...ooops? Sorry for the double posts?!
My goal for today is to get the rest of the tools, etc., cleaned and put away.on the porch, and bring my freshly painted turquoise table and chairs back onto the porch!
May you all reach your goals today, and feel great about it!!! :D

...ooops? Sorry for the double posts?!
My goal for today is to get the rest of the tools, etc., cleaned and put away.on the porch, and bring my freshly painted turquoise table and chairs back onto the porch!
May you all reach your goals today, and feel great about it!!! :D

YEA!!! Critical Mass!!! Thats great! Youre on a roll!!!

YEA!!! Critical Mass!!! Thats great! Youre on a roll!!!

Just popping in quickly - which is what I seem to do these days. Hope to get back to keeping up better. Thanks for encouragement though, and I'm pleased to report I did have a minion, and we got some good things accomplished at the storage unit! More to come!

Thanks for the encouragement, Tillie and Anon! Greatly appreciated. Glad you have good support in your friend back East (I am on the East coast myself) Anon!

Take care, all. I need to keep it up. Wishing you all a good evening, thank you for everything!

Thinking of Diane, Bitsy, LR, Roxie, Oodles, CM, and everyone else.

WAY TO GO!!!! Tatoulia! :D

Hi Anonymoniker :)
I grew up in Tucson Arizona then migrated up here for work. :D
These areas are a lot alike except Nevada doesn't have many cactus.

Congratulations Tatoulia on letting go of some old items and shreading notebooks!
Congratulations Tillie on getting rid of the metal lawn furniture! Im.in southern Arizona, but one of the most wonderful times in.my life was a Rainbow Gathering in Northern.Nevada in July 89! It was when rainbow meant hippie, not gay.
Today it rained so i couldnt collect the last of the mesquite bean harvest, and i talked on the phone all afternoon to my friend back east. In an indirect way its helped motivate me and feel.better about myself! In some ways, at least for me, thats more important that a tiny chunk of clearing and cleaning! Ive got a goid plan for quite a bit out back, so.im excited about that! The decisions are the biggest part for me!

Does this item make me happy?? No?! In the bag. This is working for me today.

Got rid of some old holdouts today. In the bag for goodwill. Also shredded two notebooks of stuff I previously couldn't let go.

Take care, everyone.

Congratulations on the upcoming sale, Tillie! I'm so happy for you! Sounds like you have a good decision-making process!

Hello to all. Cleaning and vacuuming carpet this AM.

Good Morning Everyone :)

Hi CriticalMass :)
I learned that hard lesson posting here
always copy posts!
It is so frustrating to have our posts disappear after we have worked hard to put our thoughts into print.
WAY TO GO!!! using a "staging area" to sort!
Good luck finding your minions. :)

Hi Anonymoniker :)
WAY TO GO!!! getting back to your project even after having to do battle with the spooky spider!
I killed a huge black widow just yesterday. :(
I can truly sympathize with you about the creepy crawlies, I have snakes here too, LOTS of snakes here in the desert of northern Nevada.
Don't stress about typos, we all make them too. :)

Yesterday the neighbor friend dropped by and said that this Friday/Saturday we will have the yard sale.
All my small stuff is ready and priced.
There is big stuff like metal yard stuff that I need to clean up to get ready to sell.
Since I am not a hoarder or gatherer there really isn't much for me to let go of. This is why my friend and I double up to have the sale, to make the sale bigger to get more customers.
I am selling all my metal yard furniture because for decades now I have not been able to use it, it is always piled high and buried deep with all of his assorted collections.
This has been very frustrating for me so I have decided to sell it and then I will not keep getting depressed seeing it like that and never being able to enjoy using it.
This was a very hard decision to make but I feel so much happier and freer now that I have made up my mind to let these things go.
I am also selling an antique chest of drawers from my room. It has no sentimental emotions like the two dressers I am keeping in there and I don't really need it.
My two sentimental dressers that I will never part with are heirlooms from Grandmas, one was even my Great Grandma's. :D
So, today I have a plan and a deadline to work towards.
Hate having yard sales and don't like going to them either but it will feel so nice once this is over with.
P.S. all leftovers will be donated to MS. They send a big truck to pick up stuff and our other neighbor has MS. Win, win.
Any bedding type items always go to the local animal shelter for animal beds.

