2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Floss

Moorviews said:

... The cleaning products that I have inherited from other people are going down nicely as I have stopped buying any, preferring natural alternatives. I am unfortunately very likely to get another load donated to me in the near future. I must find a willing recipient...

I give any cleaning stuff donated to me to my local foodbank, I'm like you going down the natural route.

EnergyShifter

A productive day today - helped by the fact that the rain stopped me lying out in the garden all afternoon.

Tasks:

Caught up with some life admin / emails etc
Had a Zoom with a friend re: a job application
One load of washing (almost caught up)
Ordered shelves and mirror for bathroom.
Ordered new litter tray.
Study:  Did reflections for Discipleship course & reading for Supervision course

Decluttering:  small set of storage drawers, too small shorts & Unwanted gift DS


Off to Ikea to pick up bathroom shelves - I'll see you on the other side..... (I hope ) 

Siebre - 🤗

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks + a weekly Mini Mission in May

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

So Sunday afternoon I finally unpacked our travel bags, put away unused clothing, wash bag, shoes etc & sorted out wash loads. After the midday downpour the skies cleared & the sun came out with a very stiff breeze. First load is washed & on the whirligig + 2nd load in. DH watched all his races - quite boring apparently. He is now outside trimming our front hedge & next door’s as well. Although he had a long chat with neighbour J just as he was getting started 😉 The first load of washing was almost dry so I took it off the whirligig & replaced it with the second load of washing. Dry & breezy so perfect drying weather & the rain held off until 19:00 🙂 when I had to dash out & bring the 2nd load back in as it was already partially dry & I didn’t want it to get soaked 😉 Third load was a towelling dressing gown & tea towels. Finished off the drying in the td & everything is now folded & ready to put away. DH & DSis had the 2nd half of last nights Chinese & I had a salad with chilli salmon. Wudupa

828 - 834 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, old calendar, 4 takeaway boxes + lids - recycled 

835 - 836 Kitchen detritus, pair of DH’s Sunday socks - binned 

Monday: up late. Dry & quite bright but only 16C - there is some sunshine 😊 DH pottered about in the back garden & is now out front having done a quick strim of some overgrown areas. (I forgot to mention that the last of ndn’s rubbish bags & the mattress etc were all picked up on Thursday by a man in a white van 🥳) DH is now busy out in the front garden. He strimmed the area in front of ndn’s front door only to discover that white van man had ‘forgotten’ to take several long metal poles 😔 Currently DH is using the weed remover on the kerbside in front of our house. He has had the company of a robin which has been following him around & even hopped up onto the front doorstep to greet me when I popped out 😊 I felt a bit guilty about DH working so I joined him out front. Whilst he was cutting the metal poles down to a more manageable size I used the weed remover on a section of our footpath. Once the poles were cut & bagged, DH got the stepladder & cleared the lower guttering on next door’s house. We now have a carrier bag of silt to be added to the compost bin. We swept up the mess, tidied away all the tools & then retired indoors just before the heavens opened. Now very dark at 14:40 still pouring & I can hear rumbles of thunder 😔 

Lovely post dND 😊 Not quite sure that you have quite understood the concept of a day off 😅 Thanks for the update on the renovations just a shame that your electricians are dropping like flies 🙊 There is something about the sound of tractors that is rather calming - so not surprised that you miss them 😉 Very pleased that you can escape the chaos inside by retiring to the sanctuary of your garden 😊 Great work filling the bins & keeping clutter out 👏 I definitely don’t blame you for not wanting pampas grass in your car - it would probably take 10 years of weekly vacuuming before you managed to get all the bits out 😱 Please be careful in the garden 🙏 the metal detector sounds like a great idea so I hope you managed to find it 🤞 I hope you are having better weather today & are enjoying the peace & quiet of no workmen 😊

Excellent decluttering QueenJess 👏 Your DS is also doing really well 👏 Junior Declutterer of the Year has a nice ring to it 😊 So very close to 5 figures & less than 5/12ths through the year 🤩 A quick thought about the wrapping paper - if it is still in good condition perhaps you could offer it on a buy nothing site 🤔 The granola is delicious 🤤 

vulpix, great work trying on all your clothes 👏 Lovely picture of Fluffy guarding bit_by_bit’s tree 😊

Brie, good decluttering by both you & OH 👏 I hope OH is OK as it must be quite upsetting to still be receiving post for his mum 😔

Florenceem, very pleased to hear that your builder friend has sorted out the issue with your roof 😊 Another busy weekend for you & well done on raising so much money from the table top sale 👏 

Excellent decluttering QueenJess & well done on reaching 10,000+👏One Gold Star ⭐️ on its way. Good luck on reaching your next target 🍀

Excellent decluttering TC77 👏 I have noted your new number of 800 - which seems in line with previous numbers 😊 Shame that you have been unable to sell items 😔 but hopefully you will get some offers over the next week before having to donate to CS 🤞

Will post this now as I need to get dinner started. 

