Goal Tracking: Declutter and Cleaning

Amen to that!

Second load gone now. Room is looking a lot better. Only one problem apparently went I was packing up everything 4 years ago I packed up youngest books so I would have room for all the boxes and stuff. Yeah I forgot and now all his books are up north (insert bad words). Oh well it will all get sorted out eventually. Now I need to get rid of the loft bed frame I'm ar a standstill cause I can't move any of the furniture till it goes or at the very least is taken apart. Who knew trying to giveaway furniture was so very difficult. I have asked a few people first two said no just waiting on the next two. After that I will drop it off at a charity shop. Once I get it all rearranged I will have to get the boy a book shelf right now there really isn't much room for books and apparently he has 4 boxes at his sisters place 6 hours away still muttering bad words.

Meanwhile I have not been keeping up on the kitchen or the rest of the house for that matter. I get so frustrated apparently no one in this house can do things. As far as I can tell they're allergic to the dishwasher and garbage can.

There's a website called Nextdoor.com where you can post pics of your stuff and sell it or give it away! You could put the bed at the curb and say it's free and the odds are good someone will come get it!

I've gotten all kinds of free plants that way. Come to think of it, some really nice and free kitchen towels too. Check it out, it's very good for keeping up with crime and safety alerts in your neighborhood also.

Talked spouse into gathering several not used computer things to the front door. I volunteered to take them to the recycling center. I would prefer it not be me since I didn't bring this stuff in here but Hey, it's going to be out of here and that's what counts!!!!!!

Im starting to do those 15 minute spurts of cleaning that people always recommend. It does seem to change the vibe of the place from "becoming a total hell hole" to "hey look theres a little floor space!"

checked out the site but didn't look like it was in Canada. We finally found someone who wanted the loft bed. Then things got side tracked. Ended up going up to the Ottawa area to help some friends. Got home in time for friends to visit they left daughter came for a wedding next day and son moved home the day after. Friends gave me some book cases for my sons room. The room is still crowded. It's really to small a room for a queen size bed. Not sure what we will do. I guess make it work.

I'm back to trying to organize my sewing room so I can work in there but it's slow going when I have to stop and figure out what the computer parts and wires are. I have found of pile of probably died cd drives and small screws. I have no idea what they are thinking but they are going out. I actually have a bit of room to move in here.

Hubby just told me that he will be going away with work in about a month. It will be monday to friday for about 3 weeks. So I will be trying to tackle our room then. Dig out my closet and get rid of a bunch of clothes I will never ever wear again.

Hopefully I can start making head way again.

Well he still hasn't gone on the work trip yet. I'm cursing myself for telling my daughter she could have the old trunks. They were under the stairs in the basement so I had to take everything out from under. Then I decided that I should figure just what all was under there. I even got rid of the rags I had been keeping to make rag rugs. I haven't made any in years and finding old t-shirts and sweat shirts to cut up for rugs shouldn't be a problem if I want to start again. There is a lot more room now.

I'd like to participate in this thread! I woke up with a nasty cold, but I'm going to pace myself today and do two hours of housework and decluttering. I'll report back later today.

Well he still hasn't gone on his trip. I'm going to have to rethink how I'm going to clean our bedroom. I guess I will have have to do it on a very small scale over weeks. I really will have to figure this out. Mind you I have to figure my dinning room I just realized that thanksgiving is only two weeks away. There will be three extra people so must find a big turkey.

OMG! You said 2 weeks away for Thanksgiving and I got very confused!!! Then I realized you're in Canada! Don't know why I never noticed that before. You had me going for a moment!! lol

Good luck cleaning the bedroom!

Sorry didn't mean to shock you!

Doesn't look like I will get to the bedroom any time soon. One step forward 27 back. Have to figure out seating for thanksgiving. Unfortunately I have to clean up the tool room so I can put the tools away that have ended up in the dinning room. The dinning room is a dumping ground. It's really beginning to annoy me.

