Hi Subclinical
I think you should just putter around inside the warm house tidying up a few of those areas you mentioned.
Nothing strenuous or time consuming but you will see a pleasing difference.
Stay out of the cold barn studio.
Schedule a two hour break, grab the popcorn and watch a movie in front of the fire.

Staying out of stores counts, WTG!
I'm alright with the cat being unhappy.
How are your barn babies doing?

You are absolutely right.
Nobody should ever sneak and throw out anybody else's stuff.
Worst of all that destroys any trust they ever had.

Hi Motown
WAY TO GO!!! for not shopping!!!

It always seems darkest before the dawn.
Keep up the great job you have started and eventually things will get better.

Plus staying away from the thrift shops will increase the money on hand and help to reduce the amount of unneeded things in the house.
But you can go by the thrift shop to drop of a bag or two, just don't look inside the store. ;D

School is cancelled tomorrow!

So, now I have to decide what to do with my time bonus before I accidentally choose "lie in front of the fire, eat popcorn, and watch videos"

No brainers -
check last friday's papers so I can return them
Last lesson plan for Friday morning.

But then, so many possibilities. My weekend is going to be very busy.

So,
Lesson plans for next week?
Long uninterrupted deep clean in the studio barn (May take a while to heat up)
Tackle one or more of the problem areas i've been noticing lately (my dresser, the master bathroom, the dreaded scullery closet, the laundry room) or even the basement?

What do you think?

Wow Motown, good job! I don't know if I could h ave resisted an offer to take me thrifting and buy me presents!

I'm confused about the daughter thing - is this the daughter who was living with you? Do you mind sharing how many kids you have?

Tillie, kitty will stay with the person who has the fishy treat bag no matter what, but yes, I use it to trick him into being closed up when I need to. He is very unhappy right now.

I want to thank you guys again for being here and for being so supportive and nonjudgmental. I got into a discussion on another site where I said that I don't think waiting until your spouse goes away for the weekend and then throwing away their stuff behind their back and moving things around in the hope that they won't notice is ok. Even if you believe, and most of the world believes, that the stuff is trash. And that if you do that to a hoarder it can make things worse. And people got angry and I do not feel very welcome there right now.

On a lighter note, I nospended my class today by using some paper cups another teacher had leftover instead of buying a new pack. I had to ask in three classrooms.

I also nospended me, but I didn't make an special effort, I just didn't need anything or go to any stores.

Oh just look at all of taking this spending freeze seriously! I'm proud of us. Sunday was a pretty day here and my husband suggested/hinted that we could take my mom out and go to goodwill. He even offered to pay. But, although I know she would have enjoyed it, I said lets not. I don't have the money to spend and neither she nor I need to bring one more item into our already crowded houses. I get my hoarding tendencies from my parents as they both lived through the great depression. We have always tried to live frugally so the whole waste-not, want-not adage is permanently stuck.

I complained to my daughter just now that the month of January is just about over and I have nothing to show for it. I am no further out of debt and no further out of my cluttered house. She assured me that sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. I wish my hubby would be on board and supportive. but at least sometimes she is in my corner.

I hope all of y'all affected by the cold weather stay warm and safe to the best of your ability.

I just have to say again that each day when I log into this site I am so grateful for each of y'all and that I stumbled upon this site.

Peace, love and no spending!

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Subclinical
WAY TO GO!!!
All your hard work paid off!
No having to move things around to make room for the truck and nothing out in the yard to worry about too!
YEA YOU!

You might even put Mr. Kitty in another room and shut the door if you think he may run outside when you're going out.
That's what I sometimes have to do with Scooter.

Having been through a couple of winters of -35 degrees I know how hard this freeze will be for everybody.
My thermometer only went down to -35 degrees and I was told that the official temps were even lower.

The first time you inhale that cold the inside of your nose freezes.
Then your eyelashes freeze.
High school kids were all getting frost bit ears walking short distances outdoors.
Then our power went out...
Our water pipes to the house buried in the ground froze solid.
All over, homes & businesses & public offices had pipes burst in the ceilings since they had fire sprinklers.
It was a miserable disaster.

