Author Topic: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days  (Read 23649 times)

Rosy

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De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« on: June 04, 2017, 03:48:41 PM »
I'm back on a de-cluttering binge, throwing up a 30 or 60 day challenge for 2017. Ready to join the fun? Last years thread was a big success, it was fun to swap ideas, links and support each other along the way.

Rules: Pick your own start date and GO!
Tell us your most challenging project and what your goal is - pick either 30 days or 60 days 


I'm choosing to start on Monday, June 5 - end date July 5, 2017
Last year and this year, I've tackled a lot of different projects, but now that I am nearing the end I am out of oomph.

There are only two projects left, but those are really big boogie bears. Everything else is under control - routine de-cluttering during spring or holiday cleaning will take care of various home organizing projects.
Remaining projects are:
1. Shed/Studio - tackling one wall, shelf, cabinet and table at a time - we've been making progress already. But, it is huge, 16x14 - in a word - overwhelming! Think beading and jewelry making supplies and clearing out old paper craft supplies - in fact, I'm driving around with a trunk full of donations right now:) There is a huge table packed and stacked with who knows what all.
Then there are still about fifteen mystery boxes, numerous bags and bins of questionable content or maybe just plain overflow from the house? or possibly junk accumulation?, guess I'll find out.
Overall, I'd say this project is about 35% done - goal is to push it through to completion within the next 30 days.

2. One last lingering nemesis - our ferocious motivation eating paper tiger. Ugh! I have made some progress and there is improved organization, but SIX boxes remain to be filed and sorted and two large shopping bags of mystery paper and apparently more boxes in the shed - not looking forward to that at all.
May have to tackle in a second 30 day challenge - we'll see how it all goes.

Anyway - for my own motivation and lest you think I've been a slug, here is a list of some of the projects completed in 2017.
Last project was the inventory and re-organization of extra food storage, water and hurricane emergency supplies. Three huge shelves worth - so happy I'm done with that. Mr. R. helped and really, it was not as bad as I thought.
Started on a list to replenish items as they go on sale.
However, I discovered I need to inventory the medical supplies too, as we've used up a fair amount of supplies.

Note to self - check into solar flashlight, solar radio and solar charging devices for the hurricane season.

So far in 2017
Cleaned up and re-organized carport and front porch - yeah - I got to play with the power washer, that was fun. Did you know that you can blast that rubber lining around the refrigerator door with the pressure washer? Worked like a charm and yes I was careful where I directed the nozzle. Made short work of all the furniture and walls, no more dust and grime. Add new plants and voila!
Cleaned and re-organized the bedroom closet, shelves and cabinets. Mr. R's five! big T-shirt drawers are next on the list.
Finished inventory and re-organizing of food storage/pantry.
Cleaned out both fridge/freezers. Utility room is next on the list ...
Cleared out one big bookcase, one small cabinet, and one huge shelf in the shed cum studio - donated tons of craft supplies, yay!
Re-organized all the overhead storage, seldom used items, tents, camping gear, bulk shopping storage etc. Next on the list is sorting through the large picture frames - left from photography projects. They will be either used or sold or donated, but I will not continue to store them! 

Travis

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2017, 03:58:30 PM »
We're almost done with ours.  From 28 April to 15 June we're getting ready to move and making piles of books, clothes, and other odds and ends to sell or donate.  Since that start date we've donated an entire car trunk of books plus a 30 gallon trash bag and three more paper grocery bags of clothes.  I have the box spring and boards of an old crib I need to tear apart and put in the trash.  Every morning I wake up and stew on whether there is more I can get rid of.

marble_faun

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2017, 05:12:20 PM »
This thread is coming at the perfect time!

My husband and I really want to de-clutter this summer.

We started this weekend with just our two closet spaces. We found things we had needed but forgotten about, or thought we had lost (a box fan! 80% of my winter clothes! tapes of music recorded in high school!). Also unearthed were video game components, posters we had long ago retired from the walls, and an accordion.

We took the Marie Kondo approach to expelling objects from our space ("does it spark joy?"). This standard is surprisingly useful. It relieves you of the burden to keep something just because you spent money on it once, or because a relative gave it to you, or because you "might need it someday."  All that matters is whether it is actually adding value to your life.

A heap of joyless objects began to form in our living room. Worn-out clothes; a cheap broken blender; the gates we used to contain our dog when she was a puppy. All have been collecting dust for years.

If I were more Mustachian I would have had a yard sale for the stuff that is still useable. But the thing is... we've been saying that for years now and yet have never had the time/energy/desire to hold a yard sale. The yard sale would create yet another obligation to these things that we have been storing for so long. And we have SO MUCH clutter in such a small space that it is difficult to even bring it out of storage all at once.  I wanted to be free of the stuff as quickly as possible.

So we donated a carload worth of stuff we didn't want anymore.  Gone!

For the record, we did keep the accordion. It sparked joy.

Road42

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2017, 05:52:20 PM »
Ooh, I like this challenge. I am naturally a minimalist, and I love - LOVE - getting rid of stuff, but somehow our house just accumulates objects... I'm blaming the children. I did a big whole house thing-ectomy last fall and it felt so good to donate/throw away/regift bags and bags of things. I am ready for another round, this time looking at things that fell into the "maybe" category last time and therefore didn't end up leaving the house. Also, I think the kids' clothes are ready for another exciting round of "wow, you already outgrew this thing I bought 2 months ago?"

Bee Roberts

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2017, 05:49:57 AM »
I'm in! Our office paper graveyard is in SEVERE need of a clear out.

My husband and I moved house with a 10 month old and 5 years' worth of boxes of papers. At the moment it feels insurmountable.

And the dastardly banks / fuel companies / charities KEEP sending us stuff to file. (The cheek)

30 days to completion - yeah! Bring it on.

I'll go get the recycling bin and my hole punch :D

GeekyGirl

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2017, 07:02:32 AM »
Great idea Rosy. I'm in. I have many projects and I tend to get discouraged when I think of everything, so I'll just take it one at a time. My start date is June 11th and it is for 30 days. I want to declutter two rooms: the master bedroom and the kitchen.
In the master bedroom, it's my closet (DH has a diferent closet in a walking closet nearby) and the desk. I have a lot of paper on the desk and in the drawers and in some hand bags in the closet, I need to sort them, fill what is needed and shred the rest. In the closet, I have mainly clothes, some shoes and handbags. I need to sort the clothes and sell / donate what is not needed and store away winter / pre-pregnancy clothes. For the shoes, I should probably sell them as they haven't been used for years. Same for handbags, I have more than I need.
First task is to start on the desk on June 11th, I'll report after that.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2017, 04:59:19 AM by GeekyGirl »

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2017, 08:04:56 AM »
I'm in again! The 90 day one last time was fabulous for us. Since then, we've maintained but made very little progress. At least it doesn't feel like much progress. 60 days...starting today June 5 and ending August 4.

