Purging & organizing help

[pamcook]

Looks like this topic has struck a nerve. Thought I’d start this thread so we don’t lose track of all this information.

Please post your tips, resources, successes, on-going projects - whatever. No judging of course!

When I go to the thrift store (there are 3 large ones close to us), I try to take a minimum of 9 items or multiples of 9. Flylady says it has something to do with feng sui (no, I don’t remember how to spell it and neither does Siri.). It works for my brain.

You can’t organize clutter. Keep what you love and/or blesses you/your family (yes, from Flylady).

Keep a cardboard box somewhere to gather donate items as they surface.

Wash the dishes every day. I don’t have a dishwasher but there’s only two of us. Amazing how that one thing gets my day off on the right foot.

Make your bed as soon as you climb out of bed. I started this years ago. After a few months, Joel started making it if for some reason I got distracted!!! I know.

How’s that for a brain dump?


When all of my clutter is gone and my stuff is organized, then it might possibly be okay to deal with Joel’s. Probably not because he has never ever said a word to me about mine.

I follow The Minimal Mom on YouTube and another woman who I really identify with but can never remember her name - will add it later. (Dana K White) They both encourage me.

Right now I’m loosely working through A Bowl of Lemons cleaning project. You DEEP clean one area of your home each week. This past week was the kitchen and all I did was mop the floor. I used every possible excuse to avoid it. So this week is for real the kitchen week for me. I remember going through my kitchen last year and can’t believe a year has gone by already.

[jmp1022]

Good idea

[jfugina]

Thanks Pam - this is great! I remember reading a bunch of FlyLady advice many many years ago, and thought that if I lived on my own, that would be totally do-able. LOL. Maybe someday, when I have less square footage and only one slob to try to stay ahead of, it might be something I can manage. But for the moment, the energy it takes to stay ahead of three slobs is more energy than I possess. The problem with all of these methods, is that they only work if the entire household is "all in". When that's not true, then it's just the one person being the household "bad guy".

I think I've decided that the next thing I'm going to tackle will be paint. I still have all of the original 5 gallon paint buckets from when our house was built 20 years ago. If I'd been smart about it, I'd have just transferred enough into smaller containers for touch-ups, and then recycled the rest while I could. But now I have to take everything and mix in some sawdust to solidify it so that I can safely put it in the trash. There are probably 8 or so 5G buckets, and another dozen gallon containers that are too old to be useful. I'm probably going to set a goal of one or two of those per week to keep it from being too overwhelming.

[Monica]

Great tips!

One of mine would be also keeping a 'to go' box in the craft room. When I'm getting something out, or looking for something, if I run across an item or items I don't use/need and haven't even touched in years, it either goes right then or is set out on the desk to be used within a week or so. If it's still not used within a month then it goes. And no going back into the box to remove things!

[nchoney]

Decades ago, I used to be organized... maybe cuz mom kept telling me to go clean my room... LOL

With this whole scrapbook room repair/refresh/remodel or whatever... I started out with the organization being key. I bought tote boxes and put like things in totes.... watercolor/painting ... alcohol inky stuff... tools.... that kind of methodology. I still need to work on the stacks of totes and label them all.. and stack them so the least-used things are on the bottom. (If they stay on the bottom for too long, they'll find themselves being donated to someone)

I also have some Iris containers with supplies in them... Things that I know I'll be scrapping a lot... beach, crafting, dog, zoo... I have lots of supplies for those themes so they're in the big Iris containers. Some smaller themes are in the containers that are a few inches deep. So - if I want to work on that kind of photos, I can pull out a container.

I DO have a donation box by the door right now. I've got a couple options on the donating.. so that's good!!

I've also got some card kits that are ready for me to put them together and those will be donated, too. Soon!!

I had a bunch of smaller containers that I promised myself I would actually SORT through before dumping them in the clean room... and I did that with a bunch of them yesterday. I also unrolled every roll of vinyl and cut it into 12" lengths and then stacked some heavy stuff on them to try to flatten them... and now they're in a 12x12 paper container. That was about 20 rolls that were taking up way too much space... and now they'll be flat enough to actually use... and they're only in one container.

The next big thing to finish bringing into the room is cardstock. OMG the cardstock. But... it's coming back into the room and WILL get sorted by color families. I've got its "home" ready and waiting.

The last big thing is a stack of Club Scrap papers.... my goal is to grab one of my containers that has a year's worth of photos in it... and make page kits using the CS papers... the photos need to go on paper... the paper needs to be made into layouts... so... going to try USING it. Then the bits and pieces will go into the general cardstock supply or will be made into cards ASAP.

It's a huge plan... but the wheels are already in motion and I have to get the scrapbook stuff out of the bedroom we're not currently using... so we can fix the flooring and put the walls back up... and move back into that room.

[jfugina]

Oh my gosh Debbie - I'm overwhelmed just reading that post.

We do have a few odd boxes around the house that are meant to be for electronics recycling. I just can't let those go too long because the temptation to reclaim stuff out of the box is too strong in my house. Nicole has a designated "goodwill" corner in her room. She goes through clothes faster than I can fathom. She loves thrifting, so she'll spend $1 on something only to wear it once and decide she doesn't love it and put it in the donate pile. She also works at a clothing retailer and gets significant discounts and quite a bit of free stuff, so she's always making room in her closet for her new name brand clothes from work. It's going to be interesting when it's time for her to pack for college and she has to decide which pieces she wants to live in for several months.

[nchoney]

it has been a long process... started back in .. hmmm... October maybe... because Mike had to fix the floor joists and flooring. So... there was lots of sorting done back then. I've been finding all sorts of things I had no clue where I had stuck them... LOL

Sounds like your daughter will surely have a tough time limiting her wardrobe for college