2024 Organize & Declutter

[TheOtherMe]

I have photocopies of checks my paternal grandparents wrote.  I know not why anyone kept them or copied them.  He died before I was born.  

They were dirt poor but they had a checking account.  No checks were written by Grandma until after he died.  

My aunt was the executor of the estate of the uncle Grandma lived with.  She gave me boxes of stuff she thought might be genealogy related and these are in one of the boxes.

[haapai]

I went to visit my parents.  I came back with an area rug that was rolled up in their closet.

We didn't even unroll it before lugging it to my car.  I have no idea what colors are in it or whether it will even fit in any of my rooms.  I don't think that I am particularly good at this de-cluttering thing. 

On the other hand, the odds were pretty good (at least 50/50) that I was going to have to lug this rug from one place to another and re-purpose it.  It might be better to be doing this now. 

[debthaven]

I don't think that I am particularly good at this de-cluttering thing.

It looks like you're making very solid progress haapai ! My suggestion is that if you decide you don't want the rug, try to get rid of it right away, don't store or hang onto it. 

Two of my 5 Faculty students have been flaking, so I'm working less than planned. Not great for finances, nor my mental health. I'm on track to finish my 6 Admin students by the end of the year as required. I won't take on 6 Admin again in 2025. Maybe 4?

November list:
- order new glasses
- osteodensitometry + gyn appt
- Xray + surgeon appt

I'm still waiting to be reimbursed for my operation before I order new glasses.

My new passport is finally on its way. That's the first good news I've had in a while. It should be here within two weeks.

I had more administrative tasks planned but it's already a huge struggle to get through each day, so they'll get done when they get done. 

[TheOtherMe]

I feel you on getting things done.  My depression is in high gear.  I consider it a good day if I manage to accomplish one thing on my list.  Today I have managed 2, so I am patting myself on the back.

[Iggy aka IG]

Hugs to all three of you and to whomever else needs one.  I get it and I believe adults in general should give themselves praise more often. 

[debthaven]

Thank you TheOtherMe and Iggy aka IG .  

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Been avoiding this thread because I am out of sorts with it all.....Leaving on a work trip tomorrow and trying to throw things together and leave stuff organized and unoffensive for pets/pets sitter while I am away. Been dreading this trip for a month! Will be glad to put it behind me.

Been going along without a cleaner and without yard work. The neighbor gardener just got too weird, and while I wanted help at least with leaves and fall clean up, the thought of contacting him again just makes me queasy. I did want to gently call you all out who said he wasn't being creepy, without even asking me why I thought he was being creepy. I htink that is what we do as women, conditioned to not want to see or believe this kind of stuff. He was creepy, and I don't want to deal with it at all. So glad he has stopped texting me. I don't want to open that door up again, no matter how bad the grounds are looking! It will have to wait until I return from my trip.

Need to do a whole lot of work to get the house ready for the holidays. But after this trip, things should start winding down at work, and I'm taking 3 days off after thxgiving weekend, and over two weeks off at EOY. Hopefully can recover a little bit of my energy and joie de vivre. Because I am so low in the bucket on both it is hard to function at all.

Just trying to not rage quit before my holiday time off! Will reassess everything in 2025!


 

[Sharon]

It pays to clean out your purse, literally, I found 30 cents. 

[seriousthistime]

I paid a high schooler to come and clean out a couple of flower beds, spread top soil, and mulch. 

I want to have him back to help me clean and organize my garage. 

I paid him well for a few hours of work.  I could have paid less, I'm sure, but I paid what it was worth to me to have it be done. 

Rukh, you get to make that call about the creepy gardener.  He may not mean to be creepy.  He may be harmless.  But if you feel creeped out, that's enough for me.  Don't contact him.

[seriousthistime]

I was looking for scotch tape. I recalled having bought a multi-pack at some point before I moved so I wondered if any of those rolls were left.  The current one in use was getting low and there's birthday and Christmas wrapping to be done so I was going to add it to the list if needed. 

I checked my office's drawers, then went to a small box that I thought just might have some. I did find a pretty full roll, but I also found 5 gift cards. I checked the balances and found two with $0 on them. They were reloadable cards so I probably kept them with that intention.  The other three had a combined value of about $75. I used one of them and figured out where to use the others.  I'm going to keep them handy in my car.

So another small box is decluttered. 

