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Post by tentoes on Jan 2, 2022 20:34:06 GMT
If I don't come back to report in a couple of weeks....would someone please TAG & NAG me? I might need a little outside motivation!Thanks so much for starting this thread **GypsyGirl** h LOL at the bolded part!! I guess we all need a little nagging at times!! Good luck girl! YOU CAN DO IT!! Rah rah!!
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Post by tentoes on Jan 2, 2022 20:36:45 GMT
When we moved in November, we went from 3000 square feet to half that. We downsized considerably but it still feels like we have too much stuff. My overarching goal for the year is to continue to pare down. Some of what is a roadblock are projects he have started/need to start to create the spaces so everything works (if that makes sense). I just need to get really honest about what we use/wear and ditch the rest. I can relate. I went from a full HOUSE to a MIL suite at my son's family home in 2000 when COVID first shut us down. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it takes a lot of discerning between NEEDS and WANTS. Good luck to you!!
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Post by tentoes on Jan 2, 2022 22:18:12 GMT
I've started. I cleaned out 5 drawers so far. I didn't get rid of anything, but folded everything the way they are supposed to be folded, and put everything back into the drawers orderly. Only 15 more clothes drawers to go through.
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Post by maryland on Jan 2, 2022 22:22:42 GMT
Thanks for starting this thread! I love reading decluttering and organizing projects!
I am trying to get most of my kids stuff decluttered this month. They are 18, 22 and 24 and in college, working, grad school. They are home for a few weeks, so we have a lot to do! Their rooms, the attic (their clothes, memory stuff, etc.), the basement, the garage.
Our German Shepherd has degenerative mylopathy and can no longer use her back legs. She is in a harness all day and night because we have to lift her to move her anywhere. It's very hard as she is 83 pd. She also whines a lot. So I cannot get much done myself. I told the kids that in order for me to take care of the dog, we have to have the house in perfect shape the next few weeks. Also lots of meal prepping and freezer meals.
We have gotten some bins in the attic gone through. I pull it all down, they pick what they want to keep, donate, throw out and I sort it based on what they say. Then I haul it back up. Trying to make it as easy as possible for them so they will do it. I can't wait to get it all sorted and have a bit of organization in my house! My life is chaotic right now and I need control over something.
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Judy26
Pearl Clutcher
MOTFY Bitchy Nursemaid
Posts: 2,884
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Jun 25, 2014 23:50:38 GMT
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Post by Judy26 on Jan 2, 2022 22:30:25 GMT
My goal is to empty my son’s room, get rid of much of his stuff, paint and redo the flooring and turn it into my office/ sewing room. He got married 6 months ago and has shown no interest in saving anything. Times up and I am going in! Wish me luck!
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Post by Scrapper100 on Jan 3, 2022 0:06:13 GMT
We need to purge a lot of stuff. The garage is a mess because we have more stuff due to covid and then stuff is out of place because of Christmas and then because of a roof leak. Anyways hoping to get the Christmas stuff put and the leak fixed soon and then start working in there. I did toss a bag of stuff today ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/5645536/images/MNrJDkDuSwqIMVw33MdD.jpg) It is going to be slow but slow and steady as they say. We have too much stuff in several rooms so I plan to work on them this year to. I don't see a reason to have as much food as we did during covid so I plan to eat that stash down over the next few months. Then we need to go through the other cabinets and boxes in the garage as well. I am going through my closet slowly. I did an initial purge and now going through and wearing stuff that I haven't worn in a while. Figure start at one end and work my way down. If I don't like something into a bag it goes. I need to do a purge in my craft room as well. I have way too much stuff. I need to find a good place to donate - thinking a senior center but not sure if it is open yet. I also have some books and dvds to donate to the library - the store reopened not that long ago and then they were inundated with too many donations so I need to check them out. Then I need to decide which books I won't read or reread and get some out, same with DVDs. I have a small stack ready but I need to purge more. Some were from an online book group and book box I was getting I read the main book but not the second book that many of the boxes contained so I need to read and then pass them on probably 12 books plus the main ones. Lots of work to do here.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Jan 3, 2022 0:17:43 GMT
Well, yesterday my son said he wanted to paint his room. This morning he said he had started to move things and get ready to paint. I wasn’t exactly planning on that today but we did it. So, not much else has gotten done. I’m going to have to work on some general cleaning tomorrow. Luckily I have a few hours to work on it.
