May Days are Decluttering Days
 

It's May and we begin a new month of small projects to move us forward in our decluttering plans.

Pick a project you'd like to tackle and post it here and stay accountable until you get it done. We'll help you stay focused and celebrate your every accomplishment.

How does this realte to food and overeating? Simple: sanity and clarity. No more stressing over what you should have done or how bad things are or have gotten. Instead take pride and gain confidence as you see yourself meet your challenges and achieve your personal goals. Positive actions in one area of our life help us in other areas as well. A peaceful orderly environment helps us have a sane relationship with our food.

Starting with a big day tomorrow
 

I curse my landlord who is fussy (DH says he's a germaphobe)but because of his impending visit (maybe) on Sunday (if the furnace guy needs access to the thermostat in our apartment) I have to clean up the front rooms in here and the hallway. He always manages to comment on the way we keep house. I find it infuriating but on the other hand I also know I need to do this so I will take it as true incentive to get back to the decluttering/organizing job once more.

Tomorrow I need to remove all extraneous boxes from the dining room and the living room. I need to be able to see the floors and to clear off surfaces. The dishes need doing and the kitchen counters need wiping. My main goal though is to remove the stuff from the dining room floor. Even if I haul it into the bedroom and pile it ceiling high I am moving it out of there. With the space I freed up in front of the dresser I can move it into there and into the back room. We'll see. Anyway the goal is to make it look "normal".

Will check back tomorrow to stay on track and focused with this.

Anyone else starting any projects for the month?

I'm in - the recipe folder project
 

I need to sort through my recipe collections - hard copy and as pdf files.

I always mean to have them so organised that I can just pull out the recipe in its plastic sleeve and put together the meals for the week. But chaos reigns and it never really happens :(

So this month I will do an average of 30 minutes per day to the project and by the end of the month I will at least know if it is even a reasonable thing to do

Will report back daily with progress and what was tackled

Thanks Onebyone for initiating this :bravo:

I have to finish sorting and moving the files back into the cabinet. There aren't very many to do but time keeps getting eaten up elsewhere.

Will move my two Italian files after I've finished here. They don't have to be on the window ledge.

Hi!

I wrote a long post and internet (or lack of) took it. I'll continue to declutter in the yard during the month of May...perfect because I can't reliably plant until June 1 anyway. I continue to focus on keeping up in the house, too, and that's helped by my 3 essentials every day...laundry, dishes and make the bed.

I'm almost finished digging out some invasive bird cherries in a 6 x 12 spot in the yard. It's been hard work and lots of exercise. After that one is done I'll cut them out of the hedge and other parts of the yard. I did some research to learn that if I keep all the suckers cut that come off the remaining roots that eventually they will stop going crazy. Why take something out that feeds the birds?? They are eating into my historic rock wall to the East and it's much easier to eradicate these then to rebuild the rock wall. Glad to attack this early this year instead of procrastinating until it's too hot.

great start everyone!
 

Thanks so much for joining me GosfordGirl, Silverbirch and Lexxiss. Truth be told, I was feeling very lonely this morning thinking/feeling my decluttering issues. It's really important to me that I keep going and push through this issue to the other side.

So I am doing what Flylady calls "crisis cleaning". http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-sta...isis-cleaning/

GOALS FOR TODAY:

Living Room
1. clean coffee table in living room :carrot:
2. clean floor in living room:carrot:
3. living room rug shaken out/aired out :carrot: (NOTE:I'm not fond of this rug even though it's fairly new. I may not bring it back in from outside. It may be donated.YES it is being donated.)


Kitchen
1.kitchen table cleared off:carrot:
2. dishes done-started--looks like DH is doing them
3. stove wiped down/cleared off
4. counters cleaned up/organized:carrot:
5. floor swept and mopped:carrot:
6. cat food area cleaned up:carrot:

Hallway/Entry
1. extra stuff lining hallway moved%2

You can do it, onebyone!

Thanks! I really needed to see that! :hug:

Good idea about the rug. I find myself getting rid of things like that when I'm clearing up. Even if they are new and even if we can't really afford a replacement. Things that niggle, things that don't look right, things that I realise upset me.

You're doing very well.

I'm building a raised bed with the DB and am just in for a cup of tea. It's going to transform part of the garden (and tidy up a lot of things which have been waiting). It is also exhausting work. :)

For those who feel their de-cluttering task daunting, take cheers that you can't be worse than this guy who lost a turtle in his clutter for 32 years.

