July 2011 Declutter Club

[KimD]

Yea Jacki

Annie Claus Maranda has a friend that is now stationed in Afganstan he graduated last year and she writes him weekly and receives a letter weekly and says that she is going to keep these letters from him forever. To reread them later in life. She also writes and recieves letters from another friend that is in college so I think that it is not completly lost yet. She still receives text's and facebook chats from both but loves writing and receiving letters. She says the text's and facebooks are more inpersonable and the letters are more personal.

Going to try and declutter some of my crafts on the kitchen table today (which means finishing them up) to get them off the kitchen table so I can reclaim the kitchen

I have not been back in the girls room in a week so thing that is in order today to.

 

[AnnieClaus]

Kim-
That's nice that Miranda has someone that she is exchanging letters with.
It is nice to go back and re-read them every few years.

Annie

 

[ChristmasPir8]

Hi ladies. Havn't posted much in this thread but I did spend a lot of time in my closet last night. Not sure that I got rid of much but I did get rid of some and better organize it so that's a big thing. Headed back in there in a bit. DS12 and I cleaned his room today and got rid of 1/2 a big bag of trash, got rid of a few things and overall reclamed his room. Tomorrow we go into the shared DSs room. That will be a big job. hope lots is gone.

 

[Kim Loves Snow]

Good job, Jacki!

Ahorsesoul - You know, not everyone finds peace and solice in a decluttered world. You do what is right for you~

Annie - I'm not sure that I have ever really been able to schedule time to declutter except for my 15 minute daily intervals. Those I stick too. Sometimes, far in advance, I'll decide to take a day of work with a focus area in mind. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[SparkleNana]

Piratemama.... CONGRATULATIONS for working in ds12's room.... and working with him is wonderful! I mean... it's not "wonderful".... I'm sure it is much harder than doing it alone..... but it IS wonderful that you are teaching him "how to do it"!!!!! Yay for that!

Kim Loves Snow.... and CONGRATULATIONS for keeping to that "15 minutes a day" of decluttering! Each day.... you go to it "with fresh eyes"!!! That makes it work so much better!

I've taken a break from paperwork today.... and done decluttering/organizing in the office/guest room. A small bit of decorating for CIJ.... on the newly decluttered desk. Baby steps!!!!!

I will do paperwork later and into the evening. It refreshes me to vary things... changing areas of work is refreshing to me.

It is GOOD to be inside today because the rain ended hours ago.... and it is incredibly hot and sticky outside! The bright sunlight is almost painful!!!!!

 

[SparkleNana]

July 7th.

For those of you who are repulsed by the dirty conditions of homes featured on the television series..... "Hoarders"..... there was an alternative on "Good Morning America" today. The show presented a woman whose home was very clean...... BUT..... there was massive clutter in that home. A BIG team of professional organizers went to the home.... and helped the woman decide what to keep....... and the rest of the things went into a great big dumpster that was rented for the occasion. The organizers then brought in lots of storage.... and returned the home to a beautiful, "decluttered" condition.

The series "Hoarders".... now provides money for "aftercare" for the families that allow their homes to be featured on the program. The "aftercare money" pays for therapy and also for professional organizers... to continue working with the "hoarder". Not all of the people on these programs choose to use these services. But.... they are available.

I remember seeing Peter Walsh (the organizing guru that Oprah features)..... seeing him say that "there are 200 million badly cluttered homes in America!) This has become a very common problem in America. It is a problem that we are working on here.... together!

 

[Lana]

My DH is working in the shed while off this week. He is burning so much stuff and actually making some progress. We have TONS (I mean TONS) of Christmas stuff for outside and inside but for now it is all getting put into one area and hopefully it will be sorted by year end if not before. Told him we could just sort it when it gets colder out and to get the rest of the shed done and we know Christmas is left then.

Tom. a truck load goes to Good Will.

 

[Doodlebug]

I am going to sort through paperwork in my craft room. That is also where I keep papers for my extension group. I am County President, so have many papers to keep. I am also going to organize a filing system not only for extension but also for my Premier Designs. THAT is tops on my list but I know that I won't be able to start until after next week as my whirlwind of going 3 different places for a week starts tomorrow. But I will still have 2 weeks left in July to accomplish it.

 

[AnnieClaus]

SparkleNana- I do agree with you. People can have very clean houses and they are still cluttered.

Things are so easy to get these days that it's easy to accumulate a lot of stuff.

Also, I have read and heard that hoarding- the way we see it on the show "Hoarders" or the other one "Buried Alive" is a mental condition and one that is very very difficult to heal. The after care they offer the people, to me, is the only way they are going to overcome this issue. Cleaning out a whole house in two days is not going to do it.

Meanwhile, here we are at MHH trying to contain our clutter!
Great work on everyone's part!!!!

Annie

 

[Merry]

AnnieClaus, I agree with you. The Hoarder's program is creepy and I still plan on watching it too!! SparkleNana, thank you for sharing that the program provides aftercare for these people. It will make me feel better when watching the show that they will be helped. Meanwhile, watching that show did have an effect on DH. The day before trash collecting, he said he was going into the garage to look for things to put out to recycle. He laughed and yelled out... I will show no mercy... and sure enough there was a nice neat pile of unwanted cardboard boxes collapsed and tied and half a bag of new trash sitting in our driveway just waiting to be hauled away...lol !!! Great job everyone!!!

 

[luludou]

Took my bag of clothes to the homeless shelter this morning. Another one out the door! Talked with mom & she said to get rid of the big overstuffed chair. She doesn't want it back. I'll offer it to my neighbor or else it's going out the door with a 'To give' sign on it.

 

[SparkleNana]

Luludou..... you are making GOOD progress!!!!!

OK.... it is Friday, July 8th!

