March Declutter Club

[SparkleNana]

Thursday, March 24th! Hello... Fellow Decluttering Club Members!

Today is a chilly, rainy day..... an absolutely PERFECT day for working INSIDE! (When it is warm and sunny outside.... it is difficult to stay inside!) Come to think of it..... this is also PERFECT weather for some Rudy Day celebrating! And... Rudy Day is tomorrow..... although a tiny bit of celebrating may happen today.

Actually..... A LOT of decluttering has already been done this morning! (Hence.... this computer break... AND.... thoughts of Rudy Day!)

None of the work has been concentrated in one area.... it is general, house-wide straighten-up and declutter! As my strength ebbs during the day.... I may turn to decluttering paperwork! It is ALL good! Baby Steps!

 

[SparkleNana]

Thursday, March 24th... late afternoon. Decluttering of paperwork commenced well over an hour ago. I am sitting at the foot of our bed. The computer is sitting on our bed.... for frequent computer breaks.

The television is ON! I watched Dr. Oz.... and now I have changed to CNN. I am slowly going through paperwork. I take breaks to check emails.

It is not bad. The house looks MUCH better! There are bags of donations for the Thrift Shop (in the car). There are LOTS of bags of throw-aways..... by the street, for pick-up tomorrow morning. The laundry is done (for now.... Laundry is a living thing..... always growing and multiplying.)

How about you guys?

 

[cmerth]

I officially have 2 rooms done-- my bedroom and my office.

 

[MinnieCo]

Spent the day going to thrift stores and antique stores. I did good and barely bought anything. Did walk away with a small wood shelf I'm going to try and paint. I've never painted furniture before, so I'm going to practice on something small and give it a try. It's going to be a magazine rack for my DH.

 

[Minta]

Spending tonight and tomorrow cleaning, decluttering and reorganizing my laundry room. It's a big room that also houses shelving units that I store my extra platters and my extra holiday dishes that do not fit in my hutch. I did not use alot of them this past season so while I am cleaning I will be making notes on pieces I have.. what I can use them for and USE them this season. Anything I can't think a use for I will see if other family members will want it. I will also be be going through my holiday linens - I need to get more of these.

 

[SparkleNana]

Saturday, March 26th. Yesterday afternoon, I took two bags of donations to the Thrift Shop. There is still a bag of books (in the car)..... to drop off at the "Friends of the Library" sale table.

Yesterday morning, while the college student was working, he finished clearing off the back porch. It looks so much better! I kept going out to admire it!!!

Yesterday was a nice, sunny day... and I worked outside for a while... with the college student. (I only worked outside for part of the time. And.... I did the non-strenuous stuff.. .. but I STILL got stiff and tired.) Then, I picked up the older boys at school... and spent a couple of hours with the three dgs.

Today.... I should continue decluttering inside.... and let the college student do the outside work. I need enough energy to last well into the evening! And I still want to get plenty of stuff Out The Door today!

 

[Lana]

Sounds like people are still moving pretty good on this. I am still not doing much. Looking forward to this wedding but seems stuff keeps coming in to put somewhere for it.

 

[SparkleNana]

Lana... a wedding absolutely "trumps" decluttering.... and almost everything else! We will have "decluttering" with us for our entire lives. A wedding deserves to have every bit of our attention and our energy!

 

[SparkleNana]

Sunday, March 27th. Spring break is over for the college student..... and he is returning to college and has to stop working in our garden! He said... if he can't find a "regular" summer job.... he WILL be available for hourly work again! He is SUCH a terrific worker..... he would be great for a "regular" summer job! If he IS available for hourly work this summer.... I will definitely want to hire him! Hhhmmmm.... that means some additional careful putting aside of money!

Having someone do the "heavy" outside work was TERRIFIC! It does NOT mean that I want to stop working in the garden! Being out, in the garden, is heavenly for me! PLUS.... it looks like everyone who CAN grow food..... ought to at least consider it! (Remember the old "Victory Gardens"?) The outside work that the college student did just got rid of the worst overgrown spots.... and makes the outside look so much better!

Since we spend so much time outside in warm weather..... I consider the outside gardens to be "living space". Making this outside living-space..... serene and comfortable and beautiful.... I definitely count this work as part of my 2011 Decluttering Club activity.

Thank Goodness the weather is NOT warm YET! While it is still chilly.... I can force myself to work inside.

For now.... the back porch is quite inviting. And... the outside furniture... at the bottom of the front/side yard..... has outdoor cushions on the chairs and chaise lounges. The area is ringed with forsythia bushes and flowering trees and other kinds of flowering bushes. They are blooming beautifully! The "early" spring bulbs are blooming all around. It is ready for very pleasant gatherings!!

 

[luludou]

I got rid of some papers on the counter... not much more done in March for decluttering seems I'm always running out of time.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

lucie-I understand I didn't get much done either. But tomorrow is a new day and each item out is one less thing in our house.

 

[Doodlebug]

I didn't get all I wanted to accomplish for February so will try hard the next few days to see if I can get it all finished this month. I think I can, I think I can!! Reading this post REALLY does help me.

 

[Christmaslvr]

Finally, finally! I went through my clothes and found some things to donate! I didn't bring much with me when I moved here, but I manged to find a few things that don't fit...and I'm not keeping them to see if they ever do! I did keep 2 pairs of capris that I will want when I can get back into them. So I have some clothes and a few misc items that I will get to either Good Will or the Salvation Army store this week!

