2024 Organize & Declutter

[Lizard Queen]

Hanging on to the dog for now. I'm working on training her, and brought up medication to my DH for his anxiety. The anxiety is a problem even without a dog, and has gotten a lot worse. I stepped up and walked the dog last night plus got up to let her out at 5:20 this morning. Those are both quite problematic for me as well, but my DH got a much needed break.

[soupandstew]

I took a few minutes after breakfast to finish clearing out the file drawer in my desk.  Tossed 2022 junk and cleaned up mess I created when I failed to secure the bottom cover of my 3-hole punch    Not a huge project, but a small step forward.  

[azucena]

Laundry day - I will put all the loads thru the machines while working today and lay out the clothes to be hung up before I leave for school pickup.

[moneysquirrel]

Did a load of laundry and making such all emergency lamps and backup chargers are up to 100% as we are expecting bad weather coming in.   Flooding in the usual areas and high winds are expected.  I am hoping that the weather gurus are incorrect but with two weather systems heading in out direction I am sure that some of the warnings are neccessary.

Will be continuing the beginning of the year closet/drawer and storage review with the aim of elimination of items. New donation bag has been started but I don't count those items until they are picked up. 

[nikiz628]

This week's goal is to get the Christmas decor down. My kiddos head back to school tomorrow, which will  make this much easier to accomplish. I want to go through and organize it as I put it away. I did this at the end of the season last Christmas and this Christmas me was so happy I did. 

[soupandstew]

I really appreciate the updates folks post here - it definitely helps keep me motivated to do at least a small task most days.  

[startsmart]

Yesterday I started painting the kitchen cabinets and I want to estimate that I will finish by the end of February. I’m going one cabinet at a time because I have no interest in taking apart my whole kitchen for 2 months. I think finishing the doors will be the hardest part but I’m not allowing myself to buy new, pretty hardware (knobs and pulls) until the whole kitchen is done.

There is one cabinet that buts up against the fridge so I may not be able to get that one done until I move the fridge to do the floors. Not sure, it’s a heavy fridge!

As I paint each cabinet or drawer I am going to declutter, clean and organize it. I’m going to go do the first one now as soon as the adorable sleeping kittens on my lap wake up.

[TheOtherMe]

Back in the early 80's, I had a house where the previous owners had put small pieces of fake wood on the kitchen cabinets.  I hated it.  It must have been a thing then because the townhouse where I moved from had much nicer pieces of fake wood over the fireplace.  I removed those and put tile there by myself.  

This job seemed too overwhelming so my friend helped.  First we had to remove the wood and then sand all of the cabinets.  Then we painted the cabinets.  

It was  about a 2 month project but they looked so much better after it was finished.

[moneysquirrel]

First round of thunderstorms have passed through. Under tornado watch for a few more hours.  Next heavy round due between 11pm and 1am.  Decided to skip the meeting tomorrow.  Email the person in charge and received the info I would have picked up if I had gone to the meeting.  

Decided to run the dishwasher in the morning as the potential for power outages tonight is there. Have enough dishes on hand that it is not a problem to wait.  Some places in the area has already lost power and I didn't want to have it knock off in the middle of a cycle.

Night all!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 8, 2024 11:45:16 GMT -5 azucena said:

Laundry day - I will put all the loads thru the machines while working today and lay out the clothes to be hung up before I leave for school pickup.

Ah, laundry...
DH and I have an arrangement that he does the laundry during football season and I do it the rest of the year. My time is near. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Jan 8, 2024 14:55:34 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

This week's goal is to get the Christmas decor down. My kiddos head back to school tomorrow, which will  make this much easier to accomplish. I want to go through and organize it as I put it away. I did this at the end of the season last Christmas and this Christmas me was so happy I did. 

Mine is semi-organized this year. I had started out well, but then both DH and I got sick. I was sick for 2.5 days, but DH was sick for over a week. I got to the point where I was just tossing stuff in boxes and tubs randomly. I know I'll be sad in 10.5 months. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

10-hour work day and then I've been sitting on my tookus since doing the dishes after dinner. 
I did clean out my personal email account. 
It's 7:47pm, so I think I'll get up off the couch and spend ten minutes straightening up my bedroom closet. 

[megaptera]

I'm in this year.

Vague, non-specific goal is continue to simplify life. Things I've eliminated over the years to that end: makeup, most seasonal decor, Facebook, unnecessary appointments, complex meal plans.

DD, my youngest, graduates this year, so that will help too. 

More specific goals for this year:
Figure out if and where to move. Or just stay in our current rental for another year. This will largely depend on the housing market.
Track our spending.
Simplify cooking.
Beat procrastination.
Declutter all the things.
Break more rules.

Happy New Year everyone.

