The New Beginnings DeCluttering Thread -- NOW to Dec 31, 2013.

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  • Take Back the Shelves Day
    Hi Declutterers

    Today I am reclaiming the space on my shelves. Honestly, I have used them as a "place to put stuff for now". I have more shelf space than I used to have and so some stuff can be re-shelved/re-assigned to other areas of the house. It's become obvious that I need the space for the stuff coming out of my storage boxes so now I need to condense and clear off the shelves I can access. These are four shelving units: 2 in the living room and two in the hall. I am dedicating one hour to each unit.

    1) 12 cubes in living room shelf unit

    2) 6 shelves in tall bookcase in living room

    3) three shelves in hallway (left side of hall) bookcase plus surface of dresser (bookcase sits on dresser unit with three drawers. drawers for another day/space/time)

    4) three shelves in hallway (right side of hall) bookcase plus surface of desk (bookcase sits on desk unit with three drawers, plus long desk drawer above space for seating. Drawers for another day/space/time)

    Will I Deal With What's On The Top Of The Shelves???

    All of my shelving units have stuff sitting at the very very top of them. I think I am going to not worry about that today. For whatever reason, they really stump me. I think I have enough to keep me busy today. Maybe when I get the rest of the spaces reclaimed it will be more obvios where that stuff goes.

    I am taking before and after pictures.

    Bye for now.
  • How did it go, onebyone?

    Not much decluttering going on here. I was thinking today....it's been almost two months since I've been over here and this used to be our primary home. We'd be here for months at a time just heading over the hill the other direction for a quick check. I had the opportunity to start "new" here in 2005 and I'm really happy now that I get to come over so infrequently. It's really a joy to walk into a clean and organized space and realize it's mine, especially since I get such a short time to enjoy it anymore. I do make an effort, when I'm here, to keep up with things, too....which reminds me I have a beautiful dress I need to try on again and see how much closer it is to fitting. I bought it several years ago at a very upscale thrift store. It's black ultra-suede with beautiful flowers on the bottom...short but pretty formal. I think I'll go look....I'm guessing not quite yet.
  • in my email box today--modified my day because of it.
    Hi

    So I had these intentions to get all my shelves done. What I managed was one shelf unit, in the hall, the 3 shelves above the desk. Then, when I decided to move "projects I am working on now" to the clean/clear desk top, well the whole thing got covered up with stuff really fast. Then, right after that, after seeing how quickly things went back to being messy on the desk top--which wasn't even part of my plan to begin with (HELLO???) I just felt depressed. And I have had a low level anxiety all day long. So I went to my email and found an email sent to me via the Flylady website. She is really my anchor throught the decluttering --well her and everyone here is is happily trudging along this same path. SO I read this--btw I snipped out paarts and kept the stuff that spoke to me...

    Quote:
    ...we have a tendency to be too hard on ourselves. Why do you think we make huge lists? We just keep piling on so that we can at least look productive even if we get too overwhelmed by the list to even do anything on it! Suppose you did get something done. We were all taught that if you don't get all done the things that are left go to tomorrow's list. I am just getting sick thinking about a list that continues to be too big and I never seem to make any headway with it....

    So why are you trying to make it so hard on yourself by doing too much too fast and feeling like a failure! Life is just too short! Do you hear me! Make it easy on yourself by starting small and building upon those firm foundations....

    WE DON'T PUNISH OURSELVES ANYMORE! ... when you are loving yourself, you will do your best to be kind to you! When you are kind to yourself that kindness gets passed on to others!

    Make it easy on yourself! Try BabySteps!
    And so, I decided that my list WAS too long for today and yep, I was feeling liek a failure and yep it had to o with being perfect and getting it all done today, like as if I could by magic somehow, and that getting 1 out of 4 done was really nothing and... well it was all just so perfect this little email message. Now I feel better about my one shelf unit that has been dealt with. Tomorrow I'll do another one.

    I don't like the term baby steps though. Not sure why.
  • Hello all, quick check in to say hi and that I am still at it.
  • I'm still at it, too. I made a point to unpack/put away right after we returned home yesterday. I was glad this morning! I work early but have made the bed, cleaned the kitchen sink and picked up some old stuff I didn't put away before we left. credit.
  • Slowly, slowly picking away at things in the upstairs spare room. I have sorted out a lot of old papers. (Is it really necessary to keep tax returns from the last century?) Several unfinished sewing, knitting and quilting projects are now gone and I have rescued a few things.

    Along with the upstairs stuff, I've also pitched things from my pantry hoard - nobody wants 2 year old jams and pickles! Several unmarked bags of Bulk Barn stuff are also gone. However, my Santa collection is still standing on the desk in the upstairs hall. I have a box and some bubble wrap so will do that today!

