2020 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[finnime]

Today is another day where I need to organize my life. I need to shower, go see DD33 in hospital (spent the last 2 days with her going to doctor, ER, then surgery for hernia: she had a gastric bypass five years ago which makes hernias likely) after picking up things at her house and feeding her cats, then prep for a large order tomorrow morning--baptism party. Plus we're supposed to get some snow. In this DC metropolitan area we don't do snow well. Send me good wishes for energy to manage all this. Pneumonia is gone but I'm still easily tired. No rest for the wicked.

[TheOtherMe]

With all of the ice and wind we are having, we don't do snow well either.

All the best to your daughter and to you

[empress of self-improvement]

Let's not mention snow. We're getting it tonight so I'm trying to work up the motivation to move my ass to do my errands. I have a bunch of stuff to haul over to Savers. Need to go buy cat litter and toothpaste. Also debating whether or not to take the space heaters back to my BIL & SIL. They came to the rescue when we had to shut down the furnace overnight for a blower motor replacement. It's up and running again but still debating. I may hold on to one and take the other two.
I also need to work my way upstairs to work DH's birthday card. It's on Monday and I thought I'd try it since I have suddenly decided I want to do paper crafting. Why I have absolutely NO idea!

[TheOtherMe]

Keeping the washer and dryer busy this morning.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 13, 2020 16:27:45 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Thanks, debthaven .  What keeps me motivated is how um, ew? things were when we were prepping our previous house to sell.  Some of the things the professional stager, who specializes in Feng Shui, pointed out were mortifying.  NOT that we have any plans whatsoever to move (knock wood).  I realized we've been in our current home for closing in on 3 years, and it is time to address certain things. 

Wow! It's been three years already

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 13, 2020 19:04:49 GMT -5 finnime said:

I had grand plans of cleaning the house today but got waylaid by this pneumonia knocking me out. DH is also sick. I did take apart my mixer, have a big order coming up on Sunday and the mixer's worm gear is stripped. So I ordered a new gear and the grease to go with it. Hope it gets here in time. If not I'll have to borrow my DD's smaller mixer.

I hope you're feeling better by now!

Jan 14, 2020 14:26:51 GMT -5 mollyc said:

I got an unexpected day off work today when the server died. We are still under an extreme cold warning so I guess it's a good day to work on my bedroom. Should be fun with 5 bored dogs trying to help.

FIVE DOGS! Yikes! That would overwhelm me, but I know you enjoy them. 

Jan 15, 2020 11:35:05 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I need to join this thread. DH and I are in serious internal battles over whether to stay in our current house or build a new house (or find one to buy, but there is never anything for sale that is remotely interesting to us). 

We want more space, but it would also be several hundred dollars more per month for a longer amount of time (about 8-10 years).

So, we are working on decluttering our current house to see if we can get it to work for us. If it does, cool. If it doesn't, at least we will have cleaned some stuff out before moving/selling.

The plan is to go through every room in the house. We have done about one-third of DD1's bedroom so far. We got rid of a ton of stuffed animals, some toys, and a toy box. 

Hi!!! Glad you're here. 

Jan 15, 2020 11:53:43 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Formal dresses in my closet?      I will get right on those.  Alright.  Finished.  None to donate.

LOL! That one does actually apply to me. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 15, 2020 13:30:53 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Ugh. DS1 borrowed DD's car over Christmas. She was the last one to use it. She didn't want to take it home so she parked it on the main street near us. Long story short, I noticed it had been hit at 7 am leaving for Job 2!

I called DH at 7 am, he took DD to the police station. While they were there, the police impounded it!!! They had to go to 2 places before they found it (they were given the wrong suburb). Turns out it (and 2 other cars) had been hit a week ago! Neither DH nor I noticed because we usually turn right at our corner, and DD's car was left.

We decided to put DD's car in the garden. DH told DD, leave it, I'll do it in a little while. DD decided to do it herself, I told her not to, because she was in a state. Of course she hit the other side of the car.

So DD's car is smashed up, she's distraught, and it'll cost 500 euros for the fine/impounding/deductible PLUS whatever damage she did to the other side.

We offered to help her out a bit financially because DD is emotionally fragile. She said no but we'll see, it's all too fresh.

So a very shitty day for everyone, although I know things could always be worse. I know it's only metal/money but I hate that DD has so few coping skills.

