2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

oceanspirit

@vulpix, please write your book soon - I can’t wait to read it.

@TC77, lovely to see you back. I think you’ve already answered your own question with the sewing etc. Finding things that you really love to do and then ways to do them is the key. My friend laughed at me because I said I wanted to take Latin GCSE. Well, why not? I also want to do something musical.

@Willowtree222, great news on the health front.

So, the frog that ran away with itself has now become 3 projects. Project 1 (selling my static caravan) now complete. Project 2 (buying a new permanent home a long way from my current home) now under way. Project 3 (selling my current home) starts today with a tidy up and further decluttering. It will take time as if I try to push through my fatigue I end up crashing for days, sometimes even weeks, so energy levels have to be managed carefully.

Lots more went to CS and recycling centre last week. I have been keeping the best from the van and will now choose the best from home so I don’t keep too much for the new place especially as it has less storage space than here although it does have more space overall. I really don’t want to clutter it up so will need to be more ruthless.

The reason for the move is because I spend way too much time home alone and need to get out and about more. There are no longer any buses from here and I am a long way from nearest town. I have struggled to drive over the last couple of years (since my last car was written off after a rear end shunt and whilst the new one is lovely I just haven’t got used to it) so I am looking forward to being able to do things when I am able and not having to wait for help to do so. I can’t afford to buy anything around here close to transport and I love the area I am moving to (although my favourite part of that area is too expensive, I can at least get there by bus). There also trains just 3 stops on the bus so am well set up. The running costs of the new place will be higher so I shall have to watch the pennies more carefully but I have plenty of practice under my belt on that one.

daisy_1571

Tc77 retirement means many things to many people. I'd looked forward to it since the first day I started work so I transitioned very easily when I retired at 50. I think some of the couple of hundred folk they got rid of when I also left, struggled a bit more.

Having said that I couldn't wait to be no longer working, for the first year it definitely feels like you are on holiday and will be due back at some point. Generally I've found people use that first year to busily get on with lots of things they never had time for when working, decorating the house, gardening, tidying the attic or garage etc.

I personally found it odd that I should be doing 'enjoyable' things just for me. Gradually I got used to not thinking I had to 'justify' my time to myself. I joined a daytime choir for example but it took quite a few months before I really relaxed into it and didn't rush back home straight after but went for a coffee with new acquaintancs who became friends.

Its the second and subsequent years that are more 'normal retirement', when all those little jobs have been done and the months stretch ahead. Thats when patterns emerged from the folk I kept in touch with and retired folk I've met since. Some folk enjoyed having something to do every day and found clubs and activities for each day, others happy to read or be more solitary, a few got more into particular hobbies, some were enjoying time to explore several new plus revisit old hobbies. Theres certainly plenty to do. U3a often has 40 or more groups depending on your local branch(es), the oddfellows is another organisation, the rotarians and Probus are similar, locally you might have many volunteering opportunities, I was talking to someone yesterday who is now a swim buddy and another who goes into the local library as part of mcmillan to talk to other cancer patients, I go to a pet rescue place to cuddle cats every week, Mr d is looking into being a reading volunteer at local primary school. Theres likely to be loads of things going on locally you had no idea existed when you were working.

If you don't want to go out theres telephone befriending or sometimes I classify things on a website- zooniverse - I've scanned pictures for wildlife in Africa (the thrill of opening the next picture and theres an elephant 🐘 in the wild !!) and Canada/usa (I saw a mountain lion staring right at me) plus looked for orca fins and flutes in pictures of the sea, I've transcribed record cards from WWII pow camps, counted seals on the shore lines in the arctic and looked at pictures of the stars all from the comfort of my own home 😀

The ones who struggled most I think were people who missed the social aspect of working or perhaps the 'status' of being part of the workforce working but weren't willing to look for other things to fulfill that role. So its definitely a mental shift.

I've found that now that I've got time, I'm able to feel more organised in general life. I can lay my hand on items or particular photographs or book/dvd etc nowadays. But the time when I actually needed to be more organised and have better systems was 30 years ago when I was too busy working full time and had no time to organise myself lol 😆 😅 😂

Dxx

Brambling

@TC77 i think you are retiring at the right time of the year with the summer ahead of you. Be prepared for your brain to take a while to get its head around the fact it no longer has to work! It took mine a short while to process.

Don't try to do everything at once you have the time now to stop and smell the roses, if the sun is shining that cupboard can wait until tomorrow to declutter.

If you are happy to make a commitment there are lots of volunteering roles out there i volunteer once a week on Friday and my NT volunteer role is every other Saturday and the occasional spray during the school holidays this also gives me a free NT membership and six free visits a year to take someone to Petworth. I also know several people to join U3A.

At my dinner last night the three of us who all retired early were all saying how did we find time to work 🙂 and remember if you have been saving for your retirement you will be retired and now is the time you have been saving for so don't feel guilty for spending some of it and in my case for the first time in my working life not saving monthly

vulpix

Hi, yet another beautiful day.

