BS: De-cluttering - part two

Subject: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 02:34 AM

In the interests of de-cluttering my computer - here's the second part.

This week I have cleared 2 bags of paper to the recycling - most of it old envelopes from bills, old shredded statements and 6 months worth of junk mail. I've re-organised my shelves to accommodate the comb binder and I've comb binded a heap of printouts to make them easier to store.

I've re-organised a few folders on the computer so that I can delete duplicate documents, scanned about 50+ photos onto the external hard drive we have, organised the other 400+ loose photos into category envelopes and bundled all the loose negatives together in one place. I'm hoping to spend some time today in putting up a shelf for Limpit, so that will be off the table here, and when that's gone, I can sort the craft stuff onto the table before putting it into the proper boxes.

First of all though, I have to go and buy the boxes. Before that, I have to get dressed. Will it never end?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 03:20 PM

Computer clutter--that virtual stash has a cost too, doesn't it?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maeve
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 11:14 AM

Good for you, Liz! That's a lot accomplished or begun!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 12:00 PM

This is the first decluttering thread:

the old thread

It is a rainy day so I'm kind of house-bound. It's time to re-assign some of these newly empty cupboards with things that 1) are worth keeping and that 2) I'll remember how to find once they're in these new cupboards.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 12:11 PM

I have to replace my washing machine, which has served well for almost 21 years!
The new washer is being delivered next Saturday afternoon, so the declutter project this week is to finally organize the tools, potting soil, pots, and odds and ends stored in the laundry room.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 01:03 PM

I did that a couple of weeks ago, Alice, and found an amazing number of things I'd accidentally bought in duplicate. I don't think I'll ever use that many 3-prong adapters, but all of the energy efficient light bulbs mean I can ignore the sales for several years. I found a lot of things that had gone missing, and was able to donate or toss enough of the contents of those cupboards that there is enough space to see everything that's in them now.

Cleaning your laundry room is also very good for your spirits--it's easy (generally) to take a damp rag and clean up the linty dust that has accumulated on everything in there over time. The room sparkles after relatively little effort.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 01:10 PM

... and I have to repaint the cement floor in there.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 02:06 PM

I have to pull up the Linoleum squares and put tile down in mine one of these days.

Just pulled out a few bathroom mats I'm not going to use any more. They're in good shape so they're in the donation bag. That gets rid of a little stack in the corner on the hall--I never got around to putting them in the cupboard but couldn't get around to putting them back in the bathroom.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 11:54 PM

Sorted a whole fairly large box of books plus a sack to take to my sister-in-law when I go visit next time. And her quilt is nearly done. Delivered a finished quilt to my stepdaughter the other day. Have another box of books to take to the used book store as soon as I can talk JIK into carrying it out to the truck for me. Am trying to get motivated to recycle some of the hoard of magazines I have been saving for no good reason--would clear out a lot of room in my crafting room if I can get to that!

Keep the de-cluttering going, ladies. Just knowing someone else is dealing keeps me inspired.

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 12:20 AM

Me, too, Lin.

We cleaned up the front yard some more. Rog cut the grass, whacked the weeds and even did a little bit in the backyard. I painted the old wicker rocker that sits on the front steps. It's been needing new paint for years and years. THAT felt good. I also only have FOUR more shutters to paint! Did two of them, each got three coats, over the weekend.

I also cleared out my house plants and moved out the wobbly table some of them were on. They are large enough to sit on the floor. It looks a lot less cluttered without the table gathering dirt, leaves, etc.

Still a lot to do and we haven't even contemplated the shed and the old van-turned-storage-unit, but I have hopes of Rog taking a week off for a massive assault!**bg**

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 12:55 AM

Lin, if you have any New Yorkers from 1997, let me know, I'm looking for a couple. Have JunK look through them before he carries them out to the recycle bin (I have to keep that great moniker going in this thread--it's too priceless!)

This weekend has been more about catching up in housework but I've gotten some de-cluttering in. I had a shoebox full of stuff that needed to be handled piece by piece. I'd say I was able to comfortably discard 1/2 to 2/3 of it. It's that kind of stuff like early kids' drawings and old correspondence with addresses, the last one known for someone you've been meaning to get back in touch with. . . it is probably time to let go, but I'm not quite there yet.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 02:50 AM

Ah yes... the joys of a digital camera, a flat bed scanner and a paper shredder...