Problem areas/goals:
1. Our business has area needs to be cleaned and rearranged to accommodate our expansion more efficiently. 20 foot by 24 foot space.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. The thing I didn't finish from the last challenge. :-)

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total).

5. Get all the paper back under control. This is a constant battle!

6. Outdoors: our lawn is a mess and parts are extremely steep and dangerous to mow. I have a list of sub goals for this:
Longest steep hillside: seed with white clover. If we can get it to take over, it's less than 8 inches and we don't have to mow. I ordered the seed. $21.25 for enough to cover.
Steep spot above mailbox: flower bed consisting of some accents surrounded by red sedum.
Smallest but steepest spot: flower bed of creeping phlox.
Right of door: currently houses our package receiving box for our business. Site needs to be leveled and have pavers put down. I will need to build a platform as there is a 12 inch drop over 6 feet.
Left of door: I removed the dead evergreens left by the previous owners. Convert this to a flower bed with perennials. This is a 30 foot long space.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.
West side of business building: currently an overgrown mess with some red raspberries. Need to fill in the holes. Stake raspberries (neglected right now). Kids want to make a butterfly garden with the rest.

I'm going to limit it to that because it's probably too much. The last one was so motivating that I got a lot done though so I'm hoping for a repeat!

Bird In Hand

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2017, 09:38:32 AM »
Several years ago I started a project to install built-in/under-stairs shelving in our basement pantry area.  The idea was to get rid of the free-standing shelves that take up a lot of room on the floor and end up collecting tons of extra junk we don't need.  They look terrible and they make that part of the basement look terrible.

I got as far as making plans, taking measurements, buying fancy plywood, cutting the wood for the shelf frames, cutting shelves for one of the frames, and cutting out the sheetrock to fit one of the frames.  One of the shelfless-frames has been uselessly wedged in place between two wall studs in the pantry area for 3 years or so.  The rest of the cut (and uncut) wood remains in my garage work area, also cluttering that space.

The work is going to take me many, many hours to complete, so I'm going to give myself until the end of July.  I should have done it this spring while the weather was mild and not too humid.  Wish me luck.

Frankies Girl

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2017, 10:35:24 AM »
I'm in. Currently working on/just finished:

1. Books. Currently in the midst of culling out a huge amount of books from our library. Goal is to be able to lose most of them so I can move the bookshelves out of a bedroom into the dining room and get a nice bed and setup for that room (we also want to set up our vintage gaming systems in that room). Have about 200+ books currently on the chopping block, but keep getting sidetracked with the maybe pile because the husband and I end up wanting to reread that stuff before deciding for sure.

OMG - had a stack of children's books from when I was little - nothing was fancy stuff at the time. Finally got to the point of putting them in the sell/donate pile but for giggles I looked online and several of them are out of print and RARE. A little golden book that was a favorite of mine... selling for $40!! That book was maybe 50¢ purchased new in the 70s! Several others worth in the $20 range. But then I ended up reading them and got weird about getting rid of them again... so dammit. AAAAAHHH that sucks because I have no reason to keep them now that I know they're worth decent money as well. :(

2. Movies/DVD collection. Also culling through this stuff. Have about 100+ items (individual movies/box sets) that husband has pulled for selling off. Still enormous collection, but this is great progress and at least the storage is nice looking now and we've had a mindshift regarding the holding of movies/television shows - unless the item is unavailable elsewhere, there's not a real strong reason to store it in our home now with the advent of easy access through our county library system or streaming/DVD services we already subscribe to.

3. Christmas decorations. Wow. We hit that HARD this past month. Went through all of the inside stuff and got the keep stuff down to one medium sized box, one underbed storage and 2 trees (yeah, it's stupid but we have a retro tinsel tree and a realistic looking fake tree and we love both). Have one large box of outdoor decorations.

4. Kitchen junk. Gotten really good at culling this down. There are full cabinets that are empty in there now. Still have several things that likely could be dumped, but it's at a really good level now, and under control.

5. Paperwork. Got this locked down over the last two years. Everything we have to keep up with fits in one small box. We have a small basket that contains the current year's junk papers to be gone through at tax time, and the we shred about once a month to keep on top of the incoming general items that don't get immediately thrown in the recycle bin. We went paperless a few years ago and have a very nice shredder to take care of the sensitive stuff, so feel great about this area.

6. Clothes. Also locked down. I have culled out 90% of my clothing and the husband's clothing over the last year and we're good - lots of closet and drawer space. Shoes are okay - I have dress shoes I may never wear again, but I have less than 12 pairs total counting running/tennis shoes so it's not like there is a huge need to eliminate more.

STILL TO DO:

1. Craft room. I've neglected this for about a year, and it's gotten out of control again. We just lost our last cat, so other than remove her litter box and shift the cat toys/scratcher into the room, it's got piles of stuff to look at and put away/discard - it has become our dumping ground for things we just don't feel like dealing with. Have so much crap in there I may never use again, so I really need to get on it. Also need to repaint the ceiling due to water damage from over a year ago.

2. Halloween decorations. I am no longer feeling the draw to go all out, but I have SO MUCH STUFF. Two different and distinct themes and lots and lots of animatronics, blow molds, craft/materials... it's taking up far too much space in our closets and garage, and I need to cull it down to a reasonable amount. I have spilled over into the craft room with materials that could be sold if I ever got around to making the things I purchased the items for, but I have lost my mojo over the last year, and I need to have a good hard think over the likelihood of getting that back and whether saving things for a someday use is really all that smart.

3. Household decoration. I have far too many things that are dust collectors. Our house is nicely decorated with things we both love, things that came from relatives we liked, or things that look pretty. However, I would love to be able to clean a room without spending an hour or two dusting and then replacing all those @#$! objects, so their attraction is lessening as time goes by.

4. Repaint front bedroom. Once we get the book situation figured out, that room needs the walls and ceiling painted. Again, water damage from a roof leak a few years back.

5. General garage cleaning. Started to go through our tool collection and reduced it down and donated a bunch of duplicates. Culled out some garbage but still need to go through paint, donate building materials, landscaping stone and bricks left by original owners (!), defrost chest freezer, organize and reduce Halloween storage.

End date goal for all this mess: September 2017
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 02:50:18 PM by Frankies Girl »

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2017, 01:04:18 PM »
Welcome to the challenge everyone!:)

Oh wow - I'm feeling so much better now that I see everyone else has just as much stuff to deal with. RELIEF!

OK - now it is time for me to go tackle the shed at least for two hours, thanks for giving me some much needed motivation!

Good luck with your projects!

polarama

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2017, 01:28:59 PM »
I'd like to join.  My dates: 6/4 - 8/4

1. Toys, toys, toys. 
Essentially, our whole house is a play room -- there are toys in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM, even all the bathrooms!  Both of my kids are sort of moving up a phase, so to speak. A lot of our preschool/little kid toys no longer appeal.  Summer project, including the kids' participation, is to cull, cull, cull.  This is also to help set the stage for some light home re-org/re-decorating/re-painting.

