2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

vulpix

I was fit for nothing yesterday as I had one of those sleep avoiding nights on Tuesday.

We still haven't had anything other than a few drops of rain, unlike other parts of the country.

I use a refil co op shop too for some things. Our bins are emptied every 2 weeks. I have the small bins and our bin monitor empties our bin into hers as it isn't worth us putting ours out. We don't have waste food  but if there is a rare occasion, we give it the birds. They eat everything but are not keen on onions and carrots. The squirrels eat from the food scraps too. All my immediate neighbours use the same place on a high wall to leave food out.
 I try very hard to not be wasteful of anything and am pretty much successful. That's why I pass things that I don't need on as soon as I realise I don't need it. I don't need to keep it until it is useless. Better to let someone who wants it have it.

On Tuesday a lady came to craft club, hoping to drum up some custom for her courses. She works in a charity shop and uses things like broken jewellery, old embroidery, ribbon and silk scarves to make pretty things. Preaching to the converted at craft club but a good idea for some people.

I love making things but I don't want a house full of things that I have made. That's where charity knitting and crochet comes in for me. I need to finish a scarf today and make a parcel to send off. It has been a 3 month challenge. I am surprised how much I have produced in 3 months with mostly very kindly gifted yarn. I am wrapping the challenge up early as I need to finish a baby blanket before Monday when I next see my DIL. I will get onto some blankets for Happy Kitties charities next.

I have a pair of silver earrings to offer DD1 when she gets home on Saturday. They are Tiffany and all of a sudden hurt my ears. Nothing else out except a very large parcel of hand knits.

 Vx

Gers

Floss said:

Green_hopeful said:

Between the milk cartons probably 100 per year, soda water 200 per year, fizzy drinks another 100 per year you would think we would see a big difference but we still have a lot of recycling. 

I have a milkman so my milk is glass bottles, and don't drink many bottles of fizzy drink. I do recycle washed-out cat food trays, tins & packets, all paper / card, plastics (collected & taken to the tip) soft plastics (taken to Tesco) and glass.

For years we've had the wonderful un-homogenised milk produced on the island of Gigha in recyclable glass bottles. Now it's ceasing production because of centralised government regulations regarding the cost of recycling determined by weight. This means it's cheaper to dispose of plastic containers and makes glass prohibitive. 

Retailers and consumers will really miss this fabulous milk.

https://www.welovestornoway.com/index.php/articles/39230-much-loved-milk-producers-winds-up-production  

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: a brighter start today - fluffy white clouds in a lovely blue sky with sunshine but a chilly breeze - low 14°C, high 19°C, humidity 65%. Up at 11:00 today - read my watch correctly 😉 No sign of the recycling wagon. I have my first cuppa & hope I am awake enough to resume the cheerleading

Liverpool_Anne, hope the new glasses weren’t too expensive 🤞Excellent work in the back room & a great idea to only move in one direction 👏 It is surprising how much difference it makes moving items to their correct location & tidying as you go along 😊 Relieved to hear that the car saga is almost over 😮‍💨 I will keep everything crossed that there are no further issues & that OH is able to pick the car up on Wednesday 🤞🙏 I also hope you will have enough time to visit the boat museum 🙂

Shame about the missing post YBR 😞 This “DD1 on told of her medal gave me a look and a grunt; teenager!” had me in stitches 🤣 For some reason I had a complete disconnect when reading This “……….but I spent time at my desk with things for the role I start on Monday, and with sewing nametapes on uniform.” & thought you were sewing name tapes on Your uniform 🤪 Very pleased to hear that the practice bus trip went well ☺️ & that DDs will be confident enough to get the bus to school 🥹 

TC77, you are so hard on yourself 😔 You must be doing something right as you are noticing a difference 👏 Please don’t be embarrassed about This “Thinking of asking another friend for help but abit embarrassed 😟”  I believe your friend will be more than happy to help 😊

Brie, yippee to your husband letting another pair of shoes leave the house 🥳 Now you just need to keep the momentum going by persuading him to release another third of his collection of shoes 😉😉 Fingers crossed that the inflatable mattress & sleeping bag liners have been picked up 🤞 Hopefully you will get a few tomatoes from the self seeded plant 🙏

GrannyKate, sounds like Tuesday was not only a productive day dealing with frogs but also an enjoyable one visiting the plant nursery 😊 Well done on resisting the temptation to buy plants 👏 & great work doing a couple of Tip runs in the morning 👏 Hope you have a great time swimming with the DGCs 🤞

I am flagging a bit now so will post this & come back shortly. I hope everyone is having as good a day as possible 😊 Cwtches 🤗 all round.

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

DH Awards: 🏅 ‘Squirrel Whisperer’ ⭐️ 🏅 

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 1561/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £379.00

QueenJess

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

I was thinking that re the shoes you might want to pick your favourite/most comfortable pair & alternate wearing them with the boots so that the boots last a bit longer 🤔 

I have a feeling I haven't worn some of them because they don't go with what I wear or are uncomfortable, but time will tell.  My boots are already falling apart, although I will be gluing them back together again to see if I can get them to last longer.  I did look online and find exactly the same pair second hand, so they are on their way to me (I never usually do that, but I do live in the boots!).