Much as I like to have these old keepsakes, it really is time to photograph or scan them to the Xdrive and send them to recycling. That way, I still have the keepsake, but it isn't cluttering up a box file on a shelf. Also, should the worst ever happen, and we have a fire here - all this paper and fabric should keep it going for a good few hours - I could just grab the external hard drive and run.... clothes and bank statements may be replaceable but those photographs and drawings are not.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 06:43 AM

Of course, I still haven't put up that shelf for Limpit - she's worse at decluttering than I am!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maeve
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 08:10 AM

A new washer, Alice? Sigh...Good for you! I suppose it's time to move out my wringer washer that needs a replacement agitator. That would at least give me a staging area to use for things we're getting rid of. Hmmm.

Still working on getting yard and greenhouse things cleared and organized. If the rains come I'll take another whack at it inside. I have gotten rid of quite a few magazines and catalogues. I need to work on my files, most of which must be gone through and shredded for compost. Most of the birdhouses we've been given over the years are now up where they can be used.

I need to figure out a new clothes drying line and catch up with the laundry somehow.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 09:56 AM

When I was a child my mom routinely dried clothes on lines in the back yard. Woe to the child who got the clean laundry dirty, but running between the lines was such a cool sensation when everything was still damp. In winter she had lines in the basement. Now I wish I had a clothes line in the house or out. I'm sure I'd have to fence off my area to keep the dogs away from it, but the toughest part would be convincing my son that his jeans won't stand up by themselves for more than a couple of minutes once he has put them on!

Last night the Am Staff terrier turned up lame, though I couldn't find an injury. She recovered use of that limb after a while, but I think she stepped on a nail on the pile of fence boards in the back. I started hauling them out to the curb last week, and must have left a nail exposed. I noticed she paused and sniffed around the stack last time she was near it. I'll be lucky if I don't end up with an expensive vet bill before I finish hauling this off--I've been lucky up till now that when they run around and cross and leap from this stack they haven't hurt themselves (I did check it for exposed nails when I first made the stack).

I decided to hurry this process and took the equivalent of 5 or 6 fence panels (broken down) out to the curb last night. Each panel has three backers and 26 slats. I have probably 10 more panels that I'll break down this week for Thursday and again next Monday--they can be piled on the drive and away from the dogs until they go in the trash. Our bulky waste pickup is in early June and I don't want to wait, hence the staging of the process.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 12:58 PM

As I reported above and on the diet/accountability thread, I moved fence slats over the last couple of days. The latest batch have been moved, not removed. Yet. I'm considering renting a chipper, if they grind the wood and aren't bothered by nails. Otherwise, it's out to the curb. So I'll see what is available in the chipping department. Meanwhile, there is a big BONUS!!!

The wood was over an old veggie garden plot I abandoned when the dogs arrived as big pups. They were in and out of the old garden all of the time. I'm going to till up that area, surround it with a wire fence (4 feet) and do some more veggies in there. Yes! A garden plot I didn't have to hand dig first! Such riches!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 07:20 PM

A challenge to each of us, before the possible three-day shut down of Mudcat while Max moves to a new town.

I'm going to keep a text file of my activity. I'll pare it down so it isn't 2 volumes hardbound after three days, but reporting to this thread has really been helpful, and if it isn't here, I can write for when it will be back. The rest of you need to give yourselves the same kind of boost if you need it.

This afternoon while waiting for my lunch to cook I started looking at the antiques over my kitchen cupboards. I could see that there was stuff up there that isn't antique, it was just stuck up there for looks or to get it out of the way. So I pulled down a mended tea pot (won't ever be used again) and a couple of other things that had been kept for no good reason and put them in the trash or the recycle bin. I'm going to rearrange that area, maybe move something extra up there. I really like the museum look some of these things have, and it needs to be refreshed.

I also finished re-spacing and attaching (with carriage bolts) some redwood boards on a table I picked up at the curb about a year ago. Someone else's trash has been on my front porch not exactly usable for all of this time, but now it is on it's way. I need to clean it then prime a few spots and I'll paint it with the dark brown trim paint we used on my house last fall. Before and now. Not finished yet. The rock is one I uncovered in the tall grass when I transplanted a couple of things. It had been put down when the grass wasn't in the garden and decorative rocks were decorative!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 08:52 PM

Cleaned out a big dresser drawer yesterday, all the mismatched socks, old tee shirts, etc. I got rid of 2/3 of what was in that drawer!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: mouldy
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 04:39 AM

I've been putting off joining in with this - just like the decluttering. After Ian died I got rid of the majority of his stuff quite easily. I was relieved to at last be able to get the detritus from his flat in China out of the spare room. It had only been in there 3 years.

