Take part in study on PFAS 'forever chemicals' in eggs

[Charlottechicken]

Cor, Bramble, you're a fast worker! Stuff tipped and donated already, WOW!

 

I'm starting again tomorrow, most of my, erm, spare stuff (aka junk ) has found it's way into the spare bedroom now. I'm going through a box at a time. I really should go through the bookcase again but how on earth do you decide when to throw out a book?? I'm so attached to them all, even if I almost never refer to some of them (mostly reference books btw)

[Bramble]

I decided the ONLY way to do it was to move stuff from the garage straight into the car, into the boot for "tip" stuff and back seat for charity shop etc. When I've tried to declutter in the past, I've found that I've sorted "stuff" into piles and then it sits around for days (weeks even, sometimes ) before I dispose of it. I could do with putting some shelves or cupboards in the garage so that I can "file" stuff that needs to stay in there, like tools etc. Chicken food and equipment, dog food and wild bird food takes up a lot of room, doesn't it!!?

Charlotte Chicken, I am just the same with books, they have spread from the bookcases and are starting to stack up on the landing ...

[The Dogmother]

Rosie has a 'book issue' too and I have to sit with her to get her to prune them or there'd be no space in her room.

[lillybettybabs]

I had a peek in our loft:

 

3 printers,

2 PC screens,

1 scanner,

1 PSU

3 boxes of pc wires and cables

sunbed

hoover parts

2 pet carries

4 bags of clothes

4 boxes of other halfs tat

electric propergator

hi fi

stereo

i pod dock

and 50 flat stored boxes!

 

Apparently we NEED it all!!!

[Bramble]

Poor you!! I couldn't get rid of any of my IT/techy stuff 'til the tip started offering a recycling service specifically for them - then I was more than happy for a couple of old screens, a printer, cables, various old landline type 'phones etc to go - can't throw anything away unless I can recycle it!!! Maybe they who must be obeyed wouldn't notice if things disappeared one at a time from your loft?

[The Dogmother]

I think you need a go on the Banbury Freegle Karen!

[lillybettybabs]

Poor you!! I couldn't get rid of any of my IT/techy stuff 'til the tip started offering a recycling service specifically for them - then I was more than happy for a couple of old screens, a printer, cables, various old landline type 'phones etc to go - can't throw anything away unless I can recycle it!!! Maybe they who must be obeyed wouldn't notice if things disappeared one at a time from your loft?

 

I have started doing that, Not sure we needed 5 voip phones (narrowed down to two), 3 old manky quilts ( the dogs have those now) old saucepans i threw out and he has snuck back in , 2 old sky boxes, Old suits that he is

never going to get back into ( Katherine House have those), Old shoe racks (fire wood).

I have to do it when he's not arround but he works from home so i have to get sneeky.

I might have enough for a PC carboot Sale!

[The Dogmother]

Farthinghoe tip takes all sorts of PC and electrical stuff Karen. They also have a brilliant recycling shop if you want bikes for the kids and stuff like that.

[lillybettybabs]

Farthinghoe tip takes all sorts of PC and electrical stuff Karen. They also have a brilliant recycling shop if you want bikes for the kids and stuff like that.

I supplied them during my shed clear out.

I will supply again

[Olly]

You are all doing so well! I think the Flylady tip about putting stuff straight into the car boot is an excellent one.

 

As far as books are concerned, I used to keep everything but have been cured gradually - I still have lots of books, but I don't keep every single one. Don Aslett 'Getting Rid of Clutter' helped a lot with this!

 

- If it's a paperback novel, how likely are you to read it again in the next five years, say?

- If you wanted to read it again, how hard would it be to get hold of? Take a look on Green Metropolis or Amazon - there isn't much you can't get hold of!

- If it's a reference book - how often will you use it? Is it still in date? How often HAVE you actually used it?

 

I keep poetry books, of which I have quite a large collection - they're expensive and not always easy to come by, and I will pick them up and read them at any time. I probably still have too many! I have a full collection of Dorothy L Sayers, and the Patrick O'Brien series, and some other shorter collections, but I don't tend to keep paperback novels and 'coffee table books'. My biggest problem is cookery books, I know that there are some in my collection that I've never cooked a meal from, but I like reading them!

[Charlottechicken]

Managed a quick 'fling' of 12 books last night, most are heavy so can go to the charity shop

 

This is silly, but I've had a cardboard box of paper for recycling sitting in the utility for months. I was picking bits out of it to put in mum's recycling since my op, and just carried on doing so. I've just stacked it all side on so it can't fly out in the wind, and the whole lot will go for collection on Tuesday. It weighs a tonne

[Couperwife]

Ive managed to find all of the sue Grafton books for my e-reader , ive got most of them in paperback, so all the paperbacks are going to a charity shop, and all the e-books are going on my pc

 

ive also managed to "donate" a pile of books to my friend who works at the local hospital, she said that the patients are always after stuff to read (do you know, i never gave this a thought) so, ive given her the books.

 

ive also got a bag of clothes to go

 

oh, and im still planning food for the week

 

cathy

x

[Charlottechicken]

I've sawn up three wheelbarrows full for wood for the woodshed today It was wood I had wombled, then the weather turned so I couldn't get out to cut it. Finally it was dry enough to get the electric saw out and it's all done now, yay!

 

Sorted out some drawers in the kitchen too, a small bag of stuff going to the charity shop! There's one cupboard I'm dreading going through, it's full of storage containers and tea towels. I can never decide what needs to be thrown

[The Dogmother]

I've been cutting up wombled wood too, Claire had a god clear out indoors and put more stuff on the mending pile, also added some to the 'charity shop bag in progress'.

