2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

Florenceem

I didn't post my weekly declutter total - 

Out - Vegetable Spiraliser, Baster, Pizza Cutter, DVDs, Shoes, Baby Clothes, Book, Toiletries, Birthday Card/Envelope/Stamps, Body Warmer, Handbag, Old Medicines, Wellies, Birthday Card/Envelope, Swimsuit, Toiletries,Packaging. 

In - just food, newspaper and items that are leaving again on V.

Florenceem

We went to friendship/lunch club yesterday.
I sorted donations and put another load of toys outside for children to take.
I was busy as my friend wasn't there so I was answering the door.
I was on my own going round with seconds of dinner - we had fish, chips, mushy peas and salad followed by trifle.
I went round giving out Easter eggs to each person in the hall.
C left to go to the cash & carry so I was left in charge of getting everyone out of the building.
I took a meal and an Easter egg to an elderly lady.
We finished watching Season 1 of The Chosen.

TC77

@Floss .. such good advice and one I struggle with as when I was that age there were things I needed and  couldn't afford and don't like waste..  my last post was written hourrs before posting and I'm now in a better place. When I got back from work Dd2 had a friend home and they cleared her desk in our airing room, her bedroom and washed up   
I checked with her a couple pair of shoes which are now in the cs bag. I put 2 kitchen items in cs bag. 
Dd2  did point out that sometimes she will say she doesn't want something and I ask her if she's sure commenting that I want her to get rid of things and then ask her if she's sure. It's only occasionally and things that I think could be useful but realise she's not me and not helpful.
Have put 2 items on free sites and my cousin has  offered to come and help possibly this weekend or next. I think there's more I can do myself and prob prefer  her to help when I'm more stuck.
Counting packaging I noticed has been put out
Also realise I put a new black sack in the bin and there's another new one so must have been alot of things.  When dd1 did her big clear ups  i had to go through the bag as she just put everything in it from her room, socks ( often mine or dd2s ) and cutlery but I'm trusting dd2 and her friend.
547

Brambling

Nothing left the house today other than a full recycling bin for tomorrow collection 🙂 I did move my new cupboard in position and moved all my art stuff in, there is still a shelf spare in there and I now have space in the spare rooms to rejig over stuff to.  The fabric, wool etc etc etc stash are tidy but there is still too much of it,I'll sort a little more stuff for my sister for one of her play therapy children as the last lot went down well. It needs to be different textures.

Dizzycap

Good evening everyone

WOW there's been some fab decluttering going on since I last popped in a couple of days ago

@ regnbue - I absolutely love the Bob the cat pics Thank you for posting & sharing

@ Mrs_Salad_Dodger - I haven't seen them yet, but a neighbour said that 3 fox cubs were playing & jumping around on my front drive the other night with their mother, but I didn't see or hear them. Tonight I'm going to leave my bedroom window open so I hope to hear them and get a sneaky of them at some point

@ GrannyKate - Your kitchen is looking ready to go and I hope the bits and peiecs were done before Easter 

Love Sox's water fountain and he's a different cat. You've done wonders for him

@ BlueJ94 - Love the pics of your gorgeous babies Had to laugh at Rory fully relaxed & chilled out on his your sofa with the look of, "This is the life!" The fox photos are absolutely fabulous He seems exceedingly tame, so maybe someone is hand feeding him or has, at some point. On of my neighbours hand feeds a couple of foxes, but I prefer that they remain independant as I know that one of the fox's would live in the garden without hesitation, if I did, which I isn't fair for new cubs as they have to learn hunting skills which doesn't include what foxy does now, coming to my back door to ask for food to be put out

@ vulpix - All the best with the house hunting. I really hope that you find something you really love

@ Brambling - You have a recycling collection on Good Friday? Wow, you're privileged! Ours is on Saturday for the next 2 weeks due to the Easte bank holiday days before returning back to Friday collections.

I've not posted for the last couple of days as after TC77's inspirational 'roo of doom' picture, I went on a decluttering frenzy That day after posting I re-decluttered my art drawers removing and bagging up all items that hadn't been used in the last 14 months. I loaded them all in the large dolly trolly and dropped some of to the CS and the rest to the art mental health therapy group who were thrilled with all the stuff I donated to them, which was very rewarding So a tripple reward with re-decluttered art drawers & giving to others while getting some exercise with babyface - Can't be bad! Babyface was in her element in the CS as I always let go of her lead when she goes in as she is always greeted with calls of delight when she arrives. Off she goes with waggy tail like she owns the place! This time she decided that she would follow me into the back room as I dropped everything off and well, she suddenly went fruit-loops much to the delight of the volunteers who decided that they would try and catch her. Absolutely no chance and of course it added to & only fuelled babyface's hightened excitement & delight - So much for easing her back into her usual routine! Needless to say, she was absolutely dead on her legs for the rest of the day to the point she finally woke up at 10pm for a sleep break for the loo, a long drink & demanding her; now very late dinner, much to her annoyance as she likes us to eat together! As if that wasn't bad enough, she then demanded very vocally that it was time for me to go to bed, only because she wanted a snuggle kiss & cuddle

Today has been another very busy day here with me decluttering 2 important calls, completing some forms & documents & then sending them all off before the delivery office closed at 10am. Babyface & I arrived to post at around 9.30am, only for minsky girl to be met with welcomed open arms with the office door being opened so that she could go and say hello to all the sorters & posties. Thank goodness they have a couple of chairs to sit on in the main entrance as Wickers World girl was gone for a good 20 minutes doing goodness knows what, but seemed very pleased wth herself when she finally came back! Little monkey I've also been sorting out the few remain chores in the garden today:-) Found some lovely wild flower mix seeds in the garden shed, so I scattered, raked in and watered those in along with all the pots, cleaning and refliiling the birdbaths, water bowls, water features, and dead heading the daffs & tulips that needed doing. Meanwhile, babyface decided it was semi-fruitloop time as I've now removed the barriers in the garden so that she can use her ramps fully, but she knows that she needs to be sensible so was more than happy to help me with giving me kisses while I was pottering about -  Personally, I can't think of anything more divine than sharing my time with my gorgeous girl who always makes me smile & laugh each day with her antics A small dog with a huge personality