TC, I retired at 55. Not planned. Due to having a pay cut to do the same job plus still recovering from breast cancer. I still find I have no idea what day it is and Bank holidays take me by surprise. What helps is a routine. This club on a Tuesday, volunteering Thursday, yoga Monday etc. Don't over stretch yourself though, have some days where you can just hang out at home.I also still struggle to go to bed at a sensible time and get up at a sensible time. The first year I bought and renovated a house. I went every week day 10 till 3 like a job. You could perhaps set yourself a day a week for decluttering ?Join some local fb information groups, to keep up to date with everything on offer in your area, Good luck and enjoy.x

Mrs SD, I have to undo knitting all the time because I wasn't concentrating. I look at knitting as my fidget spinner,any knitting will do.I am sure there must be heavy duty sewing machines to hire or even pay someone to alter the curtains but it would pain me when I can do it myself. I will hand sew the thickest bits of the fabric and cut away some of the lining where I can. It is actually like a duvet as the lining. I have also decided to reduce the width a bit too! What I should have done is buy the right curtains in the first place! I am too impatient to wait for the right ones at the right price come along.

There is a local gardeners site on fb which I have given plants from the back garden away on. I will ask for plant donations when my garden is about ready. I don't want the job of potting stuff up and having to water, they can just go straight in the ground. The ferns I was given are quite big and are currently living in bags for life on the drive! I do also have a lot of plants in pots which can go in the ground. I have decided that the front garden shall be pinks and purples, the back green and white and the sunny seating area, yellow, red and orange. I have finally had an idea of how I want the back garden. The question is do I do it before the inside work or not. Hmmm. When I say I, I mean J the builder!🤣

I have wanted to take the tablets to the chemist before but Mr V thinks we should keep them. I can see that if he is in that much pain he should seek medical help, but don't apply that to myself! I will not take the tablets again!

Ocean spirit, I have gone off the boil with the book again. It is about a guy who took kids from a rough city council estate and made them into prize winning musicians. The story will be told through Mr V's eyes and the life long friends he made in the band. It's all researched, The story is in my head, Iv'e had encouragement from some very successful writers I met on a cruise and I am still stalling!

You sound like you have everything in hand.I love it when a plan comes together.

The new blind is up. The new curtains are cut and ready to faff about with. That will be today's job. I want to have them hung before Tuesday as I have friends coming for lunch then and they will need a tour of the recent works on the house!

Collecting the french doors is postponed to tomorrow. The guy damaged his hand playing cricket yesterday and has to go back to the hospital today.

Mr V has gone to get me some paint mixed so I can repaint the bedroom furniture the same grey as the fitted wardrobes. Also getting me block marg so I can make scone pizza base. Fancying some cherry scones whilst I am at it. Diet? what diet?

I had a look at bathroom supplies yesterday. 4 packs of floss in the ongoing bag for DS's family. I think I bought loads for a craft project and didn't use it all. For the food bank a new can of shaving foam, think it came in a gift set.

Another child's jumper sewn up and a new one started. These ones probably for Ukraine via happy Kitties.

Laters Vx

Floss

@TC77 give yourself time to work out how you'd like to spend your time, rather than jumping into something to keep you busy.

One thing I would suggest considering is exam invigilating - I do GCSEs at a high school. It's not all year round, I can pick & choose to suit my health & capacity and it's opened up a new social group for me.

I also meet 2 former colleagues every couple of months, and have a regular coffee date with my BF every week, plus I can now spend time with my DDiL who works compressed hours, without encroaching on their weekends.

@daisy_1571 I'm going to look at Zooniverse now!

@vulpix I would consider which areas of garden might be impacted by builders, and maybe sort one spot away from them?

Green_hopeful

@TC77 i also retired early. Definitely not by choice and i only had two weeks notice. A new boss didn’t like me and just got rid. I was super good at my job and they have had to employ three people to do my job.

Anyway, i didn’t want to commit to anything for a while. I did an upholstery class which was totally lovely. I did quite a bit of stuff around the house and gardening. I try to have some sort of social interaction each week, ironically mostly with people who still work for my old company. Sometimes i have to do the organising but sometimes people contact me.

I also invigilate. I get a little bit more than minimum wage plus holiday pay. I quite like doing it but you have no specific obligation. I am now invigilating at a college which means more regular work than a school.

The strange thing for me is how long it took me to destress. It was about 9 months after i had retired and i suddenly realised i wasnt totally stressed anymore and i felt like a could relax.

It’s good to start your retirement now. I stopped working in mid July and I found it quite difficult to motivate myself through the first winter. Mind you i got into watching Bergerac re runs in the afternoon.

I am now busier than ever. I have absolutely no idea how I ever found time to work.

