2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

TC77

Decided going to count frogs as not getting them done and I think it helped me focus when I counted last year. going to try and have 2 sets of nos if I can.
old foundation out so I think that take me to around 67 as other small bits.
Frogs I'm starting with 7
so 67/2024
and 7/1000

Liverpool_Anne

Hi all, the day started well and I got out to the garden centre and bought a lovely rose that will go with the engagement card in my stash on Thursday. I got both loads of washing on the line, 1st load dried 2 nd load nearly dry so 1 LDFPA. I noticed that a couple of tea towels were a bit stained as they were blowing on the line so I went through all my tea towels and any that were stained have been put in a bucket with soda crystals to soak for a couple of days. Any that don't clean up after a wash will go in the rag bag as I have enough, even new ones that have never been used . I called into the hairdresser and got an appointment for tomorrow as my head looks like a burst couch. The neighbour over the road has come home from hospital and currently has carers 4 times a day but I am not sure how long that will last. I popped a card from my stash through the door to say glad he was home and if he needed anything to give us a call and gave him all our phone numbers. I have half sorted the freezer but it was too cold with both of them open so I will finish that tomorrow . I made a cuppa to warm up and fell asleep on the couch so nothing else done except some crochet after tea

thanks for the tips about flour storage. Yes I realise they come in as eggs not full grown beetles . As I mentioned I worked with these beasties so can identify them at 20 paces . The eggs are white so you don't see them but a very fine sieve should remove them so I will do that and then store the flour in the fridge in future in case any slip through. They are a massive problem as obviously being food flour can't be sprayed to kill them and their life cycle is quite short so you only need 2 adults of different sex and within a couple of months they are rampant . Maybe I am just not using the flour quickly enough .

@Vulpix am I reading your post wrong or is your intention to only buy things that are not new, but new to you? Confused

Off to bed, hugs to anybody who would like one

41 present sorted
42 LDFPA
43 card to neighbour
Take care everyone
43/2024

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 

Tuesday stayed dry & bright all day but oh so cold. Decided to spend the afternoon pottering - emptied office bin, went through spice drawer - nothing ood so must have done a good job last time 😉, dismantled & recycled a large cardboard box & lastly was brutal with my medical supplies - small bag of cardboard packaging recycled, small bag of general detritus e.g. ancient plasters - binned & I have a carrier bag full of ood creams, sprays, potions & pills to be disposed of safely.

Wrote a smallish shopping list for DH who braved the cold & drove to sm. Dinner was breadcrumbed fish & oven chips. Wudupa.

33 - 38 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, bag of cardboard, cardboard box, rusted metal tin + lid, plastic takeaway box & lid - recycled 

39 - 42 Kitchen, office & medical detritus, broken pulse oximeter - binned

Foofoopuppy, sorry to hear that you have succumbed to the cold that is going round 😔 Hopefully a couple of days in the TLC Carriage will work wonders 😊

flamingo747, just a quick thought - is it hidden in the boot of the car 🤨 Well done on getting another bag ‘out, out’ 👏

Pitlanepiglet, so your OH is now famous 🥳 Excellent decluttering both physical & digital 👏 I see that  Wednesday2000 & Brie have already offered some ideas about the make-up drawers 🤞

Wednesday2000, you & your husband have had a very busy couple of days 👏 Sorry to hear that you are feeling out of sorts due to the HRT patch but it sounds like the combination of a new mattress & exercise both indoors & outdoors has worked wonders 😊 Fingers crossed that the dentist visit is painless 🤞Also well done on managing 7 days of Dry January 👏

bamboo_socks, great work & what a novel way to measure the amount of  decluttering 👏

-taff, what a lovely post 😊 Thank you for sharing your approach to dealing with sentimental items 👏 I think I will try to use your approach the next time I tackle a box of memorabilia or photographs.