Ooops, I've just realised that time is getting on & I really need to go to bed. Take care all & Ta-ta for now xxx

EDIT: I forgot to add that I did 2 loads of washing and hung it out before I went off to bed which was dry about 10 minutes ago so I got it all in just in time before it's begun raining I missed the cubs again last night who have been riffling through the neighbours black bin liners overnight that they left out for collection today, but the collection isn't until tomorrow due to it being a bank holiday, so lots to clear up today as it's all over, so definately some play time been taking place

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

Thursday continued: DH & DSis got back about 15:45 & DSis had bought me some lovely flowers 😊Most of the shopping has been put away but sadly no lamb shanks as DH misread the shopping list & picked up gammon shanks  😔 Dinner was linguine with a creamy bacon & pea sauce. Wudupa

705 - 707 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, glass bottle - recycled 

708 Kitchen detritus binned 

Soontobeoap, that sounds so exciting - your own ‘craft studio’ 😊 

Lovely post ionafan 😊 Sounds like you enjoyed your few days away 🥹 Great work unpacking your bag & putting everything away 👏 & good luck persuading your DH to do the same 🍀

QueenJess, thanks for the useful information about stopping junk mail 👏

regnbue,thanks for the lovely photo of Bob the Cat 😊 Love the purple poppy - very unusual 🙂

Great decluttering Deni_debt-free_dreamer 👏 Pleased to hear that your back is getting better now you have prescription meds 😮‍💨 

Great decluttering of books Brambling 👏 I would definitely keep your house elf aka sister 🥹

Just noticed the time so will post & head to bed. Sleep tight 😴 

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

DH Awards: 🏅 

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2025: 708/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £116.00

TC77

Woke too early and with 4 days off work can't seem to plan my day or decide where to start..
I did make a list somewhere  and challenging myself to get to 600 in the hope I get near. 
Coffee and water first.
Hope everyone has lovely Easter and long weekend. 

CRANKY40

Good morning, sorry that I haven't posted for a while. Ds had two exams last Friday - he knows for sure that he's passed one so thank you all for the good vibes. He doesn't know about the other one yet. After that he had a final assignment to finish and hand in so I was mostly moral support and chief provider of cups of tea and snacks. He was so stressed that he had eczema on his hands which he's never had before. 

Anyhow, between the last time that I posted we have disposed of 60 items. We took 2 big bags of "stuff" to the charity shop yesterday and Ds sorted out 2 shelves in the living room. There were only a couple of used up pens to be thrown out but we put a lot of things away in their proper homes. 

@TC77 if you can't decide where to start first of all give yourself a base....mine is my chair in my craft room. Open a drawer that has things that need to be sorted and grab 5 or 10 things. Sort through the items - I have 4 piles. One pile is rubbish/recycling, one pile is charity shop or selling, one pile is to be put away where it belongs and the last pile is to go back in the drawer (but not until you've been through the whole drawer/shelf/whatever or you'd be sorting the same things over and over). Snack and drink breaks can be taken as required. Remember that for this part of decluttering the cost of the item is irrelevant. If it doesn't bring you joy and you don't use it then get rid or sell it. 

The best advice that I've seen this week is from Cas at Clutterbug. She said that if you're sorting your clothes or wardrobe just sort a few at a time and don't just pile it all on the bed (I did) otherwise you may not be able to find your bed at bedtime. That goes for everything really. We didn't accumulate all of this stuff in a day so it makes sense that it's going to take a while to get shot of it. 

I unplugged our dvd player yesterday and put that away. It doesn't make sense to get rid of it yet but I mostly used it for my looked after person to watch dvds and I don't do that anymore so it was just gathering dust. Ds and I did a fair bit of cleaning too. He's very good at suggesting solutions to storage problems.

Take care all of you 😊

Fizz2015

Morning All, sods law the start of Easter weekend and it's raining. We did our first carboot of the season last weekend and it went well. Family member is back in hospital, original cancer still there and has spread to 2 other locations and needs a major operation very soon, trying to support with practicalities and visiting (hospital is only 2 miles away). 

Update on decluttering totals:
66-67, vinted parcel sold & packaging used.
68-69 - soft plastics recycled 
70 - OH dug up an overgrown bush and weeded the garden
71 - Course paperwork recycled 
70-140 - items sold at carboot

Off to upload a few things on vintec, tackle the ironing pile, attempt the recycling machine in Boots and look around the charity shops near us.

TC77

Thank you @CRANKY40 I'm at the dining table but I am easily distracted and do many things at a time but find that as long as things are moving forward it helps although don't get the same buzz as a whole area sorted!
I keep coming back to it as have some frogs to be done on my laptop.

Washing done and on line
placed online shop (too late for shortage of cat food so will be out with my trolley)
replied to requests from free site for mirror and wellies offered
printed document needed to help me with complicated frog complaint.
Top and jacket in CS bag (and will delist off selling site)
Crochet hook in DD2's bin I rescued and then she told me it was bent
Note pad in bag for bank of things (for school children)

Waiting for plumber then will go to CS and drop of bag, collect order for trainers - mine are worn out - then they will be recycled.and cat food.

Hoping to maintain momentum. Thanks for all the encouragement x