2016 Declutter and Get Organized Thread

[startsmart]

I'm heading back to the chiropractor today for another adjustment. I've been able to get most of my Christmas decorating done (I don't do a tree) but want to finish up today. There's a lot of papers to deal with in the office and fabric in the guest room so that will be my next to do as long as my back cooperates. 

[debthaven]

Christmas shopping
Everything I ordered online last week has arrived. It's all wrapped and under the tree, so here's an update.

DD - DONE! 
DS2's GF - DONE! 
DDIL - 1/2 done (DH will get other near his office)
DS2 - 1/2 done (DH will get other near his office)
DS1 - not done
DS3 - not done
DH - not done

Yikes, there's plenty left to do!

[Chocolate Lover]

I'm currently doing the "what did I spend and did I split it fairly evenly" panic and have wrapped nothing. Nothing. Sad thing is, I've kept track of what I've spent but not so much on the who part. :/ 

[debthaven]

Chocolate I'm sure you're far ahead of me lol!

I used to remember what things were when I wrapped them and put them under the tree, and I'd only label everything on Christmas Eve. But I'm too old and forgetful now.

And Lund, a tea update ... we are two weeks into a gift package of green tea, and we're about 2/3 done. I don't drink tea except when I'm sick, but I've been drinking it every night anyway! And I'm actually enjoying it! But Gd help anybody who gives us more tea this year LOL! We're now down to 11 packs of tea from 22, so we're getting there! This doesn't count the regular tea that DH drinks.

Once this pack is done I'm going to open the Dana tea from Jordan that I gave DH as a souvenir when we went there several years ago. That will probably take a month to get through lol, unless it goes quicker because both DS1 and DDIL like green tea, and they'll be here over Christmas.

[jeep108]

I found out I will be going to Houston for my surgery.  Monday, I get to call doctors and imaging place to get all my CT Scans and MRI's on a disc. Call MD Anderson in Houston to try and get the ball rolling faster.

[debthaven]

Best of luck to you Jeep. It must be a relief to know what the plan is.

[dee27]

Fingers and toes crossed for Jeep!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Christmas-wise: 
We're ready for tomorrow's party with DH's family. We're taking twelve gifts for that. Normally we take food also, but MIL is having the event catered as her gift to everyone. There should be around 30 people there. 

DD#2's stuff is done. 
DD#1's stuff is half done. I need to figure out how to get her a Costco membership. 
DS#1's half done along with DIL. I just need to get their restaurant gift certificate. 
DS#2's a bit of a challenge. He doesn't want us to give him anything. 

I had DD#1 mail my niece's gift two days ago.


I don't know what to do with DH. We just traded in our camping trailer for a fifth wheel. I feel like that's our present to each other. However, he already purchased a gift for me. Okay, fine. I'll get him another present.


We don't have decision on Christmas Dinner. DH vacillates hiding from the world and having guests.  

[debthaven]

This weekend's marking
Fri: 22 exams (grammar, vocab, essays)
Sat: 20 exams (grammar, vocab, essays)
Sun: 2 exams; calculate + enter marks

Chloe, isn't that odd, a child who doesn't want a present?

I'm sad because DS3 is going to have to make his own way home from the station. DH feels very strongly that we should not arrive late at my friend's memorial gathering, and unfortunately, they're both at the same time.

I bought dessert for that, really didn't feel like baking.
Went grocery shopping too.

[zibazinski]

Dec 16, 2016 20:51:49 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Christmas-wise: 
We're ready for tomorrow's party with DH's family. We're taking twelve gifts for that. Normally we take food also, but MIL is having the event catered as her gift to everyone. There should be around 30 people there. 

DD#2's stuff is done. 
DD#1's stuff is half done. I need to figure out how to get her a Costco membership. 
DS#1's half done along with DIL. I just need to get their restaurant gift certificate. 
DS#2's a bit of a challenge. He doesn't want us to give him anything. 

I had DD#1 mail my niece's gift two days ago.


I don't know what to do with DH. We just traded in our camping trailer for a fifth wheel. I feel like that's our present to each other. However, he already purchased a gift for me. Okay, fine. I'll get him another present.


