2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

Willowtree222

A huge piece of glass has gone from the garage. It didn't take up much room as it was stacked against the side but it has gone. It used to be part of the conservatory roof before the log burner was installed. 

Brie

A friend has given me the info for a place in London that repairs and sells recorders.  She plays a wide variety of them herself and I used to play soprano and tenor ones many many years ago.  I've contacted the place and asked what the process is of getting the recorders to them (other than just popping them in the post), i.e. if they need photos or something.  I got these when I was in (I think) grade 8, which would have been 1968 (I think) and played them all the way to grade 13 (along with a variety of other instruments) and then in uni where I was in a medieval music group.  Don't think I've tooted them since so that's a good 50ish years of non use.  Apparently though there is a need for decent instruments which get distributed to students who might not otherwise be able to afford them.  They can be loaned or given - I've got no need obviously for a recorder anymore so if they can still be played then I'd hope that someone else would be able to use them. 

So they haven't actually left yet but the journey has been started.  A bit like the pack of dairy milk choc bars purchased for a friend's birthday which I want to send with a small watercolour of beach huts I've finished today.  I'm trying to remember if her birthday is tomorrow or Monday..... and if I can find her address in France...... 

daisy_1571

Brie, if you have a minute can you send over the name of that place please?  I'm learning the recorder and might well need them in future if I keep leaning on it by mistake 😆 

Cheers daisy xxx 

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: overcast start but brightened up so cloudy with some blue sky. High of 18°C, low of 9°C  & a chilly breeze. A nice surprise - the recycling wheelie bin was emptied 🥳 Wrote a shopping list as today is shopping day 😉 DH & DSis left 14:05. Back by 15:30 & I have put everything away 🙂

Nice to see you CRANKY40 👋 Sorry to hear that DS has “man flu” or maybe it is just ‘back to school/college flu’ 😉 Thanks for the interesting information about plastic 👏 Excellent decluttering in September 👏 one less day than August but +90 more items gone 🥳 A Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way + another Gold Star ⭐️ for your Grand Total of 2705 in the first 3 quarters of the year 🤩 As to This “…. did have a sort of epiphany too. When we downsized to this house we filled it with "stuff" even though I probably halved our possessions before the move. Over the years we've looked at storage solutions and such things but I said to ds at the weekend that the answer is not better storage, it's actually less belongings.” brilliant 🤩 now you ‘just’ have to encourage your DS towards the same epiphany 😂 An excellent start to October’s decluttering 👏

BlueJ94, I hope the First Aid training went well 🤞 definitely better than work although I always found it more stressful than work 😥 

Well said daisy_1571 😊 I am finding the conversation about cats & plastic very interesting 🧐 

vulpix, 2 rescue cats 🥹 Of course now I am wondering which one is in charge 😉 Thank you for sharing your interesting family history 👏 I might just have to start calling you ‘Lady Vulpix’ 🙊 Absolutely everything crossed that your moving date of 17th October is a) this year & b) remains unchanged 🤞🙏🤞 Pleased to hear that your broken toe is much better & that your barefoot hippy days are over for a while 😉

Brie, thank you for sharing your interesting family history 👏 & how lovely to have a picture of your grandmother & her sister 🥹 This “OH has finally noticed that there's some indian food in the freezer (I've only been mentioning it for 3 months) so that's likely to be dinner tonight” had me laughing out loud 🤣 Your December holiday sounds lovely ☺️ I do hope that the regulations about what you can bring back from Germany haven’t changed too much 🙏 Possibly being slightly controversial “Br…. the gift that keeps on giving” 😢 

Muddy_Walker, checking back you currently have 2 Gold Stars & 3 medals - so you are missing a medal. Re gold stars I am currently working on a target of 550 for the year & would be grateful if you could confirm if this is correct 🙏 Excellent decluttering 👏 Good luck with the Christmas Cake 🍀 hopefully a few of our Declutterati family will offer up a recipe 🤞

Green_hopeful, nice Christmas cake recipe 😋 & the mincemeat recipe sounds lush 🤤 

suzeesu2000, Frankie is definitely a little weirdo 😜 but then again it would be a boring world if all cats were the same 😂 Excellent cleaning work on the cooker 👏 I do hope you were very careful when moving the cooker as you can do without injuring yourself 🙏 This “I took a few glass jars with lids up to a neighbour who I didn’t know before, she had put a note to neighbours asking for jars. Bless her heart, she left a little pot of plum jam on my step, isn’t that just the nicest thing? We are VERY lucky where we live as all our neighbours are lovely.” made me smile 😊 as such a lovely thing to do 🥹

So much for trying harder to catch up with the cheerleading, I have been very distracted by ‘pleasant occurrences’ & will let you know why in my next post 😊 See you later 👋 

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

DH Awards: 🏅 ‘Squirrel Whisperer’ ⭐️🏅🏅⭐️😇🏅 

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 1894/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £469.00

Brie

daisy_1571 said:

Brie, if you have a minute can you send over the name of that place please?  I'm learning the recorder and might well need them in future if I keep leaning on it by mistake 😆 

Cheers daisy xxx 

you wouldn't want my two?
Recorder Shop London - Instrument Service and Repair

suzeesu2000

Only decluttering I’ve done today has been financial. We pay 99% of our bills on the same day every month then we have a vague idea of what we’re doing. I always feel a deep sense of “phew” when they are all paid. 

