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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 1, 2016 18:34:09 GMT
Thank you, MTM, for starting last month's thread while I was so swamped with dealing with my sister's estate and my nephew's needs. What do all of you have on your plate this month, cleaning and organizing wise? Here's a good place to post your to-do lists, your "got done" triumphs, and your tips and tricks for keeping things clean and organized.
We all have something to learn and something to teach. Even my dear sister, may she rest in peace, was an inspiration to me. She was a hoarder, and after every day spent cleaning in her house, I was inspired to come home and take a critical look at my own home. I'll tell you more about it in my next post. But for now, I'll just say, I have done a lot of decluttering in the last month or so, because I know how hard it was to clear out her place, and I don't want to leave that same mess for my own family. I'm not nearly the "clutterbug" that she was, but I worry that I could get there if I don't take care!
So, please join the fun and tell us what you are doing in (and out of) your own home this month. Are you Fall cleaning, preparing for the holiday season coming soon, or just trying to maintain an already tidy home? If you have reached the maintenance phase, you can tell us what you did to get to that point!
If you have reached the true hoarder point, I will urge you to seek professional help to deal with the underlying issues that cause you to be unable to throw away the truly useless stuff while you learn how to declutter your life. More on that in the next post, too.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 1, 2016 19:12:05 GMT
"If you have reached the true hoarder point, I will urge you to seek professional help to deal with the underlying issues that cause you to be unable to throw away the truly useless stuff while you learn how to declutter your life." I get it. It starts with keeping a few frozen juice can lids to make Christmas ornaments someday, and ends with your home being so filled with EVERYTHING that you don't even know where to start, and you still can't throw away a lid because it causes mental anguish and physical pain if you try. You can't share the problem with anyone because you are ashamed of the situation. A part of you knows it isn't normal, but a bigger part of you fears what will happen if you try to change. This is something that takes more than just a cleaning an organizing thread of supportive people to fix, but we can still listen and encourage, and since we will likely never meet in real life, it is safe to share the situation with us. Please take steps to improve your life. It is incredibly freeing to not have clutter rule your life, and it can literally SAVE your life. My sister died, not of the breast cancer she was fighting, but of the combination of being immuno-suppressed from chemo and living in a home that had not been cleaned in at least 25 years and was so full of STUFF that there was only a tiny pathway to walk through the whole house. If I had known it was that bad, I would have told her doctors and taken steps to get her out of the house before she got so sick. But, she didn't let anyone in the house. She even let everything in the yard grow up into an dense jungle literally hiding her house from view. Several different neighbors came over and told us they thought it was an abandoned house and didn't know anyone lived there. On the outside, she was very organized and put together. No one would have thought from looking at her that she was living this secret life. It makes me incredibly sad to know she was keeping this secret. I mentioned in the first post that I did some major decluttering of my own after being at her house each day. For starters, I took all the outgrown baby stuff from my grandkids and donated it to my nephew's garage sale, and it nearly all sold. The rest will be donated to charity this month. I took a good look at all the pots I have and realized I'll never use all of them. I have a friend who experiments with hybridizing daylilies and she was grateful to get several huge garbage bags of pots from me already, and will be happy to take the rest of my excess, so I'm taking her a bagful every Monday when we have handbell practice together. I've gone through my shipping container storage unit and organized it again, sending more to the garage sale from there and making it so that I can find the rest of what I kept. I've done some serious work on my house and grounds, taking the opportunity to dispose of what can't be recycled in the dumpster at my nephew's. I've taken load after load from his place to recycling, so I don't feel badly for replacing some of it in the dumpster with my trash. I've even found myself sweeping cobwebs at home almost daily after dealing with the cobwebs there. I want to decorate for Halloween, but not with real cobwebs, lol! This month, I will continue to take a critical look at my own home and do my best to continue cleaning and decluttering everything. I've brought home any number of useful items from my sister's place (all cleared to take by my nephew and will offset some of the expenses I paid for him, such as the cremation and part of the cost of the obituary). Even though they are useful, I have been working hard to make sure each thing finds a place and that I remove something else from my home to make room for the new additions. My sister and I wore a similar size shoe and shirt, and I did find 5 pair of New Balance shoes (which fit my feet better than most brands of athletic shoes), from brand new a few weeks before she died to "fit for working in the garden" and every stage in between. I took them home and washed them in the