2025 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN MrsSD - The Joy of Decluttering

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

Monday was definitely the start of colder weather - high 9°C (feeling like 6°C) & low 3°C 🥶 I was up late so had a quick cuppa then caught the bus to the P.O. & sent my old passport - paid for 1st Class tracked & signed 😣 + bought a few more 20p stamps. I had to wait for buses both ways so was out for 45 minutes. When I got back DH went out for his walk managing to stay reasonably warm by walking fast 😉 I received a good news email - my Freedom Pass has been sent 🥳 Spent the afternoon sorting out more paperwork, reading & knitting + took photos of the 3 hats & scarf that I have knitted - see pics

Dinner was beef, mash, cauliflower & broccoli & gravy made with granules. Wudupa

2136 - 2139 Kitchen & office recycling, drinks cans, 0.5” paperwork - recycled 

2140 Bike battery for Tip

2141 - 2144 Kitchen, lr, office & DSis bedroom detritus - binned

daisy_1571, you have hit the nail on the head 👏 Nothing cryptic here….I cannot understand how Isaac is still in 🤔 

_Dolly_Rocker_, This “Woke up this morning and decided that I am going to be a productive human being in all aspects of my life.” is a very positive statement 😊 & I wish you every success 🍀

ruby_eskimo, well done on making a start on the room of doom 👏 Very impressed with This “Have put things in suitcases ready for when I next need them e.g. all the things I'd take on a short haul holiday are in the small case, all the things for a long haul in the bigger case so I'm actually using them as storage rather than wasting the space.” 🤩 such a simple but brilliant idea 👏 

Brie, This “Apparently there are 2 AA batteries in the alarm system that have just about expired after 10 years.  Should be simple, replace 2 batteries at a cost of a couple of £.  But no.  The alarm is buried somewhere and replacing the batteries is no cheaper than replacing the whole alarm system.” made me wince 😣 (reminiscent of practically any job that needs doing on the motorbike ☹️) but is also so annoying 😖 Excellent work clearing most of the leaves from the carport 👏

Brilliant work Soontobeoap 👏 Good luck with the Christmas Fayre 🍀 Here’s hoping that everything is sold & that a great deal of money is made 🤞

suzeesu2000, excellent work decluttering the ironing pile 👏 When I read This “………have rediscovered my fondness for it. I know, I’m mad. I was ironing a pale blue blouse top of mine and really enjoying as the creases gave way to a smooth crisp finish.” I didn’t think you were mad, it just reminded me how much I used to love ironing 😊 Great work emptying the raised bed 👏 & hopefully the air won’t be too blue whilst DH dismantles it 😉

Excellent work oceanspirit 👏

Brambling, excellent work tackling the craft cupboard & the two chest of drawers cupboards 👏 Loved This “…… I have an embarrassment of tee shirts (that sounds an appropriate collective noun!) 🫣 to be culled at a later date.” 😊 I have to confess that I also have ‘an embarrassment of tee shirts’ 🙊

Hope everyone had as good a day as possible & managed to stay warm 🤞 Sleep tight 😴 

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

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

DSis Awards: ⭐️ ⭐️ 🏅

Decluttering Target 2025: 2144/2025

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £569.00

suprisinglynice

First day in over a week that I have felt remotely human! 
I have decluttered over 40 items of clothing today, off to a clothes collection point in the next few days. I'll be donating some blood tomorrow for testing, it's been 6 weeks since my last ones so fingers crossed for stability. 
Loving the hats and scarf @Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Green_hopeful

We have been continuing to move one of my step children. He has quite a big house and he is moving into his girlfriend’s flat while they find something to buy. We have arranged for a local charity to come and collect quite a bit of furniture he doesn’t need.  We spent the afternoon dismantling the wardrobes and carting them downstairs before cleaning upstairs. So we have his living room full of furniture to donate. The charity furnishes houses for homeless people. We offer lots of stuff to them and they are super quick to respond and collect. 

We have brought back a van load of other charity items to sort through. So lots of clutter in but only for me to sort and donate. Most will probably go to the same charity that the furniture is going to but I need to sort it a bit as its a different lady to the furniture lady. 

As a result of plant sitting for the same son I decided to rehome some of our plants. We had lots of tradescantia and jade plants. I put them on Facebook and rehomed 10 plants. Most people collected but we always offer to deliver because a lot of people round us don’t drive. I put each plant in a gift bag and wrote the recipients name on them. We had them all lined up in alphabetical order in the utility. My other step son earnestly handed them out to the recipients. Despite them being free and easy to grow lots of people were really pleased to receive them. 

weenancyinAmerica

Mrs. S_D and suzeesu2000 - My sister loved to iron too. She went with her husband to a quilting group - he quilted, she did the ironing for everyone. 

suzeesu2000

Been a cold one down here but nowhere near as cold as up there! See Scotland and very north England had a scattering of the white stuff. Hope everyone is okay.
Dinner was from freezer again. 

