2019 - Organize Your Life & Declutter Your Stuff

[mathsplosion]

Jan 15, 2019 21:47:56 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Jan 13, 2019 11:58:21 GMT -5 mathsplosion said:

Slowly getting my systems back in place. 
Priorities this week:  shred old paperwork, get caught up on my grading, research grad schools.  
I have been exercising more, so that's a definite positive!

Do you teach? What do you want to go to grad school for?

I teach high school math, which adds a whole other layer to my trying to get organized  I want to get my master's so that I can teach dual credit courses and potentially teach at the college level.  I would really like to work with new teachers on ways to teach math.  I love that teaching math is so different than it was when I was in school, and I want to continue that progress.  

[countrygirl2]

The mother of the guy whose house burned came by and picked up the stuff, hubs knows all these people.  It was nice stuff, 4 new shirts for his wife, some new kitchen towels.  A partial set of Lenox china, hubs didn't want it to go.  I have more nice china.  Flatwear, some cookware, baking items, storage containers, some corning ware, cups, hand towels.  I told her if I find some other useful things they can have them.  She told me they lost everything.  Hubs said they are supposed to have replacement insurance but depreciated the cost of the house first.  Also we figure if they have a loan they will have to pay that off first.  She said they tried to save a few clothes and she has washed and washed them and they still smell.  To bad we are not the same size.

I need to dig around in the basement but I have given mountains of stuff away, its getting thinner for sure. And I'm trying not to add more.

Going to sort through the sewing room stuff before we put the room back together. Some fancy material is going to DIL for her craft items. Also I think there are some smaller pieces I am likely not to use.  I have a couple of bolts of stuff I will take to her later.  Hubs got the door up down there today, is spackling drywall, moved a light switch.  He had to go to a rent house today, the line to the icemaker is leaking and he has to fix it.  He said its crammed in a closet in a tight place, so that's tomorrow.

[startsmart]

Chloe- I don’t remember what I’ve shared about my book project here but I’m about 70k words into a novel and will finish this draft by April so it can go to my agent, then an editor and a publisher. It’s fiction and probably my favorite thing I’ve ever created.

[countrygirl2]

Love, adventure, thriller, what do you write?

[wvugurl26]

I added a few things to the bag we have going for clothing recycling. DH needs to sort his white socks and decide what to keep. The new ones were washed last night and put away. Old ones with holes went in the recycle bag.

I need to rip the address label off the magazines but I've got a 2 foot high stack to go out tonight for recycling. Trash day is Thursday.

I kept the most current statement for bills and put the rest aside to shred. I filed the current statements last night. The old statements from those folders are now waiting to be shredded. They dated back to December 2013! I swear someday I will have found and dealt with all of this old paper.

I still need to go through the student loan statements. I kept them all because I was in the forgiveness plan but my income is too high to qualify so out they go.

It is still amazing to me what not being sick every other month does for my energy levels.

[chapeau]

Sort of random, but last night I cleaned out two small drawers. Tuesday is trash night, so now I’m going to go through at least one drawer each week. I have several pieces of furniture with a drawer or two in them, so I have several cubbies with random things stuffed in. Those are going this year.
And I really need to post from a computer so I can update my signature line.

[TheOtherMe]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe  I have no plans to leave here.  I'm not a moderator nor will I become one.  From moderating several Yahoo groups over the years, it's a thankless job for which there is no pay.

[nidena]

Jan 16, 2019 10:44:56 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Knee Deep in Water Chloe   I have no plans to leave here.  I'm not a moderator nor will I become one.  From moderating several Yahoo groups over the years, it's a thankless job for which there is no pay.

And you're the one that people always bitch to or about, right?  I was an admin of several FB groups.  That changed when I deactivated just before Thanksgiving.  Now, I admin NOTHING and it's awesome!!  lol.

[Iggy aka IG]

Jan 15, 2019 12:29:06 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Jan 15, 2019 9:48:05 GMT -5 nidena said:

I'll be sending a number of board games to my brother and his family so that will get more stuff out of the house.

Isn't it funny how some things have been sitting in their spots for so long that you don't even think of them as clutter?  They're just part of the decor or something.

[snip]

Regarding PW's Day 3, I highly recommend everyone does this proactively, instead of waiting for the batteries to go dead and the CO2 system screams at you at 6 AM....  Ask me why I say this.... 