:eek: :D I will definitely keep that in mind :devil:

Hello to de-clutterers, I know I am sporadic here, I'm with you in spirit every day though as I halt, view something that 'needs to be taken care of' and wonder if I can do it without help and without resistance from others :D

I'm glad Lexxiss counts outdoor work as de-cluttering ,because things accumulate outdoors also, right? Man-made AND organic. Congrats on battling those invasive shrubs/trees.

I took care of an outside trouble spot yesterday, in about 1 1/2 hours. It is the view from a living room window, onto a side yard, that I just gave up on last summer, I didn't mow it (not much grass really, it's under pine trees) but the fall leaves, then the ten THOUSAND little sticks, big branches were a pain to rake but I was determined and got it done. Now when I look out that window, it makes me happy.

onebyone, you got many dancing carrots next to your accomplishments! way to go!

Silverbirch, the raised bed will be great!

I go back to work full time later this week, so that might be the end of hearing from me, about tackling big projects, until fall. I wish all of you unimaginable amounts of energy and ambition in de-cluttering and making your lives easier and tidier :)

Thank you, Holly. I've had a shower and collapsed into bed after a long day on the raised bed project. It's now in place and the search for 54 cu ft earth/compost is on. I don't know if that's an accurate figure for what we actually need but I'm scouting around. I think we've got it in the garden and the compost bins.

And I've done a file today. (No turtle there so I'll keep on looking.)

:wave: to all. Keep calling in, Holly! Hope your summer job goes well and that a new door will open for a winter one. :hug:

Plodding on
 

Great progress happening here - and as our instigator you are making a lot of fine progress Onebyone - all those carrots! I know you will get there.

I wrote a post last night on my iPad and clumsily poked somewhere on the screen which meant it was obliterated - so I am back

Yesterday I went through my computer recipe files and realised I have many versions in different parts and no way to find anything really. This project could well take a year rather than a month of half hour a day but that is all I have at the moment. So I will just keep plugging away. If the electronic system was sorted it could all go to iPad and I wouldn't need to print off my favourites

The whole decluttering and organising and simplifying mindset has an impact on everything doesn't it.

I recently moved and I have a few boxes left to unpack which I placed in the garage. There's not much left but would like to have everything in it's place by the end of May.
I plan to unpack one box a day which I did one today.
Whenever I write down a to-do list, I always get everything accomplished. This is very motivating and I'm eager to hear how everyone does this month.

Wow!

Get busy with my sewing!!
 

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.

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

did it. now to KEEP doing it.
 

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 :welcome: 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:welcome: 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?

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

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!

KEEP GOING - week of May 5th to 9th
 

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

..not gone yet :D
 

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

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 :rofl: 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.

Decluttering Started
 

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):hug:

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

Excellent! :carrot:

I did completely empty the cabinet I was giving the stink-eye to this morning :devil: 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 :D

Not sure what to do first
 

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.

Lexxis You actually sound really organised and your garden sounds wonderful.

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

not today
 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Well i had a big day trying to deal with my procrastination issues. I had a great discussion with my psychologist and as a result i'm going to try a few things, hopefully tomorrow.

We talked about me being an all or nothing type of person, among many other things. The computer is one thing keeping me away from work. So, long story short, tomorrow i'm going to try a new thing. I'm going to start banishing myself from the building that houses my computer and try to spend the whole day up in my workroom. It means i will have to take my lunch up there and get a fridge going for storing milk.

you see, i was starting to think about the necessity of hiring a place to work in town. But it is ridiculous to go that far when i have money issues and already a great work space right here. So i have to try to change my work habits and instead of coming and going all day long from computer, even when things are best, i will just stay up there. That's the plan. So if i have a break from sewing, i can do other things like read or sleep or anything else but not come back near the computer house.

the hard part will be making myself get off the computer in the morning and go up there by a suitable time. I'd like to say before 10am.

Yesterday was my birthday celebration so my son asked me what I wanted I told him I wanted the shelves in the garage hung up so he did it. That will allow me to put all my extra blankets and comforters up and out of the way. I have 6 grandchildren so need to have them if they want to have a slumber party at grandma's but they are rarely used. Also want to sort through them and only keep what I need and donate the rest. Our church is having a huge garage sale May 17th so I want to donate things I have culled out as unnecessary for my life now.

Progress! Not a lot but significant nevertheless. Because i got a late start, i went to my workroom before 11am instead of 10am. I planned to stay until 5pm but because i was so tired from a late night, i couldn't' do much demanding work so i quit at 4pm from boredom.

But while i was up at the work with my lunch, i did a number of smaller but no less essential tasks such as unpicking, finish cutting a pattern, wash some fabrics, organise my workroom a bit. So i'm happy with this because i stayed right away from the computer between those times and i feel i can do this again and again now. I feel i've broken the spell this time.

