Curvynotlumpy, I didn't know I should have been addressing you as Dr. CNL! Belated congrats. Books . . . sigh. . . at our house, they only enter. They never leave.
@Mountain Mama: For a very long time I was on the academic track, but I grew weary of the relentless grind (my perspective only) an academic leads so I switched focus. While I'm proud to have earned the degree, the real reward was learning something inside and out, having to create an argument and defend it, but mostly completing the process. In my younger days I was a notorious non-completer of projects so it truly has been one of my biggest accomplishments. However, when I hear someone refer to me as 'doctor', it takes a beat or two to realize they're talking to me. Like you I LOVE books! I don't know if it's because I'm a renter and not a homeowner that lead me to donate almost all of my fiction books at the time of my last move. I don't regret it; I know that lots of folks benefited from the donation and I work on the campus of a major research university where the library and inter-library loan is only steps away. But I think if I owned a home and had all the room in the world I'd be back to square one with books entering and never leaving
Well, whittled my way through half of a stack of papers today & feel better already.
chyrpes!! Very sorry to hear about the migraines. Under the "Obstacles" sub-forum I think you'll run across fellow-sufferers. On the happy side, glad you found the Beck board, and yep, slow and steady does it!!
Curvy, I still think congrats for a PhD are in order! That is a LONG hard road.
Quote:
Originally Posted by love2garden;5111541 [QUOTE
However, I've cleared several square feet of desk and discovered the desk is a creamy white. Who knew? May each of us have a good week and finish next week with less "stuff" haunting us.
I like the sentiment we finish with less stuff but please give me more than a week!!!
1x1 - don't be dismayed by your apartment. You've been doing back-to-back craft shows!
curly - Nice idea to buy fresh flowers, but then I'd have to dig up a d**n vase for them! Good idea to look into - apartment therapy.
Last edited by Mountain Mamma; 01-04-2015 at 09:56 PM.
Curvey, wow! Congratulations on a very long road that led to your Doctor's degree. What will you do next? How fortunate you are to be near the really good library. I used to travel with DH when he inspected Universities (for construction of HVAC, plumbing, fire alarm systems, electrical systems, etc) and while he check out the work, I hit the libraries. He knew where to find me but not which floor I was on. Loved the opportunities and miss that now that we are both retired.
Mountain Momma, I agree it will take us more than a week for most of the necessary removal of clutter.
I have discovered some interesting papers, then spend too much time reading them.
Hi. So some progress has been made. I succeeded in going through my dresser drawers and I filled a garbage bag with clothing to donate and re-arranged my dresser afterwards. I must have 30+ tshirts. Good ones, sentimental ones, and work ones. I have maybe 4 other shirts. I managed to give DH his own laundry basket because I cleared one of them out with the donating and the re-assignment. I have another laundry basket which will become my basket for my dirty clothes once I re-arrange the linen closet. So one step leads to the next obvious one.
The donation bag went out front to be picked up by the diabetes people today along with an end table and the extended bath seat my mother needed at the retirement home. The diabetes guy only took the clothes. So I put the table and the bathseat into the car and will drop it off in the morning at the Salvation Army. *credits for: donation, sorting dresser, re-arranging dresser, not allowing stuff to come back into house once it's gone out. This has become a rule.
I also started tackling the dishes so *credit for doing that slow and steady.
Next will be the linens and the chaise lounge. I need to clear it off. It's just become a place for me to put stuff on.
Let's hear what you guys accomplished in the first 8 days of January!
Hello, all! I've been reading a book, "The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up" by a Japanese writer and some of it is interesting to me, but I'm not prepared to undergo six months of culling before organizing. I'm not boxed in by my possessions, but there are certainly items in each room I can discard. Interesting premise is that the writer's theory is to cull your things by item, not by room. So, say you want to clear out some clothes, you put ALL of your clothes in a room on the bed, and include everything for other seasons that are packed away, coats, etc. underwear, socks, EVERYTHING. Hold each piece and decide if it brings you joy. Do you want it? At first I thought it was a bit of hooey, but now I'm thinking I have things that i wear and feel like a frump, but hate to give away since I bought them this year and they were $4 deal. But the whole day I feel crummy. But looking at everything of one type of possession ALL at once would be a major eye opener.
