[Pattience]

Ok i need to be on this thread now. I've been procrastinating a low about mys sewing, that is my new business. I have hardly done any sewing this month. I'm just not going near it.

I need to get back on the job and get real busy. I"ve so much to learn and work out.

Today i phoned my counsellor for an appointment. many would think i don't really need it but i want to talk through a plan with her. I have uncertainties and i am hopeless with uncertainties.

On the positive side, i have recently cleaned out my fridge and freezer and food cupboards, doing just one shelf at a time with no pushing. Just went about it when i felt like it until it was all done. It feels so good. My fridge etc was such a mess and i couldn't access lots of things that i knew were there to be eaten by me. Good to throw out a lot of old stuff too.

[Shannonsnail]

Gah! I need to join this thread. I used to love decluttering and reorganizing until I realized after all that work, no one else in the house respected what I had done and it wouldn't take long for it to essentially look the same as before I started. My sewing area is my project for May. It was also a project in Jan, Feb, Mar and then I just gave up. In March I had it decluttered and reorganized "for good" then hubby (who I split the room with for his home office) started his new job and brought home tons of new equipment in large boxes that has nowhere to "live" on the 24th. They blocked the way to my side of the room. As new things needed to be stored I just piled them near the door since I couldn't get over there. Then my daughter started dragging her toys in there to play sometimes while daddy worked (she is 3.5 and can shimmy around said boxes). Then I moved one of our dining room chairs in there bc it was in the way downstairs (getting it in there involved super powers, leaping over said boxes). So it's been just over a month and it's utter chaos again. Additionally all of my daughter's books live in the hallway outside her room (next to sewing room), just laying on the floor like they are sunbathing. They need to go somewhere.

Action steps:
Pull out boxes of new equipment so I can get into my side of room
Remove toys and put them where they belong
Put away misc things that may be piled up on various surfaces
Find home for boxes of equipment
Turn sewing table around and push dining room chair up to it to see if that will work...if not find new home for chair
Do something about books

[onebyone]

Hello:

The landlord showed this morning at 8:30. He came in and it was blessedly uneventful. Not a remark. Nothing passive-aggressive passed his lips. We are getting better at this show of normalcy as in having a normal enough looking place. So glad that's over. In another month we'll go through it again as he comes in to unlock the thermostat and turn the air conditioning on. If I commit to my decluttering this month I won;t have that big scramble next time. That will be super-duper progress for me.

I'm sitting on the couch, laptop on a cleared off coffee table, cat beside me on the couch, plenty of room for us both. The floor is completely clear and clean and I have maybe 4 boxes way over there at the perimeter of the dining room far from me to go through. Several moved to the back room but it's nothing like box mountains version 1 & 2 that I tackled last year. CREDIT CREDIT CREDIT.

My intention is to clear the last remaining living room floor space to the right of the couch and the left of the chair. I'll attempt that tomorrow when I am back from my guild thing at 1:30 or so.

I also have to clean up the backyard. Some charcoal spilled below the bbq (?) and our umbrella just broke plus we just have various containers/crap back there: extra tables and chairs that need to be tossed. And my rug got rained on so it's not coming back in so I need to tie it up so the garbage man will take it.

Of course there's much more to do but that's all I have in me for today.

I AM ENJOYING SO MUCH my clear indoor space as is Caesar the cat who can romp in every direction without negotiating some box or bin or pile of stuff!

Shannonsnail and I feel your pain! DH and I have come to some sort of agreement with the decluttering. I think we both just want a sane space and he no longer says it's all my stuff which he did always say. Many things moved to the back bedroom and it has a pathway, albeit a larger wider pathway than before but I still have a ways to go. Great job making your action list. I find that truly is the only way I can get through this stuff. It is my achilles heel that's for sure.

Pattience Thanks for posting your plans! I procrastinate big time about my work as well. I find it takes more and more of a deadline to make me sit still and start already, although this year I have felt the joy of working in advance so I am *gasp* early with my submissions. It has been an eye opener to NOT feel that pressure so much. I kind of like it. I love the way you worked through the fridge and the cupboards and yes, it makes a huge difference to me too when the food is orderly as I can actually see and plan my meals when I know what I've got to work with. Great job.

