Lighten Your Load--Beck Declutterers--Spring 2015 edition
 

Hello All!

The Diabetes Society keeps calling me.They want my extra stuff! Do YOU have stuff to donate/clear out/toss out/re-purpose/move along....? Now's the time. Set some goals and organize your environment. This challenge will end on the first day of Spring.

Imagine, our Spring cleaning could be done as the season makes its arrival so we can just sit back and enjoy it in our new and improved environments! Please check in and let us know your plans...

So glad you started this, onebyone.

First goal: Get rid of the accumulated pile(s) of scrap metal in my basement that I'm saving for some mystical reason . . . like I'm going to become a scrap dealer and sell the copper to buy a new car. If I bring it to the town recycle center, some ambitious person will get it recycled and pocket a coin. Hats off to them.

Thank you, Oneby One.

First goal. My wonderful huge computer desk. Difficult to tell what color it is under the unfilled papers, notes, receipts, etc. Shock my family if they saw it cleared.

Well...I have tried this thread a few times, but never managed to stick with it....Try, try again..

I'm looking at that old (ancient, actually) pile of papers on top of my dresser that DH "kindly" put aside for me....and another pile that keeps shifting around the house as guests come in and out.

So, first the piles, before they get so big we get the piles.

Well, I'm not an official Beck follower, but I am attracted to decluttering endeavors (if only in spirit most of the time :o:dizzy:), so I hope you all don't mind me jumping into your thread. Three things I'd like to accomplish before spring:

1. Take my already bagged (that's right, already SORTED and BAGGED!) clothes to Goodwill. Similar to BillBlueEyes, I periodically fantasize about a mythical garage sale, or Craigslist posting where I will sell them all for profit.

2. Sort and re-box at least 5 boxes of books I used for my dissertation to donate to our local public library. I earned my Ph.D in 2009 and have not touched them since. I think it is the emotional attachment. What's funny is that I was able to discard all my articles, magazines, and journals used for my dissertation with no problem whatsoever. Right into the recycling bin.

3. Bring old bank statements, assorted articles, clippings, etc. to work where we have monthly shredding with industrial shredders.

These are focused doable goals. I can do this!

Thank you onebyone for this post. I am working on another 52 weeks of organizing (started last year but lost steam part way through). I have a large box of paperwork that needs to be sorted. Either placed in files or thrown out. That is my goal for week 1 of 2015.

thanks for starting this onebyone!

Like a few others, I need to deal with paperwork and paper! I am old school and still do bills etc by hand, so need to figure out where to store them, pay them, then shred or keep if needed.
And figure out how to organize the papers i want to keep- a few momentos, reminders, recipes, etc. I have started various systems, make it too complicated, then abandon.
and then there is all of DH's paperwork!!

Okay, first thing is to tackle one pile and move on from there.

Not officially Beck but do read posts in here Daily. (There's no reason at all why I can't be Beck and SBD, is there? Duh! Must think that one through.)

My biggest organizing hurdle is getting started. I live by myself (except for two non-critical dogs) and "stuff" just seems to pile up. Last month I had to clear out all upstairs closets for floor replacement and the same construction will happen downstairs in February.

I have started sorting and deciding the fate of my late husband's huge book collection and have found homes for my painting supplies. Life is too short for all I want to do and I will be focusing on quilting as long as my eyes hold out. That does not mean 17 packets of quilt kits to run up quickly! (Can't resist a bargain! Some of them will go to my quilting meeting on Monday.)

Tomorrow I'll start 2015 by bringing in some smaller boxes that I have in my car and will sort some books (two bookcase shelves) to be taken to storage for a book sale in April. Some of the more valuable books will be put in the car to be taken to a book dealer in the city. I will not just put them in storage and he ahs expressed interest in buying them.

I will also re-read in my pink Beck book and plan some menus.

In the meantime, :newyear:

Ha! I don't think of myself as cluttered (though some could disagree :eek: as one person's crafts/hobbies/collections are another's clutter . . . ) but like seemyfeet & millie & love2garden paper is my nemesis!! It reproduces in thin air and settles on every flat surface. Thank you, onebyone, for starting this thread. Does anyone use a budget software program they recommend? After looking at options I always go back to my old spreadsheet. I do NOT need a program to tell me what I spend on coffee, I just need quicker inputing.


