2023 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD

flamingo747

Weekend was survived! My god it was cold in Oxford yesterday at 7am. We were freezing until about 11am when it was a bit milder.  Definitely autumn not summer. Decluttered rubbish from the trip +1.

I have 3 loads of washing to do today, much of which needs to be resolved and repacked for 2nd trip on Friday never had to pack fir 4 nights away (we're homebodies), what are your top tips? One suitcase, 3 hand luggage bags maximum. 2 adults and an 11 year old 

Siebrie

I was filling in my tax forms online last night, and got kicked out, because the Ministry of Finance of Belgium was suffering a huge hack-attack! Let's hope I can get back onto the website before midnight 18 October. (I received a small one-time pension payout in 2021 from The Netherlands, reason for the Belgian government to give me until 18 October this year; yeah, I don't know either.) So, 1 frog, nog quite dealt with.

daisy_1571

flamingo747 said:

Weekend was survived! My god it was cold in Oxford yesterday at 7am. We were freezing until about 11am when it was a bit milder.  Definitely autumn not summer. Decluttered rubbish from the trip +1.

I have 3 loads of washing to do today, much of which needs to be resolved and repacked for 2nd trip on Friday never had to pack fir 4 nights away (we're homebodies), what are your top tips? One suitcase, 3 hand luggage bags maximum. 2 adults and an 11 year old 

Flamingo

We went to florida for a fortnight with only hand luggage (we came back with more than that, ahem, but could have managed with what we had. We had planned to shop whilst there).  It was fantastic getting off plane and just walking straight through to car rental rather than joining the hordes round the suitcase conveyor belt. 😃

But my top tip is for each of you to think what you are doing each of the 4 days. Lay out your clothes for that day, pants socks, top and pack them into a sandwich bag.  Write the day on outside.   If you are taking spare pants or socks put them in a bag marked spare.  You'll get these bags in your carry on and leave the suitcase at home.  Depending on what you are doing of course, the skirt or trousers you wear to travel plus one other skirt or trousers should be fine for such a short trip.   If you are going for wedding or some occasion you will need one extra outfit but resist the temptation to take extra choices, make your choice now.  Same with shoes, my friend has gone away adamant she needs a different pair for every day she's away!  Huge bag filled with 14 pairs shoes and flip flops, extra choices, items that only match as single outfits, loads of products that could have been bought easily locally etc etc.  

If you are really trying to limit your stuff i've travelled in oversized t shirt that doubles as nightie.   Generally its easier in a hot country.  We knew we would have bathroom and balcony so taking lightweight stuff we knew we'd get it hand-washed and dried easily.  We took a twisted line that you can stretch out and clothes either drape over it or you can push them through the twists instead of using pegs.

Limit stuff like shampoo, soap etc as that can mount up.  1 bar can do both if you search Internet for shampoo/body wash or take v small decanted bottles.   We didn't take that abroad, we bought shampoo and soap once we arrived in florida, enough to do the 2 of us the fortnight, saves weight, space and airport hassle.   

Florenceem

Mr F insisted upon going to Church yesterday even though he was really poorly with the cold he caught from me.
As soon as I arrived at Church - I was asked to lead the prayers for Gaza/Israel - I did take a glass of water with me onto the platform as I still have remains of the cold/cough.
There was a meeting at another SA corps in the afternoon - I went but Mr F stayed home.
Much colder here - I put the heating on last night for the first time - it was 17 in my craft room.
Today Mr F was going to distribute posters in town but has stayed indoors.
There is a meeting tonight at SA - I am going but Mr F is not.

TC77

Popped out at lunch with CS bag and decided have to add more or I will never be out of my muddle. Added a dress and book, previously adding another lampshade and few other things. Just finished work and trying to motivate myself to eat some frogs. Friend invited me away later this month but always have work and sorting my house out - if I can get on with things quicker maybe I can be saying yes in 2024 to more things!

Hopefully will report back on nos and add some more things.

Mrs SD I have been generous with counting at times so content with where I am but conscious need to do more and faster!

short_bird

3670-3677: 250 emails and 3 GB data
3678-3681: 4 bags of rubbish and recycling to the downstairs bins
3682-3731: items to bin bags and recycling.

Deferred decisions tackled: 12 items sold and 12 lots of packaging used for a new total of 467.

Soontobeoap

I cant keep up with this train, it races along so quickly. 

Well done everyone for all of your decluttering, especially tbose who are doing more than one house!

Yesterday DH decided that he needed to check his trousers to see if he needed more. (shorts weather is well and truly over). I seized  the opportunity and offered to help! Told him the best way was to take everything out of his wardrobes and only put back what he would wear. Result was that he can now see what he has, one big bag is going to charity shop and another big bag to clothing bank. DH did a little head scratching afterwards and left the room saying "  I had only intended sorting trousers!" 🤣 I happily salvaged a load of hangers for my own clothes and rejoiced in the fact that I had finally got him to sort his clothes without having to nag.

