The JOYS of decluttering

Thanks for all those fantastic comments and suggestions!! I guess I could safely say that the art of decluttering has now become a daily routine in my life! I'm excited about that, but I'd rather spend the time sewing. However, the new "clean" house makes me want to do more, so getting rid of the junk is very positive. 

I had some work to do in the office, and I actually had an OPEN flat surface upon which to do that work. The surface is nice and clear this morning, but it was a euphoric moment to know that I enjoy being in this space and can use it! 

Speaking of SOs, whose glasses are half-empty regarding decluttering, I mentioned at dinner that I was making massive progress in the office. DH's only comment was, "Oh—maybe we can eat in there sometime." We are NOT and have NEVER been the kind of people who eat in a dining room. I've used this room as an office for 21 years. This was another "if looks could kill, I'd be a widow" moment. In our previous house, the dining room was M's play area. 

If a room is designated as something, that's how he sees it, even if it sat empty for 21 years. Sigh --- and now you wonder why we don't travel together.

However, we get along like peas in a pod regarding EXIT Games. More on that in a minute. 

I have to share what I did yesterday. While I did NOT set the timer for 20 minutes, I gathered one pile of the crap I had uncovered, and I QUICKLY went through it. I touched each piece, and then it was GONE. I think I kept ONE map from the pile of stuff from the bicycle show, and the rest is history. It took all of FIVE minutes. I was jumping for joy after that little bit of decluttering. 

Here's one thing that I found. Seriously? The schedule for the Chi-Cheemaun ferry from 2014? There's ABSOLUTELY no need to keep this. This is the kind of stuff that I'm talking about when I say—do that fast sweep through the house and get rid of things that are absolutely ridiculous to still have in your possession!!! Get that recycling or garbage bag out—I know there is an easy bin or box full that you can get rid of! 

A ridiculous thing I uncovered

I've made headway on the second stack and hope to finish it today. 

The second stack of paper

Oh gosh—I even found a maintenance bill for my car—two cars ago. That went in the shredding pile. 

An old bill

The sooner the mess gets cleaned up, the better to get some time back in my day. WAIT -- that won't happen because I'll need to start at the top of the house and continue the decluttering until we have nothing (or mostly nothing left in the house). It's weird how I'm starting to look at this with a very different eye. How long has that decorative item been there? Do we need/want it? Some more stuff will be put in the donation box! It's addictive, and I LOVE it. 

These are the piles of stuff that were in the office and are now headed out the door when I get a chance. Hopefully, I can make a run to the thrift store today. 

The donation pile

This stuff is sitting in the Pony Express staging area. However, I need to open that white plastic tub and share its contents with you in case anyone wants something from it. Nothing in there currently has a home. It's not my stuff, and I need to get that cleaned up!

The Pony Express staging area

This looks like a disaster, but it's the kitchen island. There is some paper there as I need it to wrap some decorative items for the donation box. 

Things on the kitchen island to go

Then, I took a few more minutes and reviewed the daily CD stack. Seriously? This raises the question of why I have some of this stuff. 

In the early days of embroidery software, there was a separate program to convert formats between machines. OK—that's not a problem, EXCEPT. I only ever had one brand of machine. Don't ask why, as I've no idea why I have it. 

File conversion software

When I opened it up, it was a floppy disk. 

A floppy disk

A typing tutor? I don't think I need that. Garbage!

Typing tutor?

I also found a promotional CD for Husqvarna Viking sewing machines. The thing is that it was for the Designer SE, which I never had. Perhaps I was dreaming of owning it. I opened it up to see if there were any design files on it, but nope—it was just videos in an old format—so old that it would have been a pain to get them to open, so that's in the garbage. 

Promo video - GONE!

While walking the girls, I thought about the office and the mess. It's a much smaller mess than it's ever been, which is making me very happy. I also thought how nice it would be to work here with the emptier workspaces; we've only scratched the surface. Then I thought about what else I could do in the office, and that nice flat desktop came to mind. Wouldn't that be a nice place to set up a jigsaw puzzle? It's on the main floor, so Miss Lexi could hang out with me. I'd be closer to DH if he's watching TV, and if I happen to cook (GASP), I'm right beside the kitchen. 

So I started looking at the stuff on it. I found fabric in the two containers hiding behind the garbage bin. Those would be perfect for my Dear Jen project, so they went downstairs. 

Fabric in the office! 

Now, I could move all that stuff off and have the desktop free immediately, or I could devote that 20 minutes a day to get rid of more stuff. Be RUTHLESS. Which do I want more - the space to lay out a jigsaw puzzle or to continually stare and store this mound of paper crap? Let's see how that goes as I'm heading into another busy period and won't have much extra time, but I could spare 20 minutes a day! 

This is our current EXIT Game puzzle. The box contains four small jigsaw puzzles, and with only 88 pieces, it was a snap to put together. I bought this one used from the thrift store. The people must not have liked it, as they got to puzzle two and stopped. So the game is intact, and we can play. 

