2015 Declutter and Get Organized Thread

[Ombud]

Oct 1, 2015 16:01:04 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Lol, I've been googling what to keep on kitchen countertops for some inspiration and guidance, and someone thought this was an after shot?



This is what I am trying to get away from.....and I didn't even have that much!

OMG I guess I should get started on mine! that looks organized to me

[Wisconsin Beth]

It does make me want to gut my kitchen.  lol.

Nothing to report.  DD ran a fever last night and I was tired so after I got her down (it was DH's turn for DS, we alternate them) I crawled into bed, put football on and just vegged.  DH came out of DS's room and shut the house down and joined me.  As usual, I fell asleep in the 3rd quarter so I don't know who won yet. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I'm good with the appliances used frequently (you define it for yourself) being on the counters.  I've got 2 utensil holders by the stove, one for the shorter spoons and 1 for the taller/longer stuff.  And the seasonings one uses frequently being out is ok too. 

I'm iffy on the box of baggies and the 3 pepper mills! 

My problem is my husband and his sense of what should be where.  Esp. since he'll use a particular spot for a while and then randomly decide to keep something in a different spot.  For example, for years he kept the salt shaker, his ghee and the olive oil to the left of the stovetop.  A few months ago, I started consistently finding them to the right of the stovetop, in the middle of my only 'open' counterspace.    And mixed up with them is the dishsoap.  Which I try/want kept near the damn sink. 

[debthaven]

I noticed the 3 pepper mills too! Sheesh lol!

We have a U-shaped kitchen so there's quite a bit of room. We have (in order) dustbuster, microwave, cutting board, two utensil holders, knife holder, 3 ceramic canisters, toaster, coffee pods/coffee machine, and landline phone/pen holder. It sounds crowded but it's not. Everything is pushed to the back so there is always counterspace in front (except in front of the microwave).  

The fruit bowl is on the low wooden hutch with a radio. The salt/pepper/napkins/rabbit food/a few cookbooks are on a small wooden shelf over the radiator, near the kitchen table. 

I marked 17/20 papers (16 from one class and 1 late paper.) I have 3 more late papers but I can do those on the train, so I'm calling it good. 

I also ran / emptied the dishwasher and did a load of laundry.

[wvugurl26]

That countertop is insane. Mine aren't really much better. When I lived alone it was organized though. I have a salt mill that looks like those mills in the picture. Our pepper mill is much bigger.

[plugginaway22]

Yes, my dream is always to be more of a minimalist, but reality is, we have a large kitchen and on the counters right now is a microwave, Keurig, one small crock holding about 6-8 most used utensils, salt and pepper mill by stovetop, one decorative basket that holds tea towels and hot pads, and at the far left corner, our, what you guys call SHITEPILE, and that is all.

[busymom]

I'm not going to make it to being a true minimalist until I'm an empty-nester. And, unless DH changes his ways (he's always hanging onto stuff WAY too long). He literally empties out his pockets on my kitchen counter when he gets home from work. Of course, he doesn't do anything with any receipts or paperwork that he's put there, so it's usually up to me to "keep or throw". And sometimes, he write passwords on scraps of paper, so I don't dare to get rid of those.

I ran a LOT of errands today.  At least this time the hazardous waste site was open, so I dropped off some stuff there.  I also did some stuff for the estate, & I made my big run to Wally World.  There is now more room in the garage, but I'm not convinced that all of Mom's stuff will fit into one garage stall.  I guess I'll find out in a week or two if it's doable. 

Oh, and at our house the toaster & can opener are staying on the counter.  They get so much use there is no point in tucking them away between  meals.  (It's not like I don't have anything else to do...) 

[debthaven]

Saturday

- order firewood Oct 16
- wash DS1's sheets
- printer paper
- DS3 dermatologist
- download Office from school website doesn't work
- 3 last papers
- pharmacy

I lost Office in the computer problem last weekend. I'm not sure the school site will let me download it since I'm not permanent. I sure hope so ...

DD's trial period ends Monday. If she gets hired as permanent staff she gets health insurance. She should know Monday BUT she got the October scheduling and she's on it, which is great.  

All this talk of kitchen counters incited me to get rid of a few things that were hanging around ... old bus schedules, expired coupons, etc. 

[3catslady]

One more week of 6 am to 10 pm work 6 days in a row and I might be able to get things done.  The first thing I am going to do is sleep.  I need more that 4-5 hours of sleep a night.  DIL will be done with her placement and go back to classes, I hope.  I can plan what to get done then.

[debthaven]

I got a bunch of errands done today, but no schoolwork.

Sunday
- 3 last papers
- oral marks (X1)

Monday
- pharmacy

[busymom]

Ok, so today was a familiar "dance". Two steps forward, one step back. 

I got ahold of the painters, who need to come back out. The problem is, they need to get inside the garage. There is currently only one working clicker to the garage. Which means if they lose or damage it, I'm royally scr*wed. Sooo, I'm going to get in touch with a company I've worked with before on Monday, & even though this garage door opener is VERY old, see if they've got anything in stock that would work.

