Lists/Process

My Process

Plan your project – make a list – evaluate present system, what is working, what isn’t working, – develop timeline

Remove items – start from a clean slate – empty the space completely – remove then sort & purge

Organize into piles – donate/toss/sell/keep/ – sort like with like – purge excess –

Containerize – find storage solutions/containers – establish limits – designate a space for items being kept

Evaluate plan – how is your system working for you – are you able to work your system? What needs to be modified? A good system should be easy to maintain

Solve/simplify anything that isn’t working for you – revise accordingly

Smile, relax and enjoy your hard work!


Sometimes this system might not work the first time I try to do something...but I must remember not to give up.
Course my oldest daughter would laugh if she could see all my lists now because she once told me that I make a list for EVERYTHING. She said I make lists more then anyone she has ever known and she is probably right.


This weekend, I have started with the space under my bed. Now the bed sits way up high...bottom of bedframe reaches my hips when I stand next to it. So there is lots of space underneath.
I totally took everything out from uder there yesterday, and then started with the 3 empty (15 QT)plastic tubs and 1 box. I also have another bigger plastic tub and will use that later.


The problem with storing stuff under the bed is that if I filled up that space with boxes then I would have trouble getting to boxes that would be pushed to the back corner without dragging out boxes sitting in front.
I'm putting books I want to keep for now into the box now. Whatever books don't fit in that 1 box will be going out to the free table downstairs. Hopefully someone else in this building will want to read them.

Well this process is going rather slowly, mainly because I'm still spending to much time online. But as long as I keep at it a little everyday...it will be done when Summer is over.

3-day weekend with my stuff

Ok, I was reading
http://manvsdebt.com/stuff
And I liked the way Adam had all his belongings listed out. I decided to make my own list...hoping that it will keep me on track when weeding out my room. I made my list by saying to myself "If you had to quit your job for any reason and move this week, what would you need to take with you"? I guess I'll pretend I already have the van I mentioned in yesterdays blog and only keep what would go into that. Guess I will need to schedule a yardsale soon too.

I’m on a 3-day weekend right now, so I’m getting serious about weeding out my room starting tonight.
Seeing as I’m single & live alone and don’t have any stuff left with family, I assume my list could be smaller then Adam's when I’m done. (or maybe not)
I hope to only have 9 boxes in my room when finished. 1 box for each category, if an item don’t fit in the box then it don’t fit in my life. Sorry, but for now I'm not going to list every item that will go into each #box.

#1 Bathroom stuff
#2 Kitchen stuff
#3 Misc Household
#4 Tech Stuff (this term came from Adam,usually I called it the camera/computer box)
#5 Important Stuff (got that idea/term from Adam)
#6 Clothes
#7 Books
#8 Pictures (until I can scan them onto my computer..taken before I got a digital camera)
#9 Jewelrymaking supplies


Oh I know myself well enough to know that this will be tough because I am what some people would call a "packrat" or "hoarder". If you do an online search for both terms you would find a description of me. Well enough is enough....I QUIT!! I'm starting over, starting now.

boxes, boxes, and more boxes

I have more boxes of stuff in my dorm room, then probably anyone else in this community. Way more boxes then I can even deal with.

Every january, the housing office comes around to spray for bugs and whatnot. Everyone had to drag stuff out from under the beds for the spraying. Well that
was 6 months ago, and boxes have never gotten back under my bed. In fact over
1/2 my room got taken over by all my boxes of stuff.

Well this week, I'm starting to declutter the boxes and weed them out. Actually this morning I'm going through stuff that isn't even in a box but got thrown (or pushed/kicked)under the bed.
Course it's hard to make piles of laundry, books, piles of what to keep, what to throw away because I literally have no space in my room to make piles of stuff.

I have read books and/or blogs that say you should start with 1 box at a time. Well the first box I picked up this morning had cords for phone & computer, a box of instant pudding mix, a bag of rice, jewelrymaking supplies, hairclips, Irish Spring soap, last years bank statements, last years paycheck stubs, loose change, magazines, paperwork from NH court, bills, reciepts, holiday decoration, glitter, keychain with keys I no longer use, batteries that might or might not work, variety of business cards & brochures to places I want to go to someday, few pictures, old watch that no longer works, my birth certificate, and the small box from Qwest when they sent my modem.


I have a hard time figuring out what I can actually throw away or what I want to throw away. Course if I put everything I wanted to keep in a "keep pile" I would put most of the box in a keep pile...which would really get me nowhere. It would be almost like putting the box of mis-matched stuff back where I got it. And probably ever box in my room is full of mismatched stuff just like this one.

Obviously whoever writes books/blogs about decluttering and organizing has never been in my room.
It will take me the rest of the Summer to go through all the boxes in my room...hopefully I don't just give up on this project before I am done. It's a good thing I have a 3-day weekend coming up to. Guess I know what I will be doing .