automatic washer with a bit of bleach and detergent. They came out looking much nicer. A baby wipe took off any remaining soil on the outside of the leather, and some scuff coat shoe polish brightened them up to the point where even the oldest pair now looks like they would be presentable enough to wear off the property! In exchange, I took a number of pairs of shoes that were like new, but didn't fit my foot comfortably enough to wear for more than a few minutes, back to the sale. Every pair that I donated back sold, too. I needed summer tops that actually fit (I'm still working to take off the excess pounds, but it's slow going), and found a half dozen nice ones, along with a couple pair of pants that fit fairly well, and will fit better when I lose another 5-10 lbs. My other sister took the brand new bras bought the month before our sister passed. What can I say? They got the boobs and I got the booty, lol! I brought home a lot of food, both new and old. The old stuff is feeding my poultry and dog, and much of the new stuff is, too, as anything not in tin or glass took on the "flavor" of their house. I did add a couple cases of canned goods to my pantry - all stuff my nephew will not eat (he's pickier about food than I am, and he doesn't cook much from scratch). I have a lot of ancient frozen meat in my freezer right now - totally unfit for human consumption, but Muttley doesn't care if it's so freezer burnt that it's practically freeze dried. He just thinks it's all marvelous. Of course, all of you know how much I love books and canners, lol. I brought home a number of beautiful quilting and counted cross stitch books and kits, quite a few various books from her collection, and a still-in-the-box deep Presto canner. I will be giving away one of my shallower Presto canners to one of the gals that has been a huge help throughout all the cleaning and clearing out, so I will still have the same number of canners - just one that is more useful to me. There's a lot more I brought home, from toiletries to family heirlooms that my nephew didn't want. I have my mom's copy of the Joy of Cooking, 1943 version, and her recipe box. It is a thrill to see my mom's handwriting again. The only problem is that it all smells horrible, so it all needs time in fresh air to remove the old house odor. The other books seem to smell fine after spending time in fresh air and a bit of sunshine. Best of all, I have my nephew convinced to go look at manufactured homes and get pre-qualified for a mortgage (he owns the land free and clear, so he has equity) that will cover fixing all the things needing work, from the well filter to the septic system, a reliable vehicle (the new one has to go back to the bank, thank goodness), demo of the existing house and the prep for the manufactured home, surveying the lot lines so he knows what trees he can cut and exactly what belongs to him, and the new(er) home. It will take some time and effort to do all that, so I'll be working with him on it this month and possibly the rest of the year.
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Post by susannah on Oct 2, 2016 14:01:09 GMT
manygoatsnmore , thanks for getting this started - and for everything you shared in your post! Wow. I started a huge declutter project five years ago - shortly after buying this house. This house did not come fully furnished - it came fully OVER-FURNISHED. According to his son, the original owner was a hoarder - with a love of warehouse club stores, too. For example, the house came with many, many cans of stainless steel appliance cleaner. Thing is, there wasn't a single stainless appliance anywhere in the house. The first year we owned this house, we still lived in the city. We were approaching retirement, and wanted to have our "first stage of retirement" house up and running for when we did retire. So initially, it was kind of a good thing that the house came furnished - our furniture stayed down at our house in the city, and we didn't need to buy a single thing for this house. Then we sold our house - but my husband was still working a consultant job in the city. So we moved to a small downtown studio apartment while moving the bulk of our furniture and belongings up here. That's when the fun began. Right. We donated a lot of the furniture, dishes and other household furnishings to a couple of the charities and thrift stores up here. We made a lot of trips to the dump, too. One of the things that came with the house was a broken player piano. If it had worked, we'd have had no problem finding someone to take it. But no one wanted a non-working one. So my husband and I systematically dismantled it. And hauled it to the dump IN PIECES over several trips. We'd gotten rid of a lot of stuff when we first bought the house (pink leisure suit from the 70's, anyone? Mouse-eaten bags of flour? Very interesting art work? Etc.). But we hadn't even made a dent in all the stuff. So, I guess phase two of the decluttering began. We're in phase three right now. One of the quirks of this house was the big, concrete floored workshop. It was part of the house, not part of the garage. And it, too, was fully furnished. My husband had most of the same tools - some inherited from his father. Did we get rid of the duplicates right then and there? No, that would have made things too easy. Fast forward to the present - when we realized that workshop really wasn't getting much use - and the garage was plenty big for using power tools along with storing our car and truck. And we really needed more sleeping room for guests - we live on a lake and have lots of company. So dh finally got rid of the duplicate tools, and we dismantled the workshop and powder room, in preparation for turning it into a third bedroom with full bathroom (yes, our