Stay safe.

Cold dark cloudy day here with 50% chance of rain.
Still have enough food & stuff so no need to go grocery shopping yet.
The more I stay out of stores the less tempted I am to buy anything nonessential.

Tatoulia, I am so glad your bf is feeling better. I always worry more when dh is sick. People who "don't complain" are hard on those of us who really want to know how they are!

And I think shredding a few things at work is perfectly fine. Comparable to packing your lunch and using their trash to throw away packaging. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but you are being tough on this spend nothing challenge!

Tillie, I have fleece lined bibs and a barn coat with a drawstring hood and a scarf for my face. Also, the barn is less than a two minute walk. I will fill the water buckets in the laundry room so I don't have to stand outside. The hard part will be keeping Mr. kitty inside, but I have a little bag of fish flavored treats to distract him when we go out the door.

Last night the wind was so bad small branches were blowing out of trees. dh went out and put the truck in the studio barn. I was glad to have the truck under cover, but not so glad about dh going out! But I realized:
1) there was room to put the truck in the studio barn and I didn't have to run out and shove things around.
2) there was nothing left out in the yard that I was worried might blow away!

Yay me!

So glad he is feeling better.
Now he should still take it easy & rest
but men will do what men will do.

Happy you can worry a little less tonight (((hug)))

What a bummer the shredder is down.
Did the motor burn out or is it just frozen or maybe it is permanently jammed?
Picture me kicking the darn thing across the floor.
So good that you have a shredder to use at work.
Just start a bag of sensitive papers and take it in with you when you go in.
Right now is not the time to buy a new one. 🙁

Heard from BF. He's much better. Was at dr and all went well. I've been worrying myself to death. The neighbor who helped me with my groceries had seen him as he was leaving the garage and I asked her how he was and she said, he's a man of few words. I knew he'd been feeling poorly.

Thank goodness he's feeling better. I've been sick with worry but I can't push him.

My garbage is out. What a good feeling. I'm doing a little puttering. My shredder broke. I'm furious. I bought it last year. It was the cheapest I could find. I'll bring my papers to work and shred them there for now. Before that, I had an expensive one that lasted a very long time. I don't know what to do so I will shred at work for now. Just each day's mail. Won't be difficult. I'll use our shredder rather than the giant bins where the company pays to have things shredded.

Ok my worry level is lessening.

LOL Tatoulia 😀
That darn badger sure is a booger to clean up after.
Next time, remember .
You do NOT want us to use the badger.

How's BF feeling? Any better? 🙁

Hi Subclinical
I was afraid you would get that deadly cold snap there.
Make sure to cover your ears too when going outside.
I love watching cows catching leaves in the wind.
Take care & stay safe (((hug)))

Hi Motown
the 20 is pretty darn cold too.
Fingers crossed your daughter & kids stay warm & safe.

Nothing to report here really.
Quite a boring day.
Kitchen is all clean, again.

Steven didn't go shopping today, YEA!!!
He just sat in his bedroom all day playing on the computer.
He recently relocated to sit in the garage on his computer in there.

Motown, I used to live in Chicago and to hear of Northbrook made me nostalgic. Oh how it used to get so cold in Illinois. I haven't lived there since the 80s. I guess I'm old.

My shredder is acting up which makes me upset. But I'm sure there's plenty of other things for me. Changed the cat box. Think I'll taje garbage out now. Ooh I'll vacuum bedroom quickly. The shampooer left behind a few little mats of badger fur.

We are not predicted to get snow, but very cold. The wind is howling right now as the warm front blows through and the goats are out in the warm wind catching leaves. Very funny to watch. Tomorrow it drops steadily to -2 and the wind chill is supposed to be 30 below overnight! The radio has been telling everyone to get all animals into shelter.

Mine will be all buttoned up in the barn and I will be wearing all my cozy stuff to go out. They are saying the wind can give you frost bite in less than 30 minutes, so I don't know if school will be affected.

Don't worry, I brush and floss.