[azucena]

Jan 8, 2024 22:43:24 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Jan 8, 2024 11:45:16 GMT -5 azucena said:

Laundry day - I will put all the loads thru the machines while working today and lay out the clothes to be hung up before I leave for school pickup.

Ah, laundry...
DH and I have an arrangement that he does the laundry during football season and I do it the rest of the year. My time is near. 

We've settled on me doing laundry and DH keeping up with dishes. He messes up laundry way too often and also can't seem to sort our clothes between us 3 girls of very different sizes. This chore split is mostly working.

I didn't get nearly through the laundry yesterday so your post prompted me to start the machines again. I had a deal going where I paid $1/load to the girls if they helped sort and hang up. This takes about 10 mins. Everyone puts away their own piles. $1 has become too cheap for even DD11 and DD15's schedule is too full for her own good. Lately, she's been pitching in where she sees a need - should make a point to compliment her on that. Will see if DD11 can be enticed by $2/load. I also think it doesn't help that I've been paying out of a bucket of quarters. Paper money might also provide a boost.

[TheOtherMe]

I am old fashioned.  Helping fold laundry and putting away your own clothes is part of living in a house.  

Is money involved in every household transaction these days?

[startsmart]

Moneysquirrel - I fear we may lose power today as well, no storms but we got snow overnight and the wind is gusting up to 45mph. At least the tree that was close to the power lines is better, a limb came off last July and took out my power line (main to the house) so there’s less chance of that happening again.

Today is slow, I have lots I could be doing but it’s cold inside and so I’m working with a cat sleeping in my lap and trying to stay warm.

[moneysquirrel]

The storms last night are a thing in the past for me.  Managed to keep power though the wind and thunderstorms.  It is absolutely beautiful today.  Ran the dishwasher this morning and will unload it later this afternoon.  I have soup ready for dinner tonight and managed to get a few things off my to-do list.  

Stay safe all of you facing this weather system sweeping thoughtout the country.

[snapdragon]

I got the new tabs on the car. 

The front door is clear of holiday decorations. Somehow, I managed to step on and break a bulb on the string of lights when I was taking down the wreath. That has been replaced and the floor cleaned. 

The wind is just wild, and I had to put my BBQ grill cover back on. I tightened it so hopefully it will stay on. 

My bed has been mostly redone, and I have 1 of the 2 twin beds completely done over with a plush mattress cover and clean sheets. Holding off on the 2nd. I also got 2 down alternative comforters for the future. 

I broke down and bought a diamond paint by number thing and spent several hours and a few days really enjoying the process. I believe I will end up getting a few more but for right now I am going to pull some puzzles to work on.

Weather is crazy I have had high winds, hail, and sheeting rain in just the last few hours. More is expected so I don't plan on going anywhere for the next day or 2.

[jerseygirl]

Grandson here for a few days. We went through Christmas things in the attic. About half we put into the car for goodwill tomorrow. About quarter into garbage
Grandson found a huge box and brought it out. It was full of packing peanuts. We bought 2 sculptures in California about 20 years ago. Jerseyguy put the box in the attic. Grandson brought it downstairs and put in LR till Thursday garbage day. Raining too hard now cardboard would dissolve
So nice to have him here to help but especially to enjoy his company.

[TheOtherMe]

DN3 sent me a text to see if he and some guys can come get their stuff out of my basement on Saturday, weather permitting.  Yes they can and they have to wear a mask!  

However, as of now, it is supposed to snow on Saturday.

[Opti]

Need to find and take a pic of current registration and maybe the one I haven't renewed? Need the VIN to schedule an appointment for obtaining a title so need to do that at home tonight hopefully as I am not carrying my registration with me in my wallet and the car is a bit of a walk from me.

Saw I got charged for car insurance the beginning of the month even though they do not have my current 3 digit code and that card expired.    I had to do some hoop jumping for Apple as right now I am buying .99 worth of storage each month until I figure out a better system with my pics and videos.  The laptop is old and MS Windows so its not quick nor where I want to park most of it anyway.

So much to slog through including making another tooth extraction consult and some imaging of my liver because PCP wants it. Elevated calcium levels last time so that plus follow up blood work which will wait until next week or so. Cutting out half of my lunches to make up for my doctor's appointment so not going to burden this week as the weather and bus schedules are doing that already.

[moneysquirrel]

Gave a friend several items she needed for an event this week.  Told her that I did not want them back and to either keep them or pass them on.  Those with several items that I trashed added several items to my declutter total.  

Waiting for a service on HVAC unit this morning.  Was told that they would be here in about an hour.  So I am up and ready for them.  

Think I will add a few more items to the trash before they pickup.  So I will end this here.  Will check in later.

