Good morning :)

Having company today. :D

WTG! Diane :)
For filling the carts! :D

The change to declutter comes from within.
The change to only selectively acquire comes from within.
Being accountable to yourself and your goals is an important part of this change.
Having a vision/dream of your life is how to keep focused and motivated to make the changes.
Fear of the unknown future is a great immobilizer.
Worrying about all the "what-ifs".
Honestly, life is so much easier and less complicated when we don't have too much stuff.
Keeping the house clean is no longer a major chore.
You have a lot more free time to use any way you choose.
Your mind and body are less stressed without the constant struggle and juggling and cleaning and moving things about.
Motivation is key to taking on the task of decluttering.
Find your dream vision and let that keep you moving in the right direction.
Figure out the work methods that work for you.
Timed sessions, challenges, doing one room or area to completion, being accountable to someone in real life or online, etc.
Even though it is so very very hard and emotionally draining and at times traumatic keep working toward your goal.
Push yourself to do what you really want to do deep down inside even though you are resistant to the change.
Read "Buried In Treasures" do the work sheets. Go back and do the work sheets again to see how you have changed.
If you need something more to help you through just ask.
If you need to just let out your frustrations, go for it.
If you just need an encouraging word or virtual hug here it is (((((HUG))))).

I read the good bye post this morning and it really affected me, thought about it on and off all day. Wondered if I am missing out on the "cure". Then realized I have invested so much time on this site, and changing to another site may motivate me to try harder, but too much input
is too overwhelming for me. Truth is, it is up to me to keep working on change. When I mess this place up it is up to me to notice it and get back on . I have gone to every motivational speaker and class that came along, feel real motivated then go back to being same old same old. It comes down to letting go of extra stuff and only buying things I need and will use. Would love to blame it on someone or some thing, truth is I am the one that created the clutter and I am the one that has to continue changing.

Hi Tillie and others. .Love this warm weather we are having, Legal to burn today, so burned almost all day. Tomorrow is garbage pick up so this afternoon I looked with objective eyes, and filled garbage cart to the top. Also filled recycle cart. Some of the things I tossed were painful to throw out, now 2 hours later, I won der why was it difficult to let go of junk.

NO BAKE chocolate oatmeal cookies...

Combine in a pan & bring to a boil
2 Cups of white sugar
1/4 Cup of cocoa
1/4 Cup of butter or margarine
1/2 Cup of milk

Boil for one minute.

Have already measured and at hand...
2 Cups of raw oatmeal
1/4 Cup of peanut butter (crunchy is best)
1 Teaspoon of vanilla

Mix thoroughly
Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper

Work fast as sometimes it hardens/sets quickly

Good morning :)

Remember back in grade school when you would be given a box of those little Valentine cards with envelopes?
Remember how much fun it was to sort them all out, choosing the perfect one for everybody you wanted to give one to?
Then signing each one, putting it into the envelope and writing the person's name on it?
In second grade after we had just taken a field trip to the main post office and learned all about how our mail was shipped and sorted out to be delivered I even went so far as to draw tiny postage stamps in the corners of the valentine envelopes.
Remember how much fun it was to also receive tiny valentine cards from all your friends?

Life was so simple way back then.

Diane:
???? :) :) :) :) Congrats. (Still rooting for you to find another lost item from long ago too.)

Tille:
Great with the clippings. I got some flowering quince branch cuttings from last fall into the trash over the weekend for tomorrow's pickup. I had some other stuff I wanted to put out too, but I've been hooked to the kitchen. Maybe I can get some more out next week.

hello everyone, good for you Tillie, and thanks. I found the title to vehicle. Good thing I pulled all files out to go through, it was in a file of massage gift certificates, I had made to sell when I worked at a gym years ago. How did title get in there? Must have fallen in when I was doing something else. No way I would have ever figured out it was in there, thank goodness I was willing to get rid of those old papers, or would have had to order new title. Amazing to me that I see the good in this.
Tonight I found more donations and put all books etc in a bag and will take to thrift store soon. I worked outside most of the day. No wind today but fires are not permitted today, and I was ready to burn baby burn, all those papers, so found more tonight to burn, maybe tomorrow. I took everything out of car and planned to clean it today, but worked in yard too long, tomorrow hopefully.

