BillBlueEyes: congrats on releasing the car to another place. We had a Volvo about that vintage but we didn't keep it running so long.

Lexxiss: Good for you for figuring out what would work while taking care of yourself.

I got back to my filing today.

December log:
1. Organize & plan for month
2. 10 min filing
3. Investigated how to hang a wreath on a new metal door
4. 10 min filing
5. 15 min filing, finished Box 1
6. Shoveled snow
7. Found the Christmas wrapping paper
8. 0
9. Packed up and sent away boxes
10. Bought office supplies, especially packing tape
11. Straightened up for cleaning crew & packed boxes for book fair
12. 10 min filing

Oh, wow, Beckmates, I had forgotten about this thread. I have spent the last two days getting rid of about 18 years of paper clutter..the stuff that needs shredding or burning...I estimate I am less than a quarter of the way there, but I will stay at it. One thing about winter, it does focus me indoors. It astonishes me how much I have just shoved into totes, but it is going away.

Great to have you along, maryblu! We got a new shredder for my filing project -- the old one just wasn't up to the job.

December log:
1. Organize & plan for month
2. 10 min filing
3. Investigated how to hang a wreath on a new metal door
4. 10 min filing
5. 15 min filing, finished Box 1
6. Shoveled snow
7. Found the Christmas wrapping paper
8. 0
9. Packed up and sent away boxes
10. Bought office supplies, especially packing tape
11. Straightened up for cleaning crew & packed boxes for book fair
12. 10 min filing
13. 10 min filing

December log:
1. Organize & plan for month
2. 10 min filing
3. Investigated how to hang a wreath on a new metal door
4. 10 min filing
5. 15 min filing, finished Box 1
6. Shoveled snow
7. Found the Christmas wrapping paper
8. 0
9. Packed up and sent away boxes
10. Bought office supplies, especially packing tape
11. Straightened up for cleaning crew & packed boxes for book fair
12. 10 min filing
13. 10 min filing
14. Shovel snow

I've been having difficulty finding time for everything. The project moves forward at a snails pace and the needed progress is out of my hands, for now. This morning, not sleeping well, I've gotten up and am moving forward at home. I go to the "real job" at 630am.

I ordered a gift online
I mended one of DH's shirts while the sewing machine was out
I'll pick up the office and do my necessary filing.

The office and my "head" will feel better when it's finished. credit.

Happy to report to my team mates, I spent the majority of my time today getting rid of ~18 years of old paperwork stored in totes...estimate I am 1/3 of the way done, and paying a huge time penalty for not following the simple "file, not pile" rule. Resolved to deal with paper coming in from this point on appropriately. Feels good to be gittin" 'er done, and do have a drop dead reach to be done date, so chugging along is good. I have always worked well under pressure.

You're doing great, maryblu! I put off my filing project for years and, at this rate, it's going to take me months. I probably should have given myself a drop dead date a long time ago. But, it's too late now. This is working for me, so I guess I'll stick with it.

December log:
1. Organize & plan for month
2. 10 min filing
3. Investigated how to hang a wreath on a new metal door
4. 10 min filing
5. 15 min filing, finished Box 1
6. Shoveled snow
7. Found the Christmas wrapping paper
8. 0
9. Packed up and sent away boxes
10. Bought office supplies, especially packing tape
11. Straightened up for cleaning crew & packed boxes for book fair
12. 10 min filing
13. 10 min filing
14. Shovel snow
15. Shovel snow

Do you remember how I carefully took steps towards making marmalade a few weeks ago?

I've thrown it all away + some more Seville oranges in the freezer. I'm running out of road before we go away for a bit. The freezer had to be defrosted (one of those, like Bill's, which should do it all on its own but doesn't), I've had a phone emergency taking far too much of my time and then there are all the other things to do.

Credit for realising I don't have to complete this task. Credit for contemplating that I'll probably not make any more marmalade or jam for a few years. If I make it, I eat it (at least a little) and that doesn't help my cause.

Well done, maryblu and gardenerjoy! Paperwork can become overwhelming. And it all comes quietly into the house piece by piece. You turn around and there's a huge mountain of it.

silverbirch: good for you for releasing a project to the wild when it became clear that it couldn't be completed (I have a hard time with that).

