2017 Declutter and Organization Thread

[debthaven]

startsmart the living room looks fantastic!

busymom Seriously, I need to pare down some more shoes. (But they are such expensive little beasts that I don't like to do that unless I'm sure I won't need them again.)

Same here ... I've decided to start wearing some of my very old heels to see whether they really are too small, as I suspect they are. After 4 kids and a couple of broken toes, my shoe size went up, and I can't manage heels anymore.

I hit the sales again yesterday ... I got 2 pants suits for 105e, navy and grey. I wanted the grey suit but DH prefers the navy suit. I may keep both. I hate wearing dresses in winter (because tights) and I need a few dressier items. I had 2 pairs of dress pants but one fell apart last week. I haven't bought winter clothes in years. And at size 12/14 it's hard for me to find clothes that fit here. I'm trying to look more professional, at least some of the time.

DS3 arrives tomorrow for 5 days! And I get 67 papers to mark this week ... I may not do much marking until after DS3 on Fri. As always, please feel free to skip over my marking goals.

This week's marking
- 41 summaries
- 18 BPs
- 8 essays

[debthaven]

jenpen Thanks I found it!

Saving4Norway Yay for planning an adult office Norway lol! I'm looking forward to your progress! Can you start with the easiest thing ... part of the desk? part of the closet?

[jenpen]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe, your closet looks great, but that picture kinda makes me feel like a shoe-whore

startsmart, OMG, your living room is gorgeous, and your lists are exhausting just to read.  I'm sure I couldn't afford it, but wish I could hire you to come work with me on my house for a week

busymom, you're doing great with your steps and have kicked my but into gear, too!  Thank you!  Last year, from March 11th until early November, I did not miss a single day getting at least 10,000 steps.  Even though i joined a gym for the winter, I've barely gone, and have averaged only 1500-3000 steps/day since then.  And I've gained 10 pounds!  Thanks to your prodding, and the fact that last week civil twilight now lasts until after 6pm, there's no reason for me not to have time to get a decent walk in after work.  I'm starting out aiming for only 5,000/day.  This is what I need to earn $25/quarter incentive to my HRA at work.  I'll increase that as the days continue to get longer.  

debthaven, when you get the shoe hanger, will that still leave you a place to put hooks for your cardigans?  I like that idea, as long as the sweaters aren't too heavy (as Chloe mentioned, there's some concern of them getting stretched out from being hung instead of folded).  I also think it's a great idea to store your sentimental clothes somewhere else. Alternatively, could any of the items be transformed into a useful object?  Like make a pillow cover out of the torso of an old favorite sweater, or a small bag or tote from pants legs. This would bring the item back into your everyday life, but in a useful way.  I personally have never had the skill or patience to do these things, but always have grand visions as I'm putting them in the donate bin

[debthaven]

debthaven, when you get the shoe hanger, will that still leave you a place to put hooks for your cardigans?

Yes. I'll put the hooks either on the other closet door (there are two doors: one for the hanging half and one for the shelves half) or even inside the hanging closet, on the wall.

Like you, I don't have the ability or patience to "transform" those sentimental items.

[jenpen]

Sooooo, I seriously need to organize my brain!!  On my way to Walmart yesterday, driving past the local mall I remembered there was an event there I wanted to go to but had to miss because I'd registered for an event at the library at the same time.  Then: "OH CRAP, I forgot I signed up for an event at the library at 2 pm! What time is it?!?!?"  Thank heaven, it was 1:45 and I live in a small town.  Made a U-turn and got to the library in 5 minutes.  

The event was "Get Organized!" held by the state's professional organizers' association and featured a talk by Geralin Thomas, one of the organizers from A&E's Hoarders program.  It was fun and interesting, and they had a lot of good info on resources in our area. At the start of the program, each of about 15 local P.O.'s presented their favorite organizing book.  Saving4Norway, not a single one had the Marie Kondo book.  During the Q&A session, someone in the audience mentioned that book, and I think every one of the PO's grimaced, and Geralin pulled up a typed list of things she had to say about that book.  Unfortunately, we were running out of time and didn't get to hear what was on that list.  But I did want to say to you that I would not recommend paying for Kondo's book. It is still free from Audible until the 31st, but there's so much creepy (to me at least) fluff in that book, your money is better spent elsewhere. They said they'd list the books on their website -- I'll post the list here once they have it up.

