2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Willowtree222

Creating teacher gifts.

I love making. Just need to cellophane wrap and add a bow. I can't do this until they are leaving as chocolate is in the fridge!

Florenceem

Floss - yes they will have plaits.

Brie - slightly smaller noses too.

Decluttered - bath sheet, roll neck jumper, label, doily and a box.

Still on the food use it up challenge - day 11.

I have got something out of the freezer for tomorrow's dinner - not sure what it is.

vulpix

I acquired a double glazed window from a man round the corner from us. When we have the building work on the house done in the distant future, I want an extra window putting in the kitchen. Hopefully it will be suitable. It would mean no wall units but I can't reach them anyway!😂

Father's day brought more"amusing" mugs and tee shirts.

Emptied and cleaned the fridge. Ate up stuff. Emptied and tidied the freezer. Mr V went shopping.

I did another couple of hours in the garden. I am so over it now. Still not finished as the ground is so solid. Bind weed is already growing back in the parts I have done. I am whipping them out as soon as I see them. If I keep on top of it I might win.

Mr V fell over on his way to work. He fell off a walkway onto a stack of bricks. He is bruised up and ripped his new shirt. He is either too old to be falling over or too young to be falling over. I am convinced it was because yesterday took it out of him.😥

Off to Oxfordshire again tomorrow, penultimate baby sitting duties.

I think your gnomes are going to be a good fund raiser Florenceem.

Vx

Brambling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066914#Comment_82066914

I was thinking bows in their beards!

Received a better offer this afternoon to the tidying I was going to do, my sister had been access to a beach hut today, we didn't get there until 3.30pm but it was just as well I put on the SF50 not the breeze we hoped for. Picnic tea before we watched the tidy start to come in and left at 8pm, a very civilised afternoon. My sister walked out across the seaweed so she could say she had been in the sea!

BlueJ94

Good morning, havent been on here much just tried to chill out a bit over the weekend.

This morning's breakfast

Egg and bacon bagel with carrot cake tea.. the tea doesn't taste of much 😂

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

Sunday continued: We left just after 12:00, walked to the bus stop & waited 5 minutes for a bus to CW. Then Jubilee Line to Stratford & longish walk to the bar/restaurant but at least half of it was underground so quite cool. A & J were already waiting. DH worked out that it was 2 years since we had our last meet up 😨 where does the time go? Ordered drinks - J & I both had a Pimms Spritzer - very refreshing & then we spent half an hour chatting before ordering our food 😅 A, J & DH had starters - A had squid whilst J & DH had smoked haddock fritters (apparently more like croquettes 😉) We all had different main courses - birthday boy A had steak & chips, J had a full roast beef dinner, DH had a beef & marrowbone pie & I had a chicken Caesar salad (the croutons were disappointing as they were chewy not crispy 😞) The other 3 each had an affogato for dessert and then DH & I had an espresso. Overall the food was good & we kept the drinks flowing (as well as drinking plenty of water) DH paid the bill & then because we still had plenty to catch up on we had another round of drinks ☺️ Our table was booked from 13:00 to 15:00 but we finally left 17:20 😉 The 4 of us walked to the Elizabeth Line - still chatting 😉 went one stop together then said our goodbyes as we were going in different directions. We had a thoroughly wonderful time 🥹 DH & I got to CW & then bus home. Finally indoors by 18:15.  DSis had a tuna bake whilst DH & I had a sandwich about 21:00.

1124 - 1126 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, cardboard packaging - recycled 

1127 Kitchen detritus binned 

Florenceem, hopefully you & bestie enjoyed the street sale on Saturday 😊 

vulpix, sounds like Scarborough was a tad cold on Saturday 😉 Great work dealing with a frog 👏 I too need to cull the contents of my wardrobe but sadly most of what I have is not fit for the CS 😞 Good luck with decluttering your wardrobe 🍀 Your grandsons will love the circus tent ☺️

Just woke up having fallen asleep on the sofa so will wish you a good night. Sleep tight 😴 

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

DH Awards: 🏅🏅🏅🏅⭐️ 🏅

DSis Awards: 🏅

Decluttering Target 2026: 1127/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £226.61

Moorviews

A quick dropping in by me just to show that I have been doing something other than reading along! The heat has been limiting. I have binned some very old trainers and found some more high heels to donate to CS. Of course I tried hobbling around in them first 😂 We have trades in again so I have had to tidy and clear spaces all around the house. Plenty of helping with the GC to keep the busy at the moment too.

