2017 Declutter and Organization Thread

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Nov 14, 2017 17:55:05 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

 I will be going in the hole on one item after shipping and eBay/Paypal fees.  Not on the others.  

Yes, but (I thought) you bought these to enjoy them not to make money off of them. You already enjoyed them and are  ready to move on from them. The money you're getting back now is just a bonus. 

[TheOtherMe]

Nov 14, 2017 20:17:38 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Nov 14, 2017 17:55:05 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

 I will be going in the hole on one item after shipping and eBay/Paypal fees.  Not on the others.  

Yes, but (I thought) you bought these to enjoy them not to make money off of them. You already enjoyed them and are  ready to move on from them. The money you're getting back now is just a bonus. 

Please keep reminding me of this.  I'm slowly parting with items I have been collecting since 1963.  Every step I take is not going to be easy.  I sometimes am irrational when it comes to my collection.  

I have enjoyed these items and you are correct about the bonus.  On the items I spent too much money one (not in this sale), I would like to break even.  I did on the signed George Harrison lithograph.

[TheOtherMe]

Ended up selling 8 items for a total of $379.  I'm happy.

Will relist some of the items when I get home from Colorado after Thanksgiving.

[startsmart]

I am so glad the housecleaner is coming tomorrow because I can barely fit in a shower and sleep this week, much less cleaning. 

[chiver78]

yay, one more item sold via FB yard sale site! I will be parting with a 2' tall hurricane candle holder with a weird metal overlay that looks like a pile of wire. originally a Pottery Barn housewarming gift, that I kicked over every time I went into the hall closet in the townhouse, it has sat in a crate in my basement since moving to my house. it will be gone Tuesday morning, for a crisp $10.

[Iggy aka IG]

Congrats to DS2, debthaven!

TheOtherMe, good job at ridding some of the items and making some $$ while doing it. 

startsmart and chiver78,


Today has been all about me, though I am back in the office for the rest of the day.  Doc appt this AM, hair appt this afternoon....  There are 7 VM and a list of email messages waiting for me.  So much for being relaxed.    I unloaded the month's worth of groceries last night and organized them into the pantry and freezer/fridge, and did a few errands between appointments today.  I love ticking errands off my list while everyone else is at work-less traffic to contend with. 

[TheOtherMe]

Someone contacted me via eBay messages to give me a price that they would buy one of the unsold items.  I want it gone and it was more than the shipping, so that is also sold.

The two items that brought the most $ went in the mail today.  They were not hard to package.  Since those two items brought in over $250, they had priority in my mind.  All paid items are now boxed and ready to ship tomorrow.

Three more items still need to be paid.  One will be a build a box project.

I am going to list some things on local garage sales sites, but I don't want to deal with that until after Thanksgiving.  It's Christmas decorations I have never used so it's another case of whatever I can get is a good thing.  Regardless that still will be donated if it doesn't sell.  

[NastyWoman]

Woohoo! DS1 asked for book 1 of the Foundation series (Asimov). The series has like 7 books and I have them all. Guess who is going to restore the tradition of gifting secondhand books in her family   My accidental decluttering has now been taken to new heights!

[tcu2003]

I took the baby girl newborn and 0/3M clothes to my coworker - woo hoo! Now I need to go through the baby boy clothes and get those to her.

[TheOtherMe]

All buyers have paid for their Beatles items.  All are packaged and will be mailed when I am done taking dad for his groceries.

[debthaven]

This weekend
Home
- Shitepile/Thurs
School
- Group 2: 8/13 papers/Thurs
- Group 2: 5/13 papers/Fri (4 missing)
- Group C: 4 group reports/Fri?/Sat

Powered through half the next set of papers this evening, so less to do on the weekend. I'm hoping to get some marking done at the parent-teacher conferences tomorrow. I may be dreaming. At least I shouldn't have to mark on Sunday.

Congrats to TheOtherMe and tcu2003 for getting those items out of the house.

ETA: Got through Shitepile tonight too!

[debthaven]

Funny work story ... I'm currently teaching the "Career Writing" module to my first-year students, ie how to write cover letters and resumes.

I told them the (true) story about how two years ago, one of my students wrote to Ms Mary Smith as Dear Mary in his cover letter. I told them how I explained to him that that Dear Mary was not the appropriate way to address somebody you are hoping will hire you and that you have never met. Instead of referring to either the handout OR the online resources OR my explanation, this student redid his cover letter and replaced the Dear Mary with "Yo Mary!"

