2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

weenancyinAmerica

@London_1 - so wonderful about DD's new job. Let the movers take care of whatever you can't pack and take  it easy. 
@vulpix - Loved staying in Bury. Had the best fish and chips there. Still remember going up the two flights of stairs to the Archives. Loved visiting the public library. Seems the public library has the indexes to the records but the Archives has the records. Best record though that we used was the bank records held by the Archives. Anyone doing fairly recently (last 100 years) research there would be wise to look for these wherever the ancestors lived. Seems they had to write more information on the checks than we do now to prove it was really them (mother's maiden name, birth date and place in many cases). Have solved many research problems using these bank records both there and here in the United States.
Are we continuing on to Calgary from Banff? One of my family reunions was in Red Deer - halfway between Calgary and Edmonton, only a couple of hours from Banff. Loved the instructions for getting there- follow the road until you are past the paved road and the gravel road. When you are on the dirt road, keep your eye out for the Community Center. Do hope they have paved the road out further. I stayed at the best bed and breakfast there and drove back and forth rather than camping out like most of the relatives. Turned out they locked the Community Center at night - and the only sanitary facilities were they ones they created themselves - and it rained for four nights. The owner of the bed and breakfast served snacks in the evening and a wonderful breakfast, I got to watch Canadian TV, and had a great room for sleeping. I prefer indoor plumbing. It was the right choice to drive back and forth to the reunion! Even with the muddy road to get back there it was worth it - I was driving a rental car. After I read the instructions to get there, I took out the extra insurance to cover possible road damage, etc. and was glad I did. 
     

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

Of course having got up so late I am now wide awake 😔 So I am having a short burst of cheerleading whilst I have my last hot drink 

weenancy, wow you were busy on Thursday 🤩 So much time spent in medical establishments 😔 Just wondering if that happens often - medical centres suddenly not accepting someone’s medical insurance? Sounds like a bit of a nightmare 😞 Sorry to hear about the pinched nerves in your elbow & back 😔 Hopefully the therapy visits will start soon & be successful in freeing the trapped nerve in your back 🙏 I see that you have another couple of busy days planned. Please, please be careful with your back 🙏 I love reading about all your travels weenancy & I seem to remember that you always travelled light 😊 

Liverpool_Anne, sorry to hear that you have been feeling under the weather 🤧 so I hope you are making use of the TLC Carriage & are enjoying the Canada trip 😊 Hopefully now that you have an appointment with your bank advisor you will soon be able to start  work on the kitchen 🤞 Not quite sure what your OH was up to bringing in more items for the kitchen 🤷‍♀️ maybe forgot that you want the kitchen renovated 🤔😉

GrannyKate, you managed far more than I did on Thursday 👏 Great news that the car’s sojourn in the garage was cheaper than expected 🥳 Beautiful free flowers 🥳 By the way I really like your garden pots - very attractive 😻 

Off to bed now as I am starting to nod off 😮‍💨 Hope everyone has a good night’s sleep 😴 Cwtches all round 🤗 Looking forward to visiting the wolf sanctuary  & then we will be heading to Calgary 😊

MrsSD: I AM A ⭐️ - 🥇 🎖️ 💐 🌟 🏅 💐 🎖️ 💐 ⭐️ 💐 💐 🥇 ⭐️ 

DH Awards: IS A 💎🏅 🌟 🥰 🏅 

DSis Awards: 🏅 💐 💐 🤗 ⭐️ 

Decluttering Target 2023: 712/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £116.85

QueenJess

It sounds like you are on Canadian time there @Mrs_Salad_Dodger .  Thanks very much for my medal; I am wearing it with pride in my signature.

Been awol again as work continues to be crazy and will be for the next few weeks yet.  Currently fighting off a cold from the kids, which is really not what I need right now.

I've decided to continue my mini decluttering challenge to May and will aim to declutter 25 things from the kitchen.  It definitely is getting better, but there is more to do and some rearranging needed and I want to keep up a bit of momentum there.

My decluttering numbers from this week:

Digital:
34 - photos deleted
1 - document deleted
3 - email unsubscribed from
2 - notes deleted

Physical:
1 - recipe card not needed (recycled)
6 - paper, reused then recycled
2 - kitchen baking overstock used up

New total = 7,016

May mini kitchen decluttering challenge = 3/25

oceanspirit

A pair of wooden salad servers binned as they were disintegrating. Won't replace them as we never used them. Cleaned out the whole drawer and have my eye on a couple of other things that can go if we don't use them soon.

It would be great if we could go on Orient Express. They insist on passengers wearing their best clothes at all times so we'll all get a chance to dive into our wardrobes and use the things we have saved for best and never usually wear.  That's not the only reason to go though, lol.

Pennypincin

I'm rehoming some caffeine free coffee alternative I'm not sure of and 2 packs of cereal bars I don't like today.
A jacket I bought for £1 recently I'm not sure on, plus a set of curtains that I was given are now in the cs bag.

Florenceem

vulpix- I have only been to Bury market once - that yarn stall - had to buy a suitcase to bring all my buys home.
London_1 - I had a back ache yesterday - roll on warm weather for our bones.
Mrs_Salad_Dodger - you having to replace stuff for a project will not encourage me with decluttering craft supplies - I must be brave!
We had 8 crates of food from M & S to sort last night - good job we have a commercial size fridge and 3 freezers at SA.
Made sure the house was secure last night and got Mr F to bed although it took ages.
Off to Church soon.

