week's work

[yukonsally]

The current state of the world and the United States, concerned covid-19 and having to stay home, has not helped my decluttering.  I am sure we are healthy in this house and we do not have covid-19 viruses on our things.  Theoretically I could donate a few things (very few, not quite worth the trip) but then there's the going out part, and the second hand store is generally thought to be not quite clean on a good day..  Well, I could recycle a few electronic things at a different store, though that's still going out and we're not supposed to.  None of these are urgent errands.  Sales have dried up and I don't particularly want to offer things to friends online that I'd have to mail because that's a visit to the post office and that seems a bad idea right now.

Instead!

We make do.

We are making do with what we have.  We fix what we can.  I stitched up two rips in a coat and put the coat away.  Child will probably outgrow the coat before next winter, but the coat is ready for someone.

I tried on a shirt I really like... and it doesn't fit right.  So I put it away for future wearing by a child.  That's one less shirt in my closet.

I'm trying to use up everything in the pantry, something that's more fun and exciting than it should be.  But the meals are pretty good so far, nothing too creative yet.  I organized a few things in the pantry, put all the last-granola-bar-in-the-box-es into a single basket for easy access.  At the end of this (there will be an end), we can start the pantry from scratch again, like we did when we moved here years ago.

And now is the time to use up the good craft materials we've been saving.  That pretty yarn.  Those special beads.  That good paper.  The expensive paint and nice canvas.  Send the good postcards.  Make that model you've been saving. 

Read that book you've been holding on to and see if you want to keep it afterward.  I have a pile of five books on my nightstand right now to help me remember which books to read next.  Under my tablet with ebooks, but you know.  Easier access.

And get rid of the fear.  That is something we can declutter without leaving the house. 

Week 5 review / plan for week 6

[rmc28]

Plan for week 5: Hours-of-power: Sun x2 (if possible), Tue & Thu.

Actual outcome: 4+ hours on Sunday

I tackled the four shelves where sticker books, puzzle books, colouring books, pens and paper for the children are currently living, alongside (and tangled up with each other and) a number of magazine files and "coffee table books". I thought it would take me about two hours. It took over four. (With breaks every 15 minutes, and longer breaks after each hour). It was a long slog, and one that didn't have a good stopping point until the end, so definitely one to save for the weekend. I could have just put back what I'd done so far after the first hour, but it felt quite demoralising to stop the job part way.

Process and finishing point

( Read more... )

The plan now is to gently encourage offspring to work through the partly-done activity books, either to finish them or to decide they can be thrown out. Hopefully the reduced number and new layout will make it easier to pick a thing and go with it; if/when we start running low on already-started books we can go "shopping" in the box of pristine ones.

I decided to not even try to take the donation bags to the charity shop this week, given the current situation, so they are currently tucked away in the back room until further notice.

Plan for week 6:

My household is now 100% working from home and homeschooling so my free time just drastically reduced, and I definitely will only be able to work on the decluttering at weekends, probably max 2 hours.

I've already spent an hour today going through the medicine cabinet and consolidating stashes of medications from elsewhere in the house there too. I've boxed up all the out-of-date medication and put a big note on the top, and at Some Future Point they will have to go to a pharmacy for safe disposal. Oldest find was use-by sometime in 2010 (!). All the in-date medications are now boxed up separately in clear plastic boxes, in expiry date order, and I am now confident we don't need to buy anything urgently.

I will try to do another hour tomorrow, preferably in the living room.