Not quite a horder - decluttering

Funny about the purses. I probably have 8 or 10 left - including a couple of beaded &/or satin handbags for formal dinner/dances. One of those my Grandmother beaded by hand. I actually have not changed out my standard, every day purse but one time in the last 6 months, and that was only to speak before City Council. Somehow that seemed appropriate. I no longer worry about matching my bag to my "apparel" (well the apparel is usually jeans - blue or black - and they go with anything)

But boy to do I have shoes to get rid of. I keep putting it off because I have long, narrow feet and always have a hard time finding shoes. And my shoes never wear out. I keep hoping my dead feet (thank you chemo) will regenerate and I can start wearing some of the clogs & mules & slides. I did get rid of anything with even 'kitten' heels, but... I'm just not very "grounded" on leather soles anymore. Maybe this will be the year I can let more go.

Drove myself crazy last night for what felt like an hour looking for my son's paystub. I looked everywhere.

I also got mad at myself for being disorganized. I was also feeling extra pressure because my son is disabled and I'm his Rep Payee.

It was in the correct folder the whole time, exactly where I was looking. I was reading the wrong date (work week vs pay date).

I vowed to myself that I will always put the paystubs in the correct folder immediately (handle it once). I usually do, just once in a while I put them in a pile. Folders are good; piles are dangerous.

I spent some time organizing end of year files, and making new files for 2019.

DivineMrsM: thanks for asking. DH and I are still coughing several times a day. We are getting slightly better every day, it just seems to be hanging on forever.

I like the idea about picking a room/project a month. I have a list of projects/rooms that I want to do, but maybe I need to give them a month time limit so I really finish it. The first one I plan on doing is a 'play room' I have for my grandchildren, but they are getting older and I am going to turn it back into a spare room and just keep a few toys for the little ones.

Zills- I love that article and thanks! One of the things I find I am always wasting time with is looking for a missing half to a pair- socks, earrings, you name it. I have a box of those things and sometimes they do show up (socks stuck in sheet corners, earrings that fell off in the car and slid under the seat. But purging those things too, enough is enough. I have moved enough that I have not kept a lot of memorabilia like ticket stubs, old letters, etc. Just a few things.

I had a friend who has been very stuck in her life with decluttering. She lost a child to a drunk driver a decade or more and well, things have never been the same for her. I think we can all understand that too. She asked me once "what do you do with all the letters and other things that remind you of people?" I said most of them were gone with my moves. But I said for people who were gone, there may be one final thing I kept. I am taking her on a field trip soon to donation and consignment places. It's all a process and things go when the time is right.

Interesting comment about throwing in the trash Wren. We have what is called "heavy trash pick up" every other month. People pile stuff up in front of their houses. A neighbor was telling me today she and her DH walk & 'harvest' for her grandchild. They got a perfectly good trike & a junior bed and several other toys. Her comment was the same - why aren't people donating things so someone else can enjoy.

People like to "curb alert" in my town. This week I put out a Radio Flyer Wagon. It was gone in an hour.

I grew up in a town with two colleges. My family is still there. My sister picks up amazing almost new things at the end of semesters. The college kids move and it is not cost effective for them to move their almost new furniture and things long distances. It all gets put out at the curb. She also garage sales and has a really good eye for things of value. Examples: 1800s (not first edition, but early) printing of Frederick Douglass biography she picked up for a quarter and sold for $800. Japanese brass steam engine for model boat she got for a dollar and sold for $500

Jazzy--WOW, what a find!!!!

A friend sent me this link today and it is just so funny and touches on our de-cluttering world. Enjoy!

https://www.manrepeller.com/2019/01/the-life-chang...

jazzy---so accurate. I did the dishes, vacuumed, and washed the air filter to my vacuum. And finished the quilt binding. And washed the plexiglass and used polish remover to get rid of the duct tape adhesive on it. I am tired!!!!

It occurred to me today that I should go thru my fabric stash and donate things I'll probably never use to make anything. Such as the coordinated fabrics to make an office capsule. I've been retired a long time now and wore jeans at my last workplace. I wear jeans all the time and have one wedding/funeral outfit that can be nudged either way.

Jazzy, just slipped my unpaid bills out a window and let them fall! So EASY! 😂

This week DH lost the mouse for his computer. He found another one in the basement but it would move across the screen on its own. Finally about 3 days of cursing the mouse, he found his good one. Under the desk at the back toward the wall - in a nest for cords. And he found his glasses in his drumming kit. He has always lost things but it's getting worse with memory loss.

3 boxes of stuff and a big bag dropped off at the thrift store on my way to OT just now. I dropped it off before on purpose so I would not have time to shop!

My newly arranged dresser drawers are working out great! Funny how a simple change around makes everything flow easier.

I went through most of the drawers in my bedroom, straightened things, tossed a few things. I've had a small gift bag where I kept old, unused medicines—like some are 7 and 8 years old—tucked in one of those drawers for a lonnng time. Local paper ran an article about a nearby town having a drop off box for them, and when I googled the address, I found my own town's police department has a drop off box! It's 3 blocks away. When I dropped them off, I realized I've walked right past the box every time I pay my monthly water bill in the same building! Duh! Anyway, glad to have those gone. A note on the box says to drop the pill bottles in, but heck, I wasn't going to leave mine with my name plastered all over. I took the bottles and disposed of them at home.