Poor DH is not very well, sadly it’s one of his usual problems so he’s confined to bed for a few days. 

Item sold on Vinted, wrapped and taken to Dfriend who does the posting for me, she’s such a good friend.
Posted another 2 items on eBay, fingers crossed.
Only decluttering today has been the normal junk mail straight into the bin.
Wrap up warm everyone and please don’t forget to break any ice on the water for the birds,  or even put a little something out for the other wildlife. Have a good evening all, sleep tight xx

_Dolly_Rocker_

Oh my wee fingers are about to fall off with this cold!

That's me finished work until Thursday - lunch date with the sibling and on of our work mates tomorrow at El Jefes in Glasgow, really looking forward to it. 

The motivation to change my life is still there but defo at a lower level, I am going to continue with the deep clean of the house on Thursday then aim to finish it Saturday. 

I'm planning to clean the cupboards out on Sunday, while I'm going that I'll check what Christmas gifts I have already then it's time to get the list sorted for Santa!

diminua

Finally managed to declutter/donate a pint of blood. No bruise this time. I did drink a pint of water beforehand and a small bottle of fresh orange juice, and the walk there definitely helped (took public transport last time). It was brisk - both the walk and the weather. 
Other than that things are creeping in rather than out. Went in John Lewis and bought a plate and went round the charity shops in Streatham on Sunday and got trousers and a jumper for under £5 and a Ruth Rendell for £2. The jumper is a very bright shade of green, but is a good make and goes nicely with my green mac so I'm happy (and if I go off it I'll just donate it again).  Someone else I know also sold me a ridiculous knitted (or possibly crocheted) bee for a donation - they had yellow and black ones but I was struck with this little fella in grey and maroon. I think he looks like he's in school uniform colours.

. 
Either a bee, or a bunny with no legs. 

GrannyKate

Evening all.  A few days pottering around.  Nice lunch (bring and share) with one group.  Decided not to go to meeting today - not a topic I was particularly interested in and I would have had to leave for school run half way through.  Very cold and wet today and DGCs got very wet.  I need to do a brief shop tomorrow but otherwise nothing in diary.  

1128 Frogs completed
1129 Emails completely cleared
1130 Did some family hsitory at random and found two more generations back on a line I haven't done much research on
1131 Two more jigsaws for CS bag
1132 Stocking gifts sorted through - I have bought 37 so far and all wrapped now 
1133 Christmas money cards written
1134 Children's Christmas cards written
1135-1144 At least ten items thrown or recycled from bathroom
1145- 1149 Five items got rid of from my medcines box

1p challenge has gone well this year.  I only have 31 more amounts to tick off and I am only £20 short of money needed to fill Christmas envelopes.  DS2 had good news as he had a message to say following a review of payments made when his car before last was written off several years ago they had determined he had been underpaid and they are sending a few hundred pounds more.  

Brambling

I loaded up the car this morning (full boot) and dropped off at two charities, the only one to accept fabric doesn't sell clothes, luckily you can drop off at their warehouse which is five minutes away and has parking.  They run the food bank so I added some bits to their food donation trolley including three bars of soap given to me but I can't use.  I drove a little further to the second one, it's in a charity run garden centre but that meant I could park outside the door, I'm not up to carrying large heavy bags from the car park into town.  I resisted buying anything there and in the garden centre where they had some nice Christmas decorations on sell 😁 I still have a bag of books but they will be taken to Petworth on Saturday, I realised I also had some of my sisters in the car  🙂

It feels good to move it out of the house and remove the temptation to go through 'it just to be sure'  

edit - just remembered I didn't take the bedding and kitchen knives to ask if either charity would take them 🙄

London_1

Good morning chums, knit and natter today in Ryde and I’ve sorted out a bag of wool I shan’t be using so any left overs after the meeting will go the the local charity shop plus I have a bag of odds and ends I’ve been gleaning from drawers in my bedroom Stuff I know I won’t use so they will go this morning as well
rather nippy this morning so I’m going to wrap up well
I hope everyone is warm enough as we are in for a cold snap I think.

i shall be wrapping some stuff I bought as Christmas presents this afternoon as I like to try and get everything bought, wrapped and done by the end of November if I can as I have 6 family birthdays before Christmas 🙄🤣🤣🤣
have a good day chums 

JackieO xxx