2019 - Organize Your Life & Declutter Your Stuff

[chiver78]

Foreman grill went in the garbage. I'm not sure who used it last or when, but there was a lot of shit stuck to the plates. gross. it's a 20yo thing that I probably paid $20 for new. it's fine.

as far as the rest, I have bumped a bunch of FB yard sale listings and added a couple more. mini chopper "as seen on tv", a Corningware set, a full decorative sushi serving set for 4, a fruit basket. and I'm getting two storage bins out of my bedroom, since it take a so damn long to get stuff to sell. I want my space back.

[debthaven]

Just had an interesting conversation with my sister. She told me that two doctors told her that Biotin interferes with thyroid lab results.

I've been taking it for about 2 months. I'm going to stop taking it and get another blood test in a month or two. That's what my sister did, and the next tests were 100% normal.

I'm so glad I mentioned it to her!

So it looks like I'll be decluttering the Biotin ...

[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 of #31Days2GetOrganized - 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 of #31Days2GetOrganized - 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 - #31Days2GetOrganized - 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 of #31Days2GetOrganized 2019 - The Junk Drawer.

#31Days2GetOrganized

[tcu2003]

For yesterday’s Peter Walsh Challenge, I called my dentist’s office. For whatever reason, I’ve super procrastinated making an appointment and was very overdue. I called at 115, and they said, can your make it at 2 because we have an opening, otherwise it’ll be awhile. My schedule all afternoon was clear, so not only did I schedule the appointment, I’m now also done with it. And no cavities/issues, so yay. I need to call a pediatric dentist and make appointments for the kids, but the one recommended time is closed on Fridays, so I’ll do that on Monday.

[debthaven]

Yay tcu2003 ! How lucky!

[tcu2003]

We warmed C that between now and his birthday (in June), we need to get rid of at least 500 things from our house if he wants a party. It doesn’t all have to be toys, as we have baby/kid clothes and other stuff to get rid of, but everyone needs to pitch in and participate.

We also told him that we’re now on a one in, one out policy. So if he gets a toy in a kids meal or convinces his nana or grandma to get him something when he’s with them, to keep it, he has to pick something at home to donate. Sure enough, he convinced nana to buy him a new 10-piece toy set when they went to the zoo yesterday, and he had a toy from a kid meal from lunch. He wasn’t happy when I reminded he needed to find 11 things to donate (or trash, depending on the item), but he did it. A couple of items ended up in the trash and the rest are in our donate box.

I also have some of M’s clothes that she’s recently outgrown in a bag to take to a coworker for his daughter. Baby steps, but it’s progress!

[debthaven]

I think that's a great idea tcu2003 , both having the kid(s?) contribute to the decluttering and the one in/one out rule. (I don't know how old C and M are so I don't know if M is participating too lol.)

My kids were born in May/May/Aug/Sept. So I used to make everyone do a big clearout in Nov, so that I had time to donate before Christmas.

The other thing that worked really well for us was letting our kids "redo" their rooms each time they changed schools (ie primary to MS, or MS to HS). The only condition was, they had to go through EVERYTHING ... clothes/closet/desk/toy chests/etc.

Then that child and DH repainted the room together, and I took them to Ikea with a 100 euro budget to buy new sheets/rug/etc in whatever new color scheme they chose. (We didn't replace the furniture though, unless it needed replacing.)

[msventoux]

Currently making a huge mess in my kitchen. I have a tiny kitchen and have a bad habit of shoving things wherever they’ll fit, then not realizing what I have or not being able to find it later.

I’m also horrible at meal planning and am trying to get better at it. I’ve been using an app to meal plan and that’s been helpful. It has a feature where you can track your pantry contents by scanning the barcodes of packages and it will adjust based on the recipes you prepare.

So far I’ve emptied all of my cabinets and cleaned them and have about half of the stuff scanned and put back in an organized fashion with the shelves labeled to remind me what belongs there. Not sure if I’ll keep on top of things with the app, but maybe it will keep me from buying 4 bottles of thyme and having expired food from years ago.

[debthaven]

msventoux our new kitchen has 1 corner cabinet with pull-out shelves and 2 corner cabinets with shelves that rotate. It makes a HUGE difference. Before, we could never really see what was at the back of the cupboards unless I completely emptied them out. We ended up throwing out a lot of expired food, or, as you said, buying the same item several times.

Maybe something like that would be a worthwhile investment?

We have an Ikea kitchen so ours come from Ikea, but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

ETA:

This is what we have in the bottom corner cabinet:

www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40265649/

And this is what we have in the top corner cabinets. We even bought a third, cannabilized it, and added a third shelf to both cabinets:

www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80265647/

They're not cheap but a kitchen lasts for decades, and we can see exactly what we have now.

