Great question!
i got the bottom shelf of the “junk” bookcase cleared. organized bins are now in place. on to the middle shelf!
Nearly all of my cold-weather undershirts and socks, plus all the assorted hats/scarves/mittens etc. are now stored neatly in small, clear-lidded stacking tubs.
I also repurposed one of those clear, zippered bags for sheet sets to corral the smallest of ^^ with the unexpected advantage that I could stuff A LOT into a small bag, since it essentially acts as a vacuum space-saver.
I was going to pack up the space heaters, winter gear, etc. and take them off to my Storage Unit, but then I had to stay 2.5 hours late at work today. Poo! Looks like it has to happen on my day off, but if I’m bringing the fans and patio furniture to my apartment I should swap it with the winter stuff, right? That’s the whole idea behind having that Storage Unit, so my living space isn’t so cluttered and I have a place to put the seasonal stuff in the off season.
Shoved what I hope are the last of my “cold-weather” shirts into a completely empty drawer (it was a triumph having that available) plus I just dropped off one of those big-ass TJMaxxx bags full of clothes at the closest thrift store.
That ^^ latter was kind of a gimme - about half of it (plus the big-ass bag itself) was a bag of “here, see whatcha want” from a friend who’s cleaning out HER closet.
I just wanted her tie-dye stuff (she’s got tons of beautiful, colorful clothes) and politely passed on the rest.
Still. Large bag & medium bin … done! (As in, someone else’s problem.)
Oh, plus some random “I went to an outlet store” clothes from my mom - donated with the tag still on it.
Don’t tell her, okay?
More maintenance stuff than anything else for me.
Finally got the space heaters to the storage unit. I can’t remember where I put the folding table for the balcony/walkway but I have my outdoor chairs ready. Forgot to clean up and dry out the humidifier, which I need to do before it goes to storage.
Found all the parts to my spouse’s solar panel set up so I can now sell it. Yay me.
Cleaned up and sanitized some of the stuff I brought over recently from the Old Place and put it away. Yay me.
Also checked over the portable air conditioner which is still at the old place, I’d like it as a supplement to my current apartment’s unit. It needs some cleaning and a new exhaust hose, and I need some help getting it to the new place, but one it’s there I could have it set up and working within a day.
Also have gotten through more of the filing back log. Again, yay me.
The downside is the friend who was helping me with all the lifting and carrying smashed his dominant hand in a trailer hitch and so has not be able to help for a couple weeks, but he should be cleared to go back to full use of the hand next week so I hope we can get through more stuff.
Now I have to go put the laundry away.
It has been hot and humid here for the past week. That used to be a rarity until July, but it was too terrible out for me to reconfigure the porch furniture to make it useable from the stacked winter position. However, it will be cooler and drier this weekend and the bench/storage piece a FB Marketplace person made for me is ready for pickup. It was cheap and made to the dimensions I specified so now I have a bench for my cats to sit on, with storage space below for garden planters in the off-season. Yay, me.
We are only allowed “outdoor” furniture on our porches, you know, the uncomfortable stuff. Repurposed old chairs and desks don’t count. Like the association has nothing better to do with their time than inspect our porches. This bench will qualify, or so I hope.
{ bump }
I know that right BEFORE the gift-giving season is usually not a “get rid of clutter” time, but …
1a.) I dropped off a buncha work shirts from a job I’ll never get back, and …
2b.) cleared off a surface for my tiny Christmas tree. (Next step: keep the cat offa it.)
YAY!
::: throws confetti :::
I once again was too late thinking about Christmas to offload some of my many, many ornaments and crafts. Therefore, I’m setting myself an alarm about it for next August, so I can start FB Marketplace advertising in September.
Post now, anyway (with pretty pictures) you may get lots of last-minute "oh, shit, I need a gift for - " buyers.
Then you can re-use the pics later. 
Too late. They are stored in a friend’s garage and said friend is on her way to India for a couple of months.
An “adoptive” family for a recently arrived Afghan refugee family is coming on Saturday to pick up the giant china cabinet that has been sitting in our basement since we moved in 2017! I tried to sell it and got nothing but scammers, then I tried to give it away with no luck (apparently nobody wants large wood furniture anymore), so I will be glad to see it go to a good home. We have since inherited Tom Scud’s grandparents’ nicer dining room set, which has family historical value in addition to being gorgeous, and we certainly don’t need two china cabinets!
OK, at a certain time with my retail “career” I realized that trying anything other than basic maintenance from Thanksgiving to New Year was laughable. So I stopped trying to do that. Christmas rolled around and I started planning my January Cleaning Schedule.
Then I got covid. Yes, this is the second time around. Needless to say, this put me back because job 1 was to recover, meaning LOTS of rest.
The good news is that this time around the illness was not so severe so about 4-5 days into it I actually started feeling a bit better and had some energy. Being stuck in the house I decided to devote only half my time to Netflix and the internet.
I started with just catching up with the housework.
Unfortunately, making dumps of garbage and taking things to donate/recycling are out until Saturday (my last day of isolation ends Friday) but I’m going to have at least two bags of garbage prepped to go out, including shredding of “sensitive” documentation purged from my filing, and a bunch of stuff ready to drop off at Goodwill. Looks like I’ll have a half-truckload to take to the recycling center. The holiday decorations are down and ready to put into storage. I’ve been tidying up, putting stuff away, hanging stuff up, and getting loads of laundry prepped (I have to leave my apartment to do laundry. Yes, I probably could have done this, but now it’s sort of a challenge to see if I can really truly shelter-in-place for 10 days).
