Welcome to Jason!

As the rest of you know, I had been primarily counting cubic feet of stuff gotten rid of, which is great. But my current efforts are taking me into the underbrush, though, lots of scrips and scraps, so it's slower going. Cubic feet will be for another day. I'm going to take a different approach as needed, and count individual items even if very small. It just makes more sense to do that with this stuff.

Today I shredded some deposit receipts; there were between a half dozen and a dozen, and one or two little notes on scraps of paper.

I'm just getting warmed up! It's yucky cold rainy weather so this is a good time to work inside, in a small area in my room. I'll tally more after the next session.

Repotted seedlings.

Bought concrete block I need for project.

18/300 6%

But you got rid of several clutter gathering tools!

Is it possible for you to get the mail and put the definite junk right into the recycling bin? Or maybe claim another shoe box for it and then add the whole thing right before pick up?

I got my angora goat. I realize this is a big ad, but it's also a thing I have wanted for years and I clawed out the time and space in my life to make it happen. Just barely.

17/300

I tossed

3 xmas themed popcorn tins and an old she box. I'm aware that those items tins/shoe boxes are really just a way to hide useless items. I always thought re-using items mentioned was a cool idea to store stuff. ugh the shoe box had 20+ dried out pens. My mother managed to toss the junk mail, but another pile is already starting. Unfortunately, she's being discreet about it because it in a box behind the table.

I worked on the counter and found a long lost check that has been stressing me out!

I finally got my bivalent booster

I took care of two not fun jobs in the barn that I tend to put off (which never brings good results)

I made plans to go see the goat.

I scheduled the cat's vet appointment.

Yay me!

16/300

Yesterday I tried to contact someone about a goat. This is in service to my long term goals. They have not responded, but reaching out is hard for me, so I am giving myself credit even though there was no actual progress.

15/300 5%

Yesterday I stayed after school to load the kiln. I would have had to do the firing soon anyway, but I stayed so I could get one tiny dish in and see the results before my break is over, which is part of my getting things done, and I was very tired and it was very hard to push myself, so I am going to count it.

Today I cleared more brush from the abandoned garden area. It is ready for Dh to get in and do the part he can do with the chainsaw and the brush hog. Then I will have to finish off the rest.

14/300

I'm baaack. I tossed a glass bottle I have been saving my the sink for like 2 months. It is just a cheap vinegar bottle, and I am giving myself freedom from guilt about not washing it out and using it. More than that I just needed to get it gone.

187/1000

Jason, I'm sorry that your mom isn't on board yet, but don't give up!

Getting things out is good.

Glazed a dish. Finished setting up my sale shelf.

12/300 4%

I tossed a shoe box with receipts, shopping lists and to do lists into the recycling bin. I mentioned to my mother last night that recycling was coming today and that's why I was tossing so much away. I asked her if she was considering tossing empty boxes from the van into the bin. She told me that they would come in handy, so she declined the opportunity. I also told her there was a pile of junk mail on the porch that could be tossed she also declined because the bin was full. When I mention other useless items around the house she becomes defensive. This is going to be an uphill battle with her. However, hopefully by leading by example she will catch on that I'm willing to part with items she can do the same.

Yesterday I called the bank on my lunch hour and got my credit card paid and my phone number changed for online banking. Was three minutes late starting class. Still can't get into my online account, but I'm giving myself credit for doing the thing.

Also partly (mostly) setup my shelf for sales during the conference next week.

11/300

Partly cleaned off my shelf at the studio and did a quick clean on the bunny cage. Got an unfinished project off the shelf and into the kiln.

10/300

Hi Jason! Working with your mom is good.

Clearing out things you know you don't need is also good. It makes a start on the house. Maybe you can get her to join you in some of it.

Today I started seeds (instead of just collecting seed packets)
And cleared some more of the overgrown garden.

9/300 3%.

Subclinical
This is my mother's home, so I'm trying to work with her and her logic of useless items. What I find annoying is that old items of mine have accumulated here and I haven't done this already. They were likely there do to me moving to different places. I don't want to have extreme hoarding problems she has. I'm catching them now by going the amounts of my belongings at her house.

