2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Dfw38

Good afternoon, hope you are all safe and warm. This afternoons weather is a complete contrast to this mornings. Bright skies and a gentle wind now although still feels like winter! Been to the tip and got rid of general rubbish and a HUGE tuff-tub to the reuse part.
Bag 10 filled: worn out tea towels and cloths some unwanted toys and a twig tree (Ziggy keeps attacking it and I don't want to risk an eye injury) are among some of the things in this bag. Got a few ins today; a bright yellow jumper for me and some leggings for dd (one in bright yellow - one of her favourite colours) and some gold ribbon to put on the white t shirt we are using as a Roman outfit for 2nd dd (she does love a bit of sparkle!) Some pink felt to make a pig tail for 2nd dd as she will be going as a pig for world book day (planning ahead) and some white wool to make a pom pom rabbit tail for eldest dd who is going as the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. It isn't until March but if I get it now then I am prepared and in theory will not have to visit the craft shop for a while.... although I might have to make an Anglo Saxon outfit for eldest dd soon... 🤪

Crazycatlady2

Made cottage pie this morning so just needs to go in oven later. Did the massive pile of washing up

2 loads of washing done and I've reorganized the under stair cupboard and dealt with paper work I found yesterday.

I decided to swap my son's room and deep clean it and now have 2 black bags of toys and cloths to send to his school. 

Then I made myself stop as I don't want to overdo it 

nannywindow

Hello all, our DGC came for tea yesterday and ate everything they could lay their hands on, an extra large roast chicken dinner and a pudding, cakes and a cream egg each, all in the space of 2 hrs ! Well they are both tall and have to fill every inch I suppose ! At 12 and 14 they tower over little old me already 🤣 
Today I have decluttered Dad's rollator back to him as we recovered the seat and DH gave it an MOT. At least now I won't fall over the wheels, it's been in our spare bedroom since before xmas as we have all been ill. I tried to pin Dad down to get him to fill in a form for the audiologist but it would have been easier to keep a doz cats in an open box than keep him on track 😏 I filled in as much as I could myself but then it took me almost and hour to get him to answer y/n to about 20 questions, he kept going off on tangents. I have brought it back with me as it only needs his meds list adding (I have a copy as we order on line for him) and I wouldn't trust him to keep it safe until the appointment. I shall go with him if I don't have an appointment myself or DH, as he will be our driver.
I decluttered a milk carton from Dad's fridge and poured the gone off milk down the sink 🤢 I cleared away some cardboard that he had left on the kitchen worktops into the recycling, but the 3 empty ice cream tubs had to be left for Justin 🙄 Oh well I tried.
TC77 well done on crushing that monstrous frog 🎉
Keep on decluttering folks.
nan 

Brie

Half the kitchen that was decluttered to the drive has now been decluttered somewhere else.  Wondering when the rest will disappear.  Annoyingly there's lots of little styrofoam bits from the packaging scattered about which is something I really hate but I doubt anyone is going to go around and pick all these tiddly bits up.  If I'm in when they are here I might ask that they at least sweep the drive to ensure there are no errant nails or screws that might get nasty with the car tires.  

Wondering about also asking them to put aside the long bit of counter and the one cupboard that appears to be intact.  Someone at work asked me to let her know if we ended up with a couple of cupboards that could go in her greenhouse.  I also wonder about telling them to leave the dishwasher which is in decent shape but again when will I get round to finding someone who wants it....  And wondering if they have already taken the grill pan from the old oven.  New oven, surprisingly, didn't have one.

vulpix

Hi, Been to Leek today,market day and we HAVE to go out Wednesdays as our cleaner comes. Many bags of stuff taken to the chazzer from yesterdays clear out at craft club. 2 bags I have kept back for Rainbows and are being collected tonight. But... as we were in the charity shop, a jacket and a bnwt pair of white stuff trousers and new thermal long johns came home with us. I will go through my clothes again tomorrow to see what can go in exchange.

 Excitement this morning. A great commotion going on out the front. Growling,barking,screaming. It was a miniature french bull dog ,lead trailing trying to get at an injured duck under my neighbours car. Dog caught and taken to the vet. Duck left alone,neighbour informed. The vet phoned later to say dogs owner was on the way to collect him.

