2019 - Organize Your Life & Declutter Your Stuff

[Iggy aka IG]

Sorry for your loss, startsmart. 

[ohmomto2boys]

So sorry for your loss, startsmart.     

[debthaven]

I hope you feel better soon busymom . Congrats on the weight loss!

Knee Deep in Water Chloe are you OK? I saw on another thread that you had to go to Urgent Care.

Home from a longer-than-usual day at school. It's snowing. If the predictions are accurate, I won't be able to make it to Job 2 tomorrow (17 miles each way through the woods), at least not for the morning.

My boss told me that if I can't get to school, I can still "maintain" class by giving the students an assignment and checking it. If I do that, the students are marked present and I am paid. Seems strange but I'll take it. I have to decide very early (6-6.30) so the students don't go in for nothing. She said that anyone who doesn't live locally will have the same problem. I'm hoping to make it in but it's good to know I have this option. 

[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 - "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).

Day 17 - Bills & Receipts.

Day 18 - back in the kitchen dealing with the cupboard that holds your cups and mugs.

Day 19 - Today I challenge you to tackle just one small area of your garage... it's all about just getting started!

Day 20 - has us back in the kitchen with a challenge about keeping flat surfaces clear.

Day 21 - Books (Don't start screaming yet)! This is always an emotional topic! I love books too but if your books are never going to be read and are covered in dust, perhaps today's the day to deal with them.

Day 22 - Linen Cupboard. Towels, sheets, blankets and more!

Day 23 - all about your "unmentionables"... and your socks too! Let's go where no other organizer will go... ten minutes and you'll be amazed at the result!

Day 24 - cleaning products.

Day 25 - that drawer (or container) in your kitchen where you keep your kitchen utensils.

Day 26 - all about cookbooks and recipes and cooking magazines.

Day 27 - Take out your phone and clear out the stuff that makes it harder for you to use your phone as efficiently as possible!

Day 28 - has us dealing with that one storage space that pretty much everyone has neglected. It might be that cabinet in the kitchen, or cupboard in the garage, or shelf in the basement.

Day 29 of #31Days2GetOrganized is back in the kitchen - specifically the pantry. How much old or unused food is hiding in your pantry? Today's the day we're all going to find out!! #ItsAllTooMuch #LetItGo

#31Days2GetOrganized

[tcu2003]

I definitely need to do the pantry challenge. We’re hosting a super bowl party on Sunday, so maybe DH and I can tackle it on Saturday.

[debthaven]

Forgot to mention, I have a Greek friend who is married to a Frenchman. They have a vacation house on a Greek island.

Every year she imports olive oil from that island for her family and friends. It's not cheap, it's basically the same price as in the supermarket. But it's delicious, and it comes in 5 liter cans so it's practical, I just keep filling up my 1 liter bottle until the can runs out. We've been doing this for several years.

She sent an email Mon saying it had just been delivered, could we please pick it up ASAP? Since I was off Mon afternoon DH and I picked up 4 cans (2 cans for us, 2 cans for our best friends. They will pay us back).

So now I have a year's worth of olive oil in the house! This is the first year that we (and our best friends) have ordered 2 cans rather than one. We usually run out in May or June so this time we decided to get 2 cans for each family. 

So I guess I'm hoarding olive oil .

[startsmart]

So much happening all at once! We still don't have clarity on a service for grandma, she will be cremated and placed in the family plot so we can have a celebration of her life at any time. If we do have a service it's likely they'll ask me to create a video with all the photos from her life which I am happy to do but will need a few weeks to complete. 

Also today the key piece of software I use for my business messed up something big for the third time and I called and had it out with them. First because "my" customer rep wasn't available for 3-96 hour (response times I was given) and second because I wasn't letting them bs me about the problem. Their first response was basically "do you have video evidence that you didn't screw up?" which is just ridiculous. I got my last month's invoice refunded (a few hundred dollars) and now I'm looking for a new software home which is both exhausting to think about and a lot of extra work. 