Good morning :)

Cats are all fed and Scooter is medicated. :)
Have to get up early before 'S' leaves for work so he can help me get the drops into Scooter's eyes.
He needs to hold him still and keep his paws down while I hold his head and open his eyes as I put the drops in them.
A two person/four handed job.

Hi Diane, Thank you :)
GOOD LUCK! finding the title. ;)
WAY TO GO!!!! with sorting and tossing and organizing and filing as you look for it! :D

Got house cleaned yesterday so after I do a few daily tidying ups the rest of the day is mine to do with as I choose.
Bit of frost covering things outside this morning.
But looks like it will turn into a nice sunny day.
Still have those clippings laying all over the garden area.
Might get them gathered & moved today, maybe. :D

Smile, giggle, dance a little today. :)

Happy finger is going to heal.
Got up this morning and started on bins of papers. I had files of stuff in many places. Spent 4 hours this morning then to class. Another couple of hours tonight. Have filled one garbage can with things to burn, papers with private info, one large bag of paper recycles. Living room floor looks like an office moving party. I still have not found vehicle title. Pulled all files out of file cabinet, will take a few times to get rid of most of it. Each time, get rid of more. I am grateful I lost title to motivate me to get rid of all this junk. I have started donation pile of binders, books etc. Even though it looks like bomb went off in here, I know it will be good tomorrow, just keep at it until, files are all organized in one cabinet and the rest gone.
Started cleaning car today that is when I realized
title is missing in action. And thus began the file purge. 53 mph wind gusts also helped me stay inside and work on this. Praying paper purge continues.

Good morning :)

Hi Tat & TY :)
Wonderful that you went out visiting! :D
It truly is amazing all we can accomplish when we play "Beat The Clock".
And those quick little tasks really do add up.
WAY TO GO!

Hi Diane & TY :)
BIG WAY TO GO! for no shopping! :D
It is so very very wonderful that after all the hard work you have done in your yard to know that this Spring you will be able to just enjoy the season! :D

Having kept the finger bound and iced has done wonders. Can now bend the joint a little without pain, so looks like I lucked out. :)
Got the litter boxes all washed out yesterday and today I will be doing the usual weekly house cleaning.
Bathroom, wash floors, vacuum & all that other stuff.
We had some rain here yesterday.
Was nice but didn't help with the drought.
The snow pack is 80 percent below normal.
This is the warmest and driest winter I have ever known since moving here back in the late 1970s.

Wishing everybody a great day! :D

Ouch Tillie. Sounds like you are doing the right things so take care of your finger. Rest, ice, compression elevate. If joints bend and finger is straight, should be ok. Tat sounds like a wonderful day visiting.
It is still warm here so rain not snow, 9" piled up made me laugh Tat. I was outside most of the day finishing some work. Wind helps me find lots of stuff to do.
This will be the first Spring that I will have clean up done, and can just enjoy spring. Wish I had more accomplishments to report, of all the things in here completed. At .least no shopping, hooray for that

Yikes on the finger Tillie--not good. Diane, what a lot you accomplished! Amazing! I spent today at my 97 year old friend's house then went to mom's to watch tv. She's slipping so I helped her out. Now I'm home and it's snowing, lightly but steadily.

Keep up the good work ladies! Because of you, I accomplish and sometimes I don't, but I'll always be supported. How great is that?

PS. Sometimes I find I tackle something when I have a small amount of time. Waiting for BF, for example, sometimes gets me motivated to empty (and refill) dishwasher, orayve I'm waiting for news to start, do I'll quick shred the mail. I then say look, that only took 15 minutes. It helps. Mind games. I'm tricking myself into doing stuff.

Good morning :)

Hi Tatoulia :)
WAY TO GO!!! fixing that slow bathroom sink! :D

Many times when I plan to do a task that I am dreading doing I find myself delaying it by accomplishing many other need-to-be-done tasks instead. ;)

Hi Diane :)
Happy you got outside and WTG! for all you did out there.
We all tend to not see things right in front of us year after year, until they are gone.
Then we enjoy the newly exposed areas so much we wonder, "what took so long?"