Addressing the weather question that keeps popping up, no we are not in the path of any extreme weather. The lows are going to be in the 20s when for me here is WAY too cold. Did I mention I LOATHE cold? LOL! But my daughter and her kids just moved into a house (from a very small apartment) on Saturday. They live in Northbrook, Illinois which is a Chicago suburb. So it started snowing just about the time the movers pulled out and the kids are actually out for a snow day today. PLUS they have already cancelled school for Wednesday and Thursday as they are under a wind chill warning. The forecast high for Wednesday there is 12 degrees BELOW ZERO! Um, this girl has only one word to say about that. NO. End of discussion. Ain't no way.
So I hope that none of you other friends are in the path of extreme weather either.

Peace, love and keep warm!!

We cross posted. I do not believe we are in the path of any big storm. Maybe a little snow and definitely some cold but I think we will be okay. I know our Midwest office was closed today due to weather. We aren't expecting anything too severe.

Such a pleasure to get the rug cleaned. It only needs it a few times a year. The cleaning solution smells really nice, too. Clean.

I meant to tell you, SubC, that I think you did a great job of only asking your mom to set aside a few objects. Excellent work!

Bf isn't feeling well. Yes at doctor now. Thank goodness as I have been worried to death.

Hey everyone!

Yes, we will use that Don't Make Me Get The Badger! I don't blame you for not getting the routine test. I can narrow it down to two things. I've done both and they are highly unpleasant.

Motown that's a great visual, the little game with the tiles. We call that churning.

My house is a pigsty, which I didn't realize til my neighbor came over. I have a bunch of groceries in my car that I wasn't able to get to my house yesterday so the woman who uses my car for her son came by with them. I wasn't embarrassed since the house is basically clean, it had the carpet cleaner pulled apart and drying in the kitchen and I still have a few things out of the bedroom such as my clothes hamper. So it's messy but honestly not all that dirty. Very good to see it through her eyes. I know what to work on tonight once the music is playing.

I got to the PO and mailed the box overseas. Now to put the cat food and other groceries away. Then garbage including cleaning litter box then back me quick swipe with the vacuum then attack papers. Ive kept my desk clean and clear so far,

Hello Everyone

Hi Tatoulia
WAY TO GO!!!
Next time lets not wait so long to bring out the badger. ;D
Good luck with the post office.
Are you getting this next big storm?

Hi Subclinical
WAY TO GO! being selective about your Mom's offerings!
WONDERFUL Dr. visit!
Hoping the blood work shows only good results.
Are you in the path of this next big storm?

Hi Motown
The secret to solving those sliding puzzles is...
remove some of the tiles
then the rest of the picture easily slides into place.
Yes, when decluttering, sorting, organizing
things always look a lot worse before we finish.
Are you in the path of this next big storm?

Keep up the GREAT work! 😀

As a dental assistant ever since I was 16, one thing I know is that we removed a LOT of people's perfectly good teeth because their gums were diseased with significant bone loss making the teeth loose.
Practicing good oral hygiene daily including flossing prevents this.
So simple, so easy. ;D
I went decades without any dental checkups and there was absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth or gums. 😛

Before noon the clouds rolled in.
So I feel better about not doing anything outside today.
Did light the burn barrel though.
Soon I will wash dishes.
We are not expecting any severe weather this week.

Motown, I hope the sliding around helped.

I have to say that for me though, there came a point where I realized than no matter how much I slid it around, it wasn't going to get better until some of it slid out the door.

You may have all my turns to go to the dentist. The last work I had done was having my wisdom teeth out 24 years ago. No cavities since. No broken teeth. But when I was a kid, I had orthodontics and ten teeth pulled (over a long period of time and all my adult molars drilled out and filled in. My orthodontist tried to convince me to keep my appliance on a little longer when I was 17 and leaving for college. My mom tried to convince me too. I told her that I wanted it off now, but it was coming off no matter what as soon as I turned 18. So I was freed with teeth that were still a little crooked.

I actually found a dentist I liked when my youngest was almost two. I went to see him every six months for five years. Then we moved. I drove an hour back twice. I have given up on replacing him. Now I go see dh dentist when it has been so long I start to worry about cavities. And they yell at me about not coming regularly. Which really makes me want to go back (sarcasm).

