2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Florenceem

My J got here at 9 and took off the skirting board in the hall and craft room.

Men turned up to fill in the hole in the alley plus the hole the men made putting in the new gas connection. It was a lovely chap - had come down from Catford - just for my job! He filled in round the pipe in the garage and outside on the wall plus the hole in the ground. Very happy with his work.

J started on removing the laminate - I show him videos of what job he is to do as it was something he hadn't attempted before. Removing the laminate in the hall was difficult so I told him to work across the craft room - all the planks are stacked out on the front paving.

I phoned J the builder who wants the laminate.

My J will be here tomorrow to do the filler in my craft room and put up the masking tape. It will be good if he gets a coat of emulsion on the ceiling too.

Meningitis at my old school.

Brie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926244#Comment_81926244

We have a similar system here except that you can only apply online while they are open and have appointments available. So no different really than having to ring them at 8 am. That said I did get an appointment going sideways (so to speak) by submitting a repeat prescription request and included in the notes that I needed a prescription review. Got a phone call about that and had a good half hour discussion about what my drugs do and don't do with the end result being that I needed to talk to a doctor. And hocus pocus one was booked for me!! Now I now I need to go back and find out about some test results but the online system is saying nothing else required - which is not what the doctor said would happen.

dND

Thank you @Moorviews Because of the amount cheese, yoghurt and daily calcium and vit D tablet I take I'm not expecting the bone scan to show much. However if it does then maybe I'll be a step forward on finding out what all the aches and fatigue are about. 🤞

Thank you for my medal @Mrs_Salad_Dodger I will wear it with pride. 😁

The sun appeared today 😁😁 so back out to the garden I went.

This was the heap February 2025.

And this is the heap as of today. 😁😁 There was a lot of old fence wood that was partially rotten. Too rotten to be accepted in the waste wood recycling, too furniture like to be accepted in the garden waste and too wet and heavy to be accepted in the non-recyclable section. So I decided to build the small heap in front of the old fence panels and leave it to continue rotting. The yellow flower thing behind the pot is where I think I will be placing my whirligig. 😁

I then turned the contents of the large compost bin into the smaller bin, leaving a small amount of of the old compost to be the starter for this year's compost collection. That just about finished me off but I have an easy day tomorrow meeting a friend and an easy day on Thursday with the knitting group so I will survive. 🤣🤣

I'm glad I remembered to take some pictures over the time: Working little by little you don't see the big picture until you look back and I guess that's the same with the decluttering. Little by little, you don't see the improvement until suddenly you realise that you know where to find things and you have homes to put things away, but like the garden, it doesn't happen overnight.

Hugs to all who want and love to you all. Dxx

Brie

@dND

WOW!!! That's a transformation!!

weenancyinAmerica

@dND - your pictures give me hope for my back garden. The only thing growing in it right now are weeds and I have a big pile of junk on the patio too. Maybe it can get transformed this year.

It is 10:30 am here - and the temperature is 30C, almost afraid to find out what it is going up to. I can't believe it is still winter when our temperatures this week are expected to go over 34C - and stay high for several days. At least the mornings are cool before 9 so I can get some things done. May have to go spend time in the library this week just for the air conditioning (and to get ready for the book sale).

I will be having two MRI today in a couple of hours - one on my lower back and the other on my neck. My foot doctor is going to send me for another MRI on my left foot as I finally showed him the pamphlet he had in his office on Morton's Neuroma. And he admitted I was probably right - only taken 8 months to get there. I am getting tired of diagnosing myself. When I had the bleeding ulcer, I had to do it too. And several of my other problems I have also had to diagnose with the help of my sister when she had seen the doctor for the same thing. Sometimes I think they just see a little old lady and don't actually listen any more.

Looking forward to getting a lot of reading done today and tomorrow. Maybe even some crocheting. Have decluttered a bag of cans and have a bag of books to go. Need to get to the puzzle shelf as most of them are going to the book sale. Just have to wait for things to cool off. Just announced a record breaking heat wave on the news! No rain in sight for several weeks so this evening will be watering the plants - we are on drought conditions so have to wait until 6pm to water. This is our day as we are limited to Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday for our side of the street. May need to bribe the neighbor young man to help as everyone here is incapacitated by something.

Take care with your weather. Don't overdo it if the bad weather from the East Coast gets there soon.

BlueJ94

So mortgage was updated.. saved £40 a month which is better than nothing but it doesnt change until the renewal in July 😂

Yorkie1

@dND I'm exhausted just looking at that Before photo - let alone thinking of all the effort it's taken to get to the Now photo. Blimey! and Well Done.

@weenancyinAmerica hope your scans have gone OK.

Florenceem

I cooked a chicken curry tonight - 3 portions gone in the freezer. I did what usually happened - couldn't manage the last 3 mouth fulls - Mr F used to finish it off - he would say - surely you can manage that little bit. My bestie says that I need to get a bird table for my dinner scraps.

I carried on sorting stuff after J went home.

Granddaughter was meant to collect all the stuff I had sorted for her and her mum. She was running late so couldn't do it. Bestie came for me early and drove to daughter's house - apparently - they were fighting over the goodies for school. I do have more when I sort again.

I sorted though sewing patterns - over 20 going to the SA charity shop.

J collected the laminate.

Four chairs being collected tomorrow morning - room is looking very empty.

We went to the Lent course - last one next Tuesday.

Decluttered today - 4 brown craft paper rolls, 4 gift wrap rolls, 1 Christmas wrapping paper, skirting board, laminate, wardrobe, box of labels, acrylic paint x 10, vintage wooden masher, 23 sewing patterns, packaging bag, box of tiny jars & lids, 3 rolls of wide double sided tape + dust bunnies

suzeesu2000

Thank you for my medal @Mrs_Salad_Dodger
Been a good day again. The weather has been lovely and I was in a T shirt for most of the day.

Managed to move the small wooden drawer unit in the hall. Found 2 sachets of cat food, a set of keys we have no idea what for, a crystal and a £10 note! I must clean more often!! Moved the tall drawers I emptied yesterday to between the wooden unit and the front wall. Put all DHs tools nice and tidy and hardly noticeable now. Have an empty surface on the wooden unit.
Did a small laundry, all on airers and almost all dry. Was too late to hang on the line.
Filled the new freezer with bread, rolls and baguettes. Now have no excuse to “just do a little shop” or “just get a loaf” from the mini Sainsburys.
DH boiled a huge gammon this morning and it’s lovely. My DH has magical powers. He can turn my nice white cooker into a black one. It took me ages to scrub it all off, the water from the gammon had sugar in it so it was lovely and crusty.. Good old Vim.
Had to buy new slippers today. I’ve had current ones for a good few years but they are now loose and floppy and twice I’ve almost fallen up the stairs wearing them. I can’t afford to fall.

Had a call from nursing home this evening; they are closed to visitors until further notice as they have Clostridium defficile. They are undertaking a deep clean but need to stop the spread. Fortunately mum doesn’t have it, keeping my fingers well and truly crossed that doesn’t change. They had to get the GP out to her today as her pressure sores look a bit infected. Anyway, they’ve started her on antibiotics and some new dressings.
Hope everyone’s had a good day, sleep well, sweet dreams xx

Floss

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81927426#Comment_81927426

Can you keep paying the old payment? £40 a month is £480 over a year off the maximum overpayment but it all helps!