    At least the clutter is shrinking rather than growing!
  • Today was a good day, I think I want to move and downsize and get rid of all clutter. If I keep at this I will be ready to move by spring. Two loads of wash, packed up a box and clear garbage bag for the diabetes association. I even recruited my DS to go through his stuff and donate all the things he doesn't want to play with.
    Cleaned kitchen, didn't take as long as I though it would.
    I am off to post on the main Beck site, have a great night.
    Take Care
    Ann
  • Wow! This is the thread I need for the remainder of this year! I am very grateful to the original poster! I've slowly de-cluttered various parts of my house, still have some to tackle, and now my garage looks like a hoarder's haven. I moved my living room and dining room around a couple weeks ago and got all the windows washed. My son already power-washed the outside of the house.

    This week's goal is to tackle my personal closet and dressers. And I need to get it done tomorrow, because the housekeeper is coming on Tuesday and I want her to get all the dusting done after I've cleared stuff out.

    I can't get everything done all by myself, so I hire people to help me. I need to call a handyman to help me hang a big picture in my living room (it's been sitting in a box for over a year!) and to hang my TV over the fireplace. I need an electrician to run the wires under the house for me as well as repair my ceiling fan light kits. The fireplace needs to be scoured out too, but I think my son can do that for me.

    So this week, I'll get all those people set up to get this stuff done. And I'll report back here once everything is accomplished and I'll move on to my next short list.

    Baby steps...
  • keep on truckin'
    Hello

    With September on the doorstep, I have the feeling of a new start/new beginning/new year. Septembers always make me feel this way.

    My mother will be here in about a month so I am going to create a three week plan to get my apartment's "social spaces" in order. I want to tick the box that says it si DONE by the time my mother comes over for her first post-move visit. Not to mention my sister will be here too, to help ease our mother's transition to a new care faciilty.

    I ma going to write down, in tiny steps both a work schedule (I am self-employed) and a decluttering scheduloe/goal list. In there are some deadlines too so I need to be flexible as it can take me longer to make what I need to make.

    I am not interested in punishing myself. I am not interested in feeling bad that it "got this way" or that we "live this way". Really, what I need now is some success. I need to meet my goals instead of always shifting them around. I want to move on already. I firmly believe that getting unstuck in one area helps me get unstuck in others. Success breeds success. It's why I believe a decluttering thread DOES belong in a weightloss group. This is another area I am stuck in and need to face. It's all connected inside of me. So I will go do that, infact this is my goal for today:

    - to create a daily check list to meet my goals in one month's time in the following areas:

    1= living room space
    2=dining room space
    3=kitchen
    4=bathroom
    5=entry way

    6=art show deadlines written down
    7=steps needed/ time scheduled for my art work in the three categories I work in a) weekly market b) art submissions c) christmas shows d) development of online art presence re:long term goals

    8=weekly commitment to exercise written down

    9=food plan written down

    I'm going to take a *credit* for posting and for starting to look at this right now.

    geoblewis thank you for joining us. We hope you can find support and help here for your decluttering journey. Thanks for posting and let us know how it's going.

    Newlifestyle I am thinking about my next move too, even as I upack boxes from this past move that is now 2 years old. How can the time go so fast? The diabetes people are in my area soon too... I already have a box for them. *credit* Thanks for checking in!

    Ruthxxx As long as the clutter shrinks--you are right with that. No amount of "organizing" or rubber maid bins can actually lessen the clutter as much as just chipping away at it does. You're doing fantastic. I also found 2 xmas related items this week. I found my only xmas decoration my Santa Star and then an unopened box of SpongeBob Square pants xmas ornaments (very small all like 1" tall). I love them.

    Lexxiss Great job keeping everything at bay Lexxiss. What are your next projects? Any kind of "dream project" on the horizon now that you've got the underlying structure in hand???
  • Hi everyone,

    I'm home after my week away. DH finished the garage organization while I was gone. I worked with him on most of the stuff--and then he sorted out his antique car stuff himself. The shelves in the garage look great.

    Yesterday, when I got home, I unpacked and realized that my closet really needs to be gone through--but it's not high on the list.

    What is on the list is the basement "warehouse"-a 14' x 30' area that has tons of stuff in it--and we can't find anything.

    So, tonight we cleared out the back wall and brought down the 3 shelf units (2' deep, 4' wide, 6' high) we're repurposing from the garage. We now have 8 of those shelves in the garage.

    DH and I do not want to approach this project the same way, so it may be more stressful than the garage was. For today, we cleared one of the previous shelves off completely and started sorting things out to be gone through on an additional pass: craft stuff, stuff for DH to go through, stuff for me to go through, stuff belonging to DD the elder, pictures and frames...

    Our first pass is to sort everything, cleaning things out as we go. We ended up with a big bag of trash and two boxes of things to give away, so we're getting rid of stuff as we go. There's just so much to go through!

