2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

SpikyHedgehog

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger I was thinking the flower pots will turn up in one of the toy boxes,  as the families help us tidy up.   But when I'd sorted the stuff at home,  I found I've only got the unopened bags of bulbs,  so the part bag is also missing.   Ah well,  if anyone had asked for them,  I'd have offered them some compost as well!

A pen tray is a brilliant idea!   I will add it to my list of present ideas 🎁

Alas,  Elder Son is a chef who has staff on leave so is working even more hours than usual...  He's moved the ladder so it won't fall across the door,  phew,  but I'm going to have to wait till November before he's at home long enough to look at the shed roof.

Barbados looks an amazing place to go to,  but brr! Coming back to a cold English autumn must be a shock!

@charlies_tribe I'm sorry to hear about your young relative. 

Good luck with finding a dentist 🤞 they are rarer than hens' teeth in Suffolk.   And well done to DS2!  Getting rid of toys,  even when they're broken is hard work.   He's seen all your hard work and that's inspired him,  I think.

@suprisinglynice ooh, headwarmer things sound like a good idea for using up yarn!   I'm currently making crochet daisies from yellow and white yarn.   I'm not going to work in the white ends from the petals, so that could be used to sew them onto something.

@suzeesu2000 good news about your friend sorting the vntd problem!  Friends are so wonderful.

My best friend came round today, so little decluttering other than eating more cake.   It's a hard job,  but we did it 🍰 And walked the dog before he decided to be a lap dog and sit on us on the sofa.



Though I did cut some garden stuff back ready for the garden waste bin to go out next week.   Rubbish bin emptied and returned to the back garden.  Moving plants back that I'd moved for gas meter access,  I've turned their saucers upside down for winter readiness.   I've got some plants in pots that I need to plant out, so i won't move them till I decide if they're getting planted out or not.

Dinner is barley because I found an unused bag in the cupboard the other day. Will we like it? Don't know! There's loads of bread if the boys don't want it. Tomatoes and cucumber and balsamic vinegar dressing I was given, and sosmix. And I had a banana because barley takes ages to cook, and I didn't know when Elder Son would be home.  

@vulpix what a relief that the cats came back in!   Good luck with cleaning the rest of the house...

Liverpool_Anne mmm, apple crumble... yummy. 

suzeesu2000

Happy for you @florianatwobob, best result.
Took parcel to lovely friend who is taking to PO tomorrow.
Sorted out my plastic bin of plastic lidded containers that I use for freezing leftovers. 3 for the recycling, lids don’t work so out they go. 

Added a few bits to medicine chest. 

Dinner for both from freezer.
washing dried and put away. Have 2 of DHs long sleeve shirts on the airer to finish, then just one shirt of mine to iron and all done.
Annoyed with myself for missing the Sainsburys whole chickens offer, 😡 Lesson learnt.
Spent a couple hours scanning statements, filing and shredding originals. All the others I managed to download but this particular company only do them on the app. Am also moving more and more away from Sainsburys. I really have only used them because of the Nectar points but they are changing that to be QR codes too. So Mr Tesco is becoming my go-to now.
Have a nice evening all, sleep tight xx

dND

Hi all,

Thank you Mrs SD for the medal and star. 💕

I though my AWOL brain had reported in but it was obviously just a flyby so I think I’ll be away for a while longer.  I sit down to write but everything then goes blank and I’m also avoiding computers and social media, (the latter being full of so much depressing news).

I’ll check in again when I figure out what my problem is and get everything back together – well as much as it’s usually together.

I’ve been getting stuff into black bags – as I don’t have a convenient tip that accepts black bags, as it stands it’s going to be 12 weeks to get rid of the current 12 bags in my fortnightly collection. General recycling is still going out and that’s helping with the overall look of the place.

So much love to you all, hugs, condolences and congratulations as and where required and as I said, I’ll check back in when I feel I can cope a bit better.

D  

weenancyinAmerica

@florianatwobob - I understand how you feel. My brother had muscular dystrophy and my sister's husband lost all three of his brothers to cystic fibrosis. After they married, she went to get genetic testing. Every time I came home to visit for a couple of years, she made me go in for tests also. She wouldn't even consider having children until she knew if they would be passing the genes along. Happy to say, they didn't, and I have two nephews who have five children between them who are doing great. It is such a relief. Time to celebrate when you find out you don't have what other people have been passing along. 

QueenJess

Just popping in as I've been away for a few days.  I didn't have time to post before I went and so I've collected up around a weeks worth of decluttering.  More to come as I have some charity bags that need sorting from kids outgrown clothes as I think I can fill the rest of the couple of half filled bags that I had.

General decluttering continues - mainly by trying to use everything that we have and use up some things.  I am working through my pencil stash, some bathroom overstock, some freezer overstock, some food cupboard overstock, some candles, packaging, gift wrap, paper (I use the back of printed or drawn on paper for work notes) and a pile of unread books.  DD is working through her stash of pencils, pens and stickers.

