Am so glad you are posting again. Have looked every day as we have all enjoyed and been inspired by your journey. I have really gotten with the program since your story.

Had to stop and have a vein ablation which has restricted what I can do for quite awhile. Got tons of stuff done before the surgery though thanks to your writings. Am making lists of the small things I can do while waiting for the healing process.

Keep pumping us up!!!!

Dora Lou

Thanks for posting in, and keeping us updated. I know i'm not the only one who is inspired by your insights and your progress.

There are so many great pieces of wisdom just in this post alone!

You said you now no longer look at the clock, and I bet that if you totally skipped one night, it would bug you a little. That's the value of your "slow but steady" approach, I believe.

it's sort of like weight loss, or paying off credit cards. (I had this experience w/ credit-card debt. Several times I had take money from savings and wiped them completely out. It was only about $3,000 to $5,000, though that was bad enough. But it wasn't until I decided to pay it off out of cash flow, bit by bit, that I really learned what it was costing me to run that debt, and how easily I could retrain my spending. I also was MUCH more invested in the ACCOMPLISHMENT of paying them off.

I think you are going through this same process now in your home. Because the clear spaces are coming through a longer struggle, I believe you are going to feel more invested in keeping them clear--and your comments lead me to believe that is already occurring for you.

I also think that some of the lessons we need to learn, we can only learn slowly. For ourselves. Not because we swooped into the bathroom and cleaned it all in one day. That doesn't give you time to think about *what* that was in there, and *how* it got in there, and *why* it didn't leave, and what you can do differently next time.

So steady progress forward I think can have huge advantages, and I see all sorts of evidence of that in your post.

I also am TOTALLY WITH YOU on the "rescuing those albums from the basement." Several reasons:
1) being organized is all about having places for the stuff WE VALUE. You value those albums; go get them, now that the momentum is going, and put them in a safe and organized place

2) YOU are the only audience that matters. We love the story you're telling us, and the drama of your success, but what WE think isn't the important part. If YOU are itching to find those things, then scratch that itch. It will still be forward progress, right? Just in the basement instead of upstairs. It all has to get done eventually, you have decided, so YOU get to decide when and what specifically.

3) Sometimes a change of scenery can be re-energizing. "Slow but steady" in the same room can be boring. Switching rooms might mean that room A takes longer to get all the way done, but it might also freshen the tasks for you.

I am also so happy for you that you don't feel alone as you work on this project. Your DH is in it with you; carrying stuff out the door, and committing to not making things worse, etc. And you have your *club* to encourage you.

I love your idea of "extras." I think I'll make one of those, and put it on the front of the fridge.

back when I had a cleaning lady coming in, I had sort of a list like that--"dust the chandelier" or "clean the veggie drawers in the fridge" that I paid her a bit extra to do once a month. But having one for me, even a decluttering or organizing one, would be smart.

Wow adobesunlight, very inspiring. My mom has a lot of "stuff" and I tend to be that way at times too. My MIL was the complete opposite, everything was very simple and clean. I find myself trying to be the happy medium in between, lol.

Before my MIL died, she said to me, "Once you throw it out or give it away you will never think about it again." And you know what? I didn't want to hear it at the time, but she's right! Everytime I question getting rid of something (we are talking clutter here, not important stuff like photos etc.) I think to myself, will I ever think about (insert object here) again? 99% of the time the answer is no.

Last night I had some major breakthroughs. I got both the kids rooms back to square one, folded all (and there was a ton) the clean laundry and put it away, and then I cleaned out all the toybins/toychest in the living room. We don't have a playroom, so part of the living room is a sort of a playroom. It was amazing how many toys I went through. I gave a bunch of them away to Goodwill, and the kids haven't even noticed! It is a great feeling to have all the toys organized and fitting neatly in their baskets. I tend to feel that the toys get out of control quickly, so I am working a bit harder on that. With the toys they don't play with weeded out, things will be easier to pick up as well. I have a new rule too: small toys or toys with lots of parts need to be kept in the bedrooms, not the living room. I think it will make everyone's lives easier.

My next project is attacking the clutter that has accumulated on my bureau. I need to get the master bedroom a bit more organized, and more inviting and restful.

Good luck to everyone making progress out there. This forum is always makes me feel better!

