2013 Declutter & Organize Thread[{locked}]

[Ombud]

OK~ plan for this weekend is to:

• donate Mom's clothes to Wardrobe for Opportunity: tax donation value per IRS $2800 (she only shopped at Chicos, Coldwater Creek, & Nordstrom)
• try to get Sis2 to catalog miscellaneous kitchen items & get those to goodwill
• box up books & put in my garage

I don't think we'll accomplish that much without breaking down but we'll try

[Wisconsin Beth]

[suek1958]

Beth, did you get my DM?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Yes. Sorry about not replying. My comics are pretty much 10 years old. He's looking for older ones.

[suek1958]

Hello gals! You're all making progress!
I'm still getting my house ready for sale... STILL in the clearing out stage.
And now it's January again and I'm really feeling the winter blahs/blues coming on strong

I CAN'T let this get a hold of me!!
I need to do something every day, w/o feeling overwhelmed, so I am going to set small goals for myself every day. After all, the big goals are made up of many small goals, right?

[suek1958]

Oh, I didn't realize that, Beth. Oh well, it was worth a try! Hope you are doing ok today!

[Wisconsin Beth]

Jan 2, 2013 15:25:56 GMT -5 suek1958 said:

Hello gals! You're all making progress!
I'm still getting my house ready for sale... STILL in the clearing out stage.
And now it's January again and I'm really feeling the winter blahs/blues coming on strong

I CAN'T let this get a hold of me!!
I need to do something every day, w/o feeling overwhelmed, so I am going to set small goals for myself every day. After all, the big goals are made up of many small goals, right?

Yep, everything is a step/stage in the overall goal of a clean and decluttered house.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Jan 2, 2013 15:29:23 GMT -5 suek1958 said:

Oh, I didn't realize that, Beth. Oh well, it was worth a try! Hope you are doing ok today!

I am, overall. I am ready to go home though. I've got a bit over a half hour to go.

[suek1958]

Sheila, YAY for finding $20! ;D I love when that happens! I found $5 the other day!

Start, instead of baskets, I'm using the big paper grocery bags, I write a 'label' on the handle.
It sure saves a lot of running!

The other day, I cleaned out the bottom cabinet in the entertainment center. I found a bunch of
8-track tapes and some newspapers from 1994!! LOL

[startsmart]

haha suek - I actually like the running around part, it keeps me from sitting on the couch all night! Of course the annoying thing is that my dogs have to follow me around whenever I'm walking.

I found these great oil rubbed bronze wire baskets at a thrift store last year - 7 of em for $35! So they're in my bathroom to hold washcloths, hand towels, etc and then one in the office, living room and guest room. I love them!

I got off jury duty yay for lawyers asking for a continuance until Monday so our entire group was dismissed!

Back home and thinking about tackling some more carpet cleaning so it can dry overnight.

[twinmami30]

Hi everyone- first time on this thread and Im loving it so far.. lets see for the month of January my plans are to

1. Organize and clean my closet (does not make sense how much crap I have in there)
2. Clean and organize the rest of my room
3. Clean and organize the front closet
4. Organize my kitchen pantry

[startsmart]

Wow twinmami, that's an ambitious list! You may find it helpful to break down the first item on your list into baby steps

I got the living room carpet cleaned, I still need to do the rug. Mostly I'm procrastinating on the hallway baseboards because it's such a messy job. I suppose I can move the tubs of photos and clean the boards next *pout*

It's also that timeof year to wash fans, I have 4 ceiling fans that need cleaning. thankfully the table fans were all cleaned at the end of October and put away in the garage.

Another upcoming project is to finish painting my AC grates, I've done 3 so far and have 6 more to go. I already have the spray paint so it's a cheap and easy upgrade. This is the kinda stuff I can do until it's time to tear out bathroom floors!

