2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

oceanspirit

A frustrating day as things cropped up and needed to be dealt with, taking us away from what we had planned to do.  Meals were a victim of this as had to eat out of the freezer for speed instead of using fresh.

Did manage to delete some emails as these had crept up to nearly 300 new and unread over the past couple of months.  Now have this down to just over 200 which whilst still way too many, feels a little less overwhelming.  Tomorrow will be busy dealing with the next stage of a couple of frogs from last week - one should be completed and the other will need a couple of other stages before it can be fully ticked off the list.

EnergyShifter

Worked today & yesterday - half day tomorrow and I'm done for the week as not so many clients signing up at the moment.  I've booked another week off work at the end of the month as I hardly had anyone booked.  Things normally pick up in September so I'm not unduly concerned and am just enjoying the rest.  

Had a successful conversation with DS about his next steps now that he has been discharged. We appear to be on the same page on most. things & he has set some goals.  Here's hoping he sticks to the plan 🙏

Tasks:
0

IN (running total 142) 

0 

OUT (running total 503) 

504. Sports top

505. Scarf

Mrs SD - Thanks for my Gold Star  🤩

Well done on the weightloss and decluttering @Pennypincin

GrannyKate

Quick check in as off on my travels tomorrow.

1120 Washing machine cleaned 
1121 Garage cold tap replaced - so good when you can use local business.  Emailed firm at 7.30pm Monday, they rang me 5 minutes later and arranged to come Tuesday morning, arrived at 11am - done and dusted by 11.20am - I'll get bill in post.
1122 Cancelled attendance at a couple of meetings
1123 Wrote up homework for history group - now read out and recycled

See you soon

weenancyinAmerica

Mrs. S_D - have you tried using cookie sheets for your magnets, you can stack them and put up one or two at a time in the kitchen - and they look like they belong there. And you can still use the cookie sheet if you need to.

betasam

Hello,

Yesterday's areas to declutter were the tea/coffee cupboard and the tins shelf.

A very stained teapot that drips when you pour, ood chai latte mix, cream egg flavour loose tea (that must have been a gift), sweetener tablets, coffee bags, flavoured tea bags and refillable tea bags to the bin.

Twelve unused mugs put aside - some may be used as presents and the rest filled with hot chocolate etc. for the church Christmas Fair. If they don't get used then they can go to the charity shop.

Ood sweet chilli mayo, mackerel, marmite, tinned asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, soy sauce, tinned steak, generic Irish cream liqueur (which I think was bought for making brownies at least 5 years ago - brownies are not my forte) and stock to the bin.

Tinned tomatoes, hot dogs, refried beans, tinned mince and milkshake mix to the food bank.

Evaporated milk and tinned peas to my Mum.

I had a really busy day at work and had to use my lunch break to go for a blood test so I was too tired to make any more decisions last night. I read 3 magazines which will also go to Mum - magazines are an issue in this house, as are books and craft stuff and stationery. I was stressed on Saturday following a GP appointment so ordered 4 notebooks and some craft stuff that I don't need - that's arriving today.

I have joined Nancy's library - it's quite exciting receiving e-mails from California! E-book decluttering is another long-term goal as there were, at the last count, more than 4000 books on my Kindle (mostly free ones).

Thank you for my award MrsSD  - I have come down to a clear draining board again this morning!

Current total: 109

I hope everyone has a good day today. 

leftatthetrafficlights

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

Lovely to see you leftatthetrafficlights 👋 The EDT has so many carriages now so no wonder you couldn’t find your way to the computer room 😅 Well done on keeping up with your decluttering 👏 I have noticed how well you are doing with the Grocery Challenge (GC) so I am awarding you a medal 🏅Btw your list is on page 468 of this thread 🙂 If only I was as organised with my decluttering 🤣

Thank you @Mrs_Salad_Dodger!! 😁 I don't think I would ever have found it - this thread moves incredibly fast!! 😳 and thank you for my medal😊 I have ridiculous storecupboards and grow some veg so thankfully I can keep spends reasonably low 😉 

So, the list! I've updated below - new list will be formulated and posted after the weekend!! 

1) Declutter understair cupboard- I have several demijohns full of wine in there that I need to check out to see if they are drinkable or need to be tipped. There's a lot of other stuff in there that needs to be gone through too. Still not done - I will get the demijohns out today and put them out to settle so that we can check them at the weekend 

2) Declutter the wardrobe in the spare room - it's become a bit of a dumping ground for 'stuff' that hasn't got a home and for some of dd's stuff so I need to go through it with her and get rid of anything that serves no purpose 

3) Declutter the back garden - we have a couple of 'storage' areas in the garden which are in dire need of sorting out! I have a load of empty demijohns out there that need to be rehomed now that I no longer plan to make wine so I need to check if the charity shops locally will take them. Other stuff are leftover bits from a variety of different garden projects so I need to dump the detritus. Part done, still more to do!! 

