Since this week’s Sunday 7 is all about clearing out my car, I posted it at Ms. Pack Brat. Beware, though, it might not be for the faint of heart.
Seven Items Reclaimed from My Car
(and that’s just the front seat!)
Quite a long time ago I quit doing New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, I try to do goals. So here, sort of in the form of “Twelve Days of Christmas” are my…
Posted in Pack brat, Sunday Seven
The task for day 2 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge is to write a list post. I decided to combine today’s task with yesterday’s task of creating an elevator pitch. Perhaps someone can help me decide what to focus on for the next month or so.
I think I’ll go with #4 for now. Maybe that way I can get both my home and blog in order.
Posted in Pack brat
A couple months ago I decided I’d try to get one “big, nagging thing” done each weekend until there were no more nagging things to be done. Finally, I started today. I got a large box sent off to my nephew and grand-nephew via UPS. The clerk asked me if there was a date I’d like it delivered by. I said “How about Christmas a year ago?”
The UPS store is really close to where I live. I procrastinated, fearing the store was only open during week-day hours; or if on Saturday, only in the morning, like the Post Office. Plus, the parking is always crowded because there’s a Panera next door. As is often the case, getting the job done was actually easier than thinking about it. Even if I hadn’t managed to find a parking spot, I could have parked on the other side of the access road. (The box wasn’t heavy, just large.) Still, I think a few spaces could be reserved for UPS customers. (Knowing Alexandrians, there probably were, but the Panera patrons probably complained. After all, gotta have access to that free wifi!)
Speaking of wifi, some guy was on his notebook at the salon this morning when I left after getting a much-needed pedicure. Now, that’s a first. (The notebook, not the pedicure.)
Posted in Pack brat
Stand And Deliver. Search And Destroy. Seasonal Affective Disorder. Yeah, that last one would be me. I have a Happy Light (yes, that’s its trade name), but I was feeling so good up to the holidays, I didn’t need it. Besides, it was somewhere in my messiest room, the one I can’t walk into. I did a meager search from the doorway, but didn’t see it.
But I’ve been noticing that I’ve become more and more depressed since the start of 2009. So last Saturday, I was “ordered” to find the Happy Light on Sunday. I was able to make a path into the room (I really have to find a better container for my Christmas stuff), but still couldn’t find the darn thing.
So I thought, maybe I put it in the other clutter room. Yep. It was there, in the closet. Nice to know I actually placed it somewhere and didn’t just throw it on a pile. And even better, I actually used it Sunday evening. I’d say things are looking up, but work is still as crappy as ever. Even crappier for the Army folks I work with.
Posted in Head games, Pack brat
So, about my Supernatural Unofficial Season 3 Companion? Yeah. I (finally) watched “The Magnificent Seven,” took notes, and… nada. Yeah, I don’t think that project’s going anywhere.
However, as I always tend to do when work pisses me off, I have made yet another schedule of things to accomplish before I retire. I believe I had previously mentioned (in a blog I have since deleted because it was corrupted) the mess my home is in. And that last spring I hired an organizer to help me. Well, I met with the organizer three times (once to assess, twice to clear out). And then I stopped. (They work for 4 continuous hours, and it’s very tiring, especially since I live on the top of a 4-story walk-up.) But the time has come when I need to start getting things done if I’m ever going to get the place ready to sell by the time I retire.
So yesterday I made a schedule of rooms to attack, one room per month. If I follow the schedule, I could get the place clutter-free by November. But I know I’m not going to be able to get it accomplished on my own. It’s time to call the organizer again. I may even consider taking a couple days off per month to get things taken care of.
But before March begins, there are a couple rooms I need to take care of: the kitchen and dining room. Both have been decluttered with the organizer, but I’m having trouble keeping them that way. So, here’s the plan of attack for the next 10 days.
The kitchen—The problem is the kitchen needs (at least a little) work every day or is it gets away from me. Plus, I have an electric outdoor grill I need to put together… and put outdoors. And I have a couple appliances that need to go to the Goodwill.
The dining room—Ah, it was so nice and clean. Then my computer crashed. When I got it back from the repair shop, I’d already set up my new computer. So the old computer went on the dining room table. It’s still there. I finally bought a backup drive. I need to backup the computer, clean the hard drive, and list it on Freecycle. (I’m not going to bother trying to sell it.) I have absolutely no excuse for it to still be sitting on the dining room table… except my own laziness.
I’ll let you know how much progress I make on March 1st.
Ever since the modest success of establishing good habit #1, I’ve been pondering what to tackle next. I’ve tried a couple different things, without much follow-through. Finally, with thoughts of taxes seeping into my brain (not to mention submitting claims to my medical flexible spending account before the deadline of March 1, 2009), I realized I need to clean up my “den.” The room is technically a bedroom, but it’s where I’ve placed my computer and store my personal files. And it’s overflowing with stuff. I need to get it into some sort of order to make tax work as easy as possible.