2. Paper
Getting rid of/filing paper.  My elaborate, patented filing system is called "one pile to rule them all."

3. Clothes
I have been slowly purging my closet, time to bite the bullet and do it in a more significant way.

4. Random $hi7
Craft supplies. Stashed presents that never got gifted. Random kitchen junk. We have one standing closet full of this kind of clutter, plus our over-the-fridge cabinet.

oneday

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2017, 02:09:57 PM »
Rosy, thanks for this thread. Ptf now...will be back in a couple weeks to start my challenge. Want to tie up some loose ends before starting.

2. Paper
Getting rid of/filing paper.  My elaborate, patented filing system is called "one pile to rule them all."

polarama, hahahaha! Yes! Me too!

Road42

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2017, 02:45:50 PM »
Ok, step one of de-cluttering achieved: I cleaned out all the stuff in the car, figured out what actually needed to be kept in it, and threw away all the stuff that's accumulated there unnecessarily.

Raenia

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #13 on: June 06, 2017, 03:51:35 PM »
I'm in, I'm moving at the end of the month and do not want to cart all this stuff to the new place.  Clothing I mostly already finished with.  The current step of selling most of my DVD's is already underway.

1) Sell DVD's - In process
2) Give away/donate books - Planned
3) Go through and donate CD's
4) Clean out car

Once those are done, I'll see what else I can tackle.

rebel_quietude

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2017, 07:11:08 AM »
I'm in!

I need to clean my place up and de-clutter in order to finish painting and re-do the floors (procrastination timeline: two years and counting). Staring down the barrel of an inevitable move next year and it seems silly to make life harder for future me by delaying further.

1) Sort out office (papers, etc) and get rid of unnecessary junk; only one drawer of office supplies, I don't work at home and most of this stuff is from college more than a decade ago!
2) go through my garage (eugh).
3) closet. Ooo, boy, closet.

Graduate level:

1) Paint front hallway
2) Paint first floor bathroom
3) paint second floor bathroom (are you sensing a theme?)
4) LVT in front entry (major long weekend DIY, unless I chicken out and hire someone)
5) Upstairs floor. Currently 11 year old brown carpet that's seen a lot of puppy destruction

Start date: 10 June. We'll see how this goes . . .

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2017, 07:45:51 AM »
Ok, step one of de-cluttering achieved: I cleaned out all the stuff in the car, figured out what actually needed to be kept in it, and threw away all the stuff that's accumulated there unnecessarily.

Oh no...the cars! I need to clean out and organize both our cars. Adding to my list...

PoutineLover

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #16 on: June 07, 2017, 09:39:55 AM »
I need to get rid of stuff. I keep out of season clothes under the bed and every year I find stuff I haven't even worn for over a year. Dumping everything out and sorting between keep, donate and toss seems like the best way but I'm scared I'll take it all out and never put it away. I also want to weed out some of my books and toss a bunch of old papers that I probably don't need, but I always get stuck. There's also stuff I don't want that just collects dust but it was a gift or a reminder of an event or trip so I don't get rid of it. How do you get over that hang up?

Bart1ma3u5

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #17 on: June 07, 2017, 10:32:29 AM »
I am in for this! I will have alot of work in front of me in the next year as my fiance and I hope to move into a van. It is about time we started trying to cut out as much as we can so it's not all sitting around the house still a month before we want to move out.

Goals for the next 30 days (deadline July 7):
1. Clean out car.
2. Sort through books and figure out what is worth selling vs donating and get rid of as much as possible.
3. Sort through movies same as above.
4. Make a list of what furniture we don't need and can sell/donate now/what we should try to sell/get rid of closer to leaving.
5. Sort clothes to donate and setup a donate box in the closet so we can add to it as we find things we no longer need/wear.

Goals for the next 60 days(deadline August 6):
1. Organize papers (what to keep what to recycle/shred)
2. Sell/donate/trash unused items taking up space throughout the house and garage.
3. Get rid of furniture items noted in step 4 above.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2017, 06:49:05 PM »
Problem areas/goals:
1. Our business has area needs to be cleaned and rearranged to accommodate our expansion more efficiently. 20 foot by 24 foot space.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. The thing I didn't finish from the last challenge. :-)

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total).

5. Get all the paper back under control. This is a constant battle!

6. Outdoors: our lawn is a mess and parts are extremely steep and dangerous to mow. I have a list of sub goals for this:
Longest steep hillside: seed with white clover. If we can get it to take over, it's less than 8 inches and we don't have to mow. I ordered the seed. $21.25 for enough to cover. Done until late August (need to delay to time planting correctly.
Steep spot above mailbox: flower bed consisting of some accents surrounded by red sedum.
Smallest but steepest spot: flower bed of creeping phlox.
Right of door: currently houses our package receiving box for our business. Site needs to be leveled and have pavers put down. I will need to build a platform as there is a 12 inch drop over 6 feet. Paver base and cement block retaining wall have been dug and leveled. Once I pick up the gravel and pavers tomorrow, we should be able to finish this.
Left of door: I removed the dead evergreens left by the previous owners. Convert this to a flower bed with perennials. This is a 30 foot long space. Planned and digging has started. I got a buy 4 at half off, get 3 free deal on roses. They are soaking before planting tomorrow.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.Two (of four) weeded.
West side of business building: currently an overgrown mess with some red raspberries. Need to fill in the holes. Stake raspberries (neglected right now). Weeds cleaned out around the raspberries. Just need to stake them to be done with this area.

We're on a yard work binge! :-). These time-limited declutter challenges seem to kick me into high gear!

I'm adding four items to my challenge list:
Butterfly garden (kids choice) on east side of outbuilding.
Clean out cars.
Polish car headlights. One done and it made an amazing difference in night driving.
Replace/repair dog fence. While weed eating, I discovered that the current wooden fence is broken in several spots. It has to be fixed soon.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #19 on: June 11, 2017, 06:22:21 PM »
1. Our business has area needs to be cleaned and rearranged to accommodate our expansion more efficiently. 20 foot by 24 foot space.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. The thing I didn't finish from the last challenge. :-)

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total).

5. Get all the paper back under control. This is a constant battle!

6. Outdoors: our lawn is a mess and parts are extremely steep and dangerous to mow. I have a list of sub goals for this:
Longest steep hillside: seed with white clover. If we can get it to take over, it's less than 8 inches and we don't have to mow. I ordered the seed. $21.25 for enough to cover. Done until late August (need to delay to time planting correctly).
Steep spot above mailbox: flower bed consisting of some accents surrounded by red sedum.
Smallest but steepest spot: flower bed of creeping phlox.
Right of door: currently houses our package receiving box for our business. Site needs to be leveled and have pavers put down. I will need to build a platform as there is a 12 inch drop over 6 feet. Done.
Left of door: I removed the dead evergreens left by the previous owners. Convert this to a flower bed with perennials. This is a 30 foot long space. Done.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.Weeded.
West side of business building: currently an overgrown mess with some red raspberries. Need to fill in the holes. Stake raspberries (neglected right now). Weeds cleaned out around the raspberries. Just need to stake them to be done with this area.

