Way to keep going, SubC!

One pair of jeans I kept wearing even with a hole in the thigh - gone.

267/600

Picked up pitcher I won in raffle.

73/366

Bean and I stopped at the giant farm store today. I bought him a new hand trowel and a cultivator rake to keep here.

(I also bought three t-posts, but those are garden structure and don't count.)

74/366

Almost forgot to put this here - a purse and a pair of shoes

76/366

Good job Lila! I knew you could find something in your bedroom!

I backslid today, but it is ok.

I brought home that swing.

74/366

I only need to be at 41 to be on target.

Chipping away, SubC! Good work.

Gone from my bedroom:
- one bag of clothes someone gave me months ago (counting as one item)
- one pair of jeans I had decided to keep, but I have too much stuff, so...
- two balls for dogs (too small for mine)
- one thick magazine, the kind that is more like a book
- one plastic zippered thing for clothes that is too small

266/600

Two more countable items cleared from the counter of doom - one to recycling and one to donate.

75/366

4 rubber ducks scattered around school for the kids to find (there is a duck hunt theme going on this year and various people have been hiding various types of ducks)

73/366

Yay Lila!

I took 22 books to the used book store.

69/366

I'll be back to visit the other threads later.

SubC you are here posting away!! Way to stay accountable! I will join you. Time to get moving again. Donated:

- one water bottle
- a box of new ornaments (counting as one item)
- a bag of books that I actually threw out. Someone gave me a bog bag of kid's books but over half of them were in such bad shape they are worthless. Wet, warped, torn, stained. Counting as one item since they were given to me (a long long time ago)


260/600

Added a fancy jar to the donate pile.

Net 47/366

Well, I just got a bunch of exercise by trying to force myself into every pair of clean jeans I own.

Also, I no longer want a snack.

I added two pairs of jeans to the leaving pile.

So,

46/366

I have a drawer with my fair t-shirts and jeans I can only wear at home (good for working on the farm)

A drawer with school t-shirts and jeans I can wear in public (although some of them are pretty tight)

A small stack of embarrassingly too tight on a closet shelf and a larger (because Dd bought me 3 pairs of thrifted jeans in a very old size for Christmas) stack of "well, technically they zip."

4 old fairbooks. Half credit because I tore out a few pages to keep.

44/366

Dsil wanted to read the (used) book Dd got me for Christmas. I have finished reading it, so she is taking it to him today.

Back at 42/366

So Bean has not met Birdy yet? It will be wonderful when they can be together for a holiday or something. My grandTots have never met their cousins in another state. But I would like to take the TotsFam to visit the little Triggers in the other state!

Bought a sweater last night.

41/366

The new baby lives in a different state - they are cousins. Bean likes to call him on the computer and look at him sometimes. Mostly he likes to tell us all the things Birdie can't do because he is a "born baby".

SubC he sounds so cute! How is he doing with the new baby?

I have several boxes of children's books I saved from my kids, for the grands, and I don't know where they are! I just realized they used to be in the huge room we just cleared but I never saw the totes! I don't think we saw them in the garage, either. They could be in the storage-like little bedroom upstairs; I feel the need to find them and read them with the kids before they outgrow them.

I will work on my Tally today, as I work on the dining room table and my thrift-shop-earthquake bedroom.

Bean brought a book with him that is going to live here. (He likes it, but his parents don't so they decided I should read it to him. - which is fine, I like the book.)

I tried to return the favor, but Bean examined my 2 selections and told me "we should give them to another kid." So apparently he has moved on from them and they will turn up in the tally the next time I make a book store trip.

Currently net 42/366. - still ahead of target.

Good work, CM! Getting rid of a tote is a major win!

Wow, SubC, I didn't realize we were moving that quickly! It was hard, too but we are doing it.

a couple things today:
- small mini blender base
- gallon plastic lemonade dispensing jar that was given to me but I never used it.

257/600

Amen to that, SubC! Lately I've been on a campaign to get rid of storage containers that I dislike. There can be different reasons why I dislike them - or simply don't love them. There were some miscellaneous small baskets and containers in the lot I put on the senior center giveaway table. I hope over time to replace the duds with ones I like - but I'm going slowly on that anyway because of course if I am decluttering, I may not even need as many anyway.

Yay for the departures!

Getting rid of a "wrong" storage container is always a great step! It removes the temptation to refill it and try to make it work.

