August 2020 to Jan 2021 Declutterfest
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following along. It's really inspiring to read everyone's progress. I don't have anything particular to add but I am considering this longer term project. It depends if the stain is still good from 10 years ago or not. I still need to bring down and clean the last 6 purple martin gourds so perhaps next weekend I might try my hand. Worst case I paint 2 boards and decide it is beyond the scope of my ability to do the whole thing or the stain is no good anymore. if my neighbors 2 little girls were older than 9 and 10 I might have tried to recruit them.. ala Tom Sawyer method.
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@SummerSkier, I liked the ala Tom Sawyer method idea 😁 . Too bad the girls aren't older. I'll bet that they would've enjoyed painting the fence. Your grass looks really nice!
August 6: Today was a paper & stuff day.
I decluttered some miscellaneous paper that that was in the bedroom that I no longer needed, as well as paper that landed on the table throughout the day such as today's weekly neighborhood newspaper with all the advertising/ coupons inserts, as well as today's mail. Also I shredded the little shred pile that I have been setting aside.
For my 'stuff' category I sorted, dusted, and decluttered the small bookshelf in my bedroom. Seven books went into the give away box.
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WOW @texasgardnr !! Awesome progress! 7 books!!
Aug 6: tossed a few more items from stationery drawer...put some items where they belong now...getting up my gumption to toss the odd pens neither of us ever use.
Organized items in another drawer. Will go through that one once I have finished emptying first one.
Re-arranged a couple of pieces of furniture in my “Creative Space” to make it more welcoming!
Tomorrow’s plan: finish resolving items from 1st drawer & finish 2nd drawer.
Next up: going through stack of non food items my husband moved to the floor from
The pantry!
Still trying to find our iron!!! 🤣2 -
Aug 7
I finished emptying the three kitchen Drawers. Tossed things & put others in locations where we store them now!
Then I washed the drawers & affixed blank sticky notes on the front of each!
I decided that was enough for today!
PS Now we have at least 3 staple removers!
PPS Right now I’m just placing like with like. Then we’ll figure out how many we need of each item!1 -
@MadisonMolly2017 Irons are overrated! Pretty sure, unless you sew, it’s not an essential item! Happy hunting though.
I’m down to 150 emails. Most of what’s left are family emails so I’ll be printing a lot of those. I want to finish this weekend so I can start on pictures next week!
Wednesday was my 30 minute picture organization day. I was able to find 5 pictures that matched the baby clothes I’m going through. Such fun! I have a few more to find.1 -
@MadisonMolly2017 Irons are overrated! Pretty sure, unless you sew, it’s not an essential item! Happy hunting though.
I’m down to 150 emails. Most of what’s left are family emails so I’ll be printing a lot of those. I want to finish this weekend so I can start on pictures next week!
Wednesday was my 30 minute picture organization day. I was able to find 5 pictures that matched the baby clothes I’m going through. Such fun! I have a few more to find.
@nebslp Yep, I sew! And some mixed media needs ironing. I’m sure we would not have gotten rid of it! It will be a happy surprise when we find it! LOL
Yay on the emails! I did go thru some family emails & printed one awesome photo. Not the best quality printer, but still glad I have it!
After I posted, I ended up working more in my creative space, reorganizing a few drawers so the items I found in kitchen would fit!
My husband then began bringing my flat file drawers down, so that will likely take me my decluttering time this weekend. I thought I’d make some art today, but the organization & exercise won! LoL
@nebslp, I love your idea of matching the clothes with photos. Will you make shadow boxes with both?1 -
@MadisonMolly2017 I have no idea what to do with the clothes and pictures yet. I may just wrap them up together and put them back in the basement. I’ll have to do some research on the possibilities. Shadow boxes would be fun.1
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I just have to add - what a creative group!
Today's decluttering was really just an annual chore of cleaning out the purple martin gourds. I did 6 a few weeks ago and finished rinsing and putting them in the garage last week. Today with a group of 7 kibbitzers watching I took the last 6 down and cleaned out all the old (and quite nasty) bedding and rinsed them. Instead of putting them up in the garage yet tho I put them back on the rack. It was quite funny to see the kibbitzers come zooming in after I moved away. They reminded me of kids coming back from college to find "their" room was now Mom's sewing room. "WHERE'S ALL MY STUFF??!!!!" "THAT's MY ROOM??!!!!!" chattering away quite happily I suppose.
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@SummerSkier Your Purple Martins made me smile! I can hear the 2 on the right having quite a conversation "the house is spruced up now. Let's stay a little longer"3
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@MadisonMolly2017, you are doing great with decluttering/ organizing the drawers in your kitchen and your creative space. You got a drawer theme going on 😃. I'm sure that it brings a smile to your face when you open up a recently decluttered or reorganized drawer!! Well done.
@nebslp, you're crushing those emails! Good for you!
@SummerSkier, I really liked your Purple Martins and their gourd homes picture.
August 7 & 8: Back to declutering digital on Friday and Saturday. 46 more emails between both days. Bit by bit.... 🖥🖱
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Aug 8
All flat files & drawers down - heavy!
Organizing & filling the empty drawers.
AND I made some art!!!!
My husband cleared some shelves that are Very High in kitchen. We strategized what should go up there.
