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. 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

Tuesday started as a wet dreary day with light drizzle to 11:30. The forecast was for a high of 20°C (feeling 3° cooler due to a WSW wind), a low of 5°C & more drizzle in the afternoon.

ERNIE has been kind to me this month as I won £100 😊 & DH has won £25 The Recycling Wheelie bin still hasn’t been emptied so is getting rather full 😞 Shock, horror all 3 of us were up before 11:00, when most of the clouds became white & there was some blue sky & sunshine. DH had a bath. DSis had an appointment today - a pulmonary course which was supposed to have started last week. Her next appointment is Thursday. DH & I were going to B&Q to pick up the paint we ordered yesterday on the last day of a “3 for 2” deal - saving £44 🤩 We left at 12:45 with our first stop at the P.O. so DSis could return a parcel & I could post some letters. We then dropped DSis off at Poplar Baths for her course & we headed off to B&Q. We got rained on when walking from the car to the shop. Picked up the paint + bought liquid & powder sugar soap & polyfilla. A quick stop at MrS to pick up something for dinner + a slab of Pepsi then headed home stopping at As*a to buy DSis’s preferred sausages. Very light traffic meant that we got home 14:30. It got very dark at 15:00 & 5 minutes later the heavens opened although it only rained for 15 minutes. Another couple of light showers but the storm bypassed us completely. DSis finally arrived home 16:20. DH spent half an hour filling in holes & will sand, then final sugar soap & rinse before undercoating tomorrow. Dinner was sausages, mash, baked beans & roasted tomatoes. Wudupa932 - 936 Kitchen recycling, cardboard box, plastic jar, drinks cans, newspaper - recycled 

937 - 938 Kitchen & lr detritus, plastic packaging - binned

QueenJess, great decluttering by your DD 👏

Great work Willowtree222 👏 No longer the cupboard of doom 😊 Hopefully it will stay that way 🤞

vulpix, I love that your garden plans are constantly evolving ☺️ Hope the drizzle held off long enough for you to get your planting done 🤞

dND, thank you for the photos 👏 Your garden is stunning & a testament to all your hard work 🤩 The foxgloves are particularly spectacular 🥳 Pleased to hear that you finally managed to get some compost 😊 Good luck tickling your tomato & chilli plants 🍀 Thank you for my Gold Stars ⭐️ ⭐️

Oops just woke up having fallen asleep on the sofa 😱 Sleep tight 😴 

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🙏💐💐🌟⭐️❤️💐💐⭐️💐❤️ ⭐️🎖️🥇  ⭐️ ⭐️

DH Awards: 🏅🏅🏅🏅

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2026: 938/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £226.61

MadamMim2013

@vulpix love how you’ve begun to bring your garden to life again, I can only imagine the hard work it’s taken so far! My mum loves her plants and has a beautiful garden that she’s lovingly built from scratch over 30 years.

Sadly it’s getting harder to manage.. I have a huge list of jobs that I need to tackle and not enough hours!

@dND Woweeeee.. again beautiful garden, you can see the love that’s gone into it.. The Acer is joyous! ☺️

@Deb4 I am in awe of anyone who can make things out of an original garment.. my sewing skills are basic and it keeps me out of trouble (if I tried shorts they’d definitely have wonky legs 🫣🤣)

Shame I never picked up the skill really, as my mum was a top seamstress for Van Heusen’s when she was young & could pretty much make anything..

@Green_hopeful eeek.. I get days like those where I spill, drop and have general mishaps 🫣 Hope you managed to find the humour in the situations? Laughing at my many oopsies helps reduce the stress/frustration. That said, you clearly seemed to manage a great turnaround once the whoops had occurred, most impressive.. I’d say you’re definitely a fab problem solver!

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger Preparing to decorate is 😣 so I think Mr SD should have a ⭐️ as it’s tiresome. It’s definitely my least favourite part of the job (now painting/staining I love.. 🤷🏻‍♀️) if you’re taking it in turns to sugar soap then make sure you have a ⭐️ too ☺️

I am off to B & Q to get a colour match sample pot to cover a filled in patch on a wall ( unfortunately we used up all the paint and cannot remember the name of it 😵‍💫🫣) it’s for my MiL’s wall so I want to get it finished.

Raining here so garden’s having a nice drink & my water butts have topped back up.. 👍🏼

Florenceem

Morning all.

I had a bad night pain wise.

Scrap man is meant to be coming here this morning to collect the industrial sewing machine. Shame but the woman who wanted it has changed her mind. I want it out of my garage. I didn't pay anything for the machine and it served me well but not working properly now. The woman knew that and was keen at first to have it.

I plan to go out - feed the birds and get some upholstery cleaner. I had a go at cleaning one of my chairs yesterday but it is still grubby this morning. I will also go to the furniture store and have a look at the fabric swatch to see if my memory is at fault.

