2021 Declutter Stuff & Organize Your Life

[bean29]

UnderwaterChloe, glad your DH is doing better. Hopefully your job hunt will be successful.

I left work about 6:30 picked up dogs, got home after 7, by the time I walked the Dogs and DH finished cooking dinner it was 8:15. I decided I was tired and was just going to bed, but I decided I said I was going to wipe down DD’s night stand. So I cleaned it up. It was missing a pull, and I had some similar in the basement, so I brought up, asked DH if he had a screwdriver. I left him fiddling with it and went to bed. When I got up, he had moved it into DD’s old bedroom. Now I just have to unload the boxes.

Debthaven-Glad you have a family visit in Spring to look forward to.

Re: Having a cleaner-I can’t bring myself yo pay for a cleaner. I often think we can afford it, but that wound reduce the $$ available to save/invest. So I keep slogging along. I especially want one when I am facing the holidays, but they don’t want the Gig without a longer term commitment.

[ners]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe Glad your DH is feeling better.

Last night I cleaned off dining room table.   I filled up one bag with shredding and 1/2 the paper recycle box.  

[TheOtherMe]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe  Good to hear your DH is feeling better.

I'm like you.  When I am stressed, I don't clean.  I overthink which makes it all worse.

I have also started on Christmas cards because I am sending cards to all of my cousins this year with their Family Group Sheets.  I'm hoping lots of them will fill out the sheets and send them back in the SASE I will be including.  This is for their kids and grandkids as my mom used to keep pretty good track of her side of the family and didn't do much on my dad's side.  

Talked to one yesterday on mom's side and he said he will cajole the cousins on my mom's side of the family.  I have no idea if the cousins on my dad's side will cooperate.

Today is laundry day and then I must assemble the cat tree.  I am going to do that before I start bringing in my Christmas decorations.  With two cats I didn't have last year, each decoration is a test of how long it can stay.  Hopefully they leave things alone but they are cats.

[moneysquirrel]

Taking a few minutes between classes to check in.  Things are going ok so far this week.  I have leftovers for dinner tonight to finish up a few items.  Will have an early lunch before I leave for my next class.  This morning's class was a zoom one.  The afternoon one is not.  


Knee Deep in Water Chloe -- Glad to hear that your DH is improving.  Also that the doctors have limited his hours.  Hopefully that will also reduce the stresous that he is under.  Good luck with the job search as well as house hunting.

anciana -- Not too upset over Thanksgiving.  It has been a very small dinner the last few years and I will do my favorite holiday dishes sometime during the holiday season.  My DIL loves to cook and to entertain and I am more than happy to pass the torch to her.  Especially as I am getting older, this is one responsiblly that I am more than willing to share.  I will be bringing a dish with me per her request.

TheOtherMe -- I hope that you will test out the Christmas tree with unbreakable ornaments.  I have a feeling that the cats will not be able to resist all the new "toys" that you are going to shower them with.

debthaven -- Happy that you have a family gathering to look forward to in the spring.  
Iggy aka IG -- You have done a lot while you were ailing.  Hope that you are feeling better. 

I need to pick up the yoga mat, get changed, fix lunch, get a few more minor things done and than leave for my class.  Til later.

[snapdragon]

I am finally starting to catch up on missed sleep due to the time change...since the fall back I had been getting to sleep after 1:30 am or later so I am really relieved that I am finally sleeping at a decent hour. 

Not much to report on my side though I do have a little donation pile and need to start adding to and get the stuff out of the house. 

I am taking the last 2 days of the month off so I can recharge for the insanity of the December food industry. 

[TheOtherMe]

The cats supervised while I put the cat tree together.  So far, that is the closet they have gotten to it.  

Yes, I have unbreakable ornaments because they will see a tree as a new toy and probably like it better than the cat tree.

[Iggy aka IG]

I enjoy reading about everyone preparing for the holidays!  I love this time of year.  Years ago, my sister found an online Secret Santa exchange, and we've been doing it ever since.  We have a $40 gift limit, and also buy stocking stuffers for one another.  This year we'll go to sister's house for Thanksgiving, and we'll celebrate at my house a few days before Christmas.  I'll do the usual pie baking for Thanksgiving, Christmas cards, and decorating the house.  I'm about halfway finished with my gift list.

