November Declutter Strategy, 2024

[Harriet]

With the first ten months of the year coming to an end, and (hopefully) ongoing declutter through our homes, too, the vision of a calmer, more festive last few months is at hand.

In fact, the Focus cleaning calendar finishes up with the last round through the Dining area this week and Monday Nov. 4th starts Maintenance this year.

The idea of Maintenance is that the last two months are often such a busy time, and if we want it to be meaningful, better get ready for it.

Nobody's perfect on this, though (ask me how I know), so don't worry, there are plenty of organizing thoughts and declutter plans, maybe even some Stash and Dash that will be going on in November. I promise to come into our thread and admit to it!

The only definite order of business in Indiana's first week of maintenance was :
* Put away any Halloween decorations, clean up from that holiday.

Other than that, she advised to NOTICE the dates of holidays and celebrations as they will pertain to you and your family, friends, community and MAKE NOTES on calendars. Always good advice.

The next week, which starts on Mon the 11th, there is emphasis on changing decor and thinking ahead to the kitchen, and food hospitality.

(Nancy has already started giving more consistent attention to her kitchen counters, so she's ahead of me - I need to catch up!)

[Nancy]

I have been in the spare room this week counter lz got ignored needs attn.
Found another shirt to declutter this morning.
I sorted another box of papers today yea!

[Harriet]

I have been trying to post a happy thought here all month, but it was not to be. Might as well admit what I'm dealing with.

Here we are in another weekend in which the newlyweds will not be coming to help us with decluttering after all. They want to switch for the Thanksgiving holiday time, when, frankly, it will be more celebratory and not much ability to get work done. HRH needed to make an order for a couple space-consuming things, and even though I certainly would never stop him from what he needs, I did say we are cramped and it's getting tighter around here, so we need to be getting things out, not pulling more in. He insists that this will all be fixed when dd26 comes to help us. ... .. ? So, feeling discouraged.

Their stuff is making the most-used entrance to our home look and feel cramped/cluttered with containers waiting to finish the journey to their house. Each box itself is neat but taken as a whole it looks and feels bad. Their stuff is also taking up half a large closet, taking up about 15 square feet of floorspace in the too-small-already mud room, space in my car trunk, and more around the house and in the storage building. I am really getting tired of making excuses to everyone who comes when they have to deal with the containers at our doorway. When the health insurance guy came, and tried to give us a compliment on our storage building he hadn't seen before, it got all tangled up with an awkward comment about the clutter otherwise as he came in. He was embarrassed that it just made the three of us feel kind of bad instead.

I realize that they had to move so far away that any moving of things has to be a big deal. No one else can just take things to their garage or whatever without them being there - they can't leave it unlocked. They often need to borrow our truck to take much, so that requires extra trips. Still, winter weather and the holidays are virtually here. In other ways, they are such great kids, but I need my spaces back.

[Nancy]

(((Harriet))) I hear you and have been there.

I will share one experience dd had moved out 6 hrs. away so I sent her by mail stuff from her room I needed the space,
one box a month and put cup of soup in it.
I do not think any of the clothes fit but she luved the soup said it was like a care package from home.

Dson had a dead line on his stuff and most of it got donated or at least moved out to the shed he had the basement
and LH needed that space.

Trying to think what maintenance mode is for me.
I have a plan for LH tools in a tote I cannot lift.

I am thinking Jan. for this weather permitting that is.

Open up the tote and take out one or two tools at a time and take em out to the shed set em on the workspace,
then when the tote is empty bring it up and put em in the tote in the other shed. Spring might be more realaistic.

[Nancy]

I de-cluttered some thing on turkey day.
Took dd the hand mixer she wanted. I never use it told her to keep it.
Plus a Name tag Dgd #3 had in school for her desk found cleaning the closet went in the bag too.