2013 Declutter & Organize Thread[{locked}]

[Deleted]

Sorry about your list Beth!

Today I did two more basement shelves. BUT I did NOT go through the boxes of the kids' school stuff (one shelf). I just don't have the patience or energy. I last did it about three years ago, so it's not too bad.

I wiped everything down, rearranged / reorganized it, and got two out of the three boxes that were on the floor onto shelves. It's progress, right?

So 5/8 basement shelves done (not perfectly though).

[Waffle]

Debt,  You remind me of my mom.  She keeps claiming she's going to slow down and take things easy.  And then I get home from work and she tells me about the half dozen projects she worked on that day.

[Deleted]

LOL Waffle. I'm in good company then!

I did the 6th basement shelf, but, again, I didn't go through (more) kids' school stuff. I got the third box off the floor and on the shelf.

I have a plastic tub of papers / stuff to go through, as well as the last two (messiest) shelves. I also need more boxes. But that's all I have time for now, so I'm stopping for now.

So 6/8 basement shelves done (not perfectly though).

[sheilaincali]

Debt-  what the heck lady?  You said you wanted to do 2 shelves a month and a day later you've already finished 6 shelves.  Slow down you're making the rest of us look bad

Grits- I was picturing you trying to shove stacks of paperwork into some small indoor fireplace so I too am relieved that it's an outside job and much safer than my imagination thought.

Haven't made much more progress on things so far this week.  My office at work is getting much more organized and I am ticking things off my list right and left there.  At home not so much.  I think my downfall is that I haven't made a to do list all week so here goes.

Today:
Hang pictures back up in Family Room
Adjust master bedroom headboard
Fold and put away extra blankets
two loads of laundry
clean off the dryer (DH is forever stacking crap on the dryer because it's right next to the door to the garage so everything that needs to be in the garage ends up on the darn dryer)
Fax off paperwork for HSA payment.

[Deleted]

LOL Sheila, I honestly don't know what got into me! Maybe because DH is away for a few days, and I don't have any marking yet? And DS1 was out all day. 

Tomorrow I'm working from 8am till 7pm, and we have plans Fri and Sat during the day. So that will be it for a while, you'll have plenty of time to catch up.

You are all doing great! And S4N, your doggie sounds uber-cute!

Glad you had a nice day with your Sweetie Jen!

[sheilaincali]

Thanks Debt   Hope your plans are fun this weekend. 

We have another busy weekend planned too.  The other day DS' crush was hinting about wanting to come play board games at our house because she had heard about our parties and they sounded like fun.  So we told him to invite her and rounded up a couple of other people as well.  Then we get a call from another couple we hang with that want us to come over on Saturday during the day for brunch and board games.  Now my BIL asks me if we want to do Sushi with my sister and him and 3 other couples Saturday night. I seriously don't know what has been happening.  It's like all of the sudden people find us fascinating and want to hang out with us.  Weird.  

Norway-  I am loving your puppy stories.  DH keeps hinting that he wants a puppy but our Lab is 11 years old and a natural submissive so a new puppy would rule the roost and make the Lab depressed I fear.  I told him he had to wait on a new puppy.   

[Deleted]

That sounds like a lot of fun Sheila! If you lived closer we'd want to play board games with you too LOL. I think your DS and my DS3 would get along SO well. You've given me a great idea, I'm going to invite close friends and their four kids over for a "game night" to play the new game DS3 got for Xmas!

My DD is in a hotel management college with a (fancy) restaurant. She alternates weeks between classes and the restaurant. This week she is front of house during lunch. We had promised her the next time that happened, we'd go (dinner is too expensive). So four of us are going to her school for lunch on Friday. It should be fun! Poor DS3 is in school. 

Sat we are having lunch at my former boss's house.

(But I'm hoping to find some time for the basement over the weekend lol.)

