Honestly, my house is such a mess

I can see the garden from my kitchen window so if the garden looks a mess it adds to the stress of having such an untidy house. If it looks neat and tidy ( albeit being well nigh impossible with all the overhanging trees and branches) I feel better mentally although there should be pantomime calls of ‘behind you’ when I do so. I feel guilty pulling up plants that are still attempting to grow but when things like salvia have become woody they have to go. It’s my fault for never knowing how and when to prune things.

Maybee ❤️

I’m concentrating on the garden while it’s still dry. I have one area that’s full of woody overgrown things and the whole lot has come out. I have a holly tree that’s growing sideways over the garden, the grass is dead and there are leaves everywhere. I’m going to get it taken down.I am in a conservation area and hope I don’t face opposition to it given that I planted it myself and even if that goes I’m surrounded Holly on the farmers land.

So today I concentrated on admin and making appointments. I’ve cleaned all the windows on the summerhouse and I’ve cleaned the deck and decided that’s enough for today

I’m going to pop to the charity shop and the retire 🥲it’s far too hot

Thank you Sago. I think I will copy out your reply and keep it somewhere prominent.

Thank you ❤️

I’ve done my sewing tasks today and taken my new rescue dog to the garden centre. My kitchen is satisfyingly clean and tidy 😊 I’m absolutely worn out !

Monday I just start in the lounge I suppose..

Actually Jane Judge, you've done really well. Going forward try the 'one in-one out' philosophy - buy nothing unless something is thrown out in exchange and that will stabilise your house contents but if possible also set aside 10 minutes a day when you open a cupboard or drawer and ask "What do I not use?" This isn't to do with what's broken but what you no longer have any need for and even if it's just one item put it in your charity shop bag for the week and then see what you have by the time you can get to the shop to offload.

I have several glass decanters. Unused. Some nice. Some ordinary. More decisions!

I have several water jugs. Some not so nice and one very nice. Shall I keep the nice one and charity shop the others?
I think I will. And actually use the nice one....and probably break it next week. Oh the decisions

I opened a cupboard in the utility room ( which I’m cleaning) and found a lovely collection of little glass vases and jars which I’d forgotten about. I’ve always collected things like that. Also lots of small bottles of ouzo that we used to buy when we went to Crete. Most of them empty but I was tempted to knock back some of the non empty ones; I don’t usually drink but was feeling a bit stressed. Cupboard full of candles which may come in useful one day. Some of my mum’s dishes, the glass one she used for trifles. Wine glasses. Ornaments which I still love but have no place for. A lifetime of collecting things that I find beautiful and can’t bear to part with. A little wooden vase that I bought when I lived in Eccles in my late teens…all things that, if I went to a bric a brac shop I would buy again…

twiglet77 - that is much more of the type of stuff I have/had.
People often say "you can sell things".
Not really, Not the type of stuff I have.
Though I did go to a car boot sale about 5 years ago, not that long after I had started the declutter, and it was full of the same stuff I have/had, in my attic and elsewhere.

I’m definitely a hoarder, although it’s filed in drawers or hoarded in relatively tidy piles and I know exactly where to lay my hands on anything in the heaps of tat.

Newspaper cuttings: the stuff I’ve cut out and kept “just in case” is ridiculous. Recommendations for a nice place to have breakfast in Barcelona, dated 1991? I’ve never been and never will. Best flight deals to Alaska, 1987? Never went.

I’ve realised that I can snap photos of things I just want to remember, and not keep every item just for nostalgia. Finally all the VHS tapes that we made, recording films or concerts readily available on Netflix, have gone to the dump. Finally 3000 photos of eg ships on the horizon, sunsets from unidentified locations, every photo of every child at every primary school birthday party, have gone in the black bin (faces obscured or shredded, photos can’t be recycled here, nor burned because of toxic chemicals in the film). I’m gradually letting go of clothes and vases and candle holders, and though I’m firmly stuck with books and LPs. I’ve let the CDs go.

With dogs, and a leaky washing machine, I’ll keep my stash of old towels, but I’ve just got rid of a duvet that hadn’t been used since it was professionally cleaned… in 2005!

BlueBelle "the door shuts"

Anglo Doorstep Collection - highly recommend - just got rid of 3 bin-liners-full of books

Having had to sort out my parents house ready for selling recently, I decided it was time to sort mine. Even though I don't have hoards of stuff, it's surprising how many photos, dancing reports and certificates there were - then there was the box in which I kept sympathy cards from when my husband died - I read every one today before putting them in recycling - 156 cards in total and today was 19 years since he died.

Thinking (again) about decluttering, I opened an account on Vinted, and posted a pair of unworn sandals. Within 10 minutes they were sold, and I was £5 in pocket, I was amazed at the number of items for sale for just a few pounds, which could be motivation to clear out. As the supermarket says, ‘ Every little helps’.

Don't worry about it. I have found it almost too hot to breathe. Never mind move about.

Tidiness is very overrated in later life. Especially when you live by yourself.

No worries

😻👍
X

I'm very impressed at all this activity especially in the current heatwave. My house is currently like a Rubics cube - I need to move this to make room for that, only I am too hot to do anything.
I can recommend Anglo Doorstep Collections, they will collect most things and you can select which charity will benefit. It also saves that round trip to the charity shop (only to be told they aren't taking anything at present)

Well done Jane! I am a little confused about bones in bras.

Diplomat

I personally couldn't live in a messy, disorganised house. I think we all tend to have too much stuff. My mum always says 'A place for everything and everything in its place.'

My DH always says 'a place for everything & I'll find somewhere else to put it', I think.

I have managed to do what I set out to do today and I managed to wipe down the windowsills in the kitchen and just make it all look a bit smarter. I think my oven will require a professional clean but for now it looks much better than it did.

I’m just going to do some sewing alterations tomorrow as I’m a bit knackered 😂 I need to change some buttons on a dress and re see in some bones on two bras. Why do they always work their way out?

Norah I always say I’ll keep on top of it. I never do. I work full time and my dd who is in residential care comes home one day at the weekend. So the day I have free I tend to relax, read and do what I need to do. I’m starting a night course in September so I think part of my motivation is to get organised prior to that —I’ve also just seen the job I initially wanted to do advertised in my company, what to do?—

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Water bottles? How many are you using? Just throw them away if they don’t get touched

I have had 5 bags of clothes sitting in a spare bedroom waiting to go to the charity shop for the last 3 weeks. Just been too hot to think of a longish drive (25 miles round trip ) to a shop on a busy road with few opportunities to park. If I can't park nearby it's a wasted trip or else 5 walks in this heat to and from the car. Really can't leave them there much longer.

Diplomat

I personally couldn't live in a messy, disorganised house. I think we all tend to have too much stuff. My mum always says 'A place for everything and everything in its place.'

Neither can I. The point is though that nobody intends to do so. It’s something that happens over time and then personal circumstances exacerbate the process until it becomes insurmountable. And that’s where some of us are at now. Difficult to understand if it doesn’t happen to you. I never expected to have a mobility problem.