2017 Declutter and Organization Thread

[whoisjohngalt]

Jan 7, 2017 16:09:57 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

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
I’m sure that shoes multiply in the dark of everyone’s closet! Today it’s all about decluttering the shoes you don’t love or wear or fit you. We’re starting with the one’s covered in dust ….. let’s do this.

I don't know if I should love you or intensely dislike you for posting those.  I so so so want to do them, but damn, it's just not happening.

I had all kinds of plans for today, but after a very very long day yesterday - I was wiped out today and accomplished nothing.

[whoisjohngalt]

I need to go through my children's art and craft projects and figure out what I want to keep and what I don't.

I know many people take pics and throw away the original, but it's not for me.

And now, that they are all know how to write - they write me sooooo many notes.....

I mean, I need to keep all the prove that I can how I am just the best mommy EVER and how they all love me and how I am just the greatest.  I will need something to show them when they are teenagers!

[dee27]

Be kind to yourself; there is always tomorrow!

[busymom]

Hi Kids! I'd planned to join you in doing the Peter Walsh Challenge, but this congestion thing has me sicker than a dog, so I'm afraid I'll have to cheer you on, & be the official "resident slacker" for a few days. I can't even bend over without getting a bit nauseous, which is REALLY annoying. My filing pile is huge, and I can't even get through that right now, so I guess I'll just rest up, & try to catch up later. Carry On!

[Jaguar]

Get Better busymom,

[dee27]

Jan 7, 2017 21:52:53 GMT -5 Jaguar said:

Get Better busymom ,

[startsmart]

There are just a few places where I didn't reinstall the baseboards after doing the floors last year and although I saved scraps I was about 4" short in one place! Bah. So I picked up more trim at Home Depot tonight and finished the quarter round in the living room! 

Next up will probably be the master bedroom since it's easier to move that furniture around. Seriously motivated now to get all the quarter round installed by end of January and start on the painting. 

[debthaven]

Feel better Busy!

John Galt, the thing about those challenges is they are just 10 min a day. So even if you don't do them every day, the idea is that with doing 10 min per day X 31 days, you'll see significant progress by the end of the month. But I know it's not easy with 3 little kids! How about trying to do 3 or 4 per week? Don't worry about not doing them that day, but it's better to do some of them later than not at all. Or giving yourself Jan + Feb to get through them? Achievable goals.

DS3 is back at school, Christmas is taken down, I go back to my (new) regular schedule tomorrow. I'm spending all of today on that new course, which starts tomorrow. I'm starting to panic.  

[plugginaway22]

We have had single digit wind chills this weekend which means I do not want to leave the house!  Getting some things done, but don't seem to have the energy to get LOTS of things done, ha-ha.

This week is the first time I will work 5 days since mid-Dec., so back to reality will be fun.

DH and I are doing well after a week working on de-cluttering weight, we both have lost 5 lbs!!

[Sharon]

Yesterday I got my main weekly chores done.  The ones that I consider necessary to sorta keep things under control.  We had snow/ice yesterday transitioning to ice today with maybe some rain by evening.  I wanted to get things done in case we lose power. 

Yesterday afternoon I sewed and that is my plan for today.  The Christmas quilt has been set aside, once again, and now I am working on a baby quilt.   The baby quilt had actually been started before but I knew it was what DD wanted and I knew how long it can take me to do things.  It had gotten set aside for a while but it is now back at the top of the project list.

[gooddecisions]

Jan 7, 2017 9:50:22 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

OK, so I am trying to start using cloth napkins instead of regular ones and instead of paper towels, thanks to gooddecisions .

Anyone who does that regularly - how do  you handle the washing part?  My husband is very much willing to try - but he is worried that our washing machine is going to get clogged with pieces of all kinds of food.

gooddecisions - I know you don't post on this thread, but I am tagging you here bc I didn't want to start a whole other thread about it

Big chunks of food don't normally end up on my napkins, so I've never had that issue or if they have, the machine handled it just fine. In 5 years, I've never given it any thought. I keep a bag hanging on my oven door and that's where the dirty ones get tossed, which is 2 feet from the trash can. I empty it whenever I do a load of laundry, it doesn't matter what the load is. There are 5 of us, including a baby, so I'm pretty much doing a load of laundry at least every other day.

My parents have their washing machine right by the kitchen which is also where their garbage is, so they just toss the used ones in the basket in the laundry room. Whatever your set up is, you probably need to have a discard bin/basket/bag near where your trash can is just to make it convenient.

