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Here's my plan...anyone want to join me? :) - Page 3

post #41 of 75
7/10/06 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
Way to go Bellona!!!

I just did a quick sweep of the basement, our bathroom, and the rest of the entertainment center.

Donations:

14 hair accessories
1 bath pillow
1brush
9 frames
3 candle holders
3 wooden bowls
1 vase
6 baskets
3 candles
1 plaque
1 decorative plate
1 dish drying rack
4 cassette tapes
1 ceramic dish
2 pr baby booties
1 knit bonnet
1 journal
1 pin
2 bracelets
1 stuffed Lambchop
1 mini rocking horse

trash:
1 positive pg test!!! (from ds2)
7 random toiletry items
12 photos
2 oatmeal containers
1 tote bag
1 roll of wrapping paper
1 flower pot
3 shoeboxes
5 cassette tapes
7 free internet cds
2 cat-on-the-hat hats
4 baggies of seeds
4 folders
1 framed x-stitch
1 framed wedding invitation
1 card
1 cup holder

total: 112
total so far: 712

All of the donations are boxed/bagged up and sitting by the front door. I'll stick them on the porch in the morning. I do have a friend who may come over tonight to dig through it. I want to say "NO!!!! Run for your life. You are just accumulating junk." But you know what they say about one person's trash...


Speaking of trash, most of it is bagged up by the back door, but I still need to gather some of it from various rooms.

I am sure that if I go back through my rooms again, I'll find more stuff. But I am pleased with how much I've gotten rid of so far! Looking in the basement, dh has SO MUCH stuff. I really hope that he will decide to go through it and get rid of much of it. Like I said in the first post in this thread, though, I can only control what I can control. We are going to finish the basement soon and he will have to deal with it, however.

I am not done with the project yet, though! I still need to do the filing cabinet. I know there is a lot in there that can go, even though I go through it periodically. And the garage awaits.

And then I have many, many things to put away and general cleaning to do.

I still can't believe how quickly this is going. And I am tickled that others have joined me in this task!

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post #42 of 75
7/11/06 at 2:18pm
Trini If your sweet ds didn't eat the paper while working, he would have a job at my house.


I have put a dent in pile #1. I think if I stay focus on it I will have it done by the end of the week. That will be an accomplishment. I did take the blanket off of the pile and washed it finally. That helped things look a little better.
post #43 of 75
7/11/06 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by princessoflove
Trini If your sweet ds didn't eat the paper while working, he would have a job at my house.


I have put a dent in pile #1. I think if I stay focus on it I will have it done by the end of the week. That will be an accomplishment. I did take the blanket off of the pile and washed it finally. That helped things look a little better.
I could definitely contract him out! He takes frequent nap breaks, though.

Are you tearing the papers up by hand one by one??? That's what I usually do and I hate it.

I just went through one drawer of the filing cabinet and pulled out 325 papers. I'll be busy shredding by hand here, too.

(Total items so far: 1037)
post #44 of 75
7/11/06 at 2:42pm
Thread Starter 
My donations are gone, gone, gone!!! I had everything boxed/bagged up and my friend came over. I wish I hadn't already called the Kidney Foundation, because it turns out she is having a garage sale and could have taken all of it. She went through it and I felt bad because I asked her to please leave some for the Kidney F. to take. I didn't want them showing up here and there be nothing. I wasn't sure I'd be able to cancel the pick-up in time. So she took a car-load full and I was still left with 3 big bags and two boxes. I put those out on the porch this morning. When I came back from the LLL meeting, they were already gone. YAY!!!

I now have all of the trash I've collected so far bagged up and sitting in the garage. Working on the filing cabinet now...
post #45 of 75
7/11/06 at 4:50pm

I'm here cheering everyone on!

post #46 of 75
7/11/06 at 4:56pm
Trini

I don't know about hiring a worker that might chew up some of the work, plus needs nap breaks.
His salary request might be too high for me to pay.

You keep me inspired with your hard work. You have done so much decluttering, and I am dragging alone. But I am hanging in there. I am shredding with my hands and with a pair of scissors, to keep my hands from getting too tired. I have one stack that I want to finish today to feel some sort of accomplishment.
post #47 of 75
7/11/06 at 9:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stone Fence
Thanks, Amy! I'm quite impressed with the progress the mamas on this thread have made!


Quote:
Originally Posted by princessof love
I don't know about hiring a worker that might chew up some of the work, plus needs nap breaks.
His salary request might be too high for me to pay.

You keep me inspired with your hard work. You have done so much decluttering, and I am dragging alone. But I am hanging in there. I am shredding with my hands and with a pair of scissors, to keep my hands from getting too tired. I have one stack that I want to finish today to feel some sort of accomplishment.
Well, if you're lactating, he'd be happy with that.

