2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

1. Daily To Do List - written the night before
2. Sort out sleep patterns - initial targets: bed by 03:00, up by 10:30
3. Do’t put it down, put it away + deal with mini tasks as soon as they are noticed e.g. refill olive pourer or salt cellar, stitch up a hole in a garment etc.
4. Commence ‘Operation Financial Frog Tickling’ using the acronym - I.R.I.S. (Identify, Research, Implement, Sign Off) - One per quarter
5. Continue to keep kitchen clean & tidy - before going to bed
6. Plan & Execute ONE Major Project - 2026 New Bathroom
7. Target 2026 items out

Wednesday continued: cheerleading first then I will do a bit of knitting whilst contemplating which decluttering task to attempt 😉 No success with the shed door as the frame is warped 😞 After having the last bowl of hm soup, DH who has his ‘doing’ head on, is in the garage chopping up the 2nd tyre. …….So much for doing any decluttering, spent the afternoon napping 😴 DH popped out in the car for a small shop - bread, yoghurt & sausages. DH fried the sausages & eggs which we had with oven chips & baked beans. I did manage the wudupa. DSis & I watched Landscape Artist of the Year & picked the winner from the shortlist of three. 

170 - 174 Kitchen & office recycling, drinks cans, paper & cardboard packaging- recycled

175 - 176 Kitchen detritus, piece of tyre - binned 

I will try to do better tomorrow & actually do some decluttering 😉  

vulpix, nope, not given under false pretences as I had worked out you were talking about hanging pictures etc 😊 Btw, there is an explanation of inserting paragraphs in the How-to Guide although I really couldn’t get my head around it 😉  Hopefully the rain will stop long enough for the ponds to drain & the patio installation to be started 🤞 although if any ducks find the ponds there might be a slight delay 🙊

Excellent decluttering ladybird1106, especially the sold item 👏

Excellent decluttering Rootle 👏

Florenceem, wonderful help from J 👋 so I am awarding him a medal 🏅 Very pleased to hear that the builder did such a good job with the garden gates 👏 An excellent day of decluttering 👏

Excellent decluttering Floss 👏 Looking forward to seeing the photos 😊

Excellent work in the garden dND 👏 especially moving so much to the garage ready for a Tip run 👏 Hopefully you have not overdone it & can enjoy an ache free Thursday at the knitting club 🙏 Good luck with the website 🍀

TC77, yippee to submitting your tax form 🥳 presumably you sorted out the discrepancy between your bank & HMRC 😊 Excellent work decluttering emails 👏

Excellent decluttering Florenceem 👏 & what wonderful finds 🤩

Excellent & eclectic decluttering MadamMim2013 👏 I will keep everything crossed that the weather improves so that you can thoroughly enjoy your trip 🤞

Floss, any chance of a photo of your willow tree 🙏

Yorkie1, shame about the contents of the jars from your fridge 😞 but well done on biting the bullet emptying & decluttering the jars 👏

Liverpool_Anne, relieved to hear that you only have minor hearing loss 😮‍💨 Great work with the ironing 👏

Sleep tight 😴 

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🙏💐💐🌟⭐️❤️💐

DH Awards: 🏅

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2026: 176/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £5.00

Green_hopeful

@Yorkie1 thats a good idea. I keep looking at ours and thinking thats been in there a while. I might have a look through our elderly jars.

DawnW

I decided to get rid of our large old bureau and replace with a smaller, lighter coloured one that I saw in one of the local charity shops, which will go better with our other (old) furniture. It was supposed to have been delivered yesterday but wasn't. Will investigate today. I am hoping that they will take the old one as a donation while they are here.

Having emptied out the old one, I took the opportunity to sort out the many and varied contents. I binned dried up glue sticks, pens that don't work and various other detritus. I also went through paperwork and pulled out lots to be recycled or shredded. This has yet to leave the house, but there will be lots less to go in the new-to-us bureau 😊 In the meantime the stuff to be kept is scattered around the living room 🙄

Moorviews

I am most certainly not enjoying the double whammy of an iPad update and the website changes. The pages keep freezing and even my keyboard and screen look weird.
@florenceem - I am glad that J is being so helpful and that your builder has made a good job of the gates. Writing all the words for a COL is not an easy task I know but they will be beautiful when you have the service, whoever reads them 💐

For some reason I panicked and thought maybe I had missed being asked to send in a tax return. This led to a huge paper sort out and a fling/filing session. It seems that I had got very behind with that so it was a productive way to spend a wet day. Nothing from HMRC I am glad to say! Plenty has gone into the confidential waste sack. Judging by how full the filing cabinet is there should be a lot more to go out. I shall try and apply myself throughout the year to disposing of what is no longer required.
Another go through of my craft cupboard meant having to throw some stuff away. It feels so wasteful having things that I won’t use up in time. Going forward I am going to try and be more realistic and move things on to people who can use them more immediately. No point in having paints etc. drying up in a drawer.

As always, you all inspire me. I love catching up with the thread and reading all about what you have been up to. With this weather Mr SD needs to supply the TLC carriage with plenty of his lovely HM soup! Hugs to anyone in need xx

vulpix

Pm'd you Daisy.