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luckyjune
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,685
Location: In the rainy, rainy WA
Jul 22, 2017 4:59:41 GMT
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Post by luckyjune on Jan 3, 2022 2:16:07 GMT
When we moved in November, we went from 3000 square feet to half that. We downsized considerably but it still feels like we have too much stuff. My overarching goal for the year is to continue to pare down. Some of what is a roadblock are projects he have started/need to start to create the spaces so everything works (if that makes sense). I just need to get really honest about what we use/wear and ditch the rest. I can relate. I went from a full HOUSE to a MIL suite at my son's family home in 2000 when COVID first shut us down. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it takes a lot of discerning between NEEDS and WANTS. Good luck to you!! Thank you!
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Post by tentoes on Jan 3, 2022 21:29:59 GMT
Well, I cleaned out a drawer today. But it morphed into 2 drawers. I was able to combine two drawers into one drawer full of long sleeve tops. So One drawer is cleaned out, and one drawer is empty. Last night I wore a pair of pajamas that I decided to get rid of. The top doesn't feel good on. So, I've started a get rid of bag now too.
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gensmith
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Jun 2, 2020 8:49:08 GMT
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Post by gensmith on Jan 5, 2022 16:52:30 GMT
I love reading about everyone’s progress and future goals. I decluttered so much last year but there’s still more to be done. The main thing I got finished in the last few months was going through everything in our attics.
My dd moved out 6 years ago and there were still old school things, old books and a huge box of Barbies and toys in our attic. Also empty boxes of appliances and tools we had bought that DH kept throwing up there. I don’t get in one of the attics so it was such a shock to see all of them he kept throwing down, like wth? What is it with men and empty boxes? LOL
Now it’s more decluttering of closets, drawers , cabinets. I have spent this week deleting pictures off of the computer. Soooo many unnecessary pictures .
I hope we all reach our decluttering and organizing goals this year!
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Post by mikklynn on Jan 6, 2022 11:55:36 GMT
I purged more Christmas stuff as I put it away. I also simplified the way I put away ornaments. I tossed most of the boxes and put the ornaments in these zip up containers. It went so fast! Really, the glass ball ornaments are unique and pretty, but nothing to cry over if one gets broken. link
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gensmith
Full Member
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Post by gensmith on Jan 6, 2022 12:47:51 GMT
I purged more Christmas stuff as I put it away. I also simplified the way I put away ornaments. I tossed most of the boxes and put the ornaments in these zip up containers. It went so fast! Really, the glass ball ornaments are unique and pretty, but nothing to cry over if one gets broken. linkI started using those zip up containers and I love them but one handle has already ripped and the container is only about 3 years old. They’re so lightweight and so much easier than big bulky plastic bins though.
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Post by Jamie on Jan 6, 2022 15:02:46 GMT
I was off on Monday for the holiday and just got this urge to start getting rid of stuff. I knew I had stuff under our bed that had been taken off the walls close to a year ago now that I was never going to put up. That lead to cleaning out my closet and then sock drawer. Bunch of stuff got thrown out as it should have been long ago due to holes etc, and then one bag to go to my mom. This continued Tuesday after work. I have the whole open space upstairs (half is my desk for work and the other is sewing) I got rid of 90% of my craft supplies I've been hoarding. Need to stop buying stuff just because it's cheap after the holidays and then not using it. I completely filled the back of my Explorer with stuff I'll be donating. It's stacked to the roof. Sitting here looking at 2 storage bins of ribbon now thinking I might go through that as well. Also cleaned out the ottoman storage and below the entertainment center in the LR. Now if I can just get hubby to leave for a weekend I would love to go through the kitchen stuff. I know there is more there that can go, but he'll fight me every step to get rid of it. You know stuff has been around way too long when you literally can't wipe the dust off with your finger, it needed a wet rag (stuff that was under the bed) Hoping I can take this stuff in on Saturday morning and start filling it up again. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy. I have no idea how many times I was in and out to the truck loading stuff out. They probably thought someone was moving
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lindas
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 26, 2014 5:46:37 GMT
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Post by lindas on Jan 7, 2022 18:50:10 GMT
I finished the office today so another room checked off my list. Three large trash bags later the filing is up to date, shredding is done, desk and file drawers are cleaned out and organized. Everything has been wiped down, dusted and vacuumed. One more load of laundry to do then I’m giving myself permission to do nothing until Monday.