Wishing you all the best with whatever plans you have for today. :)

...i was cruising along, getting lots done, on a roll, when.i went inside to grab a scrubby from.the sink.to clean and a BIG spider was under it!!! I did manage to kill it, but im still shaken.up! ...im havinga small glass of wine...(sigh)...im going back to finish what ive decided on...theres still plenty of time to complete my goal for the day...dang, the spider and rattlesnake season.can.definitely make one jumpy...

CriticalMass, yesterday.i had to retype(and remember!) my.post.3 times cuz it didnt post! Today that almost happened again, but i backed upto it and it let me tey to repost the same text.
I have started on.my screen.porch project yet cuz my good friend from.the east coast called and she always gives me inspiration.and motivation and i feel like its a valuable thing to 'procrastinate' for! I need to reassure her on her recent new healthy endeavors that id help.her to get going on, and shes doing great with it, so it was mutually positive! ...she doesnt know the extent of my mess...ive told her its bad, but i know she could never even.imagine it...but she stills gives me confidence and inspiration!
Tillue i hope youve found a good project for the day, or maybe just spend the day having fun taking a break from
it all! ...ooops? Sorry for the typo of your name...and all the typos?!!
Happy cleaning and clearing to all!!! :D

CriticalMass, yesterday.i had to retype(and remember!) my.post.3 times cuz it didnt post! Today that almost happened again, but i backed upto it and it let me tey to repost the same text.
I have started on.my screen.porch project yet cuz my good friend from.the east coast called and she always gives me inspiration.and motivation and i feel like its a valuable thing to 'procrastinate' for! I need to reassure her on her recent new healthy endeavors that id help.her to get going on, and shes doing great with it, so it was mutually positive! ...she doesnt know the extent of my mess...ive told her its bad, but i know she could never even.imagine it...but she stills gives me confidence and inspiration!
Tillue i hope youve found a good project for the day, or maybe just spend the day having fun taking a break from
it all! ...ooops? Sorry for the typo of your name...and all the typos?!!
Happy cleaning and clearing to all!!! :D

Good day all . . .

NOTE - I'm irritated at the moment because my post I just tried to make got eaten; this is a reconstruction of it as best as I can remember. I had typed in the Captcha and everything seemed OK, but the screen went sort of blank in an unusual way and then my post never showed up. So take my advice, and do a "Copy" before you post to be on the safe side. Now to the post I had intended to make, or a reasonable facsimile thereof:

I can certainly relate to the "Where do I start?!" dilemma. I guess it's a byproduct of our indecision which breeds hoarding, hoarding then breeds clutter and clutter breeds more indecison when we go back to start dealing with it. I don't have any great pearls of wisdom since I'm suffering from the same indecision but here are a couple of strategies I've used.

One thing that has helped me is to have a "staging area." A blank place to put the stuff to be decided on. But only while you're doing the deciding, mind. A card table works well for this with indoor sorting of papers and knickknacks and items of that size range. Then you fold up and put away the card table at the end of the session so it doesn't become another clutter surface.

When doing the van yesterday the driveway functioned as my staging area. We're blessed here with a nice long driveway and the back part of it is out of sight of the neighbors, so I just backed up the van and used that back of the driveway to set things so I could go through them. It worked well.

While I was doing this van project, it became apparent that I really do need to proceed on to my storage unit for my next project. For that, I could really use some MINIONS. I'm going to have to pull out a bunch of stuff in order to be able to get the shelving in place, and get as much junky clutter out quickly and (ideally) make a staging area within the unit, or at least a wide enough path to make further decluttering go more smoothly. When I'm trying to do this all myself, given that things are stacked precariously every which way, its hard not to fall on my butt or have an avalanche of stuff falling and making a worse mess. It's also more emotionally stressful with all the stuff spread out on the parking lot and wondering if I'll be able to get it all where it should go before the day's end, whether that's back in the unit neatly, to the dumpster, to the thrift shop, wherever.

