2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Brie

I normally try to keep up with everyone's messages but I came home yesterday having decluttered a holiday and having cluttered myself with a bad cold. Well better at the end of the holiday than at the beginning. OH is about 2 days ahead of me with the cold so I know who to blame.

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. Don’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

Saturday is rather a dull day with a high of 15°C (feeling 5° colder due to a brisk SSW wind) & a low of 8°C. DH has been a busy bee - up in time to accept delivery of his new passport, filled the bird feeders & fed the worms + replaced the faulty headlight bulb on the motorbike 👏

600 Half a Sudoku book completed & recycled

Florenceem, gentle cwtches coming your way 🤗 

Dizzycap, so pleased to hear that Babyface is on the mend 🥹

GrannyKate, what a lovely surprise ☺️ 

Great work BlueJ94 👏

Florenceem, more gentle cwtches coming your way 🤗🥹

Good luck BlueJ94 🍀

Excellent & eclectic work Deb4 👏 Pleased to hear that you are being successful selling your listings 😊 I have been remiss in making awards so will take this opportunity to award you a Gold Star ⭐️ Keep up the good work 😊 I hope the weather is fine for your trip to watch the footballers train 🤞

Wednesday2000, what a brilliant idea  👏 worthy of a medal 🏅 which is on its way 😊

Moorviews, sorry to hear that you are feeling unwell 😔 but pleased to hear that you have taken up residence in the TLC Carriage at least for a while 😊 Excellent work with the tidying, dusting, cleaning & decluttering 👏 worthy of a medal 🏅which is on its way 😊

BlueJ94, never too early for a glass of decent rosé 😅 Good luck with “Project Pan” 🍀

Deni_debt-free_dreamer, you could always put a tot of something in your hot chocolate 😉 Great work with the digital decluttering 👏

Floss, wow that is impressive 👏 Of the 51 hours of unwatched programmes on my planner only 18 hours are for me, the rest are for DSis - various series & films which I have no interest in anymore 😉

Great decluttering BlueJ94 👏 Enjoy your bubble bath ☺️

More excellent decluttering Deb4 👏

Excellent work MadamMim2013 👏 No wonder you are physically exhausted 😩  I hope you rewarded yourself with a little tipple ☺️ A Gold Star ⭐️ is on its way.

I have caught up a little more but am flagging, so will sign off & prep ingredients for dinner. See you later 👋 Please stay safe in the stormy weather 🙏

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🙏💐💐🌟⭐️❤️💐💐⭐️💐 

DH Awards: 🏅🏅🏅

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2026: 600/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £73.00

Deb4

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger thank you for my gold medal

Not done any decluttering today, had to have a blood test done today and they managed to find a vein this time.

Me and DS enjoyed watching the Forest players train, it was a bit cold with the wind

I have done some washing and pegged that out, the wind is stong tonight but it hasn't rain as they say it was going to

Florenceem

I went to watch the film and stayed for a fish & chip lunch. I had 2 women come up to me and ask how I am doing - I say okay or fine as they don't want to hear anything else. I don't want people to come up to me and ask - I won't tell them the truth - I am heart broken.

On the way to the hall I met a friend who lost her husband 18 years ago - she understands.

I had a woman say to me today - I understand how you are feeling - I lost my mum & dad. I said - no you don't - losing parents is not the same. I have lost both my parents and it is nothing like losing your husband.

I don't go to that corps because that is the sort of thing I will hear as they knew Mr F. When I go to my bestie's corps - they ask how I am but they didn't know Mr F - it feels different.

This is the first holiday since losing my Mr F.

I know why I am feeling so bad at the moment - it is Mr F's Birthday next Saturday.

BlueJ94

I think ive got a cold coming along.. maybe overworked myself from all the decluttering 😴😂 im back in work on Tuesday now so a nice two days off!

Brie

@Florenceem

I know why I am feeling so bad at the moment - it is Mr F's Birthday next Saturday.

Occasions are always painful, especially the first ones. I'm hoping you will make a nice birthday cake and then maybe give it to someone else to enjoy. Whether it's family or a neighbour or someone at your meeting house. Just a thought……

Moorviews

Mrs SD - thank you so much for my medal 🙏

Vulpix - sounds like a lovely social weekend in the new house. Thank you for relating about the clothes. I think some new would help me mentally but I find it hard to find things that I like and that fit. I am not standard for the High Street and endless scrolling of websites is just not enjoyable. I would sew but I now have a relative staying here and have lost some of my space because of this. Hopefully I can find some energy to get moving on it all. I am glad that you are making progress with your health now.

Dizzycap - your garden is very pretty 😍 I am looking forward to swan watch again! So pleased that Babyface is on the mend now.

Brie and BlueJ94 - I hope you both feel better soon 💐💐

Deb4 - well done for being so hardy as to be able to stand outside and watch Forest training! My washing would not still be in the garden if I had pegged it out today. Seriously strong gusts and a constant blow!

