Author Topic: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days  (Read 23648 times)

Cassie

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #100 on: August 13, 2017, 02:49:23 PM »
rosy: I would love to come and help you. I have helped many of my friends through the years but I live in NV.

RN: my good friend lost her 19 yo daughter to a rare liver disease 5 years ago and it is tough. I helped her clean out her room so I have some idea of what you are going through.  Hugs:))

RNwastash

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #101 on: August 14, 2017, 05:48:56 PM »
To Cassie,
Thank you for your sweet thoughts.. It is hard, but it helps to have many friends.  Also, I have been filling my time helping my parents.


fluffmuffin

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #102 on: August 14, 2017, 06:30:21 PM »
So sorry to hear about your daughter, RN. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to lose a child.

I had another weekend of crossing nothing big off, but have been making steady  progress on the pantry and refrigerator. Still have the damned black olives. Other thing in the wings: giant bags of frozen berries and green beans from Costco. Over the winter I would have used them, but I keep getting distracted with fresh produce. I don't want them to get freezer burned so will be doubling down.

Looks like we'll be out of town this weekend, too. My BFF is having a last minute engagement party, plus our shared hometown has been in the news recently for not-good reasons and I just want to...be there for a day or two. But at least I can try and get something done about the crawl space at my mom's house.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #103 on: September 15, 2017, 06:33:06 PM »
Never did get back to my challenge. Oh well...other family matters just became more important. My father is recovering well and the time we spent helping him was extremely important in getting him on track. I'm going to try to keep plugging at it over the next few months and start 2018 with it all done...maybe?

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #104 on: September 18, 2017, 05:59:27 AM »
I never did any of my challenges.
  • One of the things (getting rid of a bodice) is on my todo list for this week. I have given up on selling, too much fuss and too weird people on the phone. Donating it in a clothes box on my way to work is easier.
  • Dumping an electrical device requires me to visit an electronics store further away. That will have to wait until I visit that direction.
  • Last thing: taking pictures and selling my wedding dress just takes time. And I will probably need to put it on as well and need to look representable in it (newly washed and combed hair etc). Maybe next weekend.
  • My DH won an electric bicycle. He tested it and the bike does not work the way he likes it and needs a lot of modification before it can be useful. Electrifying his present mountain bike probably is a cheaper option with a better result. So the new bike will be sold.


I will also have these things done by 2018, at least putting the dress and the bike out for sale. If they will get sold in the coming months is of course uncertain.

Car Jack

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #105 on: September 18, 2017, 08:23:11 AM »
While I do the adult thing, selling a snowmobile and other big craigslist relevant items, my college son has it all over me for decluttering.  Over the summer, he separated out older lego figures and sold them online.  He was able to pay for a new racing seat and aluminum support system for his sim racing (about $600).  Now that he's back at college, he took the old yu-gi-oh! and Magic the gathering cards that he salvaged from all around the house.  He just sent me a message asking if he can use the money to invest more at Schwab.  $150 from those stupid cards!  And here I thought only the brio wooden train stuff would be worth anything (for which we've recieved zero so far and the local consignment shop won't accept anything that's not a complete set with box and instructions). 

oneday

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #106 on: September 18, 2017, 12:18:56 PM »
Sigh, another one checking in with a report that I did not work on my challenge.  As I expected, it is difficult with Mr. O in the house.  Also, where did the time go?  I can hardly believe it's been a month.  I think I will take my cue from Mongoose and keep putting effort into this.


Well today was the final day of my first challenge this summer.  I got through 2 of the 4 boxes in a month...not too bad.  I finished it off today by taking the shred bin down & emptying it into the recycle dumpster.  All those pages are officially gone!

Next challenge period will be Aug 19-Sep 17.  I think this will be harder as Mr. O will be around the house all of this time.  I don't know why I find it harder to focus on chores when he it in the house, but I do, so...


fluffmuffin

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #107 on: September 18, 2017, 02:07:01 PM »
The black olives are (STILL) haunting me, but I did everything else but my mom's crawl space! Sadly, my grandmother passed away this summer, so helping my mom deal with her house has been a higher priority. I'll be there again on Sunday for another carload of bits and pieces, and need to look into renting a truck to deal with the furniture. So cross four things off, add like 15 more...