Last night I picked up the monthly grocery order.  Was up early again this morning so I emptied, refilled, and started the dishwasher, finalized my online gift order, and did some yoga.  Later I stopped by to pick up my new glasses that I didn't get to last week, and they were closed.  I then made my truck payment and then filled it up at the gas station.  Ouch.

[empress of self-improvement]

I decluttered my upper cabinets off the kitchen walls. Man they wer UGLY! They were original to the house, built in 50-60s, and it showed. Winter project is going to be to clean, spackle and fix my walls. I don't know if I'm going to paint or do some kind of backsplash that will help keep heat in. Bleah. Then I can get rid of the lower cabinets, probably in the spring, and FINALLY replace the hideous orange countertop. I loathe orange.

[toomuchreality]

Nov 16, 2021 22:11:19 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

A personal check-in:We've gotten a bit further in figuring out what is physically wrong with DH--though the doctors all seem to agree it's stress-induced. There are a few cancers eliminated, but we're waiting on some tests about some others. The pancreas inflammation is reducing; however, the stomach lining is still inflamed. There's an ultrasound scheduled next week for his kidney. There was a lesion discovered during the explorations for causes of pain. This isn't connected to the current problems, and if they've caught something important they believe it's an early catch. There've been a few medication switches, and our eating patterns have changed substantially. DH's primary doctor has put him on medically reduced work hours. He will work no more than ten hours per week for the remainder of November. Then for January and February he is only allowed to work 20 hours per week. He really is feeling better, so I'm glad about that. 


Regarding organization and decluttering: My current project--besides homework and applying for new jobs--is Christmas cards. I put all of that away last Saturday, and then we were gone Thursday - Monday. I need to get it all back out and get going on it. 

Holy moly! I'm so glad that your DH is feeling a little better and that they're possibly figuring out what his issues are.
HAVING to work less hours sounds like a good thing. I just can't even imagine the amount of stress you guys have been under!

Thanks for the update.
Hugs ♡

[toomuchreality]

Nov 17, 2021 19:06:06 GMT -5 empress of self-improvement said:

I decluttered my upper cabinets off the kitchen walls. Man they wer UGLY! They were original to the house, built in 50-60s, and it showed. Winter project is going to be to clean, spackle and fix my walls. I don't know if I'm going to paint or do some kind of backsplash that will help keep heat in. Bleah. Then I can get rid of the lower cabinets, probably in the spring, and FINALLY replace the hideous orange countertop. I loathe orange.

Years ago, when I lived in a house with OLD kitchen cupboards, I really liked them. Because they were simple, plain white and old. They just worked, I thought. But I did not have orange countertops. I am not a fan of orange either. Uh-huh. Or of most colors of green. But definitely not orange.

You're getting a lot done at your house!

[Sharon]

I never knew that boxes could make me so happy.  Pre-Covid days the grocery store used to put empty boxes out in front of the store for people who wanted them.  When Covid hit they stopped handing out the boxes.  Even though the restrictions have relaxed some the bin with empty boxes hasn't been in front the store.  Tonight when I was in the store I asked the produce lady if they had any boxes.  YES.  I got 9 large empty cardboard apple boxes with lids.

I am so happy and have already filled 5 of them this evening.

[nikiz628]

Nov 16, 2021 10:47:17 GMT -5 anciana said:

nikiz628 , does your neighborhood use NextDoor app? There are always people asking for cardboard boxes for moving. Just one more option to recycling.

I didn't think of that. We don't have the NextDoor app thing here, but we do have community FB groups I could list them on! THanks for the rec! 

[debthaven]

Sounds like a big job empress of self-improvement ... well done!

Semester countdown: 13/15 weeks done!!! Just 2 weeks left!   (I'll still be working after that, but less.)

[startsmart]

Hey ladies, it has been a busy week since I got home. There were a few issues that cropped up with a client while I was in NYC and I ended up talking to another team member and a lawyer friend of mine to sort it out. It wasn't really a legal thing but my lawyer friend is excellent at negotiation and framing an argument. I spoke with the owner of that business this week and ended up getting everything I wanted out of the discussion. The person on the team who was creating those issues has been addressed, we have some new policies in place and I'm going to be stepping into a bigger role to focus on doubling business revenue in the next 12 months. Alls well that ends well! 

