2024 Organize & Declutter

[Iggy aka IG]

It's bitter cold here as well.

I've returned from Vegas and as anticipated, am now coming down with something.    I took Tylenol earlier, drank some EmergenC, have been slamming water and will pick up groceries rather than going in.  I'll ensure all is completed here at the office in case I can't come in tomorrow.

Since returning late Monday night, I haven't done much except empty and refill the dishwasher, tossed a few fridge items, planned this week's meals, and partially unpacked.  I'll catch up on laundry this weekend (DH did his yesterday).

Received a call this morning from my BIL who said his dad passed yesterday.  Dang it.  

Hugs to everyone.  

[debthaven]

azucena I never paid my kids for laundry, but I paid them to mow/rake leaves and to vacuum when the cleaner wasn't here! Whatever works, right?!  

Fingers crossed for the basement Stuff despite the impending storms TheOtherMe ! 

Great job on the admin tasks seriousthistime ! I'm gearing myself up for the next bit of adulting since my complementary health insurance is on track for 2024. It never ends.

You always seem to manage to keep up with everything moneysquirrel ! I admire that so! 

snapdragon yay for the admin and the sheets! Enjoy the paint-by-numbers sets.

Yay for grandchildren jerseygirl ! Mine are still too little for that lol.

lurkyloo there are clothing/fabric donation bins dotted around my area. It wouldn't help with the toys, but do you have anything similar nearby? 

How is the painting going startsmart ?

Iggy aka IG I'm so sorry you're sick. And for your sad news. 

[debthaven]

I worked 6h this week (on Zoom). I'm working 6h next week (3h at school and 3h on Zoom). I'll be up to 10-12h/week by mid/late February.

I feel like Goldilocks ... 15h of teaching is too much at this point, but 6h is too little LOL. I think 10-12h/week will be just right! This said I'm happy I don't have to commute in this weather.

ETA: For the new people here, I retired a year ago. I'm still working, but less. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

ok friends.....we all knew this was coming....I've cancelled the cleaning services. Too much money for the level of cleaning received. I do feel terrible about it though, but I don't think she was a professional cleaner and it wasn't getting better. But she seemed nice so I do feel bad.

So back to doing it on my own. This time - I'm going to do a good job, right?

Of course right!

So - Tuesday has been official cleaning day and Fridays I do a midweek tidy up. So going to try to keep that schedule a bit.

Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down. Then Tuesdays do the usual whole house put away as I do before the cleaner comes and then do 1/2 the house cleaning stuff too. On Friday do whole house put away and clean the other half.

Anyway - that is what I have for a plan so far.....

On the one hand, I think I can do it. On the other, lol, not so much! One worry is what will happen when I get my big RI project in and am working 2 FTE equaivalent for about 3-4 weeks. I'll just have to figure it out.

I do have a robot vac that I haven't used since first rescuing the kittens. So going to get that out and have that going on the first floor. Once I get my finances turned around, might invest in a vac mop for 1st floor and put the older vac upstairs.

[debthaven]

Oh I'm sorry Rukh O'Rorke . I agree your cleaner wasn't worth the money, you've never been happy with her. Personally I would have tried to find somebody else, less often. 

I guess I feel that given your job and your side job doing Rukh Inc, cleaning may not be the best use of your time. But you've made your decision, so best of luck to you going forward! 

Hopefully this will allow you to separate from a service you were always unhappy with, do a reset, and eventually find somebody cheaper and better. 

ETA: Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down

To me this isn't cleaning, it's just maintenance. Maybe it would help if you consider that a regular daily task, like feeding the cats, rather than "cleaning"?

And you also have your very elderly mother to attend to, on top of everything else ...  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 10, 2024 17:34:34 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Oh I'm sorry Rukh O'Rorke . I agree your cleaner wasn't worth the money, you've never been happy with her. Personally I would have tried to find somebody else, less often. 

I guess I feel that given your job and your side job doing Rukh Inc, cleaning may not be the best use of your time. But you've made your decision, so best of luck to you going forward! 

Hopefully this will allow you to separate from a service you were always unhappy with, do a reset, and eventually find somebody cheaper and better. 