I am in the process of gradually getting the house brought up to a saleable standard. Part of this involves chucking out. It's been a gradual process, but I got a box of small stuff off to an,auction house last month, stripped out some old wardrobes from the spare room, most pieces of which are at the tip now. Problem is, I "acquire" things that might be useful for fancy dress... they are all piled up in another bedroom now, as their wardrobe is gone.
I got rid of a desk to the tip this weekend, as well as an old tent, but this is only scratching the surface, if I have to downsize.

I am being very strong minded for me, honest!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 10:08 AM

Andrea, you've taken on a huge challenge in a timely and much more mature way than a lot of us (or at least, me). I have stuff from my parents' estates that is still packed after nearly 10 years. Each time I moved it was simply easier to move and store the box again than it was to open it, examine the part of a life it represented, pay respect, and throw, give away, or sell the items and move on.

My hat's off to you!

I'm going through the estate stuff along with my own clutter (plus the antiques from several great aunts and a great grandmother). This is far easier than going through your husband's articles. Feel free to continue to enumerate your de-clutter accomplishments; writing it down really does help each of us to see our forward progress.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 11:25 AM

Been stowing winter items.

It never ceases to amaze me how strongly old "overwhelmed" feelings can slow down present-time action. Yes, my brain KNOWS I set up that great closet, but the hamper-full of winter items has been sitting for a week-- looking so big, so completely overwhelming.

Today I finally made myself stand in the closet to start stowing as much as would fit. I did NOT need to drag a tray table into the tight workspace to hold the hamper-- I'd left myself a small stepstool in that closet, DUH! Instead of a tray table, I was crowded with joyous doggies.

I had resignedly figured I'd deal with whatever didn't fit by hiking it upstairs to the other closet, where I'd spied some open shelf space before I came down this AM. To my shock, the hamper is now empty (ready to catch dirty laundry piling up), and the DOWNstairs closet is not overstuffed at all. There was room for a whole pile of wear-only-to-hockey-games stuff. I had enough hangers, I had enough hanging and shelf space, and I still have enough space in there to handle the spring/summer hanging items I know are in the newly-organized UPstairs closet of offseason stuff.

I'm so tired of the winter colors and textures-- uggghhh!! And I know there are fresh and colorful things to re-discover upstairs. I do NOT need to buy a lot of new stuff! What a relief-- the catalogs are full of crap styles and crap colors this year.

Heck, I think I can even unpack the garment bag that still has unworn contents from a month ago! :~) Good thing, too, as now I need to restock it for a weekend retreat.

===

Another handy little solution-- since I keep losing my carefully-crafted grocery lists, I looked online and found one I liked. Already made and ready to print, with check-boxes for everything I might ever want. I checked off some boxes, Hardi checked off some boxes-- who knew he wanted that stuff?-- and it's too big to lose so easily before I go USE it.

===

We CAN do this.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 11:55 AM

... and the last item to rehang was "the one" I was SURE I would not fit into-- feeling so fat-- it was barely wearable and very tight last summer-- but it actually HANGS, on ME! Today is also the last day of the aquatics class I've taught this year (just a short break until new classes), and it will be GREAT to share this success with the ladies as we contemplate next goals and summer plans.

Remember the Wicked Witch of the West? "I'm mellllltinnnnnggg...."

"I'm shrrrriiiiinkkkinnnnggggg........" :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 12:11 PM

I may have found a solution for those hard to find little bits that take up all the flat surfaces....

Doesn't this look fab?

Now all I need is somewhere to hang it....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 02:12 PM

Liz, you sound a lot like me--I love storage boxes, envelopes, and containers of all kinds. There are lots of them (including some of your Really Useful Boxes) in my crafting room, and they're all full of Really Useful Stuff, of course. Need to weed some of that out and get it out of the house...yea, another project!

Having a crafting room is such a luxury for me. I spent years doing everything on the kitchen table; now I actually have a place to store fabric, scrapbooking paper and tools, art supplies, sewing and embroidery notions, etc., not to mention the loom I have yet to set up and my "mobility scooter" which is sitting in the middle of the floor until I need it next. Crowded, yes, but still a lot more room than I ever had before we bought this house.