So, did anyone else check a goal off their list or put a dent in it this week.
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Post by Scrapper100 on Jan 7, 2022 22:37:31 GMT
Wow lots of inspiration in this thread.
I bought one of the zip up containers but a bit different to hold ornaments and a few other things - mostly my favorite items are what I want to go into it. This will make finding stuff easier and my special ornaments that go on my skinny tree won't accidentally get put on our main tree if I am not supervising LOL.
A couple bags of clothes have come out of my closet but that's it so far. I think I want to get rid of more stuff that I originally planned in my craft room. I am waiting for the senior center to reopen as they just closed again.
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Post by tentoes on Jan 8, 2022 0:38:58 GMT
I finished the office today so another room checked off my list. Three large trash bags later the filing is up to date, shredding is done, desk and file drawers are cleaned out and organized. Everything has been wiped down, dusted and vacuumed. One more load of laundry to do then I’m giving myself permission to do nothing until Monday. So, did anyone else check a goal off their list or put a dent in it this week. I shredded a bunch of papers and threw them out. Emptied a whole drawer!! I hope I didn't shred anything I need now. I always second-guess myself.
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Post by deafpea on Jan 8, 2022 1:31:45 GMT
Hello everyone! I had to take a break for awhile because I started graduate school and even though I only had two classes--they were TOUGH ones! That took all my extra attention and energy for the fall semester. Happily, I did very well--got better than 90% in both classes so I'm happy! My advisor tells me those two classes were the toughest ones so while I expect plenty of hard work ahead of me in this next semester, hopefully it won't be quite so demanding. So I hope to have some more time to work on projects in 2022. The first project(s) are a bit of a merry go round. The ultimate goal is to get my study set up in the upstairs bedroom. My son (DS20) who was living in Italy came home at the beginning of December and is moving to his university dorm this weekend to start college. The bedroom he was using will be my office. So, what needs to happen: 1. Younger boys' bedroom in basement emptied and thoroughly cleaned. We bought new mattresses and DS20 was using one of them, with the understanding that DS10 would use the other, and DS13 would get the mattress DS20 was using when DS20 moved out. So in preparation for moving the bed from the upstairs bedroom to downstairs bedroom, we'll empty, clean, declutter, sort and organize. Set up new beds, get rid of old mattresses (they're old and need to be retired). Beds used to be bunk beds, still in great shape so I'm going to check with my school to see if anyone needs beds. If not, I'll check with my community group. If no one needs them, I'll take them to the donation center. Or maybe try to sell on FB Marketplace. 2. After boys bedroom is done, upstairs bedroom/future study will be mostly empty. I did a thorough clean when getting it ready for DS20 to come home so it just needs to be touched up. Then I'll move my office furniture from the downstairs office (that I share with DH) upstairs. I'll take advantage of this upheaval to go through stuff and toss old stuff, get papers filed, etc. 3. Once my stuff is out of downstairs office, we can clear out that room and give it a good cleaning. Then DH can set it up the way he wants. One of the reasons for this whole project was that DH will be working from home 98% of the time for the foreseeable future. There will be times when the team wants an in-person meeting, and they will have those meetings at the company HQ but for the most part, they'll continue to work from home. DH would like more space and a little bit different setup. We will probably need to buy some more furniture--I know he wants to make an L shaped work space, so we'll need to get another table top from IKEA that matches what he already has, and maybe another Alex drawer unit. He'll decide what he wants after he's able to move things around a little. DH thinks we can do the project this coming week. We'll see. I'm going back to work on Monday, DS20 also starts college on Monday and since this is his first experience, we may need to make a few extra shopping trips or something to get him fully set up. Fortunately he's only about 40 minutes away but still, that uses time. I start grad classes again on the 10th so having all this done would be great so I'm all set for school. Happy New Year 2022 to everyone and may we all make progress on our decluttering and organizing goals! Lots of progress this week! *Christmas is packed up and the bins are in the garage. *DS20's bedroom: bed has been moved downstairs; floor thoroughly vacuumed and cubby shelves in closet dusted. *My office stuff has been moved from downstairs to DS20's bedroom, now known as Mom's study. *About 50% of my office stuff has been put away in the Kallax and the closet. *My area of the downstairs office has been carefully vacuumed and now DH can arrange things as he wants. *The boys' bedroom has been thoroughly vacuumed and furniture dusted. *Old mattresses have been taken out to the garage and new mattresses set up. Beds are made. *Boys' stuff has been brought back in and put away. Goals for the weekend: *Get Christmas bins put away in the shed. *Get the rest of my stuff that is in the study put away. *LAUNDRY. Lots of bedding to wash and put away. *Go through house and empty trash bins and collect recycling. *If it's warm enough, work on garage. Have a fantastic weekend!