[Charlottechicken]

Ooh Clare, you mentioning mending has just reminded me to check the stuff in the charity shop bag to see if I can revitalise anything and keep it.

 

Thanks!

[The Dogmother]

No worries

 

I have a mending pile which is like the story of the bottomless purse whenever I mend a few things, the pile magically regenerates Still, I'd rather mend, darn or re-model things than throw them away/ move them on unnecessarily.

 

I had a double flat sheet, a lovely eau de nil colour, but sadly past it's best. Pure cotton but a bit thin in the middle after 20 years of use, so I put it on Freegle for use in a patchwork project or similar and it went in no time to a very grateful lady

[Charlottechicken]

Managed to save a couple of items from the charity shop bag, one is a skirt I can shorten to knee length and get some more wear out of

 

I've been wombling for wood again, so now the lovely clear back yard is full. Got some huge pieces again, it's all Victorian, loft and internal wall pieces. I have guests on Saturday and won't be able to cut it up until Sunday, oh well, they know me

 

I couldn't let them dump it, and I suppose it's not actually clutter

 

Rest of the house is starting to look quite smart though, apart from the spare bedroom. This is my dumping and sorting area, so there's now limited floor space. I think it looks worse than it is

 

I even emptied the compost bin onto the veg patch, and the chooks get to scratch about in it

[Olly]

Wombled wood is definitely NOT clutter. (If it is, I've got a big problem! ) It has a purpose, and it has a home when you can get the time to cut it up, and it's ecologically sound.

 

Not much progres chez Olly, as I had a weekend away and I'm away again this weekend ... but I am going to take lots of books with me to donate to my friend. One woman's clutter is another woman's treasure trove!

[Charlottechicken]

One woman's clutter is another woman's treasure trove!

 

 

Never a truer word, Olly!

 

Enjoy your weekend away

[Aunty e]

Tons of progress here! Mog's room is nearly done. Which has involved over the last few weeks moving three bookcases downstairs, the tumble dryer into the garage, the contents of two built in wardrobes into storage/charity shops/the bin, dismantling (and burning most of) two built in wardrobes, stripping woodchip and polystyrene tiles from the walls and ceiling, making good the plaster on the ceiling and skimming the chimney breast, lining the walls with extra thick lining paper, taking up an old manky laminate floor, painting two walls, and papering a third, painting the floorboards and painting the ceiling. I have one more wall to paper and one more coat of paint on the floor, then need to reassemble my ebay wardrobe (£5 for a double ikea wardrobe, with two rails and two drawers and plenty of room for extra storage boxes) and my gumtree chest of drawers (£40 cheaper than ikea and still in the box) and then ALL the stuff that's in bags and boxes can get unpacked, and a good 50% of her toys can move upstairs into her room My favourite discovery has been these

 

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90027811

 

We now have two under our bed and two to go under Imogen's bed for storing linen, outgrown clothes and so on. They're cheap, but they do all I need them to and as a bonus, the cats can't fit under the bed to bring up hairballs any more I've got my eye out for another lloyd loom ottoman to go at the foot of her bed as they're brilliant storage spaces and somewhere for kiddies to sit of course. I know exactly where I could get some brilliant ones, cheap as chips, but as I'm not going to Lincolnshire until June, I shall have to wait

 

Anyway, photos soon!

[Olly]

Crikey Aunty E, I'm exhausted just reading that list ... and you've omitted to mention that you're also rather pregnant. How do you do it all?

[Bramble]

Wombled wood - now there's a phrase to conjure with

I've got rid of a bag of clothes I can no longer fit into today (put them in the Salvation Army "bin" at the tip). However, there is method in my madness (I have a cunning plan) on the basis that the minute you get rid of something, you need it ... therefore if that's true, my new diet is going to work and I'm going to wish I hadn't chucked out clothes I could have worn post diet ... I know, twisted, but it sounds logical to me!!!

[Couperwife]

that sounds like good logic to me

 

always a reason for a good shop!!

 

this weekend I have mainly been getting rid of:

one settee

2 chairs

2 square leather pouffee things

6 cushions

 

we have an empty house

 

(was replaced by 2*2 seater settees )

 

cathy

x

[Sageandonion]

Have had a massive sock sort today, no mean feat when 3 family members are nearly the same size now. Many socks missing in action have been reunited with their nearest and dearest and live to see another day. Those with holes or those that have shrunk in the wash or are outgrown have been culled and those whose partners are long gone have departed for the sock exchange in the sky. Feel so much better for it, hopefully Flylady would approve - baby steps and all that .

[Aunty e]

I'm done!!!! Imogen has a room of her own, and my clothes are hung up in our joint wardrobe I'm so pleased. Looking forward to a nice evening soon of getting out tiny baby clothes and stocking up the nursery with stuff for Teddy. I have to say that this would have been easier if I were not eight months pregnant. Still, all done now. You should see the size of the wardrobe I hauled upstairs on my own.

 

I even got around to hanging up the BIG mirror which has been creeping round the house since we moved because I couldn't face hanging it on the wall...and OH finally picked me up a bucket drinker and treadle feeder for the chooks, so even if I neglect them a smidge when bubs is born, they'll only need topping up every few days rather than every day.

 

Feeling much calmer about things now I have somewhere to put Teddy's clothes and he can have his own nappy changing area (terries take up a bit more room, so we do need them to have their own changing station each).