2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

Florenceem

I am now croaking but my throat is not so sore.

R came to see me this morning. He unfortunately has experience of suicide. It does seem now that everyone is either related to or knows someone with this awful experience.

My son phoned me as he was collecting F from the centre he attends 3 days of the week. It was a short call because of my voice.

I ventured into the ROD. I am being very strict with myself and getting rid of lots of craft stuff. There is now a lot of stuff in my porch ready for Sunday - to go in bestie's car.

Decluttered - pizza box x 2 of 12 x 12 papers and paper packs. pack of chipboard shapes, retro sewing box, 12 x 12 Laura Ashley cardstock, case of 12 x 12 papers, 11 pads of 12 x 12 papers, pack of handmade paper, storage container x 2 of scrapbook papers, box of oriental stamps, peel offs, inks, charms + papers, container of A4 papers, cardboard and paper.

Yorkie1

Oh how lovely @Willowtree222

Good luck with the returns @suzeesu2000

@Green_hopeful I haven't yet had a decent experience with an AI chatbot. I was trying to close a bank account, and had to go through the hoops to exhaust its scripting before it would pass me onto a human web advisor!

Hopefully I will have energy to do something this weekend, although after three nights' interrrupted sleep owing to back pain, we'll see how it is. It does feel mostly fine when in my office chair during the day, luckily.

florianatwobob

2 x pc monitors taken to the air ambulance today. DBro1 loves to upgrade a monitor. He is less enthusiastic at rehoming the ones he has discarded…….. we still have one saved for Justin……

suzeesu2000

Thanks @Yorkie1 I have had success! My last email of yesterday was a LITTLE on the sarcastic side (DH says I am the Queen of Sarky!). Anyway, telephone rang 0830 this morning with a nice chap telling me to keep the litter tray and have a full refund!! The litter tray will go to a local independent cat rescue.

Then, I had to go to PayPal and go through a verification process due to my card being phished last week. I couldn’t complete it as they were asking me to verify the card which was now defunct. Had to phone them but, thankfully, quickly sorted. Checked through PayPal to find ANOTHER charge which shouldn’t have happened. I signed on to an app on a 7 day only purchase, I was VERY careful to read everything and made sure of what I was signing into. So, they decided to just charge me £44… After a painful time trying to find a way to sign into the account and all I eventually got it refunded. Oh it was a morning!

Dinner just for me today was totally freezer.

Sorted through one shelf on one side of the pantry shelves. Have 5 very very OOD tins which I don’t want to chance, 1 looks a bit blown so I shall empty them all tomorrow into food waste and wash the tins for recycling. I also have 3 well in date tins for Foodbank, it’s a start as I know there will be lots more for them.

Have a good night all, sweet dreams xx

vulpix

Thank you for my medal Mrs SD. Sending rain clouds down to you. My son works in the city and has after work rugby training in Hyde park, he says it's just a dust bowl.

We have been lucky enough to have had about 3 good rain episodes. The colour is coming back to the fields, apart from the one which was on fire the other week. My plants in the front garden are loving rain, they have only previously known grey tap water. I have been putting effort into clearing the back garden. Everything must go with the exception of some daisies and a quince that I have potted up. There are a few bits I want to transfer to the front too.It is turning out to be quite a big space. I am lucky enough to have beautiful soil. I would like to get the garden cleared before the weather turns so I can have a blank slate in Spring.

Today's decluttering has been Mr V's trainers, 2 large potted ferns , another big plant in a pot dug out of the back garden in the big pot, no idea what it is, and 2 dining chairs that I started to renovate and decided someone else can have them. oh and socks with holes.

We are off down South in the morning for DGS's 3rd Birthday, collecting DD1 from Sheffield and DD2 from Nottingham on the way.

