View Full Version : Another 40 Hours of Decluttering Using Flylady's Timer Method: Dec 2018 - Feb. 2019
Hi All,
I'm a teacher who is on a reduced schedule for about four months a year, mid-December through mid-February and mid-June through mid-August. I also have a REALLY cluttered home. In the past, I've had some success with setting myself a goal of doing a certain number of hours of decluttering during my periods of reduced work. I set one overall goal (last winter and summer, it was 40 hours), then chip away at it in smaller increments of time. Some days I aim for an hour; others for four hours (with breaks!). I basically use flylady's timer method described here, but with longer periods of time than 15 minutes:
http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-sta...ng-15-minutes/ (http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/decluttering-15-minutes/)
It's also helped me a lot to keep track of progress towards my goal here, so here I am setting up a new goal: to complete another 40 hours of decluttering in my house by Tuesday, February 19.
If anybody else wants to join in with a decluttering goal of their own for a certain number of hours, I would love company!
I will try! Do we post here with hours and/or what we get rid of?
Chicken lady
12-26-18, 8:00am
Ok, i’ll Jump back in.
i got dh three months of trash service for Christmas. The goal is to clean out the studio barn by the end of March so that he can install a car lift. I plan to spend one morning a week on the project - probably Thursdays so that the trash can(s) can go straight up and save me from second guessing (although the first week will be mostly low hanging fruit - everything plastic that has been broken in the last two years and I have been nursing along because it can’t be recycled and is too big the throw in the grocery store can, plus plastic scrap/packaging from construction.)
Welcome, Tybee and Chicken Lady!
Tybee, I usually post just my hours here and post my monthly totals of what I'm getting rid of in the purge thread that somebody else usually gets started. Even though last year I did two stretches of 40 hours (!!), I realized I didn't have such a high purge count because I was mostly getting rid of paper which I don't count. In any case, use this thread however it's helpful to you!
Chicken Lady, yay to cleaning out the studio barn!
I did my first hour yesterday, but am leaving tomorrow for a week back east visiting family so it will be January before I make much more progress.
1.5 hours so far, divided between purging knitting patterns and old tax materials. All paper so far.
catherine
12-29-18, 10:51am
I'd like to be in on this!
DH and I cleaned out a sideboard.
Time invested: 30 minutes.
Results: 3/4 of a 13 gallon garbage bag to throw out; a pile of old dog items to give away; cables/cords culled and organized.
plus 3 hours, total 4.5
Fabric stash inventoried and a third out, 2 more boxes in basement gone and reduced, storage dresser emptied and repacked. Large box ready for Goodwill.
Need to be a whole lot more ruthless getting rid of thing.
Catherine, that is superefficient--I need to up my game or I will just be sorting this stuff forever. . .
catherine
12-29-18, 11:50am
plus 3 hours, total 4.5
Catherine, that is superefficient--I need to up my game or I will just be sorting this stuff forever. . .
I think you're doing great! I think it helped that DH and I were working together.
Before New Year's I'm going to "Kondo" my clothes--yikes! But if I call the Vietnam Vets before New Year's I'll have a nice tax deduction.
I sort of Kondoed the fabric and it really helped, as I can now see my way to three separate quilts I want to make and just keeping a few scraps for doll clothes. Problem is I know I have more somewhere. I can see why you have to get the whole universe of it together, but I have boxes in shed . . .
plus 3 hours, total 7.5.
Not teaching these last two weeks and really working on house as much as can. Yesterday moved along a set of wooden handled flatware and a Monopoly set--had two thrift shop sets and combined them, and someone else had already done the same, so have lots of cool tokens now and replaced the yucky plastic hotels and houses with wood from the one set. Am working on eliminating the multiples of things. This should be fairly obvious, and I am seeing it is a real issue for me, so grappling with why this is so.
Nice work, everyone!
I'm out of town until Thursday night but am looking forward to diving back in after that!
"Decluttering at the Speed of Life" is taking over popularity. Although we're not very cluttered, I'm reading it. She's got some very sound ideas!
60 minutes in my closet: 1big bag of throwaways and 1 big bag for VVA pick-up (so far)
I'm not really Kondo-ing after all. I think I'm going to try the OP system of starting with 15 minutes a day and seeing where it leads me. I'm reading Atomic Habits, and I love some of the ideas in that book. For instance, tell yourself you're ONLY going to [exercise/declutter/write in a journal/etc] for 5 minutes (I think they actually say start with 1 minute). If you have to make yourself STOP after 5 minutes. It gets you over that paralysis hump of "OMG, this is overwhelming to start!"
So 15 minutes sounds good, and as time permits, I'll probably be so into it I'll continue.
Teacher Terry
1-1-19, 2:11pm
Catherine I hate to be a Debbie Downer but with a entire house to get done I would do it a hour a day if you hope to finish within a year. The more you tackle it and get brutal the easier it gets. Maybe start selling some of the furniture you don’t want. Last move we sold the furniture not going to the new place months before our move.
Teacher Terry
1-1-19, 2:15pm
Just went on amazon and bought the kindle book G recommended for only 2.99.
Catherine I hate to be a Debbie Downer but with a entire house to get done I would do it a hour a day if you hope to finish within a year. The more you tackle it and get brutal the easier it gets. Maybe start selling some of the furniture you don’t want. Last move we sold the furniture not going to the new place months before our move.
Good point, but I'm a classic chronic procrastinator, and once I start back on my job next week, I'll NEVER find an hour--I may HAVE an hour but I'll find excuses not to do it. The thing I like about start small is typically it breaks the procrastinator's inertia. Today, for instance I told myself I was going to work for 15 minutes and I set a timer, but I kept going when it rang. I think that method matches my personality better.
BTW, I also saw that the kindle book G recommended is only 2.99--and I ALMOST bought it, but I knew it would wind up another gateway to procrastinating. This year, my mantra has to be "less paralysis by analysis," and "less reading about how to do, more just doing it!"
Teacher Terry
1-1-19, 2:26pm
I understand Catherine. Something is better than nothing. Maybe on a weekend you can devote a day. That’s what I did when I was working full time. Or ignore me:))
iris lilies
1-1-19, 4:33pm
Catherine, do you get pleasure out of decluttering? I do! Once I attack an area to clean out, I focus on it and just pitch away! I am like TTerry, I measure cleanouts in bigger terms than item by item.
Catherine, do you get pleasure out of decluttering? I do! Once I attack an area to clean out, I focus on it and just pitch away! I am like TTerry, I measure cleanouts in bigger terms than item by item.
Not really. I am satisfied when it's done, but like hoarders, I'm not good at quick decisions and then I wind up with all these piles: throw away, give away, maybe keep, free cycle, ask kids if they want it, sell on Ebay.
It's overwhelming for someone who probably has adult ADD. That's how my house gets cluttered to begin with.
I do have one construction bag filled with old clothes that is going out on the curb tonight. I have a smaller bag of clothes that I'm going to log for an IRS deduction and then put aside for the pick-up I have an appointment for mid-month.
Teacher Terry
1-1-19, 5:17pm
So in reading this new book on our drive home she said you only have 2 piles. Throw away or donate. Everything else is too time consuming and leads to procrastination.
iris lilies
1-1-19, 6:17pm
Not really. I am satisfied when it's done, but like hoarders, I'm not good at quick decisions and then I wind up with all these piles: throw away, give away, maybe keep, free cycle, ask kids if they want it, sell on Ebay.
It's overwhelming for someone who probably has adult ADD. That's how my house gets cluttered to begin with.
I do have one construction bag filled with old clothes that is going out on the curb tonight. I have a smaller bag of clothes that I'm going to log for an IRS deduction and then put aside for the pick-up I have an appointment for mid-month.
I like getting rid of the crap because I can summon feelings of annoyance that they live in my space. This is MY space! You had better be beautiful or bring joy to me to live here! Here, I include “potentially be pretty” for all of the disparate items in my basement that could be used in dlower show exhibits.
You had better be beautiful or bring joy to me to live here!
I love that attitude. Going forward I think I'm going to try to be ruthless about bringing things in, so I don't have to deal with them going out.
TT: Yes, I think I also better be more ruthless about the 2 pile rule.
Teacher Terry
1-1-19, 6:32pm
I have sold some stuff but I never procrastinate so that’s not a issue for me.
plus 2.5 hours, total 10 hours
Went through all cloth bags in house (carrying bags) and all notebooks. Reorganized stuff in notebooks and threw our five notebooks. Today have been going through books and clothes in bedroom; have contractor bag to go to Goodwill.
