Mini Declutter Mon Feb 1 - Sun Feb 7, 2016
 

Hello!

This is the place to post your weekly goals concerning your physical environment. What needs sprucing up? Cleaning up? Tossing out? What can you do this week to move you towards the beautiful life you deserve?

Hi everyone,

I am new here and just bought the Judith Beck book "The Beck Diet Solution" (pink book). I notice that she also has a book called "The Complete Beck Diet for Life". Does anyone know which of these books I should use? I have skimmed the book and plan on starting the program this week sometime.

This declutter thread is definitely appropriate for me - I have quite a bit of decluttering to do. My goal for this week is to clear off the dining room table. There is a lot of paper on the table so I will try and clear this mess up and get rid of things on the table that I don't need.

:wave: Thanks, onebyone for setting us up.

:welcome3: flower1! I think the monthly Beck thread might be another place to ask your question about the JB books.

Activity for this week

Garden room: I'd like to sort out the contents of a flat grey box/tray and decide where to put them and it.

Sitting room: I'd like to sort and move some family photographs brought from my uncle's. They are in a small carrier bag in a 1930s/40s magazine box. I'd like to polish the box and find somewhere to put it. And whilst I'm in that corner I will decide what to do with a small red leather handbag. 'Keep or chuck?' is what we ask one another here.

Good luck, everyone. Even a small amount done moves us forward.

Welcome flower1 to the group that reads the books by Dr. Judith Beck. On this thread, folks talk about decluttering. All the other strategies get discussed on the monthly threadHope you join us over there.

Welcome flower1!

Another month done this morning! Company books balanced through 9-30-15. 3 months to go!

I cut out the material for another fleece nightshirt yesterday after work and as I kind of expected once it was cut I wanted to finish it. Super simple but warm and cozy. I wore it to bed last night. I left the machine out. I might try a headband out of a scrap. Sewing is one of the activities I now enjoy with my decluttered house. I have space and time and my brain isn't so cluttered with all the "need to's".

Off to work!

We cleared out the garage of nearly all of the things that were preventing the second car from fitting in there - another Goodwill run with the emotional item being dropped was a toaster oven gift from DH's parents a few years ago that fits well but I don't like things on my counters that are extraneous and it didn't work well enough to actually bake anything except a slice of pizza, so I moved it to the garage a year or more ago ... and DH was a bit bent but we finally moved it on. Parted, too, with a folding table my father made me years ago but I just don't use it.

This week - decluttering goal is to work on my wall shelving units. There is a lot on them, and I will work to clear some items and even bin some to rotate. Two larger indoor vertical pots need greenery and then they'll go wonderfully in the master bath. In the meantime, I've put them on the bottom shelves for lack of a better place ... will measure and move forward on that. I was looking for an inexpensive small arborvita type thing that didn't look fake for a bath. This will be a week-long project, I suspect.

Same goal as last time....clutter on dresser tops in bedroom....such a simple goal...but this is more about acquiring new daily habits, and I'm in the learning curve phase...

My goal is to get back to what I was doing a week or so ago. That was working! Not doing that is not working. Funny how that goes.

This week I put together a picture collage that had been sitting around my craft room since before Christmas. During this week my goal is to find templates to make labels for the containers I now have my dvds in. That was my 1st week in January project. I also am continuing to organize my craft room. I only work 15 minutes every other day but there will be an end someday. I strive for beauty and serenity, not clutter and chaos.

Rearranged schedule is resulting in rearranged goals. We purchased new living room furniture and have scheduled carpet cleaning for what will probably (I always say this) be the last paid cleaning before we put down new flooring. I need to clear out some things and prep the rooms for them to be speedily cleaned. Wall behind current couch will need to be repainted a coordinating color and older light suede drapes will come out of a bin to be reused because I think they'll coordinate wonderfully. YAY for saving them. I will have to figure out the best way to get the wrinkles out of them. So a few projects - the painting will not get done asap though as I want to find the right color and not just wing it.

Tonight's goal - find and pull out the previous drapes and hang on rods to start letting the wrinkles fall out. Also - remove the holiday mugs from the dining room shelves and put in storage.