Here’s the thing - work says I can’t come in until AFTER Friday, January 7. My vacation - asked for six weeks ago - starts on Saturday, January 8. And yes, I get to keep my vacation, which runs through Sunday, January 16. So the planned staycation with de-cluttering and cleaning up is still on! Yay!
Also, I have two friends coming out for several days (everyone’s vaccinated, we’re bubbling so my kitchen will get a work out) to not only socialized but ALSO to do some power cleaning/de-cluttering at The Old Place. We might - might - get this done. But even if we don’t, it should be major progress. The old landlord says he’s used the snow blower there already so it’s up and running and has pledged to keep access open for us, and he might help out, too (also vaccinated). (We will also be socializing, but they’ve been doing this every year for three years and we also take a significant bite out The Old Place and other projects in addition to having some fun.)
The Heavy Cleaning focus will be on The Old Place. I have work to do at the Storage Unit, but that can wait because I really want to be done with The Old Place so I’m only concerned about two locations and not three.
Meanwhile, while still under “house arrest” I’m dealing with boxes of stuff I brought over in October to go through, making decision piles (keep, donate, toss), and today working on the filing system, both catching up and purging it. Which might be what tips me over into Garbage Bag #3. (For reference - normally I generated 1 bag of garbage per week. So that’s about double my normal rate. In other words, more going out than coming in.)
So… back to working on this multi-year, on-going project.
Words of wisdom. I wish someone had told me that years ago.
Thanks for bumping this one, and I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Feeling back to normal today. So far:
Cleaned out four (!) boxes of stuff brought over to the New Place for sorting. One of said boxes is disassembled and in garbage, one is being used for temporary holding (see pens & office/art supplies below). Other two on “standby” to leave the apartment for boxing stuff at Old Place.
Officially on bag #3 of garbage now.
Went through every pen/pencil/office supply found and tested for functioning. Tossed out any that aren’t working/broken/hopelessly messed up.
Cleaned up various art supplies and stuff worth keeping (crochet hooks, X-acto knife, staples, scissors, various small tools), currently in Box of Holding until I get to that part of clean up, because MOST of today is…
FILING!!!
I am emptying out a busted-up metal filing cabinet I inherited with The New Place. It was a handy place to store stuff but I never intended to keep it. It’s going to the recycling place this week. It’s half emptied now.
Meanwhile, I had 5 file crates/boxes, about a third of which were duplicate files which I am now consolidating/sorting (Craft/art box, current bills box, archive box for same, etc.). My plan is to go entirely crates which can be stacked/moved/rearranged easily. Since that’s mostly what I’ve been using the past four years it’s what works for me. I have one file crate for music, so that will go there. I have a cardboard banker’s box that’s not in great shape but as I go through the house anything filing goes there. When I’m watching the news at noon and night I go through some of it (shred/toss/file) but at least it’s all in one place and not scattered across my space. If I come across something while doing something else I don’t have to stop and make decisions, just put it in the filing box until I’m working on filing. And now I have ONE box o’ stuff instead of four piles o’ stuff and counting.
So - and hour and half straight at this today so far. Lots of triggers of memories but I’m pushing through it all. Taking a bit of a break because I need one. Hope to get some more done today but the birds are yelling for attention so I need to appease the Feathered Overlords for a bit.
Also need new batteries for the labelmaker. Have to put those on the shopping list.
… and the metal filing cabinet in the closet is empty. Everything that was in it is now in the filing crates (NOT in the box-of-pending-filing!)
Until I can get some help pulling the thing out of closet so I can take it down for recycling my filing is in the corner of my living room, which is annoying, but endurable for a couple days. And conveniently located for me to keep working on that pile.
Broomstick, that’s awesome work you are doing. Glad you are recovering and accomplishing things.
I haven’t accomplished much in the cleaning world but am job hunting for a lesser job than before. I just want to work. No more software projects, please. I hope I can find something.
My challenge has been to fit the stuff from my house into a condo, and not bring in anything other than what is necessary/practical. It’s a game of what do we really need/use versus what can I pass on to others. Just this week, I’ve decided the NutriBullet that I scored for $30 and only used once needs to go, and so do several of the alcoholic beverage bottles I have. And I finally figured out where to put the alcoholic beverage bottles I will keep (I don’t drink due to medication, but I still goof with alcohol and things like peaches flambee, champagne jam, and Belgian-style cakes) so yay me!
Free! FREE!
::: runs out of apartment into street, cheering :::
::: discovers it is still winter and runs back in for a coat ::::
Started with getting the garbage out of the apartment and threw a load of clothes in the wash. Getting a grocery list together. Baking bread, which should be done shortly after the wash is totally finished. Well, the start of the laundry will be finished, I’ll still have a couple loads to go after that but I need more quarters so a trip to the bank is on the list of chores.
Plan is to start and run the vehicles when it “warms” up - they’ve been sitting for a bit. I’ve errands to run so today, aside from the laundry, there may be less cleaning but there is stuff to put away and I could put some time in on the filing.
So a 4 part project for the game/rec room in the basement. It was running cold all the time but 2 ducts for the kitchen and dining room run in the ceiling. I added a diffuser for the game/rec room to each.
The original and only vent for this large room was largely blocked by the craft table. So today I completely emptied the craft table and slid it the 8 inches or so needed to clear the vent diffuser.
This gave me the chance to clean up and reorganize the craft table. This was a good thing. We were running out of work space on it. I built the 2 little pink racks on the right side to help organize. Put more stuff on the wall. I also added little side shelves. But mostly I organized and got to unpack some stuff that was still in plastic containers.
<= = click to expand = = = => 
I want to redesign the tiered paint holder I built years ago. It isn’t optimal.
My daughter is working on Baba Yaga’s Hut currently. Completely from scratch. We’re also painting some minis. I just finished a tower for game use.