Out with the old and in with - NOTHING! Further adventures in minimalism.

[MrsPennyapple]

Following on from the Minimalist Journey and Minimalist Quiche threads. The journey continues...

Hello all.

Latest catalogue of NHS disorganisation and incompetence!

Dad is in hospital S, waiting for a scan in hospital G before he can be seen by neurosurgeon consultant in hospital F. We have been waiting all week for scan appointment. Finally my sister chases up scan dept in hospital G who say they have been trying to contact hospital S to find out what kind of brain shunt Dad has as this might affect their ability to scan him. ( Hospital S seem blissfully unaware of this!). My sister tells scan dept in hospital G to forget about trying to contact hospital S but communicate directly with neurosurgeon's secretary in hospital F, which they do! Turns out that as Dad has a programmable shunt, hospital G are unwilling to scan him with out a neurosurgeon present. There are no neurosurgeons at hospital G, they are all at hospital F! So we have wasted a week, trying to get a totally unsuitable appointment for Dad at hospital G when he needs to go to hospital F for the scan! If my sister hadn't done all the phoning around, we'd still be waiting for appointment at hospital G which wouldn't be happening because they would still be querying the type of shunt!

If any of you pray - please would you do so. I am now feeling so totally stressed! My poor Dad needs better treatment than this -also some other problems that I've not detailed!

Arti thank goodness your sister called and your Dad has a supportive family. Hope this gets sorted PDQ.
I don't pray but I can send some warm fuzzies.

Arti, my womens bible study group meet on a friday abs we would love to pray for you.

Thanks to all who said nice things; seriously, after four vbs I was not expecting a cs and the flying down the corridor bit scared me silly. keep putting off writing it all down like they told me too.

On a decluttered note, a astoundingly successful day!.dh has amazingly irritating habit of picking ip free (read "rubbish") hovers and storing them "until I fix them". Landlady spotted them todsy and asked if she could have them abs I was delighted to oblige!

Also, looked around the room and decided to ditch four cushions. I have a rule of only buying washable covers for sofas and cushions, and accidentally bought cushions that weren't. Very predictably, they got dirty, I washed them and insides got lumpy. They annoy me every time I see them, so I chucked them.it felt surprisingly liberating!

Someone else commented upthread about sort of revisiting areas and going deeper each time. Anyone else noticing that?

Oh loves!

Arti - I feel so hurt for you! It's awful that they are so inconsiderate in their treatment of an elderly and sick gentlemen. So many stand up to say they don't believe in euthanasia, yet our nhs damn near condemns people to a half life due to their inadequacy. Actually, I'm angry. So I shall hold thoughts of you and your family close during this awful time.

Decluttering continues. Am weeding out all the twins' feeding things that we have far too many of/no longer use. So what feels like a million weaning pots have gone in a box to go and all but 4 bottles went in the recycle bin. Once I get them the cups I want, the rest will go.

The older dc seem to be collecting cups thanks to Easter. So I am redistributing them amongst the grandparents. My mum is terrible for having my nieces' things at my parents and letting them get all stroppy when one of my dc dares to use their cup/plate/fork etc. so since I have an abundance and it's getting in the way, I shall clutter up my mum's kitchen drawers instead. I know it's not quite in the spirit of Decluttering as I also know my mum is desperate to tidy their house. But I'm damned if my kids are going to be made to feel they aren't as important as their cousins.

However I have also promised mum that once I get on top of my home, I will help her sort theirs out. Since I still have some things there to move/sell/dump, it's not so bad. Although I think I am now just done to some records and a few non-sentimental items.

Question about the sentimental stuff; I have in the loft a box of various ornaments from before I met dh. They don't fit anywhere in our home as they are teeny things, like little wade ornaments. I don't just want to get rid of them as they each have a little story. But I'm just keeping them for no good reason.

I'm going to need to be a big girl and get rid of them aren't I?

Meh, how about a scrap book with picture and story behind it of how it's important? Would that work at all?

Socmonsta Photograph and get rid? At least you can look at the pictures more easily than the actual items in the loft.

Arti I'm so terribly sorry to hear about your dad and all the people who are letting him down. It is so hard, the NHS are so understaffed and too big an institution to be efficient and people really suffer for it.

Silent a big well done to you. I think your successes count for a bit more considering you have a newborn and are recovering from surgery and trauma!

