Hey onebyone, give yourself credit--you did a lot from your Monday list--all those things matter.

My plan for tonight is to spend an hour on decluttering in DD's room. She's out of town right now and doesn't have much time at home before leaving for college--and I want her room ready to use as a guest room in October when we're having at least 10 weekend guests and I'll need all the rooms! (DH may pre-empt that to work in the garage--if he does, I'll go along with it)

DH preempted my plan to work on DD's room to work in the garage, and we got a lot done, but it's in the "tear it apart to put it back together" stage.

We totally emptied off two shelf units (which are being re-purposed to the basement "warehouse"), and have two new (shallower and taller) shelf units put together. There's one more for the back wall, and then two for the side wall that aren't assembled yet.

There is stuff all over the place, but once we get the shelf units put together and attached to the wall we can start putting things back--in an organized fashion. I want the things we use most to be the things that are easiest to get to!

DH has put things aside for moving to the basement (collection of antique tools, collection of old meters--that sort of thing). The two shelves on the side wall will be reserved for his Model T stuff--old iron, engine parts, specialized tools--all that sort of thing. That will help a lot, because the meters took up a 4' long, 2' deep shelf that I could actually reach, rather than being in 'collection' space.

I feel good about our progress even if it's currently a mess.

Hi Beth, onebyone, Ann(Newlifestyle), Bandit2, and Ruth!

I suppose to a few of you I have been noticeably absent here. I have good news to share. Since our Spring challenge ended on June 21 I have kept going every single day. I kept going doing what worked for me (aligned with Beck principles);
I made a plan every day and did it "no choice". The result was I found it far less daunting and overwhelming when I just took a baby step but did it every day. The built up results have been remarkable.
My plan has continued to be my 1-2-3 dance (taken fromflylady)
Everyday I dedicate a short time (usually less than 1/2 hour)
1. old clutter
2. current clutter
3. clean(something).

It has been one of the most gratifying times of my life. Routine in one area of my life has helped with routine in other areas of my life. As my environment has become less cluttered and cleaner through a daily routine I find my exercise and food plan has become less cluttered and "more routine".

The other day I finally made a decision to switch out my "house dress". I live a block from my 92 yr.old mom and it's not uncommon for her to call me at 6am or 10pm to run over and do something for her. I got into the habit of the "housedress". Something I could wear to work at home....garden....go to the store...or walk down the street in. My old was a Nordstrom/shirt dress(cotton) with side and top pockets. It was way too big (which was ok) and totally worn out...with holes underarms, etc(which was not ok). I opened my closet and pulled out a beautiful maroon EddieBauer/velvetshirtdress (from a thrift store) which was too long and had no pockets(and used to be too small).
Wow! Clean office....I had the vision and could pull out the sewing machine/supplies....bring it to the right length, hem the sleeves AND I cut the pockets out of the old dress and inserted them into the new. This was so exciting to me and happened as a result of my persistence with my daily chores. I've been wearing it daily since I fixed it Sunday morning and I feel comfy. The old one was pretty outdated and kind of reflected the "old me".

Anyway.....I am in maintenance! My home is in order and my decluttering "projects" are very few. Mostly, my decluttering now comes one item at a time as I see something that no longer fits/or serves my purpose. I do keep a box downstairs AT ALL TIMES and when I find something I no longer need it goes right into the box.

My big "project" right now continues to be the renovation of my grandmother's tiny house. The water/sewer lines were finally finished 2 weeks ago and we're mostly waiting for our contractor friends to be freed up. While we're waiting I'm trying to do a few fun things, too, remembering how hard I have worked to get to this point.
Credit.

I'll pop in from time to time but I have an internet issue these days which makes it a little difficult to get to 3fc when I have personal time....

Best wishes everyone!


I'll think on that one. I know I'd like to have the renovation complete and the house rented but there are some issues there beyond my control. I will do my best.

I guess my greatest joy would be to continue to maintain my home as I have learned and learn to enjoy and better organize the space I have freed up

PS RuthXX, I am going to clean out my car TODAY!

hello ladies,
I didn't post last night but i was still doing stuff.
Lexi, you are doing amazing, congratulations.