Chicken lady
1-3-19, 7:01am
Yesterday I started filling trash cans. We get six can a week service, but we currently only have 4 cans available to load trash, so when I take everything up tonight, it will be the four cans plus one large black plastic bag containing nothing that will attract critters. My “clearing” goal for the day is to finish filling the cans.
Teacher Terry
1-3-19, 11:23am
Good job everyone! I need to take another look at my closet because I bought stuff this summer (clothes) and didn’t subtract things.
Sounds like everyone is doing well!
I noticed this morning that I'm digging in my closets to find clothing I want to wear, which means there are a lot pieces that I go past. Need to evaluate those and do some thinning. For instance, I have short sleeved tees that are only good for wearing under a sweatshirt. Trouble is, when it's cold enough for 2 layers here, I need long sleeves under, not short. Time for those shirts to go.
Chicken lady
1-3-19, 5:53pm
Ok, the cans are up - one filled from our party and company, one filled in the shop by dh, and three (I emptied one I was using for storage in the barn to give us 5) filled by me from the house, garage, barn, and yard. I know I am supposed to be emptying the studio barn, but this “week” I have only been home for two days and I have been sick, so I went with low hanging fruit. Since we get six cans, I also tied shut a bag of insulation scraps and set it out.
30 minutes: purged a banker's box of old work papers.
2 hours total.
Chicken lady
1-3-19, 7:21pm
Catherine, that is a lot of papers for 30 minutes! Nice job!
Another 30 minutes, another banker's box of documents!
TOTAL: 2hrs. 30 min.
BONUS: Organized a desk file drawer in the process.
Wow, all of you are so inspiring!
I got back into town Thursday night but have had SO much trouble getting started again. So I just took one little baby step tonight: 30 minutes on the clutter on the bed in the guestroom, one of my "hot spots."
1.5 hours total so far.
So, I did another 30 minutes of physical clutter--I got rid of about 16 tablecloths! Half thrown out, half good enough for Goodwill.
Not sure if this counts, but I also spent an hour decluttering my Outlook inbox, which had 5000 emails!!! Ridiculous. I cut it down by half.
So, I did another 30 minutes of physical clutter--I got rid of about 16 tablecloths! Half thrown out, half good enough for Goodwill.
Not sure if this counts, but I also spent an hour decluttering my Outlook inbox, which had 5000 emails!!! Ridiculous. I cut it down by half.
Yes it counts. Honestly though, I would delete every email older than 6 weeks to start with. It's highly unlikely you need it at this point.
I can't stand it if my inbox hits 50 even at work. I cannot imagine 5000.
Chicken lady
1-6-19, 9:56am
Catherine, anything made of fabric is good enough for goodwill - they recycle it.
Catherine, anything made of fabric is good enough for goodwill - they recycle it.
Thank you for letting me know. I hated to throw out linen tablecloths just because they had a stain or two--which is why I kept them so long!
Edited to add: just did one more hour tidying and purging my permaculture shelf. I threw out old seeds and culled old articles, brochures and other materials that were relevant in 2012 when I took my permaculture class but no longer are. Also went through a few Mother Earth magazines and pulled out the few articles that will be a good resource in the future. Recycling the rest.
60 minutes
TOTAL: 4 hours.
Catherine, do you get pleasure out of decluttering? I do! Once I attack an area to clean out, I focus on it and just pitch away! I am like TTerry, I measure cleanouts in bigger terms than item by item.
I’m with IL. I love decluttering. I went at it today and got rid of a LOT.
Teacher Terry
1-6-19, 9:12pm
I did my kitchen today. I decided I only need so many of the same thing. So now I have 4 frying pans instead of 7, etc. Will drop off the boxes tomorrow. Catherine, the woman that wrote the book has a blog called- A slob comes clean. I am enjoying it.
Chicken lady
1-7-19, 8:15am
I started reading the blog. I like it. I also like how she started out with just a couple of things and then added. My first reaction was “that’s it? She hardly did anything!” And then I thought “and eventually she wrote a book...”
i also like the “put it where it goes right now” approach to avoiding piles. It would definitely slow me down (and I think I would have to modify it - i’m Not going to walk all the way out to the studio barn every time I find something that goes there unless i’m Sure I won’t find another thing in a minute - it might be good exercise, but it would slow me down too much.) but I do like the idea that if you do that, when you stop, you are done - just pick up the trash bag and the donate box and walk away. I wouldn’t even have a trash bag, because there would be a trash can closer than many of the locations that the non- trash items go, and most of the stuff at this point is non-trash.
I eked out another 30 minutes yesterday on "hot spots" around the house.
New total: 2 hours.
Teacher Terry
1-7-19, 11:47am
CL, in your case I would just have a box for locations that are a ways and the last thing you could do is walk to that place and put everything away in the box. I like that she doesn’t recommend emptying your closet. Making a bigger mess never appealed to me. You can sign up for her free newsletter.
Chicken lady
1-7-19, 2:11pm
So, I spent almost three hours in the studio barn.
the back of my car is full of recycling to drop off tomorrow.
i filled two trash cans.
i brought all the big keep items to where they needed to be, but I have two boxes of donate (one large and light, one small and heavy) in the studio, and I have a boot sized shoebox of things that belong in the house. I left it there because when I looked in it, it was such an assortment I did not want to deal with it.
Teacher Terry
1-7-19, 5:29pm
Wow CL that’s awesome progress!
mschrisgo2
1-7-19, 10:18pm
Wow, I really like that blog! "I adjust to my environment easily and quickly" and how that becomes a deterrent to decluttering was a big eye-opener for me. And I have experienced the exact same thing with "pulling it all out" - just today, in fact, tried to sort half of my closet, ended up shoving it all back in...
Teacher Terry
1-7-19, 10:31pm
I like the blog too. I think it’s tomorrow that her kindle books go back up to full price so I bought the other one for 2.99. I already finished the one I bought from her.
Chicken lady
1-8-19, 10:17am
I might try to get the books from the library. I’m not a kindle person. Also, a newsletter seems like one more thing right now, so I will stick with reading her blog a bit at a time until I finish the first nine years.
I like how she writes down what she has accomplished instead of focusing on what she plans to do.
in that spirit - here is what I accomplished before 9:00 this morning:
made breakfast for two and cleaned up the kitchen (dh has lunch out today)
got dressed
Milking and chores
ten items from the animal barn in the trash/donate or moved to a new and better location
compost out
dishwasher unloaded, loaded, and started
washing machine started
another bag of recycling in the car
swim bag packed to exercise tonight
carried 4 small items back to the house when I passed the studio barn after compost dumping.
i adjust to my environment quickly when it is crowded and messy, but it takes me much longer to feel comfortable when it is clean and spacious. I feel like I shouldn’t be in the space because I can’t do anything because I will mess it up.
iris lilies
1-8-19, 10:57am
O
...
i adjust to my environment quickly when it is crowded and messy, but it takes me much longer to feel comfortable when it is clean and spacious. I feel like I shouldn’t be in the space because I can’t do anything because I will mess it up.
That is funny because I am the opposite. Sometimes in the middle of a creative project I have to stop and clean up stuff, or at least I have to clean it up after one stage is complete, because all the clutter and mess distracts me in my creative process. I like a clean environment in which to work.
Teacher Terry
1-8-19, 1:54pm
I am more like IL. I don’t have a kindle but just downloaded it to my phone and read it on that.
Chicken lady
1-10-19, 10:20am
Feeling discouraged because I cannot work to my standards (also still tired from being sick and possibly still sick since teaching all day yesterday made my throat a little sore and my voice strained.)
however,
things I accomplished before 9:00
Made coffee
started a fire and refilled the wood box
Milking and chores - including an unpleasant extra task
ten item pick up in animal barn
made dh breakfast and packed his lunch
dishwasher unloaded, loaded, and started
load of laundry started
one can of trash up to road
checked mousetraps (empty)
Chicken lady
1-10-19, 1:24pm
I got all six cans up to the road.
(I found an additional, broken can that was being used for storage - it holds about as much as the big black plastic trash bag I used last week.)
In order to fill the last can, I added a really big piece of shaped styrofoam packaging. It took up half the can.
this is exhausting for me. I switch from being proud of myself to being sick to my stomach and appalled at all the trash. This is why I have to mostly do it on thursdays - so the whole process is over as quickly as possible and I don’t have to keep looking at the full cans. Even if I start to have regrets and rethink things - it doesn’t matter, because it is too late.