Having fun!1 -
Ya know most people wait to organize and declutter until they move. And they wait to make their house and garden beautiful until they are wanting to sell. I have never understood that. I want my house organized and beautiful while I live in it! Great progress on digital yexasgardnr and drawers Maddie!!!! Nebslp, what do you kids think about the pictures and clothes? Maybe they want them for their kids? Wouldnt that be cool to have grandkids posing in same clothes and same manner? (caveat I don't know if you have grands yet...)
Good Sunday Morning all. I do think it helps to post daily...2 -
And... not too bad for 30 minutes of effort including prep and clean up. I think I can get about 20 boards done per day in 15 minutes now that I have everything organized. I am not sure if Home Depot still carries this color but that may be the next hurdle in a few weeks. LOL. Hopefully it will cover the entire line with this 1/2 gallon left. I think we put 2 coats on in 2009 or 2010 but it was bare wood at the time not touch up. You ladies can't possibly know but this is SO FAR outside the rhelm of things that I do that it gives me great satisfaction to accomplish it. Esp when I know I could hire some workers to get it done in a few hours. LOL
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SummerSkier wrote: »Ya know most people wait to organize and declutter until they move. And they wait to make their house and garden beautiful until they are wanting to sell. I have never understood that. I want my house organized and beautiful while I live in it! Great progress on digital yexasgardnr and drawers Maddie!!!! Nebslp, what do you kids think about the pictures and clothes? Maybe they want them for their kids? Wouldnt that be cool to have grandkids posing in same clothes and same manner? (caveat I don't know if you have grands yet...)
Good Sunday Morning all. I do think it helps to post daily...
@SummerSkier
That is what happened with our first house - exactly!
We are on the Same Page!
AND my husband is now refreshed enough without his commute to want to work in this in 25 min. chunks.
Today I’m continuing to work on organizing the things we brought down from my previous art studio location AND we discussed how to move things (that I previously decluttered) upstairs like holiday decorations & photos/sentimental items.
It will be a lot of work but with both of us doing 15 min +, it should feel like we are progressing each week.
Today he said “out of the blue” I like having things organized. Less waisted time. Easier to get things done!!! I agree! And less brain drain haha2 -
SummerSkier wrote: »And... not too bad for 30 minutes of effort including prep and clean up. I think I can get about 20 boards done per day in 15 minutes now that I have everything organized. I am not sure if Home Depot still carries this color but that may be the next hurdle in a few weeks. LOL. Hopefully it will cover the entire line with this 1/2 gallon left. I think we put 2 coats on in 2009 or 2010 but it was bare wood at the time not touch up. You ladies can't possibly know but this is SO FAR outside the rhelm of things that I do that it gives me great satisfaction to accomplish it. Esp when I know I could hire some workers to get it done in a few hours. LOL
@SummerSkier
You go GURL💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻🤣
Isn’t it Great when we push past our own expectations of ourselves.
For years, new decades, my husband has lifted & carried things. Yesterday I just picked them
Up & carried them down the stairs!!!!!!!
I love all of you in this group!
And @nebslp Im in the Unique club, too
Definitely.
Strong AND Feminine
Artistic AND Logical
Insightful AND Naive2 -
@MadisonMolly2017, look at you today! Doing both organizing & filling the empty drawers, as well as making art 🙂 . That is so cool that your hubby is involved in your decluttering projects, and especially what he said about the benefits of decluttering/ organizing 😁!
@SummerSkier, can't wait to see the finished fence! Look at what a difference your hard work is making already. Amazing start on the fence project 👍😀!
August 9: I did an unplanned decluttering of a dresser drawer today. When the laundry load was finished and I was folding and putting away the clothes that belonged in the right upper drawer I decluttered some items that I no longer wanted instead of waiting for a planned dresser decluttering day 😎 .
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Ya know it's funny but when I was married for 15 years I can remember that it was always easier to pull my SO along to doing chores vs push. So many mornings I can remember just getting started doing something and not even asking but having him join in to help or do other things which needed doing. I know that asking him to do something would have been met with "the face" but leading by example seemed to really help with getting him motivated.
I think we are finding that we don't have to "wait" for official declutter times now that we are approaching our tasks piece by peice... !
Of course the same with cats. If you want them to use the litterbox, just clean it. LOL
I made more progress on the fence today - another 15 minutes - but I might have to ease up as my painting hand got a bit tired. I think that I will approach the project a little differently next phase and just do touch up on the very worn spots at the bottom and the top in case I run out of the stain. It blends very well and because it is so old I fear they won't make the exact same shade if I totally run out.
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Just one super quick note... @SummerSkier Your fence is looking GOOOD! You should be able to find a paint store that can match your old stain (fingers crossed for you!)1
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Fixing a typo in my previous post ... *wasted”* not waisted lol As a teacher....🤣
TY for kind words- actually feeling tired today HOWEVER after procrastinating for 6 months, I got in YouTube &
Fixed my inoperable sewing machine❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️
Thereby saving the Time to research & cost is a new machine, shipping, and learning how to use a new one AND figuring out what to do w/ new one!
I did research irons & bought one. It arrives tomorrow- how do they do that?!!2 -
so now you will for SURE find your missing iron!!! 0
