Cleaning and Decluttering Projects

Hi All,

Well, I managed to get some stuff started today. Was up before 7am since the puppy was up anyway. Loaded the dishwasher and got that going. Woke up the hubby, got dressed, grabbed coffee, came back and started getting things cleaned out. I had him clean out his drawers and go through his clothes while I sorted laundry. Got that going, and then I got my own clothes cleaned out and sorted. I have 6 bags of clothes and shoes to go to Goodwill or Salvation Army or someone. They are now sitting on my front porch, so I have to make that call tomorrow to get rid of them soon. Hubby got his office straightened up too, which was fabulous. We also grabbed some groceries for dinner tonight, and I cleaned out the fridge. Now I just have laundry going. It's too hot to do anything else today, and I don't handle heat well. I even cleaned out my cedar chest and threw out a bunch of stuff. Old letters and cards from people I don't talk to anymore, random other things that don't really need to be kept, some stuff I made as a kid that I have no reason to keep. I still have a ton of xmas cards and bday cards from family and friends, and I am undecided as to what to do with those. On the one hand, they are from family and friends. On the other hand, there are no dates, and most do not have messages written that are all that detailed or personalized. Why am I keeping stuff like this? Why can't I just toss it? Do you guys keep stuff like that? Oh, and came across a manila envelope full of negatives for pictures. It feels weird to just throw something like that away, but they have been sitting in my cedar chest for 10-15 years or more and I have not touched them and probably never will.

This week I am going to attempt to get my paperwork under control (starting with this year's which may be all I get through this week) and set up an electronic filing system (it's sort of set up, and I had it pretty well set up before I had to get a new laptop). I also want to put together sort of a household notebook to keep track of budgets, chores checklists, grocery lists and meal plans, household and car maintenance items that need to be remembered, birthday calendars (I am HORRIBLE at remembering to send people bday cards), etc. I'm finding that with the constant headaches, my short term memory is pretty poor, and I only remember the most vital of information. Other things like what items we need at the grocery store or other things that need to get done are just not being kept in my memory. I think if I put together a notebook that I kept handy, it might help.

Other projects that need to be done in the near (somewhat near) future. I need to get the closet in the office cleaned out. It's driving me crazy and that's where my old files are that need to be cleaned out, but I can't get to them. Hall coat closet needs to be redone so that it is actually useful for more than just shoving the vacuum cleaner in there. The linen closet needs to be cleaned out and junk gotten rid of. Attic needs cleaned out, as well as the garage and shed. A lot of it will probably be more organizing than discarding, as we did dispose of a lot of unnecessary items when we moved 2 years ago. But there will still be more that can go.

The other thing is that I need to give everything a good deep cleaning. The bathroom is especially in need of a good scrubbing, down to the baseboards. I'm actually pretty good at keeping everything superficially clean and straightened up (at least in those visible areas), but it's been more difficult to get the deep cleaning done. I also don't really feel that I was all that well prepared in the cleaning department for keeping up my own house. My windows all need washing, baseboards need cleaning through all rooms, my floors all need a good mopping, things like that. The deeper stuff. Oh and dusting. I am not good at keeping up with the dusting. And since we have wood floors rather than carpet to collect the dust, things get pretty dusty. At least hubby dusted off the ceiling fans recently. Those are not currently on my list, though I guess they should go on a monthly cleaning list, at the very least.

I did pretty good today though. Got things started and feeling pretty good about it. I feel productive. Hope everyone else is having a good weekend! =)

-Sharon