Hi Declutterers!

I have been working a crazy woman in my yard. My progress outdoors reminds me of the progress I used to make inside when I just put my heart and soul into it and didn't make a production of how much work it entails.

I've been working bit by bit over the past month. I would clean out a bed at a time and try to not get discouraged by the amount of weeds. I did 7+ hours yesterday and another 6 today. These two days really moved me forward fast!

I came up with some new ideas and strategies this year and it's turning out great, even though it will always be a work in progress. I found strategies in the house to get DH more involved and I've been doing the same in the yard. I got him interested in planting corn as a privacy barrier where I had taken out invasive bushes and he jumped at my bait. I bought seeds and he planted them. I committed to digging/transplanting raspberries myself and he jumped on board. When he came to find me to dig berries I had the barrel by the sidewalk and he actually went and got tools to help me.

I have a tendancy to want to do everything so perfect and my letting go of perfection has allowed for some progress which I think we'll enjoy this year. Once it gets too hot I'm not much for all the strenuous work so I'm glad I got out when it's been cool..

Now I just wait to see how it turns out, and try and maintain my (weed) losses. lol

Hi Declutterers!

I had reason to go up to the rentals this afternoon. I found a big mess outside...boxes of old clothes, bed frame, misc furniture. Ouch. My tenant has an ongoing on off relationship w/his ex but part of the condition of his renting was that her stuff(which he admitted was excessive) would not "land" on the property, neither inside or out. Well it has. I don't like confrontation, but I called just a little while ago. "She" answered the phone and we had a discussion. I explained while the outside needed to be cleaned up that hauling it inside was not an option. She said she is dealing with it. Now when I talk with him he'll be able to respond to my call. Glad I just did it.

My office has deteriorated since I went on the tear things apart hunt for the notebook. I was restless, so I went ahead and worked in there this evening instead of saving it for tomorrow. In the process, I pulled out the needle and thread and darned my two workshirts which are in fine shape but for little holes under the arms where they get so much wear. My thought was to just do one and put the other in the drawer for later. Not necessary, I finished both. credit.

Hello Streudel Welcome. Glad to see you here. How is the kitchen table declutter going?

Lexxiss When I read about the stuff your tenant put outside I thought, wow, now you're dealing with someone else's clutter issues. Wow. At least as a landlord you will be sensitive to it. But geez, I wish for you a break. Kudos for all the outdoor garden cleanup and for getting DH on board. Win/Win when that happens. Excellent!

My plan for tomorrow is to sort through the clothes once again. There are still too many. And I will go through one of the boxes in the dining room and finish it off.

Anyone else checking in? How are our projects going?

Today I will:

inflate my bicycle tires yes
move the lemon tree outside and water it yes
water my other plants
clear the kitchen=>finish the dishes & clear off table & break down boxes for recycling & clear counter tops
declutter two flat-ish boxes from the dining room and break them own for recycling as well

decided to do clothes on another day as they are in DH's back room where he is working and I need to leave him be!

BY THE END OF THE DAY:
-kitchen clean and everything put in it's place
-boxes ready for trash this week
-bike ready to be used this week yes
-boxes permanently removed from dining room area

UPDATE: did not finish all these tasks so I will carry them over to tomorrow. I did mange two very important things though so I am taking *credit* for that.

Hi Declutterers!

onebyone, for getting your bike on the road! Kudos for giving credit for tasks accomplished and keeping your unfinished on the radar!

Yesterday had a joyful moment, with regards to my decluttering/daily maintenance efforts. At work, my heating/plumbing guy said to call him after I got home and he'd meet me at the rental project. I met him and then spontaneously, we headed down to our home to look at my boiler/heating system which we have decided to replace in a proactive manner. He needed to inspect every room in the house and I didn't have any panic. Things were reasonably clean and put away and the bed was made. I'm so grateful to have a semblance of a normal life at home these days.

I also gave my outdoor grill a major clean out before work. The eve before I tried to grill and it didn't want to heat properly. I took everything apart, cleaned everything up and when I turned it back on it worked perfectly. It also helped DH to relate to our replacing this expensive boiler now....like the grill it is very inefficient. It is exciting to deal with this now rather than in Winter when it becomes a crisis. My heating guy swears it will decrease our heating costs substantially and I believe him.

