2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

roundtuit

Foot pump - put away in cupboard 
Place mat & coaster (CP) -  put away in drawer
Bird feeder (CP) -  to be filled and hung outside on bird table

Just one CP waiting for a home now.

Rxx

shabbychic12

Kitchen cupboards - need l say anymore, major sort out every surface is full , ready to sort, bin, rehome. Just enough space to make a cup of tea. Will probably take me all week including cleaning but boy does it need it. Woman on a mission in 2023x

EnergyShifter

Blooming rail replacement bus left earlier than scheduled so I missed my 8am Church service.  In a fit of pique I went up in the loft and had a really good sort out and found it much easier to make decisions to discard things than I have recently.  So I had a very focused 90 mins of decluttering before the Epiphany service at a more local church - which was lovely. 

Tasks Completed:

• Reorganised loft 

Stuff - IN (running total 5): 

0

Stuff - OUT: (running total 29)

30. sticky paper

31-3 - 3x storage boxes no longer needed

34. Pack of paper - too highly coloured to be useful to me

35 & 6 - 2 x single duvet sets

37 & 8 - 2 x cushions

39 - Glass

40 - Frame

41 - Nutcrackers

42 - 4 - 3 x tea towels - demoted to cleaning cloths

45 - computer thingy (we have 2) 

46. wicker bag

47 & 8 - 2 x yoga blocks

49-51- 3 x pots / pans 

52 & 3 - 2 x towels demoted to cleaning cloths

(There's a few other things which I have put aside to make a final decision on over the next day or so)

thriftyscotslass

@roundtuit Way-to-go on magazine rack and finding homes for Xmas presents
@shabbychic12 My kitchen cupboards are twins of yours but I've got my eye on them once I've cleared this 'flu

Yesterday - gentle work was done in small amounts:

13 - Rubbish to bin (M)
14 - Recycling to bins (M)
15 - Second bag of rubbish to bin (M)
16-17 - Cleaning products decluttered (M)
18 - DHs business accounts for Dec (M)
19 - Dec house accounts (M)
20 - Over Xmas & New Year emails decluttered (M)
21 - All frogs written on scraps of paper collated into one large list  (E)
22 - Glass of wine in front of Woodburner (S) 

#smallsteps #marathonnotasprint
#maintenance #extra #selfcare

Day 7: 22 / 2023

Hugs to all, Thrifty xxx

Florenceem

A friend gave me a carrier bag of craft magazines - been sitting under my computer desk for ages. I have started to look through them and being very good about any bits I want to keep - in the past I would have kept a lot more. 
Hope sd is okay - no sign yet.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks

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 daily mail immediately 

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

Just noticed that my absence has been mentioned so will post now (I have been writing in Notes which forestalls losing a long post) 😉 & return in half an hour - timer set 😂

So I did get dressed on Saturday 😉, made the bed & picked out 4 more balls of yarn. I will be switching from knitting beanies to knitting wrist warmers & ear warmer headbands once I have finished the current beanie. As DH had been excused hospital visiting, M’s sister & nephew were visiting  DH & I spent the afternoon & evening emptying the contents of office (apart from the shelving unit). His computers, towers, printer & all cables + several boxes of stuff from his desk were all put in our bedroom - with all the breakable items on our bed 😬 Somehow the small filing cabinets & two office chairs were stuffed into the wardrobe room aka the Room of Doom 😥 We stripped old sticky back covering from the hand built desk (L-shape down the length of the wall with the shorter piece half the width of the room) & put a new colour on. A lot thinner & a bit stretchy 😔 but so much brighter. Also vacuumed the carpet & swished a feather duster round to clear the cobwebs 😂. DH then returned most of the electronic equipment & set up his computers etc - all now positioned at one end of the desk near the window rather than in the middle - with the wiring all tucked away under the desk. The printer which is rarely used & is very bulky will be put under the desk at some point, although we will need to source some sort of unit to raise it off the floor. The bed was cleared so we could go to bed 🙂🥳although there are boxes & boxes of stuff to be sorted  😔 Did manage to declutter a lidless large paint tub, an empty poster tube & a cardboard box as well as a large bag of old sticky back plastic. Dinner was chicken, boiled potatoes, peas & sweetcorn for DSis, the lo lasagne & garlic bread for me, & fish finger sandwiches as a treat for DH 🙂 Wudupa. It rained or should that be poured all afternoon & evening - even some thunder & it was a tad breezy 😉