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #108 on: September 19, 2017, 07:26:37 AM »
While I do the adult thing, selling a snowmobile and other big craigslist relevant items, my college son has it all over me for decluttering.  Over the summer, he separated out older lego figures and sold them online.  He was able to pay for a new racing seat and aluminum support system for his sim racing (about $600).  Now that he's back at college, he took the old yu-gi-oh! and Magic the gathering cards that he salvaged from all around the house.  He just sent me a message asking if he can use the money to invest more at Schwab.  $150 from those stupid cards!  And here I thought only the brio wooden train stuff would be worth anything (for which we've recieved zero so far and the local consignment shop won't accept anything that's not a complete set with box and instructions).

Smart kid. Yes, strangely, old games, cards or devices are worth surprisingly much for an interested person, especially if you have the original box. It is also a good habit of him to sell stuff and make place for new stuff. If getting money for it is his motivation, then it is a double win.

marble_faun

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #109 on: September 19, 2017, 08:33:45 PM »
We've the commenced the attack on our crammed and dysfunctional shared office space!

The paper clutter in there is amazing to behold.  I cleared out half my desk drawers -- just half! -- and ended up with a whole garbage bag full of shredded papers. Why have I been living with this trash?


The junk mail has overwhelmed us this year.  We made the mistake of donating to a charity that then shared our address with every other group that wants money in the whole universe. We were trying to do something good!  And have been hit with constant annoyance as a result.

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #110 on: September 20, 2017, 02:38:19 AM »
Our department at work is moving to a new part of the building. So I have also finally thrown away a plastic rack with papers I wanted to keep, but were hardly relevant after 2 years. Now I had only 2 sheets left and I can probably scan them and keep the scans.

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #111 on: September 29, 2017, 04:04:46 AM »
I finally threw away a corset that I received as a gift from my DH many years ago, but have never used.

I still need to plan a trip to a place where I can dump electrical devices. I want to combine it with other purposes.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #112 on: October 09, 2017, 04:01:56 PM »
We've the commenced the attack on our crammed and dysfunctional shared office space!

The paper clutter in there is amazing to behold.  I cleared out half my desk drawers -- just half! -- and ended up with a whole garbage bag full of shredded papers. Why have I been living with this trash?


The junk mail has overwhelmed us this year.  We made the mistake of donating to a charity that then shared our address with every other group that wants money in the whole universe. We were trying to do something good!  And have been hit with constant annoyance as a result.

Welcome to dealing with the paper tiger:) @marble-faun. I swear paper clutter has been my lifelong nemesis

Update: Lots of little wins here and there - my major achievement has been ruthlessly making use of a permanent donation box in the hallway. A few more trunkfulls have left the premises.

Remaining projects:
Re-organization of the studio area - about to commence again - tomorrow. Making progress a little at a time. Already organized a good part of it, two-three hours at a time. I'm making this a priority, because I want to make jewelry gifts for Christmas and need a nice, organized work area.
 
Utility room aka the hell hole - de-clutter and reorganize. Purchased a new shelf and I'll enlist Mr. R's help this weekend - then I'll clean up and hopefully be done with it for another six months or hopefully longer, before it all disintegrates into a disaster area again.

Still planning on another trash - de-clutter - donate round, in the bedroom. I'll do that as the mood strikes me - probably a shelf or two at the time to start with. I have a feeling the trash bin and the donation box will get a workout there and really, bedrooms are easy enough to keep organized.

Paper organization in the study - 4-5 boxes to go. I'm de-motivated - thinking of reverting to 30 minute clutter attacks to get the job done - I'm sick of looking at it.
There is cabinet that is in desperate need of organization.

Some time this week, I'll clear out that last remaining living room cabinet - that is it and should be doable within the next four weeks.

I should be done just in time for the holidays - let the baking and decorating and gift making begin - it is almost the season:)



Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #113 on: October 09, 2017, 06:51:19 PM »
Just wanted to say - Good Job everyone!:)

It does take time and commitment and effort, but it is utter satisfaction to see progress! I did not finish everything I hoped for within the last deadline. But, drumroll - I'm back to keep going and finish the job!

