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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Aug 1, 2019 15:08:38 GMT
Not sure how it happened, but August snuck up on me. Actually tried to convince DH this morning that it was still July! I did make some progress on my July goals, but can't cross anything off just yet. No eBay listings made, but I did fill 2 bags of things to donate from that pile. There will be no listings done until late Sept after we are done traveling. The slide conversion project is underway, as is the financial binder.
August Goals: * complete financial binder * complete digitally converting slides (11 trays) * declutter the travel stuff as I pack for a trip later this month
How is everyone doing with their own goals and projects? Do you have any for August, or do you plan a break until after Labor Day?
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mich5481
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,502
Oct 2, 2017 23:20:46 GMT
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Post by mich5481 on Aug 1, 2019 15:15:37 GMT
I'm going to jump in!
Here are my goals for August: • reorganize my DVDs and CDs into new storage boxes • hold a garage sale at my friend's house on 8/10 • donate anything left over from the garage sale that afternoon • pack up at least 1 box of books each day • pack up at least 1 box of scrapbooking supplies each day • pack up at least 1 other box each day • prepare a list of minor repairs that need to be made before I can list my house for sale • have each room ready for real estate photographs by the end of the month
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,328
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Aug 1, 2019 16:05:16 GMT
This has been such a busy summer for us, but we are still maintaining our decluttered spaces. I'm slowly trying to redecorate my oldest former bedroom into a true guest room space. After school starts I always defrost the big upright freezer so that's on my to do list. I finally invested in a stick vacuum which is so handy to clean up our hardwood floors. There is also the deep cleaning that I'll work on after school starts and before the holidays.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 24, 2024 4:44:53 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2019 16:05:38 GMT
Yesterday we filled my husband's van filled to the top with donations. We continue to purge.
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Post by mikklynn on Aug 2, 2019 16:33:28 GMT
I have been purging books this week. We plan to move next year and I doubt I will have all the built-in bookcases I have now.
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Post by tentoes on Aug 2, 2019 16:46:40 GMT
I did more cleaning projects in July than declutter-purging projects in July.
I went through the freezer and got rid of a LOT of stuff. (unmarked, or unrecognizable, or freezer burned, or too old stuff) (I usually date things) I also cleaned out two bottom cupboards in the kitchen, and one top cupboard. Cleaning the grout in the kitchen took 3 days--and one recovery day!! I've decided I'm too old to clean grout!!
This month I have the pantry on my list and one of the top cupboard in the kitchen. Maybe I'll also have time to clean out the linen cupboard. I've been through that once in the past 8 months, so it's not really too bad.
Thanks for starting the thread for this month. I lost the one for last month!
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Post by Sorrel on Aug 2, 2019 17:31:50 GMT
I’ve had a really productive week! Probably because I have to go back to work in a week and a half, and it suddenly became crunch time. Here’s what I did:
- cleaned out both my daughters’ closets. They are both in high school so I finally donated all the tween clothes and endless craft projects that they never ended up doing. My husband is going to do my stepson’s closet with him this weekend.
- donated a bunch of books.
- cleared out almost ALL of my scrapbooking stuff for donation. I had so hoped my daughters would be crafty and enjoy the stuff, but nope, neither of them are. It’s possible one will end up being more into it as an adult, but I’m not gonna hold onto to all this stuff that long. I did save some rubber stamps because I *may* use those sometime.
-cleared out the Tupperware drawer, ugh.
- recycled a bunch of magazines from at least 5 years ago that I’ve finally admitted I’m not going to read.
- went through the holiday and birthday wrapping tubs and threw away or recycled 75% of the gift bags as they were old, torn whatever.
Continued with my vow to not buy more replacement stuff! I’ve been pretty good since moving into this house 7 years ago. Also, now that my daughters are teens, there are no more toys or other kid crap to deal with.
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muggins
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,861
Jul 30, 2017 3:38:57 GMT
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Post by muggins on Aug 2, 2019 19:20:51 GMT
I’m moving back to MI from the U.K. the removal team arrive on Monday and I have a full weekend - DH’s Birthday and a leaving party with friends. DD has just graduated and moving into an apartment an hour away on Wednesday. She doesn’t have a car so I’ve been buying a bunch of furniture for her from FB marketplace and storing it in my garage. DH will take it to her on Wednesday. My MIL has been staying with us for about 2 weeks and although she just sits and watches tv, I have to cook for everyone which is stressing me out as we just need to empty the kitchen and eat anything. I have bags of donations and buys and pieces to sell and pack all over the house. It’s getting to the point where I’m just throwing things in the trash because I can’t decide what to do with it. I haven’t even started on the chaos in my sewing room... And here I am lying on my bed peaing!
