oooh Fly Lady is right up my alley! Thanks for the info ...I shall visit often...
Sigh, I've been decluttering and wish I could have a garage sale before we move...BUT the townhome association we live in have set up such ridiculous rules and have DEEMED that you can only sell your wares in this one spot within the complex...which is about a mile from the house... I am not about to schlep crap a mile away...I cant wait til I have my own single unattached house...Perhaps when I unpack I can have a garage sale ...
I just moved place in November and I'm going through stuff now that has been stashed in the basement. Since we haven't been able to find a place for some things they are going into the pile for the yard sale.
I am sure you will find things for a sale once you start unpacking at your new place Schatzi!
Two of the things we are selling are the desks in our den - they don't really fit in the space and we need something more streamlined. I want to make an office/crafting space for myself so I can get some sewing done over the winter.
I love me some Flylady. I totally have my binder with my chores. I find the 15 minute rule works for everything from cleaning the kitchen to packing my house for my move to guaging whether something is worth my time (horrible movie for example). It's great. I don't go there anymore, because I learned what I needed and moved on. But the information changed things for me completely. I think I learned most that instead of getting upset for not getting help, it's better to just be well organized, do it myself and move on with my life. and also allowing other people to help me, because i had a big problem with getting upset that my husband wasn't doing something right because it wasn't the way i would do it. that is a hard one to let go of.
Schatzi - you may find that if you move you never get rid of stuff at all. it might be better to haul it to donation and take the tax write off instead. once it gets into your new place, it's not leaving!! trust me on this one. my parents dragged so much **** around them for years, they just moved overseas and have a huge storage unit they are paying for everything month to keep it in til they can save up the several thousands of dollars it costs to build a crate and have it shipped over... oy!
back to crafting - i can not wait for christmas to do some crafy things. last year i made home made, hand sewn christmas stockings for everyone. they came out so cool. i made a cowboy boot for my uncle, a bare foot for my cousin, i got so carried away i made a paw for my kittie! it was fun, but got pricey after a while. i'm thinking of doing gift baskets this year, and ideas on home made gifts to fill them with? i like gifts that leave minimal clutter.
Lizzi, make some body products! Bath salts (I sew nice little fabric bags for them with an inner plastic bag), body scrubs, lip balms, milk baths... there are all kinds of things you can make easily. I pick up jars and things from the dollar store.
I even used to make shower caps. Fabric with a waterproof lining and lace around the edge.
ellis- that's so cool! I love the shower cap idea!
My garage sale rule is basically whatever doesn't sell I will pack up and drop off at good will, that way it doesn't get "stored" in the basement.
If anyone is interested in getting a jumpstart on Christmas here's a site for you - It has some great organizational stuff as well as some ideas for homemade gifts. It also offers printable forms to help you get organized and printable gift tags. Right now they have a section on Christmas in July.
I swear that this year I will get some Christmas baking done and DH has been contemplating making wine. We will need to find some cool gothy-looking labels for the bottles
Oh, did I mention DH makes his own hot sauce...hmmmm....maybe he should be making some of the Christmas gifts this year...
I love your ideas Ellis. I'm going to have to look into it. I'm not sure exactly how crafty I really am, I think that might be a test!
Mauv - My husband would die of happiness if he knew how to make his own hot sauce. I'll have to start looking to see how it's done! How cool.
I was thinking some cool things would be like flavored olive oils in pretty bottles, pre-done mixes for soups or baked goodies. i've seen those before, and i actually made gingerbread mix for everyone a couple years ago. i love the idea of giving people gifts of consumables. i just know i would prefer stuff like that than more stuff. i have enough stuff, and i always feel guilty when i get stuff from someone that i know i'm going to get rid of because it doesn't fit my needs or tastes. Oh, that makes me sound snooty. *L*
I like that link, I went there when i was getting tips on how to have an organized move. Very helpful info on this site.
Mauv - you think we should bring back our clean sweeping thread from the dead?
Schatzi,
You should totally take your stuff to goodwill. We got a ton of money back on our taxes from the stuff we donated prior to our last move. I had been saying (and saying & saying & saaaying) that I was going to have a yard sale. I might have made more cash from the yard sale but this finally got the STUFF out.
Lizzi...I don't visit flylady every day...just now & again. I have a yahoo account I use just for flylady. Every couple weeks I go through & hit delete all & then uncheck the zone missions. She comes up with so many odd things that really DO need to be done that I'd NEVER get around to doing. I pick once a month or so to go through & do most of them. Not her way of doing it but it works for me.
Thanks for the organized homes link Mauv! Looks interesting. I too am looking for gift ideas. So far every time I try to do the home made gift thing it ends up costing more than just buying but I have not given up on it just yet.
I like fly lady too and have been putting together a control journal and routines for myself. I don't bother getting the pms as I am not at home all day and then the would just pile up. I try to do the missions as much as possible and then I do the detailed cleaning once per month or so.
One of the great things on Fly lady is the FACE - it talks about financial awareness and how to get control of your finances and bill paying - very handy.
I am going to do the organized home Christmas plan. Some of it doesn't apply to me but I will just skip those parts. I would love to have an organized Christmas and be able to enjoy the season a bit more rather than rushing around like a lunatic trying to get things done and feeling overwhelmed.
Right now I'm all about crochet, although I'm struggling to actually like anything I can manage to finish lately.
I like to sew and create various house-hold craft projects that make our apartment look like it was decorated by a clever 3rd grader. My most recent endeavor is roll-your-own screen printing but I haven't gone any further than selecting a design and getting the materials.
I'm working on (yeah, yeah, I'm a besotted goober) a scrapbook of stuff my bf & I have done together so far. I know that its a bit early but I find that if I wait any amount of time to do scrapping of travels/family/whatever, I end up with a big box of crap that never gets into books.
i'd love to scrap book...i love pictures and such...but i know i'll get in way over my head and start to leave projects unfinished...one of my biggest pet peeves...
I quilt, knit, and sketch/paint. I prefer watercolor. I like to make my own greeting cards. I currently have two quilts going, and 4 knitting projects. I have follow-thru issues.
Wow everyone is so talented! I love to crochet and do fancy martha stewart like dinner parties...I not only love to cook but do the whole decorating thing....
My best friend moved to Atlanta and I threw her a suprise roast. I put down a tablecloth and then printed on my color printer pictures that I scanned in and then I put down a clear plastic tablecover, it looked so cool. Her favorite vegetable is brocolli and I did fishbowl flower arrangements with sunflowers and I stuffed the fishbowls with brocoli, looked great but smelled funny but the end of the night.
I enjoy it and so do my friends......If I wasn't doing what I was doing, I think that I would be a party planner!!!
and DH has been contemplating making wine. We will need to find some cool gothy-looking labels for the bottles 
