NoWomanNoCry
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,856
Jun 25, 2014 21:53:42 GMT
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Post by NoWomanNoCry on Jan 8, 2019 1:02:32 GMT
I’ve never participated in a challenge thread like this, but my goal for 2019 is to declutter this house...so I’m excited to join in the monthly threads.
For January my goals are:
declutter books, magazines, craft supplies.
Organize the kitchen cabinets and my general kitchen space...it’s so small so this is a major thing I need to do.
Put the Christmas stuff away..I'm the one who usually puts the stuff away on Christmas night or the next day and here we are into January and I need to get it done. I’ve had health stuff going on so that’s why I’ve been lazy about it.
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Post by fredfreddy44 on Jan 8, 2019 15:35:50 GMT
Nothing like a new year to get you started. Last week I thinned out the wrapping paper before putting away and repiled the someday ebay stuff. I told my son home from college if he posts and sells the stuff that I'll split any money with him. This week I want to: -re-org the drinks cabinet -thin out our liquor collection -clean out the pantry, or at least the bottom 2 shelves -clean the toys out under the stairs and up date it age wise for my grandson -make my college son thin out his t shirts -take a wad of stuff to Goodwill -clean drawers where pots and plates go I only have one thing left to do on this list: clean drawers, which I will do today. I took 4 bags to GW and threw out a bag of expired/rat eaten food from the pantry. This week: -clean cluttered 1/2 of the garage with family -have college son clean his painting area -have HS finish painting his chest of drawers -move chest into his room and help re-org his clothing plus anything he wants to put in the attic -organize last few drawers in kitchen -start moving living room items out for painters coming soon Having a list like this in "public" helps me get it done.
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Post by farmgirl on Jan 8, 2019 16:30:03 GMT
Jumping in here because I have dropped off the tidying and need to get back to it: By the end of the weekend I will: Finish the linen closet: sheets, odd blankets, and towels. Take down tree. The ornaments/decorations are all put away (consolidated from 3 big totes to 2 littler ones, yay!), but I'm waiting on new storage bags for the tree. Go through china cabinet. Take bedding to APL, and get the rest of the stuff out of my house. I'll check back on Monday and we'll see how I've done
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Post by tentoes on Jan 8, 2019 18:06:12 GMT
I did get my tree put away on the 3rd. I've been out of town until last evening. Although the Christmas stuff is put away, I didn't have time to put the regular stuff back into the wall unit, as it needs a good cleaning first. That will be my first big project of the year. Hopefully that will get accomplished this week.
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scorpeao
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,521
Location: NorCal USA
Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Jan 8, 2019 19:45:28 GMT
I binged Tidying Up on Netflix and ended up taking 5 kitchen trash bags of clothes out of my closet. I still have more that I may get rid of, but I'm going to wear them first and see if they "spark joy." I'm going to slowly go through my whole house using the "spark joy" method. I don't have her books, but if I find that I hit a wall I will check them out.
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Post by tentoes on Jan 9, 2019 2:50:40 GMT
today's accomplishment--I have four of the five pieces of the wall unit cleaned out, and the glass shelves are cleaned, and the wood is polished. The one unit left is the hardest one to clean--it has glass shelves and glass doors a drawer, and a bottom cupboard full of scrapbooks.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 9, 2019 15:21:21 GMT
Nice to see so many new faces on the delutter/organize thread! Welcome to all of you! I hope that you find the motivation and encouragement here to keep you focused on getting your space under control.
I am still working on the digital photo purge. So far I've deleted close to 15,000 duplicates. Going back through I've realized that the duplicate finder program didn't pick them all up though. Now I am going through year by year and deleting any duplicates I find (not too many at this point), as well as those blurry and not so good shots. My goal is to get all the digital photos in order so that I can put together some photobooks.
Yesterday I pulled my paper files and stack of papers to go through. Since I have about 90% of my files and statements on the computer (e-statements are wonderful!) it didn't take nearly as long as it has in the past. I've got a folder of receipts from the year (furniture, small appliances, etc) that I need to scan, then shred the originals. Recommendation: The Evernote Scannable app is amazing (available for both android and Apple products)! I can scan a stack of papers in just minutes, then send them to either my iCloud account or the Evernote account to be saved. Now I can find a file much more quickly and don't have as much paper around. I much prefer it to the scanner we have, and the quality of the scans is excellent.