The other problem with them needing access to the garage is, I've got a bunch of my parent's furniture in there.  Which means, so that the painters have "elbow room", I may need to set up the moving team to deliver stuff to my garage sooner rather than later.  Why do I get the feeling this week is going to be painful? 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

That counter is crazy cakes! it looks like they took everything out of the cupboard and put it on the counter!

I'm the person who wants NOTHING ON THE COUNTERS!!!

I have conceded that the Keurig must live on the counter. The toaster lives on what was supposed to be the microwave shelf, but the microwave has it's own personal counter because I honestly couldn't have it on the regular counters. The knife block lives next to the toaster. I do let the olive oil dispenser live on the counter because it matches the blue accents that I have in the kitchen/great room. There is a display dish and a currently-being-used-utensil tray that also matches the navy blue accent.

This is an old picture that is supposed to be of my daughters morning ritual of moving from their bed to the couch, but you can see the microwave near the window. It's on a separate, freestanding cabinet that we had to purchase specifically for the microwave because I couldn't handle it on the counter. The previous microwave was smaller and fit in a corner, but when it died DH lost his mind buying this monstrosity.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I spent ten hours at a volleyball tournament today. I still have the cold, though my throat is not hurting anymore. 


The girls did quite a bit of chores today, so that's nice. They took care of last week's deep cleaning zones, which was the laundry room, tv room, and napping room. DH washed, dried, and folded all of the laundry. 


Sunday, I need to

• clean the toilets
• put away the laundry that is already folded. 
• grade about 50 papers
• Write lesson plans for next week
• menus for next week
• plan out deep cleaning zones for Oct
• plan a camping weekend for Oct
• vacuum the cars
• set up the fall & Halloween decorations

[debthaven]

Chloe I love the blue accents on the couch.   My kitchen is not open-plan with my living room so having things on the counter is probably less of an issue in my house.

10 HOURS at the volleyball tournament?! That sounds like torture! I'm sure you'll be relieved when the volleyball season is over soon (maybe it is now?)

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 4, 2015 1:56:35 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Chloe I love the blue accents on the couch.   My kitchen is not open-plan with my living room so having things on the counter is probably less of an issue in my house.

10 HOURS at the volleyball tournament?! That sounds like torture! I'm sure you'll be relieved when the volleyball season is over soon (maybe it is now?)

Thanks! Blue is my favorite color. The swooshes on the valance above the microwave are navy blue also. The window next the couch has one also as does two other windows.
My dishes are blue and the entry way has a blue accent rug on the wood floors.

I have volleyball until October 14. 
We have games this Mon, Wed, Fri, and another 10 hour day next Saturday. Then, games next Mon and Wed and that's it!
 

[debthaven]

Chloe, I meant the girls, not just the pillows lol. 

The season is almost over then, whew!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

HAHAHAHA! Yeah, I love them too, debthaven. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 3, 2015 21:34:30 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

I spent ten hours at a volleyball tournament today. I still have the cold, though my throat is not hurting anymore. 


The girls did quite a bit of chores today, so that's nice. They took care of last week's deep cleaning zones, which was the laundry room, tv room, and napping room. DH washed, dried, and folded all of the laundry. 


Sunday, I need to

• clean the toilets
• put away the laundry that is already folded. 
• grade about 50 papers
• Write lesson plans for next week
• menus for next week
• plan out deep cleaning zones for Oct
• plan a camping weekend for Oct
• vacuum the cars
• set up the fall & Halloween decorations

Well, somewhat productive. 
I also made a lasagna, walked Bill the dog, and went to church. 

[busymom]

Hi Kids! A very productive day at Mom's house. And, I found out that the 2nd garage opener clicker actually works, if you put a new battery in it. (I remembered that as Mom declined, her mechanical aptitude also got worse. Which means, just because she thought something was broken, didn't mean that it was...) Sooo, I don't have to go shopping for a new clicker.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Be proud of me (and DH) - we waded though all of the kids paperwork from last year AND I made a decent start of the previous years' paperwork that was dumped in overflowing bins in the china hutch.  I stopped before the hutch was finished because DD was trying to "help" me and I just didn't have the patience at that point.  2 big black trash bags of paper are OUT!  And DD went though the stash of German language assignments in her room and decided to toss most of them.  So her Little Tykes bookshelf/toy bin thing is in much better shape. 

However, the living room has damn near all of THIS year's stuff scattered everywhere. 

Once I finish the china hutch, 1 shelf is going to be for 3D kid art that they bring home.  The stuff we kept, when we do another sweep (in a couple of years, if current history is anything to go by) I'm sure we'll 95% of the remaining stuff. 

The kids destroyed DS's room this weekend so last night I spent a solid 30 minutes finding the floor - they even had stuff stuffed underneath the area rugs in there!  I need to start tossing toys when they're not looking. 

[snapdragon]

I really did not do alot over the weekend. I spent Saturday with my dad and we watched "Unbroken" which I got from the library.