Adobesunlight,

You amaze me. I went back and re-read your first post, and then read this one agian. I'm sitting here just shaking my head in wonder at the transformation you have pulled off. In your first post, it was clear that you were so totally overwhelmed at the thought of having to start somewhere, but not having a clue where, and finding excuses/reasons not to start. Now look at you, you've got yourself making up and LEADING an organization train, adding the coal car/hubby, vista-cruisers/sister, a diner car/friends, a cargo hauler in there, and no caboose in sight. To know that I was a part of this great rah-rah cheering forum is really satisfying to me, and doubly so, because you have inspired others to embrace some nice life changes.

Barbara

And Thanksgivig is two weeks from tomorrow. Time to get things neat for The Holidays,folks! This is a great thread, just what I need for inspiration!

You are doing awesome Adobe!

This is just a thought from someone on the forum who puts a huge priority on exercise, and who also has back problems and knows how much keeping active keeps that in check. This sounds like something on your list of things that you'd like to accomplish more regularly.

You say your sister and best friend are local. Would you (and they) be interested in getting together maybe first thing in the morning to go for a 1/2 hour walk or something similar? This would get some exercise at the same time as getting some social time.

This is how I get a lot of my exercise done. I run, and running is too hard for me to do solo. I have a neighbor who runs too, we meet early morning (ugh, 6 am) to go. Since I can't disappoint her, I have to be up, and once I am up, doing the actual exercise is easy. I've even managed to run a few times when she has had to cancel at the last minute. Usually, though, we are both out there, and we get talking and the run flies by. If you can find a way to enjoy exercise, it becomes easy to do.

And, just like with decluttering, having an activity on the regular schedule makes a lot of other things fall into place.

Jean Marie

Way to move that stuff around!!!

--- Adobe ---- girl you are truly a blessing to this forum!!!

Just love your writing and your wisdom and always love to hear about your progress! You are really inspiring!

Jan :)

Wow! I think you are getting rid of stuff and gaining energy. What a transformation...thanks for posting!

Good to see you back and so full of enthusiasm!!

Just a quick tip on weight loss. Eat a good breakfast!! Research shows that the one thing that most overwieght people have in common is that they skip breakfast or don't eat a decent one. A good breakfast would be whole grains (not refined), fruit and a few nuts for the omega-3's. Other things can be added but make sure you get those three things. When you've had a high fiber breakfast like this, you don't get the blood sugar swings later in the morning that make you feel like you need a snack for a pick-me-up. Fiber causes the glucose to be released slowly over time to nourish your body and brain for longer. And exercising early sets your metabolism for the whole day.

Well, It was supposed to be 'quick' LOL!

VG

Hi Rhonda! It sounds like November has brought major positive changes to your life. I keep a running ''extras'' list too, that I call Inch by Inch and Yard by Yard. The Inch jobs are ones that can usually be done in fifteen minutes or less; Yard jobs take longer and are usually more of a project. Cleaning our garage was a Yard job, and I loved crossing that one off my list! It's BIG when I can cross everything off a list and throw it away. Congratulations on your lifestyle changes for the better. Great job!

...I wanted to mention that in cleaning out the garage/basement and having to deal with some unknown rodent damage myself, I committed to buying some see-through plastic bins with snap lock lids so the things I still value have a safe place to reside. The bins are relatively expensive if you need a lot of them, so I'm really thinking about what I'm choosing to store in them. Those items have to deserve the real estate they require, which helps me in my ''critical'' decision making. It's funny, but when I went through stuff for the donation truck, I amazed myself often by what I thought was important enough to keep. Thinking about it twice helped me to finally let it go, and it's true...I haven't missed it at all!

Great post, abobesunlight. Loving the name, its so grey here today and wind is blowing like mad.

This is my first day back to the forum in years and this was the first post I read. Great inspiration. I want a piece of this action. Found my timer and figured I'd start with "Today's plans-----1. toss out another 10 items or more, 2. spruce up the kitchen (outward appearance only), 3. clear off the computer desk and wipe everything down, 4. clean out the sock drawer....." It works for me.

Thanks for giving me the jumping off point I needed. I could feel an "I've been on the computer 5 hrs. and got nothing done" slump coming on.

Good luck to all with your plans for today.
D