Wait. What? They impounded her car? 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 15, 2020 16:58:43 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

As suspected, my dr called in an RX for 50,000 iu of D once a week for the next month. She told me at my follow up yesterday that in her entire career, she's only had 1 other patient with a lower vitamin D level than I currently have. That was shocking. It's the lowest I've ever had (12.8, lowest before was 15). They want it at least at 30 but ideally between 60-70, so I've got a ways to go. I told her to just write me a RX for a week long trip to a sunny beach. She thought that was hilarious. 

In the mean time, I am over here dealing with the affects of the low level (and my thyroid levels being crap again). Every joint in my body is screaming, I can't lift my arms above my head for more than a moment or two, which is making hair washing and brushing super fun. Even my jaw hurts to chew. The brain fog is super great, I am forgetting what I am talking about mid sentence and trying to formulate thoughts into words is tedious. And the fatigue is just off the chart. I am napping constantly. But I told H I need to quit beating myself up about needing to rest. Obviously my body is demanding it. The doctor told me I will be miserable for a little while longer but that she's determined to get me feeling good again. I need to remind myself to be gentle with my body and listen to it. It's not laziness. It's not using the issues as a crutch. It's my health. 

That being said, I am staying on top of house cleaning and cooking when I am getting little bursts of motivation. So at least I am not falling behind on my tasks. 

Wow! That is a lot of Vitamin D! I take 1,000 daily year round and an additional 1,000 daily during the winter. I'm so sorry you're levels are so low and that it's affecting you that much. I hope you get it evened out soon. 

Jan 15, 2020 18:56:04 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I have a SAD lamp and I do think it helps.  

I have one also. 

Jan 17, 2020 23:24:29 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

I am the proces of decluttering a very tasty dark chocolate Santa. I really need to stop eating this, but it is so good. Regrets are sure to follow but for now I'm not a quitter 

Now that's my favorite type of de-cluttering. 

[debthaven]

Yes Chloe, they impounded the car WHILE THEY WERE AT THE POLICE STATION TO DECLARE THE HIT AND RUN!!!

Finnime I hope your DD is feeling better soon! Good luck with the baking!

This weekend
- send scan to GM/Fri
- editing for E/Fri

- work/Sat

- pick up coat/Sat

The zipper thingie came off my ultra-light down jacket, and my seamstress friend A was able to repair it. I picked it up on the way home from work. I'm very glad I don't have to replace the jacket.

[TheOtherMe]

Unreal.

In my much younger chasing Paul McCartney days, a friend and I were in NYC.  She lived in NJ so drove to my hotel and we were going out on the town.  When we left the hotel, no car.  We couldn't find her car.  We went inside and found out where the nearest police station was and off we went to report her car stolen.

Walking back to the hotel, we saw her car.  It was parked in a no parking zone beside the hotel, just out a different door.  So we found the car.  Luckily, she was able to call the police to tell them the car was not stolen, just misplaced in her mind.

[TheOtherMe]

Big snow storm over night.  The wind has died down but are expected to pick back up.

The professionals arrived about 11:15 AM and the driveway and sidewalks are as good as they can get in this type of weather.

I told them I am retired and they can do me last.  I know he has more than one truck and both commercial and residential customers.  

If things are so bad that I can't get out of my drive because I get a huge drift behind my garage door, I can cancel any appointments.

[Iggy aka IG]

Stayed home yesterday to take care of DH who had an incident and subsequent ER visit Thursday evening.  I was antsy by mid- afternoon, so I got the week's laundry done (4 loads), put out fresh towels and did dishes.  I'm in the office today to take care of things I should have yesterday. 

[debthaven]

Oh no Iggy! I hope he's OK.

[Iggy aka IG]

Thanks, debthaven.  Left shoulder injury.  We'll know more if he still has limited movement come Tuesday.

[Sharon]

This is a very busy weekend and so far I am rockin it this morning.  This afternoon is my nephews wedding and then tomorrow we will celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday.  Her actual birthday will be a few days after her surgery so celebrating now and we have relatives in from out of town who can do both events.

