2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

Dizzycap

_Dolly_Rocker_ said:

Loving all the nice pics so here's one of Bailey and Luna.

Look at those adorable beauties Bailey & Luna & what a super picture and would make for a wonderful April month for a yearly Dog Calendar There's some inspiration for making Christmas Gifts Who needs Crufts when we have our own MSE Dog Show! ALL win Best in Show

Mrs_Salad_Dodger - Thank you for my medal for "MacGyver a solution to babyface’s desire for a bath" Pink is an absoluete no,no babyface colour whether she's wearing it or not. I planted some mixed colour hyacinth and daffodil bulbs in a large wooden planter and most of the hyacinths came out pink. Oooooooooo, babyfaces 'I'm not amuzed' left front foot went up when she saw them in the front garden and the look she gave me along with those thoughts: "Pink! Of all the colours, you planted pink?!" and off she strutted in disgust Cheeky Mare Moo - I did tell her that this November, she can go out in the cold and plant them ready for Spring while I snuggle up in a warm thick fleece. That didn't seem to go down well either as I got the foot along with the serious frown!

@ sqwiffy - Great going with the table. That'll come up lovely when the wood stain goes on I absolutely love restoration projects and it makes for great decluttering of paints & varnishes you may already have At least you only have one room of doom and not a few or several

@ florianatwobob - Well done for decluttering the weeds back and front. My least favourite job when I am able to do it. Unfortunately, I have to rely on a gardener for bending garden jobs but he seems to be useless with knowing what's weeds and what's not but is fabulous with everything else! Last year I scattered seeds I had been collecting in a bare patch that I lovingly nurtured & watered every day. I asked him to do some weeding but to be very careful not to remove seedlings; which are so obvious to see for most people, and I when I went out to see how he was doing near my beloved patch I said, "Now that you've done that, would you like to start on the weeding?"   Need I really say more

@ Florenceem - Glad Mr.F is home and seems better than previously. I pray that his improvement continues and there are no more backward repeats xxx

It's been a very busy day here on Animal Farm. All was going well until babyface decided to have an overly excited fruit-loop around the bed in circles Red Rum marathon as I was about to put on clean sheets and even with quick thinking to stop her, she seriously burnt herself out and then had pain, so back to the anti-inflms and pain relief meds along with other meds & water to knock her out while I had a good feel around. Her stomach was and still is a little tender, so I had to knock her out for most of the day I lifted her into her Bunty bed, opened the bedroom window, closed the curtains and threw a light fleece over her while I quietly made up the bed. She's finally woke up an hour ago for the toilet; which I obviously had to check, and a long drink and nibbles before she trotted back off to her now clean Bunty bed, as I changed all her covers over. I've now loaded up the bedroom windowsill with all the medication and water she might need during the night and tomorrow, but hoping she doesn't need any of it. Foxes have been fed and are screaming and playing out the back. Tomorrow is an absolute full rest day for both of us. I've listed & scheduled numerous decluttered items for sale while babyface has been sleeping and I'm feeling fatigued & dead on my legs, so decluttering one last mug of coffee before bedtime. I'll deal with packing any decluttered sales tomorrow evening as I will have my mobi on silent until then   Wishing everyone a peacful night and restful sleep with hugs to all xxxx Toodle - Pip Squeak for now xx

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 had another drink, took some bolognaise sauce out of the freezer but decided to watch a bit of telly & do some knitting. DH got back from his walk…… Forgot to mention that I watched the first episode of a new mini series last night “Flowers In The Attic: The Origin” I became completely engrossed & am looking forward to the next 3 episodes 🙂 Spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Wudupa

626 - 628 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, newspaper - recycled 

629 Kitchen detritus - binned

Now starting Friday’s cheerleading 

Dizzycap, sorry to hear that you slept badly Thursday night 😔 Excellent work on the listings 👏 Amused to hear that you & babyface surprised the postman 😄 I do hope that babyface calmed down by Friday afternoon 🤞

Liverpool_Anne, you have had a busy couple of days 🤩 Excellent work with the decluttering & setting up your new digi box 👏 I hope the cost of posting presents to Germany wasn’t too exorbitant 🤞Beautiful cake & the roses you made are amazing 🤩 

2Scratters, what an excellent idea - rewarding each page read by completing a decluttering task 😉 or should that be the other way around 🤣

foxandflowers, home made fudge sounds yummy 🤤 

Just noticed the time so I am off to bed - will resume cheerleading tomorrow 😉 Sleep tight 😴 

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🌟 ❤️ ❤️ 🏅 💐 💐 💐 🏅🥉🏅 🎂 🌟⭐️⭐️❤️ 🍫🐾 😍

DH Awards: 🏅 

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2025: 629/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £41.00

YBR

Do you take late joiners to the decluttering gang?

I'm moving house some point in the summer to a house that comes with my new role. It's a bit smaller than our current one, which is bursting at the seams, so I'm really concerned we won't fit. Meanwhile DH and I are working, I'm still studying and there's 2 kids who don't want to let go of any of the things they're growing out of ...

I've joined a local yard sale at the end of half term in May and must start sorting stuff for that ...

CRANKY40

YBR said:

Do you take late joiners to the decluttering gang?

I'm moving house some point in the summer to a house that comes with my new role. It's a bit smaller than our current one, which is bursting at the seams, so I'm really concerned we won't fit. Meanwhile DH and I are working, I'm still studying and there's 2 kids who don't want to let go of any of the things they're growing out of ...

I've joined a local yard sale at the end of half term in May and must start sorting stuff for that ...

Hello and welcome @YBR. Congratulations on your new role. 

