2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

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

DH had the full English breakfast & I had poached eggs on toast + half a slice of toast & marmalade 😋We left just after 10:25 & within 5 minutes it was drizzling 😔 Turned out to be a rather long & horrible journey home. M1 was busy, A40 slightly less busy & the M11 was appalling 😖 It seemed like every driver became a complete & utter plonker as soon as they started driving on the M11 👿 Stop, start plus weaving in & out - it was a nightmare 😖 We had two stops - one for fuel & refreshments & one just to get off the road to give DH’s legs a rest. A four hour journey took SIX hours & we were both exhausted when we arrived home to an empty house (DSis was at the doctors getting a blood test) We unloaded the bike, got changed will the kettle was boiling then sat down with a well earned coffee 😊DSis arrived home a few minutes later. DH finished his coffee & went to lay down with his leg elevated. Got in touch with 111 - sent details & a photo of his leg & will be receiving a call tomorrow afternoon - hooray for the NHS 🥳 Whilst DH was resting I went through all the bags - put away any unused clothing, filled the laundry basket, emptied motorbike clothing pockets - both jackets & both pairs of trousers need washing 😔 Empty bags etc all put away & various bits of rubbish/recycling dealt with appropriately 🙂I did my accounts - DH had paid all the costs apart from a few coffees, ice creams etc which I paid for. I also sorted the few bits of post I had received. DSis cooked our dinner - chicken breast with a cheese & leeks topping, boiled new potatoes with petit pois & green beans 😋 DSis & I watched 5 old episodes of Richard Osman’s House of Games. DH went to bed about 22:30.  DSis has had a headache all day so went to bed about 20 minutes later. I have done the wudupa. I will sort the laundry into loads before I go to bed - because of course I am fully awake now 😉

1629 - 1633 Kitchen recycling, plastic bottle, phone book, envelopes & paper from sorting mail, cardboard packaging - recycled 

1634 - 1636 Kitchen, bike & lr detritus - binned

Lovely cheerleading post Moorviews 😊 Excellent decluttering of books & frogs 👏 I hope you managed to get the bag of clothing & the bag for the CS out of your house on Thursday 🤞What an excellent idea - keeping a sewing kit for repairs all in one pot - a medal 🏅 is coming your way & I will be adopting the idea once I find a pot/jar 😊

Florenceem, a mixed day on Wednesday 🤔 Busy at SA then busy taking care of MrF 😔 Naughty, naughty man ‘wagging finger emoji’ - causing you more worry 😔 Hope DGD’s graduation went well 🤞

QueenJess, great ideas re decluttering digital photos & videos 👏 Hopefully it will help others who are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of photos they have🤞Excellent decluttering again 👏 At this rate you will hit 30,000 before the end of July 🤩 

dND, pleased to hear that you are settling in nicely 😊 but also getting lots of tasks sorted out as well 👏 You are looking after DS & DDiL so well that they won’t want you to leave 😉 You are definitely forgiven for buying vintage Babycham glasses 😊 they are so pretty & I always smile whenever I think about long ago days when Babycham was the ONLY drink to have when celebrating 🥳  Whenever we visit Scotland, I always try to have Cullen skink at least once 🤤 

~FlowerPot~ the days roll around so quickly 😬 What a successful Wednesday you had - sorting aprons & persuading DS to make something from the damaged apron 👏 Any chance of a picture of the tote bag 🙏 Fingers crossed that you can get something in place for your DD 🤞 The LEA need a rocket up their backsides 😖 Can the CAB help out 🤔 

QueenJess, how dare work get in the way of decluttering 😉 You have definitely made a significant breakthrough on your decluttering journey 👏 I have every faith that with your determination you will meet all your decluttering goals this year 🥳 So that in 2024 you will only be doing Maintenance Decluttering 😊

Excellent decluttering on Thursday, Wednesday2000 👏 Oh dear, your husband will have to do something spectacularly good to win back the brownie points he lost by not putting out the rubbish 😉 Perhaps you have a room that needs decluttering or decorating 🤔 I am sure you will think of a suitable penance 😂 Hope you enjoy your concert next month 😊 & now you also have something to look forward to next year 👏

Brie, maybe you can recoup some of the monies you spent on good quality art supplies by selling some of your old supplies 😉 Your OH is doing very well - excellent decluttering, worthy of a Gold Star ⭐️ I am also awarding you a Gold Star ⭐️ for the very positive influence you have had on your OH 👏 Good luck with the carport & garage clearance 🍀

-taff, that is an impressive amount of decluttering 👏 One medal 🏅 coming your way 😊 Re the hotels we stay in, DH plans a route for the Round Britain Rallying & then tries to book somewhere local for us to arrive at between 17:00 & 18:00 each day. We do have several ‘go to’ hotels from previous years but were too late trying to book this year - so only 2 old favourites 😔 He usually goes through booking.com but if we like a hotel he goes direct after the 1st visit. This year the hotels & meals have been rather expensive, unfortunately, but as we are not going abroad, we are lucky enough in being blessed & having the wherewithal to afford it 😊 

charlies_tribe, hopefully ~FlowerPot~ can look into your suggestion & be able to arrange something for her DD👏😊 Hope you have a lovely holiday 😊

Just noticed the time so will sign off & see you all tomorrow 😉

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

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

Decluttering Target 2023: 1636/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £228.00

weenancyinAmerica

So glad you made it home. Enjoy your rest? Only problem now is doing your own cooking and cleaning. That was always my problem when I came home. 

