2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

short_bird

 flying visit...
2568-2576: 200 emails and 7 GB data deleted.
2577-2601: items to recycling - good week for finishing jars etc
2602-2647: items to bin
2648:DVD to charity shop bag.
Hope all are well and pressure has eased.

Dfw38

Hello everyone, haven't posted for a while but have just caught up on reading everyone's adventures! 2nd dds party was absolutely brilliant, she loved it and so did her friends and their parents. My house is worse than ever 😫 but due to multiple people's generosity which i am truly grateful for but literally cannot see the wood for the trees at the moment! Ins include 3 huge bags of almost brand new clothes for ds in the next couple of sizes up which will make a real difference on the clothing budget especially as.all 3 have had a growth spurt over the last 7 ish weeks 🫣, 4 boxes of toys for ds which he adores from another school mum (we couldn't afford to buy ds a 1/4 of the stuff he was given. I also have a running buggy kindly given to me as another school mum heard I was after one and she didn't want hers anymore, I have all my dad's music.stuff here too which I collected a couple of weekends ago and after valuing for the estate looks like it isn't really worth much financially, technology has moved on a lot since he started collecting (more sentimental but I have no space for it long term....) a lot of it is bulky too 😪. And then Monday I had a phone call from dsis that she had discovered a kitten dumped in a communal bin and she cannot keep it because she is allergic (and moving soon
... ) and no shelter had space to take it..

 So as of yesterday I added a kitten 😍. He has had a health check today and is all good, looks to be 9 weeks old and we now have kitten paraphernalia added to all the stuff in our house 🤣. So am in a worse position house wise then when I started in January but there are 5 of us absolutely besotted with Ziggy the Cutie as he has been named and I have the challenge of getting this stuff organised before school finishes on the 21st 😁 while maintaining an even tighter budget as we have another mouth to feed 🤣. They do say the universe never gives you more than you can handle..

I like its optimism 😉 

TC77

@Dfw38 Welcome to Ziggy the cutie and trusting in the universe!

Floss, I know you are right, and I have got rid of make up and some fantasy me stuff. I did manage to throw some sugar cubes my dad must have kept since the 70s - British Rail Traveller Fayre and some foreign domino ones - why did I not chuck straight away. Also some packaging, comb, make up sponges, bits of paper etc, and just writing some b'day cards.  I had a lovely night out with a friend yesterday and want to do more of that rather than moving stuff around or looking for it! Trying to take on board what those further down the road are, and esp those in maintenance mode. If someone can use that's great, its the landfill stuff which causes more angst or the justin!

Floss

TC77 I was lucky to find a Banardo's donation station who would take anything - if they couldn't sell it, they had a scheme where things were broken down for recycling, which helped. My then-local tip also had various reuse / recycling schemes and a reuse shop which I must have stocked at least once over!

TC77

@floss o e of my charity shops takes electrics and they all take rags and we have a donation hub  for refugees and people facing homeless so they lots of things , they've said they want dvd players ( just got to find leads) and wondering if they need any covid tests  wefoee expire un autumn.
Added mascara to list, don't wese make up and it's not waterproof so end up panda like.also cleaned the plug and plug home.
830

weenancyinAmerica

@TC77 - My suggestion - volunteer to help clean up homes after seniors die. Either that or try and do an inventory of everything you own. If you don't want to list it - get rid of it. But cleaning up homes for other people is a real eye opener.

TC77

@weenancyinAmerica , argh thr thought of an inventory! I'm going to my dad's this weekend- well over a year since he died. Along the lines of the inventory I need to pull out all the like with like. I do have a cs bag filled and putting box of things for dds  to look at and if don't want will go to cs/ donation hub..I got rid of a lot a couple of years ago so not quite sure how things have built up. But will keep going and Floss , you and others are all there inspiring me!

