Regrouped and new plans

 Right, I've been thinking about what is troubling me the most about the decluttering, and it's definitely the vast amount of paperwork.  So it makes sense to get that sorted and out of the way ASAP......we've done one load, but there's still a couple more.  Oh, and husband's desk is strewn with a ton of it as well, but I'm afraid that's his problem - any paperwork that's on top of or in his desk drawers is all his stuff, none of mine, so he can sort it out.  So that's what we'll be doing tomorrow and Tuesday, hopefully husband will be able to get all the discarded paperwork with personal details burnt in his incinerator dustbin this week, and the rest can go in the recycling box.  And we're not saving up tons of paperwork from hereon in - anything that comes through the door will get binned immediately if it's not important.  I'll feel relieved when it's all done, it's really been preying on my mind and I've just been procrastinating and putting off dealing with it.

I think once the paperwork's done, then the utility room needs sorting next, as we'll have to store boxes of packed stuff in there.  So sometime later this week, I'll see if I can get a local scrap person to come and take the broken tumble dryer and all of the old metal baking trays I stacked in there.  I'll ask on the local FB pages if anyone will take the old fridge and freezer, but I'm not hopeful, I know there's a chap in the next village who takes scrap metal, but specifically says no fridges or freezers, as I said before.  If we have to take them to the tip ourselves, so be it.  And speaking of the tip, we must do a tip trip this week, we'll have enough for a full car load.

Once we've decluttered the whole house, then we'll start boxing up things we want to keep but won't need immediately.  I must remember to make a list of what's in each box and tape it to the box and not just write 'Kitchen' or 'Lounge' etc on the box....as no doubt at some point we'll want something that's in one of the boxes and don't want to have to search through each one!

Went and collected a load of assorted size boxes from our friends this morning, so we now have plenty to be going on with.  I need to buy another roll of dustbin bags the next time I go shopping, for stuff that's going to the tip or charity shop.

I don't need any shopping this week, we have plenty of everything here.  I'll go through the freezer and fridge and write out a week's worth of meals in a minute - once again they'll be either easy and quick cook stuff, or batch cooked and frozen things.  I've put a sort of Lancashire hot pot thing in the Multichef today - I say sort of as it's turkey mince rather than lamb, seeing as I don't eat red meat.  It'll do us for dinners today and tomorrow and I expect there'll be enough left to freeze for another day as well....2 days is fine, but I don't really want to eat the same thing 3 days in a row.  Besides, I only eat meat a maximum of 2 days a week now, although of course husband has meat nearly every day.

A couple of days ago I had a quick look through one of the food cupboards and found some packets of sugar-free jelly crystals, Angel Delight (how retro!) and various tins of fruit, so I made a trifle, I'd got some homemade sponge cake in the freezer.  The jelly and A/Delight were both out of date by several months, but they looked, smelled and tasted perfectly fine and we're both still alive!  There's another couple of packets of each so it looks like we'll be eating trifle for the next week or 2....I know I could throw them out, but am reluctant to throw perfectly good food away nowadays.  I'm not really a great pudding eater, but husband is, so it'll keep him happy.  So I'm decluttering the food cupboards bit by bit as well.

Weekend off to gather my thoughts

 Torrential rain and winds again during the night, although admittedly it didn't keep me awake all the time - I think I slept fairly well out of sheer exhaustion.  It kept husband awake though, apparently.  It's brightening up a bit now, there's even a hint of sunshine.  Temperatures dropping again next week, especially overnight, with the possibility of some snow.  From my kitchen window I can see the green of bulbs pushing up in the 2 new flower beds we planted up last year.....I planted early Spring bulbs like Iris Reticulata and mini narcissi, if I remember rightly, so there'll soon be some colour.

We've come to a bit of a temporary halt with the decluttering - well, I have, which means husband has as well.....he doesn't really need much of an excuse to down tools but, to be fair, he wouldn't really know what to do if I didn't give him the jobs.  I guess I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all - silly really, as it's not like we have to do it all at once, there's no real rush.  Yesterday it was getting to be a case of things being moved from one place to another, rather than being disposed of - husband has difficulty making decisions about what needs keeping and what doesn't.  E.g a broken watch that's not been worn for literally years - neither of us has worn a watch for donkeys years, so what's the point of keeping it?  It's not worth anything, it was only a cheap one.  And a step counter thing....from what I remember, it didn't work very well - it had a habit of adding steps when the wearer was either standing still or perhaps moved an arm, so not very accurate at all.  So I keep finding things like these that husband has sorted out, but then put on a cupboard or work surface as he didn't know what to do with them - just bin them for goodness sake!!  We sold another kitchen item yesterday, so another small amount for the moving fund.