This morning

Paid Bills got them mailed

Updated YNAB

Changed the sheets

Cleaned the bathrooms

Cleaned the litter box

Made Macaroni Salad for tomorrow

Steam mopped the bathroom and kitchen floors

Did 3 loads of laundry

Ran the dishwasher

Ironed the pillow cases

Now I just need to finish getting myself ready for the wedding

[nidena]

I'm really not liking this snow and cold weather coupled with a serious lack of shit to do in this podunk town.  There is nowhere in the immediate vicinity to go to be an (interior) tourist.  No museums.  No art galleries.  Nothing.  I've been in this house for nearly a week straight--the exception being a trip to DM and Indianola on Tuesday--and I'm going a bit crazy.  To keep busy, I've been working on the bra store list.  I just finished Virginia.  My excel workbook is two shy of 600 lines which I know will change as I get through WA state, WA DC, WV, WI, and WY.

Need a bra and don't want to shop at a chain store like VS, Lane Bryant, or Torrid?  I can tell you where to go.  There are four or five bra store deserts though.  AR, HI, ND, NM, and SD each have only one store.  If you know of independent bra stores in those states, please let me know.  Surprisingly, RI has six.

[debthaven]

Nidena, if the sale goes through soon, will you move from your friend's house? Just wondering.

I used the SAD lamp for the first time this morning. I found it absolutely blinding, even on the lower setting (there are 2 settings). 

Any advice from those of you who use one (TheO and Chloe?)

As an adjunct, I don't have an office at work. If I did that would probably be the best place to use it. Unless I'm marking papers, I tend to work on the low table in the LR, sitting on the couch. I think I'm going to need to change that so I can put the lamp further away on a more stable surface than the side of the couch.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

ETA: I DO have access to the adjunct staff room. But given that some colleagues consistently steal the GIANT staplers (believe it or not), there's no way I'm bringing my lamp into work.

 

[nidena]

I've been looking at houseporn on realtor.com for Indianapolis but I don't think that I'll be able to really trek over there for at least another month.  What I net from selling the house should pay off most of the CC and then I'd like to pay off the rest of it with what used to be my mortgage payment.  After that, the plan is to put it in savings.  Thankfully, if I use a VA loan, I won't have to put any money down on my next house.

So, no, not moving before "calendar" spring.

[startsmart]

I managed to get some of the front of the house power washed today but the power kept cutting out on my machine. I am hopeful it’ll be working fine again tomorrow. The grass has still not started coming in the backyard and we are almost at 2 weeks.

Will y’all hold me accountable to packing 100% of the garage by end of day Sunday? The only things that will stay out are the laundry soap and 3 boxes of tools I’m filling up. Everything else should be packed, sealed and stacked.

Cleaning the garage also means cutting up some old wood and trashing it, folding the blue tarp once it’s clean and tossing out all the old paint which has dried up.

Other chores for this weekend include washing all my bedding and starting the house paint touch ups.

[debthaven]

Will y’all hold me accountable to packing 100% of the garage by end of day Sunday?

You bet startsmart ! But you also get a grace period if you need one. ;-)

France uses square pillows. We both prefer rectangular pillows, which finally exist here. So I had my eye on two rectangular pillow cases to match the guest room duvet cover, because we have 2 old good quality rectangular pillows.

I paid 20 euros for the duvet cover. The two rectangular pillowcases were 28 euros. I was waiting for them to go on sale ... they just sold out.

Since that duvet cover came with two square pillowcases, I ended up ordering two down square pillows instead for 40 euros, ie 12 euros more than the price of the two rectangular pillowcases that sold out.

The second guest room duvet cover also has two square pillowcases we weren't using, because we didn't have any spare square pillows.

So long story short, instead of buying two matching rectangular pillowcases for 28 euros, I just bought two down square pillows for 40 euros. They're probably not amazing quality but they're for the guest room.

Now we will have two extra pillows, but that's a good thing. 

ETA: I go through our bedding every year in Jan, and generally replace one set of sheets every year. This year I bought the 2 extra square pillows instead.

We only have two sets of sheets per bed.

[mollyanna58]

I was literally thinking how well I was doing on getting through the bins and piles of paper and that I would do a particular area next after I finish the current bin, when I knocked into something in the "next" area and all this stuff went cascading to the floor

So, yes, I guess that area will have to be next.

I got several items listed on Ebay (i sell as a hobby), and a couple of things sold today, so a few more things making their way out of the house.

[busymom]

Hi Kids!  Iggy aka IG, I hope your DH is doing better.  debthaven, is there an area of your house where you could set up a desk, and make it your office?  For example, one of your kid's former bedrooms?  Even a corner of a room would be nice, if it's exclusively for you.  