Today a friend is coming by to use my sewing machine to put a binding on a quilt, so I plan to get some things listed on eBay while she is doing that. I also need to get cracking on my monthly goal of completing 3 UFO's in the sewing room. I can't believe a whole week of January is already gone. Time really is flying.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jan 9, 2019 17:50:26 GMT
I find that if I take the items out of the area being decluttered, I am more successful in getting rid of things. If I am in the room and have mild interest in an item, I can simply just turn around and stash it someplace. If I bring a box from my bedroom into the dining room it means I have to bring whatever I keep BACK into the room and that is more work than just putting it in the donation box. I think this is a great idea and I quoted it because it bears repeating! I am trying to quickly scan every cupboard I happen to open for anything that can go. I know I still need to pull out everything eventually, but in the meantime this is helping. I can often spy a few things that can go right away. Items to donate. Almost empty bottles to throw away. That kind of thing. I pulled a frying pan out that I no longer use. Some spices that I'll never use. A few utensils I just shuffle around in the drawer. Slowly but surely, it makes a dent in the overall total. Today, I did a quick run with my out of season closet. I set a goal of grabbing 9 things (since it's the 9th day of the month). With no trouble at all, I ended up with a big bag of 26 things to donate. What helped was the Marie Kondo school of thought -- thank the item for what it taught you and don't keep it if it doesn't spark joy to wear it.
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Post by tentoes on Jan 9, 2019 19:28:10 GMT
I watched my first episode of Tidying up yesterday. I went to the kitchen and folded all the dish clothes!! Still have to fold the towels. The dishcloths now take up 1/2 the drawer instead of the full drawer. I have room for a little box in there now to hold some other things.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jan 9, 2019 19:33:07 GMT
I watched my first episode of Tidying up yesterday. I went to the kitchen and folded all the dish clothes!! Still have to fold the towels. The dishcloths now take up 1/2 the drawer instead of the full drawer. I have room for a little box in there now to hold some other things. I've been watching today, too. I watch an episode and then take a break to go do a Marie-inspired chore. Her show is so soothing. I like all the people featured so much. Just really inspiring!
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NoWomanNoCry
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,856
Jun 25, 2014 21:53:42 GMT
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Post by NoWomanNoCry on Jan 9, 2019 20:00:58 GMT
I watched my first episode of Tidying up yesterday. I went to the kitchen and folded all the dish clothes!! Still have to fold the towels. The dishcloths now take up 1/2 the drawer instead of the full drawer. I have room for a little box in there now to hold some other things. I did the same thing lol
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Post by bigbundt on Jan 9, 2019 20:28:04 GMT
Brought our old crib mattress to a friend for her dogs and a large desk top to the thrift store. Now the upstairs hallway is clear! ETA: Also took all the wood from my daughter's bunk bed to the storage shed. It was a cheap Ikea bed that did not come apart very well and I didn't want to just throw it away. Will just use the wood for those one off/scrap projects.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jan 9, 2019 22:45:12 GMT
Taking a break from dismantling Christmas trees!
Got the front porch tree and decor down and winter decor in place.
Got the tree in our bedroom down, labeled and put away last night; it’s the second biggest tree (8’).
Totally emptied our cedar closet, dusted and vacuumed it out. Putting away, labeling and organizing everything that goes back in! Lots of stuff to sell or donate coming down!
Packed the mantle decor away and started putting up the winter display (was inspired with the all day snow we’ve had today!) I have to haul up 2 bins of snow/winter stuff to sort through yet.
Getting ready to start on dismantling the tree in our kitchen and then the 12’ main tree in our living room. I think I can get both down yet tonight. I’m sad but I’ll be happy once it’s done.
The twin 8’ trees in our dining room are going to stay up a while longer, they are all glass snowflake ornaments and winter.
I’ve been also going through every bin of holiday stuff that I do have and sorting it out perfectly so that next year is a breeze. I’ve even made a master list of everything and location!
