I actually came back here to ask if people had a good method for scanning and organizing things. I have been debating getting one of the double-sided scanners, like Neat Receipts, for papers that I want to keep. A regular scanner does take a lot of time and then you have to organize the scanned items on your computer as well as back them up somewhere so you don’t loose them all. So any suggestions on a good software or hardware for this would be appreciated.
My big issue is like Sea Dragon. I find it hard to work up the energy to do things and just get too comfortable doing nothing. I had several really bad years of Fibromyalgia where I was pretty much in constant pain and couldn’t move much or even think. That’s when everything started getting out of hand but even then my place wasn’t as cluttered as it is now. Now I don’t have as much pain but I have chronic sinus issues and back issues which make me more prone to stay prone.
Another problem is the feeling of being overwhelmed when I think about how much I actually have to do. I try not to do that and work on small sections but I often get distracted and end up doing something else.
For example this weekend I was going to go through my shelves where I keep my food and purge expired stuff and organize so I could actually put my new groceries away. I had a little microwave cooking tool on those shelves and decided I should keep it in one of the three drawers under my microwave. Then I had to clean out those drawers, which had basically become junk drawers, I had batteries in there which I moved to a container and I relocated most of the other stuff and put the other junk in a small container to sort later. So I finished that job and decided to use the drawers for various cooking tools. But once I finished I didn’t feel like I really accomplished anything because it wasn’t anything where the results were obvious without opening drawers.
The hardest part of getting this stuff done is getting past all the obstacles that your brain makes for you.
Also, I think I have the book someone mentioned … I lost it in the clutter.
ETA: Broomstick - I think having a bunch of my mother’s clutter dumped on me was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. When my mother went in a nursing home my brother just brought a lot of her stuff to me. I had recently managed to reduce some of my own clutter and then I got all this new stuff and could not emotionally bring myself to go through it or purge it because it felt like I was purging my mother. It took me a year to even go through it and donate a bunch of stuff.
the reviews at amazon do a fantastic job, but I’ll try.
this is a total system of organizing all of whatever it is you have to do (work and personal) - everything - and the focus is wide enough to take it all in but also narrow enough so you know what to do with each thing and at each step in the action.
when the entire system is implemented, it should provide a zen state, because everything is “captured” in a system you can trust and that frees your mind to relax and be *in the moment. *
I have not yet tried it :rolleyes:, but I plan to - I’ll report back. I was so impressed by the book, can you tell?
My apologies - when you came in praising the book with absolutely no detail about why you liked it I mistook you for one of those folks paid to promote something. Try the system out and let us know how it works for you.
Also filled up half a kitchen garbage can with the discards from it, but that is also progress. Yay!
Finally found out what works for me - I have a “portable file box” that I can easily carry to where the problem is. I think sort the pile by very broad categories: trash, shred, bank, medical, etc. I don’t try to sub sort or get elaborate, just categorize everything.
Then when the pile is gone, I can set aside time to, for example, sort the medical into my spouse and myself and then into more detail. I think trying to go from “unsorted messy chaos” to “completely orderly and logical” in one step was defeating me. This breaks it down into steps I find more manageable.
Of course, your mileage may vary and something else might work for you.
Getting the right tools for the job helps immensely, too, I find. I bought a used steel industrial-strength file cabinet a couple of years ago, and it has (mostly) brought the paper clutter under control. I filled it with hanging folders, put individual folders in the hanging folders, and filing has become 99% simple and easy. There’s always that 1% that I don’t know what to do with, but that 1% is easier to deal with than piles of papers everywhere (and it usually ends up with just make a file for it).
We’re getting set to put our house up for sale and move to another city this summer, so I’m knee-deep in de-clutter, sort, throw out, recycle, and donate over here. I have to say, though, if everyone moved every five years like we seem to do, a lot of the clutter problems would get fixed - as long as you include the sort, recycle, throw away and donate step in each move. I love the way my house looks when it’s ready to sell - all the clutter taken care of, all the extra stuff boxed and put away in the garage, everything kept tidy so we can show the place at a moment’s notice.
Did anyone hear the article on NPR this morning? Elderly people are unable to move to more appropriate - easier to maintain & safer - housing because they are trapped (metaphorically) in their older more expensive home by the material possessions they have accumulated over the years?
I got through the Christmas decorations. Now I’m onto the “mementos”. The first box has a t-shirt from Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada; the second has a ‘what-not’ box that belong to my late aunt, who died when I was eight.