I did give notice at the storage unit and there's only about 15 more things there but they're all either bulky boxes or long boxes. It's supposed to rain this weekend otherwise I would pull the convertible out of the garage and spend a couple of days cleaning and organizing in there. I did recycle 50 magazines that were not nice enough to donate so I need to update those totals. 

Updating the old list and starting a new one: 


1. Finish chapter 4-9 of my book
2. Drop off donation at Goodwill
3. Touch up front door paint when it won't rain for 12 hours
4. Begin planting bulbs in the front yard
5. Move 10 boxes from the storage unit home
6. Consolidate family photo project into one box/container
7. Shred papers and recycle them


New List
1. Finish chapters 10-15 of my book
2. MOW the front lawn again and then plant bulbs
3. Consolidate family photo project into one box/container
4. Move all the book boxes to the office closet
5. Donate the rest of the magazines
6. Repack my emergency bag and make a list of items to add 
7. Empty out the white bookshelf in the garage so it can be demolished

[laterbloomer]

Does anyone here ever take one of their vacation weeks just to give their house a deep cleaning? I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or not. Will I feel as good with a cleaned up house as I would if I took a week at the end of March to go somewhere hot? I'm really debating this.

[chapeau]

I have taken a couple of days at a time to work on a specific area or project (think pre-holiday cleaning), but never a whole week. If I could send DH and DD away on vacation while I did it, it would be better.

Hmm.

[wvugurl26]

I haven't. Every time I try to designate a weekend day invariably my asthma doesn't cooperate with all the trips up and down the steps. I live in a townhouse.

My progress is slow but I'm trying to keep up with the daily recurring stuff. That gives me more time on the weekends to try and organize more if I don't have to slug through the daily stuff first.

[finnime]

Can you split your time and take a 4 day vacation plus 4 days of deep cleaning?

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 29, 2019 13:34:10 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I hope you feel better soon busymom . Congrats on the weight loss!

Knee Deep in Water Chloe are you OK? I saw on another thread that you had to go to Urgent Care.

Home from a longer-than-usual day at school. It's snowing. If the predictions are accurate, I won't be able to make it to Job 2 tomorrow (17 miles each way through the woods), at least not for the morning.

My boss told me that if I can't get to school, I can still "maintain" class by giving the students an assignment and checking it. If I do that, the students are marked present and I am paid. Seems strange but I'll take it. I have to decide very early (6-6.30) so the students don't go in for nothing. She said that anyone who doesn't live locally will have the same problem. I'm hoping to make it in but it's good to know I have this option. 

Yes, thank you. I did go to work for most of the day today. Urgent Care ended up sending me to the hospital/emergency room because I needed IV fluids and tests that Urgent Care didn't do. I was dehydrated enough that the RN couldn't get a blood draw.  I rehydrated and had a CT scan. I have colitis--which is hopefully acute and is less severe than diverticulitis. They gave me some anti-nausea and antibiotic prescriptions. 

I did just miss a deadline for Speech & Debate for registration. I've emailed in the entries, and I'm sure it will be fine. But, that's how out of it and disorganized I ended up being from Sunday afternoon through today. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back up to par. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 29, 2019 20:19:36 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Does anyone here ever take one of their vacation weeks just to give their house a deep cleaning? I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or not. Will I feel as good with a cleaned up house as I would if I took a week at the end of March to go somewhere hot? I'm really debating this.

Well, because of how school employees are scheduled, I end up with a one-week vacation, two-week vacation, and six- to - eight week vacation spread out throughout the year. There are definitely deep cleaning and project choices that I make based on those weeks. I generally like "stay home days" and don't want to spend the whole time away from home. I often split the one-week break into a half stay-home and half-away vacation. 

Anyway, does it work well for me? Yes. 
Would I do it that way if I didn't have my days scheduled that way for me? I don't think so, but, never having had the actual option, I'm not sure. In theory, if I was actually paid to work for a full year, I might choose to spend some of that money on more house cleaning hours. Right now, I pay for four hours every two weeks for someone to mop my 1500sf of floors. 
I do prefer the method of just spending 15 - 30  minutes per weekday and a few hours on weekend days. Because I know I have breaks, I will procrastinate toward them. That's a problem (in my head at least). 

