declutter my house

underway… found a friend who accepted a whole age-group of clothing so that was quite a bit of stuff – I think about 6 or 7 small file boxes – or probably 2 med-large bins’ worth). Reorg’d and sorted all other kids clothing by size & some by season too… a little discouraging though because breaking them down by size created one or two more boxes so it seemed like the problem was growing rather than gaining progress…

Also gathered together another box for SIL… some cute stuff with horses on it and some tie dye I think she’ll dig.

Still need to do sort/purges on:
- Christmas stuff
- Kids toys
- Electronics
- Old clothing
- Household decor
- Old paperwork…

Have been going through all the boxes in the basement and consolidating, purging where I can but main thing right now is just to get the basement back into useable space after all this chaos of the floods, etc. JW is down there right now disinfecting with pinesol and I’m wheezing away up here… yikes. that stuff is toxic. who knew?!?

JW & TEVE just hauled a TON of old electronics to a special day for that in town. I think we got rid of 3 old CPUs, 2 monitors, countless keyboards, mice, several printers (3?) and etc. That was actually a huge relief…

I got thigh high into this project and abandoned it. No wonder JW thinks I’m such a flake. If only he found it endearing (as I do) but no, he just gets mad and is a big ole jerk.

Not that I’m bitter.

So – I was really making good progress with this. Had to deal with some other issues this week and just never really got back down there. Hopefully Sunday I will have some time to wrap this one up a bit. Plus I need the bins for other things!!!

I did have some success reorg’ing my fabric stash. Not a priority but still needed to be done and was a smaller project. Necessary in order to keep me moving forward finishing projects and not waste so much time looking for pieces of projects. I have things arranged by project now – stored in small and medium file totes with handles (see picture). The larger ones can fit a shoe box in the track to create a compartment for smaller pieces which works just great. I am thinking I need to get more of these now. They have blue lids which offends me. (everything must be 100% clear clear clear clear clear) (yes, I am anal about a few things) But they are the right size for a project, keep the dust out, are portable, are stackable, are easily grabbable, the right width to hold FQs in a row across the bottom – I just think they are 84.6% perfect. They have handles. Did I mention that? The handles kind of suck, but the side locks are very secure and I can carry 10lbs. worth in these and not worry about the lid breaking off. Previously, my quilt projects were basically stored by project but in every conceivable variety of container imaginable (a slight exaggeration perhaps)... paper shopping bags supplied by my crack dealer. I mean quilt fabric dealer. those kept ripping. fabric is heavy you know? Plus you can’t see what you got in an opaque container. Plastic bags. yee gads. Hate plastic bags. they’re so flimsy and… (does anyone get the sense that I’m whining?) anyway. I like my new little tote thingies. If I can find something that works better and costs 4x as much I would probably buy it. For now this is the best solution I could find and me likey.

Also I seem to remember reorg’ing my spice cabinet sometime in the recent past (alzheimers), and hummm. rolling eyes upward – perhaps I will spot the answer up on my ceiling?? ummmm…. aww sheet. can’t remember.

Over and out.

Delivered another load to SIL tonight. Two bags of size 1, 2 & 3 diapers from my stash and a friend’s. Also a few odds and ends that I found – got’em out of my house and into hers. ha! And a small load of more utilitarian baby blankets. Too small for JD to use anymore, but decent looking and nothing I really have any sentimental attachment to, so it’s a win-win- winny winnerson win. wwwwwwwwwhy do I talk like that. Baby E. is only 5 weeks away (yikes!) so I need to finish the quilty soonlike. But that’s another thing.

Also, later this afternoon I did go through all the bags and boxes and was ready to tap into the ‘bins.’ NINE OF THEM!!! 630 total quarts of baby-lovin’ clothing to be exact. Since I have managed to clutter up all my decluttering/sorting stations I’m not really sure how I’m going to sort things when there’s no available receptacles for the sort-ED. But I will figure out a way. I am a decluttering goddess. At least that’s my affirmation and I’m stickin’ to it.

kind of stumbled into this this am, but am in the midst of culling through bags within bags upon boxes of boxes… sorting by size, pulling out sentimental (so far I’m running at a ratio of 3 to 1 (3 donate/sell to 1 keep). Considering NONE of the stuff I’m sorting is anything he can ever wear again that ratio is not quite good enough but it will do for now. I need to do some more this afternoon and then figure out this week which stuff I want to drop off for the exchange my friend’s church is having and which stuff I might want to sell. Not too much to sell really – since it’s kid’s stuff and I bought it all used to begin with – even though it’s mostly gap & better brands, I still couldn’t charge that much for it so probably better to just donate it for the exchange.

