Clearing Clutter/Liberating Self

Hello Hope,,,did you get my message?? don't know where you would go for it but I sent you one

heh Fern

well I have got amvets coming at the end of the month,,,had purple hearts last week. I need to mostly get DH to dejunk his clothes. He has t shirts from high school and I don't think he really needs them I showed pictures of him to DDs of when he was young and they said Mommy Daddy still has that shirt !!!

got some new very nice Christmas decorations and so when it comes time to get the old ones out of the attic I will have to weed out some of the more "tacky" items I've got...young and broke decorations

check ya later

Hello to all!!!
I am new to this web-site and forum. I hope you don't mind me joining in. I am a full-time homemaker that also works part-time out of my house. Have 2 children, daugter 12, son 9 and very busy husband.
I choose this forum because I have been trying to "de-clutter" my house for months now. The only room really just about done is my DD's (I think that is for Daughter) and she still has a few unfinished projects left. In reading the posts I am glad to see that I am not the only one out there.
I found this book called "Organizing for Dummies" it has helped greatly in figuring out what to do with a lot of the clutter.
Well gotta go and thank you for the chat.

Kerri..I never have to log on to this site BUT I had to for every post on the old site ,,,go figure

I'd go back and check on user account
and see if theres somthing there to change

smiles you can see on middle left screen when you preview comment

Hi, everyone. I have found my way back. It took awhile but I got here in the end.
Not a great deal going on here. The weather has been unseasonably cold, wet and windy. So much work to do in the yard but the weather isn't good enough for a good days work. I have some seedlings to plant, but it just isn't calm enough and I don't want to lose them before they're strong enough to survive. Hope everyone has found their way here.
Bye Sue

well the garbage strike is over!!
I took out the garbage last night as they are coming today

the garbage men are going to have a huge huge job ahead of them,,,so glad to get all of the garbage out of my garage

PPPPPPQQQQQQQQ

Man, its slow on here. Are we all just busy or is it not being used to the new forum set up? Several of the oldies I've not seen posting anywhere. Anyone know what happened to Jenny and Jamie Lea?

My house looks like a wreck and has for days. I can't seem to get a grip. I finally did manage to clean the kitchen this morning and get a couple of loads of laundry done. Also made a trip to town for groceries which was a task I detest.

Seems too early to be talking about Thanksgiving, but I guess its just around the corner for us too. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, Hope, and don't spoil the baby. Well, okay. Do spoil the baby.

I'm definitely putting things to one side for charity, but I have to get together a reasonable amount before I consider taking it to the big drop-off bin. I think it can wait until DH is back without too much trouble, although it looks like my SIL managed to find some more clothes from her old fat wardrobe which is good. The only collections around here are when the schools decide to have a project, and it's usually without warning, which is close to useless! I decided to get rid of Irritating Elmo - it's a bit young for them to be honest, and when they do play with it it drives me to distraction, so I removed the batteries and declared his departure. May as well go to someone else while it's in perfect working order (and clean too!). It wasn't a Tickle Me, but it kept wanting to play at various things (cowboy, monster...). Super annoying and NOT bought by us! Unfortunately that means that the bottom of my wardrobe is filled with bags awaiting delivery, and my wardrobe is not the walk-in variety with lots of space!

I keep wanting to declutter certain areas, but then don't know what to do with the things I move away, and they're all ending up on my desk. It's not that I want to throw away the items I'm moving, just empty the spaces and find the right homes for things - mini collections of dolphins, elephants and pewter are the current problems. The pewter looked quite nice in my bathroom for a while, but I changed things and now have no home for it!

I did myself a favour and started looking at the clutter-free gifts over on the Flylady site. Particularly for the kids this is, since they don't need any more toys, art supplies, clothes or lessons, and I was getting a bit stuck. I particularly liked the ideas of getting fancier versions of things you'd normally buy, like toiletries or snack foods. Bedding's another one since I think the kids are due for something a bit more grown-up, especially DD, and I've seen some lovely sets but they all cost a fortune. I ended up with quite a decent list surprisingly, and managed to add some suggestions from other places too. I need ideas for my PILs too, especially with all the extra help they've given me over the last few months! There will definitely be a food hamper involved, but I'd like to do some extra special things too - home-baked items aren't exactly a guaranteed hit since their tastes are so different. And they definitely don't want the type of gifts which create clutter. They aren't ornament type people at all, but they keep things forever and stash huge quantities of paper products like kitchen paper, so I don't like to encourage that particular habit. I do know one thing though... I'm going to have an enlargement done of a lovely photograph taken of my MIL and both her sisters last CNY (2002) and have it framed. I think she'll be just ready for such a gift by Christmas.