Brie

@TC77

I was lucky to be made redundant at 64 1/2 as it meant I could collect my pension as well as having a free year's salary with no obligation to work as a payout. I did feel sorry for my much younger colleagues, those who were just starting families or had just bought a house etc and had no idea whether redundancy would ruin them. Fortunately they seem to have managed fairly well - at least the ones I liked enough to continue to talk to or otherwise track what they are up to. (not in a stalker sense….😁)

That said the first thing I did when the redundancy was announced was to start my job search and talking to my "network" one of whom pointed me towards a great part time job that I enjoyed for 3 years. Team leader of a debt advice team in a food bank. Suited me perfectly and meant I got to work with a nice new group of "mature" people. This was a major change as it seemed that as I got older my colleagues all stayed the same age (20-35) with all the issues and angst that comes with youth.

Now I'm fully retired and have been for the last year I am really very busy and it takes some organising to make sure I keep up with some of my friends and all the arty things I want to do. Fortunately I've been blessed with enough financially to be able to not worry the way so many do. I keep an eye on the ££ of course but have recently talked firmly to myself about not worrying too much about buying Lidl's Deluxe line of goods instead of their basic range! I admit I inherited my mom's drive for thriftiness but know that it's ok to enjoy oneself a bit too.

Florenceem

I missed being able to say - good morning. I had a really bad night pain wise and didn't get up until 8.15. I had breakfast, washed and dressed and my bestie arrived at 9.20. Bestie was preaching today and had asked me to read the Bible passage. It was such a long one - verse 4 - 42!

When we went to the car to come home after Church - I saw that a small boy had a stall set up in his drive. We popped along to support him - he was quite shy. Bestie got a couple of softies for her grandson. I got a picture for either my hall or my summer house. Bestie had a picture in her car for me that had come into the charity shop. She also bought me a key safe. Worried that I may lock myself out. She said to put it down the side alley. I worry about it being smashed open to get to the keys. What do people think?

Yesterday builder J arrived with a helper - he had given me a price for painting the back wall. I had said two coats as it was a lighter colour - mint green going on top of a dark mustard. The painting took much longer than J thought. He priced up the work so not my problem. The wall used 7.5 litres of masonry paint. J is going to get some paint mixed before he comes here tomorrow to do the second coat.

I weighed myself last night - first time for 2 weeks - I have gained 2lb.

This afternoon I went to a meeting at my old corps.

Brie

@Florenceem

Well you'll have to give a bit more detail on the Bible verse if you want any sympathy as to the length. Some verses are very short. Nice that she included you in the service though.

Key safe - yes it's possible to break in to them but it's not really easy. And the 3 I've had experience of have never been tampered with. 2 here in the UK - my inlaws which was practically visible from the road and ours which not much more hidden. Both right beside the door they will open. My mom's farmhouse in Canada has one too but it's further away from the door but easy to find if someone told you where. The location is a bit remote so someone could make a lot of noise breaking in but frankly it would be easier to break a window if someone wanted to gain access.

But I'd vote yes to a key safe as it means that if something should happen to you (at home or elsewhere) a friend would be able to get in to your house to help you, likewise emergency services would be able to as well. Our and the inlaws doctor's surgeries were given the access code for when there were nurse visitors and also carers had it so they could gain entry and do their duties.

Glad to hear you gained a bit, well overdue. Hope the meeting at your old corps went well.

GrannyKate

Evening all. @Florenceem - I'd agree with Brie that key safes are not that easy to tamper with. In fact there is an old one behind my porch for which we have no code or key. DS2 has been unsuccessfully trying to get it open or off the wall for some time to replace with a new one I have bought.

Late DH was offered redundancy at 64 and we agreed he should take it as he had worked since he was 16 and mortgage was paid. I started work at 19 and was a stay at home mum most of the time for 13 years (yes I know its work of a different kind). I carried on and then got redundancy and moved to contract work for a while. He was happy with his hobbies and I was doing most from home but might have finished earlier if I had known he would only make it to 70. I went back and did one short project after he had passed but then fully retired. I do some related things voluntarily and I am committee member at U3A and run one group. The last few years have seen heavy and unexpected involvement with care of 2 youngest DGCs but that has eased off this year.

I still keep falling asleep which means things don't get done although I did get out in the garden yesterday and I did some more wallpaper stripping etc in hall today. I also removed the remains of an old plate shelf which involved a hammer and brute force. Tomorrow I need to go to get tube and batteries for hearing aid and then I am going on trip to small local zoo in the afternoon. Covid jab has been rearranged for Tuesday and I have gardening club. Wednesday is committee meeting so some follow up frogs, hair apppointment Thursday then new bed delivery Friday. I was unable to order the bed I had seen on line so I went into the store where they have one on display and the assistant explained that the supplier is not delivering them as promised and one of their customers has been waiting 8 months. They have stopped taking orders and have removed them on-line. I went home and ordered a similar one from Mr Dun. which comes Friday.

I did cook myself a nice steak yesterday and today I had a baked potato with cheese and salad. DD is staying over Weds so I will get something to cook.

426 Mowed both lawns and decluttered a few more weeds

427 Wooden plate shelf down and outside ready to go with bag of wallpaper. Large collection of nails, hooks and screws binned.

428 Small frogs eaten up

429 Bed ordered