[gooddecisions]

Jan 7, 2017 9:50:22 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

OK, so I am trying to start using cloth napkins instead of regular ones and instead of paper towels, thanks to gooddecisions .

Anyone who does that regularly - how do  you handle the washing part?  My husband is very much willing to try - but he is worried that our washing machine is going to get clogged with pieces of all kinds of food.

gooddecisions - I know you don't post on this thread, but I am tagging you here bc I didn't want to start a whole other thread about it

I have something like this, but it has a black and white geometric pattern. I've had it for 5 years and it's still like new. The heat from the oven doesn't bother it a bit.


ETA, it doesn't look like images are cooperating today. 

[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
Electronic data can be a real turn off (see what I did there!!). So today’s challenge is all about dealing with the bin or box or drawer of power cords and cables and who-knows-what in the electronics department.

[debthaven]

I've been seriously working for 11 hours straight. Why did I procrastinate so much?!

The only thing I've done in the house today is empty the dishwasher.

Sharon that's so nice that you're making the baby a quilt. I used to embroider a lot ... maybe I will make the baby an embroidery?

[ilovedolphins]

Arrghhh.  It is the 8th day of the month and I haven't even had a chance to declutter.  Yesterday I got my tree down and some of the decorations put away but I have not taken one thing out of my house yet this year.

[dee27]

I enjoyed needlepoint when my children were babies. I made DD one with Pooh.

[busymom]

Hiya Kids! I'm up & moving slowly, but trying to get a few things done. But, fighting a deep cough.

I wet mopped the entryway (DH tends to track in a lot of sand & those little rocks used to keep people from slipping on ice, for some reason). We had almost no water pressure this morning, but the water is back, so I'm also catching up on laundry.  The countertops have been wiped down, and I'll see what else I can accomplish, as my energy allows.

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2017 11:26:34 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

You guys are hard core!  It hasn't even been 12 hrs of 2017 and you already decluttering!

So, this is my THIRD year of attempting to do something.....we shall see.

Third year for me too.  Clutter completely overwhelms me and I just can't figure out where to start.  It seems all I ever do is move it around. 

2014 was my big decluttering when I packed everything of my ex's in the motorhome and left it in the Walmart parking lot.  That was awesome.  I was just packing tote after tote in there and then it was all gone in one sweep.

Since then I feel like I've made very little progress.  I know I've been hauling things out, but it' so painfully slow.  I feel trapped and I can never find anything.  I end up buying more things even though I know somewhere in this house I have one (or a dozen), but I can't freaking find them.

I'm not even sure it's a problem with too much stuff  It's probably more that it's not organized.  I only half-ass look at houses to downsize into because I start thinking about packing and it seems impossible.

[ilovedolphins]

Jan 8, 2017 15:09:06 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jan 1, 2017 11:26:34 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

You guys are hard core!  It hasn't even been 12 hrs of 2017 and you already decluttering!

So, this is my THIRD year of attempting to do something.....we shall see.

Third year for me too.  Clutter completely overwhelms me and I just can't figure out where to start.  It seems all I ever do is move it around. 

2014 was my big decluttering when I packed everything of my ex's in the motorhome and left it in the Walmart parking lot.  That was awesome.  I was just packing tote after tote in there and then it was all gone in one sweep.

Since then I feel like I've made very little progress.  I know I've been hauling things out, but it' so painfully slow.  I feel trapped and I can never find anything.  I end up buying more things even though I know somewhere in this house I have one (or a dozen), but I can't freaking find them.

I'm not even sure it's a problem with too much stuff  It's probably more that it's not organized.  I only half-ass look at houses to downsize into because I start thinking about packing and it seems impossible.

I totally feel overwhelmed also.  I look at all the stuff and then just walk away because I don't know where to start or what to do with it.  It seems like all I do with my stuff too is move it around.

[debthaven]

Good luck MPL + Dolphins. I hope you can make some progress. Every little bit helps.

I also ordered an "air-quality sticker" for my car. As of mid January you can't drive in Paris unless you have one, or you risk an expensive fine. What a PITA, but at least I could order it online.

This weekend
- plan new course (ongoing)
- order car sticker
- rewrite letter 

I've finally crossed out planning the new course. Obviously it's not finished, but since it starts tomorrow, I'll plan the rest week by week.

