2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

weenancyinAmerica

Dolly Rocker - I am reading my way through my mystery collection so I can give them away. Have been reading a book a day so far. Most of these are light mystery cosies so they are easy reading. Will need to shift to reading some of my non-fiction stuff soon as I will run out of mysteries to read in a few months. So far I have emptied three 9-foot shelves of mysteries to the library bookstore. Two more 9-foot shelves and a bookcase full of hardback mysteries to go (24' of shelving). Library is having trouble getting more small paperbacks for their collection so no new ones to tempt me to read their books instead yet. I have trouble holding the larger paperbacks and the hardbacks and prefer a real book to hold. So working my way through my accumulation. Still have collections of certain authors though - Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Margery Allingham, among others (another 27-feet of bookshelves, but up out of the way). Will clear out those too but may sell them at the used bookstore as the ones I have are older editions. Or I may wait until our Friends group is in their new bookstore (in a few months) and sell them there as "vintage books". I am waiting on selling my gardening and decorating books until we are in the new bookstore.

Yorkie1

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger have a lovely time.

@Soontobeoap sorry to hear you're in pain. I hope it heals quickly.

@Dolly_Rocker_ I agree about the water usage of data centres. If I remember right, somewhere recently refused planning permission because of the water impact (may have been in the US, not UK). I too do wonder whether and how that will be included in eventual sustainability calculations.

@weenancyinAmerica the family history stuff sounds interesting. I did a small bit of that for a parish in North Wales, trying to identify which may be ancestors. Surname Jones, and no real addresses. I'm not sure they even knew who was related to whom and how, so I've no chance!!

The allotment is now mostly planted out, although I've also sowed some seeds for radishes and beetroot in pots for transplanting out when they've grown a bit. Much weeding still to do, and the garden hasn't yet been tackled at all. I've pulled a muscle in my back, which is most unlike me. Hopefully that will resolve in a couple of days' time.

weenancyinAmerica

@Yorkie1 - I am using wills as a way to separate out families in the parish I am working on. You are right about it being hard to trace a Jones family in Wales.

The place that shut the data centre down was Utah. Was going to use almost all of the water resources available. What were they thinking (if at all)?

QueenJess

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger happy travels.

A few more bits out today:

1 - glass container I don’t use (Buy Nothing)
2 - batteries used up (recycled)
4 - packs of seeds used up (recycled)
8 - DS tat (binned/recycled)
2 - DD tat binned
1 - bathroom supplies used up
1 - paper recycled

New total 1,438
Use it up total 446

Yorkie1

@weenancyinAmerica ah yes, Utah sounds about right thanks. I hadn't thought of wills, and will definitely consider it, but I suspect that these miners didn't make them back in the 1800s!

weenancyinAmerica

Yorkie1 - I have too many Allanson families where I am working now, which is why I am indexing the records for the parish. I found out I can index year by year or birth and marriage records with Family Search and then go to the original and add in the missing details (bride's father's name, name of farm, etc.). Then I put families together on lined paper so I can see what people are mentioned in the wills. Will be interesting to see if it works with English records. Have done four parishes in Switzerland this way.

I always try to get the civil registration records for everyone who was living after 1837. I notice a lot of people on Ancestry just list the information from the indexes, but getting the actual certificates is so important. In the US, I always insist on getting the actual vital records (what we call civil registration records) for everyone in the family. I never know what clues I might find. I am the same with getting obituaries for everyone. I get to pretend I am Miss Marple tracking down the clues to the family. Like doing a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces upside down or missing.

[Deleted User]

@weenancyinAmerica - I think I need to get myself back into it with some easy reads . I absolutely LOVE books and my shelves are jammed. Buy them in charity shops or get them as gifts.
@Yorkie1 - Its awful and as much as I don't ever want to use it I'm gonna just have too if it means keeping in employment .
@QueenJess - Thats a good amount out for a day , way more than me.

Popped to Asda after work and before my last dog walk of the night. Picked up my mum on the way cos she needed some bits for dinner. She bought me 3 pairs of Elf jammies so tomorrow I'm gonna have a clear out of the jammie drawer, any old mismatched bits can go. Had them all for years.

regnbue

@[Deleted User] I made a commitment to read more books this year and I use the library a lot.

I go on to the regional website and for 60p I can get any book held at a different library in my county. I do have some much beloved books on my shelf but it's rare now that I want to re-read newer books so paying 60p for a book I'm interested in but is not held at my local library has got me interested in reading again.

I read five books last month which is more than for the whole of last year and my library book wishlist currently has 137 items!

Yorkie1

@weenancyinAmerica "I always try to get the civil registration records for everyone who was living after 1837". Indeed. I found this useful when I thought I'd got the marriage details of a Jones grandparent or great grandparent, but when it said the father of the groom was a farmer, we realised it was the wrong marriage to a Grace Owen(s). At £12.50 per certificate, the costs soon mount up. But I see that they offer online view of digital, or a PDF, for less money. They seem to give you the view of the actual register; it's a more proportionate way of getting the info, I reckon.

Green_hopeful

Today was spent cleaning for the party on Saturday. Vaxed the landing carpet. Its only a small area and we don’t wear shoes inside but goodness the water was dirty. Pleased it’s done.

Most of the time was spent cleaning the kitchen. We have quite a lot of house plants and I have been struggling with scale insects on the orchids for ages. I finally had enough and chucked 7 orchids. Then I felt guilty and decided to pot them up outside. The scale insects are particular to orchids so hopefully they can’t attack anything else. All 7 went into one pot in a bright but shady place. I washed up and stacked the clear pots and decorative pots so whilst they didn’t leave they are out of the way.

Dropped a big bag of curtains back to my mums. I think they have been in the garage of doom for 10 years.

Freecycler coming tomorrow to see if he wants anything we have sorted.