project of this past year...and next year). So our goal became - and still is - finding a new home for everything that used to live in the workshop. And let me just say...YIKES. So far, we've moved all three cabinets from the workshop into the garage. Started getting rid of more stuff we'll never use. That part's okay. Problem is, it can get very cold in winter. So we wanted to store many things inside the house. Our basement is divided into a fully finished family room (75%) and the old utility room (25%). At this moment in time, the utility room has floor to ceiling boxes. Makes it interesting when you want to find something that you know you have...you just don't know what box it's in. This fall, this winter...the big project is organizing the utility room. There was a double clothes closet down there (no idea why, but I also have no idea why my house has a double fireplace where one side fronts into a hallway - that's another story, though). I suggested we take out the clothes poles and put in shelves instead. My husband took it one step further, and said why don't we rip out the closet entirely, and use that whole recessed area for shelves. I love that idea, and am almost looking forward to the great basement decluttering of 2016-17. I hope to post progress reports here often.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2016 16:22:06 GMT
Fall, time to move the wood stove back into the cabin. Cleaned the whole place in the last week, top to bottom. We moved the Buffet from our bedroom back into the living area, changed the whole layout, AGAIN. Got rid of a chair we kept when we bought the 2 new swivel, recliner rockers. Moved bed back in but put the headboard to the east, centered below that window instead of off centered on the south window. Put the rug back down for winter under our recliners and lamp table/chest. Thought about getting rid of it but it cleaned up nice so 1 more year. We have completely lived out side since May 10th. Took the screens out of the sleeping porch, put storm windows in. Moved the outdoor chairs and things in there. Seems spring/fall seasons are a shuffle every year. It started raining yesterday, all night and still today so we got it done in time. Don't need the stove (heat) yet, will continue to cook in the fire pit as long as it is warm. Started cutting back flowers and mulching the beds, moving a few. DS is putting a few around his cabin, dividing some bulbs. Everyone is off east, elk hunting so doing some chores for others until they are back on the 15th. Then we will be off to the Lake cabin for a week or so, cleaning and buttoning up for the winter....James
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 9, 2016 23:43:22 GMT
Flylady Week of October 10/9/16 ( manygoatsnmore, susannah,@jwal10,) Mon: 27 boogie fling for 15 min. in the bathroom.27 boogie fling for 15 min. in the guest bedroom if you have time. Tues:bathroom--clean tub and shower.guest bedroom==change bedding. Wed: Bathroom Mission: Today you are to wash your bathroom rugs, shower curtains and accessories.guest bedroom--corner cobwebs. Thurs:For the bathroom today, take 10 minutes to toss old cosmetics,lotions and perfumes. Fri:Clean counter tops and bathroom sinks. FlyLady’s Detailed Cleaning List – Zone 3: The Bathroom and One Extra Room Bathroom detailed cleaning list Wash area rugs Scrub/wax floor Straighten drawers/ cabinets Clean shower stall/ wax (not the floor!) Wash shower door Clean medicine cabinet Clean scale Throw away empty bottles Extra bedroom detailed cleaning list Polish furniture Straighten drawers/closet Clean cobwebs Wash mattress pad/dust rug Flip mattress Wash curtains Wash windows Clean window Clean bath tub Clean top of sewing machine Straighten bookcase Straighten computer desk Clean out the closet Put away stray items Fertilize plants Children’s bathroom detailed cleaning list Wash area rugs Sweep/scrub/wax floor Straighten drawers/cabinets Clean shower/tub stall Wash shower door Scrub bath toys Wash down outside of toilet Throw away empty bottles Children’s bedrooms detailed cleaning list Polish furniture Straighten drawers/closet Clean cobwebs Wash mattress pad/dust rug Flip mattresses Wash curtains Clean window Straighten toy shelves Clean under the bed Clean out the closet Put away stray items Sort out-grown clothes Vacuum under bed/closets Dust baseboards Clean fingerprints off door/walls Rearrange videos/games/books Office detailed cleaning list Clear off the surface of your desk Throw away pens that don’t work Sharpen pencils Throw out all the trash Put items to keep in a pending file for Wednesday (desk day) Do not stop to pay bills Straighten one drawer at a time Toss out old receipts from over 7 years Clean off the monitor screen Fill printer caddy with paper Establish a place for current bills Vacuum under desk and the whole room Dust furniture Clean windows Remove cobwebs Check supplies of paper and printer cartridges Stamps and envelopes Laundry room detailed cleaning list Wipe down the top of the washer and dryer Clean the gunk from under the washer lid Throw out empty bottles and boxes Empty the garbage can Check supplies of laundry detergent, softener, spot remover Sweep and mop the floor Remove the cobwebs Put away all clothes Look behind appliances for odd socks
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 9, 2016 23:58:44 GMT
Manygoats: Thanks for starting this and thanks for your words of encouragement for those struggling that way. I watched a friend go down that path and there was nothing that we did that made a difference. Eventually she was jobless, homeless and then, sadly disappeared (and no one could find her, no way to reach her, no one knew where she went). I don't understand it but am hugely saddened when I hear of it.