Decluttering and paring down comes in so many different guises. There's always some way to cut back on some form of clutter in your life whether it's throwing away a piece of paper, donating something you don't need or getting a job out of the way that's been hanging over your head... which reminds me. I have to make an appointment for a medical test and I'm going to do that before the end of today!

Kerri.

well, I've been rather "off" for the last few weeks....but I suppose its time I joined back in. Its week 7 of HGP

http://organizedchristmas.com/hgpweek7.html

and Christmas Countdown starts a week from next Monday!

http://organizedchristmas.com/countdown.html

My only "must do" this week (aside from school stuff) is to get out the Halloween decor and finish the DDS' costumes. I've had my Fall/harvest decor up for several weeks, but I add a few jack-o-lantern/scarecrow kind-of-things in mid-October. I broke down and BOUGHT DD8's costume but I am going to make DD13 a vampire cape (black taffeta with a red-sequin/sparkly stand-up collar!)

I'm double-blessing my MIL these days, as my lethargy is taking its toll on the house...must fix that....eventually...

Hi Zan. Welcome aboard!

Hope, glad to know you had a nice holiday....MIL and I are "cooking" Thanksgiving this year, here at the house.

Kerri, its good to see you "souding better." I'd love a solo vacation myself....or even just several hours in an EMPTY house!

I'll try to check in more often!

Lenora

YAY!!!

Hi Zan... you're more than welcome to join us!! One tip for the serious declutterer - don't buy books on decluttering!!! You can usually get a good choice at your local library, and there is SO much information hanging around the internet that perhaps you haven't seen. Buying books just brings more clutter in!

I think the only decluttering I'm going to be doing is of my local Carrefour into my house by the looks of my shopping list! I was trying to build up stock on cans as well (I had loads, but used them quite a lot in the last couple of months) and non-perishables, so I don't have to buy all that stuff too close to Christmas, get it out of the way. Was I the one who said she wasn't going to think about Christmas?? I lied. I'm started. Well... the internet stuff and some basic planning and thinking. I actually think I have the kids' gifts covered in my head, which is a long way from a couple of days ago when I had no idea where to begin. I don't think my budget or the car will fit the shopping list I've created, so I'm going to have to split it up a bit, see what's now and what can wait. I know I'm going to have to go through my fridge too, because there are things in there which a paleontologist would consider old! And I have to get the banana bread out of the freezer so I can make room for meat. My shopping list is also trying to include plenty of high protein items - thank goodness the dairy doesn't seem to be causing too many problems now the medication's kicking in. I'm still a bit stuck though - I remember this problem when I did the low-carbing briefly last year, but that was just a bit of a diet, and this is much more important, so any brilliant protein snacks from the low-carbers (drat it - wrong forum for that!).

I ave to get laundry out of the way tomorrow - should've done it today but I got skewered by a nap attack for nearly 3hrs! DH is going to be arriving home with a ton of washing I expect, although he had laundry facilities last week. He'll also have other things I have to find homes for including sweets and wine (I asked him to get some moderately priced stuff for my SIL because she's drinking it as though it's medicinal and I don't want that kind of attitude near the very nice bottles we have left! ). I have a ton of kiddie bedding to sort out from the other night when I changed a peed-on set of bedding, and DD's too (because it always gets neglected while I do the smelly one!), and then DS vomitted all over his as well, AND my SIL tried to put a clean sheet on top of a waterproof sheet covered in the remaining liquid! Did I say there was a LOT of bedding!?! I also think a little ironing might be in order, and I want to make up a sausagemeat and apple pastry thing (clears the freezer, gives DH something light and homemade when he gets back in the evening!).

Can you see the difference between me this week and last week!?!?! I'd better be a bit careful or there's gonna be some serious burnout round here!

How's the HGP going Lenora?? I've started nosing around on the Countdown, looking at the forum and planning which bits I want to print out - not very many for me, just the main checklists and the front calendar.