I feel like in some ways I’m making a bigger mess (for the moment) but the payoff will be excellent. I have glitter all over (and I hate glitter!) I have my label making stuff out and I’m on a mission! My family is looking at me sideways 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 9, 2019 22:49:35 GMT
papercrafteradvocate - So many trees! Your house must be a winter wonderland in December! I'm sure it's beautiful. How long does it take you to put all those trees up and decorate each year? Good luck at sorting it all out and putting it away.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jan 9, 2019 23:08:47 GMT
papercrafteradvocate - So many trees! Your house must be a winter wonderland in December! I'm sure it's beautiful. How long does it take you to put all those trees up and decorate each year? Good luck at sorting it all out and putting it away. We currently have 9 trees total, (which is half of what we had in our first house!!!) Front porch is a 4’ skinny tree-about and hour to set up, Kitchen is a 5’ regular tree, about that one 2 hours to set up, Living room is the only live tree, it’s 12’ and it takes both my hubby and I to set up, get the lights on, then about 3 hours for all of us to fully decorate, A 4’ regular one in hubby’s office, that is a hobby of his tree, I just wrap it with tissue paper and plastic wrap and store it in a big closet so setting it up takes about 30 minutes! I have a smaller tall 3’ tree that I decorated in all coffee ornaments in my art space and I leave that up all year, Twin dining room trees are skinny floor to ceiling they take about 3 hrs to set up, I wanted to wrap them this year, but I don’t think I’m going to have the closet room to be able to do that, Kids have their own room tree and they decorate and tear down we help if needed (lights), The mantle is 12’ long and I use lots of greenery and glass that takes a few hours to do. And next year I’ll add one more 8’ tree in the space between the living and dining room at the end of the fireplace wall—we bought the tree after Christmas this year. I decorate trees as a “hobby” I love it, there is a method to my madness and I’m very systematic in my decorating so it doesn’t overwhelm me or take me a long time. It probably doesn’t help that one of my closest friends owned a holiday decor company and our other mutual friend was a florist—we all are horrible and enable one another and all our houses are full tilt interior holiday decor (and mine out of us 3 is the most minimal, lol!!!) This year I decorated several trees and holiday home decor for others and got paid to do it! I’ll likely have more work from them next year too. I love it, and it’s relaxing and meditative for me in a way.
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Post by deafpea on Jan 9, 2019 23:29:05 GMT
Since I last posted, I've:
1. Gotten an old van hauled off for donation. 2. Gathered lots and lots of paper stuff (papers, newspapers, ads, boxes, etc) and out to recycling. 3. Gathered stuff for donation. It's all in the car and will be dropped off sometime this weekend. 4. Rearranged the family room for a better flow and look. Side effect: that room is now clean and organized. 5. Cleaned up the back hall. I have a Shelf Reliance storage unit there and we keep stuff like paper towels and toilet paper on top. Got the paper stuff organized and other stuff cleared out of the hall. Floor has been swept and vacuumed. 6. Play room is cleaned up. It's organized except for the Legos. Need to figure out something for that. 7. Hauled Christmas boxes and some other things to their homes in the shed. 8. Gotten my 2019 electronic documents set up (financial tracking, checkbook, tithing record). Just need to finish the budget and that's done. 9. Gotten exercise equipment organized so I can easily do home workouts.
Goals for this weekend: (Short day tomorrow and no school Friday due to end of term so extra time!) 1. Get donations taken to friend who is gathering stuff for a yard sale to benefit her son's dance studio 2. Check that all recycling has been taken out 3. Work on paper piles 4. Work on file cabinet 5. Take CFLs, toner cartridges, batteries and glass to recycling. (Thanks to those who gave suggestions of where to take things for recycling!) 6. FOR FUN: put up winter decor
Those are the must-accomplish things. Anything else I get done will be gravy!