ETA: Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down

To me this isn't cleaning, it's just maintenance. Maybe it would help if you consider that a regular daily task, like feeding the cats, rather than "cleaning"?

And you also have your very elderly mother to attend to, on top of everything else ...  

yeah, was forgetting needing to clear out mom's house! oh well! I'll give it a whirl and come up with a new plan if I cant manage.

[TheOtherMe]

Yes, things like the cat feeding and cat box, wiping down counters after I eat, the sink and counter in the bathroom, are part of daily living.  

The cleaners do a deeper clean in the kitchen and bathroom, but the cats are on me.

[finnime]

I agree, I don't consider daily chores to be "cleaning" which to me is more episodic, maybe weekly, and frequently requires special supplies or equipment.

I got most of my photography supplies packed and ready to be closeted except those going into the basement. Next we tackle the Christmas decorations to be packed up and trotted down to the basement. They include DH's collection, ever-growing, of Lenox moose ornatments/figurines. We need to catalog them before putting them away, so we know what not to add, or it would be redundant.

It will be nice to have the guest room back.

[raeoflyte]

Jan 10, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

ok friends.....we all knew this was coming....I've cancelled the cleaning services. Too much money for the level of cleaning received. I do feel terrible about it though, but I don't think she was a professional cleaner and it wasn't getting better. But she seemed nice so I do feel bad.

So back to doing it on my own. This time - I'm going to do a good job, right?

Of course right!

So - Tuesday has been official cleaning day and Fridays I do a midweek tidy up. So going to try to keep that schedule a bit.

Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down. Then Tuesdays do the usual whole house put away as I do before the cleaner comes and then do 1/2 the house cleaning stuff too. On Friday do whole house put away and clean the other half.

Anyway - that is what I have for a plan so far.....

On the one hand, I think I can do it. On the other, lol, not so much! One worry is what will happen when I get my big RI project in and am working 2 FTE equaivalent for about 3-4 weeks. I'll just have to figure it out.

I do have a robot vac that I haven't used since first rescuing the kittens. So going to get that out and have that going on the first floor. Once I get my finances turned around, might invest in a vac mop for 1st floor and put the older vac upstairs.

Are the kids at home? What if you cut down to 1 plate/cup/bowl/utensils for each person and everyone is responsible for keeping their own stuff clean. Then you just have pots and pans essentially and if you're OK with those going through the dishwasher...

[Sharon]

Today I got the family room, dining room, and kitchen vacuumed and then mopped.  I also got the office area and the hallway vacuumed.  The worst areas have been mopped so hopefully I can finish up the rest of the house tomorrow.

[lurkyloo]

Jan 10, 2024 14:28:43 GMT -5 snapdragon said:

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?  

I’ll get to it eventually     Yes, considering a pickup, I definitely would prefer something that’s not goodwill.  I think the local thrift shop is for a good cause and takes donations, just have to check the hours.  
Gotta wait for some of this weather to relent before I feel good about leaving anything on the porch 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 10, 2024 17:34:34 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Oh I'm sorry Rukh O'Rorke . I agree your cleaner wasn't worth the money, you've never been happy with her. Personally I would have tried to find somebody else, less often. 

I guess I feel that given your job and your side job doing Rukh Inc, cleaning may not be the best use of your time. But you've made your decision, so best of luck to you going forward! 

Hopefully this will allow you to separate from a service you were always unhappy with, do a reset, and eventually find somebody cheaper and better. 

ETA: Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down

To me this isn't cleaning, it's just maintenance. Maybe it would help if you consider that a regular daily task, like feeding the cats, rather than "cleaning"?

And you also have your very elderly mother to attend to, on top of everything else ...  

I think it's just semantics. If all I do is put away spices and condiments - I call it cleaning the kitchen. And I've already walked back on this

I didn't sit down to dinner until after 10pm, so I'm just going to keep doing it in the morning like I usually do. Generally, I just work on it till the coffee is done, and do more later in the day if necessary. It's just me, I usually just have soup or a vegan omlette for dinner, so there isn't generally a lot of mess.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Jan 10, 2024 20:47:47 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Jan 10, 2024 17:30:07 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

ok friends.....we all knew this was coming....I've cancelled the cleaning services. Too much money for the level of cleaning received. I do feel terrible about it though, but I don't think she was a professional cleaner and it wasn't getting better. But she seemed nice so I do feel bad.