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

DH Awards: IS A 💎🏅 🌟 🥰 🏅 

DSis Awards: 🏅 💐 💐 🤗 ⭐️ 

Decluttering Target 2023: 836/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £166.85

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi do you mind if I join you. Been gradually decluttering throughout the year but need to be a bit more ruthless to get rid of the remaining unwanted items. 
I have 2 bags ready to go online - have previously tried faceb**k marketplace with some success. Might try selling as bundles this time in order to get them out of the way. I'll advertise on Saturday when I'm home again and give it a week! 
I work full time so will only be able to dedicate small amounts of time each weekend to the task. 
I'll add this to my signature and try and record how many items I manage to declutter 

Florenceem

I set alarm for 7 but turned it off and slept until 9.30. About to get up when Mr F said - how about a quick cuddle - I woke up at 10.30!
Had a lazy day but did a bit of ironing. Dd and Dgs called by to collect his Birthday card and gift - he brought me a Krispy Krem doughnut - he had them instead of Birthday cake. They are sickly - shared it with Mr F when we had an afternoon cuppa.
Mr F popped to check SA building - the hopper was blocked and there were sacks of donations. I went round and opened up so we could sort the clothes and put into the outside crates. Chap came to collect the SA fabric recycling last week - took away 90 bags of it.

QueenJess

Been out all day, but managed some tidying and also decided to declutter the physical photos from a whole holiday I don't want to see again particulalrly.  Feel a slight fraud given I also have some of these in digital format, but one thing at a time...  Didn't feel bad about it at all and actually just felt relieved.

I'm currently considering if I want any of another holiday in physical form as I have it in a digital format anyway.  I haven't looked at them for about 20 years, so not sure what the point is really.  With the digital photos, I am trying to curtail them down to favourites I would love to see, although not done any of that for months.  It is quite a draining process!  Will keep trying to do a little a day as it's too much to do all at once.

187 - photos etc binned/recycled
3 - socks recycled

New total = 10,212

May mini kitchen decluttering challenge = 36/25

May/June mini clothes decluttering challenge = 149/200

Lots more to go in pretty much every cupboard and drawer, but I am now going straight down to a minimalist inventory now.  I did the easy stuff long ago, so everything requires a bit more thought now.

Edit: Thanks for the comments on the wrapping paper situation.  Trouble is 99% of it is specific xmas paper (all gifted... not actually mine).  I verge wildly from trying to use it up, to just recycling it all now.  I think I'll try and give away the better pieces nearer xmas on Buy Nothing and try to just use it all up at the end of the year.

Muddy_Walker

Thank you for the lovely thoughts ladies 😘 
I did actually sort out, mist and gave my houseplants some TLC today and they look better for it. I have 2 peace Lillie’s which love their spot and have given me 3 white flowers, my Christmas cacti are thinking about new leaves, my asparagus fern has suddenly shot up towards some lights. I don’t know where it thinks it’s going exactly but it’s having a great adventure. And my aloe Vera plant is threatening to undead itself…….for a supposedly easy plant it’s really fussy…..

QueenJess

Muddy_Walker said:

Thank you for the lovely thoughts ladies 😘 
I did actually sort out, mist and gave my houseplants some TLC today and they look better for it. I have 2 peace Lillie’s which love their spot and have given me 3 white flowers, my Christmas cacti are thinking about new leaves, my asparagus fern has suddenly shot up towards some lights. I don’t know where it thinks it’s going exactly but it’s having a great adventure. And my aloe Vera plant is threatening to undead itself…….for a supposedly easy plant it’s really fussy…..

I'm pretty good at killing plants, but managed to revive a free sick aloe vera from Buy Nothing and it keeps having babies.  Generally I ignore it 99% of the time and then every now and again think "I really need to water it as it's been so long".  Clearly it enjoys a lot of neglect.

vulpix

Mrs Money penny, I am sorry to hear about your cat. It sounds like he had a lovely long life with you and you have done the best for him.xx

 Muddy, you don't need a kick up the bum at all. No judgement here, just sending best wishes for things to pick up. Keep posting, we would like to hear how you are. Don't worry about decluttering, we are not keeping score. x

 Hello and welcome Mrs Cheshire, looking forward to hearing all about your decluttering.

 Florenceem,I am not surprised you slept well, you never stop.

 Queen Jess, I don't think you need to keep anything that has unpleasant memories, whatever it may be.

 I know what you mean about inherited cleaning products. I have never used many in the past and I am not used to "products". I have given loads away, I must try and list some of the open ones on thrift.

 All painting finished plus painted the bird box as I hadn't quite done enough painting recently. It's cold. The door can't be shut for 16 hours. Brrr. It is pushed to but it's cold. Little baby jumper almost finished, it's cute,yellow,orange and grey.

 Mr V threw away 2 electrical leads. This is great progress for him. He has got hundreds and they were broken but in the past he would have kept them. I wouldn't say anything to him but he is starting to look unwell. He has also started to feel unwell. I have always known him as a big idestructible bloke.

 My to do list has gone from 41 to 27 today. It's a movable feast.

 Vx

weenancyinAmerica

@Mrs_Money_Penny - I have been told that cats like to go away and hide when they are near the end. We try to keep an eye on them and when they want to go out, be mean and keep them in, just because one of our beloved cats got my father to let him out (while I was in England). My father searched for the cat for several weeks, even putting out flyers, but we never found him. You are lucky that the neighbor did and you could have closure. It upset my father for the longest time as it was his favorite cat. The strangest part of it was I read my horoscope the day the cat went out in the paper in England (which I almost never do here or when traveling) and it said "I wish I could tell you everything will be okay, but I can't." That was the entire horoscope.