The decluttering journey continues.
I grabbed that basket of paper and took it to the kitchen counter. I love that kitchen space for my decluttering journey. It's big, the height is perfect, and there's loads of room. My kitchen counters are ALWAYS clear. There are a few minor things that I may do away with eventually, but for the moment, I'm not worrying about them. Let's say that my kitchen counters were NOT always clear. I remember days when there were a few free spots on our kitchen table to eat. The rest was piled with junk! The counters were no better. Note -- when I'm done decluttering for the day, my kitchen is back to how it's supposed to be!
I separated out those patterns and did some more sorting. Things were going well, so I brought out TWO more boxes of paper that were sitting on the office table.
I need to be very careful when I do this because I tend to take on more than I can handle in one day. And I did a bit, but it doesn't matter because I made good headway into getting rid of stuff and LEARNING to make decisions.
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| Decluttering on the kitchen island |
I found pages and pages of "to-do" lists that were no longer relevant, so I tossed them all.
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| OLD to-do lists |
Here's some of the stuff I found:
A card from when M went to summer camp in 2009 was put in HER pile. I need her to deal with her stuff (20 boxes at least) because I might have to tackle it if she doesn't. It drives me crazy when she refuses to deal with it when she comes. Dare I say that I've become obsessed with tidiness!
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| Memory from camp |
A newspaper article about my parents when their farm was hit by a tornado in 2010? That went into the drawer with the family stuff to eventually make into a book.
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| Article about parents' tornado |
This is a quote that I had to keep. I couldn't stop laughing at this one! I've had it for years. I think I found a lot of stuff that used to hang on the bulletin board in my office when I worked in a real office from 2016 to 2018.
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| An appropriate quote for me |
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| A fabulous quote |
I also found this new word. I'm sure we've all had our share of these people in our lives—the friends who aren't really our friends, but they get close to us and become our enemies. Nasty people, but they serve a purpose in our lives, and the trick is to learn to ditch them before they can stab you in the back!
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| Another new word |
I found this note. I don't even remember what I was teaching in person or who gave it to me. Thank you, whoever gave me the note!
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| A welcome note on a frustrating day |
I also found one more copy of my Tech Tips book. Since it's bound differently than the others, I think this might have been the original one. I might revamp this book and add to it. Should I? You know you can buy a digital copy of the book online, or you can get part of it for free by subscribing to QUILTsocial. Scroll down and you'll find the link on the right-hand side.
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| My Tech Tip book |
At one point, I had little piles everywhere. I found paper that went into the GOOS (good on one side) pile, some went into the "to be filed" bucket, and some stuff I kept in a CURRENT "to-do pile." And I got to put stuff in the office supply cabinet, and I knew exactly where to put it!
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| Let the sorting continue! |
I also had a recycling pile. Although it doesn't look like much, it's a start. Remember—every piece of paper that I throw away now is going to save me oodles of time when I need to downsize. That was the recycle basket. DH says we should just leave it for M to deal with.
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| The recycling basket |
But here's something very important that people don't understand about decluttering. It's not so much about leaving it for someone else to clean up; it's about recapturing that space in your house so you can live with freedom of clutter. And that feeling is like endorphins after running a marathon or doing a spin class. You cannot buy that feeling, you cannot take a pill for that, and the only way to achieve it is to physically clear the space.
Let's say that yesterday, the endorphins were running high. I feel so much better when I walk into the office. I see empty spaces on the table, which makes me feel alive instead of depressed.
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| Wide open spaces! |
So this decluttering is for the NOW, not to give M a break; I want to reclaim MY LIFE NOW.
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| More wide open spaces |
I never got to the patterns yesterday as I went through those two boxes I brought from the office table. When I was done, the big issue was what to do with those boxes. So, I took stuff from the desk and shoved it into those two pretty boxes rather than using open tubs. It just looks nicer!!!
The remainder of the stuff got put back in the wire basket, and I have this to go through. I'll probably have to go through it ten more times before it's all dealt with. That's OK. It's like cleaning a very dirty floor. Clean off the debris first. Then, work through the layers until you are left with a shiny floor. That takes multiple cleanings, but the reward is so worth it!
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| A basket of stuff to sort through |
I think I worked at it for two hours yesterday and made huge leaps and bounds of progress. If I could manage another two hours today, I might actually get rid of those patterns!
I had quite a chuckle though, as I looked at the shelves on the bookcase. This entire section is related to DECLUTTERING. Could I dare say that I have a nimiety of decluttering books and magazines? LOL!!! At this point, do I even need to keep these? I seem to be doing a great job without reading them. Perhaps I've been wrong all along. Maybe I'm learning how to declutter by osmosis!! Now, I have read some of those books. Does anyone want a book on decluttering? That picture is an oxymoron!! At least it's neat!
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| My collection of decluttering books and magazines |
OH -- one more important thing about decluttering. It is NOT enough to rent storage space to clean up your house. That is a total cop-out. Storage space is for the seasonal things you own that won't fit in your house. Storage units are NOT for the excess that you will never use. So, if you have a storage unit, get rid of it!!
I called the school yesterday, and they said YES. So I loaded all eight boxes of journals and papers, and off I went. It took a bit of time to get them into the office, but the secretary and the principal? vice principal? came out, and started going through them. They kept thanking me for the donation.
They also said they love pencils and writing instruments. They once received a donation—yep, that was ME!! Oh, they remembered that donation and appreciated it. The teachers would have been in heaven yesterday.
I did have an issue loading the car. Not because I think I've got a torn rotator cuff (My diagnosis. I know - that sucks, and I need to book an appointment with the doctor), but this happened.
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| Oh Murphy -- you cannot come in the car |
Then it was time to pop downstairs to get some work done. I got this quilt done. I had to babysit this one a lot because both the batting and the backing were barely larger than the sides of the quilt. I had to be there for the beginning and the end of every row, and so as not to forget, I mostly stood by it and watched it quilt. It's not a big deal.
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| Community projects quilt - DONE |
I got more work done, and I almost have the next quilt ready to go on the machine. It's a small one for me, and it needs to be in the mail by 5 PM today. So that's the focus today. Plus, I have a few other things that need to be tidied up, but not having to babysit a quilt will free up a lot of time.
Oh, here's an update on the EXIT Game Advent Calendar. Yep, we're still working on it. We only work on it when we eat dinner together, which hasn't been often the last couple of weeks. We were both stumped by Day 16 and eventually had to look at the clue. We had to look at the entire clue and even then, it didn't make much sense. Well, it did, but we got started in one direction and couldn't think outside that box.
Then we tackled Day 17 the other night, and WHAT? Nothing made sense, so we left it and went back last night. AHA—we found the starting clue, and then, after a couple of failed attempts, we easily got the answer. The trick was to find that starting clue.
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| The EXIT Game Advent Calendar |
We tackled Day 18 last night after our success on the previous one, and crap --- we need to find the starting clue, and well, we can't find it yet!!!
It's going to be a while before we can get back to it, but we should be finished by December 1 to start the new one for 2024!
Well, that's it for today. I sure hope you're tackling the clutter in your house. You'll feel so much more alive when the clutter is gone. The physical space is so much more appealing; the mental space is like winning a marathon. And I can't wait for the days when I can get up and quilt GUILT-FREE in a welcoming space!!!
But let's keep on tackling the drawers, and when you're done, you can move on!!
Have a super day!!! I'm off to spin class!
Ciao!!1
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