2017 Declutter and Organization Thread

[busymom]

Hi Kids! The house looked pretty good for company today. I made a batch of my chicken & wild rice soup for lunch, and dinner was pizza.


My computer needed some pieces replaced, as it was getting slower & slower, and that got taken care of today.  Hooray!  So far everything seems to be moving faster, so hopefully I can purge old emails a LOT faster.

[moneysquirrel]

I have been fighting the sinus/allergy crud all week.  I made it to school and then home.  Everything else -- exercise, tutoring, etc was cancelled. Still not 100% and have cancelled exercise this week so I can get better.

 I gave a lot of tests this past week and all have been graded -- only have to record the 7th grade ones to the website.  Didn't want to deal with emails first thing tomorrow morning so will post once I reach school in the morning.

Progress on the home front has been almost non-existence.  Laundry and dishes were done but not much else.  The cluttered areas are still there.  No craft items were done until tonight -- I crocheted a few rows on the ruffle.  

The new-old list:

Home/Personal
Maintain progress
Clear off the flat surfaces – BR .
Tutoring – 2 days 1 hour each
Appointment on Wednesday
Begin working on taxes – still waiting for several papers to come in before I can do a lot in this area.
School
Quizzes – 8 sets @170
Test 5th @ 60 -- Give and Grade 
Projects 6th @90 (Due Friday)
Record 7th grade tests
Crafts – Some will take longer than one week
Continue crocheting baby gift (pattern has 74 rows and 2 ruffles) – 4 out of 6 rows left on ruffle 1.
Necklaces (6) with summer/spring designs, charms for upcoming spring craft shows – 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

finished the grading 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

moneysquirrel, I hate weeks like that. I hope the kids are being extra good for you. 
debthaven, DD spends so much time at dance that we're not able to have family dinners anymore except for the weekend. We've made a conscious effort to have more specific family time this year. The three of us had lunch with DS#1 and then all four of us went to our big state university's basketball game. After that we met DH's brother, SIL, nephew, nephew's wife, and their new baby to hang out for about an hour. It was a good day. 

[startsmart]

Mostly finished in the office and moved in the second desk. The new rug looks great and I'm just working on moving around the picture frames and such. 

The guest room is becoming a disaster area so I'll start working in there this week. 

I'll have to post a picture of the window frame when it's done because it looks so good! 

[tcu2003]

This week was a bust - basically just treading water. I caught a cold, and have now managed to pass it on to DD, who at 5 months is a stuffy nosed mess now, but at least she's smiley while stuffed up. We went to my mom's yesterday to be there for a surprise service award she was receiving at church today. We then hosted friends after we got back into town today for a Super Bowl party. We got the dishes done after, so yay for that. And we have leftovers (taco bar stuff - yum!), so I don't have to cook tomorrow.

We also found out this morning that my aunt's (my dad's brother's wife) mother died early this morning, so I'll be making a return trip back to my hometown this week (about 2.5 hours away) for a funeral. Sounds like they want to do it on Saturday, so if that's the case, we'll all go down. If it ends up being during the week, I'll probably just go down for the day and back. I knew her pretty well, as I spent some time at her house growing up when my cousins were over there, but I also want to be there for my cousins and my aunt and uncle. On the bright side, the sweet and sassy lady celebrated her 100th birthday last summer, so she had a long and mostly healthy life.

[debthaven]

I'm sorry about your aunt TCU.

[Jaguar]

My sincerest condolences on the loss of your aunt, tcu2003.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

This is the beginning of last week:



This is how the week ended:

[dee27]

Tcu, sorry for your loss.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Here's this week so far: 

[taz157]

Feb 6, 2017 10:11:00 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Tcu, sorry for your loss.

Yeah that. ((((Hugs)))). Living to 100 years old sounds like a heck of a life!

[tcu2003]

Sorry for the confusion - it's my aunt's mom, so not technically my grandma, but kind of another grandma. And thanks all - she was one heck of a lady who lived a pretty full life. She'd lost 4 of 7 kids, as well as her husband, over the years, so she was ready to go.

[debthaven]

I'm curious Knee Deep in Water Chloe ... how far ahead do you fill it in? Do you write everything for each week at once, or do you keep adding to it?

This week
- call consignment shop
- see A (Tues)

This week's marking (1 batch from last week, 2 new batches)
- MSc: 8 papers (Mon)
- Year 2 Group C: 8 (long) papers (Tues)
- Year 1 Group C: 18 papers (Fri)

One of my faculty classes was postponed so I was able to mark a small batch of papers at school.

I emptied the dishwasher, and laundry is caught up (for now).

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Feb 6, 2017 13:27:16 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I'm curious Knee Deep in Water Chloe ... how far ahead do you fill it in? Do you write everything for each week at once, or do you keep adding to it?

This week
- call consignment shop
- see A (Tues)

This week's marking (1 batch from last week, 2 new batches)
- MSc: 8 papers (Mon)
- Year 2 Group C: 8 (long) papers (Tues)
- Year 1 Group C: 18 papers (Fri)

One of my faculty classes was postponed so I was able to mark a small batch of papers.

Right now, my process is to make the week on the Sunday night before the week starts. I put in what I know about then. As the days go on, I add to it. I don't have any other place to write down what I need to remember or do. That was part of the problem I was having--losing sticky notes all the time.  I've already added three things to the lists today as they've come up. Some people make a new page each day. 

[naughtybear]

Oh yeah I was all over decluttering and stuff two weeks ago, now I have stalled.

[debthaven]

naughtybear Can you pick some small tasks and try to keep going? Even with just 10-15 min a day, you'll get there in the end. 

[debthaven]

Dee, how have you been doing? I've been thinking so much about you.

And same for jeep108 I hope things are going well for your surgery.