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Post by ntsf on Jan 8, 2022 2:00:14 GMT
i got a box of pictures, slides and movies off to be digitized.. reducing the clutter in someways.. something dealt with. I have hopes for the weekend as the rains have stopped for a week and it is a little less damp in the house
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Post by natscraps on Jan 8, 2022 20:43:35 GMT
Long awaited project finally getting done this weekend. DH wanted to buy some speakers off facebook marketplace but they were 3 hrs away. He softened the blow by saying since he’d be near Ikea he’d pick up the Hemnes sideboard I’ve been wanting. All of DS’ craft and school supplies will finally have a home and not be stashed all over the house! Was hoping to get Christmas put away this morning but forgot to have DH bring up the bins before he left.
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Post by ntsf on Jan 8, 2022 22:04:02 GMT
going through, throwing out, and organizing my sister's papers. she is disabled, and, with my dad's passing, I am taking over all the financial and support stuff. so I am organizing the bills, the banking stuff, the housing papers, etc. he kept change statements from 2015.. out the door!!
got rid of lots of cardboard boxes, and dh finished changing all the smoke detectors, while my child took the dog out for a long walk.
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Post by Linda on Jan 8, 2022 22:08:01 GMT
well done everyone!
I got Christmas packed up today - still need to pack up Advent (nativities etc...I pull out earlier in the season) and the outdoor decor but DH helped with the trees and I got it all put away in an organised way for the first time in some years. Got rid of some packaging etc...
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,912
Jun 25, 2014 20:45:00 GMT
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Post by melissa on Jan 8, 2022 23:15:36 GMT
I've been thinking about purging for a few years but it's overwhelming.
I have things from my daughter's various apartments over the years here in storage in various locations- her room, the formal living room, the room sometimes known as the guest room or the scrap room and some in the crawl space in the basement. Oddly enough, we've almost emptied the one in the basement which no one can see but that was because we had a small flood in there!
And now it's 2022 and my mother-in-law moved in this week. No idea how long she is staying or what the future will hold. She's here instead of rehab. I had a few days notice but then stopped because we thought she'd go to rehab but there's too much Covid anywhere with an opening. So on in one day, I heavily purged the bathroom we are sharing for now (dh is still renovating ours). And purged an entire dresser in my daughter's room so MIL can have a dresser.
Before that, I had started just before the New Year with my sewing room. I bought a Cricut and needed to create space for that and those supplies. That motivated me to start getting better organized in there. It was actually fairly organized, just messy. I bought bins for my big Ikea cube thing (it's 5x5) so that looks SOOOO much better. Just need to make labels for what is where since I cannot see it anymore.
I need to set some small goals to keep this going. All while still crafting for my own sanity.
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Post by natscraps on Jan 9, 2022 1:19:40 GMT
Indoor Christmas is mostly put away. All that’s left are the 2 stripped down trees and DH will take care of those in the morning. Very productive day. Glad to finally be feeling better.
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Post by Linda on Jan 9, 2022 1:40:23 GMT
melissa - prayers for your MIL and for you - it's not easy being a caregiver. There's a scraproom/space thread each month on the challenges sub-board of GS - we would love to have you join us/ natscraps - well done! I went ahead and put away Advent as well. I have one box in progress still because some kitchen linens are still working their way through the laundry. I'll do the outdoor stuff tomorrow except for the lights (those are DH's domain). Found a few things to donate and a couple to toss. But the big win is that like is with like and the Advent boxes are in FRONT of the Christmas ones so will be easy to get out next year (unlike this year)
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 25, 2014 20:45:00 GMT
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Post by melissa on Jan 9, 2022 19:07:42 GMT
Thanks for the heads up on the scrap room challenge. The first challenge in there is all the stuff that isn't craft related! My plan is to start purging in there in order to be able to even get to the scrap stuff!