CL, You are so smart to get it all out on Thursday so it is GONE! Be very proud of every can because it is helping you have a clearer space. Looking back to why it is all there is futile. Try to get past that and just accept how much you are accomplishing this day.
Teacher Terry
1-10-19, 2:12pm
Once you finish decluttering you won’t have as much garbage. Plus I would think that your animals and hobbies create garbage but that seems necessary to enjoy what you like to do. I think you are doing a great job.
mschrisgo2
1-10-19, 9:26pm
I predict that once all of the construction trash is gone, you will have a lot more clear physical space, as well as clear mental space that it's occupying now, and it will feel good. I am amazed that you didn't have a debris box for the construction, and that you have space that you could actually keep it in until now.
I vividly remember my brother saying he had to make 2 dump runs before he could have cabinets delivered- then bemoaning the fact that he needed to make 2 more dump runs after he unpacked them.
Chicken lady
1-10-19, 10:47pm
I threw out a lot of the construction trash as it came in - it’s just the “trash” that seems like I should be able to recycle it or find a creative use for it.... the creative potential part is the hoarding genes coming out....
Most of the day to day animal/hobby garbage is small and easily tossed in a grocery store or gas station can (my week’s garbage takes up about the same space as the trash from a mom and two kids getting fast food) I finished tossing out all the accumulated large trash animal items like broken water buckets. There weren’t really that many.
Teacher Terry
1-10-19, 10:53pm
I find it depressing to buy something small and have a ton of packaging so I guess it’s too big to steal. Ugh!
Still in baby step mode here.
One more hour today. New total: 2 hours.
Chicken lady
1-11-19, 8:10am
Ejchase, even baby steps move you closer to your goal. Just keep trying to do something you can build on. An hour is good!
plus 1 hr, total 11 hours
Going through kitchen and bath remodel books and saving only the photos that appeal in my idea notebook. Culled five books for the Goodwill. Took old rose hips that I had sitting in the window to dry and potted up the seeds--gardening experiment.
EJ, I think you are undercounting--I was looking for my total on the thread and I think you were at two hours already on the 7th so aren't you at 3 hours now? Yay, you!
Chicken lady
1-14-19, 10:12am
Yay Tybee!
on weekends I sleep late, and on wed/fri I have to leave the house by 8, but i’m going to try to keep up with my “what I did before 9:00”s for m/tu/th.
so:
Took my vitamin
made coffee
restarted the fire
yoga
one load of laundry washed, dried, and put away
made breakfast for 2
packed dh lunch
put all the dishes in the dishwasher
chores
ten minute tidy in animal barn
got a load of firewood (didn’t fill the box because the wheelbarrow won’t push through the snow, so i’m bringing it in by the armload today)
checked mouse traps (they are in the studio. They remain empty, so I think the mouse nest I found in the box of wood scraps must have been old.)
set up my “desk” to work by the fire
My “desk” is actually an old coffee table. I am fond of it, and I like to work sitting on the floor with my knees under the table. Dh hates coffee tables. After extensive discussion he has grudgingly acknowledged that I work much more efficiently with my chosen set up. I accept that he doesn’t want a coffee table piled with school work in his living space. The compromise is that he has ordered me an attractive folding Japanese table and once it arrives, I agree not to leave it set up while he is home unless I am actually working on it (Monday overnight to Tuesday morning or Wednesday overnight to Thursday morning being potential exceptions if I have a project underway)
Chicken lady
1-15-19, 10:01am
Ok, before 9:00
vitamin
coffee
breakfast x2
packed dh lunch
started a load of laundry
packed and loaded swim bag
unloaded dishwasher
put dirty dishes in dishwasher
cleaned up kitchen
chores
ten minute barn tidy
two evaluations.
i didn’t start a fire because I have to leave soon.
plus 2.5 hours, total 13.5
Worked on photo album project and completed two albums and culled some pictures. Wanted to have this done by Christmas but now shooting for Easter.
Need to buy approximately 4 more albums to finish putting all photos in albums. It is a hundred years of pictures, however.
Wanted it to be really nice and gave up those standards (the captions, labeling things) two albums ago. Now I just want to get them into album form and I can go through and label later with my kids around.
From now on, will label as I go, and am starting a fresh album for this year, yay, so the pictures will be in much more reliable chronological order.
iris lilies
1-15-19, 8:51pm
plus 2.5 hours, total 13.5
Worked on photo album project and completed two albums and culled some pictures. Wanted to have this done by Christmas but now shooting for Easter.
Need to buy approximately 4 more albums to finish putting all photos in albums. It is a hundred years of pictures, however.
Wanted it to be really nice and gave up those standards (the captions, labeling things) two albums ago. Now I just want to get them into album form and I can go through and label later with my kids around.
From now on, will label as I go, and am starting a fresh album for this year, yay, so the pictures will be in much more reliable chronological order.
Ok, you know me, I cannot help but interject unhelpful opinion, but PLEASE consider that your superpower in this photo project is your knowledge of provenance. You know stuff your children do not know. You know names and dates, if approximate.
It is invaluable that you label on the back in pencil “Jane Huston, Tybee’s great aunt, at George Larson’s graduation circa 1960.”
Maybe you are already doing this, but it is far more important than putting them in albums. Over and over I See boxes of photographs that someone could not bring themsleves to “ put in an album” because it was too much work. But IF ONLY They had sat on the sofa in front of the TV marking in pencil the name of the person in the photograph and an approximate date, that was gold!
Any monkey can put things in an album.
Just last weekend I was sitting in DHS fathers house and they were passing around photograph albums of images that had been removed from boxes and put in an album without “captions. “. Well, some had captions but most did not so we had to guess 1) Who is in the photograph 2) where the photograph was taken 3) What year the photograph was taken
I completely agree. The photos will be of no use in another generation or two if the people can't be identified. For my 60th birthday, my cousin gave me a really lovely album of grandparents and great-grandparents and other relatives I've never met, and she did a great job of notating it. But she's an accountant and she probably has a ton of patience for detail, which I don't.
I hear you guys. But what I am working with is my mom's old pictures, my dad's old pictures, and my old pictures. They have been coming into the house in bags from my folks' house, and I have a backlog in my case of my own family's pictures and what is on digital camera and my husband's, and now a thumbdrive from my son. In the case of my dad's photos, they have had to be copied for my cousin, and some need to be copied for my brothers. They have sat in boxes for years. Some are labeled, some are not.
This is kind of photo triage, and all I am doing is sorting them in chrono order and figuring out whose set of pictures they are. Pulling them out of the boxes is difficult for me--if I liked doing this, it would have been done by now. There is a ton of emotional work in just facing them.
The albums are the kind where you just pull the plastic up and toss the photos down. I'm grouping and tossing in a way that makes sense.
I will go through the albums with another family member and label then. If I wait to label them them will not make it out of the boxes,and I won't be able to see what is there.
This is actually kind of the Kondo stage where I see what is there and I cull and divide. Like today I will work on the kids' childhood years, and get one picture for the album of duplicates and divide the rest into piles for the kids and then send the piles to each kid. I brought these to work on last time I saw my son, but we were at my parents' house and we had absolutely no time to work on it.
I can't label until we have some order, and putting them all in the album is making me realize I don't want that many pictures of my parents' farm, so why label them each at this point?
Anyway, it is helping me to actually get it done and get them into order for viewing. Then we can go through them (emphasis we) and label them.
I finally got DH to help a little last night and it's actually therapeutic to look at some of the pictures, kind of life review. I think I am trying to come to peace with a lot of things right now, so I have to ease up on the actual work-- do the emotional work first, which is really, really hard for me.
As far as the photos of my grandparents on up, if I die before the project is done, they will probably pitch them anyway. My kids do not keep things, very little keeping for sentiment and no guilt about tossing stuff.
If I had to label stuff at this point, it would stop me, and I have to get this to stage 1, into the albums or gone.
catherine
1-16-19, 10:01am
Definitely makes sense, Tybee!! I hear ya. For me, photos used to be one of those--"I can't throw it out!"--even the fuzzy ones or the ones that I took of my feet by mistake. I don't know what's wrong with that part of my brain!! Every photo was like some glimmer of archeological importance.