Butterfly garden (kids choice) on east side of outbuilding.
Clean out cars.
Polish car headlights. One done and it made an amazing difference in night driving.Done.
Replace/repair dog fence. While weed eating, I discovered that the current wooden fence is broken in several spots. It has to be fixed soon.Done.

We have been so busy this weekend. I am exhausted. But we got a long way on our yard work. We'll start on the business space this week and get back to the yard next weekend.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 07:26:32 AM by Mongoose »

Dee18

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #20 on: June 11, 2017, 08:07:15 PM »
I'm in!  Moving July 6 from the 3 bedroom house we've been in for 9 years to a smaller place.  I am even getting rid of furniture that doesn't spark joy for me.  I'm giving two antique dressers to my young next door neighbors.  It's fun to see those pieces spark joy in someone else.  hardest parts for me:  papers-lots of papers, child art, and photos. 

Raenia

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #21 on: June 12, 2017, 02:41:37 PM »
I'm in, I'm moving at the end of the month and do not want to cart all this stuff to the new place.  Clothing I mostly already finished with.  The current step of selling most of my DVD's is already underway.

1) Sell DVD's - In process
2) Give away/donate books - Planned
3) Go through and donate CD's
4) Clean out car

Once those are done, I'll see what else I can tackle.

Update:
1) Done!
2) In Progress, just need to make a final trip to the thrift to donate the remainder.
3) Done!
4) Up next, hopefully when it's not quite so hot out

I think my next project might be trying to eat down the kitchen so I don't have to pack as much.  That and starting to pack the books and DVD's I kept.

Frankies Girl

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #22 on: June 12, 2017, 02:59:44 PM »
I'm in. Currently working on/just finished:

1. Books. Currently in the midst of culling out a huge amount of books from our library. Goal is to be able to lose most of them so I can move the bookshelves out of a bedroom into the dining room and get a nice bed and setup for that room (we also want to set up our vintage gaming systems in that room). Have about 200+ books currently on the chopping block, but keep getting sidetracked with the maybe pile because the husband and I end up wanting to reread that stuff before deciding for sure.

Sold about half for $48. Rest will be donated this Wednesday to our local library's sale.



2. Movies/DVD collection. Also culling through this stuff. Have about 100+ items (individual movies/box sets) that husband has pulled for selling off. Still enormous collection, but this is great progress and at least the storage is nice looking now and we've had a mindshift regarding the holding of movies/television shows - unless the item is unavailable elsewhere, there's not a real strong reason to store it in our home now with the advent of easy access through our county library system or streaming/DVD services we already subscribe to.

Sold 90% of cull stack to local movie exchange: $94. What is left will be donated.



3. Christmas decorations. Wow. We hit that HARD this past month. Went through all of the inside stuff and got the keep stuff down to one medium sized box, one underbed storage and 2 trees (yeah, it's stupid but we have a retro tinsel tree and a realistic looking fake tree and we love both). Have one large box of outdoor decorations.

Goodwill refused to take. They told us that x-mas decor isn't wanted until November (WTF?). Emailed another charity group asking if they're interested as they have no restrictions on this category on their website. Otherwise, it may be posted for free on Nextdoor.



4. Kitchen junk. Gotten really good at culling this down. There are full cabinets that are empty in there now. Still have several things that likely could be dumped, but it's at a really good level now, and under control.

This is completed as far as we can tell.



6. Clothes. Also locked down. I have culled out 90% of my clothing and the husband's clothing over the last year and we're good - lots of closet and drawer space. Shoes are okay - I have dress shoes I may never wear again, but I have less than 12 pairs total counting running/tennis shoes so it's not like there is a huge need to eliminate more.

Have one large garbage back full of jeans, and a tub of purses I never use and vintage hats. Still need to take another hard pass through our shoes and general clothing as we wear maybe 10% of the clothes in the drawers and closets.



STILL TO DO:

1. Craft room. I've neglected this for about a year, and it's gotten out of control again. We just lost our last cat, so other than remove her litter box and shift the cat toys/scratcher into the room, it's got piles of stuff to look at and put away/discard - it has become our dumping ground for things we just don't feel like dealing with. Have so much crap in there I may never use again, so I really need to get on it. Also need to repaint the ceiling due to water damage from over a year ago.

2. Halloween decorations. I am no longer feeling the draw to go all out, but I have SO MUCH STUFF. Two different and distinct themes and lots and lots of animatronics, blow molds, craft/materials... it's taking up far too much space in our closets and garage, and I need to cull it down to a reasonable amount. I have spilled over into the craft room with materials that could be sold if I ever got around to making the things I purchased the items for, but I have lost my mojo over the last year, and I need to have a good hard think over the likelihood of getting that back and whether saving things for a someday use is really all that smart.

3. Household decoration. I have far too many things that are dust collectors. Our house is nicely decorated with things we both love, things that came from relatives we liked, or things that look pretty. However, I would love to be able to clean a room without spending an hour or two dusting and then replacing all those @#$! objects, so their attraction is lessening as time goes by.

4. Repaint front bedroom. Once we get the book situation figured out, that room needs the walls and ceiling painted. Again, water damage from a roof leak a few years back.

5. General garage cleaning. Started to go through our tool collection and reduced it down and donated a bunch of duplicates. Culled out some garbage but still need to go through paint, donate building materials, landscaping stone and bricks left by original owners (!), defrost chest freezer, organize and reduce Halloween storage.

No steps on this part yet. Sigh. BUT we've got only a few things left in our outdoor freezer so it will be defrosted this week and I will put the building materials up on NextDoor.

End date goal for all this mess: September 2017

Travis

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #23 on: June 12, 2017, 07:08:11 PM »
Made our final Goodwill run this evening. My son decided to finally part with his thicker toddler/pre-school books, wife tossed in a few more clothes, and we got rid of a few board games, puzzles, and a plastic drawers.  Now we're cleaning out drawers and filling garbage bags. Movers will be here on Wednesday.  For my next trick I get to spend about a half hour just shredding papers.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #24 on: June 13, 2017, 01:16:20 PM »
Good going everyone!

@polarama -
Quote
2. Paper
Getting rid of/filing paper.  My elaborate, patented filing system is called "one pile to rule them all."

Make that one pile and 3-5 boxes 'to rule them all' - I'm on it!:)


Progress report:
Organized and cleaned up in the study. Moved out the guest bed. Yay - more room and finally, two nice chairs and a table, so we can watch movies (dvds) together. Mr. R. loves history and war movies - Gettysburg is first up.
I picked up About Time - may not be his cup of tea, we'll see.

Now, I need to find a 5x7 rug and about three days of sorting/filing time and I'm done with one of my projects!