Lexxiss You wrote:

OMG How fantastic! I am feeling much calmer about the state of my house that's for sure but DH and I were in a panic a few weeks ago that the landlord may want to come into every room to try to figure out why the apartment unit(s) -not just ours- are eating up so much fuel for heat. I can tell him it's the windows (cause it's the windows for sure) but for him to really get serious about it he'd have to do an energy audit which requires someone holding this thingy that gets aimed at doors, windows, walls etc, meaning you need access to them. Mostly (CREDIT) you could do that here but there are a few inaccessible areas, so I so appreciate what you said about not feeling panic when a stranger had to have a walk through. Fabulous! Great work on the grill as well. And on mending your two shirts the other day! I am so glad you are taking note of all these things you do. You definitely deserve credits--many of them!

I am at the ceramic studio this morning but will be back here this afternoon. I am going to continue my list from yesterday. Here's what's on it:

water my plants
clear the kitchen=>finish the dishes & clear off table & break down boxes for recycling & clear counter tops
declutter two flat-ish boxes from the dining room and break them down for recycling as well
clean up around outside of grill (Thanks Lexxiss for reminding me!)
gather stuff for the garbage man from the backyard

BY THE END OF THE DAY:
-kitchen clean and everything put in it's place
-boxes ready for trash this week
-boxes permanently removed from dining room area

Hi Declutterers!
Made some decisions about changes to our home. DH took a picture of the piano and I listed it on Facebook and will be writing and ad listing it on craigslist tomorrow. Decided that since I haven't played it in ages and I also have a very nice casino keyboard we don't need it.

Decided to move the desk into the craft room and move the movie collection into the living room as soon as the piano is gone. Also decided to downsize from three tvs in the house to 2 and put DH gaming systems in the living room (he hasn't played them in over 2 years but isn't willing to part with them yet).
DH cleaned the bedroom carpet my son just moved out of and it looks like new. We will be moving my crafts and sewing stuff into that room which our the plans for Memorial Day weekend moving furniture and stuff from one bedroom to another. Then we will be able to remove old torn up carpet and start working on getting that bedroom in decent condition. Really am excited about all the changes in our home and have much more serenity since DS moved out.

Hello!

Great progress onebyone and Millie56! Me, too!

I'm up getting organized for my day, gratefully now a solid routine! I'll do my 3 Essentials but will give a little extra TLC since I'm pretty certain the heating guy want's to study all the radiators in the house today and I'm just going to let him roam while we work on the rental. I did bathroom sinks yesterday and have already done one toilet. I'm going to take some extra time in my office since it always has the most clutter....good ol' paperwork.

I have a nice essential oil dispenser in the downstairs bathroom because it's small and there is no fan. It hasn't been working for quite awhile now....it gets clogged with oil. I decided to take time yesterday and try a new fix. It worked and now I get the fragrance when I walk in the back door. It took 15 minutes and I've been procrastinating it for months. Credit.

Hi Declutterers!

My success still seems to be centered on routine. It's a US holiday, but I don't take a holiday from my 3 Essentials, laundry, dishes and make the bed. I do get a break today since DH is still sleeping LOL and I need to head to work.
I did pick up downstairs, to stay on top of the current clutter. Now, as I look at my office I'll spend 10 minutes here before I head out. It's amazing how much can get delegated to it's proper spot in 10 minutes.

Anyone else moving forward?

I need this thread right now! I'm not to bad, but, 2 major projects this summer.

DH and I are putting up a new 40x56 shop, new roof, and new siding, which means 5 years of stuff need cleaned up!

Posts in old garden need to be pulled and the fence torn down, toad village and fence and deco has to go, credit, got the decos cleaned up. Rolled up 1000' of garden hose. Along with other minor details. Finally got caught up on the mowing.

Along with this my 96 year old grandmother went to the nursing home over Thanksgiving weekend.

Without going into a lot of details, the sale of her home is coming together nicely, but my 2 sisters and myself are spending the next 2 weekends, cleaning out her trailer and having a garage sale. Our mother is an only child and is in no physical condition to do anything other than have temper tantrums. She wants to keep everything! She had turned into a hoarder! Mom has more crap than Carter has little liver pills!

So between, cleaning at home, pulling together the details with insurance, taxes, the bank, bids, buying materials and so on and so forth, and dealing with my grandmothers stuff, seems a bit over whelming!

I am thankful for the long weekend, we did get some outside stuff done and I got the house cleaned up, shampooed the carpet, and planned and executed food plan for the next few days!

End of May today and I made alot of progress but was on vacation this past week away from home so didn't quite finish.

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 - Not Completed

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 - DONE

The sisters and I got Grandma's trailer and garage cleaned out. It's all at Mom's in her garage. Will start putting stuff out for garage sale on Friday.

Everyone thanks for participating in this forum! Looks like we all accomplished some good work.