[Sharon]

We are expecting bitter cold and snowy conditions at the end of this week and through the weekend.  I'm trying to get the house in good order so this weekend I can either paint or just sit and sew.  Last night I got the bathrooms cleaned, the towel laundry done, and got the family room straightened up.  A few of the pictures the kids colored for me may have been relocated to the trash, you can't keep them all.

It looks like replacements.com isn't interested in my Aunt's crystal.  The type and sizes were on their not buying now list.

[debthaven]

It has been bitter cold here, with snow on the ground (unusual for us)!

DH has needed the car a lot (it's not motorcycle weather!) so I've been fairly housebound. We managed to run some errands today, including returning an Amazon package.

It'll be like this all week ...

[azucena]

Dollar tree has some nice organizing containers right now. I stopped by and picked up a bunch with certain spaces in mind.

Laundry is all washed and put away except for the 2-3 loads that need to be hung up.

Will need to do a 10 min scurry pickup before the housecleaner comes. Need to resolve this as a family issue this month. Just because I work from home, this task shouldn't be totally mine.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 9, 2024 19:20:36 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

DN3 sent me a text to see if he and some guys can come get their stuff out of my basement on Saturday, weather permitting.  Yes they can and they have to wear a mask!  

However, as of now, it is supposed to snow on Saturday.

DN3 said when they set the closing date on the house, this could be trouble.  Now the Saturday storm is a Friday storm.  Friday is closing day on both houses.  I hope they have filled the garage and shed by now and only have the bare minimum left at their house.

I didn't realize how much I want that STUFF out of my basement.

Thinking the cats will have to be shut in the laundry room while they do this.  There were not part of my life when the STUFF was brought here.  I have no idea how they will react since the STUFF in the basement is their present hiding place.

[seriousthistime]

That is the best kind of decluttering, TheOtherMe.  Stuff in your basement, that drives you crazy, and someone else coming to get it and take it away.  Win-win.



I've handled a few details of life so far this week.  

I got all the paperwork from the car dealer via USPS, downloaded documents to register my car, and filled them out and sent them to DS to hand-deliver to the DMV back home. My temporary plate expires in a few weeks.  I hope DS is able to get plates on the spot so he can mail them to me and I can be legit before the temporaries expire.  If I were at home, I could do this myself.  If I had bought the new-to-me car in my state, it would have been taken care of by the dealer. But the combination of buying a car out of state, and not being in state at the moment, has made things difficult.  Hope this chore is soon to be over.

I talked to Fidelity and got my IRA out of their Advisory Services program.  I can do equally as well on my own and I prefer to consolidate some IRAs to simplify the RMDs I have to start taking this year.  Unfortunately, the IRA, which WAS originally not managed by Advisory Services, then put INTO Advisory Services, can't be taken back out OUT of Advisory Services, so I had to open a new IRA to transfer the stuff into.  So today I set up beneficiary designations for the new account. Glad I remembered that. 

And my new debit card finally arrived today. It has been outstanding for about 3 weeks.  First, the bank failed to tell me I couldn't use the old one, and didn't order a new one.  I was thwarted from withdrawing money from 3 different ATMs when I began to realize the problem was the card and not issues with the ATM.  I asked for a replacement card to be mailed c/o the family member's house where I was soon headed to.   It never arrived (because, duh, they sent it to my home) and I had a few temporary places for lodging after that so I didn't want to contact them about sending another replacement.  Finally when I got to a place where I would stay more than just a few days, I arranged for the new one, which arrived this morning. It's activated now. 

So, no decluttering was done, but I succeeded at a bit of organization. 

Opti, my auto insurance card has the VIN on it.  If you have one hanging around, you might save a trip out to the car.  I keep one card in my purse and one card in the car. 

[lurkyloo]

Baby steps.  I pulled some puzzles and a couple of stamp sets out that have never been of much interest and bagged them up next to the existing bags of outgrown clothing and some outgrown books. Now to do something to get rid of the collection of to-donate bags and reclaim some dearly missed floor space.     

[snapdragon]

Jan 10, 2024 14:05:27 GMT -5 lurkyloo said:

Baby steps.  I pulled some puzzles and a couple of stamp sets out that have never been of much interest and bagged them up next to the existing bags of outgrown clothing and some outgrown books. Now to do something to get rid of the collection of to-donate bags and reclaim some dearly missed floor space.     

Put them on the porch and call a local Habitat or Veteran's group to come and pick them up for you. 

Or, could your husband take everything and donate it at the local drop off?  

[TheOtherMe]

To be clear, DN3 is taking their stuff out of my basement that was moved here when his now wife moved in with him and there was no way her nicer furniture was going to fit in his house.  It was supposed to be for a year at most.  

I can't clean out the room of my stuff in the basement because I can't get to it.  

So I am very, very excited to have this stuff gone.