Yesterday.... I cleaned and decluttered on, over, under and around.... the desk in the office/guest room!!!! MUCH better!!! There is an extra chair in that room..... it is really an "outside chair"... with a cushion. I'll take it outside... to join the rest of its family. And.... I'll put the remaining chair with the desk. The room is feeling much more spacious! There IS a TV in that room.... and there IS a cord to connect it to cabel TV. Getting the V to work is another project. And going through the big stack of magazines.... and tearing out the (few) articles that I want to file.... that is a project too.

Doing the file system is a HUGE job.... but the papers (for that system) are in boxes.... discretely stored in other rooms.

I can't imagine what it will be like to actually be able to use that room..... IN COMFORT!!!

 

[AnnieClaus]

Today TLC is having a marathon of their hoarding show. It's called: Hoarding: Buried Alive.

Annie

 

[AnnieClaus]

I watched a couple of episodes of this one and I liked it!

The A&E one shows such disgusting things- like piles of used adult diapers. Excuse me while I go upchuck.

But this one seemed to focus more on the counseling and helping.
And they gave them more than just two days to clean the stuff out.

Still- SO MUCH STUFF! One woman had TWO houses filled!

Annie

 

[CraftyLady]

We were on vacation last week so no decluttering got done really, however, on trash day Hubby put an old rotting Jeep grill at the curb and it was gone in less than an hour so we then put a an old metal computer desk that was taking up space in the basement at the curb and in a few hours that was gone too. Hubby also cleaned out from behind his garage. I need to throw a few more things out from the basement and bring some stuff for recycling and then the basement will be totally organized and cleaned out. We need to start on Hubby's garage if we want to finish by the end of the month.

 

[SparkleNana]

It is July 11th, Monday. AnnieClaus..... thank you for the Sunday Head's Up... about TLC running several shows of "Hoarding:Buried Alive". Those ARE less disgusting shows. And.... they reveal a lot about the "mental issues" involved for each "hoarder". It is interesting to see the interactions between the hoarder... and the organizer. And.... between the hoarder and the therapist.

I am moving furniture and vacuuming today. I am also... beginning to reorganize (and downsize) my kitchen,

I did an anti-clutter action yesterday. (Hurray for us.... when we do that!)

Our local neighborhood listserve advetised a COMPLETE SERVICE for 12.... of Noritake fine china...... (a wedding gift) still in its boxes..... for $100. I looked on the web site.... and some individual pieces..... cost $80. I was TEMPTED. (I don't have "fine china".)Then I remembered..... I don't have storage space for what I have now..... in our tiny kitchen/small house.

AND.... I remembered that there is a CHANCE.... that ds, ddil and dgd11..... will be living with us for the academic year. WITH.... the belongings that they need for that year.

I hope that it went to someone who has plenty of room for it.... and will enjoy using it!!!! There is no reason that we shouldn't hve wonderful things..... we just need to have room for them!!!!

 

[MinnieCo]

Have gotten the stuff out of my house we purged last time yet, but I did bring home boxes from the office today. I'm doing CIJ stuff tonight, but I'm hoping to get it listed and boxed tomorrow.

 

[SparkleNana]

This thread is really helpful.... isn't it!!!

I got a lot of stuff done today. The office/guest room looks really, really good now!!!!!

When dh came in this afternoon, he looked at the room, and said: "Wow! It's a room again!"

I said: "What do you mean?"

Dh said: "You can use it as a functioning room again."

Honestly.... I can't even remember the last time that it looked like a functioning room! The absolute key is: to keep extra stuff Out Of The House..... so it doesn't pile up somewhere! (Like it piled up in the guest room/office!)

I keep going back.... to look at this room.... and enjoy the WONDERFULNESS of it being a lovely, functioning room!

I realize that STUFF can definitely be our terrible enemy!!!!

I also did a lot of cleaning today.... vacuuming, scrubbing... general stuff.
Tomorrow.... I will pick another area to concentrate on. It will probably be the kitchen. That is the room that is bothering me the most.

 

[luludou]

I went through the pantry yesterday and it was so much easier than usually! last time I decluttered alot and it shows

 

[SparkleNana]

Wednesday, July 13th. Big Project: The Kitchen.

I have decided to do a "European-style Kitchen". IF..... IF I understand it correctly..... the European style is to NOT store lots of food in the kitchen. To buy things as you need them.... and store less. THAT would give me lots more room for equipment and utensils. I DO NOT need 10 boxes of high protein pasta. AND... tons of things pushed so far back into the deep cabinets.... that I have no idea what is back there. Grocery stores are plentiful in my area.... and sprinkled along streets that I travel many times each week. I no longer have hoardes of hungry teenagers passing through the kitchen.... like a tem of locusts.

It was the OPPOSITE when my kids were growing up. I always always tried to have more than enough good food in the kitchen..... especially since I worked during the day..... and couldn't run out to replenish supplies during the day.

Recently my daughter told me.... that one of the best things about growing up in our house..... was that there was always lots of good food and snacks around! (Never soda.... but tons of lemonade, OJ, grape juice and oher fruit drinks. Never ice cream.... because my husband would have devoured it INSTANTLY... and then begged me not to get more, since it was making him fat!!! But.... different kinds of great cackers. Different cheeses. All different kinds of cereals that kids like.... because dh was not tempted by sugary cereals. Fruits of every kind. Popcorn. Hot chocolate and whipped cream. Simple cookies.... as long as NOT chocolate, dh could restrain himself. Nuts of all kinds and raisins and dried fruits. Cold pizza... to microwave when they wanted it. Leftover oven-fried chicken pieces. Anything that they liked... I would bring in big supplies.

Not now. I am going to try this experiment now.

Decluttering the kitchen is my big project now.