2015 Declutter and Get Organized Thread

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Not getting very far. I just took an hour and half nap because this cold is kicking my patooty. 


The one above this line should say "Vacuum Couch"         12/22/2015                 Medium              Cleaning                

[Ombud]

Getting back to my list (Knee Deep in Water Chloe puts my procrastination to shame) :

1. Rebalance investment accounts
2. Study up on trusts
3. Find new PT job
4. New window coverings - selected still not bought
5. Paint, replace bathroom sink, mirror, 2 light switches, hook up TV in my room - Contractor
6. Laundry room & 1/2 bath - Contractor
7. Have carpet, tile, dryer vent cleaned - Coit
8. Kitchen
9. Family room (find new sofa - flooring)
10. Front yard

[busymom]

We got back safely with DD in tow last night.

Today I did grocery shop, & found all but fresh cranberries for Christmas.  Which means I may need to go out one more time.

I did a little something for myself:  I bought a Fitbit Zip, which I hope will motivate me to do more moving around after Christmas.

I'm going to drop off a little care package with my relative after I pick up DS from school.  Tonight we'll get some baking done.

(Please don't ask what my house looks like.  DD brought home a lot of stuff from college. Plus, the usual mess.  Hopefully I can get everyone to help get the house back in order.)

[startsmart]

Made a drop off at Goodwill today and picked up dog food but otherwise have been pretty down and out with a bad cold this week. I now have 5 days with zero responsibilities to recover.

If I feel better then I need to assemble a bench and fix the bookshelf for the guest room but otherwise just sleep and lots of decaf tea. 

[Ombud]

Baby steps:

Rebalanced investment accounts
Ready to set up trust as soon as Schwab has their piece in place
Took 2015 Roth & pd off brokerage loan, now I just need to get 2015 Roth in by 4/15/2016

1. Selected contractor but he's busy: paint, replace bathroom sink, mirror, 2 light switches, hook up TV in my room, laundry room & 1/2 bath
2. Need to buy selected new window coverings for him to put up
3. Find new PT job
4. Have carpet, tile, dryer vent cleaned (spring?) - Coit
5. Kitchen
6. Family room (find new sofa - flooring)
7. Front yard

[debthaven]

Today was the funeral. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Both DH and I are wiped out physically and emotionally. 

Yesterday DH printed and folded 300 mass booklets for our friend and delivered them this morning. 

The house isn't great but it's OK ... especially given that 3 kids are living here now. 

I'm running the dishwasher now, I'll empty it as soon as it's done. I would have liked to do some laundry but DD is doing hers, I'll do a load when she's done. 

[Ombud]

 debthaven 

[debthaven]

Thank you Ombud. There were hundreds of people there. He was very loved, but that wasn't enough to fend off his demons. 

ETA: Emptied dishwasher, started laundry, even filed some of Shitepile. I guess I need the feeling of control over all that. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Hugs, debthaven. 


My mother and 8yo niece arrived yesterday early afternoon and left late this morning. It went suprisingly well considering my mother and I don't get along well, I've had this icky cold, and my niece is known for being overly annoying (though she has mellowed out in the last 18 months). 

I've completed wrapping everything. I spent an hour and a half in my classroom this afternoon. I'll update my list soon. It's on the laptop and I'm on the chromebook.

[debthaven]

I'm glad it's going well with them Chloe. 

I am beyond exhaustion but I can't seem to go to bed. I am so thankful that I've finished my marking (except for that one paper), Xmas shopping and even most of the grocery shopping. 

Tomorrow DS3 (who is also exhausted for other reasons) and I will take it easy and meet DH later for a Jewish Christmas Eve. I'll stop by my friend's house at some point too. 

DD is working on Christmas so we won't have all that much time all together, but at least we will have some. 

On 26 Dec we leave for the UK with DS3. There will be people to be with my friend. 

My friend's son told me he is worried about what will happen when he goes back to the UK (he lives / works there) and everybody else goes back to work on 4 Jan. I'm teaching all day on 6 Jan, but my semester really starts again on 11 Jan.

I've given my schedule to the two closer friends who are organising everybody. Luckily she also has several retired friends / SAHM friends too. Between us all she should not be alone until she's ready. We all wish she would go back to work PT (she's a teacher) but she says it's impossible to organise a PT and that she's not capable of going back FT, which is understandable. We're hoping her school comes up with an arrangement for her when she's ready.

This is so hard. Thanks for letting me talk here. 

ETA: I was amazed, and glad, that the people who spoke spoke openly about depression, and suicide. It was a joint service between a Reverend and a Priest. 