Florenceem - your bestie's corps sounds far more sensitive to your feelings and needs at the moment. You will be in my thoughts and prayers xx

Lots of great decluttering taking place on the thread! Well done everyone and thank you for all the inspiration 👏👏

I can’t say I have done much but gently potter and tidy around today. I am looking forward to hanging my very old decorated eggs on my vase of blossom branches tomorrow.

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter 🐣

Moorviews

Dizzycap - you are so talented. I love that angel 😇 Such wonderful understanding words too for Florenceem. Hugs to you and I hope you can take care of yourself as well as you do Babyface xx

mehefin

@Florenceem Don't know if this has been suggested to you and I apologise if I am repeating something which has already been said. But check out the widowed collective website where you will come across many kindred souls who are in this club that none of us want to join. Lots of good advice and support .I have found it very good and a great help in dealing with my loss.

@Brie I think your idea of making and giving a cake is brilliant - Since I lost Mrs M I regularly do this. God bless

Mehefin

dND

Oh my goodness, time flies,10 pages since my last post!! Happy Easter everyone. 🐰🐥

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger Thankyou for my ⭐and DS1 and DDil1 say thankyou too for theirs. Gino loves the medal and has run off with it and hidden it somewhere. 😁

The laminate is looking lovely @Florenceem. @vulpix I flit too 🦋 If I don't 'feel' the task then it takes forever as my brain is elsewhere, hence overdoing it when the mood takes me to do a job. @Dizzycap I'm so glad Babyface is so much better, Our pets are so important to us; they are family. Love your garden and your craft work is amazing, I am in awe.

@BlueJ94 A bit late to the party but I have 2 sets of bedding for each bed to allow drying time. I got rid of my tumble dryer 20 years ago. Towels work on the same principle for each person in the house plus a guest set. As my children now fall into the guest category I have towels to donate. I have in each set a bath sheet and a hand towel. I use that hand towel only for my face and have currently 4 other hand towels used as hand drying towels in the toilet/bathroom. I have some towels as hand towels in the kitchen. Once I have space to dig out my sewing machine I will be making smaller kitchen towels that are only used for a day.

Like Mr SD I decided to renew my passport, so money decluttered here. I'm borderline for it being a saving but it's getting close to the 6 month level too and although I have no holidays planned I'm sure if I decided on one it would be to a place that needs more than 6 months left on the passport. So this morning there was an early trip to Asd* as I don't really do crowds these days. Passport photo taken and digital link received. I thought about doing my own photo but I don't really have a suitable background wall and the photo booth does a quick AI check so 🤞🤞 it should improve the chances of the photo being accepted. Old passport still needs to be sent off to start the process though.

Usual weekly rubbish went out on Friday thank goodness - heaven help the house if it didn't, it would be drowning in recycling; as I said before I'm amazed where it all comes from as I generally batch cook from scratch. But then again, there's tins of cat food with their paper labels and the junk that comes through the letterbox and loo roll inners etc., etc.. Oh yes, I finally UU some hand cream that I'd cut the end of the tube off; oh my did it last for ages after doing that, I must have been throwing so much away over the years. But the main decluttering has been in the garden again attacking yet more Spanish bluebells.

Before. I'd previously dug out loads more from under the camellia.

And after. All dug out with the hand fork after loosening the soil with the border fork. The bluebells are a bit like bindweed, they grow from the smallest piece of bulb or root and while the bulbs look bright white to begin with, they darken in the air and disappear into the soil, so slow and methodical is the only way to go. That said, I know I will be digging out again next year but hopefully there will be a lot less.

I still have individual bluebells dotted around the back garden which I will do later and I've also been back evicting bluebells from the front border while I've been enlarging it. I think I may have evicted some of my alliums last year when I just pulled up leaves as I wasn't able to get in and dig the bulbs out last year due to pain.

I nearly decluttered my Wh1ch subscription but they gave me a half price deal which I took up as I still have some major items to buy. So a 50% declutter. 🤣

I've had 2 days off as recovery days in the TLC carriage and when the weather gets better I will hopefully be able to continue outside. Recovery definitely takes a lot longer these days! I've pottered inside and made good inroads in sorting my CDs. I'm on the classical ones now, about 500+ of them and been figuring out how I would like them classified so that I can find what I want to listen too. I'm probably down to the last 100 to sort there and I know I will have duplicates to go - I worked at a local radio station and ended up with multiple copies of some discs. After that I need to listen to some of the CDs which were promotional copies and decide if I'm ever going to want to listen to them again; I got CDs from local artists and people who I'd never heard of then or since. 😁

Take care everyone - it's blowing a hoolie here tonight, thank goodness I have good earplugs. Gentle hugs to those in pain and love to you all. Dxx