2020 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[Iggy aka IG]

Hugs, TheOtherMe. 

It's that time again!!!  Time to tackle the office procrastination list.  Yesterday I hung up Christmas lights.  I didn't last year, and wasn't going to again this year, but goodness knows we need all the joy we can get....  They look happy, and I'm glad I did.  On today's list will be short term filing from the past xx weeks.

And I just sent an email out to clients letting them know my holiday schedule. 

[countrygirl2]

I am so sleepy, drove to the next town and got a new mask for my cpap, going to try it. The girl was coughing and coughing, she said drainage but I wonder.  I didn't like that even though both of us were masked.

I got sleepy going down, kicked back in the car while waiting, kept dozing off and on. I think I'm going to have to take a nap, I'm beat.

[nikiz628]

Dec 15, 2020 19:01:02 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

My second neighbor was a year behind me in high school. A really good guy. He got sick and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He had something wrong, they went everywhere and finally Mayo clinic to find out. It was ALS, he had 3 kids, they were not grown. His son and ours were best friends before we moved and the boy would have gone to college. After that none of the kids did. Luckily his wife was an RN, but she had a bad back and I think depression.  And that poor man and family had it awful. The last time I was home and saw him, they were taking him out of the nursing home in a type of sling chair, his wife was there to get him. He was in terrible shape. Took him a long time to die is my understanding.  I hated to see and hear it, you just never know what can happen to us. I feel for anyone with that diagnosis.

Agree with this sentiment. I lost my aunt in September to ALS. She had been sick for about a year, no diagnosis. They finally diagnosed her with ALS just as COVID hit the country. She declined rapidly. Her official cause of death was a heart attack but the doctor said the stress on her body from the ALS probably triggered that. She was only in her 50's. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Ladies, I need you to hold me accountable.  In 2021, I vow to take actual lunch breaks during the day.  This sitting at my desk watching a short video or reading as the land line and cell phones go off and email pouring in isn't cutting it. 

[TheOtherMe]

When I prepared tax returns, I had to make that vow.  Even working 10-12 hour days, a lunch break was a necessity.

[moneysquirrel]

debthaven -- Enjoy your time off with your family.  
Knee Deep in Water Chloe -- Love the duck.  Hope that you have some time to just chill this holiday.
Iggy aka IG -- Don;t wait for 2021.  Start taking breaks at lunch now.  

Getting a few things done each day. 

*I called and scheduled a donation pickup the week between Christmas and New Year.  So far I have several boxes and bags filled and hope to fill up a few more before the actual pickup.    
*Called in a RX @ WM and will pick up a few groceries while I am there.  That should take me to Christmas and beyond.
*Paid a few more bills and still have at least two more that I am expecting to come in before the end of the month. I like to start off the new year with everything paid that has arrived by then.
*Keeping up with the household chores.  Put in a few routines that seem to have helped with that.  Getting rid of things have helped as well.
*Not getting as much crafting done as I would like but making progress on some.
*Started work on setting up my spreadsheet for 2021.  I keep the basic format but I have to tweak it regularly to make it work under new circumstances.
*Continuing to update and renew items in the Etsy show. Need to set aside some time to take pictures and get some dialogue written to add new items to the mix.

I am also wasting a lot of time playing games and watching videos on the computer. I really need to limit my time doing this. 

Wishing all a good week and I will check in when I can. 

[nidena]

I spoke to the Admissions Director of one of the local Universities today.  Soon enough, I'll be applying for Grad School there to get my Master's in Accounting.  Either Fall 2021 if classes are back in-person (or 80+% in-person) or Spring 2022 if it's not until then that they're in-person.  I don't Zoom and learn.

I had to go into work today, on my day off, to make some more progress on the nearly 400 person list that is my boss' Christmas card list.  And that's just one boss.  The other has a list just as long.    Thankfully, my boss was okay with me outsourcing to Avery.com rather than tethering myself to the printer on my desk.  It's twice as much, straight cost, but when you factor in time...SOOOO worth it.

This week is my 90-day milestone there.  It's gone so quickly.  And I can't believe next week is Christmas.  

Most of to-do list is completely work related until I can pay down the CC and save some $ for home reno projects so, until then, I just day-to-day it.

[Iggy aka IG]

moneysquirrel, good call.  And nice list!

nidena, congratulations on your 90-days!

[startsmart]

Today I made progress moving boxes upstairs and breaking them down, I now have a vision of how I want the living room to feel so those boxes have to go!

Temporarily emptied Christmas boxes are in the laundry room, when Christmas gets packed up I’ll begin adding the new subfloor (finally got the plywood!).

Tomorrow I need to drop off my property tax check and stop in a few local stores. Masks will be worn and I hope the rest of the snow will have melted. I was going to go out today but it will be 10-15 degrees warmer tomorrow so I decided to wait.