Florenceem , I have lost a family member to suicide. It takes a lot of coming to terms with.xxx

take care all Vx

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 is a brighter day with less cloud & a high of 21°C feeling 1° cooler due to a brisk N wind & a low of 14°C DSis had an appointment at the clinic for a blood test + picked up most of her meds - one missing ☹️ The HH waste wheelie bin was finally emptied this morning - just 2 days late 😊 I was thoroughly entertained by about a dozen tits on the fat cake feeder + one long tailed  tit ☺️

Brambling, sounds like you had a lovely holiday ☺️ Good work getting a new boiler sorted so quickly 👏 I am looking forward to seeing pictures of your sea glass projects 🙏 Good luck with your lists, I am sure you will be ready for when the decorators arrive 🍀 A pity about the favourite tee shirt being decluttered 😞 

GrannyKate, typical that the much needed rain would turn up whilst you had your washing on the line 😞 Sounds like your siesta had the required effect - well done on the tidying 👏 Hopefully there will be more bouts of heavy rain which will soak in & out a stop to any more frightening wildfires 🤞

Wonderful cheerleading Yorkie1 🥹 Excellent work with the digital decluttering 👏 Ouch to the bad back 😣 hopefully you won’t exacerbate it when you go to the allotment 🤞Yippee to proper rain 🥳

suzeesu2000, whoever would have thought that we would all be welcoming rain 🙊 No doubt after a couple of weeks we will be hoping for an Indian summer 😉 Excellent decluttering 👏 Everything crossed that your false black widow vacates the bin 🤞 Very sorry to hear about your friend 😔 what a shock. Very impressed that you are still using Easter vegetables 🤩

dND, that is a tease 😜 Hopefully you will get some proper rain soon 🤞but only overnight 😉 Excellent decluttering by both you & DS1 👏 A medal 🏅🏅for each of you. I will also keep my fingers crossed  that the scrap-man turned up 👏 Sorry to hear that your electric shower is kaput but hopefully the electrician will be able to repair it so that it lasts a few more months 🤞

Excellent decluttering oceanspirit 👏 Good luck completing the large admin task 🍀

Florenceem, all I can do is offer more gentle cwtches 🤗 

Willowtree222, that looks gorgeous 😍 Hope you & DD have a wonderful time ☺️

Dinner was a tuna pasta bake for DSis whilst DH & I had salmon fillets, boiled new potatoes & tomato salad. Wudupa.

1402 - 1404 Kitchen recycling, drinks cans, plastic bottle - recycled 

1405 Kitchen detritus binned 

suzeesu2000, I wouldn’t class it as moaning, more like bemoaning the fact that customer service appears to have gone the way of the dodo 🦤 & has got worse since companies have fallen in love with AI & chatbots 😖 I do hope you can get it sorted this year 😉🤞

Green_hopeful, if it wasn’t so annoying & unprofessional it ‘could be amusing’ 🤨 I do hope that you are being reimbursed by ParcelForce 🤞 I would have been tempted to walk into a John Lewis store & ask to buy a bridge citing that their AI had informed me that JL could sort out a problem with a bridge …….although I do know I am being rather silly 🤪 Hopefully they do listen to the call & make suitable improvements - especially an option to be put straight through to a human being 🤞 although I wouldn’t hold my breath ☹️ 

florianatwobob, that dinner sounds delicious 😋 & all the better for using up so many items from the freezer 👏 Your mum’s food processor looks built to last 🥳

dND, remember everything out is a win 👏

suzeesu2000, I totally agree with This “AI Chat are not worth anything. All they do is exacerbate an already difficult situation. I refuse to interact with them. I am a human, if I spend my time and money with a company they can jolly well find me a human to speak to. Don’t get me started on self serve checkouts 🤬🤬🤬xx”  I am always prepared to queue so that I can avoid the self serve checkouts 😉

Brambling, I absolutely love it 🥹

florianatwobob, how fortunate that you were able to find someone to repair the Kenwood ☺️

Florenceem, sorry to hear that you are unwell 🤒 Please take care. Sadly we lost my paternal uncle to suicide about 50 years ago 😢 A huge shock to all of us at the time, as he was in his early 20’s & had recently become a father although he was estranged from his child’s mother 🥺 Excellent decluttering of craft stuff from your ROD 👏 A medal 🏅is on its way.

Yorkie1, sorry to hear about the back pain 😞 Please take it easy 🙏

Great decluttering florianatwobob 👏 I will keep my fingers crossed that some gentle persuasion might work on DBro1 & he will release more pc monitors 🤞

suzeesu2000, very pleased to hear that you finally managed to sort everything out 😊 Although I have to say it is so annoying that it took so long 😡 I imagine these companies rely on people getting so frustrated & fed up at having to jump through so many hoops that they give up 🤦‍♀️ Excellent decluttering of food tins 👏 

vulpix, not sure I would want to be doing any sports training when the ground is so hard 😧 It could be very painful 😣 Very pleased to hear that the rain is helping your garden ☺️ Good luck getting everything ready for spring planting 🍀 Excellent decluttering 👏 although I was quite surprised to hear that up you are decluttering one of your renovation projects 😮 Is DGS really almost 3 years old 🤩 Happy birthday to him 🎂🥳

