2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Florenceem

Morning all.

Overcast here this morning.

Middle Son and DGS came down yesterday after work - stayed at his brother's house.

I plan another day indoors. I have washing and ironing to do. I have to cook food for tomorrow's meal at Church.

I need to get a basket of gnomes ready to take with me. I want to finish my first girl gnome.

Bestie's husband N is coming to hang some stuff on walls in the hall.

The bags in the hall are for bestie's charity shop. N will take them with him as he will be driving bestie's car.

EnergyShifter

Good Morning, I am pleased to say that yesterday I woke up in a more positive frame of mind towards work admin and managed to complete most of the onboarding. I took it step by step and consulted ChatGPT as i went along. I just need to put the finishing touches to a bio and do some invoicing now.

Completed day 17 of the Minimalist challenge - (153 items this month) - I was helped by clearing out papers and other bits from the loft. DS and I were going through some of his old primary school stuff - one of his holiday projects was hilarious - writing about going to the park with 2 friends. "We played a game called nut wars. We threw nuts at each other. Everyone got really hurt so we stopped playing." 😂 That's a keeper for sure!

I'm slowing down in the house but I've got quite a few bits to go from the temporary shed. Only thing is I don't have a car so it's difficult to get rid of. I have 3 full unopened bags of gypsum and I don't know how to get rid of them. I tried hazardous waste - they said it wasn't hazardous. However it's too hazardous to go into the normal rubbish. I emailed our local authority whether I could pay for a "bulky" connection - they said no but didn't suggest any alternatives - in fact their words were "you'll have to get rid of it some other way" !! Does anyone have any thoughts?

Love to all 💕

Yorkie1

No bright ideas sadly @EnergyShifter but I do sympathise.

Glad to hear the second tests went OK for DH, @Mrs_Salad_Dodger

I managed to get up at a decent time, the bed mattress protector has been washed and is on the line. Winter weight duvet and the electric blanket put away. Bedding from guests at Easter also put away (just need to put the duvet and pillot away too).

Dishwasher emptied (only a few days late … ) and refilled. To be put on shortly.

Would like to do some gardening but feel too fatigued to do so. Anxiety and stress can really muck up your energy levels.

But am off out shortly with a friend who I'm treating to a coffee and cake for her birthday. That should help! And then this evening the local methodist church is doing a play about the life of John Wesley, so I may go to that.

moginstein

My dad used gypsum on the garden @EnergyShifter - it is meant to help with clay soils. I don't know if this is something you want / need to do, or if you could offer it on a free site so someone else could use it? Or whatever you got it for originally, would it be useful for someone else to use for the same? (I know it is something to do with plastering, but not my area of expertise).

Moorviews

@MadamMim2013 - I am very sorry for your sad and sudden loss of Gizzy 💐

@GrannyKate - that looks to be a lovely improvement and beautifully uncluttered. I am very envious of you going to Crete and hope you have an enjoyable and interesting time.

Florenceem- the hallway looks gorgeous and makes for a very welcoming space to enter your home. I hope everything goes smoothly with your transfer and that lessons will be learned regarding empathy and pastoral care.

vulpix- I haven’t heard the expression “deep weeding” before but it perfectly expresses the kind I mostly have to do here. No quick swishes with a hoe for my garden thugs - they would just laugh at me! Well done for all your hard work in the garden, it must be making a tremendous difference. I’m sorry Mr V is still bruised and hope he is back to normal soon.

You have been really cracking on with everything in the house so I hope you can soon get your new kitchen and get straight again @Liverpool_Anne

@dND
I also loved the Mediterranean treatment that you gave your wall with the white paint and the geraniums. I hope you get some better sleep soon

Sorry, there was much more that I wanted to comment on but there have been a lot of interruptions this morning and the text box has a mind of its own. Please ignore the crazy layout of this post! Well done Declutterati for keeping going with the sorting and clearing and decorating. Congratulations to @London_1 ’s grandson and also to @Florenceem’s grandson for being awarded their degrees

I have been playing jenga here this week around tradesmen. No lovely home improvements, just maintenance and necessary upgrades to pipes etc. If it were not for the mess there wouldn’t be any evidence. Money decluttered though. They will be back in a couple of weeks. I need to work out whether to do some repainting or wait. I am surrounded by piles that have had to come out of cupboards and now need to be returned. Thanks to this thread and @Mrs_Salad_Dodger 😇 they are fairly well curated piles! We will make a tip run today and also try to work out how to deal with some trade waste. Lots of cardboard has been collapsed down and we will dispose of some at the RC. The garden has started to produce some food which makes all the trekking around with watering cans worthwhile. Mr MV has been very good about doing that. Bye for now and hope everyone has some rest and relaxation this weekend ☀️

Florenceem

Bestie's husband and daughter E have been and hung the clock, 2 pictures and a canvas in my hall. I now need to clear up the mess - walls had to be drilled.