 I had to shift my priorities to major landscaping and gardening projects, then to the havoc Irma brought us - that Hurricane easily took three days of prepping for and left an enormous amount of work to deal with. Just boarding up the house took half a day, never mind removing all potential projectiles from an acre of property and then the aftermath.
So much work, anxiety and a horrendous mess.

We're still dealing with the tree damage and a very upset neighbor.

Add in some car issues and car shopping - DMV time etc, then the next wave of recalls and repairs and a second car purchase for my son, throw in some appointments and other important errands and it seems there is no time left.

I've since restocked the emergency supplies and am happy with my new/used car, the back porch got an overhaul, so did the front porch, pavers were installed, gravel was poured in the veggie garden which took over two weeks to put to rights again after a hot devastating summer. The property was cleared of debris from Irma (mostly) still working on the garden.
Had to pressure wash the house, because the leaves and dirt and debris from hurricane Irma clung to the house and were scorched into the walls by the summer heat.
Cleaned up the yard in sections - still a third left to tackle with.
Started the usual fall gardening maintenance - pressure washing flower pots and outdoor furniture and steps and patios and stone borders.....

Did I mention I love my pressure washer? soo much! You should see this old lady waving her magic (pressure) wand - it's fun and it works soo well and the water helps keep one cool in the heat of summer. Ugh - when will we see cooler temps???

Despite all the extra projects - looking back over the year so far - a lot was accomplished and I feel confident I will actually finish with all the remaining projects on my list.

My new deadline - Oct 9 to Nov 9, 2017, which is in plenty of time for the holidays - yay! Lord willing and the river don't rise ...

@Mongoose - you've accomplished so much this year and then helped your Dad too - all time well spent. It is amazing how quickly one shifts priorities to the things in life that really matter. Take a breather and start over in 2018:)

The black olives are (STILL) haunting me, but I did everything else but my mom's crawl space! Sadly, my grandmother passed away this summer, so helping my mom deal with her house has been a higher priority. I'll be there again on Sunday for another carload of bits and pieces, and need to look into renting a truck to deal with the furniture. So cross four things off, add like 15 more...

Yup, @fluffmuffin - you are another overachiever like Mongoose - finish off four projects - list 15 more:) I bet your mom was extremely relieved to have help in dealing with the house - not easy when someone passes away, my condolences.

@Linda - you've completed several projects over time - even if you did not meet your last deadlines. So give yourself credit for all that you accomplished:) You can always start fresh in the New Year if you are out of oomph to deal with all the small stuff, because you seem to have accomplished all the big stuff.
Maybe you are becoming a minimalist?

@Car Jack - you both scored, you and your son:), makes the decluttering a lot more rewarding when you get some money in exchange for all your effort. Although, admittedly I did not even try, I wanted it gone and I was not willing to put more time and effort into selling a few things.
That may change if I decide to let go of some of my gemstones that I've collected.

@oneday - So glad you succeeded in sooo many of your projects - you'll manage the last bit too:) I have no doubt!

Thanks for stopping by and checking in with your progress - it is good to know we are not alone in the war against clutter. We can do this!


I will keep this challenge going and alive until the end of the year - I don't plan on carrying anything over. I'm making one last push to finish every last one of my decluttering projects. Wish me luck:)

oneday

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #114 on: October 10, 2017, 12:17:08 AM »
Rosy, good to see you back!  Glad to hear you came through Irma OK, though not completely unscathed.

Thanks for bumping this thread; happy that it will continue through the year's end.

In July, I eliminated 2 boxes of paperwork.  Maybe I can clear the last 2 in the period Oct 25-Nov 26 (US Thanksgiving weekend).  Life is full and I have to really plan and push to find time to squeeze in the odious tasks.

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #115 on: October 10, 2017, 02:39:33 AM »
@Linda - you've completed several projects over time - even if you did not meet your last deadlines. So give yourself credit for all that you accomplished:) You can always start fresh in the New Year if you are out of oomph to deal with all the small stuff, because you seem to have accomplished all the big stuff.
Maybe you are becoming a minimalist?

