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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Garage and Desk Areas Down

I cleaned off the computer desk and turned it into My Desk! I took the computer and all the junk off, and rearranged things so that the printers are up out of the way and the things I need to go through, work on and/or deal with are down where I can easily sit and deal with them. I can also store the laptop on the desk if I want. Yea!

I got 1 32 gal bag worth of recycling off the desk (the computer died a long time ago, so that area became a catch-all for my things as well as things the kids didn't want to take care of)
And 2 13 gal bags of garbage out of the area (the kids had actually stuffed 2 bags about 1/3 full under the desk and then piled more things on top of them, yuck!)


Then we moved on to the garage where we went through a lot over about another 4 hours. The art area got straightened up a bit and a few empty boxes were broken down and put in recycling. Then we moved on to the 'workshop' and storage area including a pile of things that were set aside possibly for a yard sale.

Out of that we got 4 big yard bags of garbage (mostly broken toys, VHS that were tv recordings, Styrofoam from the boxes, some papers and other misc garbage) that went to the truck and the yard sale stuff was condensed to about 2/3 of what it was but now is things worth selling! Jeff also put 2 dead computer monitors into his car that need to be recycled - now to get help loading the 200lb dead tv into his car and he can take it all in! If I can get rid of that stuff as well as the yard sale stuff before Easter that will be another 7-10 bags.


The garage and desk still need work, but it felt great to get as much done as we did. I am resting today, since I pushed it so much yesterday. Grandpa's truck has been stuffed about as full as we can get it - I think I may be able to fit 1 or 2 more bags in. It really is time to take it to the dump! - well, once Grandpa gets over his cold anyway.

Another 7 bags down! 21 to go and I haven't even started on the basement yet!


Tomorrow the kids will be bringing up the bags of clothes and toys I've already sorted for a yard sale from the basement, so that will add about 16-18 more bags. Then I just have to do the yard sale (or donate the items) to count the things in my 40 bags.

I really like getting rid of things. It is so freeing!!! I just have to remember not to do too much...5 more days to 36 weeks!! Though, I am shooting for at least 37 weeks. If you haven't been following the blog for long, I have never had an early labor with any of my previous 6 kids (it has been 1/2 on time and 1/2 10 days to 2 weeks late), but this time I had unusual cramping at 28 weeks and was starting to efface, so I have been told to take it easy as much as possible - no more hanging drywall or rebuilding furniture!


Below is a picture of the desk after the junk was removed (it still needs work, but is much better). Somewhere I have a before picture, but not on this camera card...


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

More Progress on the 40 Bags

I watched a few episodes about Hoarders through You Tube a few nights ago (Part 1 of one of the episodes below). I grew up in a very cluttered home and heard many of the excuses the hoarders used in the show from my parents - it was weird and almost a relief to realize I wasn't the only one who went through that kind of childhood. While my house has way more things than we need or want, I hope I can keep from suffering from the debilitating need to keep things.

To test myself and because I don't think anyone can watch those shows and not get rid of something, I started working on my 40 bags a lot more. I'm also fighting a cold, so in addition to the discomforts of being 8 months pregnant, I had trouble breathing over the weekend though I am improving everyday. I'm taking it easy, but still working!

Over the weekend, I managed to go through the hall closet and the bathroom, and came up with 1 1/2 bags. I'm only counting 1 since that was garbage and is officially out of the house.

Today the weather was fantastic, so we went through the yard and gathered all the garbage and got it into the truck. Another 11 bags (though big yard bags vs the 13 gal ones we have been using) plus a bunch of cardboard!

12 down, 28 to go with 2 1/2 weeks left until Easter!

Hopefully either later today or tomorrow I will be able to get the garage done so that the yard sale things can be shifted to one place - and gotten rid of if the yard sale falls through.

Progress is good!

Monday, March 8, 2010

40 Bag Challenge Update

As I expected I haven't done a whole lot with the 40 bag challenge so far. I've gathered about 2 bags of things from my room and the living room, but they are just sitting in the garage right now.

Ariana's room has been 1 small step at a time, so hopefully this Thurs we will finally get the floor laid down (the boards are all cut, so I just have to get the kit that makes it easier to click everything in place), and then she can start moving in and filling bags with things to get rid of and I can finally get into the girls closet to get rid of the things the girls don't need.

A fellow 40 bagger is planning a garage sale sometime in the next month, so the 6 boxes in the garage and 12 bags of clothes downstairs will all be going out to the garage sale, then the following Monday whatever clothing is left will be put out at CCD for families to pick through for free and the last of it will get dropped at Snowcap (a Protestant version of St Vincent De Paul near my house) or the Pregnancy Resource Center depending on the sizes. I do hope to at least double the amount of clothes and misc stuff by the time the garage sale happens, but worst case that is 18 bags gone!

Plus the 8-12 bags worth of junk that needs to be loaded into my dad's truck - conveniently parked in front of my house. I am still pretty limited as far as movement goes, which is the only reason the truck isn't loaded now, but hopefully this coming weekend I will get myself together enough to oversee everyone else loading the junk into the trunk.

I suppose if we didn't have activities/classes/dr appts pretty much everyday that would help too. I think we have a bit of a break next week as well as the week after for Spring break, so maybe we can get caught up then...