I have my hoard of photos in about 5-6 old albums. Then there are two shoeboxes, and then a train case and a plastic bag of photos from MILs house. I started culling the shoeboxes and I put them in groups/categories ("Vermont vacation 2005" "DH 50th birthday" "Photos of backyard"). and just paper-clipped and labeled the categories as a first step. They're back in the shoeboxes, but better organized. Next step for me will also be labeling and maybe putting the best in books. And I did throw away the fuzzies!
"Every photo was like some glimmer of archeological importance."
That's it! Definitely a major hurdle. I just finished sorting out the kid growing up years school and sports photos this morning, and have the little packets of extras read to send to them today.
Overwhelming, but I am doing this in little chunks, rather than trying to do it all at once, like you are saying. I like what you say about paper clipping and labeling. I think I will put them in albums as "Kids' sports over the years" and "Kids' school over the years" rather than trying to make the album totally in chrono. It's actually fun to see the school photos evolve over the years, and the kids can figure out what year is what.
My problem is I need permission to deep six any pictures where somebody looks unhappy. Is that sanitizing things too much?
iris lilies
1-16-19, 10:47am
"Every photo was like some glimmer of archeological importance."
That's it! Definitely a major hurdle. I just finished sorting out the kid growing up years school and sports photos this morning, and have the little packets of extras read to send to them today.
Overwhelming, but I am doing this in little chunks, rather than trying to do it all at once, like you are saying. I like what you say about paper clipping and labeling. I think I will put them in albums as "Kids' sports over the years" and "Kids' school over the years" rather than trying to make the album totally in chrono. It's actually fun to see the school photos evolve over the years, and the kids can figure out what year is what.
My problem is I need permission to deep six any pictures where somebody looks unhappy. Is that sanitizing things too much?
Agree, ask your kids beforee tossing. If the image is otherwise good, maybe they wont mind unhappy faces. i just spent time with all of DH’s family during his father’s funeral, and they are a happy bunch who laughs at the “angry toddler” photos of yore. Even more potentially upsetting, one sister revealed to the youngest, a man well into his 50’s that he was an “oops” baby. But they were all laughing about it thru the weekend, he i cluded. He hadnt known and they were all surprised.
Oh man, this is just the sort of photographic time bomb I'd like to avoid!
catherine
1-16-19, 10:54am
"
My problem is I need permission to deep six any pictures where somebody looks unhappy. Is that sanitizing things too much?
haha! No--if I threw out pictures like that, I'd have to get rid of this one--a typical expression in all pictures of DD at one time in her young life:
2645
I could not get rid of that one, either; your children are absolutely beautiful!
Teacher Terry
1-16-19, 12:34pm
I think labeling is a waste of time because your kids will probably just take a few of the pictures that they want. All the years when the kids were growing up I put the pictures in albums. After they grew up I have some pictures that others took that are in a small shoebox. Now all the pictures I take are on my phone.
Now all the pictures I take are on my phone.
I would still want to preserve hard copies of at least a few REALLY good pictures. I don't trust digital media to be accessible ad infinitum. One good cyber attack, or technological obsolescence (floppy disks, anyone?) and simply the fact that high tech often means low top-of-mind (you never "come across" old digital stuff in the course of your day)--and your photos disappear.
Teacher Terry
1-16-19, 1:30pm
Of course you want to have hard copies of some photos. I have enough from the past. I envision when I die my kids will throw away the pictures of my grandparents because they never knew them.
Yes, I suspect that is what will happen with my albums, eventually. But I am doing my part. I have decided to stick a "comments note" on each page, sort of a placeholder. Then, as we go through and look at them, I can put in my two cents, and they can add what they remember.
Obviously, this does not apply to pictures prior to their lives--those I have to label.
I just threw out a page this morning of photos I had copied and sent to my cousin. I think I know who the people are--my grandfather's nieces and nephews--but what was cool was the house, a Nebraska house built on the prairie, with one other house in the distance. I know this became a downtown, and so it had some historical interest.
But as I told my husband, I don't know for sure who they are or where they are, so out they go. (Plus I sent my cousin the original, and she can decide for herself.)
Anyway, +4 hours, new total 17
mschrisgo2
1-16-19, 7:03pm
Right now, I am grateful for some distant cousin who has taken the time to load ancestor's pictures onto ancestry.com
I found a picture of a great grandfather- and my brother looks just like him. My brother, who for all of his 52 years, my mother has said, "I've never known anyone who looks like him." The ancestor died before she was born!
mschrisgo2
1-16-19, 7:04pm
Also, they took group pictures at the funerals over the years. No one looks happy, but many of us treasure those pictures.
Yes, I would not throw out that kind of unhappy photo, of course. I am talking about the one school photo where the child looks like they are having a bad day/bad year.
I did not throw it out, but I prefer the sunny, happy photos.
That's all I meant.
Oh, and I throw out ones where I look horrible. My album, my photo, my call.
Teacher Terry
1-16-19, 8:59pm
Someone put my grandparents and my mom on Find a Grave with, pictures, Obit and other information. My sister just about had a coronary. Volunteers do the work. I thought it was cool but my sister wrote the volunteer and told her to get rid of it.
Chicken lady
1-17-19, 10:23am
I am far from being able to deal with my photos, so I am impressed.
here is today’s “before 9”
vitamin
coffee
fire
breakfast for 2
pack dh lunch
start laundry
chores
ten minute barn tidy
move goat into breeding pen
move goat back out of breeding pen later
finish two incomplete evaluations and submit one class. (It ticks me off that the evaluations have to be individually submitted through a multi step process that takes (I timed it) an average of 32 seconds per evaluation. Sounds quick right? Now multiply that by 93.
my before 9 seems to be slowly fading as the week progresses.
catherine
1-17-19, 11:36am
Someone put my grandparents and my mom on Find a Grave with, pictures, Obit and other information. My sister just about had a coronary. Volunteers do the work. I thought it was cool but my sister wrote the volunteer and told her to get rid of it.
I appreciate the FindAGrave work that volunteers do--it was so comforting to find pictures of headstones of relatives online. But I can see how your sister considered an unauthorized photo to be an invasion of privacy. Hmmm, I'm wondering about the legality of that? Are dead people in the public domain? I guess if your sister felt really strongly about it and they refused to take it down, she'd have to take the website to court, which of course it would never come to.
+3 on photo project, new total 20.
Must buy two more albums.
+2 on photo world, plus got husband to start on his pictures from growing up. Total 22.
Am going to delay doing much more on family photos pre parental marriage, until they pass away. Plenty of time to work on it then, or can do more a little at a time.
All photos since parents' marriage, my parents and brothers and me growing up, are now in albums.
And best of all, all photos of last 36 years, since first marriage, are now all in albums. I figure I may find more photos somewhere, but will add them in proper albums at the time.
Now am starting the 2019 current album. I will be printing pics from phone and kids and will be labeling them at the time I put them in the new album. New album is purchased, labeled, and ready.
I am feeling a lot of relief about this.
rosarugosa
1-17-19, 7:07pm
Tybee: That is a great accomplishment! I haven't printed any photos for several years and my online photos are much more chaotic than my hard copy collection. I will need to tackle one of these days.
+1 on the new album, all caught up now. Went to sam's and printed out the pictures as they are 19 cents a picture. We can also get cartridges refilled there for the printer. I hope to save the cost of a year's membership with the printer cartridge refills, but it really bummed me out to spend 45 dollars for the year there. Pictures are 14 cents cheaper there for 4 by 6 print, so that will help. Printer cartridges are about 10-5 dollars cheaper.
New total 23 hours.
Two more hours today, so new total is 4.
I watched the first four episodes of Marie Kondo's new show on Netflix. Very inspiring!
Chicken lady
1-22-19, 10:06am
This has been a pretty full week so far with evaluations and taking down and putting away the Christmas decorations (yes, normal people did that 3 weeks ago)
i talked to dh about the trash situation, because, once again, I can’t see how I can possibly fill 5-6 cans by Thursday night. He said I am doing great and as long as the insulation is gone (shout out early morning) from the garage (which is equal to three cans plus) and I empty all the little trash cans in the house and barn and take that up, he will be happy.
yesterday I didn’t do a “before 9” because dh was home all day for the holiday. But today I:
took my vitamin
made coffee
ran the dishwasher
made dh breakfast
packed his lunch
cleaned out the wood stove
started a fire
did my chores
took out the compost
unloaded the dishwasher
made myself breakfast
put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher
washed the pots and pans from last night
packed my swim bag
put away two loads of clean laundry
go me!
rosarugosa
1-22-19, 11:56am
Chicken Lady: Wow, you sure get a lot done! Forgive me if this has already been discussed, but what are your chores if not all the things you have listed?
