Goal Tracking: Declutter and Cleaning

:hug : Notz don't get carried away with cleaning. Ugh, vacuuming takes muscles we don't think are even related. Hope you are ok.

Clearing out old papers is definitely bulk but really a good feel. I had a pile....HUGE pile of junk mail in the middle of my spare bedroom floor. Needed to put some in the burn pile & other goes to recycle. I spent a whole day going through it. Still have a pile left after filling a whole recycle basket the size of a laundry basket. It's heavy!!!! But it's nice to start seeing that floor again especially since its getting furniture moved in in a few weeks....great incentive to clean

This time he turned off the furnace!!! It was down to 17 C in here so about 62 F with a cold north wind blowing outside.

Things seem really sideways around here there is so much to get done and it seems no time. I have an appointment tomorrow then a bit of shopping then hopefully not have to go out till after christmas. Of course there is tones of stuff to do before christmas and hordes descending. Fortunately the hordes are use to the mess and will live even if it doesn't all get cleaned up.

notz so are you paying for the vacuuming? I really don't think vacuuming is abdominal friendly.

"Abdominal friendly"

So funny and so true!!! In my defense, my vacuum is lightweight and I didn't push and pull back and forth with my arm. I kept my elbow close to my body and basically just walked forward around the house. I was not liking how leaves and stuff were on the floor and it was at my "eww" limit! I took it easy today, no exertion of any kind except getting in and out of the car as a passenger. I've been released to drive but I don't want a steering wheel that freaking close to my belly yet!!

Have gone through and recycled a boatload of old papers! Yay me!

Ouch, I'm glad the vacuuming didn't overtax you!

Busy time of year, too busy to declutter but we are sort of managing to keep up with the basics. Luckily I am part of the descending horde and not having hordes descend upon me!

I spent a few hours updating Quickbooks and making sure I won't be surprised at tax time. I feel relieved - I'd been worrying about this for a while and it's nice to know that there's nothing to worry about after all.

Happy New Year everyone Best wishes to everyone in 2017

My truck is setting full with trash & recycling from my friends house we have almost totally cleaned out for escrow closing Thursday & the auction of her things Fri night.

The good thing....it got me into the swing of throwing things away, getting the recycle taken care of & organizing.

ONLY PROBLEM I haven't had time to work on my house & the antique furniture & other furniture is being delivered tomorrow. I have to dump my truck & get rid of the recycling that has filled the cab. I added 10 bags of my own trash to my truck bed to dump tomorrow morn before heading over to direct the movers.

I am trying to find the energy today to move & clear the rooms but after being at the other house organizing everything until 4am....I'm dragging after getting up at 8:30am.

We will see just what I get accomplished. Probably another all nighter. I'm REALLY dragging right now. Think part of my problem is that so much to do not sure where to even start....but it ALL needs to be done by tomorrow morn....about 6 months of WORK

So how goes the battle everyone?

I'm behind again, someone gave me the plague over the holidays. Never should have taught them to share! Not feeling too bad now but still have only a little voice and a bad cough, I know this cause I'm half way through a bottle of Buckleys original. Been working on laundry and dishes. So no forward progress for anything big picture wise.

Sorry you've been under the weather, htoun! Hope you bounce back soon.

Since I had my surgery on Nov. 28 I've had LOTS of time on my hands. I've been going through all kinds of stuff. Finding places for some things to go, boxing others up for donation or to go to someone in the family, etc. I've gotten a lot done!!

My mother died in 2000 and I had all her papers in a big box and I finally went through them and weeded out. I was amazed at what good records she and my dad kept. And let me tell you, every wage statement, every tax return, every investment, every checking account statement and savings account books, etc. were in that box since 1941. No kidding! It took hours and hours to look over it all and make sure it was ok to shred it.

I kept some things like their tax return from the year I was born, samples of their handwriting, birth certificates for several family members, my father's separation papers from the Navy, just mementos like that. It has been cathartic and I've felt very close to my parents throughout. A good thing during my recovery!

I was listening to a very wonderful radio show on NPR the other day, and let's face it, what NPR show isn't wonderful? Anyways, it was all about how we tend to accumulate many many things over our lifetime, especially when a family member passes on. Suddenly, we have the cherished possessions from several deceased family members and are just unable to sort through them all either due to not wanting to get rid of something said family member treasured, or because the idea of sorting through rooms full of things feels unbelievable overwhelming.

