2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

vulpix

 Hello Lovely people, Thank you for your good wishes. I thought I had better tell you as it would just seem odd if I slipped it into conversation, oh by the way I had a stroke the other day! It is a bit odd but not painful. You should have seen me try to negotiate stairs for the first time, and use scissors, but not at the same time! It is only my eye that is affected and is most certainly a permanent thing. I am one of those very annoying people who are good in a crisis, so I am just getting on with it. of course it could hit me like a ton of bricks later but I was ok when I had cancer so am hoping to be the same now.I will rest though, I feel like I need it. It is what it is and it could have been so much worse. I don't want to derail the thread, happy to answer any questions if you have any but hopefully I won't let it interfere with my life too much. But Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I can't drive for at least a month. any way enough of all that.

basketcase, I do mean yarn when I say wool. Thank you that is a very kind offer.My knitting gang can help you out but soontobeoap's group sounds more in need. If you have masses, enough for everyone, I am happy to come and collect if we are not too far away or pay postage. There is no stopping my neighbour now, she has knitted another baby jumper whilst I have been in hospital. She still refuses to try a purl stitch though.

 I am off for a very much needed early night.

 Vx

basketcase

@vulpix
I'm not sure where you or @Soontobeoap live, but I'm in Aberdeen.  If you're not too far away I can bring it round to either/both of you.  I think there'll probably be enough for you both.  See what you think.

I'll try to take pictures of the stuff I've got - it includes baby wool which should keep your neighbour going for a day or two! 🙃  Not quite sure how to send the photos.  They seem to come out really large on the threads and I can't see how to send them using the message.

I can email/WhatApp them if you and @Soontobeoap prefer?

It'll be tomorrow though - I'm off for an early night myself.

daisy_1571

basketcase said:

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger
a 💐, a ⭐ and a slice of lemon drizzle cake!  I'm really spoiled - and definitely embarrassed (she writes, delicately dabbing lemon flavoured crumbs with a damask napkin.  The TLC carriage has everything!)

I thought Harold Lloyd for the handcar, but the Keystone Cops is even better! 🤣

Hope everyone's as well as possible and has had a good weekend.

General decluttering:

Fairly quiet on the decluttering front.  A couple of loads of washing, dealt with an Admin Tadpole re my fuel bill (due to switching banks), and all lunches and evening meals have been from leftovers, pantry or freezer.  Plus 1 bag recycling to bin. So that and the laundry bag means I'm up-to-date with my Containers.

I'm decluttering my Email Inbox as I go - but I'm not counting that as it's maintenance.

NSDs

Saturday was a NSD and today nearly was but... I'm at an AGM next Saturday and had to pay for lunch a the hotel.  I could just go to the meeting and lecture, but it's in an hotel over 100 miles away so I'd be driving over lunchtime to get there for 2pm.  Afterwards I'll be driving a further 30 miles to stay overnight with DD.  Also to take down her skis, contact lenses and a small pile of 'stuff'.  So all that and decluttering too!

TOTALS

February– NSDs = 1/15. Containers = 2/28. Frogs = 1

Hurray for Harold Lloyd dodobedododo, Harold Lloyd 

Dxx

TC77

 Haven't been here for a couple of days and so much happening. Just a quick pop in , however, I must send Vulpix hugs and please rest and accept all and any help. 

Mortified at the state of my house, esp DD2's room. As she's away I've cleared in - I think last decorated about 30 years ago and curtains around 18 years ago, hoovered them and also got a lovely woman who helps me occasionally to deep clean.

Took a few bags to the donation hub and persuaded them to take some hangers too ( 8 or so), most other things already counted, added 7 cutlery items, another jar, cable, 
I do remind myself that I don't want my home to be  a landfill waiting so out/recycled, water bottle, mouthguard, packaging, old toiletries, old tennis ball, broken curtain hooks,  3 items to textile recycling, face paint, and in cs bag 2 x hair accessories and a jumper. Also 10 coasters/placemats. And a little paper decluttering. 
294

Hope those who need to are settled in the TLC carriage having table service. X

DundeeDoll

Didn't make as much progress January as hoped so new challenge for self in February (thanks to Good Housekeeping) - 1 item 1st, 2 items 2nd etc  and have challenged dd2 to the same. so far so good though know this is the easy bit 😊

sqwiffy

@queen jess -thanks for your jouney. I hope I can get there!