Moved the position of the coat stand as the canvas would have been partly behind the door.

I have started to make the second plait for Amanda - my girl gnome. I should have made them both last night as I am struggling to get it looking the same.

EnergyShifter

@moginstein - thanks for the tip - we do have clay soil apparently - I will look into it. The builder I was using got it originally for plastering the bathroom before applying tiles. I had a terrible reaction to the smell - felt really ill and got a migraine - so he had to use it for something else - hence being left with 3 bags. I could try freecycle - who knows. I usually have a lot of luck with leaving things outside the house but never tried anything like this. It might be worth a try though given the weather isn't forecasted to rain - Its just way too heavy to keep bringing in and out.

QueenJess

DH said he was off to the tip with a few things, but didn't have a full car load, so I jumped up, ventured into the loft and managed to more than fill a whole car full of stuff. Apparently he only has 20% of a car load left, but I've no energy to find more things for today!

I am now surrounded by small cardboard boxes to use for getting rid of stuff. At least the plastic packaging is going down!

Digital:
5 - download files deleted
61 - old money files deleted

Physical:
Books and Paperwork
7 - DD paperwork recycled
1 - magazine I’ve read (Buy Nothing)
14 - paper reused then recycled

Bags and packaging
1 - bag reused
1 - packaging not needed (recycled)
2 - packaging reused

Clothes/wardrobe etc
1 - dress I never reach for as although I like it, I don’t love it (charity bag)

Kitchen stuff
1 - honey drizzler we never use (charity bag)
3 - Kitchen clips we don’t need (charity bag)
5 - cleaning cloths I never use (recycled)

Kids stuff
2 - DD craft stuff used up
4 - DD tat recycled
1 - garden toy the kids don’t play with (charity)
3 - DD Lego she doesn’t want anymore (sold)
300 - paperwork from loft recycled

Random stuff
65 - gift wrap too small, too torn or simply just too much of it (recycled)
60 - ribbons, tiny bits of string etc I’ve saved from everything and anything for a future use (usually gift tags). I’ve still got a drawer full of them after getting rid of this much!
2 - useless tiny gift bags recycled
23 - tiny clips (charity bag)
4 - unknown things (you know, those things that appear and you have no idea what they’ve come from and then you chuck them in a drawer) (binned)
2 - plant pots (recycled)
2 - plant pots (charity shop)
3 - gift bag/wrap etc used
35 - random empty boxes and junk from loft (tip)
3 - storage boxes (Buy Nothing)

New total 3,637
Use it up total 621

vulpix

Moorviews, I invented the term deep weeding to explain digging deep to try and get all the root out. I have inherited mares tail, docks, dandelion. bramble and my personal fave, bind weed. Bind weed pops up over night if even the tiniest bit of root is left. I am able to get the hand fork in and whip those baby plants out easily now all the ground had been dug over. Satisfying.

I have had a day off the garden today and have only managed a long bath and to read half a book. We are going out for tea and then a bit of supermarket shopping. Back to the garden tomorrow. Mr V is starting to feel much better.

Mr V has given next door some extension leads. The lady is gravely ill and has had a hospital bed delivered but they couldn't plug it in. Some leads chucked along with 2 broken microphones. Next door the other side, the little lad has broken his leg on the trampoline. I am taken back to fracture clinic, every summer holidays for 3 years with DS, jumping off walls and swings. The 4th year DD1 fell off the top bunk and broke her elbow. Not to be left out DD2 broke her arm at school a few years later. Me n fracture clinic staff were on first name terms.

Vx

Soontobeoap

Cleaned and decluttered all of the moss and small plants from wall between us and neighbours and painted it with masonry paint today. The side return between two houses is now looking much cleaner and more organized. Went to B and Q today and bought all of the paint and brushes needed for garden jobs.there will be no excuse for not finishing them this year when we have had wall to wall sunshine.