The hostess of the radio show said that the sense of being overwhelmed is what causes us to not sort through things, and we just throw more and more onto the pile until the house is fit to bursting. Sometimes it's also deeply psychological for people to want to hold onto every last item because it may serve some sort of use later on. Sometimes it not only takes a team of folks to clear and sort through items, but it also takes a psychologist to help the person sort through whatever they are going through, usually some sort of compulsion to collect or hoard items for later use. Other times, simply cleaning out the home and helping the homeowner to tackle the seemingly overwhelming task is all that's needed.

The majority of things we accumulate are treasures of deceased family members. A piece of furniture a mother loved and cherished. A wooden box made by an uncle. Sometimes these items aren't necessarily our favorites or cherished by us, but we hold onto them because they family member who previously owned them valued them greatly. It's like there has to be permission granted or something to allow us to let go of the items we don't necessarily want or love, but hold onto to because it was Dear Great Auntie Mabel's favorite dresser.

The hostess proposed that in such a case, perhaps taking pictures of the items, and storing them in a photo album should be done. That way, you can still look at the items, remember the person they once belonged to and were cherished by, and the photo album will take up less room than a whole bunch of accumulated items.

Just a suggestion if you're struggling to go through and part with items you don't necessarily like, but don't feel you're unable to get rid of because they belonged to departed family members.

Going through an elderly friends house that is in a nursing home is just what another friend & I have done. She must have had issues after her parents died with going through anything because we found some things in exactly the condition they must have been in many many years ago when they died. Boxes of candies either received as gifts back in the 70's or maybe bought for gifts & never given.

I found things great to do crafts on like painting on old wooden roof shingles. Old glass insulators (picked the unbroken ones). Interesting going through the garage with stuff from the early 1900's. It was seriously like sorting through a museum that had treasures & JUNK mixed together. The auction Fri night was interesting to see what value people actually put on the things.

The delivery of my downstairs antique furniture went well but upstairs was a disaster. I was throwing stuff out of the way, onto my bed & into a closet so they could get the furniture placed where I wanted it. I still haven't found my bed under the pile but it helped me start sorting through it so that was a very good thing & in the long run it will be a benefit....but until then, I have been crashing in the recliner I bought & had put in my family room. It's been hard having the energy to do the amount of work I want to get done daily....oh well I have ALL WINTER to get it accomplished. I have several more loads of just stuff I got....but tryin
Ng to get more put away before bringing more than one box at a time home. It's been quite an experience. She was definitely one who never threw anything away.

I'm starting to feel human again. Still have the cough still taking Buckley's. Today has bee all about laundry and stripping beds. Didn't have to make up the spare bed but everything else has been done. I even folded all the clean laundry. Now I'm trying to get my everything room back in working order. So much stuff got pulled out for the holidays. Once it's back together I can get back to the mending.

My daughter put an offer on a house yesterday. Fingers crossed that she gets it. After the painting party, living room is very pink, we will start dragging all her stuff out of here. It's every where and will make our lives easier if it's at her place. The youngest is talking about moving home and going back to school so we will need the room.

eskielover sounds like you had a lot of work. When my grandfather passed his shed (about the size of a two car garage) was packed full. Took my parents forever to go through it. Some of the stuff was donated to a museum. One thing I remember them donating was a reusable glass needle set. Great piece of history but not practicable anymore. Though I do have a diabetic friend who has one her great grandmother left it to her to use if times got hard... depression era thinking at it's best.

I'm glad you're doing better htoun! It's been a while, you must have really been sick.

Glad you are feeling better too htoun. Sounds like you have been doing a lot of work...take it easy & don't overdo.

Ah yes, depression era. I went through it with my moms house in 2005-6 & then again with this house. The out buildings were bad....the basement was the worst though I bought a hosier cabinet in perfect condition. I just have to get rid of the spider webs. Lol I did come across many things my fav antique dealer in town had to tell me what in the world they were. It does amaze me the junk that people actually buy at the auction. I do wish that Ca had estate auctions like they have here. It would have made clearing out my moms house so much easier.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Well I hope everyones doing well. The last week or so has been crazy here. Seem to be running from plier to post and not getting anything done.

