Goal Tracking: Declutter and Cleaning

Two things!!

I'm am looking for an old sewing machine repair book. Trying to clean and repair a 1907 singer I have found a few things on line but darn those repair books use to be a dime a dozen now no one remembers them. Anyway if anyone has one in their give away pile I will pay shipping

I just realized that next weekend is Thanksgiving (Canadian). That means at least two extra people if not four. It will be a tad crowded around here. Oh and my grandson turns 3 then too so maybe conflict with my son and the babies mother. Any way that means I have to be able to seat six and possibly eight at the table. Wish me luck or something!

ps can we tell I found the more button

Good luck with the repair book search! What's the model # of the machine?

My house is a dump. Kind of keeping up with the dishes, but not much else lately.

Ugh....I am making such a mess trying to organize it becomes overwhelming. I bought nice chrome shelving for in my computer room closet to stack crafts & things on. I had taken my craft table down months ago as it was needed for a yard sale. I threw everything off of it in front of the closet so it's more than just moving the stuff in the closet.

The other complication is having a male dog. I can't just sit things down where he can walk by & decide to mark his territory....need to make room in the back bedroom first to put the things in while I put together the 5 shelf shelving also. Honestly I just want to nuke the house & start over with a little cabin.....oh please where is that tornado when you want one

I also think about moving to escape the problems here. I've been trying to clean/organize by pretending that I am moving. I filled up three trash bags from the basement yesterday, but you can't even tell. I was cooking last night, added some spices, suddenly the food tasted like soap. The spice jar said 'use by 2006.' Time to clean out the spice rack...

hvet It's a 29k2 if I can get it running it will be my pride and joy. Every time I think I have time to work on it something happens. It's frustrating.

eskielover sometimes I wish my house and stuff away too.


On a plus side I found seating for 7 for Thanksgiving. It was also my grandson's 3rd birthday. Good friends, family and way too much good food.

You win.

I cleaned out two cupboards today and the oldest food I found was a box of cream of wheat from 2009.

Lol on the dates....I moved across country 2100 miles leaving my marriage & everything in 2007.... Lol that guarantees nothing can be older than that. But I have thrown out some old stuff. Went to make sloppy joes tonight. Wonderful organic beef from my friends farm....the package of sloppy joe mix said best if used by June 2012. I missed by a mile. Oh well tastes good so I guess the mix wasn't all that bad. What does that say about what is in the contents????

My great job of fixing my lawn tractor with the new filter worked great until I got grass jammed between the blade & the deck. Mower is back on its lifts. Hammer didn't budge the blade. Need to find more leverage....always something.

Lol, I found older than that in the spice rack. And I'm remembering that we've refilled these jars with bulk spices, so I am not sure if the dates actually mean anything.

A couple of years ago I threw out vinegar from the 1960s or 70s... (it came with my house). There was even older stuff down there

I'm afraid to check the dates on my spices. We have been here 17 years!

I seem to be working backwards. It's frustrating. I think I have a dozen things on the go but nothing finished. That said I have to get brave and start playing what is in the freezer. It seems to be full I'm not sure if that is poor packing or just lots of old stuff. I see a lot of slow cooking with a sauce in my future.

I am helping a friend clean out the house for an elderly lady in our church who is now in a local extended care facility....oh my gosh!!!! She had lived with her parents. When they died, she would just put their things in a cupboard or in a chest & close it up, never to go through anything to throw or give away. It's like going through a museum from early 1800's. I'm buying some beautiful antique furniture....huge chest of drawers that was ger great grandmas.....but that means I have to get with my cleaning, recycling & THROW AWAY.

Working on shelving for in the computer room closet. I thought I could just build it in the upstairs hall then move it into the closet BUT......
the instructions say you need to build it where you want it standing so I have to build it IN THE CLOSET. I took one of the shelves into the closet. Sure enough....no way I could move it in. It just fits in the closet with about 1/2 inch to spare....but that meant I have to have the closet completely emptied out & the stuff sitting out & around for all the time it takes me to put this 5 shelf unit together. Oh well will look great when I'm done. I bought the chrome one rather than black.

Got my lawn tractor unjammed last Friday. Used the long handled key I bought to turn off my outside water line in an emergency. It fit right over the blade & I used a rubber mallet to hammer it loose. Great, I left the key on so the battery was dead. Had to charge it before I could finally use it. I finished mowing my front field after dark Friday night after the battery got charged.

Too many inside & outside things to keep up with

Taking an anxiety attack break from cleaning/decluttering right now. Reeeeeeee

Not cleaning, but I finally made an appointment to get my furnace cleaned. I kept putting it off, thinking I needed to clean the house first. Now the appointment is so far away that I have a lot of time to get ready...

Today I am unpacking my winter clothes and putting away my summer clothes. It looks like I have about an hours worth of ironing ahead of me. I wonder if I could use my wallpaper steamer on my cashmere sweaters?

I found a manual for that sewing machine, htoun: https://www.hendersonsewing.com/manual.asp?page=63

hvert you are amazing. Google hates me I don't phrase things right... Now I have to get to the sewing machine place get some good oil and get this thing taken apart. Oh and get my christmas sewing done cause the only place to do it will be on my cutting table. Which is covered with the scarf things that need vecro, a pretend quilt I'm doing for the grandson. Oh and I still need to make more pj's for my son.