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Post by Linda on Jan 9, 2022 21:15:34 GMT
outdoor Christmas and lights are packed up.
I did a little re-arranging in the dining room and foyer - the clean surfaces tend to attract DH's piles of stuff. So I put the mask basket and a decorative pineapple on the foyer table and moved our lazy susan off the drawers in the dining room and moved the wines and liquors onto there - I've picked out a cabinet for them but haven't ordered yet. That freed up space for the new spice rack sitting patiently in my Amazon cart. And DH collected all his stuff from the dining room to bring upstairs to his bonus room.
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Post by natscraps on Jan 9, 2022 22:35:53 GMT
We don’t have a junk drawer, we have a junk cabinet and it finally got cleaned out today. DH got the sideboard put together and all of DS’s school and art/craft stuff is in its new home. Most productive weekend I’ve had in a long time and man does it feel good. Now off to finish my lesson plans since organizing was more important today 😂
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Post by tentoes on Jan 10, 2022 0:35:16 GMT
I cleaned off my computer table today--I had to turn it around so I could have access to the one little drawer. It's actually a small wheeled cart, I used to use it for a table beside our couch--which it still is used for that too, but it has become the catch-all for the whole room. I threw out all the old papers that gathered there, I put all my remotes in the little drawer, and had to run all the plug-ins around through the bottom. It took much longer than I thought it would--of course, but it's done. and it looks much better. Not sure yet how utilitarian it is--there may be some changes soon!! For now it looks like it will work.
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Post by alsomsknit on Jan 10, 2022 0:45:12 GMT
Over the past week the Boy tossed some socks and a shirt. Thankfully, he gets what it means to toss as you go naturally.
DH and Dad took down the outdoor decorations and burned the brush pile from the pines that were taken down in November.
Saturday, I went through the cabinets and tossed expired food. Food gets buried far too easily. I found a few things that had expired in 2019. Wiped down the counters and cabinets. Cleaned the entire main floor after finishing with the kitchen.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 10, 2022 0:48:52 GMT
Very impressive to see how much everyone has accomplished in just one week! I've been reading but haven't really had the time to post. It's been a busy week here for organizing and decluttering. Here is what I've managed to accomplish: * Christmas decor taken down and put away * Moved the Big Board to the old dining room from the guest room, set it up perpendicular to the big desk * Set up boxes of memorabilia and photos for the scrapbook project * Cleared off desk and set out the high school album and supplies to finish it. Now I am ready to get cracking this week on the scrapbook project, which is long overdue. Next I moved on to the sewing room/office and have finally emerged triumphant! * Rearranged work areas to make room for larger sewing machine; shifted computer to the left * Moved Alex drawer to opposite side of the "L" space to be more accessible to the sewing machine. * Switched Alex contents back to sewing from office supplies. * Cleared off space to the right of the machine by moving the button drawers to far side of the space. * Emptied and reorganized 8 of the 10 storage shelves (most are 36" deep). Now organized so I can get to things easily. * Moved all the rolls of wrapping paper to the foyer closet for storage * Added some duplicate quilting tools and an extra ruler to the donation bag. Friday I took a break and tackled the filing drawer. * Made all new file folders, then sorted through each file as I transferred contents to the new one. * Moved genealogy files to the dining room with the scrapbook project * Moved 4 old files (tax related) to the garage storage box * Shredded a big pile of papers, then moved shredder to the dining room * Set up my Excel Budget workbook for 2022. All the pages are made and information copied over. Hoping this will keep me on track with budget and household management this year. Today I had planned to sew but the dreary weather sapped all my get up and go. Instead, I reorganized and cleaned up my Chrome bookmarks. Didn't realize I had a lot of duplicates and bookmarks from over 10 years ago. Many of those were dead links. This week my plan is to spend the bulk of time sewing and working on scrapbooks, as well as a little needlepoint.
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