When my house is messier or dirtier than acceptable, it does stress me out. So, I can definitely understand taking a few days off just to get it to a level of cleanliness that would reduce my stress level. 

[nidena]

I can't say that I've ever deep cleaned a house.  I vacuum, I sweep, I clear the cobwebs if they become too large but no deep cleaning.

[NoNamePerson]

Jan 29, 2019 20:19:36 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Does anyone here ever take one of their vacation weeks just to give their house a deep cleaning? I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or not. Will I feel as good with a cleaned up house as I would if I took a week at the end of March to go somewhere hot? I'm really debating this.

No way. I always left town on my vacations for this very reason. Wouldn't be tempted to spend my "quality" time cleaning house     

[TheOtherMe]

debthaven  Did you get the snow?  I hope if you went to your job, you arrived safely.

[debthaven]

We did get quite a bit for us! I stayed home this morning (but set them an assignment as offered) and went in for my afternoon classes. I couldn't have gotten down the super steep hill at 7 am.

Thanks for asking.

[azucena]

Jan 29, 2019 20:19:36 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Does anyone here ever take one of their vacation weeks just to give their house a deep cleaning? I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or not. Will I feel as good with a cleaned up house as I would if I took a week at the end of March to go somewhere hot? I'm really debating this.

I sort of do.  My kids attend vacation Bible school for a week in June.  They need to be dropped off at 8:30 and picked up by noon.  3 yrs ago, I started taking off that whole week.  I drop them off, hustle home (10 min drive), declutter/clean one bedroom from top to bottom, and go pick them up when my 15 min warning alarm goes off.  Then, we spend the afternoon together, usually outside, at a park, etc.  Each of their bedrooms may take me 3-6 hours so there's usually a spare day or two where I tackle other house projects that I can never seem to get to.  It's nice to have so much cleaned at once, and it works well for them to be gone because that's the time I can pull out their too small, out of season clothes without wails of 'but that's my favorite shirt' and toss those McD's toys and other crap that they stockpile and don't notice it's gone.  The older one notices what's happened, but she's happy her room is clean and she didn't have to to do it so she's not complaining.

I can get so much done that week that we scheduled the sale of our house around it.  And knowing we were moving, I decluttered towards that goal starting the year prior.

You might accomplish something similar by taking the week off and cleaning one weekend and two weekdays and then vacationing the rest.

[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 - "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).

Day 17 - Bills & Receipts.

Day 18 - back in the kitchen dealing with the cupboard that holds your cups and mugs.

Day 19 - Today I challenge you to tackle just one small area of your garage... it's all about just getting started!

Day 20 - has us back in the kitchen with a challenge about keeping flat surfaces clear.

Day 21 - Books (Don't start screaming yet)! This is always an emotional topic! I love books too but if your books are never going to be read and are covered in dust, perhaps today's the day to deal with them.

Day 22 - Linen Cupboard. Towels, sheets, blankets and more!

Day 23 - all about your "unmentionables"... and your socks too! Let's go where no other organizer will go... ten minutes and you'll be amazed at the result!

Day 24 - cleaning products.

Day 25 - that drawer (or container) in your kitchen where you keep your kitchen utensils.

Day 26 - all about cookbooks and recipes and cooking magazines.

Day 27 - Take out your phone and clear out the stuff that makes it harder for you to use your phone as efficiently as possible!

Day 28 - has us dealing with that one storage space that pretty much everyone has neglected. It might be that cabinet in the kitchen, or cupboard in the garage, or shelf in the basement.

Day 29 - kitchen pantry

Day 30 of #31Days2GetOrganized is about your home office again... the dreaded paperwork, the stuff that just seems to collect. So, today's challenge has you starting small with just a drawer or two. Take 10 minutes to get that area organized and see if it doesn't help you feel some motivation to get maybe a little bit more done too! #HomeOffice #ItsAllTooMuch #LetItGo

#31Days2GetOrganized

[redwagon]

startsmart so sorry for your lost and the family drama. That is not cool.