Its one thing to have a clean and tidy home. What I like about Flylady is that over the course of time, I am slowly getting to the things I don't use everyday that get forgotten in attics, closets and garage.
I've only been able to clean the kitchen, wash floors, wash, dry and put away laundry this weekend. Hope to get back on the bandwagon!
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 10, 2016 19:51:09 GMT
I spent time on my bedroom yesterday. Not just the surface cleaning, changing the sheets, etc, but also dusting off all the shelves and bookcases, rearranging bookcase contents, and collecting items that need to be returned to stores. I went through all the receipts and found the ones necessary for the returns. I went through all my Sudoku books and took out all the ones where I've worked the hard puzzles and bagged them up to take to the Senior Center. I'm pretty sure there are a few folks there who work the easier ones (and a lot that work the hard ones). If I can donate them, someone will get some use from them. I hate to throw away a half-used puzzle book. I'll do it, if I must, but would rather someone else got some use from it. True confessions time: I was forced into cleaning and straightening my bedroom by my two kitty-boys. They are becoming teenage kitty-boys and don't always take no for an answer, insisting on jumping up onto surfaces that are already full without a cat being added to the mix, lol. When things start getting knocked off, you know it's way past time to clean up. I'm supposed to be doing a quick straightening every day so that kind of thing doesn't happen, but with working on two houses, a few things have been let go. I also washed up a little three drawer plastic storage unit on wheels that I found at the recycling station last week. There's not a thing wrong with it, other than it being dirty. A wipe down with a damp rag to get the worst off, and a quick wash, and it looks great. I'm not sure where I'm going to use it yet, but it WILL get used. I did all the laundry, including sheets (as mentioned) yesterday, but on my last load, the washer didn't spin out. Drained, motors hummed, nothing spun. Luckily, I have a second washer that I use to spin out things that my main washer doesn't get dry enough, so I can finish my laundry, but it looks like I'll need to take a look at the innards and watch some youtube vids to figure out how to fix it. I figure it's probably a belt. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to move the front loading washer back into that spot and use it, leaky door or no leaky door (very poor design with only one hinge and a flimsy one, at that). Lots of towels on the floor and a weight against the bottom of the door to keep it down to a minor trickle, coming up. I'm glad to see bathrooms are on the list for this week - the little bathroom needs a good deep clean. The master bath, which we use daily, gets at least a swish and swipe regularly, but I do need to straighten under the sink and do some rust removal on the shower stall. Thanks, midtnmama, for posting the weekly zone. susannah, I wonder what they were thinking with the double fireplace...was the hall eventually going to be bumped out to make another living area? I've enjoyed the tale of the useless hallway, but I somehow missed the part about it having its own fireplace. I'll pass on the pink leisure suit, thanks, lol!
