Today we turned out the shed entirely. First time in about six years. I threw away about ten 40 litre bags of sheer crap like empty plastic pots and empty paint cans (they can only be put out once a month here and they will only take six bags at a time so next Thursday we will see if they actually go or not…).
We found that mice had gotten into a box of books that my husband had not opened for 14 years but swore that he needed. I insisted that they go, he insisted that they be shredded (confidential stuff in there.) So I spent the afternoon alternating between shredding and then when the shredder overheated, sweeping up mouse droppings and bundling stuff up into different categories, while he refloored the shed with lots of offcuts of wood in an effort to make the floor more even and to block up some mouse holes. Only non-edible stuff is going back.
My husband has just moved back with us after four years away. We found a use for the three trashcans he brought back with him - two for all our skis and poles and one for all the garden stakes! I feel very thrifty and nifty right now!
Pity it got dark and we had to leave stuff strewn all over the grass… Another couple of hours tomorrow though and we will have a pretty, tidy shed for the first time in years.
Don’t get discouraged, Broomstick. My triumph this weekend was the clearing out of one single kitchen drawer. I got everything out, sorted al the dry goods that were expired, (some had been expired for over three years :o )put open packages in containers, cleaned out the drawer, that’s it.
I was getting ready to go retrieve some bins of baby clothes from the attic in preparation for giving them to a friend. I saw this thread, and was so tempted, but I told myself I could read after I brought the stuff down. 4 bins, a laundry basket, an XXL Ziploc storage bag, and two baby gates are downstairs waiting to be put in the car now, and I need a glass of water, so here I am!
I think the biggest thing for us is making sure everything has a home. You can try to clean up all you like, but if the items don’t all have a coherent, known place to be put back, it’s pretty hopeless.
Having work done on my dryer and fridge in the past month really helped me pick up a bunch of stuff in those areas that had been tossed there because “I don’t know what to do with this.”
I’m also converting my daughter’s old bedroom to my sewing room and storage for their toys, while dejunking all that stuff from my dining room. My parents gave us their old DR furniture, and it inspired me to make my dining room into a real dining room again. I got a LOT done in there this week. Biggest job will be sorting the craft supply bins and creating a storage system for that stuff that makes sense and looks good.
Solution to that which may provoke another argument: Create a space somewhere and tell him that every time you find a piece of hardware in the kitchen, you are going to put it in that space/bucket/whatever. If the bucket gets full, you will put it outside. My mother used to pile all my stuff on my bed to make me clean it up (it helped, but not completely).
I know where you are coming from though. Lordy, but it is difficult for me to master the art of organizing paperwork. Just take on a little bit at a time so that each day I can say I accomplished something right? Well, I failed yesterday and Tuesday as well. But I’ve got to keep trying.
The bins thing really helped while moving, and I am continuing to use them for all kinds of things now that we’re settling in. I had found 97-cent plastic containers with lids, about the size of a shoebox, at Walmart, and got two dozen of them. They are WONDERFUL for the pantry, can put open bags of rice or whatnot into them, using them in the computer room for assorted EVERYthing, use them for snacks…they’re really great.
We now have a housekeeper who comes every two weeks to do the heavy cleaning. That means that everything needs to be tidied up and put away the night before she comes. My solution to this is to tidy the whole house and put everything away every night after dinner. And continue to clean up after myself as I do things.
Every night. EVERY DAMN NIGHT, I spend about half an hour before I go to bed either nagging my husband to clean up the messes he made or that the children made in his presence or just cleaning them up myself.
Do you know how much stuff I can get done in half an hour? I could have time to sew some buttons on (a job that desperately needs doing). I could clean out the pantry. I could sweep out the garage. I could water the garden.
But, NO! I have to be the one to keep the house tidy, too.
I am so looking forward to he and the kids going away this weekend. I can do whatever I want and only have to worry about tidying after myself.
Well, now that I’m getting over whatever bug I had and am feeling better physically I’m feeling like strategizing again. The weather is supposed to cool off to normal summer as well this “weekend” (meaning my days off, which are Sunday to Tuesday) so maybe we’ll get something done.
Tentative plans (no particular order)
clean off 1/2 of “mad scientist laboratory” (MSL) workbench so I can get my leatherworking gear set up and maybe earn some spare cash from people interested in items.
clean off a shelf (again) in the MSL and put the hardware stuff in the kitchen in there, except for the hardware stuff going into the spouse’s new shop space
clear kitchen corner where I want to put an upright freezer
another closet purge. I usually get a bag or two of items for donation that way. I just can’t seem to adopt a scorched-earth policy but if a once a month pruning will accomplish the same thing long term I do it that way because it works for me.
It’s also laundry week. The spouse went to the grocery story yesterday so I won’t have to do that this weekend.
Longer term when we get more of the MSL cleaned up the piano and my sewing machine will go in there, freeing up more space in the living room. I’m also thinking of making a corner of it for storage. Basically, the room will end up half workroom/hobby room and half storage, leaving the front room, bedroom, and kitchen more open and presentable which is mentally good for us and also better for when we have our (very occasional) visitors.