[debthaven]

And for a little light relief. Since I'm Jewish, I asked the other book club girls (we are her closest friends) what the protocol for flowers is. One of the two friends suggested not getting flowers now (we knew there would be TONS) and instead, to buy plants for the grave in Jan, once it's covered. We all thought that was a wonderful idea.

But, one (E) ordered 50 white long-stemmed roses anyway, just for friends and close family to drop into the tomb. I said, I can order some too, or share the cost, she said no don't, 50 is plenty, more than enough for close family and close friends. I didn't feel comfortable going to a Christian funeral without flowers (we also brought food to the wake, I shopped for the wake, DH did the mass booklets). So today I bought two bunches of white tulips at the farmer's market. 

When we got to the cemetery, the funeral director took my tulips away. I said "BUT BUT BUT" and he said "THANK YOU!" and literally wrenched them out of my hands. 

E managed to hold onto her roses. Then the funeral director said, we'd like to ask the family to drop a rose in. And THEN he took E's 50 roses away. First he distributed them to family (as E had intended) but then he distributed them willy nilly to whoever was standing nearby.  

E and S, the two people who organised EVERYTHING, didn't have a single rose out of the 50 left to drop in. E is British and thus more polite than I am. 

At that point, I saw my 26 white tulips lying with all the elaborate wreaths, and I took them back. A few people gasped as I picked them up but I didn't care. I opened the wrapping and I distributed them to whoever was left on the line (us closest friends and any husbands) just as E had intended to do. 

There were 2 tulips left, I put them on a nearby grave that had no flowers.

I also managed to throw a pebble in (Jewish tradition). 

[busymom]

Sorry for such a difficult day, Debt!  Blessings to your friend as she adjusts to her "new normal".  I don't know if you ever read Donna Freedman's blog, but she recently had an awesome post on dealing with depression in yourself.

I never left the house today, waiting for a plumber to call back, only to find out I couldn't get him until Tuesday, unless I paid the "holiday rate"  (triple!!).  No way I'll pay that, as I'm too much of a YMer.  So, we'll have to live without a shower until next week.  At least the tub portion works. 

I'm finishing up the treat bags tonight.  I got my baking done this afternoon.  I put one pie in the fridge for tomorrow, & the other will be for when the extended family gets together.

[Chocolate Lover]

 Debt, I'm so sorry, good thoughts and prayers to you and your friend. 

I have less than half a dozen things left to wrap, and baking left to do. How much depends on whether the in laws can get it together and work with the time DH gave them for Christmas night. He's about fed up with it all, so I may or may not have to make that batch of brownies. It's not like they'll go to waste if we don't take them over there though. ?

[Jaguar]

I've been up for an hour and I washed the dishes and swept up the front doorway area inside and outside. I'm just doing my meds right now.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

debthaven, I saw this on FB today. I don't know if it helps or not, but please know that was my intent. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Here's my update for today. DD#2 is picking up a lot of the chores because she wants money. (I pay her per job. Jobs generally equate to $4 per hour. I base jobs on how long they take me to do them.) This is the first time I've used this pre-designed excel to-do list file. I'm not liking how it pushes the due dates out each day. While making the lists on December 20, the tasks I set to be done on on December 30 have now been changed to four days later since it is four days later. I need to go back and re-set those due dates. 
For now though, I'm going to set my timer for 30 minutes and get through more grading. 

I did read the first portion of Frankenstein this morning, so that will also give me a start on making the plan for that for my advanced 8th graders. 

[startsmart]

hugs debthaven, it's always hard being there for friends during a rough time but I'm sure they appreciate it! 

My cold is slightly better so I was able to assemble the bench for the guest room last night and then fix the broken foot on the bookshelf today. Both are in the guest room where I'm slowly getting things done. I have soooo many fabric projects right now they're kinda taking over the closet space. I need to re-hang a few pictures in here and then decide what to do about toys and fabric. 

So thankful that I have zero plans tomorrow and can just relax. I would like to get the dining table cleared off which means moving a lot of papers into my office so that's on tap after I finish the guest room (hopefully tonight). 

I did call and talk to my grandma when my voice was stronger to wish her a Merry Christmas - at 94 she's like the queen of the holidays with people dropping by every day with gifts and hundreds of cards sent to her this month. Since she's outlived nearly all her friends and relatives she's the one they all keep on the card list for decades, even when older generations pass on. Most of the cards turn into 'so-and-so's son and daughter-in-law' or 'her dad was in this club with us' so it's usually not people I know but fun to see her get all that love. Me? I got a card from my dentist... 