I emptied a box of old prescription containers about 10. I'm not sure the logic of me and the containers. It might have been some art project I was considering. When peeling the labels off some of these bottles were over 15 years old. idk why this is still hanging around here.

Today I cut the small trees out of my vegetable garden, fixed a small rock border around the rhubarb, cleaned the chicken coop, and pruned some trees in the side yard.

I know this is all outside progress, but anything that improves my environment is helpful.

8/300

Hi Jason!
Laws that from your home or your mother's?

Either way, good job!

I'm trying to clean up mom's place and yard. Although I have belongings at are at her place. I've come to realize she won't let me help her toss/donate broken items. I've given up trying to explain the dangers of only having 1 entrance to the home and useless items everywhere. I'm trying to lead by example now. Thank you for your posting it's helping me.


Tossed
.old medications
.spoiled food
.worn-out clothing

Donated/recycled/returned
. broken electronics
. winter clothes
. empty containers
. Instruction booklets
. Other peoples' family photos
.

Did not start seeds, which was the thing I thought I was going to do.

Planted an iris that has been languishing in a bucket (possibly too late, but at least it isn't in the yard in a bucket.)

Worked in my studio. Identified and sorted for removal:
Trash
Recycling
Items to go to school


Washed a dozen tools
Soaked some clay
Brought some things back to the house that don't belong in the studio


7/300

Found a printed out manual for an old digital camera. I likely will be getting rid of the camera itself, not even sure it still works. In any case, since it's possible to download PDFs of all sorts of user manuals these days, I'm going to go ahead and toss this paper one. If the camera still works but I decide to donate it, then I'll include a note with a link for the next owner to download a manual.

Yesterday I repotted some tomatoes and fed the sour dough starter.

6/300

Two percent.

Brush cut, coop drained, recycling out of basement

5/300

Lila, you are inspiring me. The way you just keep plugging along at it.

I was going to say nothing yesterday, but I stopped at a store and bought soil for starting my plants. Even though they didn't have exactly what I wanted, I said good enough and bought it. That's someth8ng.

So, soil.

4/300.

donated a sleep mask and a knee brace.

186/1000

+5
I donated an old sweatshirt and some other random thing. I threw out 3 old spice packets (why???) that I saved from a meal kit and have been sitting in a pile of papers for like a year.

184/1000

ugh I am struggling, but working on it.

trash: cracked hanger, old outlet plug, ribbon.
donate: socks, clothing of Teen's too small

179/1000

Good day today!

Fixed the perch in the chicken coop put the egg hut back, AND made twelve clay patties for glaze firing.

3/300 - one percent! (Decided I am counting days I prioritize progress, not the acts themselves because it is the habit that is important, I do not want to get into a binge/crash cycle)

Chipping away at the hoard...

2 sets of earbuds and a cloth face mask donated
1 more old med tossed.

173/1000

Posting this morning to get myself motivated again.

Threw out 3 containers of expired meds.

169/1000

Very good SubC! I hope people will use this thread in whatever way helps them best!

I put something else in the donate box yesterday but my brain is fried and I don't remember what.

166/1000

Hello, Dave - welcome! It's nice to see this thread is reaching some new folks.

And SubC, way customize the tally thread to work the best way for your needs and style. It's to serve us, after all.

I like my good old cubic feet, and will have about half of a cubic foot gone when I turn over the quilt top to one of the other ladies for putting on the border. I'll tell that story in more detail on the other chat thread.

Stopped at the bank on my way to work and cashed a check with a complicated back story I’ve been avoiding.

2/300

Lila, I’m hoping you won’t mind if I add my own twist to the counting to this thread. At first it made me aware of focusing on getting things out as soon as possible, but for me that requires leaving home and sometimes going to specific places, so it is complicated.

But this morning, I was thinking about all the things I need to do that I don’t prioritize because I put routine maintenance first and then run out of energy - like last night, I managed to run laundry and dishes, but I didn’t get my slabs rolled or my seeds started. If I had done one of those first, I probably would still have found enough energy to do at least some of the maintenance stuff.