OKEY DOKEY>.. . making some progress. yay for me.

did a bunch of laundry yesterday and packed up about 6 or 7 garbage bags full of too-small clothes from JD that need to be gone through, donated, sold, etc. so that was good work.

also have been going through the guest room – trying to move clothing to the basement to be sorted through & major progress on quilting stash… i boxed everything up by project so I can try to just grab stuff by what I’m working on rather than having some of it stored in the dining room and some of it stored upstairs… anyway, it’s nice just getting things more consolidated and organized. I still really need to purge some of it – duplicates and cut down yardage I don’t need and sell it off. let me tell you I’d still really like to hoard but I’m trying really hard to stop – er, slow it down.

well, sometimes the universe forces its hand.

more floods & a recent total garage disaster have caused a forced period of intense decluttering. if you can survive the strong urge to hire movers come in and ship the entire contents of your house to a ware house so you can properly go through it all, well, ok, that’s what I’m obsessed with right now…

now that you’ve been laid off from your job you will have LOTS of time…

This is driving me BATTY. This is driving me NUTS!!! I am seriously considering taking a week off AFTER our extravagant 2 week trip just to deal with my fucked up mess of a house! (and yet that wouldn’t be enough!) what am I gonna do. PANIC!!!!

I’m obsessing on how much this needs to be done again and yet… it’s so overwhelming. I know the key for me must be to designate a time each day to do a bit but I am so much more of a surge/wave person… dunno. gotta make some progress though. I have paper shit on the desk, on the dining room table, floor, bins in office, guest room, basement… yikes. will I ever get on top of this???

Main thing to remember: — 4 weeks ago
I just have to get it all out of the dining room. It doesn’t really matter if it’s in a desk, in the guest room, basement, or _ just as long as it’s not spread all over the dining room table and 8 other places. or in bins in multiple rooms.

Sep 18, 09:02PM PDT 2 cheers | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

Still at it… — 5 weeks ago
OK, now I have a big sorting center down in the basement. Once again I’m geeking out more on the methodology than I am on getting the job done… but still pretty revved up about conquering the paper mountains once and for all. I have to acknowledge that it’s part of my personality to have many things going on and to get ambitious about projects – but even more important then to maintain my systems than it would be for someone who has no problem with tossing things… If I want to hold on to things and collect a lot of projects – I have to be willing to keep it up to date week by week instead of letting huge piles build up which end up necessitating the purchase of yet more plastic bins (which JW loves so much).

Anyway, it all boils down to:
clothes
paper
creative
household

In order to organize properly I really HAVE to have everything in one place so I can see what I’ve got. I imagine some people don’t have to do that but that’s not in my skill set. I have to purchase a filing cabinet, but since space is so limited… I dunno. blah blah blah. OK over and out for now…

Sep 11, 10:52AM PDT 1 cheer | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

Big weekend blowout! — 3 months ago
OK! Big re-org underway. I have almost all my fabric in one place. All my papers in one place. And all my clothes in one place. Now that I’ve opened up a HUUUUGE can – o – worms, let’s see if she can get it all back together before JW comes home. YIPES!

Jun 24, 06:28AM PDT | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

Hmmm… the concept of purging — 4 months ago
Just really isn’t doing it for me today. I love my stuff!!! I’m so embarassed writing this. But it’s the truth. argh.

Jun 09, 06:10AM PDT 1 cheer | Edit | Delete | 1 comment

Paper first… — 4 months ago
Removed all misc. junk and paperwork from first floor. Sorting it now in the upstairs bedroom – destined for guest room. Next step: Clean up sewing area downstairs.

Jun 06, 03:40PM PDT | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

The plan: — 4 months ago
Since I must have a place to sort the garbage, and since I must have a place to store stuff while I’m purging, I must start with the basement! Yikes! I can’t believe I’ve let it get this bad.

1) take photos, print them and diagram them – both basement and guest room. Rest of the house isn’t as much of an issue.
2) Figure out categories. and a schedule.
3) Start in basement.
a) One shelving unit for surplus kitchen and/or
kitchen boxes still to be sorted. Stuff for
entertaining should go here.

b) One shelving unit for home decor. Since so much of this is currently in the guest room, it might allow me to move some things around up there so I can just deal with craft and paper items up there.c) One or two shelving units for stuff I’m getting rid of whether it be donation, ebay, or gifts.d) Obviously, trash goes in the trash.consider moving storage units or creating a larger table in the middle of the room for sorting…

Prioritize kitchen and household decor stuff so I can clear space out of the guest room and tackle that.

Jun 04, 11:18AM PDT | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

You know, the “guest room” [!!!!] — 4 months ago
Causes me anguish and bliss to contemplate “my room.” All the ‘things’ I love the most are in there… and yet, there’s no getting around the fact that keeping them in piles is not a great expression of their value to me (thank you peter walsh you small, thin, meanish decluttering guru!)

Anyhoo, have experienced a few times how it unsettles me to have things too neat. I was like this as a kid – on the rare occasion when I cleaned my room I could never sleep. Years later I learned (I believe) that this is because it freed up so much energy in the room I couldn’t tolerate it. This is one of my theories for why some people can or can’t stand crowds and cluttered homes. I really don’t like the feeling. On the other hand, I’ve also learned that it’s awesome to take something you really love and finally hang it on the wall. Or take some fabric and make something, or a needlework project and actually complete it. So, this is what I need to focus on in that room. Another “clean sweep” tip: write up a detailed account of what that room should be- complete with pictures if possible – create a VISION. And whatever doesn’t fit that vision has to go. In this sense, it creates another problem for me because I have no where to put what will no longer belong there – basement = FULL. So, unfortunately, I have to start in the basement. I need a plan.

Jun 04, 11:07AM PDT | Edit | Delete | 0 comments

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