When I hired the organizer last summer, she told me the hardest part is staying on top of the paperwork. I can believe it! There are two particular paperwork culprits that overwhelm me with their sheer volume. The first is the notices I get from my health insurance every time I see a doctor. It’s paperwork that says something like “This is not a bill. This is a record of your medical treatment. It’s an extra piece of paperwork you need to keep until hell freezes over.” (Ok, it doesn’t say that last part, but I’ve asked a few different people if it’s something I need to keep, and they say yes. Ugh.)
The second type of paperwork is the investment reports. It seems like I get 2-3 reports every week. (And trust me, I don’t have that many investments.) I believe there is a solution to this—start receiving the statements electronically. But of course, I’m waiting until I have the paperwork straightened out prior to signing up. (Yeah, if you don’t understand this reasoning, you’re obviously not a “perfectionist.”)
The good news is , the filing systems are already set up. The problem is I have to step over and around assorted piles of books, paper, and the afore-mentioned stuff just to get to the files. The other good news is that I am filing the medical and financial paperwork as it comes—by throwing it all in one big pile. The other bad news? It’s one hell of a big pile.
So, my next good habit will be cleaning, decluttering and organizing the den for just 5 minutes a day. I know it’s not a lot of time, but it’s surprising what you can accomplish it 5 minutes. Having spent only 10 minutes in the room so far, I’ve already found 2 key items. One is my Supernatural locker calendar (which I recieved when I bought the season 3 DVD set) and the other is the coupon to download a digital copy of the season from iTunes. (What? You don’t think these are essential items? Obviously, you’ve never watched the show!)
So, with all that said, it’s time I got off the computer and started clearing things out. Who knows what goodies I’ll find today.
It doesn’t take much to make me happy. I need a city decal for my new car and had registered for it online. But I received an e-mail from the city office saying they needed a copy of my temporary registration and my buyer’s order. (Alexandria is an “independent city” and not a county; whereas Arlington is actually a county, and not a city. Oh those crazy Virginians. It probably stems from the state not really being a state, but rather a “commonwealth.”) I knew where the temp registration was, but not the buyer’s order. I checked my automobile file, but it wasn’t there, so it must have been somewhere on the desk in my entry way. You know, the desk that collects all the mail I don’t want to deal with immediately, and then gets lost in the pile. The auto paperwork wasn’t readily visible, so some of today would be spent clearing off the desk. And while it took awhile, I found it. And it’s been scanned and sent to the vehicle registration office.
Of course, once I found the paperwork, all efforts at clearing off the desk were discontinued.
Is this not the stinkin’est cutest design in the history of ever? Last year my “Christmas card” was such a dullsville design. This blog design is so freakin’ adorable, I’m going to post my 2008 review here. No, I haven’t written it yet, but when I do, I’ll post it here as a page (not a post). Well, maybe I’ll post it as both.
In other news, I’m spending much of today cleaning out my bedroom. The condo folks have been reroofing the building and on the first day of work, one of the workers stepped in a weak spot and poked a hole in my ceiling. He wasn’t hurt, but I have a hole in the corner of my bedroom. Fortunately, the roofing company is very honest and they’re going to be fixing the hole this coming Friday. Which means I have to clear a path for them to get to the work area. Which means getting rid of a (very, very old) tv I never use; get a bunch of books, magazines, paper & other crap off the tv stand; break down the tv stand, bag up a boat-load of clothes for Goodwill; and most fun of all, cart it down 4 (well, really just 3¼) flights of stairs to put in the (brand new) car (which already needs a washing).
The nice thing is I have a week to get it done. But I do want to make a trip to Goodwill tomorrow. So it’s time to get off the computer & get back to work.
(And if you’d like to read other stuff I’ve been up to, you can check out my brand new blog. Yeah, I need another blog like I need another hole in my head, but I have my reasons.) 
There are 3 main tenets to the Flylady method of keeping a home: the morning routine, the evening routine, and 15 minutes of decluttering. She used to ask that you start the program with all 3. However, there are so many extras to the program, and people were getting overwhelmed and quitting, that she broke the initial actions into 31 steps, calling them “Beginner Baby Steps.” On Friday, I went through each one and noted them.
Of course, since I am adapting the program to me specifically, I’m not following these steps. Rather, in these first tenuous weeks, I’m concentrating on the 15 minutes of decluttering. However, I’ve further refined these to 15 minutes of picking up & decluttering. In the past few days I’ve done the 15 minutes, it has included some decluttering, but much of it has also been attending to the dirty dishes in the kitchen and putting laundry away.
I’ve just finished the dishes and (the most recent round of) laundry. The final 5 minutes will be tonight when I pack up my trash and put it out.
In keeping with my weekend routine, I spent much more than 15 minutes on my finanaces this morning. Yesterday I’d started categorizing my Visa purchases, but you may recall I had difficulties with QVC. I’m still having those problems, but I was able to identify all of them by alternate means. I’ve been one month behind on paying the bill, which means interest charges, so I took the extra time to pay off both last month’s and this month’s bill. Just in time to load it up again for the holidays.
Now I’m going to take a little time and see if I can’t get the Pack Brat site back in good operating order.
from Ms. Pack Brat