ETA: I also got buy in from the spouse to sit with me in the MSL and provide moral support and help decide what we can throw out. A LOT Of the junk/clutter in there is his and he has to be the one to make the decision. If he fills up one or two bags of crap I’ll be happy to do the actual work of taking it to the dumpster. Yeah, we’re both slobs.
Well, I’ll poke my nose into this thread, since I’ve been looking at the title, then looking quickly at the next one down so I didn’t have to think about how I was slacking on this. BUT!
Today, I set out to put away the clothes. ALL The clothes (including the pile in the bedroom that’s developed from the “I hate this shirt” moment after I get dressed for work). Got that done and said to myself “self, you could just put those shoes away and it’d look even better”. Which turned into finishing cleaning the bedroom. It’s so clean, y’all. I even swept it - yes, even under the bed!
I think I’ll work on a couple of small living room projects this evening post dinner - like dealing with the junk mail on the coffee table.
The good news: the whole family helped on Friday to clean out the children’s clothes. I had them try anything that might be too small on and took them off to Once Upon a Child.
The bad news: my daughter had very few pairs of pants or shorts left so we had to buy a bunch of those while we were there. There is still plenty of room in all her drawers, though and now everything in there fits her. (Go team!)
Also, the husband and kids were gone for the weekend so the house is still tidy. (Actually, far tidier than when they left.) I cleaned out my bedroom (finally!) and the hall closet.
The project for this week is to go through my closet and donate all the items that are now too big for me to my pregnant friend. (That’s right folks, I lost four dress sizes.)
This weekend’s project has been the second bedroom. There were boxes in there that I hadn’t unpacked when I moved to GA from Arizona two years ago, and just moved into that room when I moved here last summer. Every one of them, with 3 exceptions (the boxes with my good dishes, that I don’t have space for in the kitchen cabinets and am not using right now) has been opened and emptied.
There are two small boxes of stuff I need to sort through and decide whether it’s stuff worth keeping. There’s also a big blue IKEA bag of papers to sort through, shred and/or recycle whole. That bag can be dealt with in the evenings after work this week, because it’s fairly mindless to do. Two bags of clothes are in the trunk of my car to go to a donation center - there are probably more, but that will happen when I clean out the closets for my summer/winter switch.
I have before (and later, after) pics I’m going to stick on my tumblr. After this, I just need to deal with the kitchen cabinets and I will have done an excellent deep cleaning of the apartment. Even with what I’ve done so far I feel like there’s a lot more space, and I’m far happier being in here. And I feel like I can keep this up once it’s done - I’ve maintained the living room and bedroom for 3 weeks, and that’s major for me - I can’t let my guard down (it’s like when I was quitting smoking), but I can build new habits.
That room looks amazing now! So empty, and just calling out for a comfy sofa for you to be able to curl up on with a book, or a nice desk to turn it into a home study, or… any useful purpose you can think of (and stretch your paycheck to) to reward you in your progress, and to prevent any backsliding
Hang in there, Broomstick! Set teeny, tiny goals. 5 minutes a day. Something. Anything. You will get there!
I am proud to report that the house is still clean, and has been clean for about two months running. Nothing left out on tables or the floor. Bed is made every day (last one up gets assigned that task.) I’m getting in the habit of taking care of something immediately after I’m done using it, even putting my dirty gym clothes in the hamper when I come home from the fitness center, rather than leaving them in my bag. I’ve continued to work on having a ‘‘home’’ for everything. There are still some drawers that could stand to be organized, but nothing screams out at me.
Right now my biggest organizational challenge is getting situated at my new job. I just inherited a mess of files and have to figure out how to keep everything organized. One thing I am trying is using colored index cards where I write all notes related to a task on a single card. That seems to be working well for work on individual grants. I bought some new office stuff including a business card file, which is exciting because I’ve never had business cards before.
Our determination to clear out the basement was partially realized last weekend, when we held a one-day garage sale and took in over $1,000. I can actually get to the furnace and electrical panel now without walking sideways and tripping over things. De-cluttering is really very freeing, mentally.
With the cessation of the Great Heat Wave and my recovery from whatever viral bug I had I now feel I can resume more than just maintenance cleaning. Unfortunately, the fall allergies are now here, but I’m used to working around those.
If I can manage to make some progress this weekend (and for me, weekends are Sunday to Tuesday) I’ll post the results.
Hugs for everyone! This thread is making me happy. I plan on starting my big cleaning project tomorrow, and you guys have been inspiring.
Oh, and when I say “I’m planning to start tomorrow,” I’m not just procrastinating- I have to leave for work in half an hour, and I’m going to get back too late and too tired to do anything tonight.
I recently did some traveling, and found I could fit everything I really need in a backpack (a few clothes, lots of books and art supplies). And it got me thinking, “What if I called home right now and said ‘Quick, before I get home, I’ll give each of you kids $50 to throw out all my stuff!’”
The advantage there is that my family wouldn’t be sentimental about my 5th grade doodles, or that old toaster oven that I just KNOW I could fix. The times I’ve tried to declutter myself, I keep rationalizing keeping things, and throw out 10% of what I should.
A less-severe compromise would be “Okay, if I went on a sabbatical, I could probably fill a large box with everything I just HAD to have.” So why don’t I just pack up a box, go somewhere for the weekend, and tell my kids to go crazy with the dumpster I rented?
