2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Florenceem

daisy_1571 - good to see you back. My head is all over the place after losing my Mr F.

J has gone - he put the first coat of Babouche on the hall plus touched up where T wrote on my walls when fitting the tv.

I have emptied 3 cardboard boxes today.

I have put 15 cushion inserts in the wardrobe - I won't run out of stuffing for a while.

Pleased that the bin men have been - on the correct day again.

Just going to have another cup of tea before I crack on upstairs.

Florenceem

suzeesu2000 - I am not keen on skate - not too sure why as I live at the seaside and was brought up eating fresh fish.

There is so much stuff to sort in the old office - some was from downstairs in my craft room, some from the craft storage room and the rest was from the ROD.

Middle son and grandson phoned on the way home from school.

I have a scratch on the back of my hand - caused by a staple that was holding the burglar alarm cable.

I have moved my coats into the lounge wardrobe.

A bag is full of baby colours yarn ready for bestie. I hope she has room in her car on Sunday morning.

Decluttered - shorts x 3, tee shirt x 2, yellow towelling fabric, leggings, 2 tops, vest x 3, fabric bag, cover/match earrings pack, carrier bag of baby yarn, a bell, 3 cardboard boxes, tweezers, candelabra. reel of tape, curtain x 2, 3 silver baskets, receipts, 4 skirts, bubble wrap, silver plate and 2 candle snuffers.

TC77

Welcome back Daisy.

Pillow case, book, 2 x books, 4 sheets and another book added to cs bag

At Sewing class all morning and seem to have been tinkering this pm..too

Two items returned and cs bag dropped off, some paper and digital decluttering. Will take me a long time checking many emails individually - some.i can group delete.

Have a way to go to set an example for dd2 when she's back but a lovely young man picked up a 1960 record player which had taken root in mine for 18 months..definitely had his name on it and quite big so win/win

15 to add new total 931

GrannyKate

H all. It's sweltering here. Not much to report other than outside work done by DGS3 yesterday. He painted 10 fence panels and two sides of the potting shed in return for some pocket money and being fed and watered. (10 points off my big jobs list) I've just been pottering around really with a bit of gardening thrown in. I have drunk a litre of iced tea this evening so will probably be up all night. I had to collect DGCs from school as their mother stuck on motorway for a couple of hours in the heat - road closed due to an accident. I replaced the new washing basket with a much cheaper one and also got a peg bag. I have also bought some compost, more fence paint and some plants.

I found a bream in freezer which I had for tea. I bought some fresh broad beans but they weren't very nice.

616 Two tins of fence paint finished up and pots binned - two areas of fence painted and shed walls - money decluttered

617 Yet more weeds to recycling

618 Things planted out

619-623 Three pots of tomato puree (made from my glut of yellow tomatoes last year) a yellow sticker ham joint and a pack of sausages to DS2's fridge. The first of this year's tomatoes are starting to form.

Sox bought me yet another small bird but he did leave it outside. I have done a first draft of my latest family history booklet. A shower is needed now and hopefully I can get some sleep tonight.

Yorkie1

@[Deleted User] well done on the mortgage front. Have you checked to see if your overpayments can be reclaimed if you suddenly have a large expense? My mortgage doesn't allow that, but some do

@Green_hopeful what a content cat. When I was growing up, ours reached 20.5 years.

@florianatwobob yes I'm looking forward to seeing that - must look at tickets locally.

I know enough about gutting a fish to tell when a masterchef contestant isn't going about it the right way 🤣

@BlueJ94 it's always difficult to change role I think. Good luck with the discussions with your manager

@daisy_1571 well done on getting back!

I like the sound of your tomato puree @GrannyKate

Yorkie1

It's been a busy week here with a few evenings out.

I am at short notice having to travel to Mum's on Sunday, back next Friday, to be there when her wretched broadband / line switch takes place. Yes, ths switch is easy. Yes, my best friend's husband was lined up to unplug and plug in stuff - he is a retired IT helpdesk chap.

But Mum has got herself into a hysterical mess over it. Our daily calls over the last week have been very challenging. I repeatedly tell her she should not look at X or Y, because it's not relevant, yet she then rings me up again to say she's spent 5 hours reading it and she's on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

I realise she's 84 and technology change is increasigly difficult for her, but I do slightly resent having to drop everything at 48 hours' notice for a reason which, on a practical level, is whollly unnecessary. I will need to muster up some patience.

