Weekend uncluttering

[fred_mouse]

What have you achieved in the quest for a low-clutter lifestyle?

Today, I gardened. Gently, carefully, with many breaks. But I used up all the bags and half bags of manure, soil improver, lupin mulch, and potting mix. I moved old tyres from where they were mess, and made them in to planters. And I put plants in a couple of planters where the previous plant didn't make it through the summer (one because we discovered that the entire planter was full of roots from the now dead ficus -- the poor plant in there probably had no nutrients to get). And now I have tomatoes and basil, and great hopes for harvest!

It was probably extravagant, using good soil for everything, and just dumping it all out on top of the sand, rather than mixing it in, but maybe this time I'll get a good crop.

I also moved some small things to the 'these are leaving' shelf, and had a friend come visit and borrow the currently unused cello. Not yet ready to farewell the cello, but happy that it is getting use.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Funny how much less cluttered the apartment looks when books are on shelves instead of in haphazard to-read piles.

Nothing's actually left, but...

(I really need to get on the UU spring auction lots. Date still hasn't been announced, so I assume I have time, but.)

[tanaqui]

Well done with the book organizing and good luck with the auction lots.

[alexseanchai]

:)

[fred_mouse]

I resemble this. The games room looked so much better when we actually had enough shelves for all the books.

[yukonsally]

Four things to the donation box, and shipped a thing to a friend. Spouse even offered up a thing on fb--without ANY input from me--just DID it. No one has claimed it yet, but it's early.

I need to look how to return a thing I bought online and send that back, or donate the thing. I might just donate it--it'd be easier.

[tanaqui]

Well done on making progress towards getting things out and wow, Spouse is really starting to get on board -- excellent!

[athousandsmiles]

Wonderful job on the gardening. I'm envious; I can't keep plant life alive for anything, and my yard is pretty pathetic. If I were wealthy, one thing I'd do is hire a landscaper.

I have 7 bags and 3 boxes of stuff piled in my living room right now, to be labeled and put out on the porch for donation pick-up tomorrow. I'll be so happy to see it all leave.

[tanaqui]

That's a very impressive amount of stuff to donate -- I hope you enjoy the sense of it being gone once it's been picked up!

[fred_mouse]

I have not done well in the past with garden. The first couple of years in this house we had glorious glorious basil, and I haven't managed to recreate this. Other people have pumpkin and rockmelon take over their gardens -- I get spindly little things with few flowers that either don't set fruit or where the fruit doesn't ripen. Which is why the experiment with just dumping soil on top of the local sand, to see whether that works (we have a spot in the garden where we have now had three separate trees die -- no idea why).

Seven bags and 3 boxes! Spectacular. I hope the lounge looks better with it gone.

[tanaqui]

That sounds like fantastic progress in the garden and I will send best wishes for the used-up manure etc to turn into nice things to eat (or look at, if they're non-edible plants)!

I did a very (very) small amount of "decluttering" (weeding) in the garden today. Not much visible progress yet, but it's the first time I've been able to get out and do anything for weeks (between weather, other commitments and illness), so I'm really pleased to have done something. I hope it's the start of being able to get out there more regularly and make some visible progress!

[fred_mouse]

Weeding is a valuable but tedious chore. I hope that it becomes a trend that you can get some enjoyment out of.

The plants are tomatoes and basil, of which I can consume great amounts.

[kalloway]

I need to do a bunch of plant stuff soon-- get things ready for spring giveaways. I used to have a total black thumb, but now my plants do really well and I have an impressive herd of aloes that have taken over the dining room.

I sorted through an impressive mail pile and put all the junk into recycling and have the rest in another pile to be filed, which is a task I hate and keep putting off. I'm not sure I did my year-end 'sort and shred' with the file cabinet and ugh. Maybe if I do a little bit every day it won't feel impossible.

And I typed up descriptions for eleven things for my newly-retired father to put on eBay (he's done the eBay thing for a couple decades as a side-thing getting rid of spare stuff), took the stuff over to him yesterday and one thing has already sold! I've dug out another dozen-ish things to go and will get those descriptions typed up this week. If things keep moving, I'm aiming for an item a day until I'm out of things (which might take awhile). He'll obviously get a cut of any profit, but anything I do earn will go into my home improvement fund and hopefully I can start on some repairs and my much-needed closet renovation this year!

[tanaqui]

That sounds like a fantastically accomplished weekend! Good luck with selling the other items.

(And yes, a few minutes every day on the file cabinet works wonders, in my experience, for getting through the paperwork without feeling overwhelmed.)

(Now posted in the right place....)

[kalloway]

Thank you! I don't have anything worth a lot, but five or ten bucks here and there will add up!

(I was doing really well for awhile, but now I have an overflowing shred bin, overflowing to-file bin, and no motivation. Maybe if I try to schedule in five minutes a day or something, it won't be bad. Or ten things, or similar.)

[tanaqui]

Oops, yeah, overflowing shred and to-file bins are discouraging. :-(

With the to-file bin, is any of it "annual" paperwork, where you're just replacing the oldest/last year's paperwork in the file cabinet with the newest/this year's version? You could maybe do a first pass through the pile just focusing on those items, since they don't require much brainpower to file, which could get what's left down to a more manageable level. 5 items a day, perhaps?

And do 5 minutes or a shredder binful of shredding each day to tackle the to-shred bin?

[redsixwing]

Yay, gardening! I'm glad you were gentle and took breaks. That's really important for any sort of heavy work, and hauling tyres and soil is certainly that.

I rustled up a brush and tested paint, and it blends so much better than what I had previously and I like it so much better that the test was declared a success. New color for the library: chosen.

[tanaqui]

Ooh, that sounds like an exciting step forwards with the paint -- it's not just decluttering but improving. I hope the painting goes well.