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #25 on: June 13, 2017, 04:02:56 PM »
I need to get rid of stuff. I keep out of season clothes under the bed and every year I find stuff I haven't even worn for over a year. Dumping everything out and sorting between keep, donate and toss seems like the best way but I'm scared I'll take it all out and never put it away. I also want to weed out some of my books and toss a bunch of old papers that I probably don't need, but I always get stuck. There's also stuff I don't want that just collects dust but it was a gift or a reminder of an event or trip so I don't get rid of it. How do you get over that hang up?

1. Dumping everything out and sorting between keep, donate and toss seems like the best way but I'm scared I'll take it all out and never put it away.

How much clothing can you possibly keep under your bed?:)

Relax, we've all been there and yes, it is easy to blow it out of proportion in your mind - stop procrastinating! That little ole pile of clothing is nothing you can't handle in an afternoon or evening.
You can do this!

The answer is JDI - just do it, darling - it is easy.

Before you start:
Here is what you do - set a timer for fifteen minutes - you can deal with fifteen minutes right?
Set up two trash bags or two cardboard boxes.
Turn on your favorite music...

Pull out only one bag or drawer at a time.
 
Focus on
 "why haven't I worn this shirt in two years?", be honest!, why lie to yourself or hem and haw about how you really feel. This clothing is taking up precious space in your home - does it really deserve to be here any longer?

Try each item on and really look at yourself in the mirror. Is it a keeper?, does it still look good on you, is it a winner or a loser, is it torn or stained? - get rid of it - now!
Does it still fit you? Too tight? - donate. "Gee what was I thinking?" - donate quickly:).

Think about how much better you will feel, once you tackled that monster under your bed.

Sort until your timer goes off - how did you do?
Ready to put it all back or ready to set your timer for one more round? or call it quits for today?
It is all up to you - there is no law that says you have to do it all in one sitting. Pace yourself if that works better for you.

The all or nothing people, like me:) and maybe you too - we are the ones who get stuck, because we want to do it perfect and all at once of course. Then our time is up and life keeps us from ever getting back to it - so back in the corner it goes.
Sometimes I do have a hard time, I become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clothing. I simply can't decide, whether something is worth keeping.
 
I read in a de-cluttering book that we should have a maybe bag for any items we can't decide on and put it somewhere for a month. Bad advice for people like me, heck I'll find that bag six months from now and then I'm stumped again about whether I should keep it or not or I am brave and let it go - only to wonder forever what was in that bag?

Music helps me and sometimes a good friend can help you make decisions when you are stuck. It can become fun and be almost an enjoyable project when you have the right person by your side. Alas, that is a luxury we seldom have. So do the best you can and move on.

More often than not, we surprise ourselves by getting more done than we ever thought we could - the trick is to tackle it in a positive way. Think about the end result, promise yourself a treat, envision how wonderful it will be to have easy access to your freshly organized wardrobe.

You are in control of this process and you can do it. Since when do used clothes under your bed get to make you feel bad or apprehensive? Sort out those devils, pronto.
Rejoice in all the pretty things you own and be ruthless about that top or pant or dress that cost a fortune, but never looked right on you... maybe it will be the right fit on someone else. Let it go to them!

I also want to weed out some of my books and toss a bunch of old papers that I probably don't need, but I always get stuck.

How do you sort books? Easy - one shelf at a time! Sort - wipe shelf, keep - donate or trash.
Got time for one more shelf? Do it.
See - you are not stuck, you did one shelf and now you are taking a break:) - or go pfffft, now that I started, I want to finish this. Totally doable:)

If I have enough time and oomph - I start from scratch, take out all the books - reorganize them all. Donate and toss. Then clean bookshelf and repopulate with books.
Yes, I know, it is easy to get stuck reading and reviewing, instead of keeping to your task. It's OK - allow yourself to pull out five books max for later, then get back to work.
Next step, look at the knick-knacks and decide which ones, if any, to keep, donate the rest. Dust, rinse off, re-decorate your now perfectly clean and organized bookshelf. Yay!

Best tip ever - once you cleared your bookshelf - institute a one book in and one book out rule.
It's not easy for a book lover like me, but I've managed to whittle down my bookshelves from six to three.
It only took me three years to get there.


That paper clutter?
 Don't ask me - I've never discovered the secret of keeping my paper clutter organized. That paper tiger still has me by the tail:)
All I can tell you is that I've reduced it by more than 70%.
Wonder of wonders, two years ago I finally managed to find and stick with a filing system that works for me for all those important papers.

Nobody is perfect.
Eventually, we all find systems that work of us - like keeping a box handy for (ongoing) donations we realize that purging and reorganizing will forever be a part of our lives.
Minimalism starts to look like a good idea - for about a minute:).

There's also stuff I don't want that just collects dust but it was a gift or a reminder of an event or trip so I don't get rid of it.

Gifts - if I like it, I will display and enjoy it - otherwise I have become ruthless, I re-gift to someone else or donate.
Why does it have to clutter up my house and take up storage room when it is a perfectly good item someone else would really enjoy? It makes me happy to see it gone - and will give joy:) to someone else, that's a win-win in my book.

Things I don't want anymore or do not need anymore? They get purged, I never hesitate on those anymore.
One time I held on to some pricey items, because I wanted to sell them.
Never happened - so one day, five years later, I finally donated it all.
Excellent decision - so freeing - don't know why that took me so long.

Reminders from a trip - I like rotating some of my decor and I like having a few mementos of good times to cheer me up. The trick is - leave enough room for something new and exciting to come your way. Limit the space you are willing to allocate or it will overtake your home. 
If you travel a lot, you could have one travel drawer and display two items at a time. Some souvenirs are just silly junk, enjoy them for a while, then let them go. Find a way to limit your mementos and travel stuff that makes sense to you, but don't let it take over your house.

My motto is:
Have nothing in your house that you do not love or use.
Trouble is, it is very hard to live up to that ideal, but I do try - with mixed success.






PoutineLover

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #26 on: June 13, 2017, 04:30:52 PM »
Wow, thanks for such a thoughtful response Rosy! You're right, I need to just get started and I like the idea of breaking it up into little chunks. I think my worst tendency is to keep stuff in case I need it someday which ends up being reinforced by a few times when I've gotten rid of stuff only to wish I hadn't, but that's rare compared to the stuff I've gotten rid of and never gave a second thought. The stuff under my bed is in bags, so I can do one at a time. I'm in a trading group, so I can post pics of everything, but whatever people don't want gets tossed. My goals for this summer are to declutter so I have more space and less mess, and to find a new job. Both important, and I think doing the declutter will actually put me in a better mindset which might help in my job search. I love the sense of accomplishment when I get something organized but I hate the thought of doing it. Needs to be done though, and no one else will do it for me, so I'll just have to suck it up.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #27 on: June 13, 2017, 05:41:18 PM »
You're welcome poutine - my wandering mind kind of ran away with me there:)

You nailed it: I love the sense of accomplishment when I get something organized but I hate the thought of doing it. That about sums it up for most of us.
So go tackle that monster under the bed now:)