I too just missed seeing my grandma before she passed. I wish I could have told her Baby Hulk was on the way. She loved my other kids beyond measure.

I watched Tidying Up and have been doing random drawers here and there, mostly DH's. He complains but I think he likes the organization. My own clothes will take more thought so I have not done me yet. My pantry got organized as well. Tossed some old stuff, rearranged, got baskets to corral like items, etc. It looks nice. Here's hoping it lasts.

Unrelated, I've also been making the older two be more responsible around the house. They make their beds now, and pack up their own backpacks, among their usual chores. So I am decluttering my to do list a bit, I guess.

[startsmart]

I picked up the rest of the book boxes I needed today and got another 9 boxes from the storage unit. Did a little rearranging in the garage but I really need to sort through my scrap wood and figure out where I can store that out of the way. Since I have 4 more weeks before I need to officially vacate the storage unit, my next focus is going to be getting all the random sized boxes emptied (KonMarie as I go) and into uniform sized boxes to help with stacking in the garage. 

Packing up the china is what makes me the most nervous so I'm going to utilize the extra outdoor pillows as cushioning so the boxes are not too heavy. 

Also, I started a quilt project (I know...) and so I think I'll track that until I get all the pieces completed. Right now I'm 13% finished and I'm waiting on a few orders to come in. I'm SUPER excited to put this together and my goal is to finish by June. 

[nikiz628]

We are currently in the grips of this polar vortex. It was like -40 real feel outside. Of course, school was cancelled (and is already cancelled for tomorrow). I was really happy they suspended mail service in our area. Those poor postal workers don't need to be out walking all day in this- my mail can wait. 

The joy of being stuck inside is that I got the entire house cleaned back up and in order. Double joy is that my son's school corporation institutes an E-Learning day when there is a snow day, so these 2 days won't have to be made up later! 

[debthaven]

laterbloomer could you sacrifice a couple of weekends deep-cleaning so you could enjoy your week off? Or spend one weekend day deep-cleaning one room at a time? That's probably what I would do.

I know you don't have small kids at home either. I know that probably wouldn't be feasible for many of the posters here.

There was a major screw-up at Job 2. I was told I'm be doing the 5-week May-June MSc elective, like I've done for the past 2 years. They FORGOT to tell me that they changed the system, it's now TWO 5-week electives (so 10 weeks) starting at the beginning of April.

I don't finish my classes till mid April (including there!) They prefer someone who can do all 10 weeks. So I may lose 30 hours, which is HUGE.  I'm hoping they can only find someone who can do the first 5 weeks, so I can do the second 5 weeks. I'm very upset but hoping it will work out. Even losing 15 hours would be better than losing 30.

Knee Deep in Water Chloe hope you're feeling better and that it is easily manageable. I don't know anything about colitis.

[startsmart]

Jan 30, 2019 16:38:00 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

We are currently in the grips of this polar vortex. It was like -40 real feel outside. Of course, school was cancelled (and is already cancelled for tomorrow). I was really happy they suspended mail service in our area. Those poor postal workers don't need to be out walking all day in this- my mail can wait. 

I know! I talked to my mail carrier today and we agreed that the weather in California is beautiful and all their workers in the midwest need a well deserved break this week! 

I went back for another 6 boxes and have very little left to do in storage which is feeling good! 

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 30, 2019 16:47:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

There was a major screw-up at Job 2. I was told I'm be doing the 5-week May-June MSc elective, like I've done for the past 2 years. They FORGOT to tell me that they changed the system, it's now TWO 5-week electives (so 10 weeks) starting at the beginning of April.

I don't finish my classes till mid April (including there!) They prefer someone who can do all 10 weeks. So I may lose 30 hours, which is HUGE.  I'm hoping they can only find someone who can do the first 5 weeks, so I can do the second 5 weeks. I'm very upset but hoping it will work out. Even losing 15 hours would be better than losing 30.

I hope this gets worked out so that you can do the 5 weeks you planned on. 

[TheOtherMe]

My mail can wait is the way I feel.  My route is considered a rural route but the jeeps are not warm and the window is rolled down a lot of the time to put the mail in boxes.  