At the end of the program, each P.O. gave one tip for how to get started, for those in the audience who can't afford $50+ per hour for a pro's help.  Similar to what Jaguar suggested for tackling your office makeover:  Geralin's suggestion was to treat a room that you want to declutter like a clock.  So directly in front of you on entering the room is "12 o'clock".  Start there, and work clockwise in "5-minute" increments around the room.  erererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererfd

[jenpen]

Jan 29, 2017 10:50:04 GMT -5 jenpen said:

... erererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererererfd

Oops, this is a message from C.C., my Clumsy Cat!  I didn't realize she'd walked on the keyboard before I hit post.  I don't know if she's sending an SOS to you all or what!  Anybody here read Cat?  

[debthaven]

That sounds great! It would be interesting to hear a bunch of organizers together!

Sorry I don't read Cat LOL but that really made me laugh!!!

ETA: What other "top tips" do you remember, if/whenever you have time and feel like it?

[tcu2003]

Peter Walsh 31 Days to Get Organized challenges.

Day 1 - TABLE TOPS
Day 2 - SET UP A DONATION BIN
Day 3 - GIFT BAGS
Day 4 – TACKLE THE FREEZER
Day 5 – UNDER THE SINK
Day 6 – TWO DRAWERS IN YOUR OFFICE (OR ELSEWHERE)
Day 7 – SHOES, SHOES, SHOES
Day 8 – THE CRAZY TANGLE OF CORDS AND CABLES
Day 9 – SOCKS AND UNDIES
Day 10 – SUITCASES AND LUGGAGE
Day 11 – GET BACK IN TOUCH
Day 12 – KITCHEN UTENSIL DRAWER
Day 13 – CONQUER THAT MAIL
Day 14 – CLEANING PRODUCTS IN YOUR LAUNDRY
Day 15 – UNDER THE BED(S) CLUTTER
Day 16 - MAGAZINES
Day 17 – PENS AND PENCILS
Day 18 – BROOMS AND MOPS AND THINGS THAT SWEEP
Day 19 – RECIPES AND COOKBOOKS
Day 20 – YOUR CLOSET (YOU CAN DO IT!)
Day 21 – ONE ‘SECRET’ SPACE
Day 22 – KITCHEN COUNTERS
Day 23 – THE PANTRY
Day 24 – LINEN CUPBOARD
Day 25 – YOUR CAR
Day 26 - RECEIPTS
Day 27 – MUGS AND CUPS AND DRINKING THINGS
Day 28 – A TINY CORNER OF THE GARAGE (OR MORE!)


Day 29 – THE MEDICINE CABINET
Medicine cabinets should be about the health and welfare of your family, not about out-of-date medicines and clutter. If you haven’t explored your medicine cabinet in a while, today’s the day!

[tcu2003]

This weekend is more or less a bust for me. We headed out of town on Friday night for our godson's birthday party on Saturday. It was great to catch up with my cousin (godson's mom) and the rest of her family, and my son and godson mostly had a good time playing together (godson is 6 months older, and neither share very well, so that was sometimes interesting). We got home late last night. We've been to church this morning, and are going to my ILs this afternoon for nephew's birthday celebration. So...time at home is minimal.

I do have one load of laundry washed and in the dryer, and another load in the washing machine. I need to get at least one more load done. I'd also like to knock out at least a couple of the PW challenges as I'm woefully behind.

[whoisjohngalt]

startsmart - your room looks amazing.  BTW - what happened to your avatar from last year?  It was so nice and calming!

I ended up doing some paperwork yesterday and will continue today.   I can almost see my desk now, which is a big improvement.  We also almost done with taking wall paper off the DR wall.  If my kids decide to stop being sick - we might actually paint it in the next few weeks.

