February's Dynamic Declutter, 2014

[Harriet]

"Your home is your emotional and physical base. If you're coming home to disorganization, you'll suddenly get a flood of all the wrong emotions — from frustration to panic. And if the clutter is extreme enough, you're literally living the panic response day in and day out, all the time.

"There's biological evidence that the stress hormone cortisol can cause an appetite surge. If you're stressing about never being able to find things, it really can lead to weight gain. Pay attention to how you feel about your living space and how that may affect other areas of your life."

The above quote is from Pamela Peeke, M.D., author of Fit to Live and The Hunger Fix. She doesn't think it's as important that we work on what might look messiest to outsiders as it is to change the spaces that make US feel most overwhelmed. If there's a room in which we can't feel relaxed and comforted because of clutter, THAT'S where we can make the most difference for our own well-being, not necessarily a space company will see.

Wow, I think that's interesting - especially the part about the connection between clutter and health. I do think it's important for me to make sure "front" spaces of my house are socially acceptable, so I won't have embarrassment or other negative feelings offering hospitality. But I get her point about the overwhelmed feeling when looking at too much clutter anywhere in my home. I deserve to spend time on what's bothering ME, and give myself the gift of less stress.

[Harriet]

Some of us schedule decluttering with Focus cleaning, by decluttering for a week in the area we will clean the next week. That way surfaces are recently cleared, and a deep cleaning easier.

What's the Focus cleaning plan? It was designed by our own Indiana before we came to this board, and carried on here, in our Organization and Simplification Tools Forum. The Focus plan divides a household into 9 rooms or areas for cleaning and gives one thread to each area. Each thread rotates, coming up in the Focus forum 3 times a year, and then just before Thanksgiving, Focus goes over to maintenance threads during the holidays. Focus cleaning is adaptable, of course, so even those following it drift in and out of different rooms as needed.

For anyone who would like some "company" decluttering "where" others are that week, here are the rooms where you will find some company this coming month:

Week of.........you'll find some of us

1/27/2014 Decluttering closets as we Focus clean the office or other room
2/3/2014 Decluttering the laundry area as we Focus Clean closets
2/10/2014 Decluttering storage as we Focus Clean the laundry area
2/17/2014 Decluttering outdoors as we Focus Clean storage
2/24/2014 Decluttering the kitchen as we Focus Clean outdoors

[Ivy]

I dumped trash, I dumped packaging, dumped old lists of email addresses and passwords, and a shopping bag, and we'll be slowly dumping stuff from Costco, as we open them, to use them.

I've not started decluttering my closets yet. But I will soon, this week!

[Nancy]

I have rounded up the trash.
Also have clothing sorted out and ready to load in the car for donating.

The neighbor has a trailer loaded and ready to leave she is cleaning the garage it looks better out the window here now.

[Ivy]

I threw away some old letters, pen pal addressed-to-me-no-longer-needed envelopes, and trash. We're getting ready for recycle day on Thursday the 6th.

I took several photos, from the top of the left-hand built-in entertainment center, of the grandchildren, to lessen the overload of photo clutter. I put the photos inside the main office, which gave it a more loving and friendly appeal. It's amazing how just moving 5 - 7 photos, will do for 2 rooms at the same time! Now, when we look at the entertainment center, it's tidy, we can see the forest for the trees, dusting will be easier and it looks much better. Decluttering is a good thing!

I wanted to say how much the office FOCUS week came at the most wonderful laptop-less week for me! I decluttered, rearranged, cleaned drawers, decluttered papers, etc.. cleaned shelves, in my small office. I was sweeping dust bunnies, swept over a bare spot on the floor, where my office wheel on the wood fir floor made bare, and a splinter came off! Fir wood is a soft wood. DH bought me a nice kitchen mat, to use over that spot, under my wheels. Now my office seems much warmer, cozier, and professional-looking. I'm so glad I decluttered, but "see" there is more decluttering, especially of papers, to do. I was tired of looking inside my office doorway to see CHAOS and not PEACE! Now, I have a Peaceful heart when I'm here or look in here. It's such a freeing experience. I can't express how much better I feel about myself and my office.

[BookSaver]

Almost finished with Phase 1 of the sewing group archived file project.

