Day 8 - Clear your tables of clutter

Yesterday, the challenge was to clear your tables of clutter. Although I said I did nothing because I had company from noon to midnight, I actually did it. Lol. Didn’t even look at the challenge until today but had to do it to eat at the table (we usually eat in front of the tv during the week) Dining Room table cleared! Check!

Kitchen table cleared. Check! I had already done it a while back when the automatic cat feeder arrived. It’s got a camera & speaker!! It makes a chime when the food is dispensed. Now I can go away overnight or even longer & not worry about my 3 fur babies over eating or running out of food. No more FaceTiming Brad to see my cats when he looks after them when we go away for winter. I can FaceTime to talk to HIM

Day 6 - Declutter & Organize Your Kitchen

Day 5 1/2 lol.  Still nope to organize the pantry. That is a 3 day job. 6 with my back issues soooo one cupboard at a time. Or shelf at a time. I’m pretty good at keeping the canned goods in order & my spices too. I organized my Aunt’s pantry once & she was blown away. In April when I was dog sitting at my daughter’s while they were in Europe, I organized theirs. The OCD in me & the compulsive cleaner in me get along quite well.

Moving on to
DAY #6 -
Declutter & organize kitchen cabinets.

Day 7 is kitchen drawers so I’m reversing the two since I have more drawers than doors. If I did one drawer or door at a day, that would take me a month in itself so I’m doing what I can today then setting a reminder on my phone to do the rest. A door a day keeps the declutter away!!

Drawer #1 is the top drawer. The junk drawer. Is it the same in your house too? I should start there (tackle the hardest task first and the rest will be easy) but as hubby always says, should shouldn’t be a word. I need to channel my inner athlete and like Nike says. “Just Do It”.

I started with drawer #2. Yup. Taking the easy way out. But when the time comes, forget emptying the contents onto the counter, that sucker is going to be emptied all over the kitchen floor & no one will be able to go anywhere until it’s done. Drawer #2 Pretty much what it looked like when I started other than some unused chargers & sticky notes. Guess what? Haven’t touched ANY of what’s left in a year. Who uses phone books any more? If the power goes out & your cellphone dies so you can’t google the number do you even have a landline to use? We do lol. Moved to the office.

Cheques, stamps & seal from the man’s business. He’s retired. Well, on disability until he’s 60 THEN he’s retired. I put them all in one of the drawers in the guest suite where his tax papers from 1977-07 used to be in. That means room for.... more junk? Kinda. Just rearranged so bottom drawer is not so crowded.

2 hours to clean 2 drawers? Really? Is 15 decks of cards too many? I already got rid of 6. Well sort of. Put them in a ziplock back to take out to the skating rink on the dugout so next weekend the kids can toss them into the burning barrel there, along with the 2 blue bins of those tax papers that will finally get moved off the front deck & burned rather than waiting for the shredding event in the spring at AAA. I got it down to 12

7 crib boards? We already have one in every vehicle and the RV and one hanging on the wall. Not having had a tourney in years, will check with hubby about donating to a seniors centre.

3rd drawer has all my man’s 2017 tax papers. I always keep it organized. It will get cleaned out at tax time & start again for 2018

Bottom drawer, where all the cards & crib boards used to be, is now solely for product warranties & info. I cleaned out the ones that no longer apply.

There’s also plastic bags in behind (the cardboard box used to be filled with them) Years ago I moved them to another drawer and when ever the kids came home for a visit, they would go to that drawer for a bag. I would direct them to the new drawer. Now that I got hubby a new set of cutting boards, knife sharpener & can opener for Xmas (he’s the chef of the family) I’ve moved the bags back there so his gifts have their own drawer near the stove. Kids are going to roll their eyes next time they go looking for bags. Lol

Apparently the ADHD in me doesn’t get along with the OCD in me. I was taught “A place for everything and everything in its place.” I tend to find a place to put a thing then find a better place, over & over & over again. Drives everyone else nuts.

Corinne

Day 5 - Organize your pantry

Nope. Not today. I’m at Day 4 1/2 because my back gave out half way through the day but I did get the other side of the kitchen counters cleaned.

The diffuser got moved to the bedroom. My cats like the mint a little too much so rather than them knock it over and ruin it every time they try to jump on the ledge, the pastry stacker got moved to the other side & is now a charging station!!