It’s a cheap polyester t-shirt that wouldn’t fit my left arm these day; every time I try to toss it in the recycle pile, I get flooded with memories - like the only time I had a beer in a bar with my mom.
Damn, and boy do I have some rooms that could use painting! We bought this place 4 years ago, and were sodying to get out of our crappy shoebox rental that we moved in RIGHT AWAY instead of painting first, even though there were still 2 months left on the lease at the old place.
We’ve since managed to do the bathrooms (and had someone do the master bedroom), but the den has holes in the wall where the sellers removed a shelving system right before closing, and our technique in the living room (where they removed a built-in speaker system and at least plastered over the holes) was to place large furniture items over the plaster patches. The thought of moving the wall unit, the china cabinet, and everything in them is much more of a deterrent to painting than the actual painting
My personal rule is if I can hang it on a wall or fit it in the jewelry armoire, I keep it. Otherwise, take a picture and then give it away or chuck it.
Well, that wasn’t so bad. Most stuff was easily sorted into Donate, Give To Loved Ones, or What, Was I Nuts? Throw It Out. And the GTLO piles are so many and so small, I believe I can get away with it.
Of course, I am wearing two broken watches, two rings that don’t fit, and have one pile of stones and one of keys that I can’t bring myself to throw out. And seven beer coasters. And five maps. At least everything is small and light.
And the box I was so afraid of? Mostly insurance papers!
(Well, and a some family law records that were rather a surprise, but it was long ago …)
My personal rule is to hide it until I can’t remember why I saved it, then give it to someone else with a good story.
I understand how feeling that throwing stuff from loved ones somehow is the same as discarding them. I’m struggling with that myself, I have way too much stuff ‘inherited’ from my mother. Besides the ‘take a picture’ then toss, I’ve found it helps me to write about the thing/memories it evokes in my journal. A way of nailing down the memory in place of using the actual item to remind me. Maybe that would help you?
Oh, and I came across a GREAT solution to the problem of mystery keys. You know, the ones you have no idea what they go to, so you’re afraid to toss them? Turn them into a sort of wind chime/mobile out in the yard somewhere. Bend a wire hangar into a hoop and hang the keys from it on monofilament wire. The keys are out of the way, but you could always find them if you magically turn up a locked box or whatever. And it takes years for quality keys to rust out of usefulness.
And eventually you move away and they are the new owner’s problem.
OK, I had all my tax stuff in one place. Then I had to dig up some proof of employment stuff for the unemployment office. Now I can’t find one of my W2’s. How can that be??? That stuff was organized!
We had new flooring put down in the family room last week. I moved all the furniture into the lounge room and vowed that nothing, nothing was going back in until it was checked out, sorted and cleaned. Naturally, this has been a slower process than I wanted but I am managing to do the sort & toss thing each day and I’m getting there.
Two things from the desk which got tossed out: plastic passbook sleeves (I haven’t used a passbook account in, probably, 15 years) and a pile of floppy disks.
I have just spent four hours sorting through and cleaning my sewing cabinet. I have, in addition to a button box, approximately 200 individual buttons in individual itty bitty little plastic bags. Of course I have absolutely no idea which garments these buttons came with as spares.
I downloaded that app and added a few things to it. Thing is, apps don’t open themselves. I actually need something that knows when I’m home and starts pushing notifications to do stuff without me telling it to tell me to do stuff! sigh At least the place is pretty clean, it’s the little projects that keep getting put off. And laundry.
Laundry y’all. I have, for the first time in years, caught up all of the laundry. It’s all washed, dried, FOLDED or on hangers, and put away! Jubilation!
I’m still sorting from the move, and still can’t quite finish the office because the contractor has a couple of minor details to finish, but the new house is looking better every day. The floors are being swept at least every other day, and mopped weekly. I love my little cheap steam mop, BTW - it’s awesome to not have to drag out a bucket or buy a bunch of cleaners, and I can take off the mopping attachment and use as a steamer to de-gunk the shower or front door or baseboards while I have it out. And I love that steamy smell!
Frustratingly, the 13-year-old is being an airhead, and continues to leave writing implements where the toddler can reach them. Fortunately, I still have the paint handy, so I’m spending the evening sipping adult beverages and retouching to cover up the marks, plus the dings from moving furniture. Really, for the first time in ages, I’m proud of my home.
My biggest challenge right now is that I get so discouraged when I spend hours cleaning, and the whole job comes undone in minutes when the kids or dogs strike!
I love the way my house looks when it’s ready to sell - all the clutter taken care of, all the extra stuff boxed and put away in the garage, everything kept tidy so we can show the place at a moment’s notice.