Forgot to tell you my book arrived.

Hello all, Happy Monday!!!!!

I had a fairly productive Saturday once I got started. it was just small stuff but I worked hard at it. No noticeable difference and the mess created is maybe bigger than the beginning. I don't know. I just seem to move stuff from one place to another. Reminds me of those little plastic puzzles that kids used to get in grab bags with toys from Oriental Trading Company, etc. They were square with 8 tiles and space for 9 but they were mixed up and you had to slide them in a certain sequence to complete the picture on it. I never did successfully work one but the point is to just move a piece to a space made available by moving another piece, and so on. That is all I ever get done. I keep moving the pieces around but never get it done!!! Frustrating like trying to solve a Rubik's cube. anyway, I digress.

Subclinical's post made me think of something. You know how sometimes in groups the icebreaker is that we are instructed to say something interesting about ourselves or something people may not know about us? Well I can name three things about myself, things that I love that most people probably do not even like or actually detest:

1. Doing laundry and more specifically sorting socks. I do indeed love it.

2. Roundabouts like in Europe. A nearby town we frequent is implementing them and all I hear is how much people hate them. I love them! They keep traffic moving and reduce accidents.

3. Going to the dentist. If I could afford one luxury it would be to have my teeth professionally cleaned at least once a month. I really love my dentist and have never felt one bit of pain even during procedures, etc. Granted, I have not had any major work done just some broken teeth repaired and a few fillings, etc. But I love going.

Anyway, that's TMI I know but...had to share. I will shut up now and get back to work.

Yay Tatoulia!

Somehow, I feel like "don't make me get the giant badger" is going to come around again.

I went to the doctor. The doctor recommended a routine test which I am not going to get yet (statistically I should get it, using more specific information, there is little reason for me to get it. I'm using the mark twain principal on this one.) She also nudged me to go to the dentist every six months. I am not going to the dentist. My teeth are fine. In fact, she undermined her case when she said how nice my teeth were and I "want to keep them that way" which my brain heard as "your current method of going to the dentist every 5 or 6 years to be made miserable and yelled at for not going to the dentist is working just fine".

(Do not threaten me with the badger for not going to the dentist. It will not end well for the badger.)

Anyway, blood pressure was good! And I skipped breakfast, so I got my bloodwork done on the spot. Results in a few days. That was really a huge blessing because I only had to think about the fact that I was going to have blood drawn for about ten minutes.

Came home and talked to my mom for over an hour. She is thinning out books and Christmas ornaments and had to ask me about all of them. I think I ended up with 4 ornaments and a book set aside for me.

Just cleaned out the machine. Trying to get to PO to take overseas package out.

Ok done. It's remarkable how much dirt lifts up. Even on day 2. I haven't emptied the machine yet as I don't know if I'll try another pass. So gross.

Enjoy your beautiful day, Tillie. Will report back in a while.

Good Morning Everybody

Hi Tatoulia
YEA! WTG!
Having a nice smelling clean rug! 😀
The cleaning Fairies will be impressed too.

Looks like it's going to be another beautiful day here today.
Have no plans, will just wing it.

The badger just threw up on the rug. Time to shampoo it again. I'm excited. It smells nice and will be ready for what is now Wednesday's project on the TV. Plus my cleaners come on Wednesday! Big doings!

I just got in and yes, I am so pleased to have the rug shampooed and nice. Makes such a difference. Will do a second pass tomorrow. Some of the badger puke stains are a little difficult.

Snort. I'm laughing so hard I'm snorting. Cable bill! Badgers! Breaking the internet!!!

Love you all

WAY TO GO! CriticalMass!!!
You got Tatoulia to shampoo her rug!
I tried my best but just wasn't scary enough I guess.

Wonderful how quickly we can get exactly what we need using the internet.

Good luck homing all the bunnies.
Unfortunately, easter is right around the corner and there will be more poor misused little waifs along with all the baby chicks & ducklings.

