2018 Get Organized & Declutter Your Stuff

[dee27]

Looks nice, Chloe.

[hopetoberich]

I'm keeping track of the items i discard or donate.
This year total is at 105.

Only tangible things counted from RL. No emails.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 14, 2018 20:53:26 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

I'm keeping track of the items i discard or donate.
This year total is at 105.

Only tangible things counted from RL. No emails.

Are you going to keep the tally in your signature?
I'm debating if I want to do that just to see what I get rid of. 
I definitely wouldn't count emails. 
I'm not even sure I'd count junk mail. 
I think I'm curious to see what it is I get rid of in one year. 
I have part of last year's tracked because it was a challenge I gave my self over the summer. I should look at that total. 

[hopetoberich]

Yeah if i knew how.

[busymom]

We did throw out a lot of items this weekend.  I've also got a charity pile, but I'm not adding it to my tally until it's actually out of the house.  Current count is:  176/2018


Contractor is supposed to be coming over tomorrow to install my new bathroom floor, & put in tile around my new bathtub & shower.  

[startsmart]

If you want to update your profile header I put instructions in the first post on this thread 


I'm in LA for 2 weeks and the place I rented is really nice. I've spread out all the stuff I brought with me and tomorrow we begin coaching all day (9am-5pm) so I'm going to get some rest so I can wake up early to workout before heading over to the location. Also, I know it's oceanside but the humidity here sucks. 

In REALLY? news, apparently my sweet grandma got suckered by a con artist promising her a new car if she "just paid the taxes" and while she's gotten back some of the money, there's about $1500 that she hasn't seen yet. The police are informed and working on it but I'm fighting the urge to find the shitbags and beat them senseless. Horrible people. I spent a lot of time consoling grandma and telling her she's not stupid or worthless or an idiot, she was lied to and duped by very talented con men, one of whom told her he's a Christian to gain her trust. 

[finnime]

Week's agenda:

1. Make 45 servings of chicken and dumplings, deliver by 3. Monday
2. Turn in paperwork for DH to get on kidney transplant program
3. Turn in docs to attorney for case to be heard in early February. Pay attorney.
4. Purge trash MBR, DR, LR
5. Clean out refrigerator
6. Vacuum, dust EVERYTHING
7. Wash Franklin the Dog
8. Apply for more jobs
9. Do heaps of laundry
10. Clean up spare bedroom

That should do it. Never did get to recovering DR chairs. I'd add that to list but I don't think I'll get to it. Heck,

11. Recover DR chair seats

[tcu2003]

I see some Penzey’s spices on your shelf, Chloe - I started buying their spices a little over a year ago and love them (and love supporting the company).

I got pretty much nothing done this weekend, and the next two weeks are going to be a crapshoot. I did two loads of laundry, but neither is folded. DH is home part of the day with C and my oldest niece, so we’ll see if he has time to do that. I spent nearly 5 hours at work yesterday and worked from home another 2+, so that killed any chance of getting home stuff done. I’m traveling today and Thursday for work, have clients in town on Wednesday, and then I leave again on Sunday for Chicago for a couple of days for work. Things will hopefully calm down for a bit after that...hopefully.

Meanwhile, we’ll at least try to keep from adding to the chaos and keeping up with the laundry and dishes. I did manage to cook 3 different soups this weekend so we have food to eat and won’t have to eat out, so I’ll take the small victories.

[Sam_2.0]

Jan 14, 2018 17:28:54 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Seriously!  I realized I probably already own a capsule wardrobe, it's just hidden in the rest of the crap I own.

I've been thinking about doing something a bit more extreme than the hanger trick. I am about to go put all of my clothes in tubs. ALL of them. Then I will pick out from the tubs what I want to wear. Clothes that have been worn & washed can go back into the dresser/closet. Whatever is left in the tubs in 6 months goes to the basement. If I still don't go for it after a few more months, out it goes. I did this on a smaller scale awhile back and I have a whole tub of things in our guest room that I haven't touched. I looked through it for a second and realized I didn't actually want to wear most of it. So next move is to the basement where I am gathering things for a garage sale.

