Son is planning on having me scan ancient photos as a winter activity here. Just the ones where I can recognise people. They did a lot some years ago and I have a flash drive of them. These are older. We have old iPads no longer useful for much but they will run through various scanned photos. Picked randomly. Watching was popular at Christmas especially.
I have a large number of plastic trouser/ skirt hangers which do not fit in my wardrobe. I suddenly realised there is no point in keeping them, but sadly there is no alternative to landfill. Charity shops don’t want them.
Oops! Have fallen off the wagon. Back again. Had a minor scare when I fell off the bottom step of my step ladder. Had heavy boxes full of old uni lecture notes on top of my wardrobe, one box slid as I was getting it down and I fell. Only minor damage to me but I had to put the lecture notes into the council recycling bin in three separate batches. They reject bins that are too heavy. Why on earth I kept the notes for so long (decades) I do not know.
I kept lecture notes for years, just in case I needed them. Never needed and eventually I put them in recycle bin and gained the lower part of a desk given me by my grandmother. Notes gone, but I still have the desk.
Boogie, I saw this sign in a gift shop yesterday, "By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me." Good for you for moving ahead, at greater speed. I am sure your brother is going to be delighted with such a personal and special gift.
Down Down Down, from six bookcases, to one bookcase and one row of books in guest room. I plan to reduce the final bookcase to a row of 8 books. It helps that my eyesight is going and some print size is now a strain to read. This has been my hardest decluttering as I do love reading but there is always the library large print section. Now one empty shelf has room for a little altar space with Madonna, candle, and fresh flowers. The other shelves are full of orderly art supplies stored openly and easy to see by type. These were once a mess in a chest. So nice to find that paint tube, or water color pencil without having to dig around through boxes while holding chest lid open with my head. My local jail was happy to take some of my books for inmate reading areas.
I have the house to myself to a week and plan a massive Spring Clean.
I did the living room yesterday, which is generally kept clean and tidy. We have a lot of sheet music in our piano stool and elsewhere, including my late grandmother's collection. My daughter plays her favourites when she visits, but doesn't go looking for new tunes. The North East Man also sticks to a few well-practiced tunes. I don't play at all, and the North East Loon had lessons but doesn't keep it up.
Any suggestions for disposing of sheet music from the 1950s / 60s / 70s?
Oxfam? They are getting very sophisticated in their selling of books and music, record centrally what they have, everything is scanned in, and stuff worth real money is listed online. They sell sheet music.
No clutter, all clean and decorated, new carpet, blinds and curtains.
Yay!
It will now stay that way!
I’ve just got two boxes of slides left to scan and then that job is done too. (Deadline 11th April)
Next decluttering job - the side of the house. It has been a dumping ground for many years. We will hire a mini skip and everything, plus all the shed clutter will go - hurrah!
Any suggestions for disposing of sheet music from the 1950s / 60s / 70s?
A few years ago I bought a boxful of sheet music that I’ve been using to make cards with (origami birds) and as wrapping paper. I trickle feed some of it to a card making enthusiast who swaps it workshops.
Thanks! I'm going to take some of the sheet music to Oxfam, but if there are any loose sheets floating about, I'll ask a card making friend if she could use them.
I've been clearing out the hall cupboard. We have dozens (literally) of cloth shopping bags. We don't need more than half a dozen. What to do with them? Most of them are advertising something, or we got them as part of a conference pack.
Our library will take cloth bags. They are in high demand. I would imagine that many elementary schools or nursery schools would have use for them too. What a terrible problem to have. Single use plastic bags are about to be phased out here so I am hoarding them.
Spent the day writing on the back of old photographs. Not sure if anyone will be interested, but think maybe grandchildren would like to see what their granny looked like as a child, as well as their great-grandparents, and even great-great-great grandmother in her long black dress and bonnet. Not so sure of any interest in third cousins and great aunts and uncles, but I will leave it to them to sort out. At least now they will know who they are pitching in the bin.
... Single use plastic bags are about to be phased out here so I am hoarding them.
While I'm happy to avoid single-use bags where possible, I find that supermarket bags are exactly the right size to use as bin-liners for small waste-paper baskets and pedal-bins, and for peeling vegetables into. Doesn't that count as a form of recycling, as I'm not buying other bags for the purpose? (And it saves me money into the bargain).
Plastic bags cost 5p here, and more and more supermarkets are not using the useful bin-liner size 5p ones, and only having the sturdier but less use for bins, 10p ones. At that price it is cheaper to buy liners.
I use the cheap 5p ones to line wastepaper bins, but then empty them into a 10p bag, or the bag that 9 /12 toilet rolls come in, and bin that, leaving the liner in situ.
I always go shopping with a canvas bag or two, enough to carry everything on my shopping list. The snag is I then spot something I'd forgotten I needed, or there's a special offer, and I end up buying another 5p / 10p bag. Plus I always buy a 5p bag at the butchers, because I'm leery of putting butcher stuff into a canvas bag. The butcher bags line the kitchen bin, and I bin the whole lot when it's full.
