2024 Organize & Declutter

[startsmart]

Welcome to the 2024 Declutter thread!

We are starting this one a little early because several folks wanted to start with a clean slate on their goals and planning for the New Year. You're welcome to continue posting in the 2023 thread for the next week  

If you are ready to simplify, get more organized, clear the clutter and track bigger projects in your life then you're in the right place. Members track everything from gift buying, grading assignments, phone calls, laundry, bills to pay and keeping papers organized.

Jump in at any time to share what you need to get done, encourage each other and track your wins.

How does this work?

Post your goals - lists and pictures are welcome and "progress pics" are always fun!
Share questions when you have them and support and encourage each other.
Please don't post simply to lecture, mock or stir things up.
If you're inspired by an organizer or business, feel free to share links to their content.

Basic Rules for the thread:

1. Be encouraging to one another

2. Updates as often as you wish

3. You don't need to respond to other posters but it is a great way to participate and support each other

4. Feel free to track anything to stay motivated however there are dedicated threads for losing weight, saving money on groceries and eliminating debt so check those out if you want more in depth discussions.

5. Remember when giving advice that we rarely know the whole story and this is not a place of judgment. Try not to take offense when others make suggestions to you and use the private message feature if you'd like something to remain private. You may always edit or delete a post but doing so will not remove quotes from other posters.

Set a Goal

Some posters will be attempting to downsize a specific number of items, it's not required or even necessary, do what works for you. You can also set a goal like "have a peaceful office space" or "keep the kitchen table clear" if that's more realistic for you.

Moderators: Please keep the 2023 thread live through Jan 3rd

[moneysquirrel]

I'm in again.  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Have soooooo much to do in 2024!

Due to starting to real feel some age, I wanted most of my goals and efforts to center around my health - mostly exercizing, healthy eating, and things that prioritize and enhance my mental health.

Unfortunately - need to be clearing out my mother's cluttered home. She is settled into assisted living right now and there is no going back, she just isn't strong enough anymore (for those who missed my previous announcement, she is now 100 years old).

I feel like I have enough of my own stuff to deal with, and it is going to be tough to allocate all this effort outside of my own home and concerns, brother and sil will help as well, but it will be soooo much work, ongoing, for months and months.....

[TheOtherMe]

I knew your mother had turned 100 but I didn't know she has moved to assisted living.  I think anyone who has to clean out someone else's home (even the 1 bedroom apartment my parents were living in) thinks it's cluttered and has to much stuff.  

It's amazing she was able to stay in her home that long.  

Do you have siblings who can assist?  

[Sharon]

I'm in.  I look at my mother's house and can see the mess that she will be leaving us and I don't want to do that to my DD.

[Opti]

I don't know if I will post enough, but I am finally to the point of getting rid of 'I lived during the Covid pandemic' mess. I would really like to have my place in shape by April or so, but that is probably not a realistic goal.

Ready for a better less cluttered 2024.

[debthaven]

Sharon that's how I feel about DH's Stuff and DS3, but I can't get DH to do anything about it.  At least it's all in the basement so the rest of the house looks good. DS1 also has Stuff in the basement. 

Well, it's not looking good now with the grandkids here LOL, but it generally looks good. The mess stresses me out but it's so nice having them here. 

[finnime]

My 2024 goals are to get ahead of and keep my wardrobe managed; to initiate and maintain paper disposal and filing practices, and to sort out space in the basement for longer term storage. Oh, and to define an area and a way to manage all of the equipment and inventory for photography and selling it. Writing and editing don't require any such space.

[debthaven]

I went through my half of our medicine chest this morning. I tossed a few things, gave a few things to DS3, and reorganized the shelves. I made room for the fancy anti-aging cream DS2 gave me for Christmas. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Dec 28, 2023 20:37:02 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I knew your mother had turned 100 but I didn't know she has moved to assisted living.  I think anyone who has to clean out someone else's home (even the 1 bedroom apartment my parents were living in) thinks it's cluttered and has to much stuff.  

It's amazing she was able to stay in her home that long.  

Do you have siblings who can assist?  

Yes, my brother is doing a lot as well, and his partner is helping too, which is nice.

When my parents moved into the house in 1974, they got a bit of a deal off the price in exchange for the heirs not clearing out the basement. They were in final negotiation and couldn't get a large enough mortgage approved from the bank and the sellers wanted it off their hands. Spoiler - the previous owners stuff is still down there! lol! books, tools, knick knacks, old furniture. 

Each room has more furniture than it should have. over the years smaller cabinets, tables, desks, etc would mushroom up to hold more stuff. Mostly paper work, old bills etc. It is by no means hoardery, just a bit disorganized and over the years was never cleared out of what is no longer meaningful. But will be a lot to sort through, figure out what to save, who wants it, and so on. Then discarding what is not wanted.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Dec 28, 2023 20:47:36 GMT -5 Sharon said:

I'm in.  I look at my mother's house and can see the mess that she will be leaving us and I don't want to do that to my DD.

Such a wonderful gift to leave!

