get rid of all my clutter

...quick decluttering session, because most of my time was committed to away-from-home activities.

I used it to finish restoring the foyer to order.

This afternoon, I’m going to take advantage of the relatively cool weather we’re having to put in some concerted work on the solarium. I hope to at least get the shelving unit (a Rubbermaid item ordinarily sold for garages) assembled, clear a space for it, and put some stuff on the shelves that’s currently taking up floor space.

Will post progress report in an hour or so.

I’ve been continuing to work on the place in 5- and 10-minute spurts this week.

Bathroom counter is now tidy as well as clean, and dishes are up to date.

Foyer is now 95% done, thanks to the work I did yesterday on the coat closet, which created space to hang up most of the light jackets and sweaters that had spent the spring crowded willy-nilly on the hooks behind my front door.

This morning I rearranged the corner of the bedroom where the wardrobe stands so that the bedroom floor fan is better situated, and the power supply and cords for my cable modem and wireless router are tucked away more neatly.

I also resolved a problem in the computer corner of the dining room by reshuffling some of the stuff that’s temporarily stacked nearby so that my rolling chair can move around more freely.

Total time: 15 minutes, in three 5-minute chunks.

Bathroom has been de-grossified: counter could be tidier, but at least sink and toilet are clean. Kitchen isn’t getting any more attention – I’ll just turn off the light in there. :-D

Foyer isn’t perfect, either, but it’s 90% better. (Bigger job than I anticipated due to how much rearranging I had to do in storage closet to get wheeled cabinet in there.)

Living room looks much, much better – and I even vacuumed the rug before stashing the vacuum back in the storage closet.

Tidied some more in bedroom, including finally putting winter clothes – which had been piled on a chair – away in suitcase, and reorganizing floor of clothes closet so that suitcase fits neatly in there.

I now declare this decluttering crisis over. ;-D

• Picked up a bunch of stuff in the bedroom, which I needed to do in order to even get to the space I originally planned to clear in there.

• Taking various items from the bedroom to their proper homes elsewhere in the apartment meant that I wound up walking past the dining room a number of times. Somewhere in that process, I had a scathingly brilliant idea for reorganizing it so that the 10 new boxes can sit in there. They won’t block anything crucial, but they’ll be more visible and easier to get at, motivating me to purge them by the two-week deadline I’m giving myself before asking my friend to bring me the next batch.

• Dining room is now all set up for computer use as well, with the requisite power cord installed (furniture had to be pulled out in order to do that) so that I can plug in the fan and task light along with the laptop.

• Living-room rearranging is under way. The solarium shelving unit still isn’t assembled, but I’ve at least moved it out there, which helps in the living room.

• Dishes are done and pots are soaking.

1. Clean bathroom.
2. Tidy foyer – move small wheeled cabinet into storage closet.
3. Finish in living room. Vacuum?
4. Finish tidying kitchen and bedroom.

...of deadlines, committee meetings, and social stuff. Between juggling all of that, and using my “down time” mainly for rest and ordinary maintenance (e.g., laundry), I’ve been unable to do more than whittle away at this.

I did manage to finish straightening out the havoc that my friend and I created in the process of transposing those two big pieces of furniture on June 11.

I also made space in a closet to store the various space heaters I bought last winter.

But today the friend who has been storing boxes of my old books and papers in his garage since last November (when I couldn’t afford to continue paying for off-site storage) is bringing 10 more boxes back. Alas, I still haven’t been able to tackle the 5 he brought back sometime earlier this year. They’re parked under the dining-room table. He has been extraordinarily patient about this, and he’d like to have his garage back at some point, so I’m going to have to make room for them somehow – not an easy task in this tiny apartment (at least not without blocking access to something vital, like my bed, my desk, my clothes, or crucial current papers).

• Clear out space in bedroom for incoming boxes: includes finding temporary homes for huge wicker hamper and small two-door cabinet on wheels.
• Finish what needs to be done in dining room so that I can start using computer desk again, and have a decent, well-lit surface to use when I’m working at home (instead of the rickety TV-table/lap tray setup I’ve been making do with).
• If there’s time, put up sturdy shelving unit I bought for solarium last fall but never managed to erect (it sat in my kitchen for ages, and has been parked in the living room next to the solarium doors since April or so), and transfer boxes currently on solarium floor onto those shelves.
• Rearrange bits and pieces in living room to create more space.
• Clean bathroom at least – and preferably foyer and most visible part of kitchen as well – so that I’m not completely mortified when my friend delivers the boxes.

And this needs to be accomplished in the next few hours…after which I need to put in several hours’ work to meet tomorrow morning’s deadline. I’d planned to take care of that first thing this morning, but had a bad night and wound up sleeping three hours later than usual. Sigh.

Will try to post a progress report later.

I’ve got boxes of stuff that I haven’t unpacked since I left home, despite the fact I’ve moved 3 times! I’ve recently had a good go at getting rid of stuff, I just need space to put the stuff I still want or need to keep.

It’s hard to get through it all, because I used to collect so much clutter while I was living with my parents. I guess I’m just keeping it out of habit, but it’s time to replace the meaningless stuff with things I really care about.

I did the books as a separate project last week, and that took care of organizing three tall and two short bookshelves. I moved on to the boxes I had still sitting on the floor—went through and organized stuff by the room it should be in, tossed out, or set aside for charity. I’ve got six boxes of stuff to go to charity—mostly books, but also blank CDs that I’d likely never use (I kept a spindle of 100—I must burn one or two every three months or so, so those will last a while), CD sleeves and jewel cases, loose leaf notebooks, and a few other miscellaneous items. The amazing thing is that I can actually put my coffee table down now—it was sitting on it’s side before because I didn’t have room for it!

I’m loving this. It’s actual livable space now. There are still a few things that need to be taken care of—I have a halogen lamp that was on my desk at the office that I need to find a home for. There are two tea chests that need to be put in the storage closet, but not before they’re filled with things that I don’t need immediate access to. There’s also a moving box containing my dad’s reel-to-reel deck… not sure what I’m going to do with that. I don’t really want to get rid of it just yet.

Next up is the bedroom & closet—then I’m done.

I’ve got six boxes of them to go to charity, and I’ve thrown out probably at least one more box worth.

That felt good. This place finally is starting to look like somewhere someone lives, and not just camps out.

When it comes to clutter.
At work, I have a file drawer for my clip board and all the necessities needed for my job. One of my coworkers is always cleaning and tidying her drawer and the whole entire office and she glanced into my drawer yesterday and saw the contents and physically “jumped” and asked “OMG, do you need all that stuff?” I realize it is jampacked. I started to take inventory of what was there. Aside of what I use everyday for my job, I also have a couple pair of clean spare socks, a flashlight, batteries, a few plastic bags wadded up (for taking recyclable aluminum cans home), any or part of my packed lunch that doesn’t require refridgeration, a fork and spoon, a water bottle, coffee cup, a bag of sunflower seeds, a medicine bottle with my assorted pills I might need. . . . my drawer is packed and there is no other place to put these things aside from my locker which already stores my purse, freezer coat, boots, hardhat, more socks, extra hoodies, a roll of papertowels, spray cleaner and and can of air freshener. No food is allowed in our lockers.
I tidy my drawer from time to time but it always looks the same within a few days/hours. Lately, with all this tidying up, my drawer looks even more messy and disorganized than it use to be. I can only put up with so much organization and straightening before it gets on my nerves.

I worked the last 2 Saturdays. Excuses. Excuses.