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Post by hollyhock on Nov 9, 2014 7:32:25 GMT -5
I know that my real goal is to be unpacked by the end of the year, so initially I didn't think that anything would apply until after I moved next week.
However - last weekend my ds came and he took a full car load to the dump for me. It was so full that I could not fit in the car. This was all stuff that could not go out in regular garbage, hazardous stuff, stuff with metal, etc.
Then yesterday we took 2 car loads to donations. I had taken a bit here and a bit there, but this is big. Lots out.
Tonight he is helping me get stuff out for bulk garbage pickup tomorrow, an arm chair and a head board. We will be taking a small bookcase to my friend B's.
Last Wed PM a lot of cooking and gardening stuff went to new friends. Thursday I got rid of 3 bird cages.
How does this fit into my goal? These are things I don't have to move and I don't have to unpack! And I no longer have to worry about!
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 9:27:11 GMT -5
Bank holiday here today, so dh and the children are home, and we came back from the village war remembrance and then aperitif thing with friends' dd. So, it's almost 3.30pm and we have not long finished lunch. Anyway, kids are playing Just Dance, only 2 controllers to 3 kids, but it is working so far, and I am going to go and do some work in our room.
Am starting with a superficial bedside tidy - clothes, bedside table, putting summer shoes away, floor clutter (meds mainly) etc. that should hopefully only take 1, or max 2 half hour slots. Then I will make a start in some sewing table or fabric tidying.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 10:18:32 GMT -5
Ok. Change of plan. Going to focus on our bed area.
So, my side is done. Doing the blanket box next, which has the usual pile of dumped stuff on it. There is a cardboard box needing recycling. And then am going to suck it up and pick up and dump dh's stuff on his chest of drawers, where it won't get sorted out, but where, at least, it won't still be on the floor...
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Post by Jannie on Nov 11, 2014 10:20:45 GMT -5
My End of Year Goal 2014 is big- get the whole house Christmas-ready. This includes cleaning all rooms FULLY. And continue the Great Purge getting ready for my First Grandchild, due in may 2015. Financially, I want to apply for State Medical Assistance for my disabled hubby. He's 100% disabled, unable to get out of bed due to Multiple Sclerosis. I've been caring for him at home and it's a real drain on me, physically, mentally, spiritually, every way. We both want him to remain at home, but getting him this assistance will enable him to get a Home Health Aide, diapers and other expenses covered, etc. Life will be so much better in 2015!!!
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 10:52:23 GMT -5
Jannie, hope that you manage to get the help to which you are entitled, I am sure it will make a huge difference to his life and yours.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 10:57:02 GMT -5
I cracked and have sorted out and rationalised dh's baskets of chest of drawers stuff, I haven't got rid of anything, though the French loose coins are now in my purse, and the British loose coins are with our passports for our next trip to see family. Am slightly miffed to find over $20 just in dollar notes (bills?) and coins, dd and I could spend that nicely on clothes for her or fabric. Too bad he hardly ever goes to the States on business anymore. Have put all his papers and receipts in a bag, where I expect they will stay until he has next lost something...
So, that's just one more half hour, but a good one. Blanket box and polishing that and my bedside table (old school desk) next. Expect he could do with a cup of tea first, I can hear him hammering something in the attic.
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 11, 2014 11:10:57 GMT -5
Hello everyone! Hollyhock, you are so right--the more you can get rid of now, the less to deal with later, especially with the holidays coming and wanting to decorate your new place. Jannie, you have two great goals there--I know applying for disability can be hard, hopefully you'll be successful soon and can get the relief help you need. My sister cares for her disabled husband and I know what a big burden it is--as you said, it affects every part of your life. Lesaulerouge, sounds like you're making good progress. If you DH sees how great your side looks maybe he'll pitch in? Ha ha. Since my last post, I have gone through several storage areas to free up space, didn't get a lot freed up, but did have one big success in getting the stacks of books out of the entryway. This morning I worked some more in the entryway--reorganized and neatened up the baskets that sit on a table, they hold "out the door" things like gloves, my MP3 player, hand lotion, etc. Also some are for keys for my dog walking clients. I polished the table and put back only what looks neat, and then I straightened up all the books on my bookshelves in the entry. I took a few random things away because they looked cluttery. I'm happy to say that I'm finished with that room--anyone seeing inside my front door will say "wow you sure have a lot of books!" but they won't be thinking "wow, it's messy in here!" So, one tiny room done out of my large apartment. Diane
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 11:51:47 GMT -5
Sadly it doesn't work like that. He has seen what I have done, and then said that it is unlikely that he will sort his stuff out, with good humour though. Oh well! Am going to sort through his shoes next, I can see two old pairs of slippers just from lying on our (made, woohoo, that hardly ever happens!) bed. I know there is a good pair of shoes in the stables, left out there because they were muddy I think. He has lots more shoes now, so think they could be sorted out and whittled down - we had kept some old black shoes because his everyday shoes were beige. But he now has some newer black shoes (which he doesn't wear) if he ever needs dark ones to go with his suit. I just bought him some nice dark brown every day, but mostly for cold days, shoes too. Diane, one room down, that's great. And books definitely look a lot nicer, and somehow more intelligent, than clutter.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 11, 2014 12:38:50 GMT -5
Shoes done, two pairs out and a pair of slippers. One pair now out of the dining room, and found room in that box for a boxed pair of cycling shoes that had been on our bedroom floor since the summer when I bought them for him. Happy.