SRS, none of my magazines are New Yorkers--nothing so intellectual I'm afraid. Mostly Country Living, Country Home, Herb Companion, and lots and lots of quilting magazines which I just cannot get rid of because of the patterns for all the gorgeous quilts that I might make some day. Of course, first I'd have to FIND the pattern...

Onward and upward. Maybe the only solution is to move?

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 03:38 PM

Before and after.

No longer clutter on my front porch, now a repaired and repainted little table (all it cost was the price of 6 carriage bolts with washers and nuts) to look great on my porch. A brightly colored plant needs to reside there. It gets sun in the morning, deep shade the rest of the day. So maybe something with colorful foliage rather than a bright flower.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: mouldy
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 02:24 PM

I have a load of stuff in bags in the hallway, piled up for going to a boot fair in a week or so. I have got to get that lot shifted out so that when Ruth gets back from uni in a couple of weeks, she has somewhere to dump all her crap, as her old room is devoid of space since I moved her single bed out and put the spare double in. Her new one (the old spare) won't be ready till after I have been to New Zealand. It is stripped out and awaiting the attention of the electrician and decorator. At a guess it will be late June or early July before I get it done. So the back of the living room and the hallway will have to be called into play.

I have also got a new tent stacked up in the hall. I'd put it in the shed, but at some point I have got to empty all that lot into the garage (also full of crap) while the shed is re-roofed, sometime over the summer. It's more of an outbuilding, and one of the roof timbers need some repair, so the contents have to be moved so that ladders can get in.

Ian's stuff was mainly cleared out relatively soon after he died. Most of the stuff that was here (especially his clothing) I saw as surplus to his requirements, the rest got shipped to my daughter's from Russia, and we sat round and sorted it all there, and chose what items we wanted to keep. I still, however, have a pair of cross-country skis stacked up in the study...
At least I offloaded his welder onto my son in law, after he helped me clear some of the stuff in the garage last year!

Andrea
- wishing that the clutter fairies would send me away and do it all for me so that I couldn't cling onto so much stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 03:58 PM

{{{{Andrea}}}} You're doing fine, darlin'...give yourself some time and credit for what you've already done. AND, go enjoy that new little darlin'!!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 May 08 - 12:40 PM

Andrea, it sounds like you need to establish a starting point and work outward. I thought I had a lot to do here--sounds like you're dealing with a lot more real estate!

Do you ever hit a point where you simply have so many things crying out to be done at once that no direction is right and you are at a standstill? The last couple of days have felt that way. The semester will end and it will get better, but some of these little accomplishments in the decluttering feel like the only progress made the whole day!

Sometimes I think it is the result of running up against the emotions that are triggered by the stuff in the room. Issues with my mom come to the surface readily as I do this work. It all seems to boil down to things not used, left packed away, because they were so musty from her smoker's household, and recognition at the discomfort of rejecting the smell and trying to not reject the person. Anyone else encountering these bogeymen in the clutter?

On another note, this morning the trash guys toted off the third load of the rotten fence slats removed from the back yard. There is still an ugly tangle of them resting against the fence, but this weekend I think I'll manage to finish piling them at the curb. I have a neighbor who will be out of town for a week, leaving this afternoon--I can pile some there also (he won't be putting trash at his curb) so I can spread it around a little. ;)

I'm headed to a meeting at the office today so I'll see if I can round up another bag of donation stuff to take to the thrift store and rag recycle place nearby. The more things I can do in the same trip the better. This morning on the Diane Rehm show (NPR) it was pretty depressing to hear them talk about the strong possibility of $4 a gallon gas this year. $80 to completely fill up my pickup. It cost $20 to fill it when I first bought it 8 years ago.

I think I'll take the dogs for a walk before I drive to work, see if a little exercise helps my mood.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maire-aine
Date: 01 May 08 - 02:15 PM

Next week I plan to do some serious de-cluttering. I'm on vacation for the week, and I'm starting on what I laughingly call the "music room". More like the "clutter room" right now. I will report results at the end of the week.

Wish me luck,
Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 May 08 - 03:55 PM

"Do you ever hit a point where you simply have so many things crying out to be done at once that no direction is right and you are at a standstill?"

Yes... so consequently, I still have no space in the dining room to do the waistcoats I must Must MUST finish in 3 weeks time, the room here emerges and submerges under a moving tide of paper - different paper each time, but still paper.... and I end up not doing anything.