Moorviews

I haven’t done anything of note but couldn’t resist commenting on @dND ’s lovely garden 😍 Amazing to have achieved that just over a couple of years! I too am involved in bramble clearance so feel your pain on that one!

Well done on creating order in your cupboard @Willowtree222

Well done Mr and @Mrs_Salad_Dodger
For getting the decorating underway. Are you going for a similar colour, or a complete change?

Florenceem- the lighting in shops is often absolutely terrible for seeing true colours.

It’s so nice to see people popping back in with their updates 😊

Good luck everyone with your garden and building projects. I hope everything either goes to plan, or turns out for the best anyway!

Florenceem

Scrap man arrived as planned - took photocopier bits that I found in the airing cupboard! Three men heaved the sewing machine up the drive.

I fed the birds and took donations to the charity shop. I walked along to Waitros. as I looked online for upholstery cleaner and they sold it. I couldn't find it so asked for help only to be told that branch doesn't stock it.

Bus to the furniture store - first thing I did was look at the magenta swatch. Found a sales person who happened to be the manager. He is coming out to look at the sofa tomorrow. He did say magenta is pink and the store lights distort colour. I will attach photos - the strip of fabric on the underside of the cushions looks like the colour I thought I was getting.

When I took the sheet off the sofa - I noticed 2 marks on a cushion - it was even duller light yesterday when I covered it up.

Had a text from the officer about meeting up.

Wet here - I just missed the rain.

Florenceem

This was on their site and helped me decide on magenta.

https://www.dfs.co.uk/ashwicke/asw12adxv?skuId=5911135&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22893349323&gbraid=0AAAAADojP06OV6wR4frx7zyQi352F0jrZ&gclid=Cj0KCQjwof_QBhCgARIsADaMzOe3EfGA1li9DSto64o5_0uw50MjftskBeNcp6CC0xgkp_k1L2oaAPsaAtvKEALw_wcB

Green_hopeful

@MadamMim2013 i did laugh at the milk and cat water. Not so much the coffee but i just got on with it. With the milk we had a bag full of random stuff from my mums fridge that was all covered in milk. Bread in the packet, bananas, lettuce, butter in a butter dish, cheese, ham, tomatoes, cartons of pineapple juice. All washed in the tiny bathroom sink and then dried on the towel.

I seem to have definite days where I spill more.

Brie

finger update. I still have it and the nurse said it is fine. she superglued it for me.

getting better at typing with one digit in the air.

Soontobeoap

sorry all but I need a rant.

As my Dad used to say " I don't know whats happening in this world!

1 on Monday I opened a new bag of rice. I cut across the top with scissors , measured out what I needed but when sealing it back up the bag split down the side as it was so thin!!! Rice everywhere so plenty of that decluttered!

2 I went to get something out of my baking cupboard and some brown sugar that I had decanted into another bag fell out of the cupboard and left sugar all over the floor. The bag was disintegrating!!!!

I know they re looking to cut down on plastic but what good is that if we waste food because of it

On Tuesday I decided to finally spend a gift card that had been bought in the co op which can be used in my different stores. We last tried to spend it in M and S but as we didn't know how much was on it I couldn't use it. That was a few months ago so I went to the co op, loaded up my basket and took it to the till. At the checkout the lady put it all through and when I went to pay with card she said " oh we don t take those". Apparently they only sell them. Well sorry I was only buying the stuff in there to use the card so I left it on the counter for them to put back on shelves. I feel slightly guilty and DH thinks that I should have checked first but it seemed obvious to me that if they sold them then they would redeem them! Nothing is straight forward any more!

Finally today my sister rang. She had sent a parcel to me for my birthday and didn't think that the picture the courier had sent of where they had left it was actually my house. Turns out she was right, so a treck round the neighbourhood ensued.To be honest it was quite good fun going on a treasure hunt following the map the courier had sent. Eventually I found it 2. Streets over on someone's doorstep under a traffic cone. Parcel has right address and post code.

Rant over. Not much else done. Rain has stopped play in garden.

suzeesu2000

@Florenceem that is definitely a different colour. Sending positive vibes for the outcome you would like. I’m sure your GP will already have mentioned this to you, but have you tried the steroid cream? I used it when first diagnosed and it definitely helped. Mine was called Dermovate.

Yesterday we had thunder and rain and I do mean rain, it was biblical. Eased off early evening but then rained in a much calmer fashion for most of the night. Thankfully it’s also brought the temperature inside the house down too.

I cleared a job which I absolutely hate with a passion; it took me all of yesterday afternoon and from 2pm to 8pm today but now it’s done, finished and crossed off my list. Laundry has been done, just got to put the most of it away in the morning and the last bit on the airers will, hopefully, be dry in the morning too. Boiled my grubby dishcloths in soda and washing powder, kitchen smelt lovely! Dishcloths are now white again. I don’t understand how they get so grubby, I have a new, clean one every morning after morning chores.
Dinner for both was freezer and pantry.

Hope everyone is doing okay, have a good night all, sweet dreams