Dark now and I struggle with tidying, decluttering, housework etc when it gets dark. Children should be eating tea and getting ready for bed, but friend is still here. And she smells, in that adolescent, needs a shower and to be wearing deodorant way, even though she is only 9. My kids aren't anywhere near there yet, though believe me I would be on top of it if they were. But worst of it is that dd's room now stinks. Too dark and cold to air it - how do I clear that smell ASAP?
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 11, 2014 20:58:01 GMT -5
Oh wow, a 9-year old smells bad enough to leave an odor in a room? Sounds like something's wrong there, beyond a need for a bath, don't you think? I'm having some trouble getting focused on what to do next. It seems like my goal is vague enough that part of the work is just sitting in a room, LOOKING. I'm looking for what parts seem messy, and thinking about what I can do to change it. I've been in the decluttering process for a long time now, so this is many rounds into it--so there isn't anything easy to get rid of anymore. I spent some time in my small hallway, which connects the rooms, and the only thing in it (besides the cat food and water area) is bookshelves (oh, and in a corner where two bookshelves meet are boxes of...um, books). I straightened up the shelves so that they look a lot neater, and I did remove a yoga mat which was rolled up and sitting on top of the boxes in the corner, I put it away in a closet. I don't think there's anything else I can do in there. The boxes don't look great but they're partly hidden and I have no other place for those now. I then worked on the DR table, I don't use it to eat, but I like to keep at least 2/3 of it free to work on. I have a sewing machine that I keep there, even though I only sew about once or twice a year--and that's to hem pants or make my catnip squares. But again, there's nowhere else for it to go, and I do consider it a work table, so the sewing machine stays. The problem is that I have a strip of stuff along the wall, and it always looks messy. I got rid of several things there that had accumulated because I didn't know where else to put them--some I was able to throw away. There's still some stuff there, but it looks better. Then, I got it into my head that I wanted to finish the sunporch, so I consolidated the books in the two bins in there (one bin has a pillow on top of it and acts as a footrest for me and a place for the cats to sit--so it's staying). The second large bin is now empty and is going to go with my other empty bins/boxes in the DR. AND, the big thing is that I have decided to just get rid of the ugly TV stand/cabinet that I don't like. I've dragged it to the kitchen, but I have to wait until Friday to put it outside in case someone wants to take it--I hope so, because it'll be very hard for me to lift it high enough to get it into the dumpster. I hope I don't change my mind in the meantime. So as of now, the entryway, the hallway and the sunporch are DONE. They were the easy rooms, but they're done. Diane
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 12, 2014 2:27:27 GMT -5
Nah, several of the preteens I know are a bit whiffy. My kids only shower every other day now due to hyper sensitive skin, the dermatologist suggested it. But as soon as they get to smelling that will change. And as neither do, ever, I wonder how infrequently some other kids wash! And I don't care how easy they were, 3 rooms done is 3 rooms done and great work!
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Post by cyn on Nov 12, 2014 8:39:26 GMT -5
I'd love to have every single clothing storage area emptied, cleaned, purged, and then refilled properly. Not crammed, so that you can't find anything, and not filled with inappropriate items. My DH and I share a closet, and believe it or not, he hangs his t-shirts. I'd like to empty the wardrobe in the hallway, and get *all* of my stuff out of it. Then fold his why-waste-hanger-space items, and let him just use that entire area, while I reclaim the closet for my hanging-and-actually-wearing items.
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 12, 2014 9:20:01 GMT -5
several of the preteens I know are a bit whiffyI don't know many preteens well enough to know how they smell so I can believe that, but "a bit whiffy" and "stinky enough to impart your smell to the fabrics in the room so it reeks after you've left" seem like two different things! I hope you got the smell out quickly. Cyn, you have a great goal, clothing seems to be a problem for so many of us--I'm not someone who has a lot of clothes (okay, I have the bare minimum of clothes that a human can get by with) and they still sometimes cause a mess because my clothing storage spaces are filled with other things. I think getting the clothing under control will save you a lot of time. But, if you have excess (and especially if you have excess but don't realize that it's excess) it can be hard to make the decisions to keep just enough for your storage space. A worthy goal, I'll look forward to hearing about your purging process. Diane
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Post by cyn on Nov 12, 2014 9:44:32 GMT -5
Diane, I've already purged some in my head, does that count? No, I really did: I thought a leather jacket had been donated, then I found it, so I wore it one last time just to make sure I would be ok with getting rid of it. Yup, it's now on my kitchen chair ready to start the next donation bag. I also have a pair of freshly washed fleece pants, and they're earmarked for that bag too. It won't be too difficult to get rid of a few more items, and I can drop the bag off on my way to work Fri. If I want to be able to keep things, then I really do have to get a grip on how ineffectively I'm storing it now. Why are the clothes I wear every day sitting on the top of my storage drawers, while the drawers themselves are fill with clothes I never wear? That's a great question! HA!
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 12, 2014 12:33:39 GMT -5
Adding another slot. Have changed our sheets, normal, but have also flipped our mattress and washed the mattress cover. Bed is all nice, fresh and yummy!
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