Had a lengthy exchange of views with a gentleman this afternoon. My printer has ceased to function, won’t load on the laptop, won’t communicate and has generally been a grade one PITA since I bought it in September. Said gentleman stated it was company policy that I should go to the manufacturer. Yea right, I’m doing that all day long I think not! I gently, but assertively, explained the 1979 & 2015 sale of goods act to him and explained that British law supersedes his company T&Cs and, my contract was between his company and myself NOT the manufacturer and myself. He finally saw sense. Upshot is, they are collecting the faulty one and bringing a new replacement tomorrow.
Going to work on F/tree this evening and, hopefully an early night. 

Have a great evening all, sleep tight xx

London_1

Good evening chums been so busy for the last few weeks I've not had time to even lurk We have been putting the garden to bed for the winter so lots of decluttering there 

Tomorrow DD and I are driving up to Kent on the mainland to see eldest DD ,granddaughters and great granddaughters.We haven't been over since March so looking forward to seeing the family

Decluttering lots of stuff including would you believe Christmas cards which my eldest DD will deliver nearer the time
 Plus I shall give her my grandsons birthday card as he lives in New York and it will go in with hers The postage for a card is just under £5.00 She will send both of them off ,and we split the postage between us. Money saving at its best
 The other cards are Christmas cards to family in Kent she will see before I will as she hand delivers most of the ones she can

 Postage is getting to a silly amount now ,last year  admittedly I do have four over seas ones I post to Monaco, Australia, Canada and the USA but including the rest the postage was almost £27 which was a lot more than the cards.
I do send a lot less than I used to, and donate an amount to the Sally Army as they do so much for folk at Christmas. I'd rather do that then I know that somewhere someone will get a hot meal or a bit of Christmas cheer

My second eldest grandson Ben  is doing a sponsored 5 x 10K runs this month for Cancer Research  so I've been whipping up extra cash for him from friends. He's doing well as he only expected to raise about £100 and he's trebled that already, he's a good lad and had never ever run for a bus, yet he's taken to doing these runs pretty well, and has become quite interested in running  as well.

He's a school teacher in a primary school and he says running is a great way to clear your mind after a busy day at school, and he works out his lesson planning whilst running  

Right my DD is calling now as dinner is ready then its packing the car up as I have lots of stuff coming with us in the car I have a nice duvet set for my youngest granddaughter that I was given as the owner had bought a bigger bed from a king size to a super king so had to buy all new stuff so DGD Holly will get it this weekend ,she's just moved house so she will be pleased to get extra bits I have dug out for her as she's moved to a larger place with her partner so they are short on both cash and bits and bobs for indoors

Hope everyone is well

Onwards and upwards ,fingers crossed the M25 is running smoothly tomorrow morning

JackieO xx 

TC77

@Brie I'm in awe! Grade 13! I didn't know they went that high..I got to grade 3 or 4 in piano  ( well I had the books til last year) and friends who got to grade 8.
3 seater sofa out , feel I may count as 3 as back and seat cushions.  Only thing is the room is now more obviousy full of carp

Muddy_Walker

Hellooooooo
yes MrsSD my target is 550 decluttered items.

Feeling a bit brighter, got some bits done which I was fretting about. Silly things really!
I have shuffled my plants about (the indoor ones) and my succulents are now on the landing window where I can ignore them. They sometimes throw their leaves off during the colder season and go dormant.
my ferns are back in the kitchen window having had a cut and I washed the leaves of everything by using the tap on a sprinkler type setting. I also managed to wash the front of my fleece, a sleeve and the kitchen floor……
Sat outside with a cuppa at dusk and heard an owl. Unfortunately Rogan spoilt the moment as he had the zoomies….no romance in him at all!!!!

TC77

Heading to bed as awake far too early. I did drop a bag off to the CS and another to the donation hub, mainly bedding and homewares, think I added one item but always count a bag out as one. However, still piles of things so worried some items are breeding and multiplying. 
Office day tomorrow but if up will do more tidying. Meant to mop floors tonight but they will wait.