I'm waiting for my accountant to send me my yearly packet of paperwork, so I can do my tax prep.  I opened a box to sort some more things out, and unfortunately discovered it had paperwork in it.  More to organize.  Must've been one of those last-minute boxes thrown together before the move.  

[empress of self-improvement]

I got the crap out of the house. Apparently Savers raised their standards so they didn't take the kitchen cart. No big. I threw it in the shed. Had to throw out the stupid shoe rack because I broke a leg off shoving it into the car. That went into the wood pile for the firepit. Got DH into the shower. Unfortunately, I dropped him in the shower first. Yep, FD had to come pick him up. Oops.

[startsmart]

Lol debthaven, I need tough love, not worker extensions someone can pretend I’m their painter/builder/snow shoveler and yell at me tomorrow

It’s dark tonight so I’ve been filling up the boxes in the house and cutting the backlog of fabric for my quilts. Once I get the packed boxes stacked in the garage I can finish my big quilt.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 18, 2020 18:46:15 GMT -5 nidena said:

I'm really not liking this snow and cold weather coupled with a serious lack of shit to do in this podunk town.  There is nowhere in the immediate vicinity to go to be an (interior) tourist.  No museums.  No art galleries.  Nothing.  I've been in this house for nearly a week straight--the exception being a trip to DM and Indianola on Tuesday--and I'm going a bit crazy.  

This is January in Iowa.

I live in a town of 2000 people.  There is nothing to do here since I won't set foot in one of their churches.  We also have a monastery but why would I go there?

We have two gas stations, an old fashioned general store and a couple of bars.  The high school is here, but there isn't anything happening there that interests me.

My other problem is now that I'm older, I don't like driving at night.  That limits things I can do even more.  

Since I moved back here 10 years ago, January is the hardest month for me.  

Waking up to below zero weather doesn't help.  I have learned things to do to keep my mind occupied.

[TheOtherMe]

My SAD lamp is very bright, but it isn't intended to be a lamp that is on all day.  Mine stays on 20 to 30 minutes.  That's what the directions said so that is what I do.  

Sometimes it does drive me crazy with being so bright and I turn it off early.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 18, 2020 21:02:44 GMT -5 startsmart said:

I managed to get some of the front of the house power washed today but the power kept cutting out on my machine. I am hopeful it’ll be working fine again tomorrow. The grass has still not started coming in the backyard and we are almost at 2 weeks.

Will y’all hold me accountable to packing 100% of the garage by end of day Sunday? The only things that will stay out are the laundry soap and 3 boxes of tools I’m filling up. Everything else should be packed, sealed and stacked.

Cleaning the garage also means cutting up some old wood and trashing it, folding the blue tarp once it’s clean and tossing out all the old paint which has dried up.

Other chores for this weekend include washing all my bedding and starting the house paint touch ups.

It's Sunday!!!

How goes it?

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 18, 2020 19:35:51 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Nidena, if the sale goes through soon, will you move from your friend's house? Just wondering.

I used the SAD lamp for the first time this morning. I found it absolutely blinding, even on the lower setting (there are 2 settings). 

Any advice from those of you who use one (TheO and Chloe?)

As an adjunct, I don't have an office at work. If I did that would probably be the best place to use it. Unless I'm marking papers, I tend to work on the low table in the LR, sitting on the couch. I think I'm going to need to change that so I can put the lamp further away on a more stable surface than the side of the couch.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

ETA: I DO have access to the adjunct staff room. But given that some colleagues consistently steal the GIANT staplers (believe it or not), there's no way I'm bringing my lamp into work.

 

I set the timer on mine for while I'm getting ready in the morning. Then, I've learned to set it in a place and at an angle so that it's not shining right in my eyes. 

[TheOtherMe]

Printed dad's death certificate today so I can mail it to his former employer on Tuesday.

It made me sad.  

[mollyanna58]

Jan 19, 2020 12:02:06 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Printed dad's death certificate today so I can mail it to his former employer on Tuesday.

It made me sad.  

My father passed away in April 2016. There are still a few odds and ends that I have to clear up, including a stock transfer that I was going to do the paperwork on today. But I can't find the forms that were sent to me, and I can't remember who the stock transfer agent currently is.  It's a bank stock, and the bank was acquired by another one before my father passed away, and I am pretty sure the second bank has also been acquired by yet another, and there have been at least 3 stock transfer companies.

My goal is to have everything finished before the upcoming anniversary of his death.