[jerseygirl]

You’re lucky the cards weren’t the type that decrease by a certain amount each month after a year. Found some but had lost $15 from the original amount

[NastyWoman]

Nov 17, 2024 13:46:54 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

You’re lucky the cards weren’t the type that decrease by a certain amount each month after a year. Found some but had lost $15 from the original amount

That is state specific though. I CA, aside from general use gift cards like say a VISA or AmEx card it is illegal to reduce the alue of a gift card. lucky for me since at one point I had collected close to $800 worth of cards. I would get them as gifts and then promptly forget to take them to the store. I found them in all kind of places though now I have gotten better about them and have very few of them - though there is still the one for ONE POUND of See's candy waiting to be redeemed

[debthaven]

Rukh O'Rorke I remember you talking about him being pushy, but not creepy. Obviously you know best!

I finally walked without crutches for the first time on Fri (nearly a month post-op). So I "graduated" to a cane, but I walk like a sick penguin. PT continues twice/week.  

WFH tomorrow and Tues. My 6 Admin students need to finish their hours by December. I finish three more this week. I don't feel like teaching these days but the distraction is good for me and the money is welcome.

I enjoy reading about everyone's progress, especially since I can't do much.

[Ava]

My goals 2 weeks ago were:

Book the vet hotel for my cats for Dec. Jan.
Select and pay for the CPE provider to do my CPE credits
Sort out the HSA transfer from Optum to Fidelity that's still sitting in limbo.
Call the airline to see if I need a visa for Brazil. 
Figure out what the change to my flight schedule is.
Find the paper where I wrote down the list of everybody's birthdays, reminders, etc.
Adhere to cleaning, eating and exercise schedules. Hope this works for me because I need to change.
Clean and organize the fridge
Start decluttering and organizing my bedroom.
Book my transportation to and from the airport

What I managed to do:

Booked the cats' stay at the vet.
Selected and paid for a CPE provider.
Got the HSA finally transferred from Optum to Fidelity
Figured out the change to my schedule. The plane leaves earlier from Uruguay coming back, so I will have an 8 hour wait in Brazil.
I confirmed that I do not need a visa.
Found the paper where I wrote, birthdays, deadlines, reminders, etc.
Booked the transport to and from the airport.

Things to do twice a day are not getting done and it's making me feel angry at myself. I'm going to set them aside until I come back from vacation.

For the past 2 weeks I mostly adhered to eating schedule. Cooked simple meals at home and most of them were very tasty. But I need to adjust because I ate quite a lot of carbs and bread. I want to include more veggies, lean meats, etc. Anyway, it was a big positive change considering I was eating take out almost every day.

My house is cleaner, not where I want it to be but better than before. I want to keep at it and do better.

I have cancelled quite a few social activities. I was going out Saturdays and Sundays, but I realized that is contributing to my fatigue, my lack of energy and time to take care of myself and my home.
It sounds boring to stay home alone instead of going out, but I need at least one weekend day to decompress and concentrate in meals, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.
Also, I want to consider each social event from a quality over quantity point of view. Seeing friends is one thing, but I was doing a lot of Meetup groups. Some groups are great, and I have fun, meet new people, etc. Others are just a waste of time, so I need to evaluate more carefully before signing up for an outing.

I have a long and ambitious list for this week. I know not everything will get done, but I got quite a bit done during the last 2 weeks, compared to nothing before I started writing a list.


- Start decluttering and organizing my bedroom
- Clean and organize the freezer
- Make a list of gifts to buy for family back home
- Take the luggage out and start preparing it
-Tweak meal plan with some new and healthier recipes
-Drink 60 ounces of water a day
-Need to buy garlic salt to bring home as my mother loves a certain brand, need to buy sunscreen 
-Start doing CPE credits
- Put all birthdays, reminders, etc. in my new Outlook calendar.
-Keep up as much as I can with cleaning schedule
-Exercise more, I've been going out for 10,000 steps walks Saturdays and Sundays but I want to add at least one workout during the week.

My birthday is next Sunday and I'm so not prepared. Emotionally, it's hard to realize mid-50s are approaching. Also, I haven't prepared anything special for my birthday. I need to plan something.

[Ava]

Rukh O'Rorke Sorry about the creepy neighbor on top of all you're going through.
I hope taking some time off helps you relax and rest.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Nov 17, 2024 18:43:51 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Rukh O'Rorke I remember you talking about him being pushy, but not creepy. Obviously you know best!

I finally walked without crutches for the first time on Fri (nearly a month post-op). So I "graduated" to a cane, but I walk like a sick penguin. PT continues twice/week.  

WFH tomorrow and Tues. My 6 Admin students need to finish their hours by December. I finish three more this week. I don't feel like teaching these days but the distraction is good for me and the money is welcome.

I enjoy reading about everyone's progress, especially since I can't do much.

oh wow! hope you can get more mobile sooner than later. A month is a long time on crutches!