Hi Subclinical
You had a right to boast about your weight.
Falling off the wagon every now and then is alright as long as we don't give up and go whole hog every day.

Along with glowing spider webs, aren't dust motes so wonderful to watch? 😉

Hi Tatoulia

Isn't it wonderful to see all those ads telling us just how much we are saving by not buying anything! ;D

WTG! finally going over the rug and it does make sense to do it in two parts given the circumstances.

Just puttering around here today.
Very nice outside but my back, neck and shoulders are telling me to take it easy and not garden for a few days.
Clipping off the spent seed pods from the lilac bushes and pruning down the tallest lilac branches is a LOT of work in a position unnatural for humans.

Oh my, I broke the thread!

I guess that's better than breaking the entire Internet...

ROTFL!! 😂😂😂

And hey, it got Tatoulia shampooing the rug! I regret nothing!

I was laughing so hard when that happened last night, and also praying Cory and Tillie wouldn't be mad at me...

SubC, I bet those pounds will go off quickly. I seem to have a new set point just one pound down from the higher point I got up to when I started getting sloppy. I wish it were more, of course, but the consistency is somewhat encouraging.

I'd hoped to get to the gym last week for sure, but on Wednesday I was needed to sit for my elderly lady friend all day, unexpectedly. So then my pay stub project lost a day's work, and then there was the episode of the fried computer cord Friday night. The new cord arrived this morning (Amazon Prime rocks).

So I am back on my main computer, badgers and all.

Well, actually, today's theme is bunnies, in that we have a board meeting for the bunny group this afternoon. We are getting so many bunnies in but no adopters. Pray we get some amazing bunny-loving people soon!

I also have the paperwork to do for the student loan debt; it also comes in January. Shouldn't be too bad, and I can probably do it here at home now that my roommate has a new laser printer that works - with documents like that I do keep a hard copy because I've had them lose my paperwork before and it helps me to just be able to look at it as I await their confirmation letter without having to boot up the computer, etc.

Well, I better get ready, so TTYL.

To anybody needing motivation in future, I will simply say:

DON'T MAKE ME GET THE GIANT BADGER!

Bwahahaaaaaa...

I think it was probably more that I held my ground long enough to become complacent. I have to remember that the body takes a long time to accept a new "set point" not just a week or so.

Puttering around today, catching up on little spaces. It's gorgeous and sunny today and so the light is streaming in all of my windows and making my spider webs glow. Not to mention pointing out that all the things that look dingey are actually dingey.

We often get mail informing us that the sender can save us $100/month by lowering our cable bill. I wave it at dh and say "look! Somebody wants to pay us $100 a month to get cable!"

SubC you weren't bragging about your weight! You were celebrating. Please this wasn't karma. I found it inspirational. So unless you really think it was karma, please keep me posted on how you are doing.

I forgot to tell you that I too support your book purchase.

Ok! First pass with the shampoo machine. There are two settings and I did the lighter setting since BF and employee may be helping me with moving some things around in the bedroom and helping me with TV. I was dead set against TV in bedroom but now I'm not. I don't watch in living room and I only need one tv. Anywho I did the lighter setting because it affects the drying time. If need be, I'll do a second pass tmr. Or tonight if they don't come by.

It was easy and efficient. I did a quick second run of vacuum this AM.

Shower and mom time now. As to spending, it is remarkable that each day I wake up to emails from stores telling me how much I can save. I delete and save the full 100%.

That is the cutest badger I have ever seen. And he is right there on top. In case any of us needs a badger.....

I am off to a very slow star today - chores, yoga, and a relaxing morning with dh. But I am feeling more rested and relaxed and optimistic, so we will see how I do.

The only bad thing is that karma bit me for bragging about my weight. Too much pasta, cheese, bread and goodies the last couple of days and I am right back out of my zone. I will get it back though. (And then I will keep my mouth shut!)

Ok the badger will win! Enjoying my coffee. Then will shampoo the rug.

It was time for a new file. And I certainly appreciated the effort of the badger picture. Really nice work.

Good Morning Everyone

I fixed the formatting.
YEA!!! D