I actually need to put more things ON the ledge for when it has empty spaces, large enough for a cat, they’re up there in no time flat. A nice little row of unbreakable items & they see there’s no “cat pass through”

The beautiful silver tray from my sister is now where all the bills go. 2 new wrought iron key hooks are for each of our keys & I’m not sure what to do about the phone outlet on the wall. Will put that on hubby’s to do list and let him worry about it eh?

Pantry tomorrow while everyone else is at the hockey game! Hmmmm. 

Why do I always clean when he’s away. Maybe a bath, a book & a movie marathon instead 😏

Corinne

Day 4 - Clean Your Kitchen Counter

Half done at least. Got distracted cleaning under the bedroom vanity & found lots of things to throw away/donate. My new David’s Tea station was a gift from my kids so that got moved from the other side, closer to the tea kettle on the stove. A knife set that was not sharp & was only for looks. Gone. Toaster & coffee maker are not used daily, only when we have company so they went into the pantry along with the panini maker that was where the spider plant is now.

The pastry stacker that was on the other side I moved over closer to the oil diffuser & has all my essential oils on it. The counter ice maker is being used now so it will go in the pantry when we have enough. That spot was where my new breadbox was but it’s too big so need to find another place for it. Maybe under microwave on the other side.

The other side. I won’t even take a picture of the mess now. I will finish tomorrow. Or later tonight after the hockey game. Here's a picture of my cats instead lol

Day 3 - Donation Boxes

Labeled donation boxes in rooms.

A very pretty donation Box in the bedroom for clothes to go in.

A Big basket in the living room already filled with magazines from 1997 on. I will make a pot of David’s Tea in the Xmas gift from my kids and then do a skim through & take photos of recipes I like and toss when done. Or maybe I Will take to Good Sams on Monday when we go to sing & play guitars for the residents.

No garage so another basket is in the music room. Do I really need the books I learned to play the piano as a child? They plan to take the white upright to the dump 😩 I so wanted to donate or up-cycle it but don’t have a box big enough. 😛 Lol. Will see. Was planning on selling the key board. Drums are already gone. Karaoke is now computerized. Sell all the CD’s? Decisions. Decisions. Slowly but surely. This too shall pass. 😊

Day 2 - Clean Out Your Car

Day 2 was a success. I took everything out that was shoved in my Mazda for recycling & donation. The trunk, back seats and BOTH front seats were full because we weren’t going to use my car during December trip to the Okanogan for Xmas. So I shoved everything in the back of my hubby ‘s Truck. Bahahahah. Good trick eh? Actually, he’s going into town tomorrow & not me. Just has to load up the computers by the front door for electronic recycling which has permanent bins at Redi Recycle along with glass, tin, cardboard, papers, plastic and refundable bottles One Stop Dropping, which means we don’t have to wait for the annual city held electronic recycling event in the spring.

Can’t wash the car even though it’s warmed up from -37c. And have to wait until it gets above 0c next week. Thursday is looking good. I’m going to sing at a seniors home that night & will load the car up with Donations to Salvation Army. We live too far away for them to pick up but what better thing to do in town and give instead of receive. Oh. On a side note, my motorcycle is still for sale. $3500 cash or e-transfer and it’s yours! 

30 Day Declutter Challenge

I’m starting the new year on a mission. I discovered Donna Smallin on Twitter actually, a promoted post about her decluttering group on Facebook that was for the month of November. Today is my Day 1. I’m not sure if I’ll love her or hate her after the challenge but I know it needs to be done. Better late than never. You can buy Donna’s latest book on Amazon here.

Declutter the purse. It actually got done New Year’s Eve before going out for the night, so instead, for day 1 my son & I decluttered computers. He is transferring information onto ONE removable hard drive/backup disc and then removing the hard drives from FIVE laptops & THREE towers, all unused, with dead batteries or old operating systems. Electronic Recycling here we come! But not tomorrow. I don’t want to go into town & be tempted to shop.

