Another 40 Hours of Decluttering Using Flylady's Timer Method: Dec 2018 - Feb. 2019

[Teacher Terry]

Whatever their motives it will be good to have the help

[catherine]

Whatever their motives it will be good to have the help

For sure. I really am grateful.

[ejchase]

Wow! You all are making some good progress.

I hope to get at least a couple more hours done this weekend.

[Lainey]

Haven't been following Fly-Lady's or anyone's particular method, but I had a successful paper file reduction this week.

I've mentioned before that I am someone who needs to visualize the end result before I can proceed; e.g., I bought a plastic tote sized exactly for file folders. I then emptied out a 2 drawer file cabinet, shredding the unneeded papers and moved a few inactive files to a banker's box. Active files are now at a one-drawer amount and just enough to fill the plastic tote that now sits on my office closet shelf. Then I dropped off the now empty file cabinet at the Goodwill. Just removing that one file cabinet has opened up the office space a lot.

Future projects will cull the several boxes of inactive files I still have in the back of the closet, but for now the day-to-day stuff is pretty well organized.

[ejchase]

Congrats, Lainey. That sounds like a really satisfying step forward.

I got another hour done this week - no targeted project, just dealing with paper and other clutter accumulating around the house as I could. But it made a difference. New total: 28.

[iris lilies]

I just drove 6 books to the local antiquarian bookstore as a donation. 3 of them together should bring him $100+ and the other 3 probably worthless, but I will let him decide. Not worth my time to sell on ebay.

I did sell a prized one this week for $93 but that was more about getting it in the hands of someone who wanted it than it was money. I sold it on eBay, and I don’t know how much the fees are but I suspect they’re very high. Plus shipping was $13. So I might net $50 who knows.

I am probably done for the summer in culling books. I will pick it up again in the fall months. I don’t know that I have a whole lot that I would guarantee is worth money, but if I do I’m thinking about taking them to Hermann we have up at a used bookstore in Hermann and I really like supporting that local economy. I assume the proprietor does online sales because that’s the only way these things will sell.

[ejchase]

Wow, Iris Lilies, that's some good money for purging!

I did another hour tonight. My dad is coming next week, and I have a lot to do to make the place presentable before he arrives. It's a little stressful, but I also know houseguest deadlines can be a good boost. New total: 29.

[ejchase]

I did another hour tonight. New total: 30.

My dad is coming Friday, so I had to get the guestroom ready for him after I did that hour of decluttering. It hardly took any time at all which I realize is totally a result of all the decluttering I've done these last three years. It feels so good to have that room basically pretty well-organized and to feel like I don't need to fret about it much. For years, there were boxes of clutter in the corner. They are GONE.

I've also been starting to realize how much better I feel in our house than I did three years ago. It used to be I just felt stressed coming home because of all the clutter and when people came over, even if the house was relatively neat, I just felt embarrassed because we hadn't really made the place look nice. Over the past three years, in addition to decluttering, I've just been doing a lot of thinking about what would make me feel good in the house - bought new couch pillows, a new rug, moved some furniture, bought some more, hung some pictures that "sparked joy," just really thought about what I liked. A couple of times this year I've had friends over, and I realized I really felt pretty good about the house. It's not as nice as some of my friends' houses, but it feels like a relatively comfortable space for me, and there are some spaces - the guestroom, my bedroom, the living room - that really feel nurturing to me.

So thanks to all of you who have been supporting me on this decluttering journey. I still have a LONG way to go, but everything I've done so far has clearly improved my quality of life on a daily basis.

[Teacher Terry]

Echase, clearly your efforts have paid off and your life is better. So glad!

[rosarugosa]

Wow EJ, that is really great to hear!