4) Declutter the airing cupboard - not too much stuff in there but definitely some things that are no longer needed/wanted. Doing today!! 

5) Declutter the spare room - we changed a couple of our mattresses recently and the old ones are living in there now - I've arranged for them to be picked up by a local charity as they're in very good condition.

6) Declutter about 1.5 stone in weight!! 🙄🤦‍♀️ Ongoing project!! 😳

7) Organise my kitchen cupboards - I've got a few cupboards that are not working well for me, too much stuff and I'm losing track of what I have in so need to rearrange them 

8) Do a tip trip to get rid of broken electricals - my microwave and one of my TV's have broken over the past couple of weeks so they need to be disposed of

9) Do the repair jobs that I've been putting off around the house - there aren't too many but again I have just procrastinated constantly!! I need to mooch around with dh at the weekend and get a bit more specific about the repair jobs around the house - having it so vague means that I ignore what needs to be done!! 🤦‍♀️

Siebrie

I had a long weekend off (Belgium; 15 August is Mary Ascension, so my company closed 14 August as well). I discussed with dds what we would do, and they didn't want to go anywhere other than either too expensive or too far away, so we stayed home. I had a list of tasks to finish, but as a list wasn't very compelling to dds, I put all the chores on individual post-it notes and filled the kitchen table with those. Every time a task was finished, the person who did so, removed the post-it. There were some easy wins in there to boost morale ('put guinea pigs in outside hutch' - that's something we do every day, so the task was there 4 times).

DD2 wanted to move the furniture in her bedroom, mainly to have less hiding spaces for spiders. DD1 decided to help her. They went through all her clothes and threw out more than half! Too small, don't like, 'this will get you bullied' (I hate that that was a criterium, but dd1 was trying to help dd2). Lots of toys, make-up, old crafts; all gone (recycled to their proper destinations, of course). We had to dismantle the bed completely - including unscrewing all the slats - to move the bed from the mezzanine to the base room; all compliments to be addressed to dd1! We can breathe again in that room!

charlies_tribe

Good morning all. Not sure where this week has gone! The holidays are flying past.

I have passed the 2023 mark! But I think I might go through my list and take off all the digital decluttering (it's all highlighted on my sheet so shouldn't be hard) and keep the physical/digital separate. I'd originally added them as didn't think I'd get anywhere near 2023.

Neice was at MIL again this week so 4 bags of clothes taken over to her for CS. The other day I removed some of the boys lego as the bag was dropping to bits, 3 hours! To remove all the bits over to a storage box leaving anything that wasn't lego behind. Millions of tiny pieces moved one at a time to leave all the dog hair /dust/fluff in the deteriorated box.

I have a few frogs that need completing this week, a report for DD2, CB/TC renewal for DS2, send off some old notes to the bank, change DD3s euros back and open Bank accounts for the DC. All been waiting for quite a while but shouldn't take long at all. We tried to do the bank accounts last year but the girls had to go in to sign and the bank is only open mon-Fri 9-3 so impossible when they are at school.

Also need a very good sort through/clean and tidy before we go away as MIL will be coming to sort out the dogs.

Right off to put some washing out and make another cup of tea.

1791-2012 2210 photos deleted
2013-2022 100 videos deleted
2023 Hand warmer
2024 Paint brush
2025 Wash capsules, bought for a holiday Washing machine and 6 just been sat on the shelf for about 4 years, used up and bag thrown
2026-2075 50 clothing items
2076-2095 20 clothing items
2096-2097 2 blankets
2098-2100 3 coats
2101-2108 8 underware items binned
2109-2112 Soda stream +3 bottles
2113-2114 2 plastic bowls
2115-2116 2 foil trays
2117 Fabric lego bag- deteriorated
2118 Toys/rubbish/fur from lego bag

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

I did tackle a frog yesterday 🥳 Phoned my bank - paid credit card bill & checked my accounts then tackled the frog - set up details for a new payee with a Test Payment of €50. The security questions went on forever - took about 25 minutes. DH texted my DB & asked for confirmation when received. This was the frog from two weeks ago, which is now progressing 🥳 Once confirmation received from DB I will be able to complete the final stage. I then spent nearly an hour & a half updating my paper accounts - I had made a careless mistake in my arithmetic which took me about an hour to discover 😔😔 Dealt with today’s mail. Dinner was pork steaks, a tin of new potatoes (BBD April 2021), farm shop cauliflower, green beans from freezer & a small amount of fried red pepper & spring onions. Wudupa.