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Post by kawaiitimes on Oct 10, 2016 22:49:14 GMT
manygoatsnmore, there is nothing like cleaning out someone else's hoard to make you really self-analyze why you are keeping so much stuff yourself. I was just talking to my FIL about that this morning while baking bread. I have carpel tunnel and so I let my Kitchenaid do all of the work for me aside from rolling out and shaping the loaves. He mentioned getting a bread machine so I could "set it and forget it". I used to have one - it was nice and convenient. But the loaves weren't "pretty" and were always an odd size for making toast or sandwiches. I love the gorgeous loaves that I make now, and really the only inconvenience is that I have to be home to move the dough from the machine to where the dough rises a couple of times. I'm home right now anyway - so why worry about another appliance that I'd have to clean and store? Anyway - I just wanted to echo your point that if *anyone* has an inkling that they might be missing out on life because of their stuff, I hope that they will be encouraged to find help. To this day I wish my MIL could have seen the damage her hoarding was doing to our family, especially after we had our baby. My current cleaning project is to get all of the chairs & couch shampooed this week. I'm not living close enough to my friend to keep borrowing hers like I used to, so I bit the bullet and bought one myself. Now time to get years of grime out of these furnishings!
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Post by Maura on Oct 10, 2016 23:46:45 GMT
I’m so glad I don’t have carpeting. DH was living in this house for a few months while I was in the other one (Separated). Now I am back here and noticing that he hadn’t been really cleaning. I haven’t tackled the floors, but will soon. With a constantly shedding dog I vacuum and/or sweep every day- gotta really wash it. I’ve painted five rooms, so won’t be washing them again.
Kawaiitimes, I’ve been to estate sales and know what you mean. I occasionally go through my wool and yarn and sewing to sort and toss. If I die tomorrow I want to make it easy for my friends to take or sell my stuff.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 11, 2016 6:17:44 GMT
kawaiitimes, you said a mouthful! Every time I think about keeping something vs throwing it out or giving it away, I find myself thinking about my sister's house and reminding myself that I DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE! As a prepper, and being frugal to boot, it's so easy to think of reasons to keep shovels with broken handles, padded envelopes for mailing out items sold, and random bits of this or that. Okay, keeping a few padded envelopes on hand is fine. Letting them take over my life is definitely not! I need to go through the tools with broken handles, figure out how many of the same tool with a good handle I own, and make the decision to let the others go to a new home. I didn't do a lot of housework today, just a little straightening. Fed Muttley another package of very old freezer burnt meat, and set another package out to thaw enough to remove the plastic wrap separating the steaks. Don't want him eating plastic. Slowly, but surely, he's eating his way through all that old meat, and it's saving money on dog food, which is a pretty big expense for a dog Muttley's size. Put away a few more things in just about every room, and I cleaned up a few spots on that plastic storage unit that I noticed after it dried. I went for a hike with my friend and had bell practice, so after that I thought my day was over, but my neighbors that are moving sent a beautiful iron and glass coffee table and end table home with Abby, so tomorrow I'll need to take some time to clean the coffee table and bring it in, move the tables I've been using as a coffee table to end table status and move the old end tables out. I might use one in my bedroom for a while. Looks like I'll be working on the whole living room tomorrow...it has 6-7 totes of stuff from my sister's house sitting there, needing dealt with. I really should be working on firewood while the weather is dry - the inside of the house could wait for a rainy day, and it looks like a whole string of them are headed our way. So much to do, so much to do....
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Post by susannah on Oct 11, 2016 13:05:12 GMT
manygoatsnmore , one side of the fireplace fronts into the living room (normal). Then there are two steps down into the huge useless hallway - which I swear WILL become a mudroom because we have no idea what else to do with it. The other side of the hall used to be the owner's workshop - concrete floors, garage-type slider window, more tools than I've ever seen outside a home improvement store. And there was a step down to go to that level, further complicating things. Meaning the useless hall not only had a fireplace, but was on its own level, too. I don't think the original owner ever planned to change anything - this was his forever house, so all the strange quirks (like the pink hot tub in a giant closet) were things that apparently suited him. In this phase of the remodel, though, we turned the workshop/powder room/laundry room into a master suite. Oh, and raised the floor on that level, so the useless hall no longer is all by itself on its own level. But it will probably always have a fireplace. Sigh...we checked other options but moving the fireplace was too expensive. And since the house already had two living rooms and only two bedrooms, we thought a third bedroom made more sense than an expanded living room. It's been interesting living here and changing things, I'll say that!