Oh, and my dad wants to come up next weekend and see some friends so my tax for the borrowed room is cutting and installing baseboards in 3 closets

[Saving4Norway]

Holy Smokes! Our population here has multiplied in the past week! Let's see, there had been... 5-6 of us now there are... 17! Wow! Welcome everyone! I guess decluttering is more than just MY new year's resolution. (Again.) ;D

Start - Thanks for mentioning the 15 minute timer strategy! It's one of my personal favorites but it had slipped my mind. I, too, feel that I can get overwhelmed when I list massive jobs on my to do list. I break stuff down into manageable pieces and find that it pays off for me.

If you're new here, it's all a matter of finding your groove, what motivates you to get your to-do list done. Smart, Beth, Debthaven, and Mizbear know that all they have to do is dangle a Karma point in front of my nose and I'll finish the world's longest to-do list by bedtime. I'm a sucker like that.

OK, off to put away 4-5 things from the table of junk.

[acemom]

My goal for this weekend is:
Clean off coffee table
Shred paper
Clean off dresser (our major catchall)
Go through books and see if we can find anything to sell/donate.

I too love the 15 minute timer idea. I think it will help me now more than ever, since I am in such a small, confined space.

[startsmart]

Yay! Baseboards in the hallway are cleaned and have a fresh bead of caulk along all the seams!

Such a messy job, especially scooting around the floors with the little dog hair tumbleweeds rolling down the hall I wish I could post here my friends Facebook update about the mess she made caulking (hint: she misspelled caulk)

As soon as my parents visit and then leave I'll be moving bookshelves and furniture out of the guest room - one of the last ceilings to de-texture and paint!

ETA ombud, I may have missed this, did your mom pass away recently? Just last month we donated the last of my grandparents things (grandpa is still living, grandmas has been gone almost 4 years) and sold their house.

[grits]

I do 20 minutes on a timer, and do stuff in every commercial break on tv. There is something like 17 minutes of commercials during each hour of television.

[redwagon]

Okay I've come up with a little list:

1. Organize closet in nursery.
2. Clean bathroom
3. Dust
4. Put away laundry
5. Return stuff to Kohls to get it out of my house
6. Deal with baby shower thank you cards (ie likely recycle them)
7. Organize coupons
8. Put away Christmas stuff (sadface)
9. Put stuff in attic (DH has to do this)
10. Health insurance claims
11. Finally deal with filing
12. Pantry inventory (this is more long-term)
13. Meal plan for next week
14. Reorganize top shelf of glasses cabinet
15. Put up paintings in our room

That should get me through the next week or two...

[Wisconsin Beth]

That's little Red?

Welcome twinmami! Be aware, there's a mom on WIR named twinmama who's in midst of separating/divorcing. Since people don't always look closely at screen names, you may get questions about it. Or you need to find a really unique avatar. ;D

[Wisconsin Beth]

I did nothing last night. Picked up DD from my parents, stayed there almost an hour to play with Mom's new 1,000 piece puzzle that she's working on the kitchen table. Got home, fed the kids, tossed DD in the tub to end the squabbling and watched TV. (Law and Order and then NCIS) played Words with Friends and tried to delete 2 read books from my Kindle. The Agatha Christie does NOT want to delete.

[sheilaincali]

Last night was a bust housework wise. Had to bring work home from my day job so I spent the night doing that instead of decluttering.

DH claims that he will do a couple of loads of laundry today and haul another load to the thrift store. Fingers crossed he does those two things. Yesterday he and DS got a little distracted running around town. DS is still off on winter break.

[Waffle]

Hello everybody. I've been cluttered and disorganized pretty much forever! I did make a little progress when I was off work over the holidays. My biggest accomplishments were cleaning out and organizing my bathroom closet and organizing all of my old VHs tapes. I thought maybe if I started posting to this thread, it would help me stay on track.

The next thing I need to tackle is my office -or what I sometimes refer to as my "Ebay room" - it's actually a spare bedroom, but it's full, because it's where I run my ebay business. It's gotten so bad that I actually sold something that I can't find. I supposedly keep all listed jewelry in a certain plastic 5 drawer chest - but I've got a missing piece. So tonight's plan is to go through anyplace else in that room where there is jewelry and see if I can find it. I also need to do at least one load of laundry tonight.