Ruth - deciding your late husband's book collection sounds like a very hard project. :hug: But as far as the fabric & quilt kits, don't rush into anything!!! Because the price of fabric continues to skyrocket . . .

curlypudge - guess what happens when you go paperless - bazillions of daily emails choke your inbox: Your abc bill is available. Your abc bill is due. Don't forget to pay your abc bill. In 10 (9, 8, 7, 6) days your abc bill will be late. Thanks for paying your abc bill. Your next abc bill is now available. More news from abc. And if you print abc bill, it comes to 16 pages & empties your ink cartridge. I could scream! Although, it was SO nice to get a holiday e-thank you from my credit card company, saying how much they :love: appreciate me. Awww

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.

:newyear:

Hi. So I have a whole apartment back on the to-do list yet again. This time of year is the worst for me and seeing my place filled with piles of stuff on the floor, the furniture and in the dining room again is severely depressing to me right now. Guess I'm getting ready to tackle it again. One more time. At least I have seen myself do this a few times now so I know it can be done.

Thanks everyone for joining.

Interesting forum to start with as a first-day newcomer. When what/how I eat is chaotic and unhealthy, chances are the same is true of my physical living space. There's a feeling of being "protected" by the fat and the clutter. The time and effort I spend on thinking about and arguing with both limits the time I can do the thing that frighten me--and so, there's work and a lot of reading and solo activities.

One issue that complicates things for me a bit (!!??) is that I have migraines. I figured this was as good as any a place to write about them. Between migraines I have to catch up with basic cleaning, work, and other things that are more immediate. This is tough!

I like the idea of doing on drawer or similar type of activity a day. I recently started working on getting rid of hair products and I like the results I'm seeing. Slow and mostly steady is what guess will be my norm.

On Beck--this is new to me. I googled Beck and will read some of the basics. What all of you have shared is so helpful. Thanks!

Short term goal: Complete the swap of summer shirts with winter base layer stuff so clothes aren't stacked around the bedroom floor. Seems that DW is more offended by visual clutter than I am.

hi everyone! glad to see so many folks here! Sounds like some great plans and goals!

I and DH started working on clearing off our bureaus and threw out a bag of stuff, so I feel glad i have started the process. I consolidated some stationary etc and am donating some art supplies to a church.
A few goals to address- sort thru books yet again, sort under the bed containers, and the two cubbies in my bedroom.

I don't know if anyone has followed the January Cure at Apartment therapy- they have you follow a series of steps and focus on one area of your place (I think I sort of skimmed it last year)- anyhow, that is another resource. The start was yesterday with the directive of buy fresh flowers for yourself and do some deep cleaning on your floors. I may try to incorporate some of this if its helpful.
MountainMamma- your email made me laugh! but thank you, its good to know the drawbacks of paperless bills, it makes me think twice!!

Two smallish boxes of books ready for the Spring sale - I do small so I can lift them. I also recycled about 50 old magazines that somehow got stashed away for "later'.

Today I have lunch company but will ask Glenn (6'4") to take down the decorations that are too high for me to reach without a ladder! The de-Christmassing will have begun by sunset although my tree stays up until Tuesday - the 12th day of Christmas.

The plan for tomorrow is to dig out clothes for Cuba from my summer stuff and put the rest back, not on a bed somewhere. (I'm sure there are some summer things that should go to Goodwill.)

What a lot of action here! This is bound to encourage each of us to make at least a change or two that will actually stick.

Great quote from a book by Matthew Kelley The Rhythm of Life.

If you can teach yourself, condition yourself,

to desire those things that are good for you,

there is nothing you cannot achieve or become."

"Desire is one of the greatest forces at work within the human being."

I'm learning to ask for the desire to notice, then do something about the clutter especially in this Computer Room at home that I share with DH who is a very neat and organized person. My spouse is like BBE's because he notices when anything is out of place. 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.