I hate removing living plants too and the birds here plant a LOT of things around my garden area.
Some of it is in an area where I don't mind but a lot of the plants are in the worst spots, so they have to either be transplanted or pulled out.

Yesterday I was holding onto the storm door with one hand and holding a squirming Scooter with the other while the winds were gusting.
Ended up smashing my left index finger in the door.
Hurts bad, is all black and blue and swollen.
Have it immobilized and just hoping it isn't broken or if it is broken hoping it will mend properly. :(

Today I need to scrub, scour and sanitize the litter boxes, this should be interesting to see how I do.
Scooter's eyes are responding quite well to the new eye medication.
Already he is in less pain and playing more. :D

TTYL :)

Hi Tillie and Tat. Happy to hear you didn't get table cleared-----usually takes me two days to do a task I say I am going to do!! Did get all dishes done. Sun peaked out and outside I went. It was gusting to 48mph but worked outside anyway. I stacked all dry firewood and put new wood behind it and started making area stronger with bigger t'posts and more wire. Secured brown tarp better. I cut back a juniper shrub that I always have to walk around, talked myself in to getting rid of it, then put stepping stones down to the wood, soooooo much better and convenient. Then I dug up an area where grass and flowers were strangling a rose bush, I am throwing things away for practice. . yesterday my garbage can was full for pickup for the first time in awhile. I was happy today after a couple days not so happy. Sunshine, even for a few minutes makes life better, and a beautiful rainbow in between rain showers today. Yard looks better but I am still messy. Often do not see things that have been there for a long time. Once I cut some of that shrub off, it was obvious, I do not even like it, but if it grows, it has rights, more than I do, weird huh. Tomorrow I think I will chop some more stuff and throw more stuff away from house and garage, just for practice. Sure do appreciate you being here.

Saturday night, almost 11:00 PM. I haven't touched the coffee table yet. But I did fix bathroom sink which was running really slow. Glad to hear scooter is going to be okay. Poor little thing.

Oh, it he snow piles by my house are nine FEET tall not nine inches. I'd feel foolish about that mistake if it weren't for feeling foolish about saying I'd work on coffee table!

Much love to all .

One can search up an article about a Rhode Island woman buried in her Corvair in the late 90's!

Great song quote, Diane! Tillie I hope Scooter is okay. Any update ?

We have enough snow here to cute your drought, Tillie. Over 9" piles at the corner of my street. Really hard walking/cars can't see/pedestrians can't see.

I want the coffee table in the living room cleared this weekend. It is piled and piled and it is making me unhappy. Only then wi I feel worthy of cookies. I need to do this. It will make a huge difference.

I need to do taxes too, Diane. I bet while I'm cleaning coffee table I'll find most of the stuff I need.

Windy, Windy, Windy!!!!!!!! Several trees down in town. No problems on my property. More wind and rain on the way. I cleaned up some debris in yard. Brought in laundry from line. Brought in firewood. Country song says, "never saw a hearse with a trailer hitch" meaning we cant take stuff with us when we die. Thought it might motivate me to load up more donations, just no energy today. Recovering from work yesterday. Happy floors are clean. Have a few dishes I plan to wash. Sorted all papers for taxes, now have to organize them and add up different things. Would like to get that done tonight if possible. Just a slow day.

Thanks Tat, yes, lets have a cookie together and talk about how great the weekend will be!!!! Tillie we are on our way, to cookie ville.

Diane, that is a lot of patients to see. I know how exhausting it is to be "on" all the time. I'm always glad to get home to the kittycat where we talk about all we need is each other and a warm blanket. But now of course I need a warm cookie. Are you listening, Tillie?

YUM, I WANT A COOKIE OR THREE!!!!!! Work was good, got home and felt exhausted and sad. It is exhausting seeing 30 patients and being "miss wonderful". I enjoy it at the time then feel drained after it is over. Seeing your posts saved the day, just thinking of us baking cookies together.

I'm glad you got the sleep you needed. I baked brownies during the recent storm on the East Coast. Oatmeal cookies sound delicious!