Phase 1 has been sorting through 23 years of archived materials documenting the history of the group. 23 years has meant a lot of different people storing papers into assorted sizes of boxes, some of which we are required to keep but a lot more of the "in case we need it some day" variety. Making the task even more difficult, it looked as if someone had spilled the boxes out and then tossed everything back in random order. Many things were in files together that made no sense to any filing system I've ever seen.

Anyway, I was given 7 boxes before I started my term as president. I served 4 years this time so I had a lot to add to the collection. We're a non-profit group with no fixed office, and that's an unreasonable amount of paper for anyone to store at home.

So far I have been able to condense what is necessary to pass to the new president down to
* 1 large (3 inch?) 3-ring binder of my 4-year term, which I gave her at the January board meeting.

* 3 large 3-ring binders in a bankers box with a lid. 1 of the binders was 4 inches wide, the others 2.5-3 inches wide.
* 1 plastic file box with only 1 binder and 2 thick files of papers, all of which I am not sure if we really need to keep
* 1 plastic file box with only empty hanging files and a little ceremonial wooden gavel
* 2 very thin files, 1 of which is important-papers-not-to-be-lost (non-profit tax-exempt status paperwork) and the other is documentation of conflicts between members
I was able to deliver those items last night. Out of my house, yay!

What I have left to do in Phase 1 will take less than an hour, to 3-hole punch the papers of the oldest records, and fill either one 3-inch binder or 2 smaller ones. (That's why it's so frustrating that I ran out of time to finish the project yesterday! See notes in PWYC.) Then I'll make a quick pass through the big box of stuff that I'm discarding, to make sure I didn't miss something due to haste and exhaustion. I won't have time to do that today, but hopefully can get to it before next week's recycle bin goes to the curb.

I used Harriet's suggested form with the little bubbles for tracking time this week. 8.5 hours Sunday, 12.5 hours Monday, 13.5 hours between the filing project & the meeting Tuesday. Good grief, isn't that insane for volunteer work? I'm not sure I'm in favor of having documented proof of the time it takes to do some jobs ...

Phase 2 of the archives will be going through the financial files I recently received. That will not take nearly as long, as our treasurers have been very diligent about organization. Plus they're only dealing with the 1 topic, not the multiple things the president does. I think mostly it will be tossing out ancient receipts that by now are not of any use, only taking up space. Maybe extra monthly pages that were summarized at the end of the year so the monthly ones can be tossed.

[Ivy]

DH and I have decided to donate a good, useable, rarely-used VCR to ARC of WA State, on their next trip for a charity pick-up. I'll go through my video tapes, to decide which ones I really need. Many are on exercise, but some exercises are no longer good for my particular aging body. I don't need to hoard, would rather bless others, so this is what we've decided to do. It made me feel good, to label the box "ARC" in several places, put it into the bunny room, until donation day arrives in about 6 weeks, I think. Sometimes it feels good to "let go".

We decluttered garbage, trash, and recycle to the curb for pick-up day tomorrow. Also, our old TV will be decluttered OUT on Wed. Feb. 12, too. We've been getting rid of boxes, wrapping, and packing stuff, too.

[Harriet]

Two "tall kitchen garbage" bags went to the Kidney Foundation's pick-up service. The receipt had been placed under the flag of the mailbox (which is more respectful than opening the mailbox) and it was soaking wet by the time we realized it. So I laid it out flat to dry. It's important enough to take care of, IMO. Might be happy to have a record of donations for taxes.

Odd experience that "The Kidney Fund" called right after I'd confirmed the pick-up with Kidney Foundation, which I've been giving to for many years. I assume another charity is starting up a competing drive? I looked it up and they are both very legitimate. K Foundation founded in 1964, K Fund founded in 1971. Obviously, I feel an obligation to stick with K Foundation, plus ds asked that we give any donations from his grandparents' house to K Foundation because he knew good things about them from his work in the fire dept.

I'd already told BookSaver that I DO think it's good she has this little 3x5 mini-record of the work, that she can file away for reference. It's healthy to have a clear picture in our minds of how much time we have volunteered/donated. Otherwise, we could burn out, growing tired but not giving ourselves enough credit.

[Nancy]

I have stuff sorted & ready to load was going to drop, off a box but had already done it! Took trash out too.

[Ivy]

I decluttered an area where I'd been crocheting near my recliner, on the sofa, today and the dining room table, too. Now I have some clutter on my end table. So I'll be baby-stepping decluttering there.