1. old clutter (worked on garage for twenty minutes, bagged two bags for donation and one bag of garbage.
2. current clutter - picked up newspapers and books off living room floor.
3. clean(something), cleaned dishes.

I will try to maintain the 1,2,3 steps.
Have a great night.

I am happy to see this thread!

I can connect with the 'spirit' of wanting to get rid of dead material weight.

Lately find myself going through the kitchen cupboards with this mission: everything must have 'a place'. If I can't make a specific place for it, then there is no room for it.

sidebar achievement that is now happening: some of my junk drawers are getting cleaned out because I now realise they are valuable in terms of 'location' -- ie, junk is filling up the places that things I need could be placed.

Hi everyone - love reading all the posts!
Lexi - great job on all you have accomplished, really inspiring for all of us.

My laundry is caught up & I threw out torn/stained items as I went along.
And have a charity bag on the go.
As I mentioned before, most of the house is pretty good except the dreaded basement, but this week I sorted 2 boxes and dealt with those.
Small steps in the right direction which is key.

All - lets all keep focused and slowly, but surely we will see results!

Last night was a successful night in the garage reorganization project.

DH and I put together the 3rd (4' wide, 7' high) shelving unit and attached all three shelves to the back wall of the garage. We did a ceremonial placing of the first items on the unit--and we agreed completely on what they should be and where they should go. (Admittedly, there weren't many options for the drill recharger--there's only one outlet on that wall, so that's where it goes!) The 'small unit organizers' were the other things we placed.

One funny: DH went to get the leaf blower (he doesn't sweep the garage--he uses the blower) to clean the area before we put the shelves in. He went to where the leaf blower is supposed to be (where we put in rails and hooks to hang such items--and it wasn't there. He hadn't put it away the night before. (In his defense, it's hard to get to right now because we have all the stuff that was on the old shelves piled up and blocking walkways around the Model T)

The plan for the night is to load the shelves, in a nice, organized, planned way, and to reload his tool chest, which is mostly empty, also in a planned way, so that the stuff we use most is the most accessible (great concept, huh?).

When we emptied the shelves, we did a lot of sorting and organizing--much of the stuff is in plastic bins (many of which are shoe box or sweater sized) which can be labeled and put on the shelves.

Saturday, he'll be working mostly alone since I want to spend the day with DD, since it'll be my last day at home with her before she goes off to college next week. <sad> <empty nesting is going to be hard!>

hello all,
great ideas from everyone, I like the keep, donate, and trash plan. I think it will help me as I go along, thanks.
Beth, that is so difficult with DD going away to college, Is her college close by?
I washed dishes and picked up a bit of stuff, I only worked at it for about 15 minutes, it will all add up, slow and steady.

Have a great night all,
I am learning to accept that I don't need to do the all or nothing thing, baby steps.
Ann

Doing laundry for my trip this weekend. It's in the dryer now. I just asked DH to help me clear off the stove. I was stumped and burst into tears. Inspite of this, the stovetop is now clear. I think I need to get to bed. G'night.

Newlifestyle--DD will be about 75 minutes away, so not bad. That's how far my son is (different school). His freshman year I went down about once a month to visit for a few hours.

For the keep/donate/trash piles, I've learned to put the donate in the car as soon as I've got a bag full and commit to running it by the Goodwill the next time I'm out.

onebyone: I'm sorry the stove was so stressful. You're making progress--as Newlifestyle said, baby steps.

DD and I spent about an hour and a half in her room tonight--I was a whirling dervish. We gathered trash, organized things, and she's washing all the clothes that were on her floor (90% of her clothes were on the floor). Tomorrow we'll go through the stuff we organized and also divvy the clothes up into "pack for school", "give away", and "keep at home". She'll have the same steps to do at her dad's house Sunday or Monday--she's got about half her stuff in each house.