December log:
1. Organize & plan for month
2. 10 min filing
3. Investigated how to hang a wreath on a new metal door
4. 10 min filing
5. 15 min filing, finished Box 1
6. Shoveled snow
7. Found the Christmas wrapping paper
8. 0
9. Packed up and sent away boxes
10. Bought office supplies, especially packing tape
11. Straightened up for cleaning crew & packed boxes for book fair
12. 10 min filing
13. 10 min filing
14. Shovel snow
15. Shovel snow
16. Christmas letter

Hey Becksters!

I saw this thread before but didn't stop in to add my two cents. I have been working on decluttering for a couple of years now. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday going through all of my seasonal "stuff". Believe it or not, that was the end of last year's "project" and when we put up our tree this year, I decided "no time like the present" so I spent the entire afternoon yesterday going through all of that. I want to reduce 7 plastic bins down to 3.

My DH and I are planning on moving in 2014 and I do not want to take anything with that I won't really need.

Question: how long does a person really have to hang onto receipts?

Pam

P.S. I don't know if you found a way to hang a wreath on a metal door yet, joy, but there are two possibilities that I use frequently. Hobby and craft stores sell a metal hook thing (I don't know the proper name for it) that is flat at the top so it fits over the door (part of it on the inside of the door and part of it on the outside of the door) and then you can hang anything on that or 3M makes this removable hooks with this goo on the back that is safe and comes off easily when you want to cease hanging a wreath there.

Thank you. I trudged up the garden and put it in the compost bin which is a pretty wild place when you think about it.

At the end of the day, I believe preserving mental health wins over almost everything.

Now in London at my friends' house which is extraordinarily clean and tidy. I've known them 40 years and this is a first. But the landlady and estate agent visited today so perhaps that's why! I must ask them if they've got rid of things. It certainly looks like it and the house is better for it.

I am still working on reorganizing my seasonal decorations. Whatever I decide is going to the garbage, I put near the front door for my DH to take with him when he goes out for his work each morning. I feel that is absolutely key in keeping things from being moved from one part of the house to the other.

I am also tackling a lot of our shared books and boxing those up. It has the added benefit of keeping me preoccupied right before the week of Christmas and my mind off of what I won't be eating this year; a real different approach for me.

We are moving in 2014 so I feel that since I have arthritis in my spine and it really hurts for me to do much of anything that involves using my back, that now is as good as time as any in boxing up things that we don't use now (like most of those books) and getting a jump start on our pre-moving packing.

silverbirch: last week I cleaned up my community garden plot. Since we are moving to another area and we no longer qualify as city residents to use this organic community garden, I had a deadline to remove our winter garden contents and prep it for the next "resident". I find that having any kind of deadline, provided that it is doable, really motivates me and keeps me moving on any organizational project. I love orderly interiors. Period.


Pam

I did it! I cleaned my desk! Only took me four hours.


I filled two tall trash can bags with papers. Papers I had saved for a whole year. OMG! I hate snail mail!

Great Job, georgia, I too am in the middle of a project that just started out as going through my seasonal decorations and now has morphed into boxing up books for a 2014 move.

I hear you about papers. They can be "neverending". One thing that I have learned to do with junk mail is try to unsubscribe when I can (and that is not always possible since a lot of it is unsolicited) but also as soon as the mail arrives, I immediately go to the trash container and go through the mail, tossing as I go. I get a lot of catalogs so that is another problem. I have a separate basket that I toss only those that I want to review. The other ones go in the trash. The thing that bothers me the most about all of this is that the cost of printing all of these and the ecological impact it has. I have to do something more pro-active about that in 2014.

Pam

Pam, I persisted with the junk mail for several years. I'm happy to say the only junk I get these days is local. It makes me very happy and makes life easier for me. No decisions....If I need something from a "catalog" it's all avaliable on line these days...and since I'm focusing on decluttering I don't buy much anyway. It's a win win.
Kudos, too, for going through things in preparation for your move. Doing some of it now will make it so much easier down the road.

I'm still stuck in my whirlwind between rental projects, work and keeping my home in order. Good news-rental #1 has a tenant to move in Feb.1 (their date). We'll hold it for them with a work trade-he's skilled and is willing to tile/paint the bathroom. At my real job I met the foreman for our local highway project. He said he'll have lots of workers looking for places and to let him know whenever I have an open rental. He passed my # on and I have an appt. to show #3, which is ready for occupancy. Yay!
My home stays organized with daily attention and it's nice to have a little holiday cheer with a tree and outdoor wreath.

I commit to keep moving forward. Credit.