2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, the slow decluttering continues here. I am glad the article I linked is helping some people as I know it helped me get past some of the guilt and overwhelm at not making more progress. I found the decision overload bit particularly helpful. So far this week I have been out for tea twice and been to the match, all nice times and I am out again tonight and on Sunday. My birthday is actually on Friday and I am planning on staying in . 1 parcel has arrived from a friend that is very heavy but I won't open it until tomorrow but I already have the feeling it may be something that will be going straight to the cs . This is from the friend who gave me the metal wart hog . I might be wrong but it wouldn't surprise me if it is something similar
So in the past couple of days I have done 1 LDFPA, lr bin emptied, kitchen bin emptied, big union thing done which I am claiming as it took the best part of the day and I have also been working on the ACAS thing which has been sent off and now we wait as it can take up to 2 years. 
I have removed the insoles given to me by the orthotic man as they caused massive blisters on the balls of my feet and toes. I did say I thought that might happen when I tried them but he assured me they wouldn't. It is because they have a wedge under the heel and I only wear flats now but they acted like heels pushing my weight onto the front of the foot just like heels do. I will try them again when the blisters have healed but I am not hopeful and might have to revisit the orthotic man. My dsis has had some news from her blood tests and it seems she might have a problem with her thyroid, which does explain a few things, and she has had her ECG and has a phone consult with her Dr next Tuesday. I have told her she needs to update the family WhatsApp to keep dniece and dnephew in the look

@Vulpix I am not sure if I had anything like a family bible I could get rid of it, just the family history alone would stop me, maybe you could take a photo of the family information just in case Mr V's children change their mind about wanting to know. As for the trug could you turn it into a planter or something? Knowing your recycling/ upcycling skills I am betting you could do a fab job of it.

@Siebrie I feel your pain, I would go ballistic if anyone messed with my tool storage and I agree it is very frustrating to have to spend ages hunting for a tool to do a 5 minute job, hugs

Hugs to everyone who would like one
1314 LDFPA
1315 lr bin emptied
1316 kitchen bin emptied
1317 union thing and ACAS thing
Take care everyone
1317/2023

Gers

Just picking up about bibles - when my beloved DM died  she had two of them.  One appeared to be from a long-ago family friend though I didn't recognise the name. It had a dedication in it from a local church in Glasgow so I approached them - they agreed to take it and keep it in their library.

The other was German hymnal, again from many many years ago, so I offered it to the German speaking church in Glasgow (now moved to Edinburgh I think) who were delighted to have it and will have a use for it.

These moves meant that I didn't have any guilt about getting rid of them as I really couldn't have chucked them in a bin despite having no religious faith. 

Florenceem

Mr F took bags of stuff to the charity shop this morning so my hall is clear again. I stayed home as have a lot to do. Washing done and outside. Tidied in the kitchen.
I am starting to get stuff ready for Saturday's sale. I need to find the bag of baby knits that I was given - already found crochet cushions from my sister.
I expect that I will be locking up at SA tonight.

Siebrie

Husband brought about 20 old computer screens home from work, that he will fix and sell on (possibly in his African homeland). To store them, we needed to clear out the front part of the garage, where the blanket chest was stored. That is now back in our bedroom, hurray! I will air the contents on Saturday. This means that the temporary plastic box storing our spare bed linen can go from our bedroom. Let's see what I can use it for.... The bicycles that were halfway in the garage are now at the front, where we can much more easily get them in and out. (I like these 'chains' of clearing up)

All the old wood is almost gone, too. We need just 1 piece to fill a gap between the bathroom door and the wall, the rest can go.

Husband cut down the buddleia, we will remove the roots this weekend.

We are eating down the freezer; so many items have been in there for more than 2 years! I made a menu plan, and wrote it down, and showed my family members, and put it on the kitchen wall. And still, husband is asking for something different every night. I've not budged.

Florenceem

Siebrie - stand firm. I am blessed that Mr F just eats what I give him and never complains about the menu. Mr F knows that I hate waste as he does so we are in harmony.

short_bird

Afternoon, all!
Saw an interesting idea on one of those tiny videos on social media: a single box where repairs go. Idea being that once everyone has been trained to use that box, all the stitching/glue gunning etc can be tackled in one go. It's a thought, anyway. 

3412-3414: 150 emails deleted and/or unsubscribed.
3415-3431: 17GB data deleted
3432: shredding
3433: old router posted last week
3434-3473: items to bin
3474-3508: items to recycling.

Have booked for both the dentist and hygienist so that's deferred decision 442 resolved. Haven't been to either since 2020 so that'll be fun. 