So my current mission is to beg, borrow, kidnap, or whatever, to get myself some minions! And of course they have to be patient, nonjudgmental minions. Wish me luck!

P.S. - re internet time - it's been harder than usual not to sucked into the internet because of going on Facebook in the mornings to see how my friend is doing in her recovery. I guess I'm going to have to be more aware to stay focused on only that and not get to looking at everything else till later. My sleep rhythm has also been way off, due to early morning awakenings last week from a storm and other things, so I'm awakening much later than I'd wish and moving like a turtle in the mornings, which doesn't help much.

Good morning :)

Hi Tatoulia :)
WTG! FANTASTIC! Keeping up with maintenance and also finding more to donate. :D
YEA!! for only food purchases. You are off to a great start.

Hi Anonymoniker :)
Good luck with your plan for today! :D

9:00am here now.
Have no idea what I will do today.
There are too many things that I could be doing.
I need to find some motivation, some reason or desire.
Sometimes I just feel "why bother?" when I look around at all the clutter surrounding my little clean and tidy spot.
Before I sign off I will send another email to Diane.

Everybody, try to make this a GREAT day! :D

Congratulations on the van, CriticalMass!
Tillie, thank you for that reminder that i use to use the internet as (bait) a reward for tasks completed or worked on. I need to go back to that!
Today its cool and cloudy, so im gonna work on the screen.porch. if i can get the tools cleaned and put away, then.the table & chairs put back, ill have my space back outback for another pile for taking to the dump! That will be my goal for today!
Happy accomplishments to all, today!!! :D

Hello Tillie! Thanks for the good internet advice. So far, have only purchased food items! Also washed an old sheet and put it in the donate bag. Keeping kitchen clean since friend's visit! Am back to emptying dishwasher as soon as it is finished.

I got garbage out, litter box cleaned and recyclables out. Time to finish evening chores and get to bed.

You are a great support, Tillie. Next time you are in touch with Diane could you tell her I say Hello?!!??

Hi Tatoulia :)
WAY TO GO!!! with the book sorting :)

How's it going with the no shopping?
I know it's hard breaking the habit.
Remember that even if you fall off the wagon you can just climb back on and start again.
(((HUGS)))

WAY TO GO!!! CriticalMass! :D

I use the internet as a reward after I have done what I need to do.
Mornings, I take care of the cats then get online to see what's up with the world.
Then I turn it off and do not allow myself to get back online until I have done something.
A task/chore or work on a project/hobby or even just something fun like play a while.
When I have eaten lunch I sometimes allow a half hour online while I digest.
In the evening, after I am all done for the day, I sometimes get online and read articles instead of reading a book or watching tv.
I have spent way too many hours online before and found that I needed to restrict my online time or I would surf the web all my waking hours. :)

When I wa in grad school, one of my professors said, TV is a thief. If you turn it on, you will watch it for at least half an hour. The Internet is now the thief in my life.

THANK YOU for helping me see that today! Greatly appreciated. Hello to all!

Well, somebody must've prayed for me, because I went out anyway and got going on the van! I managed to go through stuff, get a big black trashbag about 3/4 full. Now a fair amount of stuff is still going to have to "live" in the van for awhile as it's projects I just can't bring indoors due to small space where I'm staying. But it's neat and labeled and manageable.

Some will go to my storage garage when I get the shelves all up and lots more dejunking done there. But all in all, I did get this particular task accomplished to the point it needs to be right now. It gave me a chance to inspect stuff and make sure there was no damage from moisture, shifting around, etc. - particularly to a nice painting I did, and which I need to repack more securely.

It's all a work in progress - the van and the storage and my quarters here. But this is what I've been waiting 3-4 months to tackle, so that feels great!

.....i think the internet maybe my biggest.procrastination distraction?!! ....yep, it is!!!