This week
- rewrite letter  (Tues?/Wed?)
- drink Jordanian tea

[debthaven]

That's the good thing about PW's challenges ... you don't need to think about where to start, because he tells you.

I really wish you guys would try it ... even if you can't do it every day, it comes to 70 min per week. You can find 1h10min a week you want to. If you're on FB, follow him there. Tons of people do his challenges, maybe you'll find their posts inspirational?

If you were really overwhelmed by clutter, you wouldn't have any. You're overwhelmed by the idea of dealing with it, not by the clutter itself. I can't function in a cluttered environment ... I can't think, I can't work, I can't relax, I can't sleep. So I spend time to make/keep my house neat and uncluttered. (It is NOT perfect, obviously ... but the clutter is definitely limited to certain areas, ie the basement.)

It's a continual process though. I'm naturally geared that way but with 6 people in the house (when the kids were younger and all at home) it was a struggle sometimes. Also, the less you bring into the house, the less clutter there is.

Good luck to you! We're here to cheer you on!

On a lighter note, we started the Jordanian tea. It was ... interesting. Black tea with sage and / or thyme. I think it will take us quite a while to get through it.

[whoisjohngalt]

What PW thinks I should do in a day, will take me a month!

[debthaven]

No Lena, it's 10 min! Have you watched his videos, rather than just looking at TCU's list here? (The videos are about 1 min each).

He is careful NEVER to say to complete a job ... he always says, I know how busy you are, so I'm asking you to spend "just 10 min" on it.

Of course the hope is that people will carry on ... but even if they don't, 10 min on any area is better than nothing, it's a start!

ETA: For example, for the under the sink task ... he says to spend 10 min on ONE sink. (I'm sure you have more than one, being in a house)
For the drawers, he says to do ONE drawer, two if you feel like it. Ditto.

Baby steps.

[Jaguar]

Peter Walsh :

[debthaven]

Thanks for posting that Jag!

 

[whoisjohngalt]

Yeah, see, I don't know if I can do that    Once I start on a "project", it's hard for me to move on to the next one, but I will have to try bc nothing is getting done this way!

Thanks debthaven for clarification.

tcu2003 - THANK YOU for posting those challenges.  Do they go for the entire year?  Are you going to be posting them?

[debthaven]

You're very welcome. I really hope you can find something that works for you!

But don't worry, the PW challenges only go on for 31 days (every day in Jan) LOL!

[startsmart]

Wow, the storm here is insane! We've got high winds, tons of rain (1" today alone) and fog so it's white out like conditions out there. Plus a bunch of idiots are driving without their headlights on which makes it near impossible to see white/silver vehicles on the freeway. But I'm home safe now and back to the chore list! 

Jan 1-7th:
ship box to K
finish book ornaments and pack them up - last 2 are drying! 
go through papers in the office (all on one shelf right now)
send client new website
find space in the garage for plastic xmas tubs
put ornaments away in the closet - 3/4 done
take batteries and light bulbs to recycling - not enough to do right now
scan 2016 files from office and add to shredding box

As always paper is my nemesis! Right now I'm working on my 2017 planning a bit more and then I'll be tackling papers.

Hoping I have the energy tonight to start on the baseboards in my master bedroom. I think I can get 7 lengths done (there are 14 in that room alone) which would be a good start. 

Hoping that my assistant is feeling 100% again and can make it on Tuesday, I have a long list of things to get done around the house and if she can do those that'll give me the time I need to work  

Jan 8-14th:
finish finance PP for upcoming class
Add quarter round to 1 bedroom
catch up on laundry
talk to charity about burp cloth donation
Finish reading 2 books (1/2 done)
Workout 4 times 
Sort through sweaters to donate 

[Deleted]

Jan 8, 2017 13:59:41 GMT -5 dee27 said:

I enjoyed needlepoint when my children were babies. I made DD one with Pooh.

Want to make me one with Pooh? I ADORE Winnie the Pooh. He's my favoritest bear with the rumbly little tumbly.

[busymom]

Aaaarrrrrgh! Our water supply has been declared unfit to drink unless we boil it first, at least for the next couple of days. (Which DOES explain the lack of water pressure this morning.) They're even closing a couple of our schools tomorrow due to this problem. Fortunately, DH had just brought home 3 cases of water bottles, so we'll make it, it's just annoying is all. And, DH does tend to drink water out of the faucet, so I'll have to watch him closely.

I'm making some progress with the laundry. I'm going to wait with my filing until the house is quiet tomorrow.