2024 Organizing & Decluttering Thread

Good grief - that's discouraging especially how expensive they are



(((Hugs)))

 The drawer organizer replaced a baby blue plastic one that I've had for almost 30 years.  It was time for something fresh.  I picked up a clear, lucite (sp?) one at Marshall's, put all of my utensils in, and it looks great.  

Tonight's task was organizing miscellaneous makeup items.  I also got a new organizer for these items at Marshalls.  As a result, I now have half-full gallon zip-lok bag full of "gift with purchase" sample sizes to donate to Volunteers of America.   

Daily declutter task from My Simpler Life Declutter Calendar:

Clean off one kitchen shelf.

This article popped up in my suggested Google links:
www.telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home/whats-the-right-decluttering-style-for-you/

I thought there were some interesting ideas, many of which I have seen in this thread over the years.

Yesterday, I went through 7 shoe boxes of receipts. Shredded a large bag and killed the shredder in the process.

Why, you ask, were there 7 shoe boxes of receipts? My system was to keep receipts for 6 months to a year, in a shoe box located in the storage room (on the shredder), at which point it was to be burned.

Did I share the clutter pile of items I had previously tossed in the trash and recently discovered in DH’s garage? There are a number of shoeboxes of receipts in the garage (the stove used to burn these things is here).

When I was taking care of my father after he fell ill, I passed the bills on to DH. He knew I put receipts in the shoebox. However, he only recently told me he had been putting the HSA receipts in the boxes, too. So, I decided to tackle them yesterday. In the process, I found a $50 bill and a fair amount of HSA receipts and the missing bank statements.

Also discovered the bills need to be entirely electronic, because DH didn’t bother to open anything over the last year.

Thrilled to be able to replace the shredder, though.

Yesterday we organized the piles of stuff to be gotten rid of that has accumulated in our dining room. A bunch of old torn kids backpacks and overly loved board books made it to the trash. Boxes are now organized by where they need to go (kids consignment, church rummage, etc) so as I declutter other rooms the stuff can be sorted into right box.

Focusing on the drop zones today. They are out of control again and I really need to find all the tax stuff. Lots and lots of paper and I’ve already decluttered multiple piles. Usually I start a big envelope in January for taxes and as it comes in I toss it in the envelope. With all the sickness I never got around to it. I’m only missing one thing which is the after school care but I’m not sure we even got one this year. I already emailed the person in charge and asked that they send a new one.

I've started another bin of things to donate. I've listed the items out, but I need to take pictures before I put the bin in the car. It's a clear plastic tote that is cracked along the bottom, so it can leave the house as well.

I have a large bookcase unit in my room - it's about 10 feet across and about 7 feet tall. There are four sections up top with one foot deep shelves and four cabinets on the bottom that are two feet deep. The shelves on the top have adjustable shelves - 3 of them have 4 shelves, and the far left has 5. I had planned for all 4 sections to have 5 shelves, but due to the position of the lowest permanent shelf, I cannot make 5 shelves work with all of my books.

My goal for today is to clean out one of the bottom cabinets and put all of my lego sets in the cabinet. One of the other base cabinets stores my games. I need to go through it soon to see if I can streamline it.

Well, in trying to organize my cabinets, I found a wardrobe of new clothes for my continued weight loss efforts. It's a bunch of brand new Talbots stuff from 2019 in size medium that i bought on clearance. Fortunately, most of it is cardigans and other timeless items of clothing, so it doesn't really matter that it's 5 years old.

I found some other things that I want to get rid of, but it will be tricky with my mom. I never can tell what she will fixate on.

This is a good reminder for me because trash day is tomorrow and I hate discovering something scary in the fridge on Monday afternoon that should have gone out in the trash.

