2016 Declutter and Get Organized Thread

[debthaven]

I was up early this morning so I took my widowed friend breakfast.

Not much else planned for today since I was at the main campus all day yesterday.

ETA: We never got around to ordering firewood this summer. So DH chopped up the pallets we had left behind the house and I put them away. We have enough for a few fires.

[busymom]

Hi Kids!

DS's bedroom is completely cleared out, and DD is still going through some things, but her furniture has to be OUT before bedtime tonight.  The flooring guys arrive here bright & early tomorrow.  The next few days will be noisy, but it'll be SO nice when those hardwood floors are down, & we can put things back.  (Just don't ask what my house looks like.  I've got over a dozen tote boxes in my livingroom loaded with stuff from both kids.  And then, there's the garage...) 

[countrygirl]

I'm going in the basement and pull out curtains to put in the new rent house, that will

get rid of more stuff. I have pulled a lot out of boxes down there and gotten rid of stuff.

Will just keep doing so.

[debthaven]

Good luck Busy. It'll be worth it!

[moneysquirrel]

Debt said:

Moneysquirrel I'm amazed at how much marking you have, and you always seem to keep on top of it.

Debt -- I teach the entire middle school -- we are on a rotating schedule and I only see them at most twice a week -- and when I have things come in for correcting  they seem to come in large batches.  I try to spread things out most times depending on school schedules and other activities I can't always. The items from last week along with this week is a prime example of this.  Some of these are easy to corre -- like the quizzes  - 10 question multiple choice -- but the projects take time.  I've done this so often that I learned several tricks to getting some things done efficiently and quickly.  I try not to let things build up as I know that more items will be coming in later.

Current Week List:


Home/Personal:
--Maintain Progress
--Meet M for coffee ??
School:
--7th projects @85 
--Quizzes -- 4 sets @100
--Tutoring 
--Field Trip Forms -- fill out and submit
Crafts:
--Work on CR necklace--still trying to finish this one
--String one item for upcoming craft shows
--Finish pin
--Beaded Rope



I got a lot of things done school related  this past week. Also managed to get the flu shot taken.  House was maintained but no other items were done.  Very little if any craft work was done but none of these items have deadlines so I am ok with keeping them on the list.  Laundry is caught up and dishes are done and a few plants have been re-potted.   

[startsmart]

Iggy - I’m with you, we also need a water softener but since my car takes up so much of the garage I don’t think it’s going to fit where the pipes are located. It might be an add on after I move.

countrygirl - are you selling all the furniture to make room for new or moving or ? Sounds like a lot of change happening at once, good for you for staying on top of it all! (I would be so overwhelmed!)

I'm just now looking seriously at a couple properties for my next home and hoping they stay on the market and drop in price a bit before I can go out and look at them. Either of the 2 I've bookmarked have great character, tons of space, small communities and incredible prices - I'm interested to see which has a better layout and if an inspection finds any issues. Moving out of the state is sure to bring up a ton of work to do but I'm excited to find a new home in 2017! 

In September I did drop off a bag at Goodwill but need to find the list I made so I can add those items to my tally. September was honestly a blur, we have so much to do in the next 2 weeks before the business stuff gets busy.

IF everything works out with this new client I’ll be in San Francisco one day this week for a long day of coaching + event that evening. But it means they need to sign the contract and make payment Monday so we’ll see if it happens!

I did get all my reservations done for my next trip (early since it’s going to be busy season) and now will only need to make plans for excursions when I arrive. SUPER excited with some of the places I’m staying and looking forward to relaxing

This week:
TRY to get the kitchen faucet installed
Connect with the MIA electrician and get on his schedule
Post things on Ebay to clear out the guest room
Get my office cleaned up a little more 

[Jaguar]

I have three days of cleaning coming up starting on today. I gotta get it done cause the landlord is painting my bedroom and my nephew could very well be showing up with new to me furniture. I just need to clean the floors in two rooms.