Plastic bags aren't the issue, though, it's the proliferation of the canvas / cotton ones.
But plastic bags are a big part of the problem and using them to wrap waste is adding to the issues, just dumping more plastic into landfill, where it takes centuries to break down - link - not so soluble for flat living, as I am.
But plastic bags are a big part of the problem and using them to wrap waste is adding to the issues, just dumping more plastic into landfill, where it takes centuries to break down - link - not so soluble for flat living, as I am.
Our council burns the general waste to produce electricity. They gather the gases produced and burn them too. So I don’t feel too bad when I put my rubbish in plastic bags.
But plastic bags are a big part of the problem and using them to wrap waste is adding to the issues, just dumping more plastic into landfill, where it takes centuries to break down - link - not so soluble for flat living, as I am.
I agree, but I think my plastic carrier bag usage is fairly minimal and those plastic carrier bags I do buy are re-used as bin liners etc. The council wouldn't like it if I put unbagged rubbish in my wheelie bin.
... Single use plastic bags are about to be phased out here so I am hoarding them.
While I'm happy to avoid single-use bags where possible, I find that supermarket bags are exactly the right size to use as bin-liners for small waste-paper baskets and pedal-bins, and for peeling vegetables into. Doesn't that count as a form of recycling, as I'm not buying other bags for the purpose? (And it saves me money into the bargain).
How about origami newspaper liners (plenty of instructions online)? I’ve begun to try this, now my non-dry, non-recyclable, non-compostable waste goes into the Bokashi bin for fermenting.
I’ve been brave and started to declutter my jam stash, going back to 2003 (I don’t eat much, but some years I make more than I can give away). Everything so far smells musty or has gone off. So it looks like I’ll have an empty space soon, and lots of empty jars. Not sure if the contents can go into the Bokashi or if I’ll have to use a plastic bag.
Not sure if you do much fundraising, but for the next Guides' event, we'll have a jarbola - a variation on a tombola when all the gifts are jars filled with something. From me it will be craft kits - but you could fill your jars and use them that way.
Here, it is completely illegal to put any filled bags into a wheelie bin. If you line the small indoor waste basket with a bag, you must dump the contents loose into the bin and you are allowed to put the bag you used into the waste cart too as it is now classified as "dirty" so not suitable for recycling. The large green compost cart is the same - it all goes into the large cart without any bags. If you do use bags, they can refuse your whole bin and you have to re-sort everything before they will resume service.
As of July 1st, it will be illegal for stores to either give away or sell any single use plastic bags. None. All bags must be made of something other than plastic and they are not permitted to give them away, they must charge for every bag. It will be a big game changer around here.
As far as I know, almost everyone uses the non-recyclable crinkly single use bags to line the indoor waste baskets. I plan to reuse mine as long as possible.
... but you could fill your jars and use them that way.
Oh I have plenty of uses for the jars, including filling them with jam & chutney after harvesting. I simply won’t make as much as I have done in previous years.
Edited to add... I found some empty plastic coffee bags in the bin that I’ve filled with mouldy jam, so I’m not using “new” plastic bags, which is a slight “win”.
I use compostable bags in my food waste bin - it won't be collected if I don't, but it then goes into a bigger green bin for collection and has to be bagged up or wrapped in newspaper. I don't buy paper newspapers, reading online instead, so I've lost that source of waste paper.
Recycling goes loose into the recycling bin too, we're not allowed to bag it up, so it's collected in a big hessian bag and tipped in from there.
There's no point using a compostable bin bag for the one small bag of non-recyclable waste I throw out each week, as that is usually full of plastic packaging I can't otherwise recycle.
We have to use compostable bags for the food waste - they are provided. Garden waste goes in the same bin and all is composted to be used in the town’s parks.
I have mesh bags to gather produce at the store rather then the plastic ones still provided. The one problem is they spray the produce with water to keep it fresh and then water leaks through the mesh and makes, my canvas shopping bags wet. So I line my canvas bag with a plastic bag. It does save on many small plastic bags. I tried to remember what was done when I was a child, I think produce was placed in paper bags but I am not sure.
When - oh haste the day - the bathroom and kitchen works are finally done, there will be a decluttering profound as that Serbonian Bog where Armies whole have sunk.
Meanwhile I have been converting little used beach towels into bathmats. Which is why, should you be showering at our house, you will find yourself stepping out on to half a zebra, some lurid parrots, or the flag of Greece.
My "Charles and Diana" teatowel has gone into the duster bag. Sic transit gloria mundi....
My "Charles and Diana" coffee mug went out the last time I decluttered my mugs. Since it was slightly chipped, it went in the trash rather than the thrift shop.
I'd say neither the mug nor the tea-towel owed anyone anything - they'd be nearly 40 years old!
