onebyone, I'm glad my comment resonated with you. In addition to the time which has been freed up I also noticed yesterday another way that the decluttering has freed me up for dieting. I freed up so much space in my kitchen cupboards that I now buy items we need/use regularly in bulk. Coffee, creamers, DH's agave, healthy snacks....freezer items...cat food, dog food. DH had emptied his agave, which he puts in his coffee. I walked over to the pantry and pulled out another one. Wow! It was so simple. It used to be a trip to the store with associated agitation for the addl. expense because Costco is an hour away....and Costco has all the other food associated temptations that it's just easier to do without. I still have 3 left, which is very freeing as far as time goes.
My kitchen has gotten very basic since I got into the daily routine. I don't need as many glasses, plates, pots, pans.....I only kept the appliances I use and I have a place for them all. I have one nice large non stick pan which lives on top of the stove. It's always clean and ready so I don't need two or three. I continue to challenge myself to clean pots/bowls/knives as I cook so my only dishes in the morning are the ones we ate off of...and the soaking frypan which is much easier to clean when I let it soak overnight.
3 Essentials done. I'm headed up to meet the carpet installer. I'm feeling pretty energetic although there is still lots to be done.
4: disassembled the Wii and got it in a pile
5: moved Wii downstairs, clearing a small table in my study for something wonderful (that I don't know what is yet)
6: straightened up for cleaning crew
7: 10 minutes filing
8: 10 minutes filing
9: organized for the week
10: 10 minutes filing
11: 10 minutes filing
12: 10 minutes filing
13: Wii to new home
14: cleaned ceiling fan & other 2-story high nooks & crannies using shop vac with lots of extensions
15: Take care of Christmas cards
16: cleaned behind two big chairs and the buffet
17: rearranged TV components
18: move table to sunroom, helped set up new TV
19: prep for cleaning crew
20: 10 min filing
I worked at the project 11 hours yesterday. Got home to a clean kitchen and made OP dinner....cleaning up as I cooked. It was simple and that's what I strive for. Thought this morning....as I work towards completion of the 3 reno's....I don't think I would have kept my food sanity for these 5 months had it not been for my daily effort in my own home. credit.
I'm opting to stay home today to get some things off my list! Yesterday was a bit of a washout due to a graphic art emergency which wasn't even my own emergency but took me away from my own stuff anyway.It's ok. My clutter is not an emergency either. I just want to get it done is all.
For Today 2 Main Goals:
Every hour or so throughout the day I will just simply do some dishes until they are done. GOAL #1: all dishes washed by the time DH gets home at 6pm Done!!!
Move/sort through the stuff in front of my bookcase on the far wall ( I'm at the far wall!) of my dining room. Pull out the stuff that leaves the house. House the rest. GOAL #2: to be able to stand in front of the bookcase free and clear. Water my plants while I am there.
Lexxiss
Quote:
I don't think I would have kept my food sanity for these 5 months had it not been for my daily effort in my own home. credit.
I totally believe you on this. I think the daily routine reinforces that your don;'t just abandon what's working/been working and the consistency of your routine reminds you that eventually all the unusual events that always creep up do pass, and they do get completed. I 100% believe you on this. I am struggling with culling my everyday objects down to a single thing and eliminating the things we don't use very often--like a few times a year. I still have way too many clothes and sheets/towels even blankets. THe kitcehn is full of dishes I am not in love with. I've been using my grandmother's old best set, which is not a collectible or a antique set, and I jst broke one of the bowls the other day and when it smashed I thought "I am over this set". I've been using it as it's a daily reminder of her but I can bundle those dishes up now. This is an emotional release for sure.
So I cleaned up the kitchen, and I have dinner on (all tracked/on plan) and I looked over and sitting on top of that bookcase (which I didn't get to yet) is a candleabra that I traded for at my very first giant craft show in 1999? 2000? I love it and have never used it. Tonight it's sitting on my kitchen table waiting for DH to bring home candles. And if this wasn't enough... I have placemats with matching napkins, all handsewn, hand-dyed batik with fish and coral on them Also never used and traded for at a university craft show probably around 1995! OMG. I still love these things even seeing them now. But tonight I will actually use them. Picture to follow. Big Leap Forward indeed!
OK. We went out, bought candles and here is the proof of all my efforts over MONTHS. Yes, seriously, months. A candlelit dinner, made from scratch (Hungarian Gulyas or Goulash), clean dishrack/sink. It was fabulous and I am happy! I feel energized to get to the rest of it. I also, credit, have already cleared/cleaned and put away the dinner dishes.
Okay so the kitchen is cleaned from breakfast and from making lunch/soup for the next few days. credit I truly enjoyed the extra workspace of using the tble to chop up my vegetables for my soup today. While I sat at the table. I played a podcast on my phone and OMG my life has improved by leaps and bounds!
Today I will get to Goal#2 from yesterday: GOAL #2: to be able to stand in front of the bookcase free and clear. Water my plants while I am there. Yesterday I filled the watering can and then left it in the tub prompting DH to ask why is there a watering can in the tub? I told him to just empty it out and so the plants did not get water. Today they will.
DH is off to deal with his mom's computer, a semi-annual event that I get to opt out of, so I am home for the duration. I'll check in later. Hope everyone is doing well out there.
onebyone, I am just so tickled to read your past few posts! I feel you getting the wonderful feeling that comes when you work really hard and things start coming together.....how it feels to have a beautiful dinnertable set....how it feels to have a clean countertop in the kitchen for food prep and to be able to focus on other projects, not just the accumulation of dishes in the kitchen sink (PS I think that's whyFlylady emphasizes keeping the kitchen sink clean). Kudos to you and I send you the strength to keep moving forward. I know, it is a daily effort, yet also feel the reward of keeping with it. Love your picture!