Week 9Family Room, Den or Rec Room
Since the Family Room is much like the Living Room, consult the notes from that week as well, to be sure we haven’t missed anything! Here goes!
Start by washing the outside of your windows.
Take everything down off the walls, take down curtains etc. Wash, vacuum or dry clean as needed.
Sweep ceiling corners and other nooks in the room – tops of doorways, windows, arches, bookcases, etc.
Wash inside of windows and sills. Polish and touch-up stain on wood.
Re-hang window coverings.
Take cushions off furniture, vacuum thoroughly. Vacuum cushions, checking for wear and turning as needed. Spot treat any stains or shampoo furniture as needed.
Wooden furniture and anything with drawers: Empty, sort, and throw away what you don’t really need. Put the rest where it really belongs. Dust/Polish the piece you’re finished with, repeat as necessary. Do shelves the same way.
Baseboards – dust or wash as needed touch up scuffs on wood or touch up paint on painted surfaces.
Clean the TV screen. Dig out and sort all the accumulated electronic equipment–games, tapes, camera parts, wires, connectors, etc. Put everything where it belongs and get rid of the rest. (I stash things for a few months in the attic and if they don’t miss it then I can dispose of it as I please!) If something doesn’t work, take action–if it is worth getting fixed then decide when it can be done. Otherwise just liquidate it now.
Vacuum the entire room. Use a whisk broom to get into those hard to reach areas and around the baseboards if your vacuum doesn’t clean close enough. Yes, get help and move the furniture. There may be a wealth of lost treasures hiding under the sofa right now!
Clean/change silk flower arrangements for the season. It is also a good time to clean, trim, and/or repot live plants. They can’t absorb CO2 and light through a layer of dust!
Other items needing attention if you have them are: Fireplace/mantel/chimney/glass doors Lamps – cleaning and/or replacing shade/bulb/wiring Light switches (clean)
Mirrors and anything framed under glass clean it.
Door handles–and the area around them– if you have little sticky fingers be sure to get the area below them clean too with an appropriate cleaner. Polish the wooden doors and retouch scuffs.
Clean shake/wash/vacuum/take to professional– any area rugs.
Now is a good time to reorganize the video tapes and CDs ,Cassettes etc. If you have not viewed or listened to them in a while, donate or take to a consignment shop or a second hand music store and swap meet

Listed a large box lot of scrapbooking items I won’t use or that are duplicates for sale today - yay! Been procrastinating on taking pictures and listing it all out.

Saturday morning I went through my clothes that are in my room currently (spring and summer are in the basement still), and have 4 grocery bags to donate today. Also have a grocery bag of books to donate.

And I listed some things for sale in some FB groups (for those types of items). 2 packages will be mailed on my lunch hour today!! So that's a good start!! Also listed a few more things on Mercari.

Could you find a way to display that one if it has sentimental value for you?

I do. 😬 I need to organize them and try to sell a few.

No, I don’t remember her using it and I never borrowed it. There were some earrings I borrowed for a Homecoming Dance that I’d love to have because it was a big deal that she loaned them to me and I felt like such a grown-up! Unfortunately, her Alzheimer’s was pretty advanced before Grandad found her amazing care home and she threw away a lot of her jewelry, including those earrings and her wedding rings. Or maybe we’ll find them in some place really unexpected when we go through the house. Anyway, I was keeping it because I thought I’d use it for the theater or ballet, but looking at it again, it is just way too small. So I’ve been researching to see if I should sell it or maybe give it to a NIL to play with. 

Confession: I did find another purse I had forgotten about. In my defense, I just got it last year IIRC, and it’s a summer purse so I haven’t used it yet. I do love it though, and it will be nice to use this one instead of the smaller leather ones. It was also Granma’s and I do remember her using this purse, along with several like it. 

And I only have one tiny, cheap, RFID blocking wallet so I didn’t have any of those to go through. 

Question: My small leather purses have leather handles that are supposed to stand straight up. But I discovered that my cat had been sleeping on top of the purses, so they both curve in to each other. What’s the best way to fix that? I was thinking heating them up a little and letting them dry while propped in the correct position, but think I’d need to condition them beforehand if I do that.  Thoughts?

Confession #2: Discussing purses reminds me of something I donated that I wish I hadn’t. I have 2 very simple, structured, quality small leather purses. They’re rectangles, about 5x5x10ish. I got them over 20 years ago and have them in black and dark brown. But I also used to have the same purse in red and cream. The red could be fun every now and again, but no great loss. But I’d love to have the cream one for summer. I think I got rid of it because at the time my work summer wardrobe still lent itself better to the darker colors. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d happily make a hundred of those mistakes to be able to have such a clutter-free and organized home day in and day out. But everyone always asks if people regret decluttering some things, and that’s one thing I do regret.