Chicken lady
1-22-19, 12:41pm
Morning Chores -
milk goats, strain and cool milk, put bucket etc in dishwasher (or rinsed in sink if dishes are backed up)
feed rabbit, chickens, and goats
fresh water inc. wash water buckets/bottles if needed
goats out weather permitting
check gates/latches/doors
I’m a morning person, I get up at 5. Aside from going to work, 80-90% of what I am going to accomplish for the day happens by 9. Maybe 10.
since 9 I went to the store for feed and unloaded it, set three mouse traps, snacked, read stuff online, kept the fire going, made a phone call about a field trip, and emptied wastebaskets. (In 2.5 hours)
the rest of my day will be - drive to school, take care of some administrative tasks, teach one class, swim laps, drive home, eat, evening chores, and sit by the fire. I have fantasies about accomplishing some other stuff this evening, but history says I won’t.
I'll round it off and say 30 minutes, but it was really less than that, on finally purging a corner of the bedroom where I had stacked two nice roman blinds that needed to be installed. It was one of those chores that looked like it might be complicated, but when I read the instructions, and found a Phillips head screwdriver, it took me less than 20 minutes to clear that corner, install the new blinds, throw out all the nasty, dusty cheap vinyl slat blinds that have been piling up under the bed (I'd replace one and then say, "Oh, maybe the old one can be cleaned and re-used").
Chicken lady
1-22-19, 2:51pm
Yay Catherine! Don’t you love it when those horrible hanging over your head things turn out to be not so bad?
Yay also Tybee and ejchase! I had my browser open to an earlier page the first time I posted, and I didn’t realize until now that I missed you. Keep at it!
I'll round it off and say 30 minutes, but it was really less than that, on finally purging a corner of the bedroom where I had stacked two nice roman blinds that needed to be installed. It was one of those chores that looked like it might be complicated, but when I read the instructions, and found a Phillips head screwdriver, it took me less than 20 minutes to clear that corner, install the new blinds, throw out all the nasty, dusty cheap vinyl slat blinds that have been piling up under the bed (I'd replace one and then say, "Oh, maybe the old one can be cleaned and re-used").
Not to slow you down but the vinyl slats are wonderful for cutting into 4" pieces and labeling with a pencil garden plants or those potted for sale. Just saying that someone may use them for this purpose.
Not to slow you down but the vinyl slats are wonderful for cutting into 4" pieces and labeling with a pencil garden plants or those potted for sale. Just saying that someone may use them for this purpose.
That is a cool idea! worth grabbing one at habitat come spring, just for that purpose.
plus .5 hour today when cleaning out an armoire and found a box of --you guessed it--pictures.
This after returning the extra album I bought for this contingency. and sending duplicates to all three sons and declaring the early years finished.
Some are duplicates but many are not--it's a metal box the size of a shoebox.
My husband said, "just burn them," and I said no way--some wonderful pictures in there. Will need to buy one or two more albums and rearrange the ones we have--it's basically 1990-2002, so at least we know what albums they belong in.
Plus 2 hours figuring out why my two computers not working and got both of them printing--upgraded the operating system on one and had to get a new Word for the other--but now they both work.
Since one was lying in a bag as clutter, I am going to count this as decluttering, if only massive frustration.
(new total 25.5)
Tybee - I'm in the same boat as you with pics. My mom passed away in August 2017. I spent last winter going through many, many photo albums and envelopes full of pics. I sorted out stuff for my brother and me and kept a large container of her and my father's pics from pre-marriage. The rest I took to a family reunion last summer and said I'm not bringing them back home! I'm going to a scrapbooking weekend this weekend and I plan on spending it sorting again. I know I have lots of duplicates. I want to cull things down and get them organized chronologically (both my childhood and then my folks' pics). I'll do very simple albums and just try to get them labeled and add the stories that I know.
Tybee - I'm in the same boat as you with pics. My mom passed away in August 2017. I spent last winter going through many, many photo albums and envelopes full of pics. I sorted out stuff for me and my brother and kept a large container of her and my father's pics from pre-marriage. The rest I took to a family reunion last summer and said I'm not bringing them back home! I'm going to a scrapbooking weekend this weekend and I plan on spending it sorting again. I know I have lots of duplicates. I want to cull things down and get them organized chronologically (both my childhood and then my folks' pics). I'll do very simple albums and just try to get them labeled and add the stories that I know.
I definitely have scaled down how I want the albums to be. Now that I have this new box, I will go through the albums they would have gone in, chronologically, and look for duplicates again. It is helping me to do this in stages--I have decided not to do anymore of my parents' pictures and their parents' pictures until they pass away; it is just too intense right now, I also do not want to do an intensive sweep of their house and find more pictures and have to redo it.
On the positive side, I now have a current day album and am labeling everything and putting little notes in as we put the pictures in, so we are good to proceed--no more 20-year backlog of photos of my own family.
Great idea to take the pictures to a family reunion--maybe I do the same when one passes, so folks can start taking these pictures for their own memories.
I am so sorry for the loss of your mom.
plus 2.5 hours, new total 28
Sorted more of the newly found pics and found space in two albums, as well as started extra pages for new albums. Grouping pics by activity--kids in baseball, kids on horseback, birthday parties, trips to Grandparents for Christmas.
Spent half the time sorting files on my computing and transferring to newly resurrected computer.
I eked out another hour today, so my new total is 5.
I am definitely still scratching the surface, but at least I've begun.
It's very inspiring to hear about all the progress the rest of you are making!
Chicken lady
1-24-19, 10:58am
Little by little ejchase, you will get there...
tybee, you are doing great!
things I accomplished by 9(30ish)
vitamin
coffee
dh breakfast
pack dh lunch
restart fire and keep it going
chores - including the added joy of relocating a skunk who died in my pasture far too close to my barn
Refill wood box
compost out
made rice pudding for my breakfast (ate it) with extra for later
cleaned up living areas
emptied dishwasher, reloaded, and started
took down dry hanging (inside) laundry
packed my swim bag
hung up wet laundry
put a load of dry laundry away
washed a load of laundry and put it in the dryer
started another load and discovered my washer is broken (will only fill, agitate, and drain on “regular” setting) - used “extra rinse” and “extra spin” settings to finish load
sent an important e-mail
I will have one or two cans of trash to go up this week. I am going to try to get out to the studio again, but I have a bunch of other stuff to do. Early morning took all my insulation though, so I have a 3.5 “can” credit and an empty corner in my garage!
I did 2.5 hours today. New total: 7.5.
plus 2 hours, purchased two new albums, all the new box of pictures is now inserted into correct albums, and filled the other two albums. Total 30 hours.
I need another big project to motivate me to finish.
Wow, Tybee, you're on a roll!
Chicken lady
1-28-19, 9:59am
Tybee, did you choose another project?
things I did before 9:00:
Take vitamin
make coffee
restart the fire
yoga
make dh breakfast and pack his lunch
Chores
load dirty dishes into dishwasher
put a load of laundry away
wash another load and get it in the dryer
start a third load
compost out
clean toilets
tidy living room
vaccuum great room
find a collection of small Christmas decorations that I shoved in a drawer because I didn’t want to put them out this year, choose a few to part with, and take the rest down to the basement.
Tybee, did you choose another project?
.
I am going to do my closet, my dresser drawers, and family letters this week.
We are in the midst of a blizzard so a good day to select one to start. There is no going out today--zero degrees and snowing heavily.
Teacher Terry
1-28-19, 11:50am
My husband is out of town for 2 weeks so intend to tackle the garage. We haven’t used our extra bag stickers so I can shed tons of stuff.
Chicken lady
1-29-19, 10:04am
How’s it going tybee?
before 9:00 I:
took my vitamin
made coffee
restarted the fire
fixed dh breakfast
packed his lunch
emptied the dishwasher and put all the dirty dishes in
did my chores
Sent an administrative email
tidied the living areas
put away the dry laundry
disassembled the giant Christmas wreath I had made and stuffed in the garage - reclaiming my hula hoop and giving the branches to the goats
washed the fancy outdoor Christmas bows that got muddy and hung them to dry (not too) near the stove
Made and ate my breakfast
set up my desk
plus 1 hour, sorted family letters and reboxed in plastic underbed storage boxes for now. Total 31 hours.
plus 1 hour, sorted family letters and reboxed in plastic underbed storage boxes for now. Total 31 hours.
plus 1 hour Kondoized the dresser drawers and got rid of bag of socks, new total 32.