[chiver78]

I decluttered my personal email a few weeks back, it could still use some more work. but I spent some time with my professional/more serious gmail account and have that unread down to 65 - mostly recent notifications of paperless statements and some stuff with the pups. 

[countrygirl2]

Tomorrow if I have time, going to clean the top shelves around our bedroom closet. I see some stuff up there to go. And it needs dusted, we stained the boards and put poly on them so easy to wipe off. Then decided to put these sheet and blanket bags up there. I have a lot of empty storage boxes up there that can be used somewhere. I need to pull the storage box out from under my bed and go through it. I think its sweaters, not sure. Then go through the bookcase in my room.

[busymom]

Hi Kids!  I just wanted you to know that the Rachel Jones (Nourishing Minimalism) chart for 2021 just magically appeared in my emails, and I printed it off, and am looking forward to more decluttering in the New Year.

Right now, I am seriously distracted, between Christmas prep, and the fact that our house "down South" WAS supposed to close this week, but due to more delays, it looks like we won't be able to complete the closing until next week.  I just want to have that house sold.  

[moneysquirrel]

Lost my longer post. 


I am keeping busy today.
*Chili started
*Two loads of laundry started -- currently one in dryer and the other in washer.
*Redeemed for cash the points from one of the CCs.  I have 2 others to cash in.  Plan to do so before the end of this year.  I will use a little for fun but most will be put aside in sinking funds.

Yesterday:
*made what I hope is the last grocery run before the holidays
*Talked to an old friend

Will need to get lunch when I sign off and attempt to get something else done today.

[startsmart]

The downstairs is finally looking better and I have a few chores to finish by end of the weekend:

-make outdoor box for trash cans
-put away all the boxes and bins
-put away all laundry
-clean the floors
-finish sewing pillows
-finish painting laundry roomM

Pillows are done! imgur.com/gallery/Lm44TS3

[TheOtherMe]

busymom  Here's to getting the house closed next week!

The pillows are gorgeous startsmart

After far too much procrastination, I've cleaned up the area around my laptop area and put things where they belong.  

[countrygirl2]

I didn't get to anything I wanted today. 

But that's ok, it will still be there, noone else will do it, LOL!

I had to take all the plants outside and put in the garage, I gave up on them. Crossing my fingers
on the orchids.

[debthaven]

Hit and run post to say hello. The pillows are beautiful startsmart !

We are keeping very busy with our 3.5YO grandson. He doesn't leave much time for anything else lol. It's wonderful having them here. 

Lots of cooking and cleaning up the kitchen going on too lol.

Job 1 rescheduled my 2 night classes, so I'm very happy about that. 

[Malarky]

I am anxiously awaiting the delivery of my new laptop.  This one has been giving me fits for months and I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new one.  Amongst other things an update I didn't want ate all of my saved passwords.  It's only due to the gracious efforts of Chiver and Moon that I was able to recover this one finally.  I created this account at the beginning of time and didn't even know what email I used, let alone the password!

Renovations are going very slowly. Both DH and I have been very busy at work and haven't had much time to devote to all the projects that need doing.  At this point I'm hoping for a July finish.  

I haven't done a lot of decluttering, most of the house looks like a hoarder's paradise with furniture etc. in rooms where stuff doesn't belong. I am able to not add to it by severely limiting Christmas gifts.  I got everyone a Piper Lou travel mug.  DS is getting a birdhouse he can put in his yard and a cardboard Victorian house for his cat.  That's it.  I paid money toward the cottage the girls are renting in Maine this summer.  Win/win for all of us since none of us need anything.  Still figuring out what to serve for Christmas dinner.

I even scaled down the decorating.  The top two thirds of our artificial tree is decorated 2/3 of the way around and village houses are displayed with a string of lights to brighten it up.  I didn't bother with the individual lights for each house.  Everything is in one section of the living room and I can see it all from my recliner when I finally get a chance to sit down.  That's plenty for this year.

We have been blessed by the fact that DH works from home for a major company and his work life hasn't changed much during this whole covid nightmare.  My job is secure and the bakery has been busy although we expect a huge drop off in January which we normally experience but will probably be more intense than usual.  I'll probably voluntarily cut my hours until spring.  Without all the orders for the holidays I can easily keep up with my other responsibilities in less than 40 hours.  And I am weary.

I have really missed being able to pop in here.  I find this group to be a refreshing change from the stress of the outside world.  So glad to be back and able to catch up on what everyone's been up to.

Stay healthy, stay safe.
 