@liverpool_Anne - what does LDFPA mean?

@florenceem - we are lucky as a relative gave us a bed that can go into different positions, and like some seats can assist in sitting up. I have no clue how much they cost but I think you could ask if it was possible to get one through hospital team if they haven't yet discharged Mr F or Social Services if they have. We've been given some things over the years, a bath lift, rails, raised toilet seat, etc. And get that blister checked out as @Floss says as it could be a bed sore. My mum got one on her heel and another at the bottom of her spine and they are hard to get rid of. We have district nurses having to come in to assess and dress them.

@florianatwobob - Good ideas. I have sold some bits on ebay and Vinted in the past but now give to a relative to sell since she needs the money. I feel it's helping me to let go of stuff too. I did put things out on the wall during Covid. I want to ask OH to make one of those book houses to go in my front garden to put books for people to take. I like the idea of sharing books, especially one's I enjoyed reading as I'm a bookworm.

@Vulpix - Oh no! what a shock. Make sure you get lots of rest in between exercise. They told us they thought our mum was unlikely to recover but she has made more progress than they expected due to her age and dementia so time and physio may still help to improve things for you too. My OH also likes parcels, especially tools and gadgets! However, he has got really good at recycling packaging after I got mad when he just threw eveything in the bin.

Hi @I love comps ( I do too, by the way!), @i love you too and @regnsue

@Mehefin - How will you get rid of your muckheap? I used to want that when I had an allotment but it's gone now. Nothing like lovely horse manure for the plants.

@Madam Mim 2013 - What are jammie duffins?

We had my Dsis2 & her OH for dinner last Sat and my Dsis3 & her OH this Sat to give them a break from mum. Both times were lovely as haven't had anyone over for ages. It also got me cleaning and tidying up plus a little decluttering. Today after lunch with my OH, I'm back at my mum's looking after her while the dinner recipients went out for dinner and a show. While here with my neice, I've been dealing with mum's frog in between looking after her. We're now having to try and get mum propped on her alternate sides at night with pillows to try and relieve and heal these bedsores.

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

Sunday cont’d: I ended up doing nothing but reading & napping, although I did cook dinner - sliced beef (from freezer) in gravy, mash & cabbage. Wudupa

211 - 213 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, glass jar & metal lid - recycled 

214 - 215 Kitchen & lr detritus - binned 

Tjh1412, that certainly was a “mega Tip run” 🤩 Excellent decluttering 👏 & your new number of 1867 has earned you another Gold Star ⭐️ Great news about the searches & here is hoping that you soon have a moving date 😊

oceanspirit, hopefully your friend will act on your advice 🙏 My washing up only gets done once a day - before going to bed - it is studiously ignored until then 😉

suzeesu2000, that is so rude 😡 

Muddy_Walker, pleased to hear that you have “set up a loose plan for recovery” 😊 which I hope includes following the doctor’s instructions to the letter 🙏 & so nice to hear that your dogs are doing their best to keep you entertained 😉

Great decluttering sqwiffy 👏 I see that several people have given you pointers on at least some of the abbreviations that we use 😉 Sorry to hear that you will be bearing the brunt of caring for your Mum for a while until one DSis is fit again & the other DSis returns from her holiday 😔 It sounds like between caring for your Mum & your OH you will be kept very busy but please try to get some rest 🙏 

Welcome Iloveyoutoo 👋 Well done on decluttering to CS & good luck raising funds by selling 🍀 Apologies for not having any advice on selling, but there are plenty of people with a wealth of experience who will offer tips & advice re selling 😊

Wonderful post daisy_1571 🥹 Full of useful information 💐

Beautiful post sqwiffy 🥹

StickyTheStickInsect, I believe the sparrow hawk visits from Canary Wharf 😉 unfortunately not enough to keep the pigeons out of our garden 🙁 Lovely informative post 😊 Fingers crossed that the new steroids start to make a difference in combination with the mini pastries 😉 Yippee to getting DS1’s DLA renewal 🥳

weenancy, I suppose one day’s rain is a start 😊 Good luck with the knitting 🍀

One more page caught up, so will post & head off to bed. Sleep tight 😴 

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

DH Awards: 🏅 

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2025: 215/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £5.00

Dizzycap

Wow! After a few days away the thread and decluttering has been bombing long - Awesome!