So um.  Have I complained about being a homeowner recently?  The dead battery issue turned out to be an actual CO (I learned it's NOT CO2) leak.  When DH and I arrived home yesterday evening, the alarm was going off and the "nice lady" inside it warned us about carbon monoxide.  DH has a field detector for work, and at first it registered 100 in the basement, and 50 upstairs.  Windows and doors were immediately opened, and fans turned on.  Despite it being 32 and snowy last night, we slept with windows opened.  It actually wasn't too bad, LOL. 

Waiting to hear if a professional can meet me at the house to resolve the issue today.  I am ready to replace the whole boiler as it's original to the house (23 years).  DH said we might need to wait until spring thaw.  Off to read and learn more about these systems....

[ohmomto2boys]

Have you ever done the printed scrapbooks?

I don't scrapbook - I pretty much just put the pictures in an album in date order.  I usually get the albums that have a space to the left of the picture to write who is in it and the date.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 16, 2019 11:08:26 GMT -5 nidena said:

Jan 16, 2019 10:44:56 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Knee Deep in Water Chloe   I have no plans to leave here.  I'm not a moderator nor will I become one.  From moderating several Yahoo groups over the years, it's a thankless job for which there is no pay.

And you're the one that people always bitch to or about, right?  I was an admin of several FB groups.  That changed when I deactivated just before Thanksgiving.  Now, I admin NOTHING and it's awesome!!  lol.

Bitch to and then about.  

I also no longer admin anything.  They seemed to think my life was all about approving messages.  It wasn't.  

[TheOtherMe]

Iggy aka IG  My carbon monoxide detector has gone off once since I owned this place.  I got out and called the volunteer fire department.  They came right out with their monitors.  They went through the entire house and nothing registered high.  

Of course, by the time they got to the house, the alarm had quit.  

It's never happened again.

The fire department did tell me not to hesitate to call if it happened again.  They would much rather come out for a false alarm than the real thing.

[startsmart]

Countrygirl - it's a hard genre to pinpoint because there's a lot going on, we'll pitch it as general fiction for women 30+ but it's got elements of sci-fi (just a little), romance, self-discovery, family dynamics, surviving adolescence, stock market manipulation, poetry, living with regrets and living your "dream life." It's a lot of fun but also everyone who has heard the plot immediately says "this is a movie" which always makes me laugh. I gotta write the book first! 

[tcu2003]

Peter Walsh’s 31 Days to Get Organized Challenge:


Day 1 -Set up a donation bin. And, everyone in your house finds 5 items to place in the bin.

Day 2 - Shoes. Gather all of your shoes up from your closet. If they have dust on them, don’t fit, etc, put them in your donate bin. Only keep shoes you love, wear, and that fit you well.

Day 3 - Home Safety. Being organized is not just about closets and files, it's also about ensuring the best life for you and your family. The New Year is a great time to check smoke detectors in your home. Make this your 10 minute challenge for the day and make your family a little safer in the process!

Day 4 - This year’s challenge Mantra is “No more later” aka stop procrastinating. Today's challenge is to contact someone, preferably by phone, that you’ve been putting off. It could be a friend, family member, for more coworker, etc, but do it today!

Day 5 - The Junk Drawer.

Day 6 - Holiday Decorations. The holidays are over and it's time for the decorations to come down.

Day 7 - Bathroom cabinets! Pick one bathroom cabinet, and get rid of anything too old, expired or you don’t use, and put everything away in its proper space.

Day 8 - Plastic Food Storage Containers.

Day 9 - Hanging Clothes. In his video, he says that anything that has dust on it needs to go.

Day 10 - the mail. If you have mail pretty much all over your house then today's the day we're going to get that sorted out.

Day 11 - under the sink.

Day 12 - Clear out old magazines, catalogs, flyers, etc.

Day 13 - Gift wrap

Day 14 - space underneath your bed

Day 15 - Getting the fridge & freezer organized.