Crafting for christmas is well underway. Craft club managed to decorate 10 christmas boots made out of lemonade bottles to fill with sweets. This has cleared my craft shed of one bag of bottles, also cleared a big bag of pine cones to community club for the wreath making class.

Count this week is 4 bags. 

oceanspirit

More emails sorted today.  Need to deal with 3 frogs tomorrow - can't put them off any longer.

QueenJess

I automatically asked DS to tidy his room before bed and he looked at me oddly.  I looked around and realised there wasn't a single thing on the floor and all the sides were clear!  So apparently I'm mainly on top of the house again (although still some bits and pieces to sort out). Maybe I'll find time to get back to photos and the digital frog list at some point...

Just a couple of things to declare for today:

Digital:
33,617-33,619 - photos deleted

Physical:
33,620-33,621 - kids toys (charity bag)
33,622 - socks (textile recycling)

Edit: Silly me.. forgot the big effort I made earlier to use stuff up before going on holiday next week.  It was mostly fresh veg, but some more freezer stuff gone:

33,623-33,624 freezer overstock used up

33,625 - food cupboard overstock used up

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 

Monday was a dry, chilly day 🥶 I didn’t get up until 12:30 as I was so warm in bed 😬 DH got up half an hour later 🙊 I spent the early afternoon dealing with my mail & other less urgent paperwork. DH & I finished off the hm soup & hm bread. Then DH braved the garage & zizzed peelings etc for worm food. He is also nipped out to pick up a bag of potatoes & a sliced loaf + posted letters & cards. Dinner was chicken fried in butter with boiled potatoes, carrots & peas. Wudupa.

2154 - 2157 Kitchen recycling, 2 newspapers, drinks cans - recycled 

2158 Kitchen detritus binned

Excellent decluttering of tasks florianatwobob 👏 Pleased to hear that the sun shone on you & DSis all day Saturday 😊 Hope you didn’t spend too much 😉

You are very welcome TC77 😊 Good luck with both work & dealing with frogs 🍀 Home made soup sounds like a good idea - internal heating + eating properly 😉

You are very welcome oceanspirit 😊 Man flu - that old chestnut 😉 I take it that OH is ‘suffering’ no more than a heavy cold 😅 Great work decluttering electronic clutter 👏 & good luck with the rest of the emails 🍀

flamingo747, 😱 to braving the cold at 7:00 a.m. 🥶 Hope Mr Flamingo did manage to complete his half marathon & raise lots of ££££s 🤞 Good luck with the washing & drying 🍀 I see a few people have made recommendations of what & how to pack for your trip 😊 My top tip is to make sure that the suitcase isn’t overweight - excess baggage charges are crippling 😥 

Siebrie, hope everything is running properly now & that you get your tax form completed in time 🤞Although I would hope that an extension will be granted 🤨 I did make the mistake of logging onto a website called KON Briefing - the list of cyber attacks is endless & presumably these are just the ones reported - quite terrifying 😳 

daisy_1571, excellent packing tips for flamingo747 👏 My favourite tip was packing each day’s clothes in separate bags - what a great idea 🥳 I like it so much that I am awarding you a medal 🏅 

Florenceem, a busy Sunday 🤩 Sorry to hear that MrF is poorly - sending get well wishes for a speedy recovery 🙂 Also hoping that you can see off the last of your cold 🤞

Excellent decluttering TC77 👏 Good luck dealing with the frogs 🍀 What a lovely thing to look forward to - being able to say ‘yes’ to more invites in 2024 😊 Currently keeping my fingers crossed that new staff will be recruited & trained quickly so that work isn’t so onerous 🤞

Excellent decluttering short_bird 👏

Excellent work on your crafting Soontobeoap 👏 It sounds like your DH didn’t know what hit him 🤣 that will teach him to be careful what he decides 🤣 However, I am very, very impressed at your quick thinking & the very successful decluttering of DH’s wardrobe 🥳👏 I am awarding you & DH a Gold Star ⭐️⭐️ each - well done 👏

Good work oceanspirit 👏 Good luck dealing with the frogs 🍀

QueenJess, “I automatically asked DS to tidy his room before bed and he looked at me oddly.  I looked around and realised there wasn't a single thing on the floor and all the sides were clear!” that did make me smile 😊 One medal 🏅 for DS 👏 Great decluttering especially using up food sticks before your holiday 👏 Hopefully you are getting some wiggle room in the freezer 🤞

All caught up so am off to bed 🛌 

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

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

Decluttering Target 2023: 2158/2023

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £469.00