2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

vulpix

I did the very limiting online request thing for the GP. What a faff and a silly amount of hoops to jump and a silly amount of codes to receive and enter. How a very elderly person ever gets to see a Doctor is a mystery. It took the best part of an hour.

DVLA have sent a cheque for tax refund on the old car. Another faff. Our closest bank is 22 miles away! Our local Post Office is closed too. Yet again how the very elderly get on is a mystery.

Nice to see you back Mrs SD.

You too Liverpool Anne. As a bad back veteran, rest is a good choice and ibuprofen if you can take it. One thing that did help me a bit was to lean over a table, feet on the floor and let the table take my weight.

I have proper perked up, I am sure I must have had thread withdrawal. I do enjoy reading about everyone's activities.

The weather has perked up too, we are off out to make the most of it.

 Vx

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

Straight into cheerleading:

Dizzycap, excellent work decluttering the Tardis wardrobe 👏 Hopefully the steady listing & sales will mean that the wardrobe itself will soon be on its way to a new home 🤞Sorry to hear that you have shingles again 😞 I will keep everything crossed that you recover quickly 🤞

Floss, lovely post 😊

Muddy_Walker, sorry to hear that you have two more months of injections 😔 Hopefully both the injections & the rest from work will help you recover as much as possible 🙏 I echo Florenceem’s advice to “take it easy” 🙏

Good luck with current listings Florenceem 🍀

QueenJess, love This “DD wanted to play "keep or get rid of" earlier……” 😊 So impressed that I am awarding your DD a medal🏅 Excellent decluttering especially as you have reduced the In/Out to just +23 👏 I have also realised that I have been rather remiss in making an award to DS - so a medal 🏅 for him re his decluttering after watching SYLO 😊

Lovely cheerleading post Dizzycap 😊 We thoroughly enjoyed the evening & even better was that we went in the car so were fully relaxed when we arrived 😊 whereas the last time we attended (some years ago) we went on the bike 😞 Hopefully you managed a few more hours of “sleeping like a tank” 🤞

mehefin, the planters at the library sound marvellous 🤩 I am hoping that you will post a picture or three once the plants are in bloom 🙏 Excellent work decluttering DS’s soft toys 👏 Everything crossed that the work restoring the school to full use does happen in the timescale quoted 🤞

oceanspirit, re the ivy: I read somewhere that if you hammer copper nails into trees it will cause them to die so am wondering if it would be effective with ivy especially if the stalks are really thick 🤔 Might be worth investigating as you are understandably reluctant to use chemicals 🤞

Lovely cheerleading post CRANKY40 😊 & excellent decluttering 👏 I remember that particular emoji & yes it was dodgy but also fun 😉 I do love This “Good morning good people (my grandad used to say that every morning)….” so cheery 😊

retiredinfrance, good work decluttering books 👏 & good luck with your continued decluttering of ‘sunk cost items’ 🍀

Lovely cheerleading post Moorviews 😊 I am amending ‘slow’ to ‘Steady’ & congratulating you on your decluttering progress 👏 Sounds like your vacuum cleaner will be getting a good workout 😉

daisy_1571, you are a ‘card’ 🤣 Sorry to hear about your back 😔 hopefully it is a lot better today 🤞

A very busy Sunday morning Wednesday2000 👏 I had the same thought about having a roast dinner on Sunday but as the weather was so bad I settled for the comfort of sausage & mash 😉

Excellent work yesterday Dizzycap 👏 I do hope that it wasn’t too exhausting taking babyface for her walk 🙏

Tjh1412, pleased to hear that the sale went well 😊 & congratulations on reaching your target 👏  A 4th Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way 😊

Concentration is flagging so I will post this & come back later 👋 It is no longer overcast - we have blue skies & a bit of sunshine 🙂 I hope everyone is having as good a day as possible 🤞 Cwtches to all 🤗 

P.S. Happy Birthday redofromstart 🥳 🎂 

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

DH Awards: 🏅 

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2025: 377/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £41.00

Brie

Beautiful tulips I'd bought from Lidl had finally died so they've been assigned to the bin.

And a little tidy this morning in the bedroom and 5 sports bras landed in the charity bag.  Think I've got another 20 or so so I don't imagine I'll be missing these.  It does however mean I'm low on white ones.  These are a type I buy at Walmart that is 3 to a pack for $19 (so £12?) and normally come in one white, one coloured, one patterned.  Very comfy so my daily bustenhalter.  

Wednesday2000

I got rid of a comfort stretchy bra yesterday as it was ripped. I'm trying to lose the 2 stone I gained since I moved here so I will need to get a bra fitting afterwards. I haven't had one in ages but maybe I could do it myself if there is a video on YouTube.

I'm waiting for my phone appointment from the nurse to explain my cholesterol results. 

It definitely feels milder today and the sun is finally coming out. I had my Ocado order delivered today and I got another bunch of daffodils and I realised I didn't have a spare vase as I had donated them the other week! I have three bunches of flowers downstairs now so I had to use a big glass for the daffs instead.

I haven't got much on this week, just my class and to finish a library book. I did want to go to the charity shops to look for a new outfit as it is my birthday weekend and I'm going into London.

