Looking backwards, Looking forwards

[tanaqui]

Last year, fred_mouse made a weekend decluttering post inviting us talk about our decluttering goals for 2018.

I thought people might appreciate a post on the last day of 2018 to reflect on the goals we posted last year (for those who posted them and who want to look back -- no pressure or judgment! I certainly didn't achieve all my goals!) and what we hope to achieve in 2019.

Comments

[tanaqui]

Last year, I had 5 goals.

I managed to read 9 out of 12 books on my to-be-read pile – but 2 of them were 500-600 pages long, so I'm fine with that. I know I also donated probably donated at least another dozen – and I kept up with all the magazines coming in. I also read a lot of the vast quantity of fiction on my e-reader, which was nice! Paperwork is under control, with nothing left older than the rolling deadline for old papers, and a box accumulating what can be shredded after the tax year changes in April.

I got the spare room completely uncluttered and organised – success! (And so much easier to get things out/put them away now.) The garage is still a work-in-progress, but all the small clutter that I could easily get rid of is gone, and the larger stuff is neatly arranged to be dealt with. (I can break some stuff down and take it to the tip myself.) The garden is also still a work-in-progress, but has definitely progressed from last year.

I also tackled the photos and pictures (which was an “emotional” task) and have framed lots and am well on the way to framing the rest – and I cleared some shelves (disposing of some stuff and relocating some elsewhere) so that I can actually display and look at them!

The one thing I failed on was finding a new donation place and arranging a pick-up, including the larger items. I'm still gathering those together and have made some progress on that – I just need to not be a perfectionist and keep waiting until I'm sure I have absolutely everything....

I'm very happy with my progress and how much better my home and life function now. :-)

This year's goals are much the same!

1. Read 12 non-fiction books and donate those I don't want to ever re-read or keep for reference. Read more fiction on the e-reader.

2. Finish decluttering the garage and getting the large stuff taken away.

3. Arranging a charity to pick up the larger household items/furniture I want to get rid of, plus any smaller stuff I still have that I haven't been able to donate.

4. Shred the paperwork that will become obsolete this year.

5. Continue to work on the garden. (This is moving from simply getting rid of stuff to making it more the way I eventually want it to be.)

[fred_mouse]

Congratulations on all of the achievements and successes! Good luck for the same or better with your 2019 goals.

[adair]

What a good idea. My goals last year related to books; they were not that specific; get more out of my house and organize the bookshelf so I could find things.

I've done both things partially; I later decided that getting 500 books out was a number to aspire to, and I did remove 343. I am making 500 the goal for 2019 as well, and more importantly, continue noting the number of books I move on in a list on my computer. Watching those numbers go up was more encouraging than I thought it would be.

I have also pulled all the books from my double-shelved bookcase wall, shelf by shelf (a lot of my discards came from the back shelves) entered everything in the back shelf in my LibraryThing account with a shelf location tag - south wall back three west, for instance - so now I can search LT and find the books I cannot see on shelves but know where they are. I also took this time to get at least some authors organized with their books together. It's all a work in progress, but helpful things have happened.

For 2019 I hope to

1. Move 500 books out of my house
2. Organize the east wall bookcases. There are three, and some of them are double-shelved. I'd like to get everything here in LT because some of the shelves are hard to get to; computer desks are in front.
3. Continue efforts to clean up and organize data files; mostly articles that I saved from various sources. Many are not even sorted by topic. They are just in the monthly downloads and not really findable. I plan to do a fair amount of editing also, but I need to push myself to let go of stuff I think is interesting but I will probably not read again.
4. Think and write about why I save so much written material. I used to keep Morning Pages, and I have started them again; bits and pieces of why I save stuff has been showing up there every now and then; I may eventually try to think and write more deeply about it.

It's all about written material, but I have proved this year I can do some of this, so I will work on it next year. Number 4 is a bit of a stretch, I am not sure I want to go that deeply into why I save written material, but I think an aspiration can result in some action, even if it is not completed. My 500 book goal is an example.

[tanaqui]

I've already congratulated you on getting so many books out of the house, but I didn't realize how much work you'd done on cataloguing some of what's left -- I'm very impressed! Even if you eventually end up with still "too many books", having their locations listed means they're so much more under control.