[sheilaincali]

Debt-  Board Game night has taken on a life of it's own.  It's crazy.  Those that aren't regulars hear about it and want to come.  I never thought it would take off like it has.  DS' friend L came and helped babysit one of the other couple's kids in our family room while we played board games upstairs.  After that couple left DS and his friend were invited to join the rest of us.  He has been back a couple of times since then and has apparently been telling kids at school how much fun Board Game night is at our house.  So DS' crush (who has a crush on him from what we can tell) was laying down some serious hints about wanting to come over.  DS was telling us this and we were like "Um, buddy she wants you to invite her over"  He's pretty oblivious sometimes.  So he invited her over and she is quite excited about it.  Apparently their relationship is to the "Smiley Face" stage in texting. I know it's really a smiley face stage because he showed us the text and said "I think she's excited that I invited her over" IDK they're 14.  It's pretty amusing to watch him get flustered over a girl. 

[sheilaincali]

PS- lunch at DD's school on Friday sounds like fun  

[Deleted]

Sheila I need to go to bed soon but I'm going to PM you in the next few days for more details, I'm really tempted to try to get the same thing going here.

ETA: Too cute about DS's crush.

[sheilaincali]

Debt-  Sounds good.  I'm happy to share the fun that is Board Game Night  

[startsmart]

lol Sheila - the smiley face stage had me cracking up!

Mr Blue Eyes (aka the boy) totally saved me today by doing some of the complex web stuff that I hate and it took him like 3 minutes. Plus he left a hilarious message on my old website which made me laugh (it went back to our smack talking when our teams were facing off in playoffs). It's only another 8 weeks until we meet up again

Decluttering - well it's raining so I guess the sheets outside hanging on the fence are getting washed.... lol I need to complete my trade in order for Amazon tonight and then print the packing list and send that out before leaving town.

Other than that just general cleaning and upkeep - I'm missing a few supplies to finish projects (like the caulk) so I think I'm just going to survive the next week and then get back to the list.

[jenpen]

saving - love that vision of you and the puppy

so debt....2 shelves/month starting in February, and now 6 are done.  That must mean it's now April or May?  Why the heck is it 20-some degrees out?!?!? lol 

Just doing some general cleaning around here tonight. Cleaned the kitchen, put away or in the laundry a small pile of clothing that'd built up on the foot of the bed the past few days. Washed and put away cleaning rags/dust mops.  Cleaned off a small table and emptied out and put away a couple purses. Threw away some things during that process and took out recycling, so I think I'm at 27/2013.

[Saving4Norway]

I don't have a to-do list currently, but if I did it would look like this...

Tie 6 or 7 potty pads around 's fanny
Give  6-7 bully (chew) sticks
Get more than 3 hours sleep 

[startsmart]

Norway - does the puppy have a crate? that's what really helped with my doxie when I adopted him. They like to have a "safe home" and they won't pee there. He sleeps in the crate at night too which is awesome!

[Wisconsin Beth]

How did you start board game night?  Does it ever morph into gaming night or puzzle night? 

I'd like to start something like that too.  But our kids are both under 5 so we'd be rather limited in the game selection at this point....

[Waffle]

Everything on last night's list got done!  Where's my karma?  JK.  Tonight's going to be light on decluttering - I just plan to pick up a little in the ebay room, but mostly my plan for this evening is to add things to the ebay store.


MY smiley face didn't show up - so I just took it out.

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 did all the prep work for my split pea soup last night.  And then I played Words w/ Friends the rest of the night.  :PAnd curled up with my new library book. 

[sheilaincali]

Beth-  We started just playing a board game once a week with DS when he was little.  Checkers, Blokus, etc.  He liked that. Then this past summer the Dork Den opened.  They are a friendly neighborhood game store.  The Boys (DH and 14 year old DS) are part of a Miniatures league.  They play War Machines with a group of like 40 people on Mondays and some Saturdays.  The Den also has Board Game night every Thursday.  You can come in and play the store copies of a game of bring in games from home to play.  Tables set up so basically you can just walk in a say "I have King of Tokyo.  Anyone want to play with me?" They get like 30 to 40 people for Board Game night.

So from that large group we have a couple of couples that play regularily with us at our house.  We usually do it once a month.  We make something for dinner (like chili or tacos) and then the other couples bring things to go with it or desserts.  DS and a friend take the little kids into the other room to watch movies or help them color or whatever while the grown ups play board games.  When the little kids get sleepy their parents leave and DS and his friend join the rest of us playing board games. We play half a dozen different games in a night sometimes.  The guys typically polish off several bottles of wine.  Lots of laughing.  It's a really fun time.  It sounds dorky I know but it's us. 

