Decluttering

I could have the plate, or I could go five minutes up the road and visit my nans resting place.

I've never been!!

Honestly, if I bought the plates, my boys would throw them away when I die.

Hopefully someone visiting from London might buy them.
It's a very popular place for a lot of them.

Allira

^I then went and bought 30 new slimline coat hangers with a velvet effect non slip coating^.

I replaced most of mine with those. TK Maxx.

A few years ago I replaced all of my coat hangers with black ones. Is it just me but did everyone else have lots garishly coloured coat hangers? ( I’ve still got bags of them: not sure what to do with them).

I'd have thought charity shops would be glad of coat hangers.

I keep meaning to get the black velvet ones, but it feels like such a chore to replace all the clothes on new hangers. That will definitely be a 2025 job .

I use the black velvet ones for tops that might end up a funny shape on other hangers. But I dry my clothes on hangers and they aren’t suitable for that ( out of the machine, into the tumble dryer for a few minutes, onto a coat hanger then dry next to a dehumidifier = no ironing). I’ll ask at the charity shop when I go there but they don’t seem to use multi coloured ones. I get trouser hangers for free from one clothes shop ( I put a donation in their charity box).

I have been filling a bag for my friend, who does boots ales, with clothes, and found a shameful amount that have been hung, and now have huge humps in the shoulders.

Look at my boys' neat (!) cutting in...

Better.
The light on, so you can errrm... admire the skill.

At least they haven’t pulled half the plaster off the wall like wot I did. Currently putting my cardboard box collection in the garage. I’ve always had a problem that putting stuff in the loft or garage is just brushing a problem under the carpet which is why stuff roams around the house instead. But I’m putting as much stuff as possible in what used to be my sons room and everything else in the garage ( the problem with that being the leaky roof which was the beginning of all of the problems). To do this I’m having to completely change my mind set. Other people have tidy houses but ram things in cupboards out of sight. That’s what the new me needs to do even if it makes my brain hurt.

Was having a great day. Coat wall racks have gone up. More toys ready for the charity shop. Odd job man is going to paint the window recess and sill in one of the bedrooms. And then I lost a filling and a few minutes later noticed that my dog had swallowed a piece of string, which could be quite dangerous. So tomorrow is going to be taken up with getting an emergency dental appointment. Dog was going to my partners for a few days but I need to keep an eye on her now. I was so careful tonight doing a few things that could be dangerous dog wise eg putting some new lithium batteries in one of the toys ( I hate lithium batteries) and silica gel that was in the coat hook boxes and then she ate a dog treat off the floor and ended up picking up a bit of string that I’d cut off yesterday. I tried to get it out of her mouth but I was too late. Will be worried for days now. And blind man has blocked off the window vent which I like to keep open. I was too cowardly to complain but it’s bugging me. When I had blinds fitted in the other rooms the fitter allowed space for the vents.

For every yin there is a yang! It's so annoying when a good day goes bad like that, but at least you made a lot of progress.

My cupboard still has no doors, and won't have until Saturday😡. I've cancelled by Sainsbury's order, as I don't want more food lying around with nowhere to put it.

Today's aim was to sort out the spare bedrooms ahead of visitors, so I'm not doing the usual last minute rush around, but other things have cropped up so it will have to be later. I wish I could go to sleep and wake up on Christmas Eve with everything done.

My good old NHS dentist have given me an emergency appointment tomorrow; it’s even with my usual dentist. I’m so lucky to have them. I’m going to order some canned pumpkin for the dog in the hope that it will help push whatever she ate through her digestive system. The worry is that, being string it could end up in her gut and not cause a problem straight away so I’ll be constantly on the alert; not helped by the fact that she has intermittent tummy trouble anyway. She steals everything, being a hound, which is why I’m so careful. But this time she didn’t steal it; it just happened to be under her treat. And it’s my fault for not clearing up the string after I’d been wrapping things. I keep having to make up Amazon orders so I don’t have to pay postage. I usually ask my daughter to order things via her Prime account but, with her having her kitchen done I daren’t contact her because her stress level must be sky high. I can always find extra things to add to my Amazon order unfortunately. I loathe Amazon but must admit that I find them invaluable these days. I still try to buy locally when I can but, having a lockdown dog means I can’t just jump in the car and go shopping. What was interesting yesterday was that I was on a roll getting things done. Full of energy. But the minute my tooth crumbled and then the dog ate the string it was as if my brain had been scrambled and my mojo just left me. Sometimes I can go into hyperdrive. Eg years ago my pony disappeared and I immediately started to do everything necessary to find her ( in the end, she hadn’t been stolen but had got into a hay barn with another pony and the door had wedged behind them; everyone from the field were amazed at how clear headed and organised I had been as people regard me as a complete airhead). And yet other times the slightest problem just makes me want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

Hello,
I'm reading from my bed, as someone has stolen my energy today, and I'm not feeling well (again! )

I'm so cross with myself, as I need to be up.