Wednesday woke up 08:45, put on DH’s dressing gown & made myself a cuppa. The sun is shining & it feels quite warm already even though it is only 18C 🙂 

1807 - 1808 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans - recycled 

1809 - 1811 Kitchen & office detritus, uu biro - binned 

Not sure what today’s plans are so will go straight into cheerleading 😉

Congratulations on the weight loss Pennypincin 🥳 In celebration of such great decluttering of lbs (& clothing) a Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way 😊

Crazycatlady2, so sorry to hear that your mum has tested positive for Covid 😔 Fingers crossed that your 2 eldest will stay negative & will be able to care for their granny 🤞not quite a holiday for them or you 😔 Keeping everything crossed that you stay Covid free 🤞

~FlowerPot~ well done on ousting the large toad 👏  Both the medal & the Gold Star have been well earned - so please wear with pride 😊 Fingers crossed that you declutter the snake 🤞 

oceanspirit, sorry to hear about your ‘frustrating day’ 😔 so I am crossing my fingers that today is a better day & that the frogs that are in your sights can be despatched mercilessly 🤞😉 

EnergyShifter, keeping up the good work of more out than in 👏 Fingers crossed that the weather is fine at the end of the month so that you can enjoy your week off 🤞 Pleased to hear that DS is making plans & that you are still offering him your support (if needed) 😊 

GrannyKate, now that is what I call service 🥳 Hope you have a lovely time on your travels 😊 & we will see you when you return 👋

weenancy, thanks for such a lovely idea - not something I would ever have thought of 🤔 However it did set me to thinking a bit harder ……….. & I wondered if there is such a thing as magnetic paint 🤔 and yes there is 🥳 

Excellent decluttering betasam 👏 Already past 100 - you are definitely on a roll 😊 How lovely that you have joined weenancy’s library 😊 I would join BUT I am strictly an old fashioned reader - ebooks are just not my ‘thing’ 😉 Although it would be exciting to receive emails from California 😊 Fingers crossed that your blood test results are OK 🤞 In this strange world of decluttering, a clear draining board is a great way to measure success 👏 

You are most welcome leftatthetrafficlights 😊 Excellent work on your list - almost half fully done 👏 & 4 of the remaining 5 already started 🤩 You have reminded me how beneficial it is to set out goals for the year 😊 (I never did write my list for the year 😔) Just an idea re the demijohns - perhaps you could list on one of the free sites if you have no joy with the CS 🤔 

Siebrie what a brilliant idea 🥳 worthy of a medal 🏅 which is on its way 🙂 So impressed by both your daughters 😊 I see that the excitement of having the bed on the mezzanine has now faded 😉 For doing such sterling decluttering I am awarding each of them their own Gold Star ⭐️ ⭐️ -they now have 2 Gold Stars each 👏 Not to leave you out 😉 there is also a Gold Star ⭐️ for supervising the big move 👏 DD1 is also being awarded a halo 😇 because sad & unfair as it is her comment “this will get you bullied” was said with love 💕 

Congratulations on hitting & passing your target charlies_tribe 👏 One Gold Star ⭐️ on its way 🥳 Very impressive work sorting out the Lego 👏 that task alone has earned you a medal 🏅 Good luck getting all your frogs sorted this week especially opening the bank accounts for your DC 🍀 Hope you have a lovely break & that the weather is kind 🤞

DH finally up (11:15). Sun is still shining & temperature now 22C 😊 I will deal with today’s mail & then get dressed. Still not sure what my plan is for today but something will get done 🤞😉

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

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

Decluttering Target 2023: 1811/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £299.00

vulpix

Hi folks. 

We are in Nottingham, visiting step son, step daughter and Dd2. We have to go out a lot to escape the dust and noise in the house. We are also printing off stuff for our holiday. Our printer is buried in the studio currently. 

 I have been to the Sally Army chazzer. Got an outrageous clutch bag with a chameleon on it,  a Paul Costello purse and a Jane Norman clutch bag all for £3. Will use and donate after our holiday  Didn’t need any of em but £3 to charity  
 

I have eaten a frog.it has only been croaking since February. I have phoned the GP surgery and sorted my repeat prescription. It took seconds!

 I enjoy reading about all your adventures. Thank you. Vx