Sheesh, I thought I'd be doing better than this by now! I keep getting jetlagged on my sleep and then in the mornings I go on Facebook for updates about my friend who is recovering from surgery, then get all addicted to the rest of Facebook and waste too much time.

The weather is nice and I need to be doing all those things I said I was going to do when the weather was nice!

Okay, getting to it now! I'll catch up with everything else here later! I just want to post so I know I'm still committed to this and so you guys know I'm still around and wishing you all success in your endeavors! Will check in again soon.

Started on a bag to donate. Going through bookshelf has only yielded two books so far. I will check bookshelves in living room closet too. I had gotten rid of so many books last year but I'm certain if I work hard I can get rid of a few more.

Thinking of returning some of the items I bought recently.

I will keep you posted on my progress. Need to get back into the right frame of mind.

Wishing you all a good day.

Good Morning :)

Hi Karl :)
Nice to "see" you. ;D

Today my plan is to...
sweep the floors and porches
clean the bathroom
wash the floors
pick up and corral all the cat toys
vacuum the carpet
water the grass and garden

With this all done that will leave tomorrow open for me to do whatever.
Maybe work in the yard?
Seems like there is a lot to do but my energy level is zero right now.
Still suffering from the wildfire smoke.
The baby quail are almost all grown up now and the raptors have really thinned down their numbers.
Found a pretty weed growing in my garden and looked it up. Black nightshade, all parts are terribly poisonous.
Wonder where that came from? Plan to incinerate it in the burn barrel.

TTYL :)

Tillie, grand idea! I will promise no new items for 30 days! I like the fact that you gave me a choice! I will take cold turkey! Thank you!

So needed. Many thanks. YES!

Oodles
(((HUGS)))
So sorry you did not get promoted.
When I get angry is when I do my best purging, decluttering, cleaning and organizing.
You will return to work tomorrow with your head held high and do your job with professionalism to the best of your ability.
Show them all that you are a real trooper and will persevere even in the worst of times.
Remember you were 2nd out of 8 candidates. Next time, they will remember how you performed even after losing out on this promotion.
Enjoy your pity party, make it a good one.
You deserve to have this time to heal.
(((HUGS)))

Good Morning :)

Hi Roxie "clink!" :)
With all his medical issues past and present I know too well the hell you are facing.
(((HUGS)))
Some doctors/hospitals/labs, etc... will just send ALL their bills immediately to collections rather than even attempting to work with the patients.
When we have been taken to court by a collection agency it has always worked to our advantage.
The judge will dismiss any claims they can not verify and with the ones that they can verify the court/judge will set up easy/reasonable payment schedules that we can meet and still be able to afford food, electricity, etc...

Hi Oodles :)
Wishing you and your daughter the best of luck finding help with all your medical bills.
(((HUGS)))

Hi Tatoulia :)
YEA!!! WTG!!!! for your friend getting the kitchen sparkling clean and tidy! :D
Shopping? :(
Can you promise all of us here on the message board that you will not buy anything except food and TP as needed for the next month?
How about for everything new brought in you commit to releasing at least two items?
Good plan to work on maintenance and papers! :D
I miss Diane terribly too. :(

This morning the smoke from the wildfires is greatly reduced here. :)
It has been so bad at times that the cats were having really bad times.
Taking today easy but promising that tomorrow I will clean the bathroom and floors.

TTYL :)

I should change my name to motivation 0. OK I will say it...I did not get promoted. I worked so hard. More college,3 yrs at this job & it would have provided more $ that would allow me to get proper help for my problem & my physical medical problems. Loss I believe is 85% of my issue here. Prior counseling tells me to follow the steps of grief and look at the half full glass I still have my job. It does not motivate me to move these accumulating piles. I was #2 out of 8 which improves from 2 out of 50 to even get employed. I did do some dishes but have been having a major self pity party for myself today. I am waiting for the anger step of grief to set in then I will turn it on an entire room. How do I go back to work tomorrow? Support and hugs to all remember we are in this together and we can do it no matter what; even if it is one small item. Anyone with helpful suggestions I would be grateful.