All caught up 😊 I will wish you all a good night, sleep tight 😴 

MrsSD Awards: 💐 🙏💐💐🌟⭐️❤️💐💐⭐️💐❤️⭐️🎖️🥇⭐️⭐️⭐️😇🏅💐🌻💐💐🌻🥇 

DH Awards: 🏅🏅🏅🏅⭐️ 🏅

DSis Awards: 🏅

Decluttering Target 2026: 1405/2026

1p Savings Challenge Running Total: £297.61

GrannyKate

A quick post this morning. I had nothing to report yesterday despite my best intentions, Lower back is still a bit sore from a fall last week (dry sloping ground and I fell onto my rear end with a thump). I am hoping to do some gardening now some rain has soaked in. I had a quiet day in with DGS4 - he spent three hours on his own in the garage building some lego sets. He has a large area out there so he can make up his lego roads and railways. There is almost nothing to store in there except some odd bits of wood, paint, cat basket etc and the bikes. It all needs to come out so it can be cleaned properly and stuff can be got rid of. I got some large, half price, plastic garden rugs for the floor. I also have some foam? floor tiles for the utility room which have been sat nearly a year. The potting shed had dried out completely but now has a foot of wet floor at the back. There is six feet of piled up rubbish behind the shed with the garden behind and its fence being five feet higher. The water has no where to go at the moment. That's another job to do.

DD just reported that DGD1 had a burst tyre on the way home from her job at Mr M so that's another expense today. She is fine but has only just got car back after 3 weeks waiting for a part. DGD2 passed her maths resit which is good as think this is third time. DGS3 was pleased with his results mostly middle of the range grades but 7 or 8 passes. He is looking at a college course as he hasn't got an apprenticeship although he has applied for several. I decluttered a contribution to football boots as a gift. DS2 and family went to a wedding party yesterday evening so I stayed up to collect them. The whole town is awash with roadworks so it was a difficult place to get to even though only about 2 miles away.

I have some frogs to do but have let things go a bit in August as several groups didn't meet. I probably have a visitor next week but not certain yet. I did spend an hour dismantling the vacuum and found blocked pipes in several places. It was actually working properly yesterday for the first time in ages. It doesn't seem to matter how much you pay they all seem to loose power after a short time. No real reason why the content would have blocked pipes.

My trip to Paris with DGS 3&4 at end of October is pretty much all booked except the train to London. Staying overnight and getting very early Eurostar. I need less holidays and more house renovation next year.

813 Jacket in CS bag - I bought it 4 years ago and only wore it once. One of those things you take out of the wardrobe to put on then change your mind

814 Photos downloaded to date

815 Vacuum cleaned and 'serviced'

EnergyShifter

The gardening / excavation continues. Turns out the small path leading to the patio runs under the patio - I needed to remember that the "patio" is actually the base for the former playhouse so not part of the older layout. We have removed 2 columns of paving stones so that the full path is revealed - one column (4 paving stones) are being moved to the other end of the patio - DS and I cleared the ground yesterday - and plan to finish off today. The other 4 paving stones will be used under the cute tool cabinet as that will be more sturdy than the slate table mats I bought previously ( I can use them for something else … Maybe even table mats 😂).

DS said he is enjoying doing jobs in the garden so has volunteered to help out his afternoon. He said last night that he is enjoying the garden jobs he is doing. 🤩 Today it's sunny, I have no plans and DS has promised to help in the garden so hopefully I will get at least the patio sorted today. I haven't looked at my work admin since I wrote the "to do list" 🤦‍♀️

I have done a couple of non-garden things on my week-off. Yesterday I went to my monthly shift at the homeless shelter and dropped off some clothes while I was there- these were all counted in last months tally but it felt good to get them out of the loft to where they can do more good.

And on Weds I took a friend out for a birthday meal to a restaurant with a roof terrace in Peckham. The food was delicious but the view of the London skyline at sunset was even better! 🤩

Wednesday2000

What a lovely view. I haven't been to Peckham in years. I went out in New Cross during the pandemic, when you were allowed out!

Florenceem

Morning all.

I am still very croaky today and my throat is sore.

I need to go out for shopping to Lid.

Hope everyone has a productive day.