Actually had a productive day all the dishes are done all the clean laundry is flooded and put away. The living room is mostly picked up baby came home from his moms and pulled out every car/truck he ownes. Oh and there is a load in the washer. Now if I can keep it up. Trying to maintain what I have and do a bit more everyday. It would be nice if my family helped. Hard to keep at it when no one else seems to care. Hubby is off at a scouting camp this weekend so maybe I can get a few thing done. I think he is crazy it will be very close to freezing over night and he will be in a tent. Over night will be 3C so about 36F or so. brrrrrr

Thanks again hvert

Maintenance men coming in next week so i have to clear a pathway. I have space so it really isnt much work, for once! Just need to take out the garbage and move some exercise stuff out of the way. I have been exercising fairly regularly so that is super.

Moving exercise equipment is exercise! Last week I moved all my weights upstairs, yesterday I thought that I might like to have them downstairs again...

Well crash and burn! It's midnight and I forgot the garbage. Grrrr It's so frustrating when I lose track of the day and time. Guess I will be doing it in the morning. I was having fun sewing, finished all the scarf/bandanna things. Cleaned up my cutting table and even started on the mending.

Maybe decluttering seems a hugely daunting task, but my mother has taught me a few things about cleaning that I want to share with you all.

• Put some music on to lighten the atmosphere and make cleaning seem not so much of a chore.
• Start by taking EVERYTHING that is cluttering the room out, and then going back over the items one by one and determining their value and necessity in going back in.
• Try and be objective as possible about your clutter and possessions, as you go through them. If you are stumped, gage when you last used a particular item. If it's been well over a few months, or even a year, you're most likely not going to touch that item again.
• Remember, if you feel attatched sentimentally to a large number of items that are cluttering your home, the value and memories will always be in your mind and heart, no matter what, so the item being in your possession isn't at all necessary.
• Take plenty of breaks, but don't get caught up in resting too long, or you'll never get started back up again.

Maybe these can help anyone who is struggling with decluttering their homes. I know hanging onto a great deal of things, often to the point of the living space being complete filled to the brim with them, can be deeply tied to OCD and whatnot (in which case I'd recommend seeking professional help), but a clean and organized living space is much better for one's mental wellbeing overall. It's also healthier physically too, being that you'll be living in a fresh clean space.

I wish everyone luck!!

Artchick those are great suggestions! I will put them to use today-the landlord is sending someone over for the yearly inspection tomorrow and I'm so stressed out! It went fine last year but I am such a pack rat and this is a small place so it gets messy fast! And landlords feel like authority figures and they make me nervous. I'll be so glad when it's over!

Making big progress on my bedroom, it's looking lots better. Still somewhat cluttered but I'm getting there! The best thing about cleaning is you find stuff you haven't seen for awhile so you don't have to buy more when you need it!

Inspection is over and it went ok. I'm so relieved! now I have to stay on top of it. I can do it!

Glad you made it through your inspection.

So I started really looking at what was in the freezer, nothing too bad so far. Of course I didn't get to far. Hubby came home from a trip in time for the washer to die. So last thurs we bought a new set, friday I found a whole in our bath tub!!! Then of course there was the big deal of making a clear path for delivery. I own way too much stuff and we went back to a top load machine so all the stuff that use to live there can't. Oh and the shelf on the landing had to be cleared off and moved. It's sort of a pantry. I guess it was a good thing as 3 cans were leaking and 2 where bulging. I found some stuff from 2001! So now it's wed and there is still stuff not were it is supposed to be and I can't get to either freezer easily.

I'm getting very very tired of things taking 27 steps more than it should to get anything done. Hubby is gone again and we still haven't totally figured out what we are doing about the tub. Have to send our son and grandson away for a few days or more. Given the track record of this house and the builder I seriously doubt it will be an easy job.

We cleaned last night for the furnace appointment tomorrow. It's so much nicer to have it done, the washed floors especially. If we cleaned for 10 minutes a day, would it not get so trashed?

Htoun, I have pantry problems too. I don't know how to solve them. I have 30 lbs of flour sitting in my dining room right now because I can't figure out where to put it in the pantry. One problem is my cookbook collection. I have three bookshelves in a 8x10 room. There's also the fridge, a five foot chrome shelf for baking dishes/food, cat boxes, and a large window. I keep my vacuum cleaner in there, a folding chair I use outside, a bucket for empty bottles (deposit), rubber boots for outside, and eight 5 gallon buckets for grain storage.

In an 8x 10 room... which I just cleaned and reorganized a few months ago. I am so bad at putting stuff away, I just cram it into any empty or sort of empty spot, and then wind up with a disaster area where I can't get to anything I want to use or put anything else away. Is it even possible to stop doing that????

I have the same problem and the pantry is one of the hardest areas to keep organized. It changes with what you buy and sales. Have you though about bins or boxes, nothing expensive or complicated, just all baking stuff will be here sort of thing. I find with things like jello, noddles and spices they tend to be all over the place. Once I started keeping them in a bin it was so very much easier to keep them organized and took up less shelf space. I keep things like flour in tupperware so it is a fixed space the container never shrinks. Hope that helps.

htoun, how's the tub? Is it fiberglass? I had one crack once. I swore I'd never have another fiberglass tub but I relented and did it again.