I finally took my new (4 months old) paper shredder out of the box and shredded the HUGE pile of old bills and other paper items nosey trash snoopers shouldn't have access to. I filled 4 plastic Walmart-type shopping bags with the shreds :) And filled one with the old envelopes from all the stuff.

Sounds silly but I felt so empowered!!!

HeidiHeyHey! That's great! I had a pile by my shredder taht we didn't want to do all at once--last time DH did a ton at a time, he overheated the cheap little shredder.

(be ready to post something tomorrow!)

Oh, this post comes at a good time! I'm on a break from shredding right now! The first week of January coincides with 1) We are done with selling Christmas trees and (most of the clean up of that), 2) the kids are back at school and 3) Flylady's emails about clearing out for her Superfling boogie. All of this usually gets me motivated to clean out, and January is a light month for me responsibility-wise. I have done a pretty good clean out of the main areas of the house, so this year I finally decided I want to tackle the office. The problem is that DH and I run multiple businesses here and DH has a TON of papers everywhere. I cannot just throw them out. But I get after him to do it, and he says he will. Meanwhile the boxes of papers pile up. So Tuesday I went out and bought a 4 drawer file cabinet to replace one of the 2 drawer ones we have. The 2 drawer one held my personal papers, and I have been going through those and shredded 2 paper bags worth (YAY!) I put one box worth of DH's papers in one drawer. I'm sure I can get my stuff down to 1 drawer, which will leave 2 drawers for DH. I told him to do it by the end of the week or it goes into deep storage (which is where he keeps telling me not to put it). So I WILL have a floor in this office by the end of the week! YAY!

Yesterday I MADE THE BED!
Before getting out of the car yesterday and today, I searched for garbage and threw it away immediately.
Thanks, Talley Sue. It'll be good for me to pat myself on the back a little if I make an effort to clean up after two potential slobs (my husband and I).

no fair, Wendy the Pooh,that's TWO--the bed AND the car.

Good for you!

Congrats on the bigger filing cabinet--w/ a business or two going on there, I'm not surprised you really need more than 2 drawers.

Remember, I'm gonna ask you tomorrow, so do ONE thing tonight at least.

The ice storm made me do it. I wanted my husband to stay and work from home instead of getting out on ice covered streets, so I cleaned off the top of desk in our home office so he could. It's been piled high for months! I have a gleaming, clutter free desk top, PLUS the area behind the desk that holds the computer, printer and lamps.

There's nothing like a little motivation.

LOL Talley Sue-

That was 2 drawers for me. We have another 9 drawers on top of that for the businesses, as well as 9 or 10 off site with archived files. I really just wanted to get rid of papers to eliminate the need for more drawers, but since the boxes of papers have been sitting around for a long time (and, apparently, procreating), with me nagging for DH to do something with them since last summer (when I weeded out the other drawers), I finally decided we had to do this! It is nice to be able to have the drawers spread out so they are not stuffed, and we can find, take out and put back files easily!

Congrats, everyone!!

Yesterday...lemme think. Oh yeah, this is cool. I grabbed the postcards off the counter for my truck license renewal and my dog's reminder for shots and put them *in my planner* when I left home yesterday morning. When I got to work and opened up my planner, there they were - I called and made the appt. for Gabriel's exam and shots, and scheduled it *in my planner* right then and there. I also picked a day and time to go renew my truck license, and put *that* in my planner. And I checked off my daily wordcount on my novel in my planner too. *big grin*

Yep - yesterday was all about planning and the planner. LOL

Great idea! Yesterday I went through 2 office paper boxes of receipts and "stuff" I was saving (like decorating ideas) and purged a ton of it (two brown paper bags of stuff to shred). My little shredder can't handle it all so I've been feeding it to the woodstove in little bits for two days.

I'm trying to look at only what's in front of me so that I don't feel so overwhelmed. Today the kids are home on a snow day so there won't be much to report tomorrow...

I refilled and picked up my medications...before running out and suffering the consequences!

I shredded several papers that were cluttering the dining room table and "found and filed" two misplaced receipts.

It's not much, but it's a start.

I removed the last of the Christmas decorations from the kitchen. I have teacup/saucer sets hung all around the soffit of the kitchen walls. I place a gold glass ball in each teacup for a bit of extra Holiday sparkle.

I'm also organizing, categorizing, inventoring, and boxing all my Hallmark and related ornaments. Some of them will be sold on eBay; the beloved ones will be kept in smaller Rubbermaid containers along with their inventory sheets so I can find the ones I want to display each year.

I have categories such as "Tea and England," "Birds," "Snowmen," and "DHs." Next Christmas is going to be a peaceful piece of cake! I have the main inventory sheets in my Word program. I printed one hard copy for my "household inventory" file and one hard copy to put in the containers.

I work part time, but I told my boss I'd work a "few" extra hours over the next couple of weeks. Having less time at home seems to give me more of a boost to get things finished.