Teacher Terry
1-29-19, 2:22pm
8 hours yesterday and 3 today and now I have errands. One of our kitchen drawers was so full of duplicate stuff DH bought that I couldn’t find the stuff I used. Yes everyone needs 6 wine openers, etc. Now I can find stuff again. In a way I hate dollar stores because that’s one reason for all the duplicates.
I had guests over tonight so was motivated to make a little push - one more hour. New total: 8.5.
Teacher Terry
2-2-19, 12:59pm
Bought the file cabinets and spent 8 hours in his office yesterday.
Bought the file cabinets and spent 8 hours in his office yesterday.
Wow, Teacher Terry, that's a lot! Good work!
I finally made my first big push today. At first, I just walked around and looked at all the clutter and got overwhelmed, aimlessly picking things up and putting them down. There were certain things that I just didn't know what to do with, so I have tabled them until later.
Finally, I started saying out loud the mantras that I always have to say to myself at this point: "Start with what's easy" and "Any step forward is a step forward," and that and other forms of talking to myself, got me going. I filled up a couple of grocery bags with paper to recycle and started a bag for Goodwill and a bag for the expired drugs drop-off site. By the end of the four hours, I felt like I had a certain amount of momentum going.
New total: 12.5.
aimlessly picking things up and putting them down. There were certain things that I just didn't know what to do with, so I have tabled them until later.
EJ: Here's a new tactic. Pick up an item. Will you use it? If yes, where will you look for it? Take it there immediately. If you won't use it, it goes into the OUTbox. Focus on each single item rather than the entire space. Each item then becomes a success.
EJ: Here's a new tactic. Pick up an item. Will you use it? If yes, where will you look for it? Take it there immediately. If you won't use it, it goes into the OUTbox. Focus on each single item rather than the entire space. Each item then becomes a success.
Gardnr, this is such wise advice, but I'm afraid I have severe hoarding tendencies and at this stage of decluttering, I just freeze up and have trouble being decisive. What I've discovered works for me when I'm starting another 40 hours of decluttering is to start with the stuff that is easy (boxes of paper that are mostly trash, etc.). Then, when I've cleared some space that way, I gain confidence and start to be able to make decisions about the stuff that is harder for me for me to deal with.
plus 1 hr, total 11 hours
EJ, I think you are undercounting--I was looking for my total on the thread and I think you were at two hours already on the 7th so aren't you at 3 hours now? Yay, you!
Ack! Just saw this comment!
Yes, it turns out I did undercount! Yay! So my current total is actually 13.5! Thanks, Tybee, for your eagle eye!
Teacher Terry
2-2-19, 8:54pm
EJ, you are doing great! I have worked 8 hours every day since Monday. Then last night I had a dinner party at my house. Today I cleaned up from the party, went to a birthday brunch and then was so tired I got into my pj’s and watching tv the rest of the day. All this decluttering and cleaning is physical and I am old :))
EJ, you are doing great! I have worked 8 hours every day since Monday. Then last night I had a dinner party at my house. Today I cleaned up from the party, went to a birthday brunch and then was so tired I got into my pj’s and watching tv the rest of the day. All this decluttering and cleaning is physical and I am old :))
It definitely sounds like you earned that break, Teacher Terry. Good for you!
Chicken lady
2-3-19, 6:36am
TT, that’s a lot!
ejchase, I completely understand.
i did 4 hours in the studio barn on Friday. Not all at once, broken up. Honestly, you can hardly tell I was out there. I filled 2/3 of a can fir trash pick up, and have a recycling pile almost as big, but there is just so much. I ended up bringing some things back to the house in boxes, because they were small, and all jumbled up, and if I am going to keep them, they would go in the house - I guess.
there are two approaches that work for me - one is to start with the easiest stuff and keep working until everything is hard (because the longer I work at a stretch, the harder each decision becomes) when I do that, I just move hard things aside so I can keep going. The other is to choose a few hard things to deal with right away when I am fresh and motivated and then use the momentum to continue in that area. I think I get less done overall on those days.
it is like exercising - you can keep doing sets of reps or laps for a long time, getting lighter and slower at the end, or you can max out and do a quick set or sprint for a short time. Either way you end up tired, but slowly get stronger.
in General, over time, the more decisions I make, the easier it gets. And when you peel a layer back, the next layer becomes the “easy” layer
Chicken lady
2-3-19, 7:00am
TT, that’s a lot!
ejchase, I completely understand.
i did 4 hours in the studio barn on Friday. Not all at once, broken up. Honestly, you can hardly tell I was out there. I filled 2/3 of a can fir trash pick up, and have a recycling pile almost as big, but there is just so much. I ended up bringing some things back to the house in boxes, because they were small, and all jumbled up, and if I am going to keep them, they would go in the house - I guess.
there are two approaches that work for me - one is to start with the easiest stuff and keep working until everything is hard (because the longer I work at a stretch, the harder each decision becomes) when I do that, I just move hard things aside so I can keep going. The other is to choose a few hard things to deal with right away when I am fresh and motivated and then use the momentum to continue in that area. I think I get less done overall on those days.
it is like exercising - you can keep doing sets of reps or laps for a long time, getting lighter and slower at the end, or you can max out and do a quick set or sprint for a short time. Either way you end up tired, but slowly get stronger.
in General, over time, the more decisions I make, the easier it gets. And when you peel a layer back, the next layer becomes the “easy” layer
Gardnr, this is such wise advice, but I'm afraid I have severe hoarding tendencies and at this stage of decluttering, I just freeze up and have trouble being decisive. What I've discovered works for me when I'm starting another 40 hours of decluttering is to start with the stuff that is easy (boxes of paper that are mostly trash, etc.). Then, when I've cleared some space that way, I gain confidence and start to be able to make decisions about the stuff that is harder for me for me to deal with.
You know yourself best.:) Sounds like for you, the key is to keep going as you have committed to here.
Teacher Terry
2-3-19, 11:28am
CL, you are making progress. When my friend came over and opened s cupboard to get a glass she noticed how neat and uncrowded it was. That felt good. The woman st the thrift Store said their donations are up since Marie Kondo show on Netflix. I am hoping that I can finish today. The more tired I get the easier the decision because I just want it all to go away. It’s snowing and we are supposed to get a foot so will be stuck home a few days so will definitely finish. I have went through every closet , cupboard and drawers in our house.
You know yourself best.:) Sounds like for you, the key is to keep going as you have committed to here.
I think so, Gardnr.
2.5 more hours today. I'm realizing I won't make 40 hours by February 19 because I've been a little behind and then I have to go out of town next week. But I'm hoping I can get 25 hours completed before my trip and then possibly get all 40 completed by the end of February. We'll see.
New total: 16 hours.
Teacher Terry
2-3-19, 8:31pm
It took me 4 hours to finish. Most of that was cleaning because it has been to cluttered to clean in 7 years. It looks as good as it can with keeping his junk in file cabinets. He has 3 desks in there so every inch of wall space has a piece of furniture. My class started back up last week so I need to grade. I finished reading both books written by a slob comes clean. She has a technique that works for people that struggle. I like how nonjudgmental she is.
iris lilies
2-4-19, 10:57am
DH brought down from our attic a large box of curtains. They were custom made 32 years ago. I didnt even know we had moved them to this house the house we have had for 30 years. Haha, poor DH, he gets the blame for a lot of clutter but who is responsible for this outsize box? ME!
Teacher Terry
2-4-19, 11:14am
People with attics or basements tend to do that:))
Teacher Terry, congrats on finishing!
Iris Lillies, I totally get it. I can't believe some of the things I've discovered I've held on to!
iris lilies
2-4-19, 11:46am
Teacher Terry, congrats on finishing!
Iris Lillies, I totally get it. I can't believe some of the things I've discovered I've held on to!
one excuse is that we lived with our belongings packed up for more than a decade while we rehabbed this house
Plaster dust everywhere, and etc. No point in putting up final decor, it all would have been ruined or in need of constant dusting.
Teacher Terry
2-4-19, 12:13pm
Because we have moved a lot it kept us from building up a ton of stuff. In Wisconsin we lived in a big house with a basement for 14 years. There were 5 of us. So quite a job to get rid of stuff when we moved to Kansas for my job.
in General, over time, the more decisions I make, the easier it gets. And when you peel a layer back, the next layer becomes the “easy” layer
This is how it works for me.