You know, in my area they have a "shred it" day where you can bring boxes of stuff out to be shredded. That would so be worth it for you if something like that were available. I've also borrowed a shredder from my job before. And lots of people own them. (I think you can buy them for less than $30.) It might be worth asking around to see if anyone has one you can borrow. Hmmmm. Maybe I should do that, too.

I seem to have slowed down my pace. The donation pick-up inspired me. I need to get back at it. I'd like to finish purging (but not shredding) the files tonight. Just need ds to go to bed!

You're doing great!
post #48 of 75
7/11/06 at 9:55pm
Thread Starter 
Finished going through the filing cabinet. 136 more items removed. I still need to shred everything, though. I also saved a bunch of stuff because I don't remember how long we need to keep it (tax forms and stuff). I'll start another thread with that question.

Looks like the garage is the "final frontier" for me... Tomorrow? Don't know what I'll do with ds while I work on it, though. Might be another naptime project.

Total items since Sunday: 1173
post #49 of 75
7/11/06 at 10:10pm
I've definately slowed down. This morning I had a friend's kids over for a few hours and I couldn't really do much with them here. Then this afternoon I ran out to do errands and it took forever.

Just picking up the house I got rid of

2 hair ties
1 audio tape
33 books
some bubble wrap
3 random pieces of trash
1 junk toy
1 pillow case

Then my brother came over and bought

1 tv

from us that I've been trying to get dh to MOVE OUT OF OUR LIVING ROOM since we got the new one. Then, this morning I tried tackling the nightmare that is our arts and crafts cabinets and got rid of

12 coloring books
5 holiday activity sheets
1 kids cookbook
1 business card
2 crayon boxes
1 colored pencil
1 sticker
2 toddler activity sets
1 stack of old post its
1 pipe cleaner
4 old drawings
1 (about 1/2 inch) stack of coloring pages

...but I got interrupted repeatedly so I gave up until after dinner when I decided I was absolutely positively going to get that cabinet done before bed tonight. Then I got

1 shopping bag of broken crayons and old coloring book pages, mostely.

So, my total for today is a measly 65 and one shopping bag.
That makes my total so far this week 655 and two shopping bags.

Tomorrow my goal is to have a higher total than any day so far. I want to get to the filing cabinet...I talked dh into getting rid of everything more than a year old in there. I also want to get my computer desk cleaned out...god only knows what I'll find in that black hole . I'm going to do my bathroom (not that I'm expecting to find much) and see what else I feel like. Maybe the kitchen? Or my bedroom? Hmm, I don't know
post #50 of 75
7/12/06 at 11:46am

I'm sorting pictures

I have lots. DH gave me a nifty file box and I'm filing according to category (wedding photos, family and friends, dogs and cats, horse pictures, construction pictures, etc.)

I threw out some that were just awful but not many.

I have another big box to sort.
post #51 of 75
7/12/06 at 1:38pm
Trini We have a local "shred day" maybe once a year. We already had it for this year. I am hanging in there with the scissors and my hands.


Yesterday I decluttered the computer table and I didn't even have that on my list
It looks so much better. I am almost finished with my pile of papers for #1. I should have that finished today. I am moving faster than I thought I would. Once I finished the computer table yesterday, I had a wonderful feeling and that has motivated me to move it along a little faster.
post #52 of 75
7/12/06 at 10:46pm
Ok, so...I did get some stuff done today, but not as much as I would have liked.
I got :

8 bibs
1 dish towel
41 items that went into the trash, but I didn't document them all
47 books
1 thomas the train book holder
2 preschooler learning packets
1 roll of streamers (ds#2 unrolled them when I was going through the drawer and I didn't want to roll them back up )
1 coloring book
4 magazines
1 plastic juice bottle
1 christmas card
2 take out menus
1 post card
1 page that had been torn from a book
1 toy manual
697 papers from the filing cabinet

Total this post : 810
Total this week : 1465 + 2 shopping bags of paper

Sounds better written out, doesn't it. I'm getting a little discouraged because I feel like I've gotten rid of so much junk...and yet my house doesn't look any different. Like yesterday I cleaned out our art cabinet which was absolutely packed...and it's still super full. Just gotta get rid of more stuff, I guess

I have a huge stack of papers that need to be shredded. I was debating whether I should shred them by hand or take them to my grandmother's house and use her shredder...but that means I'll be there all day visiting. I am watching a couple of kids tomorrow though, so I think I'll let the kids have a go at the pile and when they're done, there will be no chance of identity theft
post #53 of 75
7/12/06 at 10:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellona
41 items that went into the trash, but I didn't document them all





I know what you mean about the house not looking any different. How can you get rid of over 1400 items and the house not look different? It is amazing, isn't it? But for me, sometimes I just have to notice how my dresser drawers open easier, of there is extra space in the entertainment center or something like that and it feels good. I think for me it is more a mental clutter thing, too. I just picture the bag fulls of trash that went out.