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Post by cecilia on Aug 3, 2019 1:07:49 GMT
I have been trying to declutter flea market booth stuff.
Goodwill Arkansas is having a competition between the stores in Benton and Bryant (Little Rock metro) which is tied into the annual "Salt Bowl" football game between the two high schools. The store with the most donations this much wins a grant for their school district. Since I go to Benton to go to the surgeon, I drop off donations there.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Aug 3, 2019 11:46:17 GMT
I haven't been decluttering so much as making sure I don't bring too much in as we prepare for the new school year. I was careful to go through all of our school supply stash, pull from that first, and then order what we actually need online, so that I don't start throwing extra stuff into the cart on impulse. Not buying unnecessary stuff is half the battle of decluttering for me. And not going out to the big box stores, with kids in tow, where the second you step into the store everyone is suddenly starving for a snack, about to thirst to death, and also just remembered some new shampoo they need to buy or they will die.
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Post by ntsf on Aug 3, 2019 15:52:51 GMT
I am pulling all stuff out of dresser drawer this morning.. I have only two drawers.. and no other space. so hope to finally put my pants in drawers...dh and I share an extremely tiny closet. hope to put some extra stuff in space room closet. recycled a bag of clothes.too ratty to donate.. If I put them in clear plastic bags, and seal them, can throw them in recycle bin.
update..the drawers are empty, the donation bag is fuller and I just have to put remainders back..
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Post by cmhs on Aug 5, 2019 15:29:19 GMT
I just loaded up the back of my car with books to donate. A friend told me that the Habitat for Humanity ReStore near us has a book donation bin. As long as the book has a UPC, the book bin will accept it. I'm working on and struggling with photos. There are just so many darn photos! I thought I had a strategy laid out but I keep faltering. My plan was to go through and toss the duplicate, blurry, or otherwise unwanted pics and then organize what's left by kid (3 of them), or other categories -- DH before me, me before DH, our respective extended families, us before kids, etc. I'm just overwhelmed. This project has been monopolizing my dining room table for a couple weeks now and I even took the day off today to tackle it. Any suggestions on effective photo storage? I'm feeling defeated.
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Post by freecharlie on Aug 5, 2019 15:32:48 GMT
Here in about 30 minutes I am going to wake up yds to start purging his clothes.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 24, 2024 4:44:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2019 15:32:53 GMT
I just loaded up the back of my car with books to donate. A friend told me that the Habitat for Humanity ReStore near us has a book donation bin. As long as the book has a UPC, the book bin will accept it. I'm working on and struggling with photos. There are just so many darn photos! I thought I had a strategy laid out but I keep faltering. My plan was to go through and toss the duplicate, blurry, or otherwise unwanted pics and then organize what's left by kid (3 of them), or other categories -- DH before me, me before DH, our respective extended families, us before kids, etc. I'm just overwhelmed. This project has been monopolizing my dining room table for a couple weeks now and I even took the day off today to tackle it. Any suggestions on effective photo storage? I'm feeling defeated. Good on you for books!
What you are proposing is exactly what I did when I started organizing my photos. Worked great. 20 years later and I'm still scrapbooking and have my boxes of photos organized a little differently now that many of them are in scrapbooks, but it was perfect for me. Good luck and don't give up!
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Aug 5, 2019 18:36:31 GMT
Yesterday I went through all my travel accessories and samples of beauty products (which I use for travel). Tossed some of it, added a few things to the donation bag and organized the rest of it. I'm just overwhelmed. This project has been monopolizing my dining room table for a couple weeks now and I even took the day off today to tackle it. Any suggestions on effective photo storage? I'm feeling defeated. I did that project several years ago and it took weeks. Mine are organized by year because I tend to think (and scrapbook) chronologically. You seem to have a plan of action, it's just going to take more time.