I am going to print out Peter Walsh's "task list" and try to follow it each month. I also have his books, so I might read through them as well

I feel good about decluttering and organizing this year. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

startsmart, love the room. Love the hydrangeas!
jenpen, I'd have a lot more shoes if I wasn't in so much debt and so behind on retirement and paying $6K/year for DD#2's dance stuff and... so, don't worry, I'm envious of you!
whoisjohngalt, Lena, yay for finding the top of your desk! That is often my biggest accomplishment!
tcu2003, family time is important too!
busymom, is it weird that I miss your posts about your mom's house? I'm so glad you're done with it though. Yay for the steps!
jenpen, I'm telling ya, bullet journal!  I actually did it before it was "a thing"; I'm now kind of annoyed that someone else gets credit for it. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Here's how I know that I was in a funk the last two weeks. This is my regularly scheduled daily to-do list. The left side is the first two weeks of January; the right side is the latter two weeks of January. LOOK AT ALL THOSE GAPS on the right! Sheesh. Must get it together! (I do not know why it's upside down; it's positioned correctly in photobucket. So, vice-a-versa on the left & right.)

[whoisjohngalt]

Crap Knee Deep in Water Chloe - I LOVE your notebook - can you please post a link so I can get it.  And I say "crap" bc needless to say - I have a LOT of notebooks.  But I really like this one - I must have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

These are the mostly irregular tasks for the rest of the weekend
--a few more hours of grading
--clean laundry room
--lesson planning and prepping for the week
--edit letter for DH
--email tenant
--dinner menus for the week
--sweep whole house
--three loads of laundry to start
--four loads of laundry to fold
--make invitations for some party  that DD is helping organize even though it's not at our house!!!
--reload K-cup drawer. (This is of the utmost importance!    )
--deposit a check


 

[whoisjohngalt]

OK everyone - as I am sitting here - drowning in tons of paper, I need to decide what I can part with

So, how long do you keep your

Auto/home insurance paperwork /policies
Medical bills
Paperwork re: buying a house
Work related papers
IRS stuff

anything else I am missing?

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 29, 2017 13:04:58 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

Crap Knee Deep in Water Chloe - I LOVE your notebook - can you please post a link so I can get it.  And I say "crap" bc needless to say - I have a LOT of notebooks.  But I really like this one - I must have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found it at Staples last summer. It has three sections of paper--lined, graph, and blank.

[debthaven]

Lena I know how long I keep my papers but it's better if someone in the US answers because the laws vary from country to country.

Well done on the desk. I'm glad you're feeling optimistic about decluttering this year!

ETA: The saying on the cover of Chloe's notebook is perfect for you!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 29, 2017 13:26:07 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

OK everyone - as I am sitting here - drowning in tons of paper, I need to decide what I can part with

So, how long do you keep your

Auto/home insurance paperwork /policies--Current year and previous year
Medical bills--current year and previous two years
Paperwork re: buying a house--until I've sold the house
Work related papers--do you mean evaluations, contracts, and such? I keep those forever.
IRS stuff--forever

anything else I am missing?

I also have a file of warranties that I keep until I get rid of what ever the warranty is for. 

[startsmart]

debthaven - thanks! I was just updating the pics on my blog and figured I would share

Jenpen - that sounds like fun! I did this for my best friend when visiting her a few years ago. Completely made over her apartment while she was at work. I had to laugh about the small town mentality because everything is really 5 minutes away. I’m jealous too because Geralin was one of my favorites on Hoarders! Also Figured the ‘rerere” was to repeat all the way around the room

thanks johngalt! My avatar from last year was the sunflower and I just got tired of it. It’s an original photo though so if you ever want a copy lmk! It’s actually printed in my office so I see it all the time!

Thanks chloe! I spent about $30 on that huge bunch of hydrangeas back in October but since they dried so nicely I think it was a good investment!

Today involved cranking up some music and cutting baseboards in the office. Most of the furniture is out but the rest of the house looked so good I didn’t want to mess it up I got baseboards done + installed 8 pieces of quarter round (4 more to go!) and then caulk, paint and cleaning.