Coffee clinks, Roxie. Roxie I am sorry about all you are going through. Once things go to collection , those agents can be rude and condescending. I'm glad your brother is there to help you. If I could, I'd help you too!

Tillie, good to hear from you! I've been busy with my friend visiting. We didn't get to paperwork but my kitchen sparkles with cleanliness. She mentioned that it wasn't bad this year.

Still have too much stuff. I am acquiring these days, which is bad. First, I don't have the money for the things I am buying and secind, there's no room.

For now, I will work on maintenance in tea of cleanliness, with working on paperwork. I need to feel more accomplished.

Hugs to all. Missing Diane.

Roxie so sorry to hear about this. I too am in a medical bill quandary both for myself and my daughter. I am glad you have someone to try and help you sort things out. My understanding is that if you have multiple illnesses that cause large medical bills you cannot afford you should be able to apply for your state Medicaid program. I am going to try it myself. Unfortunately it is true your medical bills go 30 60 90 days and then to collections most billing companies will work with you if you have a payment plan in place. Often times what they offer me I cannot afford. I would check with your state attorney general's office to be sure they are following the fair practice laws.

Good Morning Everyone :)
Sorry to have been away for so long.
So many things have been going on here, some fun and some annoying.

Hi Anonymoniker :)
Hope you have had some better luck dealing with those sneaky spiders.
Finding a better home to set up on your property would be a good solution for living in as long as you still declutter this current home and consider having it demolished or repaired.

Hi Oodles :)
I would get the bigger stuff moved out first since that will be the most satisfying to have done.
Then the paperwork can be done is smaller sessions with breaks to do other things.
Sitting for hours and hours concentration on paperwork would be too depressing and you might burn out on the task.

Hi Tatoulia :)
Hi Roxie :)
Hi everybody :)

Since you asked for opinions, I think that your idea has good merit--if you get the large furniture items out--stuff you are willing to get rid of--you'll instantly see some improvement and you'll feel successful and a sense of accomplishment. That will give you motivation to continue.

As to the paperwork, that can be tedious and time consuming without that rush of accomplishment. It's important too and needs to get done but if there's not a lot standing in your way for getting the furniture out, then I say go for it! If all the papers will prevent access to move the furniture, then you might need to plow into that first.

These are merely my thoughts--but no matter what you do, I want you to feel successful and accomplished. You are doing a great job and we are all here to support you!

I have a bag of paperwork to go through. I going to work on it tonight.

Hello and best regards to everyone. Thinking of you all.

Hello All:

I'm back. Needed some time away. Worked over 60 hours this week. Daughter is settling in. We have the weekend to manage some tasks. We do have to do yard work one day. We will spend as much time possible working on a room inside Hard to choose where to start. My goal is to take some things to the Goodwill. I can get it boxed and bagged but struggle with taking it there. Thinking of everyone out here.

I need your opinions: My son recommends going through the paperwork/small stuff first. I wanted to go for getting large unused furniture out of here. What do you guys think?

Today i went into my partially cleaned & cleared bathroom, and because id turned the lamp off that had attracted bugs and spider webs and cleaned that area, the spiders relocated to the nightlight next to the lightswitch on the wall, and theres a big spider that is right on the night light, just maybe an.inch from.the over head light! I keep spraying it with a water sprayer bottle, but he keeps coming back! Theres too much stuff in the way to smash him and for him.to hide in...hmmm...maybe next i should clear that stuff in the way....hmmm....