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Post by FuzzyMutt on Aug 5, 2019 18:57:55 GMT
I just loaded up the back of my car with books to donate. A friend told me that the Habitat for Humanity ReStore near us has a book donation bin. As long as the book has a UPC, the book bin will accept it. I'm working on and struggling with photos. There are just so many darn photos! I thought I had a strategy laid out but I keep faltering. My plan was to go through and toss the duplicate, blurry, or otherwise unwanted pics and then organize what's left by kid (3 of them), or other categories -- DH before me, me before DH, our respective extended families, us before kids, etc. I'm just overwhelmed. This project has been monopolizing my dining room table for a couple weeks now and I even took the day off today to tackle it. Any suggestions on effective photo storage? I'm feeling defeated. I'm in the same boat. I ordered a couple 4X6 and 5X7 Iris photo case boxes during prime days and have actually gotten rid of all the random paper photo pick up envelopes and performed a first sort. I also bought a portfolio like this www.amazon.com/Profolio-Advantage-Presentation-Photography-PolyGlass/dp/B001AJGYZA/ref=pd_ybh_a_125?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5F89TTN6FKDQXDQ763TP Round one, got rid of the following: 1) all photos containing any ex alone 2) all photos containing me alone that I don't reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally like. These photos have all had their shot at being in a scrapbook, so they are pretty much duplicates. 3) all photos for which I have a larger size of the same. As a scrapbooker, this made a decent dent. I did keep a handful of "favorites" duplicates and dedicated a photo case just to these. 4) Any photo that I just wasn't interested in (example yet one more cute monkey at the zoo) or don't know the person (old family photos) I also made two big piles, one for my mom and one for my sister, of duplicate photos or family photos I thought they may like. They've already been mailed- and out of my house! Tossed a couple random albums that they were stored in. Strategy is kicking my butt as well. I have the remaining photos pretty much distributed in the Iris photo boxes, but have to pare it down further and put it in some sort of order. Not sure if I want to go chronological, or location, seasons or people... I'm having trouble formulating a way to do it some combination of that. FWIW I'm the kind of person that breaking up 2 years of Ali Edwards kits gives me hives. Any ideas? Edited to add... I'd eventually like to have it down to two 5X7 cases with 6 cases in each, and two portfolios for the bigger photos. So 12 5X7 photo boxes to cover about 20 years. I'm prepared to be brutal. I have everything double backed up, and scrapbooked.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,328
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Aug 5, 2019 19:17:12 GMT
When it comes to photos I organize them by year. It just works for me. I also toss all photos that aren't scrapbook worthy. So if I printed a photo and didn't end up scrapbooking it I toss it. All of my photos except the really old stuff are digital and saved so I can always go back and reprint which I've NEVER had a reason to do. My kids have school albums so I do have photo boxes for each of them and then one for family. My favorite quote is "I am not in charge of keeping other people's memories." So unless you are immediate family your Xmas card gets tossed in January.
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Post by cmhs on Aug 5, 2019 19:47:50 GMT
I should add that my photos were in some semblance of order before I started this project. For the most part, they were organized by year. Several years ago, I went through them and just labeled the envelopes with the date and the predominant person/event in that envelope. I want to thank you all for your advice and encouragement. After I posted this morning, I told myself, this is a marathon, not a sprint! It will take time. I did make quite a lot of progress today so that will just have to be good enough for now. The dining room table is cleared. **GypsyGirl**, may I ask which digital converter you have for your slides? That's another project on my list.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Aug 5, 2019 20:18:58 GMT
**GypsyGirl**, may I ask which digital converter you have for your slides? That's another project on my list. I have an older version of this Wolverine Film-to-Digital Converter. Only difference is mine has a smaller view screen. It works fine for what I'm converting. It does allow some edits in the screen, but I don't bother. It's much easier to get them onto my computer and do the editing there.
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,328
Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Aug 7, 2019 15:39:23 GMT
Slightly off topic, but I often think about how much work it would be for my children to clean out my house if DH and I were to die. Granted we have a big 4 bedroom house so obviously have plenty of stuff. I do feel like I'm doing my part though by not having every drawer and closet stuffed full of crap. This topic is usually in the back of my mind as I go about decluttering. So basically decluttering makes me happy while I'm living and will make life easier in the future for the kids after I die.
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Post by mellowyellow on Aug 7, 2019 16:02:17 GMT
We are set to close on our house on 9/6 so although I purged a lot before putting the house on the market, I could go through our stuff again. We will be putting stuff in storage and living in our RV until we can find a house.
So for this month...the plan is:
Clean out and pack our ds' closet Clean out and pack guest bedroom closet Go through my clothes again and purge more Get dumpster and throw anything away that can't be donated DD will be cleaning and packing her room before leaving for college
And of course a lot more because we have to be out of the house by closing. I'm excited and exhausted just thinking about it all.