The solo vacation is more of a necessity I think, not a luxury. I haven't spent any time alone since before I left university, except for a few hours during the day when the kids are at school, and other than this year I haven't really been able to make any use of that time. I wasn't raised in a big family or in a city, so quietness and solitude were always a big part of me and I've lost that over the years. It really does get to the point where I can't hear myself at all over the noise of people and things going on. Even having the fans turned off the other day when it was quite cool made a HUGE difference - that constant whirring doesn't seem like much until you get to turn them all off and hear real silence (apart from the semi-busy road outside and the fact that we live in a block of flats surrounded by many other blocks of flats!). The house I spent most of my childhood in, and where my parents still live, backs on to a large field, with nothing noisier than cows and pheasants in it (the pheasants get pretty noisy, but they're newcomers!) so you can see how the constant noise and demands for attention would eventually get to someone after 8yrs or so! To be honest I really didn't think I could find a chance for this, because I was so hung up on climate and the fact that I couldn't afford to go to anywhere I wanted to go to, simply because of distance. Something clicked though and I realised there was an alternative - as I said, it isn't perfect, but it will give me the solitude I crave for a while, and a chance to do some quiet thinking away from my desk and computer and children and husband and responsibilities. Just me and a pad and paper! Well maybe the Simple Abundance book and my illustrated discovery journal and some magazines too... And if everyone joins me on this I'm not going to get a lot of solitude!!!! Think about whether you can find something that isn't quite perfect but which will fulfill your needs, something different than you would normally do. Honey can have her parents look after DS, and I'm sure your DH can manage the girls for a weeend Lenora. Hope - you don't even need a babysitter - what're you waiting for?? Just don't make it a golfing weekend, because that would defeat the purpose I think!

Hmmm...

Kerri.

Thank you for the advise on the book Kerri. I have since learned a lot of things about organizing since buying the book although it was a place to start and my mother got it for me. Does anyone know how to get a project started and finish it before starting another one? I have about 6 projects going at once and can't seem to keep focused enough to get one finished before starting a new one. Although on 2 of them it requires my DH's help and that is a main factor.

I definitely need that one person vacation. My DD12 has Epilepsy and a rheumatoid arthritis disease (the first signs at least) and so its a constant Dr. marathon. Her worst form of seizures happen in the sun and we live in Phoenix were it is sunny 350 out of 365 days a year, oh boy. Last friday we visited 2 Dr.'s and she had allergy testing shots done. Then Monday we finished the allergy testing. Last night I told my DH that my brain was fried. I just want a week (ok 2 days will work) of no family at home and me being able to finish just one project.

Thank you for the web-site on X-mas, Igunnoe. I am seriously trying to get ahead for that and that web-site at least gives me an aim to try for. I already have started and we are doing the most simplist x-mas ever this year. We are taking our own family portraits and then I will frame them and that will be PIL's and my own parents x-mas. I have my DH's on order and one item for DS already. Any ideas for DD12? She is total teenager.

Going to try and get laundry done and house finished cleaned today. In charge of DS's class parties for this year so better get the letter out today (always last minute with that one). DD12 is going trick or treating with friends and they are going as a bag of candy. Each one will be a different type of candy. I love it!!!

Gotta go DS9 needs before school can't find anything help.

Talk to ya later ladies

Hi DeClutterers & welcome, Zan. I haven't checked in for a couple of days now. Course, haven't been doing what I'm supposed to be doing either! Kids are out of school 2 days for their fall break so we've been on the run. Kinfolks in visiting so we had a weiner roast for everyone and I think it got my allergies going big time. Either that or a cold. . .hideously sore throat. Only time it doesn't hurt is when food is going down it and we know that isn't good.

I'm pegging along on the decluttering. Not much going out the last few days, but its on my mind. I keep hoping something will whet my interest again. I'm reading along with you all, even when I'm not posting much.

hello Zan and welcome

Hope I wish I could hear my dryer buzz
its broken booo hoooo
I do have a clothes line out in my back yard so I am putting things out but yesterday was so chilly it took all day to dry.
we have to go buy a new one but first we have to get the guy who remodeled our basement to take [ now don't laugh] the bannister down so we can get the old dryer out and new dryer in. the space measures 23.5 inches and the dryers are 4 to five inches bigger..oh well it will all work out. [they did a beautiful job on the basement,,,just a boo boo on the stairs [bannister]

did major clean on kitchen yesterday and am dejunking those kitchen gadgets that I don't need,,whole box full,,,amvets coming 28

Good idea Zan ,,,don't think I'll be seeing Sweetpiv

I also have a clothes hanger thingy in my basement

Lenora,,,too too funny
I must say ya all are a bit cooky ,,,tape eating?????