Day 16 of #31Days2GetOrganized - When it comes to folded items, here is a simple method to quickly and easily see what you wear and what you don't. Dive right in and try "The Lower Third Technique"! (For those notmwatchint the videos on Facebook, it’s basically to take a stack or pile of clothing and focus on the bottom 1/3 of the stack, as you’ll likely find you can donate most of that part of the pile). #TheLowerThird #ItsAllTooMuch #LetItGo


#31Days2GetOrganized

[moneysquirrel]

Thought I would popped in for a few to update my total.  Just crossed the 200 mark.  I have spent some time recently going though papers and shredding several bags of them.  Also realized that an older purse that I started to reuse was beginning to become unusable.  It went out with the trash today. This weekend is expected to be another rainy one and unless I have to go out in the rain I will be home.  

I have been trying to go through and get one area organized each day.  Some days it only takes a few minutes but there are other area that take multiple days.  I was able to work in the garage a little last week.  Helps me to see what I have in there.  It is where the extra paper products, cleaning, and  rarely used cooking items are stored.  Will be thinking about those cooking items soon.  I think a friend will be having a garage sale soon and I think I will try to see if I can sell them. 

TheOtherMe -- Glad that you freed your time up.  
debthaven -- Enjoy your new semester and your fewer hours.  Hope your play goes well and it will be over before you know it.
Iggy aka IG -- Hope everything works out with the CO situation.

Dryer just buzzed so I will sign off now.

[debthaven]

How scary Iggy aka IG !

Everyone is making great progress!

[3catslady]

cleaned off half of my desk. Will work on the other half this weekend

[TheOtherMe]

I have been worrying about dad.  I finally called my niece tonight since she might be able to get through to her mom.  She told me that her mom had told her kids that they would have to tell her when it's time for dad to get more care.  I think the time is now and niece agrees.  Niece is going to talk to her two brothers to be with her when they talk to my sister.  

I haven't been sleeping for worrying about dad and every time I see him, I come home and cry.  Niece told me some things that happened in her presence in the last few months and she agrees that it's time.  She also said she knows her mom would just argue with me because she told her kids that she will argue with them.  

I hate putting this on my niece and nephews but something has to be done.  Niece agrees that dad has dementia.  She didn't think so until the last 6 months or so but does now.  She said her mom is in denial about the x-ray dad is getting on Tuesday because he will be drinking barium.  I told her good luck with that.  I hate that stuff.

I know this is off topic but you here are on online friends.  I've talked to my real life friend and he suggested talking to niece.  

[paynointerest]

TheOtherMe -- this is tough situation seeing loved ones decline and having to make tough decisions that the rest of the family isn't on board with.  I hope you can have a good conversation with your niece and have him placed somewhere where he will get good care.

Update!  Work Office -- I recycled and threw out some papers and other items that needed to go tonight.  I also spent about 30 minutes "filing" and organizing all of the documents on my desktop so that is now clutter free.  It is a start to the mounds of paper that I have to through!

[TheOtherMe]

Thank you paynointerest  Niece and I had a good, long talk.  I hope she can get through to her mother.  It's time for dad's safety and our sanity.  He is no longer capable of caring for himself in most ways.  

[countrygirl2]

Tomorrow going into my office room, straighten, file, finish bringing up the tax stuff, waiting on docs. At 3 go have my other foot cast, decided to get the brace for the other foot too.

Friday I want to bake bread, need to bring my dehydrator up from the basement.  It has a bread proofing cycle so I can raise bread in a cool house in the winter, in summer I raise it on the porch.

[CCL]

Making progress in my office. I got my desk cleared off and took several bags of stuff to the Goodwill.

[CCL]

Jan 16, 2019 18:52:24 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I have been worrying about dad.  I finally called my niece tonight since she might be able to get through to her mom.  She told me that her mom had told her kids that they would have to tell her when it's time for dad to get more care.  I think the time is now and niece agrees.  Niece is going to talk to her two brothers to be with her when they talk to my sister.  

I haven't been sleeping for worrying about dad and every time I see him, I come home and cry.  Niece told me some things that happened in her presence in the last few months and she agrees that it's time.  She also said she knows her mom would just argue with me because she told her kids that she will argue with them.  

I hate putting this on my niece and nephews but something has to be done.  Niece agrees that dad has dementia.  She didn't think so until the last 6 months or so but does now.  She said her mom is in denial about the x-ray dad is getting on Tuesday because he will be drinking barium.  I told her good luck with that.  I hate that stuff.