Ho hum.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 08 - 04:07 PM

Yep, I've been feeling that a lot, ever since we moved here. This thread and you, esp. Maggie, have helped me get some of it started and some of it done. There's a part of my mind, a corner, which laughs like a gibbering idiot at the folly of believing I will ever get any of it done, let alone all of it. My goal is that my children NOT have to go through it all when I am gone.

One other thing which has helped is making a Master List, long-term and short-term things I want to get done around here. I have already crossed off a bunch on one I made last Dec. Slowly getting some of the other things crossed off, like those shutters. Since my friend isn't coming to visit today through Sunday, MAYBE I'll get the rest of them done this weekend!

Anyhow...one foot in front of the other, eh? OH, and maybe better glasses so I can focus more?**bg**

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maeve
Date: 01 May 08 - 04:11 PM

And yes, SRS, the emotional burdens of my father's estate, things from my mother, everything in the children's room. The laundry without a washer. The truckloads of compost to move. Thousands of seeds to sow, plants to pot, weeds to dig, mulch to spread. Quite overwhelming.

On the other hand, we received our license to sell the fruit trees and perennials we've been growing, and I sold two little pots of pink violets this afternoon. We'll have milk and a newspaper before dark!

Bit by bit, corner by corner, row by row.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 May 08 - 11:52 PM

When I encounter this kind of stressed-out feeling I make myself a big list, broken down into chores I can do today and things I may have to perform several steps to complete. I list the steps so I can cross them off. Sometimes I'll start the summer with a list of things on the fridge that I'd like to accomplish. I think it is time to generate such a list. This is separate from the list I often carry folded in a pocket, including my shopping list and a few chores to try to remember to do.

I'm taking tomorrow off and along with some personal things to take care of I plan to do some more clearing. Tonight I'll finish the write-ups from all of those donations in April so I can make fresh start on May. Part of this clearing up is to help reduce taxes by donating good workable stuff. I think in the long run the benefit is greater than doing a garage sale, though I do have a few things to take to a garage sale the neighbor is going to fun one of these days.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 May 08 - 03:36 PM

The charitable donations for April are cataloged and printed and filed. Now I'm bagging up more donation items of many types, aiming at once again clearing off that corner love seat.

This morning I culled a bunch of older computer books--I'll let Half Price Books decide if they're still new enough to sell. I'm going to mail one of these to a friend who was asking about computer clip art earlier this week. And I have updated the dictionaries in the house and am taking the oldest to Half Price.

It's a gorgeous day out. Maybe I need to go do some digging and accomplish a little yard clearance.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 02 May 08 - 03:46 PM

If you are clearing out books (as I will be, purging my library this weekend) please consider donating them to the effort to start a public library in Colorado City, AZ. This town has had books banned by the religious leader, and now that he is in prison, a group has formed a non profit Friends of the Library. A building has been donated and now they need hardbound books. Any kind - novels, science, history, textbooks, current reference books (encyclopedias that are not out of date, etc.)
children's books, novels, classics, books on CD or tape, documentary films. They need every kind of book you would find in a public library.
Here is the thread about it and here is the mailing address to send boxes of books or mail cash donations.
Thread click here

Here's the address for donations:

Colorado City Public Library
C/O Stefanie Colgrove
PO Box 1935
Colorado City, AZ 86021

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 May 08 - 10:13 PM

I made the rounds this evening, mailed a book, dropped off puzzles and kids' toys, took books to Half Price (as I thought, the computer books are too old to be of interest and the dictionary is not up to date.) They were interested in only a couple of books and the cash offered covered the cost of a sandwich for dinner.

I think this is a good evening to go through the house and organize the cupboards and closets I've emptied out. What now goes in those spaces?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 02 May 08 - 10:34 PM

Tomorrow is my big "start on the basement" day.
It's great to have a group to report to here!
The library is downstairs next to the laundry room, and there are two bedrooms that need digging out down there. One has been filled as a storage room. I have books I used when I home schooled my son for 7th and 8th grades, and lots of hardbound novels and classics I can pass on to the library.
This project has given me a good incentive to clean out books and ship them to a community that really needs them.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 08 - 03:46 AM

It's late on Friday night (early Saturday morning) and I've made a lot of progress. With nothing but a bottle of wine, a romantic movie (You've Got Mail--I do like Nora Ephron!) and a paper shredder I've completely emptied one file drawer in my office closet. It filled three and a half mid-sized kitchen garbage bags with old bank statements, 20-year-old tax returns, and paperwork to do with three vehicles back. Who knew that was in there? I never looked. I also moved some empty shelves out of that closet. I'm not sure how I'll re-purpose the space, I have an idea, but I'll wait to see how much paper I can evict. If I can empty three more drawers I might even get rid of a four-drawer file cabinet.