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 12, 2016 7:16:54 GMT
susannah, is there any way to change the hallway so that the fireplace is in the master suite? A fireplace in the bedroom would be very romantic (unless, of course, it's one of those where you can see straight through from one room into the other through the fireplace opening). You had me lol at the pink hot tub in the closet! That one's a bit of a head scratcher. I didn't do a whole lot today. Walking for 2 miles and then bell practice must have tuckered me out, because I slept like the dead last night and didn't wake up until nearly noon! Still wasn't exactly ambitious, and my tummy was not happy today, so I just rested. I just did a little straightening as I walked through the house, and put things back as I went along. At least I'm kind of maintaining, although the teenage kitty boys are doing their best to undo all my efforts. Brats!
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Post by susannah on Oct 12, 2016 19:36:11 GMT
susannah , is there any way to change the hallway so that the fireplace is in the master suite? A fireplace in the bedroom would be very romantic (unless, of course, it's one of those where you can see straight through from one room into the other through the fireplace opening). You had me lol at the pink hot tub in the closet! That one's a bit of a head scratcher. I didn't do a whole lot today. Walking for 2 miles and then bell practice must have tuckered me out, because I slept like the dead last night and didn't wake up until nearly noon! Still wasn't exactly ambitious, and my tummy was not happy today, so I just rested. I just did a little straightening as I walked through the house, and put things back as I went along. At least I'm kind of maintaining, although the teenage kitty boys are doing their best to undo all my efforts. Brats! We thought about how to incorporate the fireplace into the master suite, but decided against it. The front door leads into the useless hallway. At the end of the useless hallway is a big window looking out onto the lake. From the very beginning of owning this house, anyone who has come through the front door has been awed by the amazing view of woods and water. To put part of the fireplace in the bedroom would mean walling off that area - and the view. And making for a very dark entryway. I do keep a bench under the window, next to the fireplace - sort of like a window seat setup. I'm afraid that's as good as it's gonna get. All the...interesting...quirks of the design of this house help to explain why it was priced so far below it's appraised value, I think. I do love what it's turning into though. To return my attention to the cleaning/organizing part, we've decided that as soon as we finish tiling the shower in the new bath, all the rest of the master suite remodel/mudroom creation is on hold while we clean, organize, build shelves, end chaos, ETC in the downstairs utility room. My husband announced that plan yesterday, and I totally agree. We are beyond frustrated knowing that we have all the tools we need, we just don't know where they are. Planning on donating some stuff, and throwing out the rest. I'll end the year with 6 extra dump tickets - use 'em or lose 'em - so we should be able to throw out much of the junky stuff without having to pay too much at the dump. I cannot wait to begin!
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 14, 2016 1:39:38 GMT
susannah, totally understand why you chose to leave the fireplace as is. I suppose you could brick it up so there isn't an opening on that side, but what the heck, it's a conversation starter this way, lol. We have storms coming in tonight, Saturday and the first part of next week. Knowing the power may go out always puts me into cleaning mode. I make sure all my laundry is done, clean sheets on the bed, dishes done, etc. What I haven't done yet, that I usually try to have done, is a load of wood on the hearth, and all the rooms neat and tidy so I don't have to trip over anything in the dark. Not that anything is ever really totally dark - I have a couple of very bright LED plug-in lights that come on when the power goes off. There are also flashlights next to every bed and door, and plenty of solar and battery powered lights. I also have a nice collection of oil lamps and tons of candles, so there is no excuse to sit in the dark here! I plan to spend the rest of the evening putting my living room and dining room in order and getting the rest of my Fall decorating done. Yesterday I walked with one of my neighbors and then later with the other that I walk most often with. In between, I tackled my former rabbit shed, now taken over by my chickens. I cleaned out all the nestboxes in there and the hen house, moved the second feed hopper into the hen house and filled both of them, moved chicken feed into barrels, bagged up a lot of plastic pots for my friend who hybridizes daylilies and put them in the back of my pickup, moved more pots and potting soil to my shipping container where the rest of them reside, and moved tools to the barn. I scrubbed out all the waterers and refilled them, too. By the time I was done, I was drenched and stinky! A quick shower and it was off to walk. One more job crossed off my list.