[dee27]

I am okay, Debt. I feel out of sorts since I picked up a stomach bug, but all of the other loose ends are falling into place. We will be making a second trip to see ODS and his family in a few weeks. PT is a slow process, but I see the ortho doctor before we leave and will decide whether to continue therapy. My shoulder is okay if I do not stress it, but the pain continues unless it is at rest.


ODS is slowly trying to normalize the lives of his family. I wish he would take time to grieve, but he is responsible for taking care of his sons and his wife. The YGS is not very mobile and ODS is the only one who can pick him up because of the limitations of his son and his wife post surgery. YGS is back in school and not really cognizant of what happened to his sister. We're hoping our visit will bring our son some relief.

[debthaven]

I'm sure he will be so happy to see you Dee. Thinking of you.

[dee27]

Thank you for your support.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Feb 6, 2017 15:48:25 GMT -5 dee27 said:

I am okay, Debt. I feel out of sorts since I picked up a stomach bug, but all of the other loose ends are falling into place. We will be making a second trip to see ODS and his family in a few weeks. PT is a slow process, but I see the ortho doctor before we leave and will decide whether to continue therapy. My shoulder is okay if I do not stress it, but the pain continues unless it is at rest.


ODS is slowly trying to normalize the lives of his family. I wish he would take time to grieve, but he is responsible for taking care of his sons and his wife. The YGS is not very mobile and ODS is the only one who can pick him up because of the limitations of his son and his wife post surgery. YGS is back in school and not really cognizant of what happened to his sister. We're hoping our visit will bring our son some relief.

I must have been too wrapped up in myself and missed what happened. It doesn't sound good, and I'm so sorry. I hope your son is able to take solace in your presence. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Monday is dusting day for me. I hate dusting. I need to remember that it gets me at least 400 steps. That's a pretty good motivator! 

[Saving4Norway]

We've had a pretty big dumping of snow, for us. School was out today and we've gotten word that tomorrow we're closed, too. Today was lots of shoveling, and a long walk (snowshoe, actually) with the dog. He's a big Bernese Mountain Dog so he was beside himself with glee.

Tomorrow DH will attempt to go to work with my truck so I'll be home alone and more likely to get more of my shite pile on the pool table taken care of. At least that's what I'm hoping.

[debthaven]

This week
- see A (Tues)
- call consignment shop

This week's marking 
- MSc: 8 papers (Mon)
- Year 2 Group C: 8 (long) papers (Tues Wed)
- Year 1 Group C: 18 papers (Fri)

I worked a half day today. My friend came over for lunch. When she left instead of marking I watched Netflix and took a nap. Planning to catch up on the marking tomorrow but I needed a break from it. 

[startsmart]

February 1-7th
pick up the back yard and mow the back yard
mow the front lawn
take the last piece of gutters to the
Finish reading 4 books (2 complete)
buy and attach new gutter downspout in the backyard
hire someone to come patch the roof
hire someone to come patch drywall
finish installing baseboard + quarter round in the office
begin trimming window in the office 
drop off magazines at assisted living home

Feb 8-14th
Start on quarter round in the guest room
Catch up on laundry
Roll out new rug in the living room 
Install new mailbox 

While I didn't get everything done from my first Feb list I did the biggest things (roof repair & drywall) and the office is mostly done so that makes me happy. I wish it would stay dry long enough to mow - rain stops on Saturday so I'm keeping an eye on that day for yard work.

Trying to keep this week's list simple since I have someone coming to the house Saturday so there's plenty of cleaning to do anyway.

[Sharon]

The combination of having DD/SIL spend the night and celebrating Mom's birthday really threw me off my weekend routine.  I got a few of my weekend things done and had planned to do a few more yesterday only to be hit with a 10 hour power outage.   Last night contributed even more to the chaos. 

I do always get dishes done for the day and that usually includes a sink things to be hand washed.  No power = no hot water so I ended up leaving a sink full of dishes.  Tonight I did get caught up on the kitchen chores and did a load of laundry.  Unfortunately when I was picking up towels out of the bathroom to launder I somehow caught up my hairbrush.  It did not survive the washing machine.   I have had this hair brush for probably 35-40 years and love it.  Not sure how I will be able to replace it.

Tonight I also got the last 2 bills paid until the next round hits mid-month and YNAB is now up to date.

Now if I could just declutter the cold I am fighting.

[Jaguar]

Well I checked my liner stock and I do have enough here to do my lower cupboard in the kitchen without having to buy another roll. I'll just have to join two pieces, but that doesn't matter at all with the location of this cupboard. It needs a bleaching, like a really good cleaning in that corner.

[debthaven]

DS2 and his GF are coming for dinner tonight, so I need to shop.  

This week
- see A (Tues)
- food shopping (Wed)
- call consignment shop (Wed) I have to call back in 2 weeks for an appt

This week's marking
- MSc: 8 papers (Mon)
- Year 2 Group C: 8 (long) papers (Wed)
- Year 1 Group C: 18 papers (Fri)

ETA: I stocked up on frozen veggies (we always have a variety) so I cleaned out / defrosted the freezer.

[WholeLottaNothin]

Checking in....

Been mostly just doing day to day cleaning. I feel woefully behind in my decluttering goal this year. I am starting to feel better from my accident, so I am hopeful I can get some progress made now that I can walk without being in agony. I need to sort through a bunch of clothes. Baby D (who isn't much of a baby anymore) is growing like a weed. He is in stuff his brother was when he was a year older. It will be nice to get some of this stuff out. I need to go through their books too. We have some that are too babyish and need to make room for the ones they like now. That is my goal for the week/weekend. My sister and her DH may be coming to visit this weekend, so I want to see how much I can get done after work. By the time I get the kids to bed, I just want to collapse most days.