We don't have decision on Christmas Dinner. DH vacillates hiding from the world and having guests.  

How about a donation to some organization that he might like to support?

[plugginaway22]

Howdy all, the days before Christmas are numbered!  I spent 2 hours this morning working on paperwork and paying bills to get us through first week of January, so now I do not have that hanging over my head.

Weather is icy so I am not leaving today.  Forcing me to write out cards and wrap the gifts that I do have.  But tomorrow I must get out for last trip of shopping! A few more things is all we need, but will still have the big grocery trip later in the week.  Mailed DS box since he can't be home.  Looking forward to DD2 coming to town for a 5 day break!  Happy prepping to all.

[vetswife]

Chloe, I have a 13 year old grandson who never wants anything for gifts. Eventually he will come up with a suggestion but he's pretty happy with what he has. They're all different.


I do have gifts bought and wrapped, cards sent, as many as I'm going to send.  I gave up after 30 and sent e-mail Christmas letters-everyone seems happy with that.  Now I'm wondering if I should add to the gifts a bit, trying to control myself and stay on budget!!

[startsmart]

Just about done with decorating so now I'm just cleaning out the tubs and donating things that I don't need anymore. Took a detour to work in the guest room and clean out the desk and found 42 CD discs to throw away (mostly from computers and hardware I no longer own). 

I've got a bunch of stuff to drop off at Goodwill this week so I'm hoping to increase that total if I can get stuff sent out on ebay and dropped off at the consignment shop 

[debthaven]

We just got home for the memorial gathering for my friend's husband who committed suicide a year ago. It was both good to see certain people and extremely moving. My friend has a gift for words and most of the room was in tears by the end of her speech.

I'm very glad to finally be one year on from that horrible day. I know this may sound callous but I set an objective to ALWAYS be there for her for the first year. I know it's it's selfish, and I know there is no timeline for grief, but I'm hoping that now that all the "firsts" are over she can finally start to heal, and I can take a small step back.

In the end it worked out with DS3, a friend of a friend picked him up from the station and took him to a party, he'll take an uber back home.

I'm pretty physically and emotionally spent from this evening. I hope that A can finally start to heal.

There was some Stuff that needed to be put away from the top of the basement stairs and from DS1's room. I put it all away before I left.

I'm not setting my alarm tomorrow. I should only have about 3h 1h work, so I'm looking forward to a quiet day at home and decorating the tree with DS3 before picking up the rest of my exams on Mon.

This weekend's marking
Fri: 22 "B" exams (grammar, vocab, writing)
Sat: 20 "B" exams (grammar, vocab, writing)
Sun: calculate + enter B marks
        2 "C" exams, calculate + enter C marks

ETA: So far I've marked 72/113 exams, so about 2/3. The worst is over!

[lund]

Dh, we are at present "working" on finishing off the last tea leaves of several kinds. However, DH was out shopping and bought a package of Ceylon loose leaves that I hope will last us until Easter, considering it is a 1 kg package...



Chloe, perhaps the teen would like cash, a donation to a good cause, an addition to a college savings account, or an excursion somewhere (water park, aquarium,.....) instead of things?

[zibazinski]

My friends and family have finally realized that I do not consider an email card anything more than a pita that I'm forced to read or they'll know I didn't. If I send you a card and you aren't interested in returning one to me, that's okay but that ranks up with an emailed thank you-naughty list.

[debthaven]

Lund I think I might kill my husband if he bought a 1K package of loose tea lol!

Jeep, do you have a date yet? Thinking of you.

[debthaven]

Zib, I don't send cards (although DH does) and frankly I don't give a crap about getting them. I think they served a purpose that no longer exists with cheap long-distance phone calls, skype, FT, FB, etc.

So personally, I think that it's nice that these people send you a card back, even if it's an e-card. For better or worse, as time goes on, I think there will be fewer and fewer traditional cards sent. We may well be the last generation that bothers.

FWIW, I do NOT feel the same way about thank you notes, I believe those should be physical, not virtual. But again, I'm someone who doesn't give a crap about Christmas cards, so that's just my perspective. I'm sorry you seem hurt though, but I'm sure it's not anything personal.