I thought I could get done with all the trim in January but that’s not likely to happen so if I can finish the office I’ll consider it good enough for now. I’d probably be further ahead but I started watching Scandal on Netflix and am totally sucked in! Just on season 2 so I can't read any spoilers but so far it’s pretty interesting.

There are 2 places in my office where the drywall is damaged too so I need to decide if I should try my hand at hacking it up or hire someone to come out. I'm probably going to play around with the furniture configuration in the office a little when I finish the trim and touching up paint, it's probably worthwhile to get it all done at once. 

[debthaven]

We have a vertical file drawer in the desk, which is in a niche of our DR. It contains all the house / insurance / medical / tax files, and the "kid files" until they graduate (at which point their file moves onto my "teaching bookshelf", directly opposite the desk.) I don't go through those files every year ... I do a big purge when that drawer is full, in winter, so I can burn the old papers in the fireplace (we don't have a shredder but burning the old papers is much more satisfying ).

A few years ago I also bought a small filing cabinet from Ikea to put the printer on. That vertical file drawer holds DH's personal files and our RE / rental files.

I would LOVE a real vertical file cabinet with 3 or 4 drawers. But obviously I'm not putting one in my LR/DR lol. We plan to eventually turn DS2's bedroom (downstairs Masters) into an office. If that ever happens, I will get a big filing cabinet then.

I've continued futzing with my closet. DH's hanging closet and my hanging closet have separate doors, but the L-shaped rod goes through both. There is a sort of "no man's land" in the middle (at the bend) because it's hard for either of us to access. In the end I put the dresses I'm sentimental about there, plus my 3 pairs of hiking and jungle pants.

Because every middle-aged, overweight grandmother-to-be needs 3 pairs of hiking / jungle pants!

[debthaven]

I know this is very minor in the scheme of things, but I managed to put 1/3 of my sentimental clothes (both hanging and folded) into the donate / sell pile. That's a big step for me!

I put another 1/3 back in my active wardrobe, because amazingly, they again fit!

This week
- pick up DS1's package (Mon)
- pick up my package (Mon?)
- pharmacy (Wed)
- marking

[wvugurl26]

I need to tackle paper clutter this week. Somewhere I have 4 drink coupons from Southwest. I'm flying them cross country next month.

[Jaguar]

I have to get back into doing the liners on the shelves cause I got everything here and it looks awesome when it's done. Win, Win!

[jenpen]

debthaven , that's awesome!!! Both being willing to let go of a third of your sentimental items, and that a third of them fit again!

Jan 29, 2017 13:26:07 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

OK everyone - as I am sitting here - drowning in tons of paper, I need to decide what I can part with



So, how long do you keep your



Auto/home insurance paperwork /policies

Medical bills

Paperwork re: buying a house

Work related papers

IRS stuff



anything else I am missing?

insurance -- I keep only current year (for my HO6 policy) and current 6-months for auto. If you were working a claim based on a previous time period, it would make sense to keep the paperwork from then, otherwise, I don't see the need.

Medical bills -- this is kind of an individual thing.  I don't have very many medical expenses at this point in my life, so no reason to hold onto records for what I do have--i.e., there's no tax reason since they are no where near >10% of my AGI.  (ETA: I was kind of waffling on what to do with these. My inclination was to keep them because they used to come in handy at tax time.  But that's no longer true. When I went through all my stacks of paper the last couple of weeks, I put all my doc/dental statements and insurance EOBs into my to-be-shredded bag.)

Buying/having a house  paperwork -- my practice is, and everything I've ever read says, hold onto this until you are free and clear of owning the house. 

Work-related papers: not sure exactly what you are referring to, but 2 things I hold onto WRT work: end-of-year W2s for SSI purposes (to document they have my earnings correct), and my annual performance reviews, so that if my boss ever loses his mind and decides he wants to get rid of me, I have my Outstanding evaluations for the past 15 years! 