Merilee
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Post by tentoes on Jan 10, 2019 1:20:48 GMT
packed up about 10 pairs of shoes of my husbands and mine, and put them in a plastic bag for donation, along with a couple of bags of clothes from our dresser. I also folded my jeans like the show showed, and instead of a whole drawer, they now only take about half a drawer. Will tackle the other dresser tomorrow. (maybe) Put the rest of the Christmas decorations out in the shed. Cleaned out the bottom part of the last part of the wall unit. I only have the drawer, and 3 shelves left to do. (and clean the glass doors)
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Post by jlynnbarth on Jan 10, 2019 2:33:46 GMT
When we moved 2 years ago we purged a ton since we were down sizing from 4K sq ft to 1800 sq ft, so I don’t have a lot to purge anymore, but watching Tidying Up has sparked something inside me to get rid of even more. I pulled everything out of the linen closet, and got rid of a kitchen bag full of linens. I only kept 1 extra set of sheets for each bed instead of 2, finally ditched about 10 washcloths that just never get used, some towels that had a bit a fraying went to the garage for my dh to use on the cars, have decided that this spring/summer when Costco gets in beach towels I’m getting rid of the crappy cheap ones that don’t absorb squat and replacing them. (We had a pool at our last house and I had bought the cheap ones for the kids and their friends to use.) Any random mismatched anything got ditched. There wasn’t a lot of that kind of thing, but even one non needed thing just needs to go. I also dumped my scarf drawer on the floor and refolded them the konmari way and stood them all up. I didn’t get rid of any as I truly wear them all the time (living in the northwest requires wearing scarves in the winter lol) but now I don’t have to dig through a folded pile, I can see them at a glance and it’s time saving, which I love.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 13, 2019 17:59:41 GMT
How is everyone coming along with their goals for the month? I've lost a bit of momentum and need to get going again. Donated 3 large bags of stuff and a laptop bag this week. Sort of blew my goal of not going to a thrift store this month, BUT I didn't buy a single thing so I consider that a win. This afternoon I plan to do some eBay listing (kitchen items I purged) and then work in the sewing room. Is anyone here watching the Netflix series Tidying Up? Read an article today on how thrift stores are experiencing an increase in donations as a result. The first sentence in the article is a pretty good description of me when I enter the guest room.
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Post by Pahina722 on Jan 13, 2019 20:26:45 GMT
DH and I delivered four boxes of books, six bags of clothes, and two boxes of wine glasses (do those suckers breed in the cabinets?) to Goodwill last weekend. This week was our first back in the classroom with students, so we didn’t get as much purging time, but I did get another four boxes of books packed up which DH then dropped at Goodwill yesterday. I know that once we get through purging the study of books, it will look so much better; however, right now, it’s scary.
My goal for this week is three bags of clothes from my closet. I’m a victim of the ‘some day I will lose weight and fit back into that favorite pair of pants’ syndrome—I’m working on getting past it. By the time I lose weight, if I ever do, the pants won’t be in style, so why hold onto them, right? DH is also bringing home lots of copier paper boxes for my book purge, so that, too, will be on my list.
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Post by cecilia on Jan 13, 2019 20:38:23 GMT
We have mainly been decluttering our flea market booths. We have them in 3 different stores. We have made 3-4 donation trips already.
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NoWomanNoCry
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,856
Jun 25, 2014 21:53:42 GMT
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Post by NoWomanNoCry on Jan 13, 2019 21:27:27 GMT
I’ve never participated in a challenge thread like this, but my goal for 2019 is to declutter this house...so I’m excited to join in the monthly threads. For January my goals are: declutter books, magazines, craft supplies. Organize the kitchen cabinets and my general kitchen space...it’s so small so this is a major thing I need to do. Put the Christmas stuff away..I'm the one who usually puts the stuff away on Christmas night or the next day and here we are into January and I need to get it done. I’ve had health stuff going on so that’s why I’ve been lazy about it. Updating my progress.. all the kitchen cabinets are purged and organized. All Christmas stuff is out away.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 13, 2019 22:30:16 GMT
I’m a victim of the ‘some day I will lose weight and fit back into that favorite pair of pants’ syndrome—I’m working on getting past it. By the time I lose weight, if I ever do, the pants won’t be in style, so why hold onto them, right? That's exactly right! I had this happen a couple of months ago. I lost weight last year, so when cool weather came around I pulled all my wool pants out of the cedar chest. They were from the 2009-2011 range and not a single pair was in style. Also, a few pair fit in the waist but were too big in the hips/thigh areas. I told DH that it was a hollow victory - finally lose the weight and the clothes didn't work! There were all donated, as well as many other things I was holding on to for "someday". Make like Elsa and 'let them go' is my advice.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 18, 2024 5:25:44 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2019 22:44:07 GMT
We took our queen bed apart and replaced it with now DH’s king.
