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Organizing Thread, Week 5, April 3-10


DawnM
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Organizer came for 4.5 hours on Friday.  We filled two large garbage bags from the office and the laundry room and organized them.

 

We have an old, ugly, long desk in the office with 2 computers on it.  The kids sit side by side if they need both.

 

My middle son asked if he could take the PC up to his room, and I was happy to get him a Craigslist $20 computer desk and have him take it.

 

The next step will be to get rid of the long desk and put in a small computer desk to replace it.

 

There are floor to ceiling windows in that room and we want the desk away from the windows for showing the house as the light and windows will be an asset.

 

Goals for this week:

 

Empty the attic

Clean out the sewing room of MY stuff (son has his bedroom in there now)

 

Next week is my Spring Break from work, so I plan to tackle most of the rest of the house at that point.

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I guess no one wants to keep going.  That is fine.  I can stop, but wanted to update for us.

 

She came for 5 hours yesterday.

 

We went though the 10 boxes in the basement I had packed when I thought we were moving last summer.  We consolidated it to 3 large boxes to keep as storage (old yearbooks, scrapbooks, keepsakes, photos, etc...), put a few things away, and filled 3 large bags for donation and 2 for garbage.

 

Then we cleaned out the sewing area, and an area of my son's room that I have kept some things in.  

 

Today I spent another hour or so with the kids pulling out everything from the attic, tossing and donating and putting away.  The attic now only has about 8  things in it.....a Christmas tree, 5 suitcases, and 2 TV boxes I am saving to move the TVs when we move.

 

She is coming back a lot this week (my spring break) and we will get through most of the rest of the house.

 

 

Edited by DawnM
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:lurk5: Please know I'm reading & getting motivated--I just don't post!

I've been de-railed by the overwhelming nature of emptying my dear in-laws' home of 50 years, which is exhausting both mentally & physically.

However, it has made me realize how urgent it is to continue the de-cluttering efforts here at home.

I'm sure you've seen WTM threads in recent weeks about de-cluttering parents' homes.

I think we will all agree that leaving MY junk for my KIDS to sort through is just not a good option.

 

But your efforts definitely have motivated (largely silent) me!

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:lurk5: Please know I'm reading & getting motivated--I just don't post!

I've been de-railed by the overwhelming nature of emptying my dear in-laws' home of 50 years, which is exhausting both mentally & physically.

However, it has made me realize how urgent it is to continue the de-cluttering efforts here at home.

I'm sure you've seen WTM threads in recent weeks about de-cluttering parents' homes.

I think we will all agree that leaving MY junk for my KIDS to sort through is just not a good option.

 

But your efforts definitely have motivated (largely silent) me!

 

Yes, this is my motivation too!  My in-laws are in their 90's and in the home they have been for over 50 years.  My dad is in his 80's and still in my childhood home.  The thought of dealing with all their stuff makes me not able to breathe.  I have my own stuff to go through before any of their stuff comes over here.  All those threads you mentioned have motivated me to get rid of stuff so my boys don't have to deal with it when I'm gone. 

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Ok, well, I will keep going then.

 

I haven't added up the hours completely but I think we have spent close to 20 hours, and that isn't combined!  That is just hours with two of us (usually) working!

 

Pretty sad that my house is this much of a disaster.

 

And then today, there were 4 of us taking everything out of the attic and going through it.

 

My organizer told me that this is just to declutter and semi-organize things.  Next up is to go through each room, get the proper bins, etc....and actually label and organize everything.  It will take a lot less time as most stuff is semi-together, but she is very detailed.

 

I can't wait to have it FINISHED!

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The papers, oh the papers  :svengo: In every stack I only need about one or two things...

 

So I have other stuff to go through, but the paper is what is KILLING ME!!!  It is everywhere -- piles here and there.  I had started scanning stuff and shredding the hardcopy, but got sidetracked by sickness and then taxes. The piles just sit there waiting for me....

 

If I could get the paper whittled down, I think the rest won't be so bad.  I still have a lot of my boys' paper stuff to go through (artwork, old schoolwork, little notes with hearts that they wrote to me on their math papers :001_tt1: ).  I also have a bunch of old paperwork that needs to be shredded. 