Pattience, yay for progress! I know lots of folks who work from home and have to set some parameters so they actually "go to work". I'm one of them.

I got up this morning determined to do some decluttering. There are still odds and ends here from both the bathroom reno and the changing of the Man Cave to extra bedroom. I got stuff to dumpster and packed the car with recycle and thrift box, oh, and two boxes of books for the library sale. Credit. It looks and feels much better. This afternoons task may be to find a spot for the big clock which lost it's spot when the roll top desk came to the living room. I'm always looking to find what time it is. lol

I really love this thread. I love the idea of it. I hope people continue to keep coming back. It just such a great idea for procrastinators and hoarders to share their progress on a regular basis.

So today is going to be tricky. I"m going to stay away from the computer between 10-4pm. But i have to go out at 11.30 to take the cat to the vet. Later this afternoon have to go running but i will do that at 4pm when work is done. It will be tricky coming back from vet when i usually feel like resting and slobbing so i need to organise my kettle which i haven't done yet.
Its 9am now. I need to make lunch and get all my **** together. so i don't have to come back here til 4pm.

Yay for solutions!!! and feeling motivated!!!!

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 -DONE

Put away misc things that may be piled up on various surfaces

Find home for boxes of equipment - TEMP HOME LOCATED

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 -DONE (chair works)

Do something about books
---------------------------------------------
Now that I've picked up all the stuff off the floor and moved it to my desk so I can start going through it I'm a bit intimidated by the massive quantity of items there are.....sigh.

I stuck to my work plan easily today. Of course i didn't spend the whole day at home because i had to go out for three hours to take the cat to the vet and do a little shopping.

At home again, i made a good start on a beach maxi dress. Its going pretty well and there's not too much left to be done on it. I also washed some fabric.

It was good because i didn't feel any struggle at all. And i enjoyed my work. Such a nice change.

busy weeks
 

Hello

I think I need to decide on minimums-of things I will do no matter what, or NO CHOICE. I have the best intentions but with things being busy and with deadlines looming and working most of the time to meet them, on my down time I don't want to do a thing. And when DH gets home I just want to spend time with him and so we don't do a thing either.

There are a few things I'd like to not to have to face except in unavoidable circumstances:
1) all the dishes being dirty
2) stuff on the coffee table and the floor in the living room
3) a cluttered kitchen table top.

I have all three tonight. Again I have all three.

I'm going to have to force myself to focus there and stay focused. I'm going to have to do this with my food and making choices about the foodstuffs that invite weightloss vs. those that have me stall. Or yo-yo up and down.

That's how things are today.

Oh, I did do some decluttering. I merged two boxes of ceramic tools/materials into one large tackle box from my small one but I discovered the large one (which was abandoned at the studio-for good reason I now know) is broken and so I need to get a replacement. But at least I now know what size I need to buy. I discarded a shoebox worth of stuff and I have only one box to sort through. These various containers of ceramic materials and tools were driving me nuts as I had them in the car for a week intending to sort them. Then I hauled them out at the studio this morning to sort them with a friend and I ended up boxing them up again. Finally this afternoon I did it in the backyard. *credit moi* for persevering.

Well i'm not really decluttering but what's behind decluttering anyway? Procrastination.

Actually, i think i've got my problem beat at the moment so i don't really need to post in this thread any more but i will do it for today and make it my last one until i get stuck again.

I went up to my workroom on time at 10am and stayed there until 4pm. But i went to sleep at 1pm and woke up just after 4pm.

Still i did get one dress finished and spent all morning on another one. Tonight i'm going to finish it. Im thinking it will take about 1.5 hours.

I had to sleep this afternoon, because i went to bed just after midnight last night and woke up a bit too early so was short of sleep and i don't function well on lack of sleep.

I also haven't washed a couple of items that need to be done by tomorrow for the market. So i really should do those before i go back to my workroom in a few minutes.

:wave: Pattience! Thanks for dropping by....rejoin us any time!

onebyone, my experience has been that I had to come up with something I did EVERY day because when I didn't the clutter came right back. Good for you picking something to keep current on. I do my 3 Essentials in the morning NO CHOICE as I have found I never feel like doing any of them when I get home. I get up earlier to accomplish them and the more I've done them the easier it's gotten for me. It's automatic now and I know I feel much better because the few days I haven't done something I've noticed my agitation and disorganization when I returned home.

So, 3 Essentials....laundry started, dishes done and bed made. Credit.

Up to work on my Grandmothers little house today. It's in the final stretch and I would like to have it finished and rented before we head to Florida mid June. It's doable.