Sunday was a beautiful day and I went for a long walk with my camera and found several photos to take. I finally found some wild blackberries and other growing things along with some fun foliage photos. Than I tried a Cinnamon Chai Tea Latte for the first time and it was really good. Of course, on the walk back home someone decided to honk their car horn I believe trying to get me to drop or throw my drink.   Luckily, the cover was on really well and I only got a little drippage on my hand and not on my pants. Than I ended up taking a 4+ hour "nap" and that just messed with my nights sleep. I was going to work in my bedroom but ended up napping instead. 

[debthaven]

Whoo hoo Beth, that's great!

Snap we all need our downtime too!

My Personnel class was cancelled today (at the last minute so I'll get paid for it). So I got home early and did a marathon of my 40 (long) grammar tests. It took me 5 hours but I'm done with those 2 bunches. I'll get one more bunch tomorrow. 

I also shopped, made dinner, and did a load of laundry.

The laundry we don't put in the dryer has been piling up for days, so I finally turned on the heat. The house is warmer, and there's less laundry. Win win!

ETA: I finally got my Personnel classes today! I have 3 groups, like last year.

I literally cannot fit them in on the 3 days that I teach so I will have to go in a 4th day regularly instead of occasionally, which means less time for marking. I also got a request for private tutoring that I'm considering. And there are the new translations ... To be honest I'm feeling rather overwhelmed / frazzled. I've always opted to have 3 really long days (i.e. a full-time teaching load over 3 days) but I think it's impossible at this point. 

I'm VERY happy about the Personnel classes (staff or professors at my school) but I really don't know what to do about the other tutoring job. I'm beginning to feel like I'm doing things quickly and badly. 

[Happy prose]

Hi all...so I'm back after enjoying a long summer! This past weekend I actually took some clothes from my closet for donation! I have a long way to go!

A friend of mine gave me some suits about three years ago, that were a little too long. They got pushed to the back of the closet. I have some meetings coming up that I should be a bit more dressed for, so I finally took them to be altered. When I brought them back home, I didn't want to smush them back in the closet, so I started purging. It feels good! Hopefully more will follow this weekend.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Welcome back! 

Tidied up kitchen a bit, set up crock pot last night for tonight; ran dishwasher and did some laundry. 

Tonight I want to get to the gym. 

[debthaven]

This week  
- mark 19 Grammar tests (by Wed)
- send 2 D emails (by Fri)
- send 3 MP emails (by Fri)
- send 2 FB emails (by Fri)


Too tired to do any of this tonight. I'm working all day tomorrow instead of just in the afternoon, so I'll probably do this on Friday. I'll try to do some tomorrow after school but we'll see.

Going to the main campus on Saturday for an all-day meeting, so that's half the weekend. 

Made chicken soup with last night's chicken.

ETA: I got started on the marking so I should be able to finish tomorrow after school. 

[busymom]

Ok, so I met with the floor refinishing guy, & I'm going to get those floors done, beginning next week. (It's a 4-day process to complete the job.) Just don't ask how much it'll cost (but I WILL tell you it's more expensive than painting the house's interior).   Before the floors can be done, I'm getting the last of the furniture & stuff out of Mom's house, & I just got off the phone with a company I've used in the past.  My poor garage will be stuffed to the gills again before the week is out, but at least Mom's house will be cleared out. 

[debthaven]

Busy are you still planning to wait till spring to list it? Sounds like it will be all done much sooner!

[busymom]

Due to waiting on Mom's estate, I can't legally sell it until specific paperwork goes through.  At the very earliest, the papers would clear around Thanksgiving, & at the latest, about 6-8 weeks after that. The time between Thanksgiving & Christmas people generally don't go house hunting, & the agent I'm working with says wait until February (at the earliest). Because I live in an area famous for blizzards and -30 temps, I'm getting as much done now before the weather turns ugly.   Or, as my Dad used to say, "I'm making hay while the sun shines". 

[debthaven]

Busy, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining. :-)

[debthaven]

DS1 called tonight. He told me he arrives next week (which of course I knew). He told me he has rented his friend's place in town for a month starting the following week so he can visit apts more easily, and since "hopefully he'll have bought an apt by the end of the month".  

I was floored. I told him, you do realize it takes AT LEAST 3 months for all the paperwork, and more if you're getting a loan, right? He said, you're kidding me. Part of the reason I'm going down to PT for 3 months is to get settled into my new apt, when I find it. 

I told him, there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the sale will close before you're back at work FT (Gd knows where). The best you can hope to do in 3 months is find a place, and sign the preliminary papers. I told him, then you'll need to think about who you want to sign for you (i.e. me or his dad, my ex), and you will also need to decide whose RE lawyer you want to hire, because you'll need one. 

DS1 is 29, he has been Country Director for his NGO for 2 or 3 years (by far the youngest they have ever had), he manages refugee camps and tens of thousands of refugees, but he thought he would close on an apt here in a month?! 



ETA: I have NO agenda here, I honestly don't care whether DS1 gives authorisation for the final signature to me or his Dad, or if DS1 chooses his Dad's / grandparents' RE lawyer or ours. I just thought it was funny/cute how totally clueless he was LOL!