On Saturday, I looked at one area that is a big source of shame for me: about 10-12 bags in a corner of my bedroom containing clothes and household items (shower curtains, etc.) I bought, decided against, and never got around to returning. On Saturday, they were just too overwhelming for me to contemplate (Should I take them to the thrift store? See if I can still return any of them?). I just felt so guilty about letting them sit there for so long and about the money wasted if I can't return them now.
Well, today, after focusing on easier stuff over the weekend, I started to face them. Good news: I found out I can still return three skirts that arrived 18 months ago (!!! so embarrassing to admit this publicly !!!) - that's a refund of almost $200! I also found I can still get store credit for most of the other things. So I packed them up and they are ready to be mailed tomorrow.
I mostly just got to the clothes - still have to face some of the household items - but it's a start.
So that was two hours today. New total: 18.
Teacher Terry
2-4-19, 9:43pm
Echase, that’s awesome that you can still return that stuff. Awesome!
Echase, that’s awesome that you can still return that stuff. Awesome!
Aw, thanks for the encouragement. So nice to have a cheering squad here. :)
I thought I was done for the day, but then I found another box of paper in my bedroom, and in the course of trying to figure out if it was just all recycling or not, I ended up going through it (not all recycling - but most). One more half hour. New total: 18.5.
Aw, thanks for the encouragement. So nice to have a cheering squad here. :)
I thought I was done for the day, but then I found another box of paper in my bedroom, and in the course of trying to figure out if it was just all recycling or not, I ended up going through it (not all recycling - but most). One more half hour. New total: 18.5.
That is wonderful, and so glad you could return the items and get so much cash and credit back--that must feel so good.
Chicken lady
2-5-19, 6:30am
Good job ejchase!
is the shopping a problem? Could you take a picture of all the boxes and put it somewhere - like wrapped around your preferred card - to remind you to reconsider purchases before you buy them? I’m very glad you can return the stuff!
Okay, I haven't done anything for a few days because since the picture project was so motivating, and now it's done for now, so I need to set another project to complete the 40 hour challenge. I need 8 hours of something. I kind of like Teacher Terry's going through every drawer and cupboard, and I also have a project involving boxes in the shed. We were in the polar vortex so I lost momentum because it was too cold for me to go outside. Now there's a big sheet of ice across the yard, so I have to debate the box thing versus the cupboard drawer thing. Decisions.
Okay, change of plans. going to do 8 hours of digital decluttering before Feb 19. Going to check out the Marie Kondo digital decluttering episode on Netflix. Too cold to work in shed right now.
Okay, change of plans. going to do 8 hours of digital decluttering before Feb 19. Going to check out the Marie Kondo digital decluttering episode on Netflix. Too cold to work in shed right now.
Fantastic! What a good idea!
Good job ejchase!
is the shopping a problem? Could you take a picture of all the boxes and put it somewhere - like wrapped around your preferred card - to remind you to reconsider purchases before you buy them? I’m very glad you can return the stuff!
Shopping isn't actually a problem - just returning! I always get overwhelmed at the thought of it, for some reason, - getting to UPS, filling out the little forms, packing everything up. So I think now that I know I procrastinate on it that I can talk to myself about it - e.g. "It's not really that complicated, just do it."
I did return a bunch of things today, and it felt like a huge weight was lifted.
I drove around to Goodwill, UPS, Target, a friends' house to give her some hand-me-downs. It was about three hours mixed in with other non-decluttering errands, so I'll call it one hour. New total: 19.5.
plus 2 hours of digital decluttering, total 34
Digitial decluttering is the worst.
plus 2 hours of digital decluttering, total 34
Digitial decluttering is the worst.
I'm sorry it's so hard, but good for you for diving in. That's a whole area I can't even comprehend at this point.
I did two more hours today. I've really been focusing on my bedroom which is where I've thrown a lot of my clutter when I don't know what to do with it. There is clutter elsewhere in the house, but I'm feeling like, at this point, maybe it would be healthy for me to make my personal space in the house a priority. After all, 98% of the time it's just me and my daughter here (her room is in pretty good shape), and I think it might be a great act of self-care to make my bedroom a spot in the house that I really love being in. Interestingly, I feel guilty just saying that - like I should focus on the "public" spaces first. Anyway, it's what I'm doing.
Today, I tackled my dresser, which I had spent quite a bit of time on in my "40 hours of decluttering" project in summer 2017. I had made a commitment to making it pretty - spent a lot of time online finding a bureau scarf (Etsy!), jewelry tree, and jewelry box I loved - and it really did spark an immense amount of joy when I finally arranged everything how I wanted it. But last fall I let papers pile up on it. So I went through them today, and now that space is clear and just as lovely as I remember it.
I also went through pretty much all my books in the house and found about 14 to give away. That's a drop in the bucket, but frankly, I like the feeling of a lot of books in a house, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
And I went through some old newspapers and other papers I found under the bed.
But it *is* going slowly. I still have lots of clutter on the floor, several bags and boxes of papers to go through. Sigh. One hour at a time. :) New total: 21.5.
Chicken lady
2-7-19, 6:31am
Ejchase, you are doing well. And you deserve a nice room!
when we helped my ❤️Dd with her house, I was the last one there, and I gave her the tour of what we had done, and then I said: we didn’t do anything to your room except grab some clothes off the floor and set up this shelf by your door for clean clothes - you can use it somewhere else when it’s empty. But, I have clean sheets for you, and I am not leaving until we get the stuff off your bed and put them on and make you a decent place to sleep. So we did. And it helped her.
if you go to bed in the mess and wake up in the mess, there is no escape and it wears on you.
i remember when you did your dresser, and I am glad you got it back.
I agree, ejchase, your room should be a haven, and you are inspiring me to redo my bedside table, which constantly gets piled up with books and notebooks.
Did 7 hours of digital decluttering, so reached my 40 hour number for February.
This has been really helpful for me, so I may start a new thread for the time between now and March 20, unless someone else is starting one. I will probably select 30 hours.
Thanks so much, ejchase, for an inspiring and motivating thread!!!!
On, my in box is completely clear now!
Teacher Terry
2-7-19, 11:14am
Great progress everyone! I love these threads. I try to delete emails as soon as I can. The only ones that I don’t are class emails. My son said when he teaches he keeps them forever but I don’t want to. How long do you keep your T?
I try to not have any class emails on my private email since I want that mail archived by the university. I keep some administrative and curriculum correspondance on my own but no student stuff because of FERPA. So student stuff is on the college servers, not mine.
Teacher Terry
2-7-19, 12:37pm
My students can use the university or my private email. The university wants it that way.
Yeah, that makes it harder for you. Ours wants it only on their server.
TT, can you forward the emails to the university server? maybe at the end of each class?
Teacher Terry
2-7-19, 6:35pm
I will find out
Just 30 minutes today - finishing some refrigerator decluttering. New total: 22.
30 more minutes today. New total: 22.5.
Chicken lady
2-9-19, 6:13am
I’m still working in a scattershot fashion, so no idea how long I worked last week, but I put three cans up. I think that was more garage than studio.
About five years ago I got rid of 15 banker boxes full of books. My nephew is a teacher at a school that can't afford a lot of books. Most of the ones I donated were classics. So this weekend I decided to Marie Kondo the remaining books in my house. While I was deciding what to get rid of and what to keep, I put all the ones I hadn't read yet in one pile. Of those, the ones I kept, I put on one shelf separately . Now I'm working through that shelf of books before I take any other ones out of the library. I am donating as I finish them to one of those little libraries. I love those things! I drive by one almost daily so it's easy. The only problem is I take home more books, ha ha! So far I have two more bankers boxes to donate and a box for my dad. It took about three hours including cleaning the shelves while they were empty. Surprisingly little dust as they were so cramped full there wasn't room for dust��
About five years ago I got rid of 15 banker boxes full of books. My nephew is a teacher at a school that can't afford a lot of books. Most of the ones I donated were classics. So this weekend I decided to Marie Kondo the remaining books in my house. While I was deciding what to get rid of and what to keep, I put all the ones I hadn't read yet in one pile. Of those, the ones I kept, I put on one shelf separately . Now I'm working through that shelf of books before I take any other ones out of the library. I am donating as I finish them to one of those little libraries. I love those things! I drive by one almost daily so it's easy. The only problem is I take home more books, ha ha! So far I have two more bankers boxes to donate and a box for my dad. It took about three hours including cleaning the shelves while they were empty. Surprisingly little dust as they were so crammed full there wasn't room for dust.