    We did make progress tonight, though. First task for tomorrow is to move the electrical panel so it faces the other way--I hope it turns out to be an easy job!
  • Georgia(geoblewis)! This IS the spot for decluttering! Glad you found us!

    Beth(FromDayton) great job finishing one project and moving to another with some great experience!

    onebyone, I like your list with rooms/food/exercise all included!

    Ann(NewLifestyle), I, too, was ready to live with less. There were many hard decisions along the way yet I find NOW that I don't miss the stuff that I parted with and actually feel comfortable with letting go of more. I always have a box to put thrift items as I find them.

    Me, tired today, but pushed on through my routine. I kept reminding myself how important my daily stuff is to ME. Was rewarded after folding laundry to pitch my dirty socks into an empty laundry basket. credit for persistence this morning.

    onebyone, you asked what I have on my radar. Unfortunately, I'm at the mercy of contractors and weather right now. My renovation which should have been completed months ago is at a standstill and there is nothing I can do until others step back in. The kitchen cabinets should be in this week. Thus, I am not filling my brain with anything new at this time. I am just working on acceptance.
  • Well, it's Tuesday and my de-clutter goals have not even been addressed for the week. The needs of the many have co-opted my time, once again. A merry maid will be here in five hours, and I have to leave for work in four, so I will see what I can get done around the house. I've already loaded the dishwasher. I need to clear off my desk, get the laundry put away and the clean bedding out. And wake up the 21-year-old who stays up all night watching Japanese anime!

    (That kid really needs a job!)
  • forgotten and shunted aside
    Declutterers

    I love a Master Plan that I can follow, one that will take care of everything that needs to be taken care of, but it's not going to work for me for this month. With being awarded a week long art project, the time I can dedicate to massive clearing out-cleaning up in here is cut by half. AND I realized I have another upcoming deadline right in the middle of the month for an art submission to a gallery that is very important to me and none of the work for that submission is even started, let alone done. And I may do the work and decide it's not the right time to apply yet, so I am going to have to be very focused and organized and set aside the time to work on the different projects and actually stick to it. Follow my plan. I think I build too much wiggle room into my plans sometimes...

    Anyway, all this to say that I need to modify my goals and re-think my schedule. It can be done! My sister WILL HAVE a pleasant and peaceful place to sleep when she comes on the 18th of September.

    Must go. Have a great day.
  • Hi!

    I had two days off this week and the first was spent taking my mom to a medical appt. I'd gotten a little behind with my household stuff this week and so yesterday become the designated day EVEN THOUGH it meant not doing exactly what I felt like doing on my precious day off. I spent the day catching up on yardwork, paperwork, cleaning and completing several procrastinated projects. credit. My two procrastinated projects were finishing the slicing/dehydrating of fresh peaches(the case was hogging the refrigerator) and finishing some sewing/mending projects that had necessitated the sewing machine hogging my desk in the office. After it was all done I really noticed the clear space both in the refrigerator AND in my office.

    I'm more than frustrated in the yard. We have a big yard and lots of areas that are "just weeds" until we can come up with something that is sustainable. I worked really hard early in the season but wedding stuff ended up taking priority. As I pulled weeds yesterday (only to prevent the million seeds if I didnt) I became more agitated.
    My solution is to come up with more of a master plan for next year and to acknowledge the progress we did make this year.. We made progress this year with a new and more efficient mower and a updated battery operated weed wacker. We planted a rose bush and a dozen raspberry plants in the front that are doing well.
    We have already discussed a new master plan and I will work on some of the old clutter that is still in the yard over the next several weeks.

    It is progress, for me, not perfection.

    Work calls....glad to be back in my routine. I've proven to myself again that what works best for me, both inside and outside, is small and consistent blocks of time..
  • I don't have a Master Plan--it's more of a "work on the area that is the highest priority right now" method.

    Today, that is my office--my inbox and desk are out of control so I'm going to work on those.

    However, I did yeoman's work in DD the younger's dorm room today. We spent last night and this morning clothing shopping plus some other items. We got her back to campus in time to go to her activity, but I stuck around in her dorm and hung up all her clothes, put a shoe storage thingie on the inside of her closet door. (DH re-positioned the robe hook so they could co-exist). I found new storage spaces for some things that were in the way and just generally made the room more organized. (Her job to keep in that way)

    DD and her roommate have to take out the trash, though--I didn't do that.

    Monday, I'm headed down to get her again to take her to Ikea for room decoration items. I want her to love her dorm room--and there's no reason she shouldn't. (Friday afternoon, she didn't love her wardrobe. Now she does. Things can change quickly.) Then, my organizational job will be to help her get everything put on the walls--and that'll be my organizational work for Monday!