@vulpix - I hope Mr V is not suffering too badly. We both get clumsy when tired these days. Life does not always permit us to pace ourselves just right.

Energyshifter - I hope your retreat is restorative. Self care is more important than the house.
Brambling - looks beautiful there.
Mrs SD - sounds like a lovely get together 😊

Thinking of you all, admiring the creativity and the decluttering and hoping everyone is okay xx

GrannyKate

Morning all. Up just after 5 as Sox decided that was a good time. I put his tinned food down (I leave dry food all the time) and opened cat flap but he came in bedroom to make biscuits by my face as I got back in bed - once he was sure I getting up he disappeared outside. DGS4 is up anyway - went to bed earlier than usual because he had watched football the night before. Managed to get his bike in my car and still have passenger room as he has cycling proficiency today and tomorrow. Bike can stay secure there overnight so just have to get it back in Tuesday pm.

Much cooler at the moment so may get some more gardening done. I did manage to cut back more shrubs and recycling bin is almost full for tomorrow. Swimming pool has cleared - it got a bit green (my own refecting pool!) but topped up chlorine and DS2 cleaned filter. I covered it up whilst paving area grout being drilled out to try and keep concrete dust out but water got so hot that made problem worse. Looks better now and DGS4 had an hour in there last night. Lawns look mostly dead but I know grass recovers well eventually. Not making any attempt to seed the new filled in areas until September.

Long Sunday morning chat with DD - she spent much of Sunday sitting in garden doing things from her lap top without moving - booking decorator, gutter cleaing etc. We talked about our early December holiday as our original plan was quite complicated and we've missed the 'boat' to book a special train as it sells out very fast. We decided to just pick a city we hadn't been to at Christmas with flights from her local airport. An hour later she had booked 4 days in Vienna. She has been before and I've been several times including a month on a school exchange when I was 15. Still in touch with my 'swap' partner in Vienna from 60 plus years ago and met up with her when I went with late DH probably 15 years ago so I will let her know I will be there. This will be year 24 or 25 of my trips with DD first week in December - we know exactly what we want to book now and they have got a bit more up market than the early years. I've probably been to at least 12 German cities, all the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia etc. There have been a few UK trips when circumstances made anything else difficult including Edinburgh, Bath, Norwich and London. We are neither of us shopping fans other than books and garden centres but enjoy local food, wine and beer. We do try to do some Christmas shopping and buy a local tree ornament each year. We tend to book somewhere at random based on DD's work commitments and flight availablity - we try to go from her local airport but not always possible.

My US sister returned from her Norwegian cruise to spend a few days in Oslo and was there Saturday night when football had taken over the city. I suspect she will have played down her English birth. They are now in Stockholm for a few days before heading home. I've not been there only to Malmo but it was just too difficult to fit in a quick trip to meet up this week.

I need to get some cash for Crete as I said I'd pay taxi transfers and they like real money. I will also need to pay builders doing paving work. I don't need to pay for Vienna yet as DD has paid flights and I can pay hotel on arrival.

As my chiropodist is still not taking bookings I decided to cut my toenails. Clippers fell apart - I spent 15 minutes trying to fix them before deciding it was pointless as I remembered late DH had at least 6 pairs and I kept 2 so binned broken ones.

Need to get children up and ready for school. Last week and the last of primary school for my 8 grandchildren. Need to close down all the apps as computer failed to do its update last night because things were open.

700 Broken nail clippers binned from late DH's extensive collection!

701 As only maximum of 3 people normally here I decided 7 current toothbrushes in bathroom was excessive. Now only three decent ones there, one in kitchen for cleaning jobs and the rest binned.

702 Several more bins of pruning to recycling

oceanspirit

Productive day yesterday. Emails down from 293 to 228, numerous papers shredded, some reading done and some tidying. Place looks a little better. More of the same to be done today plus a little bit of gardening in between with the weather being cooler and due to warm up again tomorrow.

Florenceem

Morning all.

I have dentist this morning.

Started to knit a girl gnome yesterday - I used yarn - with tiny sequins - not good to knit with - think I got it from Flying Tig.. I will see how I get on with it - have more colours upstairs - may go to CS.

Made a pot of tea with the tea bags I bought - first pot is loose tea then second one I add a teabag - not impressed.

I don't know what to do with a wooden bowl that belonged to Mr F. I think it is German and vintage. I don't like it and it doesn't fit anywhere in my colourful house. My memories of Mr F are not in a wooden bowl but in my heart.