[NastyWoman]

I have donated a humongous bag of books to the library this Friday. And my accidental decluttering streak is unbroken -> I had to get these books out of my house so I would have a bed to sleep on since I give up the MBR whenever DS, DIL, and DGS come for a visit. It is the only room large enough to hold the 3 of them 

[debthaven]

Moneysquirrel that's really impressive, the entire MS is a lot! My marking starts next week. They changed the order in which we do certain modules so unfortunately the marking will be much less evenly spread out over the semester than in previous years.

Today I emptied the dishwasher and did a load of laundry.

This week
- bank (Tues)
- pharmacy (Tues)
- book DS3's ticket home for Xmas (Tues)

[busymom]

Hi Kids! The workmen got rolling here around 10 am. The carpet is already ripped out, & if I can survive all of the noise the next 3 days, the results should be great.

[busymom]

This meme seemed appropriate for everyone here, as there always seems to be a project going on:

[Iggy aka IG]

busymom , that meme perfectly captures how I am feeling today!

This weekend I:
~Volunteered for 4 hours at our local Oktoberfest
~Stripped the bed, washed the sheets and mattress pad, and rotated the mattress (DH and I do this at the beginning of a new quarter, per the mattress label suggestion)
~Did 6 more loads laundry
~Emptied, refilled and ran the dishwasher
~Did a boatload of hand washed dishes (pots, pans, shot glasses, knives, etc.)
~Processed boiled eggs and produce
~Made a pan of enchiladas
~Clipped coupons-still need to toss expired September's
Added:  No progress on the master bathroom project

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we are eventually going to move out to the county (or country as some call it).  This means selling our current house.  I HATE moving and preparing houses for the market.  This will be my second time, and I clearly remember our last one nearly 11 years ago...

I am tired and cranky, and the sideways blowing rain isn't helping.  However, reading everyone's posts is inspirational. 

[startsmart]

Iggy - I'm with you on tired and cranky, so much work to do today that I hardly know where to begin! 

I did add the tally from Sept to my profile and I'm not doing too badly this year. If I can keep working through rooms then I might just hit 1,000 items sold or donated this year. Of course it's so much more fun to think about the things I want to BUY lol, maybe that'll tie into my incentives. Toss 100 items from the office and I get to pick out that new computer  

After my morning meeting I did the front yard flagging (they came to mark for underground wires and thankfully they're far from where I'm working), did up some dishes, took out the trash and finished paperwork for a call tomorrow. 

I wish it were Sunday again so I could take a nap and pretend the world didn't need me for today   Instead I think I'll clean up my office and enjoy the quiet, today is the only day where I get to introvert before a busy week ahead! 

[Jaguar]

Well I knew the new to me furniture is coming, so I'm getting the pieces ready that I no longer need and I have people taking them. It will free up space, but I'll have to find smaller pieces for myself.

[Jaguar]

I done more cleaning and organizing today and more of that will happen on Wednesday. I'm getting through it all.

[Iggy aka IG]

A few things so far this week:

Master bath project:  DH bought a shower head.  Such a difference!

Here at the office I've let a few things go for a while, so I've begun tackling them bit by bit:

Shredded 1.5 month's worth of stuff last Friday after hours and swept up loose paper scraps.
Stored my old computer in the back (see below) and keyboard into a cupboard.  I need to pull a few things off the computer before completely ridding of it.

The back, "behind the scenes" area has become very cluttered.  Yesterday I (yay Starbucks quad!):
Moved chamber swag bag items to a different tote bag and put it into a cupboard.
Put the original tote from the above back into grocery trip rotation.  It's one of my insurance agency totes, and I'd like to use it for marketing. 
Organized the political signs, wire stakes and stickers I've been handing out into one area.
Stored the broom and dustpan on an extra coat hook.
The big one:  DH took my old executive chair to his shop.  He's going to possibly repair the leaky, failing gasket and use it there.
409'd the grease spot from above chair, and swept.  A residing spider came sauntering out wondering what the heck was going on.  I let him live. 