Cassie

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #28 on: June 14, 2017, 04:54:36 PM »
We travel quite a bit and I buy a refrigerator magnet from each place which takes up very little room. I have been decluttering for about 10 years. I am finding as I get older i want less and less stuff (age 62). I recently donated hummels and antique glassware to a dog rescue that will sell it for the rescue. I have donated doll collections, jewelry etc to silent auctions for people to help pay their medical bills.  If someone has passed I keep one item to remember them by.  I have sold extra furniture and given much away. Now if I want to buy something I ask will I be getting rid of it in a few years. It keeps me from buying most stuff. When I had kids at home i passed their clothes and toys to others that needed it. The last few years I think I have nothing left to donate and then still find stuff.

polarama

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #29 on: June 15, 2017, 02:37:52 PM »
You're welcome poutine - my wandering mind kind of ran away with me there:)

You nailed it: I love the sense of accomplishment when I get something organized but I hate the thought of doing it. That about sums it up for most of us.
So go tackle that monster under the bed now:)

Third, this.  I hate the Before, love the After, and am probably most pained in the time just before During.

My goals were:

1) Toys - eh, not much progress there.

2) Paperwork/Filing - success!  Sorted through my pile and discarded about 1/3 (old electricity bills? junk flyers/coupons, etc.) Now to file the rest and also *prevent* the pile from growing by getting the last couple things we still get paper bills for moved to paperless billing and getting off catalog lists.

3) Random places, part 1: THE GIFT CLOSET - I call it that b/c that's where I shove things that are designated "I will give this to someone someday" and we do indeed use it, but it's not terribly useful when it looks like a black hole of just stuff. I managed to put together a little gift for a friend who visited with her 6yo last week using art supplies and gift sets in the closet, but I need to just go in and purge.

Travis

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #30 on: June 15, 2017, 04:25:59 PM »
Made our final Goodwill run this evening. My son decided to finally part with his thicker toddler/pre-school books, wife tossed in a few more clothes, and we got rid of a few board games, puzzles, and a plastic drawers.  Now we're cleaning out drawers and filling garbage bags. Movers will be here on Wednesday.  For my next trick I get to spend about a half hour just shredding papers.

The movers are gone (best moving team I've had in 6 moves) and we hit the road tomorrow.  We'll be away from our stuff for about 30 days, but we're only packing for about 10 since we'll have access to washing.  In hindsight, we could have taken a closer look at liquids the movers couldn't take and given them away. We poured a lot of stuff down the drain last night and have a small box of cleaning supplies to take with us.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #31 on: June 16, 2017, 08:58:23 PM »
Now this is weird - I seem to be doing everything, but tackle what I need to deal with, namely shed and study paperwork.

So today I sorted my big ole drawer in the night table. It was worse than I thought, that sucker is deep. I found 25 Euros - so there is that.
Put six things in the ongoing donation box-yay.
Went through all my purses today - cleaning and re-organizing.

The reason I did all this is because I was desperate to find my safe deposit key. I finally found it exactly where it should be in the bank folder.

Since I plan to close that safe deposit box on Monday, I was already cringing at the thought that I would have to pay the bank to replace a key.
It was in the file folder for the bank, but I couldn't find it the first time I looked - hence the drawer and purse action.
All is well that ends well.

Maybe I can talk Mr. R. into helping this weekend, to at least get a new start in the shed.

marble_faun

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #32 on: June 17, 2017, 08:49:47 AM »
Attacked the massive heap of clothes on the floor of our bedroom yesterday!

I had already donated about six bags of clothes, but there was still this giant pile left, including the worst of the worst... socks with holes in them, worn-out tank tops, etc. It covered almost the entire floor.

I finally went through every single thing and trashed a lot of it. Finally getting to a point where all my clothes might actually fit in my closet and dresser!

It helps that I have developed certain rules for clothes and am gradually phasing out synthetic fabrics and trendy prints. If a garment doesn't fit into the new rule-set, it is on notice. 

I am also phasing out most light-colored and brown-shaded clothes. This means I don't need light-colored undergarments or any brown socks/belt/bags/shoes. Cutting those categories in half.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #33 on: June 17, 2017, 06:10:02 PM »
@marble_faun - welcome to the club:) I like your reasoning about the clothes, I used to wear a lot of green, then a lot of black and white - everything goes with black and white:), now I am in a turquoise/electric blue phase and my newest trend is a preference for purple. Go figure.
Yes, the idea is to have them all fit in your closet - maybe even have - gasp - room for a few more.

In July, I am planning on another round of closet and shelves for me and one big round with Mr. R. - just sorting his five big drawers of T-shirts. We've done that often enough by now that he no longer resists it, but wants to make his own decisions on what to keep.
He recently even went so far as pulling out a T-shirt for my son who happened to be visiting, because he never wears it (it was a gift) and then a second one, because he realized he didn't like the color of it. The kid was happy and I was happy to see he is on board with de-cluttering periodically.
Amazing:)

Progress report: We spent the afternoon de-cluttering another area of the shed - yay. Progress!
I'm getting antsy about seeing that huge table in the center cleared off - it is a scary proposition.

@Mongoose - every time you post, you add more projects. However do you manage?

Good luck with your projects everyone!

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #34 on: June 19, 2017, 09:37:09 AM »
1. Our business has area needs to be cleaned and rearranged to accommodate our expansion more efficiently. 20 foot by 24 foot space.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. The thing I didn't finish from the last challenge. :-)

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total).

5. Get all the paper back under control. This is a constant battle!

6. Outdoors: our lawn is a mess and parts are extremely steep and dangerous to mow. I have a list of sub goals for this:
Longest steep hillside: seed with white clover. If we can get it to take over, it's less than 8 inches and we don't have to mow. I ordered the seed. $21.25 for enough to cover. Done until late August (need to delay to time planting correctly).
Steep spot above mailbox: flower bed consisting of some accents surrounded by red sedum. Done.
Smallest but steepest spot: flower bed of sedum. Done.
Right of door: currently houses our package receiving box for our business. Site needs to be leveled and have pavers put down. I will need to build a platform as there is a 12 inch drop over 6 feet. Done.
Left of door: I removed the dead evergreens left by the previous owners. Convert this to a flower bed with perennials. This is a 30 foot long space. Done.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.Weeded.
West side of business building: currently an overgrown mess with some red raspberries. Need to fill in the holes. Stake raspberries (neglected right now). Weeds cleaned out around the raspberries. Just need to stake them to be done with this area.

Butterfly garden (kids choice) on east side of outbuilding. Done.
Clean out cars.
Polish car headlights. One done and it made an amazing difference in night driving.Done.
Replace/repair dog fence. While weed eating, I discovered that the current wooden fence is broken in several spots. It has to be fixed soon.Done.

Another brutal weekend of yard work. It is almost done except for staking the raspberries and putting down weed block/mulch...well, and finishing the blueberries. We got some of the ceiling done as well when it was too hot to work outside.