[wvugurl26]

Jeep I hope you can get things moving along.

I've been wrapping at DF's. Need to do cards and food for tomorrow. I also need to declutter the first level floors asap. A brand new from the breeder puppy is arriving in two hours. DF is babysitting it for his sister until Christmas. Yes, I know many wrong things there but not my circus.

[busymom]

Welcome vetswife!  I don't get over here every day, but it's always nice to see some new faces here. 

Due to sNOw, the kids & I stayed home today.  We finally got the tree decorated (it's only been up for a week, but I needed DH to get the ornament boxes out of the crawl space).  Oh well, we've had years that were so busy that we didn't even get the decorating done until even closer to Christmas.  And, we always keep the tree up until New Year's Day anyway.

I wrote up 16 cards to hand out to friends at church today.  I also got a bit of baking done, & wrapped 2 more gifts.  If the weather would start behaving, I'd like to get a couple gifts delivered to the nursing home, but tomorrow won't be the day, as the wind chill is likely to be colder than -40.  What a crazy month it's been! 

[debthaven]

DS1 asked for a new riding helmet because his old one doesn't fit the new safety requirements. It took me a while to figure out the new norms but I found the right one, in his size, in a tack shop 20 min away. 10e off, ending today. So I went there and back this morning. Now DS1 is half done, and has a present under the tree!

Gifts
DD - DONE!
DS2's GF - DONE!
DDIL - 1/2 done (DH will get other near his office)
DS2 - 1/2 done (DH will get other near his office)
DS1 - 1/2 done
DS3 - not done
DH - not done

[zibazinski]

Dec 17, 2016 19:00:34 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Zib, I don't send cards (although DH does) and frankly I don't give a crap about getting them. I think they served a purpose that no longer exists with cheap long-distance phone calls, skype, FT, FB, etc.

So personally, I think that it's nice that these people send you a card back, even if it's an e-card. For better or worse, as time goes on, I think there will be fewer and fewer traditional cards sent. We may well be the last generation that bothers.

FWIW, I do NOT feel the same way about thank you notes, I believe those should be physical, not virtual. But again, I'm someone who doesn't give a crap about Christmas cards, so that's just my perspective. I'm sorry you seem hurt though, but I'm sure it's not anything personal.

I know it's not personal. It's lazy and cheap.

[startsmart]

Another 51 items out the door today! I dropped off 42 items at Goodwill, 8 magazines for the assisted living home and threw away 1 broken umbrella. 

I'm working around the house the rest of the day on laundry, cleaning and general tidying up. It's exhausting  

I uncovered a bunch of glass ornaments in my Christmas decor so I'm covering them with book pages. A long, long time ago I took apart 2 Nancy Drew books and turned them into purses with the help of honeylioness. The inner pages I use in strips to cover the ornaments and they're some of my favorite - also indestructible due to the decoupage. 

ETA:

Thinking about what project I'm going to tackle next. The guest room closet has 16 photo boxes and I should probably go through those for scanning and organize. Most of the original can go back to my parents but I also ordered a LegacyBox so I can send in up to 75 photos for preservation (though I have a movie so 50 photos + movie) is most likely. I would LOVE to get a new set up in this closet to maximize space but it's low down on my to do list. 

Second project option is working on the fabric I've been hoarding saving and sewing up a bunch of stuff. It would be nice to free up some of the bins full of fabric. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

We're home from the family Christmas party. 

Zib, that's a good idea, but it turns out--completely unbeknownst to me--DH wants a cleaver. We came upon a Wusthof one. DD#2 and I tried to purchase it without him noticing, but we were unsuccessful. He actually thought someone had either taken DD#2 (who is 14 yo, 5'8", and pretty feisty) or that she had gone outside of the store we were in and slipped on the ice and was unconscious. I couldn't quite convince him to calm down. So, he knows he's getting the cleaver. 

[moneysquirrel]

I'm out of school and have a nice long list of things to do.  I am not sure how much of this I will get done but hope to knock out several. 