WAY TO GO!!!! Tatoulia and Diane :D

Managed to catch up on my sleep this time. :)
Other night I was not able to get much rest.
When I am tired I just can't think straight or make decisions.
Have no plans for today so I will look around and see what I want to do.
A big storm should be blowing into the area today and tomorrow.
Hope it brings lots of snow and rain, we need it so badly.
Also, I am all out of cookies and love baking them during cold wet storms. Makes the house so cozy.
Have all the ingredients ready to make oatmeal cookies with raisins and nuts. :)

TTYL :D

Wow Diane! Congratulations!

Great Tat, you got so much done, and completed tasks!!!
Tillie you were a busy gal too, WTG.
It was grey here today so I used my day wisely, finished kitchen, bathroom, floors vacuumed to edges, one load of laundry washed and hung. started a bag of toss and bag of donate, was proud of myself staying at it and making progress. I can once again live in living area!! Finally took chicken off bones and put vegetables in and soup is almost done. Just took shower and washed hair. Cleaned up kitchen again after making soup. Work all day tomorrow at clinic so was good to have things livable again. Your encouragement made all the difference, thanks ladies.

Hello Diane and Tillie!

I straightened up the "library" area of my place. I took everything but the coaster off the small tables and picked up everything from the floor. I cleaned off the dining room table and hung up all coats and sweaters. Still more to go but shredded an entire box of receipts from many years ago and didn't look at any of them.

Yay! I'm back in the right direction! Thanks for helping orient me! Now I need to keep going!

Down in the "Television Shows Looking For Hoarders"
is a post that "HOARDERS" is going back into production and they are looking for people.

Hi Diane :)
Yes I did enjoy today. Just hanging out here playing and even made popcorn and watched movies. :)
WAY TO GO! for fixing the hole and starting fixing up your living space. :)

Hi Tat :)
WAY TO GO!!! for finishing something! :D

Sometimes it is hard to stay focused on one thing through it's completion.
I start doing something then I spot something else that needs doing and wander off and start on that and then see something else to do and wander off again,
and so on and so on and so on...........
Busy, busy, busy all day long with nothing to show for it. ;P

Hi Tat, I appreciate your honesty.
You just motivated me to start going through a bin of papers pulling out all the tax stuff. I did pay bills today.
Curious what you tackled tonight.

I am a mess of start then stop, Diane. I feel like all I do is come home from work and sleep. Not good.

Tillie, it's good to skip being an adult! It is a lot of work and you deserve some time off! For me, having grown up with a much younger and very ill brother, I sometimes think about how tough it is being the Well One. We all need a break! Glad you are taking yours.

I'm going to try to finish something, anything tonight,

Good plan Tillie, hope you are enjoying day.
I started cleaning up stuff and vacuuming this morning. Shook throw rugs, ran out of steam. I still have too much stuff, especially in winter with wood and kindling in living room for wood stove. I brought several things in from the garage to organize and then realized, not the right time to do this. Just trying to avoid housework. Thought of Tillie saying I micro organize, so need to put it all back in garage. When it stopped raining, I went out and finished working on area of fence that Max dug under.
Here I sit, maybe sitting is ok. Have not taken chicken off bones for soup which frustrates me, I start then do not finish things. At least I have started cleaning up living space again.

Good morning :)

Tatoulia I was cracking up too. :D

I have linens out on the clothes line this morning.
Wishing it would rain or snow.
We are experiencing a very bad drought and need water desperately.
Thinking today I will get back to my latest sewing project.
Yes, I know the house needs some cleaning
but, but, but I don't wanna do that.
My inner child wants to come out and play.
Still need to get out there and clean up all the pruning clippings that I just left where they fell. Maybe tomorrow?
I am tired of always being the grown up with a to-do chore list every day.
Today I will be taking a vacation from myself. :D

Tillie I couldn't stop laughing. The mayor played it really cool The way the news kept showing the bite made it look like the groundhog just kept taking chomp after chomp!

Frankly, I think that Tillie's cats were having a Superbowl pre-game party. (But I don't have cats, so what do I know???)

Diane, I'm sorry to hear about your cousin passing away.