[startsmart]

Malarkey - the new laptop sounds great! If you are interested check out “lastpass” which is a free service that will save your passwords for you. I only have to remember the master password and then when I get to a site and enter my details the service saves it and auto logs me in after that - plus it’s free!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 16, 2020 15:38:03 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Ladies, I need you to hold me accountable.  In 2021, I vow to take actual lunch breaks during the day.  This sitting at my desk watching a short video or reading as the land line and cell phones go off and email pouring in isn't cutting it. 

Do you use a calendar, planner, etc. for work? I've found that scheduling myself a lunch really helps me actually take one. I also go a few times per day for laps around the campus while I"m checking emails on my phone. Gives me a chance to move but not feel guilty about taking a break. 

Dec 17, 2020 15:25:38 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I decluttered my personal email a few weeks back, it could still use some more work. but I spent some time with my professional/more serious gmail account and have that unread down to 65 - mostly recent notifications of paperless statements and some stuff with the pups. 

Isn't it funny how we all have difference levels of tolerance for stuff. I'd be freaking out at 65 unopened emails. I receive about 100 emails per day in my work account though. 

Dec 18, 2020 13:07:18 GMT -5 busymom said:

Hi Kids!  I just wanted you to know that the Rachel Jones (Nourishing Minimalism) chart for 2021 just magically appeared in my emails, and I printed it off, and am looking forward to more decluttering in the New Year.

Right now, I am seriously distracted, between Christmas prep, and the fact that our house "down South" WAS supposed to close this week, but due to more delays, it looks like we won't be able to complete the closing until next week.  I just want to have that house sold.  

What is this chart? Are you posting it here? Is tcu2003 going to post the Peter Walsh challenge? So many questions have I. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

startsmart, love the pillows!

Malarky, I scaled down the indoor decorating also. 


debthaven, I'm glad your work schedule is evening out.


nidena, yay for grad school! 


countrygirl2, how'd the bedroom closet go? I need to work on mine. 


TheOtherMe, a little bit of procrastination now and then is a-okay. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I've been super lazy this week. 
I've only worked four to six hours each day--which is from home right now. 
We did get more of our garage gym set up. I need to secure some of the workout flooring to the laminate floor. I also need to make signs for how the new storage areas are set up. 

I still have two presents that need to be delivered, and then I think I'm done with prepping for that part of Christmas. DD#1's bday is the first week of January though, so I need a plan there. Did I mention that she started a job on October 1st at an elementary school as one of the specials/electives/enrichment teachers? Maybe I'll get her classroom stuff. 

[chiver78]

in my defense, I did read all of them. I put some back to "unread" status so I can find them easily by scrolling. 🤷‍♀️

[countrygirl2]

I didn't get back to cleaning the closet. I will, but had to do other stuff today.

[busymom]

Here's access to the website, Knee Deep in Water Chloe, if you'd like to be able to print off a copy of the decluttering challenge chart.  Of course, everyone here is welcome to do the same.  


nourishingminimalism.com/2021-in-2021-decluttering-challenge/

[debthaven]

Forgot to say good luck with the sale busymom !

It's been a very anxious 24h with a surprise lockdown in London last night. DS3 was due to arrive today, and he made it home. I'm very happy and grateful.  France is locking their borders with the UK at midnight. Some of my friends aren't as lucky with their kids. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

So far today, I have
~cleaned up human-created spots on the TV couch 
~vacuumed the great room floors
~scrubbed the back of the couch and that corner of the area rug where the dog likes to make a place for himself.  The back of the couch is almost decimated and that corner of the rug has several threads yanked out , but I really don't have a polite way from keeping Bill the Dog from being back there. 


I am going to clean the refrigerator in a few minutes. 

Yesterday, I threw out about 25 things that were in a basket in my bedroom. It was a basket of memorabilia, and I was consolidating it with a box from a garage. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 20, 2020 14:36:53 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Forgot to say good luck with the sale busymom !

It's been a very anxious 24h with a surprise lockdown in London last night. DS3 was due to arrive today, and he made it home. I'm very happy and grateful.  France is locking their borders with the UK at midnight. Some of my friends aren't as lucky with their kids. 

I'm glad your son made it home! How sad for the others. 
My older daughter is supposed to drive home today. 

[debthaven]

I hope she gets home safely Knee Deep in Water Chloe !

[startsmart]

Upstairs is looking a lot better! I have the boxes moved into a storage room and labeled - it’s mostly extra fabric, kids toys and my journals, all the artwork is going to the third floor.

I also have the green room just about ready with 18 trays x 72 cells each set up. I will need to bring in some soil and create the schedule for seed planting but I’m happy how it came along fairly inexpensively. The two grow lights are in my laundry room until the seeds begin and then I’ll move them upstairs.

I down to the last 7 rows on my first color quilt x 35 columns so I should be able to finish that by next Sunday.

I did a little bit of floor cleaning but need to finish that up soon. Laundry is still in disarray because I need to sort what’s clean and what needs washing.