2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

Soontobeoap

Thanks for the star Mrs SD. Grandchildren here for the whole of August so busy trying to maintain. That would be a good thing.

YBR

6 days to go ...
I went to Tesco early today and struck "gold" in boxes as it turns out Banana boxes are plentiful around 7am and are just the thing for transferring from the filing cabinet. 5 packed and one more to finish emptying it.

Our black (general waste) bin was full within days of the last bin-men visit which is fortnightly, so I'm glad we're not having to clear out for a new occupier! 

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger : Early nights are good: 👏

@Liverpool_Anne : Fingers crossed that OH's Lightbulb moment results in good new routines!

There seems to be lots of decluttering going on all round, 👏👏👏

charlies_tribe

Good morning all. 
An extremely busy weekend here. We've swapped the whole living room in to the conservatory and the conservatory/dining room in to the living room. My new living room/conservatory is looking very cosy. Needs some paint, throws/cushions and some plants and some form of tv unit. The sofas are huge heavy metal framed recliners and although I slibe them forward and hoover under them weekly, while we were moving them and had the backs disconnected, DH turned them over and hoovered into the frame. I honestly can't believe how much fur and dust was up inside the sofas! We have some foil coming for tge roof to hopefully stop it getting to hot until we can change the roof before winter (DH just going to build a lower internal roof with some insulation between the 'new' roof and the conservatory roof to hopefully stop it dropping so cold in the winter)

Yesterday we sorted through the big things that would be staying in the half of the living room, that will now be the dining room,  moved cupboards and put the table accessable and everything else that needs sorting through at the other end. I have chosen new cupboards for the dining area but they will probably have to wait a while we get some money together. 

The other end that now needs everything sorting through will be DC4's new bedroom. It needs the floor pulling up to the dining area, wall building and then decorating. 

So now all the bulky lifting is done I've got a lot of decluttering while DH is at work this week. I think im going to get the kids to slowly go through all the games and Jigsaws and get rid of any with missing pieces.

Ive also been setting the teens on clearing their room in 15 minute chunks to make the bedroom change easier and have a pile of stuff on the landing to sort through that they no longer want.
Not much actually decluttered yet in the move but there is a small list.

1006-1016  11cm school work (I think that's almost all the school work gone now)
1017-1022  6 pencils
1023-1032  10 boxes
1033  Hairbrush- snapped

vulpix

Forgot to say, I went through the office, a large pile of papers for recycling. Some stuff to leave for the new owners of this house and an envelope of stuff for the new owners of Mum's house.

Glad to hear your Nephews Step Mum has been to visit his Dad Mrs SD.

 Also for the chazzer, a man bag and a box of pencils. For the tip,more wires.

 It sounds like a good trip all round Muddy.x

 Willowtree, a modern day fable. I know which way I will be planning.

YBR, The early bird catches the banana box. I must say they vary in style these days but beggars can't be choosers. I am just packing shoes in some right now.

Charlies tribe, moving the sitting room into the conservatory is megga. It's not that long ago that you could hardly get in there.

Liverpool Anne, you are on fire, and OH is smouldering which is a good start. Have a lovely time with your Niece.x

 Things are trundling along with the house sales, still calls to make and things to action. I shall be glad when it's all done.

 TBH, I thought I had our possessions down to minimum. Obviously not with the amount of banana boxes I am filling. It is quite sobering. I would think similar to a sort your life out programme experience. I obviously take after my Mother and have things put away tidy so you don't notice how much I have. To date the upstairs has yielded 12 banana boxes and 4 black bags of soft stuff. Still a little more of upstairs to pack and of course our wardrobes which I am hoping will fit in 2 large and 2 cabin suitcases.

Just having a coffee then need to press on if there will be any chance of us getting in bed tonight.

