GETTING CLEANED UP IN RETIREMENT

 Hello 

It has been a while since I last wrote. Well, I'm in full on retirement mode with my husband. It is good and we have been cleaning out again. l am not one to keep a bunch of stuff to begin with that is how this blog got started years ago. Come to find out the older you get the less you need to live with. I have a list of must haves. here goes:

two good sets of sheets for your bed. Size and kind depend solely on what YOU like. 

Guests' beds can get by with one set each unless you have tons of company.

 blankets well that is a personal also. I personally like a light one with a sheet in the summer and warmer one in the winter not to mistake warmer with heavier one.

pillow that fits how you sleep and either a few more for sitting up in bed or one of those oversized pillows to prop up with. 

good furniture in all rooms that is comfortable, get rid of old stuff you don't like or have just because (trust Me your kids will like it a lot better if they don't have to sift through decades of old beat-up furniture). if you think it has some antique value sell it yourself and give them the $ or just use the $ for something you want.

kitchen items that you use daily as well as what you USE for entering and get rid of the rest it's just clutter. That includes the table and chairs in the kitchen and dining room if you have two spaces.

If you still have office space, get rid of ALL, THE STUFF YOU DONT USE. your office may now be used to just pay bills or type blogs or sit at. ha-ha I happen to know someone who now uses their office to just sit at and listen to music. that works just fine but get rid of all the clutter. keep files up to date get rid of old files kids or whoever ties up your affairs when you kick the bucket will like not having to weed through files just to find the one paper they need. THIS IS A GOOD START HAPPY SORTING! QUICK REMINDER: THREE PILES: KEEP, GIVE AWAY, THROW AWAYS. At this stage in life there is no other pile.

COMPUTER MESS

Hello fellow organizers
I have to say its been a crazy year . All good just crazy. Not much time to sit and write; in part its cause I am organizing things and people all the time . But  to be honest the computer organization is
winning the battle so far . I need to find a way to keep up on the computer and keep the junk down..
I know you must defragment a lot that helps, but you also must delete what you don't use . I used to think I was good at this but as of late I'm beinging to wonder .
So here is my plan
*every day spend set amount of time just on going through each file using the same idea as with stuff
keep, or throw away … we are not going for the give away in this case.
 Call me old fashion but personal data is just that and its getting less personal every day .
*update what did not do so automatically
* look to up grade to a new system if  this one is not working . eg. I use my iPad all the time so don't use a computer hardly at all, with new systems combining the two in to one that might be the way to go for me
 that is the best I can do this time on computer organizing but I really hope to conquer it this go around
happy organizing.

Spring time drips

Hello fellow organizers.

 I have a love hate feeling with spring in areas that have four seasons. I like that it's getting warmer and that God does most of the watering for me, but the temperature still has not made up its mind. As always I lost some flowers and buds but not as many this year. I'm not good about getting up before dawn to water the frost off the plants. I have most of the smaller plants still covered lightly with pine straw. My potted plants have come back into my kitchen to take up residence till these cold night get warm again. We had an early taste of spring so they where out in the day in at night, than outside for a little while, but now just in side till warmer weather settles in. With all that moving them in and out the dripping plants can make a mess of the floor so here is a great organization tip for plants. 

Get one (or more) depends on need of plastic floor mats the snow boot kind . Get the ones that have sides And no holes, some are slated this will not do.The idea is to keep the floors dry. Plus this allows you to be able to water the plants in side while you wait for the warmer weather to break. 

Actually this is a nice idea to keep the plants on all winter long.

 If you have trouble finding the plastic floor mats another idea is to get a low sided box and place a larger garbage bag in like a liner. This should do the trick remember to keep the box covered by the plastic. Happy spring time 

Family memories

Hello fellow organizers.  

Today I want to share about finding your way out from your families memories, that find there way to your house in the form of stuff and not just memories.

I had the privilege of helping a friend find her home under years no decades of her family's things.  

There where so many beautiful things. Ceramic  pieces, art work, nic nacks, old furniture, etc... 

You get the idea. We started small with her fathers desk emptied it and than returned only what she was going to need. Like always the rules of organization apply sort, keep, throw away, and give away applied. My friend added a real unique idea. She has a consignment spot where she has been taking the bigger things we weed out. I love this idea, you can make some additional money with out the prep of a garage sale! Yeah!!!  As I get older garage sales are fun to go to but not fun to set up. 

Back to topic at hand. As we sorted we found wonderful things ,but just because they are pretty or nice doesn't mean you have to keep them. In fact when something is not your style don't keep it. As we got rid of most of regular clutter, here's where we started to have to watch how we where getting rid of things. The age of some of the pieces lead us to check with antique dealers to get the true value of the pieces she wanted to sell and price them. This is much more time consuming than just cleaning out cluttered spaces,but in the end it's worth it. In fact it's really a win win for you. You get your space fresh and clean organized how it works best for you. Than you also get some pock cash when you sell off the valued unwanted items.

This was a new experience for me and I found I really enjoyed the new twist to this job.  I've know that you can sell antiques but this is the first organizational project involving that I got to be a part of.. Till my next project 

Happy organizing! Drop me a line with your questions I would love to help. 

