Two plastic magnifying glasses.

88/366

Day 84

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

I went to a small town theatre production last night (they are known to be quite good and it was) and seven of my students or former students performed. The program had bio notes and also a list of productions this throupe has done in the last 25 years - one of which my dd2 was in.

I'm going to take the program to school and ask my little actors to sign it and then put it on the shelf with my school yearbooks.. It feels like a thing, so.

72/366.

One dog toy that was getting ratty, and one dog bone that has seen better days, into the trash.

275/600

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! 🙂

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

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.

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

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

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

Adding - I gave away a big thick foam pad that was in the garage for many years.

10/600

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

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

Yesterday I took a small roll of tar paper I'd been saving to a person who has a use for it.

I also picked up three pottery pieces from the city studio.

So, now I am at -1/366. Or 0/367. As in, I have net added one thing. I'm not sure how to write that. This is not going to be easy. But maybe it will help me focus.

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?

... 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

I may be doing some serial posting here today.

I smashed three bad/damaged pots in the bridge fill.
I added two pairs of christmas earrings I haven't worn in a long time (I have three others) one plastic pencil case, and two decorative objects to the donate box.

I have some concern about items I am removing being smaller than items I am keeping, but otoh, each thing I see as an "item" takes up the same amount of energy. I will save space concerns for another time.

Net 7/366

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.

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!

Accordion file coupon holder and piece of dollhouse furniture.

9/366

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

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.

Hello All

SubC - Thanks for checking in. Sorry to hear that you were having a bad day yesterday. Sounds like today may be a better day. Hope you enjoy your friends visit and I may take a page out of your book and try to get out for a walk.

Embarrassed to say that I didn't get my goals done. I'll try again today. I spent the entire day looking for a job. I got a few rejections on being overqualified and spiraled. I did cook dinner last night but not really what I planned. I basically survived the day and spent the evening encouraging a friend (though I was extremely emotionally drained)

CM - ditto on SubC congrats on getting your mojo back and being productive. also, thanks for taking the time to post. I find it hard to focus to write these posts as well.

Lila and Tatoulia, I am thinking of you both and hope that all is going well with you.

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

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.

oops posted that in the wrong thread, moving it over

24 books to the used book store.

Net 43/366

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.

hi Hope 🙂

SubC, steps are steps! I agree, don't be concerned with size right now. Think about items. Because you're right... they take up the same amount of brain space no matter if they're big or small!

I took a homemade, very nicely done, dog training item over to an old friend's house and gave it to her. She is still training dogs and I am not, so she will get good use out of it! It was mocking me in the garage for many years. I'm happy it is being used now, and I have one square foot of space that is free! And I don't have to look at it every time I go in there and feel sad.

11/600

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