ADHD pros & cons

For the past 2 days I was SUPPOSED to be mudding & prepping a bedroom to be repainted by yesterday rather than going through 20 years of Tax documents that need to get shredded and reorganizing an office. A new kingsize bed arrives today and I have to move the master bedroom bed into the unrepainted messy spare room. Sooo, the old bed won’t get reset up BUT our bed will & THEN I will tackle prepping and repainting the guest room. I started that project this past Saturday but after washing the walls with TSP and rinsing with clean water (first time ever doing that before repainting walls) my arms & back were exhausted so 2 days in bed slowed me down. We stayed home this winter rather than head south with the rest of the Canadian Snowbirds because my pain specialist put another request in and said they would call in 3 to 6 months, back in MAY!!  Still waiting for call from a back surgeon to set a date. Starting and not finishing projects is a struggle for ADHDers. Or starting one thing then moving on to start another without finishing (or cleaning up) the last project. I’m so thankful my Hunny understands and is not concerned about my slow pace or continuous mess.  Procrastination is a part of ADHD too. Having a partner who hates painting leaves it up to me so any complaints from him would be null and void anyway. It sure would be nice to have a painting partner though. I think it’s fun. Others think it’s work. I think it would be more fun & less lonely if I had company. Anyone want to just come & watch? Lol

Another sleepless night (dam you Insomnia) Sleep is so important to recharge, repair and rest the brain. Better get some shut eye or I won’t be able to keep my eyes open trying to patch nail holes before painting. If I paint. Who knows what project I’ll try to tackle tomorrow. It’s not like it’s a major family holiday or anything. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends 🦃 🎉🇺🇸

Learning to Let Go

I just learned one is supposed to go slow when it comes to decluttering but my OCD & ADHD (even though I’m on medication) still kick in. I have spent the last 2 evenings in the living room going though my partner’s outdated tax documents. (6 boxes from 1988-2008) while watching (listening to) Xmas movies on W. Before I knew it, it was 4am (hyper focused) but I got 3 boxes separated into 3 bins. Recycle. Shred. Keep. 

Today I got half way through the final 3 boxes & next thing you know, I’m cleaning the office!!  It was upside down after rearranging bookcases & putting up shelves in the closet to make room for pretty, tidy, wicker boxes. It was not put back in proper order since I needed to condense the 6 boxes of old papers first. I’ll mark it down as a bonus because I’ll have accomplished 2 things in 2 days when I was only planning on accomplishing 1. Sometimes ADHD has it’s benefits. 

Now that I’ve joined the Unclutter.com organizing support group on Facebook, I look forward to the guidance & planning that will help me stay focused so I can proceed to declutter in a more organized & efficient pace. Thank goodness for Twitter breaks where I saw Donna Smallin Kuper’s promoted on Twitter. 

Sort of wish I saw it 3 years ago when I started to clean, organize & declutter but apparently moving your stuff from one room to another is not decluttering. You’re just exchanging hot spots. One room clean. Another even messier. You know you have too much stuff when you have to buy more stuff to put your stuff in. I’m not buying anymore bins to hide it all away. When out of sight is out of mind, why keep it if you don’t even use it. Let it go. Let it go. No I don’t want to build a snowman. I want to build a life without clutter.

On The Road Again!

We haven't even been home for a month and now we are leaving for a month. Family, friends and fun in the future, after wintering 5 1/2 months in Arizona, it was pretty much the same scenario. An amazing time in Lake Havasu, Yuma, Parker and Phoenix in the RV with 2 motorcycles, a Side by Side in the back of the toy hauler and a cat who only escaped twice and thankfully returned, (hopefully due to hearing her human mama bawling) From ukulele lessons, photography, line dancing, singing and jamming to boating, riding, shopping and more. Football, Baseball, Hockey and Nascar. It will be a hard winter to top when we return next year. For now, we are off to BC for graduation, whitewater rafting, visiting old friends and new. Life is constantly changing and moving and we are on the move!

PS

While the cats away...

The mice will play in my dresser drawer. Ew. Note to self, don't close the door to keep the cats off the bed when gone for any length of time. It's better to put up with their hair on your bed than the mouse dropping on your clothes. I was not a happy camper to find a favourite shirt shredded and turned into a nest. Again. Ew. Mice. Hazards of farm living you'd think this "Townie" would be used to after 10 years. 

Cats have always been pets to me, so their only job was to ignore you when you wanted their attention and be underfoot when you wanted them elsewhere. Also, to sleep wherever and whenever they wanted, like curl up at your feet on the bed to keep them and you warm in winter. Depending on how cold it was, the closer they move to your core, either behind the crook of your bent knees, in the curl of your tummy or under your chin. Cats. Love. Sleep. I. Love. Cats.