I am thinking I might try this down the line - same with books. Put ALL of your books in one place and then start out the same process. Last night I just started clearing out some cookbooks. I don't want to keep things because my parents gave them to me if it's not something that I need/want. But it's hard to part with that emotional aspect.
Goal for the weekend is to do the Goodwill drop and add more items to the bin to try to sell on ebay. I wish I had a teen who wanted add'l money who lived near me I'd "hire" them to sell my stuff and give them a good cut! It'd be nice to supplement our trip funds with small sales.
Last edited by nationalparker; 01-09-2015 at 04:56 PM.
I am a new member of the community, but not new to dieting or the Beck Solution! I, too, am trying to declutter and get organized post holidays. I have a REAL aversion to it. I'd rather, eat, shop, drink, and a few other things. But I've cleared away the TIME to declutter and now I'm face to face with it! It helps to know that you all are out there plodding away, too. Anyone ever look at the Flylady online?
Hello all! I have finished clearing off my bureau and am letting it sit mostly empty, so i can look at it and think what i really want on it. this kind of goes along with some of the January Cure (glad to hear you are doing it Nuxmaga and it has helped before!) - really taking time to think how you could use a space differently, rethink how you have used a space, etc.
I'm also doing some deep cleaning of bathtub, and have started to put things in a beautiful secretary desk that my mom handed down to me- starting to think about organizing bills and paper clutter better.
MarinMaven- I have used some of flyladys ideas in the past. the most helpful to me was 1) use a timer for small amounts of time 2) have a control journal 3) assign a task to certain days ie tuesday is bill paying day. Not that i am currently doing all this! but these have helped in the past. I actually bought her book a few years ago and found it more helpful than constant emails, but its all online for free.
To start with an aside, I want to use the flylady stuff but I can't get past the sink concept. My clean-scrubbedness of my sink is just such the least of my worries.
I'm actually pretty good about physical clutter in my house but I need to do better with my mental clutter at work. So, if I may, I'd like to join you. I am focused now on building better habits (thanks, Beck!) and the one I am starting with at work is to write down my to-do list every day, where I can find it, for 30 days...starting 1/14.
To end with another aside, in the last year, I went into my closet and got rid of everything that didn't make me feel fabulous or at least pretty good. It was so freeing. I have few clothes now but everything is my favorite. And all those clothes I used to have but were not my favorites? I never wore them anyway. Now I can see my favorites more easily and it is much easier to pick out outfits and have fun with it. Now, too, I only BUY things that make me feel fabulous. Love it.
We can make life less cluttered and simpler, and that is a load off our minds.
True, mental clutter can really be a pain in the neck. Trying to pay attention to a friend who repeats over and over the list of complaints that seem to grow, but never finish - I space out, perhaps for my own sanity. I've tried talking about what I'm so grateful for or what went right with my day . . .
Some paper work cleared out, shreded or in the file. CREDIT
Some single socks thrown away and I give up on finding the mate.
Books to take to library, and magazines, too.
To do list? I've normally done this the night before. Habit from work that was necessary and helps.
hi everyone- hmm, its been quiet for awhile! I have been focusing on deep cleaning more than decluttering, but found some things to toss along the way. I went through a few kitchen cupboards and found duplicate items to get rid of- how many 1/4 tsp do i need really?
Also sorted out one junk drawer in my bedroom and tossed a lot of old check recorders, including one from 9 years ago. Kind of fun to see what i was doing then, thru the lens of check writing.
Am going to try to get back to the never ending paper sorting/tossing and find ONE place to put my"things to deal with soon" pile.
Still shredding old documents, lots has gone in the dumpster.