:-)
Although my living room looks pretty minimalistic, we have a lot of hobbies and piles of gear for those hobbies. That is the one advantage of having an oversized house: we store the hobby gear in the extra bedrooms. Two of them are not very tidy, as the stuff in there is in frequent use. The third room on the attic is not the worst room, as it has a lot of cupboards where the various stuff is stored. Despite that my husband's freediving gear is in a bag on the floor and he has also put up a bicycle on a home trainer on the other side of the room. Minimalism is not the right word to describe our household. But at least the living room looks pretty neat, as does our entrance and my half of our clothes cupboard.

But we have been selling the hobby gear that we are not using. That is important in the process. Having gear for hobbies is one thing, keeping the gear for any hobby you ever had but don't practice anymore is just not smart. Buying some new shirts is okay if you also ditch the ones you don't wear. Now I have just one pile of T-shirts, not two. That should do.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #116 on: October 16, 2017, 05:12:44 AM »
Yay company! My father has improved enough that we should only have a couple of weekends when we need to help them get situated for winter. We restarted the decluttering this weekend! The cars are done with the exception of one tiny bit of one. I'm re activating as well for October 15-November 15. I second (third?) wanting to finish these things up so they don't carry over to 2018. We may continue on through December if the list grows...

1. Finish cleaning/rearranging business area.

2. Finish ceiling.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. One of two still needs to be completed.

4. Room by room decluttering (8 total). The cars are so clean and nice (removed months of kid detritus) that I really want the house nicer too!

5. File all the paper I sorted during the last challenge stint.

6. Outdoors:
Prepare yard for winter.
Make room in house for plants that need to come inside.
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.
West side of business building: stake red raspberries. Cut everything else back to the ground and start over in Spring. Fill in the holes.

Clean and declutter the basement. This weekend we finished about half of it.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #117 on: October 17, 2017, 03:26:07 PM »


REMAINING PROJECTS:

1. Re-organization of the studio area - about to commence again - tomorrow. Making progress a little at a time. Already organized a good part of it, two-three hours at a time. I'm making this a priority, because I want to make jewelry gifts for Christmas and need a nice, organized work area. MINOR PROGRESS
 
2. Utility room aka the hell hole - de-clutter and reorganize. Purchased a new shelf and I'll enlist Mr. R's help this weekend - then I'll clean up and hopefully be done with it for another six months or hopefully longer, before it all disintegrates into a disaster area again. ALMOST DONE - YAY!

3. Still planning on another trash - de-clutter - donate round, in the bedroom. I'll do that as the mood strikes me - probably a shelf or two at the time to start with. I have a feeling the trash bin and the donation box will get a workout there and really, bedrooms are easy enough to keep organized.

4. Paper organization in the study - 4-5 boxes to go. I'm de-motivated - thinking of reverting to 30 minute clutter attacks to get the job done - I'm sick of looking at it. SIGH - ADDED TWO MORE BOXES TO SORT ... oh, well Found the boxes in the utility room and I am all bummed out about that.

5.  Clear out that last remaining living room cabinet (from a previous purge)

I should be done just in time for the holidays - and family visiting in Nov/Dec - wish me luck:)

See updated list.
Meanwhile I'm still working on the garden which is always labor intensive - slow progress, but progress nevertheless:) Sowed lettuce seeds and planted peppers yesterday. Looks like I have a few herb survivors after the heat of the summer after all - re-potted and powerwashed some pots.
Worked on sorting the utility room stuff and did a ton of special household laundry, silk pillow case and fur throws... yesterday.
Son stopped by and grabbed a lot of goodies out of the donation box... today, plus some things I held back for him to see, all that was a hit with him. So there, success:) 

@Mongoose - glad to see you back on track and your Dad doing better, that is good news indeed.
I am not-not-not willing to add anything more to my list. I am planning on deep cleaning and de-cluttering a few things in the shed and the kitchen and the Bathroom mirror-medicine cabinet, but ssshhh this is no longer an official list - I will do what I can at my leisure.
Baking - decorating - out of town company - holiday entertainment and a garden party are at the top of my list for half of November and all of December.