Went to Target and bought new sheets and blanket since he got rid of his old stuff.
Took 2 bags of clothes to our church. He really purged his closet.
Mopped the bedroom floor since we had to rearrange everything.
I’m on my 4th load of laundry with one left.
Took old batteries to be recycled.
Threw away a bunch of old papers.
I think that’s it.
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Post by tentoes on Jan 13, 2019 23:41:58 GMT
I cleaned out the medicine cabinet in the master bathroom--and got rid of a bunch of stuff--soaps, lotions, perfume, and some medicine. I now have some space on my shelves. It's a huge medicine cabinet above the sink--it's in three parts with mirrors across the whole thing. Then I cleaned out the two small drawers. That extra stuff was added to the box, so the box doesn't close now. Still have two more medicine cabinets to get through. The part that scares me is the cupboard under the sinks!! I cleaned both bathrooms pretty well, ran the vacuum, and washed the kitchen floor after church this morning. Even found some more Christmas stuff to put away. Here I thought I had taken care of all that.
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Post by tentoes on Jan 15, 2019 2:00:49 GMT
I cleaned out the refrigerator today. I hate that job!! I just started a new blood pressure medicine, and it has a whole list of "possible" side effects. It even says not to drive until you know you don't have any of these side effects. It about scared me to even start taking the stupid thing. So, I had to find something to do to keep my mind off of possible side effects!! So far, so good.
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Post by canadianscrappergirl on Jan 15, 2019 5:06:33 GMT
How is everyone coming along with their goals for the month? I've lost a bit of momentum and need to get going again. Donated 3 large bags of stuff and a laptop bag this week. Sort of blew my goal of not going to a thrift store this month, BUT I didn't buy a single thing so I consider that a win. This afternoon I plan to do some eBay listing (kitchen items I purged) and then work in the sewing room. Is anyone here watching the Netflix series Tidying Up? Read an article today on how thrift stores are experiencing an increase in donations as a result. The first sentence in the article is a pretty good description of me when I enter the guest room. Just started watching the 1st episode. The wife seems lazy. Has someone do their laundry. When the kid said boobies to be breast fed the look on MK face LOL
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Post by jennrs on Jan 15, 2019 14:28:09 GMT
I started working on the garage yesterday. I got so frustrated I left it a mess and started on some drawers in my bedroom.
Most of the stuff in garage is husband's tools. Why do we need 3 pressure washers, a bazillion containers of screws and nails, tools he hasn’t touched in 5-7 years?
He also has a shed stuffed full! It’s so ridiculous! He used to do a lot of side work and used that as an excuse to keep so much. In the middle of a job when he didn’t know exactly where something he needed was, he would just go buy it again. Then that would get brought home to store. Now he’s semi retired and there’s stuff out there he hasn’t touched in years.
I’m trying to be sensitive to his feelings and belongings but I’m losing patience. Every time I have cleaned up the garage and get a work bench cleaned off he manages to fill it up again over a few months.
I’m heading back out there again this morning. Sorry for the vent.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,333
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Jan 15, 2019 15:42:19 GMT
My goals for the new year are more along the lines of maintaining the spaces I've already decluttered and reducing my shopping to save money and reduce clutter coming back into our home. I actually started back in Oct., but so far I'm doing really well with the no shopping. I also set up a cash grocery budget envelope system. I always struggle with stockpiling food (not a food hoarder though lol!) and wasting too much fresh produce. I think we can save a lot of money in this category.
Yes I realize it's only January 15, but hey you gotta start somewhere right?
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gottapeanow
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,752
Jun 25, 2014 20:56:09 GMT
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Post by gottapeanow on Jan 15, 2019 16:31:39 GMT
I make a salad with lemon and oil dressing that calls for about seven spices. I checked all the expiration dates on the containers. All but three were expired! Ughhhh! Tossed them. And tossed chicken and beef bouillon that was expired too. Note to self: Do not buy huge containers of spices from Sam's as you will not use them before they expire. I definitely have other spices in smaller containers that I need to toss as well. Lisa
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