In the spirit of keeping with it I will accomplish my 3 Essentials this morning before I head back up to the project. (Yes, I went up from 330-530 to have some quiet time to focus on the floor, which IS coming along quite well). I am weary on the one hand, but jubilant that my weight is down and that I have pretty much kept up at home for almost 5 months now. I will admit that in the past week some things at home have gone downhill a bit but as soon as I'm finished at the project I'll get right back on track here at home. Credit.
Keep sharing your progress, onebyone, It really helps keep me inspired!
I'm terribly tired after getting up at 6am to head over to a sportsbar to watch the gold medal finals for hockey (we won! yay!). After the game we did Real Grocery shopping and I feel great about all the food choices. I have many veggies to chooose from now for the week ahead. How this relates to decluttering is when we got home, the groceries were placed *on my table*. OMG what a simple thing we haven't ever done before since moving here. OMG how much easier it was to put them away and as an unexpected bonus, I re-arranged the top shelf of my freezer and have plans for the other shelves now too. It seems that everything is getting a lift! I also moved more things to my locker. This time DH came to help as we loaded the car last night. I have a poor sense of space and he assured me I still have way over half of the space free in my tiny locker--this makes me feel super confident that my house WILL be in order sooner rather than later.
I did move the boxes from in front of the dining room bookcase. Turns out they are boxes of books I can't wait to open, so perhaps later today I can focus there--but I'm not sure. I am exhausted. Anyway, just reporting in. Thanks for the update Lexxiss on your project as well. Love to hear how things are going. Do you have any before/after pictures to share?
And silverbirch glad to see you there too! How is your filing project coming? What's the weather like where you are anyway?? Is it conducive to decluttering???
Bye for now.
UPDATE: OMG what a goldmine in some of those boxes! I finally found my Beck books: the pink workbook AND the green one. I never did do the green one so I am re-starting that this week. Also tons of great art books and all my "in recovery" books when I was in hot pursuit of good health and well-being. So fortuitous to come across them right now when I feel the same spirit moving me on. Right now the books are all on my kitchen table. I accept this as I need to re-arrange some shelves to give them a place to land. I also found some printmaking stuff and a postcard. A postcard sent to me from Paris by my brother when he was there with my sister about 4 years ago. It was classic him. I've been very sad in the midst of all this progress as I saw that my brothers house is now for sale. My SIL told my sister she got rid of most of my brother's things, which she must have as the rooms are bare. I did see one of my paintings in her home selling video. The video has had me crying off and on. I still can't believe my brother is gone. Selling the house just really has it hitting home for me and I am grateful not to be eating over these feelings today.
So I'm still going strong. I've opened and palced onto shelves those last three boxes of books. I have only two more unopened boxes. I'll be at them in about 30min. *credit* for having done so much.
I need to get a handle on the kitchen again. Geez it goes to pieces so fast! I simply need to do 2 sinkfuls of dishes and some tidying. Break down and tie up some boxes for the garbage man tomorrow morning. I'm going to get it to the curb tonight. I am getting tired of running with it to the curb in the early a.m.
I can see what my next major overhaul will be: getting categories of books together. That should be interesting.
I am taking things off the shelves to make room for the books and so I will have several, like maybe 7 or 8, boxes/containers with miscellaneous items in them. I also have a lot of artwork--not sure what to do with them. I paint over lots of it (it's all my artwork I'm talking about) but some pieces I just can't. I think I'll just gather them into one place and then later re-think/consider how to show them. Maybe I'll have an inventory clearance sale or something (?) I could have an inventory clearance/art supply sale probably... maybe at my studio in the spring? Who knows.
An Art Garage Sale? Garage Art Sale?
So that's it for me. If you are decluttering I wish you well! Carry on.
Hi onebyone, yes, I am doing something.....grinding to the finish on this project. I am just about to head up for several hours before I come home and go to the restaurant. We will be finished in 3 days.
I love reading your progress! Things are going great!
I am constantly striving to make things more efficient in the kitchen. I put a pot of hot sudsy water in the sink when I'm cooking and wash lots of things as I go. Last night I used the colander to drain pasta, which took 15 seconds, and I immediately rinsed it and put it back up....no need to stack it for washing. Lots of things I have identified that wash easily when I do them immediately and take a big scrub later....knives blender etc. I challenge myself maybe you can, too. My challenge is to have every cooking item washed by the time I serve dinner.
Lexxiss and Silverbirch thanks for chiming in re: dishes cleanup. You know, it never occured to me to have soapy water in the sink while I am making dinner. duh! Awesome tip. My dinner dishes are almost all done right now!
And as for old sayings passed down, from my mother comes this one that she learned in home ec class circa 1940ish: You want to butter your toast the way you'd paint a room: cover it all the way to the corners.
No decluttering to report today. *credit* though for keeping up with the dishes and the table and the stovetop.
and Lexxiss I'm thinking of you in the home stretch of that reno! I hope some of that first month's rent from your new tenant can be earmarked from some kind of special treat for yourself. You truly deserve a reward!
I'm at the far wall!) of my dining room. Pull out the stuff that leaves the house. House the rest.
unexpected
we continue
prompting DH to ask why is there a watering can in the tub? I told him to just empty it out and so the plants did not get water. Today they will.
Wonderful success, onebyone! I'm so pleased! 