Correction: living space, not luving space...ha ha

Correction: living space, not luving space...ha ha

Thank you, Tillie!
Its such a joy having that whole corner clean! I cleaned all the dead bugs off of everything and just turned the lamp.off!
Today i finally went to the library to try to use the computer to look at 'tiny homes' for sale. I found several great options i didnt know about, and i was able to use the computer way better this time, withoout having to bug the staff to help me!
My plan is to get an inexpensive tiny house, park model or panel yurt, to put on my land, cuz even.if/when.i get stuff cleared out and clean.in my trailer, it is in horrible shape and not livable! Im hoping having a nice functional luving space will shift things for me and then i can.throw out more stuff easier?!
Then i swam.for an hour and a half at a local.heated.pool! ...aaahhh! What a treat that was! :D

Good Morning Everybody :)

Hi Anonymoniker :)
WAY TO GO!!! for getting rid of those nasty spider webs! :D
We should always pay attention to our inner selves.
There are times when we should not push. Times to get better rest, better nutrition and better self nurturing all around.
Then there are the things we haveto do every day even when we are sick, especially if we have any pets.
Then there are the times we need to pushourselves.
Those times when the resistance to doing a task is just because we don't want to do it, no other reason and it's something we need to do to achieve our goals.
Example: I hate going to the dentist but I did it anyway even though that broken tooth did not hurt, yet.
Decluttering and cleaning is not just a physical thing. Pay attention to your internal dialogue and your physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Adjust your activities accordingly.
Because to push too hard at times will cause you to burn out and leave you with a very negative outlook on the whole process and you will not want to continue.
(((hugs)))

Greta, that must be hard. I hope things can get better for you and your mom, soon?!
Im not quite sure if this is the right place to post this. Earlier today id read a suggestion of not clearing or cleaning unless in.the mood. I agree! The past few days id been.going thru extreme depression where the smallest daily tasks were very difficult. Today somehow i woke up early and skipped my coffee and felt like getting some simple tasks done, and i feel great! Im not sure that pushing myself when.im feeling super low is a good stategy now! I decided the top of the clothes washer needed cleaning. It has a lamp that stays on so this time of year its filled with spider webs and bugs. I see it frequently, so it gets me down everytime i go in there, and now it looks nice and it didnt even take that long!
Next the kitchen counter!
Tillie, it sounds like you might live in.my area!
I hope everyone has a happily productive day! :D

Hi Greta :)
Just wanted to give you a(((HUG)))

Just when I thought my mom might have turned a corner she is staying on the same road we have taken her more of her stuff to her (from the house they sold my nephew) the stuff she said she wanted to get but yet when she gets it she mad because she was going to do it but unfortunately can make time to do that and exspects it to remain where it was at even though it maybe in the new owners way. My mom has not gone though even an 1/8 of what we took down to her shed and stil proceeds to tell me and only me people got rid of all of her stuff it doesn't matter to her if I was on vacation taking care of things at the nursing home for my dad she calls me on my cell and talks very loudly when I state why don't you ask other family members she tells me she don't want to cause a problem or upset them It don't seem to matter if she makes me upset.
Sorry just had to vent

Hope everyone is having a good day

Good Morning :)

Went outside with the sunrise.
Watered the trees and bushes.
Had a fun time watching the birds all wake up and start their days.
Sprayed the oven with oven cleaner yesterday so today I need to wipe it out.
Of all the household chores in the world that I hate doing, I hate this one the most!
The modern appliances I wish I had are a self cleaning oven, a dish washer and a clothes dryer.
Hanging out laundry in the winter is too much of an adventure when temperatures are below freezing.
Oh well, time to put on the rubber gloves and do that oven.... :(

Good Morning :)

Hi Greta :)
Wishing you a wonderful day today. :D

Hi CriticalMass :)
Hoping all is going well. (((HUGS)))

Hi Jess :)
Unlike the Disney creatures, these never help clean up around the house. LOL :D
Great plan to have all your work clothes clean and ready for the week!
Have a safe drive back home.

The morning sunlight today is tinted orange from the wildfires.
I am wheezing and coughing up fur balls from the smoke.
Other than that it's a very nice day, so far.
Need to clean the kitchen today.
Thinking about spraying oven cleaner in the oven so that it will be ready to wipe out tomorrow.
Also need to tighten up my clothes line. The new rope stretches a bit when you first start using it.
Want to do some stuff out in my flower garden too.
So, sort of an easy day. No big plans.
Planning to accomplish a lot this coming week, need to make up a "To-Do" list.

TTYL :)