hope to but new dryer tomorrow,,,Best Buy ,,,I'm tired of Sears

Hope ,my dryer is suppose to be delivered saturday,,,I guess I will survive but I'm like you I need my dryer. I hate crunchy clothes I too will get the frozen clothes as its getting cold here. I have to put a load out today but thats it untill sat. My DD13 will faint when she sees I've got her undies out on the line :lol: guess I'll put them in the middle and hang big towels on the outside. My hot load bag was overflowing so it had to be done.

so Hope you speak alot of golf,,,just how well do you play ?? I can't get the hang of it,,,too much baseball in me,, I swing way too high [yes its a funny site]

guy coming today to take bannister down so old dryer can be moved out and new one in [aggrivating but do-able,,I'll live]

now don'tcha all think I'm a old crank,,,but I dejunked feathers and bird seed,,,,gave 2 birds to a new loving home,,still have one bird but a much less mess,,,,girl was very happy to get birds,,I probley made the birds happy too,,my DDs were not giving them the attention they deserved

Yep...Hope's right...its coming!

Here is where we are in HGP http://organizedchristmas.com/hgpweek8.html
(link doesn't work...you'll have to cut-and-paste)

I'm not cleaning the kitchen this week, though MIL keeps it so clean that a DEEP clean is not really necessary right now, and when I put up my Christmas decor, all my regular "stuff" gets dusted/washed etc. I meant for this to be "windows" week, but the weather is NOT cooperating on that at all. They are all done except for the top level outside windows....and I may just let them STAY DIRTY!

I'm progressing well on the gift lists...I'm done with the DDS except for their "special must-haves"...whatever those turn out ot be!

DH is also getting a new ski parka..I'm wathcing the sales for that, but have the $$$ ready!

I have everything to make my bath milk/bath salt baskets but won't do the mixing and filling until later...I like the scents to be fresh.

I still need a clever idea for the Girl Scouts....any thoughts?

Had a test today...it went very well. I have one Monday and one Friday of next week, too. I still haven't started my big paper....have much of the reading done, though.....its on Sierra Leone...very sad/awful things going on, and even sadder is that NOONE is fighting for the betterment of the "everyday" people...they're just caught in the middle of self-serving para-military and political monsters who want control of the country for $$$ and diamonds...and they maim, rape, and slaughter the citizens just because they can. UGH! (This is NOT history...this is current events...and we hear very little about it because there is no (financial) gain for the US/UN in intervening...)

(Think I have an opinion on that situation?)

DD13 and I are going to finish her cape tonight as we have THREE events/parties on Saturday!!! DD8's school party and the neighborhood trick-or-treating are on Halloween, a week from tomorrow. I think Sunday afternoon will be jack-o-lantern day...that's DH's domain! I just roast the seeds!!!

Must go thread the sewing machine for dd13, then start dinner!

Lenora

My antique computer can only take so much and I think you're overheating it!! Not that you're wrong... I'd have thrown a fit too, and made darn sure they came on my schedule since the screw-up was theirs. I just hope for your own sake you're better at cooling down afterwards than I am, because that's where the damage gets done. Once you've made your point, force yourself to let it go.

I got my stuff dumped to the Salvation Army at the weekend, but there will be more. The next pile is already building up, of things I forgot and things I hadn't gotten round to. DH is away again, but back on Thursday night, which is quite a nice length of time. Long enough for me to get some things done and not so long that I get to even notice he's not here! You think I'm kidding... If he was in the country he probably wouldn't be home for 3 of those meals anyway at the rate things have been going, so I may as well get a few good nights' sleep, not worry about whether he's coming back for dinner and still have him around for the weekend.

Definitely on lists this week though. Since he's gone for those few days I get the car for those few days, and there's a load of stuff I put off at the weekend because I knew that and would rather get it out of the way on my own, including hunting up the next batch of workbooks for the kids in December. Don't look at me like that - they enjoy them or I wouldn't waste the money. I got my Christmas Countdown things printed out (I only wanted the checklists and the calendar), I got a box, scissors and glue for my illustrated discovery journal (Simple Abundance), I took my library books back and got new ones, all that bedding got folded last night while I waited for DH to leave (2am flight so he didn't leave until 12:30am) and all I have left is a miniscule pile of kiddie clothes for DD to fold, and the ironing pile's even smaller thanks to DH (knew I liked having him home at weekends for a reason!). And I'm planning... All my new library books were decorating books. The portion of Simple Abundance I'm reading at the moment has a lot to do with clean sweeping the house, making what you want of it, and I'm more than ready for a pre-Christmas declutter, so don't get too comfy in a chair or you might find yourself in a different room when you want to get up! I also have bills to pay *today* before they end up running too close to the wire again as they have for the last couple or three months. Lest anyone think that this means everything is organised around here, they might want to be aware that my desk is still the main dumping ground for all the decluttered-from-other-places things, so it isn't pretty right this second, but hey, it's work in progress, just like me.