We've now got a large carrier bagful of discarded paperwork containing personal details, so needs burning.  There's still loads more to go through yet.  

So I think we're going to have the weekend off, so I can gather my thoughts together and work out a plan for next week.  Tomorrow we're hopefully going to collect some more boxes from a friend, to go with the dozen heavy duty boxes from Amazon that were delivered the other day, and husband bought 2 extra long rolls of parcel tape.  I think once we've decluttered every room, we'll then start on packing things that aren't needed immediately.

According to the Council housing website, if and when we're offered a property, we are supposed to be ready to move in within 2 weeks 😲, so the more we can get done now in the way of decluttering and packing, the better.  I suppose we could always pay a month's rent and that will effectively give us 6 weeks to pack everything up, our landlord here is quite easy-going and won't be breathing down our necks for us to move out....they'll be wanting to do some updating of our present house before they move anyone else in.  We could possibly use that time to take over some things in the car to the new property, say 2 or 3 packed boxes or the odd item of furniture, to cut down on the amount of stuff needing to be moved on 'Moving Day' itself.  I'll be able to unpack a few things then at my leisure ready for when we move in, rather than it all being one big confusing stressful chaotic day all at once.  Moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, isn't it, so it's not really something I'm looking forward to.  But of course we'll hopefully have a nice new home, in even more hopefully a nice area, so there's that to focus on.

It's all working out quite nicely

 We went to the GP yesterday afternoon, for the remaining piece of medical evidence required for the housing application.  The GP couldn't have been more helpful, he said he'd dictate the letter straight away and it would get typed up ready for collection either today or Monday.  If and when we do move, it'll be a shame if we have to change GPs, as we will if we move out of the area, our present ones are lovely and we have no complaints about them at all.  I know lots of you aren't so fortunate!  Oh, incidentally, the GP said Covid is on the rise again in our area, he said it's gone through the surgery staff like wildfire recently, so everyone attending the surgery is requested to wear a mask again (we hadn't actually stopped wearing them when going to medical appointments....surgeries and hospitals are full of sick people!).

I got all the unwanted stuff photographed and put on the local selling pages online, we sold one item, a huge slow cooker, virtually straight away, a chap came and collected it within an hour.  I've had several enquiries about some of the other things too, although nothing has come of it yet.  Early days yet.  One thing that frustrates me is the fact that lots of people don't read the ads properly, they ask questions which they wouldn't need to ask IF THEY READ THE ADVERT!  And if I state it's collection only, then no I won't be delivering it or sending it by courier.  😡

Husband cleared out the cupboard under the kitchen sink - we have enough supplies of kitchen and bathroom cleaner, floor cleaner, window cleaner, oven cleaner to last months!  Also dishcloths and washing up sponges.  The trouble is, they all get pushed to the dark and cobwebby depths of the back of the cupboard, where I don't go!  Anyway, some old practically empty bottles have been thrown out and everything else put back tidily, and a few things that didn't belong there (husband's stuff mainly) taken out and added to his pile of shed stuff in the utility room - that'll be tackled next week.  He also emptied out the big plastic box containing tons of Tupperware and other plastic boxes, throwing out some old ones or ones missing lids (where do the lids go?!?!) and re-stacking them tidily.

I've gone through most of the cookery books and boxed up a load for the charity shop, a few left to go.  Today I'll finish off the books, then tackle the small filing cabinet.  It has 2 very ancient non-working laptops in it, as well as a load of old paperwork, I'll get husband to take the hard drives out and then the laptops can go in the tip box.

Horrible noisy weather again during the night, aren't we all just fed up of relentless rain and galeforce winds.  The sun did come out briefly yesterday, which was nice.  The roads and fields around here are muddy and half flooded, not nice for walking.....I feel like I've been cooped up indoors for weeks and weeks, only going out for shopping (husband does most of the dog walking).  I know I keep saying it, but roll on Spring!

Too tired yesterday

 We didn't get very much done at all yesterday, neither of us had slept well Tuesday night and were both very tired.  All I did was gather together a few more stray no longer used items for the charity box, then some banking and a bit of research on the internet.  Sorted out another wash load and cooked dinner.  Husband had to do something with his shed door - a neighbour wanted to borrow some tools but husband couldn't get the shed door open, it had warped with all the rain we've had and was stuck fast.  He managed in the end.  Other than that, he snoozed in front of the TV most of the day.....at one time in the afternoon both he and Betty were flat out snoring their heads off (and then when I coughed and woke him up, he denied being asleep 😒 - I should have recorded the pair of them on my phone!).

Slept much better last night.  Today husband is tackling the cupboard under the kitchen sink and the corner cupboard with all the Pyrex and ceramic bakeware in it.  I'll be photographing the small electrical items and listing them for sale, and sorting through all the cookery books, most of which will go to the charity shop - the jobs put off from yesterday.  We've decided to hold off going to the tip until we have a carload of stuff.