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 16, 2016 14:10:29 GMT
Monday: Declutter the master bedroom for 15 min Wues: Attack the clothes pile in your bedroom/master bath Wed: Sstraighten the floor of your closet. Put up those shoes, straighten them, donate some Thurs:Clean your bedside tables. Fri: Declutter your dresser
Master Bathroom Detailed Cleaning List
Wash area rugs Straighten up makeup Straighten drawer cabinets Clean shower/stall demold Wash shower doors Master Bedroom Detail Cleaning List
Polish Furniture Clean off the desks Clean cobwebs Wash mattress pad/dust ruffle Flip mattress Empty trash Wash windows Cull some books from bookcase Straighten drawers Clean under the bed Closet Detailed Cleaning List
Straighten the top shelves Arrange the shoes Take Suitcases to basement Dust shoe bookcase
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 19, 2016 5:54:30 GMT
midtnmama, thank you for posting the Flylady list for the week. I've actually been working in my master bedroom and bathroom (the main bath we use) for the last few weeks, and have made tremendous progress. Since this has also included working my way through the totes of stuff from my sister's estate, and re-filling all the jar and cylinder candles for power outages, it's expanded to cleaning and organizing most of the rest of the house. The only problem now is that I need to clean up the wax mess around my stove and on my stock pots. Seems I can keep things clean and neat for just so long when I work with wax, and then it all goes to pot! Too hot of wax, too hard to pick up and pour, leads to dipping a mason jar and pouring from it, but it gets too hot and slippery, too, and then I spill, repeatedly. <sigh> Oh, well, I'll get it all cleaned up, and it's good to have all the emergency candles refilled or topped off. I had plenty to get me through a brief power outage last Thursday, and the storm forecast for the weekend fizzled (thankfully), so very little wind compared to the forecast, and the power stayed on. While I was waiting for the storm to either come in or not, I worked on the candles, more cleaning, more laundry, and had Abby get all the rest of her dishes out of her room and washed (MY dishes, really). It's nice to see clear counters in the kitchen and nothing soaking in the sink. It's also nice to see full cupboards in the kitchen again. If I could just get her to keep all dishes in the kitchen or dining room or even just to return dirty dishes daily and wash them, I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven. The last few days, I've just been in maintenance mode - keeping everything neat and tidy. I need to pick a new area of attack.
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Post by kawaiitimes on Oct 20, 2016 2:32:55 GMT
I got two of the chairs shampooed. Such a big differrnce. A third, I have discovered, the upholstery is so bad it needs to be redone if we're keeping it. And then there's the couch in the basement... which is so... far... away...
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 20, 2016 6:44:27 GMT
kawaiitimes, "so...far...away..." made me grin. It's amazing what a little cleaning will do for furniture upholstery, isn't it? Many moons ago, when I was a young mom, newly single, I used to go to garage sales and buy couches and other furniture for next to nothing, take them home and clean them, maybe do some minor repairs, like stitching up a split seam or using fusible webbing and unbleached muslin to put a new "deck" on it under the cushions, and then put an ad in the local paper and sell them for a hefty profit. It helped put me through nursing school. I brought the new coffee table and end table (from the neighbors) in. They've been thoroughly rain washed, thanks to the storms that rolled through over the last week. I'll still need to wipe them down and move some furniture around, but that's a job for tomorrow afternoon. I walked and then moved firewood from the same neighbors' shed to my wood shed, so housework just didn't happen. Besides, as I posted elsewhere, I wasn't home most of the day. Febreze worked beautifully to take the odor out of the needlework projects from my sister's home. I have a lifetime supply of cross stitch projects now. I think I'll end up giving some of them to friends and some of the finished or nearly finished pieces will end up as Christmas gifts. I still need to put everything away neatly until I have some time to deal with it all.