[bean29]

Jan 15, 2018 9:43:32 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Jan 14, 2018 17:28:54 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Seriously!  I realized I probably already own a capsule wardrobe, it's just hidden in the rest of the crap I own.

I've been thinking about doing something a bit more extreme than the hanger trick. I am about to go put all of my clothes in tubs. ALL of them. Then I will pick out from the tubs what I want to wear. Clothes that have been worn & washed can go back into the dresser/closet. Whatever is left in the tubs in 6 months goes to the basement. If I still don't go for it after a few more months, out it goes. I did this on a smaller scale awhile back and I have a whole tub of things in our guest room that I haven't touched. I looked through it for a second and realized I didn't actually want to wear most of it. So next move is to the basement where I am gathering things for a garage sale.

I swear I purchased a pair of black jeans from Talbots before thanksgiving or on Black Friday, and that I received them and hung them on a hanger before we had guest over.  I can not for the life of me find them - I am pretty sure I confused them with an older pair of black jeans and either moved them to the basement or donated them to Goodwill.  I need to pull a good amount of stuff out of my closet in a similar fashion.  My DS moved out, so maybe I could move some stuff I have not worn in a really long time to his closet, then get rid of it in a year or so.

[busymom]

My contractor is running late this morning.  I expect he was probably up late last night watching football...  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Good morning!

As a government employee, I'm not working today since it's MLK,Jr Day. 

Major tasks to accomplish: 
Lesson plans, Tues & Wed prep, classroom set-up
Skills Day Competition proposals
Skills Day donation requests
Teeth Cleaning
Master Bed sheet washing
Dusting
Update YNAB
Complete Task for DH's work
7/26 Kitchen tasks are completed
Finish at least four more including the inside of the fridge

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 15, 2018 11:12:53 GMT -5 busymom said:

My contractor is running late this morning.  I expect he was probably up late last night watching football...  

Another benefit to living on the West Coast--nothing broadcast live is on too late. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Peter Walsh

Day 15 of #31Days2GetOrganized

– GET BACK IN TOUCH – 

One of my favorite challenges! Clutter isn’t just the physical stuff. It’s also anything that’s holding you back from living your best life. Reach out and say hi to someone today!

An old friend, family member, or co-worker. 

Phone or email

Tell them you just want to reach out and say hi

[Iggy aka IG]

Wow!  2 pages since Friday!  Y'all are kicking some bootie!

Sort of a mellow weekend with the usual 4 loads laundry, dishes, meals and meal prepping for the week.

I did sort of arrange the pantry, wanting to rid of things purchased over the holiday season.  I used the rest of the oatmeal to make baked oatmeal for DH and used up mini marshmallows and white chocolate chips.  I also added a portion of Heath toffee bits, milk choc chips, and walnuts.  It smelled so good!

A tip for those of you with hard water, on a well, etc. with toilet bowl stains:  Check out a product called The Works if you haven't already.  I used as directed, and let it soak for several hours.  After months of scrubbing with no results, the toilet bowl now looks brand new.

Oh, and 10+ more magazines have been removed from our home.  Thank you, Peter Walsh!

[nidena]

Jan 11, 2018 22:36:50 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

Today's Peter Walsh challenge:


Day 11 of #31Days2GetOrganized – Mail – Is Junk Mail threatening to take over your home? Get a jump on mail inflow with these 3 simple steps! #31Days2GetOrganized2018 #ItsAllTooMuch #NewYearsResolution #DeclutterAndOrganize #GetToIt #MailClutter #JunkMail #MailNeedsAHome

I reduced a lot of my mail by sending back to whomever sent me the mail using the postage paid envelope in it.  For example, credit card offers.  I stuff the blank application, the disclaimer insert, AND the original envelope into the SASE and drop it in the mail.  A couple weeks of this and I NEVER get offers from them again.  

[nidena]

Jan 12, 2018 22:12:01 GMT -5 busymom said:

Good news!  The extra effort paid off, as DD & I found a bathroom counter top that we like better than the cheap one we'd found earlier.  It'll be about $100 more than the cheap one, & it still won't be a "perfect" match, but it's the best one we've seen yet.  