Our plastic recycling (pop bottles, milk and juice cartons, household cleaner bottles and whatnot) is collected every other week; they expect it to be put out either in a box or a blue plastic bag (whether that's recyclable I've no idea). It's all very well as long as the weather isn't silly: if it's windy, the bag might end up in the next street. We used to have a big plastic box with a lid which we kept outside the back door (during the summer), but during a particularly nasty summer storm, it took off, never to be seen again. I think it may have ended up underneath a deck in a garden on the other side of the road, but I really don't know.
The council don't take glass bottles here, but there's a "drop-box" for glass not far from our house that's operated by the Scouts, so we avail ourselves of that every so often, and at least it's going to a good cause.
Comments
Haven't thought of that in years. Wish I hadn't now.
Now, back to that declutterance ...
My incentive is my brother’s birthday in April. I want to give him a flash drive with them on.
Oh, ugh. What a nightmare!
“It seems queer to me now to think that once I was a scholar . . .”
Which is why I still have mine. Just maybe once day I'll go back to it.
I’m getting through them at a rate of knots now. 😃
I did the living room yesterday, which is generally kept clean and tidy. We have a lot of sheet music in our piano stool and elsewhere, including my late grandmother's collection. My daughter plays her favourites when she visits, but doesn't go looking for new tunes. The North East Man also sticks to a few well-practiced tunes. I don't play at all, and the North East Loon had lessons but doesn't keep it up.
Any suggestions for disposing of sheet music from the 1950s / 60s / 70s?
I found 8 church tea towels in my airing cupboard. Eeeek. All ironed and ready to be returned this morning.
No clutter, all clean and decorated, new carpet, blinds and curtains.
Yay!
It will now stay that way!
I’ve just got two boxes of slides left to scan and then that job is done too. (Deadline 11th April)
Next decluttering job - the side of the house. It has been a dumping ground for many years. We will hire a mini skip and everything, plus all the shed clutter will go - hurrah!
A few years ago I bought a boxful of sheet music that I’ve been using to make cards with (origami birds) and as wrapping paper. I trickle feed some of it to a card making enthusiast who swaps it workshops.
I've been clearing out the hall cupboard. We have dozens (literally) of cloth shopping bags. We don't need more than half a dozen. What to do with them? Most of them are advertising something, or we got them as part of a conference pack.
I always go shopping with a canvas bag or two, enough to carry everything on my shopping list. The snag is I then spot something I'd forgotten I needed, or there's a special offer, and I end up buying another 5p / 10p bag. Plus I always buy a 5p bag at the butchers, because I'm leery of putting butcher stuff into a canvas bag. The butcher bags line the kitchen bin, and I bin the whole lot when it's full.
Plastic bags aren't the issue, though, it's the proliferation of the canvas / cotton ones.
Our council burns the general waste to produce electricity. They gather the gases produced and burn them too. So I don’t feel too bad when I put my rubbish in plastic bags.
I agree, but I think my plastic carrier bag usage is fairly minimal and those plastic carrier bags I do buy are re-used as bin liners etc. The council wouldn't like it if I put unbagged rubbish in my wheelie bin.
I’ve been brave and started to declutter my jam stash, going back to 2003 (I don’t eat much, but some years I make more than I can give away). Everything so far smells musty or has gone off. So it looks like I’ll have an empty space soon, and lots of empty jars. Not sure if the contents can go into the Bokashi or if I’ll have to use a plastic bag.
As of July 1st, it will be illegal for stores to either give away or sell any single use plastic bags. None. All bags must be made of something other than plastic and they are not permitted to give them away, they must charge for every bag. It will be a big game changer around here.
As far as I know, almost everyone uses the non-recyclable crinkly single use bags to line the indoor waste baskets. I plan to reuse mine as long as possible.
Edited to add... I found some empty plastic coffee bags in the bin that I’ve filled with mouldy jam, so I’m not using “new” plastic bags, which is a slight “win”.
Recycling goes loose into the recycling bin too, we're not allowed to bag it up, so it's collected in a big hessian bag and tipped in from there.
There's no point using a compostable bin bag for the one small bag of non-recyclable waste I throw out each week, as that is usually full of plastic packaging I can't otherwise recycle.
Meanwhile I have been converting little used beach towels into bathmats. Which is why, should you be showering at our house, you will find yourself stepping out on to half a zebra, some lurid parrots, or the flag of Greece.
My "Charles and Diana" coffee mug went out the last time I decluttered my mugs. Since it was slightly chipped, it went in the trash rather than the thrift shop.
Our plastic recycling (pop bottles, milk and juice cartons, household cleaner bottles and whatnot) is collected every other week; they expect it to be put out either in a box or a blue plastic bag (whether that's recyclable I've no idea). It's all very well as long as the weather isn't silly: if it's windy, the bag might end up in the next street. We used to have a big plastic box with a lid which we kept outside the back door (during the summer), but during a particularly nasty summer storm, it took off, never to be seen again. I think it may have ended up underneath a deck in a garden on the other side of the road, but I really don't know.
The council don't take glass bottles here, but there's a "drop-box" for glass not far from our house that's operated by the Scouts, so we avail ourselves of that every so often, and at least it's going to a good cause.