I've been doing a load of laundry a day! And it works!!! For now...I'm clear on all laundry..even sheets and towels! And...it's NOT still sitting on the dryer! I completely finished the load! Amazing!

I was running around frantically trying to find some papers for my preschool and realized I've gotten pretty unorganized lately in that area, causing me to make some mistakes. So right then and there I organized 3 binders, tossing (recycling) old paperwork. It really was an eye-opener how I now hate the feeling of not knowing where something is, and that being unorganized affects me.

Sheryl

It comes in spurts, but to my own amazement IÂve had the "organizing bug" all week. (New year, kids returned to school, etc.) We acquired two pieces of furniture just before Christmas (a dining room buffet with two small drawers w/two cabinets below, and four center drawers AND a double drawer file cabinet for the office.) , which offered additional storage options, but as a result, caused me to rethink current storage. Then the whole "if you give a mouse a cookie" syndrome set-in, with one thing leading to another.

 I assigned a drawer specifically for non-holiday gift wrap. (My cheap plastic wallpaper tray fits perfectly in this drawer for rolled gift wrap; there is space behind it for tissue paper, ribbon, flat paper, etc.

 I cleaned out the shelf in our linen closet reserved for OTC medicine and other health/beauty items.

 I organized my sonÂs video games/consoles/old TV onto a wicker stand.

 I bought a shelf unit at Pier1 Imports (on sale) which was needed in the office (since when we got the file cabinet, I had to give up a spare desk, and these shelved filled the bill perfectly!)

ThereÂs more  but I thank you for the bragging opportunity (as there is no one else in my home patting me on the back. LOL.)

Maura

Here is a link that might be useful: Tama 4-tier folding shelf

LOL, the "if you give a mouse a cookie" syndrome! That's such a wonderful way to describe it.

What pretty shelves! Pier 1makes great-looking stuff.

Now turn around a little bit so we can reach--pat, pat, pat!

Went through at midnight last night and cleaned out a file box of folders and papers. I had a lot of "travel type" info about different states, etc. Decided to get rid of it - if we're heading in that direction I'll just get on the 'Net and find out what I need to know!

Hi, Caroline! I've missed you at "the other place"!! LOL

Cleaned out my medicine cabinet and got rid of all old "stuff"
Also cleaned out my linen closet and again threw out things that I'll never use again ie.tablecloths with permanent stains etc.
Eliza ann

Collected all the kids school newsletters and wrote events on the calendar and TOSSED the newsletters.

Sheryl

Yesterday DH & I went thru two bookcases. We're planning to get rid of them eventually. Right now, until we get the laundry room finished, they're holding stuff in the DR. One of them has cleaning supplies, extra kitchen stuff like paper towels, & some of DH's computer stuff. The other one actually has mostly books, plus other misc. stuff. We decluttered both of them & threw out an amazing amount of stuff. We also converted the last of our cd's to mp3's & are putting the original disks in storage. That's freed up a lot of room in the den. DH also agreed to put the dvd's into sleeves so we can get rid of those boxes.

Greta

Yeah! I took down the Christmas tree and it's only January 8...my usual target date is Valentines Day but since I lost my job, I have no excuse.

The tree is 9' so I have tons of decorations. It took me 2 days but I was very methodical trying to think ahead to next year: I bought smaller storage boxes (found them at Big Lots for cheap) so they are easier to retrieve from high shelves and when I decorate I just get one box out at a time (e.g. get box of lights down put lights up; get box of balls down put balls up, etc)
I packed like things together, even getting anal (e.g. red balls together in one box, gold in another).
I made large labels (5" X 7") listing the catagory and items in the box, used large font, and stuck them to the side of the box for easy reading next year (e.g. TREE LIGHTS: 15 strings of garland lights; 2 strings interior tree lights; 3 extension cords; 1 power strip)
I included tips/lessons learned at the bottom of the label (e.g. put garland lights vertical instead of around the tree)
I put the light weight boxes on high shelves and heavy boxes on the bottom. I know this is a "duh" but in the past I have used large storage boxes and they were all heavy by the time they were packed

Here is a link that might be useful: Some of the smaller storage boxes

Mustangs, you will appreciate that organization next Christmas! Good for you!

Sheryl

Mustangs I second what Sheryl said--I started doing some similar stuff with my Xmas supplies a few years ago and it never fails to surprise me, pleasantly, when I open them up the next year and stuff is organized :).

This year I deliberately put in a few extra items in several boxes. I label everything but I figured I would give myself a treat by opening up a box and seeing a little more than what I know is in there.

Ann

I bought wire cabinet shelves from Container Store and lifted up my external disk drive so that the telephone and cables could fit underneath. I also reorganized my baking cabinet and my utensil drawer. Tossed little used utensils, like plastic spoons and old knives. How fun! Great thread, TS.

I straightened up and dusted in the bedroom.

This IS a fun thread, TS.

And I noticed your attempt to start a "new thread" the following day.

So I propose that this one ends here.

And then, someone can start a new thread each day, and call it something like "Yesterday's ___(fill in day)____ Brag" or some clever name....