I must be having a good influence on DH, as he went through his sock & underwear drawer tonight, without me even having to ask.  

Funny story about undies: I used to work for Victoria's Secret so, you can imagine, I used to have oodles of their stuff.  Well, everything they make has a manufacturing date stamped on it within the "sizing and fabric" stamp.  When I did my KonMari purge in 2015, the undie drawer was a drawer that was included in the attack.  There were undies in there that were stamped PRIOR to me working there, which began in 2006.  lol.  Considering that I had about 20 other pairs of chonies AND they didn't fit any more...in the trash they went.

[countrygirl2]

We are going to clean in our attached garage next weekend.

Hubs wants to take out a bunch of stuff and move the rack in

front of my truck, it takes up room I  need to park my truck,

also move the small fridge to his garage. It's just to cold out

there right now and rest of the week.

Still its a whole lot better everywhere since DD moved.  I

cannot believe all the stuff she bought while here.

[chiver78]

Jan 14, 2018 20:22:38 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Excuse the banana peel that DH tossed in there while I was purging. These are the ten spices I just tossed: 
Exp 2012 Vinegar (not actually from the spice cupboard)
Exp 2014 Steak Rub
Exp 2016 Another Steak Rub
Exp 2007 Lemon Pepper
Just never use it  Orange Zest
Exp 2015 Garlic Salt
Exp 2014 Paprika
Exp 2012 Celery Seed
Exp 2010 Beef Granules
Just never used it again Morton's Meat Tenderizer
 





So, we still have a lot of spices, but we do use these: 

I love this. I've got some riser shelves on my counters for the things we use basically every time we cook. will edit the post with a link later on.

everything else is in one cabinet, largely at the same height/size.

[nidena]

I returned from my trip in the very wee hours--only a few hours before the sun came up--and was up five hours later.

Today's list:
Email Brooks Running CEO
Write posts for both blogs
Eat breakfast
Grad School resume (at some point I will actually do this lol)
Gym

How do you attach pictures?  I tried but it didn't work so well.

[debthaven]

startsmart I'm so sorry about your Grandma. I hope there's a special circle of hell for the people who prey on old folks.

As most of you know, I am lucky enough not to work on Fridays. Or rather, I work from home doing marking and prep, but I don't teach on Fridays. There are few advantages to being an adjunct, but setting your own schedule is one (probably the only one lol).

When I started Job 2 last year, they asked me to teach Fri afternoons during the short May/June trimester. It's not the ideal time of year to work on Fri afternoons, but hey, I did it. Last June they asked me if I would do it again this year too, and I said yes.

Today they asked me if I could do them a huge favor and teach Thurs afternoons and evenings instead, because they're really short on Thurs afternoon/evening teachers for that trimester. So I get twice as many hours, and no Friday afternoons! I'll get home very late those Thursday evenings, but it's only for 6 weeks.

[wvugurl26]

All of the Christmas stuff was taken down and put back in the basement. We dropped off 3 big bags of stuff at Goodwill. Lots of people just be dropping off today since it's a holiday for some. The drop off guy was a bit grumpy.

The last two boxes of Fiesta ware from my birthday and wedding shower were unpacked and waiting their turn in the dishwasher. With any luck we can find room for them in the cabinets. The old coffee cups have been boxed up.

For some reason we cannot just get rid of the dishes DH inherited when he moved in to the house. These are not heirlooms. Some fights are not worth having though. They are boxed up and in the basement.

[debthaven]

Some fights are not worth having though.

wvugurl26 , this is why our basement storage room is packed to the gills with crap that DH has never used, and will never use. To be clear, I agree with you! We all have to choose our battles. Our "compromise" is that the Stuff I would have chucked ages ago gets relegated to the basement, and the upstairs is relatively clutter-free.

The other compromise is that DH gets the bigger half the basement storage for himself, and the 4 kids and I share the smaller half. But, he cannot use "my" shelves (which I share with our 4 kids). If he needs more space, he has to make it for himself. That's also why there is now a HUGE pile of his crap on the basement floor at the foot of his shelves. But hey, it's not on "my/our" shelves, and it's not upstairs in the house.