One of the things I'm really not looking forward to dealing with is the paperwork - there's loads of it, and it's in several different places.  I know a lot of it can be thrown away, and everything with personal details on it burnt in husband's dustbin incinerator (although he needs a dry, non-windy day for that and they've been few and far between lately).  I guess the thing to do is to tackle one cupboard, drawer or pile at a time, perhaps in between other decluttering jobs, so it doesn't become too boring or overwhelming.

All the meals we're having this week I've planned to either be easy and quick to cook, or something ready made out of the freezer which just needs heating up and some green veg added.  That's where batch cooking and freezing comes into its own.  Tonight it'll be the other half of the pasta bake we had the other day, tomorrow we're having either jacket spuds with beans, cheese and coleslaw, or lemon pepper dusted plaice with chips, peas and coleslaw.

Had an email from the housing dept yesterday afternoon to acknowledge receipt of our medical evidence, but saying they need one more specific piece.  We'll have to see the GP to get it, which shouldn't be a problem, I'll organise that today.

EDIT - Got an appointment for this afternoon.

How many?!?!

 Busy day yesterday.....washing out on airers upstairs, then went to town.  2 boxes of kitchenalia to the charity shop, then I went shopping whilst husband went off to the vets to get Betty's flea tablets and book her in for her annual jab next month.  The food prices continue to rise, but I more or less stuck to my list and was reasonably pleased with the bill.  One big bargain was a bag of dried kibble for Betty, a high end top quality expensive one, because of short date it was reduced to 75% off.  Well, I dare say dried kibble will last quite a while so am not worried about the short date - Betty will eat it fairly quickly anyway.  Pity there was only one bag on the shelf or I'd have got a couple more.

After putting the shopping away and having filled wraps for lunch, we carried on with the kitchen cupboards.  The airing cupboard first, old tea towels kept for cleaning rags, the decent ones put back in.  Some more excess stuff sorted out for the charity shop - I discovered several packs of tea light candles I'd forgotten we had, probably enough for several months of power cuts!  Far too many, so some for the charity box.  Yet more loose batteries, and a carrier bag full of lightbulbs, including old obsolete ones, goodness knows how long they'd been there.  You can tell I don't go in for regular Spring cleaning, can't you?! 😂

Then it was down on my knees to turf out the baking tins cupboard.  I'd already sorted out a pile of old ones yesterday out of the 'Welsh dresser' cupboard, I honestly didn't realise I'd got so many still.  Why I didn't throw out old ones when I bought new ones I don't know.....and there was me saying husband is the hoarder!  Well anyway, they're all now in the utility room for the scrap metal man, the cupboards are wiped clean, the decent stuff to be kept put back - and there's so much more space in the cupboards.  And it'll stay that way, I'm not filling them up with anything else just because there's space! (that would kind of defeat the object of decluttering, wouldn't it 😉).  Then I had to stop, my hips and knees were protesting and I kept getting pins and needles in my toes when kneeling down.  Husband had backache and of course gets dizzy when he bends over, so we decided we'd had enough for one day.

This morning we're going to tackle the under-sink cupboard, which is full to bursting with cleaning supplies.  Well, I say we.....I actually mean husband, as I know there are some 8-legged inhabitants at the back of that cupboard!  Whilst he's doing that, I'll photograph all the small kitchen electricals and list them for sale, and sort through the cookery books and probably charity shop most of them.....nowadays if I want a recipe, I generally look it up online anyhow.  And then we'll have the afternoon off.

I've got the bit between my teeth now, I'm determined to forge ahead and declutter everywhere, we'll do it one room at a time.  It's surprisingly cathartic actually, albeit tiring.  I do have to organise everything we do and let husband know exactly what he's doing - left to his own devices he's so haphazard and disorganised, and has this terrible habit of flitting between jobs and never finishing any of them.  Whereas I just stick to one job at a time, until it's finished.

A good, if somewhat stressful, start

 Well, that's the dining room decluttered, other than a 2-drawer filing cabinet which we haven't tackled yet.  It took us nearly all day to take everything out of the big so-called 'Welsh dresser' cupboard, drawers, side shelves and double wall cupboard above, sort through it all, clean out the cupboards and put back the things we're keeping.  Then we cleared off the big shelves that are in the space where the condemned old Rayburn used to be, and the boiler/airing cupboard (why it was built in downstairs and not upstairs I don't know, practically every house we've lived in before had the airing cupboard on the landing upstairs).  We've filled 2 boxes of crockery etc to take to the charity shop, another 2 boxes for the tip.  The old wonky baking tins are stacked in the utility room for the scrap metal man to take, when we get him to come and take away the broken tumble dryer and anything metal from the garage.

