October Clutter Challenge, 2015

[Harmony]

Getting caught up. I have 3 bulletin boards. One is command central with all appointment cards, etc., calendar with stuff marked on it, little raffle tickets dh takes to youth group (kids use to earn snacks) and he brings home extras every week; papers to take back to drs., library book date receipt. Very important spot in my house. I tidied that up & threw out a bunch of old appointment cards.

I keep my calendar above that on the wall, but we've been so busy I've been taking it up and down and the wall is getting pretty damaged with thumb tack holes. Brought out a smaller b bd and will mount that above to use for just the calendar. Have to find a hardware first as it's on the opposite end than I need. I have a long narrow fabric/ribbon one above my desk surface I keep important cards, notices, etc. on there and I threw some of that stuff away.

BBd in the office I'll have to do later. It's pretty full.

Extra closet: I'd done one of my linen cabinets recently so I rechecked that and the other linen cabinet and I peeked in at the big hall closet I'd done a big declutter in last time around. all is well there.

Crawl space: those are usually storage areas. I don't have a crawl space, but I do have that garage (shudder) and when I get a chance I'll look around in there.

Ok, I patched the wall and mounted the little board. Was struggling with this when DH came in. I had it mounted but it swung back and forth. So he screwed it tight to the wall. I moved far off appointment cards up to the top and put the calendar down where we both can reach it. Maybe DH will begin to use it now. I suppose all of you do this stuff electronically, but that would never work for us.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

China cabinet #1 is done. Will take a mental break from that for now. Too tired to push through and finish the second cabinet (and will probably ignore the third one entirely!)

[Harmony]

I wandered around the garage (no crawl space) and found a few things to move around, couple little things to put in recycle. I wish I could do more. If DH was here I could ask him a few things. For 6th, outdoor space, shed, I'm counting my work in the garden. I did empty a partial bag of fertilizer that was sitting outside and threw the bag away. Today with all the vine work, I really feel as though I put attention into the outside.

Today is clothes. If I can muster the energy I have much to do there.

Updating: I did look at clothes. Went into suitcase where I keep the ones that are too small for me and there was nothing to get rid of. Looked like I already did that. Sometimes things get very out of style and I decide not to keep. I once did that with a bunch of dresses. Then I looked at my closet and drawers. A couple things to move around, 1 to hem, but nothing to donate. The problem with my clothes right now is not the clothes, it's me. I either don't like the way things look on me at this weight even though they fit, or the colors don't match. Either way, I feel like I have nothing to wear all the time except work or around-the-house clothes. If I had $ I'd pitch most of this stuff and start over.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

The two days of clothes were done today.

I'm still very far behind on the list and have 4 days away coming up.

No focus here at all. And no automatic work either. I'm just a bump on a log full of worries and concerns and angry with herself for not being able to let it go.

Among other things, I've wasted this wonderful chance to work on things without dh around to distract me. He appears to be a worse distraction this time than if he was here!

[Harmony]

I did the car. Few things in there to toss.

Looking at paperwork, was planning to tackle the office closet, but that's going to be a much bigger job than I have time or energy for. Going to go through the bin of plans and throw away duplicates. I might be able to handle that.

Updating: after dinner I felt like I could handle a bit of work so I did tackle that office closet. I lost track after 350 pages mostly shredded, some just tossed. Old mtg application papers and old tax forms (for people who call 10 years later saying they never did taxes can they have another w-2 and yes that happens... so closet looks a bit better. Let's just say it's back to neat again.

Updating my post again: I purged a couple files (stuff I do periodically when jobs are finished) and then DH called me back to put some other files together. We went through whole big stepfile of miscellaneous papers and filed in "dead" file and threw some away. So today's declutter is done.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Got the car done today. There wasn't much to do, it hasn't got cluttered since July. On Sunday I dropped off the donated clothes so that got two green garbage bags out of the back and today I wiped it down on the inside as well as outside.

[BookSaver]

I dropped out of decluttering for awhile because ... well, you know, life happened.

Starting back again, I will take credit for decluttering my car on Tuesday. Of course, I had to do that in order for the Car Guy to have room to work to replace the latch on my trunk. Even so, it's nice to have the car looking nicer.

Hobby & Craft this week: I am continuing to work on downsizing my sewing & craft supplies. I'm going to a 3 day Sewing Camp next month. As I decide which projects to take there, I will fill a box with misc. stuff to give away at the next sewing group meeting.

It's time to pull out cold weather clothes. As I do that, I can let go of any that are not acceptable to wear to work. Also, I know for sure I have at least 1 summer shirt that is past its expiration date.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

So the last day I completed on my list was the 9th - the car. Which I did several days after the 9th.

Anyhow, dh is home, life is restoring to normal and I'm going to go with a flourish.

Did the balconies today - put away folding furniture, tossed dead/dying plants, rearranged slightly, put away all the little decorations (pretty rocks, wall hanging, artificial plants.) There are still plants out there but they can wait until they die, since I like looking out at green. I have no idea why they aren't dead yet, we've had many killing frosts but I still have geraniums blooming and the Norfolk pine and Boston Fern are still going strong. So they remain, offering me something living to look at out there.

Later today, I hope to get to the linen closet.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Linen Closet done!

Tomorrow will be 30 minutes organizing the book cases.

[Nancy]

Worked on the table & sewing room today. Took a bag in to the thrift shop this weekend.