I've stalled a bit on moving boxes upstairs, hoping to make up for lost time this weekend so that these chores will get done and keep me home. I am attempting to do NSD for the rest of the year with the exception of bills and groceries but dang I really want to go shopping lol. 

It helps that I had some fabric delivered today - used a gift card from my bday - so I will be working on that for a few weeks. I tried to keep busy by preparing 100 pieces of fabric to baste (i.e. turn into little fabric hexagons) over the weekend but then I made them all by Tuesday morning. So I did 70 more and those got done by Wednesday night. 

I think I need to prepare 50-75 per day so I can sew while I'm on conference calls or listening to trainings and prepare all the pieces I need for my Christmas quilt and a new Halloween quilt I have in the queue. 

[debthaven]

Well done startsmart for dealing so well with that difficult situation!

I'm finally ready to post a modest list. I am WAY behind on DH's Quickbooks, but that'll have to wait.  

This weekend
- email T job info/Thurs
- put props away/Thurs
- buy gift voucher for P/Fri
- send payment info to cast members/Fri
- call + email GM/Fri
- lunch with E/Fri
- Shitepile
- see A/Sat or Sun

Plus laundry/dishes/kitchen.

I REALLY need to take it easy/catch up on sleep this weekend. I nearly fainted in class yesterday, for the first time in my life.   And next week is another rough week.

[toomuchreality]

Nov 18, 2021 17:47:48 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Well done startsmart for dealing so well with that difficult situation!

I'm finally ready to post a modest list. I am WAY behind on DH's Quickbooks, but that'll have to wait.  

This weekend
- email T job info/Thurs
- put props away/Thurs
- buy gift voucher for P/Fri
- send payment info to cast members/Fri
- call + email GM/Fri
- lunch with E/Fri
- Shitepile
- see A/Sat or Sun

Plus laundry/dishes/kitchen.

I REALLY need to take it easy/catch up on sleep this weekend. I nearly fainted in class yesterday, for the first time in my life.   And next week is another rough week.

Take care of you.

[dannylion]

It's been a few weeks since I stopped by to see how everyone is doing.  So much progress being made!  You've all got jobs and outside obligations and avocations and families to care for, but you're still making progress with decluttering and bringing order to your possessions.  Very impressive!   Also encouraging.  

Hoping for speedy recoveries for posters and family members who have been ill.  

startsmart , your quilts are beautiful!  Well done.  

A few weeks ago, I decided that the only way I was going to make any progress was to give myself a deadline I had to meet, so I invited my friend and her husband for brunch this week to celebrate her birthday.  I was overly optimistic about how much of the main floor I could whip into shape in 2 weeks since my bad knees, hips, and back limit my mobility and the amount of time I can work on my feet. 

The dining room, living room, and part of the family room were all being used for storage of things I need to get rid of and lots of the stuff I brought back when I cleared out my folks' house after my Dad passed away.  I did get the junk haulers in to take away a lot of stuff from the basement and several items from the main floor, which cleared out some space in the basement to put stuff and made a little room to maneuver in the dining room. 

Since the deadline I had established turned out to be unrealistic (which I should have known it would be), I ended up bunging stuff into bins and hauling the bins down to the basement where they are now occupying the space recently created by having the other stuff hauled away.  There is no order or organization to the contents of the bins or where they are stacked or which bins are stacked together. 

I think I'm probably no better off than I was; I've still got all that stuff, but now I have to dig through bins to find it all and sort it out.  The living room is still crammed with stuff (I ran out of time and abandoned all hope of getting that done) and the family room looks okay from a distance but is not really in any condition to receive guests. On top of it all, all the trips down and up the basement stairs aggravated my joint issues and now I think I'm going to need physical therapy.  But I got enough done to provide a pleasant environment to entertain my friends in the dining room, and that is all I really cared about.  Also, the food turned out well.  