Sorry for the double post, was trying to correct my spelling . Should be crammed not cramped shelves. Am afraid to try and correct as I might y end up with three posts!
About five years ago I got rid of 15 banker boxes full of books. My nephew is a teacher at a school that can't afford a lot of books. Most of the ones I donated were classics. So this weekend I decided to Marie Kondo the remaining books in my house. While I was deciding what to get rid of and what to keep, I put all the ones I hadn't read yet in one pile. Of those, the ones I kept, I put on one shelf separately . Now I'm working through that shelf of books before I take any other ones out of the library. I am donating as I finish them to one of those little libraries. I love those things! I drive by one almost daily so it's easy. The only problem is I take home more books, ha ha! So far I have two more bankers boxes to donate and a box for my dad. It took about three hours including cleaning the shelves while they were empty. Surprisingly little dust as they were so cramped full there wasn't room for dust😁
This sounds like a great system for making sure you read the unread books you own! Very inspiring!
Well, I didn't manage to hit 25 hours before I went out of town last week, but I did manage 2 more hours today. New total: 24.5.
Still putt-putting along here. 30 more minutes yesterday. New total: 25.
So-o-o some tough life stuff happened, and I totally let it distract me from this goal.
But I am finally back at it and eked out two hours this week.
Tonight, I tackled the guest room which I've been feeling bad about. The desk in there was piled with papers, and I finally went in and went through them all and swept and tidied, and now that room is FINE. Best. Therapy. Ever.
New total: 27.
Got a big stack of filing caught up Sunday afternoon and in the process pulled old papers out to be shredded. That feels good.
In the basement today clearing stuff.
Inside of an hour got two contractor bags of garbage, 3 bags of clothes for Vietnam Vets, one recycling bin with the contents of 2 banker's boxes of old work documents, and labeled two plastic bins with Christmas stuff for garage sale and "ask kids" stuff.
Teacher Terry
3-31-19, 3:01pm
Are you going to hold a big garage sale before going to Vermont?
Are you going to hold a big garage sale before going to Vermont?
Yes, the plan is:
a. Throw away stuff
b. Hold big garage sale
c. Post some of what's left on Craigslist
d. If it can't be sold, repost on Freecycle
e. If it can't be given away, bring to Goodwill or put on curb
My kids have all offered to help. I think they want to be sure I'm not throwing away something of theirs they want to keep!
Teacher Terry
3-31-19, 4:00pm
Whatever their motives it will be good to have the help
Whatever their motives it will be good to have the help
For sure. I really am grateful.
Wow! You all are making some good progress.
I hope to get at least a couple more hours done this weekend.
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.
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
4-6-19, 1:49pm
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.
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.
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
4-10-19, 10:37pm
Echase, clearly your efforts have paid off and your life is better. So glad!
rosarugosa
4-11-19, 5:47am
Wow EJ, that is really great to hear!
It's great to finally reap the rewards! It's like that saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
I've been getting rid of stuff but it all seems like a drop in the bucket. We're going to rent a dumpster this weekend for when 3 of my kids (well, 2 kids and 1 SO and 2 dogs) come to help out. I'm looking forward to giving quite a few things the old heave-ho!
I have to admit, as we pare down to fit 2100 sq. ft. of stuff into 700 sq ft, it's hard and stressful to choose the things that will continue on in the journey. I have to let some things go--things that have a story. Now I'm saying to DH, well, what if we buy up? (We have given consideration to moving to a more winter-friendly part of the island.). I don't think we will, but I keep thinking about all the things I'm now forced to give up and I'm grappling with all the "what ifs"--What if I wind up with room for some of my favorite things that I'm letting go of?
And at the same time, I see how BIL spent a ton of money storing things in a POD, and today he gave half of the contents to charity, and put another third of the furniture that he thought was SO valuable out on the curb. It's just like George Carlin said, "Have you noticed that their stuff is sh*t and your sh*t is stuff?" So when I was looking at the piles of BIL's cr*p all spread out on the driveway, I could in no way judge because I had only to look over his shoulder into my garage and view the piles of my own cr*p.
All in all, I'm happy that I'm putting myself in a position where my kids won't have to despair over cleaning out a 50-year old monument to our meaningless acquisitions when DH and I die, but it's still a lot of peeling off the bandaid one hair at a time.
Teacher Terry
4-11-19, 12:00pm
Catherine, I haven’t downsized all at once like you are doing. We gradually moved to smaller places although we shed half our furniture with this last move. I have helped others do what you are doing. No one later missed anything. You will feel lighter.
Thanks, everybody, for your kind words.
All in all, I'm happy that I'm putting myself in a position where my kids won't have to despair over cleaning out a 50-year old monument to our meaningless acquisitions when DH and I die, but it's still a lot of peeling off the bandaid one hair at a time.
As someone who *did* have to (help) clean out a very cluttered parent's home, I can testify that you're giving them a real gift.
But, frankly, I felt more sad than angry or resentful about my mother's stuff because I know the constant clutter stressed her out so much. She did deal with it in big pushes sometimes (and I tried to help her at the very end), but I'm sure it stressed her out to think about that being left for us to deal with.
I suspect, Catherine, whatever decisions you make about your next place, just making that decision very consciously and thoughtfully will make the next chapter of your life less stressful.
I haven't read the "death cleaning" book, but I think about that phrase a lot as I declutter. I'm 53 and hope I have a fair amount of time left, but no matter what, I want to be the one doing the emotional work of letting go of my stuff (literally and figuratively!). I think it's sort of a healthy process - letting go of old interests and priorities so I can focus on the most vital ones. I read somewhere once that life is a process of distillation, and that makes a lot of sense to me. There is some grieving involved ("Really? I really am going to give away that copy of Moby Dick because I know now I will never re-read it?"), but it seems like a healthy grieving - an acceptance of who I turned out to be and a letting go of all the other "me's" I experimented with.
1.5 more hours tonight. New total: 31.5.
3 more hours tonight - a final push before my dad arrived. New total: 34.5.
Though it was my intention to finish these 40 hours back in February, stuff happened. So now I'm trying to get them done by the end of the spring semester at the school where I teach. Did one more hour tonight. New total: 35.5.
You are almost there EJ. I am still writing- not every day but I'm pleased with my progress. As for the yard...working diligently but still lots more to do.
I eked out another 30 minutes last Monday night when I was super-tired. New total: 36. Baby steps!
Nswef, I'm so impressed with all the writing you've done! Glad you're moving forward with the yard too.
One more hour today on piles of paper. New total: 37.
30 more minutes last Friday morning. New total: 37.5.
One thing I realized last week: when I started this 40 hours last December, my first priority was to deal with the clutter in my bedroom which had gotten pretty bad - I think about a fifth of the floor was covered with stacks of papers. When I resumed decluttering in the last couple of weeks, I had totally forgotten how bad it was. Now about 90% of that clutter is gone - there are just a couple of small stacks of clutter left, mostly in the corners, and I may be able to get rid of them entirely this week.
Having a decluttered bedroom just feels "normal" now, which is great. But it also feels good to remember how much progress I'm making because at times, all these decluttering hours feel endless. But the bottom line is, I like my home SO much more now since starting these batches of 40 hours two and a half years ago!
Teacher Terry
6-2-19, 1:29pm
That’s great echase!
That is so lovely to hear, EJ!
So ..o...o I never finished this 40 hours from last winter break, so I'm finishing it now so that I can start my regular summer 40 hours of decluttering.
For the last three years, I've been doing 40 hours of decluttering every winter and summer when I don't teach, and it's really helped me work through my hoarder tendencies and drastically improved my quality of life.
Did one hour this weekend, so I'm up to 38 on this batch.
Chicken lady
7-23-19, 7:13am
Hi ejchase!
i have exactly six weeks to my first day of classes. If I average an hour a day that would put me just over 40 hours. I’m currently decluttering my pottery studio, so I will join you?
Hi Chicken Lady! It would be great to have you join me! I'll probably start a new thread when I finish these last two hours from winter, so maybe I'll see you here then there. So great to have company.
I did another hour last night, so have completed 39 hours on this batch.
Chicken lady
7-24-19, 6:41am
Nice job!
i worked a little yesterday but didn’t time it. I look forward to seeing you on the new thread. :)
I finished these 40 hours last night. Thanks so all of you who joined in and/or offered support along the way. It made a big difference.
rosarugosa
7-25-19, 5:56pm
Congratulations!!!!
Congratulations!!!!
Thank you!
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