BudgetingBelinda, what a great idea 👏 I think I might try that when I’m making dinner tomorrow evening 🤔 

bit_by_bit, very pleased to hear that you felt better today 😊 & that a timely visit to the TLC Carriage will now be a conscious decision 😉 What a lovely thing to say ☺️ Some excellent decluttering over the last few days - 16% of the way to your target & we are barely into the 2nd week of 2024 👏🤩 Also an excellent Part 1 of fabric decluttering 👏

short_bird, I think your “get up and go” has gone off hand in hand with mine 🤣 Some excellent decluttering though 👏

weenancy, sorry to hear that your roommates still have not mended their slothful ways 😔 You have the patience of a saint putting up with them 😇  So pleased that your feral cat is still keeping the neighbourhood safe 😊 I am still waiting for you to report that the neighbours whose cleaning towels go missing have turned up with pitchforks demanding the return of said cleaning towels 😂 I trust that the weight loss is intentional 🙏 but how nice that the shirt is back in use 🙂 I can’t get on with bi-vocals either - seems to be the worst of both worlds 😔 Excellent work keeping up with the 24 for 2024 items out or frogs dealt with 👏

Dfw38, hopefully organising the dcs art supplies was a success 🤞😊 No need for confession, Dfw38 - I would call that ‘serendipity at work’ 😊 & all helped along by DS having a tantrum 😊 Although I do really, really like your turn of phrase “So forgive me declutterati for I have sinned... stylishly and in an mse way 🤣” 

Excellent decluttering ilovetea 👏 You are zooming along 😊 

Brambling, ouch to the dental bill 😣 I just wonder how people who can’t afford to pay a private dentist get dental work done? 😔  Hope you have a better sleep tonight 🤞

Excellent decluttering Florafauna 🤞- DH & I did the same thing 15 years ago by returning cutlery to our employer, although we did keep one knife as a memento 🙊 I am hoping you will post a photo of your new skirt once made 🙏

TC77, what a great start to dealing with your frogs 👏 

Liverpool_Anne, sounds like a very successful day - gifts sourced, LDFPA, offer of help to neighbour, appointments booked, a short nap & some crochet 👏 

Off to bed now & will try to get up earlier tomorrow & run a few errands 🤞

MrsSD: I AM A ⭐️ - 🥇 🎖️ 💐 🌟 

DH Awards:

Decluttering Target 2023: 42/2024

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £

vulpix

Hi, awake early and a lot in the night with a bad chest/ asthma/lurgy.

The plumber is coming this morning, thank goodness.

LiverpoolAnne, my aim is to only buy second hand where ever possible this year. If I am honest I have enough everything to last the rest of my life, but my weakness is clothes.

 Going to my Mum's house later to do a bit more. I have persuaded her to have the dolls house she made in her bedroom at my brothers's house. It gave her so much pleasure to make it. I am onto her fabric stash now. I will not bring any home. In fact it is in boxes under a bed. I am not even going to look through it. It is very time consuming emptying a house whilst trying to dispose of everything ethically. I need to raise my game or it will take years. 

 Vx

GrannyKate

Morning all.  Good advice from @-taff re sentimental items.  Like her I have some random things from Mum's kitchen, grandma's rolling pin in regular use, the two cook books nan gave me when I got engaged and married - still in use although very grubby after 50+ years.  Papers and photos are so hard so those are the boxes I still have to sort although down to about 8 boxes from 20 plus.  Like many of us I inherited from Mum and MIL - I like glass and wooden things so I have kept mostly those with the majority of china ornaments being rehoused.  I intend to do another sweep of all cupboards in coming weeks.  Good news this morning as DS2 got a good proportion of money owed to him from complex legal mess.  It has been a long wait and very stressful both mentally and financially.

44 More children's items for CS bag
45 Lounge cleaned and tidied
46 Lots of emails answered/filed - only 10 left to deal with in inbox
47 Plastic to SM
48 Papers sorted for meeting today
49 DGD4's bedroom cleaned and tidied and clothes hung up

 I need to be dressed and out in next 30 minutes 

mehefin

Gosh, I think I preferred this train when it was pulled by Thomas the tank engine  It's so hard to keep up with this bullet train.
A bit of an emotional declutter for me:
I gave DS my grandfathers signet ring on his recent visit home. It is a 9 carat Birmingham hallmarked 1863 with his initials on. A fine ring if you know what I mean. My Grandfather was John Landells Wilson and he passed in 1966, followed 2 days later by his wife so it was significant to me. DS initials are JHW so it seemed fitting to pass it on for his 30th birthday. I had very mixed feelings  but there are no other children amongst my siblings or their families with anything near the same initials it was the 'right thing to do'