@Mongoose - every time you post, you add more projects. However do you manage?

I think I may be insane. Overly ambitious? My grandma always said you could find work to do if you just looked around. I need to shut my eyes I think. ;-). I have other things that should be included but won't add them unless I have time left at the end. :-)

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #35 on: June 20, 2017, 12:57:48 PM »
Done.[/color]
Another brutal weekend of yard work. It is almost done except for staking the raspberries and putting down weed block/mulch...well, and finishing the blueberries. We got some of the ceiling done as well when it was too hot to work outside.
@Mongoose - every time you post, you add more projects. However do you manage?

I think I may be insane. Overly ambitious? My grandma always said you could find work to do if you just looked around. I need to shut my eyes I think. ;-). I have other things that should be included but won't add them unless I have time left at the end. :-)

Time left? you're kidding, right? - I do declare a break from brutal yard work is in order - very soon!:)

Update: Managed another go at the shed with Mr. R. So now the remaining work will be all mine. Jewelry making supplies and assorted storage of G only knows what.
 I.do.not.want.to. ..... deal with any of it.
Well, maybe tomorrow ...

FamilyGuy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #36 on: June 20, 2017, 02:23:40 PM »
We are moving so we started decluttering and was able to complete to a satisfiable level. Work is on progress.

Challenges:

1. Wife's Closet - That's a crazy amount of dresses she had - tens and multiples. Now, all we have a is a bundle of her current favorites and one box of offseasons.

2. Wall Decors - We had several family photos and paintings that have been in the wall for years. Sentimental clutter. Now it is only 3 favorite photos and 1 painting.

3. My next challenge is the kitchen - separating it out like the stuff used daily vs stuff used not daily. That way I get an idea what goes over the cabinet and under cabinet and what goes to trash.

I'm tending towards minimalism!!!!

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #37 on: June 21, 2017, 01:53:27 PM »
Time left? you're kidding, right? - I do declare a break from brutal yard work is in order - very soon!:)

Um...sure...kidding ;-) This weekend we may have a tech of non-brutal yard work left. The worst is done though.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update. Main sections of ceilings are done. Just need to do all the cut sections near the walls.

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total).

One of the kids room cleaned and organized today. We found one 15 gallon garbage bag of junk. 7 more rooms to go.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #38 on: June 25, 2017, 08:39:57 PM »
1. Our business has area needs to be cleaned and rearranged to accommodate our expansion more efficiently. 20 foot by 24 foot space.

2. Finish house repairs. Our ceiling is just over half finished; the rest is bare drywall still. We DIY replaced it after a portion fell. The stuff to finish this is glomming up our basement. Stretch goal: finish electrical outlet update.Final preparations for finishing the ceiling done..

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. The thing I didn't finish from the last challenge. :-)One of two done.

4. A single pass of decluttering/organizing/cleaning through each room (8 total). Two done.

5. Get all the paper back under control. This is a constant battle!

6. Outdoors: our lawn is a mess and parts are extremely steep and dangerous to mow. I have a list of sub goals for this:
Longest steep hillside: seed with white clover. If we can get it to take over, it's less than 8 inches and we don't have to mow. I ordered the seed. $21.25 for enough to cover. Done until late August (need to delay to time planting correctly).
Steep spot above mailbox: flower bed consisting of some accents surrounded by red sedum. Done.
Smallest but steepest spot: flower bed of sedum. Done.
Right of door: currently houses our package receiving box for our business. Site needs to be leveled and have pavers put down. I will need to build a platform as there is a 12 inch drop over 6 feet. Done.
Left of door: I removed the dead evergreens left by the previous owners. Convert this to a flower bed with perennials. This is a 30 foot long space. Done.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.Weeded.
West side of business building: currently an overgrown mess with some red raspberries. Need to fill in the holes. Stake raspberries (neglected right now). Weeds cleaned out around the raspberries. Just need to stake them to be done with this area.

Butterfly garden (kids choice) on east side of outbuilding. Done.
Clean out cars.
Polish car headlights. One done and it made an amazing difference in night driving.Done.
Replace/repair dog fence. While weed eating, I discovered that the current wooden fence is broken in several spots. It has to be fixed soon.Done.

This weekend wasn't as productive as I'd have liked because we had to track down an electrical short in my car.

And (Rosy, avert your gaze) we decided to clean and declutter the basement (shortly after the washing machine broke). We found a bunch of stuff to donate or toss. Only about one quarter done with it...but we are adding the basement to our list to go through.

Raenia

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #39 on: June 26, 2017, 10:19:33 AM »
I'm in, I'm moving at the end of the month and do not want to cart all this stuff to the new place.  Clothing I mostly already finished with.  The current step of selling most of my DVD's is already underway.

1) Sell DVD's - DONE
2) Give away/donate books - DONE
3) Go through and donate CD's - DONE
4) Clean out car - DONE

I think my next project might be trying to eat down the kitchen so I don't have to pack as much.  That and starting to pack the books and DVD's I kept.

5) Filing Cabinet - discard/digitize to minimize physical records
6) Books - do a second pass of discards due to insufficient space at the new place.

Didn't manage to get it all done before the move, but still an improvement over before.

alleykat

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #40 on: June 26, 2017, 12:35:17 PM »
Did another round of decluttering clothes.  Garbage full gone. Now I can fit all my clothes in the closet and one dresser. Donated a pair of brown boots, just can't do the height anymore.  Probably my black pair need to go but will do things slowly. What a great feeling though.

 Threw out frying pan, old, but replaced so that doesn't count except for getting organized and crossing things off my list.  Threw out front door mat.  Ragged looking so need to replace but for now liking the tossing. 


Bart1ma3u5

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2017, 06:19:12 AM »
Update with just over a week left in my 30 days. I have done most of the 30 day items on my list with the exception of cleaning out my car and making a list of furniture to get rid of.

I am in for this! I will have alot of work in front of me in the next year as my fiance and I hope to move into a van. It is about time we started trying to cut out as much as we can so it's not all sitting around the house still a month before we want to move out.

Goals for the next 30 days (deadline July 7):
1. Clean out car. Needs to be done badly, but I have been putting it off.
2. Sort through books and figure out what is worth selling vs donating and get rid of as much as possible. Done. Some are listed for sale, and there is a massive box to be donated.
3. Sort through movies same as above. Done and sold.
4. Make a list of what furniture we don't need and can sell/donate now/what we should try to sell/get rid of closer to leaving.
5. Sort clothes to donate and setup a donate box in the closet so we can add to it as we find things we no longer need/wear. Clothes have been sorted through, and about 20 hangers emptied. No donate box as of yet.
6. Sell Wii and Games. Added and Done.

Goals for the next 60 days(deadline August 6):
1. Organize papers (what to keep what to recycle/shred)
2. Sell/donate/trash unused items taking up space throughout the house and garage. Started on this, 2 boxes full of random items removed from storage and disposed of.
3. Get rid of furniture items noted in step 4 above.

lexde

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #42 on: June 29, 2017, 07:34:32 AM »
My goal will be for July 17-August 17 since I'm leaving on vacation soon!