I just hate it when things get so bad that I can't find something.

[redwagon]

Have you guys heard of I Heart Organizing? It's a blog and I'm in love with it. I feel more organized just reading it. (http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com) I just bought her 2013 planner (I still need to put it together as it's a printable) and am excited to start meal planning again. There are other printables you can buy to help you with pantry inventory, media inventory, budgeting, etc. I WILL be organized and on budget this year. I have to be, with the twins' daycare essentially taking all of my salary. Still not entirely sure how this is going to work...

[Waffle]

Success! I found the missing jewelry. It was in a box on a shelf with jewelry that isn't listed on Ebay, yet. My system failed, but at least I found them and don't have to send an email to a buyer cancelling the transaction. This room needs a lot of work - I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I can come up with a list this weekend.

Redwagon - I have not heard of I heart organizing, but I will look into it.

[acemom]

tonight I got the laundry folded and put away, beds made and the coffee table is cleared off... I consider that slight progress

[grits]

I am looking at giving away more things I own to make extra closet space. When the closets are empty, I can get more stuff out of the rooms.

[redwagon]

Today I vacuumed, which wasn't on the list, but it needed to be done.

I also put away three laundry baskets of laundry, but then I did a bunch that still needs to be put away, so it's kind of a draw. My cats are having some issues adjusting to the babies and decided to pee/poo in my closet, so anything on the floor (some dirty, some on the bottom shelf) had to be washed. Lots of fun at my house today.

I feel like I did so much more than that, but I guess between feedings and crying babies the day slipped away from me. I did finally put some sheets away that'd been in a pile since we had houseguests, and put the duvet cover back on our bed, so our room looks more put together.

And I washed all the floors upstairs, again because of the cats, just in case.

I ordered a binder to put my new organizer in, but then realized it's weird and has 11 holes and I can't find a punch to do that that isn't $40. I might have to downgrade to a boring 3-hole binder that isn't as pretty. We'll see. Maybe Staples has a weird punch in their copy center I can use... I like that the binder the I Heart Organizing girl used has inside pockets. Plus it looks like a notebook, not a binder. We'll see. I know I'm spending way too much on the whole thing. But they stopped making the calendar I usually use so I had to find something new.

Oh, and I worked out. Organizing my health, too...

waffle - glad you found the missing jewelry!

acemom - that's definitely progress!

[startsmart]

Today was good - lots of errands got done around town. I was going to take the afternoon off but instead closed a new client with my best friend Which means in 8-12 weeks we'll be heading to CHINA! So exciting to start planning this trip and working with the cilent.

I picked up a plastic organizer for the fake wreath I bought and got the last of my decorations put away. Next up I'm folding some laundry as I continue to work on client emails. It pathetic but I love re-writing bad emails.

[Saving4Norway]

Waffle - Your post made me laugh as I have certainly had my own 'desperation cleanings' the last few years. Unlike you I haven't been able to find some of my things I've been searching for. Most likely accidentally recycled or tossed. Being disorganized stinks sometimes.

I'm massively lazy right now and trying to talk myself into putting my daily 4-5 items away from the junk table.

[startsmart]

Norway - go do 5 items and you'll get karma

Bribery people, it works.

I'm only working this late because I'm watching the West Wing on my extra monitor!

[Wisconsin Beth]

I put away 2 baskets of laundry. Sorted though both kids dressers for outgrown clothes. Tried to get DD to let me pack away the short sleeved/sleeveless stuff. No dice. Put the gender neutral stuff in Cabe's dresser and the rest in the Goodwill bag. There's wasn't much this time. Probably because I did it in Fall and they didn't get a lot of clothes since then.

So this weekend's goal is to deal with laundry, treadmill and get the toys to dcp and other stuff to Goodwill. Out of my house at any rate. ;D