Today as I walked into that class, they all shouted out, in unison, "Yo Miss!" (because in France they are taught to call their English teacher Miss, even if she's 107).

I laughed SO hard!!!
I hate the marking but I love my job!

[TheOtherMe]

Great story debthaven

[busymom]

Good Morning Kids!  The contractor has already been here & gone.  He's designed a cabinet door to make it easier to access the bathroom pipes from our bedroom, but it was just a bit too large to fit (we've got an outlet on that wall), so he needs to take it back to his workshop & plane it down.  Next week he'll be out of town, so the earliest he'll be back is the week after Thanksgiving, so, as always, these home improvements just sort of drag along.  We also need 3 window frames replaced, and I'm having him do a lot of work on our master bathroom (silly houses, all they do is age...). 


As far as getting ready for Thanksgiving, we'll be cooking the turkey tomorrow.  Sunday I hope to make some pies, then we'll just have to worry about side dishes on the big day.  We're expecting a friend to come over for the holiday, so it should be a good time.   

[TheOtherMe]

This weekend I will be getting things together to donate on Monday.

[chiver78]

met a yard sale buyer for a little purchase this morning - the bright cloth shower curtain I had in the yellow bathroom in my old condo. $5. wasted 45 minutes waiting for him b/c he got lost, but I wanted that gone. it's one of the last "house things" still lingering from that condo.  I'm meeting someone else on Tuesday morning for a hurricane candle holder that had been a housewarming gift. 

I also lined up a buyer for (hopefully) two pairs of boots for $30 apiece. I had posted them as "new in box" but when I went to retrieve them from the basement this morning, it appears I did actually wear one pair at some point. I let the woman know, she's still going to check them out. she said she's giving them as gifts, so I can understand if she decides not to take them. would be nice, though... 

getting there!

[debthaven]

We had the gardener here today for the first time in several years. There was a LOT of overdue maintenance. He pruned the huge tree, and moved the young cherry tree which was too close to the house. (The tree isn't the reason for the damage.) We are very attached to the cherry tree so we decided to move it now (it's the right season here) rather than risk having the insurance company make us do it at a bad time for the tree. It wasn't cheap but it was long overdue and the garden looks so good now. Hopefully the cherry tree will be fine.

One evening of parent-teacher conferences done. I had just 5 sets of parents in 4 hours, so I managed to mark one report.

This weekend
- Group C: 4  group reports/Fri+Sat

Semester countdown: 11/14 weeks done.

[startsmart]

Longest. week. ever.

The house is clean and the items for consignment are clean and labelled but work has been so hectic that nothing else got done.

I was about to 

but then god sent me a new client today who happens to be a super gorgeous model and actor who wants to meet in person when I'm in the UK in a couple weeks. 

And just like that my will to live is restored!   

[debthaven]

How cool startsmart!

[TheOtherMe]

Cleaning lady came on Wednesday.  Living room looks nothing like it did when she left.  Need to put all the packing materials for the eBay sales away before the next round.  

I am still happy to have that many things out of my house.

[debthaven]

I am so disappointed that those potential buyers didn't get back to us. DH totally refuses to budge on the price (because we'd already be losing 5K).

Today DH emailed the tenant to tell him that we plan to list it on the "no agency" website. DH asked the tenant whether he prefers for DH to come over to take pictures or whether he would prefer to do it himself and send the pictures to DH.

[busymom]

I finally got working on my Christmas card list.  I've got 71 that will be going in the mail box, and there are additional cards we'll be giving out at church, and DS always gives a bunch out to coworkers.  So, we'll be pretty close to 100 cards before we're through.  (No, they're NOT written up & ready to go yet.)

[Jaguar]

Nov 17, 2017 22:24:43 GMT -5 busymom said:

I finally got working on my Christmas card list.  I've got 71 that will be going in the mail box, and there are additional cards we'll be giving out at church, and DS always gives a bunch out to coworkers.  So, we'll be pretty close to 100 cards before we're through.  (No, they're NOT written up & ready to go yet.)

I got my Christmas Cards on Tuesday from American Greetings at 50% off sale, so mine is started, but I only got about 28 cards to do.