The house inspection just came back they found vermiculite insulation. So now we are asking the seller for testing as there maybe asbestos. My daughter is worried now, she really wants a house.

frustrating!!!

I hope the house doesn't have asbestos - it's hard to know what's safer nowadays, a modern house with sheetrock from China or an older house with lead paint? Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks hvert. I'm not sure either. It's a cute place with old built in corner units in two corners of the living room. Heres hoping it comes out all right.

Yesterday I pulled out bins from under the stairs to get everything back in nicely. Hubby had sorta put things away but I needed it to hold more. That went fine then I pulled out my wheeled shelves to but some stuff away and... found that the wine my hubby made had blown the corks!!!!!! Of course by the time I found it there wasn't time to deal. So today all the sticky stuff had to be washed the shelves wiped down. Hubby dealt with the floor and bottles. This so wasn't on the plan for today. Oh well while the shelves were out I found some stuff that my daughter wants which will clear up room. I even did dishes (very sticky dishes) and get some laundry done. I really wanted to be much further ahead today. I still have to figure out the best way to clean the two cast iron pans that got caught in the wine shower. One was stuck to the shelf!!

Tomorrow will be better

Oh no! Good for you, cleaning up the wine -- sometimes when I find problems like that in the fridge or freezer, it's really tempting to just close the door

I threw away a box of junk that had been sitting waiting for a new home for two years. It was kind of hard to let go because the stuff was neat and in good shape, but I didn't have a use for it and it didn't have high resale value. Plus, I needed the space to work out. I've found that making convenient space to store hobby equipment/practice my hobbies has been a good motivator for throwing things out this year.

A charity came and got 7 boxes of stuff off my front porch today! I'm so proud!!

7 boxes is great. You should be proud.

Things are sideways here again though I am actually almost caught up on the dishes. Laundry not too bad either. Which is good but I have been trying to get at the clutter and get rid of things. That hasn't been happening.

We are still waiting on the testing for the insulation should know tuesday. If it's good finish signing all the paperwork and bimbam she is a home owner. If there is asbestos then it's back to the drawing board. Hubby says price should drop by half, I doubt the owners daughter will go for that. He keeps trying to guess what will happen and make plans for them... it's driving me mad!! There are way too many ifs to figure out I would just rather wait for the test results and then go from there. Our daughter says he's a downer. She is still planing things that she would like to do for the house. Fingers crossed it's all good

I have to unpack my clothes. Maybe if I do it myself then I'll get things done easier.

Well the house has asbestos. The owners daughter will come down by 5000 as you can have it removed by an unlicensed company for 2500. We said no so that's it. She spent a good part of yesterday looking at houses and has found a nice bungalow that has been completely remodeled. New roof, windows, furnace everything she would have had to do to the other place. She even likes the colours. So she is thinking about putting in an offer. Of course this one has a bigger price tag and no real room to haggle it even has an air to air heat exchanger which saves you a lot on heating. She is up north where winter temps do drop to -40 or lower. (fun fact -40 is the same in C and F) Anyway the saga continues.

I have a new plague and the weather here is horrible. Thursday I got caught in white outs on my way home. Friday we had snow again. Saturday it was above freezing and sunny. This morning we had freezing rain then snow. Now it's melting. I'm very tired of the up and down temps and rain. I really hate the gray rainy days.

Still no progress on the getting rid of my clutter but I'm not doing too bad on the day to day stuff.

So how is everyone else doing? It's been slow here. Keeping up on most of the day to day stuff but the getting ahead of the clutter not so much. Daughter is still looking for a house. Looking like it will be a long haul.

Im here and still slowly digging out! I signed a lease for another year, so thats taken care of.

I need some of grandmas spring tonic, i have been sooooo tired! Anybody have the formula?

It's been a long haul since my surgery on Nov 28. I'm still going through boxes and papers but most now belong to spouse who is not going at my pace. Uh, call that no pace at all.

Have done some yard work and planting which means I've come a long way since my surgery! I've also received a job promotion to a different department.

Hello 😀

Just trying to connect with peers..

I have been De-cluttering my home & I am over-whelmed with all the paperwork I have saved - 1996 W-2 😱.

So now I have boxes of paperwork to be burned. Ugh

Plus plain stuff that gotta go!!