Digital:
6 - text message conversations deleted
6 - photos deleted
3 - documents deleted

Physical:
5 - paper reused then recycled 
1 - packaging reused
2 - DS trousers too small (charity bag)
1 - sticker sheets used up
1 - pen used up
1 - candle used up
1 - bathroom supplies used up

New total 5,283
Use it up total 416
Big kitchen declutter challenge 137/150

daisy_1571

Take care dnd

Dxx

oceanspirit

Down to 130 emails.

Friend is going to help me sort out front garden - I have my first list of things to order so will get on with that tomorrow.

Brambling

That's great news Florian it must be a weight off your mind.

Is there a local oven cleaner Vulpix? We have a guy who I'm told performs miracles and all chemical free.

No decluttering for me today I helped my sister babysit her granddaughter whilst mummy had her baby brother (9.6lbs 🫣) he needed some persuasion to leave his cosy nest and then came in a rush  😁 

I did bring back three large bags of books from my sister to drop off at Petworth, I haven't looked at them and I've left them in the car to be drip fed from the carpark to the house via the buggy. I think a few were probably mine but don't want to be led astray.  

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 continued: Back again after dealing with today’s mail - just the 3 items & all to do with my finances 😞 Accounts updated & everything filed.

As an aside, I have just noticed that a post can either be ‘interesting’ or ‘thanked’ but not both 🤔 Dinner was pork steaks, mash & cauliflower & broccoli (from freezer) Wudupa.

2007 - 2011 Kitchen recycling, magazine, 0.5” paperwork, glass bottle, drinks cans - recycled 

2012 - 2014 Kitchen, lr & office detritus - binned

TC77, thanks for the useful information about knives 👏 Pleased to hear that your DB is pitching in & hopefully he will give you a hand with some decluttering when he comes to visit 🤞 perhaps a Tip run 🤔 

Excellent decluttering GrannyKate 👏 You are almost there 😊 Don’t forget to count your frogs 😉 especially as frogs tend to take time to complete 😬 That sounds like a lovely weekend with your DD especially afternoon tea 🥹 Well done to both you & DD for getting lists of jobs all done & dusted 👏 A medal for each of you 🏅 🏅 - on their way 🙂

Lovely post vulpix 😊 Fingers crossed that your car sailed through its service 🤞 & that MrV came home umbrella-less 😉🙊 Your builder sounds like he will be worth his weight in gold 😊 Hopefully he will manage all the smaller jobs you have lined up swiftly & efficiently & it won’t cost an arm & a leg 🙏 That was a long ‘list of intentions’ for yesterday 🤩 I do hope you factored in some rest time 🙏

Excellent work sorting a ‘cupboard of doom’ ruby_eskimo 👏 as well as fitting in a trip to the recycling centre 👏 A medal 🏅 is on its way 🙂

Excellent decluttering Happy_Kitties 👏 you have been busy. Congratulations on sailing past your target of 500 🥳 A Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way 🙂

Excellent work oceanspirit 👏 especially getting a frog completely done 🥳

TC77, excellent work at your dad’s house 👏 I am awarding you a Gold Star ⭐️ I might even be persuaded to award your DB a medal IF he does take all the designated stuff to the Tip - in a timely fashion 🙊

Soontobeoap, excellent work ‘wrestling furniture to kerbside’ 👏 please accept a medal🏅 

London_1, what a brilliant post, I absolutely loved it 😻 I could almost picture your DD’s face when you told her about your conversation 🤣  My suggestion would have been to set up abseil ropes on the cliff top before committing the “heist” 🙊 

Lovely post SpikyHedgehog 😊 Sorry to hear about your medical condition 😞 Sort of an advantage to have the ladder out of the way but does that mean the downstairs toilet is out of commission until the ladder has been moved? Mind you as you say, more decluttering as a result 👏 The mincemeat & cocoa nibs cake sounds delicious 😋 Shame about the bag & tub of scraps not being solely vegetable 😞 Hopefully should there be a next time, elder son will bring back just vegetable scraps 🤞

florianatwobob, that is excellent news 🥳 & such a relief I imagine 😮‍💨 

I have caught up a little. Sleep tight 😴 

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

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

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 2014/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £469.00

Pennypincin

Apologies for being awol again.
Not much decluttering done and stuff trickling in unfortunately.
I did manage to take a fairly large bag of recycling to the supermarket Monday, along with quite a bit of food from the cupboard that I'd bought to try and wasn't keen on, which I put into the food bank.
Tuesday I managed to put the rubbish, food waste and paper recycling out.
I managed to declutter and old sleeping bag, plus 4 old pillows too yesterday.
I'm taking several plastic containers, 4 pillow cases, plus 3 pasta sauce pots I don't like but somehow bought over to my mum's Friday.