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Post by dewryce on Aug 7, 2019 23:56:37 GMT
I just loaded up the back of my car with books to donate. A friend told me that the Habitat for Humanity ReStore near us has a book donation bin. As long as the book has a UPC, the book bin will accept it. I'm working on and struggling with photos. There are just so many darn photos! I thought I had a strategy laid out but I keep faltering. My plan was to go through and toss the duplicate, blurry, or otherwise unwanted pics and then organize what's left by kid (3 of them), or other categories -- DH before me, me before DH, our respective extended families, us before kids, etc. I'm just overwhelmed. This project has been monopolizing my dining room table for a couple weeks now and I even took the day off today to tackle it. Any suggestions on effective photo storage? I'm feeling defeated. If that is how you “think” of photos when you are looking for them I think it is a great idea. Do you look for a particular photo of a certain child, or do you think “there was a great photo from such and such vacation?” No matter which way you decide to organize them for the future, getting rid of unwanted pics for whatever reason will help! Something that helps me when I have a big project like this is to do it in increments and not feel pressured to do more or do it all at once. For example, I would decide to go through a 2” stack of photos at a time, or do it while watching one episode of a TV show and do that daily or weekly. Whatever time blocks you have, and however frequently you can commit to doing it. That way starting isn’t overwhelming, and you don’t feel guilty when you stop working for the time being because you have plans to work on it again soon.
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Post by Linda on Aug 8, 2019 12:16:18 GMT
cmhs - when I sorted my photos years ago - I sorted chronologically for 'family' photos (anything taken from the birth of DS (1991) to the present). And then chronologically the photos of me/my family from before 1991 and DH/his family from before 1991. I i have quite few pictures of my mum and my sister from post 1991 an I sorted them by person. BUT I scrap chronologically and don't make separate albums for each kid (at elast not until they move out)
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Post by Linda on Aug 8, 2019 12:18:38 GMT
as for decluttering and organising - DS helped me straighten up DH's side of the shed - we didn't get rid of anything because that needs to be DH's decision but it's walkable now.
Also cleaned up the carport - topssed some broken toys and old (leaking) hoses etc...added three old rusty bikes to the dump pile
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Post by dewryce on Aug 8, 2019 13:17:21 GMT
I’ve been gone for a week, I’ve looked and I can’t find the declutter/consumerism weekly post and I don’t remember the fabulous pea who posted it and told me what to declutter next! I was hoping since the topics were the same one of y’all might have noticed. Help me I am not in an organized headspac, very scatterbrained if truth be told, and need to be told what to work on next
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Apr 24, 2024 4:44:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2019 14:37:46 GMT
My husband has started decluttering The four big boxes of magazines he's had for donkey's years are gone, I'm so proud of him.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Aug 8, 2019 15:09:22 GMT
My husband has started decluttering The four big boxes of magazines he's had for donkey's years are gone, I'm so proud of him. That is cause for a celebration! It took me almost 30 years to convince DH that he did not need 10 years+ of old National Geographics from his childhood. I even bought the DVD with all the issues on it, but that didn't even work. It was a happy day when he got rid of them! I’ve looked and I can’t find the declutter/consumerism weekly post and I don’t remember the fabulous pea who posted it and told me what to declutter next! freebird - one of your disciples has lost their way! dewryce - good luck with your decluttering. It's an ongoing project for some of us, self included.
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Post by dewryce on Aug 8, 2019 15:19:44 GMT
Yes, thank you @gypseygirl! And I was just in one of her threads about the amazing cabinet she made.
Scatterbrained doesn’t begin to cover it. My CPAP, cord, and mask which have been packed together in the same suitcase for years, were all in 3 different places on our way home. I have no idea how I did that. At the hotel we stopped at overnight in Amarillo my poor husband kept going out to the car to check the other luggage at midnight. We traveled with 5 different suitcases and a small duffle but I have always packed so that we only have to bring in 1 suitcase and the duffle on our overnight stops. Always. And the bad thing is the mask and the cord weren’t in their case together.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Aug 8, 2019 15:34:14 GMT
We traveled with 5 different suitcases and a small duffle but I have always packed so that we only have to bring in 1 suitcase and the duffle on our overnight stops. Always. And the bad thing is the mask and the cord weren’t in their case together. Have you considered packing cubes for each day, rather than separate suitcases? Buy different colored cubes (they come in many sizes) to differentiate each day, then put into a single suitcase. It would make your travel life much easier I think! I would also look into a small duffle that is specifically for the CPAP machine, rather than tucking it into various empty spots in other bags.
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freebird
Drama Llama
'cause I'm free as a bird now
Posts: 6,927
Jun 25, 2014 20:06:48 GMT
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Post by freebird on Aug 8, 2019 15:35:01 GMT
I’ve looked and I can’t find the declutter/consumerism weekly post and I don’t remember the fabulous pea who posted it and told me what to declutter next! freebird - one of your disciples has lost their way! dewryce - good luck with your decluttering. It's an ongoing project for some of us, self included.I'm on it. I haven't had anything good the past couple weeks!
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