Yoshimi2025

Hi there 👋 
I’m late to the game here but I moved house in October 2024 and decluttered quite a bit pre move but now there is still stuff niggling away at me as to why I’ve kept it. 

I’m going to try to declutter 2025 items this year. 

Feels lot but I’ll add it up as I go along. Mrs Salad Dodger seems to be a fantastic cheerleader and such a warm person to join a challenge with, not sure how you keep up? 

So today I started big with 4 pairs of knickers that are not comfy, a book, a loofah, 5 bottles into the boots recycling scheme for a £5 voucher (bought the replacement toothbrush heads I’ve been procrastinating on to unlock it) then sold 35 craft bits on eBay and recycled 2 envelopes from the ‘drawer’ to send them. Anyone else save envelopes & good boxes? 

2025/1979

Muddy_Walker

Helloooooo
Lots of medical decluttering today. Saw my NET cancer people - everything is stable woohoo! However kidneys have decided to join the party and have showed some wierd blood results so that will be referred. Vit D levels are very low (again) so they will ask my GP to do a loading dose….that means I’ll have a shed load of Vit D over a period of weeks.  They are also referring me for the breathlessness which I am very happy about because if that can be sorted I can go out for walks again!!!!
When we got back I had a stern letter from the GP saying I had missed making more blood appointments and when I rang them and asked can they not see my hospital blood results I was rudely interrupted and told no. No wonder the NHS is falling apart - if things have to be repeated because one department doesn’t talk to another 🧐
Anyway thats me for today! Cwtched up with thw dogs now xxx

Florenceem

Yoshimi2025 - I always save packaging - send off my sales in recycled stuff.
I did my printing at SA - came home and made a cuppa while I stuck the labels onto parcels.
Went to the post office - not too busy for a Monday morning.
I decide to pop in the community shop on the way home. They had the boxes of nougat bars in so they came home with me. I got a 2kg pack of bacon for £4.50 and a pack of 3 peppers for 35p. Last purchase was two thin crust spicy king prawn pizzas - 50p each!  We had one between us for lunch with LO jacket potato + LO baked beans.
I have been working on the curtains this afternoon.
So decluttered today was a watch + a weekend bag and packaging.
Only items that came in were food.

Brie

Yoshimi2025 said:

Hi there 👋 
I’m late to the game here but I moved house in October 2024 and decluttered quite a bit pre move but now there is still stuff niggling away at me as to why I’ve kept it. 

I’m going to try to declutter 2025 items this year. 

Feels lot but I’ll add it up as I go along. Mrs Salad Dodger seems to be a fantastic cheerleader and such a warm person to join a challenge with, not sure how you keep up? 

So today I started big with 4 pairs of knickers that are not comfy, a book, a loofah, 5 bottles into the boots recycling scheme for a £5 voucher (bought the replacement toothbrush heads I’ve been procrastinating on to unlock it) then sold 35 craft bits on eBay and recycled 2 envelopes from the ‘drawer’ to send them. Anyone else save envelopes & good boxes? 

2025/1979

Welcome and Marvellous start Yoshimi2025!!

And as to the saving of envelopes and good boxes....

Well I'll forgive my OH for saving all the boxes that his stereo equipment came in.  It's all nicely stacked in the loft so well out of the way and I know we'll need it some day when he sells the equipment to upgrade it all.  sigh.

And yes there's also a stack of boxes that some of his LPs have been delivered in.  OK - keep it until you know it's the right item, not scratched (most is at least second hand) just in case it needs to be sent back.  But he gets other stuff delivered and the stack of boxes etc is not 7 feet high - granted it's on a dining room chair but still......  Problem is that he doesn't see it as it's behind him when he's eating his breakfast so never thinks about doing anything about it.  We shall have to have words.  

And yes he sometimes finds a nice unused padded envelope being that is part of the packing material and he duly hands those to me saying "I'll bet you'll find this useful".  And I duly tuck it into my huge stack of envelopes - some of which are so old there's no stickiness to them anymore and you need glue/tape to securely close them.  

And it's right with the reused gift bags and some "pretty" boxes.  Now these do get used irregularly for birthdays and Christmas etc but I seem to get as many in as go out so it's a bit of a zero game. 

The one I justify completely is the beautiful box that had 2 mugs I got for Christmas a few years back.  The box has the same design as the mugs which is the art nouveux "chat noir".  It's as lovely as the mugs and has the advantage of have a satin cord handle.  I've used the box to store our passports (I need to keep all my old passports for my visa).  My idea is that should the house ever catch fire I know exactly where this box is and I can easily grab it and know that all our important documents are in it.  

p.s.  we moved just over 7 years back and still haven't completely unpacked.....

Yoshimi2025

@Brie and @Florenceem I haven’t quite worked out how to quote small bit or how to add a signature but “ p.s.  we moved just over 7 years back and still haven't completely unpacked.....” made me laugh, I’ve got a few boxes in the garage but as I’ve unpacked stuff I’m thinking do I need to clean this for the rest of my life, I’d love a minimalist life style but grandkids and Lego say otherwise 

Muddy_Walker

My husband likes boxes…….were these men cats in a previous life???