2013 Declutter & Organize Thread[{locked}]

[Deleted]

Grits, I hope you feel better soon!

Norway, it's a couple of boxes PLUS eight long shelves. But, I'm still not doing it now lol. I really need to refocus on work.

[startsmart]

Debt- what if you did just 15 minutes a day or an hour each weekend until winter? less stress and by the time winter arrives again it might actually be done!

I find the hardest part of a project is getting the momentum to start, then it's just getting annoyed enough at seeing a half finished project to complete it
That and when work is busy and I end up at my computer 15 hours a day.

Don't use Start as a measuring stick. She's part Wonder Woman.

lol Norway, I exist on coffee and the thrill of completing a long list. Oh, and the boy He just texted me and made me laugh.

But really Grits, I don't have children and I work from home, my dogs are very good about going to their cages for nap time and I am looking to rent out or sell my house in the next year so getting all these projects done is very motivating to me. Don't let it discourage you that I'm weird!

[busymom]

I made good use of the holiday today. Both DS & I worked on his room, & we got rid of 4 more garbage bags of stuff. That's a total of 6 bags including yesterday! (How come boys break so many more toys than girls do? I couldn't even donate the stuff I ended up pitching.)

[Deleted]

Well done Busymom (and Red, and Moos, and Norway, and Start, and Sheila, and Waffle! Hope I haven't forgotten anybody!)

Start, good idea, but I know I couldn't manage that, I'm too obsessive.

But, you have given me a GREAT idea! I'm going to aim for two shelves a month, starting in February. That should be eminently manageable!

So that's my new goal, two shelves a month, starting in February, and finishing by the end of May. Thank you Smart!

PS I hesitated between aiming for one shelf a week for eight weeks, or one shelf a month for eight months, and this is a happy compromise. So, two shelves a month it is!

[moosmommy]

171/2013 - No real goals for this week. I would like to hit 200 fingers crossed. I have started working on one drawer/cabinet in the house a day.

[grits]

I went through a bunch of paperwork, and shredded a lot. Yaaaay.

[busymom]

Nice work, grits! I've done shredding of my Mom's paperwork, & know that can be a real chore.


The entire gang here deserves KARMA, or at least a gold star for effort!

[grits]

I've got a stack of stuff that is going to have to be burned. No way out of it. I guess I'll need to buy a tiny bbq grill with cover. I can put it all in there, light it, and leave it downstairs for a few hours. Peeps will wonder what's cooking.

[NastyWoman]

I got home at 9 pm from work, but decided that I needed to make a small start. So I did 1 tiny kitchen drawer and now I am scared 
no single person should have as many pens as I must have.  In this little drawer (where there should have been just ONE) I found 25 working pens and another 15 that I tossed because they didn't work fast enough.
mind you this is not the place I use to collect pens.  I am afraid that I might have enough pens to supply an entire school district.  I also tossed some. Other items and put 5 in the GW box. Small step, big surprise LOL

[Waffle]

Joss,
You did better than me last night.  I got home around 7:30 - warmed up dinner, ate and vegged out in front of the tv until bedtime.

Tonight's list:
Clean out purse
Ebay room - Clean out (last) 3 drawer plastic chest
Ebay room - Declutter one table
Wrap sold items
Update sales spreadsheet
One load of laundry
Take and edit pictures

[Wisconsin Beth]

I did laundry.  And more laundry.  And took laundry to my Mom's house and begged her to wash it.  Her washer can handle the sleeping bag and the Packer pillows (like 2 feet square) that just don't do well in our washer/dryer.  God, I love my Mom. 

And then yesterday Cabe peed on one of the clean blankets.   

Tonight is fold laundry and soak peas.  And Febreeze the hell out of the carpet in the small bathroom, where DD peed the other day.   

Made chili yesterday because it's cold here.  Pea soup is up for tomorrow I think. 

[redwagon]

I'm slowly rediscovering the top of my dining room table. I also should clean the bathroom today and put away laundry before there's no clean baby clothes in the nursery...

[moosmommy]

Goal tonight is to clean out my bathroom cabinet and straighten the towels. To be honest it looks like someone tossed them in last time. So want to wipe it out really good and hopefully get some organization going on.
Dinner tonight will be leftovers from the last three days so no work there. Need to try and have everything laid out for tomorrow since me and the kids have been dragging getting ready for school and work.

[startsmart]

grits - the burning papers on a grill would make me nervous! Of course I'm a city gal lol Do you have a friend who has a super shredder or fireplace that you might be able to use? It would be much more fun (to me at least) to do some of these chores with a friend while chatting instead of alone.

joss- I know what you mean about pens, I have hundreds! I think I finally found the one pen I love and need to order it in bulk so I can get rid of the rest of them. I tend to donate to my waitress, the library, leave some at the post office, to school teachers and students directly.

Update - I managed to list a bunch of DVDs on Amazon last night for trade in but many are only worth 25 - 75 cents each - even complete series! So frustrating..

[moosmommy]

Smart what series do you have? I love buying series of shows!

[redwagon]

organized my tax stuff into a folder so I don't lose any of it. Woo!

[sheilaincali]

startsmart-  check on Ebay.  We were suprised at what we could get for tv series box seats.  Not a fortune but all sold for over $5- some even as high as nearly $20 (before charging them shipping fees).  Try that.  You can ship them media rate so that saves you on shipping some too. 

[Deleted]

Good work everybody!

I did one basement shelf tonight (luggage and backpacks). I threw out two broken bags. There are too many bags, but with DS1 and DS2 moving out soon, it's seems silly to get rid of them now.

The problem is, the shelves are now leaning badly. I *may* have tugged too hard. DH is away for three days, he needs to stabilize them. He is going to be just THRILLED at that new (basement!) project. 