So back to doing it on my own. This time - I'm going to do a good job, right?

Of course right!

So - Tuesday has been official cleaning day and Fridays I do a midweek tidy up. So going to try to keep that schedule a bit.

Will try to clean kitchen nightly - dishes and counter/appliances wiped down. Then Tuesdays do the usual whole house put away as I do before the cleaner comes and then do 1/2 the house cleaning stuff too. On Friday do whole house put away and clean the other half.

Anyway - that is what I have for a plan so far.....

On the one hand, I think I can do it. On the other, lol, not so much! One worry is what will happen when I get my big RI project in and am working 2 FTE equaivalent for about 3-4 weeks. I'll just have to figure it out.

I do have a robot vac that I haven't used since first rescuing the kittens. So going to get that out and have that going on the first floor. Once I get my finances turned around, might invest in a vac mop for 1st floor and put the older vac upstairs.

Are the kids at home? What if you cut down to 1 plate/cup/bowl/utensils for each person and everyone is responsible for keeping their own stuff clean. Then you just have pots and pans essentially and if you're OK with those going through the dishwasher...

I wish! I am empty nesting and the cats claim to be able to do nothing with those paws!! Not sure if I believe them.

[megaptera]

Sharing my weekend to-do list with ya'll to keep myself accountable.

Scrub toilets and clean mirrors in two bathrooms. (I hate cleaning bathrooms so much, I gotta do it in tiny chunks, lol.)
Finish knitting project.
Clean out/organize laundry room closet. (This is huge, and has been on my to-do list for our entire 1.5 years of living here. I mean, the closet's not huge; it's actually pretty tiny. But the project will be huge. Ugh. Or maybe I'll just watch NFL instead.)

Have a great weekend everyone.

[TheOtherMe]

I get you on the bathroom cleaning.  I do it in chunks, too.   Toilets get scrubbed more than anything else.  

megaptera  When the organizer and I cleaned out and then organized my bedroom closets, step number one is to remove everything.  Then I made conscious decisions of what to keep as opposed to what goes.  Does that make sense?  So I kept what I wanted.  If I didn't want it, it went.

[lurkyloo]

Jan 10, 2024 16:20:00 GMT -5 debthaven said:

azucena I never paid my kids for laundry, but I paid them to mow/rake leaves and to vacuum when the cleaner wasn't here! Whatever works, right?!  

Fingers crossed for the basement Stuff despite the impending storms TheOtherMe ! 

Great job on the admin tasks seriousthistime ! I'm gearing myself up for the next bit of adulting since my complementary health insurance is on track for 2024. It never ends.

You always seem to manage to keep up with everything moneysquirrel ! I admire that so! 

snapdragon yay for the admin and the sheets! Enjoy the paint-by-numbers sets.

Yay for grandchildren jerseygirl ! Mine are still too little for that lol.

lurkyloo there are clothing/fabric donation bins dotted around my area. It wouldn't help with the toys, but do you have anything similar nearby? 

How is the painting going startsmart ?

Iggy aka IG I'm so sorry you're sick. And for your sad news. 

Missed this before, sorry!  There is a clothing donation bin nearby but fabric goes to the transfer station which is kind of an ordeal (drive 20 min, wait in line, worry about operating hours)-clothes that are beyond repair are in a separate pile 

I will sometimes take a tax deduction, typically geared to a small fraction of what the donation should be worth, so I do prefer a place that will give me a receipt.

[startsmart]

Debthaven- I’m still painting! The cabinet doors are taking the longest so I am clearing projects from my table so I can use that for the doors.

[Sharon]

I was able to finish the mopping this evening so I call that a win.

The wind has howled all day long blowing in the cold air.  I need to adjust the thermostat so it doesn't get as cold at night in the house.  This weekend is supposed to have high temps in the single digits so I like to make sure the walls/pipes etc are kept warm.

[finnime]

Massachusetts has banned throwing away clothing as it's not biodegradable and fills up the dumps. Instead, it's to be donated or bagged up and dropped off at, in our case, the firefighters' station, for rags. Almost all clothing is not biodegradable any more; it's typically a blend of manmade and natural materials that don't break down.