[debthaven]

I finally made an MRI appt today for my hip, for mid Dec. The pain has kept me up the past two nights. I could barely walk from the train station to my school yesterday, so clearly my hip situation has hit crisis point. 

Our LR couches are very low (plus they're old). Today I decided to try NOT sitting on the couch AT ALL, but only on the wooden DR chairs (which are higher and firmer, since they're wood). My hip is much much better today!

So if I'm up to it tomorrow, I want to go to Ikea to get cushions for the DR chairs. I don't love that look, and I don't love having to wash them when people spill food on them. But if I'm right about our low couches making my hip worse, those cushions would make the DR chairs even higher and more comfortable. (I do my marking at the DR table.) They're pretty cheap so I'm thinking it's worth a try. I know our Ikea really well so I can be in and out in 30 minutes.

We have 4 DR chairs but I'd buy 6 because we have 6 kitchen chairs and DH prefers to work at the kitchen table. That way DH could have one for the kitchen and I'd still have 1 extra.

ETA: I'm also wondering if I can protect them against food stains ... is there a spray for that? 

[debthaven]

ETA: I looked up Scotchguard fabric protector ... it's 25e here, but only 10e in the UK! So I ordered it there. DS3 will bring it when he comes home for Christmas in mid-December. We'll just be careful till then. 

[busymom]

Sorry to hear your hip is getting so painful, debthaven.  (Are you sure you're not my sister?  The last couple of Winters have been brutal on my low back & hip area.)  I too have discovered that sitting on low-slung furniture can get quite painful.  I hope the doctors there can be helpful.  


I got a good start addressing my Christmas cards.  (But, I didn't write any of them up, yet.)  I also got my turkey made for Thursday.  It's cooling right now, then it'll go back into the freezer.

[dogmom]

I went to my Mom's yesterday.  She still is not understanding cleaning OUT.  So, keeping positive thoughts.  Yesterday spent a couple of hours going through old canned goods.  Got rid of  four very large bags.  They go to the curb tomorrow.  Today, continuing.

ETA:  I do believe she has some Altzheimer's going on.  Need to deal with a couple of sister's who are only caught up in their worlds.  Not sure yet how or what to do.  Brother lives there, and trying to deal with, but, he's very frustrated. 

On our home front, have four bags of stuff (sorted summer to winter clothes, linens and some kitchen items) 

Making some progress, but it's slow.

Keep up the good work!

[ilovedolphins]

Today I get to stay home on my day off so I need to clean out my daughter's room so she and her husband can stay here for Thanksgiving.  It is just a catch all room so I hope I can get rid of a few things.

[plugginaway22]

I have been MIA from this thread, but am having my annual panic the week before Thanksgiving episode.  Hosting defaults to me, and as of today, we can expect anywhere from 11-16 guests.  DD2 and SIL will stay with us for 2 nights, so getting that bedroom ready today. Most guests bring a dish, so just turkey, dressing, grazy, and 2 sides is mine.  But it is the prep for seating and serving and cleaning house for that many that makes me crazy.  I do love having the leftovers that weekend.

I bitch about it every year and tell DH, 'Next year we are going away!'...but 2 days after I am feeling happy we did it.  We also have always hosted Christmas Eve for about 25, but this year my DD1 and SIL are taking that on, so feeling relief about that.

Truthfully, if DH and I did not work stressful, full time jobs, I think I would thoroughly enjoy it all.

[startsmart]

I took in the clothes for consignment yesterday and they took all 9 items! Saturday is the busiest time to go but the weekdays have been hectic and I'm always really nice to the staff which the owner says she appreciates (some people drag in 4 piles of clothes, go behind the counter, want to be helped first and argue when they don't take a damaged item). 

So that's 9 more going on my total for the year.

I picked up a few items of clothes I needed after donating over 100 items. I thought I was okay on jeans but the pair I bought earlier this year literally falls off my butt and look horrible they're so baggy. I also found an amazing Calvin Klein dress for my meetings in London. 

Everything for the holiday consignment shop (non-clothes) is in the car but I need to a) find their new offices and b) find out when they're open for drop off. The store opens Friday and everything I'm taking is labeled so that's good. I also made 16 burp rags for the sale so if all of those sell it will be $48 (less the split with the charity) and I think the fabric cost me $8? Not too bad.