that he just bought the missing items & came home 😔 I now have instructions that should DH ever suggest KFC again, I am to shut him down immediately 😂  Wudupa.

1422 Bed frame collected by council 

1423 - 1424 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans - recycled 

1425 Kitchen detritus binned

Welcome aboard the EDT Watty1 👋 Lovely to see a new face 😊 I will offer my congratulations on decluttering an ex 😉 You have made an excellent start to making a house into a forever home 👏 Very impressed that you know exactly what you want from your decluttering 👏 So welcome to our happy band of declutterati & I look forward to reading about your successes 🥳

Lovely post Brie 😊 Different place settings for each individual does sound jolly 🙂 but not convinced I could cope 😉

roundtuit, I rather like the idea of a ‘mopaholic’ 😂 Very well done on passing on a still packaged mop - 2 happy people 😃 

Florenceem, good advice from your friends to stay firm with the medical staff & not let them send MrF home until you know he is fit enough 🙂 Very pleased for you that you were able to volunteer at lunch club, as I understand how much you would have missed helping out & being able to catch up with fellow SA members & volunteers 🙂 

Dfw38, today certainly was a beautiful day 😊 How worrying that the school had a gas leak 😥 Well done on being able to ‘potter’ around the dc 👏 Hope you had a lovely time in the park & managed to tire out the dc 🤞

QueenJess, sorry to hear that you had to restrict yourself to one minute sessions 😔 but well done on managing such a large amount of decluttering 👏 Very MSE to forego the expensive memory boxes & personalise plain white boxes - Martin would be proud of you 🥹 I have 2 very sharp knives which I keep in their boxes 😉 They are used, washed immediately & returned to their boxes 😉 Good luck with the spice drawer 🍀

Excellent decluttering short_bird 👏 Hope you managed to get the washing up done 🤞

TC77, sorry to hear that RL is getting in the way of your decluttering 😔 but only 3 more weeks of storing DD1’s furniture etc 🙂 By the way, you are allowed to count DD2’s decluttering 😉

Watty1, excellent work on the spice drawer 👏 

Well said Floss 🙂 Really good that TC77 has a definite time scale 

Florenceem, how frightening for everyone involved 😧 Hope everyone is OK.

oceanspirit, what a lovely neighbour helping with the furniture moving 😊 Excellent decluttering of both the cumbersome trolley & Mission Control 👏

TC77, hope you manage to track down the cause of the smell quickly 🤞

florianatwobob, yippee to getting rid of bulky waste 🥳

Floss, my thought too that something has been spilled 😞 

kboss2010, I have the same arrangement with nowhere to put a carbon filter 😔

Liverpool_Anne, sorry to hear that you were still feeling a bit creaky but it sounds like you soon loosened up & had a very productive day 👏 Excellent work on clearing 1/3rd of the garden already 👏Hopefully the weather will stay fine enough for you to continue the garden clearance 🤞Very interesting information re dead birds, thanks for investigating 👏 Also a very salient point that there could be 1 bird in each of 10 gardens with no need to report it 🤨 

All caught up now so I am off to bed. Hope everyone gets a good nights sleep 😊

MrsSD (a superwoman) 😇 🎖💐🤩🏅🦸🏅💐🏆 💐🍰🍾🌟⭐️🌟 💐🏅💐🏅💐💐💐🏅💐 ⭐️ ❤️🏅🍾🏅 📣🦸‍♀️

DH Awards: 🥇🏅⭐️💐🏅 perseverance medal 🎖️ 🥇 🏅🏅 

Decluttering Target 2023: 1425/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £166.90