2024 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD

Betharooni

Hi all,

Apologies for not posting for such a long time. 2024 has been a particularly crazy year, with a lot of trips away between April and October so I got very behind on this thread. I also lost my DMum in August (4 days after returning home from one of my trips) so my head has not been in the right frame of mind for much.

Memorable decluttering since I last posted as follows (although I can’t remember a lot of what’s been done tbh):

• Mum’s bed base and mattress taken by local council bulky waste collection
• Unwanted/no longer used treadmill sold to family friend
• Unwanted dining table given to family friend
• All of Mum’s books either sold to WeBuyB00ks/Z1ff1t/Mus1c Magp1e or taken to charity shop

There is a huge amount more to go over the coming months, some of it mine and some Mum’s (which will need to be gone through with my three brothers) so I shall be joining in more to encourage me to keep going. I will also be joining the 2025 EDT as well.

I have a couple of frogs to deal with at the moment as well so will report back progress.

Hugs to all who need one.

B x

vulpix

Betharooni, I am so sorry to hear about your Mum. Look after yourself. Xxxxx

daisy_1571

Liverpool_Anne keeping my fingers crossed for the driving licence- I found mine just last week.  Lost in 2019 lol.  Hired a car in florida straight off the flight and I had it then, assumed I'd dropped it in the car park at Dennys as we went straight there for something to eat.  We cancelled it as soon as we got to hotel and ordered replacement.  By the time we got home replacement licence had been sent.  The other day I flicked through my passport and it was nestling in there right up at the spine.  I would never have believed it could be in there for more than 5 and a half years and its not fallen out or I've not once spotted it.   I must have quickly shoved it in there when I drove away from the hire car booth rather than hold up the car behind me for probably 3 seconds while I put it properly into my purse.

Betharooni sorry about your mum.  Basketcase is is wandering the train bestowing hugs if you need one 

Daisy xx

TC77

@Betharooni , sorry to hear about your mum.and hoping you take time to be in the tlc carriage when needed or you just fancy it.
Just looked at a couple of unsuitable houses, thankful as not ready to move. Still haven't sorted van from my dad's. Have posted a few things for sale/ pick up and will need to start a new cs bag. 
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/hEgbrSmKLz1Wg2aj/
Couldn't resist posting this link from my cousin, hope people don't mind

London_1

Betharooni condolences on the lost of your Mum be gentle with yourself and take time to grieve and remember the happy times more than the sad ones 🥰

Vampire nurse decluttered six vials of blood this morning , bless her🙂 my veins are hard to find as I had a lot of chemo when I had my mastectomy so it was a bit of a ‘hunt the vein’ with a baby needle. But got it in the end as the late great Tony Hancock would have said ‘half a blooming arm ‘ 🤣
Then I took myself off on the bus to Newport and mooched around M&S but didn’t see anything that caught my eye. So nipped down to the brilliant butchers shop who makes his own sausages and bought a dozen to take home. Then decided I’d have a cuppa and a snack. Had a look in Newport Minster but it was mainly just coffee and cake so I walked across to Gods Providence House almost opposite which is a quintessential English tea room now 
had a nice pot of loose leaf tea with extra hot water so got four decent cups of tea, also had cheese on brown bread farmhouse toast with a delicious poached egg on top. It was lovely and the chap who served me was really good and so pleasant and polite. They were really busy but he found me a table and reading about the place it was built originally in 1522 and called Gods Providence House as apparently when the Black Death arrived in Newport the people who had taken shelter in there survived hence afterwards it was called ‘Gods Providence that saved them. It still has flagstones in the tea rooms as you walk inside that are the original ones
i sat and looked at them and wondered how many folk had walked over them in the preceding 602 years. And now I’ve added to the total 🤣🤣 I took a photo and sent it to my eldest DD back in Kent as she, like me, is a total history nut . I love finding odd things out about buildings and it quite made my day 
Caught the bus back home and found that the plumber had installed the new shower unit and the loo goes in tomorrow 👍🤞
all in all a nice day even if I didn’t find anything I fancied to wear my nice lunch made up for it 👍😃😃😃

hope everyone’s day has gone well 

cheers chums 

JackieO xx

basketcase

@Betharooni
I'm so sorry to hear about your mother.  Please accept my condolences and, as @daisy_1571 said, as many hugs as you feel you need