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

Thursday I was up very late (12:30) 😔 It is an overcast day but DSis has one load of washing on the whirligig so fingers crossed that there is no rain 🤞

flamingo747, decluttering DS back to school definitely counts 😉 especially if is a boarding school 🤣 only joking 🙃 Sorry to hear that your finances took such a big hit at the beginning of the year & still haven’t recovered 😔 Where is the ‘money tree’ when you need it 😔 Great work decluttering your paperwork folder 👏 Everything crossed that the storm bypasses you 🤞Excellent work yesterday afternoon - you are definitely becoming an excellent declutterer 👏

Florenceem, that was a very late night for you & MrF on Tuesday 😔 followed by a very busy Wednesday 🤩 Sounds like Saturday’s table top sale is going to be a roaring success 🥳 Keeping everything crossed that you & MrF manage to get some rest over the next couple of days 🤞

stellata, 🥳 to a new vac 👏 Hopefully the novelty won’t wear off too soon 😉 I am keeping everything crossed that now the hospital have acknowledged that you are an urgent case, that you will get get a date in the next 6 weeks leaving time to recover before the end of the year 🤞 

Nice to see you bit_by_bit 👋 I see that your intermittent activity has kept your numbers ticking over very nicely 👏 & 52/100 bags has earned you another Gold Star ⭐️ Good luck clearing the guest room 🍀

Excellent work with the cleaning & decluttering flamingo747 👏 You should be very pleased with so much progress so quickly 😊

Thank you for the lovely compliment TC77 ☺️ What a lovely boost from the man in the P.O. & our American cousins - a little bit of kindness makes life seem so much brighter 🥹 Excellent decluttering but you need to update your number from 1547 to include no. of books (?) & whiteboards (?), yoga mat, 6 lots of packaging materials & dealing with a frog for DD1 😉

flamingo747, what an excellent start to Thursday’s decluttering 👏 I love the idea that a visit to the Tip can be counted as a “bonus birthday gift” 😊

2Scratters, what a lovely supportive post 😊 I think I might be co-opting you as a cheerleader 😉

flamingo747, it would seem that both you & Mr Flamingo are aware of your ‘problem area’ when it comes to finances, so hopefully you can start tweaking & get back on track 🤞 I have every confidence in you both 😊

GrannyKate, so pleased to hear that DGS4 is finally on the mend 😊 Excellent decluttering in between tending to his needs 👏 Very well done on reducing your supply of A4 notebooks 👏

Excellent decluttering vulpix 👏 A combination of boxes out & contents put away - even if not in their permanent homes just yet 😉 One small point - I think you might be counting backwards 😱 You had 981 on p691 😉 so you might want to revisit the 974 number 😉 Beautiful plants & I love the container - it is a work of art 😊 As to the family Bible is there a local museum that might take it? Maybe weenancy might have some ideas 🤔 

flamingo747, I agree that if I had a family Bible I would find it hard to let go 😉

Another couple of pages caught up but concentration is waning, so I will return later to finish the cheerleading 🙂 DH is in the garage zizzing up worm food, whilst DSis & I are about to watch Heartbeat 😉

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

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

Decluttering Target 2023: 2062/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £469.00

ajmoney

I kind of need/want to on a decluttering mission. In reality I don't think there is that much to do but I certainly have quite a lot of stuff in the house that I never do anything with so common sense suggests I should just get rid of it. The problem is I don't know where to start so am getting quite overwhelmed.

I am not going to start reading the the other 698 pages as it will just make me procrastinate even more. From past experience I know that just getting started and using a dot-to-dot approach works for me but if anyone can help me with some ways to make that getting started phase easier, I would really appreciate it.

flamingo747

@ajmoney you could look at the Konmari method? https://images.app.goo.gl/e1b5TrFpkfyg13Ji6

nannywindow

This week I've been busy helping DH recover our 4 dining room chairs as some of the leather had split and now the old covers have been binned, along with the small scraps and hundreds of staples and tacks 🙄. This afternoon I started to sort out the alcove in our bedroom which contains van stuff as I still had some things to put away. I managed to do something to my hip so I had to get some help from DH 😉 So out went a large halogen spot light and its box which has been recycled. Also binned an electric bug zapper and an electric plug in timer, both not working. An old thermal bag, a dry diffuser bottle and a wallpaper swatch which is no longer needed, have gone out too. I recycled the box from a new diffuser and an empty large coffee jar, although I did dither about keeping the jar for something 🤔but kicked myself up the rear put it in the recycling.
Vulpix is it your birthday ? Many happy returns of the day if it is and belated congrats for 15 years together.
I'm sure someone else has a birthday soon but for the life of me I can't remember who it is, anyway happy birthday to you 🎂.
Hugs to all the poorly ones and anyone struggling with day to day issues.
nan