I didn't do much AT ALL today. Just 46 more items - all trash. I didn't focus on any particular area but just started to get some stuff put back away and came across a few more items that could go.

Total: 1219
post #54 of 75
7/13/06 at 10:40am

Trini...

post #55 of 75
7/13/06 at 1:35pm
I am still working on pile #2 : and want to get it done before the weekend.
post #56 of 75
7/13/06 at 4:39pm
Alright, I'm back on a roll

I had kids again this morning and so I couldn't go upstairs to work. But downstairs I got rid of

1 junk toy
4 pieces of trash
2 books
3 cookbooks

Then this afternoon I did my bedroom and got
41 random pieces of trash (mostly old pieces of paper)
1 bottle of nail polish
1 bag
1 mobile
3 pairs of shoes
1 unused handprint mold
1 bar of soap
1 set of shower curtain rings
2 pairs of shorts
2 emery boards
1 dog toy
1 magazines
2 hats
3 pairs of socks
1 pair of mittens
1 skirt
2 sweaters
23 pairs of pants
29 shirts
3 thumbtacks
1 plastic storage container
1 box
4 haloween costumes
1 christmas baby outfit
1 baby headband
3 stuffed animals
1 baby blanket
2 pairs of pajamas
1 dress
3 cars
1 baby comb
1 puzzle
1 bib

Most of this stuff wasn't stuff that was normally in my room. I wanted to make sure that I got to my baby/kids clothes that I had in storage so last night I dragged them all out and stuck them in my room so I had little choice but to get to them today

So, total this post : 151
Total so far this week : 1616 + 2 shopping bags of paper



I had the kids shredd the paper this morning. They didn't get to all of it, but it was funny when they started my ds said "it's like a dream come true! I get to be as distructive as I like and I don't even get in trouble for it!" He's really not destructive...but he does enjoy making messes
post #57 of 75
7/13/06 at 5:16pm

Bellona...



your DS
post #58 of 75
7/14/06 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Princessoflove, do you know anyone with a fireplace? I am impressed with how you keep plugging along!

Bellona, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a machine, mama!

I got rid of just 12 more things yesterday. They were in the car. I think the worst one was my urine collection bottle from my dr's appts when I was pg with ds2. So it has been in there for 11 1/2+ months!

Total: 1231

DS and I started out the morning by hauling those huge bags of trash to the curb. (Well, I hauled the bags and he crawled around in the driveway and got really dirty.) After his morning nap we went to the zoo. When we got home, the trash had been picked up!!!! So all 1231 items are GONE. I must admit, I got a really sinking feeling. Did I get rid of something I'll regret? What was in those bags? It reassured me that I could come back to this thread and see.

We're going out again after his nap today, so I probably won't do much else decluttering-wise again today. I got SOOO much done early in the week, though, so I'm feeling okay about it. I still need to do some cleaning. I think I need to wait to work on the garage when dh is around to watch ds.

I need to shred some of the papers from my filing cabinet, too. I'm hoping that dh will agree that a shredder would be a good thing to have. Otherwise, I'm shipping the stuff off to your house, Bellona, so your son can be destructive again.
post #59 of 75
7/14/06 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by trini
I need to shred some of the papers from my filing cabinet, too. I'm hoping that dh will agree that a shredder would be a good thing to have. Otherwise, I'm shipping the stuff off to your house, Bellona, so your son can be destructive again.


I've decided to keep papers we'd normally throw out so that he can do this on a regular basis and not have to wait for me to clean out the filing cabinet
post #60 of 75
7/14/06 at 1:40pm
Bellona Please send the kids over to my house to help with shredding . Your are really on a roll getting things done.


Trini I have already make reservations for Bellona kids to shred at my house I was going to hire your son but his high demands was too much. The need for naps, snacks, treats, and probably play breaks. I just could not afford. You are doing excellent with decluttering. We have a fire place but between it being 85+ degrees already and me not wanting to add having to clean the fireplace to my list of things to do, I'll keep up the shredding by hand.



I am slowly moving along. I have only a few papers left from pile#2 and I am going to get rid of them now. Than I will get started on pile #3.

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › Here's my plan...anyone want to join me? :)