I've now got several small electrical kitchen items we no longer use, to photograph and list for sale - halogen cooker, sandwich toaster, very old big Kenwood mixer, smaller food processor, large slow cooker, bread/meat slicer.  If it's not used more than once or twice a year, if that, then it's going - I'm not hanging onto equipment just because it 'might' get used at some far-off time.

Things got a bit fraught now and then - for a start, husband's habit of walking backwards and forwards carrying ONE item at a time frustrates me.  And he puts things down in a space I've just cleared, rather than putting it where it's actually meant to go.  He took out a small box from the big cupboard, it was filled with all sorts of odds and ends - corn on the cob spike things, oddments of cutlery, a few stray plastic bags, batteries (who knows whether they're new or old when they're not in the packet?), screws, nails and other small tool items, etc etc.  He said "Oh I'll just put that there for a minute" (a favourite expression of his late mother, whose house was the most cluttered I've ever seen) and put it in another cupboard!  I took it out again and said no, we'll sort it out now - otherwise it's just moving the problem from one place to another. 😒  At this rate I'll be tearing out clumps of my hair by the end of the week.

Kath, I went on the Council website to see if they would take the old fridge and freezer - erm yes they will, but they'll charge £61.80 for just those 2 items!! 😲.  We'd rather take them to the tip ourselves, even if we can only fit one at a time in the back of the car.....we'll no doubt be making several tip trips over the next few weeks.

We've decided we'll get rid of our big 3-seater sofa, 2 of the 5 armchairs we have (they're not all in the same room) and our old upcycled oak dining table and 4 chairs.  I'll try selling them first, if nobody wants them then I'll see if a charity shop will come and collect them, as per Kim's idea.  That's assuming that the lounge furniture has fire safety certificates still on them, I'll have to check, as the charity shop won't take them if they haven't.  In due course we'll look to buy a 2-seater bed settee for the new home, as we'll have one bedroom less and will need somewhere for occasional guests to sleep.

This morning we're going shopping, and taking the filled boxes to the tip and the charity shop - they're all roughly in the same area.  After lunch we'll start on the kitchen cupboards - not the foods, the saucepan and bakeware cupboards.  I've also got a big plastic tub filled with all manner of Tupperware and plastic boxes, some of which probably don't have lids anymore, so they'll all need sorting out.

It's feeling satisfying already, albeit somewhat stressful.

Starting with a woolly head

 Thank you for all the helpful and encouraging comments, I really appreciate them.  Marlene, you mentioned scrap people - I know there's a man in the next village who collects metal scrap, including some white goods....unfortunately he won't take fridges or freezers, I guess it's something to do with the gases they contain.  Whether anyone else will, I don't know, I will ask on our local FB pages though.  Sue, good idea to fill up the wheelie bin (ours is never full, so there'll always be plenty of space) and the recycling boxes each week, that'll cut down on tip trips.

I've told husband we'll be sorting out all the dining room and kitchen stuff into 4 piles - 1 to keep, 1 to sell (I have a halogen oven and huge slow cooker that I don't use, for a start), 1 for the charity shop and the 4th for the tip.  We picked up a couple of large boxes from the supermarket the other day, to house the charity and tip stuff.  It'll be a good opportunity to give all the cupboards a good clean too - I can't remember the last time I did that (no way am I a domestic goddess!).  

Husband wants a good cooked breakfast (he's doing it!) before we start, he needs the energy he says.  I'm feeling very woolly-headed this morning, after a terrible night - galeforce winds, heavy rain and a very loud hailstorm during the night, which frightened Betty and kept me awake for hours.  Breakfast and a few coffees should help to wake me up.

It was husband's birthday yesterday (72, how on earth did that happen?) and I cooked him a roast beef dinner with Yorkshires and the full works....I had nut roast.  I don't buy beef joints very often, too expensive, but got a half price joint in M&S a couple of weeks ago.  There's plenty left for him to have again tonight sliced in gravy, and for sandwiches the next few days, so he's happy.  I also made him a fruit crumble to have with custard, his favourite, and a neighbour made him a little cake.

Gemma's Person (B) - I've sent off, well, uploaded, loads of medical info so I'm hopeful that will be enough to upgrade us.....apparently everyone, once approved, is automatically put on the Bronze banding unless and until one can provide supporting evidence.

I can see bits of blue sky in amongst the clouds now and the sun is trying to come out.  The weather forecast for this week is very mixed - a bit of everything, sun, wind, showers or heavy rain, fairly mild temperatures one day, a few degrees colder the next.  Typical British can't make up its mind weather in other words.