Tag: decluttering

The Last 30 Days—Organize Everything

There’s a movement called “The Last 90 Days.” The idea is to end the year strong, concentrating on October, November, and December to improve yourself—whatever that may be. Personally, I think it’s a gimmick to buy feel-good guru Rachel Hollis’ merchandise. Still , either with or without journals, checklists, etc., it’s a great idea since most of us wait until the New Year to improve ourselves.

Since I missed October and November, I decided to start in December and rename my foray into self improvement The Last 30 Days. Sure, December can be a tough month because of all the extra holiday doings we force upon ourselves. But there’s still room to be better, at least there is for me.

There are lots of things I have to do before I can move to my retirement place, wherever that may be. I was going to start with kitchen new appliances and living room furniture this year. The latter might not improve the resale value, but it will make me feel better, which will give me a sense of peace and encourage me to do more Then…

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Found on My Kitchen Table

The welcome sign on my "welcome cat" broke.
Before

Clearing things out always offers a surprise or two.  Having washed the dishes and put away the laundry this morning, I decided to spend a little time clearing off the kitchen table.  Here’s what I found:

  1. The drip tray to a large, round George Forman grill (which also bakes) I no longer use.  I immediately put the grill and all its accoutrements in the Goodwill box without feeling guilty that it wasn’t complete.
  2. An upside down salt shaker.  Who the hell did that?  No, the holes weren’t covered with tape, so a pile of salt spilled out when I turned it over.  Fortunately, it was sitting on a ceramic tray and was easy to clean up.  It was nice to see the tray again.  It’s very colorful and cute.
  3. The pump to a bath and shower gel I’d been looking for.  I’d thought I’d found the pump, but this one is 1) black instead of white, which coordinates goes with the decorative bottle, and 2) is shorter and more likely fits the squat, round bottle.
  4. Krazy Glue!  Two bottles!  Now I could fix my resin Welcome Cat sitting outside my door.  The “welcome sign broke some time ago.  I was able to fix it with Krazy Glue, but when my neighbor moved out-  😥  -it got broken again.  After failing several times with bottle #1, I tried bottle #2.  No love there, either.  So I ended up slipping the chain onto one of the cat’s wire whiskers.  Actually, it doesn’t look that bad.

At least the welcome sign is horizontal now.
After

Hmm, I see I need to straighten Mr. Whiskers around.

(The metal black and white sculpture belongs to my Boston terrier-loving neighbor.  She kindly left her Welcome Dog when she moved.  Since she’s renting her place, she comes back now and then.)

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Sunday Seven: Goals for April

My goodness, time flies when your having fun sleeping off drugs.  I have several Sunday Seven posts in the works, but they require time, care, and love to complete in the manner which they deserve.  Since I completely missed last week, let’s do something quick and dirty today.

A newly green tree adorns a calendar for April .2014
April showers bring… newly green trees.

Seven Goals for April

(No, filing taxes does not count.)

  1. Get up by ^^’ o’clock every day.  (The actual time is too embarrassing to post.)
  2. Eat more fruits and vegetables.  It’s not a “well-formed” goal, but it’s good enough for now.
  3. Reboot my Kitchen Survival series, searching for healthy substitutions to The Campus Survival Cookbook recipes and menus.
  4. Post at least once a week here and once a week at SciFi Chicks.
  5. Spend 15 minutes a day cleaning out the kitchen and/or paperwork.
  6. Make one trip to Goodwill.  Should be easy—the car is nearly full.
  7. Get out and walk twice a week—preferably with camera.

And let’s not forget—no television shopping!

I think that’s a pretty good list.  Let’s hop to it!  (Easter-ish pun intended.)

[Adorable calendar found at freedesignfile.com.]

Sunday Seven: Getting Back on the Wagon

How am I doing with the plan to get my home in order?  I’ve made some progress, but hit a plateau in the last couple weeks.  The home appraisal came back (it rose slightly in value, which is nice; but also means higher taxes) and closed on the mortgage refinance.  Now that I’m not distracted by all the paperwork a refinance entails, I can get back on track.

I "bought" a Shark upright vacuum with points from my credit card.
My new vacuum, which I got for free with credit card points*

Like most people, I do much better when I have a plan.  So let’s take the time to plan things to do for the upcoming week, and let’s do it in the form of a Sunday Seven (since I don’t have anything else to write about).

Seven Tasks for the Week

  1. Reschedule the couple to help remove heavy items from my living room. A plethora of problems prevented them from coming when originally scheduled.
  2. The couple will remove the items, but they won’t haul them to the junk yard.  So I need to make arrangements with our trash disposal company to make a special pick up—if they do such a thing.  If not, I need to find a junk hauling company.

  3. I wanted a Shark vacuum with swivel steering, but would have had to pay for it.
    The vacuum I wanted, which would have cost real money.

    Our property manager mentioned his cousin started hauling metal items.  The televisions aren’t metal, but I do have a few things that are.  And he doesn’t charge!  (Apparently there’s good money to be had in scrap metal.)

  4. Finish sorting through the extraneous items in the living room.  If I take one section of the room at a time, it’s not so overwhelming.
  5. Wash my bed’s quilt at the laundromat.  It’s not really part of the decluttering plan, but it takes time and I have to do it.  My own  washer and dryer, although they claim to be “heavy duty,” don’t do such a great job.  A bonus: the laundromat is near my favorite pizza place.  (They also make delicious gyros and baked spaghetti.)
  6. Give my new vacuum a tryout.
  7. Take my sweet 19-year-old cat Gigi to the vet.  It’ll be stressful for both of us.

*The credit card is from Navy Federal Credit Union, one of the perks of being a Navy vet—now open to all military services and Department of Defense employees.  Their redemption program also had a Bose iPod sound dock I coveted, but it’s no longer available.  Damn my procrastination!