Florenceem

@Betharooni Take care of yourself as you  grieve your loss.
Re sorting donations - I do it all as need to search for items to sell + not a nice job so people are not keen to do it. Today I filled 27 sacks - some of the donations were gross and smelly.
I was taking photos for V before I left home for SA. I was already running late when on my way - I saw an elderly lady carrying a bag of shopping and unsteady on her legs. I offered to carry the bag and walk her home so I was even later arriving at SA.
When I finally arrived at SA - the foyer was heaving with donations. I decided to put a table outside with items - toys and books that we didn't want. There were also 2 stools that didn't sell at the last table top sale - soon were taken from outside. As the table emptied - I restocked it with cds.
We also put a crate of apples outside for people to take.
We were very short of volunteers today - I was rushing around doing lots of jobs. 
I delivered a dinner & pud to someone who wasn't well enough to come to SA today.
Then we went home - loaded up with stuff for V.
. I hadn't been able to eat my dinner at SA so warmed it up and had it before going out to catch a bus to the hospital.
While Mr F went for an xray - I visited a Church member - poor Mr F - I stayed chatting for quite a while. Mr F was sitting waiting for me as he didn't want to go on the ward because of a slight cold.
We got a bus home and had a cuppa before it was time for me to go to singing practice at SA.
I have done nearly 11,000 steps today so should sleep well. 

Duchess2

So sorry for your loss @Betharooni. Every death of a loved one hits us hard, but your Mum is the hardest of all. Grief is a different journey for everyone. Take good care of yourself and accept all offers of help.

Betharooni

Thanks very much everyone for your lovely messages and offers of hugs. I will most likely be splitting my time between decluttering and the tlc carriage at least for the rest of this year, but would like to at least track a bit more of what I’m doing.

A couple of big frogs today:

• Received funds from Mum’s bank accounts yesterday, an overpayment from one of her private pensions was owed so paid that to the pension company.
• Went through cash that Mum had in the house, counted that up and added to the total.
• Went through and calculated anything else that was owed before money could be split (e.g. some of the funeral costs, etc), then worked out what all of us should get.
• Distributed the funds from Mum’s bank accounts to my three brothers and I.

No actual decluttering done today but I think those frogs were more than mentally taxing enough.

Tomorrow I’ll be packing for a weekend away (last trip of the year), blood test, and a couple of paperwork frogs. Will try and do some little decluttering jobs as well if I can.

Sending love and hugs to all that need them.

B x

weenancyinAmerica

@Betharooni - So sorry to hear about your Mum. I am still getting over losing mine - and she died in 2008. I still dream we are traveling together as that is what we had planned to do.

@retiredinfrance - the problem Mr. RiF is having is the same problem my roommate Di is having with ulcers on both of her legs. But we are having trouble finding a way to keep her legs elevated. She is now having a visiting nurse, a physical therapist, and an occupational therapist coming every two days - hard to get much done around here as a result. They delivered a walker for her yesterday. Still not sure what to do with it. We definitely have to rearrange the furniture this weekend.

I personally am looking for storage space around my house for emergency supplies as I don't trust our incoming president any further than I can throw him. I am getting ready for World War III. At the rate he went at it before it will be against Europe and Canada this time!  As far as I'm concerned he's not my president - so don't feel you have to say anything nice about him for the Americans on this site. We aren't even thinking nice things. More like sticking pins in voodoo dolls. California tends to ignore the other parts of the country anyway. Washington, D. C. is over 2660 miles away from here. 

Other than working on the computer most of the day instead watching TV, we did have some excitement here this evening. We have been having major winds (30-50 miles per hour occasionally) all day. A couple of hours ago my upstairs roommates came down to report they were seeing arcing sparks next door between the street light and the neighbor's tree. I called the fire department who came out and worked on it for awhile before the street light people also came and turned out the street light completely (after they had seen the sparks flying also). Had lots of flashing lights in the neighborhood as several police cars came and the town helicopter was lighting up the area too. The neighbor came home just before the fire department arrived, so I went out and let him know they were coming and that he had best park on the other side of the street for awhile. I would have hated for him to lose his work truck. There are about 10 people living there. This is the tree that I have called the city about trimming at least 6 times in the last month as it also attacks the street sweeping truck so they try and go around it rather than cleaning the road. Might get it trimmed yet. The electric wires go right through the tree. At least around here, the trees are mostly green still but I would be a bit concerned about the seed pods (bright red). Our poor neighbor on the other side is very lawn conscious - and he doesn't even have a tree in front of his house, but his lawn is now covered with the seed pods (about two inches deep) from the other trees on the block. And his lawn people were just here yesterday too. He despairs of our lawn and our neighbor's. I am trying to figure our a good ground cover other than grass for it - thought about creeping thyme or sweet woodruff or other herbs. Need something that doesn't require much water though. The rain the other day only lasted for about an hour of light rain. And it was the first rain in 6 months. And there isn't any more on the horizon yet. We really are a desert here. I've considered succulents or cactus too.