[soupandstew]

Nov 17, 2024 20:28:55 GMT -5 Ava said:

My goals 2 weeks ago were:

Book the vet hotel for my cats for Dec. Jan.
Select and pay for the CPE provider to do my CPE credits
Sort out the HSA transfer from Optum to Fidelity that's still sitting in limbo.
Call the airline to see if I need a visa for Brazil. 
Figure out what the change to my flight schedule is.
Find the paper where I wrote down the list of everybody's birthdays, reminders, etc.
Adhere to cleaning, eating and exercise schedules. Hope this works for me because I need to change.
Clean and organize the fridge
Start decluttering and organizing my bedroom.
Book my transportation to and from the airport

What I managed to do:

Booked the cats' stay at the vet.
Selected and paid for a CPE provider.
Got the HSA finally transferred from Optum to Fidelity
Figured out the change to my schedule. The plane leaves earlier from Uruguay coming back, so I will have an 8 hour wait in Brazil.
I confirmed that I do not need a visa.
Found the paper where I wrote, birthdays, deadlines, reminders, etc.
Booked the transport to and from the airport.

Things to do twice a day are not getting done and it's making me feel angry at myself. I'm going to set them aside until I come back from vacation.

For the past 2 weeks I mostly adhered to eating schedule. Cooked simple meals at home and most of them were very tasty. But I need to adjust because I ate quite a lot of carbs and bread. I want to include more veggies, lean meats, etc. Anyway, it was a big positive change considering I was eating take out almost every day.

My house is cleaner, not where I want it to be but better than before. I want to keep at it and do better.

I have cancelled quite a few social activities. I was going out Saturdays and Sundays, but I realized that is contributing to my fatigue, my lack of energy and time to take care of myself and my home.
It sounds boring to stay home alone instead of going out, but I need at least one weekend day to decompress and concentrate in meals, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.
Also, I want to consider each social event from a quality over quantity point of view. Seeing friends is one thing, but I was doing a lot of Meetup groups. Some groups are great, and I have fun, meet new people, etc. Others are just a waste of time, so I need to evaluate more carefully before signing up for an outing.

I have a long and ambitious list for this week. I know not everything will get done, but I got quite a bit done during the last 2 weeks, compared to nothing before I started writing a list.


- Start decluttering and organizing my bedroom
- Clean and organize the freezer
- Make a list of gifts to buy for family back home
- Take the luggage out and start preparing it
-Tweak meal plan with some new and healthier recipes
-Drink 60 ounces of water a day
-Need to buy garlic salt to bring home as my mother loves a certain brand, need to buy sunscreen 
-Start doing CPE credits
- Put all birthdays, reminders, etc. in my new Outlook calendar.
-Keep up as much as I can with cleaning schedule
-Exercise more, I've been going out for 10,000 steps walks Saturdays and Sundays but I want to add at least one workout during the week.

My birthday is next Sunday and I'm so not prepared. Emotionally, it's hard to realize mid-50s are approaching. Also, I haven't prepared anything special for my birthday. I need to plan something.

Ava, I am impressed with how productive you have been. I am glad you are focusing on doing the things that make your life better for you

[startsmart]

I did 2 one hour “sprints” upstairs over the weekend.

The first one was just on the closet which holds all the family photos. I got that organized and found the original of a photo my cousin wants from the 1800s. I’ll send that off to her for Christmas.

The second hour was spent in another closet/storage room and I went through about 15 boxes in there.

Now 3/6 rooms upstairs are done and I can continue to work on the demo in the empty spaces. I have a room that’s just gardening and fabrics which I want to tackle next and a whole bunch of stuff to toss or donate. I’ll be driving by a Goodwill tomorrow so my goal is to put the box of purses and linens to donate in the truck tonight after it stops raining.

I’ve created a lot of empty boxes upstairs, simply by consolidating what I’m keeping. I have a few more weeks to get the house cleaned up and tidy so I can decorate for Christmas. Also, I can’t put anything breakable on the mantle because the kittens pulled down my Halloween decor and broke 3 ceramics.

[snapdragon]

I have been engrossed in a diamond art dot thing and so today is -

Bed and bedding day!

Strip bed

flip mattress

remake bed

start laundry

put away clean clothes. 


I have 4 strings of lights in the house relaxing so I can get them up when there is a decent break in the weather. Looking forward to seeing some happy lights. I also am going to grab my mini tree and get that set up this week. I am looking for something joyful.

[debthaven]

The insurance reimbursement for my hip surgery is on its way! So I can order new glasses late this week or early next week. 

Enjoy your lights snapdragon !

[debthaven]

I sorted my teaching papers, like every semester. Since I'm not going back to school, I'm getting rid of quite a bit. I have a big bag of papers ready for the fire pit.

