2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

GrannyKate

@Florenceem - I posted earlier but my post has disappeared into the ether. I was one of the people who set up the PALS service 25 years ago - do go to them - they can also facilitate a formal complaint to CEO for you if nothing gets done.  Doctors only decide patients are medically 'fit' for discharge and this may mean they are cured but can also mean they cannot do anything more clinically for them. This does not mean they should be discharged as that is a job for hospital discharge team which should be multidisciplinary and include social services.  Don't allow anyone to bully you.  Transport will not take a patient home if they do not have keys (Take them away if he has them) and no-one is there to meet them.  They also cannot leave a patient if it is not safe. Remember you are saying no because you care.  

164 Committee meeting attended on line and papers recycled
165 Vets booked for Sox - 'snip and chip' and pet insurance purchased

My table which was supposed to be here 23 December finally arrived so DS2 will help me collect it.  We are eating out tonight for his birthday next week as his partner is away with her daughter from tomorrow.  I need to get motivated to do some more wallpaper stripping.  

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Write a daily To Do list - only 3 tasks
2. Concerted effort to sort out sleep patterns - Realistic targets: bed by 2:00 a.m. & up by 10:00 a.m 
3. Continue dealing 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

I stayed up to watch The Walking Dead but was in bed by 01:10 & fast asleep within a few minutes. Woke at 03:00 & 06:00 for bathroom visits & again at 07:45 when I got up, put my dressing gown on & now have a cuppa. Will take the opportunity to do a bit of cheerleading:

dND, sorry to hear that you have been so poorly 🤒 & are still not feeling well 😔 You really don’t need to avoid the TLC Carriage - remember as well as not putting on any weight when you partake of all the hm goodies etc, you also cannot pass on or catch any illnesses 😉 Thank you so much for such an uplifting post & finding time & energy to offer a very useful decluttering tip 👏 Sending gentle cwtches 🤗 & get well soon wishes. Please remember not to overdo it once you start to feel better  🙏

daisy_1571, thanks for This “5 harsh truths about decluttering” - went down a rabbit hole 😉 & watched a video by an American realtor lady who in different words said the same thing as you quoted “The barrier standing between you and what you are truly capable of is not a lack of information, ideas or techniques. The secret sauce is execution.”  I have now bookmarked the subject & will revisit at a later date 🤞

Soontobeoap, re the shoes - if they are that ropey I would just bin them 😉

Excellent decluttering wishus 👏 You are on a roll 😊

I have finished my cuppa but am still feeling sleepy so am going back to bed 😉 

See you later 👋 

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🌟 ❤️ ❤️ 🏅 💐 💐 💐 🏅🥉🏅 🎂 🌟

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Decluttering Target 2025: 158/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £5.00

Heatherweed

Yes the guilt is hard and I was heartbroken to make that decision and still do.
But as social worker pointed out if you collapse carer breakdown  they will put him in a home anyway. 
I have found a small 20 bed one with staff who have been there for years. He has settled well and to be honest the relief is tremendous.  I was having a 999 call most weeks.
I also know he wouldn't want me to run myself into the ground xxx

Floss

Florenceem said:

.... It is just the guilt of having to make the decision.

Which is why you need to involve social services to make that decision for you.

Floss

Before I packed for going away, I did a cull of stuff I don't / won't wear or use, so that will all be leaving today, along with a few boxes & unused cushion inners from the loft. I also have stuff for the tip, so had better put that separate in the car!

It's a sunny but chilly day, there's a bit of breeze so I will peg out some pillowcases to blow in the sunshine. I had some sheets on the whirly late yesterday afternoon which smell lovely (but hadn't been out quite long enough so had to get finished in the dryer).

There are a few areas that need tackling again - even though I just went through, I know there are still T-shirts that will go next time, and I need to move on a few shabby things that I have updated / replaced. 

CRANKY40

@GrannyKate he's lovely. Have you tried a litter box with a lid? It has a sort of cat flap door at the front and we can't smell it at all. I line our cat's box with a puppy pad or an old newspaper before I refill it and everything tips out easily when I clean it.

@Florenceem don't feel guilty. Think about what you would like if it was the other way round. Would you want to be looked after by a team of people fresh on shift morning and evening or would you like to be cared for by one exhausted person on the verge of a breakdown and carers who call morning and evening so that between those times you just sit in your chair or lie in bed because you're too heavy for one person to lift or move? If he's going into care for respite or long term you will be allowed to look first. Choose one that doesn't smell of wee and where the people being cared for look alert.
 
I managed to declutter one thing yesterday. The rest of the day I was running round giving my son lifts or doing house stuff. I managed to fix an issue that he was having with a password for a site that he wanted to use (who's doing computer studiesat uni? Not me !!!) The craft room gets it today - it's untidy which is making my brain itch and my desk is a shambles. I have lots that I want to do but I need a tidy organised space to do it in.