Gabby481 as well! Great job having only a few boxes left to unpack. I am still working with my boxes from my move almost 3 years ago now. It does get done but only when I make an effort to focus there. I need lists and I need this forum to keep me focused as well. I look forward to hearing how your progress goes as well.

GosfordGirl I totally relate to your recipe consolidation effort. I need to do the same with my artwork photos especially those for art submissions. I recently had a hard drive die on me and it has oodles of jpgs on it that I *may* need. Mostly I would need them for my website, which I just decided to resurrect (I've been primarily blogging), so I know about bits here and there and duplicates and duplicates that are the same except for their dpi size. It's all VERY time consuming. Your quest to get everything on your ipad seems a worthy one! I am sure you will complete it no matter how long it takes. I think it was Lexxiss who last year organized all of her photographs. And there were a lot of them! In the end they all scrolled nicely in an electronic frame thingy and she could enjoy them instead of having them all stashed away in some box. Again a worthy effort no matter how long it takes.

silverbirch I find myself super intrigued by your gardening plans! The raised bed is a fabulous thing and I sooooo long for my own garden. I am going to live vicariously through yours if you don't mind! I am trying to picture yur backyard but have no clue about it and all I can do is recall images of Wales from this show we watch called Hinterland, which when the actors speak Welsh I always think "How come Welsh is never considered one of the most difficult languages to learn?" They always say it's Hungarian (which I speak) since it isn't related to any other language except Finnish. Anyway, I digress bigtime here so KUDOS to you and your effort to get your garden going! It IS a lot of hard work but very satisfying and sure to be rewarding.

VermontMom I'm glad this little corner of the internets could give you a space to come and commit to your decluttering projects even if it is a seasonal thing for you! You have made some major changes so that's got to feel great. I totally get the seeing the space outside you cleared and feeling good about it. I feel that way right now in my living room and hope to have that experience sitting out back when I clear that as well. Feel free to pop by when you have the time or if the need comes up. I am going to re-start this thread monthly as without it I can't get myself to do any of this stuff. Not yet.

BillBlueEyes Turtles and tortoises must be very quiet creatures. The story made me think of all the escaped hamsters of my youth. I remember people/friends saying they "got into the walls". Hmmmm. I've never lost a pet myself but ask me where the scissors are, or my glasses, well I am sure some of my unopened boxes hold stuff from 30 years ago that I didn't know was lost until I recover it again. How goes your decluttering? Any projects underway?

Lexxiss How are you doing with that garden? What are your hopes for the outdoor space?

[Lexxiss]

Welcome newcomers! Since I first started my decluttering process via this thread (3-4 years ago??) my life has changed. My home is a home now yet I know that it's a daily commitment to care for it (via chores) and since I have a lot of other stuff always going on (life) I've found a way to maintain via 3 daily essentials (Laundry, Dishes and make the bed). I find it so much easier to focus on myself (via weightloss) now that I can live comfortably in my home. I no longer shop (for fun) at thrift stores and drag stuff home. I thoroughly evaluate before making any purchase. Do I really need that?

onebyone, congrats on a huge milestone! Kudos for new goals for the month before the landlord shows again.

Holly, I do consider my yard to be part of my decluttering process. I want the outside to match the inside.

Regarding the outside, I have to take it one day at a time and just do the footwork of whatever speaks to me the loudest. It's a 100yr old yard....lots of historic rock walls, hedges and trees. The major issue is 100 yr old weeds, dead branches and a giant lawn that is less than perfect but difficult to replace. Each year looks better than the last.
I'm on my work days then I have to travel for two then come back to work on the rental. Things will go on the back burner for a bit until I get the framework of the renovation established.