As I'm staring at a screen a lot for work, I have continued the digital decluttering.  I haven't done my tidying for today yet, so I may get the odd physical thing out the door later as well.

Digital:
7 - apps deleted
6 - accounts deleted
13 - notes deleted
17 - bookmarks deleted
121 - files deleted

New total 4,626
Use it up total 350
Mini freezer challenge +1/-20
Big kitchen declutter challenge 115/150

Green_hopeful

@Gers what a shame about your milk. Ours is un homogenised. We love supporting local businesses. It still comes in glass bottles but we have to pay a deposit on the first bottles. Our dairy is closed this week. Its only this week and Christmas week. I don’t know how they do it because cows can’t stop making milk but we are on supermarket milk. 

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

Even sunnier now & forecast high is 20°C. I have written a smallish shopping list for DH. DH & DSis headed off to the sm at 13:55. Back to the cheerleading:

Dizzycap, Saturday was such a lovely day that it won’t be forgotten any time soon 🥹 Tuesday certainly sounds like a fabulous day 🤩 with both Babyface & Gorda keeping you both busy & entertained 🥹 I am keeping my fingers crossed that Gorda will eventually get used to having her nails clipped & she will go from hating it to tolerating it especially with you taking such good care of her 🙏 Good luck with your listings 🍀 & well done on taking the quiet sales time to stock up on packaging 👏Fingers crossed that you get enough rain to water the garden 🤞

short_bird, such a shame that people were & still are so inconsiderate 😔

Liverpool_Anne, sorry to hear that you didn’t sleep well Tuesday night 😞 so I do hope you managed to catch up on your sleep Wednesday afternoon 🙏 Yippee to OH’s car being fixed & back where it belongs 🥳 Now I will keep everything crossed that OH’s letter gets a speedy response & that a suitable level of compensation is offered together with a polite apology 🤞🙏

florianatwobob, your tale of recycling bins reminds me just how lucky we are as everything - paper, cardboard, tins, plastic & glass bottles, rigid plastic containers, newspapers & magazines goes into one recycling wheelie bin 🙂 Re This “I honestly can’t understand how we managed with that bin being collected weekly.” I agree with Floss that there was a lot less packaging in days of yore 😉 plus the explosion of internet shopping has led to even more packaging ☹️ 

florianatwobob, lovely reminiscences about Derrick the butcher 🥹

Lovely & also useful post Green_hopeful 😊 You have inspired me to Google my nearest zero waste shop 😊 (in Greenwich Market) but now need to investigate bus routes as Cutty Sark DLR station is closed for refurbishment ☹️

So lovely to see you BlueJ94 👋 How wonderful finding motivation from watching Stacey’s Sort Your Life Out & sorting out your spare Room of Doom…… again 🥳 Excellent work especially as you managed to fill a whole bag for the clothing bank & also have a bag full of clothing for sale 👏 A medal 🏅 is on its way 🙂 Good luck with your listings 🍀

Inspired by BlueJ94 I sorted out the 2 bags of ‘stuff’ for the CS & will try to stir my stumps & deliver them tomorrow 🤞 I will see you all later once my iPad is charged 😉  

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

DH Awards: 🏅 ‘Squirrel Whisperer’ ⭐️ 🏅 

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 1561/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £379.00

QueenJess

Some more bits and pieces to declare post tidying.

Digital:
25 - documents deleted
26 - photos deleted
15 - bookmarks deleted

Physical:
10 - random paperwork recycled
1 - plant (buy nothing)
1 - plant pot (charity bag)

New total 4,704
Use it up total 350
Mini freezer challenge +1/-20
Big kitchen declutter challenge 115/150

BlueJ94

Does finishing the remaining of a bottle of rose class as decluttering? 😂

diminua

Threw out some old discoloured pyjama bottoms that have been threatening holes for some time and have now developed them. They were comfy though, and the right length for my short legs, hence my hanging on so long.
I also disposed of the advent calendar box I was using to store makeup - really handy with the little drawers, but it's cardboard and was never going to last forever - and that got me going through my makeup and discarding some mascaras and face powder I've had for years. 
And five books to the bookswap.
A few things have crept in though, so I'm only on 8 more things out than in at present. Pleased to be staying on top of it though.

suzeesu2000

Been a hard day today, overdid it yesterday and have suffered as a consequence. Hence nothing of note done today. I did manage to organise a charity shop collection for all the bedding but that won’t happen until next Thursday. Waiting on CP volunteer to tell me when she’s coming for other bits.
Photographed new still in original packaging bedding and posted on eBay, fingers crossed.
Apart from that, and cooking dinner and tidying the kitchen a million times (I have one of those husband things!), I’ve done nothing.
Hopefully feel less pained tomorrow.
Weather has been much cooler today which has been a blessing.
Have a good evening all xx