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #118 on: October 23, 2017, 05:35:03 PM »
Progress report:

1. Utility room aka hell hole, aka laundry room is all done! YAY!

2. Decided on tackling the enclosed trash area and the outdoor storage area - forgot to add to my list, but now it is all done too, yay:) Went ahead and added random pavers from various other projects. Actually looks quite nice, no more tracking in mud when it rains and hopefully a lot less weeds to pull in the future.

Still dealing with the yard and garden for fall and fall out from Irma. Today, I ordered a replacement canopy for our gazebo that was destroyed. Took me awhile to find one that hopefully fits and is waterproof too. Nice price on houzz too.
Of course that means - one more project. 
We'll have to sand and pain the old gazebo - it's ten years old now and this will probably be the last time I'm ordering a replacement canopy. Amazing that it lasted this long.

There is hope that I will get all my projects done by the deadline of Nov 9 - we'll see.

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #119 on: October 25, 2017, 09:38:31 AM »
We got zip done on our list so far but I am bringing in the tender plants today and making room for them to overwinter. I'm enjoying our clean cars so much that I am eager to get the rest of the list done!

We did go visit my parents to help them winterize...my father had a legal size pad that was completely full on one side of tasks. Gads! That was not a "few things" to help with but all needed to be done. Parents have quite a lot of property to take care of. DH and I worked steadily all day on them and the kids pitched in too! All but a few are crossed out and those were postponed until our Thanksgiving visit. So...boo for us getting stuff done at our place but parents place is nearly ready for winter. I guess technically getting their place in order is on our list so we can count one item as half done?

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #120 on: October 25, 2017, 06:05:35 PM »
Doubling up are you now, Mongoose?:) Of course it counts!
Just do what you can and forget about the rest. It will all be there when you are ready to tackle it. If you wear yourself out you will not be doing yourself any favors and you will not be in a position to help your Dad out either - so don't run yourself into the ground.
It.will.get.done - eventually:)

I hear ya on the nice car, it is a pleasure to drive my new used car and I am actually finding myself washing it, so it looks good when I am out and about.
 
I've decided that I need to switch gear by Monday or Tuesday and work on organizing the shed cum studio, so I can work on Jewelry gifts for Christmas.
Truth be told, I am so ready to do something creative and fun, I could scream with frustration - I'm tired of scrubbing and de-cluttering and garden clean-up and projects that take a full day each.
I thought being retired meant I can finally read all the books I want and do all the stuff I never used to have time for:)

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #121 on: October 29, 2017, 12:03:57 PM »
DH has decided to do away with a computer screen, a keyboard and some mouses. This stuff hasn't been used in the past 2 years we lived in this house.

My wedding dress is now for sale, including a pair of shoes.
If I don't get enough response, there is also a dess sale in a youngster cafė later this week.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2017, 12:34:59 PM by Linda_Norway »

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #122 on: October 31, 2017, 07:34:52 AM »
Yeah...I'm doubling up...my lists always seem to get longer, not shorter! Sigh! My siblings will be able to help finish up our parents place over the Thanksgiving holiday. It would be nice to not have seemingly endless cleaning and decluttering. That's what's at the bottom of the pile right?

1. Finish cleaning/rearranging business area.

2. Finish ceiling.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. One of two still needs to be completed.

4. Room by room decluttering (8 total). The cars are so clean and nice (removed months of kid detritus) that I really want the house nicer too! We started on the kids rooms and are almost done with those. Our bedroom only has the closet shelf left. Kitchen counters are mostly done. Half the living room done too! It is already so much nicer. Can't wait to get back after it later this week.

5. File all the paper I sorted during the last challenge stint. Halfway...all the kids art has been sorted so they can keep a few bits in a storage box. The rest was digitally photographed and let go.

6. Outdoors:
Prepare yard for winter.
Make room in house for plants that need to come inside. Done!
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.
West side of business building: stake red raspberries. Cut everything else back to the ground and start over in Spring. Fill in the holes.

Clean and declutter the basement. This weekend we finished about half of it.

fluffmuffin

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #123 on: October 31, 2017, 09:27:14 AM »
I'm not formally extending my challenge, but just wanted to check in with some continued decluttering :) I got rid of an old chair that no one ever used but was taking up a whole corner of the living room, and consolidated a bunch of bits and pieces into my grandma's very cool mid-century modern hutch. It looks so streamlined and adult! I love it.