Fortunately, my friends have known me for over 40 years and were impressed with the small amount of progress represented by the civilized state of the dining room and the cleared kitchen table and counters.  It was very good to see them after so long.  We generally got together for lunch on at least a monthly basis pre-COVID, but we're all old people with health issues and have avoided restaurants and other venues containing random people.  

So, I have a little progress to report, but under the surface it's still chaos.  Hoping to get a little more done in the family room before Thanksgiving since I am hosting with the same friends as guests this year.  They have hosted me for many, many years, so it's about time I did my part.  I got a pre-brined, pre-seasoned boneless turkey breast delivered from Perdue farms (ordered early as there were rumblings of shortages) and found a local farm co-op organization that has premade side dishes like creamed spinach, sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole (made from scratch and without the use of cream-of-crap soup), and fancy cranberry sauce, so all I need to do is cook the turkey breast and make the mashed potatoes and gravy (my friends are bringing the pies).  I think this is going to work!  And my joints will get a break as I just have to heat up stuff somebody else made.  

After the holidays, I really do plan to tackle the living room and then sort and cull the stuff in the bins in the basement.  The reason I started this project was so that the cousin who will be settling my estate when I'm dead doesn't have to deal with a huge mess.  It's nice to have a little bit of order restored, though, and maybe it will encourage me to keep going.  

[finnime]

Oh, no! Take care of yourself, debthaven!

For the past week I've been living upstairs, surrounded by boxes of Stuff moved out of the way for the painters. The living room is also packed with furniture taken from the dining room. After tomorrow it can go back to where it came from. The kitchen and dining room will be done. After that, it will be the basement including the laundry room ban bathroom, and the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.

We do have some major sorting to do. We filled boxes at the end with everything and anything just to get it done. Now those boxes will need to be gone through. It could be so much worse, however, if we hadn't done so much decluttering in the past year. Thank you all for the inspiration.

[toomuchreality]

I do that box stuff up and, or put it away every time I have an inspection of my apt. And every time, when it comes down to the last minute, anything left gets shoved somewhere. Many times it gets lost, or forgotten about until much later.
As I'm getting older, either I'm doing it more, or my memory is getting worse, or maybe things have just not been gone through in much longer, because until I pull stuff out again, I totally forget what it is- or where it is.
Ugh.

There's one particular box in my garage that I've known for 20 yrs what's in it. I haven't gotten rid of it, or wanted to. Suddenly I have no idea what's in the box.
I need to look and see if it's anything I still even want.

[TheOtherMe]

debthaven  please take care of yourself


I did the stuff things back in to boxes until I got the organizer.  Never again.  That's only postponing the problem.  No more hiding stuff when the cleaners are coming.  It goes in it's place or it goes out the door.

[debthaven]

This weekend
- email T job info/Thurs
- put props away/Thurs
- lunch with E/Fri
- buy gift voucher for P/Fri
- send payment info to cast members/Fri
- Shitepile
- see A/Sun

I also took a 2.5h nap. 

dannylion do you have a young neighbor who'd be happy to help (especially with the carrying up and down stairs) for some cash? Or even an organizer since they take the items out of the house? I'm suggesting this because of your joint issues ... I know you can manage the sorting, but the carrying seems harder, which is normal! 

Sounds like your painters are doing a fantastic job finnime ! (And working very quickly!)

[debthaven]

I had to give my availability to Job 1 this week. It's always a wild card. Hopefully it will work out. (I teach 4 professors so every semester I hope our schedules are compatible.)

I don't have enough hours next semester. I may have an extra class, but I won't know until the last minute. I need that class, or 2 more professor/staff classes (since two 2021 staff classes end in Dec.)

How ironic that after 2 years of doing WAY too many hours, I am now low on hours!!! The difference between doing extra hours online during the pandemic and doing them at school every day with a 40m commute each way is HUGE. So I finally cut back, by too much. 

I'll be at school 3 days/week instead of 4. I'll still work a 4th day, but online.

Fingers crossed that I get that extra (easy) class!

[startsmart]

Busy day planned with lots to do outdoors and a bunch of stuff to move upstairs.

I started assembling the black and white quilt and hope to have the first 21 blocks by the end of the weekend.