November list:
- bone scan + gyn appt/Wed
- order new glasses
- Xray + surgeon appt

[TheOtherMe]

Are you teaching at all next semester?

[debthaven]

TheOtherMe I'll still do my Staff/Faculty classes on Zoom, but not as many. They are flexible, and I'll only keep the people I enjoy. But no more student/regular classes! 

I'll do about 6h/week on Zoom on Mon+Tues, and keep the rest of the week free.

I'll also keep doing the 6 weeks of student interviews in May+June. (I have to go in for those.) Lots of current and retired teachers do them, and it's fun to catch up.

So not stopping, but cutting down significantly. 

[TheOtherMe]

Quite significantly.  I hope once you get fully back in to the swing of things from the hip surgery, you can relax and enjoy life.

[debthaven]

Thank you TheOtherMe. 

[debthaven]

My new passport finally arrived! 

We had planned to go to the mall Thurs/Fri to order new glasses. But it snowed a lot (for here) and the roads were blocked. They're fine now but I hate going to the mall on weekends.

November list:
- order new glasses
- Xray + surgeon appt/Thurs

[moneysquirrel]

Sorry that I have been missing in action lately but life happens.  I have been keeping busy but not much to show for it.  Things seem to be improving somewhat.  The craft shows have gone ok so far.  I have two left -- both in December.  Then I will update what's left, make a list of items to remake and pack things away for a bit. 

We also have two weeks left of classes.  While I do enjoy them I will be glad for a break. 

I currently working a little on laundry.  Will do another load tomorrow.  I need to chop onions this morning so wanted to finish up the laundry before I started that process.  I will chop and freeze most of what I bought.  Realized earlier in the week that I was out of my stash in the freezer so while they were on sale I got a bag.

I have the contractor scheduled this week to replace the damage sheetrock in the garage.  I will be glad to get that repair off my list. Also have the semiannual inspection of my HVAC system this week.  Other than these just the routine house chores. 

I took a break from beading recently but restarted work on my last summer retreat kit yesterday.  I still have a bit to go on it but I want to have it finished before the end of the year.  I also have a bracelet ordered that I need to do soon as it is to be a gift.  It won't take me long I just have to do it.  

Things have fallen a little behind as I fell last week.  Nothing is broken but my foot was swollen and bruised.  I have been resting up a bit and staying off my foot.  The swelling has gone down and the bruises are fading.  I am still limping a little but better than last week.

Take care all!

[TheOtherMe]

Hope you heal quickly moneysquirrel

debthaven  DN1 and J's new passports have been mailed but there is a postal strike in Canada.  They have no idea when they will receive their passports.  J will now have a photo that isn't as a newborn and his eyes are actually open.  He also has Global Entry status as children don't get to go with parents without their own status.  He had to go for an interview.  

They did part of it in Buffalo and part at Border Patrol in an office.

I still have not received the bill for my HVAC service.  It's not showing as coming in today's mail.

[Ava]

Well, at least I'm posting on Sunday. That's an improvement.  

What I got done this week:
- Started decluttering and organizing the bedroom
- Started cleaning and organizing the fridge and the freezer
- Got the luggage out and put everything I have so far in it.
- Cleaned the house yesterday

Goals for this week
-Start the CPE credits
-Continue cleaning and decluttering the bedroom
-Finish cleaning and organizing the fridge and the freezer
-Keep up with cleaning schedule
-Keep up with meal plan
-Drink 60 ounces of water a day
-Exercise more 
-Make a list of gifts to buy for family back home
-Need to buy garlic salt to bring home as my mother loves a certain brand, need to buy sunscreen, need to buy Vitamin B12 supplements for my brother
- Put all birthdays, reminders, etc. in my new Outlook calendar.

I feel posting here is helping me stay focused, even though I don't get to everything on the list. 

I have cut down on social outings. 
The energy to keep up with my responsibilities and go out every weekend just isn't there.

I've also cut down on other things.

Until last year, I baked HUNDREDS of cookies before the holidays to give as gifts and to bring to work.
That is not happening this year. I don't have the energy or the desire to do it. 
I was taking a Friday off work and using it plus Saturday and Sunday to bake cookies. 

Today is my birthday. I was going to bake a cake, but I cleaned all day yesterday. Just not enough time, energy or desire to bake a cake. I just bought one.

I'm starting to understand that my time is limited, and my energy is very limited. So I have to choose and prioritize how I'll use my resources.

[debthaven]

Great job Ava , and happy birthday! I have never liked being busy both weekend days. I need downtime and time to get my house/life together.

I'm WFH all day Mon and editing a paper on Tues. I hope to make it to the mall for my glasses on Tues. I need to choose them + get an estimate from insurance.

PT continues twice/week.