I know this is off topic but you here are on online friends.  I've talked to my real life friend and he suggested talking to niece.  

[CCL]

Jan 16, 2019 23:13:30 GMT -5 Sharon said:

This has been a crazy week and not in a good way.  Monday evening DD was rear ended on her way to pick up DGD.  It was a low speed hit by a Honda Accord, so minimal damage to DD's car.  However; because she is a month away from baby delivery she went to the hospital to be checked out.  I drove back down to her place to stay with DGD because DSIL is working out of state.  I hated that she had to drive herself to the hospital but sometimes you just do what you have to do.  She is fine, the baby is fine, everything is good.

I got minimal sleep that night.  I kept texting with DD to kinda keep her company.  I know she was texting with DSIL also.  They have set up a twin bed that will be for DGD when she is a little older but they set it up early so I would have a bed for when DGS arrives.  I tried to lay down some but their Australian Shepherd loves Grandma and was insisting she needed to sleep with me.  DD got home a little after 2am and we all went to bed and she took the dog with her.  At 4am the smoke detector in my room started it's every 10 minute chirp.   For whatever reason it decided to stop for which I was grateful.  I called out at work the next day and slept.

I do need to get my overnight bag completed and ready to go so when I get the baby is on the way call I am ready.

ETA:  DGD did think it was pretty funny that Grandma got her out of her crib in the morning.

That's so scary, but glad your daughter and baby are fine.

[finnime]

Jan 16, 2019 18:52:24 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I have been worrying about dad.  I finally called my niece tonight since she might be able to get through to her mom.  She told me that her mom had told her kids that they would have to tell her when it's time for dad to get more care.  I think the time is now and niece agrees.  Niece is going to talk to her two brothers to be with her when they talk to my sister.  

I haven't been sleeping for worrying about dad and every time I see him, I come home and cry.  Niece told me some things that happened in her presence in the last few months and she agrees that it's time.  She also said she knows her mom would just argue with me because she told her kids that she will argue with them.  

I hate putting this on my niece and nephews but something has to be done.  Niece agrees that dad has dementia.  She didn't think so until the last 6 months or so but does now.  She said her mom is in denial about the x-ray dad is getting on Tuesday because he will be drinking barium.  I told her good luck with that.  I hate that stuff.

I know this is off topic but you here are on online friends.  I've talked to my real life friend and he suggested talking to niece.  

Good for you for having spoken with your niece. That seems like the best way to get your dad the services he needs. I'm sorry it's gotten to this point.

[TheOtherMe]

My real life suggested I talk to her.  She is a surgical nurse so has some medical credentials.  

Now I hope my sister will listen.  I didn't know that she had told her kids that she would probably not know when it was time to get him more care.  Why does she think I've been talking about it for at least a year?

My friend also suggested talking to the people where he lives now or calling DHS.

[gs11rmb]

If your sister says no then I think it's time to call in a social worker.  I understand that your sister wouldn't deliberately do anything to hurt your father but her lack of action is turning neglect into abuse.

[sheilaincali]

Made pretty much zero progress last night. Had a few errands that needed to be run and that was about it. Only decluttering task I accomplished was making the Hubs move his stuff to his mancave so I could clean off the dining room table. He had random board games and misc. stuff stacked on it.

Hopefully tonight will be more productive.

[vetswife]

I'm slowing replacing some of my clothes.  I also decided to give my Hoover steam cleaner to my oldest GD as she has two small boys and will need it.  I haven't used it in a long time.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 17, 2019 9:33:11 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

If your sister says no then I think it's time to call in a social worker.  I understand that your sister wouldn't deliberately do anything to hurt your father but her lack of action is turning neglect into abuse.

I don't know where to look for a social worker.  

After talking to niece, it sounds like sister is in denial, but that denial is neglect, imo.

Yes, it is quickly on the way to abuse.

I was in his apartment today.  Things are not going well in the apartment.  It's apparent he's not taking the eye vitamin recommended to slow the progress of macular degeneration.  He bought aspirin and asked if they came in a bigger size because he can't see them.

He hasn't asked to buy circle work puzzles in weeks.

He loves to watch Iowa Hawkeye basketball but he doesn't remember to watch them, even though he cuts the sports television listings out of the paper every morning.

Yes, I came home and cried again today.