Because I'd forgotten I performed the above action items yesterday, it was a pleasant surprise to walk into this area to put my things into the mini fridge this morning and have so much room to move about.

Next up I don't know when:  Months and months worth of backed up paper filing.

[Jaguar]

My girlfriend took me to Canadian Tire and Ikea, I got everything that I needed including a new Lack table to hold my computer on. The bright red one that I had before simply jarred my senses every damn time I was using the computer. I went for a brown-black one this time.

I also got a new computer chair cushion for myself. I'm all matchy matchy now.

[debthaven]

Yay Jag, congrats!

Great job Iggy! You are a woman on a mission!

I'm feeling very low. I found out today that the building management of the studio we are trying to sell is quitting in Jan when their contract is up. The only PITA owner sued them on a small procedural thing so they want out. Our studio is in mint condition but the building needs work. We need to sell, money is tight. So the agency is taking it off the market for a few days, then relisting it at a lower price (again). The new price is as low as we can afford to go. We need to get rid of it but we can't afford to lose money on it either. Looks like this purchase was a dud. It is literally the only building for miles that hasn't been reno'd, all because of that PITA owner. Needless to say the guy who sold all of us our apts did NOT mention him. He and his wife have now sold everything (they are RE professionals). We are all sort of, um, screwed.

Shitepile continues to pile up. I really need to do that this weekend because my marking starts on Monday and I want to have a clear head for that.

This will be our first weekend without guests / a wedding / traveling since late Aug.

I'm also really, really missing DS3. By the way, the poor kid found out his bank appt was during his first class, so he had to cancel it. He has a new appt tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed he can get his UK bank account and debit card. He was extremely homesick the first few days but he's doing much better now.

The good news is that I was finally authorized to start teaching 2 of my 3 private students at my main job (faculty members) so my paychecks will go up a bit starting this month (I don't earn the same amount every month).

[Iggy aka IG]

Jaguar, yay to being matchy matchy!   I bet your cushion is comfy. 


debthaven , hugs to your DS.  Glad he's doing better.  Good luck and fingers crossed selling the studio.  Question I've been meaning to ask you:  What does your shitepile consist of?  Inquiring minds. 

[debthaven]

Haha Iggy, Shitepile is just my nickname for my incoming mail pile LOL. It's in a decorative basket on the desk, but when it gets over half full it makes me anxious.

DH has an identical basket on his side of the desk, and even though I handle all the mail for the house, the kids, the rentals, DH's Shitepile is ALWAYS OVERFLOWING. I used to do all his mail too, now I just open it (because DH NEVER EVER OPENS HIS MAIL) and tell him when something is urgent. Every once in a while he'll we'll whittle his down (ie before DS1's wedding because we were having houseguests) but I try to keep on top of mine.

DH has hoarding tendancies, and I absolutely hate clutter. It's never boring around here!

ETA: We don't own a shredder but we have a fireplace, so I burn papers rather than shred them.

[Iggy aka IG]

  I thought that might be it, Debt.  Isn't it amazing how quickly paper piles up??  In this paperless day and age you think it would let up a bit.  I swear it reproduces when we're not looking.

Hopefully you receive some sort of satisfaction while burning the unnecessary. 

[wvugurl26]

I swear the stuff multiplies faster than I can toss it out! I'm going to try and catch up on the shredding over my long weekend.

[busymom]

The wooden floors are now complete, and they look great!  Tomorrow morning there's a small furniture delivery, then we need to make sure all of the other furniture that goes back into the kid's rooms has felt, or something underneath to protect those floors.  It'll probably take the rest of the week to put things back, as I'm going to need DH's help, & he's putting in a lot of overtime at his job.

debthaven, I'm so sorry to hear of the troubles in selling your condo.  The housing market has gotten soft here again.  I spoke with another friend who recently sold her parent's house, & she had to settle for less than book value too.  Hopefully the market where you live will move up.  I have some serious concerns regarding what the market here will do after the election.  (Frankly, I don't feel good about things right now, recession-wise.)

[snapdragon]

Hello Everyone!