We stayed with friends over the weekend, and there house had SO MUCH STUFF it was unbelievable. We have the same amount of square footage, and our house feels pleasant, bright, and large...theirs was so cramped and cluttered. Sometimes it's a pain to keep fighting the invasion of The Things, but visiting their house was a great reminder of why it's important to be proactive instead of letting it build and build. I have a bad habit of comparing my house to styled photoshoots on Instagram and getting mad that everything is so messy, but in reality I think we're doing pretty well. Especially since my SO does his best to keep things up to my standards, but just is nowhere near my level of neat freak-ness.

The current de-cluttering task is disposing of our old dining room table. It's disassembled and 1/3 of the way out of the house...just gotta get the last 2/3 out of the basement and convince my SO that we don't need to hang onto the giant glass top. The living and dining rooms were in complete chaos for August and half of October with my grandma's incoming stuff + SO wrapping up work on the new table, and we ended up shoving a bunch of stuff into the basement  so we weren't tripping over it. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of boxes to Goodwill this weekend!

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #124 on: November 04, 2017, 03:25:32 PM »
1. Finish cleaning/rearranging business area. Started...maybe 1/3 done.

2. Finish ceiling.

3. Paint inside bathroom cabinets and stain/seal new cabinet doors. One of two still needs to be completed.

4. Room by room decluttering (8 total). The cars are so clean and nice (removed months of kid detritus) that I really want the house nicer too! Half way done.

5. File all the paper I sorted during the last challenge stint. Halfway...all the kids art has been sorted so they can keep a few bits in a storage box. The rest was digitally photographed and let go.

6. Outdoors:
Prepare yard for winter.Done!
Make room in house for plants that need to come inside. Done!
Blueberries: weed and surround with the lawn edging we got for free.
West side of business building: stake red raspberries. Cut everything else back to the ground and start over in Spring. Fill in the holes.Done!

7. Clean and declutter the basement. This weekend we finished about half of it.

8. Put away yard tools and clean out package box.
We had a big yard clean up. Place looks much better and hopefully we'll be able to get ahead of it come Spring. Plus we made some more progress on the house. And I only added one more item to our list. ;-)

Rosy

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #125 on: November 05, 2017, 12:21:19 PM »
I'm not formally extending my challenge, but just wanted to check in with some continued decluttering :) I got rid of an old chair that no one ever used but was taking up a whole corner of the living room, and consolidated a bunch of bits and pieces into my grandma's very cool mid-century modern hutch. It looks so streamlined and adult! I love it.

We stayed with friends over the weekend, and there house had SO MUCH STUFF it was unbelievable. We have the same amount of square footage, and our house feels pleasant, bright, and large...theirs was so cramped and cluttered. Sometimes it's a pain to keep fighting the invasion of The Things, but visiting their house was a great reminder of why it's important to be proactive instead of letting it build and build. I have a bad habit of comparing my house to styled photoshoots on Instagram and getting mad that everything is so messy, but in reality I think we're doing pretty well. Especially since my SO does his best to keep things up to my standards, but just is nowhere near my level of neat freak-ness.

The current de-cluttering task is disposing of our old dining room table. It's disassembled and 1/3 of the way out of the house...just gotta get the last 2/3 out of the basement and convince my SO that we don't need to hang onto the giant glass top. The living and dining rooms were in complete chaos for August and half of October with my grandma's incoming stuff + SO wrapping up work on the new table, and we ended up shoving a bunch of stuff into the basement  so we weren't tripping over it. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of boxes to Goodwill this weekend!