I have friends who have added similar items for regular (not corner) cabinets.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 5, 2019 13:17:52 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Jan 5, 2019 11:53:15 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Those are the good ones!  I'm having a very difficult time getting rid of my CDs.  

Don't feel bad. I've had a hard time getting rid of some of my albums even though I burned every one I had down to CD's back in the p2p file sharing days. I did sell some a while back to a collector.

I have not burned my CDs to mp3s, etc. and put them on iTunes.  I have all of my albums, too, along with my ex's albums.  

[debthaven]

All our vinyls are in the basement, and the CDs are on the LR shelves. DH REFUSES to get rid of any of them.

At least they are neatly arranged, and in just one place. (This is what I tell myself LOL.)

[TheOtherMe]

I am tossing the bootlegs (the ones that are not official, most of which sound terrible).  

I do still purchase physical CDs because the artist receives next to nothing if you buy the download version.

[nidena]

Jan 4, 2019 23:05:14 GMT -5 nidena said:

For Saturday:

Laundry--put away what's in the Clean basket, wash, dry, and put away what is currently all over the floor of the bedroom by the closet
Clean off the desk
Pick up my new bicycle--bought something that has a bigger seat for my bigger butt
Take donations to Goodwill--yeah, it won't be worth the deduction for 2019 but I'll save the receipts for someone who will get a benefit from them
Vacuum the first floor; maybe the second floor, if I'm feeling froggy

I really appreciate that you guys like everyone's posts because it helps me more easily find my place where I left off reading.

Add to the list of "done":
Purged ALL my magazines; kept only what I will take with me on the next visit to the gym and what I'll be giving to a friend tomorrow.
Reattacked the drawers in the kitchen--got rid of all my plastic utensils--and the cabinets--threw away four- and five-year old spices and added more stuff to the donation bag.
Swept the kitty-cat bathroom

[nidena]

Jan 5, 2019 16:16:28 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Just had an interesting conversation with my sister. She told me that two doctors told her that Biotin interferes with thyroid lab results.

I've been taking it for about 2 months. I'm going to stop taking it and get another blood test in a month or two. That's what my sister did, and the next tests were 100% normal.

I'm so glad I mentioned it to her!

So it looks like I'll be decluttering the Biotin ...

If only you were local...I'd take it off your hands. 

[debthaven]

If you were local I'd happily send it to you nidena LOL.

[debthaven]

DH went to bed pissed off but I managed to get him to tackle his side of the desk (which is off the LR) before he went to bed. I asked him to put ONE thing away ... his drawing materials, which have been out since Nov.

Of course one thing led to another, although *I* did that. Some papers still need to be dealt with but the desk is neat, and those papers are in his basket.

That was my stretch goal for this weekend.

Tomorrow we are meeting DS2+GF for lunch, then taking DS3 to the train. I will miss him terribly, but I'll be glad to get back on a strict diet and not have to cook. He comes back mid-Feb for my play.  

The basement is a disaster, DH's tools are all over the place. I asked him to please put them back but that's not a hill I'll die on since nobody sleeps in the basement bedroom anymore.

I'm still on a reduced schedule next week, I'm only working two half days. I ABSOLUTELY need to finish learning my lines (just one scene to go, 9 pages/73). DH and DS3 recorded everything with me, and DH sent me the sound files so I could practice my lines.

DH is messy, but he's a keeper.

[chiver78]

lots of progress today! I got hits on the Corningware post as well as a $5 fruit basket. that 2nd woman also pinged me for another $5 item, so I'm bringing that tomorrow as well, and then she asked if I had any other decor items. so I sent over pics of some stuff that's already been sorted for sale in the basement. if she can get back to me before I head out to meet both of them, I can add that in as well. even if she only takes the pair of $5 items, I'll get a cool $40 for offloading a heavy AF Corningware set that I've only used one piece of, and a couple very large cheap things. score! 

oh, and three other people have hit me up for the Corningware set, so there's backup. I figured $30 was a reasonable list price, since you can get new at the box stores for $40-50. 

[TheOtherMe]

I would think $30 is very reasonable.  I'm amazed at responses when I list things on the garage sale sites.  I do have things I still need to list.  

Right now, I'm trying to figure out why Lucy is spending so much time in the basement.  I'm also thinking I don't want to know.  It better not be a mouse.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 5, 2019 16:43:05 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

We warmed C that between now and his birthday (in June), we need to get rid of at least 500 things from our house if he wants a party. It doesn’t all have to be toys, as we have baby/kid clothes and other stuff to get rid of, but everyone needs to pitch in and participate.

We also told him that we’re now on a one in, one out policy. So if he gets a toy in a kids meal or convinces his nana or grandma to get him something when he’s with them, to keep it, he has to pick something at home to donate. Sure enough, he convinced nana to buy him a new 10-piece toy set when they went to the zoo yesterday, and he had a toy from a kid meal from lunch. He wasn’t happy when I reminded he needed to find 11 things to donate (or trash, depending on the item), but he did it. A couple of items ended up in the trash and the rest are in our donate box.