2Scratters

@QueenJess that picture of the harbour would make a great jigsaw and take a time to complete it too. Stunning.

2 Scratters xx

QueenJess

Feeling a bit overwhelmed today and definitely just going from room to room without achieving anything at all.  I am definitely better with the big projects, but struggle with the last 10% of general stuff lying round and run out of enthusiasm to deal with them.

As a catalyst to do anything at all, I thought I'd challenge myself to find 5 things to go and I achieved it really easily, which probably shows there is actually more stuff to go than I thought.  Is there ever an end?!  At least I have a 1 in 1 out system with DS's toys now.  He bought himself 2 toy cars at the weekend with his pocket money, but chose another 2 to go (one already went weeks ago as he was planning to buy one then!).  I just need to deal with all the free tat he picked up at the weekend as they will need to fit in the space so something will need to go.

Will force myself to do small bits of tidying every time I get up from my desk as I think that will make the place look much better.  More stuff onto Buy Nothing, more people selected from the ones I did yesterday and people picking up from the selections I did yesterday.

Digital:
30,025-30,147 - photos/videos deleted

Physical:
30,148 - kids clothes too small (charity bag)
30,149 - packaging reused
30,150 - book (charity bag)
30,151 - kids toy (charity bag)
30,152 - reusable nappy (Buy Nothing)
30,153 - colouring book (Buy Nothing)

oceanspirit

Had a dream last night that all my things were packed up and taken away to be disposed of. There were lots of people helping.

In reality, not much gone out over the last few days.  A frog nudged along yesterday with help from a lovely man in the post office and this morning a large spider evicted from the trousers I was about to put on!  My fault for leaving them on the floor when I took them off last night.

Florenceem

oceanspirit - I hate spiders - remember getting a bath towel off a radiator - put it on my shoulder to head for the bathroom - huge spider on it!
DGs J has been here - we had nodded off after the alarm - he rang the bell at 7.10 - he painted both sides of the inner garage door today.
We walked into town to get the 10% off in Icelan. and got a bus home.
Finished a larger dog bone shape stocking.
Love the fabric that arrived yesterday and it is further reduced on the site so - will make another order.

Brie

OH did spectacularly well with a bit of decluttering.  He'd previously tried to sell both his mom's reclining chair (room of doom) and motorised scooter (carport) with no success but a chap came by yesterday and agreed to take them both.  And did we mind if he paid cash?  Absoblooming marvellous!  He came back today, handed over £500 (!!!!  granted new the pair of them would have been £3k but the scooter has sat outside for over 5 years!) and then agreed another £20 for the 10 foot foldable ramp!!  

So I'll take that gold star, thanks very much Madam SD!!!  

As for selling the art supplies - we're talking super cheapo stuff which someone might happily pay £1 at a charity shop.  Aldi brand watercolour pencils etc.  I had them with me at art class yesterday on the off chance someone there might be able to use them and said I'd happily hand them over to anyone who agreed to drop some stuff in the food bank donation box next time they went shopping.  One of my fellow students happily snatched them up just for the florescent pink pencil in the tin!!  She's a very good artist so I'm sure she'll produce something at some point with pink in it and point it out to me. 

Pennypincin

Sorry for not posting, decluttering or keeping up with posts.
I've finally decluttered a bag of assorted bits including at least 6 t shirts I've slimmed out of.
I've 2 bags of books waiting to be homed, 1 book hopefully soon.
I've brought in a few bits as I've needed new t-shirts and couldn't resist getting a few bits the next size down, but being cautious about what I'm getting.
There are 2 charity shops in a local high street that sell clothes for £1 and have been trying to pop in when I'm passing that way.

Florenceem

Had to make a stocking using some of my new fabric. I love it - have a dog print which I am itching to cut into.
I did declutter fleece from stash for the cuff.
I drew this size stocking as the patterns I had were either too small or too big.

QueenJess

Lots of photo deletions to report, still about 9,300 to go 😭 and that’s just on the laptop.

Digital:

30,154-30,866 - photos/videos deleted

30,867 - emails unsubscribed from

Physical:

30,868 - packaging reused

30,869 - toy (Buy Nothing)

30,870-30,871 - cards not needed (cut up, then bin)