 Vx

pixtotts

I miss a week and we're 30 odd pages on >.< needless to say I haven't read back any further than the last couple. 

50 - 3 boxes of stuff - shelving I've nicked bits off, broken frames, dried flowers - to the bonfire trying to make my studio look presentable.
 
51 - sold my desk!  - I scored a bargain over Christmas I now have my dream desk legs (trestles), I've had my eye on them but couldn't justify the £40 price mark EACH bleh! I got 3 including the desk top, and a coffee table for £40 - kept my old desk top to make the dream desk with 2 trestles, the other trestle and coffee table have been combined to use as a tall table for wedding fayres, and sold the unwanted desk with my old desk legs for £20. I am so happy with the whole lot! 

I'm afraid that's all I have for you, I have got to my wardrobe now though!! Summer clothes and winter clothes have been bagged for storage, and lots more added to vinted *fingers crossed*, so I may do some trying on of inbetween season clothes. But I've booked 2 wedding fayres and still need to do my tax return so I can't see there being much more to add this week. 

I hope everyone else is being more productive! x

London_1

vulpix I stayed in Leek a few years ago in a cottage right next door to a pub.great place and I remember the market There was a local lady who did back then sell gorgeous ham sliced off a large joint and I remember brining about a lie and a half back home with me when I came home and freezing portions of it.back in those day my oldest friend and I would have a week away as her OH spent a lot of time flying around the world for his job.So every spring she would get a map of England out shut her eyes wave a pin about and stick it in the map.Where ever it landed we would hire a cottage for a week and go there and explotre the countryside we did this for about ten years.We saw and stayed in some great places The Derbyshire hills in a place called Hope,
Leek in Staffs,
Manchester just outside Stockport ,
Birmingham,
The Cotswolds,
Norfolk
Stratford on Avon
Dorchester in Dorset
Devon
Cornwall
and Liverpool

We met some lovely people and really enjoyed our wandering around our own country, and seeing and eating local foodstuff. Sadly she now doesn't drive anymore, and her OH has to look after her as she has onset Dementia  and barely knows who he, or I am

 I've known her for over 50 odd years and back in 2007 we toured the USA and had a great time. .Its a dreadful illness thats taken her away from all the things she used to love quilting ,knitting crocheting, reading  driving and travelling around  I miss the happy jolly person she has been, and to see a shell of her now is so sad . But I do have a lot of excellent memories of where we went, and how much fun we had meeting all these people. 

Today isn't so much decluttering as moving stuff around from the spare room to make room for the decorator who starts tomorrow. The old computer room is empty apart from two empty book cases and a filing cabinet which he is going to take the cabinet and one of the bookcases for me, but a lot of stuff went into the other spare room and I have to make enough room for him to do a small bit of renewal of the wooden covering thats enclosing the CH outlet. Good job he's slim as he will have to probably stand on the single bed to replace it but he may do the empty room first then I can shift some stuff back in there. 
Friday I pick my new car up at last, I've been waiting for it since September last year and its finally arrived so I will be off to Sittingbourne to pick that up and will make the decorator some lunch when I get home 

I'm looking forward to seeing being done and spruced up then I can get the carpet cleaners in to clean the carpet then fingers crossed I can market my house .My DD has another viewer looking at her house tomorrow  
Its all systems go once hers is under offer then 

  JackieO xx

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks + a weekly Jettison Junk in January

2. Sort out sleep patterns - target bed by 2:00 a.m. & up by 9:00 a.m 

3. Deal with mail & email on a daily basis

4. Don’t put it down, put it away + deal with mini tasks as soon as they are noticed e.g. refill olive oil pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc

5. Commence ‘Operation Frog Tickling’ using the acronym - I.R.I.S. (Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off) - One per quarter

6. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed 

Wednesday has been another dry mild day & with hardly a breeze. DH got up about 09:45 to have a bath & get dressed up (a little 😉) to meet a few of his former work colleagues for lunch. I was up & snuggled in my dressing gown before 11:00 intending to have a cuppa & then go out 😉 As DH was meeting up at 12:30 he left at 11:30 to make sure he wasn’t late 🙂 Meanwhile rather guiltily  I didn’t go out 😔 & instead finished reading Richard Osman’s 3rd book which was returned to DSis 16:20 😉 She has refused to give me book 4 😂 although having said that I am actually quite relieved - as absolutely nothing would get done (including going to bed) 😮‍💨 until I had finished reading it 🙊 To make up a little for not going out I have finished cleaning the hob - before & after photos are below. 

