De-cluttering, the never-ending process

I'm not sure what to do about the lights, as the point of them is to avoid chasing walls or having cables, yet sticking them up only works if they will stay put and take the stain of having the bulb removed every few days to recharge.

I am moving to rechargeable table/bedside lamps all over the house, but am not sure what to do about wall mounting lamps. I think I might get this one screwed to the wall, which will obviously damage the wall and be semi-permanent, but will be secure. I use command strips for pictures, but when they are up they stay up. Unscrewing a light bulb on a regular basis might be asking for trouble.

I have had a couple of command hooks fail on me, one on wood and one on tiles, both areas were cleaned with spirit and they were not holding anything too heavy

Any pictures etc I put up the old fashioned way, by drilling and by using special plugs because the interior wall layer is mainly thermalite blocks, which is what is used in new builds these days

We had young visitors at the weekend and the only crockery that hit the tiled floor was what I dropped. They are obviously over the plastic or baby china stage. Now I have two plastic storage boxes to sort through and dispose of. This job is never-ending.
Christmas cards next, I did the wrapping and ribbons last week and from now on anything I send I will try and get it wrapped by the company. A whole drawer full of age-appropriate wrapping paper and tags is ridiculous, only me to blame why did I buy the stuff.
DD told me I will not get a school Christmas t-towel this year, one of the few things I would like to keep as she has missed the ordering date along with the photo. I despair I keep an album for each GC and fil them when the new one arrives.

Thank you

Yes, the old PC had a DVD/CD drive but our newer one doesn't.

CALLISTEMON21 also if you do not have a DVD drive on your laptop/computer you can buy an external one (I bought one from Argos about £28) or you can play your photo cds on a dvd player through the tv. But yes, a usb stick is the easiest and even those you can usually stick in the back/side of the tv and look at your photos.

Probably not!
I wouldn't have used it for a picture with a frame and glass, nor put such a picture on the wall next to a bed.
I stuck it back and it's still there, years later.

(She might have been doing gymnastics on the bed

Did you leave the strip to 'set' before sticking the picture to it? It's tempting not to (well, it is if you are impatient like me ), but you should put the wall bit up first and leave it for 24 hours, then attach the picture after the wall ones have gripped.

MayBee70

I don’t trust sticky pads of any kind to hold things up. I’ve never found one that does what it’s supposed to do.

I bought some which were supposed go be very good and used them to hang a picture on the wall next go the bed.
DGD was startled when the picture fell on her 😲, luckily it was only a light canvas print.

Command strips are excellent. I have pictures and mirrors held up with those, but these weren't the gummy glue Command strips use - they were more like double sided tape.

When I've finished everything in the room and have decided where the furniture is to go long-term, I will put them back up using Command strips.

I don’t trust sticky pads of any kind to hold things up. I’ve never found one that does what it’s supposed to do.

We have hit a snag. The broken sink won't be replaced until later today, so the men aren't coming, which might delay everything by a day😩. I wall-mounted some rechargeable lights in the spare room using the sticky pads they came with, and one fell off, taking the new paint with it. Luckily the decorator is using that paint today (all the bedrooms are the same colour) and has agreed to touch it up, but I could kick myself. I just want it all to be over now.

AreWeThereYet

Callistemon21

I have loads of photos on CDs but no CD player 🤔

You know there are people who can put them on a flash drive for you?

We recently found five old films taken by MrA's DF back in the 70s and someone transferred them onto a flash drive for us. It was a waste of money because there was nothing on them worth having, we already had most of the photos, but I suppose if we hadn't done it we would always have wondered. And probably still have the films sitting in a box.

Thanks - I might get the DDs on to the task!!
They'll know what to do.

DH did pay quite a lot to have an old ciné film put on to DVD ages ago but it was not very successful, a complete waste of money.

This morning I went through a drawer, sorting Christmas cards. DH had a habit of buying cards without checking what we had already got, and I found enough to last for years, especially given that I seem to send fewer each year, because people have died or moved on without contact details, or for some, an email worked better. I shall see if my daughter wants any, but they are all religious and she is not.
I have also found lots of wrapping paper, again more than I will ever need, as I give very few actual gifts these days.
Also, strangely, lots of envelopes without the cards.

Callistemon21

I have loads of photos on CDs but no CD player 🤔

You know there are people who can put them on a flash drive for you?

We recently found five old films taken by MrA's DF back in the 70s and someone transferred them onto a flash drive for us. It was a waste of money because there was nothing on them worth having, we already had most of the photos, but I suppose if we hadn't done it we would always have wondered. And probably still have the films sitting in a box.

Some of mine on a tablet seemed to have disappeared, I did find a lot of them but the rest must be in the ether somewhere.

It is frustrating, isn't it? We think we are future-proofing things by storing them digitally, but the next thing we know they are inaccessible because the technology has moved on. The safest thing (for now) seems to be the Cloud, but tomorrow that could be out of date too.

I have loads of photos on CDs but no CD player 🤔

Yes, tech moves on. In DH’s stuff are lots of recordings made using what is now old tech. I am not at all sure that I will get round to transfering them.

Lol yes I am also guilty of keeping the "old" notebooks/passwords,just in case I have forgotten to yransfere stuff over,then I also kp a spare in case the other gets lost or whatever.I did think of going digital and putting " stuff" on a usb/CD but what if it becomes obsolete as techy is moving so fast.Im sure I will find the answer somewhere

I put some washing out and my hands were frozzen.

Yes it was chilly but I wore a thick fleece and was in and out to the bins so I kept moving. Forty minutes was enough for today.

Yes, it is knowing that there is always more to do that keeps me going. It was very frustrating putting things in hold for a month when I was injured. I honestly cannot imagine a time when the whole house will have been sorted, decluttered and decorated. Believe me, there are many hours when I do nothing useful at all.

Must sort out some yarn; we're doing some knitting for charity at my group and some of the knitters have been buying yarn whereas I seem to have loads that I'll never use.

Wasn't it a bit chilly in the garage, Cabbie
It's been sunny but barely above freezing here today.

I managed to throw out some coathangers.

I need some new notebooks.

Cabbie, so difficult for you. i admire your grit and determination and ` perhaps` this is a good way to cope and get onto the next stage of your journey. I went at it like you Cabbie, the downside for me came once the major sort was done and then I had to think about the next steps

Forty minutes in the garage, 20 drawers emptied, ten to go. About 300 VHS tapes, recorded from the BBC , cardboard cases gone in the recycling bin, half of the tapes gone into the waste bin, the rest will need to wait til the next bin day as I don’t want to overfill the bin. The other drawers have DVDs, CDs and cassettes and software discs. These drawers have been inaccessible for at least seven years! I am reluctant to throw blank cassettes away and blank recordable CD Roms, but probably should. The drawers themselves are very saleable.