I consider that a win.

[nidena]

I feel like I remember someone mentioning having multiple Kindles.  Check out: Kindle Trade-In on Amazon

[ambellamy]

Yesterday we tossed out some old work out squares (foam squares that just really didn't serve the right purpose we were using them for)... and a step stool that was just too small to really help our toddler reach anything useful. On an upside, I found some 1.5 and 2.5 lb ankle weights in a box... I was about to try and buy some 2 lb hand weights so I saved money not buying something I already own and can use (I can just hold ankle weights in my hands)!

Hubs has also been working on copying all our DVD's over to our PLEX server and then discarding the disks and packages... so this has helped us weed out some things. I'm not keeping track because we moved in June and are still unpacking while we remodel, so it's a matter of fixing one space at a time. I also finally parted with my physical CD collection, It's all on I-tunes anyway and our computer and the only CD player I own is in my car... so it really was just time to do it. 

Today I also purged a scrapbook (empty) and some scrap book paper/supplies. My goal is to scan in and make a digital book someday from shutterfly to capture the high school and college memories... then our life as a dup and then a trio.

I also purged 3 drawers in our computer desk and FINALLY unpacked our office bankers box from the move. I also opened some of the un-opened boxes from the move, purged a couple, reorganized some and found 7 black picture frames we don't use anymore (which I think I can use at a work event in May) 

[nidena]

Jan 15, 2018 13:53:58 GMT -5 nidena said:

I returned from my trip in the very wee hours--only a few hours before the sun came up--and was up five hours later.

Today's list:
Email Brooks Running CEO
Write posts for both blogs (one done)
Eat breakfast
Grad School resume (at some point I will actually do this lol)
Gym

How do you attach pictures?  I tried but it didn't work so well.

Also completed my prep for classes tomorrow and cleaned the catbox.  

[zibazinski]

Jan 14, 2018 22:41:55 GMT -5 startsmart said:

If you want to update your profile header I put instructions in the first post on this thread 


I'm in LA for 2 weeks and the place I rented is really nice. I've spread out all the stuff I brought with me and tomorrow we begin coaching all day (9am-5pm) so I'm going to get some rest so I can wake up early to workout before heading over to the location. Also, I know it's oceanside but the humidity here sucks. 

In REALLY? news, apparently my sweet grandma got suckered by a con artist promising her a new car if she "just paid the taxes" and while she's gotten back some of the money, there's about $1500 that she hasn't seen yet. The police are informed and working on it but I'm fighting the urge to find the shitbags and beat them senseless. Horrible people. I spent a lot of time consoling grandma and telling her she's not stupid or worthless or an idiot, she was lied to and duped by very talented con men, one of whom told her he's a Christian to gain her trust. 

I instantly mistrust anyone who brings up religion in a new relationship.

[busymom]

So sorry, startsmart.  When Mom was still living in her house, she was getting calls from scammers much too often.     Hope your grandma gets the rest of her money back, or can at least help prosecute the scammers.  


My contractor never showed today, nor did he answer his phone.  He finally did leave me a message around supper time.  He blamed the driving conditions where he spent the weekend, but I suspect "3.2 flu" from all of the football games this weekend.  

[moneysquirrel]

Updating the list January Goals and Other Things: (in no particular order)



*Maintain progress
*Continue to declutter items
*Take items to school -- Packing up totes -- hope to deliver these 1/19
*Home Insurance-finally came in- will try to get this done this week
*Meeting (1/16)
*Dentist (1/23)
*Volunteer work (once this month)1/25
*Exercise 

Been staying close to home to avoid as much contact with flu/coughs/krug as possible.  Have been adding items to my donation totes and boxes.  I will not add them to the signature line until they are out of my possession.  Only adding real items, no email or digital files.  I am sure that I will continue to add things as I work through the house.  I have been limited when I worked of going through the various rooms.  Slowly progressing my way a little at a time.  I aim to organize/declutter at least a few areas a week. 

 

[moneysquirrel]

I use the turntables for my spices as well.  I do have a few of the double ones that come in handy.  Also use turntables in my bead room, bath as well as the kitchen.