Then, DH and I spent about 4 hours in the garage (hence this late night post). All 3 shelves on the back wall are up. All of the tools have a home. All of the misc "stuff" has been sorted into boxes and those boxes have labels. (I have a lot of plastic shoe box and sweater sizes boxes that used to store kids' toys, and those are now full of "Screws", "Nails", "Plumbing", "Sandpaper", "Grinding" and things like that. There are more than two dozen of the boxes but they're easy to find now! There are also 3 boxes labeled "Sort me" that DH will have to go through--they aren't mine to solve.

I don't think I'll be helping DH in the garage tomorrow, other than to help him put together the remaining two shelving units--it's definitely a two person job.

He's ecstatic (his word) with the garage organization--he says he's wanted to do it for years and hasn't had the get-up-and-go to do it. (Sort of how I feel about the basement)

Take care all!

Hi Everyone

I am trying to focus on three boxes I pulled out of my box mountain and the first one is just a minefield. Full of family history. I have pulled some stuff from it for the donate pile, but have had my nose in a full-to-bursting manilla envelope of letters between my parents right after I was born and right after my mother left my father and left me with her parents, which is where I grew up, as I never did go back with my family. These letters are all from that time. I remember grabbing the envelope when we moved my mom into the nursing home but i thought it was correspondance my grandmother made not my mom. So I really need to refocus. Only 1/4 into box #1.

I will set these aside for reading tonight, as much as I can take, and am now going back to the boxes to sort. I am hoping to condense the boxes as I will not find homes for this stuff yet, but if I can reduce my overall pile, that would be progress--thanks to Lexxiss for suggesting this strategy to me.

My first goal is to have a functional eating space/dining room where my mother and I can share a meal.

1. old clutter--three boxes from Box Mountain a) sorted & b) re-boxed if necessary
DONE two boxes broken down for recycling+packing materials - all box conents put away - not perfectly, but put away- one box pull for donation credit

2. current clutter - clear off tables in the living room: 2 end tables, coffee table

3. clean- dishes in the sink and stovetop+ tiny counter beside it so I can fix dinner.

We have only been home about three hours and this house looks like a disaster, DH and DS are currently swimming. They is a path of clothes in the living room. It is rather comical. I will pick those up right after I post and then will go in the garage and go through a box. I think I need to leave the three boxes, donate, garbage and keep in the hallway as I am going through things.
Thanks for being here, slow and steady wins the race.
Have a great night.
Ann

moving ahead -- box mountain is becoming a steep hill.
 

Hi Cleaneruppers!

Today I pulled out one large box, one midsize box and two tiny boxes plus a plastic drawer I brought over from my studio.

I've got stuff all dissected now, all over the living room floor. I am feeling stumped.
I keep finding stuff and I can't seem to decide what I want to get rid of. Today I want to keep everything and it's all small piddly things that just stump me. So I think I'll gather like things into a ziplock bag, and label the bag and then gather the like bags together. I can see much of this stuff is craft supplies/parts/pieces.


1. old clutter: 4 boxes and one plastic drawer done
2. current clutter - cleaning off chair in living room
3. cleaning countertop in kitchen. done

THOUGHT about what to do as I move forward and I need to make space for the stuff I am going to find and put away so I need to also take time to straighten up/declutter my shelves, which are up but poorly used. Time to to step back a bit so I can go forward.

onebyone, if you want to keep everything in a box just put it all back in and open a new one. If you can let go of just a couple of things your pile will keep getting smaller. At least, too, you are getting reacquainted with whats in them.

I've been busy enjoying the "fruits" of my previous labor. With a clean and organized home I've been able to pull out my dehydrator and start drying organic local peaches. Definitely a project (3 cases purchased, so far) but very rewarding. Enriching my life.

As I'm accustomed, now, I do my 1-2-3 dance every morning. It still feels good.

Gotta run...have company over for dinner.

Thanks for the help Lexxiss. I have a box on the floor right now and two box lids with stuff in them from the boxes I tackled today. I know where they will go, but I have to clear out those spaces next. It's all a chain reaction kind of thing. I do feel the spectre of perfectionism rising in me though, and wanting to "do it perfectly" as in find everything a home. This may not be possible, but I can make significant improvements. It doesn't have to be perfect or totally ignored. There is some middle ground here...