I would suggest you keep it to 3 couples because a lot of games cap out at 6 players (unless you want to have multiple game tables going).  Bring in a sitter to amuse the kiddos and figure something easy for food.  They graze at my house.  Meaning they'll sit down for a bowl of chili and then get up half a dozen more times for veggies, chips, a brownie, more chili, etc.  Crockpot things work well. 

So Friday's is mostly for DS' friends.  A couple with no kids is coming over too so that it's not so awkward, first date-y for the Boy and his crush.  We'll probably do a baked potato bar as the "main" dish item.  On Saturday we are doing our regular once a month game day.  This time it's a brunch at the people with little kids' house.  They always feel bad having to leave when the kids get crabby because that's when DH and the other guys start to get goofy.  I transcribed their conversations on fb one night - like a twitter feed of all the dumb things they were saying.  The other couple was bummed that they left before the guys got super goofy.  We still laugh about our one friend annoucing in all seriousness that "I am in fact a Time Lord". 

If you want something to do with just your immediate family we like to have appeitizer dinner night (mini tacos, cheese sticks, etc all unhealthy crap that we like) and then play a few board games just the three of us. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

We'd have to do it on a weekend.  And it would probably be Board Game Afternoon as the kids bedtime is early.  I may have to meander around the board games at Target to find stuff good for 4 year olds....

[Saving4Norway]

Jan 23, 2013 23:37:45 GMT -5 startsmart said:

Norway - does the puppy have a crate? that's what really helped with my doxie when I adopted him. They like to have a "safe home" and they won't pee there. He sleeps in the crate at night too which is awesome!

Within a few minutes of the door being shut he gets freaky crazy knowing he's locked inside. Like literally lunging at the door, biting and scratching to get out. Do we just make him power thru the terror?

[grits]

I was wondering , when you travel, what do you buy as souvenirs?  Do you bring in clutter or buy things to complete your life?
If I buy anything, I will buy things that I will wear or things I want for myself.  I bought a small antique cookbook on one trip.  It was a later edition of one that belonged to my grandmother.  I bought a 100 year old vase on another trip.  I've bought beautiful small wooden storage boxes on other trips.  I've bought several prints, paintings, and sculpture.  I enjoy not only their beauty but I remember specific conversations with the artists, and where it all took place.  It brings back happy memories from trips taken long ago.  Ticket stubs remind me of plays that I've seen.  I will sometimes bring back things as birthday or Christmas gifts.  I bought a pair of dogwood blossum earrings carved from the wood of a dogwood tree.  I gave them to a friend who adored them.  She wore them so much that she had to buy new backs for them 3 times.

[busymom]

Grits, I like how you're tying your purchases with the memories from your trips. 


Well, I'm reporting in late, 'cause I had paperwork to do today, & places to be.    But, I still managed to get 2 bags of "garbage" out of our basement!

[grits]

busymom, one painting brings back more than one conversation with the artist.  I was in Charleston for Spoleto.  I bought the painting.  The artist talked to me at length about it, and she wanted to just visit with me for a while.  She enjoyed it so much she asked me to come visit again whenever I felt like it.  Such a pleasant memory.   It is one of my all time favorite paintings.  It is called, "Shadows of orchids".  It has a beautiful rich colored background of the floor of the woods.  The lady slipper orchids are just shadows among the bright colors.  Her name was Anna K. Singley.  Okay, this is making me want to go to South Carolina all the more.
I have a few small shells I collected from a beach I strolled. I collected them from a massive pile on the beach.  I keep my shells in a small apothecary jar.  It's easy to clean, and easy to see. One of them reminds me of a conversation with a woman who tried to con me out of it.  hehe
BTW, Hanging photos, and art up on the walls decreases clutter, and makes things easier to clean.

[Deleted]

Sheila thanks for explaining the game night! That's exactly what I wanted to PM you about. I wrote to our friends and we're going to organize something.