Good day of accomplishment - did some nagging tasks one of which involved getting rid of stuff.

In the morning, I cleaned out the cats' water fountain and changed its filter, a task I'd been meaning to do but the fountain got inconvenient to access for awhile due to the sewing/craft table clutter. Now it's easier to get to.

Am doing laundry now, always an accomplishment for me, lol.

And I was going to start the laundry earlier, but decided to go ahead and make a quick jaunt with the bunch of things awaiting donation. Took half of it to the senior center where they have a table you can put things you don't want and take things you do (and I didn't take anything!). The rest I took to the thrift shop.

All in all, I offloaded 5-6 cubic feet. A third of it was the bigger craft tote that had been part of the stuff under the sewing table. It was unwieldy for the amount of storage it provided. It had been given to me, I didn't pick it out and probably wouldn't have. But someone else will probably love it. Besides I downsized the stuff from two totes to one, posted about that awhile ago.

I just want to point out to you that you did 100 items in less than a week. AND cleaned out a bunch of trash!

... and it continues.

- gift bag and gift paper
- car antenna
- 2 angel ornaments
- guitar stand
- 2 more pieces of trim
- cable
- box of dog supplies, containers, etc

This was at least 24 items.


255/600

More stuff going away.

- a painting a friend did for me but then he turned out to be a complete jerk
- 8 little toys
- coat
- picture frame
- calendar (undated for planning)
- coaxial cable (another one)


231/600

thank you SubC, I am glad I am documenting this. Going back and looking at the sheer volume of what has left is astounding to me.

2 flashlights
2 litter boxes
some kind of tv or internet box
6 more pieces of trim
a curtain rod

I don't even know what else I threw in those boxes, but today we filled my whole SUV with donations, piled a big stack of stuff on the side of the house to go to the dump, and almost filled one trash bin. I never count actual trash in my Tally.

218/600

Lila, you are do8ng so well! Really! I am so proud of you being able to do this for your family!

TotsDad came over again and I am in a mindset of surrender. Just let it go... keep the most special things and let the rest go. We worked for almost 2 hours and I am so sore. He is still working.

Donated (mostly), a few in the trash:

- printer/copier/fax machine
- old printer and 3 new ink cartridges
- CD rack
- 4 pairs of shoes
- small quilt
- pink lamp
- 3 various cords
- grey rug
- mirror
- 5 books
- 3 notebooks/journals
- scarf for a dog
- 4 leashes, collars, bowls
- bent/cracked tote
- roll of brown paper
I am forgetting things, but I am so exhausted.

206/600

Lila, you are doing great!

I had nothing in and nothing out today, so I am still sitting at 43.

TotsDad came over...

- 8 dog toys
- 2 long cords (coaxial and something else)
- 5 partial/old bottles and boxes of cleaners
- 6 rods, dowels, and pieces of trim

174/600

Ticking away at the hoard...

- 4 VCR tapes
- 7 books
- a very large desk/cabinet given away
- a big storage drawer given away

this is exhausting.

153/600

Chugging along...

- set of outdoor Christmas lights
- 6 good socks that I don't like
- one more shirt I never really liked

140/600

Thanks, SubC.

8 tanks tops/tees
1 purse

132/600

oh my, feeling a bit overwhelmed but still working.

- 3 books
- 2 clothing
- a wooden/glass, unfinished case I had wanted to finish for years, but I don't really like it. Donated.


Still going through stuff.

123/600

Wow, good job SubC! Books are hard.

- crafting kit
- 4 large bottles of sugar free syrup that I have hung onto forever, just taking up space

117/600

24 books to the used book store.

Net 43/366

oh man, on and on, so emotional...

- 3 cloth items
- a binder
- 3 books
- a huge stack of old magazines (counting as one item)
- 3 random cup lids
- some kind of scraper blades pack

That's 12 items.
I am probably forgetting some things but trying to keep a count. All from the huge room.

112/600

Sure CM, I am happy for anyone to use this thread in any way it helps them!

P.S. SubC, I'm glad you are wanting to revive the crafting thread. I'm sure I'll have occasion to post there if it's a thing.

Oh, and, how could I forget - I got the one pair of jeans hemmed yesterday. It wasn't easy because the fabric is stretch denim and it didn't want to go smoothly through the presser foot so it puckered a little. But it won't show that much when I wear them. And it was a good test of my machine since I got it working again. It seemed to do okay! I used a heavier needle and heavier thread.