 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

Tuesday: slightly brighter than yesterday with a high of 22°C, low of 14°C & humidity 54%. The forecast is for sunshine from 14:00. DH headed off to WLP before 10:00. Fingers crossed that his weigh in isn’t a disappointment 🤞

Continuing with cheerleading Sunday’s posts

TC77, sounds like decluttering is still ongoing at your dad’s house but that you are still making progress 👏 Some great decluttering in your house👏 & I see that I will be sending your next award in the not too distant future 😉 Hopefully your mammoth phone decluttering session has been successful & you are again able to take photos 🤞

Excellent decluttering suzeesu2000 👏

Fizz2015 very kind of you to welcome OH with a roast dinner ☺️ Excellent work decluttering freezer contents 👏 & hopefully the ‘concoctions’ won’t be too ‘interesting’ 😅

Pennypincin, sounds like there is some artwork in the pipeline with the recent inflow of sketchbooks, pencils etc 😊 Good luck clearing the kitchen worktops 🍀

Yippee now starting the cheerleading for Monday’s posts 🥳

Lovely to see you Blue_Doggy 👋 Sorry to hear that you have been feeling overwhelmed 😢 Excellent work in the kitchen with not only the deep cleaning (please, please be careful on the stepladder 🙏) but also the decluttering 👏 I agree with TC77 that once you start having visitors again, they will be happy to see you & enjoy your company 🥹 Eek to the wasps nest 😥😱 thank goodness you found someone to deal with it 😮‍💨 Hopefully you will soon find someone to clear up & do the necessary repairs to the porch & the living room wall 🤞 Donating boxes to your sister is a good way to oust some Justins 👏 especially as boxes take up so much space ☹️ Again it is lovely to see you & as TC77 commented don’t forget the TLC Carriage 😊 Please accept 💐 

Lovely supportive post TC77 🥹 & good luck ousting the Justin boxes 🍀

12:45 DH has just phoned - he is 0.6kg lighter 👏 As he is out & about, he has decided to tick off a few more bus numbers before coming home 😅 

Excellent work decluttering whilst abroad Willowtree222 👏 A medal 🏅 will be waiting for you when you get home 😊

moginstein, thanks for the information which is also useful for iPad users 👏

TC77, pleased to hear that the phone storage issue has been resolve for the time being 😮‍💨 I am assuming that DD2 is still sending lots of photos/videos from Australia 😉 

Liverpool_Anne, shame about the CS not taking donations ☹️ Do you have another one you could try especially as you have started filling up another bag 🤔 I was exhausted just reading about about how much cleaning & decluttering you have been doing 🤩 Definitely merits a medal 🏅 which is on its way. This “I had to sort out my yarn stash and it's massive. I have shoved in behind the couch for now 😂. OH said it's not hidden as it's so massive but I just gave a pointed look at OH's piles 😂.” did make me laugh especially the “pointed look” 🤣 Good luck with the rest of the cleaning/tidying prior to DNiece’s visit 🍀

vulpix, re This “I am bamboozled. Never have I found it so difficult to sell and buy a house. Or has it seemed so expensive. There seems to be an email weekly asking for another £300 odd for something or other. You would expect doing everything online would make things much faster. Not at all. It's fair putting me off moving again I can tell you. When we finally get into the new house I am gonna do nowt but wallow for ages.” sounds like a bit of a nightmare 😱 Almost makes me think (but not quite) that a good estate agent actually earns their commission 😂 Hope MrV was successful in his search for banana boxes 🤞Hopefully the living room won’t be crowded for too long 🤞A little holiday in the Brecon Beacons sounds lovely & hopefully will rejuvenate you & MrV ready for the house move & will be a bit of a quiet time for DS DIL & DGS before the arrival of the new baby 🥹

Lovely to see you regnbue 👋 Wow you have been busy 🤩 Some excellent & eclectic decluttering in May 👏 Although I am a bit bemused at your INs - you have counted your 15 ‘pairs of socks’ as 30 🤔 ……….. although I see now that you are also counting your OUTs as individuals rather than pairs - so no longer bemused 😂 Trying hard not to be pedantic, but I did notice that your start number for June was +20 from your end number for May 😔 However despite this, you still managed a huge amount of decluttering in June & whether the number is 300 or 280 you have earned a Gold Star ⭐️ which is on its way 😊 I see that you picked up the pace again in July with more excellent decluttering & whether the number is 410 or 390 you have earned your 3rd Gold Star ⭐️ Congratulations 🥳 

Excellent work QueenJess 👏 Am I being cheeky if I ask if you managed to get the button sew on 😉 having been distracted by decluttering some of the contents of the sewing box 👏

