Decluttering

Oh MissA what a truly awful thing to happen.

Oh no. Has a lot of other food been ruined? I hate cooking. My diet consists of tea bread or banana bread which I bake every couple of weeks, chia pudding which I make every night and salad; marmite or peanut butter on toast.And yet I seem to have loads of washing up to do and the kitchen is in total chaos all the time. I’ve been decluttering it for months but it never looks any better.

Yes, all of the food really, apart from some chicken breasts, which were only partially defrosted.

I cooked a pastry thingy to eat tomorrow, and some expensive veggie garlic and something or other "pieces" but they were horrible.

Not gone off, just not at all as nice as they sounded.

So, I suppose in a way i have deluttered the freezer, which has needed doing for almost a year

I have saved some big packs of veg, but I'm thinking of just throwing those, too, and finally getting all the ice covered shelves and conpartments clean and fresh.

The leaky berries are lovely! Bright red (of course!) summer fruits which ive just had a mountain of, with vanilla yoghurt on top.

Greenfinch

Oh MissA what a truly awful thing to happen.

Ah well... to be honest, the door was getting hard to close because it needed defrosting so badly.

Its a real test for me - I hate food waste, plus I've had to have the oven on, in this heat!!

What with the sticky red blobs walking everywhere.. lesson learned. Defrost the freezer, instead of ramming the shelves in and breaking/cracking them.
There was no big joints of meat or anything in there, so thats a blessing.

MissA have a look at your house insurance, most cover for this sort of freezer incident

Thank you. That reminds me when I defrosted my freezer my neighbour took a bag of things to store in hers for a day or 2.
Its more than that now so I must look out for her. Although she is next door sometimes months go by and I don't see her.

I was ashamed of my freezer...but it is a clean delight now.

Salty food was advised. Feta, anchovies, olives and sardines. Diluted yogurt with mint to drink.

Sorry that last ine was for another thread!!!

HelterSkelter1

Sorry that last ine was for another thread!!!

I’m curious; what thread was it meant for? I’ve just bought some feta cheese as I really fancied some!

karmalady

*MissA* have a look at your house insurance, most cover for this sort of freezer incident

I've no idea where the paperwork would be, or who I'm even insured with.
Another consequnce of cluttet, but really, realistically, there was probably only about fifteen pounds worth of food.
A lot of it was big bags of veg.

I must deal with my paperwork at some point, though!

I have just had the incentive!! To properly clear my wardrobes and bedroom drawers. I just watched a youtube video, it popped up, I never went looking for it but it has given me the incentive I needed
called 15 things Scandinavians never keep in their closet

by Scandinavian secrets

I has sparked me into life, again and I am going to start with coats, including new coats and toppers I made recently from German boiled wool, it has been in my possession for years, lugged to a new house and turned into clothing but what on earth is the point? I don`t even like wearing boiled wool and there they hang, protected from moths but what on earth is the point

Salvation army here I come and first batch is going tomorrow

My things have spread and now they occupy twice as much space as when my husband was alive.

Excellent!!
I feel i may have a tiny declutter brewing.
I've been really out of sorts lately, but have just come back from a lovely coffee, in the shade, at the seafront.
I feel rejuvenated.
I was starting to get very resentful and probably unpleasant.
To myself, as well as others.

Well done Karma

I have taken all the experimental insulating bubble wrap off the downstairs windows, they came off cleanly and left no residue. I have a wardrobe shelf, on which were a few huge lakeland storage bags with inners that compress with a vac cleaner. They were superb when I moved but the outer on its own will do. now The inners are bagged for the skip and are bulky. The outers are not so strong but will serve a purpose

I put the bubble wraps into two outers, labelled

One thing leads to another, I only went to remove a couple of jackets, to re-home and now I feel like tackling all the bulky vac storage bags that I kept after moving house

I thought I was going to have an easy day

Btw the bubble wrap worked very well and will go up again as soon as we get another severe heatwave

Tiny steps add up as you well know MissA well done

Aw, thanks.
I feel in need of a kindly push in the right direction lately.

I’m currently going through the clothes in my bedroom ( again). Quite overwhelmed with clothes which I still buy even though I spend 99% of the time in my pyjamas! I’ve got a box full of unworn tights. Do charity shops take them? Do they have a shelf life. And hats I’ve bought for weddings. Never going to wear them again.

Our charity shops do a roaring trade in wedding headgear. I’m sure they would be welcome. Tights? Our Salvation Army shop would be delighted, I’m not sure about others. Maybe phone and ask?

I rarely post on this thread but do read as there have been some useful suggestions. After a major downsize 13 years ago when we moved to our new home which is less than half the size of its predecessor I took my eye off the ball for a while and woke one morning to find we had again accumulated too much ‘stuff’. My approach is little and often as physically it’s the best way for me. Nothing dramatic. Lots of negotiating with Mr C who is a bit of a squirrel. There’s currently a mixed bag of just 6 things heading for a charity shop tomorrow. Nope I mean today 😂. There is one of those bags every week. It’s working, just slowly. Good luck everyone, no matter your approach good for you for doing it.

Don’t wish to sound negative, but taking winter coats to charity shops in a heatwave is not a very good idea, surely?

There will be no market for them in this weather, they will not have storage space to keep them until later in the year, may end up being disposed off, maybe at cost to said charity.

I know we all want to ‘declutter’, but sending out of season clothes doesn’t help the charity.

I echo you thoughts Calendargirl. Where I volunteer we do make an exception for winter coats but there is nowhere to store out of season clothes. They are put into bags and collected by a company which pays per weight so all is not lost but it means that some very good items do not see the light of day. Please hold on to your clothes until the appropriate season bearing in mind that things like tops and tee shirts will be useful all year round.

Good advice. I will hang on to any winter stuff for a while.

I definitely need to do some decluttering, no doubt about it. When my husband was alive, he was very much a "thrower out" person, and would be the first one to suggest sorting some drawer or cupboard. We ended up with a workable system, where he would go through something, and leave a tray or pile for me to check over before it went. That way I saved odd little bits such as spare bits for vacuum or whatever , but mostly was fine about things going, as long as I had checked it out.

On my own , I was less likely to make an effort, but given a miserable day, did manage a fair bit, and of course it was a hard time leaving a 3 bedroomed house and large garden for the flat. However now I seem to be in the situation where I see things needing to be done, but physically not up to doing much. Alternatively, I make an effort, like the other day and get rid of quite a lot of books etc which were very well received from the local hospice shop, so I am pleased and yet within a couple of days had some hassle with a tv and now feel it is back to being a mess again. Well it will probably carry on like this until September, which as a start of the school year, and maybe a bit cooler I might be galvanised into trying again.!

madeline45,
I'm quite sure this thread will still be around when you're up to it.

I'm much the same, I have to rest so much that it takes forever to get te basics done, let alone any extra.
I did throw a nightie away yesterday.

I very nearly bought a jar of mayonnaise this morning, but thought NO. Check the "pantry" first. Lo and behold 2 jars on the shelf.
So memo to me is to use all the jars and tins I already have before I buy any more. And all shampoos and body lotions etc as well.

I'm working my way through lits of old body lotions and such like.
So many of them, and I can't bring myself to throw them away.