The current EXIT Game

We have solved the first three puzzles and all is good! OH - when I say all is good, the puzzles have given us lots to think about. They are doable, but we get much discussion out of them and lots of thinking! How the designers dream up the puzzles is beyond me. They are super creative!!!! And I celebrate each successful solution joyously. DH is a little less exurburiant than I am. He probably thinks he found the jackpot of lunatics. Hey -- you have to be enthusiastic about life because otherwise, it would be pretty boring. 

This game gives you options. You get TWO items and must choose -- the garlic or the tomato? The hammer or the sharp peg? You have no idea why you will need them later. And there's a handy backpack to "put" them in. We went with the garlic and the hammer. Did we choose wisely? I guess we'll find out. 

Our items in the backpack

I have three Zoom classes tomorrow and then two more on Sunday. The two on Sunday are easy to prep for, although I'd like to do a bit more machine embroidery. 

But I made leaps and bounds of progress on those for tomorrow, so that is good. My priority is those that are classes versus just a show-and-tell, which are the two on Sunday. The pictures are ready to load into the second one, and all is good. 

I was going on an adventure today, but my friend texted me that she was ill, so I'll stay home and go on the adventure next week by myself. That's OK. I'm kind of glad to have the extra day. But holy, I rarely check my cell phone until about 9 a.m. I know—I am NOT married to the thing. But I glanced at it early this morning and saw her note. Thank goodness because otherwise, my morning would have been totally different. 

Miss Lexi was lazing on the couch again. It's funny how she initially would NOT go near the couch. OK—she wasn't allowed, but once DH let her up, she thought the entire thing was hers. It's a mess, and I don't sit on it! Miss Murphy came in, and I encouraged her to get on the couch. No—she won't stay, but I think in the 60 seconds she was on, Lexi was NOT impressed. 

MOM -- her tail is fluffing me! 

And after Murphy got off, Lexi moved to where Murphy had been sitting. Just in case, she decided to get up again! 

Oh, and as I was working on the weekend homework, which involved sewing, I finished this small sample that had been sitting on my project table for a month or so. Yeah! One more thing is gone. 

Small sample - DONE

So all is good, and I'll be able to get all the presentations done and the notifications sent out today with no stress. I probably won't quilt a quilt today just to keep the pressure off, but you never know. I'll see how the decluttering goes. Imagine if I didn't have to do this! But I'm falling into a nice routine that works for me. While I sound pleased about it (and I am), there's still much work, mainly in the office. But I'm motivated for that clear desktop! 

Here's another essential thing to keep in mind. I have NOT once regretted getting rid of something. Not ONCE!!!! I'm mostly questioning how I managed to accumulate so much stuff, and the minute it was in my house, it vanished into thin air. Or at least I couldn't see it! WOW!!! I guess I better thank my Mom for this wake-up call! After seeing her messes (multiple houses worth) and currently working on the third, I refuse to fall into that trap! 

Hopefully, you are all madly working away at getting rid of stuff. You must be done with the drawers by now, so it's time to move on to a door. There are loads in the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry room, wherever, but pick a door and get to it!!! Set that timer if you have to! I also downloaded Messie Condo's book again. I'll try to listen to it this weekend. It's only THREE hours, it's extremely funny (but brutally blunt) and, for me, extremely motivating! I might stand over the desktop with a garbage bag and the recycling bin as I listen. What could I accomplish in three hours? 

Murphy alerted me that it was 7 a.m., and she needed to go out. It's more of a want than a need, but 7 a.m. is when they are allowed out. When I walked into the office, I felt excited at how it looked! Seriously? What has gotten into me? What will I do when the desk and the table top are clear? I might just move my bed down! Just kidding! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here to finish something today!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

I can keep a secret

It was an interesting day! You know how it is when one small thing leads to something completely different, and I found something that had been on the MIA list!!!! 

What happened? M had asked me to forward some DVDs and her Christmas ornaments. I found all three DVD cases, but only two had a disc inside. I checked the buffet in my office to see if any of her DVDs were in there. I also checked a box of CDs on the table, and that's where I found the CD player I had wanted several months ago. Putting tools back where they belong is important - do NOT leave them with a project. In this case, the project was to go through the box of CDs on the table. 

This is the shelf I looked at, and OH MY—there are quite a few CDs/DVDs in there. So, instead of tackling emails yesterday, I tackled this. Hey, the office needs to be cleaned up, and this has to be dealt with, so why not? That entire shelf was filled with boxes. When I remembered to take a picture, I had already rearranged a few things. 

The media storage shelf

I removed several binders with a few CDs/DVDs in them. The binders, with their pockets, were put in the donation pile in case someone can find something to store in them. The CDs were placed in a "to be evaluated" pile. I found this box with a mishmash of CDs and DVDs. What a nightmare mess!!!

Another mess of CDs/DVDs

Oh, my --- if someone else had found that pile, they would have called me crazy. How many CDs did I see with drivers for decades-old products? So, some of them got pitched into the garbage very quickly. 

Drivers for OLD products

Some CDs were not labeled, so I loaded them into the drive to see what was on them. I found some super cute embroidery designs. I was going to place the CD aside, but then I thought that was ridiculous. So, I created a folder on my external hard disk and copied the data to the appropriate folder. Then, I tossed the disk into the garbage. 