A Good finish to the old year !

Hello on this crisp cold Georgia morning. Yes it gets cold in Ga. for all my northern friends!
Its the end of a another year and time to pack up the Christmas decorations and start fresh. Like most things I do,  I try and find the most efficient way to do it. This year is no different . I did get a new house for my village so I  will have to get that packed in with all the other stuff.
Here is to the sorting and getting every thing ready to pack up. But that is not my number one project this year. No !  I will be taking Christmas down soon, but this year my focus is on a little area that I'm really not organized in at all and want to be.. I just need to sit down and do it or at the least get help doing it till it is done!!!!
This year my first project of the new year is to get all my photos backed up and erased those that I want or don't want . To get me started I asked for Christmas a expansion stick or zip drive or one of those things that stores info in a very tiny stick like gadget. The Goal is to get all photos sorted and labeled before next year end. That is way I'm starting before the new year.
I might start by erasing all photos I do not want at all ...
Now that I have the thing I need to store picture's, I next need to load them on it.
After that process I need to sort them in to files or folders finding each device labels it differently.
From there I should have a neat new way to look at my picture's. After the pictures I want to get my whole computer more organized in a way that it makes it easier to use and understand how to use. I will be needing it more in the new year if I get on the ball .
To all a wonderful new year of memories!!!

Getting started! But how?

Good morning 

It's been a while. I can't seem to get it organized,yes some one who loves to be organized and to organize can't seem to get a Balance on this column. I started out writing to often and I felt it was repetitious. Than I was writing not enough, than not at all. I really enjoy this but need your help ! If you could send questions for me to answer,how to's that would be great, than I wouldn't feel like I was just repeating myself. 

Here's one for us oldes .... You've done all the cleaning out you can do, you have everything in its place..

Now what? Have you ever thought of changing it up a bit.  Yes that furniture has been that way now for um well you get the idea. 

Get help if you need. I found little sliders they go under the legs of furniture or edges ( for things without legs lol) they are great.I can move my entire hutch by myself fully loaded with my China set and nic nacs. Not to long ago we filped two guests bedrooms.the wow factor it caused. All I did was switch a bed and a sleeper couch.  But than with in each room moved things around. It was like it gave me a whole new living space. So some times the way it always was is not the best and sometimes it's not the only way the furniture can go in a room. Look out side the box today it will really give you a boost.

It will feel like a fresh new room .

Time flys but to much stuff can weigh you down

Hi every one that still reads this. I'm back with another idea!  About organization of course, and this may be a little long too.
 My husband and I have been busy and it just doesn't seem like I have time to do all I want, like write little quips for my blog on a timely manner or any other fun hobby I have. Jewelry making , making keys chains, sewing, knitting; to name a few. there are others I would like to try even like lock smith.
 I have tons of others but ill keep it to the point.
You have read about how to sort and clean out all kinds of stuff over the years. I even have pictures saved that go to a how to clean up after Christmas and make it fit.. since we usually get some kind of new thing at Christmas to decorate with. I will tackle that later. OK moving on.
TIME how do I organize time!!! I don't buy it, cant make it, cant even keep up with some days.
Well I have an idea less stuff will help in some ways. though sorting out is not the base for today's topic, it has a place which we won't touch on quite yet.
You wake up and have things to do in your day right. Well when your semi retired and not always having to getting up. To not have to do any thing can be fun and unproductive. And it can be just plan unmotivating and frankly unstimulating. I found I was getting nothing done and or not doing any thing.
Solution time in boxes, OK not literal boxes but blocks of time to do things in and than move on to the next task to do. I either do it the night before or in the morning after devotions and quick peek out on the deck of what the weather is like. (side note weather channels are fine but it is what it is when you go out side in that moment. just me!!!)  note to self weather is important as to do something out side or inside. I make a to do list like a honey do list you give your hubby but for me and not  him. I put every thing on the list that I want to do, it could be a dream or a needed getter done kind of thing. When the list is made I block it off in to time slots how long it will take to do something or  how much time I want to spend on it. From there I separate the have to do this today like pay bills, wash clothes, etc.. you get the idea every ones list will look different. I ALWAYS PUT SOMETHING FUN ON THE LIST even if its sit in the sun for a minute. Than on to the time part, I think it, write it, or even set a timer to keep me to the time I've set for each task. YOU know what works for you. Some thing I've done in the past but got away from. Now I am able to get back to some hobbies I  missed doing and even have that time to sit and just soak in the day. I feel good about me and like I said the list will look different for ever person out there.
Now for the stuff part, like I said I have written a lot about sorting cleaning out and with all that some times I still think I need to weed out more.
It comes down to going through the stuff you like and keeping what you love.
I really like giving things to people that I know will like or love what I'm giving up. Not always the case so there is good will to share with.
I have not done so well on this so I will keep you up dated as to how I'm doing in this area in 2017... lets just say I'm taking my own advice and starting small like the side tables in our bed room. Easy on my husbands side like 10 things there. We use and need check. More next week on my side table !!!! hoping to get it down to seeing the bottom of the drawers. till next week.
Good to be back and as always happy organizing !