And we're taking our plastic to the recycling center this week too. I'll be so happy not to pay the 5 cents CRV here in CA any more! Good grief what a pain to get some of the money back.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

I sat down and went through a stack of magazines. I didn't keep any, pulled a few pages to go in my Christmas notebook and a few pages for my home notebook. They are going into recycling and taking 2 to work. I have a few more but they are new. Gonna look at them and the give them to the neighbor.

 

[SparkleNana]

Yesterday afternoon, I kind of collapsed physically..... Dh was happily watching the "basketball playoff tournament"...... and I was in the bedroom....... and the hypnoticizing show "Hoarders" came on TLC. (The cabel channel.. The Learning Channel).

There were some really important moments. One was when a woman hoarder was talking to a psychiatrist about one of her newest purchases. She opened a small cardboard box.... which contained a broken bracelet (that would have been too small for her wrist.... if it hadn't been broken). She had bought the bracelet used..... and epressed incredible excitement and happiness with her pirchase! "Look at these small stones"... she chorteled! See how they sparkle? They might be diamonds! Isn't this great?" The psychatrist commented... "When you started to talk about this box, with the brokenbracelet, you became so excited! You became so animated and happy! You have so much energy!" The woman agreed excitedly.... so happy with her latest "bargain"!

This woman lived, alone, in a 4,000 square foot house.... which was absolutely STACKED with purchases from the last 10 years! The psychiatrist asked the woman to look around the room..... at items she had purchased over the last 10 years, that had brought her temporary excitement and happiness... and had them been stacked and not really used or enjoyed again. The psychiatrist asked her to throw away the broken bracelet.... and the woman became threatened and angry and frightened and belligerent! The items really "meant" something to the woman.... they were "valuable" and she had no intention of parting with them. The items made her living situation dangerous and intolerable. She had allowed NO ONE INTO HER EXPENSIVE 4,000 SQUARE FOOT HOME.... FOR TEN YEARS! Her two adult sons and her best friend and next-door neighbor.... had not been allowed inside the home for ten years.... and neither had anyone else!

As I go through items to declutter..... I will be thinking about MY reactions to items that I don't really use or enjoy.

 

[MinnieCo]

Sounds like everyone had a productive weekend. Not so much on my end though. I've had this allergy/cold thing going on and this weekend, it kind of knocked me on my butt. Other then going to church all weekend and making my button egg, I didn't do any housework or decluttering.

We've been using a small walk in shower downstairs for our food storage. That showers been out of commission for at least 10 years. We want to fix it this Spring/Summer, so I have to find room for that food. That means, MORE has to go. That's where it gets frustrating, because I get rid of so much and the husband...not so much. But so be it, I'll keep on trekking! I might just end up putting storage shelves in our spare room for storage.

 

[Minta]

Got the Laundry/storage room cleaned out. Threw out 2 full trash bags and have 2 more bags filled with stuff for the yard sale. Everything is clean and organized now.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

This is a repeat from the move it out Monday thread but I wanted to post it here as well
I was trying to get the 4 new pairs of shoes I got into my closet (in my defense I don't buy shoes often and 2 were only $5 and I know I will wear them, on is sandles and the other are also dressier sandles for the wedding and other). I pulled out 1 pair I never wear, and 1 pair I forced myself to get rid of. I liked the style/fit however the bottom where you foot is, was missing a part of the material and the band on top had some light stains on it. So if I really miss them I will be on the look out for a similar pair. Don't need a pair that is torn up. Also moved some stuff around. There are books my parents give me to read I havn't touched in forever and will pull some out to give back. There were 3 small photo albums for the boys picts they took in Disney 2 yrs ago as well as the folders of picts for 2 of them. So I made DS12 go through his and put them in the album and put it in his room. Did the same for DS6 picts but I did them for him, trashed the other stuff.

SN-it's always a good reminder to try to look at things a different way.

Minta-good work!

Doodlebug-I didn't do as much as I wanted to either but every item out is one less item in your house. keep it up, I know you can, I know you can

MinnieCo-I think it's that way for a lot of us where we get rid of stuff and DH doesn't seem to care. I force DH every so often to go through his clothes esp owhen he has lost so much weight and I knew wouldn't be back in some of his clothes but I wanted to ask him before tossing.

 

[Christmaslvr]

SparkleNana~I love watching the Hoarders shows! I get so motivated to go thru my stuff and see what I can toss. We watched 2 shows yesterday and the prompted me to finally go thru my clothes and I have a bag ready to donate. I always get on DBF's case about his "hot spots", but when we watch this show he always has to tell me "see, I'm not that bad am I?" or "this makes me look pretty good, huh?" LOL

 

[Pam Spaur]

I am taking an empty cardboard box home with me tonight to start another round of decluttering, or as we call it: decrapification! I have two glass canisters that I put up for months, and when I couldn't find them, thought I had donated. Found them a couple of weeks ago. I use to collect angels, and I think it is time to once again, pare them down. TOO. MUCH. STUFF! Way too much. I realized how much when I had to move things to have my furniture delivered. This has to stop. NOW.

So the decrapification of Spaur Manor shall continue or my name isn't...you know what it is, but it will be MUD if I don't continue this getting rid of stuff!