Our new wardrobe arrived this evening. It doesn't fit, so they had to take a section back to make it smaller, but most of it is in now. I've just gone through all my clothes again and found another bag full for charity and some stuff to toss. I still have too much and too much I don't really like / feel good in. I really need to spend some time figuring out an intentional wardrobe and then spend some money putting it together. On the positive side all my clothes / bags / shoes fit in 3 drawers and a small double wardrobe. Progress!

Sok think not that you are getting rid of them, but you are releasing them into the world to be someone else's treasure!!

I managed to actually get down the chazzer with some bags today (can't remember whose phrase that is but I love it)! That's pretty much the sum of my progress today, but better than nothing.

SilentMammoth It seems to take me a few "passes" to get things cleared out. The more I get rid of, the less attached I seem to be to the remaining stuff. It seems like once I start cutting the emotional ties to objects, it has a snowball effect, and things I felt I couldn't get rid of at first suddenly seem less important. I know there have been items that I've kept, that I've later looked at and thought "actually, that can go".

Re: your laundry, I'm pretty sure your landlady can't insist you buy a tumble dryer. She should certainly supply one if she wants you to use one so badly. I'd be tempted to use it to get bulky things like jeans and towels partly dry, but still do the bulk of it on the racks. (A former landlady tried to blame me for dry rot, as her damp, mildewy basement flat was all down to me not having the windows open enough, apparently. I had mentioned the mildew and was told categorically that the flat did NOT have mildew and was NOT damp.)

Also, sorry to hear about your bad time having DD. I hope you feel better soon.

Arti it's no wonder you are stressed, I'm sending you all the positive thoughts I can muster. Your family shouldn't have to be fussing and fretting about all this stuff! You should be able to trust the hospitals in question to co-ordinate your dad's treatment properly!

Cappucino It's bound to be sad coming across your wedding things, under the circumstances. You don't have to sort them out right now. When you're ready to do it, you're ready to do it.

SM I certainly work in cycles and revisit certain areas again and again. It all depends on my state of mind. I'm stuck on my 30 cookbooks, at least 10 of which I've never used. I also get stuck on toys and need to be in top mental shape to throw away even the crap.
Paperwork has had 2 sorts so far. Needs one more ruthless serious cull and organisation into a state that is manageable moving forward.
I find it hard to have the mental capacity during the week after work.

Does anyone else find it difficult rejecting all the advice dinned into by parents? Don't waste. You never know when you might need X. Be prepared. That was.expensive, you know.

The economy has totally changed from when my parents grew up fairly poor and unable to replace items. Now space is expensive and stuff is stupidly cheap. Lots of stuff might cost if I suddenly needed a replacement, but most likely I could find one within a week on Freecycle or social networks.

Trying to get rid of paperwork where the info exists on the internet. Can someone reassure me that printing off your own bank statements is accepted by mortgage companies nowadays? Special offers and coupons need to go in the bin faster, and receipts filed better. I know someone suggested one folder for the whole year, as it's not too hard to flip through, and then shred once a year, but I filled a magazine holder in a couple weeks! And that's with chucking receipts for anything under £20, too. Do I just need to relax about utility companies ripping me off if I can't prove what they've been up to?

Ds is getting really into decluttering, or rather giving loads of stuff to his sister so he has space. Shame she doesn't have her own room yet! We finally have council permission to rebuild our kitchen so should get a date to knock it down soon... Losing two and a half rooms for a few months ought to focus us on getting rid of as much as possible!

I don't know about paperwork and like you, don't trust the big companies so I still haven't gone digital on bank statements, bills etc. I keep them in ring binders. But I have a lot less ring binders since I started archiving old ones into the kind of archive boxes we use at work (the ones you buy flatpacked). I used to do it by bank/utility provider etc but now I'm doing it by date so one archive box for each year. That way a box can be thrown away without needing to sort.

With card payment receipts, same thing only an envelope for each month of the year. Once the envelope is a year old, I shred and start a new one. Eg I just replaced April 2012 with April 2013. I use small envelopes and all 12 fit in a child's shoe box. When I buy anything of exception at the supermarket eg a microwave, I put it through the till separately so I can keep a small receipt not a long one full of groceries. We keep these in ring binder by theme (white goods, IT, expensive clothes) in case we need them. We don't buy much that isn't consumable so it doesn't take up as much space at is sounds.

It's not a very minimalist approach but it is organised. I'm not worried about space for this sort of thing as I work from home so having an office space I can close the door on is important. The ring binders are all on a special ring binder storage unit in there.

Arti My thoughts are with you.

Arti, hows it going with you and your famil?

somme. I'm trying to think of an instance when I might need an old bill, let alone one more than a year old? Can't think of one unless perhaps it was a receipt for a cash payment?