Well done Waffle, Busymom, Jen and Beth! LOL at it being April Jen, because there's snow on the ground (which is fairly rare here).

Grits we too tend to buy artwork, or else something we can actually use. We bought a set of nesting ceramic bowls in Spain one summer, and a ceramic fruit bowl in Tunisia. That sort of thing. We bought some amazing embroidery in Panama a few years ago and DH framed it.

I worked from 8am to 7pm yesterday, picked DH up from the station on my way home (he'd been away) and took the evening off. 

Yes, just two shelves left! DH was amazed when he saw the basement! I'd love to finish them this weekend, but we're pretty busy. It will also depend on whether DS1 is home since I only work in the basement when he's out.

I've fallen way behind on paperwork though lol.

[busymom]

Debt, I think you deserve a day off.  You've been working really hard!


Grits, I would love a painting like the one you've described.  I'm a Midwesterner, so I've seen Lady Slippers for real, and they're very rare & beautiful.    South Carolina is on my list of places that I would love to see.  If all else fails, I plan to do a lot of traveling when I retire.


I'm gonna have to flip a coin today.  After I see my Mom, it's either get my tax stuff organized, or get rid of a couple more bags out of the basement.  (Frankly, the purging would be more fun!) 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I folded laundry, did a few more loads.  DS vomited at midnight, leaving me the sole holdout of not getting sick.  I'm not holding my breath on not getting this...  At least Cabe only hit his pillow pet when he got sick.  And it's in the washing machine now. 

I took out the garbage, loaded and ran the dishwasher.  Tried to go to bed early but Cabe kept coming out.  DH burned the crap out of the split pea soup so I spent a lot of effort scrubbing the pot to get the charred stuff off.  Got most of it but we're letting it soak more and I'll take another whack at it tonight.  I love SOS pads for this. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Oh, and the recycling bin was emptied yesterday.  So I can break down more boxes this weekend. 

Weekend list:
Wash delicates.
Wash blankets.
Break down more boxes in basement. 
Go though both kids' socks and get rid of the too small ones.
Go though Cabe's shirts and pull the 4Ts.  They fit ok in the shoulders but are a shade too short at the waist.
VACUUM.

DH is home with Cabe today and I asked him to scrub the toilets. 

[sheilaincali]

To do list from Wednesday: 

Hang pictures back up in Family Room
Adjust master bedroom headboard
Fold and put away extra blankets
two loads of laundry
clean off the dryer (DH is forever stacking crap on the dryer because it's right next to the door to the garage so everything that needs to be in the garage ends up on the darn dryer)
Fax off paperwork for HSA payment.

I'll have to move fold and put away extra blankets (in our bedroom) to this weekend's list. 

To do this weekend:
Fold and put away extra blankets
haul at load to GoodWill
Haul empty paint cans to dumpster
Finish laundry

Small list and it shouldn't take long but we are pretty much busy tonight and all day/night tomorrow.  Leaving Sunday free and fortunately our goodwill takes donations on Sundays.

Debt- I'm glad that explaination made since.  I hope you and your friends have a blast.  DH is volunteering with DS' Knowledge Bowl team at a competition and two of the other parents were the mom's of kids coming over for Game Night tonight. The kids are super excited and the parents are glad they'll be out socializing   DS' friends are the smart kids at school so they tend to spend a lot of time reading and working on their computers and less time interacting with other human beings.

Beth- really hoping that the crud skips you.  Every morning I wake up not feeling like hell I'm relieved and hopeful that we may get lucky and skip the crud this year.  Hope your DS is feeling better soon.

Grits-  We are like you when we vacation.  We tend to try to find one meaningful type of thing rather than a bunch of junk.  Original Art is our downfall.  We only have one piece of art in our house that isn't original.  The memories that a piece of pottery brings or a pencil drawing from a street artist in Austria are so much more powerful than some postcare or generic mug.  That being said we don't vacation as much as we'd like so our house isn't overflowing with things.  We do have a crystal bowl that we keep currency in from our various trips though so that's kind of cool and doesn't take up much space.

[WholeLottaNothin]

Got a little bit of decluttering done this week. My energy has been lacking due to the lack of sleep. I'm at 94/2013.