1. Closets. The goal will be to photograph and list all of my clothes that have not been worn in the last 6 months on eBay. Hopefully I make a little money off of this too, but if things don't sell I'll be sending them off for donation. Either way, out of my life!

2. Home Office & Den. One of our spare rooms is my makeshift office. It has my dresser in it, too, as well as an adjustable dumbbell set and bench. Our den is a mess of workout equipment and bicycles and is too small a space to be useable with all the junk in there. So the goal will be to move all of the workout stuff to the den, open up more space in my "office", and reorganize the den so we can actually use it as a home gym.

3. Kitchen. We have too many gadgets and while we do have space for them it'd be nice to get rid of the one-trick ponies. I don't need a rice cooker and two crock pots.

4. Living room. We have two couches right now. One is really nice, the other one isn't. I've been trying to sell the nice one for months and am getting low balled and everyone wants delivery. The couch was originally $700 and I'm getting offers for $70 only if I haul it. What? Does anyone have advice for unloading furniture?


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Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #43 on: June 29, 2017, 05:32:13 PM »
Welcome to the challenge lexde!

Maybe the universe is telling you to keep the good couch:)

@Mongoose - I saw that:) Well, garages and basements are the type of clean up that's somehow intensely gratifying.
I'm just really struggling with my challenge, both the shed and the paperwork in the study, which obviously will not happen in my designated 30 days.
So I am starting over with just the Study - Paper Tiger, before I move on to next more routine house de-cluttering.
I'm beginning to smell victory - maybe that is the push I needed.


Well - confession time - nothing happened this week, we'll see if I can get that huge worktable de-cluttered tomorrow.
Should have just enough time to at least finish with the shed.

NEXT PROJECT
Paper Tiger is still on the prowl in the study. >>> Paperwork in the study - July 6 through Aug 6, 2017
Six or so big boxes to sort and file.
Need to measure for a new rug.
Re-arrange - declutter the paper-storage cabinet.
Wash window etc.

Once the paper is dealt with, it is time to declutter the house.

Just a routine de-clutter project.
Here is this years list:
Linen closet - sort-donate
Bedroom drawers - sort-donate-trash
Bedroom cabinets - sort-donate-trash
Bedroom closet - sort-donate-trash (can't believe I'm having to re-do this already, should have thrown out more the last time)
GOAL: I want all my clothes to fit, right now I have several items hanging behind the door. No no and NO, I hate that!

Living room dining hutch - clear out and de-clutter, clean and rearrange. Easy-peasy.
Kitchen - knife drawer and wrap drawer - Quick - can do whenever
Kitchen - cabinets - declutter - sort - donate things I don't use or don't really like anymore. Start with the glass ware...

Bathroom: Under the sink cabinet - way overdue! - sort-donate -thrash
Might do that one first, I'm anxious to get it all cleared out.


lexde

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #44 on: June 29, 2017, 06:14:56 PM »
Thanks Rosy! As much as I'd love to keep the couch, it's gotta go! :-) It's definitely higher quality but we want the sectional since it's brown (the other one is light-colored) and has the sectional piece. It's dog-proof and SO can put his feet up. So it's gotta stay (for now at least!)

I went through my bedroom closet and grabbed ALL of the clothes I haven't worn/don't fit and threw them ALL in a box. I'll be photographing, listing, and bagging as soon as I get back. But the amount of room I already freed up in my closet is amazing!

oneday

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #45 on: June 29, 2017, 11:55:10 PM »
OK, I will join.  Dates will be July 8 - Aug 56.  Mr. O is out of town for a good chunk of that, so will not be a distraction.  Goal is to clear out at least 1 box of paper...even if some of the papers get re-classified & shuffled around a bit, would like to reduce/compress the volume get that one box out of the walkway.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2017, 07:20:44 AM by oneday »

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #46 on: June 30, 2017, 07:02:56 AM »
Lately I have been a bit apathetic. So I need a challenge. I will be going on vacation in two weeks, so I will have to set my starting date at today, June 30th and end date at July 13th.

My first goals, which have been on my to-do list for quite some time, but have been ignored there:
- Post some of my wedding photo's on the Norwegian variant of Graig's list to sell my wedding dress. It was not a real wedding dress, but an evening gown. Only worn once.
- Take a picture of a bodice that my DH bought for me, but that I don't want to wear. Has been unused in my drawer for 10 years.
- Throw away an electric device in my bedroom that isn't in use. Problem is that I cannot deliver old electronics anywhere near where I live. I WILL find a solution in the next 2 weeks.
- Lower the price on a time trial cycle helmet that I already have out for sale. No reactions so far.

One the other hand, in a time where everyone is on holiday, maybe nobody reads the advertisement. But the least I can do is prepare them, without publishing them. Then I can start them when back from vacation in August.

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #47 on: July 02, 2017, 12:57:14 AM »
Lately I have been a bit apathetic. So I need a challenge. I will be going on vacation in two weeks, so I will have to set my starting date at today, June 30th and end date at July 13th.

My first goals, which have been on my to-do list for quite some time, but have been ignored there:
- Post some of my wedding photo's on the Norwegian variant of Graig's list to sell my wedding dress. It was not a real wedding dress, but an evening gown. Only worn once.
- Take a picture of a bodice that my DH bought for me, but that I don't want to wear. Has been unused in my drawer for 10 years.
- Throw away an electric device in my bedroom that isn't in use. Problem is that I cannot deliver old electronics anywhere near where I live. I WILL find a solution in the next 2 weeks.
- Lower the price on a time trial cycle helmet that I already have out for sale. No reactions so far.

One the other hand, in a time where everyone is on holiday, maybe nobody reads the advertisement. But the least I can do is prepare them, without publishing them. Then I can start them when back from vacation i August.

So far, my plan went all wrong. Yesterday I had to drive to a shopping center to bring something back that didn't fit. I could have used the occasion to deliver old electronicngood there. I just plain forgot.

For the rest, I have been painting the house. Also a good thing to do, which is a bit in the same direction of decluttering, just making the house more representable (and protecting against rotting). But nothing has been done about my goals as mentioned above. I will use the weekdays in the next two weeks, as I made a very tiny list, which I must be able to finish. For the moment I am just lacking willpower and I want to relax in the evening. I will improve, though!

lexde

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #48 on: July 02, 2017, 06:50:08 AM »
Today I biked to the drugstore to pick up a command hook for holding up clothes against my wall for listing on eBay. Small step in the right direction! I'll try to take some photographs today.


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Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #49 on: July 02, 2017, 10:01:03 AM »
I just did two of the things on my list. I lowered the price of my bicycle helmet in the adverticement and notified the local triathlon club about it.
And I photografed a body and underwear (never worn) and made a new adverticement.
Wedding dress is to be done.
I found out that you cannot create an adverticement without publishing it.