Nothing wrong with duvet days imo. Are there any inspirational podcasts you could listen to? I’ve just discovered a Grace Dent one about Comfort Eating which is good fun. I’m avoiding heavy stuff at the moment.

I'm actually asleep on my duvet days.
All night, all day, for hours and hours.
Supposedly because of an autoimmune condition.

So, no chance of listening to anything, doing anything, except just festering away... zzzzzzzz...zzzzz...

Oh well, awake now, don't know where my poor boy has taken himself off to.

Any sighting of the string, MayBee?

I'm going to use some of my sticky tape, and tape my blooming eyes open, I think!!!

If your body needs to sleep it needs to sleep imo. No sighting of the string unfortunately. Thankfully it is blue and white striped so easy to spot. I did, initially, ask my partner to bring back the dog poo bags when he walked her instead of putting them in the poo bin but then I decided that I was taking it a bit too far…Years ago I had a Burmese cat that was a sock eater (oriental breeds are a bit prone to that sort of thing). He ate plastic bags, too. One day a rubber band popped out the other end. I bought some new socks for the kids and he opened the bag and ate a tiny amount from each sock. And also ate part of an Arran jumper that my MIL had lovingly knitted for my husband.

Lets hope the string comes out in one piece.

I've read somewhere that with wooly things, they can contain lanolin, so animals are reminded of their mother's breast milk.

Still, this is just a blip in your decluttering blitz, and the pets come first.

Get well soon, MissA

Ah, thank you, but it's been about three years now, so short of a miracle, it doesn't seem likely.

I'm just falling apart the seams.

It’s a vicious circle I find. My clutter makes me tired because it stresses me out but, because I’m tired the clutter builds up and I feel even worse. The dog is a bit stressed tonight. I’ve moved a lot of stuff from the living room to the small bedroom that was my son’s. The toys spread from his room to what was my daughter’s bedroom and also the living room.* I’m now putting everything in that room and putting things in my daughters room that they might still play with eg the dolls house that my granddaughter loves ( I’ve bought some Paddington figures to join the Sylvanian family who currently live there). The room is now crammed full. Anyway, the dog is worried that ‘something is happening’ the way that they get stressed when you start packing for a holiday. I’ve also got furniture everywhere from my Annie Sloane days when I couldn’t stop buying furniture from yard sales and charity shops to paint, even though I had no room for most of it. I could actually open a small shop with everything. In fact, I’ve got a wooden shop for the grandchildren in the living room. My son says to sell it but they do still play with it when they’re here. The cardboard Wendy house I made is going to go but I want to take a photo of it first. The grandsons used to love it.They used to hide in it and my partner would knock on the door saying ‘it’s the police, I hear that there are some naughty boys in here’ and they used to giggle away.
*not to mention the loft

It certainly is a vicious circle, or cycle.

You've made huge strides forward, though, so far.

I love the policeman and the naughty boys tale.

If you take a photo, would you be happy to post it, because I'd love to see it?

The loft, yes... at least its out of sight, for now, I suppose.
Don't lose heart, you're doing a grand job.

Perhaps at a later date you could fetch down, say, ten things at a time, from the loft, and deal with them.

It's no wonder the dog is unsettled, with stuff appearing and getting moved around.
She must think you're moving, or something, bless her.

I want to go to sleep but I’ve lost the sellotape dispenser. I want to seal a couple of wooden jigsaws to take to the charity shop. I saw it the other day and thought’ so that’s where it is’ but I can’t remember where ‘there’ is. I don’t have to do it tonight but I can’t deal with not finding things. I need a lightbulb moment.

Isn't that annoying??
I do it all the time, and end up buying another item to stop me going mad, lookng for the original.

Found it. Thought if I can’t find it but had found it the day before it’s hidden under or behind something. It was behind the bedroom curtain.

Ah, that's good.
A small triumph, in fact.

Has the string made an appearance yet?
I now have everything I need to hand to finish off my kitchen.

Another paint pen, because I "misplaced" the first, the white emulsion to try and neaten up the cutting in, a small paintbrush.

Then... fanfare of trumpets please, I can put down my new rug, and the kichen will be done (ish)

I may have to cal. It a day then, because I've lots of hospital appointments coming up, one of which that involves "gunpowder" up my backside, which I have to start taking tomorrow.
I need to hang around the toilet then, so perhaps I could clean and declutter under the sink.

What’s a paint pen?