Just popping in to mark a few good things:

1 - I used the dishwasher and now have clean dishes to put away tonight.

2 - All clothing has been folded and put away clearing the bed and making it easy to re-make last night.

3 - The concrete guy showed up yesterday and we now have 2 really nice patches for homeowners. Yea, no more huge tripping hazard! We also finalized some capstone issues with our industrial outside lighting and the curbing that will improve things for our older and handicapped owners along with people with any type of rolling thing - stroller, luggage etc.

4 - I have put my entertainment center up for re-homing at work just to get it out of my space. If this does not work I will have to pay someone like "the Junk Guys" to remove it. I live alone and people would actually have to come inside my house to remove the damn thing so CL is out for me.

[debthaven]

Glad the floors are done Busy, and that you're happy with them!

Iggy yes I love burning papers! LOL!

I taught from 8 am to 6.15 pm with just a 45 min lunch break. It was my longest day of the semester. I did a load of laundry tonight but that's it for today. I am shattered.

Fri
- bank
- post office
- bottle bank
- correct S's letter
- Shitepile?

ETA: DS3 has a bank account! He still needs to wait 5 days for a card so he can get a phone, but hey!

[Iggy aka IG]

busymom    Yay floors!  We bought felt circles for our dining room set protect our laminate floors.  Found them at WalMart.

snapdragon, good luck with that EC.  We got rid of our hand me down EC a few years ago.  DH is a big guy and he had to use a hand cart, etc. to get it out of the house.

debthaven, you're amazing!  That's a LONG day.  Good job.  I do all of our laundry on weekends because of long work days.  And, woot for DS's account!

Not much to report since yesterday.  I did manage to finish loading and started the dishwasher last night.  I also did an evening drive by of the new to us home we are kinda sorta looking at.  It's absolutely gorgeous out there.  I "had" to stop for a deer herd and a flock of turkeys in the middle of the road.  I felt like a city slicker taking pictures of them. 

[debthaven]

Wow that sounds nice Iggy!

DH hates it when we run the dryer so I try to avoid doing laundry on weekends.

[startsmart]

Hope that no one is in the path of Hurricane Matthew in Florida and South Carolina! I have some family out there who have evacuated.

Tomorrow the yard guy comes for some work, I'm hoping to get him to finish taking out 2 rose bushes and then even out the front garden bed. Then we can start on the backyard clean up. 

[debthaven]

Fri
- correct S's letter
- mend shirt + pants
- clear desktop on laptop
- work emails
- bank
- work oral marks
- change doc appt
- post office
- bottle bank
- take papers to RE agency
- get car bulbs replaced
- pharmacy
- Shitepile?

For the first time since the semester started I'm caught up with everything. Just in time, because the marking starts on Mon. Only Shitepile left to do this weekend.

I wanted to input my oral marks but they haven't given us access to those spreadsheets yet.

Jeep, how are you doing?
 

[moneysquirrel]

Updating the list:

Oct 2, 2016 19:16:04 GMT -5 moneysquirrel said:

Home/Personal:
--Maintain Progress -- trying to do the last few things this afternoon
--Meet M for coffee ?? Plans cancelled
School: 
--7th projects @85 
--Quizzes -- 4 sets @100
--Tutoring 
--Field Trip Forms -- fill out and submit; almost done need to pick up a pink form and do one online one
Crafts:  Nothing was done here -- After grading all of the projects my eyes could not even think about a small seed bead.
--Work on CR necklace--still trying to finish this one
--String one item for upcoming craft shows
--Finish pin--Beaded Rope

Currently have one load of laundry in  washer, completed one last night and will do the sheets in the morning.  Hope to get them done before I sit at the auto place to have some car maintenance things done. I would postpone them but these can't be as without them I feel is dangerous.  Good thing is that I have completed all of the current grading items.  I really do not want to see another powerpoint anything for a while -- over 250 within a two week period is enough. Have a football game tonight and a function on Sunday.  Staying busy,

Hope no one is in the way of Matthew.  Stay safe.