[chiver78]

this morning, I caught a post on the town "Buy Nothing" page, looking for streamers or colored tissue paper for crafts. I have moved a grocery bag full of opened rolls of streamers at least twice, I'm not even sure where they were originally used at this point. I met up with J this afternoon to hand it over, she was floored. she also said she would be interested in other crafty stuff as I continue unpacking, so I'll be hitting her up as I work my way through the basement. woo!

the streamers somehow landed in the big box full of heavy large frames in this move. maybe they got tossed there after I got here, bc that doesn't make much sense. 🤷‍♀️

[startsmart]

Whew!

So far today I’ve taken out the closet shelves and had to dig 8 screws out of the drywall and patch the mess left behind, then I hammered in the edging for my pathway with weed blocking fabric and put down over 100 bricks AND I’m on the 14/21 blocks on the quilt so far.

It’s been good to balance hard labor jobs like moving 100 lbs of bricks and sitting to sew while catching up on Bake Off.

[debthaven]

This weekend (updated)
- Shitepile/Sat
- see A/Sun

A may not want any company today so I'm not sure about going there yet.

Next week is another rough week but at least I'm WFH on Wednesday.  

[finnime]

Painters have painted the entire basement, including the laundry area and bathroom. I didn't expect them to get that far, so I hadn't cleared it out. Instead they moved all the contents to a very large pile in the middle of the family room and covered it with plastic while they painted the ceiling. Now, to dismantle the pile . . . It'll take some real effort, but it was in the plan eventually. That's the only area of the house with carpeting, and it will need new carpeting.

Only areas left to paint are the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom. I am not looking forward to clearing them out. Will need an electrician, to replace the old combination medicine cabinet and lights, and a plumber, to replace the sink and fix the shower/tub, to do the bathroom. I don't know if this will happen this week or next, with the holiday.

While the rooms are cleared I'm going to clean and polish the hardwood on the main floor before setting them back up.

[moneysquirrel]

Good morning all! I have no classes this week so I scheduled the annual termite inspection for this week.  Hoping to stay out of the stores and traffic this week.  Definitely have enough things around the house to keep busy. 

Past week accomplishments:

* Mantained house progress
* Laundry and dishes are clean and back in place
* Finished several small project and finally start work on one that I have been postponing.
* Zoomed with a friend
* Grocery run -- hoped that I won't have to go again until after the holiday.
* Attended/taught 7 classes
* Met a friend for shopping and lunch
* Purged some files and shredded a large bag of paper.
* Paid the contractor for both the roof and fence replacement.  (Major decluttering this week was my sinking funds for this job.)  
* Scheduled the termite inspection for this coming Tuesday.  

This upcoming week I hope will be easy.  Just have to make one thing for Thursday (instead of the entire meal) and empty the craft closet for the inspection Tuesday.  Most of what is in there is on a rolling cart so it is not as difficult as it might be.  I do hope to go through everything while it is out and reorganize what I can.  I am continuing my efforts to use up as many of the craft supplies as I can instead of purchasing additional items.  Slowing making progress and expanding my skill base as well.  (Sometimes old ladies can learn new things.)

All of the progress made by the members of this thread is outstanding.  We have made an inroads into what we hope will be a more stress free future for ourselves.  As we eliminate those items we know that it will make life a little easier in the future evem while daunting as we do it.

I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  

[toomuchreality]

Enjoy your Sunday!

Best wishes everyone, as you prepare for the holiday and whatever that means for you.
To those who go somewhere this holiday, safe travels!

[debthaven]

Sometimes old ladies can learn new things.

Love this moneysquirrel lol. You certainly do!

This week
- office supply store/Mon
- bottle bank
- pharmacy
- Xrays X 2/Thurs

We need to find a turkey! DH will do that since I'm working all day Mon-Thurs. (We celebrate Thurs evening after work with DS3's close friend's parents.) We're hosting this year.

It was cancelled 2 years ago because it was the weekend of my 60th (they came), and last year because of lockdown. My DH cooks the turkey and makes pumpkin pie.  Our friends bring the sides (and vice versa when they host). It's nice to keep a Thanksgiving tradition.