Tomorrow will be very busy as a result. Need to do lots of things I had planned for this week …reschedule deliveries, organise someone to water the greenhouse, take in my post, put out the recycling.

florianatwobob

A deep breath (or several) will be needed @Yorkie1 whilst dealing with your mum’s IT challenge. After that you’ll deserve a dose of Aiden at the cinema. On that note I think that the latest tranche of cinemas have signed up. Recently the nearest cinema showing it was Finchley. Finchley is, by no stretch of the imagination, close to me.

florianatwobob

In other news I have been at an awards ceremony. Although my project didn’t win our category we did get ‘Highly Commended’ so in effect silver to the winner’s gold. As I said to my sister that will make a far better brooch (I already have one with one of the judge’s ‘Quietly Disruptive’ quote on it).

Yorkie1

Well done!

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

Friday continued: The heavy rain stopped abruptly at 09:55 so it was dry when we packed the bike & left at 10:05. I looked like I would survive a monsoon without getting wet see pic

Within 15 minutes of setting off it started drizzling heavily & the mist descended. The drizzle continued on & off until about 11:45. Our first stop was a petrol station at Fort William then back the way we came to head to our one & only landmark at Glenelg - 11.5 miles of narrow wet road, with quite a few hairpin bends - seat of the pants riding 😱 I asked DH if we needed to go back using the same road or if there was an alternative………. yes there was 🥳 the Kylerhea turntable ferry across to Skye & then across the Skye Bridge back to the mainland. Getting aboard the ferry was quite hair raising as was getting off but at least on Skye it was dry & there was even some blue sky & sunshine. A nicer road to ride with no hairpins 😊 Once back on the mainland we headed to Ullapool to refuel the bike & then onto our hotel in Kylesku. We did stop off on the way at The Midge Bite Café for cappuccinos, coconut & jam cake & a Bakewell Blondie. The weather continued to improve & by the time we arrived in Kylesku at 17:00 there was some proper sunshine (the pic is taken in Kylesku) We unpacked the bike & went to reception only to discover we weren’t staying in the hotel but at their satellite building 1.5 miles away. We eventually found Kylesku House & checked in. Both showered & changed & took the complimentary shuttle service back to the hotel for dinner & were brought back after dinner. Another delicious dinner - DH had crab salad followed by seafood linguine whilst I had Cullen skink followed by the fish of the day - halibut with sautéed new potatoes, broccoli, pak Choi, beans, kale + a red pepper & onion salsa 😋 The food is always excellent although the location means it is rather expensive 😞 We were back in our room by 21:00. (So despite the weather forecast we didn’t get rained on all day 😮‍💨) There was a short shower at 21:15 but now dry though cloudy. 

Today’s menagerie: sheep, horses, pigs, cows, a solitary ‘s’ hag & then our best sighting a small herd of wild deer 🥳I also saw a single deer on the way back from dinner ☺️ We have actually done some decluttering today: 

999 - 1000 A pair of DH’s Sunday socks, broken watch strap - binned

P.S. it transpires that yesterday’s solitary heron was an egret 🙊 

florianatwobob, you do know you should practise now 😂

Nice to see you moginstein 👋 I prefer your new type of laundry basket 👏 which will probably last forever 😉

QueenJess, excellent decluttering in your DD’s room 👏 I seem to remember that your DD used to be quite good at decluttering or rather not having too much stuff 🤔 Sounds like she is starting to copy her brother in keeping everything 😔 I remember your previous years decluttering numbers - I nearly ran out of awards 😂

BlueJ94, I think you are being wise & sensible in waiting until the new role is approved  & then sitting down with your manager to discuss exactly what the Duty Manager role entails 😊 It is all well & good getting a ‘promotion’ but if you hate going into work every day in a new role no money in the world can make up for that. 

Floss, excellently put ☺️

Florenceem, what a pity you didn’t get to see a picture of the cooked fish 😞 Good luck sorting out the wardrobe 🍀

vulpix, loving the cat story ☺️ Lovely cheerleading 🥹 Hopefully it won’t get too hot whilst you are gardening 🤞

Welcome back daisy_1571 👋 What I want to know is what you did to upset MSE forum ambassadors 🤣 We did miss you 😽 just thought you were too busy to post 😊 

Excellent work  & great decluttering Florenceem 👏 Good luck clearing the old office 🍀 Please make sure that you keep the scratch clean 🙏 Fingers crossed that your Bestie had room for the bag of yarn 🤞

Excellent decluttering TC77 👏 I think that DD2 will notice a big difference having been away so long 🥹

Not quite caught up but I am nodding off so will try to do better tomorrow 😉 Sleep tight 😴 

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

DH Awards: 🏅🏅🏅🏅⭐️

DSis Awards:

Decluttering Target 2026: 1000/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £226.61