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 23, 2016 14:25:16 GMT
Week of October 23: Living room
manygoatsnmore ,susannah ,@jwal10 ,midtnmama ,kawaiitimes ,Maura ,manygoatsnmore ,susannah ,@jwal10 ,midtnmama ,kawaiitimes ,Maura ,Mon:Declutter and look critically at the papers, magazines and decorative objects that have always been there. Tues:Clean under the chair and couch cushions Wed:Clean hotspots in the living room where things are dumped Thurs: Clean all the edges of the floor and the baseboards Fri: Get rid of things that don't belong in your living room. Personally, I'm going to focus on the drawers that hold electronic stuff in there. Living Room/Family Room/Den Detailed Cleaning List Clean cobwebs Clean windows Straighten bookcases Wash ornaments and knick-knacks Clean out end table Straighten closets/ drawers Wipe fingerprints from walls Polish furniture Clean out magazine racks Clean phone Clean under cushions Clean out fireplace Move furniture and vacuum Shampoo carpet If you have a family room, game room, sun porch, or other room that is used by the family for living purposes, then concentrate on decluttering one room each month (or as you find more time)
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Post by susannah on Oct 23, 2016 15:20:23 GMT
I was talking earlier about removing the big closet in the utility room and turning the area into recessed shelves. The weather apparently heard me, and gave us a little start on it. While we were out of town last week, it rained buckets at a time (from what I can determine, between 3 and 4 inches in a few hours) AND the trees dropped at least 50% of their leaves. Meaning - probably gutter clogging, which resulted in some water in the utility room. Not a lot, but enough to soak the carpet in the closet that is going to be removed. Actually, I didn't even realize there still was carpet there. So the weather nudged us into beginning the closet-to-shelf project by getting us to remove the now-wet carpet.
I'm trying to solve one of life's many little mysteries - how did my house get so cluttered in appearance when I was gone for a week? Gremlins. It's as good an answer as any. Since it's raining YET AGAIN today, I'm tackling the living room/kitchen area.
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Post by Maura on Oct 23, 2016 17:44:59 GMT
At the retirement house, where I had been living since we were separated, I set up a sewing room. Now that we are divorced, I’ve moved back to the big house and he has the little house. He wants my sewing room. I’ve been using the sewing room as leverage to nicely get him to get his junk out of the garage. “I can’t deal with the sewing room (in the big house) until the garage is cleared out. I have no staging area… I can’t move my stuff out of the little house until then.” It’s really paid off as there’s now only some little stuff left that he can take in his car and not need a truck.
This means I can’t put off cleaning the garage. I’ve swept and painted the alcove where the hot water heater is. I don’t think it will take long now to clean and organize the garage. Then I can tackle my sewing room which somehow became the dumping ground for everything. I haven’t been able to get in and sew for at least three years. It’s good to have goals!
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Post by susannah on Oct 24, 2016 14:30:23 GMT
I ended up cleaning the refrigerator and pantry yesterday. Took way longer than I had thought, but it was a win on several counts. I can actually find things in the refrigerator - ditto the pantry. I froze several things that would have gone bad had I let them hide out in the fridge a few more days. And I found a few food items I'd forgotten I had.
Having a successful organizing afternoon - even if I didn't get to what I had planned - is very motivating for me. Makes me ready to tackle yesterday's goals...today.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Oct 25, 2016 20:40:33 GMT
I've been working hard on my house most days (although I did take a day of rest on Sunday and yesterday I was out all day for my BD and bell practice), and it's starting to pay off. I deep cleaned the living room last week (I guess I'm a week ahead of Flylady, although there is still stuff to be done in there this week, too). That included moving a lot of stuff out entirely, either to recycling, storage or to be gifted to others. The kitty boys knocked over a jar of kerosene that wasn't completely sealed and some soaked into the rug by the front door - the rubber backing wasn't happy with kerosene, so I had to remove the rug and I'll be looking for a replacement. The new coffee table is in place and looks really good. Unfortunately, I have an estimate for $60 plus tax to replace the glass top for the matching end table - not gonna happen at that price. I'll shop around and even look into plexiglass as an alternative. If nothing else, I can always put a wood top on it and a matching one on the coffee table - that would be lower cost and still look good with the wrought iron bases. Now that we are using the wood stove more, keeping the wood mess under control has joined my list of daily chores. Cleaning cat boxes,sweeping floors and hearth, giving the bathroom a swish and swipe and making my bed, plus making sure Abby does dishes, wipes counters, does the animal chores and brings in firewood - these are all daily chores. I am starting to get back into a routine with other chores, too, not as often, but before it is noticeable that they need to be done. Laundry before it's stacked up, bedding weekly, sweeping cobwebs every time I see a spider or a web (they are more active this time of year, I think), and just trying to keep flat surfaces from becoming magnets for clutter. Getting the clutter tamed to the point where I CAN get into a routine has been hard, but it's sure nice to be getting there!
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