So, I want to focus on �one thing� if I do one thing that is solid progress every day, I will have done 365 things in a year. However, I want to set myself up for success so I am going to build in some slack and aim for 300.

And I’m going to give myself credit for yesterday:
Brought home the clay mixer. 1/300.

Hope you enjoy the extra space in your glasses cabinet tonight!

Way to go! It's hard. Keep at it.

Welcome, Dave!
Three more items left last night: old meds and a plastic tumbler I have hung onto for years but don't really like. I have several nicer ones.

165/1000

Hi Dave!

Bicycle, Small refrigerator, Shoe seat and storage, computer cables, few other small items.

Worked in my bedroom a bit more today and donated 13 more items. Stuff like a camera case, some unused film, a couple of wrist straps for cameras, a wooden spoon, some pens, some little plastic containers, a tin... can't recall what else. But I am chipping away, making space...


162/1000

Six more items out tonight. Some weird part of a dog toy I was saving, a drinking glass I don't really like, a random sock, some other stuff.

149/1000

Did another round in the bedroom, sorting bins and boxes - got rid of 11 more items, including pens, hair things, packaging I was saving, 2 pairs of ear buds (I have many), a few other random items. I started a new donation box and tossed a few things in the trash.


143/1000

I drank some caffeine and got in a mood and worked on my bedroom. Donated and got rid of 22 things! Including nail polish, unused covid masks, some dog stuff, a CD, a new notebook that's too small, a little plastic container, some coasters that I've had new and unused for like 8 years, other random things. I filled the donate box and put it into the back of my car so those things are OUT of my house forever.

I also sorted receipts and papers in there and threw out more than half of them but didn't count those.


132/1000

Today's tosses:

Threw out 2 reusable containers that were not ideal and just taking up space but not really donate-able, plus a ruined stained plastic bowl I was hanging onto.

110/1000

Returned something I bought a few weeks ago, before I started this challenge. I had considered keeping it but decided to send it back before the window closed instead. So I am counting it. Also threw out a microwave, which I was not going to count, but I considered saving it and decided I would rather get it out of here and not save any part of it.

107/1000

Found an old phone book to get rid of, and a catalog.

Roommate passed on a half dozen or so mass market paperback books to put in my box with the others to try for trade credit and then donate remainder. I did not latch onto any book from her to keep for myself, as I sometimes have done when I end up with books from other people (for example in years past if I had a garage sale and someone brought theirs to put in).

Good job SubC! We are getting lighter!

Donated: 2 more remotes and a shirt that is too short.

105/1000

Yesterday I dropped a paper grocery bag of recycling off.

Lol at the possible wanton buying of books - one of my favorite activities (exclamation)

Lila, post away, you’re doing well.

I dropped a small plastic grocery bag of trash - mostly diapers- off at school yesterday. I took the time to add a few broken kiln stilts from the firing cart before I threw it in the dumpster - the stilts are sharp, so I tend to leave them on the cart because I am afraid they will tear holes in the classroom trash bags and it never seems worth walking them out to the dumpster.

I also took my box of things to school and unpacked it in my classroom.

Nice job CM!!

I know I post on here a lot, but I need it for motivation. Eventually it will be less often.

Donated two TV remotes.

102/1000

I am enjoying having this tally.

Today I made it to the used bookstore, they accepted about 1/2 cu. ft. of books and gave me $8.00 in trade credit, which I promise not to use wantonly.

Still have a little over 1 cu. ft. of books in the box which shall be donated elsewhere. Maybe more books from the storage unit will be found to add to that total. It is quite possible.

Weather is predicted rainy tonight and into tomorrow, then in a couple days snowy (yuck) so I won't be doing storage unit any time soon. But I can either just donate what is in the box in the van should the opportunity present itself, or wait a little longer. I promise I won't wait too long, though - we know how procrastination can be!

Into the donation box today:

2 dvds and a hand towel

100/1000 yay! I am at 10%!