2026 DECLUTTERING CAMPAIGN Mrs SD - our Year of Redistribution

QueenJess

I have now been authorised to provide DS's totals. However, his room is still untidy and so it remains to be seen whether everything does have a home and if he can more easily clear it up for cleaning.

186 - DS paperwork recycled
2 - DS worn out socks (recycled)
7 - DS clothes grown out of (charity bag)
103 - DS tat (binned/recycled)
69 - DS tat (charity bag/Buy Nothing)
1 - plug in night light (Buy Nothing)
1 - bag recycled
2,100 (estimate) - 2.8kg of LEGO (donated to school)
6 - Lego boxes recycled
5 - storage boxes (Buy Nothing)
4 - Lego set (sold)
4 - Lego minifigures (sold)
27 - school books (recycled)
1 - box recycled
43 - coins (charity)

2,559 = total (although most of that was Lego!)

New total 8,015
Use it up total 745

Brie

My solution to self serve checkouts is to stand there and look stupid while blocking a till and any other traffic. Usually means I get a person to do the work rather than me being unpaid labour for the shop.

And a small win (so far) on the ROD. I picked up all the books and other oddments on the dresser that the OH has left in there for over a year and put them on the dining room table. Some things got sorted. Needed room on the table for breakfast today so everything got moved to his desk. His "office" (it's actually a porch) is a complete mucky tip so I doubt he'll do more than shift things onto one of the piles in there but at least I don't have to look at it.

Moorviews

Well done to your DS @QueenJess those are good totals. Hopefully he can keep up the good work! Also, thank you for mentioning the Spacemaker channel. Watching a couple of those has really helped me this week.

As a change from the many admin tasks that I feel buried under at the moment, and inspired by Roberta in one of the Spacemaker episodes I tackled the wrappings and packaging cupboard again. It had become stuffed, in part due to my having put all the bags and packaging that has arrived in the house this year away, rather than making a decision about it at the time it arrived. At least half of it has gone for recycling and the remaining has been put in a more logical order. Recently, I couldn't find a gift bag in there for a friend's birthday gift but it turns out that I have multiples and several sizes.

I then tackled a food stock cupboard, much of which had use by dates from 2020. I realised that with only 2 to 3 mature adults in the household we weren't going to get through it. If we still had had teenagers here things could have been used sooner. It took me too long to adjust grocery shopping habits once the DC had all left. Somewhat shamefully, I have disposed of several kilos of grains, flours and pulses. They were all in plastic packaging so although I was tempted to keep the beans, I did wonder if there would be any harm there. Some things did smell a little plasticky and strange. Thankfully, we have a food waste collection so they may do some good eventually. I was brought up to think of all the starving in the world so I don't feel great about it. Lesson learnt, I hope!

@Florenceem - I believe that many thousands of people are bereaved in this way every year. Speaking for my family, it was challenging to understand and to accept and we were all different. There is often trauma, confusion and guilt in addition to the grief. I hope that your son is realising how many people are affected and that he is not alone in this kind of grief and loss, nor is he responsible for what happened. There is support available and it can be very helpful. Although suicide can be a taboo subject and there are various reasons why it isn't widely talked about, his employer should have a good understanding that he will need time before he can return and that he will still feel fragile. Getting out and about will be for his own mental wellbeing and I doubt he will be judged for it. I am glad that they have been offered therapy and that he has such a supportive family and your bestie to talk to. I hope that your sore throat is not too persistent and that it eases soon. Thinking of you all xx

@dND - I am amazed by the amount of fruit that you grew so I hope you will share some gardening tips in the midst of the decluttering reports! Well done for processing it all in that marathon preserving session. I'll bring the scones! Hopefully, you are now recovering from your fall.

@florianatwobob - I love your vintage food processor; it is very stylish! Those kind of meals made from things from here and there are some of my favourites, although by their very nature, I can never repeat them! Well done for two big monitors leaving the house.

@suzeesu2000 and @Green_hopeful- I share your frustration with dealing with the AI custormer service but glad you both got the problems sorted in the end. The trouble with AI's "training" is that it seems to learn as much from the incompetent people as the efficient. I dealt with a tin that was starting to blow yesterday, thankfully it didn't blow in the cupboard.

@Yorkie1 - I hope that your back is more comfortable tonight and that you get a good sleep.

@vulpix - you also have my sympathy xx I hope you all have a lovely time celebrating the 3rd birthday. Your garden is coming on apace! You obviously have ideas, whereas I look at mine and feel confused. I want to make it lower maintenance, rather than the lovely, but now completely overgrown, herbaceous borders of the past.

@Mrs_Salad_Dodger - the tardiness and unpredictability of your bin collections must be very frustrating. I enjoyed reading about your latest trip up to the north.

@GrannyKate - I am sorry that you have also had a fall. The ground is very unyielding at the moment. Well done to your DGS3 and DGD2 for their results. I find that vacuum cleaners are quite needy of attention to work their best. They certainly don't get sufficient in this house unfortunately. All your holidays will have lovely memories and the house will still be there for whenever you have time and energy for it.

@EnergyShifter - that is a wonderful view and photograph! Your gardening is sounding quite exciting and reminiscent of an archeological dig. I look forward to hearing about what you eventually decide is the layout. Well done for getting your donations to the homeless shelter.

Sorry folks, I have waffled on as usual so am off to have lunch. Leftovers from last night. Wishing you all whatever you need from this weekend xx

Deb4

Hello everyone, hugs for everyone who needs them

Last Sunday we went to the football which was DR'S 1st game and he really enjoyed it

We have spent 5 days in Skegness which we really enjoyed and needed, the weather was cooler, DS loved the beach and the entertainment at the caravan park and we had some lovely meals.