I must admit to being quite pleased although I haven’t quite worked out how to clean the ridge part of the rings 🤨 DH is not back yet so I will crack on with the cheerleading 

flamingo747, you have to leave yourself something to do 😉 

Excellent work dealing with your Frog list QueenJess 👏 Hope you have enjoyed your day off & that your batch cooking has been successful 😊 I just hope your freezer isn’t too full 😉 although I suppose you could donate a few bits to the buffet/dining car 🤔 “Everything feels relatively under control house wise, which makes me feel uncomfortable.  Not sure what to do with myself without constantly having stuff to do all the time” - I think we might need to get you into the TLC Carriage & have a little chat about how to relax - even if only for half an hour 😅 In a way it is quite fortunate that you are so busy at work 😉

TC77, now that your Huge Frog has finally been munched, I think you should take some time off to celebrate 🍾 & Liverpool_Anne is quite right about the “medal for perseverance” 😊  One medal 🏅 on its way & apologies for not thinking of it myself 😔 Before you know it, you will be back into the swing of the more mundane decluttering & will start to find lots of ‘treasures’ including the calculators 😊

Excellent result with your eBay sales ilovetea - that is what I call decluttering 👏 Perhaps you can count each session of email decluttering 🤔 

wishus, shame about the ear buds although how great is it that you had already saved the money for the replacements 👏😊

~Flowerpot~, sounds like you had a lovely weekend 😊 Now I am wondering if you had ‘gong baths’ or ‘sound baths’ 🤭 Congratulations on having a couple of rooms in Maintenance Mode 👏 & very wise to just keep a watchful eye to make sure they stay that way 😊 It was very brave to get all the photos out 😉 & in the end with grit & determination you have managed to do an excellent decluttering job on your first attempt 🥳 so a medal 🏅 is now winging its way to you 😊

Dfw38, that is so cute “mummy, can you huggle me?” 😊 Re the Richard Osman books - The Thursday Murder Club is the first one (they do need to be read in order 🙂) I admit I found it a little hard to get into at first but persevered & now having read books 2 & 3 (The Man Who Died Twice & The Bullet That Missed), I am used to his writing style & can hardly wait for DSis to let me have the 4th one 😉 The books are character driven with plenty of murder, mayhem & red herrings 😊 Shame that the washing machine couldn’t be repaired 😔 As to your decluttering, just remember that although you haven’t noticed a huge difference yet, if you carry on chipping away at the the clutter you will suddenly notice that your decluttering is paying dividends - you can locate items quicker & might even find a few ‘treasures’ 😊 Good luck with your decluttering plans 🍀

GrannyKate, always nice to receive monies owed especially when it is a surprise 😊 Good luck with the filing 🍀 Hope you enjoy your belated XMas lunch 😊

Will be back later to finish the cheerleading as I can’t concentrate due to wondering where DH is, as it is 18:00 & he left at 11:30 🤨 

Oops, forgot the photos 🙊

MrsSD: I AM A ⭐️ - 🥇 🎖️ 💐 🌟 🏅 💐 

DH Awards:

DSis Awards: 🏅 

Decluttering Target 2023: 147/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £5.00

flamingo747

My biggest frog has been started. The grass has grown madly over the the gravel, as well as invading the weed sheeting thing underneath.  If I owned the house it'd all be ripped up and put to grass, but not my choice. It has looked awful for ages, and has weighed on me heavily every day. I did 2 hours on it earlier,  still lots to do. I was filthy afterwards! +2 for hours spent on the king of the frogs

tibawo

So glad i found this thread… it’s nice to know others have similar issues and the reassurance that slow and steady is just as good as the odd wild decluttering outbursts that i get along the way!
Tonights tea consisted of a chicken concoction that was left in the freezer by DD who has gone back to Uni. We had it with jacket potato so all full up now! I’ve found some turkey mince but not sure what to do with that yet!
Been chipping away at the piles/tubs of stuff around the house - can’t say what but know they’ve shrunk! 
Am struggling get up in the mornings at the mo, hoping it’s the weather but probably could do with taking some vitamins just in case!

Keep going everyone- we’ve got this!