This feels like a re-start, but taking a snapshot, now, will help me see improvement in the next week or two

Mail stack. Current state: several day's mail. Goal: empty.
Progress: handled yesterday's mail as it came in

Tickler. Current state: January 28. Goal: today.
Progress: emptied January 27

In Box. Current state: two bills, a tax form, a reminder to re-charge my FitBit, a newspaper clipping to sign up for a reverse-911 service. Goal: empty.
Progress: none

Email. Current state: 901 total, 313 unread. Goal: empty.
Progress: more accumulation, sigh.

Checkbook. Current state: new statement arrived. Goal: balanced as soon as statement arrives.
Progress: none

Credit cards. Current state: months behind. Goal: checked as soon as statements arrive.
Progress: none

The weekly cluttering site works very, very well. Thanks.

This week. The two bookcases in living room, on each side of TV need to be emptied, cleaned, and moved so old TV can be carted off and new one hooked up. Want to make sure I have enough room to get bookcases back in as space is tight. Books will also be checked for ones I no longer need.

focus needed
 

Hi

I will be away this weekend and so need to get the place in clean condition before we leave. After being sick and then catching up and focusing energy on making the studio usable (it is! yay!) the apartment is severely behind again.

Today I will get all the dishes done, dried and put away.
I will also clear off the dining room table and remove the stuff underneath it-I LOVE to "stash" things under that table!!

Will report back later as to progress.

Continue to mega clean the kitchen, kitchen chairs, de grime the sofa if that is even possible:), wash/vac all floors.
and find a place to stash everything i can't deal with right now:)

Mail stack. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: cleared

Tickler. Current state: January 28. Goal: today.
Progress: none

In Box. Current state: two bills, a reminder to re-charge my FitBit, a newspaper clipping to sign up for a reverse-911 service, and more. Goal: empty.
Progress: took care of tax form, but added more stuff from the mail stack

Email. Current state: 922 total, 328 unread. Goal: empty.
Progress: more accumulation.

Checkbook. Current state: new statement arrived. Goal: balanced as soon as statement arrives.
Progress: none

Credit cards. Current state: months behind. Goal: checked as soon as statements arrive.
Progress: none

Positive progress: Valentine's decor mostly placed out. Holiday mugs and snowflake/wintry plates are away. Fooey. I will look for a better place than where they are in a few weeks... But they've been cleared from the shelving unit. Looked for drapes but didn't find them so they're up in a bin in the attic. That will wait until the weekend or next week when DH can access them.

Tonight: Simple dinner and kitchen cleanup and rest of V-Day decor out. Vacuum in advance of carpet cleaning and pet toys put away/misc. items moved off carpet.

This week's clutter project is over 1/2 done. 2 bags of books to donate to library are in the car for tomorrow. Our old TV will be hauled off tomorrow and new one placed in that area, far less space taken between wall and walking area, thank goodness. Then tomorrow afternoon I get to re-fill both cleaned bookcases and ad some of our great pottery collection to break up the shelves instead of all books.

Then DH will have someplace to watch sports when I get the other for Downton Abby!!!

We're going away this weekend and I don't want to come home to dishes and all that other clutter I dealt with before. So I took the time to deal with the dishes today. A bit more for the morning but it felt good to catch up. The dining room table top is almost clear but I need to sort out under the table next and the kitchen chair. It has stuffnon it. Also in the living room the chaise is cluttered with ceramics that need to be put away into the cabinet space I cleared for them last month. I did manage to clear out some old old food from the big freezer for the trashman today as well as the same thing from the fridge. Cleaning the fridge and the freezer is something I'd like to get to this month. Feeling good with all the continued progress.

to-do to-day
 

Hi.

Just giving myself goals for the day
1) clear away all dishes
2) clear counters
3)clear kitchen table
4)clear under kitchen table
5)move ceramic stock into their storage area
6)clear off chaise
7)clear off coffee table

UPDATE: didn't get to any of the above. Will complete tomorrow.
Update2: super busy today. No progress. Yikes.

Made progress on the In Box and email.

I had an hour near the end of the day when I could have worked on email, worked on the Tickler, or frittered it away. I almost frittered it away because I couldn't make the choice between email and Tickler -- so I tossed a coin and it came up email. CREDIT!