Take care all of you  😊

Dizzycap

GrannyKate said:

Hi all - not much decluttering as I have cluttered the house with cat things.  Sox arrived the other evening - a grey and white boy who had been living in a town centre flat with three other cats. He is almost one but has not been 'fixed' vaccinated or chipped yet (Booked in for 12 Feb). He is very nervous but has been finding all the hiding places in the house.  He spent day 1 under a sideboard but stayed around me yesterday and started playing ball games with DGS4 who is nearly 10.  They said he wasn't used to children but they don't seem to bother him and he was making approaches to DGS4 himself. He is very slim and seems to want food - he rushes out when I open the fridge and has started meowing at me.  A bit smelly as he has not been fixed yet - any tips on that and getting him used to us would be welcome.  He just decided on sofa as a scratching post.  Now meowing and showing me his belly. Not ready to be picked up but rubs his head against your legs and the furniture.  He is getting annoyed now as I am sitting at computer and not heading for the kitchen. He has obviously been exploring in the night as washing up sponge is on front door mat and a few bits are on the floor.  

160 Two bags of plastic to SMs
161 DGS4 decluttered a tooth so the tooth fairy decluttered a pound
162 Food cupboards and containers sorted lots of packets and cardboard boxes out
163 New doormat and old one binned.

I need to sort fridge as it is full.  DGCs have been here all week which was unexpected - but sleeping at their dads next two nights and last night.  I'll pick them up to take to school at 8. Not a very good picture but I'll try and get one 

@ GrannyKate - Gorgeous is now my laptop backgroud

Usual HH rubbish decluttering along with 2 loads of washing, so washing basket now fully decluttered.

I've decluttered 3 inpost parcels and am about to take baby face for a walk once postie has been before it gets too cold. Then it's back to PJ's, make up the stripped bed, and rest, but I'm hoping to open mega wardrobe door 4 and at least take a look at what I'm facing on the decluttering front - It might not be as bad as I think

Florenceem

Wednesday2000 - that is appalling - how could a disabled person care for his mother? I hope it didn't happen that way.
Happy_Kitties - I thought a Social worker was meant to help. Is it worth me asking for one?
Liverpool_Anne - I know Mr F and he has been deteriorating physically as well as mentally. 
I don't think people realise how hard the last few months have been and I can't do it anymore.
I am older than Mr F - he is 5 feet 11 and 12 stone - I am 5 feet 5 and 10 stone. On my last XRay - it showed narrowing gaps in my vertebrae.
Floss - I did contact Social Services before Mr F went into hospital.
I was given a reference number so will ring them on Monday.
CRANKY40 - workers in care homes are not my age.
Cold but sunny here. 
I have decluttered a trolley and bag full of stuff to the charity shop. I called at SA and printed labels for V sales. I am working at taking off listings but it takes time.

Moorviews

@Dizzycap and @dND - I hope you both feel better soon 💐
@Liverpool_Anne  - I share your frustration regarding prescriptions and expect the process to take a week now. I am not sure exactly why things have changed. It used to be that I could go straight down to the pharmacy after my consultation and the medication would be issued after just a short wait. I know there is a shortage of pharmacists but maybe there are other factors too?

There is such great information being shared here for your situation @Florenceem. I can only add that you are in my thoughts. I hope a practical way forward is found that you feel reasonably comfortable with. ETA I have just seen your latest post. It is just not doable as you say for you to have to be lifting and moving Mr F around. You are doing the right thing to resist discharge to your home. 

A little bit of kitchen decluttering and tidying to report. I went through the culinary sauces, vinegars and oils and sorted them into Asian and European categories. They are completely separate now so I hope they won’t get jumbled up again. Mr MV is a shuffler when he looks for things, consequently nothing is ever in the same place that I left it. I spend a lot of time looking for things that I know are in there somewhere, usually ending up taking everything out and putting it back again 😂 Also, sorted out the storage containers and got everything nested that should be. This will last for about a week if I am lucky! I finished ironing the Christmas table linen, aired it and put it away. 

Happy_Kitties

@Florenceem with regards to your social worker question I would answer yes it is worth asking for a Social Worker. I live in an area where health services and the local authority across the board were and are notoriously and horrifically bad. It always amazes me that they thought a full time wheelchair user, paralysed with additional health needs could care for an elderly parent 24/7. 

I pushed with a lot of battles later on  to see just where the failings were that happened with DDad and they were everywhere. No multi disciplinary team meeting with myself before DDad came home, just no involvement by any social worker at all and if the Social Worker I called for help had of bothered to just read notes they would have seen all of the confusion and failings. The hospital social worker wasn’t even contacted.
I was even interviewed by the Care Inspectorate because of the concerns that were later flagged up, but the good staff, there were some amazing care people who supported me who had also been fed a lie as to the truth about Dad’s health and needs, they helped as much as they could but their hands were tied to a certain extent. You don’t want to get into that situation. 

But that is where I live, I just assumed with the empty promises that they gave would follow through as I had never been in that situation before. Now I would be so much firmer, DDad should never of come home. 

But that doesn’t mean to say that you won’t get a Social Worker that will fight for your best interest. For me it was a district nurse and a GP that I didn’t even know that fought for mine in the end. 

DDad did go into a lovely care home. He was genuinely by nature extremely difficult, rude with a sense of entitlement, but they worked with it, they are used to it and he did thrive in there until he died. Just in reality looking back it should have happened sooner as it caused so much distress all round. 

From my own experience I have learnt that there are some amazing care people out there, be firm and stand firm with what you want, ask for every detail of what they want to put in place, because that is when you can flag up if it isn’t right for you. Put yourself first, and don’t feel selfish doing that because you are no good to Mr F if you don’t.
Wishing you and Mr F the best