Sunday is overcast & a bit chilly. DH will be visiting M today & I will be attempting a full cheerleading catch up - back to the per person method 😉 Just as I was starting the cheerleading one of the young ladies in the rented house next year gave me a packet of Spanish ham from her visit home 😊 

48 - 53 Kitchen recycling, 2 magazines, poster tube, cardboard box, drinks cans - recycled 

54 - 56 Kitchen detritus, large bag of office detritus, large lidless paint tub - binned

nannywindow, perpetual motion indeed 🥲 Sounds like you & DD had an absolutely wonderful time in Cardiff 😊 Excellent decluttering 👏 As to DGS, if he can cook as well he is welcome to pop round & continue to use his human hoovering skills 🤣 as I do need to declutter some food stocks 😂 If you can persuade vulpix into the TLC Carriage we can all give her a hug 😉 

A dark day at 11:30 is surely a good reason to stay in bed vulpix & get MrV to do his nurse bit 😉 Great use of your 23 minutes 👏 I am pretty sure that it would take me at least 4 sessions of 23 minutes to list the contents of our loft 😔 so think I might just leave that delightful task 🤣 A £20 spend on a lampshade & new to you curtains is not what I would call squandering wagging finger emoji.

Sorry to hear about both Mum & mum-in-law 🙁 - so well done on keeping so many plates spinning. A bit of TLC is definitely needed so I am wishing you & MrV a lovely afternoon out 😊 

Excellent decluttering donna73 👏 Very impressed that you & your partner have decided to sort out the 3rd shed after such a successful sort out of the other 2 sheds last weekend 👏🥳 

Great work roundtuit 👏 I never cease to be amazed that clear surfaces give us all such great pleasure 😊 An excellent Sunday morning’s decluttering & tidying 👏 you have definitely earned your lunch 😉Well done on sorting out your magazine rack & CPs 🙂

Good question QueenJess 🙂 & I see Florenceem has replied 🙂 Good luck with your hunt for card making bits & pieces 🍀 - a good reason to declutter a few drawers 😉 

GrannyKate, I bet your ‘hoover’ DGS4 aged 7 is as thin as a rake 😉 I only buy the Christmas TV magazine for my DSis - she loves to look through it - I suppose I could count it as a Christmas pressie 🤣 Very impressed at how efficiently you dealt with Saturday’s mail 👏 Excellent use of unexpected energy reserves & pleased to hear that you were very careful not to damage your finger further 😊Great decluttering 👏

Breaking off to say that it is now dark & the rain is hammering down - Not sure if DH will visit M. She might not mind too much as she was finally moved to a room with a decent mobile signal so a call might suffice 🤞I know he is not made of sugar but the weather is particularly nasty & I do worry when he is out on the bike 😔 P.S. DH is messaging M & will phone her later  😮‍💨  

EnergyShifter, what a great contribution to the “Sunk Costs” conversation 👏 I have taken the liberty of copying it to my Notes app. 😉 + have added a task to my To Do List - collate all decluttering ideas & set up my 2023 S.M.A.R.T. Good Intentions List. Excellent decluttering & organising 👏 - bad weather & train strike combo does make for a good reason to declutter 🙂 Love it - a fit of pique at having your plans thwarted turned into a a very successful 90 minute decluttering session 👏😊

Great work Ginmonster 👏Always a bonus when you find a decluttering method that works for you 🙂 

Excellent work & planning Brie 👏 Re the Christmas decorations I see you have planned a quick sort out - Beautiful decorations & cross stitch things into a box to look at in a few months & the rest into another box to decide whether to donate (or maybe offer on free websites). That Santa Claus nativity cross stitch would give me nightmares 😂 I rather drastic way to make decluttering decisions but very effective 😉 Maybe the thimbles can be sold? 

thriftyscotslass, Pleased to hear that you made use of the facilities in the TLC Carriage 😊 and now that you are fully restored you should stick to your plan of easing back into things 🙂 An excellent start to easing back in to your decluttering journey 👏

~FlowerPot~ that is what I call excellent decluttering & the bonus is that you are fully appreciative of the joy of dealing with a ‘Frog’ 👏 I did smile at your inventive way of making sure you planted the bulbs - leaving them in an annoying spot until you could no longer bear looking at them 😂 So not only 2 rooms decluttered but also 2 Frogs 👏 One medal 🏅 coming your way.