Mail stack. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: cleared

Tickler. Current state: January 28. Goal: today.
Progress: none

In Box. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: did lots of work to get it cleared

Email. Current state: 873 total, 286 unread. Goal: empty.
Progress: 49 fewer total, 42 fewer unread

Checkbook. Current state: new statement arrived. Goal: balanced as soon as statement arrives.
Progress: none

Credit cards. Current state: months behind. Goal: checked as soon as statements arrive.
Progress: none

Got everything cleaned/away for the carpet cleaners and they showed up nearly 30 minutes earlier than the four-hour window. Glad I tackled it last night and was just moving furniture into areas not being cleaned. It looks like we're moving in again and will stay that way until tomorrow evening, most likely.

I don't even feel compelled to make a big dinner with everything crammed into the kitchen. Tomorrow night will be the big push to get it all squared back away. Mini goal for tonight will just be to get through two loads of laundry after I check that the washer is working.

Hi everyone,

I really don't have any progress to report on my dining room table. My goal was to get that cleared off - I seem to be procrastinating. Also feeling a little under the weather this week - very tired and feel like I've got a bit of the flu. I'm off work tomorrow so maybe I will get started on my dining room table ...

Good work to everyone who is getting some of their projects done this week.

Kept up, more or less. I want to keep posting here because it keeps me from getting discouraged. If "kept up" is as good as I can do with a day, then it's good enough. It's better than falling behind; it's a lot better than giving up. I'll get more done on another day -- like today and tomorrow.

Mail stack. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: cleared

Tickler. Current state: January 28. Goal: today.
Progress: none

In Box. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: kept up

Email. Current state: 877 total, 287 unread. Goal: empty.
Progress: 4 more total, 1 more unread

Checkbook. Current state: new statement arrived. Goal: balanced as soon as statement arrives.
Progress: none

Credit cards. Current state: months behind. Goal: checked as soon as statements arrive.
Progress: none

Progress made - another phone call to the credit union and got my accounts removed from dormancy after I said I just was not comfortable faxing in all sorts of docs and answering about 12 identifying questions. Done. That was hanging over my head.

House is all out of order with items still shoulder-to-shoulder in the kitchen as the carpet dried overnight. will move more to its place this evening and clean kitchen before bed. It looks like we're moving.

Was trying to figure out how to donate the couches (someone will need to do repair work) but with snow forecast 4/7 days I don't want them sitting in the garage while our cars have to be scraped off. Or are they truly just discards and then dealt with that way.

I have washed sofa cushion covers, vacuumed thoroughly, dusted corners, washed both bathroom floors-whew!
today is last minute spot check before company- then I'll have to come up with a new non cleaning goal for next week!

I mean for Saturday to be a big catch-up day on these things, but I've got a lot of other things I want done today, too. I'm going to have to make a decision and a plan in the next few minutes. And, be okay with whatever choice I make.

Mail stack. Current state: half-dozen items from yesterday. Goal: empty.
Progress: cleared the junk

Tickler. Current state: January 28. Goal: today.
Progress: none

In Box. Current state: empty. Goal: empty.
Progress: kept up

Email. Current state: 887 total, 291 unread. Goal: empty.
Progress: 10 more total, 4 more unread

Checkbook. Current state: new statement arrived. Goal: balanced as soon as statement arrives.
Progress: none

Credit cards. Current state: months behind. Goal: checked as soon as statements arrive.
Progress: none

I left my home in disorder Wednesday morning when I traveled. It was mostly due to having to tear apart laundry room due to "mouse" issue. I acknowledged I was too tired to put it back together but was distressed anyway upon my return.

Yesterday I was tired and irritable but I made myself head to Denver for my noon coda meeting and started to put things back together.

This morning I finished up some things: I put away sewing machine/supplies, put away other clutter and finished the company books (just now). I also loaded up all the washed/ironed antique linens and dropped them off at the thrift store. That's a 2 year project complete. Credit.

I've decided that until this rental issue is resolved I'm going to take it easy and not start anything new....just maintain. I'm so agitated by this whole ordeal that I know that I just need to rest my mind. I head back to the real job tomorrow. Laundry is going and dishes done.

I enjoyed my lounging day but picked up and put away when I went in and out of rooms and up and down stairs. I notice the difference this morning. Credit.

I had the thought late last night that if I just spent 15 minutes a day (as often as possible) on my income taxes they would be ready to go by Apr. 15. Actually, the past few years I've had them complete but perfectionism had me extending to Oct. 15 thinking I'd go over some stuff again. I didn't last year so my goal is to actually send them off and be done for the year on Apr. 15. I set my timer this morning and made progress. Credit.

I'm just closing this thread as we head into another week! See you there!