I also have some of M’s clothes that she’s recently outgrown in a bag to take to a coworker for his daughter. Baby steps, but it’s progress!

I used to tell my kids a certain number had to go. It seems like it works!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Not a single house chore accomplished today. Better effort tomorrow!

[nidena]

When you use magazines as home decor, your eyes gloss right over the ones on the three end tables.  Whoops!  Purging today.

[plugginaway22]

Wow great start to the new year, this thread already 6 pages!  We finally took down tree yesterday and got about half of all decorations put away.  I am doing it slowly and packing it away carefully, getting rid of things that we haven't used in years and that have no real meaning to me.  I also changed my living room around after tree gone; that is always refreshing.

I have no real goals for this year, just the usual keeping everything under control.  We are getting ready to paint and re-do DS bedroom and the main bathroom.
Yay for a fresh start, 2019.

[tcu2003]

Jan 5, 2019 17:14:53 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I think that's a great idea tcu2003 , both having the kid(s?) contribute to the decluttering and the one in/one out rule. (I don't know how old C and M are so I don't know if M is participating too lol.)

C is 6-1/2 and M is 2. We’re purging baby toys that are too little for her, but she’s not really helping decide what goes and stays. She does help pick up and put away her toys, though.

[tcu2003]

This was a little bit of a sobering read about clutter - though I don’t disagree with it.

www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/15-stats-show-americans-are-drowning-stuff

So. Much. Stuff.

[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.

#31Days2GetOrganized

[tcu2003]

We just took down and put away our holiday decorations yesterday, so that one is done.

DH and I went through the closet by our garage entry this morning, sorted out what should go back in there, found some stuff to donate or trash, and got things out back away.

[Malarky]

I got called back to work early from my vacation so I haven't accomplished as much as I was hoping.  I don't really mind the extra days because I just spent a totally YM unapproved amount of money having my hair cut and keratined.   

We have a fabric recycling option here so one large(trash sized) bag of assorted old linens and clothes are gone.

The dining room is back in order, minus some of the knick knacks that were there before Christmas.  Dusting will be easier now.

I (involuntarily) pulled out the stove and cleaned behind it yesterday because I dropped something and then needed to retrieve it.

My big win has to do with decluttering weight. Not that I've actually lost any, yet.   I've been telling DH for weeks that once the first two weeks of January and the "Jenny Craig" days (when the gym is really crowded) are over, I expect him to go to the gym with me.  He works from home all the time now and is completely out of shape.  I need to lose weight but at least I get some exercise since I'm on my feet all day.

He's out buying sweatpants at this very moment!  I never thought he would actually agree to this!  

The fridge is nearly bare. I've cleaned all but the top shelf, which I need a step stool to reach.  The big fruit and veggie buying spree will happen again on Wednesday.  DH had noticed that dinner comes in smaller portions these days.    I'm trying to cook exactly what we need for one meal.

[Sharon]

It has been nice to have a "normal" weekend.  This has been the first one in a long, long time.  The weekend chores are done, bed changed, bathrooms cleaned, laundry done.  I have also gone through some papers and done some shredding and gotten rid of a few small things.

There was even some time for sewing and knitting..

[debthaven]

That article is seriously scary !

We went out to lunch with DS2 + DS3, then took DS3 to meet a friend before he took the train back. Worked on lines and did laundry. Empty nest again. It was so wonderful having the kids home. But my diet is glad lol.

This week

- call about wheel

- pick up coat

- donation bin

- lines (ongoing)

- prep for Job 1

- prep for Job 2
- Quickbooks

NOTHING got done with QB over the holidays. That's definitely this week's project.

Rehearsals and Job 2 start this week, but Job 1 starts the following week, so I'm only working 2 afternoons this week. I go back to a full work schedule the following week.

 

[moneysquirrel]

Today:

I made a huge dent in getting the house back in shape today.  I removed and stored all ornaments from the trees.  My small nutcracker collection has also been picked up and stored away.  I plan to wrap up the tree tomorrow.  Need to store it in the garage and don't want to move the car again today.

Earlier this week I finally finished the large beading project I have been working on since before Thanksgiving.  Had many interruptions and a few orders that prevented an earlier completion date.  The afghan has been finished and picked up so that is out the house.  

Goals for this week:
*Keep up with the usual laundry and dishes.
*Finish putting away all Christmas items.-- Tree, Wreath, Linens, Flag, Nativity Collection
*Dentist Appointment -- Tuesday
*Vacuum LR -- once Christmas items  pare put away.
*Change outside flag
*New beading project
*Exercise -- at least twice this week
*Pick up yarn from my cousin 
*at least many other things that I can't remember.