Thank you for this thread. I have carrier bags & piles of papers in my living room. My kitchen. My dining room & my bedroom. They stress me out yet I can't face doing them 'today' because I'll alway's do it 'tomorrow'. Tomorrow never comes. I will take some inspiration from here & start trying to work through them a pile or a bag at a time.

Good luck with the papers! What I've learned is that it is possible to make things better by doing a little at a time.

Yes, a little here and a little there will create a dent and that will make you feel soooo good!

I need this thread, thank you!

My t is a big proponent of consistency. I do feel like i am starting to feel better about being buried under these heaps. Its starting to feel like i am making progress, and not just digging in the same hole all the time!

Found the dinning room and was able to have the 8 of us at the table. Of course while cleaning the dinning room I made a box of stuff. It's a small box but it is full of what in the heck do I do with this stuff. Now that I'm not in a panic about having everyone sitting at the table I will go through it again. And hopefully figure out a better idea than stuffing it in a box.

I bet you'll skinny it down when you go through it. No matter what, it's still progress!!! Yay!

I cleaned my bathroom on Tuesday. Doing my kitchen and bedroom/living room (studio apartment) tomorrow. Tuesdays and Fridays are my cleaning days.

I am glad that I mostly keep up with the dishes now - we lost power recently and had no hot water for days, so anything that was in the sink stayed there until we got our power back!

I love/hate when that happens!

I hope to start to use this thread tomorrow or in next week. I have de-cluttered today and feel it will be safe for me to start to improve my working in the house. With "to be safe for me" I mean that I think I am able to do it. I will probably not cost me feelings of not feeling good enough because I am sure that if I make my plans for how much to do small enough, it will be easy to follow. (A good cup of coffee when this is done of course).

Well the husbands trip finally happened. He left Monday since then I have gone through the closet. We have 2 closets and one has been turned into just shelves. The shelves where stuffed full. A friend came over and helped me go through all of it. We took three garbage bags out and they have already gone to charity. I then went through my dresser and the drawer under the bed. Now I'm going through all the random piles of clothes. Bag 4 is full bag 5 is close to full. I can almost get to the second closet. Hubby came home friday so I switched back to working on my sewing room. I have even figured out how to use the plastic roller drawer thing that I keep sewing needles and thread in as a make do ironing board. I'm going to make a smallish ironing board to set on top with the wheels I will be able to move it out of the way or move it closer to the machine. Should be able to make it less cluttered. Hubby has gone back so I should have 2 weeks to get things into order. Once I have dealt with all of my clothes and random blankets. I have the smallest linen closet so blankets end up in my room. Anyway once done with that I have to really dust and deal with the books and other random crap.

Oh and as a real bounce in life my youngest has been cooking dinner!! Poor dear moved back home to go to college and now all the colleges in Ontario are on strike. It's now the longest college school strike ever and 500,000 students are worry about their year, fees and student loans. Trying to keep his sprites up and hoping that his year isn't in jeopardy is a little rough.

So good and bad results. I have taken 6 large bags away to a donation center, with more to go. But I found mold in the second closet. Ended up ripping out the wall to make sure it wasn't all the way through the drywall. Then I had to hire someone to help me fix it. The wall is repaired but I still have to paint and put the rods back up. Painting has to be on a day when my son is at school, he has asthma and when my grandson isn't home, he's four and wants to help. Hubby is home for the weekend so not much happening with that. I'm going to get him to help me set the rod placements. If all goes well hopefully I will be painting monday. Once I get that done I have plans for the cupboard which will be leaving. I think it's full of sleeping bags and that sort of thing. So we will be going through all of that. Then I'm going to get a big metal shelf and buns for everything we are keeping.

Meanwhile christmas is coming so baking, presents and all of that. So it is going just very very slowly

Six large bags is awesome! I filled up a couple of bags a few weeks ago, cleaning for some people coming over. I FINALLY got a room cleared out that had so much junk in it, I worried about tripping every time I tried to get to my filing cabinet.

Right now I am sick and feeling like 'well, when I am not sick, the first thing I am going to do is start being clean and exercising and doing what I plan to because I can't do anything when I am sick.' I always feel that way when I am sick but rarely remember that sense of resolve until I am sick again.