@ vulpix - Take it easy and rest when your body tells you to as you need to heal and rewire, so to speak xxxx

Talking of resting, I've been fairly good. It's only today I just couldn't bed rest anymore, I needed a break 

Baby-face had a bath late morning because she was nagging me to have one and refused to leave the bathroom until she'd had a clean up and swim! Kept her very warm and I managed to change and wash all her bedding and snugglies - 3 large piles of washed blankets and fleeces All out on the washing line as the sun was out for a number of hours, so babe-face and me did some much needed afternoon sunbathing while waiting for the washing to dry, amoungst other things.

I also took pictures of items I wanted to list and managed to list everything I want to over the course of the day.

I've got 6 parcels to declutter out of the house when postie comes in the morning with another 2 to follow, so items and packaging are leaving the building pronto! I've also put a few more bits in the dolly trolly ready for the charity shop, but I ran out of energy to put any more in, but it was more important that I pack and pre-pack items to go and list items to potentially leave, so it's a positive - I just have to ignore the 4 large organised piles of items on the spare bedroom floor as I didn't have the energy to put them back in the monster wardrobe - A job I'm hoping to do tomorrow, but I'll be taking it slowly with breaks and thank goodness I did a deep Spring clean in that bedroom a couple of weeks ago....

I'll be starting tomorrow with the usual HH rubbish bins clear out and I've got a whole full recycling bag waiting to be emptied into the recycling bin, I just haven't been out to empty it and now it's cluttering up the hallway along with all the parcels for postie - No,no,no and out, out, out you all go!

As for anything coming into the house last week it was only letter mail, some free packaging, which has now been used, and my mother a couple of times armed with more milk to put in the fridge and freezer which is being decluttered on a daily basis and will take me a whole month to get through, so all good

I'm also hoping to get dressed tomorrow, althoguh it's never for very long, and sort out and put away the clean clothes I'd left on the bedroom chair along with a light bedroom clean up, stripping the bed, making it up again ready for more rest - A declutter & reclutter day! Wishing everyone a super declutter day tomorrow xx I'm off for a cup of coffee before heading back to bed. Good night all xxx

suzeesu2000

Faith is being slowly restored. Had lovely message from a buyer today who wanted to buy everything I had on eBay! Sadly she was outbid on a couple of items. One buyer bid on two things and PAID! I am so pleased. Other one is waiting for an item which ends in a couple of days but might do a deal so she can be done. 

Hope everyone has a good and healthy week xx

GrannyKate

@vulpix - take things easy - my thoughts are with you.  A few bits done yesterday but I was feeling the effect of busy day outside on Saturday.  Thank you for the medal Mrs SD.  I am trying to go through things I put away when I arrived here and see what is actually there.  Some things have been moved to better places and a few have gone.  I am hopeful that once I get my bedroom done and some furniture in there some things will have a proper home. 

203 Three sets of chopsticks to CS bag
204 Set of mats and coasters to CS bag
205 More random coasters binned
206 'Best' cutlery sorted and now useable (it was in a carrier bag from moving day)
207 Veggies from fridge made into stock (Need to freeze this morning)

Some things did come in  - a double sheet (I will find an old one to go), another nice box (these are to put loose papers in currently on bottom shelves of book cases - mostly Family History stuff) and two lampshades (for rooms at the end of decorating list as they just have bare bulbs - old ornamental fittings decluttered by electrician)

Had nice Sunday lunch - roast duck - at DS2s.  Please to see he had been upcycling item that was in my garage the entire two and a half years he was me.  Hopefully lots of serious tat here and at DS2's will go on Saturday.  Last February birthday card bought.  I will start on March as I have a lot the first week including my sister to post to US.  Snowdrop walk this morning at farm near where I used to live.