At this moment, "my" room here at my friends' nice and neat house looks like a wreck. I have a number of bags, suitcases, and such here in "my" room. Yesterday, I realized I was already missing several things that were definitely in the room "somewhere." (No, there are no kids and no animals to blame this on. There's just me.) I decided to take out some time this afternoon to go through some of my bags and start rearranging items and also to start making some notes on what bag contains what. Dave, I found a nice, black pair of dress gloves during this organizing process. Yes! A left glove and a right glove! They were in my, uh, well, uh, laptop case. (Doesn't everyone keep dress gloves in a laptop computer case???) I found a more logical place to put them (and I put them in a zipper-lock plastic bag to keep them together)!

After I finish this sorting/rearranging project, I hope to make the room look a little more tidy. Haven't worked on my vehicle today; too cold outside here!

Oh, and by now, I have no idea what I decided to do back in December for Tillie's end-of-year challenge. I don't think I posted it here. I do remember thinking about it, though! (Maybe I decided to exempt myself, considering I was in the process of packing things up for my move.) I'll cut myself some slack on that one.

OK, back to my sorting/rearranging project. (FYI, I found the main item this afternoon that I had been looking for.)

Happy Groundhog Day!

LR it's good to hear of your progress living with someone who is neat. I know when my friend stayed here this summer she spent time teaching me good habits and she wasn't judgmental so I didn't have to make any excuses for myself. I find if I'm busily defending myself I can't hear what the other person is saying.

Tillie five cats means a lot of cat toys. Small price to pay. Plus I agree with Dave, although the cats are obvious suspects, some of the other toys may in fact be the true culprits!

Good morning :)

Hi Diane :)
Wonderful that you spent hours outside!
I know you prefer to do yard work above all else. :D
Sorry to hear of the sadness and loss. (((HUGS)))
Please be extra kind to yourself as you deal with your grief.

Hi Tatoulia :)
WAY TO GO!!! For all your progress and getting things accomplished. :D
I do try to thin out all the cat toys but with five cats, all having their favorites, that is still a LOT of cat toys. LOL :D

Getting outside yesterday did help my head cold but I still have a nagging headache and runny nose and little energy to do much.
All the pruning I did has my shoulder muscles achy now too.
My house is a filthy mess. Kitchen and bathroom are disaster areas.
Going to decide what my priorities are and only do that today.
Think I will only get to washing my hair and washing dishes.
The rest will have to wait.

Diane, that is a lot of grief in your family right now. Do what you can to help and be sure to take care of yourself too.

My car trunk is almost cleared out, I had started it as Tillie's end of year challenge and I'm really happy with my progress. Yesterday I scrubbed kitchen counter (the one that was clear but dirty) and today I will out the stuff away on the other counters. I also am going to deal with the pile on the living room floor.

Tillie, I keep a little basket of cat toys and every so often I weed it the ones she no longer plays with. But everywhere I look there is a little bunny or pony to remind me that someone enjoys her little friends.

Wishing you all a wonderful day. We are having another snowstorm which brings panic to the people I check in on. I will not let on that today is a now day at work and will just proceed normally. There was a day where I would make myself sick with worry, but I've found some peace with the passage of time.

Hello all. Uplifting reading all of your posts, thanks for all the insights. I have let clutter creep again. We had several warm dry days, so I spent hours cleaning yard leaves etc, and burning lots of stuff, well the rain is back, and cold wind. So today I am realizing it is .to clean inside. I have most of dishes done, soup started. Benny goes home tomorrow then plan to do a months worth of cleaning.
I too have to clean my car out really well. Also need to clean RV and sell it. Thank goodness I have you to remind me that others let clutter creep, TAT, otherwise I would really feel bad.
I have been watching superbowl, pregame show showed 6 finalist for a trip to game. Each contributed a lot to community, very heartwarming..
Tonight I plan to finish cleaning kitchen. Benny goes home at noon tomorrow then I go to class. Have to do homework tonight, then tomorrow or Tuesday will start major cleaning. Plan to get on chat to do buddy cleaning, to help me stay focused. Have to see some progress, so plan to clean one area at a time like I learned from you.
My cousin died last week and her memorial was yesterday and her brothers pancreatic has returned with a fury, so my aunt will need to move into assisted living for the first time, she is in late 80's, so will have so much to grieve. I plan to drive over in a few weeks, weather permitting to help her deal with grief.