Yes, I completed a massive photo project several years ago and still work on keeping it current-adding the new stuff as I go.
Regarding recipes, I did some minor stuff....
In 2010, the family, 6 of us, did a family cookbook for Christmas. It got lots of the special stuff consolidated into one book. I had recipes in computer recipe files, which I had never been super happy with....too hard to input, etc. I really studied my online recipes and let go of a lot. Many were outdated and no longer interested me. The remaining, I printed out and went to an art supply store for a notebook (ItoyaClearCoverPortfolio) and put lots of recipes in one place. I had (have) massive cookbooks and I decluttered, letting go of many which do not fit my lifestyle anymore. It freed up space to purchase (very carefully) new books which fit my transformation which leans towards vegan/vegetarian. My reality is that so much is online these days that if I want a special recipe I can just look it up. For me, simpler is better....anyway hope there is one idea out of this. The short is decluttering the outdated stuff was a great help.


Gotta run!

Happy decluttering everyone!

[onebyone]

OK. Because I have committed to NOT STOPPING until it all gets done, when I get back this afternoon I will do the following:

organize small bookcase under window
get stuff off of floor between chair-couch-tables-window
sort through the stuff I find/toss/keep/donate decisions to be made

By Thursday:
move couch out of the way and sweep under there
move chair out of way and sweep there
move chaise out of way and sweep there
declutter under the sink in the kitchen (to see if our small recycle bin will fit in there)
declutter 1 of 4 kitchen drawers

FRIDAY's are MAINTENANCE DAY so I don't have to do this kind of work on the weekend!:
clear away all dishes
do what needs to be done to have the same clean environment I have right now

[VermontMom]

Hello! onebyone, that is great to post your to-do list and aim to stick to it

Originally Posted by Lexxiss

I had (have) massive cookbooks and I decluttered, letting go of many which do not fit my lifestyle anymore. It freed up space to purchase (very carefully) new books which fit my transformation which leans towards vegan/vegetarian. My reality is that so much is online these days that if I want a special recipe I can just look it up. For me, simpler is better....anyway hope there is one idea out of this. The short is decluttering the outdated stuff was a great help.

Just in the past few days, I have gone through MANY cookbooks..kept the ones that belonged to my mother and grandmother..debated about ones that friends gave me but took a deep breath and those went to Re-Use..right now have a stack of hardbound Taste of Home books and am going through page by page for selected recipes, then those are going to Re-Use. As you stated, one can find anything on the Internet and getting these dozens of books out is very free-ing for me.

Prizes for decluttering ... not a tortoise but the original birth certificates of our 2 boys, I thought these certificates were long lost! had to apply for certified copies back when the boys needed ID for driver's licenses. If I knew where these were back then, could have saved about $50 and angst.

Also found a photo of a guy my husband used to work with..sad thing is, this guy committed suicide and I don't know if my husband would really want the photo or not?

I am critically viewing a tall cabinet that does nothing except hold glassware and some 'stuff' that I could easily put somewhere else (the 'stuff', not the cabinet). I think I might remove that from teh house today.

[millie56]

My DS is moving out of my house (YEAH!!!!!!) so I will be repurposing the room he and his daughter lived in. Goals for May
1 - Box any possession he leaves behind
2 - Steam clean/deep vacuum the carpeting in that bedroom
3 - Start moving the craft room items to the other bedroom
4 - Language counts now refer to their bedroom as third bedroom and the previous craft/collection room as to the third bedroom (my DH & I occupy the master bedroom)

Long term goal will be a PAID roommate/renter for bedroom one before the holidays this winter.

[VermontMom]

Originally Posted by millie56

My DS is moving out of my house (YEAH!!!!!!) so I will be repurposing the room he and his daughter lived in. Goals for May
1 - Box any possession he leaves behind
2 - Steam clean/deep vacuum the carpeting in that bedroom
3 - Start moving the craft room items to the other bedroom
4 - Language counts now refer to their bedroom as third bedroom and the previous craft/collection room as to the third bedroom (my DH & I occupy the master bedroom)

Long term goal will be a PAID roommate/renter for bedroom one before the holidays this winter.

Excellent!

I did completely empty the cabinet I was giving the stink-eye to this morning Also weeded out years worth of old papers...shredded the sensitive ones..used the newly freed hanging files to organize other papers..washed all glassware that was in the cabinet and found good spaces for them. Now...to convince DH that the cabinet needs to go OUT of house. Wish me luck

[Pattience]

I thought it would help to post about what i want to achieve today. But i'm really not sure yet where i should start. I've got a few jobs started but not even sure whether i should continue with them.