SubC, I like that idea, just put it here, and let this thread perhaps have a dual usage:

1. Things gotten rid of
2. Things returned to active usefulness from hoarded limbo.

Lila, does that sound okay to you?

Another day helping TotsDad sort garage contents.

LOTS of papers and junk I'm not counting in my tally. I am counting 25 items:

- 1 huge bunch of pens
- plastic water mug thing
- 8 books
- about 10 clothing items
- gloves so old they are too stiff to wear
- old Christmas stocking
- large metal tin
- 2 wallets


100/600

I like the fix-it thread idea! It might motivate me to think about things that have been sitting around needing repair for YEARS.

TotsDad came over today and although I am sick, I went out in the garage and we worked for about a half hour. We got a LOT done really. I did not think to count items so I will post what I remember here. I never overestimate on my Tally as it is important to me to not count things I didn't get rid of. I tend to underestimate a bit when I forget to count.

We sorted boxes and here is what left my home, that I remember:

- my old pressure cooker that I learned how to can with back in 1990. Lots of good memories there! But I never intend to can again. It made me smile to handle it.
- 15+ books
- 8 brackets (the kind libraries used on book shelves)
- 20+ saved nicer magazines
- 8 containers of caulk, tiling stuff, bag of spacers, bag of shims
- electric inflater thing (I have a smaller one)
- box of old files
- 6+ kitchen utensils
- a bag of rods, dowels, metal things, boxes of nails (will count this as one item)

I can't remember what else but that totals at least 60 items, gone! Most donated (TotsDad put them in my car), some in the trash.

75/600

CM,

I'm not sure how many of us fix things. It might be a quiet thread. But you could try it. I still want to get back to your craft thread some day..l

You could add it to here if you wanted. Come tell us all the things you fix and keep a running tally and at the end of the year you would have a count of all the things you fixed - no goal numbers to intimidate you - just something to be proud of.

This thread is already getting quite a few posts on it - that's great! I'll no doubt be adding some of my own soon.

An idea has just occurred to me, and I'll toss it out and we can bat it around.

I'm a champion procrastinator, as I'm sure you know. But now that I've been experiencing a resurgence of energy and focus, I've several things in mind that have needed fixing for some time. I'm talking about straightforward wins - things that have passed the cost benefit analysis in terms of time and effort to repair, and usefulness once they are back in service.

Exhibit A: My jeans I recently bought at Goodwill 2-3 months ago that need hemming or pocket extensions. They fit, and now my sewing machine is working, and it won't take long to fix them.

So here's my idea - like we have this Daily Tally, what do you think of a thread called "There, I Fixed It!"? For those times when we accomplish a repair of a deserving item instead of procrastinating.

The disadvantage of course would be that it splits up the Daily Chat section, and perhaps it would be better to just do our brag posting about repairs on the main What Are You Doing Today thread.

Just curious about your thoughts, by all means I welcome feedback. I could go either way. But just in case it would help others who need to repair genuinely useful items and give immediate positive reinforcement for doing so. Let me know! :)

SubC, I love your accountability. Someone gave me a whole box of jeans that may or may not fit (probably some will) and when I try them on, I am not going to count anything I re-donate. I am not "netting" yet, but when people give me stuff like that (or there is a box of kids' books sitting here someone gave me), I feel like it would not be right for me to count them in the Tally if I re-gift them. Thanks for making me think about that!

I should try those jeans on so I don't have a box of jeans in my bedroom right?? omg Son just came upstairs and told me he caught a mouse in his bedroom!!! omg omg. His room is downstairs and mine is upstairs but omg. That darn cat is not doing his job!!

My daughter had a good time shopping for me at the thrift store.

I am up three pairs of jeans (she took a picture of the tag in my laundry), a really nice warm shirt, a book, and a game.

Net 19/366

One children's flashlight that I was having trouble getting to work right, one shirt that I loved that was super comfortable but getting so raggedy I could not wear it out of the house and a huge hole that was getting ridiculous, into the trash. And one shirt that fit but I didn't like, into the donate bin.


15/600

16 candles
One decorative item

25/366

One old dog toy that was still okay but got dented in, so instead of fixing it I threw it out. I've had it a long time and have too many.

12/600