I decided to start clearing out the piano stool of music which I know would never be used again, old sheet music of songs from the bygone days, which my mum used to sing. Going through the stuff was an emotional ride as I could hear her in my mind still after all these years. I could even remember the words of many of them! I will admit to being quite teary at the end. What do you do with copies of 4 part music, or even 3 and 2 part? And multiple copies of some of them.
All the calenders/xmas stuff went some time ago, and as our local council now take small electrical items I have had a purge on them too. 
Our community library is having an internal upgrade so my energies have been concentrated on decluttering there for the last few weeks. The refit starts at the end of the month and there is still a lot to be done. We will get it done but it's surprising how much stuff is tucked away that you never realised was there.

Toot toot for now
Mehefin 

foxandflowers

As I thought, I sat down to tackle my jewellery storage, and it was a disaster. Most of the earrings had lost their pair, or were nickelly, so went in the bin. Lots of broken necklaces, again binned (silver chains put in little bag once detangled and added to silver stash). Dice have been put in a much smaller box and into a desk drawer, and the silver charms have been saved and put in my "actual silver jewellery" box which is rather small. The money is a Shakespeare £2, and 8 50ps with Beatrix Potter Characters/Paddington bear on. That's gone to live with the other special 50ps. Earrings I did want, nose piercing and lip piercing jewellery have been sorted through and decanted into a mini jam jar (Wilkin & Sons). So a small bit of decanting, but I would say I have got rid of at least... 30 earrings and 15 necklaces. So counting 45 things.

I also sold my chest freezer and made £100! So had quite a productive day yesterday.

Have discovered that I have a gluten allergy though, so am quite sad about having to declutter pasta from my life   

JingsMyBucket

Thank you @Mrs_Salad_Dodger. Mr. Jings has been fighting a cold for the past few days now. I keep telling him to stop breathing and whistling everywhere! But, I know it's his way of trying to get oxygen in because his nose is blocked. Poor thing.  

Wednesday2000

It took longer than I thought to go through my toiletries drawer yesterday. I found a sun screen lotion that I don't like. I put it in my husband's drawer, but then thought that it might not be effective anymore so I binned it, along with a dry body brush. I know they are meant to have health benefits, but I don't notice anything when I have used it. 

I did find a microfibre cloth that I had totally forgotten about. It came in my Holland & Barrett advent calendar. I think those cloths make my skin sensitive so I will use it for cleaning the house instead. I probably could have used the body brush for cleaning too, but the rubbish went out last night!

I have one box in my drawer now for spares as that is something I do that annoys me, buying more when I haven't checked if I need more. I have two spare lip balms, two daily spf moisturisers and a box of cotton buds in there so I can see when I need to buy new.

I binned some of my socks afterwards as the underwear drawer is below my toiletries one and they have holes in the feet. 

It is another lovely and bright day, although a bit chilly. I need to put citric acid down the loo and down the sinks today and I need to vacuum and do a load of laundry. I have a shopping delivery coming later, but that is about it.

I went through the budget again today as my husband just got paid (I do it in paper and pen) and I managed to throw away my to-do list. I hope there wasn't anything that important on it.  

We have finished season 4 of Seal Team now.

London_1

Morning chums just decluttered two cupboard in my kitchen As they are low ones they tended to get stuff put in that wasn't used that often, as I'm not brilliant at bending for long at the moment . I was very strict though and decided if I haven't used it in 6 months its got to go  

Out went a stash of tuppaware stuff with no lids, and a stash of lids with no matching bases Why on earth have they been kept ? A set of scales is going to the CS as I have two sets so don't need the extra one.

 I found a german waffle making machine that my granddaughter may want, its not been used for about 2 years so I will donate it to her so her cupboard can house it  

So many odd things in there I found, two saucepan lids for saucepans i had at my old house, and I moved here in 1995 ! ! !  what on earth made me keep them.
Some gadgets that I can't even remember buying or even what they are for ,but I'm feeling pretty good and only kept stuff I know I will use ,and lock'n'lock boxes that have matching lids.

 One big black bag full of junk sorted and tied up and in my conservatory for the next dustmens visit. I can't get a tip booking for two weeks they are all booked out. You have to book a slot where I live.

 so nice to open the bottom cupboard doors and know nothing is going to fall out of them.

JackieO xx