I've got 6 bags cut and ready to sew
I've got one top mostly made
I've got one long dress started - would really like to get onto this one.
I"ve got some orders to deal with but the end of the month - a tunic and a pair of trousers
I've had customers say they want this or that e.g. dress with sleeves , dress with narrow shaping.
I've also got a wrap dress i've been working on for a while that needs doing.It will be great when its finished.

Ok the decision has been made. I'm going to get to grips iwht this wrap dress and get as much done as i can towards finishing. It should pose me fewer headaches than others. And if i can get it right, should be great on my stall. One problem with it though is that i've lost a lot of weight since i started and I'm no longer the right model for it which makes it tricky.

[Pattience]

Lexxis

I've found a way to maintain via 3 daily essentials (Laundry, Dishes and make the bed). I find it so much easier to focus on myself (via weightloss) now that I can live comfortably in my home. I no longer shop (for fun) at thrift stores and drag stuff home. I thoroughly evaluate before making any purchase. Do I really need that?

You actually sound really organised and your garden sounds wonderful.

[Shannonsnail]

Action steps:
Pull out boxes of new equipment so I can get into my side of room -DONE
Remove toys and put them where they belong
Put away misc things that may be piled up on various surfaces
Find home for boxes of equipment
Turn sewing table around and push dining room chair up to it to see if that will work...if not find new home for chair
Do something about books

[onebyone]

Just reporting in that I made little progress AND added to the dishes too though I did clean the other surfaces as I went. I made a dessert which took more time than I planned. I also had less time than I planned when I got home in the first place so no time was left to do the corner of the room. Tomorrow I am busy until mid afternoon but then that's it so I will plan to finish the floor/table/bookcase and then I want to go around and straighten up the areas already wanting to warp back to their previous cluttery selves. I need to get at the dishes too.

Great work everyone. Love to see those manageable realistic lists! They really work and it feels good to see what you have done! Excellent job everyone.

[Pattience]

Well i went up to make my dress, but i got as far as sweeping the floor (which was good to do) and that was it.

I've also made an appt with my counsellor who phoned back today and can fit me in tomorrow. so that's good. I hope to talk through the whole issue of going forward with my business.

I also made an appointment for my cat at the vet so i will be needing a lot of extra money soon - i think he's got cancer on his ears. Theoretically that should be motivating enough but unless i think about it more, it won't. The job will get done but it will just be financially more difficult. I need to spend some time thinking through all these factors.

[Lexxiss]

Hi Declutterers and organizers!

Pattience, thanks for the compliment! I am not "super organized" I have a lot of areas which will eventually find improvement but for right now I have let go of so much that everything that is left has it's own place/space and when I need something I can usually find it.

Speaking of: photos were discussed and I was reminded I hadn't seen the thumbdrive with all the photos on it since we returned from Cali. Since we're traveling this afternoon it was priority to either find it or make a new one. "If" something would ever happen to my computer in my absence....without the thumbdrive all my photos would become unrecoverable. A slight error could become a giant catastrophe.
So....not locating it I made a new one and packed it to take with me. Credit. Then I found the old one so I put each in a separate baggie with a written description. I'm grateful to have made time to take care of it.
Where was it: I set it inside a drawer in the dining room. I remember now that the day after we got home from our trip I was headed to work when I found up the 2yr old GD was coming to visit. I quickly put it out of her reach but not in it's usual place.

I went outside yesterday morning and planted a few snap peas. I also took recycling up a day early. Today I will haul a tote full of roots upstairs to get hauled today. Empty totes mean more progress this next week. I made it a priority to do my 3 Essentials and additionally vacuumed/swept upstairs. It will be nice to return to.

OK, headed to work then poolside. There's always work to do over there, too.

[Pattience]

Well, i got a sort of kick in the pants from left field tonight. I went to choir tonight (nearly didn't go) and when i got there our choir leader asked me if i would make the choir outfits for us all. That's going to be a ton of sewing. Probably no money in it but i said yes. It will be good for me and i've love to do it. Its not the sort of thing that will make me feel pressured but i should learn a lot from it with all the different shapes and sizes.