2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Pennypincin

I managed to declutter sorting out the composters.
I've a suspicion that the neighbour has been putting dog poo into one of the 3 of them as it smelt funny and several of the slugs were covered in maggots.
Unfortunately I've had to bag up and dispose of the moss from the mentioned composter as 1, it's taking ages to rot down and 2, I'm concerned about the concerned about the contamination of animal poo.
The compost I've got I've put where it will used but hopefully not cause issues.
The other 2, I've also moved hopefully to a better place, and the contents of the one of the 2 smaller composter, I was filling. I kept meaning to turn or mix.
I'm not too sure on where they are, but they are hopefully away from the risk of having extra things put in them and hopefully less bird poo on them.

oceanspirit

UU another tin in the freezer cooking I finally managed to do yesterday.  OH said he wasn’t hungry and didn’t want any tea last night until he smelled the soup cooking so had a portion of that!

Some recycling off the kitchen shelves but no more done on that.  At least it’s less to clean when I can get back onto it.

QueenJess

A quick check in as want to run round and tidy up the house a bit before picking DD up at nursery.  Flapjacks have just come out of the oven for the TLC carriage and my hm vanilla ice cream will be ready to serve with the blackberry and apple crumble after dinner

@Liverpool_Anne once the crumble has gone, I plan to make this ginger cake which uses up some of the treacle: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/the-ultimate-ginger-loaf/  I'll use it up eventually!

Had a mess around reorganising the kitchen cupboards.  I hate reorganising as you take things out and then realise it doesn't work where you planned on putting it and before you know it, the place is a bombsite and you've made everything worse! To solve the drawers (my kitchen has 2 cupboards and everything else is drawers for some reason... it's actually quite annoying) being overcrowded, I took out things I use rarely from them and put them in the sideboard.  I'd rather not need the sideboard at all (although likely it will stay until the kids no longer need their colouring table downstairs and then I might rejig the dining area anyway).  However, then I started to think if I rarely use this stuff, why am I keeping it anyway?  I have a salad bowl, but I never ever use it as I put it straight on the plates.  On the rare occasion we have guests, I could repurpose the fruit bowl instead.  I also had another 2 serving dishes that I never use and could just use a normal plate or bowl instead.  Then I remembered this heating plate thing DH's parents gave us that I'm never allowed to get rid of despite us never using the thing.  I text it all to DH (he's out with DS) and got the thumbs up to get rid of it all.  YAY!  So much space saved.

Still more kitchen sorting to be done and things to be used up.  I have a snack drawer, but we never buy snacks (apart from breadsticks) as I make everything, so the only thing in there is a few packs of breadsticks.  I should repurpose that to something more useful, but not quite decided what is best for that one yet.  More thinking to do and since we have loads of drawers, it does take ages to move everything round.  It's a bit of a work in progress for a while.

Anyway - my progress for today: 

Digital:
4 - notes deleted

Physical:
1 - book (charity bag)
2 - kitchen clips (charity bag)
4 - random stuff recycled
1 - salad bowl (Buy Nothing)
1 - heat plate thing (Buy Nothing)
2 - platter and serving bowl (Buy Nothing)

New total = 14,794

August In: 61, Out: 417

Pennypincin

I've managed to declutter washing a summer quilt and a pillow. They're on the line drying now.
I've also managed to declutter the basic housework, as well as scrub where the oven is including the outside of the oven as it had got rather grubby.
The washing I'd done yesterday was dry, so I put it away and gave the balcony a quick sweep.

ilovetea

Didn't do any decluttering yesterday. Went to see my daughter who has move into her new house. It's very nice.
Today got rid of quite a lot of craft stuff and took photos for e b@y.
1517-1518  Rubbish and recycling out.
1519  some crafty bits binned.
1520  100 e-mails deleted.
1521-1522 2 paperback books given away.
    
   ilovetea  xx

weenancyinAmerica

My second favorite cookie is Molasses Cookies (I got a blue ribbon at the county fair for cooking these – the only thing I knew how to cook at the time) (Molasses being treacle under the US name)

¼ cup molasses                                   1 egg

1 cup sugar                                          3/4 cup margarine, melted

2 cups flour                                         1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda                      ½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cloves                               ½ teaspoon ginger

Melt the margarine in a small pan. Mix molasses, egg, and sugar in a bowl. Add margarine to bowl and stir. Put the dry ingredients together and add slowly to the bowl stirring as you go. Make spoon-sized globs of dough and place on cookie sheet (you can roll them in sugar before putting them on the sheet, but it is optional). Bake at 375° F for 8 to 10 minutes until round and flat, but still slightly soft. Don’t put the dough in the refrigerator overnight unless you want the cookies to become ginger cookies (the flavor changes).