My sister wasn't happy her mail wasn't delivered on Monday.  She said the mail box was in a snow drift.  I asked her how the carrier was supposed to reach it and she didn't have an answer.  She said she thought they were required to deliver it.  Not if your box is in a snow drift they aren't.  

Her husband works for H & R Block during tax season.  She was wanting him to close the office but bad weather days are very busy there.  People just show up.  I worked on tax season for Block and that was definitely true.  He was really busy yesterday.  BIL was going to start the car every few hours and had worked out with his three co-workers that they will make sure all cars will start before the last one leaves.

[moneysquirrel]

debthaven -- Sorry that the Job 2 didn't inform you of the change.  Hope that you can figure out a way to do at least the five weeks that you were expecting.
Knee Deep in Water Chloe and busymom-- Hope you are feeling better.
debthaven -- My last school had a policy where we had to provide e-assignment for extended weather related days.  For us it was for hurricanes or tropical storms usually.
laterbloomer -- can't help you.  Now that I am retired I try to do at least something other that routine chores each day.  When I was teaching the routine needed chores were done and holidays and the summer was when the major items were done if at all.

Updating this last post:

Jan 27, 2019 14:01:42 GMT -5 moneysquirrel said:

Goals for upcoming weeks:
Expenses
*Renew gym membership Done
*Flood Insurance renewal  Done
*Book plane for summer retreat
*Supplemental Insurance Renewal
Commitments:
*Class -- Wednesday  Attended
*Class and Teach -- Thursday
*Meeting -- Thursday
*Hair Appointment -- Thursday
House:
*Maintain Progress Ongoing
*Start new donation box
*Keep up with laundry, dishes, routine chores Ongoing
*Make veggie soup Done
*Organize at least three areas 1 done
*Grocery for perishables if needed
*Get to the gym to walk, class.  Just get there! went once Need to go at least once more.
Crafts:
*Finish current necklace 
*Crochet a few rows daily on afghan (usually while watching tv) Ongoing
*Figure out a design for a friend (this has been a challenge -- made at least three attempts and ripped them all out so far.)  Think I have a prototype to have her approval before I do the design.  Then it will be a project for another week.
*Bead at least one item for upcoming show 

[NastyWoman]

Jan 30, 2019 17:33:52 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

My mail can wait is the way I feel.  My route is considered a rural route but the jeeps are not warm and the window is rolled down a lot of the time to put the mail in boxes.  

My sister wasn't happy her mail wasn't delivered on Monday.  She said the mail box was in a snow drift.  I asked her how the carrier was supposed to reach it and she didn't have an answer.  She said she thought they were required to deliver it.  Not if your box is in a snow drift they aren't.  

Her husband works for H & R Block during tax season.  She was wanting him to close the office but bad weather days are very busy there.  People just show up.  I worked on tax season for Block and that was definitely true.  He was really busy yesterday.  BIL was going to start the car every few hours and had worked out with his three co-workers that they will make sure all cars will start before the last one leaves.

Sis may believe that "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" is the official motto of the USPS → it is not, nor is it a law or any other form of commitment

[TheOtherMe]

I asked her if the mail box was covered in snow and she said yes.  I told her that they won't deliver until it's cleared.  That is to keep them safe.

She would really be upset if what happened to our boxes happened to her.  On an icy day, somebody hit our boxes.  There are two boxes with 12 individual boxes each and knocked the boxes over.  Until it was fixed, we had to go to the post office to pick up the mail at the counter.  That meant during business hours for the counter.  I was working long hours at the tax office then.  I told the tax office on Saturday, I had to get my mail at 9 AM and then I would go to work.  So I was only getting mail once a week and it wasn't my fault.

Apparently that box is one of the few left in the area that the post office has to maintain.  Postmaster said they really don't care about a box repair for 24 customers.  

[Lizard Queen]

I think it was last year, my mom got instructions in her mailbox on how to clear the snow for the mailtruck or they wouldn't deliver. She shared a stand with 2 much younger, lazy-ass neighbors who couldn't be bothered.