 

My craft room needs a lot of work too!  I also have digital clutter to deal with!  I just went through my closet and jewelry.  I've been pretty good about getting rid of the boys stuff as they outgrew it.  I have some nicer stuff that I would like to sell, but that may end up just going to charity.

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I am on Spring Break.

 

Today the organizer came for 7.5 hours!   :scared:

 

We mostly did the basement.  It was a MESS.  It has been a "here, we aren't sure what to do with this, so take it to the basement" area!

 

I am tossing and purging and then doing it again!  

She took before pictures and will take after pictures.  I will post them when we are done.  

 

Two SUV loads out the door, 5 or 6 trash bags full.    Our trash cans are now full and trash doesn't come again until next Monday. I tried to explain that, but she didn't seem to care.  I don't mind putting new bags in the garage but I don't want smelly food in there.  

 

And we have several other bags to get out the door we didn't get to yet.

 

She is coming back Wed, Thur, and Fri and we are hoping to get EVERYTHING done.  The entire house.  We will see.

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Please keep posting :thumbup:   I need all the inspiration I can get.

 

I cleaned out from under the bathroom sink.  I can't really start a project yet cause I have family coming over.  Right now I am in hide and straighten mode.  After they come over I plan on pulling stuff out and tossing :w00t:

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I am on Spring Break.

 

Today the organizer came for 7.5 hours!   :scared:

 

We mostly did the basement.  It was a MESS.  It has been a "here, we aren't sure what to do with this, so take it to the basement" area!

 

I am tossing and purging and then doing it again!  

She took before pictures and will take after pictures.  I will post them when we are done.  

 

Two SUV loads out the door, 5 or 6 trash bags full.    Our trash cans are now full and trash doesn't come again until next Monday. I tried to explain that, but she didn't seem to care.  I don't mind putting new bags in the garage but I don't want smelly food in there.  

 

And we have several other bags to get out the door we didn't get to yet.

 

She is coming back Wed, Thur, and Fri and we are hoping to get EVERYTHING done.  The entire house.  We will see.

 

This is awesome and I'm so glad for you that you a friend that is helping you with the process!  Can't wait to see the pictures!

 

You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but are you writing down all the stuff you are donating for tax purposes?  That is one of the things that is holding me up.  3/4 of me just want to bless someone else and be done with it.  The other 1/4 of me (the practical accountant type person that I am) wants to have things listed for a tax write-off before I bless someone else with it :-)!!!

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I don't know if this will help anyone following this thread, but I wanted to share just in case :-).

 

I was do a search for digital clutter and came across this old thread http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/530677-the-insidious-nature-of-clutter-guilt/page-2?hl=+digital +clutter

 

There were a few things within the thread that really spoke to ME.

 

PrairieSong:

I would rather live in an uncluttered home now, and make good memories for my family today, rather than have them remember home as a place that was full of piles of stuff.

 

Amira:

In the end, decluttering for me is about getting rid of what is keeping me from focusing on what is most important.

 

MiMi 4Under3:

I've read that holding onto too many items related to old memories, prevents new memories from being created. The energy stagnates. You need to release those items of the past to make new memories in the present and future.

 

AMJ (in talking about her paper clutter and the boxes full of papers she has to go through to make sure photos and important papers are found and kept before tossing the boxes):

I think these boxes of papers are the "seeds" that encourage so much of the clutter, at least for me.  The mentality is there to just stuff things away in boxes to get them out of the way.  If I can purge these boxes and have assigned places for all papers then I think it will be easier to do the same with other, 3-dimensional stuff.  Besides, in sorting through the boxes of papers I will likely find some boxes of other things, too.

 

Happy organizing :-)!

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This is awesome and I'm so glad for you that you a friend that is helping you with the process!  Can't wait to see the pictures!

 

You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but are you writing down all the stuff you are donating for tax purposes?  That is one of the things that is holding me up.  3/4 of me just want to bless someone else and be done with it.  The other 1/4 of me (the practical accountant type person that I am) wants to have things listed for a tax write-off before I bless someone else with it :-)!!!

 

oh gosh no.  I think you can claim $500 without having to itemize each item.  I highly doubt my stuff is worth $500 in used condition, so I am not worried about it.

 

And most of my stuff?  I would MUCH RATHER give to a friend or the needy (I have friends who work with refugees for example) who will USE it and APPRECIATE it.

 

And really, you don't get a large return on it.

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