@fluffmuffin: Amen to that! Visiting a friend's house that's stuffed to the max and then some is the best motivator ever to tackle the next de-cluttering project:)

Update: Well - I'm getting an incredible amount of outdoor projects completed - none of which was on my list for this year:) What can I say, the kid is available to help for another week so the hell with my plan - I'm thrilled to have some serious muscle at my disposal:)

Completed - this week:
Revamped outdoor storage and potting area.
Cleared out - cleaned and re-organized one shed.
Powerwashed all three sheds, two fountains, all stone borders, the entire fence, all the outdoor decor and furniture and every pot and saucer - and I have tons:)
Cut big branches from the oak tree and trimmed all the bushes.
Finished weeding the entire property - oh my those vines!
Re-worked the Secret Garden area, added more gravel - cut back the giant Bougainvillea and saved the bird bath from black muck and slime via the power washer. Happy birds!:)
Re-positioned both fountains (Mr. R.) - ordered new switch for the pressure washer. 
Fixed chainsaw and hedge trimmer and the transport dolly - greased all the tools and implements.
Raked the property and disposed of about twenty bags and six big trash cans.
Set out all sorts of things by the curbside - all of it gone within 10-20 minutes. (Metal, furniture, garden doodads - son commented, "People sure like your trash, Mom:).

Almost done:
Re-designed the veggie garden area - put down 60 plus bags of gravel with another 40-60 to go.
Finished 80% of the potting and repotting.

Next up:
Trim the java plum tree.
De-clutter the back forty - this has been an ongoing project - in stages - and it looks like we'll finally git-r-done this week! Hallelujah:)
First gazebo cover we ordered - did not fit. New one arrived yesterday - we'll test the new canopy tomorrow and if it fits, we will sand and repaint the existing gazebo.
Decided to let the patio furniture go instead of trying to repaint and buying new cushions - with a bit of luck I'll find a good deal on a new or possibly a used set.
Unfortunately found more papers in the shed - WTH?! so now I have two three more boxes to sort through. Ugh!!!
I'll finish with the veggie garden this week - potting and a bit of organizing.
The kid volunteered to lay gravel in one more section of the veggie garden - Yay, it will look so good when it is all done.

Anyway - this is all the time (and help) I will get to finish all of my garden and outdoor projects - by this coming Friday. That means the de-cluttering of the studio and the house is not happening as planned - however, I may get a couple of hours here and there to at least move the de-cluttering and re-organization in the shed cum studio further along.

With company coming the week after I need to at least have the house presentable - we'll see how it all goes. It may not all get done as planned by Nov 9, but I am so happy to have the veggie garden, the secret garden, party central, the back forty, front and back patio and side and back yard looking it's best - that I am happy as can be.
Besides, I did make some unplanned for strides for the upcoming holidays - picked up all our toys for tots purchases already, picked up two gifts and two nice gift baskets I plan to put together. Plus, I also made great headway in redecorating the study, all I need now is a particular print I am dying to have:)

Mongoose - I feel for once I am keeping up with your speed and number of projects:) Mr. R. has helped out with several overdue maintenance projects and got involved with the lighting in the Secret Garden and re-wiring the fountain as well as sorting out why the pressure washer quit working.

Hope all your de-cluttering is moving right along as well!



 

Mongoose

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #126 on: November 06, 2017, 01:23:08 PM »
Wow Rosy. That's a lot of progress. The papers will still be there when you get back to them. ;-). Meanwhile, you'll have a wonderful yard/gardens to enjoy!

We did a huge chunk of the basement Sunday. No more tripping over boxes (mostly empty cardboard headed for recycling). One kid room was finished and we rearranged furniture to give us more sleeping options plus open up a ton of just empty floor in the living room.

Our goal is finishing by December 29...the ceiling is going to be the biggest challenge I think. I'm loving the extra emptiness in the house as we eject the junk. :-)

Linea_Norway

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Re: De-clutter challenge - 30 or 60 days
« Reply #127 on: November 13, 2017, 01:37:34 PM »
I checked out my shelf of cookbooks for cookbooks that I haven't used for a decade. That was most of them, including some nice books with outrageously expensive ingredients that I have never bought (Beluga caviar, lobster ect). I kept a few that I use, a few with nice pictures and a few that DG gave me (painful to ditch right now). The rest will be donated.
The ones that I use most is a thin book about making sauce, a thin one with a basic recipe for fresh pasta and a cookbook for brownies. I did decide to keep a couple more thougj, but will ditch more than half. Sorry for the cooks about Chinese, Indonesian, Turkish, Greek, Mexican and international Europen cooking. I just don't use these books anymore.
If, during FIRE, I would get a lot of time on my hands and want to cook from books, I might get some "new" ones from the second hand market.