I really like your next year's goals, too - "do more of the same!" but in a very focused way. :-) I hope writing about why you save stuff helps you deal with the stuff you have, and that you make good progress with your goals, even if you don't hit your targets.

[fred_mouse]

Congratulations on getting so many books out of the house. Wonderful to hear that you found a method of keeping track of them that you find motivating.

Good luck with your 2019 goals! The written material one is something I can entirely understand. I find drifts of papers everywhere in the house, even in spaces that I think I've already gone through.

[starwatcher]

.
I didn't make goals last year. In fact, this is my first post. But as I read posts from other folks, it kept reminding me what I should be doing. I started in January, and picked up steam in June -- after school let out, and I'm now retired.

So, things out --

A huge stack of horse magazines, that I realized I never will "get around to" reading.

Let subscriptions to said magazines lapse last year, so no new ones coming in.

95% of my old paperback books out, to 2 hospitals, 1 prison, 5 senior citizen centers -- approximately 40 bags of books, approximately 70-75 books per bag. (The big paper sacks from Cotton Patch hold a LOT.)

A bunch of clothes to Goodwill -- two trashbags full of shirts that I no longer want, and trousers I've gained too much weight for. Have a pile of more shirts that need to be laundered before they go out (been hanging so long they're dusty), but have several more to cull before that.

Am now working on old video tapes. I used to save fave TV shows for rewatching, but technology has passed them by. If I can buy DVDs of the shows, the tapes go. I've taken 7 feed-sacks full (stronger than plastic trash bags, and they're trash anyway) to the dump; hope to finish (3 or 4 more sacks?) this weekend.

Made an actual (minuscule, tiny) pond with an actual fountain birdbath in the middle. It holds water, but still needs more work.

What's coming up? Not sure -- I tend to go with whatever grabs me. I have a seashell collection that I want to donate to a teacher who will appreciate them (maybe make a science unit of them). Want to finish organizing my workroom (made a good start in May, then got busy with other stuff (see above)). Want to clean out my guest room, buy a bed, and make it an ACTUAL guest room. Want to finish the area around my pond -- landscaped edges, get rid of the dirt pile. Want to hang up pictures; I've been in this house for 10 years! Have some of my pictures up, but many more are still waiting.

Whew! We'll see.
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[tanaqui]

Welcome to the comm. I'm glad you find other people's posts inspiring -- I certainly do!

That's a really impressive list of things out -- and I'm sure the places you donated the books were thrilled to have them! And well done on recognising and accepting that you were never going to "get around to" reading the horse magazines -- and cancelling the subscriptions!

I'm also very envious of your little pond -- may it attract much wildlife and bring you joy. :-)

I love your ideas for 2019, but understand about going where the mood takes you rather than having fixed goals. Please do come back and share your progress and successes with us!

[fred_mouse]

That Is a fabulous list of achievements. Well done on recognising that you won't be using some of the things that you would have liked to. Good luck with achieving all of the projects!

I love the idea of donating the seashell collection. I have one that I should do something with -- it's been in a shoebox since my kids were born, which is far too many years. I suspect mine are more suitable for craft than teaching though. But I have several primary teacher friends, so I should approach them. Thank you for the idea.

[semielliptical]

I didn't have goals for 2018, here are some for 2019:

Books: I will to read more (at least 5) of the books that have been sitting around unread for a long time, and then likely get rid of them, unless any turn out to be keepers.

Yarn: Go through my stash and eliminate at least a bagful, and do *not* bring any new yarn into the house unless it has a very specific purpose, such as knitting a gift that absolutely can't be done with yarn on hand.

Photos: Take a look at all of the photos on our walls and bookshelves, and decide which we really want to display right now. I'm sure some could be put away and/or replaced by other more meaningful photos. This requires my spouse's cooperation, but I think that will work out.

I would like to do more general uncluttering but those are the specific tasks I can think of now. Thanks for making this post!

[tanaqui]

That's a really nice set of specific goals -- I know so many people who struggle with their yarn stash! Good luck with making progress with them, and with general uncluttering.