SRS (who will probably sleep late tomorrow!)

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Alice
Date: 03 May 08 - 11:30 AM

My son is moving to is own apartment this week, so it is time for the big heave-ho of all the stuff he will turn loose. It is hard to imagine that he was in about the first grade when I joined mudcat!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 08 - 11:59 AM

I have a daughter in college who has a bunch of stuff in a room here that remains closed most of the time--we forget about that space. But I do want it as a guest room so it will come under the declutter scruitiny when I finish the rest of the house. This will allow a couple of things--no recriminations about making her clear up in there without having done it myself, and we'll do it when she can spend a couple of days here and have a good visit.

My neck is stiff today--I spent a lot of time hunched over the shredder, I think that's it, but I also had to work on my line trimmer yesterday so may have overworked something with all of the starts (I need to tune it up, it's not running well right now.)

This morning is bright and clear but chilly, so I'm finishing some moving around of stuff then heading out to the yard. I can't resisit gardening in this weather, so I'll find something to declutter out there. And despite my good work (on the last thread) since I last found the spark plug wrench for my tiller I have a new place where it needs to live but I've misplaced the wrench. I have a couple of possibilities from when I first found it, so I'll start there.

A big end goal is to have everything in logical places so I just go get what I need before doing a task, not waste time looking for a part, or avoid a job because I can't find what I need.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 04 May 08 - 04:55 AM

Finished my sister-in-law's lap quilt (finally) while watching two of my favorite movies: Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Now I can watch Return of the King tomorrow with no distractions, as a reward for being industrious two nights in a row, right?

Am also working on proofing another book, so haven't done diddly on rearranging my desk or sorting things in the crafting room. But I know those projects are "hovering," just waiting for me to get back to them.

I did get a bunch of clean clothes folded and put away yesterday, and have done a bunch of research on the web about an interesting subject or two I have need of information for.

Sigh. No large progress, but a couple of baby steps, I guess.

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: maeve
Date: 04 May 08 - 06:30 AM

From baby steps grow giant steps, Lin. Good for you!

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: GUEST,rock chick
Date: 04 May 08 - 07:52 AM

Just about too enter the black hole of Calcutta, the spare room needs to be spare again!! But where do all the musical instrument go, and ALL the boxes? ;^/

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 May 08 - 12:47 PM

Rock Chick, welcome to our reducing club! Empty the boxes, recycle or sell what you can, dump or donate the rest, flatten the boxes and recycle them. Easy, right? (Tongue inserted deeply into side of cheek.) Good luck!

This morning I took a look at a couple of dozen paint cans from working on the house six years ago. If there is much in them, they'll go to the city paint collection site to be blended to paint over graffiti. If there is a little I'll pour out the paint on a cardboard flat to dry, let the can dry, then toss it in the recycle bin. Paint isn't supposed to freeze so I've kept it in the house, not the garage, but I need to reduce the amount. I'm more likely to repaint the entire room something else than retouch, so I wonder at keeping any of it.

Also--I went through my earrings. Pulled out those I never wear for donation. Single ones I liked are all in one place. If the mate turns up, maybe they will be reunited. Tossed old backer cards. Emptied out one wooden box on my dressing room counter top.

This afternoon I will set up my barbecue grill--I have the Mother-lode of paper files to get rid of and I'd be all day at the shredder. I'll set these up between the grill wires and let them burn down at their own pace, with the cover on to prevent embers. One thing about having worked for the Forest Service for several years, I'm really good at burning stuff safely! I am to empty that big file.

Oh, and the last of my old fence goes to the curb today for tomorrow's trash, and I'll prop a good (but not needed) glass screen-type door there and put a "free" sign on it. And I'll tape the hardware to the door.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: LilyFestre
Date: 04 May 08 - 01:37 PM

I cleaned out my dressers this morning. I've been losing weight and have too many different sizes of things that just don't fit as they should, so I cleaned out each drawer, tossed the unmentionables in the trash and bagged up things that someone else could use. I moved my winter clothes to another section of the closet and noticed how few spring things I have for work. *Shrug* I'll make do with what I have. It feels great to get that stuff out of the way!!!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 May 08 - 08:22 PM

I got the last of the tall shutters painted today. Only four shorter ones to go! (Three layers of paint, each, with one set of saw-horse to dry them on, or I'd do them a lot faster!)