[debthaven]

We can put any clothes in our clothing bins. The better items are donated or sold by the charity, the rest is recycled.

[TheOtherMe]

If it ever gets warm again, I have some never worn clothes to donate to the church here in town.  

[soupandstew]

I did some long-needed digital decluttering yesterday morning and got rid of hundreds of emails and associated folders.  For too long I've been a sort of digital archive for my community association, and could often produce emails from 2013 and on.  I even set up new email folders for 2024 which will be getting a workout.  One new director sent 21 emails yesterday, 9 of them on the same topic  

[wvugurl26]

I finally got the Goodwill donation all pulled together and documented. I only started in December and couldn't get it finished by year end. DH dropped it off.

I was tearing apart the house yesterday trying to find my new passport. I had an appointment at the bank and wanted to be certain I covered all bases in terms of documents potentially needed. While doing this I found another stack of Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons. I just recycled a big stack of them when we put out trash Wednesday night.

Passport was located right where I put it for safe keeping because I didn't have the safe keys upstairs. All documents were returned to their proper spots.

[debthaven]

OMG soupandstew I couldn't handle that. 

Life is very quiet for me this week. It's play week, and DH has been crazy busy. With the freezing temps, I've encouraged him to take the car, which means I've been housebound. I'm going to see the play tomorrow and then doing Front of House/bar on Sunday. We'll be happy when it's over.

Once DH recovers, he'll need to go through his closet, the books on his night table, and his Shitepile LOL. We generally do that before Christmas, but that didn't happen. 

What a relief wvugurl26 !

[startsmart]

I woke up sick today :/ have spent all my time in bed and only happy that I thwarted the throwing up part of my day by having nothing in my stomach to begin with. It’s been 5 hours and I finally finished a piece of toast. I’m assuming I am better because the cats stopped sitting on the bed staring at me like they’d have to become homeowners and figure out their own food just now.

It’s cold here, already in the negatives with this wind chill, so I’m staying in probably the whole weekend. I wish I’d gone to the grocery store but I have crackers and that’ll have to do until I’m back on my feet.

[debthaven]

Oh I'm sorry startsmart ! It breaks my heart that you only have crackers to eat when you're sick. Can you get food delivered, or ask a neighbor to pick some things up for you? 

I hope you feel better soon. 

[debthaven]

I've finished my "game" of buying DD something she needs for her apartment for under 20/month. I had 2 items left, they were both more expensive. I ordered one for Feb/Mar, it should arrive tomorrow. 

I told her what I planned to order for Apr/May. She was so excited I ended up ordering it tonight, but told her that was the final order in the "game". 

For Feb/Mar I got her a wooden bench/shoe rack. For Apr/May I got her a matching coat stand. We have similar tastes, but I don't order furniture without checking with her first. 

So done with that game/project! I spent 172e over 10 months ... so 17.20/month, just under $19.

I LOVE shopping for housewares! But I don't need anything. DD did ... so win-win LOL!

ETA: This is the shoe rack/bench I ordered. 
www.songmics.fr/products/songmics-banc-etagere-a-chaussures-a-3-niveaux-lbs04

(This was above and beyond Christmas/birthday gifts.)

[raeoflyte]

That's so cute and sweet debthaven.

[debthaven]

Aww raeoflyte thank you.  It's been fun. 

ETA: raeoflyte DD had a lot of difficulty learning to budget when she left her BF and moved to a new city 6h away over 2 years ago. 

After nearly a year she settled and got better about affording her life. I thought this would be a fun way to reward her efforts. 

Hope this makes sense. :-)

[Opti]

Jan 12, 2024 5:24:03 GMT -5 finnime said:

Massachusetts has banned throwing away clothing as it's not biodegradable and fills up the dumps. Instead, it's to be donated or bagged up and dropped off at, in our case, the firefighters' station, for rags. Almost all clothing is not biodegradable any more; it's typically a blend of manmade and natural materials that don't break down.

NJ may have passed a similar law or its up to be passed and take effect. Its very rare I don't donate or put in those we recycle clothing and shoes bins, stuff that I no longer want or can wear.