And I'm wearing perfume again, at 9am with my nightshirt!

Kerri.

good now. My dryer is in and WORKS!!

I love perfume but it has to be certain ones as some make my head crash and burn. I use Cool Water,,my favorite. Jungle Gardenia, any Lily of the Valley. My friend wears Trejor and it smells heavenly on her but stinky on me. Sunflowers is good too. Poisin is excellent. Anyone else have favorites? I agree it should be worn whenever yuou feel like it. Why would you only want to smell good when you have a fancy dress on and going out to dinner...let me see that happens uhhhh once a year!!

Christmas,,ok I will be ready early this year. I already have started making many presents [family likes them] and Mom [ dear mom] has given her check early this year. {I shop for her}

I posted this morning but my computer crashed!

I hate the kind of perfumes that are really strong and make you feel sick the moment someone walks past. Actually my SIL puts on so much in the morning to make it last longer that anything she uses is like that! I couldn't even tell you what my perfume is - the bottle's plain and the box got trashed (I keep the bottle in a dark corner)... slightly sweetish I suppose, but basically I couldn't describe it. I chose Estée Lauder Pleasures for my SIL, and she has Anais Anais too, which my mother and two of my college friends wear a lot, and my MIL now too! Well I like it, but not that much! I've generally been a soap or deodorant smell person, or baby powder, but what the heck... we've all got a bottle stashed somewhere, so why not use it instead of 'saving' it. As Killy says, I only get the one dress-up event a year (and I missed that this last year!), so it would take me a couple of centuries to get through a single bottle, and I think it's just possible my taste might have changed before I got halfway! This bottle is now 2yrs old... it was a very unexpected Christmas gift from DH the year we went to the UK. I'd sniffed something nice on the way through duty-free, he couldn't find the exact one afterwards, so he got me another one by the same company which I like too. Not a big company... I think it was something like Ghost or... nope, I'm actually dead right. It says Ghost on it, but I'll be damned if I know the company! After 2yrs I just noticed it says Ghost in capital letters at the very bottom of the bottle - it's kind of an elongated frosted hourglass.

Could I BE any more off topic??

I think my 4th load of washing should just about be finished, but it's a single duvet and it doesn't have anywhere to go right this second! And in the meantime DS has managed to pee on 2 pairs of underpants an a pair of shorts, so my bathroom is right back to where it was this morning, smell-wise. At least the big towels, the blanket and the bedding all got dry in the meantime. I accidentally starte cleaning and tidying things this afternoon when I went looking for a free oil burner I got from The Body Shop. It was going to be given away at Christmas, but I've decided to keep it (plain black, square, very zen - it's fine while I figure out whether I really want to burn aromatherapy oils or not!). Couldn't find the darn thing anywhere though, so I turned everything upside down. Not bad considering I dozed off for 20mins or so face down on my bed and was seriously considering setting an alarm and doing the job properly. But then I couldn't find my phone to set the alarm on, and whilst looking for that I found 20 other things that needed doing, then it got stormy and I went for the hot chocolate, basket of decorating books and multiple candles approach instead. The phone turned up inches from where I'd fallen asleep!

I have at least one errand to run tomorrow - to collect my new specs - so it's difficult to know how the day will turn out really. If I'm feeling good I may spend the whole afternoon running around, but if I feel a bit dodgy I'll be back home as soon as the glasses are checked out!

Just to scare everyone... while I was curled up on the sofa bed with my hot chocolate and my decorating books and candles... I had Christmas music playing! Somehow it just seemed like the right moment, don't ask me why. I guess it must be years of programming, because no matter how lazy I feel this year about it I'm usually moving quite fast on Christmas by late October. I think I'll probably address all the cards next week, even if I don't feel up to the insides. No more sparklies this year... I'm not going to be spending hours on each card adding stamps and hand-coloured drawings and stars and stickers and glitter and all the rest of it. Not this year. Maybe next year I'll feel like it again, but not this year.

Kerri.