I also got out the art paper I'd bought last Sept., measured and cut it to fit the glass panes in the bottom halves of our bedroom windows and glued it on. It helps to cut down the bright light in the mornings and also adds more privacy. It doesn't really matter except on the north side. That window looks across our yard to the neighbour's driveway and the pampas grass we planted outside that window last year has not grown tall enough to provide privacy. It's heavy, hand-made paper with flocks of leaves, ferns and real flowers in it. And the colours I picked out really compliment our inside decor. Felt good to finally do that!

Rog tackled some more of the old dead weeds in the backyard, raking some of them up and he got the irrigation water hose dragged around back and watered his grape vines and the willow tree. All of those things have been needing to be done for ages.

We also took the car to car wash and MUCKED it out. There was all kinds of trash, dog hair, kid toys and giveaway stuff in there, as well as three lawn chairs! Felt really good to get that done, too.

Now, maybe we'll do some inside stuff. My sister is coming tomorrow, though. Tues. and Wed. will be spent at her storage space helping her go through everything to decide what she wants to keep and move to Alaska and what goes. Should be quite interesting as she is a powerhouse when she gets going on a project and has a timeline.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:38 AM

With your de-cluttering momentum going, Kat, maybe you can help your sister discard or donate lots of stuff and keep what she takes to Alaska down to the truly important stuff.

I worked mostly in the yard today. The last of the fence planks are at the curb for morning trash pickup, and I got rid of a glass door that used to be outside my front door. I taped the frame to the door (it's all aluminum) and put a note "free" on it. It was gone in under an hour, and the guys who stopped asked if it was okay. I pointed at my new security door that had replaced it, so he would understand that it had was fine, just no longer needed.

It is interesting--a lot of this free and garage sale stuff is taken to family members in Mexico. I advertised "leftover stuff from remodeling" for a garage sale several years ago and the Mexican family that bought all of the barely used ceiling fans said this was part of what they were taking these to Mexico to the family. (I had replaced them with some less inexpensive Hunter fans.) At that same sale I had a corner for "free to a good home" for all of the harvest gold and avocado green stuff that had come out of my 1976 house. Amazing how fast that went--what goes around does come around! A gay couple building a retro house in the country got most of it. I'd love to see it when they finish!)

Guess I'd better save most of today's activities for the gardening thread.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 May 08 - 11:55 AM

That's great, SRS.

I don't think my sister will have much of a problem at whittling her stuff down. She's less sentimental than I, plus she's only got the two days to go through it all, AND has to consider the costs of having the movers bring it all up to Alaska. I will certainly help her with it, though. I'm looking forward to that, but mostly to just seeing her.:-) Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: mouldy
Date: 05 May 08 - 12:46 PM

Just got back from an overnight stay in Northumberland (and a visit to the Sage in Gateshead for the Toumani Diabate concert). My friend's husband has been and carted away the old tacky shelf unit that was stacked up in the dining room. Now all I got to do is price up all the stuff that's stacked up in the hall for when I take it to the boot fair in York on Saturday. That will leave the hall empty enough for Ruth to empty part of the contents of her life into next Tuesday! Anything I don't sell will be left at the tip on the way back.

Have just spent an hour trying to rationalise the pots and planters on the yard.

There's not a lot of Ian's stuff left in the house - it's all my crap! I went and bought 2 more pieces of pottery on saturday - a staffordshire figure of a grandmother helping her granddaughter to read (very topical) and a Bunnikins Morris Dancer (well, I couldn't let THAT go....)

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: De-cluttering - part two
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 May 08 - 01:18 PM

Psssst! Half the battle is putting prices on things! :~)

I expect to take a carload of stuff out into the "someone else needs this" stream later this week and carry back home a little lovely, easily-stored cash in its place.

Also the very few items for the camper that were picked up on sale over the winter will get stowed out there IN the camper when we open it tomorrow for the Annual Spring Open to see if any rodentia's been squatting for a takeover, in which case the first thing to carry out will be the hunting party's litter box. :~) (The fleeing rodentia will find handy alternate housing right next door in the vacant barn.)

~Susan