Transferring data

As I tossed, I removed what paper I could from the cases. The paper went into the recycling, while the cases and the CDs went into the garbage. My office garbage has never been so full. NO -- I am not keeping them to make crafts! 

Filling the garbage with useless CDs

New CDs were still in their wrapping. No one wants CDs these days, so they were unwrapped, the paper removed, and into the garbage they went. I still have ONE box of discs to go through. I found "worthwhile" data on three discs, all of which were transferred to the external hard drive, and I'll go through them when I get to that point. Moving a hard disk is easy when it comes to downsizing! 

I even found a 3½" floppy drive. Yes -- I have a drive for that, so it'll get checked at some point. 

A floppy disk

I came across several data backups, but since the data was from 2001, I didn't think I needed to keep it. Out it went. I'm glad I stumbled across this mess and hope to get through it by the end of the week. 

Data backup from 2001

Opening up those jewel cases for the CDs brought back a memory. When I worked at HP back in the early 90s, CDs were becoming a big thing. As a company, like all other companies, you had tons (literally) of sales literature to deal with. How did you keep control of it all? That is NOT an issue today. My job was to keep track of all the hard copy literature in our office, which was filed on moveable shelving units. 

The BIG deal was when they put the PDFs (I'm guessing at that file format) of the literature onto CDs. Yahoo!!!! It was a breeze for everyone to have all of the literature. Gosh -- that would be 1990! Can you believe it- over 30 years ago? 

Anyway, I remember someone—probably someone from the corporate office—who came to teach us about CDs and how to retrieve the data, etc. We even got a lesson on how to open those jewelcases! I laugh about it now, but at the time, no one knew how to handle a CD properly. I think most of us knew how to handle a CD, but this person at corporate needed a job, and that was to show us how to use the CDs. LOL. 

This brings me to another training I had when I was working. I had just started at the Bank of Montreal. I was in the Head Office, which, at the time (late 1970s), had just received a new photocopier. OMG --- this was complicated (it wasn't actually), but we had a course on how to use it! It was the start of my high-tech learning!!!

It's funny how one memory triggers another, and we don't need stuff to enjoy those memories. I have NOT found the missing disc, and I suspect that if it still exists in our house, it's with M's stuff. It's just a bare CD, not in a case, so it could be anywhere. But I had a thought where I might be able to get a duplicate or at least the file that was on it. That's a job for later today. 

I'm so thankful that I'm dealing with this mess now. I cannot imagine dealing with this for someone else. Everything would just get tossed. I actually enjoy doing this, and the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. It's fun to get rid of stuff. There is a lot of satisfaction in it, and the resulting clean spaces are exciting. I'm enjoying the memories and then let it go! 

If you're tired of cleaning drawers, why not open a cabinet door and see what you find? Lots more happened in the office, but I don't have time to tell you this morning. 

I also did some paperwork—just logging in my recently read books and my KMs on the The Conquerer website. I resented doing these little computer tasks in the past, but now that they've become part of my daily routine, I'm OK with it. I do NOT need to sew all day. After almost 25 years, that frantic need to sew is out of my system! I barely seem to sew at all! 

I did get some sewing done, well, I got some quilting done, and I'll share that with you tomorrow. I'm on my way to spin class this morning. 

I mentioned that I had finished reading The Alchemist the other day. Well, guess what happened? When I went to log the book on my list, I saw that I had already read it! What? I know—and it was in 2020, so not that long ago. It must not have made a very big impression on me since not once did I have any inkling of deja vu while reading it, which I usually do. 

The book is already in my "read" database

The question is—was it intentional that I didn't remember any of it to "force" me to read it again? It is a book about life, after all, and could easily be reread, as I think you might get something out of it each time you read it. Or is my brain actually failing? I'll pick Option number 1, please! 

You can probably tell me your secrets, and I won't remember them after a day or two. 

Here's a question for you: What does one do with music CDs? I don't have many—they are all Christmas ones. I guess I make a Christmas playlist on Spotify, and I'm good to go. Or I could start listening to CHFI after November 11, when they switch to all-day, everyday Christmas music until December 5. The CDs will go in the garbage later today. 

Many other exciting things happened yesterday, but I've run out of time to tell you about them. Be sure to grab a new spot to tidy up today. It's essential to do something EVERY DAY!!!! Even if you consider yourself a hoarder and like lots of stuff, get it organized!!!! That's so important, and you can't tell me that EVERYTHING in your house is precious to you. That's a bunch of BS. Start getting rid of it -- your kids will love you for it!!! 

If you read that book by Messie Condo, she will shout that you need to start doing this cleanup! Saying you'll let your kids do it is totally irresponsible! It is YOUR mess, not theirs. They have enough of their own issues to deal with, and having to clean out your house while they are grieving is hugely selfish! 

I'm with Messie—cleaning up and clearing out the house is making me feel physically and mentally better. But it took a long time to get here. I started with baby steps over ten years ago. After what happened in the office yesterday, I can see hope that I WILL get it done!! It's just a matter of time and on my schedule. I'm good with that. 

On that happy note, I'm out of here. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!