And I am still thinking of liquidating my residence at around 85 or so and moving to a small apt somewhere, maybe a facility, who knows. But I definitely do not want to do what my mother did, staying in place far past the time to effectively use it, let alone clear it out. I will be ready to pass my home on before 85 too, to whoever has some kids and needs a family-friendly neighborhood! Neither seems interested in that as yet, but 85 is my limit for someone to take it over or I'll sell.

Assuming I hold on to it that long, lol!

[TheOtherMe]

My nephew's have told me to mark anything important as they plan to bring in a dumpster.  At least I know they told their parents the same thing.  

Their parents house is far worse than mine because it has stuff that neither my sister or BIL got from their parents that no one wanted and they can't bear to toss.  I think my sister kept every toy her kids played with.  Last summer she got out a plastic toy for the Toddler and it fell apart in her hands so that one went.

She sent a rickety chair along with a nice table and chair for kids to Toronto.  She could have kept the rickety chair as they are not going to use it.  

I plan on getting my basement back from DN3 since they move to their new house next Friday!!!!!     The stuff their realtor told them to get rid of is at my sister's house.  That means it will be gone sooner rather than later.  She thinks it should happen next Friday but DN3 said no way are they going to have all of their stuff in a UHaul, close on two houses and get their house liveable for the night and go to two more places to load up stuff.  

Now that the end is in sight, I am in no hurry.  

[laterbloomer]

I'm in. I really like these threads. I don't think I ever get my whole list done for the year but it's neat to see what does get accomplished

1. Finish laundry room (get drywall finished, paint walls and put in flooring)
2. Get second set of stairs off back deck which will make back corner of yard usable.
3. VPL flooring upstairs.
4. Purge bedroom
5. Organize basement

[debthaven]

I don't think I ever get my whole list done for the year but it's neat to see what does get accomplished

laterbloomer I agree! Our new windows/shutters/paint job had been on our list for MANY years! And then they finally got done in 2023! (Well most of them LOL.)

I still want to get an estimate for the 2 side windows and the 2 doors. I have accepted that they probably won't ever get done, but I'd still like to get an estimate.

[soupandstew]

I think I should participate in 2024 so I have some accountability.  While I have various goals on the health and wellbeing side, in terms of organization I want to do a realistic purge of my clothes and shoes, and beat down the paper monster that once again lives in my office.  Also, I need to add some notes to our estate planning binder about specific items and their value so someone doesn't mistake sterling for plate and platinum for white gold.  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

laterbloomer and debthaven - you both are starting to inspire me a bit!

My energy levels have taken a dive the past few years, and my enthusiasm with it. I need to corral myself for the new year and start to work a bit better with where I am at the moment.

The job has been incredibly draining lately - and the time off has been fantastic, if not rejuvenating. So many late nights and booze, lol! Then insomnia continues to haunt me and I know it is affecting everything by now.

Ok - so for myself I will focus on my own home and do my mothers as a secondary thing rather than vice versa. A continuing problem I have is always putting aside my own concerns and needs whenever anyone else has needs and I need to stop that as much as I can.

For 2024 I want to:
Finalize house upgrade planning
Finish the decluttering
Begin renovations

Short list - but a lot of work with many unknowns. After clearning out the garage and a twice flooded basement to push me along, the decluttering is well underway.

Step 1: Make appt regarding house plans
Step 2: Declutter attic

These can proceed simultaneously.

wow - was going to say I'd ask for appt in new year, but I put together a long list ideas and questions and requested a meeting in January! I am on my way!!

[Sharon]

I hope to get the majority of the inside painting done hopefully by Spring.  As much as I loathe my kitchen cupboards I think I will paint them also, who knows when I will have the money to do the gut job on the kitchen that it needs.  I will not worry about the inside of the cupboards only the doors and outside.  While watching HGTV one night I may have seen a solution for the hardware on my cabinets.  Right now the handles are all at an angle.  In the show they filled the holes made by removing the handles and then put a single knob in the corner.  That would make me a lot happier.

Today was a big splurge day.  This is the first time I've lived somewhere that has both a living and family room.  My furniture is in the family room along with the TV.  The living room has a couple of old cast off chairs, a piano, and lots of toys.  Originally I was looking for a sleeper sofa to accommodate the grandkids as they get older.  I went to a different furniture store and saw exactly what I was looking for as soon as I walked in the door.  In the end I bought the sofa, two rocker recliners, a coffee table, and an end table.  My end tables were salvaged out of my parents attic when I moved out of the house over 40 years ago.  They bought them on clearance when they got married 63 years ago.  They are cheap, beat up end tables.  I've never had a coffee table.

Now the plan is to move the older furniture to the living room and the new stuff into the family room.  Hopefully my house will start to look more like my home, with my colors and not what someone else picked out.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

sounds awesome Sharon! congrats on your new room!!

[startsmart]

I am in for 2024 because I am planning a no spend year 😬 which means more time at home and making it cozy and comfortable with less clutter.

I’ve already set up goals in my bullet journal with 52 areas to declutter throughout the year and I am so excited to get started.

