January's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

[Ivy]

I decluttered:
- 2 mailers with ghost books in them, back to DD in the mail.
- 1 mailer w/3 hats for DGD in the mail.
- Junk mail, trash for garbage day, and envelopes from b-day cards sent.
- I was feeling putrid, last night and sat down to read 2 women's magazines and recycled them.

[Ivy]

I re-decluttered the dining room table, putting it back into "company ready order". I decluttered the eating bar, too. I'm decluttering the laundry basket as we "speak." Load #3 is washing and load #2 is drying. Now Kitty cat, Tutu, will be very happy with me. She loves an empty laundry basket for some reason! What's 'up' with that anyway? A CAT is "impressed" when the laundry's done!

[Nancy]

RI took the kit. Trash out and remembered to drop off the bag of bags to recycle yea!

[Harriet]

January is my month for e-mail inbox declutter and that's going well, just one thing a day, not a big hassle.

Lots of declutter happening in dd's room. I know it probably seems I mention this often, but she can generate more need for decluttering faster than most people! Classic teen.

The declutter in the bathroom still needs to continue, I'm embarrassed to say! Hopefully that will get done quickly and I can move on to office and not be so far behind! I'm glad to see the master closet and laundry coming up, frankly, because bedroom, bathroom and office are harder!

The Kidney Foundation has not contacted us in 2 months, I don't believe. Don't know what's going on there. Ds28 specifically wanted us to donate to them if we could, but if this continues much longer I'm going to need to take some to Goodwill.

Amused at Ivy saying she felt "putrid" the other night, a funny word but very descriptive! Cats just dream of a contained space to pretend they are hiding, I think.

[Ivy]

I got trash dumped, moved scrunchies and ponytail bands to my walk-in closet shelf, because I now have a chin-length bob. Cleaned toilets, tidied bathroom drawers, too.

[Ivy]

I read 2 AARP Bulletins, put them in recycle, dumped trash, took address labels off a pkg. and put the cardboard into recycle. I ditched a broken barrette, too. I tidied up bathroom drawers, discarded packaging on 5 Dollar Tree list pads, and discarded junk mail, after address removal, too. I know these are just little things, but little things add up to a lot and just think what messes I'd have without decluttering.

[Nancy]

I dumped trash today for my decluttering.

[Harriet]

Went to visit dcousin today, for his belated birthday. I prepare myself when entering because I know every surface will be covered in things. I am able to tell him honestly that I don't care, and I don't criticize. I just mention when the subject comes up that if he ever wishes for work-help with it, I would be a good choice, because I truly don't see it as a huge problem for him. I think he is a collector, not a hoarder, and I'm really experienced at fighting clutter. His bathroom is very nice - needed to use that today since we came straight from church. But living area surfaces are full of books, papers, portable computers and technology, paintings. I would like to see him keep things off of chairs - I myself sat on the front fourth of a chair and carried on a conversation with him over the top of a file box on a card table. I don't mind, but others would feel weird about such perches.

Kidney Foundation called and there are finally going to be making pick-ups again, but not until the first week of Feb. If I hadn't already written "KF" on these bags, I would probably have dropped them off at Goodwill a month ago.

[BookSaver]

I've made it a priority to keep the rolltop desk horizontal surface cleared except for whatever papers I am working on currently. Love that work surface!

The desk chair is in front of a heat register, too. When the furnace is running and the drapes are closed across the big picture window, it's actually the warmest place to sit in the house.

Having a cozy spot is making the paper taming work more pleasant.

[Nancy]

I have gutted un-needed pages of notes from a planner.