I have also put my notice in at work which I feel alot better for, I thought I would have been more emotional about it but it got to the point were it wasn't a joy being there and being watched all the time and being told that I wasn't doing anything right and it felt like I was being talked about behind my back.

1 item sold and packaging used up

Emails deleted

Photos deleted

Still need to sort the toys that DS's sorted out last week, I also have to sort out DS's school uniform out to see what is needed.

Think that's it for now, take care everyone

QueenJess

Everyday I am struggling to find decluttering, but something always seems to turn up. Today I realised I hadn't ventured into the back of the boiler cupboard downstairs and there were things lurking that I never use. So more stuff gone. I'm still looking for just 1 thing a day to go and I have a bunch of things that need using up that I'm trying to remember to use.

Tried clearing up DS's room with him as well, but ran out of steam. It's way better, but still not tidy yet. Along the way he found more things to go.

The other day DH said to me "should we go through and get rid of all the plastic bags we don't need?" 😱 I must be rubbing off onto him! I'm keeping them for now and plan to use them up by using them for getting rid of things in.

Digital:
17 - documents deleted

Physical:
Bags and packaging
7 - bags reused
1 - bags recycled
3 - packaging reused

Kitchen stuff
1 - kitchen overstock (Buy Nothing)
1 - bin bags wrong size (Buy Nothing)

Books and Paperwork
7 - paper reused then recycled
1 - puzzle book completed (recycled)

Bathroom stuff
3 - bathroom overstock used up

Kids stuff
1 - DD paperwork recycled
24 - DS tat (charity bag)
25 - DS tat (recycled)
4 - DS tat (binned)

Random stuff
1 - coupon not needed (recycled)
2 - batteries used up (recycled)
2 - random old bits from things we’ve got rid of (binned)
9 - steam cleaner I don’t use with loads of accessories (Buy Nothing)
5 - extra bits for the air con we will never use (binned)

New total 8,129
Use it up total 768

suzeesu2000

Hello all. It’s been a great day over here. Woke at 0630 to a lovely cool breeze coming in the bedroom window, so pleasant and the rest of the day has been just as nice.

Carried on with decluttering of the pantry shelves. I found some great containers which fit the shelves perfectly so was able to empty 1 large crate of cereals and 1 small crate of mixed pastas. In the process of emptying a bag of split peas, I managed to spill a ton of them on the floor, goodness me they really travel! Lots of empty plastic bags into recycling. Now also have 2 carrier bags filled for Foodbank.

Dinner for me was all freezer, DH wanted home made proper chips with eggs, that finished off the potatoes.

Decluttered 15 plastic coat hangers to recycling, they’ve just been moved from pillar to post so time to go. I bought, a few years ago, those lovely velvety covered hangers. To keep myself in check, I will only use those so if I run out of hangers, something has to go…and a wardrobe declutter is on the list!

Im so grateful, today has been a lovely day. Hope everyone else has had a good one.
Have a goodnight all. Sleep tight & sweet dreams xx

dND

Thank you Mrs SD for mine and DS1's medals. 😁

@Moorviews I'm very much one of the chuck it in the ground and hope brigade. Watering is minimal, I threw a bucket of saved water from the kitchen over the plants looked like they were about to die.

Yesterday a flatbed stopped outside and the guys loaded up the cast iron pipes and a couple of bits of large angle iron. So old washing line finally decluttered.
The electrician turned up and found a fault in the ceiling isolator switch so while money was decluttered it's not as much as I feared. 😁
I then went through all my homemade preserves, syrups and sauces and put all of this years on one shelf and all the older ones on another. Now I can eat my way through the older ones first.

Today has been a very calm day; I spent the morning repotting just about all my house plants and ditch the ones that didn't survive the heat. I then decided to kick back this afternoon and watched the F1 qualifying while making a list of the best conditions for each of my houseplants in the house. Things have been walked about the house and one load of washing done, dried outside and brought back in.

Hugs to those who want them and love to you all. Dxx

Yorkie1

Thank you everyone for the kind wishes - I had a good night's sleep yay! The back is aching again now, but I have done some serious de-brambling in the garden (green bin full) and starting to hack back - probably dig up in due course - a large privet-type bush that is starting to resprout but had got very straggly and almost dead.

I have some smaller builders' bags (70 x 70 x 90cm) and have filled one so far. Will do another tomorrow. I managed to get a tip trip booked for late afternoon tomorrow, so that will be good.

florianatwobob

Oh earlier this week DBro1 decided one of his lamps could leave. He’d been hoping to fix it but no luck. We popped it outside the hedge with a sign saying ’scrap’ and it was there 24 hours or so before someone took it but off it has gone.

Today we were in London DSis and I headed to the Courtauld Gallery (£14 entry pp well spent) and we saw so many paintings that we’d never seen before by Degas, Monet, Suerat, Van Giogh, Toulouse- Lautrec, Renoir Quite amazing and I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes art

After that we headed up to watch Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune Theatre I entered their ticket lottery and got a link a couple of weeks ago to get tickets for £30 each! I managed to grab front row stalls seat. The view from our seats

Not much leg room but I’m short so not that big a deal. The seats in the row behind us were £102!

Florenceem

I went out for shopping.

I carried on with sorting stuff from the ROD. I am hoping my porch will be cleared tomorrow.

I am still croaking and coughing.

I made my first egg & bacon pie since losing Mr F - he loved that pie. I have offered some to my bestie and my granddaughter as I made 8 portions.

Still watching hoarder programmes for encouragement although most of the hoarder's houses are very mucky. I just have a lot of stuff but I am being more ruthless now.