Todays goal is cleaning wrap up:
- mop the living room
- clean the fridge
- clean the bathtub (after mopping is done)

Happy New Year’s Eve all!

[nikiz628]

Of course I am in again! It's my favorite thread! 

I spent yesterday completely cleaning out and reorganizing my kitchen cabinets. H got me new pots and pans for xmas (SO NEEDED, ours were wedding gifts from 2008 and had definitely hit the point of needing replaced). I purged quite a bit of stuff, which felt amazing. We had so many duplicate items and items I just never use, it was time for them to go. I am putting them on our local buy nothing group as a kitchen bundle. 

[busymom]

Count me in for another year, even though DD's wedding will probably be a major distraction for about half the year.  


I saw a comment on a Swedish death cleaning website that it should be called "Swedish life cleaning".  You're getting rid of things to make life better both for yourself, and your kids.  (So true, and take it from someone who did a LOT of cleaning out of her parent's house.  I don't want to leave such a big problem to DD someday.)  

[debthaven]

Happy New Year friends! It’s 2024 here. We are babysitting tonight. We opened a bottle of Champagne and now we’re going to bed. 😊

DH and I talked about the rest of the windows tonight. I pulled out the estimate from the windows and calculated that those 2 side windows with solar-powered shutters would probably cost about 5K. If I’m right, that’s not gonna happen.

I don’t know what the front and back doors would cost, but I’m guessing it would be comparable?

We will NOT be spending another 10K on the last 2 windows/shutters and the two doors. But, turns out that DH DOES want to replace the front door to match the rest of the front of the house, so we’ll see about the front door.

That’s so exciting Sharon! Very happy for you! I hope you’ll be getting a nice bonus and/or overtime for all the many hours you’ve put in recently!

[Sharon]

Dec 31, 2023 19:43:10 GMT -5 debthaven said:

That’s so exciting Sharon ! Very happy for you! I hope you’ll be getting a nice bonus and/or overtime for all the many hours you’ve put in recently!

Unfortunately no overtime or bonus.  It does sound like we will be getting some comp time but the boss said he hadn't figured out yet how much each person was entitled to take.  Depending on how much it ends up to be I'm toying with the idea of taking as many 3 days weekends in a row as they will allow.

[Lizard Queen]

Happy New Year! I'm in for this year. 🙂 I've still got a ton to declutter, as well as remodeling to finish on this house. Still counting items decluttered. I'm allowing an extra day or 2 to finish 2023. I'll update my #'s later.

I started another strategy where I have a list of 9 rooms/areas in my house. Every day I have to declutter 1 thing + put 1 thing away in each room. This seems to be helping me not to ignore areas + not getting overwhelmed.

[TheOtherMe]

Great to see you Lizard Queen  You have been missed.  

I have no specific goals numbers wise.  I just want clutter gone and the place to look and feel organized.  It doesn't at the moment.

[anciana]

I was thinking, if I can get my post on the first page of this thread, would that be a good sign that I would muster up the motivation to take care of few things I really should this year? 
Every year I used to plan on taking this time between Christmas and New Year to do a big decluttering project but then things go haywire and it all gets pushed out by more important stuff. This holiday season I decided not to put that pressure on myself and just enjoy the time with family. It was great! But now feel like I need to kick into higher gear. So, we’ll see. When highly motivated, I am able to achieve a lot, just need to figure it out a bit now. 
Here’s to 2024! And all of us!

[ners]

Do not have an specific goals just know I need to declutter and organize my house.  

[NastyWoman]

I'll be back in give or take 4 weeks, after I get back from Europe and have had a few days to get over jet lag. 
This trip has shown me that I really am getting ready mentally to make that big move. A big step for sure but there is a lot of decluttering to be done before that time.

[Opti]

It will take awhile but I need to buy over the door hangers to organize the extensive collection I have of grocery delivery bags. Right now they are taking up floor space along with other crap that needs to go. Some of it will disappear soon. After wearing them long enough I have to admit my new boots for work and winter need to be a little larger. So hope to contact the powers that be and fix that one. Have another one I need to reach out for as well. But one thing at a time especially since I'm not sure I have to ambush the mail carrier for that exchange or get it by bus to the closest UPS facility to ship back.

Slowly working on filing paperwork as that went by the wayside as well. Clothes sorting and donations are on the agenda as well. Have stuff ready to go that I would like to release sooner than later.

[moneysquirrel]

Happy New Year All!

I managed to get my 2024 spreadsheet updated this morning with the missing interest that was added last night.  So that is ready to go.  I have constantly updated and refined the one that I use and at this moment am happy with what I have.  

I updated my numbers in the tagline to reflect the items I eliminated (or at the least those I remember) during the last several months of 2023.  I will be counting when I remember this year as I am curious as to how many items that I remember I decluttered.  I have added several more items to the donation bags being picked up tomorrow and I hope to run across a few more before I put them out in the morning.  

I started the year off my going to mass this morning and hope to attended occasionally during the week this year.  Watched a part of the rose parade while doing puzzles.  Need to get lunch started and maybe add a few more items to that donation bag before I start watching football or take a nap. (Fireworks were quite a noise racket last night.)