What a beautiful & thoughtful post Moorviews 😊 Thank you so much for sharing your life with us 👏Hopefully it is a cathartic process & I am very grateful to not only you but to all our fellow declutterers & now friends who are being so generous in sharing their lives 🥹 One medal 🏅 coming your way for such a great decluttering session 👏 Please do NOT beat yourself up about starting a new task instead of basking in & celebrating your success 🙂 It is so easy to get carried away with decluttering & continue when our head tells us to stop but our heart overrules us 😉 Now you are wiser & will know to stop 👏 Very pleased to hear that we are assisting in building your confidence & I as you have been kind enough to give me a 😇 I will add it to my signature 😅 Well done on cleaning the hoover filters - you have completed the task you set yourself & can take some time to celebrate your success 👏Remember to only do one of the tasks - either sort the bathroom cabinet OR tidy your desk 😉 I am gratified to hear that you are acknowledging your daily success of keeping the kitchen table & coffee table clear 👏 By the way I am putting both your husband & son on the naughty step 😉 I am thinking maybe a ‘promise’ to bin anything & everything they dump on the table might be conducive to a more thoughtful attitude from both them 🤔 Only joking or am I?

Excellent work Happy_Kitties 👏 I love that ‘decluttering’ has been renamed as ‘doing things as I move through the days’ 😊 A very effective strategy 😊

MrsSD (a superwoman) 😇

Decluttering Target 2023: 56/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £5.00

Brie

@Wednesday2000
re the sofa pillows....maybe a cat or dog charity would welcome them as bedding?

Well more Christmas stuff sorted today.  OH agreed about chucking some hanging valances (?) - red with gold embroidery and big gold tassels - they look lovely adorning a fireplace but aren't really necessary.  Also went through the big gift bag full of gift bags and wrapping paper.  Lots of really lovely paper (British Museum designs apparently) but more than we will use in the next 10 years even if we did use wrapping paper (we're lazy and just reuse the same gift bags.)  So all of that is in the Christmas get rid box.  

And some art stuff gone through - not decluttered so much as organised a bit as I have weekly classes starting again tomorrow morning at the ungadly hour of 10 am.  I've been lucky to have classes in the afternoons/evenings up until now.  Oh well - at £12 for 2 hours in a class with just 2 other students, I guess I shouldn't complain.  And it's about a 5 minute drive away so knowing me I'll probably not get up until 9 am in any case.....(I did mention I was lazy didn't I?)

Muddy_Walker

Managed to tidy up Christmas present bags into 1, put all the gift tags together, bin dust and manky bags and made a note in my calendar to go through Christmas deccies in late October - that way any I want to get rid of can go to the charity shop.
worn out now!

Millie2008_2

Would you mind if I joined pls? I used to be on MSE years ago, then childrearing and work occupied much of my time!

I could do with decluttering, but starting gently, as have been poorly (and in hospital) over Christmas
I'd like to go for 2023 items, which sounds crazy,  but I'll give it a go and count each item. I have already made a start with
1-12- 12 items of DD's clothes 
12-14 - 3 pairs of shoes 
15-25- books

all for a friend's children- I pass things on to her and they end up being worn/used by up to 4 children, which I figure is god for the planet!

This week, I have some Peppa Pig books to declutter, that have been sitting in our hall cupboard for about a year and a few more outgrown bits of DD's (she's back in school tomorrow, so I won't have her beady eyes watching me!

GrannyKate

Grotty cold weather today.  It was lovely to get up this morning to my clean and tidy kitchen - starts the day off well.  DS2 and I went to the antiques centre for a trip out after visiting Mr T this morning.  We resisted buying anything in the lovely cafe and DS2 is making chicken and leek pie from yellow sticker buys this morning at Mr T.  I took a shopping list and only bought the things on it plus some yellow sticker items.  I think we probably have enough food in freezer for this month and store cupboard items have been replenished.  Will try to only buy milk and bread. RL is troublesome but we are coping.  I did buy a butter dish today but that was the only thing I missed with my big family gathering at Christmas.  Confirms I didn't need all the stuff which went last year.  I broke my trifle bowl and I would like to replace my smallest meat plate but will keep looking out for bargains which I like. 

75 Random cull of bathroom cupboard and threw out handmade facemasks
76 OOD medicines 
77 Updated diaries and planners for next three months (complex childcare arrangements) - this was my 23 minute froglet today
78 Emptied tablecloth drawer before putting away the ones used at Christmas.  Still keeping most of the ones in there but a tray cloth with a hole went for use in window cleaning.  I have a sentimental attachment to some of these items but there is space for them in the drawer. 
79 Deleted lots of emails and some of my saved folders were culled