2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

dND

It's been a busy pottering sort of day here.  Lovely bright blue sky even when it was trying to rain and when we had a hail storm!
In between those 2, I managed to vacuum the car. It was a real necessity as weeks ago I did a tip run with garden rubbish, old wood and builders rubble.  I thought I was doing another trip in a day or so and consequently didn't clean the car.  RL took over so no tip run but when I had the time to clean the car it was tipping down but was lovely and dry anytime I was busy. 🤣  Car cleaning was top priority today as I've a trip to the Swedish shop with DS1 and DDiL1 coming up.

3 loads of washing done, but only room for 2 loads on the airer so the 4th wash load is still waiting to be done.

The leftover roast potatoes and leeks in cream sauce from a few days ago when DS1, DDiL1 and DD were here have been converted into leek and potato soup to see me through the cold days ahead.  The remaining swede and roast carrots and parsnips will become a root veg soup either tomorrow or the day after - I have to clean the now empty drawer in the freezer before I put anything back in it.  That will leave the fridge pretty much decluttered. 😁

I then decluttered the last of the old curtain rails and fitted a new one.  I'd also washed the full length curtains a day ago - completely ignoring the dry clean only label, - so they have now been rehung after drying over the pole for the front door curtain.

The Christmas tree is also down - it's in a very sad state as mad cat Gino still insisted on climbing it this year.  It's going back in the loft and we'll see if Gino has grown out of climbing it next year.  I'm not getting a new one until I know he won't wreck it. 🐈

I'm still working on decluttering last year's accounts.  I've managed to get all the information recorded - I'd stopped in June when RL became too much - but managed to do the analysis for June and July last night.  I allocate my spending into about 20 categories to see where I'm overspending and also to get an idea of what it costs to live in the UK as I'm still 16 years out of date. 🤣

Welcome aboard to all the newbies, this is a very supportive thread that MrsSD has.  Don't be hard on yourselves, there are many reasons lives get cluttered.  For me, understanding why I found things difficult helped immensely and it was no single reason.  Being forced/bullied into getting rid of things lead me to be frightened of letting things go and lately I've realised I have some very neurodiverse tendencies to boot.  Understanding why you do things enables you to tailor to yourself, how you are going to tackle things.  I tried, and failed so many times trying to follow other peoples 'simple' routines - I get sidetracked very easily. 🤣

The way that works for me is don't put it down, put it away BUT you have to have cleared enough space to put something away first and that space has to be where you expect to find whatever it is you've put away.  Well it is for me and it has to be in clear containers because it I can't see it I forget it's in that container and end up searching through everything. 🤣🤣

But there's a whole year ahead of me and I'm looking forward to see what I can achieve this year.
Dxx

daisy_1571

QueenJess I also recognise the savings tin.  Mum had an airforce blue one and it kept her and dad right for many many years

Dxx

jivjules1

Total newbie and haven’t even started yet still got a relative with us from Xmas and can’t quite get on just do something tomorrow! No real idea where to start! Did manage to get through some leftovers by cooking up a pasta dish though also bought some yellow stickers so net increase in stuff to get through but money saved right and it’ll go in the freezer! Aim is for 10-15 minutes tomorrow just a start pending doing a bit more after my relative leaves on sunday!

Floss

jivjules1 said:

Total newbie and haven’t even started yet still got a relative with us from Xmas and can’t quite get on just do something tomorrow! No real idea where to start!!

Start small - a drawer, bookshelf or small cupboard.

tiddles

Wow - so many posts on this new thread already - I haven’t managed to read them all yet!

My aim is 2026 items this year. Hubby and I still have a lot of stuff to get rid of - we’ll see how we go.

Good luck everyone!

canvascamper

Had a lovely wholesome day today.

Took a big bag of stuff to the charity shop (15 items) and 3 books returned to the library.

Made coleslaw, sausage rolls and a big pot of minestrone soup

DD11 and I went through her wardrobe and pulled out loads of stuff that no longer fits. Some will go to DS7 when he's bigger but lots will need listing on Vinted. Listed a few bits but it gets really boring so I'll do a little at a time. 

Threw away 11 odd socks! 

Deleted a load of emails and photos (572)

Total decluttered - 26
Total digital decluttered - 1068

Brambling

Floss said:

There's a local authority funded rehabilitation care home not far from me that takes patients from hospital to get them fit for going home, it sounds like the same sort of place @Green_hopeful

Green_hopeful said:

@Brambling its a really hard decision but often care homes can be a kindness. My husband’s aunt kept falling. We had her living with us for 7 months. Fortunately i was working from home so could care for her but we couldn’t leave her alone for any time at all. The hospital finally focused on the cause of her falls when she fell twice in hospital. She was getting very low blood pressure when she stood up. 

Since she has been in the care home she has recovered her cognitive function to a greater degree and they have managed to get on top of her recurrent UTIs. I tried so hard to get the gp surgery to treat the UTIs effectively but the system was against us. Anyway she is relatively happy in the care home. 

Are there any temporary facilities she could stay in to recover? We have a facility at Stamford Hospital which is like an old community hospital where people can recover. It's only for temporary stays but the care is more focused on the patient. 

Our local community hospital (used to be called a cottage hospital) have a good geriatric unit which is where she was moved to on Monday, it helps as it's in the same county as she was in East Surrey which is across the county line! They call it a rehabilitation unit. She sounded a lot brighter this morning when she called me still a little confused but a lot better then I got a call late afternoon from the hospital to say she had fallen, she's sore but hopefully no damage but they can't x ray until Monday unless she's sent elsewhere.  I think I shocked them by saying I'm glad as it means they can see what happens as she just loses strength in her legs. 

Soontobeoap

Thank you @kelpie67 I will buy a brick maker and give it a go when we get home from holiday. DD doesn't have the time but I do. We have also been collecting fallen branches from the local cemetery to supplement them. I will dry them for9 months and deliver them to her for next winter. I need to find a source of saw dust to put in the newspaper bricks as I have read that they burn for longer with a 40/60 mix?

Wednesday2000

weenancyinAmerica said:

I need to get on the train and stay in the TLC carriage for awhile. Only the second day of the year and I am so depressed I still haven't eaten breakfast after 5 hours. I have fed the cats, made lots of phone calls for my roommate G who is in the hospital, and had a cup of tea. And I did talk roommate J into taking out the kitchen trash. Roommate Di's nurse is expected in a few minutes and she hasn't even gotten up yet.

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk. x Your situation with your roommates sounds incredibly stressful.

Brie

@weenancyinAmerica
lots of hugs available