This week's list:

Home/Personal

*Organize the BR.
*Go through and organize closet
*Organize Bead Room
*Finish Christmas Shopping – Still a few GCs to get
*Grocery
*Sam’s run
*Christmas Cards
*Car Insurance – stop by office to pay it
*Airport
*Exercise – Monday and hopefully a few other days
*Gym gift cards for future training (GCs are on special now)
*DSis visit
*Shred old documents
*Deliver unusable-to-me craft books and material to give to friend
*Get thank you note cards (lots of goodies from students that I have to acknowledge) and write               them out. I ran out of the cards that I had on hand.

School (hopefully done sometime during break)

*Update Calendar with Duty Dates
*Update Field Trip Forms – to be given out upon return to school
*Random selection of FT groups—students and chaperones
*Prepare for spring semester
*Back up school files to portable hard drive
*Ignore emails as much as possible

Crafts

*Start new project for me
*Finish loom bracelet
*Finish gathering list of things to order and place order.
*Decipher pattern for future project
*Organize patterns – those done and those to do
*Set up calendar book to track progress (recycling extra lesson plan book for this) – hoping to do at        least one beading item a day.
*Create list of items that need to be remade before craft shows in the spring– usually items that              have proven to be good sellers.

[moneysquirrel]

Debt and Zib-- I only send out a few cards each year.  Mainly to those family and friends I don't see on a regular basis. Haven't started writing them out yet.  May try to do a few tonight.  I use to send out a lot but have downsized the list a lot.
Jeep -- Keeping you in my thoughts as you begin your treatments.
Start -- Try not to overdo yourself. I know that you might still have few twinges of pain after the accident.
Vetswife -- Welcome.
Chloe and Debt -- I still have to get a few gifts. I don't have to get a lot but coming up with ideas is the tough part.  I know I have to pick up a few gift cards and hope to get those while I am running around tomorrow.  I really need to make up a list of all the places I would like to get to in the morning so I won't forget one. I am sure that my body will decide to get me up at my usual go-to-school time instead of letting me sleep in so I might get an early start.  At least Wally World is open early if that happens so I can get the day started early.

[Sharon]

I have given up on my list and have started making new ones.  Actually I am starting to slip into survival mode.  Next Sunday I will have 14 people showing up at my house expecting dinner.  Whatever it takes to get through this is what will get done.

Today I got the turkey out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to start thawing.  It is a 22lb bird so it will take a while.  I really wanted Ham for dinner but my niece spent 4 days in the hospital in September with heart failure and is on a very low sodium diet so Turkey it is.

[busymom]

Best wishes jeep108! 

Ok, all of my gifts are wrapped & ready to go (except I still need to shop for one fur baby gift).  I counted up how many Christmas cards I've mailed out or handed to people, and the number is 77.  And, I still have 7 more that I know of to write up (usually I get a few unexpected cards, so I'll probably write up a some more yet).  With all of these 7's, do you think I should buy a lucky lottery ticket? 

Right now, I've got a pot of fudge on the stove.  It has to get to just the right temperature before I put it in the pan.  Then, this afternoon our turkey goes into the oven.  I can count on only one hand where weather has made us change Christmas plans, but with all of our crazy weather lately, I'm going to have a fully cooked turkey in the freezer, just in case.

[debthaven]

Chloe great story lol!

Taught for 2h today, had lunch with a colleague, went to get DH's gift (fail) and came home with 39 more papers. I'm giving myself through tomorrow to get through as much of the marking as possible, and working Wed, but then I'll need to catch up on Christmas.

DS3 wants me to take him to the supermarket tomorrow so I'll get the turkey then.  

This week's marking
Mon: Exam C: 21 essays
Tues: Exam C: 18 essays
?? 39 Grammar, 39 Vocab
?? Exam D: 2 essays

To do besides marking (Mon/Tues)
- prepare binders for replacement (J)
- send email lists to J
- take coats to donation bin 
- bottle bank
- kindling
- meet with J
- grocery shopping
- call RE agency

[jeep108]

I organized our computer/junk room to well before I have my biopsy done, I went to find my sewing kit and can't remember where I put it. LOL.