I read a great tip re keeping household bills and receipts. Just put them in a box or envelope together by year. No sorting, filing etc required. In the rare event you need to find something just flick through and find it. Takes much less time and space than filing with holes, in order, using tabs etc and you can easily find it when you need it. Receipts and bills can go straight from purse, or post into the system - job done! Maybe have an envelope per year?

Great idea re separate receipts when buying stuff from supermarkets. I'm always throwing them away by accident.

We try to buy things built to last (not easy with planned obsolescence) so they often have 2 or 5 or even 10 year guarantees on them.

And even when the guarantee is up, we keep the receipts. We're in France and insurance companies here require proof of ownership for anything stolen during a burglary.

I think the issue is the amount of computer parts and building materials we buy, all of which come with delivery note, invoice, page of how you paid, guarantee, etc. About 4 a week. And about 20% of orders are wrong or need to be returned.
I'm certainly not chucking out nursery invoices (4 sheets per child per month) as they tend to be random numbers and twice we have had to go back over a year to prove that we paid a certain month. We have a guy trying to reconcile MrNC's 15 pensions, which will cut down that paperwork!
Then there's all the paper relating to onging parking fine appeals, one of which has been going for a couple years, so need to prove where MrNC was, all the correspondence with the council about planning and bulding control for our loft conversion, none of which they seem to keep on file so we have to for the next time they write to us saying "You appear to have an illegal extension. Take it down immediately"...

All boils down to other people being incompetent, doesn't it?

Some musings on a Minimalist Kitchen

and 101 Minimalist Meals

I love the concept of minimalist cooking. I think this simple concept will help me get back on track re cooking regularly again, planning meals and buying fresh food as I'm going to use it so it doesn't clutter up my kitchen, or get unused and go off creating expensive rubbish. I really need to address this area of my life.

I love the minimalist cooking idea, and I often crave a quick, easy and tasty meal, but having looked through the first 15 or so recipes, so far the majority include no veg!

I do find it's often the veg preparation that takes the time, so I'd happily do without it sometimes, but in terms of providing a balanced diet for the family, perhaps not great for every day.

I am going to go and look at the rest though, as they might be good for lunchtimes (when I don't have to cater for fussy DP).

thanks for your kind words, Mrs PennyA
Actually feeling a lot better about getting rid of the wedding stuff. It is still there at the moment, but i AM going to do it. I will keep a few things for my ds sake (if he is ever bothered?!) but at the mo i am sorting around it.
well, another load to the skip this morning and another bag sorted. I am exhausted now!
Wondering perhaps if ebay will have zero insertion fees around the May bank holidays to ebay some stuff....

MrsP- my fav quick and easy meal is - steam a large bowl of broccoli. Add spicy hot sauce. Yum!

take 1 frying pan and one pan, 1 pack of sausages, 1 squash and 1 chilli. Peel skin from sos and make them into little meat balls, peel/chop squash into similar size pieces of the sos fry in with chopped chilli until sos and squash are cooked through. Cook pasta in pan and eat.

It's 3 ingredients and if you have pre-cooked noodles you can use them instead.

TisVYum.

Thank you for all your prayers, and warm thoughts. It is helping me! I decided last night I just had to keep trying to hand stuff over to God as otherwise it is getting me way too stressed!

Latest on Dad is that the secretary of neurosurgeon in hospital F doesn't think that there are any free slots for scans next week! They apparently "didn't know what services were offered by hospital G" and thought it would be better as it is nearer for Dad to go to!!! - so why didn't they know? My sister is continuing to chase things with secretary and I am trying PALs and seeing if Dad's GP can help at all! This of course is the neurosurgeon who was on holiday for 2 weeks so we've already waited 2 weeks before he could even say he wanted Dad to have a scan ( and apparently no-one else on his team could consider Dad's case in his absence)!!!

Meanwhile I was supposed to have a hospital appointment this morning for a hip problem. When I turned up the clinic was cancelled because "the computer didn't know that Good Friday was a bank holiday so it booked a clinic when it was really Mr X's surgery day!" Of course it is all the computer's fault and there hasn't been any time since Good Friday to let us know about this!!

OK - so does anyone feel like helping me declutter the NHS?!!
I've a few ideas about non-useful and non-beautiful "items" we could get rid of!

I have a joke...

How do you spell "incompetence" and "inertia" ?

Answer ( of course) ... NHS

With apologies for anyone who works for them - there are of course some wonderful people in the organisation, but some not-so-wonderful ones and systems too!!