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

Spent an hour cleaning - swept kitchen floor, scrubbed off some heavy duty stains, cleaned the kick-boards, washed the frame around door into garden as well as the door, vacuumed kitchen floor. Vacuumed the rest of downstairs + wiped up a dried soap stain (very shallow sink 😖) off the cloakroom floor. Only had to empty vacuum once. DH in garden - pruned olive tree as high as he could go, pruned hedges, emptied 2 potato bags - way too early as only got 400g of potatoes 😔 & most of them quite small

Tired now so will have a coffee & watch Countdown - I won 🥳 Decided to clear down a few more programmes from the Planner & have watched two of three episodes of the Jay Blades series “East End Through Time” Fascinating & DH is now going to download so he can watch upstairs. Dinner was oven chips & baked beans with chicken in bread crumbs for DSis, bacon & fried eggs for DH & fried eggs for me. Wudupa.

1608 - 1612 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, magazine, glass jar, cardboard packaging - recycled 

1613 - 1614 Kitchen detritus, plastic packaging - binned

Sorry to hear that you were so unwell on Wednesday QueenJess 😔 Hopefully you will feel better on Thursday 🤞

Wednesday2000, hopefully one drum wash will clear the glitter from the wm 🤞How nice to get an unexpected discount 😊

Florenceem, you definitely had a busy Wednesday 👏 so no wonder you were tired 😪 Fingers crossed that your first aid skills will not be needed on Sunday 🤞 Wishing the SA great success in raising funds for Ukraine 😊

Muddy_Walker, sounds like you need a visit to the TLC Carriage 😊 It also sounds like you were the glue that held your old department together 😉 So gratifying to be missed but I loved your comment “and an old team member (not TB sadly) wants me back…um no!!!!!! Didn’t appreciate me when I was there so can go forth and multiply mightily now I’m gone!!!!! 😜” What a great result - an amazing cleaner 🥳Nothing wrong with ‘joyful tears 😊 although it must have been quite a sight with both of you crying 😉

TC77, DH’s blood test will be done at the surgery but by a nurse practitioner rather than a doctor 😔DH is actually quite lucky that he only has to wait two weeks 😮‍💨 Perhaps your ‘mutual friend’ is posting on this thread, might be useful to have  a small competition between you 🧐 

Just woke up on the sofa, so will post this & go to bed 😉

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

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

Decluttering Target 2023: 1614/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £228.00

Moorviews

@TC77 - I was in a state of paralysis myself with regard to decluttering. I eventually realised that hanging on to things, whether because sentimental or potentially useful, was keeping me bogged down in the past. What I really want is to go forward in a positive way and make my present and future good, fun and fresh. I don’t want to be in a continuous process of reflection as I try to keep too much stuff in order. Happy times are for the future too fortunately 😊 Many things do go off, or degrade over time, so it is better for me to pass them on for people to make use of them now. If something is destined for landfill or recycling anyway, then it doesn’t need to stay in my home. So much of what we keep will never be used. My energy is much lower now and if I want to use it for activities that I enjoy, rather than just cleaning, then I need to make my home easier to care for. I haven’t really missed anything that has gone and I did worry that I might. My decision making process is still quite unnecessarily arduous but I am improving. Like anything else, we need to practise in order to get better at it. Creating space does start to become fun! I started very slowly with the easiest things. I permanently have a large bag for life open and ready for donations. Once full it goes into the car for the next trip out. Having said all that, I still do have some things from my children’s childhood that I gaze at fondly and I cherish those memories of them when they were little. Spending time with them now though and having the energy, time and opportunity to do this is a greater priority for me. 

@Muddy_Walker - it’s brilliant that your cleaner has worked out so well 🎉

I am keeping up with reading the thread most days and wish everyone well with regard to investigations, illnesses and treatments 💐 Please prioritise yourselves and your wellbeing if you can. 

A full bag is ready for the charity shop so hopefully that will get done today. Very much going for the low hanging fruit at the moment. Tatty ancient sandals were binned. The build up of community newspapers and catalogues on the hall table went into the recycling. I needed a folder and filing for my sewing patterns. The old me would have celebrated an opportunity to buy a pretty new one. Instead, I emptied and recycled all the papers from a box file and a folder from a course I did years back. I have a few more that could go too really. I actually never go back through old course notes and assignments so I don’t know why I keep them. They represented a lot of work at the time but everything changes so quickly now and soon becomes outdated. They can definitely go and that will free up some shelf space. 

Moorviews

@Dfw38 - well done for giving Ziggy a good, loving, home. It is heartbreaking to think about people dumping animals like that.