[Ombud]

More baby steps:

Rebalanced investment accounts
Ready to set up trust as soon as Schwab has their piece in place
Took 2015 Roth & pd off brokerage loan, now I just need to get 2015 Roth in by 4/15/2016
Drapes, curtain rods ordered
Made gingerbread cheesecake

1. CONTRACTOR: paint, replace bathroom sink, mirror, 2 light switches, hook up TV in my room, 1/2 bath molding & mirror, put up new window coverings
2. COIT: clean carpet, tile, vents
3. Find new PT job: Phone interview Monday
4. Kitchen - counters / flooring / wash wallpaper
5. Family room (find new sofa - flooring)
6. Front yard

[debthaven]

Happy Christmas to you all! 

[Angel!]

This has been the most relaxed Christmas day in years. We usually get together with family several hours away which means wake up and quickly do santa presents, quickly eat, and hop in the car and be gone all day leaving no time to relax or enjoy any presents. The family gathering has been postponed until tomorrow so we got to take our time and play with gifts. I also got tons of work around the house because the kids were occupied. I made another huge giveaway pile of mostly toys. Turns out Christmas is a fantastic time to do this because the kids are so enthralled with their new toys they didn't mind giving away tons of their old toys. The basement isn't perfect, but it looks better than it has in at least a year.

I also have yet another box of clothes that I'm bringing to my cousin tomorrow. There is still so much to do, but I actually feel like I'm making progress. I'm trying to have another full carload to donate on Sunday.

[Jaguar]

I've got dressers to organize and a full closet as well. That's my January 2016 projects. I've been getting rid of old clothes every other regular week garbage, it's the only garbage that old clothes can go in.

[busymom]

Hi! I hope you all had a nice Christmas! My kids got a number of nice things from our extended family.

Today, I'm back to cleaning out the portion of our house that gives a plumber access to the pipes.

[startsmart]

I wrote up a post yesterday but them my browser crashed before I could post it. Did a whole lot of nothing, just worked on the fabric in the guest room but I'm pretty much stalled there until I get a sewing machine again. I'll try to pick one up in January since my mom will probably keep her spare. 

Other than that nothing, it was kinda nice to have no travel but it also came with talking to no one and zero presents so 

[Jaguar]

I've started the process of cleaning out two dressers and one closet. One bag of garbage just went out the door.

[debthaven]

We had a lovely Christmas with all 4 kids. DD had to work in the afternoon/evening but she was there to open presents and for the first part of the meal.

We left yesterday for the UK so now we are with DH's family ... lots of cousins and lots of kids. 

[startsmart]

I unexpectedly got one big item off my to do list! We have 35 women coming to a retreat in May and wanted to get them journals as gifts but the ones we bought in Sept for this year were just okay for about $9/ea. I found some cute ones at Jo-Ann's and meant to go buy one to see if it was good quality and then got sick and was avoiding shopping during the last week before Christmas. Well, I went yesterday to find some thread and they were on super sale so I bought 40! While I do have to store them for 4 months until I leave for Mexico, I'm so glad those are purchased  

Today I'm working on writing a sales page for my business, I need to create a few things for a client, then cleaning up the bookshelves in my office and organizing them a bit more.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 26, 2015 20:30:12 GMT -5 startsmart said:

I wrote up a post yesterday but them my browser crashed before I could post it. Did a whole lot of nothing, just worked on the fabric in the guest room but I'm pretty much stalled there until I get a sewing machine again. I'll try to pick one up in January since my mom will probably keep her spare. 

Other than that nothing, it was kinda nice to have no travel but it also came with talking to no one and zero presents so 

We didn't travel either, and no one came to see us. While it is two adults and two children in the house, as opposed to just a single adult, it is interesting being "just us" for the holiday. Far less stress is nice. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

We've taken down the Christmas decorations. There are still storage tubs in the house, and the train set is still up. The inflatables are inside the house and in the garage. It will take a few days to dry them out. 

[Sharon]

The house is pretty much back in order from the Christmas Day festivities.  There were 15 of us for dinner that day.  The Christmas decor is still up but the Christmas dishes are put away, the tables clothes are washed, pressed and put away.  The random bows, gift bags/boxes that were left behind have been dealt with.

I was going to quilt today but that seems like too much work.

[Deleted]

I cannot wait for this thread to start for 2016. I need something to kickstart me into decluttering. I've made a little headway in 2015, but actually counting sounds like the incentive I need.