So 1/8 shelves done. A head start since we're still in January!

[Deleted]

I just did the household goods pantry shelf and the food pantry shelf. Took everything off, cleaned the shelves, put everything back.

So 3/8 shelves done!

But, those were the EASY shelves. The other five shelves will take MUCH longer, because I have to go through everything, get rid of some stuff, and condense the rest. 

I got a good head start though!

[constanz22]

I got my car full of cans and bottles returned yesterday. Not really sure how many I'm counting for them. Maybe per bag. I think I had 5-6 large bags full. I got $17.76 back, so, that was nice.

Came home early sick from work. Feel like crud but I did get the dishwasher loaded and ran tonight.

[Deleted]

Good for you Constanz! Again, I would count each item. They're out of your house, right? I hope you feel better soon.

And YAY Joss! You fought all those pens, and you won!

[jenpen]

Updated list from weekend:
Sort through box of car stuff - toss/organize and put it back in the car
Do something with chair and shelf that did not go to Goodwill on my December trip
Clean out purse, organize to-do stuff that's in there and put it on my work calendar
Launder bedding, 2 loads of clothes
Go through books on LR shelves, find things to donate
Make a list of projects I'd like to get done this year
Pick and write out steps to actually COMPLETE one of those projects

Did not accomplish all I wanted, but I DID spend a wonderful day with my sweetie, and got to spend most of Sunday and Monday on the couch devouring an entire book.  Haven't done that in a loooong time. So I ended up rested and happy, despite the list not being complete   Not much done here today, but I did return a couple tops to Macy's today, and cleaning up the box of car stuff this weekend got
rid of a bunch of stuff, so I'm at 21/2013.

moosmommy - yay for reaching your 100 150(and counting!!!) goal

debt - just reading your post about the woodpile almost made MY back go out!  Good for you, deciding to give yourself a break and not tackle all your half of the basement shelves immediately. [BTW, it's great to have work you love, isn't it? And to re-invent yourself into a new career at 50 (not that 50 is so old!) -- that's fantastic!]

S4N - how did the puppy survive his 1st day alone? Hope your house is still standing!

Grits -- oh, I hate shredding.  Good job getting that done (and way to go on your linen closet find). Hope you're feeling better!

Sheila - I love your post about everyone working at their own pace and defining their own success here.

constanz - I'd count the separate items, too! 

Welcome, Joss and kjto1!

And really, good job and karma (non-digital, of course) to everyone on here!

[Saving4Norway]

Jenpen - He (We?) survived pretty well today, thank you for asking. I knew I'd come home to spots of "stuff" and I did, the great thing is that all but one of them were on the potty pads so clean up was a breeze. He was happy to see me and I, him. All in all a great reunion. Right now I'm sitting on the floor of our back hall/mud room area, laptop on my lap, legs completely dead, afraid to adjust my position because I have the world's most adorable little thing laying next to me sound asleep with his head on my ankle. My back is leaning against the door to the garage so I'm hoping that I'll have enough function left when my DH comes home and opens the door. I'd hate to fall backwards down the stairs into the garage. That'd probably wake the dog.

For my to-dos tonight, I'm not exactly sure. Nothing absolutely must get done so I'll most likely play it by ear and see what comes up.

[grits]

I have a powerful shredder but these are cancelled checks.  They get burned.

[Saving4Norway]

Grits - The talk of you burning the paperwork indoors, especially in your basement, has me fearful for your health. Please, be careful!! Consider doing it outside somehow.

[grits]

Jan 22, 2013 22:40:24 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

Grits - The talk of you burning the paperwork indoors, especially in your basement, has me fearful for your health. Please, be careful!! Consider doing it outside somehow.

Thank you for your concern but I burn them outside in a large open area in a covered bbq.  It is one of the small ones.  No paper or sparks are released, and my neighbors will think I am grilling.  Plus, I have no basement.  I live in an apartment.  i would like to burnout the person who lives below me but that is illegal.
 

[Saving4Norway]

Jan 22, 2013 22:44:58 GMT -5 grits said:

Jan 22, 2013 22:40:24 GMT -5 Saving4Norway said:

Grits - The talk of you burning the paperwork indoors, especially in your basement, has me fearful for your health. Please, be careful!! Consider doing it outside somehow.

Thank you for your concern but I burn them outside in a large open area in a covered bbq.  It is one of the small ones.  No paper or sparks are released, and my neighbors will think I am grilling.  Plus, I have no basement.  I live in an apartment.  i would like to burnout the person who lives below me but that is illegal.
 

Oh thank goodness! I was envisioning you doing this inside! WHEW!

[busymom]

I was a little worried about you too, Grits.  But I hoped you weren't burning stuff indoors. 


I was trying to slog thru a bunch of paperwork today.  In addition to family stuff, I'm responsible for Mom, keeping up on her bills, etc.


Tonight I pulled a few stacks of magazines I'd forgotten about underneath the sofa.  (They probably ended up under there during Christmas.)    Purge!

[Waffle]

-yourock-

That's for everybody.  Because everybody is making progress.

Grits - Maybe we think alike - when you said downstairs - I knew you meant outside of your apartment.


Here's my progress from last night:

Clean out purse
Ebay room - Clean out (last) 3 drawer plastic chest
Ebay room - Declutter one table
Wrap sold items
Update sales spreadsheet
One load of laundry
Take and edit pictures  ( I took some - but not as many as I wanted to and didn't get any of them edited)


Today's list
Post Office (at lunch break)
Take more pictures
Edit pictures
Ebay room - Declutter one table
One load of laundry
Clean bathroom vanity/sink/mirror

[Wisconsin Beth]

I had a list and everything and PB ate it!   

Damn, now I forgot what I wrote.  Sigh.