IRS stuff -- I know some things are 7 years, some things are 3 years, but truth be told, I have full tax returns (what I filed plus all the supporting documents) going back to ~2002.  It's just not that much paperwork for me to hold onto, in the larger scheme of things. (I know at one point I had stuff from the 90s---and not only my own tax filings, but my roommate/best friend's, since I used to do his taxes for him. I'm pretty sure I tossed those records a few years ago, LOL.)

[jenpen]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe, I credit you with the bullet journal, since I'd never heard of it until you posted about going back to it recently.  I was intrigued, and looked into it.  I absolutely love your journal, and the concept, and I love trying to keep paper and pencil notebooks/planners.  But I have no success with them!  

What I am finding to be helpful -- but clearly not perfected yet -- is the Amazon Alexa Echo/Dot.  I got myself 2 Dots for Christmas -- one for downstairs, one for my bedroom upstairs.  This has been a HUGE help, in that Alexa can capture all those random thoughts of things I need to do/research/purchase that end up taking months to accomplish because they just fly fleetingly through my head.  Now, when that happens, I can just say "Alexa, add _____ to my calendar", "Alexa add ____ to my to-do list", "Alexa, set an alarm/timer for ____".  Now, I just need to remember to ask every morning, "Alexa, what's on my calendar/to-do list today?", LOL.  

The wonderful thing about this is that I don't have to stop what I'm doing every 5 minutes to write something down, or look something up, which then distracts me and leads me on some tangent that I allow to eat up hours of my day.  I've never been diagnosed with ADD, but I wonder sometimes.....

This reminds me, someone started a thread about getting a Dot for Christmas, and you were asking if you could change Alexa's name to Bubba or something else. I got a real kick out of that, as my boy cat is named Bubba.  I could just hear the Dot's replies to me saying "Bubba, quit tearing up my carpet!" "Bubba, what are you singing about?" (he's part Siamese, and walks around talking/singing to himself A LOT), "Bubba, get the f*** of my chair!!!", "Bubba, who's the best boy in the world?"

[moneysquirrel]

This week's list:

Home/Personal

Maintain progress
Clear off the flat surfaces – BR (this is my clutter area) It is better but still has too much stuff on it.
Exercise – Monday
Renew Gym membership
Tutoring – 2 days 1 hour each
Begin working on taxes – still waiting for several papers to come in before I can do a lot in this area.

School

Quizzes – 3 sets @60
Test 6th @ 90
Test 7th @ 85
Lesson Plans
Project 5th @ 60 (coming in Monday)
Duty Week

Crafts – Some will take longer than one week

Continue crocheting baby gift (pattern has 74 rows and 2 ruffles) – need to start ruffle 1 – 6 rows .
Necklaces (6) with summer/spring designs, charms for upcoming spring craft shows – Did some but need additional items.

[TheHaitian]

Tomorrow I am off and will try to get to the shed! Also need to finish a few things inside the home!

[Jaguar]

Crap, I'm short a roll, damn. I'll get it the next time I'm downtown.

[busymom]

Good news/bad news: I DID get my 10,000 steps in today, but somehow I managed to tweak something in my low back, so it's tightening up. How I feel when I get out of bed tomorrow will determine how much I get done.

Regarding paperwork, I tend to keep tax/IRS stuff for 7 years.

Medical records I keep forever.  I only keep medical bills from previous years if I got a deduction for them (back to the 7-year rule).

Insurance paperwork:  all current policies, & proof of payments.

Buying a house paperwork:  I keep forever.  I was glad Mom hung onto her paperwork, as I actually had to look up some pretty strange stuff when her house was sold, like what bank was the original holder of the mortgage, and, the date the mortgage was paid off.  PITA stuff. 

Work-related paperwork:  I hang onto stuff like performance reviews, etc.  Anything that might help me get a job with a future employer.   

[whoisjohngalt]

OK, so I emptied my shredder 5 times this weekend and it's a pretty big shredder. 

I still  have sooooo much paperwork.   Just so so much.  But at least most of it filed away in binders.

After I am completely done, I will be agonizing my office space as my boss agreed to let me do some work from home.

that's as far as I can think ahead right now.

One room at a time!