I moved from a 5 bedroom 5 storey house which was full of "stuff" to a three bed terrace. It took me three months to get rid of enough things so that we fitted into this house. Bag up rubbish and charity shop stuff when the kiddos aren't in or when they're in bed. I promised mine that if he missed anything that I'd disposed of then I'd buy it for him again. We've been here 11 years next month and he didn't miss a single thing. He's obviously collected a whole load of new "treasures" since we've been here (I bought him an ottoman bed to cope with that) but other than that he still fits into his bedroom. 

@Florenceem thank goodness you were in to open the door for MrF. I hope that you both had a peaceful night.

@Mr@Mrs_Salad_Dodger are you a secret vampire just going to bed as the sun comes up? 🫤😊

I am feeling more energetic than I did yesterday so I plan to declutter the ironing this morning and then declutter some weeds and plant some pansies this afternoon. If I have time to chop down some ivy then that will be a bonus. I hope that you all have a good day 😊

Yoshimi2025

Isn’t Sunday great! So nice to be getting some free vitamin D.
5 small items sold on Vinted, 2 envelopes recycled, 2 tickets in the compost bin. 

Does anyone compost? One of my bins is full of fruit flies, how do I clear them or do I start over? 

London_1

Glorious day here on the IoW, sun shining sky's blue and I have one of my grandson over here for a week 

DD's eldest lad Ben i came over when he broke up from his school job on Friday night and he's been so helpful bless him. He's already dug out the potato patch he wanted and put fencing around so it will put the dogs off trampling on it We went out yesterday and did some gardening shopping and got his Pentland first early seed spud and they are going in today .He has also become interested in bird watching and I dug out a decent pair of his late Granddad binoculars so he can take them back with him when he goes. He's here until Friday then as he goes back to London we then have his three brothers coming over

Henry for only a couple of days, then he returns to London as he is off to Thailand on Good Friday for his big three week trip with three of his buddies from Uni.They are having a couple of days by the coast then going trekking up country to see more of the real Thailand away from the touristy bits

 Jack will be down for a week, and the youngest Mikey for two weeks as he has a longer break from Uni. 

so its going to be a busy couple of weeks and my baking skills will be utilised as  all the lads have hollow legs yet don't put on an ounce  

Tomorrow we are decluttering on a tip run as having Ben around he is my muscle man and the old Christmas tree from last year which was down for retiring to the tip will finally go along with a rug that tends to 'creep' across the carpet and DD just got fed up having to forever keep straightening it. There's a few other odds and ends that are past going to the Charity shop so they too are going to the tip, mainly stuff that was broken at some point during our move last year I still have boxes to unpack and sort later today
The garden is looking good and my greenhouse I was gifted for my birthday is brilliant.

I hope everyone is having a lovelyy sunny Sunday.There is a line of washing I did first thing blowing nicely on the line 
My late Mum would be horrified as she thought hanging the washing out on a Sunday was a no-no, but I'm of the opinion if the sun's out I make the most of it as a line-dried wash smells gorgeous 

Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

daisy_1571

Welcome ybr, we'll be pleased to cheer along with you on your enforced and somewhat timebound decluttering 

Mrs sd ive taped flowers in the attic, glad to hear you enjoyed it.  I remember being enthralled by the books probably early 80s?  They were maybe new out then or if they were earlier my friends all had only just heard of them as for a while everyone seemed to be reading the set

Dxxxx

Brie

Put on some socks yesterday and they were nearly impossible to wrangle. I don't think my feet are swollen at all so I guess after a few years of wearing the socks might have shrunk. Not sure how as I always wash on cold and don't have a drier. I do put things on on the rads though.

 Anyhow - they've been binned and as I was sockless I swapped over to my summer faux birkenstocks which I've decide are too uncomfortable to continue wearing. New late last summer so only worn a couple of times but the foot bed is completely wrong for me. Heyho - £8 wasted. Will need to try and find some better ones. My winter ones are from Moshulu and are good now but took about a month to become comfortable. Wondering if I should wait until I'm in Canada to shop or try and get something sooner here.....

vulpix

Surprise! Greetings from Madeira. 

Hello and welcome YBR. We will all be interested in your progress. 

Liverpool Anne, you are on fire at the moment. With regards to the suitcase, I have seen them being requested on Thrift near me for storage.

just a few little things I wanted to say. Fab news that Mr F is home and seems better than he has been for a while. 

I am very heartened to hear that you are having some help Wee Nancy. 

I hope everyone is doing well and pacing themselves. 

I have rubbed shoulders literally with Jenny Bond this morning. We shared a seat on a bus!🤣

lots of love Vx

YBR

It's a glorious day here, so spent some time in the garden, binned a few wooden lockdown projects, now decayed too far, and decluttered the first third of the garden shed. I wasn't going to do the shed yet that but discovered a nibbled hole in the birdseed packet and some other tell-tales. I only did a third because if I de-clutter any more there won't be room left in the bin this week!

Also got rid of a large roll of paper to someone who'll use it, and DH the old cot down from the loft so it can go to the charity shop later this week, along with a dolls house.

I need the dolls house out the way to find just a smidgeon of space to start working through the contents of shelves (that makes it feel like I have a plan!).

@daisy_1571 Decluttering may be enforced and time-bound, but it is overdue and a thoroughly good thing!

@Yoshimi2025 I do compost, Fruit flies are harmless and help the composting process, but annoying. You could reduce them by taking the food, but as that's rotting fruit and veg it's a bit self defeating! You could try putting more "brown" waste in the compost (e.g shredded paper, sawdust,  leaves, hay) and a vinegar or wine bottle trap.