Let's hear your cleaning and decluttering stories and progress.

[KidsHappen]

I have spent the last two days filing! I went through every single piece of paper in the house. It is now all filed away in appropriately labled and organized files and I did an excellent job if I don't say so myself. If I dropped dead tomorrow, my family would be able to find anything they were looking for. I used to have all medical and dental paperwork together, now each person has their own file for medical and a seperate one for dental and an additional one for prescriptions. Each child has their own education file. I have a file for every bill, service, insurance, warranty, and just about everything else you could possible think of.

 

Tomorrow I tackle the clothes. I am going to drag out every single piece of clothing in the house and have all of the children try on and claim whatever they want and then the rest goes to goodwill. I think that I can empty the out-of-season walk-in storage closet and pair down what is in everyone else's closets as well.

 

If I haven't run out of steam by then, I am going to completely empty both attics and declutter them and then neatly repack whatever stays and then install some shelving to neat store the items. The garage is also on my list as well as some yard work, some furniture rearranging and then some painting and decorating. I am on a roll right now so I hope my energy holds. How about the rest of you guys?

 

ETA: I just realized that I also need to deal with the stuffie problem. Arg!

Edited April 14, 2010 by KidsHappen

[lauracolumbus]

Ok, are you on spring break or are you doing this after school. And if so, are you using large quantities of caffeine.

 

I am trying to make this my wk of decluttering, but find by the end of the day I'm out of steam. I did do one dd's closet and cleared out two bags of clothes. Our church is having its biannual p/u for an Appalachian community and that always gets me motivated. So far, I have about 10 bags of donations, and we're getting ready to spend 15 mins. in the basement, which I plan on doing 2x/day w/the kids--with the four of us, that should be 2 hours of work.

 

You go!

Laura

[KidsHappen]

Ok, are you on spring break or are you doing this after school. And if so, are you using large quantities of caffeine.

 

I am trying to make this my wk of decluttering, but find by the end of the day I'm out of steam. I did do one dd's closet and cleared out two bags of clothes. Our church is having its biannual p/u for an Appalachian community and that always gets me motivated. So far, I have about 10 bags of donations, and we're getting ready to spend 15 mins. in the basement, which I plan on doing 2x/day w/the kids--with the four of us, that should be 2 hours of work.

 

You go!

Laura

 

Actually, my youngest two are in PS and yesterday was the first day back from spring break but yes to the large quanities of caffiene. :D

[MariannNOVA]

Congrats on your progress and your hard work. I spent last week doing the 'clothes' thing -- everyone's closets, drawers, plastic bins, everything is sorted, goodwilled, tossed, rag bin, hand me down bin -- all of that is finished.

 

The school books and curric were done the week prior to the clothing.

 

We still have a storage unit filled with boxes that the insurance company packed up prior to their beginning the repair here, but I become more insistent every day that the longer it stays in storage, the more apparent it becomes that we don't need it and it should be put on a truck and taken to Unique Boutique.

 

We have a couple of pieces of furniture that will be perfect for our 'outdoor room' that I'm working on that are in the storage unit.

 

I am quite comfortable right now even with us not having a fully functioning kitchen, everything else is in great shape. :hurray:

[Halcyon]

congrats on your progress!!! i spent all last week doing massive spring cleaning: clutter out from under sinks, sorted through kids' toys for goodwill, cleaned house top to bottom, and began tackling filing (it's not bad because I do try and keep up every week). It took about 5 hours every day and now I don't have to move out :D

[Garga]

I make a point to list on Facebook everything I declutter. (If it's an entire closet, I won't list each item in the closet---will just say "decluttered bathroom closet.")

 

I've found that marking down on Facebook what I've decluttered makes me motivated to find things to declutter so I can put it on facebook. My friends say that it's fun for them to read what things I've declutterd.

 

I also found a Tot Swap in this area. You price your stuff and take it to the Tot Swap and it gets sold all in one weekend. I just made $229 this weekend on stuff I was going to give away. (Toddler/baby toys.) Getting money for decluttering is a huge motivator, as well!

Edited April 14, 2010 by Garga

[melissel]

My sig line will tell you everything you need to know about my progress :glare: I am the queen packrat in a house of packrats, unfortunately. I think we're just really emotionally attached to our stuff. It doesn't help that I'm fielding freelance work this week, and the next few weeks as well. I'm trying desperately to cut down the number of toys and games in this house. DD4's room is going to be emptied of all toys sometime this week--that should help me get rid of some stuff that really needs to quietly disappear...

[joannqn]

I've been slacking in the school department but making slow progress in the cleaning/decluttering department. I recently finished cleaning my room. It's spotless with not a single bit of clutter. DS3 tells me "I like your room. It's clean. It's pretty. Mommy clean my room please." The boy's room is next.

[fairfarmhand]

Cleaned out part of my dresser today. Got rid of a stack of unwanted shirts, and found enough room to store my art supplies in there too! Still have a few drawers to go through (lingerie and socks will be on the agenda tomorrow) Also, I HAVE to skip to the garage to organize a cabinet out there per dh's request. So I likely won't get my room finished tomorrow, but I'm making progress.

[jld]

I filled about ten plastic bags with cloth items (clothing, towels, old handkerchiefs, etc.) last week that had been inked (ink bomb in laundry) or were just too worn out to use anymore. Also, I put clothing in there that was in good condition, but that I am too fat to wear anymore, lol.

 

I then gave everything to my former cleaning lady. She washes everything by hand in her home, so even inked things aren't an issue for her, and she can sell whatever she doesn't want. (Life is different here in India.)

 

I really love cleaning out like that. I like just having around what we really need. I feel like I just went on a diet, lol!

[Sue G in PA]

Just took about 7 bags and 2 large boxes or clothes/toys to Good Will last week! And, there are 2 more bags started. People from my church are coming on Saturday to help us lay down a new living room floor :D and the women and I are going to tackle our basement toy room. My goal is to purge at least 1/2 of the stuff/junk that isn't played with anymore. Great job with your progress, btw!