Mrs SD, I would LOVE ducks in the garden. We live very close to a reservoir so not beyond the realms of possibility. When I was a kid we lived even closer and a wild duck used to nest in our garden every year. My Dad used to cook horrendous smelling food for them. Potato and veg peelings boiled with added corn. Best fed ducks in the area! Mum duck used to quack when she saw Dad and complain if the food was late. She visited for about 10 years.

I was talking to my lovely cleaner yesterday. She was saying how every time she comes we have done more to the house. I said I am almost at the point of decorating and I hate it. She loves decorating and has offered to do it for me! We have struck a deal where I will do the woodwork and she will emulsion.That's the bit I find difficult. Lifting my arms up and going up and down ladders is very slow going for me even with Mr V as a gofer.

Mr V has taken the handles off the built in wardrobes. He is going to spray them gold. The knobs on the other furniture is gold. The wardrobes are light grey and currently have silver handles. I would like to replace them really as they are not things of beauty but I found gold spray under the sink.😉

The lovely sunshine yesterday highlighted the cat sneezes on the windows, another job to clean them on the to do list!

Laters Vx

GrannyKate

Morning all. Busy start but decluttered DGCs until this time next week. DS2 having great time in Caribbean. Contacted chiropodist to make an appointment and they are temporarily closed for family reasons. I'll wait a few weeks but then I may need to find another one. Paid to bring energy bill back to zero and slightly increase DDebit. It has been very cold and wet so I have used dryer and boosted heating more than usual.

Did yet more academic surveys and I have a £50 balance to add to my bathroom fund. Plumber has been and taken radiator off in bedroom 3 - he will come back to put new one in when the decorating is done. We also discussed changing outer hall radiator which should be quite straightforward as I have floorboards not solid floors. I've put some stuff away but more to do. Done a bit of wallpaper stripping from behind radiator. The bedroom wallpaper is easy enough but the hall wall paper is awful - thick with several layers and egg shell paint. I need to get plasterer to come and look at bedroom walls but still waiting on electrician to get back to me. DGS4 has chosen some paint - a frosted silver grey so I have got a paint test pot to see how it looks. I can't decide about colour for the hall. I am not really into having the same colour everywhere but hall floors will be similar wood to kitchen. DGS4 wants grey carpet - he likes to sleep on the floor sometimes and he had wooden floor at the other house.

Not a lot to do today - will pop down to DS2s to put bins out for tomorrow.

155 Radiator out

156 More wallpaper out

157 Energy payment made

158 Fridge cleaned out

159 Random veggies in stock pot for soup or stock

London_1

Moirning chums , just booked my hairdressers for next week I used to go into Ryde but now she has moved nears its just a 10 minute walk away so no need to go into town.I'm hoping it won't be raining next week as I'm getting it trimmed on Friday as my eldest DD is coming over for the day from the mainland so I have to look smart or she will complain that my hair needs doing or this wants sorting .I love her dearly, but she does nag and unlike my youngest, whom I share a house with, they are total opposites.

Tessa (my youngest) is very relaxed about life and very easy going whereas her older sister stresses about almost everything

My late husband would say she would fall out with herself in an empty room :)

I've been here 18 months and I think she still thinks I will move back to the Medway :) not in a million years :) I am very happy and settled here. She will eventually realise that its not going to happen hopefully and stop digging. But bless her I know she means well and worries constantly. I think she worries sometimes if she hasn't got anything to worry about :)

Today the sun has struggled out again, but how long it will last I've no idea. I'm just about to declutter my washing to the machine and I'm hoping it may get a blow on the line.

Decluttered a good few books yesterday to the Coop book shelf when I went to Stitch & B**ch and next week I'll probably find a few more. Killer jigsaw is still an ongoing project ! ! I shall not give in though managed 9 more bits yesterday :)

Onwards and upwards chums

JackieO xx

_Dolly_Rocker_

Morning all,

Down with this stinking cold so not much decluttering happening here. Also had quite a bit of family drama with my Mum getting herself caught up in the middle of things that she really shouldn't.

Best part of 4 days trying to sort that out which included me bringing her home to my house to stop her from sticking her oar in.

I've got a washing in the machine and one on the airer so the most I'll be doing today is hanging up the 2nd wash then back on the couch with my blanket and a packet of hankies.

daisy_1571

My late husband would say she would fall out with herself in an empty room :)

😆 🤣 our saying is 'x could start an argument in an empty house' 😆 🤣

Dxx

Brie

I appear to have decluttered the OH's trolley token. It had been on the table by the door and when I moved something it fell and I heard a clink which I thought meant it had hit the wooden floor. But it's no where to be found even under the table and so I think it might have fallen into the bin that is beside the table and was emptied into the big outside bin since. Oops. I'll have another look. It was just a silly token with a cat's face on it but we'll both be cranky if it's gone.

Meanwhile I've put my token which is normally clipped onto my key ring somewhere and can't find it. I discovered when we were in Germany that it didn't fit the trolleys there (same as it doesn't fit the trolleys at any Sainsburys for some reason) so had taken it off the keyring. I saw it once when I was unpacking when we got home but not since.