New dishtowels let me cull thru the old ones that are so tattered that we'll use them for dirty work then toss away. Great paint rags, or for pollshing shoes.
Medical papers, wonder how long I need to keep these records?????
I am starting to put a plan together to get the apartment back into shape. I need to make a few furniture decisions, which will be difficult. Boxes need sorting and my livingroom remains depressing so will get on that. It'll be a few more days but I am committed to getting this done by the spring. Cannot wait for spring.
I've been reading, and miss being a part of the group here. The changes which are happening in my life, regarding the care of my DH's grandbabies make adding anything else in absolutely impossible.
I've kept up with my morning "dance" for quite awhile now. My every morning routine is:
~make bed
~do dishes
~continue with laundry, whether it be wash, dry or fold (Fold always gets put away)
I have worked a routine, as well, where I'm constantly picking up and putting away as I go, and I do cleaning bursts, both large and small when I see the need.
It's working and I was rewarded for my ongoing efforts when my husbands ex-wife needed to sleep on our couch for a week. I wasn't even home and was able to say....here's where we hide the key-make yourself at home. What a major big deal for me. Credit.
The babies ended up staying, too, and now that everyone is gone it still looks pretty good because I kept my routine.
Flylady was brought up again, and I've caught myself "wondering" as I did my daily sink clean up, just why it makes such a positive difference to me. (my way is not the perfect way she describes)
~it keeps me current on my dishes
~it makes me really "think" of ways to decrease my dishes (rinsing certain items right away (knives/vitamix), washing pots and pans AS I use them, having 1 coffee cup/1 drinking glass per day, the list goes on....
~I feel more peaceful when I cook-not navigating around a bunch of "stuff"
AND
~that one daily routine seems to encourage new routines with more difficult tasks.
Anyway, during this "crisis" when a lot of stuff was everywhere I felt very peaceful at my kitchen sink because it was clean.
I still stay away from thrift stores and really think through purchases. I still don't miss any of the many boxes I hauled away.
And....when we needed to find some very specific documents very quickly I was able to go right to them.
My basement could use a small overhaul but it can wait.
This morning I tried to focus on the start of my moms business books for 2014. I worked for about 4 hours, completed 4 months and I took short breaks where I tackled my own chores.
Despite knowledge that I could push on and finish today I'm going to prep lunch and read this afternoon until I have to drive down to pick up the babies and return them to their dad when he gets off work.
i don't have much i've been doing, since we've been dealing with megasnow and other stuff- but wanted to say great post lexiss! I can relate to what you said about simple routines keeping things going, and i'm so glad to hear how helpful it was during your recent family visits.
I don't know why, but it really spoke to me, and i just felt a lot of satisfaction reading it!
I am going to keep working on sorting thru my papers, ugh....waving to everyone!
For a very long time I was on the academic track, but I grew weary of the relentless grind (my perspective only) an academic leads so I switched focus. While I'm proud to have earned the degree, the real reward was learning something inside and out, having to create an argument and defend it, but mostly completing the process. In my younger days I was a notorious non-completer of projects so it truly has been one of my biggest accomplishments. However, when I hear someone refer to me as 'doctor', it takes a beat or two to realize they're talking to me. Like you I LOVE books! I don't know if it's because I'm a renter and not a homeowner that lead me to donate almost all of my fiction books at the time of my last move. I don't regret it; I know that lots of folks benefited from the donation and I work on the campus of a major research university where the library and inter-library loan is only steps away. But I think if I owned a home and had all the room in the world I'd be back to square one with books entering and never leaving 
chyrpes!! Very sorry to hear about the migraines. Under the "Obstacles" sub-forum I think you'll run across fellow-sufferers. On the happy side, glad you found the Beck board, and yep, slow and steady does it!! 
May each of us have a good week and finish next week with less "stuff" haunting us.
one week in...
I'd "hire" them to sell my stuff and give them a good cut! It'd be nice to supplement our trip funds with small sales.
getting there