GrannyKate

I am sure I went to a fantastic chocolate place in Bury many years ago but may not be there now.  Mrs SD those garden pots are actually very light - not sure what they are made of but they don't seem to have faded like other 'plastic' pots.  I use them for larger herbs - I have two square and two round ones.  There appear to be potatoes sprouting in the mint pot. 

vulpix

 London 1, both my Mum and I are allergic to Morphine too, I was given it after spinal surgery and my face swelled so much that my eyes were slits! I was also very itchy and had a banging head. My Mum had it when she had her knee replaced. When I questioned the nurse as to why Mum was confused his reply was, we assumed she had dementia because of her age !!!!!!!

 I would Love to do the Orient express wearing fancy clothes. I "never" have anything to wear day to day but could be ready for a ball at the drop of a hat. I was born into the wrong age. I could fit in at Downton no problem, changing for dinner,yep.  I think our train driver would leave the bullet train for dust when we move on to Japan.

 Unfortunately I will never have the satisfaction of researching my family tree. Mum and Dad spent happy years visiting churches and record offices for both sides. Mum's family were French lace makers and Dad's were all farmers. One quite a successful bigamist, and he a church warden too. My youngest Nephew has all the paperwork if anyone were to want to look at it. He has all my Grandad's war medals and stuff as he is the only one interested.

 Ocean Spirit, you reminded me that I binned a wooden spatula the other day. I have no idea why I had it so long when I only ever use stainless steel spatulas. I certainly don't remember buying it so it was almost antique!

 Mr V accidentally left his tea bags out at the radio station and they got used up. He is finally going to take the box of jaffa cake tea bags and leave them at work for people to use. Result.
 I am finding it very warm at night recently. I bought myself a good looking black fan for my bedside table last year. It is lovely as an ornament and feeble as a fan. I want any fan of mine to produce me an arctic blast. There is an ugly fan in the shed that Mr V takes to gigs. I will use that and get rid of the pretty but useless fan.

 Now, off to Mother's to pack up the stuff from the big cupboard. A lot for the bin I fear. It's the sort of stuff people have under the sink. Stuff you buy for a certain job then throw it away 20 years later after using it once.

 Did I tell you about our freebee? Mr V went to Tescs and was given about 10 boxes. In one of them was a pack of celery,still in date. Could he score something we actually like next time!

 Vx

 

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

Sunday: Good morning from a bright & sunny London 😊 Woke up at 08:00 for a bathroom visit & went back to bed but manage to wake again at 10:00 for another bathroom visit so got up 😉 I have my first cuppa & am waiting patiently for sunrise in Banff which is due at 06:06 local time. Husky sledding is booked for 10:00 & for those of you who are doing the 4 hour session, the EDT will be leaving at 15:00 local time for the trip to Calgary. If you are only partaking of a short session of husky sledding there are a group of us going to the Wolfdog Sanctuary 🙂 From Calgary we travel overnight to the NorthWest Territories & will wake up in Yellowknife to bright sunshine on Monday, will make our way across to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory & then back down to Prince Rupert & into Vancouver. Tuesday night we will be travelling overnight & will wake up in Seattle, Washington. From there we will zigzag visiting Oregon, Idaho, Utah,Nevada & into California to pick up weenancy before heading back through Oregon & Washington back into Canada. 

Now that I have worked out our travel plans I will start the cheerleading 😅

London_1, you did have an early start yesterday 🤩 Bags of donations dropped off at 07:30 👏 Well done on clearing another kitchen cupboard 👏 & I see that DGS Ben is helping you today by decluttering more stuff to the Tip 🥳 I hope the weather stays fine for his visit to The Sweeps Festival 🤞Congratulations to your DD on getting what sounds like a ‘dream job’ 🥳 No wonder she is walking on air 😊

Brie, that sounds idyllic - a family farm 10 miles from Niagara 🤩

Muddy_Walker, beautiful flowers - very classy & set off perfectly in that vase 😻

Reminds me that I have a lovely picture of the woodpecker- see below 

Florenceem, sorry to hear that MrF is still struggling 😔 Hopefully the doctor will be able to work out what is going on & will put a treatment plan in place 🙏

London_1, I am not surprised you ran out of steam after such an early start. Although I am impressed at how much more you got done yesterday afternoon 👏 At the rate you are going you will soon be sitting down surrounded by packed boxes & the movers will barely have to do anything other than load the van 😉 

Excellent decluttering GrannyKate 👏 Nothing for it but to go back & have another drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway 😉 

Lovely cheerleading post vulpix 😊 I had to smile at your non-typo 😄 More excellent decluttering at your Mother’s house 👏 Hopefully all your hard work will be reflected in the estate agent’s valuation on Wednesday 🙏 I would be so tempted by the Wool Stall that I would probably have to rent a van 🤣 Ashamed to say that I still haven’t been out in the car 😔 Good luck in your hunt for a more reasonably priced lampshade 🍀 Is the ‘casualties training’ indoors or outdoors? If outdoors I hope you have dry weather 🤞 Another string to your bow - learning how to do realistic makeup 😊 Please let us know when you get your first gig on Casualty as a make up artist 😉

I have caught up a bit more but am flagging 😪 So will post & run (maybe saunter would be more like it 😂) The embroidery starter kit has just been delivered so I will be googling embroidery stitches this afternoon & having a little practise. Yet another excuse not to declutter 😉

MrsSD: I AM A ⭐️ - 🥇 🎖️ 💐 🌟 🏅 💐 🎖️ 💐 ⭐️ 💐 💐 🥇 ⭐️ 

DH Awards: IS A 💎🏅 🌟 🥰 🏅 

DSis Awards: 🏅 💐 💐 🤗 ⭐️ 

Decluttering Target 2023: 712/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £116.85

Muddy_Walker

Awesome travel plans MrsSD! And thank you for my star.

Having a rest/reset day today - the dogs have no problem with this as they are curled up beside me 🥰