Concentration is flagging now so I will post & run 🙂 Hope everyone is having as good a day as possible & cwtches to all 🤗 See you later 👋 

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

DH Awards: 🏅 ‘Squirrel Whisperer’ ⭐️ 🏅 

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 1422/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £299.00

Willowtree222

Thank you for my gold 🏅. Very much appreciated x

GrannyKate

@vulpix - I certainly agree moving house is so much more complicated than it used to be - although 9 months post move I've forgotten the worst of it.  No sign of the builders yet so I have an empty room and stuff everywhere in the others rooms.  Just hope they come soon.  DS2 and co had a great holiday but felt two weeks with a large group was a bit long.  I feel energetic so I plan to tackle that bed linen and duvet pile next.  I had a lot of paperwork to sort but that is done. 

683-687 Five frogs munched up
688 Email boxes all empty again
689 Parking booked for trip in October
690 Bedroom 3 sorted as far as possible, clothes put away, stuff sorted for washing.
691 DS2 holiday beach towels all washed, dried and returned to them 

Right I need to get up and do things before I go off the idea.  Sox does not like the windy weather and is resting up indoors. 

London_1

Good evening chums well a brilliant day today I had posted on FB that I was looking for a ukulele for DGS Ben for his school as he works in an inner city school in London, and the primary school children get very little stuff from the local LEA as they say there is no money
Ben plays a guitar and wants the kids to learn an instrument, and the cheapest ones are ukuleles . 

So yesterday we wandered around Newport looking in the CS's but no luck. We came home and I said I'll post something on the local FB page and see if anyone has one they are looking to sell.

I posted and within a few minutes I had two offers of free ones for the Year 5 children.This morning a chap posted me a message saying I could pick it up today  so I shot down to Ryde and this lovely chap gave me one which he said he had taught several children at school  on, and was moving next week so I'd be doing him a favour as it was one less thing to pack.

Bless him it was excellent a 'tenor ukulele ' which is the teaching, one including the case.
I thanked him and whizzed back home and said to Ben I've got a surprise for you ,and he was absolutely buzzing as he says getting the children interested in things and catching their attention helps them know that education isn't always boring old sums  

 I texted the chap and asked him if I could make a donation to the charity of his choice, and he said hang on I'll ask my wife and came back and said could I do it for the Book Trust which gives a helping hand to children with books who perhaps don't always have easy access to them. There really are some pretty nice folk around and a complete stranger was willing to help out . 

Ben and I popped a donation online to them as ben is also keen for children to read and I often get books for his class library shelf from boot sales etc as again the LEA say they can't afford to get books for the class room and the children should just use the municipal library.

But as Ben says often the kids have parents that both work and are time and also money short so books come way down the list of essentials when their Mum and Dad are perhaps living on a limited income as a lot of the children parent are.

This afternoon he spent it digging the garden we lifted all the potatoes and did a huge green garden bin load of weeds. He has been toiling since lunchtime bless him and I'm so pleased as the garden is really taking shape at last. Tomorrow he is going swimming in the sea with his Mum at Yaverland and I'm off to the new knit and natter group I joined last week coffee nattering and knitting a great combination I think and a relaxing morning 

in the afternoon we will pop to Shanklin as he wants a couple of new strings for his guitar and then its back to Newport to pick up the new storage box for the BBQ in the garden .I spotted that B&Q had a 15 % discount that was ending today so got £24 off the price which more than covered our donation so a win-win day and my garden is looking good. my garden is decluttered and a bit from my bank balance but all in all it was a successful day for us all 

Now its dinner time so i'm off to have a feed 

Cheers chums 

JackieO xx

Willowtree222

That's a lovely story. The LA's funding has been cut drastically for schools and a lot of things have been cut back. 

Such a shame but glad that his school will have the opportunity to learn an instrument and donating to the book trust as well to ensure some children get some books. 

suzeesu2000

Said goodbye to a manky old fleece and a knitted thing, something like a very small blanket. Now gone. 

Been decluttering a pad full of notes as I am doing DHs side of the family tree. Have so far got back to 1114. I am learning so much Scottish history along the way. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week xx