If you are looking for a new way to use treacle up, you might try these. The treacle makes it healthy too!

 

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

 1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks 

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

Another restless night with sleep restricted to one 2 hour period, followed by 3 x 1.5 hours periods. Friday dawned with bright sunshine with a slight breeze  & remained hot & sunny the whole day. Up, dressed & finished packing before 08:30. We went down to breakfast at 08:50. Full English for both of us + orange juice & very strong coffee.  Retrieved our bags & coats from our room, DH paid the hotel bill, we packed the bike & were on the road by 10:15. One 2024 landmark + one old landmark. We should have been home by 16:00 but due to heavy traffic we finally arrived home @ 17:20 - very hot & sweaty so changed out of our riding gear very quickly. Animal sightings: a heron type bird - to be properly identified later, cows, horses, sheep & adult pheasants. DSis made us both a coffee whilst we were getting changed. She also made dinner for her & DH - the last of the beef for DH & the last of the chicken thighs for her + oven chips. I finished off all the salad bits for my dinner. Wudupa.

1345 - 1352 Kitchen recycling, drinks can, plastic bottle, 2 newspapers, glass jar, drinks cans, booklet - recycled 

1353 - 1355 Kitchen & DSis bedroom detritus, 0.5” shredding - binned

I will catch up with the cheerleading later today 😉 Sleep tight 😴 

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

DH Awards: IS A 💎🏅 🌟 🥰 🏅🏅

DSis Awards: 🏅 💐 💐 🤗 ⭐️ ⭐️

Decluttering Target 2024: 1355/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £303.85

Crazycatlady2

Went to other house yesterday and sorted out out of date foods to bin and bought some food we would use here. I have also bought stationery type stuff here to merge with mine. I have a lifetime supply of envelopes, plastid file wallets, elastic bands, staples and shoelaces now 🤣

Unfortunately the fish could not be rehomed as the man says they are poorly so can't put them in his pond with others. He's pretty sure one has cancer but got to ER on side of caution just incase.

Most important job on list I'd valuing contents but there is so much stuff and we have no idea if any of it worth anything so trying to get professional help without paying a fortune 

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, b12 jab today and knackered as I am awake a good half an hour before the alarm was set for

@Pennypincin what a horrible thing for the neighbour to do, I would be moving those compost bins well away from the fence. Thanks for the prompt about the quilt, mine is long overdue a clean but it would never fit in my machine so it will be a trip to the cleaners

@QueenJess thank you for the link, I will be giving that a try . Can I ask when you do a malt loaf where do you get the malt extract? I was thinking of a health food shop but wondered if you knew of a better sorce?

@weenancyinAmerica thank you for the cookie receipe, I will be giving that a try as well as soon as I can find my cup measuring things . Do you use whole cloves or do you bash them up?

@Mrs SD glad you are home safe but boo to having 2 nights disturbed sleep.

@Crazycatlady2 good luck with the valuations, remember to look at the second hand value for things as even though things might have been expensive to buy new, furniture doesn't tend to hold it's value when second hand unless it is antique or certain brands. You might be able to get some help from an auction house.

Yesterday was an ok day considering how tired I was. Collected my meds, potted up the pepper plant and repotted a rose I was gifted a few years ago as the pot had cracked and repotted a small Acer that has been in need of a bigger pot for a while. I also got a few apples baked and they were very nice . I have some photos but they must be doing something with the website as I keep getting a gateway timeout message so will try to post them later.

Hugs to everyone who would like one

1184 meds collected
1185 various plants potted / reported
Take care everyone
1185/2024

QueenJess

@Liverpool_Anne I don’t use a traditional recipe for it and use a simpler cheat version that doesn’t have that or tea in it that I found somewhere in a forum online.

Easy malt loaf recipe:

2 cups of self raising flour

1 cup of dried fruit

1 cup of dark soft brown sugar

1 tbsp of treacle mixed into -

1 cup of warm milk

pinch of salt

mix flour and salt together. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Pour into a loaf tin and bake for 45mins to 1 hour (depends on your oven) at 180c.

I don’t have cups to measure, but you can use a small mug and mine turned out fine.